waysider

And, we burned a lot of bridges behind us so we couldn't simply stop and go back. We cut off our friends, families, support systems. That's something outsiders will often fail to understand when they wonder why we didn't just quit and return to life as it was.

My analogy appears to be a bit weak. By "soap" I meant the so-called more abundant life. The PFAL class was supposed to be the opportunity to have the "soap". Instead of selling people the soap we sold them the opportunity. Like with Axway, you're not really selling people the product, you're selling dealerships. edit: Darn grammar rules keep getting in the way.

Except we weren't really selling the "soap". What we were selling was the OPPORTUNITY to sell the soap. I sell you the opportunity. You sell someone else the opportunity. He sells the opportunity to yet another person and so on. We were so busy selling the opportunity, we forgot all about the soap. edit: bold and emphasis added.

So, a man dies and goes to Hell. Upon arriving, he is greeted by the Devil. The Devil proceeds to tell him his punishment is to read GreaseSpot Cafe, 24/7/365. "Oh, that's not so bad", he says to himself. Then he clicks on the site and finds there is only one forum.....Doctrinal.

If I speak English to a group of people who only know German, no man understands. Does that mean I didn't really speak a language?

This was referenced in post #256.

OOPS! Duplicated Bolshevik's reference.

It's all cosmic, man. Fer shure

I'm sorry you feel that way though I understand why you might feel unwelcome. Personally, I hope you stay. Everyone's opinion is valued, though many times not agreed upon. I think there is a certain type of stubbornness that comes with the whole TWI experience package. After all, that's what we were taught. Be stubborn. Resist any deviation from the program. Having done all, STAND! ("Get With The Program" probably resonates with your military background.) This site is intended to expose the dark side of an organization we were all led to believe was "special". It wasn't/isn't. It's simply another cult, much like the thousands that have come to exist before it and the thousands that are likely to follow. We come from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. Our opinions on any given matter are as varied as night is from day. It's like trying to solve a giant jigsaw puzzle, only to discover someone has hidden some of the pieces. ("What happened to me?" "Why do I feel this way?" "Did I really see what I think I saw?" "Was I the only one this happened to?".... That kind of thing) Here, we try to find those pieces and put together a little bit more of the puzzle. We don't always succeed. Hopefully, the puzzle becomes just a little bit more discernible, though, as time moves on. As it has been said, "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." If that means you need to move on, then so be it. I've enjoyed our discourses.

CLICK

Thanks, W.W. I'm in agreement with your version. I've adjusted my original posting.

Question: Would inclusion of factual errors from other versions qualify or would that simply dilute its veracity?

Is anyone here old enough to remember being taught how to diagram a sentence? There is an abundance of material on YouTube for anyone who is interested in understanding what it is and how it works. is one I found that explains the concept in a straightforward and easily understood manner. There are, of course, many, many more. A trained linguist could do this, using the principles of morphology and syntax, without any knowledge of the specific language. So, if a language is genuine, the capability exists to diagram it.Side note: I'm not sure if this is off-topic but I find it interesting. In Hangul, the written form of Korean, parts of speech are identified by their function, right in the written context. For example, the subject is followed by an identifying marker (such as 은 or 는). The marker has no meaning of its own other than to say "This is the subject". Likewise, the object has a marker (such as 을 or 를). It, too, has no meaning of its own other than to identify the object. In casual, informal conversation among peers, the markers are often dropped, as they are understood from the context. Other languages have unique properties, as well. For instance, in Spanish, the adjective is placed after the noun. rather than before as it is in English. (a "house red" as opposed to a "red house") These are the sorts of things a linguist is trained to recognize and identify. Again, a linguist would be able to construct a format (similar to diagramming sentences) for a genuine language if, indeed, it represented a viable model.

Shhhhh! You're not supposed to know that. OOPS!

What is real and what is an illusion? Only you decide.

Once, in a believers meeting during the hippie era, I heard an older gentleman speak in tongues rather eloquently. He followed with this interpretation: "My little children, cut your hair and get jobs." It really blessed me.

Wouldn't Sayonara be a terrible name for a band? I mean, if they were the opening act, who would stay for the headliner?

"Note the number of threads we have on this forum debunking Mormon claims about pre-Colombian American history." Nada......."Nada" stinkin' one....heh.

BREAKING NEWS He wasn't really a Dr. (It will just be our little secret.)

Step outside the box for a moment and ask "What if?". What if this was some book other than the Bible, some ancient secular text. And, what if, instead of speaking in tongues, the matter being examined was a ritual requiring some sort of physical activity? How would that change your opinion on the matter?

None of this explains the contradiction between Acts and Corinthians. "No man understands" and yet they did.

My apologies. I read it too fast and took it out of context, completely changing the meaning.

"I learned in PFAL to seriously consider that your argument might be right" You learned that in PFAL?? It would appear your experience was quite different than mine, especially session #5.

A soft answer turns away wrath.....Proverbs 15:1 (one of the retemories) It doesn't always work but it's usually a good starting point.