JOHN BUTLER

I knew what they meant but it was the strange wording. Although the shepherds would be the Elders I presume. 
I was just wondering if there was some 'new light' to change the names. Or if it was for any legal reasons. 
But i now notice @The Librarian has changed the original wording, how strange ? 

Is this for real ?  8 old men in America making up rules for what married couples can do in their bedroom. 
If that is true then the GB are Perverted old farts.  

Is this for real ?  8 old men in America making up rules for what married couples can do in their bedroom. 
If that is true then the GB are Perverted old farts.  

Sorry i find some of this funny, but of course it isn't funny from God's viewpoint.
Any true Christian, well in my opinion, would not even enter such a place of 'entertainment'. 
But then I don't even drink alcohol and never go into pubs / bars, as i see no need for any on it.  
 

FelixCA I think you are mentally ill. You compare the Watchtower to Jesus and I tell you there is no comparison. Then you accuse me of thinking the Watchtower is Jesus. 
Where is the common sense in that ?  It was YOU that compared The Son of God to a sinful Organisation. You really seem unwell. 
I will repeat what I wrote before :- 
By the way Felix, just a reminder, Jesus was and is PERFECT and IS the Son Of God.
The GB are just sinful men and so are their writing department and the rest of JW Org. 
No matter how hard you try there in NO COMPARISON. 

FelixCA I think you are mentally ill. You compare the Watchtower to Jesus and I tell you there is no comparison. Then you accuse me of thinking the Watchtower is Jesus. 
Where is the common sense in that ?  It was YOU that compared The Son of God to a sinful Organisation. You really seem unwell. 
I will repeat what I wrote before :- 
By the way Felix, just a reminder, Jesus was and is PERFECT and IS the Son Of God.
The GB are just sinful men and so are their writing department and the rest of JW Org. 
No matter how hard you try there in NO COMPARISON. 

Quote FelixCA "Did anyone in Jesus time, convince Jesus he shouldn’t do what he set out to do? Then why do some here think they can dictate to the Watchtower what they think the Watchtower should do. This is the kind of mentality that is disturbing to see."
Well it's kind of disturbing to me that anyone would compare the Watchtower to Jesus.
Jesus is the Son of Almighty God. The Watchtower is a magazine written by men that haven't really got a clue about true meanings of scriptures. So No comparison whatsoever. 
I would love a copy of the Shepherding book 2019, to see how many rules they have now changed. They say they keep getting 'new light' but only fools would believe that.  The GB are probably learning that they are losing control of the 'congregation earthwide' so they have to back off a bit and 'give a bit of slack'. 
Oh yes another Jesus comparison by Felix CA :-
 No one, but no one is forcing anyone to remain in the Org. Those that wish to leave are free to do that. Jesus made that pretty darn clear.
The Org didn't exist when Jesus was on this Earth.  Jesus had followers / disciples, but it wasn't the JW Org. It was the start of TRUE  Christianity, which we know didn't last long. But Felix is bent on this way of comparing the JW Org / Watchtower to Jesus Christ. Such an insult to Jesus Christ.  
By the way Felix, just a reminder, Jesus was and is PERFECT and IS the Son Of God.
The GB are just sinful men and so are their writing department and the rest of JW Org. 
No matter how hard you try there in NO COMPARISON. 

Quote FelixCA "Did anyone in Jesus time, convince Jesus he shouldn’t do what he set out to do? Then why do some here think they can dictate to the Watchtower what they think the Watchtower should do. This is the kind of mentality that is disturbing to see."
Well it's kind of disturbing to me that anyone would compare the Watchtower to Jesus.
Jesus is the Son of Almighty God. The Watchtower is a magazine written by men that haven't really got a clue about true meanings of scriptures. So No comparison whatsoever. 
I would love a copy of the Shepherding book 2019, to see how many rules they have now changed. They say they keep getting 'new light' but only fools would believe that.  The GB are probably learning that they are losing control of the 'congregation earthwide' so they have to back off a bit and 'give a bit of slack'. 
Oh yes another Jesus comparison by Felix CA :-
 No one, but no one is forcing anyone to remain in the Org. Those that wish to leave are free to do that. Jesus made that pretty darn clear.
The Org didn't exist when Jesus was on this Earth.  Jesus had followers / disciples, but it wasn't the JW Org. It was the start of TRUE  Christianity, which we know didn't last long. But Felix is bent on this way of comparing the JW Org / Watchtower to Jesus Christ. Such an insult to Jesus Christ.  
By the way Felix, just a reminder, Jesus was and is PERFECT and IS the Son Of God.
The GB are just sinful men and so are their writing department and the rest of JW Org. 
No matter how hard you try there in NO COMPARISON. 

All of this in-fighting for nothing. And Jesus said at Matthew 11 v 25
" New Living Translation
At that time Jesus prayed this prayer: "O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. "
Well the GB and it's writing department are obviously not 'childlike' enough.  And neither are any of us it seems. 
 

I ‘m not sure I would fit it in, or that I could integrate it with everything else, but there is a part of me that wants to introduce a family of dimwits, proud of the fact that with them the ‘prophecy’ has held true for over a century.

not only high school but also primary school. :))
only do not know was this sort of thinking characteristic for Whole people in specific JW generation or one part of people in that generation :)) 
Up-vote!

Sometimes you make me think you have been living under a rock. I don't know what you mean by unfavorable messages, but it is clear that every Witness generation has been living with the thought that "our children won't make it to high school", it doesn't matter whether this is the 20's 30's 40's..............80's 90's.... you get my drift. Perhaps this is a good thing as it keeps everyone on their toes, but it can also backfire, like crying wolf one too many times. 
Being ready at all times doesn't equal putting a date or time period on it.

Yes, I would say that we still are. He’s almost the only person left here that I understand, even if he does expound over my head half the time.

It's my impression that we both enjoy the back and forth. I hope it's not just me.

Mr Felix.
John Butler and other ex-JW people are Gained their right to speak openly about WT (to share Critical Thoughts) with a Day of Personal Awaking and with a Day of leaving JW community !! 
I have to remind You how every "faithful member" aka JW member does not have and will never have any "Right", Permission and Free Will  to "criticize" WT. Because of reasons:
1) he/she is "faithful member",
2) JW member will be disciplined if would dare to "criticize" or to put complain about WT,
3) hierarchical structure and Doctrines in WT gives no space for "criticizing" or for Critical Thoughts.
 

Sorry Felix I have no idea whom your first paragraph was aimed at but the bit about " Knowing Butler was an Ex-JW from other sites,  " has confused me totally. Can you name the other sites that you think you know me from ? 
But once again I read more aggression. It does not bring any on us closer to God or Christ. 

Although none of this brings any of us closer to God, I will share another thought that I had years ago.
I thought 2015. 40 years in the wilderness for the Org not being ready in 1975.   But we are not supposed to now and we know we are not supposed to know.
That is why it is not important. Because it does not bring any of us closer to God. 

NOW you’ve got it.

I start off the day with one or two. It doesn’t help.
I should point out that the exJWs I ‘bash’ (how unkind a word) are the ones that go atheist. Not all do, but they interest me more. They join forces with ‘apostates’ of all new religious movements to fight common cause against them all.
The book barely mentions the non-atheist variety, perhaps because they, too, will be eventual targets of the anti-cultists.
 

What a load of tosh and rabble !       None of this really matters does it ?
It's becoming a hate and judgement page !
I'm an ex JW and yes my personality has gone down hill since leaving the Org, but some of you are JW's or pretending to be, and I'm quite surprised at the attitude of many. I've always been a rebel and you know why as I've given you my life story,  but many of you will at your Sunday meetings, all smiles and pretend 'love' for the congregation. Yes here it has become a war zone.
TTH talks about the 'worldly wicked' and how we need the swat team to keep us in place. But this forum has become the war zone of keyboard warriors. I do not see one ounce / gram of love in any on here. 
I know I'm no better and yes the rafter is big in my eye, but I'm no longer a JW so I've dropped a lot of the hype. But many of you are supposed to be JW's, the 'only true religion' remember ? Where is your love ? Jesus said we should love our enemies, not try to 'get one over on them'. Everyone on here seems to have the same reason for being here, just to out do the others. 
Srecko is the only person that I have found to be genuine. TTH is too busy gaining material for his books  The rest are just bent on getting the upper hand. I don't think Jesus worked in such a way. 
 

Although none of this brings any of us closer to God, I will share another thought that I had years ago.
I thought 2015. 40 years in the wilderness for the Org not being ready in 1975.   But we are not supposed to now and we know we are not supposed to know.
That is why it is not important. Because it does not bring any of us closer to God. 

Yes. This goes all the way back to Russell's "Photo-Drama of Creation" which emphasized the 49,000 years of creative days. I don't think anyone here has denied that this is what we taught. But in the 1970's, the cracks in this view were already beginning to be seen. It had become a way to put more emphasis on 1975. But it was also realized that 1975 could become an embarrassment. And the Aid book, produced by a team led by R.Franz, had provided evidence that the very foundation for all this emphasis was built on sand.

Sorry that I added so much evidence for that assessment in my last few posts, especially. But I do take issue with the idea that "none of this really matters."
Witnesses have long moved on from being too concerned about the personalities of R.Franz and F.Franz. But for some persons, dredging it up again can immediately bring up feelings of hate and judgment. For me, everyone is imperfect and liable to mistakes, including me of course. But I'm concerned when a Biblical principle gets violated and we feel that facts no longer matter:
(Exodus 23:7) . . .“Have nothing to do with a false accusation . . .  for I will not declare the wicked one righteous. (Proverbs 17:15) . . .Anyone who acquits the wicked one and anyone who condemns the righteous one —Both of them are detestable to Jehovah.
The point is exaggerated, but the principle remains. We don't want to let our feelings get in the way of facts when it comes to how strongly we condemn or praise the lives of imperfect men. This includes R.Franz and F.Franz. Sure, it's comforting for some to see one as a devil and one as an angel; it fits a "world view" that some can use to bring a hammer down on others. This goes for ex-JWs who want to see R.Franz as a kind of "angel" and Witnesses who want to see R.Franz as a devil, for example. But there are cracks in these "world views" that anyone can see. Seeing those cracks reduces the comfort level of some and threatens to reduce the power of the hammer for others.
The Bible says to let our reasonableness become known to all, and yet reasonableness from one person will often trigger unreasonable responses. And I can see how I have been unreasonable here a few times, but it's always good to have someone else point it out too, as you have. We can't always see our own faults very well. 
But there is another way in which I think it's wrong to dismiss all of this saying, "None of this really matters does it?"
It's because our very Christianity should be focused on the sort of persons we ought to be every day, precisely because we know that the end could come at any time within our lifetimes. And precisely because we know that it might come, in effect, 1,000 years from now, after we die, for example. Jesus had a good reason for emphasizing why dates and times and seasons were not in our jurisdiction, but in the jurisdiction of the Father. The time was none of our concern. Yet, as a group, we have put so much energy into dates and chronology, and even used this "urgency" as a motivator instead of love as a motivator. To me, I "harp on it" because Jesus and the rest of the Bible made it clear that this really did matter.

Typical out of context comment from you cat.
I said "Well I personally don't want to judge anyone as to the resurrection."
Of course we all judge people in everyday life. BUT I said AS TO THE RESURRECTION. 
But you are only a cartoon cat, i can't expect any better from you can I ?  
 

Ok so the GB and JW  org is run on notions. 
notion Dictionary result for notion
/ˈnəʊʃ(ə)n/ noun   1. a conception of or belief about something. "children have different notions about the roles of their parents" synonyms: idea, belief, concept, conception, conviction, opinion, view, thought, impression, image, perception, mental picture; More             2. an impulse or desire, especially one of a whimsical kind. "she had a notion to ring her friend at work" synonyms: impulse, inclination, whim, desire, wish, fancy, caprice, whimsy "you can't expect us to fire any of our staff just because you get a notion to come back"  
The second explanation seems to fit the GB.