James Thomas Rook Jr.

... remember "Evidence"? Faith Healers, Witch Doctors, and Shamans perhaps can "heal" a persons being hard of hearing (Or perhaps they had ear wax...). Call me when they heal an amputee.

No, I agree with you. But it still doesn't prove that they are not " bitterly weeping at such things ". With the COMPLETE and TOTAL absence of any EVIDENCE to the contrary .... yes, it does.

When you are claiming to represent Jehovah God, the standards are higher than " ... we were all just self-deluded incompetent fools, looking to preserve our jobs and positions". If they are NOT .... those PRETENDING to be God's channel of communication have forgotten to plug dat 'ol regriratator into the wall... and the "food at the proper time" is THERE ..... but it is LONG SPOILED. A reasonable person might expect SOMETHING ..... ANYTHING "prophesied" to be right ... Even a blind pig will OCCASIONALLY find an acorn. How have we done on that issue? (..and I am NOT talking about literal acorns)? Hmmm?

Heard anything from ANY platform? Seen any evidence in ANY publication? Know about any internal "reform" movement? Heard about any Governing Body Member quitting in disgust? I have not, to ANY of the above. THAT'S how I know. Hard evidence. May I assume the questions I have asked have a resounding "NO!", from your experience and knowledge?

One day Sol, our star, will go Nova, expand to about the orbit of Mars. Predicting that it will happen in our lifetime is a fantasy, a lie, and worse. but it could be VERY lucrative, if you can can completely suppress your conscience !

I do not need to look inside a refrigerator what has been unplugged for a month to know what is inside.

Heard anything from ANY platform? Seen any evidence in ANY publication? Know about any internal "reform" movement? Heard about any Governing Body Member quitting in disgust? I have not, to ANY of the above. THAT'S how I know. Hard evidence.

It is my understanding that the "Millions now living will never die!" fantasy was actually a typo. It should have been "Millions now living will never dye !" and it was talking about washing your robes white, with non-chlorine bleach. The is, of course ..... several OTHER other explanations ....... none of the above are scriptual, or even sane.

Amen to that. ... but NOBODY at Warwick is ! NOBODY !

Ok, OK, OK. We all know what really happened .... and the arrogant cluelessness was covered up with despicable duplicity, resulting in hundreds of thousands of Brothers and Sisters, and possibly over time, MILLIONS of Brothers and Sisters, literally DRIVEN from the Truth and away from Jehovah God. (At least those with sensitive, educated consciences....), by the actions of the Governing Body and their "Helpers". I either personally remember it from my own experiences, or over time personally watched it happen. Then there was the 9-1/2 years that the WTB&TS was formally associated with the United Nations, that ended with the scandal when it came out in the U.K. Guardian newspaper , causing several more tens of thousands of Brothers and Sisters with educated consciences to be driven away. And currently there is the global pedophile problem and cover up, which in my opinion, the denial and coverup is worse than the comparative magnitude of the problem. Added to this is the blatant perversion of Justice in the Nations' court systems by the Society's Lawyers and Legal Staff.when Plaintiffs seek what limited Justice can be had, At "my" legally confiscated local WTB&TS Profit Center, known locally as the Kingdom Hall, "we" have a bullet resistant glass front door that has to be kept locked with three Brothers sitting in chairs in the foyer as presumably unarmed security guards (ammo catchers, if there ever is a crisis ...). If my wife needs to go to the car to get her reading glasses, which she did this week, she has to pass through security, and have the door unlocked for her (or anybody). Where does it all end? Why should I risk a heat stroke to try and battle through all that is going on to get converts one at a time, when the Governing body is driving them away by the thousands, faster than they can be attracted. My wife and her mother left the Catholic Church forever, because of the church's evil duplicity What's next ... finding proof that the Governing Body has siphoned off billions of dollars of contributions to line insider cronies' personal pockets? Where does it all end?

In order to show works befitting repentance, you must take a small regional airline flight from Rochester, to Warwick, NY, stare at the bulkhead between pilots and crew, hang a piece of yarn from you lips, and repeat 2,500 times "You can call me Admiral True Tom".

NO ONE !

Amen to that. ... but NO ONE at Warwick is ! NO ONE!

Betty Crocker reached for the parsley “You can’t touch that, it’s cake” restaurant manager Rook shouted. ”It’s not a cake until you mix the ingredients,” she replied.  Instead ... think of a police car ... which you can assemble from parts, just like a cake , and once assembled both the cake parts become cake, and the police car parts become a police car. A Police car is not just a car ... it is a car DEDICATED for police use., and the Chief of Police has rules and regulations for its use, care and maintenance, and who can use one, and who cannot. I can imagine County Secretaries or Utility Workers NOT being permitted to use a police car. Unauthorized use of an automobile can be considered Grand Theft/Auto, with a two year prison sentence ... at the discretion of the Chief of Police. Jehovah has set the standards of how blood can and cannot be used ..... and it is quite clear that he considers it as his PERSONAL PROPERTY. Being Omnivores, which is clearly evident from the created design of our teeth, we were CLEARLY designed to eat meat, and AFTER the Flood, with the limited supply of animals available, and a year long by necessity enforced vegetarian diet ... God ONCE AGAIN gave mankind permission to eat meat ... as some animals had made copies of themselves during the restful, romantic Love Boat voyage. Jehovah set strict rules for the use and handling and sanctity of blood. But I digress ...... If Jehovah had said "Thou shalt NOT use MY police car!", I seriously doubt he would have been too happy if he caught you sitting on the ground with a set of mechanic's tools, a fender in your lap, and parts all around you, looking up with a sheepish ... " But Lord!, I am not UUUUUUUUSSSSSING your police car .... just some of the FRACTIONS!".

Gone Away: I very much appreciate your perspective, and wish I could be so cavalier ... but faith in Jehovah God and his Christ is much to be desired ... and faith in men who are duplicitous and dishonest continually for a half century and more is idolatry.

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But alas, Captain Goneaway was wrong ... as every Captain in the history of the World had also been wrong ... and the TerribleA ... so far... had been only a seafaring boogyman to scare the deck hands, and empty their pockets. ... and crewman Jack got a nice over-all tan while the rest of the crew got heat stroke, and died.

Which (with respect) is what you are taking, judging from some of the comments here. First of all, it was a joke about a label maker machine. Sssss second, if it had been real, it was MY imaginary graduated pyrex measuring cup, with handle and spout that had the label marked "Urine Sample" in the bottom. After all .... what's a metaphore?

I did not exist at all .... anywhere in the Universe ... for somewhere around 14-1/2 BILLION YEARS, before I was born .... and it bothered me, to the best of my recollection ... not at all. There are people that will go insane to stay alive .... but I hope I never succumb to that temptation. You can only die once .... you can be insane for many, many, many years. The general perception difference between sane people, ( who are merely eccentric ...) and insane people is usually around 40 million dollars and lots of real estate.

Here is one thing to consider ... the Earth itself is about 3.5 BILLION years old, from the time it became a molten target for what is called "The Great Bombardment" of meteors as gravity sucked up almost all the material in the solar system into piles we call planets. There are six creative days, and one "Day of Rest". A total of seven "days". 3.5 billion ..... divided by 7, is 0.5 That would mean the "Day of Rest" would be 1/2 Billion years long. ( For those in Rio Linda, that is 500 million years...). This is a theory that agrees with Genesis ( if you view it from the perspective of an observer standing on the Earth, or where it would eventually be .... ), all the Fossil HARD EVIDENCE that exists by the hundreds of thousands of metric tons, Geology, Physics, and all the sciences that we know ABSOLUTELY to be unarguably true. (If you are sane ...). Get your calculator, some paper to make sketches on and take notes and re-read Genesis using a creative day being 500,000,000 years, and see how that solves MANY theological quandarys. .... it even solves the "problem" of who Cain married in the land of exile. ( Although he was the son of "Homo Theocraticus" humans directly created by God, the "Homo Sapians" people who had evolved before that were living all over the Earth by this time ... ). However, unfortunately for professional theologians of all ilk, It DOES NOT generate an artificial sense of urgency, or scare you out of your wallets.

... follow the money .... money always answers the question "why?".

Once you drop agendas in the search for TRUTH .... you will actually come to know what is true. The reason humans keep sheep ... is to shear, or eat them ... or both. ... unless you are Taliban ... but that's another story. WE do that with disingenuous Kingdom Hall confiscation walletectomies.

I have known several people disfellowshipped and reinstated multiple times. Forget about them for just two minutes .... what is the effect on US who deal with it? There is another word that we do not use to describe this cruel, brutal shunning practice by: 1.) Loving our Family unconditionally, (assuming they are in fact lovable...) if they are approved by the Congregation Elders; 2.) Abhor them and treat them like they were dead if they are NOT approved by the Congregation Elders; 3.) Loving our Family unconditionally, if they are approved by the Congregation Elders; 4.) Abhor them and treat them like they were dead if they are NOT approved by the Congregation Elders; 5.) Loving our Family unconditionally, if they are approved by the Congregation Elders; 6.) Abhor them and treat them like they were dead if they are NOT approved by the Congregation Elders; etc., etc. etc. Being able to flip your emotions completely on and off ... on and off ... on and off like a light switch ... which is what we have been trained year after year to do .... through shunning ... ..... is INSANE! I firmly believe THIS is what the Bible says when it uses the phrase "... the love of the greater number will cool off". It does NOT pertain to worldly people. It applies to US.

Everything that comes around ..... goes around. That tactic assumes that sheep LIKE to be fleeced and eaten. My wife statistically will live 20 years longer than I do, and I hope she leaves EVERYTHING to the local County Animal Shelter. Dogs will never betray you. Â

The question was: "If the organization did not actually prophesy the end in 1925 and 1975, then how come so many Witnesses left the faith immediately afterwards?" The answer is: "We" actually did ... exemplified by MANY things of record, which can be denied ... but it is disingenuous. During the run-up to 1975 the slogan was " .. STAY ALIVE 'TILL '75." I have decided to merely try to do the best I know how ... consider 90% of theology to be encapsulated in James 1:27, TRY not to get "thrown under the bus", and where theology assumes cartoon characteristics ( Caleb and Sophia, Overlapping Generations, Blood fractions NOT being blood, and other silly stuff ...) , resolve to try to stay on the road to life ... but stay WAY BACK from the clown car. And verify the route with my own map, from now on. Â