TheEvan

Mike, I think the unanimity of the replies here reflects more on Wierwille than on the individual posters. Think about it. Why is Wierwille shown such disrespect? Because, quite simply, he earned it by being a liar, serial sexual predator of the lowest kind, gross plaigarist and wearing powder blue tuxedos with ruffled shirts. Try listening to folks whose character has earned them the right to speak to others: Try Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Billy Graham, Augustine, Tyndale. You may learn something.

Dang my first visit in here! THE PARTY IS ON!!! Y'all c'mon, hear?

sure easy to get in...let's Do It

I did & do Lifted...it is a home bursting with love. And the respect & admiration of my wife & children. i'm SO thankful.

i see we share a birthday, brother...gives me something to live up to! PS, my youngest sister shares our birthday too.

Wacky, thanks. I can't figure out how to get into chat.... Thanks everybody.

Simon, I certainly agree with your comment about marrying for charcter. I think you'll find belief system becomes more important when you are raising kids. I'm assuming (maybe incorrectly) from your post you're a 'bible kind of Christian'. If so I'm surprised at your statement that God has nothing to do with marriage or picking a partner. I mean, he set the ultimate precedent when he presented Eve to Adam, no? And the fact that there were differing practices in the OT doesn't mean God ever sanctioned it. (He didn't) Now the fact that I approached marriage prayerfully and asking God to reveal to me his will regarding my future mate may or may not have something to do with my success in marriage.(I believe it had everything to do with it) Even if it didn't, at least it got me off on the right foot by seeking God's will rather than the "I want" syndrome. Successfully married folks would all probably agree that part of that success is in not getting what you want, but helping your partner get what she/he wants.

OC put his pen to paper To write about VP's caper The man was a turd Cuz he used the 'Word' To drug a poor girl and to rape her

Did any of y'all hear Paul Harvey the other day, quoting a long-term study on self-esteem/real accomplishments? It was found that, long-term, people who consider themselves to have high self-esteem, and those who consider themselves to have low self-esteem, accomplish and perform statistically at the same level. No difference...

Doctrine and practice are not separatable... Without going into doctrinal particulars, I'll say why, imo, the foundation of PFAL is built on sand, or worse. From the very get-go, session 1, it is a man-driven, man-determined, man-actioned religion in the completest sense. These things are then reinforced in the ensuing sessions. The approach to the Bible (session 4 and following)is again completely unChristian, a product of human logic and "research". Then the floodgates for evil are flung wide with Wierwille's disclaimer of sin and making "broken fellowship" and "sin consciousness" the greatest problems...and then elimnates Christian repentance! The true things VP? says are so tied into this shaky foundation I find it impossible to have a solid foundation without completely repudiating the belief system.

Long Gone & Zixar, may I add to your excellent posts: I can't imagine listening to a "teacher of the Word" (sic) who hasn't done a thorough education in mainstream Christianity. The only problem: the level of work, variety, "chaos" (in that there are a wide range of well-considered ideas out there) scholarship, and challenging calls to actually demonstrate Christ & His love is MUCH harder work than just taking your current body of knowledge and marketing (ok "making it available" is less inflammatory) it to a ready audience who likewise doesn't want to deal with friendly mess that is the Body of Christ. That's my take anyway

Did it go away...or is it just hiding from me?

Got a couple of saddle-broken cockroaches we'll ride into town on from time to time...

It's criminal to raise kids with no vacations. There's a limited window of opportunity to "grow memories". For your kids, vacations are the stuff memories are made of...priceless. For everything else there's MasterCard, right?

Wow, what an amazing story. And how disappointing that he is so blind to the one who has been showing him Christ...You, certainly not The Way. Aleya2Fairlie, most of this madness does originate from the Way, but I think the situation is exacerbated by his own madness as well. Sudo speaks wisely. Make yourself a stranger to him immediately. God I hope somebody in the Way reads this. Are they dying away? One would hope, but if so it will be painfully slow. And even if it dries up & blows away, possibly hundreds more will be sucked in before its final demise...

Great topic, and definitely Way related. I mean, weren't we trained to be cold about certain things...anything outside the "household"? Callous about giving to good causes, callous about the handicapped (ever hear LCM rant about Jerry's kids?). I had a real disconnect because of childhood trauma. I've turned into a weepy compassionate old fart & I love it.