Rocky

I'm on the reservation list for a new Aptera solar powered vehicle... hoping my turn comes up in 2023.

I'll second that very well put sentiment.

However, "Randall" DOES return results.

If/when you can, find a different therapist and ask detailed questions about how the person has been able to help individuals. As for me, books written by the late Dr M Scott Peck were my starting point. The Road Less Traveled showed me how to begin (re)evaluating my experiences and thinking. Stoic Philosophy can be helpful too. Much more recently (still seeking to learn/grow) I've found a trilogy of books by Ryan Holiday very helpful. The Obstacle is the Way; Stillness is the Key; and Ego is the Enemy. You might be able to find those books in your local public library. It may or may not be obvious to you, but a supportive social support system (i.e. friends) is crucial for recovery. Humans are inherently social. TWI's claim is accuracy of God's Word. But the real draw is a tribal sense of belonging. My hope and prayer for you is a rewarding journey of recovery.

I briefly met Donna Randall in Gunnison, CO in July 1978. Other than that our brief interaction was pleasant, I have no detail to add. I'm confident your best resource for understanding Donna and The Way International is to speak with Charlene and to read both Undertow and The Way: Living in Love.

Yeah, I had seen he resigned.

And Australia. Hillsong apparently started down under. I just read about this new documentary, which apparently was first broadcast a few days ago, on the Washington Post. This link should enable people to read the story without charge... because I subscribe (for $29/yr). They've apparently made the big time with a Discovery+ channel documentary about them. The WaPo staff writer (of this story) starts her feature thusly: For the first two decades of my life, there was very little I did that wasn’t touched somehow by evangelical churches. I can still sing a random smattering of Bible verses, thanks to catchy little melodies we played on cassette tapes in the car. If I squeeze my eyes shut hard enough, I can reach down into the primordial dregs of my memory and find some of the pledge to the Christian Flag, bringing up with it the Play-Doh smell of my preschool classroom at a church-adjacent academy in Scottsdale, Ariz. I still remember the first time I ever felt so overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit that I wept during a church service — I was 11, and it was during a rendition of “Shout to the Lord,” a beloved praise anthem from none other than Hillsong, the Australia-based global charismatic church network known best at the time for its stirring, internationally popular worship songs. I’m still working out why exactly I quit going to church in my early 20s, about a decade ago; for a long time, all I could really muster was that I could no longer ignore the gnawing suspicion that I’d be happier if I did. (I was.) As an adult, though, I’ve started to piece together that perhaps it had less to do with God or the Bible or Christianity itself than with the fallible, corruptible, misguidable human beings I answered to every Sunday. So when I watched Discovery Plus’s new three-part documentary “Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed,” some of what it uncovered felt wholly, sadly familiar. Other revelations, though, were uniquely horrifying.

6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.

Why?

Okay, I'm certainly not a fan of the R and R clan, but... while I too would absolutely wonder, I don't believe there's enough there to CONCLUDE--simply by virtue of the fact that a website and name were established ahead of time--that they were not sincere. First, they absolutely KNEW the likelihood was through the roof that they would be labeled "mark and avoid," and they knew of NT scripture counseling them to go to TWI with their grievances first. Prudence required them to be prepared for the nearly inevitable response. I don't see this particular action as having any bearing on their sincerity or lack thereof.

While you may be right on the mark in your assessment, I'm not sure the qualifiers are necessary. Accurate truth isn't nearly as relevant as the fact that belonging is a fundamental human need. I'm not suggesting you are inherently wrong, as factors relating to position in a group to which they belong are certainly relevant to varying degrees, but the bottom line regardless is belonging to a tribe.

Mastering synchronicity? I'm not sure that's a useful approach. In TWI, everything seemed to be about the believer mastering believing to make things happen the way s/he wanted (hoped) for them to happen. Synchronicity, as I understand it, is not at all about believing for things to happen. Letting go (i.e. letting go and letting God) is more the way I understand synchronicity. Otherwise, I viewed your comment as TL;DR. If you'd like more thoughtful feedback, I would hope you could practice brevity and figure out how to more concisely make your points so that readers would find it less tedious to read.

Keep learning... and keep expanding your imagination. God is bigger than the Bible.

I've heard of Arizona. I don't know Mr Mitchell, but I'm glad you have someone with some academic background to at least bounce ideas off of.

Honestly Mark, that reply seems to be entirely off topic and not at all responsive to the questions I posed to you. IOW, it looks like you simply have restated your assumptions a couple of ways. Certainly, as a person with free will, you are absolutely entitled to view the situation in that way. But it doesn't look to further the topic of this discussion. Further, from a rationality standpoint, how much review of your book has been subject to review by biblical scholars? I ask because one of Prof Pinker's main points is that none of us on our own necessarily gets close enough to being rational. We rely on a collaborative relationship with other people to identify and help correct our fallacies. That's why academics and scientists must submit their work for peer review before publication in credible journals.

How does your response, copied herein, explain how you know which thoughts are true and which are false? Really, I don't want to come off as condescending, but what it looks like to me is that you've set forth, in a bit of detail, your assumption(s) which may prevent you from opening your imagination to consider anything outside a fundamental biblical perspective. Is that a fair read/interpretation of your response?

There's only two possibilities of that happening: Slim and none. And Slim is out of town.

Hey Mark, How do you know? Is that just an assumption? If so, what does it get you to do or not do?

How does one, according to your standard, tell the difference?

So, I suppose it's altogether okay if GSC people are not innately curious about spirituality, what's "out there" that's bigger than any of us have been able to even imagine before. But I am innately curious even about things that are outside orthodox religion or Christianity. When I read Dr Bolen's book, it enabled me to rethink some of my experiences. Like the time, when I hitchhiked from Los Angeles to Gunnison the summer before going into residence with the 9th corpse. Among the things I endured/experienced during that particular excursion were what I believed then were God intervening to get me rides. I've expanded my imagination to redefine those events. One reason? Because what I DID then that made the difference was to act of "letting go." Since then, I've read of other people, not claiming such intervention was from God. IOW, God makes (or allows) the rain to fall on the "just and the unjust." Put another way, meaningful events in my life were synchronistic. This YouTube video has what I view as legitimate insight. At one point in it, the speaker mentions politics. But that's only context. It's not a debate about what are good or bad political positions. The vid is under 7 minutes. I hope you enjoy, or at least mindfully listen to the extent you can apply critical analysis to it. If you do so and believe you have a legitimate perspective to debunk this fellow's ideas, by all means, share with us.

To quote a memorable link in a late 1970s TWI promotional movie/video: It vas fee-ah!

Nailed it... I wish your statement had the same dramatic effect that Martin Luther had when he nailed his 95 Theses to the door of a church.