waysider

Encompassed within the larger conversation (a subset)

Isn't this a subset of the aforementioned?

I'm not trolling. It's possible I don't understand what kind of answers you're looking for. You do your best to guide them in understanding how to think for themselves and advise them on what is and what isn't acceptable behavior. What happens next is a crap shoot. What you don't want to do is hand those responsibilities over to someone who may not share the same values as you and may tell them what to think rather than teach them how to think..

Then once you have rights, exercise them.= Be the one who's in charge.

This it in a nutshell. But, if someone or something usurps those rights, all bets are off the table on what the outcome will be.

See, here's the thing, Rocky, there are lots of folks out there in the real world who don't have a solid grasp of what "family" even means. That's partly why they aspire to become gangbangers and Kia Boyz.

They could just reach up in "Daddy's Cookie Jar" and, PRESTO! Just like that. White hearts and black hearts would appear.

Sing with me, now... "I'm so glad I'm a part Of the fa...." Hey! Just a cotton pickin' minute!

That can certainly enter into it, but it can also be understood, in a broader sense, to apply to a specific culture, nation or group, while having no racial implications.

I'm having a hard time finding a way to explain what I meant when I raised the issue of ethnocentricity. I'll try, though. In The Way, we were fed the idea that "our" group was somehow better than "their" group. Hey, I mean, they were just empties floating by, right?, while we held all the power of the universe at our fingertips. But, how do you maintain that personal conviction? Simple. You "renew your mind" to the prescribed beliefs and become like-minded with each other. You foster a sense of belonging. Of course, in the process, you sacrifice your own sense of personal identity.

Ethnocentricity is different than tribalism in that it also involves a sense of superiority.

ethnocentricity?

Little Boxes

Meh. We went down this path 50+ years ago and, still, nothing about human behavior has really changed.

So, then...Kindergarten curriculum, rinse and repeat X 12? It all seems too vague and ambiguous to assign a blanket Yea or Nay.

Does the controversy rest in the concept or the implementation?

After my dad had been retired for a while, I remember him telling me he didn't understand how he ever got anything done while he had still a job. Now that I'm retired, myself, I'm beginning to understand what he meant.

Not everybody's cup of tea, for sure. I'm blown away by her songwriting skills. She's like a female counterpart to John Prine. Speaking of which, THIS may have some loosely related relevance to the tone of this thread.

But I gave joy to my mother And I made my lover smile And I can give comfort to my friends when they're hurting And I can make it seem better for a while.

Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970, but I do see your point.

My life, it's only a season A passing September that no one will recall. HERE

Easy's Gettin' Harder Every Day.

Only if it's in agreement with Way doctrine.

I would suggest you refer to the laws that detail the specific parameters of what constitutes sexual abuse.

In PFAL, VPW proclaims the Bible to be the revealed word and will of God. To emphasize the importance of this, he stresses that the world is unaware of this fact. (the greatest secret) He then goes on to say that the Bible, as we know it, is not accurate. So, which is it? Is it the revealed word and will of God or is it a book that's inaccurate? This is all (if I remember correctly) in the very first session of the class. Oh, but wait, "I know how to interpret it to make it accurate." "But, don't you interpret it yourself because it can't be interpreted." I wonder what life would have been like if I had just given some serious thought to the obvious contradictions in what he was saying.