waysider

If they don't admit that TWI had problems, they can excuse themselves from being duped like the rest of us.

HeeHee! Not really. I think you could probably trace this stuff way back to the early days. Wierwille didn't just wake up one day and suddenly decide to become a sexual predator.It's a chronic condition. Looking back on my time in FLO, in the mid '70s, I realize now that it had to have already been going on then at the HQ. level. It makes me feel like I got played for a chump. Not because I didn't participate in the shenanigans but because he used our lifestyle to camouflage his own. I mean, here we were, a group of young, virile adults, signed to a 2 year commitment to live a life of alcohol and drug free celibacy. (celibacy for the singles) Meanwhile, we saw signs that indicated less than honorable things, such as Wierwille's then-rumored alcohol abuse, might be going on but were reproved for even THINKING such things. Can't be thinking evil of "the household" now, can we? We must be spiritually weak and lacking sufficient renewed mind to entertain doubts.(cough) The WOWs were publicly, advised at WOW training, to "keep it in their pants" during their WOW year. In CF&S, Wierwille advised the women to learn how to satisfy their own needs rather than succumb to temptation. (He said men didn't need to "learn" this.) In retrospect, I think all this stuff was a smokescreen he used because he knew our lives were much more transparent to the public than his was at HQ. So, if his life came under scrutiny, he could point at these things as a ready made rebuttal. Just my opinion.

Perhaps even more significant is that it would be costly. With an ever shrinking "customer base", they need to use what's left prudently if they ever plan to tap it as a retirement fund.

Then when a scenario that DID include the U.S. legal system was cited (Jim Jones), no definitive answer was ever presented. ***************************************** Do you suppose the motorcoach ever had any "passengers" when it crossed state lines?

I wonder if Wierwille and Co. ever considered the ramifications of violating The Mann Act? ALSO (Please note: I posed the question of whether they ever considered it. I didn't say they violated it.)

That never stopped Wierwille. HaHaHaHaHa!

Walk Away Renee---- The Left Banke

You one funny dude, WD.

This is starting to sound a good bit more like dialog from a Monty Python movie than a rational discussion.

I remember that section of scripture being used to suggest that, if you were ever less than totally honest with leadership, an unpleasant fate awaited you. In other words, it was used to control people and keep them in a naive state of vulnerability and submission. We trusted them. They betrayed our trust.

The frog was lured into the pot while on a quest for better lily pads.

"If you want to continue to misrepresent what I said here which by the way is against the rules." Please supply a specific example. I think you're blowing smoke with semantic trivia. It's obvious to most who read your posts what you are implying whether you use the words "guilt" and "innocence" or not. "I have consistently said it was undetermined ,undocumentable" I'm not sure how you can cite things that have been documented here and characterize them as being undocumented. By the way I thought you were ignoring posts in blue, or was that another misrepresentation? Yes, that is a misrepresentation---but not on my part. This is what I actually posted. "Maybe it's just me. Sometimes I see a post that's written almost entirely in one color ink, such as blue, and my mind wants to pass it right by. Kinda like a bad wreck on the freeway that I really have no desire to even glance at. I guess these old eyes just don't want to be bothered with the strain these days."

I suppose I could "cut and paste" a definition for you but what would be the point? You already know what it would say. If you want to continue presuming Wierwille was innocent of actions that have been recounted here by first hand testimony, that's your choice. In my opinion, though, what you are trying to do is virtually the same thing that has been done to rape victims, time and time again, in court. If you can't stand to hear people speak evil of your hero, maybe you should invest in some cotton balls and stick them in your ears. It doesn't sound like the healthiest of solutions but to each his own.

When I look in the mirror, I wonder why there's some old guy looking back at me.

Glad your exit was so easy. For some others, it wasn't quite that straightforward. Personally, I don't really think one leaves The Way until they start to deliberately flush some of the toxins of Way doctrine and thinking from their minds.

"You betcha!"

Maybe the contents changed over time but when I took it in the mid 1970s, much of the material was legally inappropriate for 13 year old kids. Some of us objected. Wierwille said, "What better place to learn it than with "The Family"? Yeah, that's like saying your kid's gonna try drinking some day so why not just buy him/her a bottle of Turkey and get smashed together?

Nah, we just lived in a commune like a bunch of celibate, non-toking hippies.

My dog's bigger than your dog. My dog's bigger than yours. Come on everybody-----Sing with me! Seriously though, it sounds like us, 40 years ago, comparing The Way to organized religion. Sad

What is it you think we don't "get"? That there's some sort of profound, cryptic message hidden in the pages of PFAL? Maybe we don't "get it" because there is no secret message. The man was just another low caliber confidence artist who lived a life of ease on my dollar and yours. Did you ever see some of his toys? A fleet of classic cars and vintage motorcycles paid for by the suckers he fleeced. He kept them conveniently tucked away, out of view from the rank and file. Maybe that's the secret you're looking for.

Hmmmmm-----Sounds like a Zydeco tune to me.

You may have stumbled into a hornets' nest, cheranne

And there was Fellow Laborers. Not only were we supposed to be doing an in-depth study of Acts, we were supposedly living a lifestyle that was PATTERNED after Acts! What a disappointment. :(

I remember children Feeding flocks of pigeons I remember sunshine And you were mine

He did much more than just meet with them. He commandeered the movement from Heefner and Doop.