Truly Christian?

[Oakspear]

It was a "bargain" because we got to take it again and again and again?

Who really learned new stuff after the first time? Okay, maybe it would take twice before it would all sink in, but this stuff wasn't too complicated, and you had the books and the syllabus.

[WordWolf]

Contrary to what outsiders said who never took it,

notes were discouraraged, but NOT disallowed.

I remember things better if I take notes.

(Four times better, if I match the typical person.)

So, my syllabus had notes all over it.

I had brought a notebook to take notes in-thus juggling THREE books-

syllabus, Bible, notebook. After the first segment, it was suggested

I just put the notes IN the syllabus and save myself 1/3 the juggling.

When I sat down to take it a SECOND time, I said to myself

"now I can catch everything I missed the FIRST time.

I prepared to fill my syllabus with notes I'd missed before.

There was nothing to write-I had taken down all the useful notes

the FIRST time around.

So, maybe it would take as much as twice before the average person caught

it all, maybe once like me.

At 3 or more, you're going for memorization and indoctrination.

You're ready to spit back vpw's answers on anything in the class.

Comprehension came the first time, rote memorization came later.

BTW,

when I first took it,

I was told grads could come and go as they wished

(so long as they weren't "undershepherding" a new student.)

The main requirement: be on time for all sessions, which strikes me as

a sound requirement.

As it fell out, that was later amended to

"grads should make a committment to attend all 12 sessions if they want

to retake it."

That's a big committment for people who often have to clear work or college

for weeks to fit the class in.

That was partly because Session 12 would suddenly erupt with people

and pose a distraction to the new students,

and partly because "supply" (seats) was exceeded by "demand" (grads).

The first complaint could have been addressed more easily by making an

exception for Session 12.

"Due to demand, do not attend Session 12 unless you've been attending

Sessions 9-11." Those looking to polish their understanding of Session 12

would have needed 9-11 anyway, and if they'd been around the past 3

sessions, the students would be used to them.

The second complaint should have been addressed by running occasional

"grad" classes. That's happened in a few places, I hear, but not in most

or where I was. The expectation was that we were ALWAYS dragging in new

students.

If it had REALLY been about the teaching and not the money, there would

have been a LOT more copies of the class materials circulating.

Each territory would have had 2 copies of the materials: one of the

videos, one of the audios. At any moment, that territory could have

run a video class for the new students (and some grads), and an audio

class for grads-only. In any normal area, ready grads exceeded new

students anyway- supplies should have matched that.

It's not like this would have been a "financial hardship".

They could EASILY have run off more videos to supply all the territories,

and as for audio, don't make me laugh. The grad classes would need no

new books (except maybe grads replacing a worn book rarely), so they

would only need the audio tapes. The one-time expense for making more

audio and video tapes would have been more than offset by the added

convenience. As it was run, the sacred holders-of-the-tapes had to

watch a single set of worn-out videotapes as if it was an illicit cargo,

and follow it around the state.

If twi cared about the ability to run their classes locally, this would

be unforgivable. Worn-out tapes are a distraction to the new students,

and rare supplies made classes inconvenient to run. So, MORE tapes means

you're encouraging MORE and BETTER classes.

The only reason to run things the way they did is if twi cared more about

controlling the tapes-

and thus, the one thing pfal grads were taught as valuable, thus

controlling access to them-

than they cared about the students, new and grad.

[signals]

No kiddin'! Somebody has to pay for that farm in New Knoxville and asking locals will bankrupt them fer sure! Your questions can be reversed and called Why Is The Way a true cult, in the very sense of the word?

TWI doesn't give a rat's @$$ about the word, but rather they are after those high denominations of In God We Trust...that is their TRUE GOD!

[Belle]

Yep. If they really wanted people to learn about God and His word, they would have made it much easier to get the information and they wouldn't be such a closed loop organization. They only way to learn anything from them is to be involved with them.

I remember being scolded for sharing too much information with someone I had witnessed to. I was told to quit answering her questions and to tell her that if she really wanted answers that she would have to take the class.

M*tthew H*rmon was my BC for a few years and he told us in a HFC meeting once that we had to get our tails in gear and get people signed up for the class because we needed the money the new people would bring to the ministry. He was parrotting something he had heard from craiggers and probably from Moneyhands, too.

[Ham]

Yep, Belle- reminds me of one of Daffy Duck's great statements- "Its not about the principle of the thing, its about the money".