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Hey, joking aside, I think I (modcat5) and my most frequent collaborator, modgellan, try our best, and we all know how this has been Pawtucket's labor of love, but if you want to thank an unsung hero of this place, it's... GREASYTECH. This is the guy WE turn to when YOU complain to US about the technical shortcomings of the site. Modgellan and I do our best to enforce rules. I do my best to engage without being an a-hole. Paw pays the bills and keeps the coffee machines plugged in. But GREASYTECH is the person who you would miss the most if he suddenly decided he had better things to do. TO GREASYTECH! Salud!

Doncha mean, the backroom boys (and girls) who make the pastries, and fetch the coffee, and wash the cups? I guess, those who fetch the coffee and other tasties, too. Thanks, everyone (even if a few bits of crockery get broken in the process).

Sending a special shout out to the individuals who change the oil and rotate the tires here. Thank You.

Hi there, If you are reading this, then you are on the new server! This should be faster and more efficient than the old server. We had been on the old server since June of 2011. Thanks to everyone for donating to the cause. We reached our goal and saved a bunch. By moving to this, we saved close to 800 dollars for the next year. Special thanks to the mods as well as Roj for keeping this up and running. You will notice that posts are missing from May 30th until today. I was unable to activate the new server until yesterday Pawtucket

I add my thanks as well to everyone mentioned above. GSC posters showed me the damaging lie of twi's "absent Christ" doctrine and the enlightening truth of having a present and personal Christ with me 24/7. There's a lot of other great stuff, but this is the biggest and bestest ( ) ever.

Actually no discussion of TWI writing styles would be complete without covering the latest and greatest from the podunkville farm and the editing preferences of her Rosieness. The best way to describe this style would be the use of adjectives. So, here we go: bland vanilla lifeless bologna on white bread 3rd grade reading level b-o-r-i-n-g void of personality overedited dull snoozefest Even Strunk & White would fall asleep reading it And even more amazing is they are able to reproduce it in live teachings. Yes, TWI is truly medication for the insomniac.

Actually, the TWI version was "Dick and Jane BELIEVE For The Potty To Flush Itself"

Yeah – good one Excathedra – you've inspired my funny bone - so here goes... TWI writing style in various business contexts.... Late bill notice: "Greetings & blessings to you in the name of our wonderful Redeemer, who paid in full the price for our sins. Unfortunately, he didn't cover your cable bill." Response from IRS to a TWI follower's income tax filing: "Please be advised altering tax forms is a serious matter. It has come to our attention that on your 2007 tax form, you crossed out 'married filing separately' and wrote in 'together with yet distinctly independent of'." Notification of an out of stock item: "We are sorry to inform you that one of the items on your order is presently unavailable due to factory cutbacks. In an effort to lessen cost overruns to our shipping and handling departments impacted by filling partial orders we have decided that your entire order will be held in abeyance until every item on your order is completely, completely, absolutely completely available." Investment opportunity ad: "Mining company seeks investors to finance re-opening of abandoned mine believed to have several untapped veins. We look forward to working with those who have the love of gold in the renewed mine in manifestation." Advertisement for how a new wonder drug works: "The memory pill works both thoroughly and throughly by ineffable greatness in accordance with the exceeding abundantly above and beyondness of all other redundancy in the great principle with and/or without distinct exception. The memory pill remembers the memories you should remember. They now become the pill's memories, and the pill's memories remind your memories of things to remember, then it becomes manifested along memory lane as you remember. It's just another amazing breakthrough from Lokbox Pharmaceuticals." [ps. this upgrade takes some serious getting used to...]

I think (only my opinion) that the oral styles that proliferated had a greater impact than the written. Everybody wanted to sound like a clone of VPW or Donnie F. Even a recently posted thread, regarding prayer, seems to fit this homiletic mold.

I give WW an "A" for style, clarity, and precision. No split infinitives, proper use of as and like, etc. I have to give a "B" for content, though. The Greek text at my disposal, The Greek New Testament (K. Aland, et al., 2nd Ed. Wurttemberg Bible Society, Stuttgart, W, Germany. 1968.) does not have "Christ" in Phil. 4:13 at all. The verse reads (I assume that there is a way to import the Greek alphabet, but I don't know how to do it. I am using w in place of omega): panta ischuw en tw endunamounti me all things I can do in the one who empowers me (In Koine Greek, en often means "by means of.") Aland's text also includes any significant variants, and there are none here. It is possible, though, that some text may have Christ in it. George

This was probably a lack of education. Real writing uses different styles, each with their advantages. I'm not the MOST educated person there, but my own writing style, I think, is effective, and it's as idiosyncratic as they come. (In other words, people don't wonder if I copied over someone else's work, as nobody SOUNDS like me.) Of course, I could still have pulled a vpw and rephrased someone else's work to my own, but as a point of pride, and a point of honesty, I always did my own writing. Besides, most people's writing reflects a "regression towards the mean", it's "average." Copying an "average" paper, or in the case of this thread, an "average" style, will limit you. It's laziness, and it started with vpw, who copied the work AND the style of others entirely. It's sad but true that many ministers copy the STYLE of others- I consider that laziness rather than developing your OWN style. But to copy the SUBSTANCE over is laziness as well as a crime. If the Corps and the College Division REALLY measured up to the hype vpw and lcm gave them- the academic claims, at least- then the graduates would all be good communicators, having learned to write effectively. However, both programs were designed with lazy shortcuts, and the material never rose to the level of community college. Some of the students did anyway- but there will be those who rise above their education no matter what the education is. ================= The wordiness and expounding on minutiae, I'd expect, would be more a reflection of lcm than vpw. vpw copied- entirely- the work of competent writers and communicators. (He plagiarized their level of communication with the material.) lcm, on the other hand, always seemed to think that adding words to anything was an improvement. Look at the corps principles and the definitions of the manifestations. Under lcm, both got a lot wordier, sometimes doubling in length. I've noticed that my own style of preparation for a live teaching requires a minimum of 5 hours to prepare the material to my minimum expectations. I generally prepared a minimum of 6 hours, and each hour after the 5th SHORTENED the teaching, tightening the wording, cutting out wasteful comments, focusing the subject more precisely in the wording, and so on. In other words, I preferred a shorter, focused teaching on a subject rather than a long one, if I could manage it. ================== EDIT: This also applies to the "literal translations according to usage" and "expanded literal translations according to usage" lcm used. For those wondering, the "literal translations according to usage" seem to have been plagiarized from other Bible versions. The "expanded translations" were incredibly long-winded additions to a verse where lots of personal opinion was inserted. Example of a "literal translation according to usage": Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." "Literal translation according to usage": "I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses inner strength into me." (I can't even type it without humming it, anymore.) Amplified Bible: "I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me (I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency)." Anyone who thinks this MIGHT have been a coincidence, I have one question for you: If twi actually did their own work, why did "Christ" become "Him" when the Greek clearly says "Christ" but the Amplified says "Him"? Is it just an amazing coincidence?