Yanagisawa

The "inerrancy doctrine" is a great, fairly new invention that, thankfully, takes the burden off me to think and holistically apply scripture to my life. And thank goodness. It really fits my culture of prefab housing, processed ready-made food, and conveyer belt education. I'm sure glad I have to do is open the book, point to a verse and know that the God of the Universe wrote it (using someone's hand of course.) I don't have to check it against history, science, culture, or similar literary genre. which is so neat because I'm so tired of thinking critically. Don't you think there's already too much criticism in the world? I can just read it like a Hallmark card because its God's perfectly inspired, perfectly written love letter to me.

Two phrases speak volumes to me: “Yes, there was more doctrinal error than I ever realized while I was in TWI, and there was corresponding practical error that became more evil than most of us involved ever imagined.” This implies that “practical error” (known in many circles as sin) is simply a by-product of faulty knowledge…therefore if we are doctrinally sound we will not practice sin….HMMM…very Gnostic. “In essence, he will ask each of us something like this: “What did you do with what you knew?” Again, that pesky Gnostic concept of redemption through knowledge. It fueled the Way, and must still fuel STFI.

I'm sure family therapists have a different name than "lockbox" for the official family secrets that are never, never, ever suppposed to come out. But they do manifest....in shame, guilt, rage, suicide, alcoholism, drug abuse, rape, incest, etc.

Why would you, as one who professes to God's unfathomable grace, even presume to know who will or won't be at a party that you are not hosting?! Or do you take glee in your assessment of the late Mr. Carlin's supposed eternal state? Who among us has the right to speculate for one nanosecond on the "eternal destiny" of one of God's beloved- and, yes, believe it or not Mr. Carlin was just as beloved to God as Martin Luther, Billy Graham, or Jesus.

Kenyon also hung with Madame Blavatsky and the whole theosophy movement. IMHO it's all part of a recurring "alchemy" movement that's been around forever....trying to find secret formulas to turn the mundane into the transcendent...whether it's lead into gold...thoughts into material....etc. Platonic dualism is and has ever been appealing for some reason - maybe becasue it speaks to our disappointment with what we find in reality...."as above, so below"....

A detailed study of the text (literal according to usage) shows that the "war in heaven" was really just a heated discussion on whether extra-earthly beings should have arms long enough to reach certain parts of their bodies. Apparently there was some eyesight malfunction in the earthly model.

In my opinion she was in the echelon of "Featured performer at a local large urban church." Big fish, little pond...No more, no less. Certainly nothing to sneeze at, but certainly not a "hands-down", "without question" national or international star.

The economy that exists in "the world" was no different in the Corps. If one was extremely talented, extremely beautiful, extremely educated, or extremely wealthy doors opened that remained closed to the great unwashed.

I've been married and faithful to my wife for twenty-three years and, believe me, it doesn't change. There is no "safe sex". Sex is, by nature, laden with danger whether it's your first time or your ten thousandth. That's why it's so intriguing.

"Had he been motivated by a genuine interest to have people come to a knowledge of "The Word", as he pretended to be, he would have welcomed and endorsed the independents like Selah, Timothy, Hope, etc. I'm sure I left some out because there were probably lots of others whose names and works were intentionally obscured so as not to detract from the attention focused on the "official" bands." Let's not forget my good friends from Good Seed. They too were hijacked for "special official business". That's the way "smart" businessmen work - if they see a competitor with a superior product they subsume it.

What he said. In fact, this is so well - worded that it serves as a template for many hard issues of personal freedom vs governmental dictates. For example, abortion: "I dunno, I don't think we ever know enough of the particulars about what goes on to pass draconian laws. As much as I dislike the idea of people aborting a growing fetus out of convenience, the idea of the government forcibly demanding that a woman carry to full term is at least equally as unsettling. I would hope that all mothers' deliveries are safe and without incident. and that all conceptions are a result of loving union - resulting in children that are wanted and well cared for in loving families. Without knowing the particulars, however, it's a tough call to make. Extreme Feminists give me the creeps - but I don't think bromide phrases like "Pro Life" and "When you were in womb i knew you" and "It's not a choice it's a child" are reasons enough to make every abortion wrong and illegal.

There I was. I had been to a couple of twig fellowships and was signed up for the piffle class. The next thing I know my twig leader (9th Corps) is "borrowing" my basement to store canned goods. Seems there had been a big, fancy telephone meetin' a few days earlier and all the leadership were exhorted to prepare for the apocalypse. I was freaked. That's when he pulled me aside and told me in hushed tones about the new constitution that would be installed if the Ruskies came.

thank you.

Thank you Bliss. I have shed many tears in the last twenty some years remembering this afternoon in Alabama. I've had apprehensions about releasing these memoirs but figure they might do someone some good. Mostly I write so my kids will know something about their dad. I labor so intensely over the stuff...I don't know how someone could write a novel. It would take me 500 yrs.

Excerpt from my memoirs: God wanted a word with me and, as was normal in The Way, He delivered it second-hand. One of His ordained clergy pulled me aside, parked his red, apoplectic face inches from mine and, in between streams of spittle and froth, brought forth a loving message. Apparently God was ....ed. It seems finding and training middle management is an expensive and time consuming celestial activity. Despite being a hand-picked, loyal ambassador my numbers were down. Recent trends revealed that my salt had lost its savor. Weekly reports indicated my light was hiding underneath a bushel. Bottom line I was a non performer. In my most elderly wisdom I gathered my brothers and sisters-in-arms and pleaded that a revival was in order. We needed faith. We needed commitment. We needed our quota. Although God still loved us, I lectured, He was probably disgusted. Our lukewarm spirituality put us danger of being spewed out of His mouth in Revelations fashion. “What should we do?” they asked. “Tomorrow we go door-to-door,” I said. As the time of our offensive arrived it was hot and dank. The air stank as bitter kudzu simmered in the air like greens in a cauldron. The four of us made our way up the street, each of us stewing in personal kettles of contrition, randomly ringing some doorbells and walking past others. Pastel houses seemed a little friendlier. We avoided ones that looked too manicured. Pristine lawns and freshly painted fences belied a family too entrenched in the pleasures of this world. “How about this one?” sweet little Wanda asked. We rang the doorbell and stood in the sweltering heat hoping no one would answer. As a good ole’ boy in his late fifties opened the door four kids on a hot Alabama porch launched into their penance. “Do you know what the greatest secret in the world is? Look at this card and circle what you are interested in. Do you need apparent Bible contradictions explained? Do you want more harmony in the home? ” He listened courteously, waited for a pause, then innocently asked, “Do you kids believe in prayer?” “Yes, sir, it says rights here that if we ask anything according to His will he heareth us and we know that we have the petitions we desire of Him.” Prayer was our stock in trade. It said so on the brochure. “Can you pray for my wife?” he asked in desperation. “She has cancer. I’m not much of a prayer. Can y’all come in and pray for her?” As he led us to the living room it was apparent the whole house had been turned topsy-turvy to accommodate a makeshift bedroom. A bureau had been plunked next to the couch, the top lined with pill bottles and liquids. An IV stand stood silent guard - dripping…dripping. A walker was strategically placed next to it. On the floor was a dirty bedpan. Piles of clothes dotted the whole house and the kitchen counter was covered in TV dinners, pizza boxes and beer bottles. Dwarfed by all these reminders of a life rearranged laid a yellow, shriveled, broken woman with a scarf on her head. The man gently leaned over her and said, “Honey, these people have come over to pray for you.” She looked up at us and slowly stretched out a quivering hand. Through tears she whimpered, “I’m so weak I just can’t think about getting better. I’ve tried and prayed and I just can’t do it anymore. I hope you can you help me because I can’t help myself.” As her little mummy body laid before me, I mentally recapped the impartation manifestations I had studied in the Advanced Class . I tried to recall the keys and principles of Biblical records I had read and reread. I rehearsed the stories with phrases like “thy faith has made thee whole” and “Lazarus come forth” and “take up your bed and walk”. I wondered what it would feel like if I did this right. An Oral Roberts-esque warmth in my hands? A sizzle of electricity? I wondered if God would put this order on high priority. Did my regular season record merit participation in this championship event? I put my hand in hers and began to pray according to form, expecting some action to report. I felt only the desperate clench of an emaciated hand revealing the baked terrain of this woman’s soul - it’s only remaining puddle teeming – not with the well earned satisfaction of a rich life but with guilt that she was in this condition. There she lay in the clutches of shame, aggressive invader of all joy, her heart clogged with slimy strands of shame and spongy chunks of regret. Guilt had metastasized into all the healthy tissue of pleasure. Malignant tentacles had pervaded the cells of one who lived to be good and decent. At that instant I became filled with rage and hate at the predicament it all. This woman had nothing to be ashamed of. She had run her course with honor and dignity. What did I have to give to her? Power For Abundant Living? This elegant, strong and proud woman had powerfully reigned as the woman of this house, attacking soap scum and pruning geraniums with vigor. Abundantly she had applied frosting to birthday cakes and kisses to grandchildren. Living she had loved and loved well There was no sizzle. No tremors. No dancing or phone calls. A sweet dying lady received her last rites from a self-absorbed. tattered Ambassador for Christ as they reached up for grace on a hot Alabama afternoon. They had pooled their scavenged trust and in very good faith offered their last mite. They had done their best and that would have to do. We walked home without a word. We knew she would die. We had failed but we were not ashamed. We would never be ashamed again. Three days later I stopped by to see how she was doing. Her husband, just back from her viewing, proceeded to drink more vodka than I’d ever seen anyone drink before. I stayed with him well into the evening. No report was filed.

O.K. I've met my match and I quit. I should say this—I don't have a mink coat. But I do have a respectable Republican cloth coat. One other thing I probably should tell you because if I don't you'll probably be saying this about me too. A man down in Texas heard me mention the fact that our two youngsters would like to have a dog. And, believe it or not, the day we got a message from Union Station in Baltimore saying they had a package for me. I went down to get it. You know what it was. It was a little cocker spaniel dog in a crate that he'd sent all the way from Texas. Black and white spotted. And our little girl named it Checkers. And you know, the kids, like all kids, love the dog and I just want to say this right now, that regardless of what you say about it, we're gonna keep it. Good bye. And you won't have Yanagisawa to kick around anymore. And remember, a vote for Eisenhower is a vote for America.

OK, OK, I confess. It was all an elaborate hoax. I really did mix up the rules of contractions and singular possessives concerning the pronoun "its", thereby placing a comma where one doesn't belong. Are you happy now?

It was a cross I chose to bear. Think nothing of it.

Hey, I just got back to GS and I am excited to see that excath and dog lover responded to my post. You see, my post was meant to be a test within a test. Actually, you know, kinda like remember when Willie Wonka was acting like such a jerk to those kids but really he was nice and just wanted to really test their honesty and it probably made his stomach all ooogy to act like that but he had to do what he had to do to make sure some brat didn't take over his candy factory? That's me. I'm a nice guy but kind of went "Wonka" for the betterment of posters everywhere. The first test was to lay a totally useless statement in the middle of an ardent discussion - rather like a turd in a punchbowl. (And I do believe a hyphen is warranted in that last sentence.) The reason I did this was to see if the participants were actually reading each others' responses. Excath, you are to be commended. As the most brilliant and prolific of posters it is no surprise that you caught it. It was a thing of beauty watching you perform, not unlike Peyton Manning picking apart a defense on a Sunday afternoon. Additionally, I deliberately misspelled a common word to see if anyone would catch it, and sure enough Excath caught that too - and was seconded by Dog Lover. The fact that I deliberately misspelled a word in a post that chides someone for misspellings actually made it a test within a test with a twist of ironicalness. Brilliant job! My faith is restored in the system. I sorry that I had to taint such a noble and grave discussion with a ruse but you must admit it was at my expense, and I do believe GS posters all over the world will benefit.

When I was a WOW I got my first crappy job in a Lebanese restaurant. One Friday afternoon the owner told me in her broken English that business was slow and that she'd pay me Monday. I told her I was on a mission from God, had a big meeting that weekend and that I needed to be payed immediately: "I say I pay Monday!" "I need to be paid now!" "I say I pay Monday!" At that time I believed that any inconvenience, slight, put-down or ignoring of ME (God's faithful ambassador) was the direct attack of five star general demons on the "movement of the Word." I lowered my eyes, stared at her cold, unbelieving, face and said, "In the name of Jesus Christ pay me." She stepped up to my toes, looked deeply into the face of a Son of God with all power and whispered, "Jesus Christ you - you sunna beetch I said I pay you Monday!" She paid me Monday, then fired me before I could clock in.

This is why learning basic writing skills is so important. Unfortunately, people will judge the content of your message by it's form. (Spelling, punctuation, subject/verb agreement, etc.)

The pat answer, the simplistic notion, the concept that all of life's ills can be avoided by simple adherence to utterly unproveable "keys" Ah yes, the old "keys and principles" doctrine. Bequeathed to us from the enlightenment, it asserts that all of reality is a mechanism of cause and effect. It was evidenced in physics (Newton's Principia), economics (Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations), and philosophy (Kant's Critique of Pure Reason). Success in any area of life is garnered by the application of principles that work with a "mathematical exactness". Failure in any area of life is achieved by non application. Although these men were more brilliant than I could ever hope to be, (and their discoveries have aided mankind ever since), the revolutionary worldview they brought did seem to promise that intelligence, labor and resources alone would stoke the machine of reality and guarantee a positive outcome. It's interesting that their successors, (Einstein et al) once again were forced to grapple with the notion of mystery and chance. I think this mechanistic, "keys and principles" way of thinking appealed to a generation of idealistic young people to whom formulas for happiness had not yet been challenged by the vicissitudes of life. For the most part we had not yet been faced with the big question: "Why?"

Oldiesman: Surely you write "in character" to represent a certain stance. Right? No one could be that callous in real life. Right? You couldn't possibly be serious. Am I right?

I just drove away one night knowing I'd never come back. I felt like master of the universe. Unsure of what to do next - but sure I'd think of something.

Many ex-wayers, myself included, chafe at the term "Liiteral According to Usage" simply because it drips with jargonish insider-speak. That said, I have come to appreciate the Bible for what it is: A collection of literary genres that inform us of God's thoughts on a variety of subjects, but all pointing to a redemption through Jesus Christ. It is NOT a magic book, grimoire, or recipe book. It was NOT produced by way of mechanical dictation or a scribe in a trance. It is very human and beautiful in it's ability to co-exist with a reader's mind and experience, yet it is more than cold history or imagination. There is a life force that teems throughout it. Any doctrine of innerrancy does damage to this notion. All this to say I believe there is room for at least the concept of "literal according to usage", a concept that puts the onus on a reader of the Bible to reflect, insert one's own thoughts, experiences, and opinions.