Ellen Crean

I am actually saying that TWI teaches that there is no room for compromise when it comes to the Bible. Without compromise, your relationship won't last long anyway.

Hello, Ryan. Another way to look at your dilemma: Take your Catholicism and her devotion to TWI totally OUT of the equation. Now say that you were Episcopalian and she was a Christian Scientist. The dilemma really is not: Can I rescue her from a cult? The dilemma is whether you can sustain a meaningful relationship when your spiritual values are so divergent. Some couples manage it beautifully, but there is a demand of "all or nothing" with TWI that leaves no room for the sort of compromise required in those successful situations. This is just one more reason that you are better out of this, Ryan. Wishing you and her well, Ellen

DogLover, I just have to tell you that your analogy of the "little by little" technique used by Hitler was one of the most CLEAR bits of wisdom I have ever seen about wrong teaching. Sometimes, when I remember how twisted things eventually became (especially in the mid to late '80s), I get sort of twisted around myself and I think, "How did it ever COME to that?" Your analogy really gave me clarity. Very smart. Thank you. (and the frog in the frying pan works for me too!)

Hello, motherof2! Just letting you know I liked your note. I am sure someone like you is bound to find friends wherever you go. You sound like a lovable person! Ellen

Just a clarification I meant no criticism of Polar Bear in my post. I was thinking about interference from TWI when I was talking about interference in marriages, in general.

Perhaps this sounds simplistic. In my experience with married friends, I have learned not to even SEEM like I am interfering or taking sides. Also, I have learned never to "agree" with wounded spouses who are complaining about their partners. I try to just listen and, if pressed for input, I make it a point to advocate for the other spouse. (I am not talking about extreme cases of abuse here.) This sounds like Relationships 101, I know. But intervention in a marriage without invitation is playing with dynamite, in my experience and in my opinion.

It is interesting to me that the newspaper mentioned the affiliation with The Way. I wonder how that came to be. If it had been a group of Episcopalians or Catholics, I wonder if the spiritual beliefs would have been deemed newsworthy. I think it's possible; you know, for instance, if the reporter had wanted to know why there were 19 people, not related by blood, gathered for Thanksgiving. But even that is not particularly unusual, is it? My family got together for the holiday and there were 16 of us. If there had been a fire, probably the paper would have mentioned that it was a family gathering, right? Just wondering about this. Hope everyone else had a happily uneventful celebration!

I, too, remember this night vividly. I was not on any of the Way properties, and I was far away from Ground Zero. I also was no longer supporting TWI by attending its fellowships or donating any money. But I did have a few close friends in the 14th Corps, who, at the time, were in the home stretch of their final year in residence. Even without any idea whatsoever about what had been going on, I knew something devastating had occurred. I regularly spoke to one of my 14th Corps friends, and she just clammed up. There was a distance placed between my friends and I that never quite went away. Years later, my friend told me that the reason for this was that they had been TOLD that if they SPOKE of this meeting and the reading of POP outside of that room, THEY WOULD DIE. My heart broke when she told me that. My friends were (and are) good people who only wanted to serve God and His people. What happened to them was really nothing more than being threatened by THUGS. There is no end to the evil of what happened that night. All who helped orchestrate it must either entirely repent or bear a mark of shame for the rest of their lives. Ellen