waysider

I got nuttin' here. :(

late 70s/early 80s

If it's any consolation, at least they're finding out now, before they invest decades of their lives into it.

Well, the story line had to happen somewhere, didn't it? I think it's what you call a "co-inky-dink".

The Vicster had as much "spiritual ability" as a pet rock. He was a fraud. He may have done a rain dance or two. It might have rained. His dance didn't cause it to rain. Capisce?

When my mother was alive, our springtime conversations would often turn to a discussion of what was blooming in our yards. There was 150 miles between us so the differences were often quite interesting. This year, with the weather being so unusual, I find there are things blooming in my yard that I never would have expected so early. For example, I have 2 Redbud trees in my yard. They are somewhat small and rather spindly, due to the shade of several large trees in the neighboring yard. They are several weeks ahead of schedule and loaded down with blossoms. This is what a Redbud looks like. (This is NOT my yard. LOL. I live in the city.) Anyhow....What's blooming in your yard?

It's some kind of technical thing. I have found that (2) is the limit in one post, unless you just do a copy/paste of the URLs. Then you can do several. I have no idea why. My technical skills are very limited.

Yes, that's exactly what happened. (You'll just have to trust me on this.)

Heh. I meant ones that are still ACTIVE in the organization. I was being sarcastic but I think I should have been more specific.

I dunno. As far as I'm concerned, they're perfectly free to come here and post under their real names.

Your sarcastic negativity just killed him. Shame on you.

They could do a snail mail "blast". (as long as they don't use ABS to pay the postage.)

"Closed due to 3 years of inactivity." Well, boy howdy!, if you can't think of anything "positive" to say about an organization in 3 years, maybe you really SHOULD turn out the lights and lock the doors.

There's a clue in the album cover I posted but you have to listen for it.

Yeah, but won't the bogey man gitcha if you leave?

I had a similar experience, hitch hiking home from twig, one night. Only, instead of asking him about Sunday school, I told him I was gonna smash his skull in with a crowbar if he didn't back off. Hmmmmm...On second thought, I guess it really wasn't all that similar.

I understand the point of the needle analogy but I can't completely agree. With the needles, you have an active role in taking the child to receive the treatments. With the idiom of permission, God doesn't actively do anything. That's the crucial point. He doesn't do anything, He simply permits it. Leave da one true houseboat and God will "permit" the devil to have his way with you.

It was really just a sales job, wasn't it? We were like the Al Bundy of the Bible world. We sold Bible classes at the mall and Al sold shoes.

I hated when you had to take a newbie out and show him the ropes. Like being involved with The Way longer than any person with a sane mind ought to be involved with it made you some kinda expert or something. They're looking to you for answers like you've got your hand in the cookie jar or bread box or candy drawer or whatever that stupid analogy was. Meanwhile, you're thinking, "Hell, I don't know why the fish aren't biting. Maybe I should have brought my stationary with me."

Mostly, witnessing just sucked. Except, sometimes you would present "the green card" and be launched into a conversation that went like this: ""but..but this is a bag of SH!T!" And you would respond with something like,"But its really GOOD sh!t Mrs. Johnson!" ... What's the word?....Hot Dog!

We gotta hold forph da werd! If we let it progress naturally, it would be...you know...natural. Can't have that. Everything gots ta be spirchal.

Is that what is meant by, "the letter of the law"? New International Version (©1984) Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

And then there was the grand daddy of them all (IMO), when in Christian Family and Sex, he claimed that God revealed to him the true nature of the original sin but he had no scripture to prove it.... soooooo, we would "just have to trust me (him) on this."

I recall, when I was pretty new in da werd, my branch leader took me out to a bar to show me how to witness. (We were both of drinking age). We somehow managed to find ourselves occupying a table with two lovely young ladies. The conversation progressed to the word "believing". My branch leader used it as a spingboard to launch into a dissertation on how believing is a verb and a verb connotes action. Well, I don't know about your part of the world but in my part of the world, "action" has a rather...."unique" meaning. I wish I had a video or something showing how hard he backpeddaled to redefine his meaning when he suddenly realized his faux pas....."What I mean is...That is to say...uh, uh, uh..."