James Thomas Rook Jr.

Nearly beheaded? What? They left a flap of skin? They crazy glued it back on?

If you read carefully hidden in Sunday's WT lesson for last week .. the emphasis was on OVERTHROWING governments, or regime change. Be a sport ... read the WT study article once again, with that kept in your mind. It appears that the only way many of us develop reading comprehension is after reading something incorrectly, recovering from figurative "bullet wounds". The Society is VERY careful nowadays NOT to directly speak against voting. Probably learned from recovering from too many continuous governmental sanction "bullet wounds". The legal staff and accountants and the "Helpers" are now running the show. I have carefully watched this transition and power shift over 50 years and more. It has been funny, and terribly, terribly sad, at the same time.

By the way Grey Reformer ... did you know that former Presidents of the WTB&TS swore under oath before God to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America? Here is the oath they swore: "I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to to the same; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. So help me God." If they had not ... they would not have gotten a US Passport. .... talk about selling your birthright for a bowl of stew ...... Â Â

Po I am glad you asked. I did not insult you ... I only stated a fact, which you have confirmed just now, that in the area of political interactions in the REAL world, you are not aware of what is going on around you. I am ignorant of many things, also. To say someone is ignorant is not an insult, especially in a specific area of human perception and thinking. I could say that you have a nice car .... if you TAKE it as an insult, that does not mean I have insulted you. If you are a midget, and I say you are a midget, that is not an insult ... merely a statement of actual fact. Referring to you as a "little person" may be more diplomatic, but you would still be a midget.. The letter writing was a naive idea that could never have worked. The Russian Federation is NOT governed by any concepts of fairness. But, getting to your specific question ... Letter writing TO POLITICIANS and GOVERNMENTS is political activity. Whether it succeeds in changing their governmental policy, or fails at changing their governmental policy is completely immaterial. The fact that you TRIED is political activity. You would think the GB would have figured that out after presenting their case in all lower courts, and the Russian Supreme Court .. twice. Apparently NOT. So ... they tried political activism. That did not work, either. But they niavely TRIED ... which the Russkies appreciated. They must have laughed themselves into a coma, after stealing all the JW real estate, then .... getting 56 million dollars and 11 train boxcars full of thinly sliced firewood as a free bonus. They have a policy that it is immoral to let a sucker keep his money ... but this exceeded their wildest expectations.

That is just the problem, Grey Reformer ... you are unaware. You are unaware that anything one has to do with trying to change government policy is political activism. You do not have to VOTE for something, to be heavily involved in politics. Conversely, NOT speaking out against any issues of one "side" or another is ALSO , by omission, political activity. You can protest in the streets in demonstrations. You can engage in political activity by writing letters to your Senators, Congressmen, or even the President of the United States. You can engage in political activity by entreaty, by mailing 64 million letters to the Russian Government ... which by the way, NOBODY read, and they were either taken to a landfill, or used as fuel in wood burning stoves last winter. The only thing the Russian Government noted was the fact that 70% of the face value of the international postage was forwarded to them by the Universal Postal Union for terminal delivery, which never happened. But they did .. they DID get... approximately $56 MILLION DOLLARS of the BROTHERHOOD'S hard earned money as an unintended free gift. If you wanted to bribe someone, and make it seem invisible, that is one way to do it. The Brotherhood in effect, at the pleading of the Governing Body ... gave the Russian Government 56 MILLION DOLLARS. The DIRECT result of political activism. Plus, last winter "Fuel at the proper time". You can "vote" with a ballot. You can "vote" with your feet, by getting away, deliberately leaving the influence of political oppression. You can "vote" with your wallet, by supporting, or NOT supporting things you find offensive, and reject. And of course ... you can, as history has borne out, you can "vote" with a rifle. You can "vote" by NOT picking up a rifle. That is just the problem, Grey Reformer ... you are just plain ignorant, uninformed, and consequently unaware. To one extent or another, everyone that lives, or has ever lived shares that, including you, me, and the Governing Body ... as giving 56 MILLION DOLLARS to your political adversary clearly demonstrates.

These things have been shown, in context, in thousands of comments, with photocopies, here on the Archive over the past seven or so years. The context has been fully established many dozens of times. What you have typed sounds very profound, but in reality, it is meaningless and fanciful. In some very few cases your own perceptions may be true, but mostly they are simply just plain wrong.

I enjoyed the parts that were relevant. They did not mention that Bros. Russel, Rutherford and Knor, Presidents of the WTB&TS, WILLINGLY swore an oath before God, to the U.S. State Department, on their passport applications to ".. protect and defend the United States Constitution, against all enemies, foreign and domestic." They did not mention the political activism of 64 MILLION letters sent by the Brotherhood to the Russian Federation to try and influence their political stance against the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society . I wonder if the current President of the WTB&TS has a passport? We are BOTH presumably sane and open to reason. The only difference is that I consider FACTS, and reality as it really is.

Don't worry about ANY of all that you mentioned. Just keep taking your medications, and stay away from microwave ovens. After April 8, 2024, when the second "Great American Eclipse occurs" you may be disappointed ...

As far as some of your questions go, I will assume they are rhetorical. About the other, I hold the same opinion Abraham Lincoln had when he was asked, during the American Civil War, whether God was on the side of the North ...or the South. His reply was (possibly paraphrased...) "I don't think God got us into this war, and I don't think God will get us out of it." The Allied Forces won because they had greater resources, an unlimited supply of soldiers, and because they developed the atomic bomb, first. There is no evidence whatsoever that Jehovah God has influenced a single event in modern times. If you know something more than I, that involves hard evidence ... please tell me.

The Nazis could have made the exact same statement against the Allied Forces in WWII .... that the Allied Forces perception was completely contrary THEIR perception and vision .... the mission and global blessings of half a world united under the superior philosophy of German Civilizationand the cultural superiority of the Empire of Japan. Perception is a double edged sword.

Hmmmm... I thought the Governing Body was supposed to be faithful and discrete slaves ..... ministering to ..... to the brotherhood. The IDEA of providing " food at the proper time" is not to spiritually feed God ... it is supposed to feed the Brotherhood ... QUALITY food at the proper time. WHOLESOME food at the proper time. We seem to have, with BLIND respect for the Governing Body, evolved into an idolatrous situation, divorced from common sense reality.

...could be WORSE ....

DO WE STILL DISFELLOWSHIP THE MENTALLY ILL ? I was a teenager in the 60's, and I had a good friend that on Scout camping trips I introduced to the Truth, and I was there in NYC at Yankee Stadium when he was baptized as one of Jehovah's Witness. He was a true "straight arrow", and pioneered, always dressed immaculately, and eventually over the years became an Elder. One night, at an Elder's Meeting, he announced to the other Elders that he was Jesus Christ, and that his mother was the virgin Mary, and of course he was disfellowshipped. He spent several years in private mental institutions until his insurance money ran out, then in a State institution for several years. He called me up, and told me the story, and I told him I was the Great Turtleman, and every November, before I hibernated, I rose from the swamp and gave toys to all the good little boys and girls. I was just pulling his leg, but he was dead serious. Later, he was in England, while his wife was trying without success to get him to take his medications, and fell over a balcony at Heathrow Airport and got killed. DO WE STILL DISFELLOWSHIP THE MENTALLY ILL ?

Why ...... specifically?

I am curious TTH ... how did you resolve the fact that the Australian Aborigines go back 30,000 and more years? I have explained at least four times, here on the archive, how I resolved it. The same way I resolved how Cain got married in the Land of Exile.

.... don't feel bad .... at least you got ONE right.

....like a blind pig that occasionally will find an acorn .... I suspect you are right on THIS one. Â

You are assuming things not in evidence, THH .... AGAIN. I have "Google Alerts" set up to notify me on many topics ... and your name showed up on an EXJW Web Link. ...

I agree with you to a certain extent ... but there is a line ... and it has to be drawn "somewhere" .... otherwise honest hearted people with the very best of intentions unknowingly will direct you to jump off a cliff (so to speak...) and ruin your life ... all with the very best of intentions. As a young man, at periods in my life, I was more empathic, and was sorta like the Congregation "Ann Landers". I ruined several Brother's lives with my ignorant advice ... with the very BEST of intentions, because I was not competent to give good advice, on the subject being discussed. Perhaps they SHOULD have asked me about the things of which I was expert, such as photography ... but they did not. Bro. Lett is in a position to help ... or ruin .... MILLIONS of Brothers and Sisters lives ... so he has to be evaluated on what he actually says ... NOT his reasonably assumed pure heart and good intentions. I have no doubt that Bro. Lett is deeply loved by Jehovah God, and many, many people. Unfortunately, there is no way for me to wind back the clock, and make reparations for the unintentional evil I did ... and the same applies to almost anybody else, with very few exceptions ... and that includes Bro. Lett. Here is an example, from his own words. Gravity Electricity Wind .mp4 Being of the Anointed does NOT give license, or a "free Pass", to encourage deliberate cluelessness in others.  Â

TTH: And you may want to check your cut and paste voluminous postings from your book to the Apostate web site EXJW ... I did not scrutinize it as an Editor might, but It appears you pasted it twice.

Since you, TTH, were unable to supply a SINGLE example, and had a time frame of a THOUSAND YEARS ( ... and more!) to draw from, it PROVES .... and you yourself by specific intentional omission have PROVIDED the proof .... that your opinions on this conversation thread are completely irrelevant. The "proof is in the pudding" so to speak ... but FIRST ... you have to have some pudding. Your opinions on pudding bowls may be valid in some other context, but are irrelevant here and now.

We need to be compassionate and understanding of other cultures, and ways of life. They have a hard and uncomfortable life, and are naturally very, very irritable. The women wear black cargo tents in the hot summer sun, and likewise the men's fashions are hot and scratchy, especially the bomb vests. Not all Muslims are evil people ... I mean ... statistically.

That is why I have adopted a "chainsaw" approach. It actually hurts no one. Not really. Nothing like getting offended to make a person start thinking. .... most of the time.

I think that Jehovah's Witnesses love people strictly on an intellectual level, a "principled love". The harder life is ... the more people love each other on an emotional level. The fact is, in our current policy driven culture ... a deep emotional love of general humanity is impossible in most circumstances, and for most people ..... and even normal deep family love is being systematically "bred" out of our theocratic culture. With the adoption of extreme and cruel rules of disfellowshipping, dependent on our OWN social survival, to treat family with extreme cruelty INSTEAD of mercy, we have learned to turn love on, and off ... and back on .... like a light switch. ------------------------- "We have met the enemy, and he is us" - Pogo -------------------------

Please give me ONE SINGLE EXAMPLE of something like what you referenced happening in modern times, to any individual ... or any group of individuals .... anywhere on Earth .... ANYWHERE AT ALL ... in the last thousand years, TTH. If you cannot .... it shows that the example you referenced does NOT apply to this discussion. It's a "stretch" that snaps when tested.