waysider

The OT didn't *require* it. How do you go above and beyond something that's not required in the first place?

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Yes, CSBP makes that statement on page 27. (I don't have it memorized, I'm looking at the pamphlet.) That entire booklet (and remember, I have it right here for reference.) is about as unbiblical as it can get. The whole purpose of that booklet is to convince the readers they must give their hard earned money to The Way in order to receive the blessings of God. It's outright propaganda in its finest form. You can't read more than a paragraph or two, on any page, before discovering something that is utter nonsense. We have been through this tithing subject more times than I care to count. The booklet is just plain wrong. The very premise it presents is absolutely flawed. If anything, the booklet validates the concept of this discussion by demonstrating that The Way was not averse to granting favors in proportion to one's giving. Pages seven through eleven state that tithing is this and tithing is that. All a bunch of rhetoric based on misrepresentation of the scriptures. Don't take my word for it, read it for yourself sometime. For a group of people who prided ourselves on superior knowledge of the Bible, we really didn't know very much about it at all or we would have easily seen straight through this useless drivel.

Yeah, I remember my mother used to ask "If all your friends jumped off the bridge, would you jump, too?" I think it's what some people would call rationalization.

Yes, I'm sure other religions do this, as well. Then again, we're not really talking about what "other religions" do, are we?

How could I have missed this. That's exactly the reason. You must have been perfectly manifesting all five "keys to receiving anything from God".

It was my experience that The Way made special exceptions for anyone who had something that would benefit "The Ministry" (cough). It could be money, it could be a special skill, it could be celebrity. I can recall how we used to purposely target such people. I call it *Trophy Mentality*. I am very sorry I ever partook in such activities.

Too many, too similar, with little to gain but some personal closure. The courts are notorious for deciding in favor of the perpetrator.

"Meanwhile, yeah, let's complain about everything." If that's what you really think this is about, why do you keep returning?

And then there are the people who are skeptical because it took so long for it to be widely exposed. I think it demonstrates there is a whole other level to this sort of thing that many people just don't grasp.

Restaurant inspections usually have a clear, easily understood set of standards. (eg: Food must not be held below a specific temperature, etc.) Religious and philosophical beliefs are rarely as clearly defined. There is too much room for personal interpretation and subjectivity for regulation to be effective.(in my opinion)

Yeah..... "You're doing this all wrong!! By the way, would you do it again for another year?" :wacko:

"I heard that the 6th way corps once had this happen." That's probably the same one that coincided with the FellowLaborer event. While I don't think they were expertly skilled in manipulation techniques, I do think they deliberately designed and fabricated these two incidents. No one in that meeting had any idea what we could have possibly done that was so egregious. It was a heartbreaker. There were people there who had totally committed to the program, left holding the bag, in the middle of nowhere, hundreds of miles from home.

Most were subjected to the same kind of treatments. It's hard to imagine they haven't deduced the reality of what was happening. As to their motives, you would have to ask them.

It was in about 1976 or 1977. Wierwille was still fully in charge of The Way. Does that help?

I'm not clear on your meaning. Are you saying the criteria that defined an incident as a butt chewing was our perception of it? I have to disagree. You can give a butt chewing (or a motivational speech) to an inanimate object. It will not perceive anything. It's futile, sure, but that doesn't change the event.

I should have added that, later, here at GSC, I learned that almost this exact scenario was being played out for the Way Corps at the same time.......It was all a pre-orchestrated performance.

I'm going to try to reduce this one to the basics. In Fellowlaborers, we lived in an apartment complex in a small Ohio town. (We rented 8 townhouses that we called our *houses*.) We worked at Limb HQ, which was located in a rural setting about 30 minutes away. One night, in the middle of the night, 2/3 AM or so, we were awakened and told we had to be at Limb HQ for a special meeting in 20 minutes. Do the math....30 minute trip in 20 minutes. Of course we were all late. When we got there, we were ushered into the general meeting area, which was dark and silent. We were told not to talk among ourselves. So, all 50 or so of us sat there in silence, in the darkness, not knowing when the meeting would start or what it was about. When the limb leader finally arrived, he first chewed us out for being late and then proceeded to tell us the entire program was immediately cancelled. We were told that, because of our lack of believing, "Word Over The World" was destined for failure ...something about having a negative effect on Int. HQ because they were located so geographically near....huh? This kind of thing is devastating to people who have restructured their lives to be a part of the program. So, we go back to our *houses* and decide to have one more 5:30AM morning fellowship before packing it in. We get to fellowship and are told everything has changed. Now we can continue with the program if we will commit ourselves to following directions from the MOG without question. I should have packed it in and left right then and there but I didn't. And, that's the shortened, basic version.

When I left it was still growing or, at least, that was the perception I had at the time. So, no, I didn't have any bearing on my experience, aside, perhaps, that I felt guilty for no longer promoting it..

Wasn't it Doc Vic, himself, who said something about putting pickles in a jar labeled peaches? :blink:

Maybe it's a variation of Stockholm Syndrome.

Theism is a belief that God (or Gods) exists. A-Theism is an absence of this belief. Religion is an organized conglomeration of beliefs. Neither one (Theism or Atheism), in and of itself, constitutes a religion.

Precisely.