James Thomas Rook Jr.

stick around .... we are already Baptizing 6 and 8 year olds ... how far away can Baptizing babies be?

THEN we can disfellowship them !

... I don't think Steve Martin speaks Spanish .....

Look at it on the BRIGHT side!

In the old Soviet Union, when Josef Stalin spoke, the audience assembled clapped, and clapped, and clapped and clapped ... until their arms got tired, and their hands got sore .

People were assigned to take names of those who were the first to stop clapping ... and they mysteriously disappeared, never to be seen again.

Of course, their are comedians that we expect to be outrageously funny ... Steve Martin comes to mind ... and their mere stage presence generates laughter.

Perhaps the white suit and arrow through the head shtick helped.

I don't drink alcohol anymore, but when I did, EVERYTHING was funny!  (OH LOOK! ... A WALL! hahahahahaha!)., because I preferred to have a bottle in front of me ... than a frontal lobotomy.

(.... cues the flashing applause sign ....)

 

...sometimes ... things are just Goofy.

How many is too many?

There is a thread of thought evolving here that probably would lose continuity if dissociated from what went before.

...kind of like a free-association chain of logic that wanders afield .... but no harm done.

Either way ... it's not "my" thread, if that counts.

Move it to "questions"?

Could it be that the phrase "Abstain from Blood", in the minds of Jesus, the Apostles, and the Early Christians, actually meant " don't murder anyone"?

The fact that it is in the same thought as "... things strangled", causes me to believe not.

But then again ... James said we should not murder our Brothers.

How often does THAT come up in Congregational activities?

Comments?

... reflecting back on what I just wrote .... it is an embarrassment, and a crying shame that concerning wisdom and common sense .... and justice and mercy .... that the average people living in Las Vegas, Nevada, the self proclaimed "Sin Capitol of the World" ... have the moral high ground.

..sometimes I think we are living in a cartoon world, controlled by imitation comedians, and  Caleb and Sophia.

This is known as a "Semantics Trap", where you are chained by a false premise and the chain of logic is too short to allow you to reach the proper conclusion.

If "the law" states that you will be hung by the neck until dead, if you park your car in a handicapped parking place ... and you DO park your car in a handicapped parking place without that little handicapped sign on your car, or whatever is required, you are "rightfully" executed for doing what you are doing.

Anyone with a true sense of justice knows the punishment does not fit the crime, but in some societies, there is no such thing as common sense or mercy, or even "extenuating circumstances" such as perhaps your car engine failed, and that was the only spot you could roll your car to, to get it out of the main traffic or travel-way.

Last year, October 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, while a mass murderer was shooting  from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel, at people at a concert in the street below.........

(In approximately ten minutes he killed 58 people, and left 851 people injured)

....... One man below decided to steal a truck inside a Company parking lot (he knew they kept their keys in the trucks), and with that stolen truck he  went into the line of gunfire, and amid the dead and dying,  loaded it up with wounded, and took them to the hospitals.

He confessed to deliberately stealing the truck (grand theft/auto ... a felony), and it became world wide news.  A self confessed and globally notorious car thief.

Yes he was a thief.

A self confessed and globally notorious car thief.

No ... he was NOT repentant ... and would do it again, in similar circumstances.

The law stated that he could be sentenced to two or more years in a Nevada prison.

He was not charged as a felony thief, although he was absolutely guilty.

It was NOT the right thing to do, and NO REASONABLE PERSON, not the Utility Company that owned the truck, not the police, not the stupidest man wandering the streets of Las Vegas even imagined charging him with vehicle theft.

If he would have been one of Jehovah's Witnesses, under current rules as commonly practiced EVERYWHERE by the current system, only three things would have been considered.

1.) Did he steal someone's vehicle?  -  (yes, he did).

2.) Did the public find out about it, and know he was one of Jehovah's Witnesses?  -  (yes, and yes).

3.) Was he truly repentant of his crime, and firmly resolved never to do it again? - (no, he was not and could NEVER be).

Therefore, as night follows day, BIG ORG would have had him disfellowshipped, and without repentance ( perhaps even some begging and tears, and rending of clothes ...) he would be forever disfellowshipped. No mercy would be shown ... just the blind application of ORG policy. 

In righteous indignation he may even pleaded for real  for JUSTICE ... but his pleas would be laughed at. (I have actually heard this, of first hand knowledge, as a couple sat in the darkened Kingdom Hall awaiting judgement ... ).

This is what happens when simple common sense is foreign to the minds of those who seek to consolidate their authority, and not be removed from their positions of authority. ...........

According to Big Org law, the thief would have been rightfully convicted of being an unrepentant thief.

And NO ONE would have "spoken up" for him, for fear they also would be disfellowshipped for disturbing the unity of the Congregation, for they, themselves also would for a certainty also be disfellowshipped, for questioning the decisions of the Elders, for Apostasy, or "brazen conduct" (which covers nothing and everything at the same time) .... or in any way indicating Big Org's  judgement was anything else but, as George Orwell in his book "1984"  put it ... "Doubleplusgood".

..........

Such devotion to "law" would have made the Pharisees of Jesus' day very proud.

...Only if you will be the photographer!

Can I wear my spandex Jabba-The-Hut swimsuit thong bikini?

Jesus was a perfect example of a man who was tortured to death ... for doing the "right thing" ... and he KNEW IN ADVANCE that was the price he would have to pay .

He went on a known "suicide mission", to rescue people ... KNOWING he was going to be brutally tortured,  and that  there was no way to get out of it alive .... and did it ANYWAY!

1 hour ago, Space Merchant said:

There is no precise way to deal with evil, therefore it is always taking a chance with a probability of success.

A Good Man will TRY ... and if necessary, put his LIFE, his health, and his means of life on the line ... even with the certainty of death, destruction, and destitution.

That is what makes a Good Man a Good Man.

All else are merely MEDIOCRE  males, who eventually die .... without ever having been a "Good Man", or even a real man.

4 hours ago, TrueTomHarley said:

I guess I would be happier with all these shunning threads if they started with:

"Well, we know how vital it is for worshippers of Jehovah to stay separate from the world, but ..."

Or:

"Well, we know how Christians must 'touch nothing unclean,' but...."

Or:

"Well, we know how God is a jealous God who hasn't exactly been cool in the past when his ancient people got too cozy with the nations, but....

Well ... the accountants and Lawyers are running the show now at Warwick World JW HQ, and so as to not have small mountains of money, and high value improved real estate confiscated by the various worldly court systems, we USED to adhere to the Bible's clear and unambiguous directive "ABSTAIN FROM BLOOD" .... but now, to placate the NATIONS' judges, we allow blood to be transfused .........  if it goes into our bodies in 13 different IV tubes, as fractions.

And that's the FACT, Jack.

1 hour ago, TrueTomHarley said:

You will feel less bold besmirching a woman simply because she represents something you detest should Mr. Reddit come calling.

Like James Bond once said in, if memory serves (paraphrased) in the movie "Thunderball",   "... never was a man more misunderstood."

(See ... with those prefixes, I can screw ANY memory or quote completely into the ground...") ... bless my Lil' pea-pickin' heart!

I do not detest Serena Williams for appearing naked and pregnant on a national magazine cover.  First, I would have to CARE!  She will answer to her Master for that if he cares at all, and as nicely as it was done, I suspect Jesus does not care at all.

And, as far as Mr. Reddit is concerned, I think you are getting him confused with Roger Rabbit.

On 8/2/2018 at 10:13 PM, Space Merchant said:

All I can say is if we let the really villains win, not even make an attempt to prevent them, then it will be a problem, as for religious churches and institutions, they will have to deal with a Horde of pedophiles that come in form of a storm.

The only thing necessary for Evil to prevail, is Good Men ... to do nothing.

When accountants, lawyers and PR Departments run the show ... that is what potential "Good Men"  do.

NOTHING.

On 8/31/2018 at 2:38 PM, Srecko Sostar said:

It looks strange to me, even then (i was 19), to defend my position in this way. But that was not to defend myself but JW YU Betel and JW religion in YU, in other word WT. 

Sometimes the people you are talking to do not have enough background information to make any sense at all about what you are talking, trying to explain a difficult or just a new concept to them ...  that they are not used to considering.

The most extreme case is perhaps when  a man with a knife demands that you give him your money, and you start a long explanation of why he should work for a living, the value of industriousness, the theocratic, moral and cultural reasons why he should change his ways... that violence is not the answer, and "how would his mother feel if she knew he was out late, robbing people?".

Sometimes the only thing they could possibly understand is the SHORT answer .....

BANG!  BANG! BANG!  BANG! BANG!

... always remember to reload, in case he has stupid friends.

Here is a link to what was said on the Archive about 14 months ago, about Serena Williams appearing naked, and very pregnant on the August 2017 Vanity Fair Magazine cover.

I have mixed emotions about this satirical take on our Shunning practices ..... but I think what really bothers me the MOST about this satirical "shun glasses commercial", ..... not that it is "over the top", or borderline obscene .........  but that it is FAIR.

( it is now Saturday afternoon ... and the sound of crickets chirping in the silence is all that is heard ...)

It's just like here in the South, when you want to lambast someone unmecifully ... just end the statement with "... bless his pea-pickin' heart!".

                        That makes it OK.

Merely preface everything with "(paraphrased)",  or "...if memory serves ...",  then screw the quote into the ground as deep as it will go!

.....

Yes TTH, you have a LOT of stuff rattling around in your head. 

I seem to occupy a LOT of space there, and you don't even charge me rent!

MOST people have a lot of stuff rattling around in their head.

As I prance through the corridors of your mind, perhaps I will see  Serena Williams .

... or USED to be ..... 15% of the time.

The lawyers and accountants now define our official theology.

We have to endure the machinations and failed reasoning  of bodies with 16 legs who fear of losing their positions of authority, real estate, and money, because they actually ARE right .... 15% of the time.

...... Believing that agenda driven  clueless cruelty is a "loving provision" takes a LOT of faith in the PEOPLE pushing that viewpoint for the enhancement  and consolidation of their authority.

Plus, having great fear that non-compliance to "The Agenda" will make you next to be caught in its grip.

..... believing that you are NOT looking at a duck does not require an Einstein to figure it out.

If it looks like a duck .... walks like a duck .... and quacks like a duck ..... IT'S A DUCK!

It only requires that you be honest with yourself at what you are looking at.

Cruelty, mis-labeled ... is STILL cruelty.