Rocky

With inadequate ventilation! ;)

Key word in my comment was "seems." As in, that's what he's trying to convey. I did include qualifiers... perhaps not emphatically enough. And I hope I made it clear I wouldn't follow him if my life depended on it.

Bump! It's upon us once again. :eusa_clap:/>

His "teachings" sound oh, so seductive... until you get to his focus on things like homosexuality and Satan. His description of wanting God to show him/herself to him sounds a lot like many stories I've heard before... not so unlike my own. It gives clues as to how young adults can be so susceptible to cults. But I agree with Krys that the guy seems humble and unassuming.

Indoctrination, including way corpse training, doesn't have to be permanent. Yes, corpse training was directly related to social pressure. Loy CM was big on vocal intimidation. What was modeled in residence was often what was demonstrated by the trainees went out to "minister." But you might also, if you look for it here, recognize that many of us eventually questioned everything, from how to interact with others to whether or not what VPee taught was at all legitimate. For me, the significant emotional event was pretty much when the bunch of leaders left in 1986 or so. I didn't hurt that I graduated with a bachelor's degree in accounting (at age 31) in that year. I began reading the Book of Acts from the perspective of accountability and realized, when Reahard, Belt, JALvis etc left, that accountability in twi was bass-ackward. It also helped that several "twigs" left all at once in the Phoenix area so we were able to maintain social connections as long as we felt we needed them. But it took me years to unlearn bad behavior I picked up from wierwille and martindale.

That's wonderful, George. How long were you involved with twi?

Not without a significant emotional event.

I think your analogy was directly on the mark. Btw, isn't selling the opportunity (which is pretty much how "Axway" did it), the very definition of pyramid scheme?

No links or reference on the wiki article to GSC? That's tragic in itself.

I think many of the people who post here have realized that it's not humanly possible to reach any absolute truth. That's part of the how and why what Wierwille taught is so obviously faulty. In other words, neither I, nor at least some of the others, are not so arrogant as to believe I/we have "arrived at or hold the one and only true interpretation" of any truth.

Wouldn't it be interesting to find a forensic psychiatrist/psychologist who would volunteer to examine as much as can be known about Wierwille to actually get a professional evaluation of whether he was a psychopath. Bolshevik's link suggests pretty strongly that he was.

Nailed it. People often don't realize that psychopaths' career choices are not limited to becoming serial murderers.

It's certainly not out of the question.

I find it interesting how cultural artifacts propagate. (that's not a Wierwilleism, but a reflection on Bolshevik's post).

Well, it was 42 years ago... but what I do remember is... the date I first met the guy who "got me in the word." It was October 31, 1974. I was in the USAF overseas on a Portuguese island. A small AFB. I had been attending chapel services and fellowships. This guy showed up and he had a confidence and claimed to have answers. The drunk story didn't really mean much to me (it was only the following summer when we had enough people to "run a class"). The combination of being on an isolated island, away from familiar American culture, not so many peers to have much in common with, and a confident guy who claimed to know "the answers to life." I continued to be a twi follower for the next 12 years. That would be 1986... after VPee died and Geer popped the poop paper on everyone.

That makes a helluva lot of sense!

More or less agree... well, with YOUR main point. Obviously, fiction writers do this all the time. But, Wierwille implied, even if not explicitly stating, that he was setting forth an account of something that actually happened. Indeed, the parable was obviously a story, never implied as being actual events. Yep, I was 20.

Because the head of the subculture did not understand, respect or honor anyone's space, boundaries or privacy. That's my observation. Though perhaps your question was rhetorical. ;)

Assumes facts not in evidence. Essentially, everything Wierwille taught has been brought into question. Basing your life on "spiritual warfare" might be a waste of your life's resources. It's also part of the fundamentals of what enabled the "overlords" to gain control of the lives and minds of so many people. Basing your life on loving your family and community and serving out of love seems a much more worthy endeavor. Yes, in this case, I do see it as "either/or."

Hate toward you? Nah... just disagreement. Like, disagreeing that the issue for many here is "revenge." I would suggest you may simply not be aware of the emotional ramifications of the spiritual abuse many of us lived through.

You think you stipulated appropriately? Is that the same as you believing you made your point adequately clear? If somebody doesn't understand the message you intended to send, whose responsibility is it to clarify... in the event the reader/listener asks for clarification or otherwise indicates that what they understood you to mean is not what you intended to say?

I second that motion! One interesting (to me anyway) side note on SIT. I took the FLAP class in June or July 1975. Just under two years earlier, I was in tech training at Keesler AFB, MS. I attended a charismatic fellowship during those months (was there about six months). During that time, they tried to help me SIT but I could never get it. I didn't realize how freakin' easy it was and that all I had to do was "start moving my lips, etc...." Don't be. You're human. That you are able to be aware of it and admit it demonstrates significant emotional intelligence.

Good one... worth a chuckle. ;)

Expecting to take hits, eh? Perhaps that would be because you are projecting your expectations as such. I would suggest that you might benefit from some of the research of Daniel Goleman. As far as rules for staying on topic, wouldn't that be a courtesy to your fellow posters? ;)