I'm with Booth, I think Mrs. Pimpin was there ( involved). This might have been part of some proceedings, wife demanded he do this or else, maybe ' or else' is already in motion and this was part of a ' deal.' This thread is not a result of BP waking up one morning, having coffee with the Lord Jesus Christ and registering this handle and posting in this manner.
What we have is a 3 page and growing thread over a single post that has several providers angry and hobbyists feeling like Joel Osteen has kidnapped all of us and taken us to the Lakewood Church for religious rehabilitation. But I don't feel that way, TGFBI would never 100% on his own post this, this thread is a bunch of replies pretty much to the wife, who I feel coerced BP to post this, maybe dictated it herself as he typed. None of us, members nor even staff live in the BP house, the only entity who knows who really posted that crap and how many chairs were in front of that monitor are the poster(s) and God, yes God himself ( maybe herself to be politically correct). I still remember the tee shirt my sister had as a kid that read ' When God created Man she was only joking'
All these replies and ' emotions' are directed not at BP but at a coerced BP or joint Mr.and Mrs. BP; so please folks, relax. I don't take the post seriously. I think BP had to post this, against his will as part of some deal.
Originally Posted by KosherCowboy
Kosher,
My epicurian friend, I find myself agreeing with you once again.
The part I put in bold cracked me up, I hate Joel Osteen.
Here is my take. I think TGFBI had to go to marriage counselling. I think wifey said "counselling now, or divorce!" And what we are seeing is TGFBI going through some version of the 12 steps. (Probably seeing a "Christian Counselor" and not a psychiatrist)
Here are the 12 steps, and I think we will recognize several of these in the OP.
1. "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol (substitute your own word or phrase here), that our lives had become unmanageable." Anything in our lives can become unmanageable, from our anger to how we handle stress. So consider what you need help with and replace the word alcohol with your own.
2. "We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." The idea here is that we cannot make manageable whatever is out of control. Once you accept that something is unmanageable by you alone, working this step becomes easier.
3. "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood Him." No need to see this as a traditional god. You could believe in the earth or Goddesses, whatever works for you. The idea, again, is that you are not in control of the situation and your spirituality must be.
4. "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves." Look deep in yourself to see what is wrong and go from there.
5. "Admitted to God, (as you understand Him) to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs." Admitting your wrongs is difficult so don't push yourself with this step.
6. "Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character." Again, you are relinquishing your control here.
7. "Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings." Surrendering even more with this step.
8. "Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all." This is important in gaining your life back and removing any guilt you may have.
9 "Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others." Directly speaking with people when you can also helps overcome your bad feelings about what you have done wrong.
10. "Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it." Having the courage to look at yourself closely and realize your faults is an important part of being humble and working the steps.
11. "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." Praying to your Higher Power helps alleviate stress of believing you are in control of the universe and can fix anything and everything.
12. "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs." Once you feel you have completed these steps for whatever problem is bothering you in life, carry the power of what you learned, into the world and be amazed at how other people gain the courage to change their lives too.
Whether this is or isn't BP, I don't know. I am leaning towards Kosher's thougts that it is actually "them". And this was some kind of theraputic excercise that the counselor, pastor, etc... said they SHOULD do, and Mrs. BP had a lot to do with the wording here. It could be that BP really THINKS he feels this way, or really feels this way. He could be somewhat "brainwashed" or panicked at the thought of losing his family and has turned to this religiosity to find comfort and identity in this time of crisis.
I am hoping that in the "making ammends" step he has not forgotten the women on this site with whom he shared time. I hope that if he comes back around to this step he remembers that making ammends is to ALL he has hurt not just his wife and kids. I am hoping, like I said before, that this is an exercise and somewhat orchestrated. I would hope TGFBI didn't really feel that way about all the women here.
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To TGFBI,
I hope you are still reading this. I am sorry that things have come to this for you, and I am sorry you are going through this hell. I hope you find peace in all of this and closure soon. I think you still have a long road ahead, and things may never be "right" again at home. I considered you a friend and I enjoyed our conversations. I am not taking anything you said personally.
Take care of yourself,
TxSacker