Thank you JW Insider, for providing absolute proof. 

BillyTheKid46  would deny the existence of a car if it ran over his foot, because all his friends don't believe cars were ever invented.

I was there .... and as you know, there are literally whole CHAPTERS on this subject that have been posted in the past seven or so years, here on the Archive.

Any idea if it is possible to download the whole archive, since the beginning, to a large USB 4 TB hard drive?

It might come in handy to have some off-site copies, since the format and such has changed so many times...

I am having trouble keeping track of my cartoon and meme collection.

Thanks for the "heavy lifting".

The human body has many organs .

Two that are not often thought of as actual organs are blood, and skin.

If you disassemble blood ...or skin ... into component parts, do they cease being blood ... or skin?

If you cut a liver into small one inch squares ... does it cease being  liver?

But MORE TO THE POINT .... Does God consider fractionated blood, made from whole blood .... still blood?

BillyTheKid46:

Can you please tell me WHAT about my post you thought was funny?

25 minutes ago, Outta Here said:

At what point did you realise this was actually a false expectation? 

I knew it was false every time it was proposed, from the mid 60's forward ... and made fun of it .... but after a decade of constant reinforcement, even the commending of Brothers who sold their homes to Pioneer in the KM, and who took out loans they never expected to have to pay back, put off having families and dental care, and operations, and constant bombardment of "Stay alive 'till '75" .... and everyone I had grown up with in the Truth convinced that the end was just months away ... I reasoned "How could I be right, and EVERYBODY I respected, knew, and loved .... how could everybody else .... be wrong? 

I was at the best job I ever had, doing Surveying in the Congo, then called Zaire, and due to peer pressure from everything published, and talked about, decided I had to be home in Virginia when the end came, to be with my parents.  This was late 1974.

I caved in. I fell for the snow job.

Since then, in the past few years, recollecting the history that I personally experienced, I have come to the conclusion that I have to trust MYSELF first. 

I cannot trust anyone else .... especially those who have a one hundred year unbroken record of being consistently always wrong about EVERYTHING except basic core theology.

If the Governing Body makes proclamations or instructions, and they are wrong, about the end-times,  blood, personal integrity, sex between married couples, or any other issue (and they pretend to be experts on every subject imaginable...)  .... they have historically destroyed MILLIONS of lives... and when they are wrong ... THEY PAY NO PRICE WHATSOEVER.

I weep for all those who have been chased away from the Truth ... because the GB is obsessed with absolute drivel, self-aggrandizement, and on the ground ... where the "rubber meets the road", have completely negated their personal accountability, and Justice and Mercy

If I am wrong, I may die, but I can only be killed ONE TIME ... and I do not drag ten or a hundred thousand with me.  

Or chase a million with conscience away.

I alone will pay the price of being wrong.

... a coffee cup full of gasoline ... ?

After GB Geoffrey Jackson sayin' that, under oath to the Australian Royal Commission (ARC), which I watched in real time as it happened, I had two reactions.

1.) DUH!, and

2.) I betcha he gets a whippin' when HE gets back to New York !

Which just goes to show you ..... you can make a GOOD LIVING ( If you can keep from throwing up ...) by getting your ears tickled by someone else.

Outta Here:

You have me at a disadvantage when you quote one of my Heroes, Richard Feynman ... however, your statement: .......

2 hours ago, Outta Here said:

Paul's words on prophecy make clear that "the one who prophesies builds up and encourages and consoles men by his speech." 1Cor.14:3. He does not say "foretells future events".

....... which I think misses the point, entirely.

Think of how up-building and encouraging , and faith building it WOULD have been if the Society's prediction of Armageddon had ACTUALLY occurred in 1975, as by both commission, and omission, we were led to believe.

Think of how faith destroying in the credibility of the JW Earthly leadership it has been that it was all a scam to keep the exhausted troops marching.

In many cases, it actually destroyed faith in Jehovah God and his Christ.

I agree with what Paul said in 1 Cor 14:3.

I disagree with the "spin" you put on it.

To me, it's like saying about the scripture "... After I leave, wolves will enter in among the flock ...."  (paraphrased) to say that "All Dogs go to Heaven" .... because after all, isn't a wolf a kind of a dog?

IN THE CONTEXT of this discussion, and what Paul actually meant he did NOT say that encouraging word of consolation were prophesy.

Quite the OPPOSITE.  He was saying that prophesy (presumably from a true prophet)  were encouraging words of consolation !

THERE IS A VERY REAL DIFFERENCE!

You are stretching an idea past the breaking point, to try and support your AGENDA.

.... been there .... done that.

For which I am deeply ashamed, and would have been deeply ashamed to relate to Richard Feynman, who would have considered me a complete fool ... which I was.

1 hour ago, Witness said:

How do you think the prophetic claims are made?  Who voices them?  Someone other than the GB?  Their "prophesy" is not inspired by Holy Spirit, but through demonic "inspiration".  

Review the record.  It shows nothing but failed prophesy.  

To be fair .... this is the Achilles Heel of ALL shamans, witch doctors, snake oil salesmen,  priests, clergy and other assorted religious leaders.  

Yes, the WTB&TS has always been wrong about everything they have ever tried to prophesy .... but then again .... so has everybody else.

... nothing to see here, folks ... move along ... these are not the droids you want.

In the history of civilization ... there have NEVER been any exceptions ... and there aren't any now !

This sort of thing ALWAYS, without exception, occurs when the Leadership starts dressing well, sleep warm every night, start accumulating real estate, managing huge piles of free money, and self-appoint themselves as the Laodicean Messengers of God.

If prophesy was easy ... In the early 1970's, I might have bought stock in Apple Computer or the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.

..... Or I would have won the recent 1.68 billion dollar Lottery.

Only dead fish go with the flow .....

.... But, like many interactions between people, between people and robots, there is the the potential to be accused of things that are totally misunderstood.

Even Robots need love!

..or at the very least, proper lubrication and voltage .....

Can you imagine those two BORG Pioneers getting completely suited up in those outfits, and one turns to another and says "I gotta pee !"

At what moment "The Truth" has ceased to be "The Truth"?

Perhaps when recruitment of new and more donors becomes more important than Justice and Mercy, and personal integrity

Resistance may be futile ... but not EVERY person of integrity and honest heart wants to be fully assimilated, and become a BORG

Having had many eye surgeries, which were painless, but I was still awake and somewhat awake ..... I hate it when they have that military powered searchlight shining directly in your eye, and you hear the doctor say " ... oops ...".

If you really want to disperse homeless people with robots ...(but it may cost $3.00 an hour extra ...) have them erratically weave in and out among the homeless, waving their arms wildly, and saying ( in both English and Spanish ...) "I am a 30 second bomb .... I am a 29 second bomb ... I am a .... BZZZZT!".

Yeah, my profile photo is from years ago, taken at my eldest Son's wedding.

My children had just tied me to the top of a car and run me through the car wash.

Today I have wrinkles that cast  shadows, and could grow corn.

59 minutes ago, Space Merchant said:

Already several steps ahead of you, some bits of it came not just from the article but information from a non-disgruntled one

Just in case anyone might misunderstand, I would like to make it clear that I am neither disgruntled,  or non-disgruntled, but am merely moderately well gruntled.

To get one single atom to the speed of light would require all the energy in the Universe ... so the headlight scenario is impossible, but if we delve into the realm of "Star Trek" fiction, perhaps you have made a "Photon Torpedo"!

The question is much like the famous  "Can God make a rock so big that even HE can't move it ?"

I would like to respond to that ... but there is nowhere to start!

But as a joke, it is hilarious!

One of the GREAT joys in my life, is having educated myself in Astronomy enough to understand at a glance, the exact physical forces that made this  ....  otherwise, somebody could tell me this is a Jack-In-The-Box commercial, and not knowing any better, that would sound plausible.

Fish may be good for the growing brain, but that one eye staring up at me from the ice really creeps me out!

56 minutes ago, Thinking said:

Aaaah now you have become a personal judge of me....are you yourself now not becoming self righteous and pious in your words and manner...time to step down of your self made throne John.

 

Don't take ANY of it seriously.

Enjoy life, be happy, exult in the Day that Jehovah made.

As an aside ... my last post was 100% true.

I am glad it was funny!

..... that's what I was .... uh... "shootin' " for .....

I dislike leaving things up to chance.

My second gun also has a laser, and assuming that I have not been killed first, I can hit center mass in two directions at once, with peripheral vision.

The price of Liberty, Freedom, and Peace ... is eternal vigilance, and superior competency.

 

..... AND .... pure dumb luck.

9 hours ago, JOHN BUTLER said:

But I think you are referring to this Macho male image of a man. Does that come from spending years in the Armed Forces or are you naturally a rough, tough type of guy ?  

I am a very gentile, kind, considerate person who speaks in a low tone of voice, never argues, and tries to be helpful to every one.

Everywhere around me is a secure, safe space that people can depend on for succor and refuge. Pleasantness and peace surrounds me, and mine.  People of evil intent avoid me, and I avoid them. 

I have lived and worked in areas where sandbags and barbed wire coiled up on the front porch was normal, and hotels on the second floor had to have drapes pulled to keep from being shot at.

I consider such things as part of life, and it does not upset me at all.  I just make sure I am careful, and do not confront anyone, and keep a "thousand yard stare", for potential danger.  

I am 72 years old, and never been in trouble with any gang or government, never arrested, and never questioned by police except for one time when I was taking some pet turtles to the James River, in Virginia.

Perhaps my general appearance helps in some way ... as I am 6'-6" tall and weigh 287 pounds, and carry a silenced 9mm handgun with a green laser in a shoulder holster under my left armpit, and two extra magazines and a Mark VI Vietnam era bayonet under the right one., and a .38 cal. handgun in my pocket ... all completely "street legal", with appropriate "paperwork".

I also carry several cans of dog food, and bottles of water in the trunk of my car, in case there are any stray dogs that look hungry.

When I went out in Service in high crime areas with a bunch of Sisters, I have heard them across the street say to each other ... "Don't worry, Brother Rook is watching over us."

That makes me smile, because I was.