James Thomas Rook Jr.

9 hours ago, AllenSmith said:

Stick to what you know best, Cartoon!!!!

Works for ME!

Think Tight Pants Tony would like this cartoon?

John:

You have tunnel vision, and it's a long tunnel, and what you see is an oncoming train.

There are thousands of massacres occurring all over the place, and always have been.

In 1995 Rwanda had a MILLION PEOPLE MURDERED , with 800,000 machetes the government bought for some carefully planned ethnic cleansing, by the general populace, against the general populace.

Just google Massacres, or Genocide, and the name of any particular country you want to know about.

Most massacres and genocides are done with edged weapons, or poison gas, or other non-gun methods, blunt force trauma leading the pack.

IT"S CHEAPER THAN FIREARMS AND BULLETS!!

Even Australia has it's gun massacres  ..... as happened in Tasmania, at Port Arthur about 22 years ago.  Australia had been disarmed, but one of the guns confiscated  SOMEHOW was used to kill kill 35 people and wound 23.

OH WAIT!  Let me rephrase that .

The firearm was in a police storage area and was used as a tool to murder and maim them ... by an evil MAN.  The rifle itself was quite content in the dark, in a police impound area.

Of course the Aboriginal Australians were massacred, but massacre is hardly the right word ... GENOCIDE is.

You are WAY, WAY behind on your history.

Add that to an agenda driven perception and you will absolutely insure that as you said... you were wrong before, and will be wrong again.

And you are wrong NOW.

When I propose mindless fluff, I do not mind,  AllenSmith, because I have YOUR mind,  in mind.

By the way .... you just did EXACTLY what Matthew9969 accused you of.

ZING!

17 hours ago, AllenSmith said:

21 hours ago, Matthew9969 said:

Thank you for showing a perfect example of how detached from reality you jw's are.  Also how you attempt to deflect the conversation to something else...what the heck does forcing people to divorce have to do with the subject? You born in jw's have no clue how religious charities work, you do realize there is more research outside of the watchtower publications don't you?

Is it any different from the mindless fluff, you, JTR, and others offer as tangible proof?

 

AllenSmith:

I used to live in Malibu, California, on the Beach ... and in Hollywood, California in a "Hill House", overlooking Los Angeles lights and watched ships out at sea from my back deck ... from income generated by my own hand.

You NEVER know what you are talking about, and this is no exception.

You also never answer important questions, but attack the person asking them, as you have done here.

You are possibly a very fine Brother, among some I probably would not get along with, otherwise.

( JTR pauses to throw a brick through the plate glass window...)

Remember the original question?

"DOES THE GOVERNING BODY LIVE ON CAMPUS OR OFF CAMPUS?

I would like to supplement that with:

"Who lives in the Watchtower owned residence valued at 1.4 MILLION DOLLARS in Colony Park gated community, 35 miles from the Campus?"

Hmmmm?

There is a Klingon saying:
"A fast man with a sharp knife, can slit a thousand throats a night."

51 minutes ago, John Lindsay Barltrop said:

James, I will tell you why I said that re your personality, it was because of this comment: 

"Perhaps one day some nutcase will shoot up your Kingdom Hall with you inside."

I thought; "How could a Brother, hope that another Brother would get shot up whilst attending a meeting at a Kingdom Hall"                       

John:

It is clear from my comment ... and what you got out of it ... which are completely unrelated ... that your reading comprehension skills are filtered through your particular AGENDA driven thought processes, or that you have no reading comprehension skills.

I offered for consideration a rational POSSIBILITY in keeping with real current events ... NOT a desire that it would happen.

I personally feel reassured when good men and/or women walk around town with loaded guns ... you feel threatened.

I live in a ZERO CRIME neighborhood in my end of the subdivision I live in, because EVERYBODY shoots off their back deck, and the folks who own the farm next to my lot apparently have a LOT of money for ammunition, as on Sundays. it sounds like a target range.

What you hear is a cause for fear .... I hear as the SOUNDS OF FREEDOM!

I mow my lawn with gunfire on both sides of me without apprehension, because I know these folks are intelligent, safety conscious, responsible people.

You need to associate with a better class of people, or teach yourself to become one... 

.... or live in irrational fear as you do now.

51 minutes ago, John Lindsay Barltrop said:

Maybe you can answer the question James......Why do these  insane massacres by lone gunmen continue unabated in the USA, and yet nowhere else in the world?

These things happen EVERYWHERE ... you just are unaware of it.

Knives are used more than 6 times as often as guns in murders ... and bare hands and feet  about 2.5 times more than rifles.

... and anyone nuts enough to do so can ram a crowd with a 2,000 pound car at 60 mph and kill and maim dozens.

I guess the REAL answer to your agenda loaded question is what always answers the various questions that are elusive.

INFINITE VARIETY.

An old but interesting book to read is "The Gospel According to Billy".

He had quite the mechanized operation, but he was loved by EVERYBODY .... because he paid list price for everything, and paid C.O.D.

None of this "wait 120 days or four billing cycles..."

When his operations moved to Charlotte, NC about a dozen years ago, it created a real estate boom.

I often think that if he did not have a square jaw, and a Lion's mane .... but looked and sounded like Danny Divito, if he would have been as well received.

Sadly .... no.

The first thing I go to when I visit someone at their house is their bookcases, to see what they read .... and all too often I have seen NOTHING but the Society's publications.

It is as if ignorance is a badge of honor.

41 minutes ago, John Lindsay Barltrop said:

Tell JTRJ, were you ever in the military?

John:

That is a fair question .... ( the irony of me replying  to you after the above, does not go un-noticed...)

No, I never was.  

I was 18 during the peak of the Vietnam War, and was a Conscientious Objector. 

My file was about 4" thick at the Selective Service Office, and the committee assembled with me at the end of the long table threatened to send me to prison for five years, if I refused induction.  They realized I was as serious and resolute as a heart attack ... and I was granted my "I-O" (Conscientious Objector) status, and was excused from military service.

War is a political activity to force people to do things you want as a matter of national policy.

I did not like "policy wonks" at age 18 ... and I do not like them now.

That is one of many reasons that I appreciate the training I had as a 1960's era Jehovah's Witness ..... it saved me from killing a lot of innocent people.

Personal Self Defense is NOT War.

Oh, and because there are at least three "Tom"s on the archive, by convention and preference JTR works without ambiguity.

5 hours ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

What does THAT mean?

4 hours ago, John Lindsay Barltrop said:

Go figure it out. If you can't, I do feel sorry for you.

When you are unable or unwilling to explain a simple sentence that you, yourself authored ...

... that in itself is pitiable. 

It was an honest question, and the response was evasion ...

... that in itself is arrogance and dishonesty.

4 minutes ago, John Lindsay Barltrop said:

I am pleased to see that your Christian personality is is shinning through.........or is it your true personality???

What does THAT mean?

We have gone a LOOOong way since we were simple Bible Students seeking the approval of Jehovah God and his Christ.

lyrics to Mercedes Benz / Janis Joplin

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a color TV ?
Dialing For Dollars is trying to find me.
I wait for delivery each day until three,
So oh Lord, won't you buy me a color TV ?

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a night on the town ?
I'm counting on you, Lord, please don't let me down.
Prove that you love me and buy the next round,
Oh Lord, won't you buy me a night on the town ?

Everybody!
Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends,
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?

 

2 hours ago, John Lindsay Barltrop said:

As Jehovah's Witnesses, we are, or should be, disciples - or, footstep followers - of Jesus Christ

... and as far as being footstep followers of Jesus Christ ... there is NO RECORD of any children being Baptized in the Bible, and Jesus himself was age 30 when he was Baptized.

We are baptizing children at the ages of 8, and up.

Follow Jesus?

Gimmee a BREAK!

His example is being totally ignored.

1 hour ago, John Lindsay Barltrop said:

Well, I personally do not think that that is something to be proud of, and I personally would rank you among the the other approx. 88% of the population in the States who appear to have this inane love of guns.

You obviously do not see the point that Jesus making on the night of his arrest. Interesting is a comment from the Insight volumes:         "(Jesus) desired to have a sword available among his followers on that night in order to demonstrate clearly that, though they would come into circumstances that could easily provoke armed resistance, he did not intend to resort to the sword but would give himself up voluntarily in harmony with God’s will."

As Jehovah's Witnesses, we are, or should be, disciples - or, footstep followers - of Jesus Christ.......and I am reasonably sure that he did not walk around Galilee and Judea 'armed to the teeth.'

John:

You are certainly entitled to your opinions ...... and the writers of the Insight Volumes were certainly entitled to their OPINIONS.

Remember the Feburary 2017 Watchtower where the GB admitted for the first time what has been for so very long painfully obvious ... that they are " ... neither inspired of God, or infallible"?

DUH!

Get back in your Squad Car, Dick Tracy !

The fact of the matter is that it was common practice for Galileans to be armed at all times .... the ones who were not armed were often naked from being robbed, and perhaps dead in the middle of the road ... or worse.

  As Luke 22:36 points out ... the Apostles had the own PERSONAL swords with them in the room at Passover, and at the first Memorial ... or do you think the caterer provided swords, that back then were as expensive as a fine camera today, to cut their mutton?

... and it was not to protect themselves from 2nd story BEARS in downtown Jerusalem.

My take on Jesus' words were that cutting off the ear of the slave of the High Priest was ENOUGH to demonstrate that their illegal arrest of Jesus at night would be "expensive" for them if they were really not going to take him to trial, but summary execution.

Perhaps one day some nutcase will shoot up your Kingdom Hall with you inside.

Please feel free to throw your cell phone at him, because it will be all over by the time you get a police response.

Besides, I think it is IMMORAL to the extreme ... to ask a Babylonian Police Officer to put his life on the line for ANYONE ... if ... they are not willing to defend themselves.

13 hours ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

Several years ago, in Grand Prairie, Texas, Four Sisters out in Service were killed when their car was T-Boned at an intersection.

Those that "live by the car .... die by the car"".

So, TTH ... who actually "lives by the sword"?

I have carried weapons every day for over 50 years, and have never hurt or killed ANYONE.

I have, however, encouraged some bad actors to behave themselves.

..... I had to stop typing for a few minutes, now I am back.  

My wife, Susan, was crying her eyes out at her computer about stories of people that were killed in Florida, wailing that these people "... never had a chance at life ....", spoken through racking sobbing.

They never had a chance ... because GOOD MEN were forbidden to do what GOOD MEN do, and forbidden to have with them the tools they needed to do it.

The two coaches who were shot down running TOWARD the gunfire were MEN.

They too, never had a chance of surviving the encounter, but they did it anyway.

MEN of honor do not have a craven fear of death.

7 hours ago, Queen Esther said:

STILL  MANY  PEOPLE  HAVE  TO  DIE  BEC. YOUR  CRAZY  LAWS  IN  THE  USA ;-((   poor people  and  kids

Germany for a hundred years has had EXCELLENT and almost total civilian gun control ... so had the old Soviet Union, and the Empire of Japan ... and now the Russian Federation.  So does North Korea, and China.

... and as far as it is possible for a person to be peaceable with all people , we all remember 75 years ago what a comforting people the Germans and Japanese were.

It all makes perfect sense ..... it is based on what is real, and not some Disneyland fantasy.

To understand why, with all the crap going on, I still "throw my hat in the ring" with Jehovah's Witnesses, you would have to see the movie "Hacksaw Ridge", to understand why people who are severely mistreated consider the mission more important than the bullys, the clueless, and the deeply flawed leadership that are blind guides, but are working for Theocratic interests and the common good, with their hands also tied behind their backs by policy wonks who have no clue as to what Justice and Mercy and fairness really is.

Throughout History, there is ALWAYS a time when Justice is supplanted by money interests ... people start building great construction projects.

Justice must be tempered with mercy for blind pawns doing the best they are allowed to be.

John 9:41

You do not fight wars with the Armies you want .... you fight wars with THE ARMIES YOU HAVE.

 

My suggestion, John Butler, is to "follow Jehovah's Chariot" closely, but follow the clown car on the road to life at a respectful distance, and realize the clown car  is NOT  dependable.

Nothing really is.

I have already stated the reasons I do not view Holy Spirit as a Holy Ghost ....

And, you may want to substitute "Birth Certificate", for "Drivers License".

During World War II, the Japanese Military High Command  considered invading America ( and actually did have troops stationed in Alaska for awhile, in the Aleutian Islands ...) but that suggestion was nixed when it was pointed out that "EVERYONE" in America was armed, and the Japanese soldiers would be shot at from behind every tree, rock and building, without letup.

Those that do not read and understand History are by nature Liberal Snowflakes, because of a world view that is NOT based on reality, the way reality really is.

I, too, look forward to the time when the tools of self defense are not mis-used, or even necessary ... but that is NOT NOW.

Only a fool deliberately makes himself helpless.

... there is of course a "Liberal Snowflake" solution to the school shootings ....

Going back to my original comment about public hangings ... the LAST public hanging in the United States was in 1936.

THAT is when the Liberal Snowflakes began to accumulate.

Since public hangings were stopped,  the dull, and stupid, and crazy have been accumulating like snowballs on a downhill slope.

 

I left my 18 shot 9mm pistol on my front porch swing, with two additional magazines for a whole afternoon ... and to my surprise ... it did NOT KILL ANYONE.

Years ago.... Australia was disarmed ... and the murder rate by knives, baseball bats and poison went up.

... I am not counting the Tasmanian Massacre where a rifle turned in to the police according to law was sold illegally BY THE POLICE to an assasin, and was used in the massacre.

Crazy or EVIL people kill innocent people.

Guns by themselves have no sentient will.

What part of DUH ... do you not understand?

Several years ago, in Grand Prairie, Texas, Four Sisters out in Service were killed when their car was T-Boned at an intersection.

Those that "live by the car .... die by the car"".

42 minutes ago, John Lindsay Barltrop said:

We certainly await the time when Jehovah says: "Enough is enough!" and brings this wicked system to its end.

The U.S. Constitution's 2nd Amendment does not GIVE natural rights ... it only protects them by force of law.

Everything that lives has the NATURAL right of self defense .... if he, or it, chooses to exercise it ... and can manage it.

...... even a cat has retractable claws.

The NATURAL right of self defense was not insured by the founders of the United States to protect us from belligerent deer.

Here is the acid test ..... If you could choose any country, at any time in history to live in ... what and when would you choose?

This is NOT a theoretical question.

If you could choose any country, at any time in history to live in ... what and when would you choose?

If you understand History and you are not delusional, the answer is here ... and now.

Like a brass plaque from a Nautical Supply House I have on my filing cabinet says. ...

"Pray towards Heaven

Row towards Shore".