Leaderboard

Funnily enough, I was thinking of this only today. Thinking of the positive things I'd learned and done in TWI (and there definitely were some positives). Some were where confidence had been expressed in me where I'd never done a thing before. Some things were enjoyable - especially at the beginning of each year. And I met some awesome people (most of whom, regrettably, soon disappeared - whether voluntarily or pushed is a mystery), both within my Corps and on staff - mostly low-level staff, I have to say. However, there were many negatives. One of which was the destruction of any confidence of any kind that I had. The sense of oppression and fear that developed. The micromanagement. The face-meltings for using one's God-given common sense instead of checking with some "leader." The snitchiness and brown-nosing of some others of my Corps. The spying on each other, and the paranoia that developed from that. Now, I am part of a great church that genuinely and heartily serves its community. All the churches of all denominations work together in my small city to reach out to all groups of people. But nobody is bullied into doing anything; people want to participate and don't have to be asked. I only have to look at the awesome people in my church and associated churches within the benefice and within the community, to see something amazing and so diametrically opposite to anything in TWI that - well, it's joy and sunshine, contrasted with misery and drabness. I'm a little nostalgic for the friends I'd started to make, some of the fun we had, and the sometimes sense of cameraderie. But that's all. There is NO BLOODY WAY that I would or could endure the organizational thuggery now. Maybe that should be NO BLOODY WAY for emphasis.

I ran across this article in Psych Today talking about “nostalgia bias” where people attach to and recollect only positive things about their past. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/checkpoints/202302/exploring-nostalgia-bias I wonder if nostalgia bias is what keeps many of these people who have been abused by TWI hanging around and pushing for better times. Nostalgia bias would be a huge reason behind the modern TWI push of going back to PFAL and back to the “Word Over the World” messaging. Taking items from the highest participation period in the cults history the strategic approach is to make the Way “feel” like the good ole days in the hippie times where people were strumming guitars in parks and witnessing and thousands were “taking the class”. Nostalgia bias can keep people hanging around doing the same things sending in the same checks listening to the same stories obeying the same dictators. It can keep people only reading the same “collaterals” for decades without ever considering new and better sources. I actually am opposed to the nostalgia bias making my life’s decisions and want to and am purposefully crafting my future in the direction best for me, my family, my peace of mind, and my spiritual development outside the constrained inputs from a cult.

I can see the court interaction now. “That site is inaccurate and slanderous”. Judge: “Every statement on the website has a footnoted source. Which is more than you can say for your main class PFAL” Lol

There's no real way for me to judge without experiencing her church for 6-12 months and see for myself, but she seems to believe in predestination i.e. everything is in place, ordained by God regardless of one's faith? i.e. Jesus paid for the sins of mankind therefore everyone is saved regardless? She believes in the Nicene Creed but is that alone enough to be saved? Again, need more exposure I think.

This one was easy for me: "The Way reportedly teaches that members will suffer harm or death if they go into debt" Here's one from me: "The Way reportedly teaches that members will suffer harm or death if they do not tithe or abs." It can scare the living crap out of someone who takes this seriously.

That is quite a website. It looks like a similar layout for a number of different cults. I have no idea who put it up. It looks like it was done with a bot or LLM tool. For every claim they state they cite a source. So even if some of the claims seem exaggerated they literally have a source where a leader or account verifies the statement. This type of activity is a great counter to the whitewash movement. With sources for everything it is protected legally as well as it shows what really occurred as opposed to a leaders spin on what occurred. In other words, this website is a great model for TWI where they could learn about footnotes, bibliographies, and other modern methods in the publishing and academic industries. You know, the things missing from all of VPs “research”. The website also with footnotes make it harder for the TWI leadership to deny claims and justify actions. Every claim made is substantiated by a footnote. Wow, what an earth shattering idea.