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Doing the same old thing expecting different results


CoolWaters
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The CES/STFI thread got to me...then I read some other threads with the same undercurrent...and had a tiffany. ('Tiffany' is my replacement word for 'epiphany'...because I got bored with using the same word over and over again...and it's just more fun, imo.)

So much of my post twi life has been wasted trying to find those things I found once upon a time in twi. Things like...

the close-knit 'family' feeling of a twig...

the 'hot bible' teachings, research and studies...

the ability to 'rightly divide' the 'word'...

the 'walking in power'...

the comfort of 'knowing that I know that I know'...

the lofty goal of 'word over the world'...

the 'signs, miracles and wonders'...

And all of the things that are commonly cited as to why a person ever got involved in twi in the first place.

Then along came the tiffany...

None of these things have squat to do with Jesus.

No matter how I defend my 'heart for God', if I had left this life and faced Jesus during that time, I would not have been able to stand up to what HE has told me HE is going to ask me when I finally do stand before HIM: Did you feed, clothe or give drink to the stranger?

That is the bottom line of Christianity in JESUS' words.

All of my running after twi, twi offshoots, churches/fellowships/organizations that came close to what I learned and experienced in the 'good old twi days'...

All of that was nothing but 'having itching ears', 'ever learning and never coming to a knowledge of the truth', 'heaping unto myself teachers', 'worshipping the creature more than the creator'. Etc.

Once that tiffany went off in my head, I was finally able to see why I was so dissatisfied with my life, why I could not find comfort and belonging in other churches/fellowships/organizations, why I ignored my heart to run after the familiar, why I allowed my life to get so muddled with crisis after crisis. Etc.

I was doing the same old thing expecting different results...

And that same old thing was, simply, thinking that it isn't all as simple as it is.

TWI, twi offshoots...anything even remotely like twi...is, never was and never will be anything more or less than an orgy of self-serving self-righteousness.

My soul was never going to be satisfied feasting upon my own self-serving self-righteousness.

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TWI, twi offshoots...anything even remotely like twi...is, never was and never will be anything more or less than an orgy of self-serving self-righteousness

Now Cool it's almost time for Santa Paws to come and if you don't quit talking bad about me yer not going to get that Sony playstation you've been wanting. I'd hate to see a lump of coal in your stocking,besides that it hurts when you walk and throws your back out from walking sideways and all. :nono5:

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OK so here goes.......

No matter how much we HATE TWI and the VPW, and the deplorable things that happened - there was something that we went searching for when we got involved and decided to stay. (Now - I took the class in that "X" generation - after Hefner and Doop but there was still a lot of their thinking and love in the air. I left BEFORE the terrible nineties and beyond - the TWI-light Zone if you will.)

ANYWAY - I was looking and I found a lot of love, power, and sense of family. These are not BAD things - in fact they are things that SHOULD be around in a strong group where Jesus is at the center.

Heck- some of us didn't even know what we were looking for - we just got involved. While in, some of us did some good, some of us received some good, some of us did great damage or had such done to us. I suspect that most of us fall somewhere in the mix of all of the above.

BUT - NOW WE ARE OUT!

When I left TWI I made the mistake of trying to help form a splinter group - I wanted to keep serving God and I couldn't see myself in a church. Well, I wanted to keep helping people and I believed that I was serving God. That was a fiasco to say the least, because while I just wanted to serve God, the head honcho was much more concerned with keeping the little extra benefits he had become accustomed to in the cult - sex and money. Made me sick.

SO I left and just did my own thing for about 5 years. I just kept trying to put as much of myself into my kids and my family, and my friends and those I met as I could. I was determined to keep doing what I believed God wanted me to do - what he needed me to do.

DID krap stop happening? NO! In fact it got worst. Why? Who knows? I'm not blaming anyone or anything - it is what it is.

It worked out fairly well, anyway. Sure there have been some real S-U-C-K-Y moments, BUT- I have two beautiful daughters that I can't imagine living without. I have met some amazing people here and in my travels. Maybe I feel like somehow the little that TWI gave me that was positive gave me a platform to start from and some wisdom of what to avoid, along with the ability to help others avoid the same. It was definitely more than I would have gotten had I stayed in my old life in NYC. My life has not been easy, but I know that I can look back and feel like I've been fairly honest with myself.

WE ARE OUT! WE ARE OUT! WE ARE OUT! WE ARE OUT! WE ARE OUT!

Let that sink in a moment........

Let's take that and run with it. How many prisoners do you know that keep standing at the prison gate and talk about it, describe it, go back in and measure the cell, and linger at the end of the drive? NO! THEY RUN LIKE HECK to freedom! (UMMMMM not talking about repeat offenders here - LOL)

Maybe I'm trying to say something that I know will draw horrific flames here - but I don't really care.

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Let's take that and run with it. How many prisoners do you know that keep standing at the prison gate and talk about it, describe it, go back in and measure the cell, and linger at the end of the drive? NO! THEY RUN LIKE HECK to freedom! (UMMMMM not talking about repeat offenders here - LOL)

Maybe I'm trying to say something that I know will draw horrific flames here - but I don't really care.

I'm not gonna flame ya, I like ya... but, how many prisoners look at the prison and say, man, I want to live there! I'm gonna run our and commit some crimes so I can enter the holy land!!

I kinda think your experience after depends on how you got in and how long you stayed. some of us need to hang around the gate for a while because it's a big scary world out there. prisoners transitioning to the outside are often terrified and feel like they don't fit in and end up wishing they could go back.

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I kinda think your experience after depends on how you got in and how long you stayed. some of us need to hang around the gate for a while because it's a big scary world out there. prisoners transitioning to the outside are often terrified and feel like they don't fit in and end up wishing they could go back.

Potato - I hear you! As I wrote this I knew that I was writing for a crowd that was like me. I'm not saying that I wasn't afraid to move on. Heck, at first I didn't even see that there was anything wrong.

I didn't know about the motorcoach shenanigans when they were going on. If I had - I would have said something - made some noise. I would have left - or maybe stayed to try to work from the inside to change things. I get real angry when I think of what signs I missed and how I could have really helped some folks.....

BUT- once I moved on -it was no looking back. I still have some friends in that old splinter group that I helped start - they actually have their own CHURCH now! I love them, talk to them, but I will not go to that church. WHY? because it would be a step back - and while I am in Texas and the two-step is the favored dance here, I have no desire to spend my life moving backwards two steps at a time.

You'll find that the world is not that scary - its only scary if you believe that devil spirits are waiting to pounce on you at every turn (What schlock!) Once you take the TWI-colored glasses off and wait for your eyes to adjust to the light - squint, blink, blink - Voila! OMG! you can see! Aaaaannnnnnddddddd...the colors are brighter and the smells are sweeter.

Edited by doojable
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Secret Squirrel. Since this is your first post, I would like to be the first to welcome you to the Grease Spot Cafe. Have fun, watch your "top knot", and remember, this place isn't necessarily a Christian hangout. There are many here who now don't believe in God anymore. But whatever, NIce to meet ya.

Jonny Lingo

P.S.

I love the name "Secret Squirrel". When I was an outcast from The Way, certain "Way GB" (Way Safety/Security) followed me around at a Word In Business conference trying to figure out why I was there. And I called them them "Secret Squirrels". I guess I was already M and A'd. And, they had reason to watch me I guess, because I was there to pick up some guys and gals who had been kicked out of the Corps and had gone to the conference in order to "defect". I ended up running a "safe house" for intenational Way Corps who had been kicked out of the Corps. And the secret squirrels called over at my place a few times pretending to be people whom they were not while trying to extract information, etc. One even came over just to say "hi" while I had the international brethren up in a bedroom so this branch leader couldn't see them. His eyes were darting everywhere.It was too funny those secret squirrels...hah! It was too funny, yet so sad...

Edited by Jonny Lingo
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And, they had reason to watch me I guess, because I was there to pick up some guys and gals who had been kicked out of the Corps and had gone to the conference in order to "defect". I ended up running a "safe house" for intenational Way Corps who had been kicked out of the Corps.

A twi Underground Railroad for escaping slaves headed for freedom!!!! I like it!!

:eusa_clap::eusa_clap::eusa_clap:

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Coolwaters:

Did you see this -

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Albert Einstein, (attributed)

US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

Again, here is the defintion of insanity

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Albert Einstein

Pretty Cool you should bring that up!

Sorry Dooj

I only read the early posts, didn't see yours

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I'd have to agree it is not

Why just the other day I was refinishing a floor, I did the same old thing I always do . I did not like the result. So I did the same old thing I always do again expecting a different result. I got one! a better one actually than I expected. Life is like that sometimes you do the same thing and get different results. Ever baked a cake and had different results doing the same thing? Sometimes we pray and don't get the results we desire and we do the same thing over and over until we do. Why years ago I remember someone who every Sunday went to the same place for months and invited a person to fellowship the results were always the same. Then one day after doing the same thing every Sunday this person changed their mind and came ,still around to this day you probably remember Miss Cool. That person did the same thing expecting different results. And guess what they got them.

Well I gota go I need to buy a PowerBall ticket, And yes I am expecting a different result than last time :biglaugh:

Edited by WhiteDove
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