Cleaning out the past

[outdeep]

For years, I have kept a file on the Assembly (I left in 1990).  I kept articles some of us wrote when we left, things I wrote for the Torch and Testimony, letters of our departure, the noble inquirer and the responses, stuff from Christian Research Institute.  I also kept copies of T&T publications with choice quotes that demonstrated the groups teaching.  I even kept a ludacrous "poem" by George just for a laugh. 

I kept these items because for years I always walked with the realization that someone somewhere would ask "so, brother, why did you leave?"  Keeping that stuff made me feel reassured that I had my evidence and defense at my fingertips.

Last night I started an overdue project of cleaning out my filing cabnet.  When I got to the full "Assembly" folder I looked at the items and thought, "I don't need this junk".  It all went through the shredder.

What kind of stuff do you still hold onto from the Assembly?

P.S.:  I do have a couple of bound copies of T&Ts that I use as spacers on our kitchen cabinets (perfect size) - but I think that is different than my point above.

[grown up]

Hey Dave For many years I kept the Torch & Testimony magazines, the monthly calanders and a ton of notes. This summer I started going thru the boxes to clear out the second bedroom for our children's birth. My shredder has been very useful as I decided I needed the space more. I kept my notes etc just as a reminder and justification as to why I left.

Oh and I still have a couple of Hymn books and the Franklin Planner with pages that date back a looooooooong time

[Joe Sperling]

Dave----

I have an actual piece of toast with a bitemark made by George. It is vacuum
sealed and in the right wing of my Assembly museum.

Just kidding---I do have "Hymns for the Little Flock" and "Spiritual Songs" A copy
of the Seminar "Elijah the Forerunner" in book form and a few Torch & Testimony's.
I kind of see them as remnants of the past, like old pictures you might keep in a
box, and forget about for several years, but that serve as reminders once you stumble
upon them again.

I kind of see this BB that way too. Like Veterans who get together and talk about how
they were in the "war together"--I'm sure their discussions first circled around the war,
and their suffering, etc., and then gradually moved to other things. They all get together,
but the discussion doesn't always have to be about the war---but they are all together
because of having been IN the war.

I have a painting that Rand Bates(if you remember him--this was a long time ago) drew for
me based on Isaiah 51:7 that I will always treasure. Oh, and I have a head-covering I only
don on rare occasions--most of the time it serves as a doily for a vase full of flowers on the
kitchen table. Oh what wondrous memories.

--Joe