Alphonse

Thanks @scholar JW for a succinct and clear summary of your position on the 20-year gap (several pages back).
MY SUMMARY below adds 4 or 5 items that I didn't spell out in posts yet, but the rest are a subset of the points from posts already in this thread.
The Watchtower publications depend on SECULAR chronology to be able to attach a BCE date to any Bible event. There are no BCE or CE (AD) dates in the Bible anywhere. Per the current Watchtower Library going back to 1950 for the Watchtower and the 1970's for other publications: there are 11,857 separate references to BCE dates in the current "Watchtower Library" and the MAJORITY of them are for the three dates: 539, 537 and 607.  Every time we ever read in a WTS publication the term "B.C.E." it means the WTS has depended on SECULAR chronology.
The WTS fully accepts the SECULAR chronology indicating Cyrus conquered Babylon in 539 BCE. The exact same SECULAR chronology indicates that the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar was 586 BCE. The exact same SECULAR Chronology indicates that the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar was 587 BCE. The Bible associates Jerusalem's destruction with the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar The Bible also associates Jerusalem's destruction with the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar The Bible associates both years with this event, so SECULAR scholars must choose between 587 and 586 The Bible's ambiguity here is "cleverly" reassigned from the Bible to SECULAR scholars so that it can repeatedly be used as a means to discredit scholars -- so that both dates can be dismissed Discrediting scholars feeds into the repeated idea that 539 is now part of Bible chronology but 587/586 is only SECULAR chronology This allows the WTS to keep the original theory promoted by Barbour and Russell that all one has to do is go back 70 years from 536 (now 539*/538/537) to get the destruction of Jerusalem in 606 (now 607) and both of these dates can be promoted as BIBLE chronology. Any attempt to show the fallacy of the argument, or the evidence against the interpretation, can now be associated with choosing SECULAR experts over the BIBLE, and not recognizing that the SECULAR "wisdom of the world is foolishness with God" This tradition/theory/interpretation that we now call "BIBLE chronology" now requires that ALL the evidence for the SECULAR chronology that we accept for 539 must otherwise be rejected in order to support 607. Therefore the WTS must add 20 years to ALL the chronology evidence BEFORE 539 and not touch any dates from the same evidence AFTER 539. Unfortunately for the WTS theory, the Bible locks in the length of the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar to 43 years, and in support of external evidence for 539, the WTS is partially reliant on SECULAR inscriptions referring to the length of the reign of the last king conquered by Cyrus in 539 (the 17 years of Nabonidus) That would mean that the 20-year gap must be theorized to fit within a period known to be only 6 years long according to ALL the existing chronological evidence of the period (from the exact same set of evidence accepted for 539) The need to turn that 6-year period into a 24-year period becomes an awkward quest because of the inscriptions, kings lists, and astronomy tablets that give consistent evidence that there is not even a one-year gap anywhere in the period. NOT PRESENTED YET: The evidence from the TENS of THOUSANDS of mundane business documents is just as damaging to the WTS theory. These small clay tablets are spread throughout EACH and EVERY year of the entire documented period from Nebuchadnezzar's father, Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-Merodach, Nabonidus, Cyrus, etc. They even exist for EACH and EVERY year for the short reign of the two kings in those 6 years where the WTS needs to place the 20-year gap. NOT PRESENTED YET: There are business tablets for EVERY year of the known reigns of EACH king, and sometimes thousands of tablets for some of those years, but still absolutely NONE to show evidence for any of the theorized gap of 20 years. (Out of say 50,000 existing tablets, we should therefore expect about 20,000 additional tablets to cover those years, yet not one of those "20,000" missing tablets has shown up. (The WTS has proposed that evidence may exist but has just not been discovered yet.) Therefore, while 100% of the tablet evidence supports the known chronology, there is still ZERO tablet evidence for any possible longer reigns or additional reigns for anyone during the period. Worse yet for the WTS theory, there are even connecting tablets that give us the transition between each king and the next king which makes the gap theory impossible, according to all the evidence. NOT PRESENTED YET: There is even a subset of these business documents all related to the same "banking institution" that provides a separate chronology of transitioning "bank presidents" throughout the same entire period. They provide the exact same connected, relative chronology as the Babylonian king lists, the astronomy tablets, the official Babylonian chronicles, and other inscriptions. NOT PRESENTED YET: The WTS admits that the Babylonians were able to predict eclipses based on various nearly-18-year lunar cycles. If they weren't using an extremely accurate calendar they couldn't have done this. Any currently undocumented gap in the chronology would have completely thrown off their ability to predict eclipses. To add "support" for the 20-year gap theory, the WTS quotes from experts about evidence from astronomy and inscriptions and often adds (with no explanation) the WTS chronology in parentheses or brackets in very close context to the quotations from experts and scholarly references and encyclopedias. Sometimes even adding the bracketed WTS chronology within the quotation marks from the expert sources, giving the impression that there is expert scholarly support for WTS chronology. To add further "support" for the 20-year gap, the ACTUAL evidence that has been consistently supported and presented for the last 150 plus years by HUNDREDS of other scholars, is often simply called to "Carl Olof Jonsson's evidence" or "COJ's evidence." Because COJ was disfellowshipped for presenting the evidence already supported by hundreds of others, it "cleverly" leads the average JW to believe that SECULAR evidence is apostate evidence. (Except when the WTS uses the same set of evidence for 539.)  To add further "support" for the 20-year gap theory, the WTS made use of Rolf Furuli's book in two articles in the Watchtower in 2011  (*** w11 11/1 p. 25) claiming that some of the lunar data on a tablet dated to a specific year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign is a better fit for a different year of his reign, 20 years earlier. (Same idea had been tried for a different reign in a 1969 Watchtower, *** w69 3/15 pp. 185-186) Furuli's ideas about this tablet and the WTS focus on it has tended to imply to that this tablet (VAT 4956) is somehow all-important to the secular chronology. But it is only one piece of many that consistently point EXACTLY to the 587 date for the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar and EXACTLY to the 586 date for the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar. NOT PRESENTED YET: Furuli's ideas about the tablet have been thoroughly debunked and shown to contain numerous amateurish errors. Furthermore the book inadvertently contains evidence against itself which indicates the real strength of the evidence against the WTS use of "607." Russell did not directly use the 7 times of Daniel 4 to prove 606 (now 607) and indicated that methods using the 7 times (based more on Leviticus, not Daniel) were inferior methods to the use of "God's dates" (meaning counting forward 40 years from 1874). The use of (and definition of) what happened in 1914 changed after 1914, and the predicted fulfillments were moved to 1915, then 1918, then 1925. The Watchtower even temporarily used the expression "End of the Gentile Times in 1915." After the slippage and failures of expectations, the only useful prediction that remained was that the "Gentile Times Ended in 1914." But this was not about Jesus' invisible parousia (still 1874) or Jesus' invisible enthronement as King (still 1878) but was an expression directly related to the visible Zionist movement in Palestine. After an adjusted emphasis on Zionism AFTER 1914, along with a new emphasis on on Jesus' coming/arriving/returning to his temple for judgment in 1918, Rutherford finally dropped the Zionist connection to the "End of the Gentile Times" around 1929, and 1874/1878 was also soon dropped so that both the parousia and the kingship both were now associated with 1914. And the Gentile nations merely lost their "lease" to rule, even though they were now ruling more powerfully than ever.

…

“ CAMBRIDGE, MA — The President of Harvard University, Claudine Gay, announced today that the university has installed Jew detectors at all entrances.
"This is a step in the right direction," President Gay told reporters. "It might not be the last step. We are always looking for a final solution to the Jewish problem on campus."
The move to install Jew detectors at all entrances comes amidst a wave of anti-semitic attacks on campus. The hope in using the detector system is that, once detected, Jewish students can be safely concentrated away in a location or camp where they will be free to be Jewish away from the other students.
The detectors, which claim to be capable of detecting a Jew with 99.99% accuracy, are designed to pick up the most blatant Zionism, basic ethnic markers, and even the slightest trace of disgust over the targeted murder and kidnapping of children for the noble cause of freeing Palestine.
"The Jew detector systems we have installed show our resolve in tackling bigotry and keeping everybody safe while maintaining our commitment to free expression and tolerance," Gay said in her announcement.”
The Babylon Bee

If in fact you actually deal with academia every day, you have my sympathies.

No, Georgie, you are making up false premises entirely from your own imagination.
… as you habitually do multiple times in almost every one of your posts. 
Read over your last six or eight posts.
Or better still … “get out of the basement more”. 
As with everyone, too soon you will be DEAD, and none of this will matter …. or even be remembered.
It does not matter.

Georgie, it is clear you are confusing this collective audience with people somewhere else that may (and I am being generous here …) care about your irrational delusions.
They are entertaining.
They are sadly funny, in a cringeworthy sort of way.
You are stuck in your Agenda like a prehistoric bug in amber. Forever frozen in time.
I hope that before you die, you are able to break free.

LOL. Of course, I was confused about why you asked:  . . . 
If you didn't think he was confused, I wondered why did you ask about "the reason for Dr. Wiseman's confusion"?
At any rate, I'm not worried about it, and I'm no longer confused. LOL.
Good. Absolutely. Question them all. Verify what you can directly from evidence or photos of the evidence. (I took hundreds of my own photos in London, Paris, and Berlin.) Get multiple translations. You can even go so far as to look up at least some of the cuneiform for yourself if it bears on some questionable or controversial difference of opinion in translation. And it's a lot easier than most people think to double-check the readings on some of the astronomical tablets if you work from trusted translations. And for the record, I have no problem with the translations that Furuli used, but then, he did not offer any of his own anyway, but copied the translations provided by others prior to his work. 

So now you back off and tone down your previous claim. Thank you.

I think some do indeed live under a rock. Plus the org. of course would never say anything negative about our numbers* (and why should they). It is only those who are in positions where they have to know i.e. elders connected to Bethel branches. One elder and his wife told me a few years or so ago that hundreds are leaving the truth. This was before the pandemic. Now things must be even worse as the pandemic made "fading" easier. Personally I do not know anyone in our congregation who has faded like this but I do have reports from friends. Actually that is a lie, I do know of one who is POMO now. I wish I could have a heart to heart with him, but I am supposed to not know why he left, and I am not that close with his wife. I only found out from his MIL that he had been talking with apostates....
The elder and his wife I mentioned above did make a point of saying that the online presence of opposers is playing a big role in one's leaving....
Over all, our congregation is pretty solid, as far as I know. But all it takes is some disappointment in the org. or misunderstanding and then reading stuff on line ...
*I don't know how others mid week part on the annual service report went but ours talked about growth on some obscure islands and two born in young people getting baptized. Then we had 4 experiences which were more about how to take the opportunity to talk to people informally. But there were no results, at  least not yet. (But that's OK because whatever we say may stick and re surface during the GT). 
As for the actuall annual report numbers, has anyone really looked at them and compared them with last year? I haven't. Maybe JWI? 

Yes, it does. There shouldn't be any confusion. It's a simple calculation. I'm planning on showing @xero exactly which document he can use, and how he can check it with easy to obtain astronomy software.
And after his accession year is calculated, there is a way to double-check independently by using the actual date provided in the Insight book for that rare portion of the Neo-Babylonian Chronicles where the Watchtower has not added the 20-year gap. From that point you can use the information taken from two other Babylonian documents --without even requiring astronomy software -- and see that it will easily provide the same accession year for Nabopolassar of 626 BCE. 
And for good measure, one could even then take an additional Babylonian inscription (stele), and double-check again using simple math, without requiring more astronomy software, and get the same year.
But you do need to use the software at least once to start with at least one year within Nabopolassar's reign. From any known, it's simple to figure out his accession year. After all, if you know his first year was 625 BCE, then it's obvious his accession year must be 626. If you knew his 11th year was 615, then it would still be obvious you could calculate his accession year as 626. The best Babylonian tablet gives us the exact BCE date for his 16th year. 

No. That's completely false. I'm glad you admitted that this is what you were thinking, because it's easy to correct. It's not at all because it is generally accepted. Only because 100% of the Neo-Babylonian astronomical diaries that touch upon Nebuchadnezzar's reign consistently point to 587 as Nebuchadnezzar's 18th year of reign. (19th if you include counting his accession year.) There are at least EIGHT separate references to his king years. And ALL of them indicate that 587 was his 18th year -- with no exceptions and no inconsistencies.
(Jeremiah 32:1, 2) . . .The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah in the 10th year of King Zed·e·kiʹah of Judah, that is, the 18th year of Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar. At that time the armies of the king of Babylon were besieging Jerusalem, . . .
 

Was Jesus an "apostate" or a "whistleblower"?
 
apostasy- https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/apostasy
The act of giving up your religious or political beliefs and leaving a religion or a political party.
apostate - https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/apostate
An apostate is someone who has abandoned their religious faith, political loyalties, or principles.
JWs agree with the general view that Jesus founded Christianity, thus a religion distinct from the Jewish religion. This would mean that Jesus belongs to the category of apostates and more. Not only did he abandon the religion of his fathers, but he founded another, the opposite of the one to which he belonged.
 
whistleblower - https://www.whistleblowers.org/what-is-a-whistleblower/
On the simplest level, a whistleblower is someone who reports waste, fraud, abuse, corruption, or dangers to public health and safety to someone who is in the position to rectify the wrongdoing. A whistleblower typically works inside of the organization where the wrongdoing is taking place; however, being an agency or company “insider” is not essential to serving as a whistleblower. What matters is that the individual discloses information about wrongdoing that otherwise would not be known.  
Because of his constant criticism of the religious leaders and the revelation of their hypocrisy and the injustices they inflicted on the people, Jesus would also be included under this category because of his actions.

🔄 Answer: No. You are seeing things which do not exist.

… at least Joe Biden has a good excuse for forgetting what he’s talking about … he’s in his 80’s and demonstrably senile ….

… when you reply “Exactly.” that means you agreed, Georgie.
Woops! …. let’s make sure I quoted you in context …..

Q: How much credit do PIMO Jehovah’s Witnesses owe to Zoom for freeing them from attending boring meetings at the Kingdom Hall?
Probably quite a bit, though simply fading would accomplish the same goal, minus the certain element of hypocrisy. Fading works fine for those who wish to leave. As long as one doesn’t go publicly reviling, robbing banks, or killing people, one is fine.
A consistent blackened screen without any participation always suggests to me PIMO as a possibility, save for obvious cases of infirmity, distance, hardship, etc. Nor is anyone fooled in the long run. Witnesses bond so readily with their fellow believers, even from around the world, because 2/3 of what they have in common is their spirituality/love of God. Begin to indicate that 2/3 is not very important to you, and in time relationships, even friendships, will shift.
I mean, I don’t think those meetings are boring at all, but if I did, I not only wouldn’t go but I also wouldn’t use Zoom in an attempt to deceive others into thinking I was. I like to think I have some backbone.

quote, obviously fom WTJWorg publication:
The WT is considered to be like the eyeglass that helps one understand the true teachings from God’s word. It is however, recognized as fallible. The scriptures, as far as they are translated properly, reflect the perfect word of God and the Bible is well known to be our primary textbook. It is infallible and takes full precedent in any understanding, teaching or practice. Therefore, with the Bible at the helm, your above contrived scenario is not an issue.
JWs are on a spiritual merry-go-round, or "death train", I think that's what the Amusement Park type of ride is called.
They are caught in the trap of a religious hierarchy where, in theory, according to Geoffrey Jackson, they have the right to recognize false teaching, but in reality they must not question it because they will be excommunicated as apostates.
A complete breakdown of the system in which the mental health of believers is put at risk. But that is why the established system of manipulation is very well guarded.
 
 
 

WDS
Watchtower Derangement Syndrome.
”The sword that cuts both ways” (tm)
There are those agenda driven people who despise the “Watchtower People” and can see absolutely nothing right about any of it.
There are those agenda driven people who worship everything “Watchtower” and will defend it no matter what the facts are.
Both are very, very wrong …. but they tend to bloviate here.
”

What motivates JWs to sue Norway? Well, money, right?
Do you justify that a "humanitarian organization" deals with investing?
*the bolding is mine
It is a matter of theology and the choice of a church how it will deal with such questions. Whether a certain worldview or theological interpretation is accepted by believers and those who are not, or whether the doctrine needs to be critically reexamined, is a matter of our perception and position on an issue. WTJWorg also has unacceptable theology on some subjects, so by the same standard should JWs be restricted because of that, or?
The Norwegian government is doing just that. It is unacceptable to them that former members are being ignored in the organized way that WTJWorg is doing. The Catholic Church has no such practice. That is why they are not in court.
JWs have similar/same practices as Mormons when it comes to homosexuals. JWs allow someone in the congregation to be homosexual, but they are not allowed to practice their sexual needs.
I don't remember anywhere claiming that GB members take donation money and put it into their private accounts. If you have proof that I claimed that, please show it.

Bingo!

WTJWorg aka GB has no "doctrinal unity" going back 140 years until today. Nor does today's composition of the "Main Ecclesial  Body" aka GB, which leads JWs all over the world, show "unity of doctrine". Every now and then they "abandon, reformulate or clarify" the previous "firmly established Biblical Truth".
But that's why GB makes an extraordinary effort to create and maintain "uniformity".

@George88 Let's not equate "distancing" from WTJWorg and its doctrines and practices with circumstances that lead to the creation of a different dynamic in mutual relations with people with whom we were previously "hung out" as members of the JWs community.
There will be various and varied reactions. Some will completely reject the possibility of contact with ex-JW, others will at least be polite and say hello on the road, and some will sometimes want to talk about anything.
Some ex-JWs really miss contact with family or friends who have remained JWs. Some other ex-JWs are bothered by the lack of culture when they happen to meet former "brothers". For some it ceases to matter and they can deal with "fanatical JWs", who consistently adhere to the WTJWorg's institutional instructions to completely cut off relations with ex-JWs, without much trouble.
Jesus had no problem communicating with all kinds of people, from little children to decent people to hardened lawbreakers. We, ordinary people, generally cannot imitate that way of dealing with other people. And we are not even obligated, because we have the free will to choose who we want or don't want to deal with.
I respect that "choice". What I don't want to appreciate and respect is the "hate by GB decree" that imposes "shunning".
 
 

The Jewish system of worship was established by God (the Jewish God). JWs say his name is YHVH. Thus, Judaism is at its root a correct, true religion.
People who want to become members of the JW religion must renounce their previous religion, if they were believers of any church. As far as I know, Jesus never renounced his Jewish religion.
Jesus, like you in your commentary, condemned the corruption of the religious leaders within his Jewish religion. Jesus did not despise Judaism and own belonging to Judaism, the religion/faith of his fathers, but he despised the religious hypocrisy of the people of his time.
As far as I know, Jesus kept all the customs of his Jewish faith. He never told his followers to stop keeping the "law of Moses". Moreover, he taught them to do everything the "Pharisees" told them, but not to act hypocritically like the Pharisees.
This tells us that Jesus was not advocating the rejection of Judaism as the true religion. The establishment of the "new covenant" does not exclude the very essence and truth, truthfulness of the Jewish religion.

Could you clarify why you are suggesting two unrelated topics? One concerns God's judgment, while the other pertains to human judgment or condition. If some Jews didn't want to leave Babylon due to material wealth, this may be seen as a failure, as Christ indicated to the rich man. Could you remind me what Christ told the apostles about this? You can find it in Matthew 19:21-24.
Are you implying that witnesses would be better off rejecting the Lord and God's commands? Why would anyone support such thinking?

Only those lacking integrity would hold such beliefs. True witnesses place their faith in God, as they rightfully should. It is only those of feeble conviction who entertain such thoughts. Therefore, there is no reason to address the matter of leaders whom the closed club finds objectionable.

Since we are posting irrelevant subjects, I guess it means it should be essential for individuals in this community to endorse the teachings of "Pearl Doxsey" and fully embrace the truths that "witness" has long been imparting. People should understand the meaning of the word satire coming from a humor site. lol!
Satire:
1.the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issuest·ire
Let's revisit the question: Is Bro. Jackson's goatee real or fictional, as depicted in the Babylon Bee illustration?
https://babylonbee.com/
What is The Babylon Bee?
The Babylon Bee is the world’s best satire site, totally inerrant in all its truth claims. We write satire about Christian stuff, political stuff, and everyday life.
The Babylon Bee was created ex nihilo on the eighth day of the creation week, exactly 6,000 years ago. We have been the premier news source through every major world event, from the Tower of Babel and the Exodus to the Reformation and the War of 1812. We focus on just the facts, leaving spin and bias to other news sites like CNN and Fox News.
If you would like to complain about something on our site, take it up with God.
Unlike other satire sites, everything we post is 100% verified by Snopes.com.
babylonbee.com Babylon Bee | Fake News You Can Trust
Babylon Bee is a website that publishes humorous and absurd articles about current events, politics, culture, and religion. The articles are often based on real or fictional sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Babylon_Bee
Therefore, it is up to individual Jehovah's Witnesses to decide how they interpret and think about their beliefs. While some may believe in the literal truth of the Bible, others may view it as a symbolic or moral guide. Satire and humor can be used to critique and question religious beliefs, but it is ultimately up to each person to determine their own beliefs and principles. The question then becomes, will it be acceptable to God when humor is misplaced?

If I had the time to visit Bro Jackson I would, but I don't. @Pudgy. I couldn't care less about the circulating images, regardless of the fact that your image illustration is obviously manipulated. If you have an issue, address it with Anna, as she's the one making a fuss about it. I simply shared someone else's theory, and you all are making a mountain out of a molehill.
Exactly! Tom wouldn't stand a chance with someone like that. Nobody visiting that apostate website does. It's entirely devoted to spreading hatred and malice against Watchtower.