Pudgy

One of the important features that members of the GB took into account for "clarification about wearing a beard" includes imitating the trends that prevail in the world of politics and business. This is clearly stated in Update by Steven Lett. (starts at minute 10:00)
Quote: "Furthermore, as time has passed, we have noted that in many countries it is acceptable for men who hold responsible positions in business and government to wear beards..."
That same Governing Body (consisting of elders) wrote this: "If an elder establishes a rule based on culture, he is not acting according to the Scriptures. Younger men must be evaluated, not by personal or cultural viewpoints, but by the measuring stick of God's Word. - 2 Tim. 3:16, 17." - https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines/watchtower-study-august-2018/do-not-judge-outward-appearance/
Another in a series of contradictions of this "Theocratic Government" in WTJWorg. 
Double talk. Imitation of "the world". Adapting to "world trends". Disregarding one's own standards. "Lowering" own standards.
In the world of WTJWorg, certain patterns of behavior change depending on the current circumstances in the environment (especially in the USA). We have the opportunity to see two ways in which the GB applies the so-called "Biblical Principles".
In one model, the GB tries to "force" the government of a country to respect the JW's right to freedom of thought, speech and worship as implemented and practiced by WTJWorg, usually through court cases or mass letters campaigns.
In the second model, they find reasons to adapt the so-called "biblical principles" to the social and cultural changes of "worldly people and their institutions".
 

Beard day could be celebrated with Seinfeld Festivus (… the holiday for the REST of us ….)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festivus
A completely secular holiday that can be adapted to any date you want, and traditions added as needed.
December 15 it is !!
 
 
 

Precisely! 

The deeper all of this is analyzed, to me it makes the wisdom of “abstain from blood“ better and better.
Besides, we’re not supposed to be that afraid of death…
 

Beard day could be celebrated with Seinfeld Festivus (… the holiday for the REST of us ….)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festivus
A completely secular holiday that can be adapted to any date you want, and traditions added as needed.
December 15 it is !!
 
 
 

Some of those who never celebrated their birthday may soon be celebrating Beard Day. Mark December 15th on the calendar. We don’t have that many holidays.

Interesting what nonsense exists in the minds of fellow travelers.

What?

And yet here you are

The deeper all of this is analyzed, to me it makes the wisdom of “abstain from blood“ better and better.
Besides, we’re not supposed to be that afraid of death…
 

It is confusing. The whole policy is a train wreck!
I can't tell you how many have approached me asking to help them complete their documents for them. Each one has the same concern. Each one wants to make sure their documentation lets them take as much as JW policy will let them accept. They don't want to mistakenly leave off anything they are allowed to accept. They're not reading the Bible and drawing conclusions. They're just doing whatever the society says they can do, and they're willing to accept anything the society lets them accept, because they want to live as long and healthy as they can.

I'm not even sure anyone is clear on the policy any more. All I get is "What should I do bro X?" and I say, read the scriptures, use your conscience and as long as you're settled in your mind and heart, that's all you can do. You can still be wrong, but then again everyone makes mistakes especially when things are ambiguous or they get complicated.

In the end I want non-blood medical management. Single unit transfusions are useless box-checking done to please the legalistic hospital administrators and to rack up line item expenses. Remember the hospitals and doctors are for-profit entities. My avoidance of blood in any form is more due to my ideas that it's not healthy for me physically, but even it if was good for me, like I had my own "blood boy" I would still not do it because of the history religious and otherwise. I suppose I might be likened to a jew who had never eaten pork and for whom doing so was gross. I might acknowledge that it was legal now since the mosaic restrictions aren't in place, but my brain would still be whispering "Yeah, so then why was it forbidden? Huh? Whatcha gotta say about that?"

It was a show well ahead of its time. Occasionally an episode is so surreal as to resemble a Twilight Zone. I like the running bit about the Chinese bellhop (is he really named ‘Hey boy?’) routinely reading Paladin’s telegrams and the gun for hire can do nothing about it.

False equivalencies. Bogus premises. 
 

It is hard to go wrong with an Eddie Murphy movie. Unless it is too foul to watch.
I feel a duty to screen movies for Many Miles who hasn’t seen that many.  The Amazon Eddie Murphy movie ‘Candy Cane Lane’ is okay and pretty funny, assuming you don’t spaz out over Christmas.
There is about a 20 year period of my life where I saw almost no TV, my ‘righteous years.’ There are shows that everyone speaks about of which I’ve never seen an episode, though a few I’ve caught up with afterwards, such as Psych.
Public television was unlimited and free for my kids, but for commercial TV they had to redeem ‘TV tickets’ we issued them weekly, and it didn’t allow for much. To be sure, I believe they found a way to counterfeit them, but the practice still served to shield them from much rubbish. 

Titus 1:15

I get confused when I read things out of order.

I'm kind of split in half......I can't make my mind up. The thought of having someone's blood pumped into my veins, that dark red bag hanging from the IV stand, makes me feel physically sick. But that may be because of years of "indoctrination". (I don't mean that in a bad way....just that this is what we have been taught and believe).
The main thing is how does Jehovah feel about it of course. The admonition to abstain from blood seems pretty clear, I don't know how else one could interpret that....I mean I know this whole thread has attempted that, but then some of the arguments get too ridiculous and again, remind me of the cat parody....

Still working our way through the ‘Have Gun Will Travel’ shows
 

I'm not even sure exactly where MIles is coming from on this topic. I thought I was more in agreement with @xero and @Pudgy on this point that we aren't really abstaining from blood if we accept almost anything made from blood. I didn't think that this was "judging," because I'm in full agreement with anyone and everyone who accepts these components based on their conscience. I would not judge anyone for taking any component of blood that they deemed life-saving. I would rather err on the side of what Jesus said about how saving a life is more important than keeping the law. And, in a similar vein, I have no problem with anyone who decides that blood is too risky and potentially unhealthy in their situation and they would rather err on the side of "abstaining." And lastly, there will be those who are ready to give up their life even in a definite situation where they are completely aware than some form of blood therapy will extend their earthly life, and they still choose to abstain, even from the tiniest of fractions. For them: R-E-S-P-E-C-T. 
To be honest, I couldn't quite figure out how not judging others for taking blood therapies or transplants was making me a judge of others. I hope you didn't think that it meant I was judging those who would NOT take blood therapies or transplants. Perhaps it came across as too self-righteous because I invoked the example Jesus used and made it look like others were not listening to Jesus if they didn't accept something that might be life-saving. If that was your point, then I should have, of course, included the flip-side of what Jesus also said:
(Matthew 16:25, 26) . . .For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Really, what good will it do a man if he gains the whole world but loses his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life? 
I hadn't thought it necessary to repeat that part of the equation because that's already the subtext that is baked into all of our discussions about blood. 
 

There are many on line who will gloat over the fall of us as a people….let them..they forget they may be getting sifted as well.

2 Samuel 23:13-17,In this passage, David's mighty warriors risked their lives to fetch him water from the well near Bethlehem because David expressed a longing for it. However, when they presented the water to him, David considered it as if it were the blood of his men who had risked their lives to obtain it, and he refused to drink it, instead pouring it out as an offering to Jehovah.