Twinky

A bit maybe, but this chapter of James was discussed in my church's talk (sermon) on Sunday last. Simon, who gives the talk, definitely puts his actions into what his mouth says. The reading (by one of the children in the congregation) starts at about 39:15, and the talk is about 10 mins, less than 15, and full of challenges to line up our lives better.

Pagan Warrior - that is EXACTLY what we do here.. As no doubt you've read.

Hello, Scott, and welcome to the Café. Have a cake from the great selection here, to accompany that coffee from T-Bone. I was in rez early 90s and boy! did I learn some interesting language from Loy-boy. As you say - very far from Christ-like. Good on you for taking a stand and getting out to get some education. It's doubtless done you more good than endless sessions cleaning things that don't need it, for the umpteenth time, and all the incessant meetings to be told the same things over and over again. Marked and avoided = badge of honor. Here's your cake choices:

Don't you think that one of the principal things we need to remember is: keep it simple. God is not the author of confusion, of making life difficult, of being oppressive, of bondage. God wants freedom and for us not to be entangled with religious dogma. So what's a simple way of reading verses that some might describe as "difficult"?

Yeah, sucks when the Quote thing doesn't work properly. I'll read the article you reference later. Gotta go to work now. Yep, still working, can I have a few more hours in the day please? so much to do nowadays.

Good lord, Waysider. America surely does know how to over-react.

And if all else fails, just take a trip to Versailles.

Solzhenitsyn was a pretty awesome writer. We do well to carry out our own "daily acts of integrity" - and in this, I'm thinking (perhaps because I just finished reading Schindler's Ark (aka Schindler's List)) about the brave men and women who helped rescue many people condemned by Nazis as unworthy of life; also of the doctor in Wuhan who tried to alert the world to coronavirus and who was squashed by the state there; not to mention the KSU students' protest. There are events, trends, in all societies - yours, mine - that demand that we don't blindly follow the crowd. That's no small ask.

Rubina, I will PM you.

Shoot, you guys in the USA as at 20 mins ago are here. Please stay safe, keep your distance, wash hands. Lockdown is temporary. Your finances will improve. Death is permanent. You can't take your money with you. Deaths 71,148 +877

In the UK, I'd expect that an organisation of this kind would have to distribute its assets to another organisation with similar aims (say, CFFM? Yeah, right, that'll happen, LOL). I simply cannot see that happening. Rubina, the assets include: land; buildings (both on the land and perhaps elsewhere); cash; investments; equipment (that could be depreciated down to not much, or even nil) (even though it has a resale value, so if sold the price is part of the cash assets); goodwill; intellectual property. (I would price the latter two at Nil.) The land and some of the buildings could be quite valuable: that in Ohio could be good farming land again, with associated buildings and machinery; and that in Gunnison could be a great holiday resort, and the farmland associated with that (yes, there is farmland!) could also be sold off for farming. I don't see NK being the height of a residential (or industrial) building bonanza, but the "Log Cabin" (LCM's family home, that was built for visiting Corps) could be sold off as a stand-alone property and again could be worth a fair bit. They can sell what they want, when they want, just needs to be at a "fair value" (ie, no flogging off to Rosalie for $20). There was a lot of money in the bank. DK how much now; used to be upwards of £65m.

Thank God this more or less passed me by. I'd'a been, what, 15 or so, no real understanding, and not such a big deal in the UK. UK was involved, though. No draft. I liked CSNY, but never realised this was a "protest song" and never knew about this incident.

GVC, welcome back, long time no see. Hopefully, it will disintegrate entirely. But what will happen to the assets? Are its assets held by a corporation, limited liability company, partnership, trust, or what? I know what they say in annual filing reports but I wonder if a little selective distribution or whittling of assets has taken place. You can be sure that none of it will be coming the way of those who contributed (us lot!).

We are in danger of this thread becoming a rehash of the other thread, with the same outcomes.

There was a lot of camaraderie in rez and we had some good times - as individuals, just having a bit of fun. First semester was hard, but we had fun together for the first few weeks. Before the screws started to really tighten. But - it seems to me - the most fun people to be around were also the people who mysteriously vanished, got dismissed, went home, didn't come back after "HoHo Relo." And many of the ones who left were remarkably toe-the-line, or priggish, or so goody-two-shoes... none of that was me, but somehow I managed to avoid getting thrown out. Perhaps they wanted to keep an International onside for some other reason - but they had a good go at breaking me. As an International, I did two years back to back. No interim year on the field (or more likely, mouldering in some meaningless role at HQ). No. I did my first year with one Corps, then straight into the next year with the previous Corps. WCz suddenly becoming WCy, as it were. They were bonded in their way and were somehow focused a bit differently. Perhaps it was something that happened, after the year on the field. Often I didn't really feel a part of them. But then I didn't really feel a part of my own corps, either. Very strange.I did have some good times, with them, though. I liked being at Gunnison where I was put in charge of pre-school kids - the sort of 3-5 year age group. Me? I knew absolutely nothing about kids, of that age or any other. But I found I really got to like the littlies and they were a lot of fun and it was a good time. I saw how many of them grew in confidence and took care of each other, all in each individual week. It was amazing. And I look back at that time as being one of the best. Hard work (I was finishing up my research paper at the time) but still, one of the best times.

I asked him this ages ago. He says it's because it's important to keep God's law. I don't know why this particular one of God's many laws is particularly important, especially given the explicit Bible direction that Jesus is the end of the law for righteousness. Be good if you got an answer.

I remember my early time at HQ. Went straight there from the Adv Class, so RoA was being set up. We were immediately expected to join work crews and all the potential in-rez Corps were in the dishroom or setting up the food tables. I remember Reggie H having great fun posing with a mop or broom, and singing into it as if into a microphone. There was a lot of camaraderie and fun in those early days. After RoA - maybe, it was even the first week or so of in-rez - we were invited to help lift potatoes in a field a short distance away. It was only an invitation, "but there'll be nobody left here if you don't come along." Everybody went, and it was quite a nice time, picking the lifted potatoes in the evening sunshine. I also enjoyed the wood-chopping upper body exercise that we had to do. Twice a week, we went into Way Woods to chop piles of wood. One quickly learned which woods split easily and which didn't. There were things that God could teach us too, but we didn't need that week after week. While I enjoyed the activity, I resented that it always took place when we were supposed to be at study hall, as if studying the Bible had no importance (little did I know!!). It never took place during our "work" time, which clearly had a higher priority.

Unfortunately, that is true. Though some will overcome it and go on to live UNcriminal lives. And some, from good backgrounds, go on to become criminals. I think these boys did know better, though. Likely youthful "fun" and possibly a protest at too many restrictions on their lives posed by their parents and TWI.

Lovely posturepedic mattress. On sale now.

I think Waxit has left the building.

VPW wouldn't know church history if it hit him like a steamroller. What year did he start teaching PFAL - I mean, before the recording of that dreadful video class. When did he steal it from Stiles and start teaching it as his own? Was that 1942 or somewhat later? You know, what attracted me to PFAL was (1) the WoW who witnessed to me could show me Bible verses to support what he said and (2) when he prayed, things happened. They really did, things that just "shouldn't have." He loved and believed God. Unfortunately that had become tangled in TWI baggage. I'd been reading in Acts and had wondered to myself, "These people had power, they prayed and things happened; they asked, and amazing things took place. What happened to that power? Why isn't it still here? Why don't I see that nowadays? When did it all stop happening?" And then I met this WoW. And the rest is history.

And yet, some older folk espouse modern technology with great zeal. Friend's dad, now passed on, set his skype up so that anyone could call him. He got a lot of foreign language callers, who wanted to practise their English. And he had some amazing conversations with these random strangers. I think my own granddad would have espoused this with zeal. He in his youth was an experimenter with photography, built radios, "borrowed" the first car into the village and drove it round and round till it ran out of petrol (no accident, just didn't know how to brake). Was an avid listener to short-wave radio all his life. Inexplicable that in these days of scattered families, some choose not to learn and refuse to maintain family links.

Am reading it now, it's an interesting article. "Pillow forts" of belief, heh heh. "... people wear information like team jerseys..." There've been times on this thread when I wondered if Waxit was actually trying to convince himself. The CCG/WCG to which he appears to belong explicitly states on its FAQs that if you don't accept all their statement of beliefs, you can't be a member. And we all want to belong, somewhere. (Sorry about the font change, copied the quote and can't change back to original font setting)

What did the cult-head say to the world? "I've seen the light!" What did Jesus say to the cult-head? "I am the light." Okay. Not so funny. Never was the court jester.

I moved overseas in the late 80s and I used to write to my mum and sometimes send a cassette tape that I recorded. It cost £3/minute to phone. Now, with inclusive phone calls, and good broadband, we can phone or Zoom or Skype free, and grandparents can still read the kiddies a bedtime story, or help older kids with homework, as well as adults sharing news, and showing absent friends or relatives round the garden, or the painting/decorating they've just done, or the new car they just bought, etc, etc. So much more fulfilling, and involving. Not the same as being with a real person, but definitely better than nothing. Am Zooming with a lot of friends etc now, with the lockdowns. It's been very nice. It's still nice to get a letter or a card, though. Something physical, to hold and to treasure.