Rocky

I'm incredibly thankful that I'm not the same as I was in 1986 (30 years ago) when I left twi. I graduated from college in 1986. Since then, I married, divorced, had a daughter, who now has two children of her own. It took a lot of tears and emotional pain for me to shed the waybrain way of life since. I'd have no use for meeting him in person. But I could relish a written confrontation with the tone of Nathan when he confronted David.

and WWJYDLD!

Thank you.

Vic was well past the age where he could reasonably be considered a "young person" when he more than occasionally exploited young women. Further, I doubt Vic even thought about having "authority over" those women. He generally framed it as giving them the opportunity to "bless" MOG, again, according to first hand accounts and the many records of how the traveling MOG was reverenced in every city he visited. Are you self-aware enough to realize that your arguments on this subject are notably discordant?

Yeah, I know what dimwit means. The shoe doesn't fit. That's why I chose not to wear it when you first called me that name.

Dimwit? How nice of you to start with name calling at the first indication of your frustration. "Being there?" You still did nothing other than make a vague statement and admit you had no clue. That's still not evidence to back up your claim that it wasn't as bad as the first hand accounts set forth as evidence of the rape culture describe. Nobody suggested that it was open knowledge that everybody had figured out. That doesn't mean it was less bad, just because you hadn't realized the problem.

Direct the question to yourself. Without ANY tangible anything, you made a comment that has one purpose: to say it wasn't as bad as the first hand testimony and accounts on GSC have described it. You stated a claim but provided ZERO evidence or even description of conditions on which you based that claim. So, the question applies to you, not me. I'm not the expert. Those with first hand experiences that they dared to set forth at GSC ARE the experts on that experience and culture. If you intend to refute those experts, you have to do more than just make a statement that it wasn't as bad as they led you to believe.

The answer to your first question is: selective amnesia aka denial. It's a very powerful human emotional defense mechanism. We all do it.

"What's the profit" that you get from attempting to play down or minimize the sociopathic behavior that pervaded twi? Do YOU have anything more than just what your mind imagines it was or could be? To far too big a degree, it was a rape culture at Way HQ. First hand accounts of survivors are included in this forum. How feasible is it to attempt to prove a negative? Just stop it.

Be on the lookout for notice next month on where to place your order.

Links to local and national news coverage, including video from Fox9 and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Photo essay... Star Tribune article with video Two Childhood Rape Survivors Just Ended a Cult Leader’s Terrifying Reign (nymag.com) Minnesota Cult Leader Victor Barnard Sentenced to 30 Years (nymag.com) Excerpts from survivors' (Jess and Lindsay) statements included in a couple of the linked articles. It might be important to remember and reflect on the fact that Barnard didn't come up with his scheme completely out of the blue. His "father in the word" sowed the seeds, and so did LCM. And current prez Rosalie R, as noted in documents from legal proceedings related to Martindale's misadventures was fully aware of the sexual abuse at TWI's top levels of leadership at least as far back as the early 1990s.

Barnard was sentenced today. 30 years, as expected.

Welcome Grace!

And Jess too.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jgF_ycCmF18?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?

Norm MacDonald?

Link to Fox9 story with video in case embedding the video doesn't work. Couldn't get the video embedded. The lede paragraph in the Fox9 story: Cult leader Victor Barnard pleaded guilty to sexual assault charges on Tuesday in Pine County, Minnesota. Barnard will spend 30 years in prison. Barnard pleaded guilty to two of 52 counts and agreed to upward departure. Upward departure is a new term to me. Apparently, it refers to exceeding the sentencing guidelines. Clearly, he knew they had him dead to rights.

His point was to make his audience believe he's a better defense attorney than he really is.

Yeah, they had him dead to rights. You might find it interesting to review this story from May 2015 when he had been captured by Brazilian police and somebody -- likely one or more of his followers -- hired a pair of defense attorneys who made it sound like VB actually could have a shot at being acquitted at trial. " Barnard's attorneys say their goal is to strip the case of its most sensational elements, essentially making it Barnard's word against the two women who were once devoted followers." Another possibility is that when VB's followers got an estimate on how much the legal fees actually would be, they thought better of it.

GREAT NEWS!

Some who wants to satirize twi.

JWs are cultish too. I know I wouldn't fit in with them.

That's not what you said, and I quote, " Here I say is a transition point for GSC, send out the life boat and a damage control ship to keep the twi ship afloat but if (and you know what if means), let it sink." WTF do you mean suggesting GSC is about a "damage control ship to keep the twi ship afloat?"