waysider

Looking back, I think the instructors manual was really our first opportunity to take a brief peek behind the curtain....all the little gems of advice, like telling the students not to teach outsiders about 4 crucified (gee, I wonder why not <_< ), covering for VP's doctrinal slip when he says 'He's coming back as Lord God Almighty!", etc.

And------lest we forget, back in the 1960's, the devil wasn't a snake at all but,

Being a class instructor is a lot like being a shift manager at Burger Biggie....make sure there is always plenty of coffee and the toilets are clean. The class I am most ashamed to have ever been involved with was Christian Family and Sex. I apologize to anyone and everyone who was ever in a class I ran.

For what it's worth, the account in Genesis never actually says that the serpent is the devil or Satan.

How can I state this more clearly? It's a myth. And, it's not unique to Christianity. It appears in belief systems from all over the globe, throughout recorded history. That, in itself, ought to tell us that the lesson to be gleaned from it is vitally important to man understanding his own nature. Until we can move beyond the idea that it's a documentation of a historical event, our understanding of its meaning will be severely restricted. Therefore, it might be beneficial to see how it plays out in the Greek writings, the writings of Native American peoples and so forth.

I think if you try to analyze every little detail, as if it was all literal, you miss the essence of the message ..... Man's endless struggle to choose between good and evil......can't see the forest for the trees sort of thing, ya know? edit: This is why I think, if one hopes to understand the larger scope of the message, one needs to accept that there ARE contradictions, things that don't always fit, that mathematical precision and scientific accuracy are just a catchy little phrase that has no basis in reality.

Hmmmmm...greeting cards How about something like....... God bless, you're the best! (Not really, I am.) Are not! AM TOO! Are not! AM TOO!

It's all a matter of semantics. "The Way" has all but disappeared but, in reality, it lives on in the offshoots and 'holders-on'. THIS one even has a Corps program, a W.O.W. program and a L.E.A.D. program, as well as capitalizing on the Wierwille name....Phoenix continues to rise attempt rising from the ashes. edited for verb tense.

Right now, I'm polishing off a big bag of cheese puffs.........yum!

Why was he in the garden? Maybe he was waiting for a bus. All that slithering can make a fella tired.

Thanks, Seth. I'm enjoying this.

Roy I don't think the chat room is functional anymore. I haven't been able to get into it for a long time. (years)

I'm doing my part to create an environment that is conducive to learning for the youngsters in our area.

THIS author has penned several works related to the subject, though I haven't personally read any of them.

There are common themes that run through all genres of mythology, such as resurrection, afterlife, nemeses, etc. Seth recently started a thread related to this subject in the open forum. (HERE) Perhaps the answer lies in another religion's version of the event. Of course, one must "get passed" the idea of inerrancy when contemplating such materials.

.....it all has to fit like a hand in a glove. What kind of glove...a surgical glove, a welding glove, a baseball glove, a snow mitten?

"Most of the privileges and responsibilities of adulthood are legally granted by the age of 18. That's when you can vote, enlist in the military, move out on your own, but is that the true age of maturity? A growing body of science says, no. That critical parts of the brain involved in decision-making are not fully developed until years later at age 25 or so." SOURCE

Festinger theorized that the mind does not like to entertain two conflicting ideas at the same time. If the ideas are too greatly in conflict with each other, cognitive dissonance will be the result. The mind will invent a sort of compromised melding of the two. This understanding the difficult in light of the simpler seems like a variation of the same basic concept.

I just listened to a snip of the Moyers show. Very interesting. I'm definitely going to check it out in greater detail as time permits. I think resistance to this sort of thinking ("Having done all, STAND!") sorely deprives the fundamentalist/advocate-of-inerrancy of an opportunity to explore new and maybe greater horizons.

It cannot hear because my words are all carried away.

Said the straight man to the late man "Where have you been?" I've been here and I've been there and I've been in between. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kVNl-9cS9c

I'm not finding any such reference on this thread, other than yours. So, I pose the question again....earned much more WHAT?

Show of hands, please....Who here really gave a rat's patootie about how many were crucified with Christ before VPW told you should?