Rocky

I'm confident there have been MANY MANY people who share that perspective. Can you now appreciate the experience as having empowered you, as a result of having survived, to more deeply grasp the significance of the lovebombing from the perspective of each side? I'm glad you survived. It's now been more than 40 years since I ventured out on the WOW ambassador adventure. And it truly was an adventure. When I ventured out in June 2021 to drive cross-country, eastbound I drove unaccompanied. One of the highlights was passing through several states encountering billions and billions of trees and being thankful for them. On the return trip, my passenger was a long-time 9th corpse brother. He had spent a year in Erie, PA. We took a very brief detour off of the Interstate to see where he did so. Later in the day, we made it to Fremont, OH, where I showed him the two houses my motley crew (I wasn't the honcho, just one of the crew) lived that year. One of the highlights was the Rutherford B Hayes presidential library on his estate named Spiegel Grove But I digress.

Another book I'm reading and which has pertinent content relative to this thread is The Book of Charlie. In Chapter six, Von Drehle recounts various charlatans from the era when Victor Wierwille grew up. Charlie was an adventurous young man who grew up in Kansas City, MO. Excerpted below: A still greater quack—and bigger celebrity—was John Romulus Brinkley, who operated a radio station and clinic in Milford, Kansas. Licensed in “eclectic medicine” (whatever that was), Brinkley took cures wherever he found them: forgotten folklore, herbal brews, borrowings from chiropractors, osteopaths, homeopaths, and more exotic healers. His signature breakthrough was the idea of transplanting goat testes into impotent men. “A man is only as old as his glands,” Brinkley maintained. He built a huge following—among the largest radio audiences in the nation—by interspersing pitches for his “Goat Gland Cure” with fundamentalist sermons, rants against elites, and bedtime stories for kids. Tiny Milford filled with men from across the country willing to pay $750 each for goat testicle implants. The numbers grew as Brinkley “discovered” further applications for his interspecies transplants. Goat gonads supposedly cured diabetes, high blood pressure, epilepsy, deafness, paralysis, female infertility, obesity, and dementia. Von Drehle, David. The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man (p. 91). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition. It's like Victor Wierwille found an archetype around which he could build his own money printing cult machine.

And because it's often so doggone obvious he projects.

I appreciate your acknowledgment of said copious evidence. I reply by asking (rhetorically) why you think the question you asked me is salient. I have been under the impression it's humans (generally men) who have "produced" manuscripts, not God. We're not in a realm wherein God produces manuscripts, right? I have also been under the impression the "holy men of God" were INSPIRED by God. Might "God-breathed" have been a figure of speech or an Orientalism? IDK. But I do believe the cultures (the time frame was over the course of a couple of millennia, right?) How quickly did cultures change back then? Probably not as quickly as they do now, but I suspect over one or two thousand years, there could have been significant culture shifts. As a journalist, mediocre as I may have been, and only employed as such for three years or so, and as a citizen-funded one for another year or two, I encountered a LOT of errors in the written words of humans (women and men). Almost always, said errors/typos, even with the most rigorous and current technology available was unintentional. We don't really have to look any further than the contributions by our peers here on GSC (including me) to recognize the pervasiveness of typographical errors. Mostly unintentional. Sometimes intentional. Here's a classic and poignant example: any time the word public is used journalism or any other publishing medium, it is ALWAYS prone to be written as "pubic." ALMOST always when it actually happens, it's unintentional. OFTEN when it's written without the L, it becomes humorous. Even Victor Wierwille understood the concept of how easy it is for unintentional errors to creep into manuscripts during manual copying. Consider also cultural anthropology. Specifically regarding how widespread education may or may not have been at times in question. Guttenberg didn't invent the printing press (for Western Civilization) until sometime in the 15th century of the Christian era. The Guttenberg Bible was apparently published in 1454 CE. Imagine how tedious copy editing and proofreading must (or might) have been at ANY point. Is it any wonder the BEST possible effort or product only could logically, rationally, reasonably be characterized as religious tradition? Victor Wierwille emphatically criticized religious tradition during his ministry. Reflecting back to that time, I surmise he did so to discredit anyone else's religious tradition and characterize HIS private interpretation as The Word of God, which just so happened, in his view, to be the one true take on what may actually be the Will of God. I don't identify as atheist, though I suppose I could. But I do challenge, based on my life experience and education, former (academic) and informal, the notion of Victor Wierwille's private interpretation (or anyone else's) of any version of the Bible to be the accurate Word or Will of God. Notably, however, I respect your (oldskool) long held belief in God's word. And every other person here on GSC who holds to that belief and understanding of life. We don't change our values or beliefs quickly, for the most part. So I am definitely not trying to argue that anyone here "is wrong" about God. I hold that there's just too much we don't and cannot yet know to make any such distinction. I love you all... even pesky old Mike even though it's possible to see through him to a degree because of his candor about his beliefs.

I embrace the explanation (and distinction) you wrote about earlier this morning. I had not articulated the distinction prior to reading it, but intuitively recognized it was a salient distinction.

I hope this doesn't offend anyone. However, it does illustrate the cultural hegemony of the situation.

hmmm... intriguing distinction. keep vs obey.

Even though it equates to bibliolatry. I would hope the people Mike recognizes as scatterers do some serious introspection about the matter. The fact of the matter is there are no original manuscripts in existence. There is material evidence humans have corrupted what we've believed to be the Word of God. Sure, it's available to figure out what likely is the essence of God's original word. But it doesn't come easily and certainly doesn't come from charlatans who arrogantly claim "God told me he'd teach me the word like it hadn't been known since the 1st century of the Christian era. I take you all back to Proverbs 2:1-5. I do not claim to have The Word. I'm not asking anyone to follow me or support "my ministry." 2 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, 2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding— 3 indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, 4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, 5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

Is that a question?

Is THIS love? Have you ever experienced ANYONE in twi taking this same attitude?

SMH. We do NOT have "God's Word." Anywhere. There has not been discovery and/or verification of any original manuscripts. Therefore, your declaration, which I quoted in this post, is nothing more than an exposition of your belief. Geez... I wish you had emotional intelligence, legit critical thinking/analysis skills, and effective communication skills.

Without much insight.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WHMaeTn4NK0 This one is embodiment of the prodigal son or the lost sheep parables. Has anyone ever seen Victor Wierwille or Loy Martindale or any other twi official act like this when someone returned to the fold?

Yes, that's what I was considering as benefit to the business/retailer... Definitely mitigates some labor costs and security risks.

Not a direct parallel but this inspired me to think of the gospel story of the good Samaritan.

Wonderful!

https://youtube.com/shorts/4GI4ToJqLaw Apparently the clip has an emoji in the title and the GSC platform doesn't like those. I submit this to starkly illustrate the contrast between twi and love.

Indeed, the "subject matter" overlaps. However, it was (as I understand it) brought up to primarily comment on and illustrate how and that twi behavior standards (i.e unwritten rules aka mores) were completely divorced from what love is and what love does. Just my take on it anyway.

I hope that was satisfactory, Oldiesman.

LOL... seeing the word live there was a simple case of cognitive dissonance.

And easier to steal undetected.

Let's face it. The technology has arrived. Don't blame the government. It's far more secure for retail establishments to transact with cards. The hassles of dealing with cash make financial institution fees a simple cost of doing business, and less expensive to the business establishments. So, yes, we are moving in that direction. However, I don't see cash as being outlawed any time soon.