Ham

I dunno. I didn't see a whole heck of a lot of embellishment here.. it was almost that when I left in 96.

What I can't understand.. are the thought processes that conclude "well, he got one on the list right.." I don't think the lifestyle described here is exactly a multiple choice exam, where one picks one from the list as the answer..

Here's some I used on someone being just a little too belligerent: "Can you see the door?" "well.. yes.." "it's in your best interests to be on the other side of it.." true story.. well.. it worked.. though the other poor rational people involved thought I was being a little too generous..

sowy.. I have to do something to amuse myself.. but feel free to check back on ocassion, as the greasespot turns, and we find out where Waldo, ahem, I mean *mr* gear really is, in this great world of ours..

*as "mr" gear rounds the corner, he watches helplessly as a rusty 1971 toyota pulls into the front parking spot, a mere fifteen feet ahead of him* *arrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhh!#@^&*!@"

Sooooo.. I wonder where *mr* gear is this afternoon.. hmmm. could be.. possible. Perhaps he is on his forty eight trip around the parking lot at Wally Mart, "believing" for a front parking spot..

There are only two contexts I can think of.. 1. The "law" "worked(?)" 2. The "law" did not. Interesting thread. Close to eighty pages of pie in the sky on the "big things" thread, how "blessed" people were.. and disclaimers.. I could hardly get people to squeak out three on my thread, asking for some practical, substantial, verifiable "results" of da class.. You get the front parking spot at Wally mart maybe fifty times in a row or so.. (and not when the store is closed, or at five in the morning ) and maybe we can talk about "the magic of believing".. So I was richly rewarded for my believing and faithfulness, and giving of 15 or more percent.. a front spot at Wally Mart, woo hooo! What about the other 379 times I had to park in the back of the lot? must've not been "believing"..

Yeah.. except for those at the top of the pyramid scheme..

Hey.. I walked out of Atlantic City forty bucks ahead. The poor guy with me though.. about seventy behind..

I thought it was "OK" to pray for "carloads of money".. :) Nothing like a shortcut to make up for the lack of good, hard, work.. I'm "believing" for a Master's degree in mathematics. Think if I pray hard enough.. tithe, or give fifteen or twenty percent, I should have it, in about three more years.. with some hard work. kinda like the Beverly Hillbillies. I remember Granny's "miracle cure" for the common cold. Had docs coming from all over to investigate it.. Jed said something like "yeah it's a miracle.. you take Granny's concoction and inside of six weeks you'll start to feel like a spring chicken.."

Yep.. and a person can "believe" they are in New York City when they are actually in Boston Harbor, too. Some people call it "delusional thinking".

Health, healing.. GUARANTEED.. money.. prosperity.. harmony in the home.. I think the problem with "what's available" is that it guarantees that if one pushes the correct levers, the results are theirs no questions asked. That was the whole point of der law of believing was it not? "works for saint and sinner alike.." I think that the practical reality is that what is "available" to one is not necessarily "available" to another..

Fruit.. hmm. reminds me of an old fairy tale.. "cmere, little girl.. here's a nice shiny red apple for you.."

Hmm. Well.. if he was such a good tree.. how come I've been pulling thistles out of my miserable hide for the last decade or so..

Horror of horrors.. I'm suprised and agast.. he actually documented his source here.. I guess miracles do abound..

A good friend of mine has a little motto.. a house isn't quite the same without a black cat.. :) The last black cat he had was a celebrity. People would call from Virginia, Florida.. they wouldn't say "how ya doing".. they'd say.. "how's the cat?" true story. Weird, I know.. but this cat was one soul that I was priviledged to be acquainted with..

Naw.. Meerkats are a little too "cultish" for my taste.. too daggone territorial and group think.. Lemurs.. lemurs.. naw.. they'd follow vic off the end of the world..

I'd have to be reincarnated as a marmot or something..

glad somebody can be optimistic about everything..

I think that's assuming a lot.. what if this generation lost it's one shot at this deal.. You know.. you've got something at stake in this as well as everybody else.. :)

Just to clarify.. I'm not speaking of Greasepot per se..these are two living, breathing human beings in my town.. maybe three.. out of how many from the "good old days", who would even take the time to look me up? only thing I can say.. thank GOD my kids aren't caught up in the nonsense.. I can only imagine what it is like for families separated with this kind of nonsense. Some organization..

I agree. yep. try communicating with parents/children/family/"friends" still in that wretched organization. Or even caught up in the "renewed mind" attitudes.. I think some people don't have a clue.. With the exception of two individuals here, I can't say that I even have friends left from the organization.. the local "twit heads" are either still in, or trying to relive the old memories and attitudes of superiority. For me, it's not that I'd be wasting my time.. I just don't have anything to work WITH..

And apparently, there is not a way, or it is rather difficult to measure what WAS- in real concrete practical terms. This is the most concrete claim I've seen made yet. And even that, it is tempered with some realism. I feel partly that way, mainly because I already had some peace of mind, even in the middle of some rather harsh circumstances to begin with. Maybe this sounds strange.. but circumstances didn't really define how I felt about myself, whether my belief was based on "da word of gawd" or not. My version of this scenario is exposure to figures of speech and a little bit of greek. Had I not had some kind of introduction, would I EVER had picked up Bulllinger's work on figures, or other materials? Hard to say, probably not. But the REAL benefits, though documentable, are few.I was the only guy in Calc I who knew what the little symbols were.. I could even pronounce them properly. :) I agree. I think it is only a rather thin skin that houses the spiritual, to begin with.. someday, it very well may all be gone..

What I find very interesting.. people generally have a hard time coming up with or defining a real good solid "something" that it did for them.. at least that can be quantified, looked at, or handled.. What did we buy? It reminds me of an old guy who worked in the store I'm in.. he had his crowning achievment in his old store. This guy was sooo high pressure.. so ruthless, but polite.. a person just couldn't exactly dislike him.. :) His customer went home. An hour later, the customer called the sales guy.. "Ma*tin, what did I just buy?"