Pudgy

There are many interpretations to that parable, but the point is there are many places to get illumination …. But will the intensity and duration be enough?

You should get over your obsession on this. Unfortunately, lawyers are a byproduct of living in the modern world. 
You and I both remember when the premier sponsors for TV news programs were manufacturers or merchants. Now they are lawyers. With no exaggeration I can count over a dozen lawyers who regularly advertise on local media, some a dozen times a day. If you have pockets, someone will find a pretext to try to empty them. It Is a societal transfer of funds for every reason under the sun, with barristers netting a third.
Don’t misunderstand. There are wrongs to be righted. We live in a society that views money as the way to right wrongs. It’s not to say that every lawsuit is just a money grab. But when lawyers replace manufacturers and merchants as the premiere advertisers, well—it’s one crazy way to run a planet.
 

There are many interpretations to that parable, but the point is there are many places to get illumination …. But will the intensity and duration be enough?

Speaking of hellfire. How many here wish that Jesus had never used the illustration of Lazarus and the rich man?

I think the way I should have put it is that the doctrines don’t change. Once you’ve dealt with them, you’ve dealt with them. Accordingly, in any given year, our publications will barely mention trinity and hellfire beyond a reference or two to how they are “trash’ that interfere with building a relationship with God. Very seldom are there specific paragraphs on trinity, let alone an entire article. Mostly they just refer people back to the Trinity brochure, or whatever has replaced it.
My own blog is the same way. In sixteen years I have maybe 5 or 6 posts specifically on the Trinity. In the Enjoy Life Forever interactive brochure there is almost nothing on trinity or hellfire. All I found was something in the Explore section of lesson 13, How False Religion Misrepresents God:
“For generations, religions have told lies that make God seem distant and cruel. Learn the truth about three of those lies.“Lies That Make God Seem Unlovable” (The Watchtower, November 1, 2013)”
It was even a little frustrating to me because I did have a Bible student from fundamentalist background, a very studious guy always wanting to ‘dig deeper.’ So I dug into how all renderings of hell stem from just 3 original language words—sheol, hades, Gehenna, (with a single exception of one ‘tartarus’), and that all renderings of hellfire come only from Gehenna. I didn’t see where that was specifically dealt with in depth and I ended up going off on my own tangents—Insight book material, and so forth. It is not part of the basic study guide.
Few people seriously believe these doctrines anymore—people have “moved on” from doctrines—and the ones who do, fundamentalists for the most part, are seldom persuaded no matter how much you quote scripture. They are the people who “accepted Jesus” in a flash. Some preacher said “come down and be saved” and in an instant they did, having had no intention of doing so before. They get their “truth” by revelation, not by Bible study. They thereafter cherry pick the Bible to find verses that back up what they believe. Where they find passages that don’t, they dismiss them as poor interpretation, corruption, bad translation, the Bible is too complicated to know, and so forth. Their minds were made up at their “conversion” that happened in an instant. “I’ve never convinced one” my favorite circuit overseer said, an old timer now deceased, on arguing with people over the trinity. 
If we are oldtimers ourselves, and we remember a time when these doctrines were important to people, we can easily fall into the mindset that they still are. But they rarely are. The approach of the Enjoy Life Forever is not to teach people doctrines they don’t believe in anyway only to thereafter tell them they are wrong. Instead, it just teaches Bible truth, and reserves the ‘Lies that Make God Seem Unlovable’ article for anyone still attached to those beliefs. 
Of course, if you happen to be surrounded by people who do love and cherish these doctrines, then lots of time spent disproving them may be just the ticket. But those people are becoming rare, they are rapidly dying out and being replaced by persons who don’t give a hoot. I think that’s way the Watchtower devotes relatively little space to the “false doctrines of Christendom.” They try to keep up, not with how people used to be, but how they are now. They focus on teaching the positive things of the Bible, rather than disproving the negative
 

Yes. We need you. There’s no end to the outrageous things they’ve been saying in your absense.

Maybe it’s that “Patiently waiting for the Truth” is exactly the opposite of the course Jesus recommended:
““Keep on asking, and it will be given you; keep on seeking, and you will find; keep on knocking, and it will be opened to you;”  (Matt 7:7)
Though most modern Bibles have removed the next verse as spurious, some versions read:
”And some of his lazy disciples said, ‘Isn’t it enough to patiently wait?”

There are many interpretations to that parable, but the point is there are many places to get illumination …. But will the intensity and duration be enough?

It does not matter if he was the slave or not. (With new light we know he was not - he was only the messenger before the faithful slave rendering service in the Parousia)  Mal 3: 1  “Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will clear up a way before me. And suddenly the true Lord, whom you are seeking, will come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant will come, in whom you take delight. Look! He will certainly come,” says Jehovah of armies. ). 
At that time the knowledge of the Truth the brothers had was good enough for those who lived in this time period.  They had  learnt that there is no soul that goes out of you which is immortal; and many other truths which helped them to cling to Jehovah and the ransom; as they did not believe that Jesús is God. They already had most of the basic truths and were contemplating newer ones... and had discarded some wrong ones.  The resurrection they received will be based on what they knew at the time and Jehovah is the judge of who is righteous.  (Their work was also to expose the idolatry of Christendom because Babylon the Great was about to fall after 1914).
To highlight if the JWs were right or wrong at that time does not matter either; and to nitpick their leadership and how they came to be what they are today is not even important.  It is what we do today that is important.... and because humans are imperfect the 'slave' today can still make mistakes.... and they will be judged accordingly (Ps103 Jehovah keeps in mind that we are all flesh). 
We can only look at the history and pray we do not make the same mistakes ...... but that is as far as it goes.  Many will try to use this history to prove that we are a cult or a false religion - but compared with other Christian denominations - Jehovah needed a people who did not have the bloody history on their hands for supporting wars and recruiting  soldiers. He needed to form a nation that were trying to be obedient and were willing to learn - get up after mistakes - and go on. Since good leaders are always scarce, Jehovah had to work with those which were available - just as he does today.
 
 

… I sympathize with you, but being a cartoon dog, My dog dish somehow cleans itself.

If you are in mountain areas where there’s bears or mountain lions, etc., it’s a good idea to always use the “buddy system”.
Make sure your buddy is a slower runner than you are.

Lessons Learned From Movies -  “The Ballad of Cable Hogue” (1970).
 
After he is abandoned in the desert without water, Cable Hogue (Jason Robards) wanders for days until he finds a supply of water in a muddy ditch. Determining that the spot is the only spring in the area, Cable decides to start a business offering water for sale to passing stagecoaches, and digs a well.
This is the only water for 60 miles, and he does well, watering horses and passengers on a regular basis, in both directions. He also provides meals from the desert, which he makes into a stew so the passengers cannot tell the sources, and serves the food in large prospectors gold panning “plates”, nailed to tables, under an awning, behind his ramshackle stagecoach building.
Now here is the point I think True Tom will appreciate …. As the passengers finish their food, a woman sees the nails, and notices she can’t move her plate.
She asks Cable Hogue how does he clean the dishes? Cable explains that after everyone has eaten, he tilts the tables on their side, the dogs lick the plates clean, and the desert sun kills the germs!
Viola!
 

(pronounced wah-LAH!)
 

Lessons Learned From Movies -  “The Ballad of Cable Hogue” (1970).
 
After he is abandoned in the desert without water, Cable Hogue (Jason Robards) wanders for days until he finds a supply of water in a muddy ditch. Determining that the spot is the only spring in the area, Cable decides to start a business offering water for sale to passing stagecoaches, and digs a well.
This is the only water for 60 miles, and he does well, watering horses and passengers on a regular basis, in both directions. He also provides meals from the desert, which he makes into a stew so the passengers cannot tell the sources, and serves the food in large prospectors gold panning “plates”, nailed to tables, under an awning, behind his ramshackle stagecoach building.
Now here is the point I think True Tom will appreciate …. As the passengers finish their food, a woman sees the nails, and notices she can’t move her plate.
She asks Cable Hogue how does he clean the dishes? Cable explains that after everyone has eaten, he tilts the tables on their side, the dogs lick the plates clean, and the desert sun kills the germs!
Viola!
 

(pronounced wah-LAH!)
 

The lazy adder snake may have had “other” problems …..

If you are in mountain areas where there’s bears or mountain lions, etc., it’s a good idea to always use the “buddy system”.
Make sure your buddy is a slower runner than you are.

The lazy adder snake may have had “other” problems …..

Gallipoli (the movie) - Just because your leaders tell you something, doesn't mean A. They are lying or B. They always correct

How much of your boat’s DRAFT is leaking?
 

If you are in mountain areas where there’s bears or mountain lions, etc., it’s a good idea to always use the “buddy system”.
Make sure your buddy is a slower runner than you are.

No, I don't agree with that. The December 1, 1916 Watchtower says this with respect to the belief already held by thousands:
"that he filled the office of 'that faithful and wise servant' and that his great work was giving to the household of faith meat in due season. His modesty and humility precluded him from openly claiming this title, but he admitted as much in private conversation." 
So, was the Watchtower telling the truth when it said that Russell had admitted that he filled the office of that faithful and wise servant?
(Proverbs 27:2)  Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; Others, and not your own lips.
I think it's pretty easy to see that Russell had "staked the claim" to being the 'faithful and wise servant' by allowing others to make the claim publicly. This would start with his wife making the claim for him, beginning in 1895. Until then, Russell had taught that it was all Christians in the entire household of faith who needed to follow the example of such a faithful servant. But then in 1896, he said he was now changing that belief because the Scriptures gave him no choice. It was now no longer applied to individuals (plural), but just ONE individual man who would be providing spiritual food at the proper time ("meat in due season"). But notice that he added that he could not let modesty get in the way of making this doctrinal change.
"it would be wrong to allow modesty or any other consideration, good or bad, to warp our judgment in the exposition of [Matthew 24:45] . . . to which proposition we agree." -- March 1, 1896 Watch Tower
This explains why Russell claimed in the April 15, 1904 Watch Tower that the Lord would
"specially use one member of his church as the channel or instrument through which he would send the appropriate messages, spiritual nourishment appropriate at that time."
In 1906, Russell would claim that:
"the truths I present, as God's mouthpiece . . . were ... revealed . . . especially since 1870 and particularly since 1880. . . . and if I did not speak, and no other agent could be found, the very stones would cry out." -- July 15, 1906 Watch Tower
In 1911, Russell spoke at the Convention, where other speakers would say things like the following, and which the Watch Tower Society published in the 1911 Convention Report.
"... the Lord . . . has placed Pastor Russell in charge of the work. . . . We are glad therefore to recognize him as 'that servant,' spoken by the Lord . . . doing ... the work the Lord appointed him to do.
Russell also published letters in multiple issues of the Watch Tower which addressed him as "that Servant" and acknowledged that he was the one faithful servant providing "meat in due season" for the household of faith.

I did many treks in africa and my husband was trained in survival as a soldier.  We went up into the mountain without water - and caught some in a plastic sheet... and we just wiped our plates with paper.  There is a lot one can get by without modern amenities

Lessons Learned From Movies -  “The Ballad of Cable Hogue” (1970).
 
After he is abandoned in the desert without water, Cable Hogue (Jason Robards) wanders for days until he finds a supply of water in a muddy ditch. Determining that the spot is the only spring in the area, Cable decides to start a business offering water for sale to passing stagecoaches, and digs a well.
This is the only water for 60 miles, and he does well, watering horses and passengers on a regular basis, in both directions. He also provides meals from the desert, which he makes into a stew so the passengers cannot tell the sources, and serves the food in large prospectors gold panning “plates”, nailed to tables, under an awning, behind his ramshackle stagecoach building.
Now here is the point I think True Tom will appreciate …. As the passengers finish their food, a woman sees the nails, and notices she can’t move her plate.
She asks Cable Hogue how does he clean the dishes? Cable explains that after everyone has eaten, he tilts the tables on their side, the dogs lick the plates clean, and the desert sun kills the germs!
Viola!
 

(pronounced wah-LAH!)
 

I had not thought of that!
”…. and on the 7th day, he rested ….”
AND … if you get paid in Pudgycoin, a person is always being paid at any pay grade he WANTS!
Remember!     Pudgycoin …. The only digital currency available in a ten pound box!

Just because I expressed that what he said may fulfill the prophecy regarding Governments turning on organized religion doesn't mean I agree with his sentiments about Jesus, or any of his methods that him and his high profile buddies may employ to achieve their goals.  You on the other hand praise him and  say that he "got it" even though in reality he actually didn't "get it".