You know....maybe you are a bit of an idealist( that is a compliment)....please hang on to that idealism. We really need voices like that. They seem so silent lately. Not only that, we need people who can cut through the bull.....spot it a mile away and call it out. See, TWI did us a few favors... if only to be able to cry foul at foul!
Speak on brother! Just don't forget to look at some of the good too.
Is one an idealist for simply holding to principles and standards?
Is one an idealist who despises heavy-handed legalism?
Is one an idealist who is repulsed by hypocrisy?
If so.....count me in.
Silly me, I thought in twi that one could truly walk in the steps of Jesus Christ. No, I didn't really like all those "revelation keys in the adv. class".......just wanted to keep my heart open and live for Him. Despised bureaucracy. Detested the layers of reporting back. Never saw it done that way in scriptures in N.T.
Hold fast to the good....yep. Yet, everything I learned in twi was like, "Do as I say, not as I do." Twi's upper leadership was hypocrisy on a pig.....er, lipstick on a pig. Sure all animals are equal, but some are MORE EQUAL than others.
The vast majority of people prefer to have their views handed to them. That's why following "the party line" is so prevalent, whether it is political, religious, etc. It's easier to simply to accept a "platform". Most "platforms" do contain some level of truth, but it takes a great deal of work to synthesize a position of one's own.
In today's society, most people are too distracted to do this. Whether it is distractions caused by the stress of everyday life, such as economic pressures; or just the sheer information overload of the news and social medias, msot people are just submerged in what has been called the "information superhighway".
This suits the powers-that-be of any infrastructure to a "T":, from a fellowship, to a local school board to the White House, . Things are much easier for the status quo is no one is questioning things. I suspect sometimes that this "overload" is deliberate. I regard much of the explosion of mass entertainment and "social media" (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) as filling a role sort of like the games in Ancient Rome.
Cults like TWI have an insidious approach. They prey upon the youth, love bomb them until they can get them in a class to indoctrinate, get them in lockstep loyaly, then steal years from them.
Down the road TWI leaders make such statements as "the ministry owes people nothing, but people owe the ministry everything because of the Word they were taught".
The lockstep loyalty no matter what they want is a one way street. They have no such loyalty for members.
I remember talking to one gentleman who most everyone would know who was in TWI. He told me "I gave TWI the best years of my life. Now they've cast me aside." That is the norm, not an exception. Simple statistics show this. What percentage of the people who have gone through TWI's leadership training program, the Way Corps, continue to associate with TWI? If overall numbers are less than 5%, what does that tell you?
twi's leading criminals have also never been above "moving the goalposts" and deceiving people,
either. Posters have commented how they were told- IN WRITING- that once they completed the corps,
they would have the option whether or not to accept assignments from then on, or whether to move
forward in the community of their choice in the life of their choice, using what they learned at their
discretion. (Presumably, running a fellowship, teaching, etc.)
However, once the signed and were on grounds (and isolated from their support network),
they were told they had made a LIFETIME commitment to twi, and now, for the rest of their lives,
they were effectively slaves whom twi could order around for life. twi could tell them to move (and where
to move), twi would require them to stop their lives for 2 weeks a year, at their own expense, and
work both weeks through Corps Week and the ROA, etc, etc.
"Lifetime commitment to serve God" was morphed into "slave to whatever twi's board decided they
should have to do."
twi also clearly expected-and expects- BLIND LOYALTY. One poster asked lcm PERSONALLY about that
back in 1988. When lcm imitated vpw's previous calls for loyalty, this poster phoned lcm and said
it sounded like lcm wanted him to follow lcm BLINDLY. lcm replied to him that THIS WAS ALREADY
WHAT THE POSTER WAS DOING. The poster disagreed, told lcm he could kiss his burro, and hung up the
phone, which pretty much ended their communication.
"When I recieved the Loyalty letter in the mail I immediately called LCM and by some miracle after leaving a message he actually called me back. When I asked if this letter was a call to blindly follow him he said I had been doing this all along. I then told him thats what he thinks he could "kiss my @$$".
I think I was dropped from the rolls of the Way Corps that next morning. "
[Please note the curse censor changed what the poster said lcm could kiss.
Cults like TWI have an insidious approach. They prey upon the youth, love bomb them until they can get them in a class to indoctrinate, get them in lockstep loyaly, then steal years from them...
...The lockstep loyalty no matter what they want is a one way street. They have no such loyalty for members....
Absolutely right. When I first became involved in TWI it was like a page right out of Ca ult training manual. First I was "love bombed". I was the greatest thing in the world, and everyone was "so glad" that I was there. Then when I took the Foundational class, and they thought I was "hooked", the whip came down. Suddenly I was given "confronted" about all of my deficiencies n front of the entire branch and given an ultimatum: toe the line or get out. They suddenly had no concern for my feelings or at all. They had used the fact that I cared deeply about one of the members of the Fellowship to get me to that stage, and then when it appeared as though I had invested totally TWI, her parents and the Leadership declared that I would have no more contact with her. The next week she showed up with another Prospect in tow. The Fellowship and Branch leaders seemed to be confident that I would still toe the line. I bailed. And never regretted it.
The entire time I was in TWI, I thought, "Man, I need to keep a journal: this is textbook case of indoctrination techniques!" Yet they were incapable of figuring out what to do when someone went off-script. As Mr. Spock would say, "Fascinating"!
They had used the fact that I cared deeply about one of the members of the Fellowship to get me to that stage, and then when it appeared as though I had invested totally TWI, her parents and the Leadership declared that I would have no more contact with her. The next week she showed up with another Prospect in tow.
The old "date and switch" routine. Fairly standard M.O. for The Way, back in the "good ol' days".
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Broken Arrow
I hear that a lot on this website. Let's hope we don't get led into another tyrannical system. If I may, I would suggest that it's important to realize how we get pulled into such a damaging organizat
Broken Arrow
Thank you Ms. Garden! I didn't mean to make you feel sad! :( How about, "In God We Trust, all others pay cash."?
skyrider
Is one an idealist for simply holding to principles and standards?
Is one an idealist who despises heavy-handed legalism?
Is one an idealist who is repulsed by hypocrisy?
If so.....count me in.
Silly me, I thought in twi that one could truly walk in the steps of Jesus Christ. No, I didn't really like all those "revelation keys in the adv. class".......just wanted to keep my heart open and live for Him. Despised bureaucracy. Detested the layers of reporting back. Never saw it done that way in scriptures in N.T.
Hold fast to the good....yep. Yet, everything I learned in twi was like, "Do as I say, not as I do." Twi's upper leadership was hypocrisy on a pig.....er, lipstick on a pig. Sure all animals are equal, but some are MORE EQUAL than others.
Enuff said.
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DocHoliday
The vast majority of people prefer to have their views handed to them. That's why following "the party line" is so prevalent, whether it is political, religious, etc. It's easier to simply to accept a "platform". Most "platforms" do contain some level of truth, but it takes a great deal of work to synthesize a position of one's own.
In today's society, most people are too distracted to do this. Whether it is distractions caused by the stress of everyday life, such as economic pressures; or just the sheer information overload of the news and social medias, msot people are just submerged in what has been called the "information superhighway".
This suits the powers-that-be of any infrastructure to a "T":, from a fellowship, to a local school board to the White House, . Things are much easier for the status quo is no one is questioning things. I suspect sometimes that this "overload" is deliberate. I regard much of the explosion of mass entertainment and "social media" (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) as filling a role sort of like the games in Ancient Rome.
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WordWolf
twi's leading criminals have also never been above "moving the goalposts" and deceiving people,
either. Posters have commented how they were told- IN WRITING- that once they completed the corps,
they would have the option whether or not to accept assignments from then on, or whether to move
forward in the community of their choice in the life of their choice, using what they learned at their
discretion. (Presumably, running a fellowship, teaching, etc.)
However, once the signed and were on grounds (and isolated from their support network),
they were told they had made a LIFETIME commitment to twi, and now, for the rest of their lives,
they were effectively slaves whom twi could order around for life. twi could tell them to move (and where
to move), twi would require them to stop their lives for 2 weeks a year, at their own expense, and
work both weeks through Corps Week and the ROA, etc, etc.
"Lifetime commitment to serve God" was morphed into "slave to whatever twi's board decided they
should have to do."
twi also clearly expected-and expects- BLIND LOYALTY. One poster asked lcm PERSONALLY about that
back in 1988. When lcm imitated vpw's previous calls for loyalty, this poster phoned lcm and said
it sounded like lcm wanted him to follow lcm BLINDLY. lcm replied to him that THIS WAS ALREADY
WHAT THE POSTER WAS DOING. The poster disagreed, told lcm he could kiss his burro, and hung up the
phone, which pretty much ended their communication.
"When I recieved the Loyalty letter in the mail I immediately called LCM and by some miracle after leaving a message he actually called me back. When I asked if this letter was a call to blindly follow him he said I had been doing this all along. I then told him thats what he thinks he could "kiss my @$$".
I think I was dropped from the rolls of the Way Corps that next morning. "
[Please note the curse censor changed what the poster said lcm could kiss.
I read the initial post and posted accordingly.]
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DocHoliday
Absolutely right. When I first became involved in TWI it was like a page right out of Ca ult training manual. First I was "love bombed". I was the greatest thing in the world, and everyone was "so glad" that I was there. Then when I took the Foundational class, and they thought I was "hooked", the whip came down. Suddenly I was given "confronted" about all of my deficiencies n front of the entire branch and given an ultimatum: toe the line or get out. They suddenly had no concern for my feelings or at all. They had used the fact that I cared deeply about one of the members of the Fellowship to get me to that stage, and then when it appeared as though I had invested totally TWI, her parents and the Leadership declared that I would have no more contact with her. The next week she showed up with another Prospect in tow. The Fellowship and Branch leaders seemed to be confident that I would still toe the line. I bailed. And never regretted it.
The entire time I was in TWI, I thought, "Man, I need to keep a journal: this is textbook case of indoctrination techniques!" Yet they were incapable of figuring out what to do when someone went off-script. As Mr. Spock would say, "Fascinating"!
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waysider
The old "date and switch" routine. Fairly standard M.O. for The Way, back in the "good ol' days".
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DocHoliday
"date and switch", that's great! Ha! I'm amazed that they actually expect people to be cool with this and stay around!
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