ex10

Morgan, I can understand your annoyance. After all, your kids were in their own front yard. Obviously, your situation should have been handled better. But I also have to say, that my experience from the other end was a little different. We went into a very bad neighborhood. And that's an understatement. In our case, it wasn't wise to go knocking on doors, so we had the cooperation of the local police who knew who we were and what we doing. Like I said, precautions have to be in place, but exactly what they are kinda depends on the community.

Wow George, tell us how you feel. If anybody out there has experience with such programs and has at all volunteered to do "inner city" type ministry things, then you know that there are safeguards in place, of course. At least there were in the programs I am acquainted with. Each community handles it their own way, usually in conjuction with law enforcement and/or other social agencies. And if a church isn't handling this type of "outreach program" responsibly, well then of course, something should be done.

Yeah, what laleo said. We once attended a church that did this, and we would also feed the kids lunch on Sunday. For some of the kids, actually most of them, it was the only time of the week when they were in a safe, loving environment. If it's not for your kids, fine. But it works wonders for some.

Psalm 28:2 "Hear my cry for mercy as I call to you for help, as I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place." Psalm 63:4 "I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands." Bliss, There are more verses. The act of lifting up the hands was one of serveral ways to physically express worship. Others were/are "bowing the knee," a biggee, clapping, shouting, etc. This whole subject can be a pretty exhaustive study. In fact, I have a friend who wrote her PHD in seminary on different worship styles throughout history. Pretty interesting stuff if one wants to take the time to learn about it. And here's a verse I love: Psalm 141:2: "May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice." Lovely words and expression of praise, methinks.

No apologies neccessary, out. It happens to be my personal favorite rant as well. :lol: So, rant on, and maybe somebody will get it?

Well, and here is the really ultra-stupid thing. Hubby and I ran his family's business for a long time. It was, uh, let's say, very profitable. We left our "climbing the way tree, mode" to go run the biz in the late 80's. We were very successful, thank you. Lord. We made alot of money, but at the same time, we had alot of debt. (We did a couple of commercial building projects and yeah, had to borrow the money to do it.) Like, how can one be successful at business, and not have debt? I never did figure that one out. So, if you want to be in TWI, and yet compete in the marketplace, and run a successful business, you're out? It's beyond idiotic.

yeah, top. It happened way back, just wasn't advertized. In fact, my sis-in-law who was also 10th, has an interesting story to tell about being accused. It was beyond ridiculous, in her case. But we always wondered what it was all about, ya know?

So, are they trinitarians now? or is Jesus Christ out of the picture altogether? I noticed the little blurb in quotes doesn't mention the identity of the Lord being Jesus Christ at all. So if a Muslim found this sight, I guess they'd be happy. ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)

<_< Cool synopsis, socks. The only thing I have to add, is that somebody figured out the chief purger needed to be purged. It had become obvious that the great MOGFOT had become more of a liability than any of the faithful. I just wonder if they realized how expensive it would be. <_<

oh good grief. I'm no biblical scholar and I don't pretend to be. But in usual Way style, they made up some bogus doctrinal excuse for getting rid of people who asked too many questions, or didn't support the status quo. Jesus never "marked and avoided" anybody. In fact, he was criticized because he hung out with "marked and avoided." I would count it as a personal honor to be so designated by the cult. It probably means you had/have a functionaing brain, that got in the way.

Geeze, justloafing, that's the million dollar question. And unfortunately, it's one that we will never get the answer to, in this lifetime anyway. So I guess we'll keep talking about it til the cows come home. But hey, I'm a Texan. I can handle cows.

yeah, what WW said.

ok, I get it. Thank you, sky. Carry on. :)

ok, i'm taking a big risk here.......but here goes. When I read these things posted here, I see a hunger and a longing for a deeper spirituality, and a desire to help people. I am by no stretch of the imagination a VP defender. Yet, could it be that VP's soul was crying out for something deeper and more meaningful than what he had experienced in his church life? Yeah, he had ambition, but is that always a bad thing? It's easy to villify everything we know about the cult, and the man who started it. But in the interest of sorting out this tangled mess of who VP was, and what his motives were, and were they took him, I don't want to be too quick to jump to conclusions. In my not so humble opinion, despite all the evil and wickedness that this man's "ministry" has wrought, something worked. And I think at least a little piece of it had God and the Lord Jesus involved. Some where? somehow? along the way? If not, fine, I can deal with it and have in my life. I just don't think the answers are as easy as we'd like them to be sometimes. Big sigh...........

Here here, Ron!! Corky's is the ultimate rolls royce of barbeque sauces. Ustacould buy it at Piggly Wiggly's, but these days I have my Aunt Vivi get the gallon jugs at Sam's and ship it to me. I know Sudo prefers Topps sauce, (more vinegar, not so sweet) but my family has been die hard Corky's devotees since the restaurant opened up on Poplar right near Mom and Dad's house. We'll be smoking a pork shoulder on Sunday, and of course have beans and mustard slaw. The only Southern way to serve real barbeque. Not that brisket stuff that Texans are fooled by. :wacko: Most of my brothers and wives are going to Vegas for the big game. In fact, they left today. So I guess it'll just be us and the dogs, but a neighbor or two might wander over when they smell the smoker. :)

Ohmigosh, Belle! Ro-tel is its own food group in these parts. :D If we ever have friends, family, pedestrians, or favorite pets over to watch any kind of sporting event, the 2nd question after "Where's the beer?" is: "Got Ro-tel and Fritos?"

Wow. I just read this thread for the first time today. There's some good info here, for sure. For what it's worth, I think VPW was definitely a product of the New Thought movement. But I think its influence on him came more through the work and writings of different men and women who like Kenyon, were interested in synthesizing the basics of the metaphysical with biblical christianity. VP spoke many times of different influences on his life and "ministry." Such as: The writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson Glenn Clark and Camps Farthest Out The writings of Emmett Fox The poetry of Ella Wheeler Wilcox The Books of James Allen Albert Cliffe and I'm sure there are more that can be added to the list. All of these men and women were poster children for the "New Thought" movement. At some point while I was in-rez, a bunch of us corps even went to the Unity Headquarters in Kansas City, because VP was such an admirer of theirs. I can't remember much about the trip to Unity, except that we went. (Sorry, old age must be kidnapping my memory. ) Maybe one of my former comrades remembers that trip better than I. Anyway, it was obvious to me when I first left TWI and started investigating the whole New Thought thing, (at the suggestion of JAL, by the way) where VP got alot of his ideas. And it sure is alot easier to get information from the Internet. In the late 80's, it was a lot harder to put some of these things together. But now all ya gotta do is a google search. Ain't technology grand? And thanks for all the info you've put together, jkb. Good stuff.

I just wanna know whether or not sudo is barbecuing. ;)

What an interesting question you ask, templelady... I honestly don't remember being taught anything specific about relationships too much while in the corps. I remember alot of rah rah and hype about "running to serve" and being a "doulos doer of the word" and other such meaningless "mo-tech" types of things. But in my mind, I always translated it into hosting a home fellowship. I actually believed the propaganda about being a twig "coordinator" -----not "leader" mind you, when I graduated. Honestly, I never had any dreams of grandeur of being an "important somebody" in "the ministry" when I graduated. (Please just ask anybody who knew me when) I had a passion for a profession that I had invested alot of myself in, and honestly went into the corps thinking that I would be able to work at my profession (interior design) and host a home bible study type fellowship at the same time. Silly me. I come from a very large, Catholic type family who were very close. When I got involved with TWI, my siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and yes even neighbors followed. And these "regular believers" were the ones who sponsered me in the corps and payed my way. I always felt indebted and grateful. My best friend in the corps, who is now my sis-in-law, came from the same situation. Most of her family, extended family, friends, neighbors, friendly pedestrians, etc. were just "regular believers" as well. So upon grauduating from the corps, of course we failed miserably, as far as moving up in the chain of command. (Just ask White Dove :) ) We were too "invested" in our families and the people in our twigs, to climb the food chain. Hence our demotion (by our own choice) after spending a few short years as almighy "corps grads." I'm sure I'm not the only one who had this experience. Please don't misunderstand me, though. I'm not trying to come off as somebody who was totally unaffected by the whole arrogant mentality of the cult. I was just as much of a jerk as the next way corps person. I just became really unhappy with myself and the circumstances and left before it got unbearable. I could still look myself in the mirror, and sleep at night. In fact, when we finally left in the mid 80's, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I started enjoying life. "Regular believers" included. I'll probably get shot for saying this, but it seems to me that alot of the people who stayed after the great purge, did not have the same sensibility. I don't mean regular believers, I mean the high and mighty.

OMG shaz. You just gave me the best belly laff I've had all day, or week, even!!! Your last post illustrated my point perzactly. Thanks for that. :)

Thanks for the responses. Just for the record, I have a friend who I was in the corps with who was also able to use his way college courses towards his degree after graduation. They also counted as some kind of "independent study" thing. And I appreciated the work ethic and attention to detail, both of which are important in the professional world. The thing for me is, I think I had those things in my favor way corps training or not. But I had to really rid myself of the black and white thinking of TWI. I've had to learn over the years that there are very many design options and styles out there, and one is not particularly better than the other; it's just a matter of personal preference and what one is comfortable with. Personally, I prefer more contemporary architecture and interiors and yes, even art work. (Let's not even get started on that topic.) I can work with traditional furniture, acsessories, and have very often. But it's not the only "right way" or even the "best" in my opinion. And I've done cottage type interiors that have alot of stuff, as in collections, chotchkies, whatever that would send any way corps person I knew back when filling a dumpster for "Uncle Harry Day." And I had many clients over the years who are into feng shui, so I've had to work in those parameters as well. Truth be told, I never could have done that with my former way corps mentality. And then there's the working with people attitude that Oak mentioned. I have to create a plan that my clinics love and want to live with, what they want, not what I think is "spiritually best" whatever that means. An interesting topic, I think.

I am a way corps grad who has worked in the interior design profession for the past 20 years. :) I pretty much had to forget everything I learned while in the corps to be succussful at my job. Im just wondering if anybody else has had this experience? Did your training in the way corps hinder your professional growth? or did it help you?

I don't know if I count. But I was the Interior Design person while in-rez. Chief plant moved and picture hanger extrodinaire was all I was. I've worked many years as a professional designer, but not til I left the way. I was underemployed, while with the cult. :D Got out and found a wonderful profession awaiting me. Yeee Haw!

I went to dinner at my brother's house tonight. We were sitting around after we ate, just talking, and one of my brothers asked the question: "What was the happiest day of your life?" I must say, that the happiest day of my life was when my first child was born. Hands down, no comparison. All of us moms agreed, as did the dads. Of course, subsequent births rank pretty high, too. But there something about the birth of a first child. I couldn't help but think of the parallel to Christmas. The birth of the only-begotten son of God must rank pretty high on the list of God's best moments. It gave me a new appeciation for the season. Merrry Christmas!

Ok, I have a confession to make. I am a corps person. I'm sure that some remember me fondly, and others perhaps don't. I don't really know for sure. But, some of the people mentioned on this thread as being really great corps people, etc, etc, really wrecked my life for a while. Because they were such uh, um, for lack of a better word, asses. So I guess what I'm saying is that I have a problem with naming names of people here. For every "good experience" that someone had with a corps person, somebody else might've had a reaaly bad one. and I am one of "them." Geeze, life gets complicated at times, doesn't it?