Twinky

There ya go. The "get out of accountancy jail" card. Furthermore, and Nathan (I think) raised it above: there is a religious duty to care for widows and orphans. Though their "get out of scripture jail" card would be this (1 Tim 5:3-4, 16) 3Honor the widows who are truly widows. 4But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they [the children or grandchildren] must first learn to show godliness to their own family and repay their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God. 16If any believing woman has dependent widows, she [the widow's daughters] must assist them and not allow the church to be burdened, so that it can help the widows who are truly in need. but - but - but - we're family, aren't we? Ah, right. All brothers and sisters in Christ. So we don't have to care for our sisters, is that it? Except that they forget 17Elders who lead effectively are worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. And Mrs W had been a "teacher" in many ways (some honorable, some less so) in her own right. So therefore, she needs "double honor." What does "double honor" mean, anyway? They honor VPW; they should honor his widow (the double honor?? arguably) also. Disgraceful.

TWI is a registered charity, is it not? What are its charitable aims, as stated on whatever charitable body oversees suchlike in the USA, or would it be in Ohio? While "care of the elderly" could be a charitable aim for some organisations (though not in TWI's constitution), there could be ways around that.... maybe. Y'all got me thinking. About charitable aims. Huh, I will start a different thread when I've sorted some things out.

i partake of communion when offered at church. Can't say I particularly enjoy it. A crispy wafer and a sip of delicious wine. But so formal. In my opinion, eating and drinking in recognition should be done at every meal. In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” I don't think it was instituted as an annual event, but as a daily one. People drank weak wine or weak beer because it was cleansed in the fermentation process, as opposed to water which could be contaminated. Bread (flatbread) was commonly used at every meal. We are to recognise daily what the Lord has accomplished for us. A meal with family and friends is, IMO, what and where the Lord intended us to celebrate his accomplishments. Most Christians reduce this to "grace" or "giving thanks" before they eat their main meal each day.

I very much doubt that that was a VPW original, Rocky.

A bit this, but if these souls under the altar are capable of thought as we know it, how horrible it must be for them to have to wait, knowing that there are others whom they are waiting for who have to be martyred and whose deaths they cannot prevent. Are they under the altar going, "No! Keep away from xxx, they plan to kill you!" or are they saying, "Hey, come on up! Being murdered isn't so bad!"

You might find talks and shows by Derren Brown interesting. He has a big YouTube channel and a large following, all of whom want to be entertained. But there's a serious side to what he does and says, too. He doesn't explain how he does what he does in this episode, but there are others you can watch that do explain more. He's done episodes on Faith Healing and on Religious Experiences. Very good at debunking - whilst still leaving you mystified. Watching too much of his stuff can make one very, very sceptical.

Any way I can download the entirety of a thread? Only way I can find is to copy every page, and paste into a Word document. There must be an easier way - isn't there?

So as not to let this thread get interminably long, I starated a new thread called Cat Whispering II. Fitting, really, as life with the cats was about to change when started the new thread, and as at now, it's definitely changed, with Tuxedo now (very sadly) dead and buried in the garden, and Crypto and I working out some different relationship.

Don't think I can agree with you on this, Sky. Pharisees were basically a political sect, but rooted in their interpretation of Mosaic law, with lots of other philosophy and received wisdom overlaying. By and large, they appear to have been well familiar with the scriptures (OT) and wanted to promote adherence to them. They wanted to preserve the way they thought things should be. It seems likely that they did, in fact, adhere (wrongly) to their religious beliefs. In contrast, VPW didn't appear to have any religious beliefs. He knew as much Bible as he needed to, to fool people, and codged together a set of "beliefs" from whatever he could find that seemed to suit his own agenda. He didn't want to preserve anything; he wanted to break everything - and everyone. He did share some things with Pharisees, though. Both he and they were Johnny-come-lately, of no importance (rather, in fact, hindrances) in God's plan for humankind, and are irrelevant to life today.

Charity, I think you would really enjoy and benefit from the book "Adam: God's Beloved" by Henri Nouwen. Available for pennies secondhand on Amazon. It's not a thick book, but there is profound wisdom in it. "Henri Nouwen completed Adam: God's Beloved just weeks before his death in 1996. It is a personal memoir about his friendship with Adam, a severely handicapped man he knew at the L'Arche Daybreak Community in Canada. Although Adam could not speak and was wracked with violent seizures, Nouwen called Adam my friend, my teacher, and my guide, and credited Adam with renewing his faith in a particularly dark period of life. Thanks to Adam, Nouwen came to understand the central questions of Christian theology in a way that transcended all statements of belief, and instead found joy in the mere gift of human existence. " "In the final year before his death in 1996, Henri Nouwen set out to write a book about the Creed. His plans changed when he learned of the death of his friend Adam, a severely handicapped young man from the L'Arche Daybreak Community outside Toronto where Nouwen lived. In the story of Adam he found a way to describe his own understanding of the Gospel message. Adam could not speak or even move without assistance. Gripped by frequent seizures, he spent his life in obscurity. And yet, for Nouwen, Adam became my friend, my teacher, and my guide. It was Adam who led Nouwen to a new understanding of his faith and what it means to be Beloved of God. Through the story of Adam, Nouwen found a new way to tell God's story of Jesus and the story of all of us human creatures, broken and yet beloved, who live in a world charged with the mystery of God's overwhelming love. Completed only weeks before his own death, Adam: God's Beloved became Nouwen's final, precious gift, a fitting summation of his own message and legacy." After that, you might like to try "Life of the Beloved" which isn't about Adam or any kind of continuation of the first book above. Actually, it's about You. And Me. And every other Christian, and their life in Christ. Initially written for a Jewish friend, Life of the Beloved has become Henri Nouwen's greatest legacy to Christians around the world. This sincere testimony of the power and invitation of Christ is indeed a great guide to a truly uplifting spiritual life in today's world. Henri Nouwen was born in Holland in 1932 and ordained a Catholic priest in 1957. He obtained his doctorandus in psychology from Nijmegen University in The Netherlands and taught at Notre Dame, Yale, and Harvard. He experienced the monastic life with Trappist monks at the Abbey of the Genesee, lived among the poor in Latin America with the Maryknoll missioners, and was interested and active in numerous causes related to social justice. After a lifetime of seeking, Henri Nouwen finally found his home in Canada, as pastor of L'Arche Daybreak - where people with intellectual disabilities and their caregivers live together in community. Henri Nouwen wrote over 40 books on spirituality and the spiritual life that have sold millions of copies and been translated into dozens of languages. His vision of spirituality was broad and inclusive, and his compassion embraced all of humankind. He died in 1996. His work and his spirit live on. Henri Nouwen pronounced his name "Henry Now-en." For more information on his life and work, please visit www.henrinouwen.org

Needs and wants parallel? Huh, in Wayland it was Greed and wants parallel.

Our first need is to get to know God. We should be learning of His love from our parents, and grow up understanding what love is. Some of us don't have parents who could supply that model. And for those people the need to know God, as a God of loving kindness, is particularly imperative. Not that it is of lesser importance to those who already have a concept of what loving kindness is. Because we've had more (or less) loving parents, we know what it is to have our daily needs supplied: shelter, warmth, food, clothing, companionship, and hopefully respect - that we're listened to. We also know that our loving parents denied us some things and required us to do other things. No, it's not candies all day every day. Yes, you do have to develop the discipline to go to school every day. No, you can't have that very expensive pair of trainers/pants/the latest electronic toy. Yes, you can have decent shoes, clothes, and things to do. No, you can't have everything just for yourself. Yes, you do have to share that toy with your siblings/friends. As growing teenagers there's a lot of peer pressure. But the true joy of friendship is that coming from supportive friends. We need to learn to appreciate that (and teach children to appreciate that). And that, one hopes, will set the tone for what one learns to appreciate about God. His friendship, his support, his givingness. Not just his provision of material things. Do these "prosperity" gospellers see their parents merely as providers of things they want? Of just being "money bags"? Do they value what their parents might have had to do, to provide those things? Or do they value the support, the kindness, the intangibles, that their parents provided?

I was out for a walk today, spending time looking in people's gardens. And several had this hellebore, some in profusion. So I'm guessing this is a hardier variety. Empty coming in tonight. No little mew from Tuxy. And Crypto jumping off the dining table (pesky critter! she knows not allowed) and running off to hide. An early night tonight. One without a cuddle with Tuxedo. :((

That's the one, Rocky. Hellebores have such variety, huge range of colours and shapes. But this one I hadn't seen before, and really liked it.

So now my beautiful girl is in the ground, wrapped in a plain linen or cotton pillowcase. She's under a mature, beautiful, pink Queen Elizabeth rose, and over the top of her I have put a new hellebore, very pretty, white face with pink spots called "Spring Promise Conny." Around the hellebore I have put some clumps of snowdrops (now seeding but they were lovely a few weeks ago) that I've uplifted from where they've spread elsewhere in the garden. It's not the best place for a hellebore, in full sun all day (they prefer shady/semi-shady places) but it's okay for the time being. But I fell in love with it because it's so pretty. Like Tuxy was. Might have to move it later in the season when I have something else nice to put in its place. You can see Tuxedo's photo in my ?avatar? is it; she's the front one with white toes, whiskers, ear tufts, bib and little oval splodge on her nose. Yellow eyes The other cat is Crypto, all black except for a very few white hairs under her chin. Green eyes. I'm still bloody miserable, but I feel better for having given her a beautiful resting place. Which of course I will see every time I go up or down the garden path.

Right now, I'm just plain miserable. And tired. I held her close on my chest all night long, talking and trying to soothe her.

Breathed her last a few minutes ago. Relatively peacefully at home. Now just curled on my lap. My heart is breaking. Thanks for sharing this last sad journey with me.

Funny as, Chocky!

All I can say is: God hasn't run out of miracles. He's not on a budget. To think otherwise is to need a miracle repair-job on one's brain.

Well! I go away on holiday for a few weeks, and come back to find this. Which looked as though it just might have a little substance and seems to have rapidly deteriorated to the same-old same-old. I started to read it from the beginning and at page 8 realised it's 31 pages long. If there is any new idea or thought, please say so. Otherwise, instead of wasting time dissecting the words, works and life of a nonentity man of low reputation and dishonour, it is of more value to spend that time studying the words, works and life of an outstanding Man of exemplary reputation and honour, whose words, works and life will stand for ever.

Okay, so some of you guys have used Bluetooth forever. But I'm a newbie. I have a laptop running Win10 and an Android phone. Both have bluetooth. I wanted to transfer some photos from the phone to the laptop but I don't seem able to. I turned on BT on both devices. Both can "see" each other. Failure notice suggests they need to be within 10m of each other; as they're not more than 10" from each other I can't understand the problem. Do I need to install something else, build a local network (for the two devices) or something else?

Spiritual athletes. Hah! Do you see any of the BoD running? Or any of the higher-ups? Running anywhere? LCM was a footballer or some such; I never saw him out running when I was in rez. Can't imagine any of the other Prezes running. (Maybe Vern, but long ago.) So if they are not running, then they are not athletes. And they are certainly not athletes of the spirit.

And speaking of running shoes, I was going to upload a photo of mine but I seem to have exceeded allowances. I got my running shoes over a decade ago when I ran my first half marathon (in support of a Christian charity in my city). Then I ran several more half marathons over about 6 or 7 years. And then my knee got too painful and I haven't run in some years. Not bad for someone who hates running. Recently took to wearing the shoes again just casually. And what happened to the soles?! Toe coming off, strips coming off the edges and middle. Some bits have been stuck on again (multiple times) and every so often one of the missing bits turns up somewhere in the garden. So basically, the undersole, the soft spongy padding, is mostly exposed on one shoe (other shoe remains intact). Anyway I think I have been sitting on the Christian bench for too long. Time I got back more fully into the "race."

This kinda jumped out at me today, but from a different perspective. All of us here have been hurt by TWI one way or another [except perhaps Mike - well, he has, but he doesn't realise it]. Some have got over it well, some are still struggling with aspects. Constantly we come across new things that need to be revisited because of the programming that was effected upon us. Paul was willing to forget his Pharisee upbringing and indoctrination. Willing to forget the abuse he suffered in Christ's name. To forget the near-misses when he was lowered out of a city, shipwrecked, imprisoned, and generally dragged down by constant undermining from religious Jews. Of course, he didn't forget - he wrote about it so that his supporters then knew, and we today know what he (and others) endured. But he didn't dwell on those things. He and his companions pushed on forward. He wasn't "running his race" with shackles of the past tied to his ankles. I'm so thankful to hear of ex TWI folk who have gone on to serve God and their fellow human beings in a myriad ways in their communities. Some help in established, helpful churches. Some have set up charities. Some have written books, documenting and warning. Others are still sitting on the bench fiddling with their shackles. Or dawdling - on the right course, but not sure if they want to run or not. Hopefully we here can help by giving the key to undoing those shackles. We might even be able to help with a new pair of running shoes, figuratively speaking, of course. And some are running the wrong way completely; those people are not my concern. The Lord will guard and guide them in his time.