waysider

I haven't been to a twig in years. I'm willing to bet, though, that any " opening the Bible and studying" that's done will be heavily tempered with Way doctrine. (ie: "What does The Blue Book say?")

Well, at least there will be free refreshments, as long as you don't mind drinking your coffee out of one of these.

They won't skin you alive and eat you or anything like that. Your questions will be welcomed.....as long as you agree with their answers. Really, though, I don't foresee how you would benefit from the experience. You have to remember that they are essentially a multi-level-marketing type organization. The MLM concept is what fuels the machine so, I would think they would probably be nice to you and make you feel welcome. We used to call it love bombing. I suppose, after all these years, they have probably refined that technique to make it less obvious, though. Also, I doubt that you'll be exposed to the underbelly of the beast at the local level. That generally doesn't happen until you make a commitment and start rising up through the ranks. I personally never saw the dark side until I entered an in-residence training program. Ultimately, no one can tell you whether you should do this or not. Good luck, whatever choice you decide to make.

(The butter wouldn't melt so I put it in the pie.)

A most excellent premise, my furry friend. Of course, you have to get past the innerrancy problem and question whether Paul's words hold water before you can give any serious consideration to such theories. But, remember, Eve pondered life's questions in a similar manner and got her little heiny spanked for it, ya know? Or, at least that's what Mr. Wierwille taught in PLAF (The Wonder Class). :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIq_tRKfO4I&NR=1

I think that might fall under "You reap what you sow.".

I talked to my local "leadershi t" about that once. He told me it's because "it has to build". (Whatever that means.)

A little background FYI for people who were never in The Way: Wierwille taught that, once you gain some spiritual maturity (whatever the hell that is), you will begin to see that when the Bible talks about adultery, it is really talking about "spiritual adultery", not the usual physical kind, as defined by millions of people the world over for thousands of years. This is why the Trinity was conidered such a big issue in The Way. Wierwille asserted that belief in the Trinity was a form of idolatry and, thus, an example of spiritual adultery....And all you really need to do to gain this spiritual maturity is to keep reading the PFAL materials, renew your mind to The Word (as defined by VPW) and speak in tongues as much and as often as you can. edit....and there are quite a few people, still riding that same old train, hoping for the day when it finally pulls into the station.

I've seen people on face book, who are still caught up in the Veepster's mystique, pushing the same old "blue book" mumbo jumbo that used to captivate us, almost word for word, like it's some kind of profound wisdom or magic elixir they're compelled to share with the heathen masses...

Happy Halloween!

After taking PFAL, we thought that we knew that we knew that we knew. In reality, we knew far too little about a multitude of subjects and issues. That proved to be dangerous for many of us.

FREE POST!!

The expectation of a mentor is that their protege will rise to new levels that surpass what they were taught. In the absence of exploration and creativity, we would all sing the same song.... over and over and over and over.....

Not just any other time...any time OTHER than the Grace Administration, in which we live. There's plenty of dogma in Way theology dealing with our "Sonship Rights" and inalienable priviledges, as God's chosen people, having been given a free pass to live above the law.....all made possible by a correct understanding of what is written to us and what is simply for our learning...As Wierwille was fond of saying, you are free to "do what you like as long as you like what you do"....How much handier could it possibly be?

Yes, it's absurd. Wierwille was fond of saying this because (IMO) he wanted to be our primary source for knowledge. At one point he said, "If you don't know what something means (scripturally speaking), ask ME."....."Write The Teacher at P.O. Box-------" This is typical of cult-like figure heads. They present themselves as possessing some sort of proprietary knowledge.....Now, as to why that situation HAD to be revelation it's because that's how Wierwille was able to deal with what, in my opinion, still appears to be a contradiction. Along with the revelation "theory", one must, of neccessity, subscribe, as well, to Wierwille's delineation of administration/dispensationalism to make this fit. (ie: You have to accept Wierwille's concept of the Gospels being addressed to The Christ Administration,but, not to the administration of The Church/Grace Administration .) edit: One of the most flagrant problems with the idea of the Gospels being addressed to those who were alive during Christ's life is that, by the time they were written, the vast majority of those people were already long deceased.

And therein lies the crux of the issue. In The Way, we were told we were being given the necessary tools to do independent research (cough), yet if one were to venture outside the prescribed doctrine of "The Blue Book", chastisement was sure to rear it's ugly head quite quickly.

I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E40IFKrzDIg