Broken Arrow

Never mind.

When I became involved with The Way (1972), young people were disillusioned with the formality of mainstream religion. A lack of dress code appealed to the younger crowd. Bell bottoms, tie dyes, long hair, it was all cool at Way fellowships. It was part of the draw.

Two, three years later, there we were, looking for all the world like Wall St. wannabe's, complete with three piece suits and briefcases. How it happened, I'm not sure. I just know that one day, a few years after I took the class, I looked in the mirror and wondered how in the world I ended up in a strange city, living a life I had never aspired to before my involvement. It was the beginning a surrealistic awakening. The relinquishment of individuality and pressure to conform were definitely factors in it.

Yup! That's pretty much me too. Sort of makes you want to blast "Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix at full volume, doesn't it?

Wouldn't it be better, rather than getting het up about what language is used, to consider what people's actions say?

Yes, absolutely! My point exactly!

"Liberty and justice for all"?

Can you honestly say that applies - in the USA (or perhaps in any other country)?

No, but it's a good ideal to strive for.

Do you even want "liberty...for all"? (Freedom from slavery yes, liberty for all no - murderers, rapists, prolific thieves, etc?)

Yes. Murderers, thieves etc. forsook their right to liberty, and they are receiving the justice they deserve.

Can you honestly say that everyone gets the same level of justice?

Absolutely not!

Does the size of one's pocket make a difference? The colour of one's skin? One's religion?

Unfortunately it all too often does.

I say this thinking of the spate of police killings of young black males who may or may not have committed an offence.

It's all good. Now they're beating up young teenage black schoolgirls as well.

How can you be "one nation indivisible" when many Americans are so very proud of their Irish/Italian/Jewish/Amish/Martian background and stay closely within that racial group with little intermixing with other groups?

Supposedly Americans come together as one in spite of their differences. Sometimes that's been true, sometimes not so much.

(Ducks for cover...!)

I was in The Corps. We did this silly-assed thing once where we walked some sort of obstacle course in the Way Woods blindfolded. I'm not really sure what the lesson was supposed to be. I found it boring at the time, to be honest. I remember thinking to myself, "I have a college degree, why did I come here again?" It wasn't a VP thing though. He didn't spend much time with us. This was the brainchild a a staff member who was a Corps grad.

I was in sales for awhile after I left TWI. They also did some of these team building exercises. It was a waste of time then too.

The whole thing sounds a lot more tortuous than it really was. It was at worst a waste of time, as was the entire Way Corps "training".

Now, the thing Waysider shared about having to talk about how worthless you were, that sounds pretty brutal.

Nah Broken Arrow, I was Navy and then eventually retired U.S. Army - my natural brother was Retired USMC (Corp): should have seen the fights he and I had when I was Navy and we were both home on leave at the same time.

Sorry MRAP. I guess the fact that it says "U.S. Army" under your handle could have been my first clue!

Why do I keep capitalizing the "Corp"?

Possibly because, unlike most of us, you actually were in THE Corps.

"Charismatic Christians" and Pentecostals would be the other Christians supposedly

rounding out the 9.

As for Roman Catholics, they have a Pope, not a President. They didn't elect

their Pope, the College of Cardinals elected him (IMHO, they did a great job there.)

If he meant some US-specific thing, he got his numbers seriously wrong because the

US doesn't have 1/2 the RCC membership worldwide. Less than 50% are in the Western

Hemisphere, and Brazil has more than 1/2 of those.

There are charismatic Catholics and "third wave" Evangelicals and the list goes on and on. Seems you can't keep these things in a box and TWI sure doesn't, and never did, hold the corner on the so-called manifestations.

quote:

So who IS doing the other 6 manifestations? The catholic church? Fifty percent of them voted for a president who compels them to blaspheme (pay for abortions and other birth control). You got all this criticism, but no solutions.

You say you never believed in the snow on the gas pumps, but you, like everybody else, didn't come forward with this "enlightenment" until after VP was dead.

But hindsight is 20/200, right?

Actually Johniam, lots of people do the other 6 manifestations all over the place, even Catholics. You need to look around. A lot of people associated with TWI refuse to accept that anyone else can have true, Godly spirituality unless it comes wrapped in a TWI-approved container. I don't know if that's you.

As far as the Roman Catholics, who needs the other 6 manifestations when you have your own aircraft carrier?

quote: Does it BOTHER you that your neighbor believes in a Trinity?

No.

Does it bother me that my neighbor is a buddhist (or Muslim, or Hindu etc.)

No.

Does it bother me that my neighbor believes in the tooth fairy?

No.

Does it bother me that my neighbor drives a Ford?

No, but it brings up very traumatic memories.

Does it bother me that my neighbor plays loud rap music at 4am on a work night?

Yes.

Similar to Raf, I now think that no matter which position you take you have to explain away verses that contradict your position. My position now is that "The Bible" doesn't teach that Jesus is God or that he isn't, but writers of some books taught that he is God and some didn't and we are left trying to make disparate agendas "fit like a hand in a glove".

You mean we have to think? Darn it!

My impression of some of the very early material is that the artists may have already created it BEFORE their involvement with The Way and then tailored it to fit the prescribed agenda. I don't know if any of them post here but I extend an invitation to any of the early artists to discuss the matter.

If by early material you mean '72 and '73, yeah. By '74 though, not so much. There were some pretty corny songs then too, with a good song interspersed here and there.

Good Evening.

Alfred?

To say that TWI "fell apart" is to presuppose that TWI was at one time "together". IMO that's a far stretch. I'm just sayin'.

I stumbled in here looking for a PFAL book. You just never know.

Ah, never mind. Upon further review my comment wasn't very funny after all.

http://www.wtwonline.org/index.html

http://www.bing.com/search?pc=AMAZ&form=AMAZWB&setmkt=en-US&q=%22work+the+word%22

I don't know for sure, but that sounds like an offshoot.

Thanks, Rocky. Yes, I'm at www.charleneedge.com. My memoir is finished (hello John Linder, etc.) and you can sign in to receive updates which I'll post once or twice a month.

Cheers,

Charlene L. Edge

former Second Way Corps member

Thanks!

Well, there's the II Ti. 2:15 thing. You, know, "A workman that doesn't need to be ashamed etc.

Ditto.

"That's what makes me think that maybe someone has made their story known".

Hi everyone,

You can be sure of this -- I'm not involved in this show. I have my own story to get published.

You'll let us know, right?

Sometimes I feel like an old grandpa, wearing a sweater in 80-degree heat, sitting in a rocking chair with a bunch of people talking and I blurt out, "What"? Then everyone stops talking and someone turns and looks at me and talks louder and slower and then I go, "Ohh!"

KG looks like LCM. Am I the only one who got that?

You might be. Anyway, I don't know if I agree. I guess I would have to see Kelsey dance around on stage in white shorty shorts to know for sure.

If I may offer a slightly different take, I have no problem with "working the word" although I cringe at that particular term. But I have a problem with JS's translation. Admittedly I haven't read "The Rev" nor do I plan to. I don't have to read it to know it's fallacious. Perhaps that sounds arrogant but I don't think so (by the way, for some reason we've been asked to not type in people's full names. I forget why. Something to do with Internet searches).

Do you think JS submitted a rough draft to a committee of scholars who understand ancient Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic as well or better than he does? I doubt it. There are two reasons why he would not do that. Either he knew his findings would be rejected, or he is so arrogant that he thinks he has insights on biblical texts that surpass everyone else. I personally suspect the latter. The REV, therefore, is born out of one's ego and betrays an elitist mentality and as such is a waste of time and effort and should be ignored.

If we hear Kelsey Grammer has been cast in lead role it would be a sure bet it's based on twi !!

Forgive my ignorance. Is there some sort of connection or fake connection between Kelsey Grammar and TWI?

Too many of us bought that BS.

True. Too many of us bought too many Big Macs too, and have the indigestion to prove it.

He also was the one who had the original idea for fast food restaurants. Then he tried to give the idea to some Christian businessmen but they didn't have the believing to bring it into fruition. Then the idea was in the senses realm and the devil was able to counterfeit it.

I was watching the news on "The 700 Club" today and there was a story about reciting the "Pledge of Allegiance", that is, allegiance to the flag of the United States.

They reported that a high school principal in Middletown, New York had the Pledge of Allegiance read over the loudspeaker in Arabic. Apparently the school is in the middle of something called "National Foreign Language Week." Parents, students, and townspeople that were Jewish or lost family members fighting in Afghanistan were extremely offended. They complained to the Superintendent and the principal issued an apology. Pat Robertson, host of The 700 lead into the story by saying, "Could this be happening in America?"

Maybe I'm missing something here and if I am, maybe someone can help me understand.

Would you rather hear someone speaking Arabic say the Pledge of Allegiance, or would you rather hear them pledge to destroy the United States and its people? Isn't language simply a means of communication and neither evil or virtuous? Is there something sacred about the English language that surpasses all other languages? What does it matter if the Pledge of Allegiance is recited in English, Arabic, Spanish, French, German or what have you? Are they not all saying the Pledge?

They interviewed some townspeople and one of them said that soldiers fight for the Pledge to be said in English and therefore the principal was being disrespectful. Really? Soldiers fight for an English-recited pledge? Did I miss something? Because I always thought American soldiers fought to defend the U.S. Constitution, wherein there's something called the Bill of Rights that has this amendment that guarantees freedom of speech. By the way, Arabic is not the language of Afghanistan. We'll let the KKK rally on Statehouse lawns spewing their hate, but have someone read the Pledge in another language, no way. Does that make sense?

I would be interested to hear others' opinions. Especially active military and military veterans.