George Aar

I'm inclined to go with the "flawed product" explanation.

I mean you have all this detailed stuff on discerning of spirits in the Advanced Class and yet nobody seemed to notice that Wierwille was a walking/talking, text book example of the very things he taught were devil possession. (ie: chronic alcoholism, sexual predator, psychological abuser, chronic liar, etc.)

Doesn't look too good for proving DOS is a valid concept.

And if I may digress for a moment, and eventually, if one gets painfully honest (IMNSHO), it doesn't look too good for Christianity to be a valid concept either. From where I am now, all the religious arguments about Jesus or Buddha or Mohammed or Krishna or Christian Science vs. Mormon vs. Judaism, etc. ad infinitum, just seem remarkably similar to Trekkies arguing over which Star Trek character could beat up which other character, or if Superman was stronger than the Fantastic Four. It's all so silly.

(Yes, I know, I'm gonna get mine one day, that's fer sure. And, boy, won't I regret it then, yada, yada,...)

I've found this site to be very helpful in keeping my thinking from straying too far into the "woo-woo" end of the spectrum:

http://skepdic.com/

That and just a cursory reading through of a basic list of "logical fallacies" was enough for me to put my whole Christian belief system up for a little more scrutiny.

Uh, it didn't fare so well. YMMV...

Oh, the girl was really cute too so I let her go on.

Sounds like we fell prey to the same tactic for our indoctrination.

Hmmm, something else to hold against women? Nah, I've got enough already...

Geo, people might have called it that where you were while VPW was still alive, but it was not named the VPW Word Over the World Auditorium until after his death.

Nah, people didn't much call it anything where I was at the time (northern Minisoda)as I just don't remember it being much of a topic for discussion amongst the locals, but I definitely remember some sort of blurb on a SNS tape like I already mentioned.

How it all shook out in real life, I don't really know, or much less, care. But, for trivia's sake, I thought I should pipe up...

I remember the auditorium carrying VP's name as well, when he was still alive. I remember thinking at the time that that didn't jive with what was taught regarding such memorials - i.e. - that things shouldn't be named after those that are still living. And that, preferably, folks should be dead for at least 10 years before such memorials.

I also remember some blurb on a SNS tape where the trustees were talking about the choice of name and how they had to "twist his arm" to get VP to agree to having his name on the building.

Even as a deluded Wayfer, I remember thinking that the name was just a teensy bit on the self-serving side of the ledger...

Being now 20 years out and having firmly reestablished my agnostic roots, I'm aghast that there's STILL a remnant of dullards who haven't caught on to the scam.

Jeezus, wake up and smell the decade already...

Of course, most of US were those inexperienced kids when we first became followers of wierwille...

Exactly

And, yes, there were those odd few adults who somehow became enchanted with the Wizard of WayWorld. But, they are pretty exceptional, no? I really do think that had most of us been exposed to Wierwillism a few years later in life, it woulda been a "no sale"...

I've said it before (many times), ad nauseum, but the "Good 'ol days" mindset really does ignore lotsa issues. I.E. - abandoned educations, careers derailed, alienated family members (who did NOTHING to deserve such treatment), friendships destroyed, and purloined life in general.

And all of that in exchange for adoption of - when viewed in retrospect - really childish, trivial, even downright silly superstitions. For all the pomp and circumstance of V.P. and Co., their belief system had no depth whatsoever. "Believing will make it so" is pretty tepid gruel to base one's life on.

There was a real reason why there were so few mature adults that bought into WayWorld dogma. A modicum of wisdom was all that was needed to decern the B.S. It really was pretty obvious to most anyone but inexperienced kids.

And, gee, the "WayCorps Only, Super-Exclusive, Blessed Cream-o-the-crop" Website is experiencing a bit of dissention within it's ranks? SHOCKED! SHOCKED I say!

What gender am I? Damned if I know.

The stuff USED to be important to me, I think...

I've noticed (from my decidedly biased viewpoint) that it's usually the woman who really gets the religion bug. Hell, Norman Rockwell even painted a picture showing that. Maybe it's something about estrogen?

The tough part is, there's little room to reason, as the appeal of religion is almost entirely an emotional one. But divorce is so ugly, I'd do anything to avoid going down that road.

So, uh, yeah, I've been a lot of help, huh?

Inertia

Oh gawd, I love the "Hard work" invocation, so often heard amongst the Way Elite. While they ALWAYS paid obeisance to the concept, I never saw any of 'em actually engage in it.

I've known a lot of really hardworking folks over the years - people who actually accomplished something by day's end - and NONE of them were ever Way-flavored. YMMV - I guess...

I think religion is Bullchit, even (especially?) the Way-flavored kind.

And I also think that the years, money, and effort I put into WayWorld were an abysmal waste of life.

Next question?

Aw Kit,

My best to you and Fred.

Tell Fred we still have that casino to build in Shikoku. He's gotta heal up quick, 'kay?

love,

geo.

Nikola Tesla, poster child for the "If you're so smart, why ain't you rich?" contingent...

I generally have two words for anybody who chooses to "get in my face" about much of anything anymore.

No, not "Let's Dance!"

TRUE STORY--my parents have always claimed that my very first words were "putty-putty" from some song called Cement Mixer...Thats all I ever knew -I never explored it or knew anything of it until just now --which is agreat way to start my day- :)

They probably would have preferred I say "mama"- but its good to know that I came in singin with Slim

Too funny! The Cement Mixer and Yip Roc were as close as he ever came to "Pop 40" kinda hits, but he sure seemed to enjoy his work.

I don't even want to know the details. I carry enough garbage around in my brain already that I wish I didn't. Once you put that stuff in there, you never get it out again.

Mssr. Erk,

My criticism of "Biblical Research" really has nothing to do with the average person who desires to read and/or study it, but the apparently deeprooted idea that there's some sort of wealth of secret knowledge to be unlocked there if we only avail ourselves of the right teacher or the revolutionary new curriculum. I dare say that, if after the 2 millenia or so that the texts have been scoured over, inside and out, upside and down, preceived from every imaginable viewpoint, that if there's anything really new or enlightening to be gleaned from the text, the author must have gone to extreme lengths to make the contents as inscrutable as possible. That hardly seems reasonable, does it?

Can you think of a passage, a word, or even a syllable of Biblical text that hasn't been analyzed to death by now? Doesn't it seem just a little bit arrogant to think that any meaning we may ferret out of some text must have been glossed over - or missed entirely - by the many thousands of people who poured over texts (often much closer to "original" source material than we have today), and maybe even dedicated their entire lives to their study?

And to answer your other points, no I can't think of any subject thats been as overworked as the Bible. Maybe the Q'ran or the Bhagavagita, or The Book of the Dead or some other "holy" writ gets similar attention in countries that follow those dogmas, and if so, it's equally misguided.

I guess it's still a sore subject for me when I look back at all the wasted years chasing after some sort of enlightenment from the pack of Bible thumpers that were The WAY's management. What did we get for all that time checking concordances, interlinears, listening to tapes and attending the endless classes and "fellowships"? What?

I can't think of a thing. It was simply a waste of life. We might as well have been Michael Jackson groupies or somesuch. Or maybe we coulda become diehard conspiracy theorists, 9-11 Truthers per chance? They've got all that secret knowledge too, you know...

Does it ever occur to anyone (other than me, I guess), that maybe, just maybe, there's a finite amount of wisdom that can be gleaned from The Bible? What, 66 books, a lot of which are nothing more than letters - and not even particularly long letters, and the Jewish and Christian communities have dedicated CENTURIES, nay MILLENNIA, and untold resources, Universities, Institutes, countless committees and groups, and even more individuals, to examining every jot and tittle (quite literally) of this one manuscript? You'd think that maybe we'd have gotten a handle on it by now, wouldn't you? But NOOOOOO!

We have to have a whole bunch more pencil-necked geeks to instruct us in what The Bible REALLY says! And, evidently, we need more every few days!

Oh Gawd, it's all so lame...

I see that in THEIR Bible translation that "God" and Jesus' name are printed in Hebrew characters. Wow! That's so..... uh, much better (?)

I'm so conflicted on this one. Do I root for TWI to lose or for the new batch of mindless, anal retentive dipchits?

It's so complicated!

Oh, and here's Slim after Session 12 (he's obviously born again, right?):

I stumbled upon this clip of the mostly forgotten Slim Gaillard. When I think of all the talentless lackies that somehow make the "bigtime", I wonder how bands like this could ever slip through the cracks:

Oh, and there's some dancers too, but I could show them a thing or two about Jitterbugging, I mean, you've gotta put a little energy into it people!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x49t8d_slim-gaillard-slam-stewart-rex-stew_music

At best I found the show to be creepy. And I always hated the dweeb Mathers. I'm really hardpressed to figure out it's appeal. Of course, I have a hard time figuring out the popularity of ChocolateChip/Mint Ice Cream too.

My, but the years have not been kind to any of those three in the cast though. Is it the year, or the mileage? Yeeee...

Having myself been on several squirrel hunting expeditions into the WayWoods, the reason I always heard given was to "thin out the Jimmies".

I guess there's a small squirrel in Ohio known as a "Jimmy". Supposedly this dastardly little cretin has a habit of biting the testicles off of the larger Gray and Fox squirrels. Or so said the emminent outdoorsman, Mr. Allen. (I would suppose that only the males of the species were the victims of such attacks)

At any rate, every so often some of the WayBuilders would grab their shotguns and - with the previously garnered blessing of Mr. Allen - head off to the woods to selectively harvest some nuisance critters.

I also went out to several other woods in the area to hunt Grays and Foxes and actually bar-be-qued a sizeable portion of said creatures on occasion. What else ya gonna do all winter?