Stayed Too Long

quote:

Originally posted by rascal:

I`d say that the only way to determine who/what vpw really was is to examine and do a *fruit* comparison to determine whether he was a man of the spirit or a man of the flesh.

As far as the fruit comparison goes, VPW always said, "you can't compare apples to oranges". So I think he was:

* an apple crisp

* a sour apple

* one bad apple spoils the whole bunch

* rotten to the core

* a winesap turned dramboui drunk

* the ladies were the apple of his eye

* surrounded himself with apple polishers

* thought he was upper crust

* we all should have eaten an apple a day to keep the doctor away

I believe VPW did allude to knowing Graham as well as Oral Roberts. I heard him say words to the effect of:

"Billy could have gotten them born again. Oral could have healed them. And I could have taught them the word". He then made it sound as if both of them forsook all this and went on their own out of ego.

And of course this left VPW to do it all on his own, and we should be so thankful he stood on the rightly divided word.

quote:

When I saw the title of this thread, I planned to point out that ALL puppies are cut.

For sure this puppy need to be "cut"!

You would think there would be much outrage from a group supposedly started to protect our liberties. The American Civil Liberties Union has weighted in quite heavily on this issue of molesting our children, and found very much wanting.

They represent in court a group of perverts known as the North American Man Boy Love Association, or NAMBLA. These sickos advocate changing our laws to allow men to sexually abuse and molest boys. Men and boys having sexually relations is normal in their eyes.

And the ACLU has chosen to represent them in court. So I would not expect much indignation from them.

quote:

Song quote:

STL, can you still perform levitation?

Unless you are being facetious about your experience(s), how would one attempt levitation?

There must be a formula, an equation, an excercise, a breathing technique, etc, to perform such an extraordinary gymnastic ability contrary to the law of gravity!

How did you do this?

How did you venture upwards and then venture downward?

A friend of mine used to do it when I was younger. We would gather around an oject and all would touch it. He would start to tell the oject to rise and soon it would begin to do so. Usually it would rise about waist or chest high and then he would have it go back down. He just told us to concentrate with him and he would start talking and it would tell the object to rise and it would.

There was no breathing or any technique used. The object just starting rising. Nothing physically was done to help it along.

As far as Ouija Boards go if they did not work Parker Brothers could not continue to sell them year after year. I used to work them with my mother. She would put her finger tips on one side of the piece and I would put mine on another side. One of us would ask it a question, and it would move from one letter to the next letter from an alphabet that is printed on the board, spelling out the answer.

For example I asked it where I was going on vacation. It immediately began spelling out S-E-A-T-T-L-E letter by letter. The piece first moved to the S then the E, etc until the entire word Seattle was spelled out.

If it did not want to answer a question the piece would run off the edge of the board and stop.

The piece was not pushed or moved by either of us. It skimmed across the top of the board on its own accord.

Don't know how it happened but can assure you it did. If spirits are not the explanation what is the answer? If it didn't work this game would not be selling off the shelves everyday.

quote:

...But then again, I'm not sure I understand what "secular religion" is. Is it sorta like non-alcoholic beer?

Sounds like sex without orgasm.

Smoking dope without inhaling.

Shopping with no money.

Laughing when nothing is funny.

Military Intelligence

quote:

Sudo quote:

And then you have folks like me, StayedTooLong, who think theists are like little kids who believe in Santa Claus.. only... they NEVER grow up!!

Are you even remotely attempting to interject the possibility of there being.....(cough*snort)..no....(gulp)!!....Santa? That would be right up there with squashing like a bug James Dean, Janice Joplin, and Otis Redding. How would I ever be able to rant and rave without a cause anymore? Or wail into a microphone with such intensity and feeling, yet let someone so important to me slip away? And then have no place to dock my boat in the bay.

Or maybe even eliminating the God like status of Jesus Christ, Buddha, or Mohammed?

I have found it impossible to believe that Jesus christ is my lord and savior. That somehow God through him, has my entire life planned out, is looking out for me at every corner, and if I but listen, he will tell me what to do in every situation. Maybe I have just not allowed this to happen in my life and shut him out, but am looking in a different direction.

I do believe in some power greater than myself but have not been able to inititate, apprehend, comprehend, master, understand, relate to, or reach out to this being, event, place, time, thought....whatever it is.

The idea of UU not cramming a doctrine or belief down my throat is a place to start I believe.

quote:

Beware the dark side!

I am signed up for a Darth Vader Wand Fighting Class this spring at adult education! Maybe I better rethink that one huh?

George enjoy the sushi!!

quote:

......and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand they are delivered."

To all those who worship their fly rod and are of the Catch and Release denomination, I say, "Catch and release into bacon grease".

As a young man in my 20's I played with an ouija board and was involved with levitation. As a WOW I witnessed to people who could destroy things with mind concentration.

Most Christian groups I am aware of would attribute this to devil possession.

What do those who do not believe in possession, or are agnostic, or atheist attribute these to? Does science have a theory?

I can assure you the levitation we did was real. There were no wires or slight of hand magic involved. Same with the ouija board. The little triangle piece moved around the board of its own accord. It was not prodded or pushed along. The man I witnessed to who blew things up using his mind was scared to death. He decided not to do it anymore and he said the spirits were ruining his life. They would not allow him to rest and he was so afraid they would kill him. One other time he attempted to stop and they did the same thing, but let up after he decided to go back to destroying things with his friends.

What are the explanations?

Attending my first ever UU gathering this morning reminded me of a social services meeting. We said some written prayer while the leader lit a candle, had announcements, and a song. Then representatives from Habitat for Humanity and the local food bank spoke for about 30 minutes, followed by the group holding hands and saying a shalam, and it was over.

Short and sweet. Don't know if I got much out of it though. One of the members chatted with me afterwards and indicated this was not a typical meeting. He said UU helps a person develop spiritually along their own lines, so no strict doctrine is followed.

Figure I'll go back next week for a second look.

quote:

Originally posted by GarthP2000:

Why does a question like that have the distinct familiar ring similar to:

"What I would like to see is someone pitching in who went through a lynching and did/does NOT view it as a terrible thing."

Hhmmm? -->

Gotta agree with you.

quote:

Originally posted by Galen:

Belle:

Once in 1987, I was in San Diego for a couple months. There was a group in the Navy called 'The Navigators' operating to evangelize through-out the Navy and to deal with 'cult' involvement. Well they got permission, and I was tag-teamed for one week. Stayed in that room, no sleep, a team of guys pulling shifts yelling, screaming, and arguing. Scripture, church history, and logic, I was accused of every so called evil that The Way had been reported of doing. Then I got orders out of there. Soon afterwards The Navigators were officially dis-banded.

Whne you say "well they got permission", does that mean the U.S. Navy gave them the okay to "tag-team" you?

Maybe you could explain exactly what the conditions were you had to endure? Were you held against your will? Would they allow you to sleep if you desired?

Sounds like pretty strange actions by the Navy.

quote:

Originally posted by Trefor Heywood:

Not possible as it is not in their jurisdiction!

Nor that of Renquist and co neither!

I'll bet even though it is out of their jurisdiction, most any American judge would make an exception, which they seem to be so good at anymore, and solve all the problems in London.

I thought you were talking about Dog the Bounty Hunter.....I was ready to enjoy Hawaii.

Belle what you describe is not the deprogramming of the 1970's & 80's. It sounds more like an AA intervention to me.

Back then people were kidnapped from their homes, bound, and held against their will. They were deprived of food and water. Deprogrammers would scream them and sleep deprieve them. The deprogramming could take weeks so these unfortunate people were tied in a bed for long periods of time.

What would have happened if your then husband met with you and all these folks, and decided he wanted no part of the deprogramming? Would he have been allowed to leave? Would you have held him against his will? Would he have been bound and sleep deprived?

quote:

Originally posted by TheHighWay:

Thanks for posting this article... it speaks volumes.

I still wish that the court would have granted one last look at all the information by a designated team of experts... just for the possibility of settling so much of the speculation and controversy that came up.

Hopefully, she is resting in peace now.

I doubt if another look would satisfy anyone. Just the other day there was an account in the news Michael had destroyed documents in Terri's medical records. If the new pope and a team of disinterested nude swimmers did an investigation and published their results, it would never make the naysayers happy.

quote:

Originally posted by Sunesis:

quote:

and even less honest thought

After that, I didn't bother to read the rest of your post. Maybe you should try less insults next time.

Well I for one did read the rest of Ttssa's post and found it quite loving and truthful. Here is a woman giving us a birdseye view into the challenges of her life the past 30 years. Honestly sharing with us the frustration she has had to live with and incorporate into her everyday activities.

When we are asked a question an answer is immediately on the tip of our tongue, but with this woman it requires a deliberate, conscious effort on her part to even get the process of thinking involved.

I can only imagine what it must be like in social situations for her. She remians quiet because she is not sure of how to respond. Afraid to say anything because what may come out of her mouth is not appropriate for the situation.

She deserves better than being scolded for appearing to be insulting. You may understand her insulting comment in a different context if you read the entire post. If you had to think about everything prior to saying it, not sure if it is appropriate, you may come to a different conclusion than you have so far.

Even if she did mean it to be insulting, after reading her post and seeing her point of view, she is justly entitled to her opinion.

I had heard about Unitarians somewhere before and didn't think too much about it, but after reading this thread phoned a local fellowship yesterday and am going to attend a meeting next Sunday.

The person on the phone asked me what I had heard about their beliefs. Aftger I answered she gave me their web site and invited me next week.

The reason UU is intriguing to be is they don't offer a belief system, in opposition to every church I have visited. I have tried to adopt all their different doctrines but many conflict so much, and can't figure out which is correct. Compare Baptists and Roman Catholics. Each believes the other is going to hell so Which is correct?

UU believes you adopt your own set of beliefs. I like what I heard so will check it out.

I was trying to make the point it is not murder to withhold food and water in these situations, in opposition to what others have said on the Schiavo threads. There were opinions stated on them she was being treated worse than a dog. That it was inhumane to withhold food and water.

I don't believe it is murder.

As I recall when V.P. died it was treated very matter of factly and business like.

1. Rehearsed message given to everyone on phone list about him dying.

2. Everyone told to come over to TC house for dinner.

3. Told to be strong and that God will look out for us.

4. Watched some TWI video.

5. Went home

6. After funeral told Mrs. W. said something like "that's not Dr in the grave, just a dead body".

7. Life went on.

I felt we were not expected to, nor should we grieve. It was just time to move on. I really hated that part....saw no compassion what so ever for anyone.

Maybe it was in '78? Don't remember the exact year anymore.

When I was attending the Advanced Class in '79 the then pope died and VeePee said Satan did it to disrupt his class. The Adversary was upset because so much of God's Word was getting out in Emporia.

I just wonder what is going on in TWI today that the Devil needed to kill the pope?

Not even the Pope's funeral can stop the wedding. The disgruntled Queen still will not attend the wedding!! Ohhhhh...........

Full Steam Ahead