Often ... it's simply a matter of matching any credibility gaps ... with gullibility fills.

Soon ... perhaps too soon ... we will ALL know.

To support the concept of a triune god, and the Holy Spirit being a person ... I once cut a worm into three parts ... that he might have friends.

If you have a RONCO Bass-O-Matic dinner is SO EASY ...

 

24 minutes ago, Witness said:

So, to reiterate, although certain changes may be announced one after another, these decisions are thought out very carefully.

Here’s an interesting side point. The older members of the GB, Brother Jaracz, Brother Barr were just as interested in making the adjustments as the younger members were. They were very progressive.”

The above quotes from David Splane, reiterated by Witness show that the younger AND older members of the Governing Body are proudly progressive.... enough to call it to our special attention so we do not miss it and are encouraged that even THEY are becoming  more and more, and in fact ARE more  and more politically correct, and "with it".

Being conservative or "progressive" has strong political overtones, and with all of humanity outside of Jehovah's Witnesses, "progressivism" is causing the collapsing of civilization by people who melt at the slightest pressure or mental stimulation they don't see ...and having conversations with them is like trying to walk on egg-shells without crunching them.

I see no difference inside Jehovah's Witnesses.

2 hours ago, AllenSmith said:

Your better suited for ad1914 like the ex-betheilte, than pretending to be a witness for the Watchtower.

And I did not "sign up" to be a witness for the Watchtower, and have never even pretended to do so.

I seriously doubt anyone who has ever met me would consider me "Brother Watchtower" ....

What a GREAT idea !

Especially when trees are a crop that is intended to be harvested at a later date.

But the fact is, due to the ability to sometimes control and extinguish raging wildfires ... there is more woodland in the United States NOW, than when the Colonists first settled America..  It used to be that fires would burn across states until there was no more fuel left.

Now, thousands of people on the ground and in the air, work to stop those fires.

Just this afternoon I was thinking of planting giant redwood trees in my back yard, here in North Carolina, matching as closely as I could soil and environmental considerations. 

It's not so much planting trees ..... but planting the RIGHT KIND of trees.

57 minutes ago, tromboneck said:

Ehhhhhhhh.....why dontcha' jest shat up....the whole lot o' yeh

Because, Tom,  this is harmless repartee', and cheap entertainment .... and it is incredibly funny when AllenSmith says "And you just proved how incorherent you and people like you such as "WITNESS" are " ... and he spells incoherent wrong in chastising others for being in his opinion, incoherent.

Now THAT'S entertainment!

40 minutes ago, tromboneck said:

is this supposed to be funny? Not

Well .... everyone has a different sense of humor .... I was raised on MAD Magazine, so I appreciate biting satire, hard irony, and dumb visual jokes ... but most people do not ... and then again, people visualize things differently, depending on their background, experiences, and general education ... so the perspective of what actually IS satire and irony, and visual jokes is dramatically different between people.

To get the incredibly funny comment by Carl Childers "Get it?" ... you have to have seen the movie "Sling Blade", as a classic example.

This is true  across languages, and cultures. Sharon Washington and Queen Ester DID think it was funny, and as Meat Loaf sang... "Two out of three ain't bad!".

5 hours ago, AllenSmith said:

And you just proved how incorherent you and people like you such as "WITNESS" are since you still can't comprehend the difference between public and private, and the end game of which is suitable to be displayed, and to what end

Seldom do I see someone who has just been through a disaster ... getting his butt bit COMPLETELY off .... then shoot himself in both feet with the statement .... "And you just proved how incorherent you and people like you such as "WITNESS" are ...".

The irony of this is PRECIOUS, and very,  very funny!

Never type with teeth you bought off of Ebay!

"Has anyone heard about "Anonymous (group)"?"

I was VERY tempted to reply ... "Who?"

John the Baptist's  "private trial" resulted in an innocent man being beheaded.

Bill Cosby's public trial resulted in a guilty man being convicted.

AllenSmith ... you have just unknowingly proved all my points!

You ran the risk of using real life examples, and it bit your butt off!

Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice Doggy!", while you look for a big rock.

A 32 year old Bethelite at Warwick, NY  was walking along a sidewalk at Bethel, going to the cafeteria for the evening meal,  and as he walked along, was in deep prayer to Jehovah God.

 He said, "Jehovah, you have promised to give me the desires of my heart. That's what I am asking you for right now. Please give me a confirmation that you will reward my faith and service to you.”

 Suddenly the sky clouded up over his head and God in a booming voice spoke to him. "I have searched your heart and determined it to be pure. The last time I granted someone the desires of his heart request .... it was to my servant Solomon.”

 “ He didn't disappoint me with his request for wisdom.”

 “ I think I can trust that you won't disappoint me either. Because you have been faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you the desires of your heart."

 The Brother sat and thought about it for a while and said, "I've always wanted to have a deep understanding of the Bible, and I have really tried, but I have forsaken a good education, and taken a vow of poverty and cannot afford a car or the classes I need to become an Engineer when my service here at  Bethel is up …. could you help me afford a car, and a stipend so I can go to school, and learn to provide for myself and my future family as I get old?"

 The Lord laughed and said, "That's impossible! Think of the logistics of that! I would have to start creating again to make you a car, and money to use, and get you into a college without any background that would make sense for what you would be learning!”

 “ … Your request is very materialistic, a little disappointing. I could do it, but it's hard for me to justify your craving for worldly things. Take a little more time and think of another request ….  a  request you think would honor and glorify Me as well."

 The Brother  thought about it for a long while and tried to think of a really good request.

 Finally, he said, “Oh God, please hear my request.  I was Baptized when I was eight years old, and paid attention all my life, taking notes, reading the Bible, and meditation … but I just cannot understand the “Overlapping Generations” thing.  I can’t see how Jesus or the Apostles or any disciples in the Early Church ever understood that, when Jesus was speaking. Can you help me to understand the “Overlapping Generations” Doctrine?”

 “I want to know what all the other Brothers and Sisters know, what  they feel inside and what they're thinking ...I want to know how to be as truly happy as they are, knowing these deep things about You ....That's the wish that I want, Jehovah … my hearts desire."

  … after a few minutes, God said, "How about a Corvette and a full scholarship to Stanford University?"

That is sort of like the moral question of "Is it moral to steal money from a drug dealer found dead in the woods?"

I have mixed emotions about what "Anonymous" does.

32 minutes ago, AllenSmith said:

Now I understand ROOK! He has a serious handicap when he suggests, everything is his mind should be an open book. It might sound right. However, what is the possibility the POPE will invite you into a closed board meeting only meant for their ears only? Or show you confidential documents meant for their eyes only?

If the goal is to imitate the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, we are well on our way.

Already we are baptizing children as young as 8 years old... and the exemplar, Jesus Christ was not baptized until he was 33 years old.

Trials and inquires in ancient Israel were in the City Gates, where all could see, hear, and make comments ... completely open and above board ... complete transparency of the institution of Justice, and the administrators of Justice.

It served God's people well for many thousands of years.

What we have now only serves the best interests of the Corporation.

Thank you Space Merchant for doing the "heavy lifting" for me ... AND EVERYBODY ELSE !

I have in recent years lost the patience and discipline, and motivation to do it, but still appreciate the TRUTH, expertly proved.

By the way,  as a Space Merchant, any idea where I could buy six metric tons of the powdered orange flavored drink mix TANG ?

( ...arcane joke from the 60's NASA Space Program ... but I like it overly much ...)

The problem is ..... the people who THINK they know the right answers .... and keep everything they do hidden in back rooms under a veil of secrecy .... DON'T.

That's why their proceedings MUST be kept secret.

So they will not be exposed as self-serving, self-aggrandizing frauds.

This applies to EVERYBODY, inside and outside of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Actually, I studied this a LONG time ago, but didn't care much... King James of England  (..who had the power of arbitrary life and death...) guided the translators, and it was assumed the King knew everything (by those who never saw him drunk ...), so when the translators came up to him they asked all kinds of questions .... and he replied giving them "New Light" ( Remember... at his coronation he was said to be chosen by God to rule England...), about spirits, ghosts, demons, the divine right of kings, and other political subjects, and they asked him what a particular word meant ... and what was really a kind of water buffalo or something like that (I forget...) King James  advised the translators , in his "divinely inspired wisdom" that the word in question was "Unicorn".

I am a Barbarian with a chain-saw theology, but JW Insider can probably give you a better answer, as his theology is "scalpel based".

Where the rubber meets the road is the fact that in the English KJV, the Unicorn shows up NINE TIMES.

That is why when you read ANY Bible ... you have to test everything to see if it makes common sense ... because Bible Translation is an ART.  It is NOT an exact science, especially when translating idiomatic expressions from one language to another, as different languages have completely different patterns of ideas, and ways of expressing things.

Translation is an ART ... and being good at it is a very rare skill in a world full of pretenders who THINK they know how to do it well ... and get paid very well to do it very poorly.

If you already BELIEVE the "Holy Ghost" is a person, or God is a Trinity ... when you read to translate ... THAT IS WHAT YOU WILL SEE.  

THIS IS HOW GREAT ERROR BECOMES THE NORM FOR ALL SUBSEQUENT READERS.

You MUST base your theology on plain old every day common sense, using what you know is actually real for patterns and examples ... not playing with millions of words.

.

A 32 year old Bethelite at Warwick, NY  was walking along a sidewalk at Bethel, going to the cafeteria for the evening meal,  and as he walked along, was in deep prayer to Jehovah God.

 He said, "Jehovah, you have promised to give me the desires of my heart. That's what I am asking you for right now. Please give me a confirmation that you will reward my faith and service to you.”

 Suddenly the sky clouded up over his head and God in a booming voice spoke to him. "I have searched your heart and determined it to be pure. The last time I granted someone the desires of his heart request .... it was to my servant Solomon.”

 “ He didn't disappoint me with his request for wisdom.”

 “ I think I can trust that you won't disappoint me either. Because you have been faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you the desires of your heart."

 The Brother sat and thought about it for a while and said, "I've always wanted to have a deep understanding of the Bible, and I have really tried, but I have forsaken a good education, and taken a vow of poverty and cannot afford a car or the classes I need to become an Engineer when my service here at  Bethel is up …. could you help me afford a car, and a stipend so I can go to school, and learn to provide for myself and my future family as I get old?"

 The Lord laughed and said, "That's impossible! Think of the logistics of that! I would have to start creating again to make you a car, and money to use, and get you into a college without any background that would make sense for what you would be learning!”

 “ … Your request is very materialistic, a little disappointing. I could do it, but it's hard for me to justify your craving for worldly things. Take a little more time and think of another request ….  a  request you think would honor and glorify Me as well."

 The Brother  thought about it for a long while and tried to think of a really good request.

 Finally, he said, “Oh God, please hear my request.  I was Baptized when I was eight years old, and paid attention all my life, taking notes, reading the Bible, and meditation … but I just cannot understand the “Overlapping Generations” thing.  I can’t see how Jesus or the Apostles or any disciples in the Early Church ever understood that, when Jesus was speaking. Can you help me to understand the “Overlapping Generations” Doctrine?”

 “I want to know what all the other Brothers and Sisters know, what  they feel inside and what they're thinking ...I want to know how to be as truly happy as they are, knowing these deep things about You ....That's the wish that I want, Jehovah … my hearts desire."

  … after a few minutes, God said, "How about a Corvette and a full scholarship to Stanford University?"

FSB starts detaining Jehovah’s Witnesses on Kola, dozens flee to Finland

Criminal cases are initiated after FSB and Rosgvardia raided six addresses in the closed navy town of Polyarny.

By Thomas Nilsen - The Independent Barents Observer

April 20, 2018

Last April, a ruling by Russia’s Supreme Court banned all Jehovah’s Witnesses organizations throughout the country, arguing the religious group to be extremist.

On Friday, Murmansk regional authorities’ newspaper Murmanski Vestnik reports about raids made by FSB and the National Guard of Russia (Rosgvardia) in Polyarny on the Kola Peninsula.

Two local residents were detained under suspicions of being members of the administrative centre of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, organizing teaching and meetings where reading of banned religious literature took place. Searches were carried out at six addresses in Polyarny.  

The town is home to a naval yard and several of the diesel-powered submarines and other warships of the Northern Fleet have Polyarny as homeport.

The extremist law banning Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia provides for a maximum sentences of 6 to 10 years in jail.

Meanwhile, a wave of practicing Jehovah’s Witnesses are fleeing Russia. More than a thousand people are now seeking asylum in several European countries, including Finland, the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported earlier this winter.

It all started last summer, and that’s when the first Witnesses sought asylum in Finland, spokesperson Veikko Leininen with the organization’s Finnish branch told the newspaper.  Many dozens at least are still to come, he said.

Press adviser Therese Bergwitz-Larsen with the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) can’t go into details about particular reasons for asylum seekers coming to Norway.

Unfortunately, we can’t say anything in general on the background for reasons to apply for asylum, since the number [from Russia] is so small, Bergwitz-Larsen tells the Barents Observer.

Statistics from UDI show that 15 persons came from Russia the first three months this year. In 2017, 58 Russian asylum seekers came to Norway.

In Russia, the number of Jehovah’s Witnesses are estimated to about 175,000. That be, before the organization was declared extremist. Viewed with skepticism for denying military service, voting and refusal to take blood, the members are seen as both a threat to themselves, their children and public safety.

Also during Soviet times, the Witnesses were persecuted.   

Human Right Watch recently called on Russian authorities to drop charges against Danish citizen Dennis Christensen adherent for practicing his faith. Christensen has been in pretrial custody for 11 months in the town of Orel. Human Right Watch argues that Russia is a member of Council of Europe and  a party to the European Convention on Human Rights, and therefore is obligated to protect the rights to freedom of religion and association.

My note: Russia passed a law in 2015 that basically stated that any CE or ECHR resolution or ruling they disagreed with could be ignored. I think it is a very good idea when governments start rounding up people for gas chambers, concentration or slave labor camps, or prison ... just be somewhere else.

You may have to abandon everything you and your family ever worked for, with the clothes on your back, but at least when they upholster the living room furniture you left behind ... it won't be with YOUR SKIN.

ZOOM!

... and AllenSmith .....

since you think of yourself as a man of unparalleled courage, perhaps you can take on the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper article at this link.   You may want to copy and past the entire article into a WORD document, as I did, as after awhile they are replaced with more current news.

Hmmmm... the thought just occurred to me ... you may want to copy, then paste the entire article here, then in a different color perhaps, refute it point by point.

This will show everybody how smart you are, and what a fool I am.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/jehovahs-witnesses-sexual-abuse-children-beliefs-rules.html

3 minutes ago, AllenSmith said:

LOL!!!

If you haven't noticed ROOK! being kicked out of this forum because the librarian felt compelled to protect people like you, even though your obnoxious,  I FEAR NOTHING OR NO ONE. There is NO one that important in this lifetime other than the fear of God, that I worry about. But, if you're going to play for the other team? then do it with the strength and pride of saying I'm an ex-witness advocating through a false pretense like that hack Barbra Anderson.

There is absolutely nothing I can do to help you, AllenSmith ..... you are living in a constructed world of fantasy and delusion ... and the fact that you CLAIM to fear nothing and no one proves this .... as a man without fear cannot have any valor overcoming that fear, or long survive with his mental faculties intact.

9 minutes ago, AllenSmith said:

Once again, ROOK! who are you that I should answer your question at all!

I am merely a fellow human being, trying to understand you ... in an arena where forthrightness in dialog and conversation .... is normal.

2 minutes ago, AllenSmith said:

That's why the word "fools" has a makeup and saying in scripture that you fit perfectly!! However, I'm NOT the one lying through his teeth and distorting facts, you, and people like you are!!! Grow up Rook! you're too old to be acting like an immature spiritual child!

I will take the fact that you once again avoided a simple YES or NO question, as solid proof of your malicious nature and intent ... defending the indefensible for fear of losing your "position", whatever that might be.