I had looked once after leaving HQ, and I got a great laugh of a picture of lcm's head with fat bastard's body. But I didn't dare look at the forums or post at that time. I missed Waydale because of being at HQ.
My ex-boyfriend had been perusing GSC. He told me that there were major problems in twi. I chastised him for even looking at things written by bitter copouts.
Shorly after that, I decided to look for myself. I was not happy and looking for answers about the so-called godly and abundant life I was supposed to have been living. I wanted to know what was REALLY going on. So I started posting. When the ex-boyfriend found out, he chastised me. When I brought up the fact that he had said there were major problems in twi, he seemed to think that that was all changing.
posters, interviews, and writers seemed to have some serious axs to grind. Some of the web sites were not well managed - understatement - so the credibility or integrity of the content of the sites seemed very faulty. In short, they weren't easy to believe or relate to and seemed almost National Enquirer-esque.
I respect those hard working people whose so called axe to grind was their desire to expose TWI and did their best to do so. I am thankful for all those websites and the effort their administrators put into them. :)
We had left twi in 89 with 99.9% of our state in tact as a result of lcm's loyalty letter. So for a couple of years everyone still played Wayworld like before, but people were still reeling from POP, leaders with no twi-tit to feed them begged for money, a "get back to the word" campaign and pressure ensued, etc. The resulting fear, lack of leadership, bickering and MOG-wannabe-ness that transpired during the next few years made me even more disillusioned than even twi/POP/lcm. Then the clamoring for loyalty to a splinter group organization heated up and things got kinda ugly.
I had old friends who had family still in who told us what was still going on - - wasn't too interested in lcm's escapades - - except out of morbid curiousity.
But, deep down inside, there was a part of me that still was trying to put the pieces together. How did twi go from this cool, loving, Bible-based group in the early 70s when I got involved - - to such a male-dominated, throw your "juevos" around, in-fighting, legalistic mess - - where leaders with 20 and 30 years experience "leading" were so screwed up, lacking in vision and morally corrupt it was ridiculous???? Why did the stuff we thought was so exact and precise NOT work so exactly and precisely? How could God let this stuff happen if we (and what we believed) were the real deal?????
So, after leaving the last splinter group that was the worst of the 3 I had visited, I decided to go back to college to finish a degree. Aaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnddddd...while looking up Rome City's address to send away for my transcript, I was met with a link to the investigation of RC by the IN Secretary of State!!! Then started seeing all the ex-twi sites and landed here.
What I discovered (besides a lot of old friends) was that there existed a body of evidence - - facts, stories, impressions - - similar to mine that not only validated what I had suspected and had dismissed - - but also proved to me that the problems were long-standing and systemic. THAT I could no longer dismiss.
Once the pieces were put together, a lot of personal healing emotionally and mentally took place - - and the more I de-WayBrain - - the longer I stay :)
What made you look for a connection on the web? What events led to your being here and staying here today?
Getting out in '86 (or there-abouts), I had friends in Indiana who kept me supplied with written material (corps notes, clergy meetings, the pop, the adultery paper, personal letters, etc.), which told me the whole story of what was going on.
Got my first computer in 2003, and then I got internet service about 6 months after the puter.
Decided to check up on twi one evening, and when I did,
one of the first sites to come up about it was the No Way Out site.
I saw names of folks I had known there, and some of the scandals they were involved in.
I think it's true that you can take the *Way* out of a person, but it is hard to take the person out of the *Way*. You always seem to come back to see what part of your distorted past is still going on.
Leastways I did (and still do).
I stay here today, because here is a great bunch of folks that went through the same crap I did,
I came here by following a link from Google after hearing of the death of a well known TWI person. I wanted to locate his wife, who I consider a dear person. I was impressed with the courtesy in the Memorium Forum. I was also impressed with the strong feelings for and against a group which I was involved in for 14 years.
I did NOT come here to praise, bash, or discuss TWI, nor to "get over" any issues. TWI was long-passed history for me. I stayed to find other old friends (its been good), and to explore political views, both mine and other's. The latter reason has been somewhat disappointing, disturbing, and non-enlightening.
To get some kind of closure on that chapter of my life. To answer the question, "What happened?"
I got more of an answer to that then I bargained for.
Having said that, I don't know why I stuck around...there's really no good reason for it...sort of like cigarettes, very habit forming.
I guess I need to be a bigger (in the words of another beloved poster) son of a b1tch so I'll get booted and move on. Because it's apparent that I won't do it on my own.
After hearing about the All*n lawsuit, and being told not to troll the internet for info, I waited until everybody went to bed and started looking for Way-related sites. I found Juedes' site and Waydale in the same night. I felt like puking.
I got out in 1994 due to my fiance' living with me. Yes, I was living in SIN, not broken fellowship. Anyway, I walked away after hearing Loy spewing about 'shacking up' on a SNS tape at twig. I told my wonderful TC that I had never been kicked out of anything in my life and I wasnt about to start now. BUT, I still believed everything that I had been taught.
In 2000, my sister moved to AR to work for hubby and me in our business. She continued a long-distance friendship with the TC in Evansville, who told her about LCM and the lawsuit, Waydale, etc. I told her NOT to listen to Steve, that it was an attack from the adversary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I still believed everything that I had been taught. Yes, I know I have already said that in the first paragraph.
Steve mailed her several pages of printouts and she told me more details about it, so I finally had to check it out for myself. I was in shock, to say the least. Well, then one day I looked and Waydale wasnt there. I was in shock again. A few months later, I searched and found Greasespot. For the past 5+ years, I have read the stories and have come to believe that twi was and is an EVIL corporation, nothing Christian about it.
NOW, I DO NOT believe most of what I was taught for 19 years of my life. But I do believe what I was taught as a child and teenager by my parents and the churches that I attended.
GOD is good. I am born again, and I knew it as a child. I didnt need twi to tell me that.
Thanks, Paw, and all those that keep this site going.
No telling HOW many people this site and Waydale has brought closure and answers to.
In the early 80s, as some good people left twi.........I took notice and pondered the whys.
After vpw and the poop paper plunged into twi.........the paper was arrogant and agenda-laced. Wierwille was lauded as "twi's father in the word" and the current trustees were labeled "murderers." All was too "them versus us"........but still, raised plenty of intriguing questions.
By the mid-90s, the questions were overloading my waybrain......the homo purge, the genuine suspicion doctrine, the walls of zion isolation, the debt doctrine, the present truth and lies, mark and avoid dogma, character assassinations of several corps, the cold and calloused hq leadership, and more. I started to LOOK for the door......preparing myself for the inevitable exit.
When I walked away from twi.......a computer-savvy friend showed me things on the internet. The ex-way sites were limited, but helpful. And, when I posted on those boards, I was able to get in touch with many friends from years gone by.
Then Waydale came on board.......and WOW, WHAT A RIDE.
Waydale was loaded with current information. I stayed online for hours at a time. The martindale sex-predator side was coming to light. The Allxn lawsuit was filed. New folks, old grads chimed into the conversations and posted away. Top ex-twi leadership......like ralphd.....blasted the twi image. And, finally the mog status of wierwille and "God's true household" was debunked and...the scales fell from my eyes.
The adulation of wierwille and his teachings were the last to be usurped. I have separated the scriptures from the wierwille-induced idolatry in twi. Thanks Waydale and GS. Greasespot has done an admirable job of exposing countless issues from.......duped to fxxks (er, soup to nuts).
Now, I spend lots of time "finding myself." Today, life is just fine.
I didn't get a decent computer until '97, but it was a few years before I decided to look up TWI info. I had just resigned myself to believing I wasn't worthy to even think about those days. I did have an Ex-TWI old friend that I had spoken to once or twice, and it had helped somewhat, but, ya know.
When I finally started looking, like dmiller, I found NO WAY OUT first and was blown away. It was the first time I got to read POP. I still felt like a Weirwillite, until I found Greasespot through a link. I read all the documents and other info available and was knocked off my feet. But my old computer and the dial up was taking too long, and I couldn't get onto the forums.
Finally upgraded to a better system in January of last year and got into the forums. Boy, oh boy. You can't imagine (er, yah, maybe you can!) how what I saw blew me away. Not only did I discover what had happened to TWI, which, all those years, I had imagined was still intact and functioning business as usual, but I discovered that I wasn't alone in my thought processes about myself. I timidly lurked for a long time before I dared to register and speak. Now I've found a few old friends and am allowing myself to re-evaluate all those things through new eyes. It has been an emotional but cleansing time.
Now I don't want to leave. Looking forward to the latest thread has become like getting a letter from an old friend. I'll probably grow out of it, but for now-well, I don't wanna.
I, too, appreciate the tone of the forums. Things might get a little radical at times, but there seems to always be an underlying respect and civility for others. And a lot of very smart people. I'm thankful for everyone of you.
What made me look was that over a year after I got out (actually escaped) was that I went ahead and look around the internet anything about the Way international. Waydale wasn't the first thing I found. It was
a site called trance-net.com (I think that's the name of it) and it had an article titled NOWayOut. I read thru the stories and it shocked me quite a bit. It was then that I learn that TWI is nothing but a cult, that both VPW and LCM are nothing but crackpots and the whole leadership are the ones who pretty much contradicted the "Word".
From then on (Fall of '97), I always searched the Internet on anything regarding TWI until I found WayDale. It was thru WayDale that I met up with an old friend from TWI and talked on the phone with others. After that, I just stayed quiet lurking. Even for the past 5 years that GS was running on the 'net, I just lurked and read posts. It's not until recently that I decided to come out after almost 10 years out of TWI.
posters, interviews, and writers seemed to have some serious axs to grind. Some of the web sites were not well managed - understatement - so the credibility or integrity of the content of the sites seemed very faulty. In short, they weren't easy to believe or relate to and seemed almost National Enquirer-esque.
I respect those hard working people whose so called axe to grind was their desire to expose TWI and did their best to do so. I am thankful for all those websites and the effort their administrators put into them. :)
hi mickey
welome to gs a wonderful place sit take your shoes off and relax
FreeFromCults - thank you for coming out of lurk mode to post - I can certainly relate your reluctance to post - it took me a while to get the nerve to do it. Congrats on your 10 Years of Freedom!
--------------------------------------------
topoftheword - It can be exciting waiting for the next thread - and also to all the different forums that you can visit to post on. That's one thing I really like about GSC, because I'm more than an x member of TWI - and GSC lets me share more about books, movies, other interests....
------------------------------------------
Someone on another thread posted about how they were so glad to have found GSC and Waydale because no one else anywhere else would have been able to relate to them and their experiences. How true!
My husband was in TWI from 81-88, but we met via Waydale in 2000, after I had left. I don't feel that I could have married anyone who didn't agree with me son many issues spiritually, but also someone who could relate to what I had been through and what my experiences were. To anyone else it probably would have seemed like I had just left a church - no big deal. But to those of us who lived it, breathed it, etc., we know that it was much deeper than that - it was closer than your own skin somedays.
That's why I think these forums and the way they are managed are so important. Personal attacks aren't tolerated, so there more openess and genuine honesty here than I've seen elsewhere. Who the hell wants to post when they know they're going to be sniped at by some troll? You don't see that here. There is more of a tolerance here for diversity - people have been able to say almost anything (unless it's that you had a good experience in Momentus) and had other people listen and/or respond.
The forums have a symbiotic relationship for the lurker and the poster - the poster gets to connect, get things off their chest, etc., while the lurker gets to read, consider, etc., all on his or her own terms. That's the beauty of it all...
It reminded me of the other reason I appreciate Greasespot. The "Misc" forums are a true pleasure. I have learned a lot about life issues and have laughed harder from some posts than I had for years. Being able to come to a place like this feels safe, much safer than other forums, because contributors have been where I have been, have seen what I have seen, and have hurt like I have hurt. That makes a HUGE difference.
To get some kind of closure on that chapter of my life. To answer the question, "What happened?"
I got more of an answer to that then I bargained for.
Mr O'Mally you have such a way with words :)
That about says it all- I was on the quest to find out why my life had been one disaster after another-it was a time of facing the past and dealing with it on all levels- Waydale was supposed to be a quick pit stop on the journey
Instead I figured out that my involvement with TWI was a compilation of all the bad choices for all the wrong reasons I had made throughout my life. Once the memories came flooding back, I could see where I had misstepped--then came the even bigger challenge of unlearning the bad and building on the good and starting to rewally feel good about myself.
The journey continues , I keep coming back here because the application of truth in ones life is a never ending journey
I had left after being corps and staff at various locations, and, after being fed up with being staff and the absolute pettyness I witnessed amoung the "spiritual heavies," fled to the field, where I was able to ween myself out of TWI. I made the final break in '88.
I went on with my life, but it was about 10 or so years after I left, it was slow at work one day so I decided to search for TWI. Well, I stumbled upon Nowayout and trancechat. All the emotions I thought were over bubbled up. I think the first time I posted on trancechat, even though I had been out for years, was a really nervous experience. I don't know what I thought would happen. After time, hey, I even argued with people!
Than came Waydale, then here.
I think its a fabulous site and does a great service.
I almost sometimes feel like GS is a continuation of TWI - we're out, older, wiser, but many of us still love God. I feel like its the body of Christ chatting amoung ourselves - we're still dialoging - its our fellowship in some ways. Face it, TWI was so intense - who really could understand it unless they were in it themselves? Also, people in other groups and denominations are so surprised we are still going strong after all these years. They wonder what had such a hold on us - maybe us little "jesus freaks" really did experience God's love and Grace and have never forgotten what once was and what should have been.
"Face it, TWI was so intense - who really could understand it unless they were in it themselves?"
That's exactly why I was so relieved to found an outlet. I've never told anyone any specifics about what my life was like in my twenties: one question leds to another and then people who respected you begin to look at you funny. That leaves a lot of stuff bottled up. Even though a lot of emotions have bubbled to the surface, it has been more of a help to finally get it out. Not having the luxury of a therapist, this has been the next closest thing.
and then people who respected you begin to look at you funny. That leaves a lot of stuff bottled up. Even though a lot of emotions have bubbled to the surface, it has been more of a help to finally get it out.
That's so true, TopoftheWorld!
I signed up for a program where I'll be meeting with a gal each week and during the course of our second meeting I had told her that part of my being there stemmed from an abusive marriage and involvement with an abusive religious cult. She was really nice and we talked about it for a little bit, then she said she wasn't going to put the cult stuff down because if I had to meet with someone else one week for some reason, she didn't want them to pre-judge me.
It's sad, but when people hear that sort of thing, they do react in different ways. I have no qualms talking about it now and have actually helped some people because of my unabashed way of mentioning it. One girl's parents were very high up leaders in a different religious group, but her mom sexually molested her for her whole life. She had only discussed that with one other person, her girlfriend, and told me all about it and her problems reconciling her parents actions with their elite position within the religious group.
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ex10
I first discovered Waydale one night when my brother called me and told me somebody in the old waydale chat room was looking for me. B)
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bliss
Over the years, I came, saw, left, came, saw, left
Mostly scared to death
Mostly not ready to hear
Then when "I" was ready (for many reasons)
finally I looked, I believed, I stayed.
Can I get an "AMEN?"
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Nottawayfer
I had looked once after leaving HQ, and I got a great laugh of a picture of lcm's head with fat bastard's body. But I didn't dare look at the forums or post at that time. I missed Waydale because of being at HQ.
My ex-boyfriend had been perusing GSC. He told me that there were major problems in twi. I chastised him for even looking at things written by bitter copouts.
Shorly after that, I decided to look for myself. I was not happy and looking for answers about the so-called godly and abundant life I was supposed to have been living. I wanted to know what was REALLY going on. So I started posting. When the ex-boyfriend found out, he chastised me. When I brought up the fact that he had said there were major problems in twi, he seemed to think that that was all changing.
AMEN SISTAH!!
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Mickey
quote:
posters, interviews, and writers seemed to have some serious axs to grind. Some of the web sites were not well managed - understatement - so the credibility or integrity of the content of the sites seemed very faulty. In short, they weren't easy to believe or relate to and seemed almost National Enquirer-esque.
I respect those hard working people whose so called axe to grind was their desire to expose TWI and did their best to do so. I am thankful for all those websites and the effort their administrators put into them. :)
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dmiller
Hey there Mickey!! Welcome to GreaseSpot! :)
:)
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jardinero
We had left twi in 89 with 99.9% of our state in tact as a result of lcm's loyalty letter. So for a couple of years everyone still played Wayworld like before, but people were still reeling from POP, leaders with no twi-tit to feed them begged for money, a "get back to the word" campaign and pressure ensued, etc. The resulting fear, lack of leadership, bickering and MOG-wannabe-ness that transpired during the next few years made me even more disillusioned than even twi/POP/lcm. Then the clamoring for loyalty to a splinter group organization heated up and things got kinda ugly.
I had old friends who had family still in who told us what was still going on - - wasn't too interested in lcm's escapades - - except out of morbid curiousity.
But, deep down inside, there was a part of me that still was trying to put the pieces together. How did twi go from this cool, loving, Bible-based group in the early 70s when I got involved - - to such a male-dominated, throw your "juevos" around, in-fighting, legalistic mess - - where leaders with 20 and 30 years experience "leading" were so screwed up, lacking in vision and morally corrupt it was ridiculous???? Why did the stuff we thought was so exact and precise NOT work so exactly and precisely? How could God let this stuff happen if we (and what we believed) were the real deal?????
So, after leaving the last splinter group that was the worst of the 3 I had visited, I decided to go back to college to finish a degree. Aaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnddddd...while looking up Rome City's address to send away for my transcript, I was met with a link to the investigation of RC by the IN Secretary of State!!! Then started seeing all the ex-twi sites and landed here.
What I discovered (besides a lot of old friends) was that there existed a body of evidence - - facts, stories, impressions - - similar to mine that not only validated what I had suspected and had dismissed - - but also proved to me that the problems were long-standing and systemic. THAT I could no longer dismiss.
Once the pieces were put together, a lot of personal healing emotionally and mentally took place - - and the more I de-WayBrain - - the longer I stay :)
J.
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dmiller
Getting out in '86 (or there-abouts), I had friends in Indiana who kept me supplied with written material (corps notes, clergy meetings, the pop, the adultery paper, personal letters, etc.), which told me the whole story of what was going on.
Got my first computer in 2003, and then I got internet service about 6 months after the puter.
Decided to check up on twi one evening, and when I did,
one of the first sites to come up about it was the No Way Out site.
I saw names of folks I had known there, and some of the scandals they were involved in.
I think it's true that you can take the *Way* out of a person, but it is hard to take the person out of the *Way*. You always seem to come back to see what part of your distorted past is still going on.
Leastways I did (and still do).
I stay here today, because here is a great bunch of folks that went through the same crap I did,
and are survivors. :)
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HAPe4me
I came here by following a link from Google after hearing of the death of a well known TWI person. I wanted to locate his wife, who I consider a dear person. I was impressed with the courtesy in the Memorium Forum. I was also impressed with the strong feelings for and against a group which I was involved in for 14 years.
I did NOT come here to praise, bash, or discuss TWI, nor to "get over" any issues. TWI was long-passed history for me. I stayed to find other old friends (its been good), and to explore political views, both mine and other's. The latter reason has been somewhat disappointing, disturbing, and non-enlightening.
~HAP
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markomalley
To get some kind of closure on that chapter of my life. To answer the question, "What happened?"
I got more of an answer to that then I bargained for.
Having said that, I don't know why I stuck around...there's really no good reason for it...sort of like cigarettes, very habit forming.
I guess I need to be a bigger (in the words of another beloved poster) son of a b1tch so I'll get booted and move on. Because it's apparent that I won't do it on my own.
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Oakspear
After hearing about the All*n lawsuit, and being told not to troll the internet for info, I waited until everybody went to bed and started looking for Way-related sites. I found Juedes' site and Waydale in the same night. I felt like puking.
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act2
I got out in 1994 due to my fiance' living with me. Yes, I was living in SIN, not broken fellowship. Anyway, I walked away after hearing Loy spewing about 'shacking up' on a SNS tape at twig. I told my wonderful TC that I had never been kicked out of anything in my life and I wasnt about to start now. BUT, I still believed everything that I had been taught.
In 2000, my sister moved to AR to work for hubby and me in our business. She continued a long-distance friendship with the TC in Evansville, who told her about LCM and the lawsuit, Waydale, etc. I told her NOT to listen to Steve, that it was an attack from the adversary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I still believed everything that I had been taught. Yes, I know I have already said that in the first paragraph.
Steve mailed her several pages of printouts and she told me more details about it, so I finally had to check it out for myself. I was in shock, to say the least. Well, then one day I looked and Waydale wasnt there. I was in shock again. A few months later, I searched and found Greasespot. For the past 5+ years, I have read the stories and have come to believe that twi was and is an EVIL corporation, nothing Christian about it.
NOW, I DO NOT believe most of what I was taught for 19 years of my life. But I do believe what I was taught as a child and teenager by my parents and the churches that I attended.
GOD is good. I am born again, and I knew it as a child. I didnt need twi to tell me that.
Thanks, Paw, and all those that keep this site going.
No telling HOW many people this site and Waydale has brought closure and answers to.
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skyrider
In the early 80s, as some good people left twi.........I took notice and pondered the whys.
After vpw and the poop paper plunged into twi.........the paper was arrogant and agenda-laced. Wierwille was lauded as "twi's father in the word" and the current trustees were labeled "murderers." All was too "them versus us"........but still, raised plenty of intriguing questions.
By the mid-90s, the questions were overloading my waybrain......the homo purge, the genuine suspicion doctrine, the walls of zion isolation, the debt doctrine, the present truth and lies, mark and avoid dogma, character assassinations of several corps, the cold and calloused hq leadership, and more. I started to LOOK for the door......preparing myself for the inevitable exit.
When I walked away from twi.......a computer-savvy friend showed me things on the internet. The ex-way sites were limited, but helpful. And, when I posted on those boards, I was able to get in touch with many friends from years gone by.
Then Waydale came on board.......and WOW, WHAT A RIDE.
Waydale was loaded with current information. I stayed online for hours at a time. The martindale sex-predator side was coming to light. The Allxn lawsuit was filed. New folks, old grads chimed into the conversations and posted away. Top ex-twi leadership......like ralphd.....blasted the twi image. And, finally the mog status of wierwille and "God's true household" was debunked and...the scales fell from my eyes.
The adulation of wierwille and his teachings were the last to be usurped. I have separated the scriptures from the wierwille-induced idolatry in twi. Thanks Waydale and GS. Greasespot has done an admirable job of exposing countless issues from.......duped to fxxks (er, soup to nuts).
Now, I spend lots of time "finding myself." Today, life is just fine.
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topoftheworld
I didn't get a decent computer until '97, but it was a few years before I decided to look up TWI info. I had just resigned myself to believing I wasn't worthy to even think about those days. I did have an Ex-TWI old friend that I had spoken to once or twice, and it had helped somewhat, but, ya know.
When I finally started looking, like dmiller, I found NO WAY OUT first and was blown away. It was the first time I got to read POP. I still felt like a Weirwillite, until I found Greasespot through a link. I read all the documents and other info available and was knocked off my feet. But my old computer and the dial up was taking too long, and I couldn't get onto the forums.
Finally upgraded to a better system in January of last year and got into the forums. Boy, oh boy. You can't imagine (er, yah, maybe you can!) how what I saw blew me away. Not only did I discover what had happened to TWI, which, all those years, I had imagined was still intact and functioning business as usual, but I discovered that I wasn't alone in my thought processes about myself. I timidly lurked for a long time before I dared to register and speak. Now I've found a few old friends and am allowing myself to re-evaluate all those things through new eyes. It has been an emotional but cleansing time.
Now I don't want to leave. Looking forward to the latest thread has become like getting a letter from an old friend. I'll probably grow out of it, but for now-well, I don't wanna.
I, too, appreciate the tone of the forums. Things might get a little radical at times, but there seems to always be an underlying respect and civility for others. And a lot of very smart people. I'm thankful for everyone of you.
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FreeFromCults
What made me look was that over a year after I got out (actually escaped) was that I went ahead and look around the internet anything about the Way international. Waydale wasn't the first thing I found. It was
a site called trance-net.com (I think that's the name of it) and it had an article titled NOWayOut. I read thru the stories and it shocked me quite a bit. It was then that I learn that TWI is nothing but a cult, that both VPW and LCM are nothing but crackpots and the whole leadership are the ones who pretty much contradicted the "Word".
From then on (Fall of '97), I always searched the Internet on anything regarding TWI until I found WayDale. It was thru WayDale that I met up with an old friend from TWI and talked on the phone with others. After that, I just stayed quiet lurking. Even for the past 5 years that GS was running on the 'net, I just lurked and read posts. It's not until recently that I decided to come out after almost 10 years out of TWI.
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coolchef1248 @adelphia.net
hi mickey
welome to gs a wonderful place sit take your shoes off and relax
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dmiller
Shucks. For those innies lurking,
here is THE LINK for the Adultary Paper that we were told would get us possessed, if we read it. ;)
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dmiller
Oh -- and HERE is the link to the POP, if you haven't read it yet. ;)
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ChasUFarley
Thank you, dmiller, for those links.
--------------------------------------------
FreeFromCults - thank you for coming out of lurk mode to post - I can certainly relate your reluctance to post - it took me a while to get the nerve to do it. Congrats on your 10 Years of Freedom!
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topoftheword - It can be exciting waiting for the next thread - and also to all the different forums that you can visit to post on. That's one thing I really like about GSC, because I'm more than an x member of TWI - and GSC lets me share more about books, movies, other interests....
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Someone on another thread posted about how they were so glad to have found GSC and Waydale because no one else anywhere else would have been able to relate to them and their experiences. How true!
My husband was in TWI from 81-88, but we met via Waydale in 2000, after I had left. I don't feel that I could have married anyone who didn't agree with me son many issues spiritually, but also someone who could relate to what I had been through and what my experiences were. To anyone else it probably would have seemed like I had just left a church - no big deal. But to those of us who lived it, breathed it, etc., we know that it was much deeper than that - it was closer than your own skin somedays.
That's why I think these forums and the way they are managed are so important. Personal attacks aren't tolerated, so there more openess and genuine honesty here than I've seen elsewhere. Who the hell wants to post when they know they're going to be sniped at by some troll? You don't see that here. There is more of a tolerance here for diversity - people have been able to say almost anything (unless it's that you had a good experience in Momentus) and had other people listen and/or respond.
The forums have a symbiotic relationship for the lurker and the poster - the poster gets to connect, get things off their chest, etc., while the lurker gets to read, consider, etc., all on his or her own terms. That's the beauty of it all...
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topoftheworld
Good post, Chas.
It reminded me of the other reason I appreciate Greasespot. The "Misc" forums are a true pleasure. I have learned a lot about life issues and have laughed harder from some posts than I had for years. Being able to come to a place like this feels safe, much safer than other forums, because contributors have been where I have been, have seen what I have seen, and have hurt like I have hurt. That makes a HUGE difference.
You guys a great Cyber family. Cheers!
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templelady
Mr O'Mally you have such a way with words :)
That about says it all- I was on the quest to find out why my life had been one disaster after another-it was a time of facing the past and dealing with it on all levels- Waydale was supposed to be a quick pit stop on the journey
Instead I figured out that my involvement with TWI was a compilation of all the bad choices for all the wrong reasons I had made throughout my life. Once the memories came flooding back, I could see where I had misstepped--then came the even bigger challenge of unlearning the bad and building on the good and starting to rewally feel good about myself.
The journey continues , I keep coming back here because the application of truth in ones life is a never ending journey
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Sunesis
I had left after being corps and staff at various locations, and, after being fed up with being staff and the absolute pettyness I witnessed amoung the "spiritual heavies," fled to the field, where I was able to ween myself out of TWI. I made the final break in '88.
I went on with my life, but it was about 10 or so years after I left, it was slow at work one day so I decided to search for TWI. Well, I stumbled upon Nowayout and trancechat. All the emotions I thought were over bubbled up. I think the first time I posted on trancechat, even though I had been out for years, was a really nervous experience. I don't know what I thought would happen. After time, hey, I even argued with people!
Than came Waydale, then here.
I think its a fabulous site and does a great service.
I almost sometimes feel like GS is a continuation of TWI - we're out, older, wiser, but many of us still love God. I feel like its the body of Christ chatting amoung ourselves - we're still dialoging - its our fellowship in some ways. Face it, TWI was so intense - who really could understand it unless they were in it themselves? Also, people in other groups and denominations are so surprised we are still going strong after all these years. They wonder what had such a hold on us - maybe us little "jesus freaks" really did experience God's love and Grace and have never forgotten what once was and what should have been.
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topoftheworld
"Face it, TWI was so intense - who really could understand it unless they were in it themselves?"
That's exactly why I was so relieved to found an outlet. I've never told anyone any specifics about what my life was like in my twenties: one question leds to another and then people who respected you begin to look at you funny. That leaves a lot of stuff bottled up. Even though a lot of emotions have bubbled to the surface, it has been more of a help to finally get it out. Not having the luxury of a therapist, this has been the next closest thing.
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Belle
That's so true, TopoftheWorld!
I signed up for a program where I'll be meeting with a gal each week and during the course of our second meeting I had told her that part of my being there stemmed from an abusive marriage and involvement with an abusive religious cult. She was really nice and we talked about it for a little bit, then she said she wasn't going to put the cult stuff down because if I had to meet with someone else one week for some reason, she didn't want them to pre-judge me.
It's sad, but when people hear that sort of thing, they do react in different ways. I have no qualms talking about it now and have actually helped some people because of my unabashed way of mentioning it. One girl's parents were very high up leaders in a different religious group, but her mom sexually molested her for her whole life. She had only discussed that with one other person, her girlfriend, and told me all about it and her problems reconciling her parents actions with their elite position within the religious group.
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bliss
Belle-
((((((((((((((((
HER MOM????????????)))))))))) :blink:
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