a call to a fencer to adopt a defensive stance in readiness for an attack or bout
So, we were supposed to assume a defensive stance (recite scriptures) to ward off attacks of critical thinking (the adversary).
It's nothing more than an exercise in self delusion, aimed at ignoring logic and reason in favor of what amounts to a sort of self induced behavioral modification. And, the foundation for the whole deal was that clever little lesson in PFAL that showed us what happened to Eve when she neglected to correctly assume the defensive stance.
Oh, the days of retemories --- retain in one's memory.
Weren't the invention or commonization of retemories something TWI stole from the Navigators? Check out the top left hand corner selling "verse packs".
Weren't the invention or commonization of retemories something TWI stole from the Navigators? Check out the top left hand corner selling "verse packs".
I don't know where TWI got the idea, but little summaries of doctrine meant to be recited and retained can be found in the epistles. They didn't have a canon in the early church, but doctrine wasn't a free for all. Things like 1 Corinthians 15; 3, 4, 5 and beyond....... were pieces of central theology summarized for memorization. You can find these little schooling pieces, which would have been familiar to the church, all over the place in scripture.
I don't know where TWI got the idea, but little summaries of doctrine meant to be recited and retained can be found in the epistles.
I have to say there is nothing inherently wrong with memorizing Bible verses in and of itself. With the way international it was how they taught us to go about it that was jacked. It was formulaic. They made Jesus seem formulaic when the devil tempted him. Too much of what they do removes thinking and replaces it with y = x.
With them retemories seem to numb a person's senses and reduce their thinking to mindlessly quoting scriptures.
I have to say there is nothing inherently wrong with memorizing Bible verses in and of itself. With the way international it was how they taught us to go about it that was jacked. It was formulaic. They made Jesus seem formulaic when the devil tempted him. Too much of what they do removes thinking and replaces it with y = x.
With them retemories seem to numb a person's senses and reduce their thinking to mindlessly quoting scriptures.
I could not agree more, for me....it is great that I memorized some scripture.....BUT, overcoming the immediate, almost visceral response, and the PFAL influenced understanding of those particular scriptures was really difficult. Each time I recited them it just became more ingrained. There are still verses that make me a bit uncomfortable when I hear them said in a certain way....not really a great response for someone who does believe the bible is God's holy word. It is what it is and when I hear "I can do all things....." recited even a tiny bit like a rallying cry......I still cringe.
I know that the concept of memorizing small snippets of scripture is not a new one. However, I had a relative that attended a Navigator's Bible camp growing up, and part of their curriculum involved packaging up little note card packets with a holder for themed verse memorization help. I had thought I heard from somewhere that VPW (or Glenn Clark who he lifted most of his family camps ideas from) had taken the idea that originated with the Navigators to print up retemory packets for sale in the bookstore. Then those became the standard and norm for their different programs (Way Corps, WOW), and eventually spilled over into additions to all the PFAL / WAP classes.
The link between the Navigators and VPW's printing and coining the term "retemories" maybe isn't 100% traceable (unless someone knows differently). However, just looking at what was out there at the time the Navigators (founded in 1933) utilized this practice and supplies in their camps in the 50s and 60s well before TWI ever thought about it. One more idea out in the Christian world that was taken by TWI, and a word made up and attached to it - "retemories" - and VOILA - VPW just invented a new unique method for memorizing scriptures that other Christians don't have. Plagiarism and ego was prevalent throughout so much of what that man did...
I have to say there is nothing inherently wrong with memorizing Bible verses in and of itself. With the way international it was how they taught us to go about it that was jacked. It was formulaic. They made Jesus seem formulaic when the devil tempted him. Too much of what they do removes thinking and replaces it with y = x.
With them retemories seem to numb a person's senses and reduce their thinking to mindlessly quoting scriptures.
Very well stated.......thanks.
Gee, with twi.....besides believing = receiving in formulaic fashion, even quoting scripture became monotone mindnumbing.
That special Father/son relationship in Christianity was........ummm, "absent."
I say it's fine to memorize Bible verses. But not just the verse: the whole context of the verse needs to be memorized and understood. The "heart behind it." Too many didn't and don't know even the verse either side, much less the context. (I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me ... means I can do anything I want, drive a bus, succeed in my exams without studying, be the Prez of (whatever), yada yada. Or does it? Maybe it means I can get through any situation, rags or riches, with Christ...that's something different.)
The verse itself should then bring to mind a whole body of helpful and supportive scripture, and epitomize the wisdom in the whole context
And a comprehensible language (a contemporary version) is quite possibly better than KJV.
When you don't know the context, that's when cherry picking kicks in.
I think it boils down to 'a time for every purpose under heaven'. A time to retemorize, a time to 'refrain from retemorizing'. There was a way corps promotional film which had a ficticious guy named Ben Taylor going in the corps. One day he was mowing the lawn and he was retemortizing while mowing, thinking he was being spiritual. He missed a row and LCM reproved him for it. Hence: a time to refrain from retemorizing.
In my own experiences, I was grateful for having had to diagram sentences in 5th grade. The teacher would write a sentence on the black board and we had to identify the parts of speech (noun, verb, etc.) of every word in the sentence. This led to identifying prepositional phrases, adjective and adverb clauses, and the like. So when memorizing verses of scripture, I found it easier to do if I broke the verse down into bite size sections separated by phrases, clauses, subject predicate flow, and such. I'm told they don't require elementary students to do this anymore.
As for when it was 'a time to retemorize', the best times were when under pressure. If I was alone it always seemed to help if I ran retemories through my mind; made the pressure go away. Of course, I never tried running the Gettysburg Address through my mind. That might have made the pressure go away as well.
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waysider
Let him that stole, steal. No more working with his hands the thing which is good.
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skyrider
Go to the ant, thou slug -- gard; consider her ways, and be wise
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skyrider
And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease,
.....and never cease to eat, to drink, [and] spend time with Mary.
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excathedra
i hated retemories
i would rather to talk to god / christ any day
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waysider
Retemories were really just a vehicle for fortifying your self delusion and bringing it into subjection to way theology.
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skyrider
Physical training making your body the vehicle of a Range Rover .....er, something?
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waysider
Definitely NOT a WOW-mobile:
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waysider
In retrospect, the whole "en garde!" concept is ludicrous as it was applied to our daily lives in TWI.
en garde
a call to a fencer to adopt a defensive stance in readiness for an attack or bout
So, we were supposed to assume a defensive stance (recite scriptures) to ward off attacks of critical thinking (the adversary).
It's nothing more than an exercise in self delusion, aimed at ignoring logic and reason in favor of what amounts to a sort of self induced behavioral modification. And, the foundation for the whole deal was that clever little lesson in PFAL that showed us what happened to Eve when she neglected to correctly assume the defensive stance.
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chockfull
Weren't the invention or commonization of retemories something TWI stole from the Navigators? Check out the top left hand corner selling "verse packs".
http://www.navigators.org/us/resources
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geisha779
I don't know where TWI got the idea, but little summaries of doctrine meant to be recited and retained can be found in the epistles. They didn't have a canon in the early church, but doctrine wasn't a free for all. Things like 1 Corinthians 15; 3, 4, 5 and beyond....... were pieces of central theology summarized for memorization. You can find these little schooling pieces, which would have been familiar to the church, all over the place in scripture.
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OldSkool
I have to say there is nothing inherently wrong with memorizing Bible verses in and of itself. With the way international it was how they taught us to go about it that was jacked. It was formulaic. They made Jesus seem formulaic when the devil tempted him. Too much of what they do removes thinking and replaces it with y = x.
With them retemories seem to numb a person's senses and reduce their thinking to mindlessly quoting scriptures.
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skyrider
I agree with this statement.
The problem with twi's approach........CHERRY-PICKING verses to deceive their intentions.
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geisha779
I could not agree more, for me....it is great that I memorized some scripture.....BUT, overcoming the immediate, almost visceral response, and the PFAL influenced understanding of those particular scriptures was really difficult. Each time I recited them it just became more ingrained. There are still verses that make me a bit uncomfortable when I hear them said in a certain way....not really a great response for someone who does believe the bible is God's holy word. It is what it is and when I hear "I can do all things....." recited even a tiny bit like a rallying cry......I still cringe.
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chockfull
I know that the concept of memorizing small snippets of scripture is not a new one. However, I had a relative that attended a Navigator's Bible camp growing up, and part of their curriculum involved packaging up little note card packets with a holder for themed verse memorization help. I had thought I heard from somewhere that VPW (or Glenn Clark who he lifted most of his family camps ideas from) had taken the idea that originated with the Navigators to print up retemory packets for sale in the bookstore. Then those became the standard and norm for their different programs (Way Corps, WOW), and eventually spilled over into additions to all the PFAL / WAP classes.
The link between the Navigators and VPW's printing and coining the term "retemories" maybe isn't 100% traceable (unless someone knows differently). However, just looking at what was out there at the time the Navigators (founded in 1933) utilized this practice and supplies in their camps in the 50s and 60s well before TWI ever thought about it. One more idea out in the Christian world that was taken by TWI, and a word made up and attached to it - "retemories" - and VOILA - VPW just invented a new unique method for memorizing scriptures that other Christians don't have. Plagiarism and ego was prevalent throughout so much of what that man did...
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skyrider
Very well stated.......thanks.
Gee, with twi.....besides believing = receiving in formulaic fashion, even quoting scripture became monotone mindnumbing.
That special Father/son relationship in Christianity was........ummm, "absent."
<_<
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excathedra
fine, memorize bible verses
but don't scare the shiiiit out of people by calling on them
same with those manifestations
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Twinky
I say it's fine to memorize Bible verses. But not just the verse: the whole context of the verse needs to be memorized and understood. The "heart behind it." Too many didn't and don't know even the verse either side, much less the context. (I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me ... means I can do anything I want, drive a bus, succeed in my exams without studying, be the Prez of (whatever), yada yada. Or does it? Maybe it means I can get through any situation, rags or riches, with Christ...that's something different.)
The verse itself should then bring to mind a whole body of helpful and supportive scripture, and epitomize the wisdom in the whole context
And a comprehensible language (a contemporary version) is quite possibly better than KJV.
When you don't know the context, that's when cherry picking kicks in.
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johniam
I think it boils down to 'a time for every purpose under heaven'. A time to retemorize, a time to 'refrain from retemorizing'. There was a way corps promotional film which had a ficticious guy named Ben Taylor going in the corps. One day he was mowing the lawn and he was retemortizing while mowing, thinking he was being spiritual. He missed a row and LCM reproved him for it. Hence: a time to refrain from retemorizing.
In my own experiences, I was grateful for having had to diagram sentences in 5th grade. The teacher would write a sentence on the black board and we had to identify the parts of speech (noun, verb, etc.) of every word in the sentence. This led to identifying prepositional phrases, adjective and adverb clauses, and the like. So when memorizing verses of scripture, I found it easier to do if I broke the verse down into bite size sections separated by phrases, clauses, subject predicate flow, and such. I'm told they don't require elementary students to do this anymore.
As for when it was 'a time to retemorize', the best times were when under pressure. If I was alone it always seemed to help if I ran retemories through my mind; made the pressure go away. Of course, I never tried running the Gettysburg Address through my mind. That might have made the pressure go away as well.
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skyrider
Or.....whistle a song or sing a tune.
Whenever I feel afraid,
I hold my head erect,
And whistle a happy tune,
So, no one will suspect
.....I'm afraid.
While shivering in my shoes,
I strike a careless pose,
And whistle a happy tune
So, no one even knows
....I'm afraid.
:)
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excathedra
as far as craig and the guy mowing the lawn, i just get the heebie jeebies over that promotion
i guess i knew craig too well
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