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I'd like to vote in the "Other. Please specify" category.

I know a few things about Bob Smith that I learned from reading the BB.

He remains annonymous because he is traumatised by the fact that AB posters might picket his home or send him flyers.

When he first posted on AB, I thought that he was a LB that I knew very well.  However he admitted that he never was a LB, hence I must conclude then that he is a clone of the LB that I knew quite well.

The time stamps for his posts indicate that he is from a time zone west of mine.

He is a coward hiding behind the skirts of a woman (Sondra), and does not have the decency to respect another's desire for annonymity.

He is Sondra's yes-man.

He does not take criticism to heart,  and his posts are rampant with bitterness and hatred toward God’s people on AB.

He is having a conniption that Tom M was around when GG decided to start the assemblies.  Maybe he wishes that he would have been around instead.  At least Tom had the sense to leave the scene when he saw George's corrupt spirituality.  Bob I suggest that you read some of Tom's past posts on the BB and the website before you spout off your venemous lies.

I have more to say, but will stop for now.
Marcia

Marcia,

This sort of thing is what I was referring to when I spoke of "inventing the past".  The method is to find something out about the person you wish to attack, construe it to be as bad as you can, then do all you can to spread this story around. 

GG was a master at this and used it all the time.  Mark C, back in his hippie days, did some drugs and meditated.  GG turned this to, "You know, Mark was a warlock".   :o   No kidding.

Another case....a sister's father worked for the State Department.   GG used to tell everyone that her father was "a general in the CIA." 

Thomas Maddux

Bob Smith's age:

(Let's have some guesses here)

20-30
30-40
40-50
50-60


TIME ZONE:

Central?



If I made another poll, how could I keep it on this thread?

I know this is going to be extremely difficult to believe. But Bob Smith is really
the other half of the split personality of Bob Jones, founder of the University
that goes by his name. Alias Smith and Jones so to speak. If you've ever seen
one of those books that has a beginning on both sides of the book and works
towards the middle then you get the idea. I told you it would be hard to believe.

--Joe

Reply to SWTB:

Did it ever occur to you that I might not be related?  ;)

My guess is that "Bob Smith" is between 30 and 40 years old.

I don't know who he is, and I've never met him, but I can tell alot about his motives.

Joe, I don't think this is a place where humor is appropriate.  Let it go.

Brent

Brent---

You've been kind of surprising me lately. Please look at the voting choices---if that
isn't humor I don't know what is. I thought the thread was intended as a thread
of humor, just by the voting choices. You seem to be in a posture of defending
someone when they don't even need to be defended. They can get the joke. But
if you insist, I'll leave this thread too. This is really getting to be ridiculous.I deleted
my original post--too bad you have already copied it. It's amazing how much we
have to "tip-toe" around here lately. I don't know who Bob Smith is either, but I
hope he has enough of a sense of humor to appreciate that there is NO WAY I
could come up with all of that ridiculous stuff from his posts. If people are making
their guesses, I thought I'd make mine--and go COMPLETELY off the board with it.

I was just having some fun with the thread, as some others have done too. But,
I will exit, so I don't "step on any toes". Perhaps you can delete your post so that
my original one will be gone too. My apologies Bob if you have already read it and
find something in it to be offended by--I was just having some fun(and by the way,
much of what I wrote about you are things I actually like to eat and do myself--but I
like asparagus and watch "Andy Griffith" instead of "Flipper". :)  ).

--Joe

Brent,

Joe's right about this thread being a joke-- there's no other way to take it, considering the nature of the poll...

Do you think that the whole subject of B.S.'s identity, posts, etc. is not a laughing matter?  Can't say I'd disagree with you, but if you do think that, what are your reasons?  And why censure Joe but not Moonflower?

al

Censure?  What are you talking about?

I pointed out the fact that I am able to discern people's motives from what they post, even if I have never met them and I don't know who they are.  Even if I've never met someone, I can get a read on them, by their choice of words, use of commas, etc.  I usually give less credeence to what they say, paying more attention to how they say it.

I don't see what's funny about that, and Joe obviously doesn't have the gift of discerning in this area.

If this thread is so obviously a joke, why are you acting as if I'm serious?

There is a thing called irony, but it is lost on many.

It is obvious to me that Joe is still hashing over his bitterness from what happened over 20 years ago.  Even if he says he isn't, and even though I wasn't there, I can tell that he has a problem in this area and that he is motivated by hatred towards God's people.  He may say otherwise, but I know better.

I've never met Joe, but I know more about him than he does.

I don't think he's making up the story, but I do think there was some reason, a good reason, why he was made to sell his car.  One thing I do know is that this sort of thing doesn't happen every day.  It isn't normal.

Joe, let it go.  Don't mask your bitterness in humor.

Brent

OK, Brent.  It took me a while, but I got it - irony.   ;D

Relax, Joe.  He's just pulling your chain.

Brent---

I almost feel like crying.  You, who exposed the Assembly, and know how it's system
works, say I am motivated by "hatred of God's people"? If I were motivated by that
I would be tracking and hunting down the "perpetrators" who "did this to me" 20 years
ago. I don't feel that way at all. You invited the people to this board Brent. I hadn't
"argued" with anyone in a long time, except with Verne over predestination and election,
in fact, I enjoyed coming to the BB just to talk with old friends.

I have been wondering why you haven't been stepping in and asking anyone to "cool it"
accept for the posters on this BB. This last post almost feels as though someone is using
your name. You have been a friend of mine on this board, and I have always greatly respected
you. This stings deeper than anything has in a long time. In less this is some attempt on your
part at the darkest form of sarcastic humor---in posting as someone whom we well know posts,
then I feel like I have lost a brother.

The loss of my brother through suicide is a much deeper wound than having to sell a car over
20 years ago Brent. Yes, it hurt at the time when those events transpired, I was very young
and easily hurt. But there wasn't a "good reason" to do it Brent, there was an "Assembly reason"
to do it. I talk frequently with a couple of people who were involved at the time, in fact, one of
them I E-mail almost daily. He is a dear brother, and I can say that I love him. Excuse me, but I
truly feel as though I have had the wind knocked out of me. With everything that is in me I wish
I could say something bad about you Brent in response to this, but I can't. I love you brother.

God bless you, Joe

I'm sorry guys,

I assumed you would all see the irony in what I was saying.  It is a joke Joe, always was.

My point is that people are trying to tell you about yourself, and what your true motives are, when they have never met you.   furthermore,  one of the people doing this isn't even using his own name.

By stating the absolutely absurd things I was saying, I was hoping to get a response telling me how riduculous my ideas were.

Instead, people have misunderstood me, probably due to my own multi-level, dark deep sarcasm.

I happen to agree that Verne wronged Sondra, however I do not agree at all with Bob Smith's thing that he's doing with Joe.

I was attempting to demonstrate the absurdity of it all, but my point was totally lost.

Joe, I'm sorry.  I'm not posting under another name, and I'm not possessed.  This thread was obviously a joke from the beginning, and I was using irony to point out how silly the discussion over your car is...that's all.

I really mean what I am saying now....everyone is far too sensitive about this. This is all madness.

We have a board, SWTE, whose function appears to be to take posts from this board and hold conversations about the people who wrote them, without them being present.  It is an odd sort of commentary to say the least, however I suppose it has its purpose and has in fact brought out some good points.

Nevertheless, this fellow Bob, doesn't know you, wasn't there, and won't even tell people who he is....yet he feels like he knows what your problem is and can see into your soul.  I think it's silly.  I really do.

The discussion about moderating the tone about how evil the Assembly was, and tempering some of the firey rhetoric is one thing.  However, this new twist is really, totally silly.

That's what I was hoping to illustrate by being totally over-the-top and obtuse. 

Sadly, I hurt your feelings, and I apologize.

Brent

Joe; Brent frequently employs the literary device of irony to make a point. I believe this is such a case my friend. Not to worry...
Verne

Brent---

You got me, and you got me good. You have proven once again that you are the
King of "irony" and master of sarcasm. Usually I can see it, and understand it, and
I can laugh out loud about it. I feel like I just got off of a roller coaster at Magic
Mountain. It's ironic though how much I just don't catch onto irony. i apologize
to you for thinking you could be serious at all.

thanks, Joe

There is a weird, off-beat movie from the seventies, starring John Astin.  (Gomez Addams)

I don't remember much about it, but one part that really stuck with me goes like this:

A guy is running from the cops, runs onto a runway, and just gets up into one of the B-52's that were up in the air 24/7 during the cold war.

The airforce general, who helps him into the cargo hold says, "Who are you?"

The guy says, "I'm trying to get away from them!"---the undercover cops.

The general, who is in charge of launching nukes any day of the week says,  "Yeah.  I didn't get a good look at those guys, but I could tell they were real commie bastards." He proceeds to call in an order to shoot the cops on sight, meanwhile a criminal is flying shotgun on a nuclear bomber.

It was an anti-cold war movie, quite funny, but very dark.

To this day, I use the phrase, most often when driving the car,  "I didn't get a good look at that guy, but I can tell he's a democrat."  Or, "I couldn't see his face, but he's obviously an idiot."  It's all in fun.  I actually teach my kids not to judge people, or form opinions about them before they get to know them.

What is happening here is that all of us, to one degree or another are forming opinions about eachother based on BB posts.  Not wise.

It's even worse when we decide we don't like Sondra or Matt, and vice-versa, based on posting.

It's silly:

So, when I said this
I was assuming that people would see how totally absurd that statement is.  The fact is, you can't judge a person without having ever met them, and you certainly can't ignore what they say and go on to attach a different meaning to it.  It's silly.

Brent

Oh!       IRONY!!!

I should have guessed, because of your magnetic personality.

If it's possible to be TOO good at something, that would be you, Brent, at irony!

Glad you're here with us instead of on SNL!  Sorry for having misunderstood...

In Christ,
al

There is a warning in the Bible about practical jokes that involve deception.  That is that it is hard to predict the outcome, which may not be good at all.

Proverbs 26:18-19
As a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport?

Brent makes a claim that he knows things about "Bob Smith" that others don't know.  To most people on the BB, such a claim is credible because Brent receives email from all sorts of people and therefore knows many things that others on the BB don't know.  After finding out that this was only a joke, it would seem that either Brent doesn't know Joe very well at all, or perhaps he is one of the few who thinks that his joke at others' expense is funny.  The latter would be a derogatory sort of humor which is not fitting among the Lord's people.


Brent,

Your cultural background seems to differ somewhat from most Americans.  Historically, our culture grew out of Christian values.  This means that dishonesty tends to be looked down on, even in jest.  Sarcasm is common in Russian culture, as I've learned from studying the language.  Perhaps it is also common in other countries.  Not so here in America, except among the haters of Christianity who dominate the various forms of mass communication.

It could be that a big part of what friends of the SWTE BB are complaining about is the derogatory and sarcastic culture that you have fostered on this BB.  This cultural difference clashes with the values of most Christians, and it is also arguably at odds with what the Bible teaches about how we should relate to one another.  This may be what is misinterpreted as bitterness and hatred, when really it is nothing more than a form of culture that most Christians consider to be vulgar.

Before someone jumps all over Stephen for being so narrow minded, I want to say Thank you Stephen for saying something that I have wanted to say for a long time.  My problem was that I was reacting to the situation, and every time I tried to say something about it, it came out sounding hostile and aggressive, because that's the spirit in which I was writing it.

You, Stephen, have said it objectively and scripturally.  It may not be popular, but I appreciate it, and I'll ask you to please point out to me when you think I've got out of line...

In Christ,
al

It could be that the recent Patriot/Eagles mis-understanding threw us off from recognizing the irony of it all, until Brent (and Al) spelled it out for us.

Joe, I had a good laugh at that post.  You have a gift. :)

Marcia

I just want to put in my thoughts here. I don't believe that the issue here is one of disception. That is an incorrect observation. Brent was not trying to deceive Joe. It was an attempt at humor spun from something that was said earlier, but that was taken wrong, partly because of the most recent situation of the BB.

Moonflower---

You are absolutely correct. Brent wasn't out to deceive "me" or play a joke
on "me". It was a post he was making for the benefit of "all"--to see the irony
and ridiculousness of some of things that have been said lately, including my
own words at times.

I didn't take the time to really re-read his post, and felt that somehow he was
being serious. I regret that tremendously, as I should know by now that irony
is a large part of the way Brent communicates. I see how ridiculous it was for
me take him seriously, and want to apologize once again.

I also want to apologize for a statement that could easily be taken the wrong way
also. I said at the end of my post "I wish with all of my heart I could say something
bad about you in response to this, but I can't". This was a horrible choice of words
to use. I have no wish in my heart to say something bad about you--what I meant
was "I feel very hurt and when I look for something to say against you in return,  I'm coming
up empty, because I love you too much as a brother to do that".  I hope you understand that.

Again, my most sincere apologies for misreading Brent's post, and thinking he could in any
way be serious in what he was saying. I hope Brent continues to use that same irony and
humor that he always has. Most of the time I "get it"--this time, unfortunately, I didn't.

God bless, Joe

I don't feel that you owe anyone an apology. I also understood what you were saying about Brent.

Quote from: Joe Sperling on March 03, 2005, 03:23:51 pm (PST)
Since "Bob Smith" said that Joe was doing pretty good with his guesses, we'll have to take Joe seriously when he says that he knows things about people that others don't.

This incident reminds me of an older incident that started out funny, but ...
(Click the quote header to read the whole thread.)

"The Holiest thread on the BB..."
Joe's response:

---

------paragraph needed soon--------

So it is with great joy that I enter the "Holiest Thread on the BB" to criticize it.  It can't be the holiest thread on the BB--'cause I'm the holiest of all, and I'd have to be the one to start it.  I'm holier than you are Al--can't you get that through your thick head?  And I'm proud that I'm so holy--it's taken years to get this holy--a lot of spiritual hard work, but I did it.  I haven't sinned in over 15 years except for a white lie here and there, but I'm not counting that.

I'm so pure and holy that I surprise myself.  When I look in the mirror I can't help but say "God bless you".  I'm a joy to all those round about me.  It took a lot of prayer to get this holy.  Sometimes when I'm on my knees at 4:00A.M. I get so joyful about my holiness I have to scream into a pillow so I don't wake anyone.  It's truly wonderful to be so holy.

There were times on my "stages on the Journey" when I was just so sinful.  But through a lot of hard work I'm the holiest person I know now.  Please accept my criticism of your thread Al, because both you and I know that I'm holier than you are.  You just have to accept it.  Humble yourself brother!!

God bless you Al.   -Joe

---

This story by Joe was in the thread, "Slip of the Lip", that vanished during the BB conversion:

Aahhh! Now you have it...the fact of the matter is that you don't!!
You must ALWAYS look askance at people whose primary aim seems to be to convince you that you indeed do...
You are free my friend...that is what it means to belong to Christ!  :)
Verne

I want Steve to put back his post. I received a couple of PM's and they are
correct--I am being entirely "too touchy". Sondra was right that my "hot
buttons" got pushed, and I've lost my sense of humor, and my antennae for
picking it up lately. I need to back off for a while I guess. I have completely
misinterpreted Brent and Stephen, and run like a cry baby for my pacifier.

Forgive me for the post Stephen, I deleted it.  Now, excuse me while I go
and throw a tantrum.

P.S. Thanks for the reminder Verne. That's so true.
--Joe

There...there...!  GROUP HUG!!  :D
Verne