Twinky

Big Brother is watching you

Has to be no.42. If something else had that number, well, it needs a different number. Because, doncha know, that's the answer to the ultimate question of life, the Universe, and Everything.

Growing old disgracefully

Glad to say I'm pretty fit and healthy. No serious problems, though knuckle joints are a bit bulgy and swollen but don't restrict any activities. Eyesight poor since a child, corrected with contact lenses to give perfect vision, but my optician tells me I have beginning cataracts - but I think these have been there for decades without any significant change. I believe I have great genes - maternal family all lived into mid-90s+, not so sure about paternal side. I confidently expect to live into my 90s unless I have a serious accident beforehand. I keep pretty active at work (s/emp gardening, lots of moving about, can get quite physical) and like going for long walks in any leisure time I have. My mum (exactly 25 years older than me) used to say, "Look into the future. You've got all this coming!" but thankfully I don't have any of the problems she's had, either when she was the age I am now, or previously. And I show no signs of having any of the problems she has currently. I thank God every day for my good health (which I don't take for granted). I know that some people I was at school with have already had nasty health events (like strokes and heart attacks) or have even died. Again in the words of my mum: "Old age is not for wimps!"

Yeah, me too. When I joined my current church, people who are now good friends told me they thought I was weird at first. I'd rather they thought I was weird, than knew that I actually was! And TBH, I was pretty out there. Scared to tell anyone my name and address for the church membership booklet. Took me a long time to realise no-one was out to persecute, condemn or control me, but genuinely wanted to help. Even now, nobody in my own church knows my history. The most I've ever said is that I was in an abusive church relationship - the church abused me, and others. Nobody has ever asked for details. Only one person knows the depth of it, and that's because he was the Safeguarding Officer (to whom any kind of abuse within his church is to be reported and is stringently followed up on) for a different church - I thought he might be a safe person to talk to and somebody in no way able to "hurt" me. However, from that, and other things, we have now developed a close personal relationship. It's been healthy to be able to talk about it with a safe person. So yeah, I kinda get how Bolshy-one would find it difficult to fellowship outside TWI with any Christian group. He'd be really suspicious of them and their motives - and if they knew of TWI and its tactics, they'd be suspicious of him and whether he was going to try to "convert" them. Bolshy - you are safe to let your hang-ups hang out here. We know and understand. But you might find it helpful to find a trusted confidant, friend (professional or otherwise) to physically talk with.

And it's also a tool for bringing people together. Choose your venue carefully. You don't have to use the internet; to read anything or everything that people post; you don't have to join groups you have no interest in but conversely you can join in conversations with people locally, nationally, or even worldwide, who enjoy some activity you enjoy. In fact, you can also use the internet to find local groups of your favoured activity/ies and go and interact with real live human beings.

What point are you trying to make, Roy? The dedication doesn't claim to be the Bible. It's a dedication, introduction, etc. It doesn't make itself the Bible. Other, later, Bibles also have introductions.

Authorised version (AV) (which Americans incorrectly call "King James version") was a bible prepared to overcome centuries of corruption of scriptures by the RC church, and various other versions of the bible of greater or lesser accuracy. The AV was "authorised to be read in churches" - which by that time were all Protestant - by the king. Hence its "name" - Authorised Version. This was a turbulent time in British history, and in church history. The AV was sponsored by King James VI and I (sixth and first) (6th king James of Scotland, 1st king James of England) in an effort in part to reduce religious friction by providing the best and most accurate version then available. It is used by both Protestants and Catholics. You might find these articles interesting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_James_Version https://www.britannica.com/topic/King-James-Version I don't know what your issue is with this version of the Bible, which is widely read and upon which many other versions are in fact based. Your posts are very unclear. If you read the epistles, you'll see that St Paul greets his addressees with "grace, mercy and peace." Standard sort of greeting of the time, both then and when AV was produced. I wonder if anyone has ever read the very flowery dedication. Certainly not in modern times.

My choir's singing this at its carol concert this Saturday. Pretty. A Christmas Blessing Philip Stopford Watch later Shre

Seriously - I'd doubt that, T-Bone. I know how Craig treated Allan. And his family.

Long time no see, Roy. How are you doing these days?

Please don't. Once seen, never forgotten. In the worst sense.

How I feel, too. If anything, I feel sorrow that they care(d) so little. Whether still the same, I don't care to find out. And I feel anger at the abuse so many suffered in so many ways. But my focus is not backwards but forwards. People are still being abused in similar ways, and in other ways, and I prefer to draw on my own experiences of abuse to relate better to others I reach out to help. I can empathise so much better. Some might call that making lemonade from the lemons.

You a stripper in your down time, Chocky?

Riu Riu chiu, ha! Singing that at the carol concert my new choir's putting on in 2 weeks. It's all about keeping the wolf from the door. Not very Christmassy, but fun.

Came across this by accident. No idea who the anonymous pl0nker is who posted it. He's slagged off most of the regular posters. Have a laugh. He obviously has issues. I suspect one particular ex poster. https://onebaddecisionawayfromhomelessness.wordpress.com/tag/greasespot-cafe/

Waydale was nothing to do with The Way. It was very anti Way, a d in no small measure has contributed to its decline. Greasespot Cafe is also nothing to do with TWI and apart from one poster, is vehemently against The Way. TWI does its best to take these sites down. It's only in quite recent years that TWI has sussed that a website might be helpful to it. They grabbed a load of domain names just to stop others grabbing them. Their first website was so static and boring that it'd be a wonder if anyone bothered to look at it more than once. There wasn't even a Contact Us button. You had to write, snail mail, to get in touch. They've updated that now. But it's still an ultra boring website. Just like TWI is ultra boring.

It was a draw, WW. What happens now?

There's been some surprising results so far. And it's got rather political, with the sideshow row about armbands and rainbows and suchlike. Apparently the match to which you refer is tomorrow (I just googled it). Celebrate away, if you wish! No mountains or forests in Qatar. So nothing much to interest me. Though I had a friend (now deceased) who lived there for a few years and enjoyed it.

LoL, not so many visit nowadays but the conversation can be lively.

Think this is right. "Ministries" are the things that, actually, you don't even realise you have - you just feel compelled to do certain things along Godly lines. You want to care for people (pastor them), or preach (evangelise), or expound (teach). Some people just seem to know the right Godly direction (prophets, perhaps). Apostles? Not sure there. Who really are our apostles today? Are there any? (I can tell you someone who definitely wasn't one!) Disregard anything you learned in TWI about HS/hs. Relax into knowing God, just knowing; and then you'll find peaceful understanding. Not confusion.

Makes me wonder what kind of process VPW went through before he went to theological college and then got ordained as a minister in whatever church it was. What sort of selection process did he undergo? Surely at the least, references would have been sought from his home church. And then, interviews, at least one or two, with others in the church hierarchy? Or did he just take himself off to theo college, without church support, and offer his services to a local church afterwards - in some sort of capacity though not necessarily as an ordained person. As I understand it, he was actually ordained as a church minister and fulfilledthat role for a period. But then - that might be a big lie, too. He tells tales about that church in his film PFAL. But then, he tells many tales. Has anybody actually seen any kind of ordination certificate? Perhaps he was only ever a probationary minister of some kind. So if he never went through any kind of selection process, not surprising that there was no proper procedure for selecting candidates for Way ministerial roles. Much more than "heart" is required, and very much more than being nice to people a few times and reading the Bible once or twice. Even if one could recite the entire Bible from memory, it wouldn't make for being a good minister. In fact, likely exactly the opposite.

Gimme your address, I'm inviting myself!

You folks will be coming up for Thanksgiving dinners soon. What's cooking? I was over there one year for Thanksgiving, spent the time with Ex10 and her family. Awesome time.

STL, that sounds really calorie-high. The cream cheese I'd like but dream whip - ugh. A cheesecake with most of those ingredients would be much more to my taste. Nathan, a Christmas cake is a heavy fruit cake. A celebration of the richness of imported vine fruits, developed at a time when people didn't have much. (Of course, such are very easily obtainable now.) Commonly these cakes are iced. First the fruit cake is covered in marzipan, then royal icing coats that. Royal icing is a hard icing, principally sugar, mixed with a small amount of glycerine to make it workable, and water. (Commercial icing can be purchased, to be rolled out - it's disgusting.) Then the top of the royal icing is decorated. I dislike marzipan and hard icing, and my cakes are uncovered but decorated on top with almonds and (though not on this occasion) glace cherries. Made like a wedding cake might be, not the increasingly-common sponge-cake variety, but a "real" cake.