The real question is NOT "Why did TWI collapse so quickly?" - because it didn't, it has been on the take for more than 60 years and still is mouldering on - the real question is, "Why did it last so long?"
Why did twi last so long?
1) Plagiarism......wierwille stole enough material, quotes, framework, etc. to "appear Christian" [wolf in sheep clothing]
2) Charisma........wierwille utilized good words and fair speeches to seduce those who hungered to know truth
3) Credentials.....who knew that it was a degree mill? The whole India itinerary was hype and hyperbole.
4) Enablers........trustees rubber-stamped it, staffers fawned over him, bodyguards protected his secrets, etc.
5) Mystique........audible voice, snowstorms, walked by revelation, crafted a spiritual persona, measured bully pulpit
6) Isolation.......dissenters given bums rush, sexual victims were labeled liars, outspoken corps were cop-outs
7) Cult Commune....tribal/caste system of authority, rung climbers-->classes/programs, secrecy knowledge built intrigue, curiosity & momentum
8) Preemptive......to speak against "the man of God"......a nail driven in the conscience to not speak up [pfal]
9) Groups..........people are a social animal, desire to belong [clubs, movements, causes, secret societies, etc.]
10)Math............recruitment, recruitment...... people have been LEAVING TWI since its inception [1957]
This thread has triggered some memories associated with what was wrong with TWI. People weren't going to stay if they were being made miserable - which I was.
I was in I-Hop as a waitress in the city I was currently assigned. I watched a customer leave the restaurant and as I watched him go, I felt a wave on envy. Here was a person going on about the next thing he was going to do and he didn't have a meeting he had to go to, he didn't have to feel like he had to witness wherever he went....and here I was with all this TWI baggage but I was COMMITTED for life! Because I was CORPS!! I was stuck and if I didn't like it, that was was my fault because I wasn't renewing my mind. That feeling of envy was a red flag that something wasn't right, but instead of heeding it, I continued on in my misery.
In the same I-Hop, we had signed up another waitress and she took the class. She wouldn't go to Twig, though. She told me it was because we all seemed so wrapped up in meetings and classes and that's all we did and she didn't want to be like that. I couldn't really argue with her since I saw her point. Yet I continued on in my bondage to TWI.
Years later, I was married and living elsewhere and my husband and I were running a small twig. At this point I had managed to get a little less involved and I had learned to avoid despotic leaders. Anyway, I was at work, and realized it was a non-Twig evening and I felt a total sense of RELIEF. Another red flag. How were we supposed to be under all this pressure to get people into something that was a drag?
Three years after that, in 1988 I was finally able to leave. I could have sooner, but I wouldn't listen to myself because I didn't trust my own self because it had been buried under my Waybrain.
This thread has triggered some memories associated with what was wrong with TWI. People weren't going to stay if they were being made miserable - which I was.
I was in I-Hop as a waitress in the city I was currently assigned. I watched a customer leave the restaurant and as I watched him go, I felt a wave on envy. Here was a person going on about the next thing he was going to do and he didn't have a meeting he had to go to, he didn't have to feel like he had to witness wherever he went....and here I was with all this TWI baggage but I was COMMITTED for life! Because I was CORPS!! I was stuck and if I didn't like it, that was was my fault because I wasn't renewing my mind. That feeling of envy was a red flag that something wasn't right, but instead of heeding it, I continued on in my misery.
In the same I-Hop, we had signed up another waitress and she took the class. She wouldn't go to Twig, though. She told me it was because we all seemed so wrapped up in meetings and classes and that's all we did and she didn't want to be like that. I couldn't really argue with her since I saw her point. Yet I continued on in my bondage to TWI.
Years later, I was married and living elsewhere and my husband and I were running a small twig. At this point I had managed to get a little less involved and I had learned to avoid despotic leaders. Anyway, I was at work, and realized it was a non-Twig evening and I felt a total sense of RELIEF. Another red flag. How were we supposed to be under all this pressure to get people into something that was a drag?
Three years after that, in 1988 I was finally able to leave. I could have sooner, but I wouldn't listen to myself because I didn't trust my own self because it had been buried under my Waybrain.
I agree w/DWBH. :)
A lot of us had those red flag moments. I remember a few of them. I can't imagine how dreadful life would be now if I had stayed in back in 1986.
If VP's vision was truly Word over the World he must have been shortsighted, hallucinating, or greedy (perhaps all three) in the strategy and execution of how to accomplish his vision; why would you charge a fee for a class and expect students to jump thru a bunch of hoops while attending it if your goal is to get the Word over the Word; seems like that's counterproductive – you're actually making it extremely difficult to get your product or service out there! I think the first century church did just fine getting the Word out to people without the aid of a green card, syllabus, and someone designated to run the tape or video machine.
It's obvious his methods were all consistent with operating primarily as a business, because every single
program was designed to operate AT A PROFIT. People never paid COST for anything-they paid RETAIL.
He wanted money to come in, and after a certain point he became more interested in OBEDIENCE and BLIND LOYALTY
than in simply raising numbers or even raising more money.
It's really shocking to hear some of the stories-like vpw claiming to buy the furniture used to film pfal-
then returned it and claimed he was unsatisfied so he could get a refund. Naturally, twi still recommends this
type of strategy- "buy" a big TV for "the class" then return it when the class ends.
Most people consider these "shameful" things for Christians to do-but vpw was big on never feeling guilt about
things. Small wonder he was fine doing so many shameful things when he considered NOTHING to be truly
shameful so long as you're not caught.
And lastly (thinking about the list Skyrider posted and some gem I picked up in a management course), VP and company were NOT good managers; a good manager helps develop people – they don't put folks in a straitjacket so there's uniformity and crack the whip to up production ("run more PFAL classes!") – but a good manager helps draw out each person's unique capabilities with a view to honing their skills so they become more effective; it does not squelch individuality but rather respects it and even enhances it.
Of course, vpw had no experience in managing, and absolutely no background in any type of
leadership training program. That's why he claimed that a leader is someone who is followed
blindly and never questioned. His view of leadership NEVER included the RESPONSIBILITIES for
(I want to apologize in advance…I may have exceeded the limit on how many analogies one can use in a single post)
I wanted to elaborate on the two ideas discussed on this thread - TWI's quick demise and yet it still lingers on; It brings to mind yet another Titanic analogy; it's not sunk yet – but it is slowly sinking - we look upon the scene long after it had struck the iceberg - back in '86 ; (hereafter TWI will be referred to as the TWI-tanic).....as we observe from the helicopter we can see there's some offshoots in lifeboats who will carry on VP's delusion of having the most accurate handle on truth. Case in point, see Don't Worry's post # 70 on The Latest Garbage from TLTF thread:
One of VP's faux gems in Lifelines - - - - nothing happens without leadership - also comes to mind – it does reveal the recipe for the secret sauce of continuity. Like the commercial that said good soup comes from good stock – VP's corps program essentially was about cooking down the individual participants to form a homogenized power source to fuel his madness.
* note: with deliberate intention to have a play on words i originally typed "cruise ship" to read ( c ) ruse ship - ("ruse" as in an action intended to deceive, a trick) - i thought it would be a clever way to say TWI's cruise ship is really a ruse ship ; here in this note of explanation i put a space on either side of the "C" that is between the parentheses - but in the "original text" when i typed the parentheses and "C" all together my word processor changed it into the copyright symbol; i thought that was even better since the PFAL material does have the registered trademark; yes their ruse is copyrighted!
(…and to dredge up and reconfigure an old joke in PFAL) the reason GeerHead and LCM did not deal with keeping the TWI-tanic afloat was because they fought over the deck. Ba dum bum tsssss….I'm here all week folks.)
T-Bone, maybe this doesn't apply, but I've generally enjoyed explanations that follow the Iceberg Theory.
good point Bolshevik - i enjoyed that link - and i like Hemingway too - matter of fact i plan on re-reading a couple of his works in the near future - probably would do me a lot of good to have some of his minimalist style rub off onto me (i know Grease Spot would appreciate it - yeah for the Verbosity Reduction Act of 2016....uhm i just made that up btw - don't bother Googling that).
on a side note: while on vacation Tonto and i took a tour of his home in Key West not too long ago....now home to a gazillion six toed cats...there was one laying on his bed as the tour guide showed us around.
The real question is NOT "Why did TWI collapse so quickly?" - because it didn't,it has been on the take for more than 60 years and still is mouldering on - the real question is, "Why did it last so long?"
maybe along those lines i was thinking why many folks stayed in for so long - and i keep coming back to human nature. Usually when a person invests in something they tend to see it through to completion. If one buys a fixer-upper house they invest what they can to get it back up to snuff. At some point in exhausting available resources many in TWI realized they had bought a money-pit – and it would be a smart thing to cut their losses and move on.
The thing about folks who hang in there anyway – brings up another trait in human nature. Most people do not like to admit they've been duped, made a rash of wrong decisions or that their trusted belief system has failed them.
maybe along those lines i was thinking why many folks stayed in for so long - and i keep coming back to human nature. Usually when a person invests in something they tend to see it through to completion. If one buys a fixer-upper house they invest what they can to get it back up to snuff. At some point in exhausting available resources many in TWI realized they had bought a money-pit – and it would be a smart thing to cut their losses and move on.
The thing about folks who hang in there anyway – brings up another trait in human nature. Most people do not like to admit they've been duped, made a rash of wrong decisions or that their trusted belief system has failed them.
maybe along those lines i was thinking why many folks stayed in for so long - and i keep coming back to human nature. Usually when a person invests in something they tend to see it through to completion. If one buys a fixer-upper house they invest what they can to get it back up to snuff. At some point in exhausting available resources many in TWI realized they had bought a money-pit – and it would be a smart thing to cut their losses and move on.
The thing about folks who hang in there anyway – brings up another trait in human nature. Most people do not like to admit they've been duped, made a rash of wrong decisions or that their trusted belief system has failed them.
Yep....right you are.
Layered into my listing above...9) Groups.....people are a social animal, desire to belong [clubs, movements, causes, secret societies, etc.]
are the socio-psychological traits of human nature. Most people, when they stake their allegiance to a college, team, group, etc. tend to seek acceptance or approval of their peers. The longer one stays, the stronger the bonds of camaraderie and conformity. Add the complexities of a girlfriend, spouse, children, your friends, her friends, children's friends, in-laws, twi-employer, having cut ties with past, etc......NOW WHAT??
This is far bigger than a bad business decision or investment. This entails life's most valued "commodities"......love and relationships, to God and mankind. When one awakens and/or finds himself ensnared.....it is gut-wrenching and antagonizing on multiple levels. How many recover from the snare unscathed and intact? How many marriages end in divorce? The intricacies thru this maze are multi-faceted.
And yes, that is one of the reasons why many people stayed LONGER THAN THEY WANTED TO.
maybe along those lines i was thinking why many folks stayed in for so long - and i keep coming back to human nature. Usually when a person invests in something they tend to see it through to completion. If one buys a fixer-upper house they invest what they can to get it back up to snuff. At some point in exhausting available resources many in TWI realized they had bought a money-pit – and it would be a smart thing to cut their losses and move on.
The thing about folks who hang in there anyway – brings up another trait in human nature. Most people do not like to admit they've been duped, made a rash of wrong decisions or that their trusted belief system has failed them.
Further, the human social need -- to belong -- is extremely deep and powerful. It kept many of us in twi far longer than it took for us to realize VPee was a huckster.
Layered into my listing above...9) Groups.....people are a social animal, desire to belong [clubs, movements, causes, secret societies, etc.]
are the socio-psychological traits of human nature. Most people, when they stake their allegiance to a college, team, group, etc. tend to seek acceptance or approval of their peers. The longer one stays, the stronger the bonds of camaraderie and conformity. Add the complexities of a girlfriend, spouse, children, your friends, her friends, children's friends, in-laws, twi-employer, having cut ties with past, etc......NOW WHAT??
This is far bigger than a bad business decision or investment. This entails life's most valued "commodities"......love and relationships, to God and mankind. When one awakens and/or finds himself ensnared.....it is gut-wrenching and antagonizing on multiple levels. How many recover from the snare unscathed and intact? How many marriages end in divorce? The intricacies thru this maze are multi-faceted.
And yes, that is one of the reasons why many people stayed LONGER THAN THEY WANTED TO.
I am one of those people.
Further, the human social need -- to belong -- is extremely deep and powerful. It kept many of us in twi far longer than it took for us to realize VPee was a huckster.
Not just Skyrider.
Yup, Skyrider and Rocky - i agree - we are social beings and i do think the social ties were probably one of if not the strongest bond that kept us in TWI !....what probably hurt me the most was the loss of so many friends when i left - and they did not !
Yup, Skyrider and Rocky - i agree - we are social beings and i do think the social ties were probably one of if not the strongest bond that kept us in TWI !....what probably hurt me the most was the loss of so many friends when i left - and they did not !
Indeed. I was definitely ready to leave in 1986. I had just completed a bachelor of science degree in accounting and reading the Book of Acts in that light and then seeing the bullspit that was twi made me intellectually ready.
The fact that entire twigs left in the Phoenix area when JALvis, Reahard, Dubofsky, Belt and Pierce published their letter made it safer (socially) for me and plenty of others to leave at that time.
Yup, Skyrider and Rocky - i agree - we are social beings and i do think the social ties were probably one of if not the strongest bond that kept us in TWI !....what probably hurt me the most was the loss of so many friends when i left - and they did not !
Might not have hurt so much if you'd managed to get yourself fired. Then again, that's its own kind of hurt.
Yup, Skyrider and Rocky - i agree - we are social beings and i do think the social ties were probably one of if not the strongest bond that kept us in TWI !....what probably hurt me the most was the loss of so many friends when i left - and they did not !
The social need for belonging was an underpinning to twi's growth. The rock of ages could have been a fun, exciting, social gathering ALL DAY LONG with a 90 minute teaching series in the evening. But no......the "ruling lords" had to leverage their control of spirituality from the flag raising to family table teachings to corps promotional meetings. What a crock! By 1981, I loathed the roa-religiosity and brain-numbing gurus. Same ole, same ole,.....year after year.
C'mon, people......how many of us went to the rock of ages to see friends, family, and loved ones?
Did the fanfare, the twi-infomercials and the bloviating on main stage add to that experience? Not really.
Do I remember ANY SPECIFIC TEACHING? Nope. Do I remember certain people and the social stuff? Yep, I sure do.
The social need for belonging was an underpinning to twi's growth. The rock of ages could have been a fun, exciting, social gathering ALL DAY LONG with a 90 minute teaching series in the evening. But no......the "ruling lords" had to leverage their control of spirituality from the flag raising to family table teachings to corps promotional meetings. What a crock! By 1981, I loathed the roa-religiosity and brain-numbing gurus. Same ole, same ole,.....year after year.
C'mon, people......how many of us went to the rock of ages to see friends, family, and loved ones?
Did the fanfare, the twi-infomercials and the bloviating on main stage add to that experience? Not really.
Do I remember ANY SPECIFIC TEACHING? Nope. Do I remember certain people and the social stuff? Yep, I sure do.
great insight with that post, Skyrider - thanks
....and i think you've given ROA a more appropriate name (which i red-bolded in my quote of your post) ....sooooooo people let's altogether now speak it into being, give sound to the Sakrete of concretion.....let the ectoplasmic cheesecloth slap 'em between the earballs:
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skyrider
Yep....right you are. Layered into my listing above...9) Groups.....people are a social animal, desire to belong [clubs, movements, causes, secret societies, etc.] are the socio-psychological traits
skyrider
The social need for belonging was an underpinning to twi's growth. The rock of ages could have been a fun, exciting, social gathering ALL DAY LONG with a 90 minute teaching series in the evening. Bu
skyrider
Today, I'd like to examine twi's collapse in another way. Rather than pointing out the obvious culprits [for the 10 thousandth time].....cult, commune, lockstep, pyramid, authoritarian, cult of pe
skyrider
Why did twi last so long?
1) Plagiarism......wierwille stole enough material, quotes, framework, etc. to "appear Christian" [wolf in sheep clothing]
2) Charisma........wierwille utilized good words and fair speeches to seduce those who hungered to know truth
3) Credentials.....who knew that it was a degree mill? The whole India itinerary was hype and hyperbole.
4) Enablers........trustees rubber-stamped it, staffers fawned over him, bodyguards protected his secrets, etc.
5) Mystique........audible voice, snowstorms, walked by revelation, crafted a spiritual persona, measured bully pulpit
6) Isolation.......dissenters given bums rush, sexual victims were labeled liars, outspoken corps were cop-outs
7) Cult Commune....tribal/caste system of authority, rung climbers-->classes/programs, secrecy knowledge built intrigue, curiosity & momentum
8) Preemptive......to speak against "the man of God"......a nail driven in the conscience to not speak up [pfal]
9) Groups..........people are a social animal, desire to belong [clubs, movements, causes, secret societies, etc.]
10)Math............recruitment, recruitment...... people have been LEAVING TWI since its inception [1957]
.
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Rocky
Great list of succinctly stated salient points.
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Bolshevik
It lasted, or continues to last, depending on how you define "lasting". You could argue "it" simply never was.
A cult is about finding vulnerable minds and hearts and aiding them to be comfortable in that weak, immature state.
Like Rosie said, if people no longer want what TWI provides, they should be free to move on.
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outandabout
This thread has triggered some memories associated with what was wrong with TWI. People weren't going to stay if they were being made miserable - which I was.
I was in I-Hop as a waitress in the city I was currently assigned. I watched a customer leave the restaurant and as I watched him go, I felt a wave on envy. Here was a person going on about the next thing he was going to do and he didn't have a meeting he had to go to, he didn't have to feel like he had to witness wherever he went....and here I was with all this TWI baggage but I was COMMITTED for life! Because I was CORPS!! I was stuck and if I didn't like it, that was was my fault because I wasn't renewing my mind. That feeling of envy was a red flag that something wasn't right, but instead of heeding it, I continued on in my misery.
In the same I-Hop, we had signed up another waitress and she took the class. She wouldn't go to Twig, though. She told me it was because we all seemed so wrapped up in meetings and classes and that's all we did and she didn't want to be like that. I couldn't really argue with her since I saw her point. Yet I continued on in my bondage to TWI.
Years later, I was married and living elsewhere and my husband and I were running a small twig. At this point I had managed to get a little less involved and I had learned to avoid despotic leaders. Anyway, I was at work, and realized it was a non-Twig evening and I felt a total sense of RELIEF. Another red flag. How were we supposed to be under all this pressure to get people into something that was a drag?
Three years after that, in 1988 I was finally able to leave. I could have sooner, but I wouldn't listen to myself because I didn't trust my own self because it had been buried under my Waybrain.
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DontWorryBeHappy
Great post outandabout! I sure understand your handle much better now! TY.
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Rocky
I agree w/DWBH. :)
A lot of us had those red flag moments. I remember a few of them. I can't imagine how dreadful life would be now if I had stayed in back in 1986.
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outandabout
That means a lot coming from you.
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WordWolf
It's obvious his methods were all consistent with operating primarily as a business, because every single
program was designed to operate AT A PROFIT. People never paid COST for anything-they paid RETAIL.
He wanted money to come in, and after a certain point he became more interested in OBEDIENCE and BLIND LOYALTY
than in simply raising numbers or even raising more money.
It's really shocking to hear some of the stories-like vpw claiming to buy the furniture used to film pfal-
then returned it and claimed he was unsatisfied so he could get a refund. Naturally, twi still recommends this
type of strategy- "buy" a big TV for "the class" then return it when the class ends.
Most people consider these "shameful" things for Christians to do-but vpw was big on never feeling guilt about
things. Small wonder he was fine doing so many shameful things when he considered NOTHING to be truly
shameful so long as you're not caught.
Of course, vpw had no experience in managing, and absolutely no background in any type of
leadership training program. That's why he claimed that a leader is someone who is followed
blindly and never questioned. His view of leadership NEVER included the RESPONSIBILITIES for
a leader, just the perks.
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T-Bone
(I want to apologize in advance…I may have exceeded the limit on how many analogies one can use in a single post)
I wanted to elaborate on the two ideas discussed on this thread - TWI's quick demise and yet it still lingers on; It brings to mind yet another Titanic analogy; it's not sunk yet – but it is slowly sinking - we look upon the scene long after it had struck the iceberg - back in '86 ; (hereafter TWI will be referred to as the TWI-tanic).....as we observe from the helicopter we can see there's some offshoots in lifeboats who will carry on VP's delusion of having the most accurate handle on truth. Case in point, see Don't Worry's post # 70 on The Latest Garbage from TLTF thread:
Don't Worry's post # 70
One of VP's faux gems in Lifelines - - - - nothing happens without leadership - also comes to mind – it does reveal the recipe for the secret sauce of continuity. Like the commercial that said good soup comes from good stock – VP's corps program essentially was about cooking down the individual participants to form a homogenized power source to fuel his madness.
Yup – the TWI-tanic runs on Soylent Green…and in case you haven't realized it yet…Soylent Green is made of the way corps. The essential thing that kept this living, breathing, chair-stringing mix of folks corralled and operational as a ©ruse ship * was the ironclad rule of oligarchy. The commotion over the passing of the patriarch was the iceberg that breached the TWI-tanic's iron hull, just below the waterline. Surly the impact must have registered with the passengers on board who were not totally asleep…and if they looked over the side they would have seen precious fuel leaking out.
== == == ==
* note: with deliberate intention to have a play on words i originally typed "cruise ship" to read ( c ) ruse ship - ("ruse" as in an action intended to deceive, a trick) - i thought it would be a clever way to say TWI's cruise ship is really a ruse ship ; here in this note of explanation i put a space on either side of the "C" that is between the parentheses - but in the "original text" when i typed the parentheses and "C" all together my word processor changed it into the copyright symbol; i thought that was even better since the PFAL material does have the registered trademark; yes their ruse is copyrighted!
(…and to dredge up and reconfigure an old joke in PFAL) the reason GeerHead and LCM did not deal with keeping the TWI-tanic afloat was because they fought over the deck. Ba dum bum tsssss….I'm here all week folks.)
(edited for clarity)
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Bolshevik
T-Bone, maybe this doesn't apply, but I've generally enjoyed explanations that follow the Iceberg Theory.
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outandabout
I thank God for the Great Exodus of 1986 - 1989 or so.
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T-Bone
good point Bolshevik - i enjoyed that link - and i like Hemingway too - matter of fact i plan on re-reading a couple of his works in the near future - probably would do me a lot of good to have some of his minimalist style rub off onto me (i know Grease Spot would appreciate it - yeah for the Verbosity Reduction Act of 2016....uhm i just made that up btw - don't bother Googling that).
on a side note: while on vacation Tonto and i took a tour of his home in Key West not too long ago....now home to a gazillion six toed cats...there was one laying on his bed as the tour guide showed us around.
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DontWorryBeHappy
Good posts T-bone. TY.
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T-Bone
maybe along those lines i was thinking why many folks stayed in for so long - and i keep coming back to human nature. Usually when a person invests in something they tend to see it through to completion. If one buys a fixer-upper house they invest what they can to get it back up to snuff. At some point in exhausting available resources many in TWI realized they had bought a money-pit – and it would be a smart thing to cut their losses and move on.
The thing about folks who hang in there anyway – brings up another trait in human nature. Most people do not like to admit they've been duped, made a rash of wrong decisions or that their trusted belief system has failed them.
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waysider
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skyrider
Yep....right you are.
Layered into my listing above...9) Groups.....people are a social animal, desire to belong [clubs, movements, causes, secret societies, etc.]
are the socio-psychological traits of human nature. Most people, when they stake their allegiance to a college, team, group, etc. tend to seek acceptance or approval of their peers. The longer one stays, the stronger the bonds of camaraderie and conformity. Add the complexities of a girlfriend, spouse, children, your friends, her friends, children's friends, in-laws, twi-employer, having cut ties with past, etc......NOW WHAT??
This is far bigger than a bad business decision or investment. This entails life's most valued "commodities"......love and relationships, to God and mankind. When one awakens and/or finds himself ensnared.....it is gut-wrenching and antagonizing on multiple levels. How many recover from the snare unscathed and intact? How many marriages end in divorce? The intricacies thru this maze are multi-faceted.
And yes, that is one of the reasons why many people stayed LONGER THAN THEY WANTED TO.
I am one of those people.
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T-Bone
cool link and quite relevant to what i was trying to say - thanks Waysider!
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Rocky
Further, the human social need -- to belong -- is extremely deep and powerful. It kept many of us in twi far longer than it took for us to realize VPee was a huckster.
Not just Skyrider.
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T-Bone
Yup, Skyrider and Rocky - i agree - we are social beings and i do think the social ties were probably one of if not the strongest bond that kept us in TWI !....what probably hurt me the most was the loss of so many friends when i left - and they did not !
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Rocky
Indeed. I was definitely ready to leave in 1986. I had just completed a bachelor of science degree in accounting and reading the Book of Acts in that light and then seeing the bullspit that was twi made me intellectually ready.
The fact that entire twigs left in the Phoenix area when JALvis, Reahard, Dubofsky, Belt and Pierce published their letter made it safer (socially) for me and plenty of others to leave at that time.
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TLC
Might not have hurt so much if you'd managed to get yourself fired. Then again, that's its own kind of hurt.
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skyrider
The social need for belonging was an underpinning to twi's growth. The rock of ages could have been a fun, exciting, social gathering ALL DAY LONG with a 90 minute teaching series in the evening. But no......the "ruling lords" had to leverage their control of spirituality from the flag raising to family table teachings to corps promotional meetings. What a crock! By 1981, I loathed the roa-religiosity and brain-numbing gurus. Same ole, same ole,.....year after year.
C'mon, people......how many of us went to the rock of ages to see friends, family, and loved ones?
Did the fanfare, the twi-infomercials and the bloviating on main stage add to that experience? Not really.
Do I remember ANY SPECIFIC TEACHING? Nope. Do I remember certain people and the social stuff? Yep, I sure do.
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T-Bone
great insight with that post, Skyrider - thanks
....and i think you've given ROA a more appropriate name (which i red-bolded in my quote of your post) ....sooooooo people let's altogether now speak it into being, give sound to the Sakrete of concretion.....let the ectoplasmic cheesecloth slap 'em between the earballs:
See you at the cRock !
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skyrider
EXACTLY.....
For the first 5 or 6 years, I had a zealous excitement for the rock of ages. I expected to see
joy, healing, deliverance, walking and leaping and praising God.
YET.....it didn't happen. And, especially that year when wierwille announced a healing service would
be held that night in the big top. I had high expectations of the possibilities. So, when the time
came....and wierwille called for those who sought deliverance to come forward, he stayed at the
microphone and summoned the advanced class grads to come forward to minister. Wierwille and his
top-tier leaders stood on stage and watched the proceedings. Religious hierarchy smug.....
The cRock of Ages became a smugfest of trivial pursuits for the little people.
The smug of golf cart drivers darting hither and yon....while the crowds walked in the rain and mud.
With each passing year, more mothers with babies and toddlers attended......yet, twi was stuck on stupid.
In the 1980s, the teenagers were bored out of their wits......still, the spiritual elite provided little
except a teen stage in the west woods. Oh my God.....the clueless are in charge!?! Who organizes an
event to do THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN? Answer: Wierwille and his cult.
Gawd, I miss those days of suit, tie and bible while walking thru a muddy cornfield
toward a hot, humid, hard seat in a big top oven.
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