WordWolf's Content - Page 819

The Schoenheit Paper

WordWolf replied to Refiner's topic in About The Way

Well, "officially," twi never publicly taught that fornication and adultery were permitted. The Christian Family & Sex class officially said it was wrong, but did not spend significant amounts of time on it. That class was too busy covering things like slang terms for body parts, and showing stills from some Swedish import film or something. Most of that class really wasn't about anything but sex, but this name was stuck on it anyway. It was STILL the only class I was embarassed to say the name of, even when I was in. So, if you listened to tapes, or read books, you'd think twi was officially against it. If you read and listened a lot closer, you'd have had some questions about the peculiar phrasing of certain things. For example, "sin" was redefined as "broken fellowship." As Raf points out, "broken fellowship" is a CONSEQUENCE of sin, not the sin itself. However, thus redefined, sin sounds a lot less important. Further, sin in general is softened further with the "no condemnation" stuff, which was taken to mean exactly what it was MEANT to mean-if you do something wrong, but don't condemn yourself, hey, God's cool like that. Jesus paid the price for the sin already, so, everything's jake. So, yes, it was a "ministry" that only those "spiritually mature enough to handle it" were allowed to partake of. According to a number of eyewitnesses, willing participants, unwilling participants, victims, and drugged people, this was most common directly at hq. The original ranks of people were drawn from both coasts during the Jesus People movement, when "free love" was going around. Some of us think that was INTENTIONAL-that Christians who had been thinking sex was ok to pass around like a pack of cigarettes were the primary target of the founders of twi (especially the Founder). Others think this was a fringe benefit he discovered early on, and decided to take advantage of. What did this mean in a practical sense? The average Joe Believer had no idea this was happening. People who had made committments to join the way corpse or work on grounds as staff, making the ministry their lives, were sorted into 3 categories: A) those not spiritual enough to handle it B) those spiritual enough to be let in on it C) those spiritual enough to be on the receiving end So, years after some incidents, there have been many Christians who love God who put together the odd behaviour of some of the higher-ups and some young women on staff who had mysterious nervous breakdowns, or left the grounds suddenly. Some Christians at the time were told by the victims and had a hard time accepting that supposed leaders of God's people could treat their flock like disposable goods, and some refused to believe the victims on that basis. Some STILL don't believe all the people who've come forth. The concept of "cognitive dissonance" can be seen here. It can be monstrously difficult to go from respecting someone as God's rep on earth to believing he'd rape a Christian woman, and some can't do it. On grounds, that was the work of a small cabal. Some have pointed out that the "From Birth to the Corps" autobiographies required for all way corpse applicants were most likely used to help sort the corps. "Oh, you were raped as a teenager, and now have trouble trusting men? Honey, all you need is the right man to show you how beautiful sex can be.." The "right men" in these cases were married men, usually, and had no compunctions about orchestrating an elaborate scenario where the woman had no idea what was planned, and had no idea she was about to be drugged. There are other incidents that involve women sleeping and receiving (lambano) an unpleasant surprise as a guy decided to help himself. Some of these occurred at hq, and some of them occurred on the road. What made it work so well was that this cabal covered for each other. There were WOMEN in this cabal, also-helping procure other women and facilitate their little surprises. Thus, a woman might tell another that a certain leader (vpw, lcm whoever) wanted to meet with her to discuss, oh, let's say, movement of The Word in her hometown. Then she'd lead her off to an RV or other comfortably appointed, yet isolated location, where the mog or moglet was waiting. Then comes a few minutes of chat about the movement of The Word in her hometown. "Here, have some wine-I hate to drink alone." Then things proceed from there. I am personally baffled as to how some women could knowingly help orchestrate this, but perhaps it's better my brain can't wrap itself around that one. BTW, it is certainly possible that some of the women were consenting to this- that they either enthusiastically endorsed their own seduction (making it a seduction rather than a molestation/rape scenario). Some women were so loyal that they trusted every word out of vpw or lcm's mouth, and if he just said this wasn't really a sin, then, by golly, it must not be. You've already read some of the words used to convince women this was acceptable to God. Some of us question just how "consentual" that can be, given the position of trust these men were in. http://www.greasespotcafe.com/editorial/not-an-affair.htm Women who weren't quite so enthusiastic to endorse their own molestation or rape often were quietly sent out of the corpse and off grounds, and effectively disappeared from twi, while stories of them being possessed or whatever covered the tracks of the cabal. A few seem to have committed suicide, which REALLY dropped them from sight. This worked until the internet came along.... Who was in on it? Well, MANY people have come forth about vpw. MANY people have come forth about lcm, who was fired for the multiple lawsuits. (He wasted money on lawyers, and committed the sin of getting caught.) At least one woman said that Uncle Harry's first action on meeting her IN PUBLIC AND STANDING NEXT TO VPW was to cop a feel off her. It's possible she was lying-I'm not prepared to accept that, especially since it fits the whole scenario too well. Men in power though that power entitled them to help themselves to the women. If you had sat thru pfal, you would have seen vpw mention the incident of Nathan the prophet confronting David about the incident with Bathsheba. (Had sex with her, then had her husband killed to cover his tracks.) vpw's explanation was..original, to say the least. He said that, "technically, all the women in the kingdom belonged to the king." This was a VERY peculiar statement. First off all, you will note it does NOT appear in Scripture. No Bible verse was cited for this, for there IS no verse for this. The Old Testament laws are very clear on adultery being a sin. There is NO verse saying the king is exempt from being charged for any sin he committed, nor excused from having sin imputed when he committed it. The concept was extra-Biblical. It's known as the "droit de seigneur" and has been used by pagan tyrants in many places in the world as a prerogative of their office. The Bible does NOT endorse it, nor does it endorse the treating of women as merchandise or without respect. Those who insist on vpw's innocence are unable to explain, using the Bible, WHY this claim was made, why this statement appears in his signature work. So, what happens when a paper-which SHOULD have been a "no duh" issue-comes up saying "the Bible says adultery is wrong?" Well, the highers-up who were "in the know" tried to hush it up. That's VERY peculiar behaviour for a Christian to have. It's also been said later, by some, that if they weren't an eyewitness to the alleged rapes/molestations/whatever, that they don't believe them, or they don't believe they were non-consentual, or that it was done intentionally, with the intent of "toughening the women up spiritually" or other things. Mind you, that's just from posts I've read HERE. So, there is some room for disagreement here. Almost all agree the Bible says adultery is wrong. A few think the incidents were almost all consentual. A few think they didn't happen. A few think that ALL leaders abuse their office, so this should be expected. Feel free to make up your own mind.

Profiles

Forums

Calendar

Gallery

Everything posted by WordWolf