Where's the EXIT?

[Belle]

(((((Twinky)))))  It's good to "see" you!   Hard to believe it's been 10 years! The time has flown and it's amazing how close we get to people we haven't even met in person. You were also very helpful to me.

[BlueCord]

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to report that I'm still alive and well . . . even after leaving TWI. It's been a while, but I went and got myself into debt (a mortgage) and I've started going to college. To top it all off, I sporadically attend various churches in search of a church home, BUT (this is gonna freak everyone out for sure) I don't tithe. And, you know what? Once I got over the whole idea that I was "no longer under the protection of the household" I've been able to live my life and realize that it's infinitely better without TWI. In fact, as I write this, I know for certain that I've had more than "2 drinks".

[krys]

Welcome. I'm glad you just posted that as it is one additional demonstration that the tale of "the GreaseSpot by Midnight" is just a myth..

I wish you success in your search for a home church and in your further education.

[Twinky]

Likewise, BlueCord.  Took me years to pluck up the courage to get a mortgage.  And I lost my job (market crash :( yuck) a few months after my house purchase!  Now, ten years on, the mortgage is down by nearly £80K and I have only about £28K to go.  I could not rent anything near what I own, for the amount.  Actually to rent my house would cost about twice what I pay in mortgage.

I don't tithe, but I do give to support my church and a couple of worthwhile charities whose work I respect.  One is a Christian organization, one is not.  I am thankful for what is available to me FREE (or nearly so) in my country and would like to help those in other countries where similar is not available, or only at high cost.

The variety of genuinely caring and charitable work carried out by the many deeply committed Christians I know is awesome, astounding, and humbling.  All of this done is without condemnation of other Christians or of the non-Christians that may be the beneficiaries of the help.  Amazing how rich life is when you don't look down on, or condemn, other people!!!!

I'll drink to your success in your college studies and a bright future ahead of you.

 

Anybody left in TWI who's reading this: GET A LIFE!!  GO DO SOMETHING!!

[higherground30]

That's right Twinky 

Yeah so glad I'm out 3.5 years and couldn't be happier hope your Livin the dream bluecord

[DontWorryBeHappy]

Welcome to the real world, Bluecord! Enjoy! Thanks for the update!

[penworks]

On ‎5‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 1:07 AM, BlueCord said:

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to report that I'm still alive and well . . . even after leaving TWI. It's been a while, but I went and got myself into debt (a mortgage) and I've started going to college. To top it all off, I sporadically attend various churches in search of a church home, BUT (this is gonna freak everyone out for sure) I don't tithe. And, you know what? Once I got over the whole idea that I was "no longer under the protection of the household" I've been able to live my life and realize that it's infinitely better without TWI. In fact, as I write this, I know for certain that I've had more than "2 drinks".

Congratulations, BlueCord. I wish you the very best on all fronts! (and backs )

[chockfull]

On 5/5/2017 at 11:07 PM, BlueCord said:

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to report that I'm still alive and well . . . even after leaving TWI. It's been a while, but I went and got myself into debt (a mortgage) and I've started going to college. To top it all off, I sporadically attend various churches in search of a church home, BUT (this is gonna freak everyone out for sure) I don't tithe. And, you know what? Once I got over the whole idea that I was "no longer under the protection of the household" I've been able to live my life and realize that it's infinitely better without TWI. In fact, as I write this, I know for certain that I've had more than "2 drinks".

Phenomenally normal.  

The only thing missing is listening to some good country music.  But everything in moderation, you know, because if you listen to way too much country music then eventually you will have to listen to it backwards so that you can get your car back, your house back, your girl back, and your job back.   

[T-Bone]

On 5/6/2017 at 0:07 AM, BlueCord said:

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to report that I'm still alive and well . . . even after leaving TWI. It's been a while, but I went and got myself into debt (a mortgage) and I've started going to college. To top it all off, I sporadically attend various churches in search of a church home, BUT (this is gonna freak everyone out for sure) I don't tithe. And, you know what? Once I got over the whole idea that I was "no longer under the protection of the household" I've been able to live my life and realize that it's infinitely better without TWI. In fact, as I write this, I know for certain that I've had more than "2 drinks".

good to hear all that, BlueCord !

i agree life is infinitely better without TWI - - and a helluva lot simpler too....when we bought our first house - it took awhile for our brains to uncomplicate the process of applying for a home mortgage because of how treacherous and burdensome TWI made it out to be.

by the way, i hit 2 drinks in about 3 hours tonight - had 2 large cups of coffee and St Brendan's Irish Cream.....mmmmmmm good!

all the best to ya, carry on !

 

 

[Grace Valerie Claire]

On 6/13/2016 at 5:12 PM, BlueCord said:

Man, I don't even know where to start with this. I get into the Way in 2010. Way Disciples (basically a revamped program of the WOWs) knocked on my door. I got sucked in because at the actual household level of things they seem to be good folks. Hell, I still think there are good people in the Way. It's just the organization as a whole is bad. Anyways, I took the classes. I went out Way Disciple. I went on Staff. The more I served the more unhappy I was. I couldn't figure it out. A while back (while we were still on staff, actually) my wife and I did an experiment to see whether or not we would be confronted or not. We quit tithing. I was certain that somebody was going to notice and bring it up, but nobody did. When I got to HQ, people were leaving staff or getting fired left and right. People who had said they were going to come on staff cancelled at the last minute. We were doing a lot of "volunteer" hours to make sure all the work got done. Since there weren't enough people to get all the work done more and more responsibility was being added to just about everyone that was competent enough to handle even the simplest of tasks. People who should have been fired for gross incompetency were allowed to remain in their jobs simply because HQ didn't have the bodies to replace them. Needless to say, my wife and I were unhappy. We finally made the announcement that we wanted to leave. In some ways it didn't go over well, and in others it did. We had to sit down with our President's cabinet and explain why we wanted to leave, that was the difficult part. The good part was that they moved us out of there in like a weeks time. Anyways, we get to our field location and things are just kind of . . . I don't know how to describe it other than to say "dead". The fellowship is only a handful of people. The coordinator and his wife are the only people who lead or teach. And the teachings are just kind of empty of any content because it's just trying to go over what was said in the STS.

I'm not sure if everyone on the site is familiar with any current members of the Way, but it seems that RFR is on the warpath. I recently spoke with Karl Kahler (the author of "The Cult That Snapped). I explained to him what is going on, and he said it's pretty much the same thing that was going on in Martindale's day; a huge purge. I'm not going to drop a lot of names, because some people are still private. So, before I went on Staff, I was looking forward to working with a friend of mine. The month before my wife and I arrived he got canned. So, we're talking around July of 2014. I arrived in August of that year and left the following year. In the time that I was there I know of at least 2 other people that got fired. I'm not sure of the reasons. Another friend of mine that I had made while on Staff (who felt the same way about life at HQ) had some discrepancies with his pay. After weeks of nothing being done to rectify the problem of NOT GETTING PAID FOR OVERTIME, he just decided to show up a few minutes late to work to get his time back. Needless to say he got in trouble, and was asked if he wanted to stay. He answered honestly and said no. Within a month he was gone. There were two couples who were in their second year of in residence Way Corp training. They asked some questions about the Foundational Class. They were immediately let go.

Fast forward to right now. I got some news this weekend about some corp being dropped. One couple (the husband had recently been promoted to coordinate the IO department) had been fired shortly after I left HQ. He gets sent to another state. I'm not sure of the details, but this weekend I found out he was dropped from the Corp and has left the ministry. Another good friend of mine who was Corp also got dropped. The reason? He made some comments about feeling unproductive. Now here's the kicker. One of the Vice Presidents of the Way got canned also. We're talking a senior officer. So, I see all this stuff going on, and I've read all the stuff about the years under Martindale (which I didn't go through) and I think to myself "Oh my God. It's happening again".

I don't know what else to say. I'm in the process of getting out. I don't know how to go about breaking it to my "leadership" without getting sucked back in.

I would take my spouse, and leave. I left back in 1988, and never went back.  Life is good!!

[Grace Valerie Claire]

On 6/14/2016 at 4:10 PM, Bolshevik said:

You know, when some people leave they take a bunch of others with them. . . . Rosie then loses the opportunity to throw them out, or threaten to throw them out.

Start a schism, that's what the cool kids do.

Now you tell me this!!!???  Just kidding.  Now, I wish I had thought of starting a schism before I left in 1988.

[Grace Valerie Claire]

On 6/15/2016 at 8:04 AM, Raf said:

BlueCord: we all have different journeys. Most people on this board are still Christian or spiritual in one way or another. I myself am not. Nobody is going to brainwash you into anything here because we can't even agree with each other long enough to decide what to brainwash you into. You'd end up being an atheist-trinitarian-fundamentalist-evangelical-wiccan-dispensationalist-covenant-theologian who believes the Bible contains no contradictions or errors except for the errors and contradictions it contains. You may end up thinking Wierwille was anything from the second coming of the apostle Paul to a traveling salesman who always believes in the band, kid. To a rapist.

You will be respected, but as you work out to sort truth from error, angry hyperbole from history, reality form/with spirituality, be assured that some of us will agree with you, some will not, and in the end we will always be happy to see you. Even when we're not.

Happy posting.

Raf, I love your posts!  They make me laugh!!

[Grace Valerie Claire]

On 6/15/2016 at 1:13 PM, Bolshevik said:

She's right. Or not.

BC, you seem like an intelligent young man to me.  But, I do want to tell you something; not all of us are bitter about TWI. Some people may be, but I'm not.  I was in for 10 years, met some great people, and had a lot of fun.  However I too have my war stories about TWI. For years I was bitter about my military experience, but I am working on that.  When you and your wife leave TWI, it might be beneficial if you seek professional help.  Just a suggestion.

[Grace Valerie Claire]

On 6/16/2016 at 10:51 AM, BlueCord said:

Charlene,

They actually do NOT have a research department. At least there's nobody with a brown name tag that has "research" on it any more. They claim to have one, but the only research that goes on is when a teacher for the STS submits the teaching to the publication department to be "researched" to make sure it lines up with the collaterals. No new research is being done. They say it's because it's not being submitted, but that's just not true. People submit stuff and Rosalie fires them for it. It's "the collaterals, the collaterals, and nothing but the collaterals" these days

BC, whew!  I took the class back in 1978, years before you were born.  I thought collaterals were boring, and poorly-written.  I hated reading them; I am sure some people really enjoyed them.  No wonder why the teachings are so boring, or so I have heard.

[Grace Valerie Claire]

On 6/19/2016 at 2:39 AM, Twinky said:

Rocky, the title was (given to me): "An Answer of Truth in the Face of Accusation" - basically intended I think as a word study of the word Apokrinomai and a study of the gospel of John, where this word mostly occurs, where it's usually translated: "he answered and said,,," and is frequently used where Jesus responds to the Pharisees and his other attackers. And I think LCM must have intended it as some sort of get out of jail free card - justification for his yelling or justification for his adultery or some such.

But I checked the word in Septuagint, compared with use in the OT, considered lots of words in the OT esp (I think) the word Shaphat, which was the Sept-equivalent word. Looked at all usages. It took me to God's desired care that we mortals should extend to our families and extended families, personal relationships, and right living. I roamed all over all the Bible except (perhaps) Revelation, picking up first one aspect then another. It took in graciousness and forgiveness.

Basically, I came to the conclusion that the "Answer of Truth in the Face of Accusation" is to be right-living, lining up one's behaviour with that desired by God, an honest-to-God lifestyle., So of course that's what I wrote. The Answer of Truth is the way we live. It's not just in the words we use (which very little of my thesis touched upon) to respond to people. When we live right, then we can speak right and answer our accusers. There is integrity behind our words when we do respond with words.

It was also written in a readable but scholarly fashion, not folksy anecdotes, but tightly and forensically, and using carefully chosen words. I was a lawyer in another life; sloppy wordsmithing can lead to clients' cases failing badly,

So you can see why my conclusions about the Answer went down like a lead balloon :confused:/>.

And perhaps why there wasn't much in the collaterals about this !!

Twinky, no wonder why TWI kicked you out!!  You in essence said that people should live by God's standards.  For sure, many of the people in Way Word weren't abiding by those particular standards.  In fact, many in the inner circle were living in direct contrast to those standards. I think I would have tried to keep you in the Corps; you never know when you will need an attorney.  But, obviously the people in Way World don't think the way I do. If they had, you might have stayed in.  Those fools!!

[Grace Valerie Claire]

On 6/19/2016 at 9:01 AM, BlueCord said:

To everybody who has chimed in here, I certainly do appreciate it. I thought I would give you all a heads up about how my wife and I have planned to make our exit. After discussing things with my wife, we've decided to follow Tzaia's guidance and simply quit going. I don't expect there will be much effort on their part to contact us, but if they do it will likely be by phone. So, that's my grand exit. We're just going to drift away.

Yeah to BC, and his wife!!! That is great to hear!!!  Good for both of you!

[penguin2]

On 10/18/2016 at 0:34 PM, Belle said:

(((((Twinky)))))  It's good to "see" you!   Hard to believe it's been 10 years! The time has flown and it's amazing how close we get to people we haven't even met in person. You were also very helpful to me.

You helped me too belle!  I was smurfette and then penguin.  We are enjoying life out of the way! Twinky and I had the pleasure of being in rez together....

[DontWorryBeHappy]

BELLE!!!!!!!!!!