templelady

Have the Happiest of Days!

Reading anything without thinking about what we are reading makes reading a rather "useless" activity on several levels IMO.

Annam, What you seem to fail to realize or be unwilling to accept, is that fact that many of us here do not agree with what you HAve decided scripture says Have deciced scripture doesn't say Have decided is the correct course of action in a given situation based on YOUR understanding of scripture Have decided is the incorrect course of action in a given situation based on YOUR understanding of scripture YOu might find it easier here at GSC if you accepted that Scripture often speaks to different people in different ways Scripture and God often point out a different set of actions to different people in the same circumstances God treats all his children as the individuals he created, speaking to each in a manner they best understand, and appointing tasks to each that will best assist each individual in advancing spritually. This does not mean that there are not abosolutes in God's thinking, Adultery, Murder, Worshiping of idols, Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit are absolute NO's yesterday, today and tomorrow. But much of the rest of life has as great deal to do with location, time, events, and the individual as to the "correct" way to go. Per God and Jesus Christ, we ARE NOT the judges of another's walk. We can disagree, we can state why we disagree, we can state how we would react, we can state why we would react that way, but to add to any of these the caveat that this is how God says it is to be done, is IMO, wrong except if it is clearly stated as opinion. Even when a person commits, say, adultery, while we would be right to say God views adultery as a sin, we would be wrong if we claimed to know what God wants the Aldulterer to do in terms of steps toward repentance, and getting back in fellowship. The steps to the goal will be different on a case by case basis and between God and the individual.

Here are some links I found: the first gives a case by case profile of some agregious cases of prosecutorial misconduct, along with police, judges and expert witness who have also tried to circumvent the truth. http://www.truthinjustice.org/p-pmisconduct.htm The second has a state by state breakdown of cases that were overturned by reason of police, DA or judicial "errors" http://www.justiceworks.info/index.php?mod..._position=60:56 This last has an interesting way of starting an e-mail list to form an action group for people who want to change the laws regarding our judiciary system. I put it in just as an example of what a concerned citizenry might accomplish. http://lawmall.com/abuse/

The reason I care about Mr. Nifong and his punishment, irregardless of the fact he resigned the day before punishment was pronounced, is because I have deep concerns aboput the way our judicial system operates. Many of us here have other concerns regarding what is happening not only with Nifong, and a certain pantless judge, but in courtrooms across this country. If a poster thinks a topic is nothing to be concerned about they can simply ignore that topic. What posters starting the threads think, mean and intend can only be learned from those posters since they is the only one, besides God, who knows what they are thinking. So if a poster who starts a topic tells me that they did not intend for that topic to be a political discussion I take them at their word.

Had my degree well before the TWI years, thank God. To me any religious or secular organization that hinders or otherwise campaigns against people getting the highest degree of education they can is wrong. People who have an education, are better equiped to hold a job, raise a family, think and analyse, and support those around them. Education is not confined to a four year degree. If you want to be a carpenter, then an apprenticeship with the best carpenter you find is a worthy goal, trade school, night classes, correspondence classes from an accredited school, getting you GED if necessary are all praiseworthy efforts that should be pursued even if doing so means some sacrifice on your part. Whether you attend classes as part of career objectives or simply to gain more knowledge in an area of interest, the discipline and study habits you learn as you pursue your goals are two of the most valuable traits any of us can possess. Just another of TWI short sighted policies

Yep, we have a definite problem with judges in this country too. Like I posted earlier we need to get clear on what we want from our court system. Any lawyer or other officer of the court will be the first to tell you that the justice system in the arena of a trial is not about, justice, fairness, or even the truth--rather the outcome is dependent on which side presents the best "story" to the jury. We need to get rid of the notion that Average Citizen needs to be feed specially tailored sound bites of the truth because otherise it will be too confusing. We need to stop allowing lawyers to prevent information being presented to the jury simply becuase it disagrees with their story version as opposed to whether it is the truth. As it stands now, every day in this country DA's go before judges to prevent already convicted defendants from having DNA analysis performed on samples from their cases. Why is this? What can a DNA test do? It might show that the defendant is guilty. It might show that others were involved. It might show that the defendant is, heaven forbid!, innocent. If it is either of the last two, it means that the prosecution messed up, either by the deliberate withholding of evidence, the suppression of evidence, or inadequate investigation. You would think that freeing the innocent would be the top priority for any officer of the court, but in this country this is not the case. The insanity that is our legal system needs to stop!! Anyone who has the power to influence 12 people in such a way that an innocent person could be convicted or a guilty person goes free, needs to be held to the highest standards of truth and ethical conduct. It should be completely irrelevant as to which side, the defense or the prosecution, "wins" a trial. The criteria should be that the innocent go free and the guilty are punished. Anything that impedes or prevents this from happening should not be allowed in the legal system.

Thanks all, I am much calmer today, my Dr here has hopes we can locate a surgeon and have the surgery performed within the next two weeks. Meanwhile I trudge on, 428' today with 112' feet with nothing and the remainder with a cane. I will walk out of here , I will be healed , I will return to my life .

Nifong deserved to be disbarred. It is my hope that this case may open up other DA's to such disciplinary action. For a long time I have observed that DA's are alllowed unbelievable leeway in distorting, withholding or otherwise disregarding the truth. I have had first hand experience of DA's presenting evidence that they knew to be false and concocting scenarios made out of "whole cloth" There is no way that a person can expect a fair trial unless lawyers are held to the strictest standards when it comes to the truth. As it stands now a DA and most defense attorneys are "held harmless" for the most outrageous of conduct. It is sad to realize that if Mr Nifong had first, not deliberately withheld evidence and second, confined his inflamatory remarks to within the courtroom, he would not have been held accountable for any of his actions. It is time that we as a people recognized that it is not a requirement under our system of jurisprudence for the DA to be concerned with presenting the truth, instead the job of a DA is to successfully prosecute those who have been deemed "enemies of the state". An "enemy of the state" is anyone arrested, and charged. A DA can withhold knowledge about potential witnesses and evidence that may exonerate the acused as long as he has no intention of using the evidence or witnesses himself. Say it comes to the DA's attention that a man was walking his dog by the side of a lake during the time period a body was supposedly dumped there. Under the laws of most states the DA is not required to notify the defense of this witness unless the DA plans to call the witness. If the witness says he saw a blue van instead of the red station wagon the defendant drove, the DA is not required to divulge this information or present it in court. It is the job of the defense to ferret it out, or in other words, just get lucky. Trials need to stop being thought of as contests between lawyers, which is how they are viewed by the lawyers now, and start being about the truth. All the truth, no matter where it leads or how it affects the win loss ratio of the attorneys. All information that comes to the attention of either side, all witnesses that come to the attenton of either side need to be disclosed to all parties on either the prosecution or defense teams. Failure to do so whether, by destroying, hiding, failure to ask for, or any other device designed to circumvent this happening should be vigourously prosecuted each and everytime it occurs. The judicial system should be separate from the political system. Governors, mayors and other government leaders should never be allowed to bring pressure to bear on DA's to prosecute. DA's should never use cases for their own self promotion. The same is true of defense lawyers. There only two parties who should be the focus are the victim and the accused. Both the victim and the accused can only be benefited by the complete truth, convictions gained by less than this which result in the innocent being found guilty or the guilty allowed to go free do not avenge the victim rather just create new victims. The practice of law is a career, politics is a career. If you want to be a politician the number of cases tried, number of sucessful prosecutions and/or number of sucessful defenses should not be allowed to be used in campaigning. If we take the political benefit out of the equation, demand that all witness and evidenciary knowledge be devulged to both sides, enforce failure to do so with fines and disbarment we just may be able to regain trust in the judicial system.

If you are talking specifically about why the "About The Way" forum continues to revist topics on a regular basis, then here is a possible answer. Most of the people here at GSC suffered abuse of some sort or another at the hands of TWI or are still suffering. You don't find many people who would tell a fifty year old woman that she should "get over" being repeatedly raped by her father for 10 years. It is accepted that this event leaves life long residue in her life. Some of that residue is easier for her to put in perspective than others, but that life event will always influence at some level decisions she makes in certain areas of her life. For some of us healing comes when we find we are not alone in our sufferings. for some of us healing comes when we find a place where we can vent as much and as often as we want. For some of us healing comes when we are able to comprehend the why behind the abusers actions. For some of us healing comes when we can help others who are in the place now we once were. For some of us healing comes when we find out that rather than being "crazy" we are actually on of many with the same experience and reactions. For many healing is a combination of some or all of the above and others I haven't mentioned or thought of. All of us, because we are individuals, are more prone to being hurt by certain behaviors than by others. All of us, because we are individuals, react differently to a given situation. This means that some people experience deep scars from an incident where another may be able to brush off the same incident with little difficulty. Some of us tend to "take the bull by the horns" when dealing with life's problems, some of us tend to retreat. It is highly presumptuous for anyone to decide that another has had "long enough" to "get over it". This does not mean that we as friends are not allowed to point out methods by which help may be found in the "moving on" Process. This does not mean that we as friends cannot say "you need to get a handle on this and move forward, you are in a pit". What it does mean is that we as friends and fellow voyagers in this life have a responsibility to approach the scarred with compassion and empathy as well as "tough love" where needed. GSC was established first and foremost, as a place where the goings on of TWI both bad and good could be examined and discussed. This site brings answers and healing to many. As long as I feel a need for my participation, as long as I see that there are still people wresting with what happened in their lives, as long as I feel my interaction with my fellow posters may help them heal or understand, I will continue to post here. If any poster feels that this site or the "About The Way" forum in particular is of no use thay have the right to state such or avoid it all together. What they do not have a right to do, IMO, is denegrate other posters who wish to participate for whatever reasons

Is the moon making us all wacky or just hypersensative????? Larry asks a simple question about the existence or non-existence of a particular study Then his motives are questioned as to why he would want to know. The value of the study, if it exists, is questioned. He is given some links which probably aren't exactly what he was looking for Larry becomes frustrated, everyone else becomes frustrated, and the "slam fest" is on. Having myself been guilty of the same kind of behavior here at GSC on more than one occassion, this is not an "I am better than the rest of you" observation. I am merely suggesting that perhaps all of us MYSELF especially, need to stop and think before we jump to conclusions about the motives of people posting unless the motive is clearly spelled out by the poster. Because sometimes knowledge is sought simply because, for whatever reason, our brain has formulated a question that just won't go away. So let us cut each other some slack, OKAY

In Alaska any adult may perform one wedding a year. This makes getting married just a matter of a license, and a few friends. Another anomally of Alaska law: if you get a marriage license you are considered married even if the license never gets turned in as long as you can produce one person who witnessed the ceremony. This last was discovered by friends of mine who failed to send in the license after the ceremony. Five years down the road, when everything went south, they were packing to go their separate ways and they found the, still unsent, license. The couple decided to just shred the unsent document and carry on since clearly the state had no record of the marriage they figured they could forgo the legal hassels and money for a divorce. They were shocked when, a few weeks later while finishing tying up loose ends over property matters, they discovered that even though the license was never received the state considered them married and a divorce would have to be obtained. As the Clerk of Courts said to them, " if not receiving a license in the mail meant people weren't married- half the people in this sate aren't married!" This is even more crazy when you know that Alaska does not recognize Common-law marriages.

Sexual predators are just that, predators. A predator, all things being equal, chooses where he lives and works in large part based on how close prey is. In the wild that means lions, and cheetahs follow and live around antelope herds. In the case of child molesters that means not only being around children but being ALONE around children. A sure fire method of gaining access to children, other than your own or close family members' in a solitary situation is by entering a profession that will allow you access. Teachers, religious leaders, doctors, children activity leaders (ie Boy Scouts) all have this kind of opportunity. Couple that with the fact that most of us have a certain degree of reverence and respect for those people involved in these occupations and you have a tailor-made situation. Children are taught to respect and obey these authority figures. Most of us, even in this day and age, don't spend time in angst over whether or not our minister etc. is a child molester. If the molester is able to gain the trust of the parents, and since this is essential to the predators success they are experts in gaining parental trust, then the likelihood that said parents will entrust their children to them is highly probable.

Sudo is right--it hasn't ruptured yet!! I am calmer. The appointment nurse is busy trying to get me scheduled at Providence Hospital for surgery ASAP. I have talked to the social worker here and she says they will definitely hold my room here for 5 days and arraingments can be made for longer. I have made it clear, that having experienced the after surgery care at Providence Hospital and the care here at Providence Extended Care Center, I want to be back here as quickly as possible. I figure one day for surgery and three days for them to make sure the stiches are holding etc. Then I can come back here and finish up recovery from the latest surgery and then resume learning to walk etc. This surgery will not be as traumatic as the last one. It won't be rushed under emergency conditons. I heal fairly quickly and have already made up my mind that I will be pushing myself to sit on the edge of the bed etc. so they will discharge me back to PECC quickly. When I came here from Providence the first time I could barely feed myself and was totally helpless in ALL other areas. That was the 13th of March. Now, aside from the walking issues, I do practically everything necessary for my care by myself or with very minimal assistance. Coming back to the computer lounge, just now from PT, I walked 175 feet with one of the therapists at my side without a cane or other assistance. I wobbled twice but stayed on my feet. In addition, I have lost 60 lbs plus my blood pressure is now 114/61 as opposed to the 142/90 it was in March. I think that because I am much better physical shape and have a much better mental attitude this surgery should go pretty well. Thank you all for your prayers, support and love. Unless you have been in the kind of situation that I have found myself in during the last 4 months, you really have no idea just how much the knowledge that others care about you does for your general physical and mental well being God bless you all, my friends Maureen "mo"

THe doctor just talked to me--THe results of the MRI are in I have a narrowing in the spine that might be causing the numbness the bad NEWs I have another aneurysm on the aorta that ruptured. I am stunned, in shock, and plain scared. Trying to set up surgery ASAP.

Having known God before TWI, (although not always on speaking terms with my Heavenly Father, and that had all to do with how certain ministers outside of TWI portrayed Him and nothing to do with who Heavenly Father actually is) it wasn't so much a matter of finding God after I left TWI as to listening to Him. This isn't to say that it didn't take many years before I found the place where I feel loved, accepted and can continue to grow spiritually on a daily basis, because it did -twelve years to be exact. Having had a solid Christian upbringing; with Church, Sunday School, and church sponsered activies being a weekly routine; meant that TWI was not my first introduction to Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. Even though I still disagree with some of the ideas presented by various ministers pre-TWI, the fact I had a foundational understanding of spritual matters before TWI meant that I was not completely spiritually adrift when I left.

People should be allowed to wear whatever they want. If their choice of clothing allows body parts that the law says should be covered to be uncovered, then those laws which address this problem should be brought to bear.

I babysat for the first time when I was eight. I sat on my neighbors patio with her new born who was sleeping in an old fashioned pram while my mother, 20 feet away, weeded a flower bed in our yard. His mom was home from the store in under 30 minutes and the little angel never woke up. My first paying job was selling Avon door to door when I was 16. Then during the summers while going to college I worked as a maid in a motel. I guess this would be my first real job, with a boss and a paycheck.

Outcome A - The Human. Based on the descriptions you chose, you are practical, reliable, friendly, and fit in with people quite nicely. You probably have a regular family and do well in acedemia. All I have to say is-- if my family passes for "regular", unless they are talking about certain physical functions of the human body, we are in serious serious trouble as a species

Thank you Roy for your kind words

VPW was a sociopath. If what he was doing was good for him, no matter how it affected anyone else it was right. If what was being done in any way made him angry, feel bad, or not make him feel good, it was bad. Very clear black and white logic VPW good Others bad

Ten No's Zero Yes's and seven somewhere in betweens

Other Christian churches are not as all encompassing as TWI. Any other church, can become the focal point of a person and/or their families lives. You can by choice limit yourself to only associating with those who are of your faith, only attending church functions, reading, listening, or viewing only church sanctioned books, music , tv, and movies. You can vote for only those that encompass your belief system, you can even find work with others of your faith. But in most churchs, this extensive interaction is optional. TWI and other groups of its ilk, took the voluntary out of the process. For those in the 90's especially, TWI was so pervasive in the lives of its followers, that my understanding is that they even had to have a written down scheduled time for sexual relations with thier spouses and they then had to submit said schedules to their leadership for approval. This kind of life, leaves no room for any "outside" involvement in any arena. Leaving this kind of organization means that it is not just chunks of your life that are being surrendered, but your entire life for the duration of your involvement. TO have years of your life thus wrenched away is very traumatic. It is also impossible to explain to someone who has not experienced the same thing. Thus GSC is one of the few places ex-TWI can come and not have to spend hours explaining the who, what, and why, of the organization that is TWI but can just come right to the point of their particular issues.

I am sure that by now the BOT and Rosie have figured out a way to ensure that if the day comes when TWI is truly defunct, the income from sale of properties will find away into their or their heirs coffers.