Thin Lizzy

Okay - YEAH! WayBrained - that was and (still to a point) is me. Sometimes when people say the name Jesus, I get all weird about it - like Don't say that because God is the one who did it all and then I have to say (uh,,,,stupid -- Jesus obeyed - he did THAT and DIED and by doing all that God was able to redeem me) so I'm thankful to my brother Jesus Christ and I think everything in moderation is the key. But it's like when LCM used to always give people a hard time because they spent so much time PRAYING and he would say Christians need to get off their knees and ACT and then I got way brained about praying (late 80's) because I was a teenager and anything that LCM was willing to repeat THAT many times had to be something people were doing (or not doing) too much of. So I started SIT all the time but then not praying with my understanding - again, duh, hold that up to the light and see how weird it can get. I used to see the balance (every time I swung past it) but then after a little bit of seasoning, I got over it. I don't think I should TO pray to Jesus because he is not God and therefore, not omnipotent; therefore a conversation with him might be like talking to a wall. He is seated on the right hand of God but not God - unless the trinity holds some weight for you and then that's a different story for your private prayer life. Anyway, I'm glad you wrote about this. I've been reading for a while. Finally signed up. Glad to sit at your table for a few minutes. Good conversation and something I can take home too. I'll take a TO GO container for that please. Thanks again and keep the change!

I'm still in The Way and got a LOT of grief for not attending the AC a couple years ago but I just didn't want to go - after dropping from the W.C. a decade ago, I just didn't want to get into that much "Way Commitment". Once bitten, twice shy. HOWEVER, I have to say that TWIGS must be like jobs in a certain sense of it because I changed twigs months ago and this one is wayyy (pardon the pun) different. In fact, the leadership at this Twig said that the ministry had hurt a LOT of people and was trying to come back from it. A lot of people like me who'd put their heart into the ministry and go burned by the religion of it would A) never come back or B) take a loooonnnngggg time trusting any leadership again. What's funny is that I had just come out of a fellowship that had been pushing me to increase my commitment and it was really straining my personal relationship with my spouse (who is not a (Way) Believer). Nevertheless, this new fellowship, the leadership had recently come from HQ and was telling me that we as believers needed to STOP pushing that crap down other people's throats. People don't get committed to a marriage overnight. They don't change jobs overnight. People don't change their lives overnight. Anyway, I think many, many people in The Way Ministry do want to help people. They want to spread the Word of God, the healing balm for the wounds of life. But like anything that is run by people, it can run awry! Well, to answer your questions, I think the Ministry is really trying to get back to what it was when I took the class and started going to fellowship back in the 80's. At this fellowship, we do things that (at best) would be described as unconventional but is very, very good for someone like me - who felt like they training to be a guard at Aushwitz in the 90's before leaving the W.C. It reminds me that every fellowship is self-supporting. I left because I saw what The Ministry was becoming, I came back for the same reasons. For the most part, no one is going to apologize to you for some Nazi Rhetoric that they were trained to spew at you but I have had people tell me they are sorry for what happened to me, sorry THAT it happened and maybe it was a good learning tool for me. I pour my heart out to God and no one is my priest! I confess to no one but Him and that is the way it was always supposed to be. So maybe now that they got the sh@#t kicked out of them in public spotlight, they cleaned house and the people who've kept their mouths shut (the rest of the world watching the jews be executed) are finally outraged and trying to make it right. Thanks, I'll take sweet cream in my coffee. And I'll take another Danish too.