Quotekameornj First off, I can not speak to what it is like to be bipolar. I have known people who have emotional issues (that could quite possibly been due to being bipolar), but no one was diagnosed. But that doesn’t mean I can’t speak to your post. Bipolar disorder is not an "emotional issue" although it does affect the emotions. It is an imbalance in the brain chemistry that is
Forum: Destructive Churches

If getting picked up at an AA meeting is a concern, try out the womens meetings at first. As I have said before, an AA meeting is probably safer than your average dive. While AA has no policies, we do have traditions, the only enforcement is the observation that not following the traditions usually spells the end for the group in question.
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

Quotebarabara I have many years of experience with AA members, female and male, who related to me what what said and done to them in AA meetings. I have seen the deterioration of these members, firsthand. Several were close family members of mine. Some marraiges were broken. Children were neglected. Functioning alcoholics and addicts became non-functional during their involvement in AA.
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

It's stuff like this that lsupports my conclusion that Landmark is pure evil. Not only does it make people that are truly hurt worse off than they were before, they victimize people outside their clique by wasting their time with these underhanded, deceptive recruiting tactics. Too bad about your experience, I'm sure it does not feel good to have been misled. But you should probably
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I don't know about where you are getting your information, but the newcomers are generally told that "That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism." That would include other members of AA as well. It's not a tenet of AA for anyone to blindly follow another human being. You also might consider that even though the women in question might need help, they ar
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

One of the central tenets of AA is that it does not have a monopoly on recovery. There are other methods of recovery that will work just fine. One of the problems with the treatment profession is that it is a money making machine drawing in huge amounts of revenue on unproven therapies. AA on the other hand has proven its success over decades. Consider the DSM-IV criteria for addiction as it w
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

I think religious parents often are the least supportive of their children. My parents assumed that they were doing a great job since they took me to church and fed me. But they were not emotionally supportive of me as I was growing up and they remain very critical of nearly everything I do. When I graduated from highschool, they made no provisions for my college education despite the fact tha
Forum: Destructive Churches

Not to worry Linda, I just wanted to make sure that others understood the pervasive jargon that is used by this group. At least they are using a new word rather than using an old one and giving it a new definition. I do believe that there is a spiritual war going on all around us, but that groups like Thieme's tapers are missing the boat since they define sin simply in terms of material w
Forum: Destructive Churches

QuoteLinda Holley Her husband asked for a divorce (of course he was in revisionism at the time - is there really such a word?) I think the word you may be looking for is "reversionism" and that refers to a state where a believer is more or less unable to access God's grace. Sort of like the being spiritually dead. This is unlike apostacy where a person never really believed at
Forum: Destructive Churches

When it comes to any type of teaching, I try to avoid throwing the baby out with the bathwater. In Thiemes case, there is a lot of bathwater to dispose of and the baby is hard to find sometimes. Consider finding a church somewhere where you can have fellowship with others and participating in some healthy Christian activities. Maybe something like working a homeless shelter would be to your li
Forum: Destructive Churches

QuoteDougTheAvengerIt is clear from the total lack of detailed evidence in your posts that you know nothing about the DNA research relating to American Indians and Jews. Since you are so ill-equiped to argue on this subject, why do you insist on posting? Who do you think your'e fooling? So far, none of you have been able to provide even the most feeble explanation as to why Jews and Native A
Forum: Destructive Churches

Quoteephesians1:3 .... Paul was persecuted severely of Satan. The New Testament is rife with this. Paul was a tremendous man of God, obviously. I'm following a syllogism that would go something like: If Paul was a great man of God, and Satan persecutes great men of God, then it follows that if Thieme can be considered likewise, Satanic persecution of Thieme is understandable. Please
Forum: Destructive Churches

I think part of the problem with a lot of denial about whether something is a cult or not is colored by the idea that a cult is exactly like what happened with Jim Jones and the mass murder/suicide that happened there. Most cults are not that extreme and so many cult members are in denial about whether they are involved in a cult or not. I would say that the UCPI does fall under the category o
Forum: Destructive Churches

I'm just wondering about any former members insight about this spin-off of est. Has anything changed in the past few years?
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Quotenutrino That's why reasonable people spend large sums of money to obtain good educations. So they can generate better interpretations of.... social and physical reality. Sheeeesh. Thanks for sharing! :wink: I have spent a great deal of time and effort to get a good education in order to actually accomplish an effective change for a lot of people's reality. I don't just si
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I don't know about direct confrontation at this stage, you may just drive her further into it. Make sure that you understand that you are a worthwhile person and that Landmark doesn't get a two for one deal as far as ruining lives go. I also think that treating her like the sick person she is may be a tactic you'll have to fall back on. By that I mean try to be kind and loving e
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Quote Oh I remember the Acknowledgement Of Source ritual quite clearly... the trainer positively glowed with saintly understanding as we, the great unwashed, unenlightened, untransformed, one by one rose to his or her feet to "share"... I would also like to acknowledge Werner as Source ! Source ? WTF ? You mean like my faucet is a source of water ? Or did they say Sores, like boils
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Sorry about your loss, a real tradgedy it appears. I would strongly suspect that some "mild" tranquilizor was used. I would not put it past some of these groups to spike a drink with something to "help" the potential convert along. A tox screening might show something, but then again it might not. QuotenutrinoThat's sort of my experience too. When i went through the ES
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Quote I look forward to learning more from you! Well, I guess I am trying to inform you so that you won't fall into the pitfalls of a lot of what I personally consider to be conceptual lapses about the Nature of God. The link above is to a site about the Assyrians, they have a very interesting history to say the least and I would find it interesting just how much of that Cohanim Y-Chrom
Forum: Destructive Churches

Quote "if your partner loves you they will trust you and do the course" This pretty much matches my experience as well. It was presented to me in such a way that if I did not care enough to take the course; I did not care for her. The fact is that she knew from many of the things I did and said that this was not the case. She did suffer from a lot of cognitive dissonance abou
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

There are a lot of interesting things to learn about the world and an open mind can only help. The point being that I find a lot of value in other religions while retaining my Christian faith. For instance, I do not care to eat things like crab or shellfish. I also think it's a very good idea to set aside a day to truly rest. On the other hand, I think many people are being misguided by
Forum: Destructive Churches

First, just a quick opinion on race. There are at most 8 races in the world today and at least 4. Major divisions would be Australoid, Mongoloid, Caucasoid and Negroid. You could make further divisions, but then it is really splitting hairs at that point. My qualifications to make such a statement is that I hold degrees in Anthropology and Biology. I actually study such things on a daily basis.
Forum: Destructive Churches

As long as humans have the need to belong to a group and have a need for some idea as to why things happen the way they do, there'll be organizations like this. I think Americans are particularly susceptible to these types of things because I think many want a quick fix to their problems. For a payment of money and a weekend spent learning what ever is offered, you get a nearly instant fi
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

No, I think there are lot's of women out there doing the recruiting for them. It's probably a little more "refined" now than when I met the one I got involved with.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Years ago I fell in love with a beautiful woman that was involved with The Forum as it was then called. She was not too heavily involved with the Forum, but it was enough such that she put pressure on me from time to time about trying it out. I had at that time enough sense to not cave in to the pressure and sign up. We ended up arguing a lot and it often ended up that she would "suggest&
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Frankly, if you want what Lankmark offers; you can get it for free in many other places. I would not think being placed in that kind of environment for any length of time would help with any mental condition. Smoking cigarettes would probably be more beneficial than being deprived of sleep, food and bathroom breaks for a day or two. In other words, I doubt anyone actually benefits from Landmar
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Perhaps this may help a bit. The doctrines I recall the most were "Right man, Right Woman", GAP--or Grace Apparatus of Perception. The "Right Church, Right Pastor" doctrine was only touched upon briefly as presented more as the legitimacy of the Local Church along with the concept of the Universal Church. The Local Church is defined as a local group headed by a Pastor-T
Forum: Destructive Churches

While I did not attend the church in Texas, I did attend one as a child that elevated Thieme to sainthood as it was pastored by a disciple of Thieme. There was always a table full of booklets by Thieme free for the taking and the scructure of the church was modeled after Berachah. The pastor of my church was also a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary. While I do not have direct experience
Forum: Destructive Churches

A lot of the stuff that organizations like Landmark use is in fact valid, although the quantum physics aspects are complete bunk. A short example would be that I know if I drive my car enough; I will eventually get a flat tire. I could assume that if I ever get a flat; it's my fault for creating the flat in the first place and that somehow my mindset needs to be changed in order to preven
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

It might be that you have a spyware removal program that is cleaning out the log in information from your system each time you enter it. Some are very thorough about keeping your computer clean from possible spyware programs. It may help to check the settings or such programs to allow postings on forums.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"