JustThinking

Lindy, Say it so about the D**nells! That would be a shame. :(--> JT

Mike quote: Uh, Mike, so you're saying God wanted us to have a quick look-sie at two women trying to do a dog? Did we really need that to know it was wrong? Oops, I forgot. Sexual immorality was only recently discovered by TWI to be against God's will. Sorry. --> JT

I didn't give them up nor was it suggested. However, I stupidly gave up so much of my time that they never saw me. That got fixed when I left TWI though. Life is wonderful again and my family and I talk all the time. :)--> JT

Even IF they were taking out Social Security now, your benefits are based on what you paid in. Low income+years without deductions = VERY small check when you turn 65. They are scr**ed. JT

Kevlar, Any idea what they did? Do they still go out "confronting the world with Our, oops, I mean God's Word?" --> Or have the finally admitted they just want your cash for a class? Anyone else know? My experience with one group years ago was laughable. They were truly nice, well intentioned folks. Clueless and ineffective in every way though. Too young with no real guidance. All enthusiasm, no idea what to do with it. They probably should have been home, going to school and spending time with friends. JT

What a mess. I got recruited by TWI after VP died but the chaos was still there. Lingering questions about Craig, the "dumb jock" as one corpse called him. G**r and the other bozos running around acting like little VP clones. Or the Craig-ites growing mustaches because he had one. I used to just laugh at them. It was close as to which was funnier: their behavior or pretending to not realize how obvious they were. The good thing (in my brain, at least) is that Rosie is SOOOO lame that it's impossible to establish a cult of personality around her. Even the most die-hard corpse weren't walking around with sappy southern accents growing a big a**. ;)--> JT

Does Mich*el F**t have any skills or work experience? Most of the big shot corpse that I knew couldn't run a gas station pump without a secretary. JT

Bingo. It was just awful. When I sat through the "grad" class, there was a collective silence when it was done. As if everyone was thinking "Uh oh, this stinks but I better think of something nice to say." I kept writing down question after question for my LC. At first the response was "it's new material, work it and you'll get it." Later, my questions just got ignored. Finally, it was obvious that there was NO interest in even trying to pretend that this c**p made any sense. Even the corpse shrugged their shoulders in private. After that, the brow beatings started to shove you into those folding torture chairs. The only class crew I was on was for 6 students, 4 of whom were grad kids. Two were girl/boyfriends of grad teens. The last person was some hopeless case who seemed to just want a free meal. When the free food and attention stopped, he was gone. On the funny side, the grads started to come up with some original excuses to not be there. "My kid has a big project for school" was a common one. Not that many were run. The few that did were run as LIMB class! It took the whole state to scrape together one class about every 18 months. JT

They don't do that, Ex70'shouston. Well... not anymore. Once you set up the thing (and are nice a sweaty), you put on your suit or dress and run to a nice, hard, steel folding chair. Yeah! Nothing like the feeling of clothes stuck to you on a hot summer day. ;)--> If they let the crew stand around, the actual "attendees" would be miniscule. JT Two years out and oh, so happy!

I suppose if I had to name one, it would be the cheap coffee served at functions. The generic c**p that would fit the limb budget. Ugh! I still cringe at that burnt, nasty smell.

When I bailed two years ago, limb meetings had become an annual event. I went to one where the crew was bigger than the "audience." :)--> It was embarrassing. JT Two years out and oh, so happy!

Dumb question: Does anyone know if rape support groups have clergy abuse on their "list" (if they have one) that they cover? Do they distinguish between one type of rape or another? I would think that the exact impact of child molestation, for example, might be different from date rape, etc. JT 2 years out and oh, so happy!

DM, Amen! CC, For me, I'm glad I post less now. It means I've worked through a lot of questions that plagued me while in TWI. You and many others have helped me fill in a lot of blanks. I'm glad you continue to check in because I have learned from you and found you to be a reasonable person. JT

Depending on how long you were in, that seems pretty normal. Just daily activities exposing you to things that trigger memories. Do you think the TWI memories are beyond your ability to cope? In other words, are they just (sometimes) bad memories? Or is it more than that? That's personal and only you need to know the answer to that. The reason I ask is that you may want to talk to someone in person about it. A doctor, friend, family member or religious leader. TWI had a bad habit of expecting people to just "believe" (translation: Ignore with a smile on your face) to solvbe serious problems. Oh, sorry, "opportunities." --> Don't let yourself be alone if you need or would like help. JT

I'm not sure the world is ready for a screaming, tights-wearing Pope.

If following the most common view was a requirement for being a positive group (or non-cult) then we wouldn't have the civil rights movement, modern science (Does the Sun still revolve around the earth?), women's suffrage, etc. Maybe the NAACP is a cult too? --> JT

Does TWI still own the PFAL copyrights? I had heard that they were transferred to Geer during the mid-80s. JT

... or the Pontif versus the pontificator.

I know some infamous people who took PFAL. Does that count? ;)--> JT

TaylorCompany, If the lines of communication stay open, you have more of a chance of helping them. It speaks well of you that you are thinking this through before saying anything. As you care enough to put thought into it, I'm sure you'll do a great job. JT

Lindy, you reminded me of my own story. Here is how I ended up talking myself out of going in the corps. I went to my LC at the time to plan for going corps. I was really the gung-ho wayfer type. Do anything, go anywhere. We got on the subject of life planning and things fell apart. Keep in mind, we were a good bit of the way into the process. I asked about retirement, assuming there was a plan BOY WAS I WRONG! NO plan at all. I got a blank stare. TaylorCompany, It might help your family members to ask them in a positive way about retirement planning. There is no need to make it a big, heavy confrontation. Use their own tricks against them. Start off with innocent sounding questions. Then walk through the numbers. They won't add up. The last "plan" I heard was the corps could put so much away at the end of each month. It was just a suggestion and TWI did no matching. One corps family I knew was "believing" to start putting $50/month away. They were in their 40s with kids getting ready for college! The wife was expected to only work 20 hours/week and they both put in about 40 hours for TWI work. That made it very tough to earn enough to save. Let's say they did start right away. (10 years later and they were still "believing") IF they did: 12 months x $50 = $600 each year. 20 years until retirement = $12,000 Yes, there will be interest but not that much at today's rates. (I'm no math whiz so if someone wants to do interest calculations, please do) My point is that it REALLY annoyed my LC when I did some math of my own and it was obvious that it was a joke. It annoyed the corps family when I pointed out that their plan would only give them about a years income. Cold, sober thinking is a great antidote for TWI's vague thought process. When I saw my future as hoping that social security holds up, I said "no thanks." JT

TC, My info is about 2 1/2 years old. The corps I knew were pretty numb. Not much going on. Same old, same old. No growth at all. Just pretending to "prevail", whatever that means. It is a sad life they are facing. Ministry demands are so great that there is no hope of having a career at all. The closest thing to good news I have is that TWI has gotten so small that getting to know their "people" won't take long. JT

And why local farmers shoot at the sign on Wierwille road. ;)--> Legal Notice: I do not condone destruction of public or private property.

Oldies, Cool emoticons! JT

Ok, I just like saying it. :D--> And I like being here too! Paw's place is pretty wonderful, IMHO. Finally an Easter without some corpse nazi asking if we were buying our kids Easter Bunnies. Yes, we REALLY had one ask. And tell us to toss it since it was pagan. Well, we DID get rid of it.... :D--> Happy Easter, everyone! JT