James Thomas Rook Jr.

TTH: Turf wars in the World are visible for all to see .... Turf wars in the Truth are hidden so that no one can know what is going on. Why not just review the movie here ... through cut and paste ... rather than referring to your commercial blog? I am under the impression that it has not been released here in the United States, yet. Did you go to England to see it? By the way ... that is TWO questions ... for those in Rio Linda.

Moral of the story: Never sleep in water upside down.

You are right, Space Merchant ... funeral customs vary greatly! When the need arose ... and it always did ... and before I knew better, and became against the practice on the basis of just basic human dignity and respect for life, My Daughter and I would hold "funeral services", and ad-hoc "Burials at Sea", in our home, in the bathroom, for her pet goldfishes. Especially valid is the fact that after flushing them, they did not eventually go to the sea ... but to the septic tank. Later, at my insistence, a more dignified way of giving our dearly departed adopted family pet gold fishes was instituted, befitting their status as members of our family. I tossed them over the fence.

I am not disagreeing with the need for church or family discipline and accountability. I am only disagreeing with the EXTENT and SEVERITY, and CRUELTY of how it is currently done. (... many have reacted to such "loving cruelty" with suicide, or worse.) It's a good thing we do not chastise our wayward children by cutting off their heads. .... with soothing words in a kind and loving way ... of course.

Very few analogies hold up when projected into the next county .... When you HAVE to do certain work .... it's better in a conducive environment that lends itself to work ... rather than the main point being endurance, while you work. Using a rock as a hammer gives crappy results. etc., etc.

"Standing" the heat in the kitchen is not a problem in a well designed kitchen. The same for judicial systems. The ancient Jewish judicial system of complete transparency in all things, was open on all sides to air, truth, and accountability.

There is only one real "game" ... and that is Jehovah's Witnesses. Sure the game is rigged ..... but if you don't play ... you CANNOT win. In this context, and considering only the scope I have herein outlined in discussion ... .... that statement is like "Earth! Love it or leave it!" Not a whole lot of options currently available .... The PEOPLE may have been corrupt, but the SYSTEM discouraged that.

HINT: It was not modified during it's institution.

Putting it as delicately as I can ..... Perhaps you would like to give some real life examples ... rather than MORE WORDS !

The problem is ... that Elders have in actual fact become administrators of Central Policy, and know that if they exercise compassion and mercy and common sense in their adjudications, it will go against Watchtower public policy. They do not want to be removed from their positions .... as we have learned so many times, it can be devastating to them when that happens, and we need to, as counseled, to forgive the Elders again, and again, and again, and again when they, doing the best they know how .... AND DON'T KNOW HOW .... make grevious and terrible mistakes in their judgement in applying the principles of mercy and common sense in their judgements. Ok...I got that ... but the question is ....when they make mistakes due to not having any common sense at all ... what do we do about it? IN reality, we at the bottom can do NOTHING about it, because everything is secret ... invoking the old joke "I would tell you ... but then I would have to kill you!". Also, merely inquiring about "What the hell happened ?" can get you on the "List", of people to be treated with suspicion. You are not allowed to question the Elder's judgements ... even if you did know. Worldly people centuries ago realized that "Star Courts", and "Kangaroo Courts" do not produce either justice OR mercy. Apparently we have not yet learned that lesson ... yet .... and yet three thousand years ago God gave a court system to the Jews that DID work they way it was intended ... and for somewhere around a thousand and more years it served the Jews .. AND... Jehovah God well. Completely public trials and adjudications of grievances of every sort in the City Gates, in open view ... where anyone could raise issues, yell out what they knew, and was open and transparent to EVERYONE ... Jew and gentile. The advanced Nations have adopted this general model of achieving Justice and Mercy. We have abandoned it for what we have now. Millions of words have talked about mercy, mercy, mercy, Mercy, MERCY in the pages of the Watchtower, and from the platform, but it usually gravitates to forgiving the Elders and the GB for their screw-ups. We should also freely forgive each other ... but that does not seem to work from the top down ..... Only side to side, and from the bottom up. That is why, due to extenuating circumstances that would test the patience of the patriarch Job, the Brotherhood ...sometimes faced with IMPOSSIBLE choices and circumstances beyond their control, in my experience, and in 60 years of careful observation of theocratic administration on the local level ... have NEVER seen, or even heard about.any REAL MERCY shown, for someone whose circumstances would test Kings. ONLY THE ADMINISTRATION OF POLICY.

WOOOooooEEEEEEEooooooo It is the exact same joke I was thinking of at your intro to your telling of it! Know about the Hunchback that got a tailor made suit?

..... being a living anacronism, I too am so "yesterday" on all this. Neither enrique's or "Tight Pants Tony's" ( affectionally known as TPT) comments had ANYTHING to do with medical issues at all. Enrique' s comment was merely a parody of the bats in the belfries. ......... and as far a "Would Jesus wear tight pants?" Under that robe he coulda had a goldfish bowl with water and fish pressed between his knees! Who knows?

Think of it with this analogy: If you stand on your head, it's not the sun coming up ... but the horizon going down.

Years Ago, I attended a big assembly in New York City at Yankee Stadium, and the smaller local newspapers went to great lengths to do articles on the Witnesses. I think I bought four copies to take home. Remember .... newspapers print all the news in the space that is LEFT OVER .... after the ads sell.

The Russkies are merely "shunning" the Witnesses ..... in a "loving way" ...of course! Otherwise they would be using bulldozers to dig mass graves!

I was looking at your photos they "grey" one, and the "blue" one, posted above. Paragraph 8 and the "blue" one looks like a "letter of solicitation" to me !

Before I retired (90% pay cut ... ) I used to cash my paycheck and offer it ALL to God. I would toss the whole wad of cash into the air, and whatever God needed ... he took. Whatever fell back to Earth, was MINE!

You need to "get out more". Whoever your friends are do NOT make you stronger.

It is no "more weapons make people safer" ... its "more weapons in the hands of courageous responsible, sane people make people safer". Here in the United States, in MANY states, (the most responsible States) with proper vetting and if you pay the $200.00 tax, any responsible person who can afford it can legally own a 50 caliber machine gun or a rocket launcher. The vetting is there to separate the unstable screwed up people from responsible citizens. To my knowledge, there has only been ONE murder in the United States by a licensed individual with a machine gun, and tens of thousands of people with more money than I have own military weaponry. For Christmas, I understand the author Tom Clancy's first wife bought him a fully functional WWII M4 Sherman Tank. (His Estate listed it as "low mileage") In discussions about "safe spaces" ( believe me... posted "no gun zones" are NOT safe spaces ... they only provide comfort for the ignorant and a belly laugh for Bad Guys), I like to think that anywhere around me is a safe space. http://www.keyams.net/blog/tom-clancys-tank-and-other-collectibles  Â

If someone being fair and honest bothers you, the problem is YOURS .... not Kathy Perdue's problem. It appears Marge's life was too parasitical, when it should have been symbiotic. Why in the world would ANYONE want to spend time with someone who is not a real "friend", but who not having any common interests, has become merely an aquaintence? It always bothered me that on Facebook I had MANY acquaintances to which "FRIEND" was a misnomer. I deleted them.

"texting", eh?

Is that picture AFTER you had been flattened out?

As much as she is loved by you (in the poem), it is clear your overnight death would be extremely grievous to her ... depending on how much Life Insurance you had.

There is an old saying ... "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day, Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime" ... but it is a waste of time to teach a man to fish if he does not live near water. Destitution level poverty only gives someone choices between destitution, and death. In some environments, "reaching your potential" is absolutely impossible, and there is only hard choices, and no choices at all. At least for today, the 15 year old girl will eat, have protection, and a roof over her head. She had no choice .... many would pray to be so unfortunate as to have her problems ......... with her limited blessings thrown in.

The DeLorean only needed to go 88 miles per hour and have 1.21 gigawatts of high voltage electricity to work properly .... 1.21 gigawatts_! - Dr. Brown & Marty - Back to the future.mp4