Raf

Ok, Bluzeman. Just remember, the "New York/Big apple" things was an anomaly. Usually the pix will help sound out the words. But feel free to be playful if the mood strikes you. Hmm.. someone something ants.... Got it! Good one.

Oh, it was definitely meant to be cutesy. I stole the idea from the other board, where the clues led to "Windy City," an actual movie. One of the (incorrect) guesses was "Chicago." I thought it would have been cool if Chicago were the right answer. Hence...

If that's how you feel. :)

Yup!

So I shouldn't let my appreciation of PFAL be compromised by his distortion of it.

Did I say there wasn't a lot of great stuff in there? Did I say that "mastering PFAL" would result in a failing grade? No. All I said was "aim higher." Stopping at mastery of PFAL is limiting God. By all means, master it. But don't stop there.

You'll know what to do when it gets hold of you, and with a little help from above...

You can call me Al Paul Simon

Ok, take it to the next step. What movie would be represented by two big apples?

Yeah! (and, as you know, I was not commenting on your posts, but posting another quote). But you knew that. :)

I think the topic is whether mastery of PFAL is necessary. I teach a grammar class. For students to pass the class, they need to score at least 75 on a test (over which I have no control). Semester after semester, I see students striving for that 75. They work hard to reach it, and most of them do. Then there are those students who strive for 100. They're usually the ones who get a 90 or better on the test. To me, devoting time to mastering PFAL is like striving for the 75. If you hit it, great. You passed. But the better students are the ones who go beyond the merely acceptable passing grade. PFAL is the flawed work of a flawed man. It has errors, both technical and doctrinal. To the extent that it leads people to an understanding of God in Christ, I rejoice. But I rejoice more when we aim higher. The law of believing is nothing. Faith in God in Christ is everything. Five sonship rights? That's it? What's more important, the number of crosses on the side, or the one in the middle? Which one did we spend more time on? Master PFAL if all you want to get is the 75. Master the Bible if you want to go further.

How could anybody figure that out? It's completely mental!

Nope.

It was just a flesh wound. OH! He hit me right in my profession, which is relevant to this discussion because... yeah, I don't know either. Must be from the Dodge, Distract School of Discourse. What the Hey, I don't know what to say. You are so divorced from reality it's not worth responding. But hey, you're a fun read. By the way, it's SOLELY, not SOLEY. "Soley" is actually ancient estrangelo for "idolatrous sycophant."

I can see why you'd answer that, but no.

"How far up are we?" "If it rains, you'll be the first to know.

I see. Thanks Allan. Sorry if I sounded confrontational. I'd start with questioning the premise that TWI's record of deaths and tragedies was abnormally low. For one thing, the TWI population skewed young and healthy. So, yeah, you'd get fewer incidents of certain illnesses. But fewer accidents? I'd like to see how this comparison was done.

I've really listened hard to all the anti-CG stuff here. I'm so glad I left TWI when I did, so I have a hard time coming to terms with some of the uglier things that have been spoken about him. And I have a hard time thinking that people who followed him out the door (as most of NY did) had anything other than pure motives. Fortunately, I can see very clearly that most of the people I know who left during the Geer expulsion are disconnected from him now, so whether or not leaders' motives were pure, a good chunk of us "followers" learned the lesson of not accepting bunk from leadership just because of their position. Incidentally, I'm not saying I don't believe the uglier things said about Geer. I just have a hard time with it because my memory of him was so positive most of the time.

Or maybe it has something to do with "the power of positive thinking," which is a valuable way to go about life. Or it could have something to do with the fact that the TWI population was and always has been small enough to not constitute a representative sample. In other words, one incident of any of those things in TWI would have a far greater impact on a per-capita count than it would in most other religions, and the absence of one incident of any of those things would have a much greater impact in reverse. TWI was not a microcosm of society. Therefore, the numbers shouldn't reflect a microcosm of society. If we were to conclude that TWI and the Mormons experienced this low incidence (which I certainly do not believe in TWI's case, but let's take the info for granted), and we were to conclude that it is because of their doctrine on tithes and offerings, we would have to conclude that TWI and the Mormons worship the same true God. Is that what you're saying, Allan? I'll give you another example: The retention rate in TWI was and always has been far lower than most other religions/denominations/groups. Is it possible that's because of the tithes and offerings?

:) Actually, what I would be saying is: I find your gullibility amusing.

Un abrazo is a hug.

Notice that he says to master the classes, not just the collaterals that come with them? That means the classes carry the same weight to him as the writings. But we KNOW that the classes are full of crap because Mike himself discounts them as authoritative. Meanwhile Wierwille himself says to master them! There's a word for that. It starts with an H and ends with a yporcrisy. Guess what that spells? myyyyyy precioussssssss.

Batman Begins