BillyTheKid46

If you weasel word your answer, or don't answer, you could legitimately be re-labeled  :
                                             "Billy(Just Weasel)theKid46"
           ... notice that the "Just Weasel" is spelled with a capital "J", and "W", which you considered JW Insider's screen name to be an affront against God.
You wouldn't want THOSE SAME irrational fruitcake rules applied to YOU ..... now would you, huh Billy?
 

It's quite clear from your words that they are INTENDED to apply only to your agenda.
If all four legged animals are horses ... then a cow must, by your logic, be a vegetable.
Your Billy-think is fully evidenced by calling JW Insider "?winsider",  and thinking his screen name is an affront against God.
Using that same logic, Jehovah's last name is .ORG.
 
 

I just used your own words Billy. I haven't twisted them, just quoted them.
They are your own words Billy.  Not understanding scripture is no excuse before God 

Ya got me on that pacifist issue, BTK46.  
When a bully is flailing about, I defend the ones being falsely accused BY YOU.
...   silly me.
...   and Billy ... the works are ALREADY gummed up .... my "crime" is I know about it.
 

Not lying. Mistaken. Mistaken for almost the same reason that any of us --either currently, or in the past-- have believed the GB are a small group of men. When I believed it, I was not lying. It was just a mistake I was making at the time. I would guess that there are easily hundreds or thousands of Witnesses who notice the same thing in their Bible reading as they went through the illustrations of Jesus in context, and have reached through many of Paul's letters. Perhaps others will have already noticed that a leading member of this same Governing Body, F.W.Franz, once argued very coherently and scripturally that we should NOT see the Governing Body as a small council or committee like those apostles and older men in Jerusalem.
I don't think I have more insight than the GB, I was convinced by the Scriptural argument of F.W.Franz. But there's a good reason why it would not be plain to them. Long before the Governing Body was defined in 1971, the 7 officers of the Watch Tower Society already realized that they were responsible to represent the entire remnant of the anointed on earth, and found themselves soon leading hundreds of thousands of Witnesses and interested persons. No matter what you think, there IS something special about this particular religion. It is unique as a teaching organization in many ways. I've gone into the specifics in the past, but for now, I'm just making a statement of opinion shared by millions of other JWs too.
The GB who find themselves in positions of great responsibility for an organization that is believed to be specifically prophesied about in the Bible, would surely expect that their own position of responsibility must therefore also be prophesied in some way. This doesn't mean that they think they are inspired, only that God's inspiration must have foreseen, not only the fact of this organization, but also some special guidance for its leadership, too. They could have found this in "apostolic succession" as some other religions do. They could have found it in some special new "inspired" prophet as some religions have. They could have decided that a leader was the "angel to the church in Laodicea." They could have seen it in the "the Jew" with 10 men grasping their hem. But they see it in an illustration about servants feeding other servants. Compared to the ways many religions look to give "authority" to a select few, this is actually commendably low-key. But it's still a misuse of the verse. It's an inconsistency based on the March 15, 2015 Watchtower that shows why it is wrong to turn a parable into a prophecy.

FOXNEWSFLASH !  -  June 18, 2019  -  Sydney Australia
In a hidden saltwater lake suspected to have thousands of miles of flooded  underground lava tubes to the Pacific Ocean,   in Central Australia, near Olympic Dam,  known for its high yield Uranium deposits, Forensic Anthropologists discover living precursors to modern day Kangaroos.
Stunning high resolution photos indicate these may have been the Kangaroos that left Australia approximately 4,000 years ago, and swam the Pacific Ocean to mainland Asia, and then hopped many thousands of miles across plains, forests , mountains, swamps, raging rivers and amber waves of grain to the Middle East to become passengers on Noah's Ark.
When asked, Dr. Walter Brotherman, of the Sydney Theological Institute stated "This proves the Bible record is correct, as currently understood by everyone in Christendom,  and that supposed "solid evidence" that Australia has never been deluged is completely false."

I like that BTK recognises this :  Quote BTK  Not understanding scripture is no excuse before God.
Thank you Billy you have just condemned the GB and the Watchtower Soc' and JW ORG. 
With your own words you say it. Remember how misused the scriptures relating to the 'Superior Authorities', and 'This Generation' ?
Remember how the Bible Students / JW org said Armageddon was coming in 1914 and even printed magazines to show it 
 
What Watchtower said 
prior to 1914 What Watchtower claims it said 
prior to 1914 "The year A.D. 1878 … clearly marks the time for the actual assuming of power as King of kings, by our present, spiritual, invisible Lord - …" The Time is At Hand (1911 ed) p.239 "The Watchtower has consistently presented evidence to honesthearted students of Bible prophecy that Jesus’ presence in heavenly Kingdom power began in 1914." Watchtower1993 Jan 15 p.5 "But bear in mind that the end of 1914 is not the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of trouble. Zion's Watch Tower 1894 Jul 15 p.226 "Jehovah's witnesses pointed to the year 1914, decades in advance, as marking the start of "the conclusion of the system of things." Awake! 1973 Jan 22 p.8  
For many decades, it was plainly stated that Armageddon would come whilst people born prior to 1914 were still alive.

You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth (1982) p.154
At the 2010 annual meeting, John Barr presented another new understanding of the generation. 97 year old Barr was an apt choice to deliver this talk, being the last of the Governing Body born before 1914. He explained the generation is now to include 2 groups whose lives "overlap" since 1914:
If it is truth that a generation includes an "overlap" with those born in 1914, why did Jehovah allow the Watchtower to teach for decades that a generation would end within the lifetime of a person born prior to 1914? Why allow it to introduce several new and contradictory teachings since 1995? Surely this proves Watchtower teachings are not directed by God.

Probably one of the more pressing questions of the day, is whether or not ManBearPig is real !
 
 
 

... and the WHOLE 1914 Generations thingy can be resolved by writing down an HONEST answer to the ONE question:
" When Jesus was talking eyeball to eyeball with the Apostles and others, when he said "This generation will not pass away until all these things occur ...", how did THEY understand what Jesus was talking about?"
... ALL ELSE is delusional theological fantasy.
 

John old Boy, you have just pointed out the obvious, that everybody, including myself missed!
BillyTheKid46 ... using HIS OWN LOGIC ( ...and that is a stretch ...) not only shot himself in the foot ... again ... but with his OWN LOGIC, condemned the Governing Body as being reprehensible and clueless.
I do not agree with the concept that he espouses ... as I believe that justice must be tempered with mercy for blind pawns (John 9:41), but his hatred for anyone that does not agree with him has caused him to bend over and start cannibalizing himself, starting with his wounded feet.
One thing you did NOT do is irrefutably document BTK46's arguement FOR the "prosecution".  You really need to learn how to do screen clips.  May I recommend "FastStone Capture", the same one I recommended to JW Insider.
Being the kind and generous Barbarian that I am,  here is the irrefutable proof documentation. in .JPG form, so you can download it as two "units" for future reference.
 

WOW!

Billy ... If JW Insider's Avatar and moniker is a stumbling block to you, and you think it taints the name of God, you have some serious screws loose.
It's amazing you can walk down the street without having parts fall off.
 

Let's say that it's 1924 and you truly believe that there are many sound Biblical reasons to anticipate that the resurrection of the "Old Testament" faithful men of God will start in 1925. You begin to believe it so strongly that you say there is more evidence for it than there was for 1914, and that there is more evidence for it than Noah had that there would be a Flood. If you didn't truly believe it, why stick your neck out for the embarrassment you'd face in just a few more months? Why risk losing the entire organization you worked so hard to lead.
I'd say that Rutherford, the "chairman" and primary member of the "Governing Body" that had begun in 1919, must have truly believed in 1925. Similarly with several remaining mistakes --still based on a faulty set of chronology beliefs-- the current GB are not lying, they are mistaken.
Did you, John, never say something that was not true, because you really believed it was true at the time, and then found out later that it wasn't? Were you lying?
And for the second question, Yes, I agree that the GB are not the FDS. The members of the GB should be some of our best examples of faithful and discreet ministers. But there is no single group called the FDS. When Jesus said, "Who really is your neighbor?" he was not prophesying a class of people to be called the "Neighbor" or "The Good Samaritan." When Jesus gave an illustration about a man whose son asks for bread and the father gives him a stone, do you think he was prophesying a specific group of people who give stones for bread?
(Matthew 7:9, 10) 9 Indeed, which one of you, if his son asks for bread, will hand him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, he will not hand him a serpent, will he?
Who really is the good father in this illustration, the one who gives the proper food his son asks for, or the one who gives him a stone or a serpent instead?
Who really is the judge who had no respect for God in the illustration of a judge who gets pestered again and again to give justice to a widow? Who is the widow? (Luke 18:1-7)
These illustrations are not so different from the one that includes the FDS. Who really is a faithful slave when the master goes away, and the servants don't know how long he'll be gone? Is it the one who keeps the household running smoothly, and continues to serve good food at the proper time, or the one who starts taking all the food for himself, and gets drunk on the wine?
Both illustrations are simple. One was about how Jehovah answers prayers, and one was about what sort of persons we ought to be while waiting for the parousia, even if it takes 1,000 years, or comes tomorrow:
(2 Peter 3:11-14) . . .consider what sort of people you ought to be in holy acts of conduct and deeds of godly devotion, 12 as you await and keep close in mind the presence [parousia] of the day of Jehovah, . . . 14 Therefore, beloved ones, since you are awaiting these things, do your utmost to be found finally by him spotless and unblemished and in peace.
It's not about whether we claim to be anointed or not, it's about being faithful until the end. Most of the FDS illustration was about what happens to unfaithful slaves of different classes, not what happens to faithful slaves, so we know it was really a lesson to warn all of us, "everyone," about the kinds of problems that Jesus' parousia delay could cause, and the heavy responsibility to "watch ourselves."
(Luke 12:45-48) . . .But if ever that slave should say in his heart, ‘My master delays coming,’ and starts to beat the male and female servants and to eat and drink and get drunk, 46 the master of that slave will come on a day that he is not expecting him and at an hour that he does not know, and he will punish him with the greatest severity and assign him a part with the unfaithful ones. 47 Then that slave who understood the will of his master but did not get ready or do what he asked will be beaten with many strokes. 48 But the one who did not understand and yet did things deserving of strokes will be beaten with few. Indeed, everyone to whom much was given, much will be demanded of him, and the one who was put in charge of much will have more than usual demanded of him.
Who says this didn't already happen when Jesus walked the earth, or when Peter spoke at Pentecost and began to open up the hope to people of all languges, or when Peter and then Paul (Jews) began to preach to the nations, and the word was spread 10-fold, then 100-fold, then 1000-fold and more? Paul explained how the Jewish beginnings of Christianity were important to the transition that leads to Christianity for the nations. This was a wonderful fulfillment that has occurred and continues to occur. We need not wait for a specific new fulfillment, imo.
 

Check and see what comments I have made regarding ill-advised behaviour and statements of others in the past. 
The offensive behaviour individuals display toward each other on  forum space is for themselves to sort out generally. The parameters and guidelines are there for all to apply. Moderators can be appealed to by protagonists if they so wish, and of course moderators can intervene as they see fit.
However, slanderous and offensive statements made about millions of decent people worldwide  exceed the boundaries of acceptable use of this forum, be it open or closed, that is if those guidelines listed above are still in force. If they are not, then let those who made them rescind them.
They have already been set.
 
 
 

Technically, you are correct. The Watch Tower Society publications come very close to saying the same thing in the NWT Study Bible when discussing Romans 1:2:
*** nwtsty Romans Study Notes—Chapter 1 ***
1:2
the holy Scriptures: Here referring to the inspired Hebrew Scriptures. In harmony with this verse, the New World Translation contains in its title the expression “the Holy Scriptures.” Other terms used in the Christian Greek Scriptures for this collection of inspired writings are “the Scriptures” and “the holy writings.” (Mt 21:42; Mr 14:49; Lu 24:32; Joh 5:39; Ac 18:24; Ro 15:4; 2Ti 3:15, 16) At times, the terms “Law” (Joh 10:34; 12:34; 15:25; 1Co 14:21) and “the Law and the Prophets” (Mt 7:12; Lu 16:16) are also used in a general sense to refer to the entire Hebrew Scriptures.—Mt 22:40; see study notes on Mt 5:17; Joh 10:34.
There were no collected Christian Greek Scriptures at the time. Except in the sense that the Greek LXX was the Christian Bible as well as the Jewish Bible in that time period. The LXX was a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures (into Greek). Paul and all the Gospel writers quoted from the LXX. It is rare for any "NT" writer to ever quote from the "OT" in a way that shows preference for the Hebrew (as we know it today) over the LXX Greek.
Of course, the letters of Peter also treat Paul's letters as inspired, and of "life and death" importance. If we accept that the Christian "church" is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, then we will, by extension, include the "NT" as inspired along with the "OT." Of course, it's not merely an internal claim that they are inspired, otherwise any text could have made the claim. It's the acceptance that inspired scripture can only be included if it is accepted as the words of apostles and those who had the approval of apostles during their lifetime. It also must harmonize with the rest of scripture. Where there is or was a question as to the harmony or authorship, we have a useful directive from 1 John 4:1. What we have really done of course, is accept the earliest collected manuscripts that were already accepted by consensus by the earliest known "Christian fathers" in the 2nd and 3rd century.  Their criteria matched their beliefs about apostolic authorship and supportive contemporaries of apostolic authorship.
By accepting the choices of the early "church fathers" we are actually putting faith in the fact that Jehovah made sure that sufficient manuscripts meeting the necessary criteria were saved and sufficiently "revered" to remain true to the purpose of scripture, uncorrupted. The scriptures were copied so often that we can now trace back (sometimes) to within a hundred years of the death of the last apostle (usually a bit over 200 years) and find that there was a high consistency to the copies of manuscripts, and enough manuscripts to remove any corruptions that did find their way in.
 

It is very significant that numbers 6 and 66 are numbers in relation to Bible. Because Bible said how 6, 66 and 666 are numbers in context to something evil, something that is in opposition to God. Who inspired or what inspired people who put 66 letters, books as parts of Bible? 
The Catholic Bible has 73 Books. (7 more than the Protestant Bible) The Protestant Bible has 66 Books. GB decide to accept Protestant Bible. Were GB inspired, sorry, i mean - were GB guided by spirit  in this decision?

Yes but you do not set them  

It has parameters.

Wow! Is there something holding you back from saying what's really on your mind?
My father and grandfather attended KM school in Pittsburgh back in the early 70's about a year apart from each other. So I would often hear them compare notes as to what Bro. Schroeder had said on a topic. Schroeder was still of the "Rutherford" school when it came to how the entire world was "inspired" of Satan, which influenced his speech about who would die at Armageddon and why we don't celebrate Christmas, Easter, etc.
As part of their training, Brother Schroeder would give them questions that the "Press" might ask them, so elders could practice answers that were "cautious as serpents yet innocent as doves" so to speak. For example:
Question: Do you think the Pope will be destroyed at Armageddon?
This gets lots of snickers, and a few brothers willing to say, 'Of course he will be destroyed!.' So Brother Schroeder says that, well, we all know the answer, but what do we tell the Press? He recommended saying:
Answer: "He'll get what he deserves!"
This gets uproarious laughter, and must have been treated as if Jesus had just said "Pay back Caesar's things to Caesar." It becomes kind of a joke between my father and grandfather, so that they only needed to say: "He'll get what he deserves!" when hearing about other infamous happenings in the world (e.g., Watergate, Nixon Impeachment, US Supreme Court on Roe v. Wade, Spiro Agnew).
I don't know whether Schroeder himself mentioned people with Christmas trees, but I remember being a bit taken aback that my father and grandfather even applied it for a while to people with Christmas trees, people singing Christmas carols on TV, etc., even though they started to say it in a kind of joking way, knowing that the phrase was getting old.
When you mentioned that the Society knew that Christmas was wrong before 1900 but kept celebrating until the late 1920's it reminded me of this. Imagine if Armageddon had actually come in 1915, or 1918, or 1925, as they sometimes expected. In effect, my father and grandfather were saying that Rutherford and all the people in the entire Watch Tower Society would have been destroyed. I can imagine how we, as an organization, would have felt if we knew that certain people or groups who had already stopped celebrating Christmas were looking at the Watch Tower Society at the time and saying "They'll get what they deserve at Armageddon."
When it comes to all this judgmental speech, here in this forum, I try to remember to test it by thinking what we would say if we were guests in a Mormon forum, or a Catholic forum. Would you, for example, go into a Mormon-centric forum right now and say that 15 million Mormons (LDS) are all inspired by Satan. (And yes they have had trouble with child sexual abuse and cover-ups.) And because a high percentage of Catholics support the Pope, would you go into a Catholic-centric forum and say that 1 billion Catholics are inspired by Satan.
To me, it seems a bit over the top, even though you could probably find a near equivalent problem in the Mormon Church or the Catholic Church for every problem you see among Jehovah's Witnesses.
I'm not one to tell you to stop saying whatever you want to say, as you probably feel like a good part of your life was wasted among Jehovah's Witnesses, and I'm sure this drives a lot of the "tone." I am reminded of the "tone" that Rutherford took against the clergy, especially the Catholic hierarchy, and he could rationalize that he was protecting the world from Catholicism -- just as you probably think you are trying to protect the world from Jehovah's Witnesses, or at least to protect a few other Jehovah's Witnesses from themselves.

Some of the posts here are thoroughly offensive and bigoted and seem to be bringing the forum down to the level of a mere exchange of personal "flaming" messages.
Moderator, @The Librarian , someone ! The forum has a minimum level of standards to prevent a complete loss of credibility. Please moderate!

Oh dear, another baby throwing his toys out of the pram.
@Outta Here If you don't like the heat then stay out of the kitchen it's SIMPLES. 
This is an OPEN forum. You might be able to get into the 'secret' forum if you ask them nicely  .... 

Truth isn't for everyone.
Very true. Truth is not for the GB of JW Org that's for sure. 
If you study topics on here you will see, amongst the  'sarcasm and agendas', that there is a lot of serious conversation.
Quote "People cannot act decent.'   Are you blind to the Child Sexual Abuse within the JW Org / Watchtower ? 
Now then tell me, people cannot act decent.  And that is inside the Org. 
 

I am amazed at all the bitterness and sarcasm on this site.
People cannot act decent.
I think a lot of people have an "agenda", and that's, fine.
But I do wish people the wisdom to see the childish agendas clearly.
Truth isn't for everyone.
So be it.

No feelings at all.
Straight logic.
 

SO TRUE!