Rocky

LOL... I'm confident that doesn't bother you and it certainly doesn't bother me. Peace. :)

You got that right. My grandchildren (and their parents) moved to N Cali a few months ago. Housing costs are outrageous.

May I ask, you have a rather WHAT perspective? At the risk of starting something I may not be able to finish, may I pose that ALL of the first several chapters of Genesis compose what historians (and others) properly categorize as a creation myth. It seems that every ancient culture/religion has one. Myths are not necessarily untrue, they are simply STORIES. Have any of you ever heard or read about cultural literacy? a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, especially one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature. (quote ends here... not sure how to fix the formatting whackyness that follows) ----------- As such, in Genesis, it may be simply and fairly characterized, when people haggle over the meanings of words or the timelines (like in the first seven days spelled out in Gen 1) that they are overthinking, overanalyzing and just plain spinning their wheels. Further, what does it have to do with Thus Saith Paul?

And it might also be in your local public library.

Amen brother!

For the first few years of GSC, some people wondered whether Vic was a good man gone wrong... THIS analysis (presented by Skyrider) is legitimate and cuts through the bull$hit to demonstrate the motivation and intent from the very beginning. When Vic demonized church leaders, was he employing psychological projection? Sure seems like it. The CULT BLOB! I love that expression. It's so apt. "Everyone is selling soap..." i.e. the Amway pyramid scheme. Also quite apt. Was Wierwille a malignant narcissist? Thanks Skyrider for continuing to ponder, reflect and share you comments the situation.

This was written more than 300 years before Christ: Surely, I said, knowledge is the food of the soul; and we must take care, my friend, that the Sophist does not deceive us when he praises what he sells, like the dealers wholesale or retail who sell the food of the body; for they praise indiscriminately all their goods, without knowing what are really beneficial or hurtful: neither do their customers know, with the exception of any trainer or physician who may happen to buy of them. In like manner those who carry about the wares of knowledge, and make the round of the cities, and sell or retail them to any customer who is in want of them, praise them all alike; though I should not wonder, O my friend, if many of them were really ignorant of their effect upon the soul; and their customers equally ignorant, unless he who buys of them happens to be a physician of the soul. If, therefore, you have understanding of what is good and evil you may safely buy knowledge of Protagoras or any one; but if not, then, O my friend, pause, and do not hazard your dearest interests at a game of chance. For there is far greater peril in buying knowledge than in buying meat and drink. … Plato Protagoras Fromm, Erich. Man for Himself: An Inquiry Into the Psychology of Ethics (p. 3). Open Road Media. Kindle Edition. Wise words from one of the Ancients... very few of us knew that when we were young people.

WOW! It must have taken a LOT of guts to get to where you are at this point in your recovery. You certainly described a PTSD-inducing environment. I'm very proud of you and hope you're able to get supportive professional counseling. Your self-awareness and ability to reflect on your life experience is very commendable. FWIW, several of the books of the late M. Scott Peck helped me tremendously, beginning in the early 1990s, to learn to reflect and re-evaluate. Just this evening, I read an excerpt from a writing by Plato in an Erich Fromm book. Perhaps many of us who did not grow up in TWI can relate to it and maybe you can too.

For the record, politics is off limits at GSC. But I understand how you feel about the labels. Btw, there's a discussion on the Doctrinal forum here about whether a believer can lose his/her salvation. My position is that the notion is so absurd that picking apart bible verses to figure out if it's true or not is a complete waste of one's time (life). I believe you are correct in labeling Finnigan's offshoot as more cultish. The entire idea (of losing salvation) if believed can logically ONLY lead a person to bondage to abusive religious cults.

He's just a ramblin' guy. But THIS is my friend Ramblin Dan. With his rendition of Ain't nobody's bidness if I do! It's possible some of you might know him.

By far, you're not alone in feeling like you ramble. So far, I don't think anyone else would characterize your posts as such. So, no need to be shy.

Hi BecomingMe, Rest assured, it DOES get better. Some of us old timers still hang out here even though we're doing fine these days.

Fear can be a powerful motivating force. But as soon as the scales fall off of the prisoners' eyes, FREEDOM is within sight. I'm reminded of Erich Fromm's book, On Disobedience: Why Freedom Means Saying "NO" to Power

Or in a pyramid scheme... why do you think Amway was so attractive to people in TWItville? "In recent decades, pyramid schemes have become an insidious, pervasive and corrupting influence in the marketplace and community, causing financial and social harm on a global scale." Since 1980 a new form of sales and marketing, called multi-level marketing or network marketing, has spread worldwide and spawned an explosion of pyramid sales schemes involving tens of millions of consumers. The line between legal forms of network marketing and fraudulent pyramid programs is a point of controversy, confusion and inquiry in many countries. Pyramid Scheme Alert will provide much needed information to consumers and other interested parties to reduce the number of illegal and de facto pyramid schemes and victims-and to minimize the severity of effects on individuals and communities.

Yes, it was Katrina. "Devastated" is a dramatic understatement. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that Chockful's original post for this thread hit the nail squarely on the head and drove that nail home in one powerful swing of the hammer. The elitism and pomposity that dogma generated in Wierwille's cult comes very close to actually being the root of all evil. But frankly, I believe it's not much of a logical leap to suggest that it was Vic's love of money and adulation that "inspired" that dogma.

Not just once. It's a recurring theme to identify the spiritual abuse of cults like TWI.

Secrecy and denial were the primary coping mechanisms employed by the TWIt cult. "Mistakes were made, but not by me"

IIRC, this is not the first time McCulloch's name has come up on GSC about this very situation. Or maybe it was a discussion on FB.

Good points. Oh and let's not forget Gallegher's new doctrine to ensure bondage to church leaders... My point actually had been not that they needed to continue off on hubris-like course of thinking they were coming up with the latest and greatest revelation from God since the First Century, but rather becoming humble and recognizing that they actually don't need to be pioneers in order to walk on the path of God's will.

What will you be doing to broaden your understanding of cult behaviors and tactics in the meantime?

Tell me, what does that prove? "Apparently" appears to mean you don't really know. What DO you know about that?

I wonder if they're going to expand their learning horizons beyond what they've become fossilized in with TWI dogma.

To understand beyond the surface intent may require you to learn key concepts outside the realm of TWIness. I would ask them AND ask you to consider how on God's green Earth they could do anything different from what they've practiced for 40 and 50 years if they can't give thought to any knowledge (teaching) from any source other than the cult they've become fossilized in already.