I know quite a few people who went back, most (maybe all) are back out.
My family and I left in 1983 and went back in 1990, I left again in 2001, my ex-wife left within a year.
A family who had been involved since the late seventies left after moving to an area that had no active TWI fellowship, but DID have an offshoot fellowship. When they moved back to Nebraska we ran into them and they came back to TWI. They were thrown out and M&A in the late 90's.
A guy who had run fellowships in one of the smaller cities in Nebraska just stopped going after he got divorced. He came back in the mid-nineties. He may still be "in", I'm not sure.
A couple from the same small city just kind of drifted away in the mid-eighties when there was no active fellowship in their city. They came back in the nineties. The wife was so appalled at LCM's WayAP class that she never went back. The husband stuck around, but left after the lawsuit was announced in 2000. He asked the "leadership" why I was put on probation for actions that were a heck of lot less serious than what LCM did.He never came back.
A half dozen other folks came back, but left after less than a year.
I don't know of anyone who came back that left during the Martindale era.
All of the people mentioned above left for personal reasons, not for doctrinal disagreements, or for disgust with the way the top leaders were running things. Most left before Geer read the P.O.P., or at least before things were REALLY hitting the fan. Most, if not all, held to TWI doctrine during their absence.
The first half of your post gave me hope of seeing a few people someday...then the guy went back? Amazing.
Actually, my parents were put on "probation" twice. The first time I was told not to contact them and they were told the same of us kids. That was rough getting a letter from my mom telling me they wouldn't be talking with me for a while. Coming back wasn't a hard choice in that instance. You want to be ablt to talk to your kids. The second time contact was discouraged but not so emphatically stated. Still all us kids were still in so I would imagine that was incentive.
I've known or known of a few more. I believe the D@rnells came back, then maybe left again. A handful of other in our area came back after a year or two out. Craziness.
I do hope I will see or hear from some of my old friends at some point.
My ex went back in. Perhaps I drove him to it. :D-->
While we were separated, but he was still refusing to leave the family home, I noticed some Sunday Night teaching tapes on his bureau. I later learned from Waydale that people trying to get back in were required in those days to subscribe to the tapes for a year. Many of them were unopened.
I was able to confirm that he had indeed returned to TWI at a court hearing over unpaid child support. He had listed "charitable contributions" under his weekly expenses. I cannot tell you how satisfying it was to interrogate him before a judge (I was acting pro se) and have him admit that he was giving money to TWI. My last question was, "So, you consider giving money to The Way International to be more important than paying to support your minor child?"
It's been a long time. I left in mid-80's But before that there were several folks who got kidnapped by deprogramers. I'm sure I can recall one who came back and perhaps there were others.
But as someone said, this was pre-Martindale.
One of the the things that being in the way does, is insulate you from having to make a lot of choices on your own. That feels so good to some people, they are willing to put up with how harmfully those choices are made for them.
I'm not surprised that some people get out and want to run back for cover.
No I know no one who went back though in all honesty I do know some people who would were TWI to issue even the most basic of apologies. Some people invested so heavily in TWI that having a life outside of that framework has been an extremely difficulty task for them despite the realization that TWI was a really bad place.
They connect with the nostalgia and good times they had as idealistic young people and allow this to color over the reality that TWI is in it for the money.
I also know some folks who would head back were TWI to once again adopt VPW's "works" as the primary teaching tools. Once again I think its just desperation to take the trip down memory lane but they'll tell you that they haven't been able to make sense of life outside of TWI. This is tragic indeed but its important to point out that there are indeed people who would return
I actually know quite a few people who have returned here in my area. One guy moved to another country where there wasn't a fellowship and when he moved back, he looked up TWI and ended up marrying a lady who was wc-alum.
I know one guy who was put on probation, then M&A, then allowed back so many times it was pathetic. I have no idea why he continued putting up with the abuse.
I know one lady and her brother who had gone through wc training and left for decades, but came back shortly before I left. Really sad, but her life and kids were a mess and I think she just didn't know where else to turn, but she's in for a rude awakening considering the TWI she left is not the TWI she returned to.
One guy wanted to come back and the BC was bragging about how many hoops he was making the guy jump through to come back. Poor guy did it all just to be able to come back.
One family was put on probation and I'm not sure if they were ever M&A but we WERE told not to talk to them if we saw them. They were gone for a couple of years and then came back.
There's a lot more people who were put on probation and "allowed" to come back, but yep, in my area, there was a revolving door. Pretty sad. I used to be jealous of those people who left and so disappointed when they returned.
There were times that I wanted to go back. I missed all the 'friends' and being 'busy' all the time.
But then I remember that it was with rose colored glasses that I had all these 'friends' and were 'busy' doing twi's work.
The rose colored glasses might be fine while young. But reality is so much better. It may take some work to have the real friends that won't turn on you if you leave your religion. But once you find out how to do it the rose colored glasses are never coming back on because reality is so much better.
Maybe thats why some go back. They have a hard time excepting the hard work and reality of the real life.
Boy, doesn't that just cut right thru all twi's b.s. about being nicer now and not telling anyone not to have contact... the facts speak louder than their words.
I must say that during the 70's there were people who left and went back. I doubt many of them had declared twi a cult and had seen and understood the pure evil that happens backstage.
That's why my friend going back in is so perplexing. I hadn't heard of anyone who left and went back after POP and the whole Martindale fallout.
I have never been so dissapointed.
I ,however, do have dreams that I go to the ROA even tho I'm out. I go and it's a little different, it's smaller but it's basicly the same old ROA. I see familiar faces and say HI and leave still convinced I am not interested in going back. I also dream about Rome City all the time too. PTSD!
I know a guy who's with CRF but he like me doesn't have any use for the attitude of "my MOG's better than your's". So he goes to TWI fellowships from time to time without incident.
I left TWI 10 plus yrs ago and some of TWI I'll always keep, but some I'll never put up with again, like the "committment beyond your life time" crap. I don't know anybody besides that guy who went back at all.
then I joined an off shoot, and some from twi (leaders) soon came to the off-shoot..
honestly I will probably never get involed with twi again, friends I got in have tried to introduced me into the new area leaders. I have spoke to them. and the solution was getting rid of all the evil people and now the household is clean (I told her I was one that mucky the place up I suppose ) the area leaders have only been in about five years. no vpw or lcm clues at all.
Honestly, I think Im to bitter and lazy now to get involved, all doctrine issues aside. I had more issues with what CES was doing at the doing as far as doctrine, than twi.
I think God can and does work amoung HIS choosen people and regardless of what group or organization you "belong' Jesus is within three or more as it is written.
do I regret the fallof the cards? yeah very much so. many times over, and I do rehash and think atimes I really messed it all up, still.
I can do more than wish things were and are different.
but they just aint. as I look out the window and see the beautiful finches in his blazing yellow feathers being fed by me cause I think he/she is beautiful, everyday I try to remember I too will be fed by a Most High Spirit of a loving Father.
IN prayer I still remember those I have learned about what spirit may be, and I still pray one day our love truly will increase in knowledge.
honestly I wish I could go back, then I realize it can never ever be"the same as the days of love and glory when I thought what I did about it all being good. sorry if this makes ya mad, I mean I could walk into fellowship today or tonite and be welcomed but I do not and I most probably never will.
but I do not I want to move forward in lifeand for some reason I think that is the past and way to much effort to try again.
I hold no bitternes for those involved now, they are me, quite a few years ago and I was a good and decent person just trying to love and worship God. it changed me, to the point I have no idea of who I would/could have been today without such a journey. no clue at all.
Knew one corps couple who went back after M & A. They basically got ridden back out on the proverbial rail by the BC's. Ironic, as it turned out because this same BC ended up getting dumped by LCM & co for not walking the straight & narrow.
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Jim
Sorry for your loss. No, don't know anyone that went back.
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Oakspear
I know quite a few people who went back, most (maybe all) are back out.
My family and I left in 1983 and went back in 1990, I left again in 2001, my ex-wife left within a year.
A family who had been involved since the late seventies left after moving to an area that had no active TWI fellowship, but DID have an offshoot fellowship. When they moved back to Nebraska we ran into them and they came back to TWI. They were thrown out and M&A in the late 90's.
A guy who had run fellowships in one of the smaller cities in Nebraska just stopped going after he got divorced. He came back in the mid-nineties. He may still be "in", I'm not sure.
A couple from the same small city just kind of drifted away in the mid-eighties when there was no active fellowship in their city. They came back in the nineties. The wife was so appalled at LCM's WayAP class that she never went back. The husband stuck around, but left after the lawsuit was announced in 2000. He asked the "leadership" why I was put on probation for actions that were a heck of lot less serious than what LCM did.He never came back.
A half dozen other folks came back, but left after less than a year.
I don't know of anyone who came back that left during the Martindale era.
All of the people mentioned above left for personal reasons, not for doctrinal disagreements, or for disgust with the way the top leaders were running things. Most left before Geer read the P.O.P., or at least before things were REALLY hitting the fan. Most, if not all, held to TWI doctrine during their absence.
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CoolWaters
IMO, this is a key. If one is going to hold to the doctrine, one might as well go back.
Where else could one possibly fit in?
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vickles
I don't know anyone that went back but know a couple of people that should have...
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lindyhopper
Damn, that is harsh.
The first half of your post gave me hope of seeing a few people someday...then the guy went back? Amazing.
Actually, my parents were put on "probation" twice. The first time I was told not to contact them and they were told the same of us kids. That was rough getting a letter from my mom telling me they wouldn't be talking with me for a while. Coming back wasn't a hard choice in that instance. You want to be ablt to talk to your kids. The second time contact was discouraged but not so emphatically stated. Still all us kids were still in so I would imagine that was incentive.
I've known or known of a few more. I believe the D@rnells came back, then maybe left again. A handful of other in our area came back after a year or two out. Craziness.
I do hope I will see or hear from some of my old friends at some point.
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shazdancer
My ex went back in. Perhaps I drove him to it.
:D-->
While we were separated, but he was still refusing to leave the family home, I noticed some Sunday Night teaching tapes on his bureau. I later learned from Waydale that people trying to get back in were required in those days to subscribe to the tapes for a year. Many of them were unopened.
I was able to confirm that he had indeed returned to TWI at a court hearing over unpaid child support. He had listed "charitable contributions" under his weekly expenses. I cannot tell you how satisfying it was to interrogate him before a judge (I was acting pro se) and have him admit that he was giving money to TWI. My last question was, "So, you consider giving money to The Way International to be more important than paying to support your minor child?"
Heheheh. And yeah, I won that day.
Regards,
Shaz
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My3Cents
It's been a long time. I left in mid-80's But before that there were several folks who got kidnapped by deprogramers. I'm sure I can recall one who came back and perhaps there were others.
But as someone said, this was pre-Martindale.
One of the the things that being in the way does, is insulate you from having to make a lot of choices on your own. That feels so good to some people, they are willing to put up with how harmfully those choices are made for them.
I'm not surprised that some people get out and want to run back for cover.
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JustThinking
Lindy,
Say it so about the D**nells! That would be a shame.
:(-->
JT
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Catcup
They honeymooned in New Knoxville?
Damn! Now THAT'S brainwashed!!!
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GrouchoMarxJr
Any religious organization who tells parents not to have contact with their own children should have a flame thrower taken to the place...
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diazbro
No I know no one who went back though in all honesty I do know some people who would were TWI to issue even the most basic of apologies. Some people invested so heavily in TWI that having a life outside of that framework has been an extremely difficulty task for them despite the realization that TWI was a really bad place.
They connect with the nostalgia and good times they had as idealistic young people and allow this to color over the reality that TWI is in it for the money.
I also know some folks who would head back were TWI to once again adopt VPW's "works" as the primary teaching tools. Once again I think its just desperation to take the trip down memory lane but they'll tell you that they haven't been able to make sense of life outside of TWI. This is tragic indeed but its important to point out that there are indeed people who would return
albeit on certain conditions.
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Belle
Georgio, I'm so sorry!!!
I actually know quite a few people who have returned here in my area. One guy moved to another country where there wasn't a fellowship and when he moved back, he looked up TWI and ended up marrying a lady who was wc-alum.
I know one guy who was put on probation, then M&A, then allowed back so many times it was pathetic. I have no idea why he continued putting up with the abuse.
I know one lady and her brother who had gone through wc training and left for decades, but came back shortly before I left. Really sad, but her life and kids were a mess and I think she just didn't know where else to turn, but she's in for a rude awakening considering the TWI she left is not the TWI she returned to.
One guy wanted to come back and the BC was bragging about how many hoops he was making the guy jump through to come back. Poor guy did it all just to be able to come back.
One family was put on probation and I'm not sure if they were ever M&A but we WERE told not to talk to them if we saw them. They were gone for a couple of years and then came back.
There's a lot more people who were put on probation and "allowed" to come back, but yep, in my area, there was a revolving door. Pretty sad. I used to be jealous of those people who left and so disappointed when they returned.
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coolchef1248 @adelphia.net
i sometimes think of getting in my car and driving to nk and getting back in.
then i awake and realize i was having a freaking night mare!
but i have been giving a lot of thought to go back to the catholic church
and i am am going on 60
just think i need something
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vickles
There were times that I wanted to go back. I missed all the 'friends' and being 'busy' all the time.
But then I remember that it was with rose colored glasses that I had all these 'friends' and were 'busy' doing twi's work.
The rose colored glasses might be fine while young. But reality is so much better. It may take some work to have the real friends that won't turn on you if you leave your religion. But once you find out how to do it the rose colored glasses are never coming back on because reality is so much better.
Maybe thats why some go back. They have a hard time excepting the hard work and reality of the real life.
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TheHighWay
Georio... I'm so sorry for your lost friend!
Boy, doesn't that just cut right thru all twi's b.s. about being nicer now and not telling anyone not to have contact... the facts speak louder than their words.
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Georgio Jessio
I must say that during the 70's there were people who left and went back. I doubt many of them had declared twi a cult and had seen and understood the pure evil that happens backstage.
That's why my friend going back in is so perplexing. I hadn't heard of anyone who left and went back after POP and the whole Martindale fallout.
I have never been so dissapointed.
I ,however, do have dreams that I go to the ROA even tho I'm out. I go and it's a little different, it's smaller but it's basicly the same old ROA. I see familiar faces and say HI and leave still convinced I am not interested in going back. I also dream about Rome City all the time too. PTSD!
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Allan
The Darnells are involved with CFFM,reasonably widely known.Awesome family.
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johniam
I know a guy who's with CRF but he like me doesn't have any use for the attitude of "my MOG's better than your's". So he goes to TWI fellowships from time to time without incident.
I left TWI 10 plus yrs ago and some of TWI I'll always keep, but some I'll never put up with again, like the "committment beyond your life time" crap. I don't know anybody besides that guy who went back at all.
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mj412
I went back after I was mariked .
about 7 years later.
I left again.
then I joined an off shoot, and some from twi (leaders) soon came to the off-shoot..
honestly I will probably never get involed with twi again, friends I got in have tried to introduced me into the new area leaders. I have spoke to them. and the solution was getting rid of all the evil people and now the household is clean (I told her I was one that mucky the place up I suppose ) the area leaders have only been in about five years. no vpw or lcm clues at all.
Honestly, I think Im to bitter and lazy now to get involved, all doctrine issues aside. I had more issues with what CES was doing at the doing as far as doctrine, than twi.
I think God can and does work amoung HIS choosen people and regardless of what group or organization you "belong' Jesus is within three or more as it is written.
do I regret the fallof the cards? yeah very much so. many times over, and I do rehash and think atimes I really messed it all up, still.
I can do more than wish things were and are different.
but they just aint. as I look out the window and see the beautiful finches in his blazing yellow feathers being fed by me cause I think he/she is beautiful, everyday I try to remember I too will be fed by a Most High Spirit of a loving Father.
IN prayer I still remember those I have learned about what spirit may be, and I still pray one day our love truly will increase in knowledge.
honestly I wish I could go back, then I realize it can never ever be"the same as the days of love and glory when I thought what I did about it all being good. sorry if this makes ya mad, I mean I could walk into fellowship today or tonite and be welcomed but I do not and I most probably never will.
but I do not I want to move forward in lifeand for some reason I think that is the past and way to much effort to try again.
I hold no bitternes for those involved now, they are me, quite a few years ago and I was a good and decent person just trying to love and worship God. it changed me, to the point I have no idea of who I would/could have been today without such a journey. no clue at all.
life is truly one heck of a mystery.
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lindyhopper
Say it ain't so.
;)-->
Well like I said I think they left again, and there you go, they sorta did.
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railroader
Knew one corps couple who went back after M & A. They basically got ridden back out on the proverbial rail by the BC's. Ironic, as it turned out because this same BC ended up getting dumped by LCM & co for not walking the straight & narrow.
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