James Thomas Rook Jr.

Colin:

This is very true.

I myself, in 1969 ran an experiment on myself, back when I had a large reel-to reel tape recorder, with 8" diameter tape reels.

I had noticed that every time I drank Southern Comfort Whiskey, I would get dramatically smarter.

So one Friday after work, I set up my tape recorder and opened a new bottle of Southern Comfort whiskey ... and started drinking.

My goal was to transcribe the "Secrets of the Universe" as I got drunker and drunker, and in the morning, I would play the tape back, transcribe it into a best selling book, or perhaps benefit from the wisdom captured on tape.

The more I drank the smarter I got, and I was excited and kept talking, and drinking. Talking and drinking. Talking and drinking.

It was like having a Revelation from God!  The joy was palpable!

The next morning I woke up on the floor, and my tape recorder was going "flip-flip-flip-flip" as it was still running but had run out of tape.

After the room stopped spinning I re-wound the tape ... got a clean notebook and several pens, and started to write it all down. 

I remembered quite clearly the brilliance that I spoke as the night before the clouds of ignorance and darkness evaporated from my mind, and the complete clarity of thought ... intense and resolute!

I carefully listened to the tape for perhaps two hours,  I even heard when  I had fallen off my chair, and lay there on the floor ... silent.

It was just another incoherent drunk, babbling complete and utter nonsense.

How did I get smarter... you might ask?

I had definite proof that when drinking, what you THINK is going on is completely divorced from reality.

Did I learn this lesson?

No,

But that is another story.

Why I am still alive is a complete wonder.

Something similar happens when you put out a contract to have someone killed, when you are too old or disinclined to do it yourself.

Your "hit man" does your bidding, but it can be traced back to you.

So you get a second "hit man" to bump off the first one.

Then you get a third one to off the second one, etc., etc.

..... but ultimately, it's free !

By the way, with the Hatfields and McCoys, the reason that stopped their feuding is the Hatfields, most of them I am told, became Jehovah's Witnesses. It may or may not be true, as I have forgotten where I got that info ... so just consider it an old man's fairy tale.

However, I had the distinct pleasure of dancing with Libby Hatfield, of Chattaroy, West Virginia, at a "gathering" in Roanoke, Virginia., circa 1976.

THAT ... I remember.

If it was me ... I would harness tidal forces ... which operate 24/7/365 for a billion years and more.

Write me a honkin' big check, and when it clears the bank ... I will show you how it is done.

I have always had a gut feeling that a ratio something like this was correct, so disregarding the personal tragedies institutionally ...  as flawed humans we are by comparison doing extremely well.   Certainly Jehovah's spirit has a LOT to do with that.

What frosts my ice tray is the global cover-up and denial, and officially declaring what is proven to be absolutely true as "APOSTATE LIES" .

... AND PAYING TEAMS OF LAYERS TO PERVERT JUSTICE WITH THE BROTHERHOOD'S MONEY (JEHOVAH'S MONEY) BEING USED TO COVER-UP, OBFUSCATE, AND LIE ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON.

I try to be a loyal Theocratic man ... but I make a CRAPPY  Corporation shill.

57 minutes ago, Shiwiii said:

think this is enough to answer your question. While there is much more, I really don't think you are interested in the answer, just a sort of game to see if I would jump through your hoops. Well I did, but it wasn't for just you. 

I agree with MOST of what you said .... but you "got me" at the last line.

Bravo!

Whenever I think "Toga", I think of John Belushi and "Food Fight".

One thing to consider when giving "theocratic policy advice" ... it has to make common sense ... in ALL cultures.

It has to be a DIRECT transfer of information from the Bible, without adulterating it with culturally induced prejudices. Many people feel things to the very marrow of their bones like a ravenous hunger .. that are not scriptural.

The reason we have "new light" is because of sloppy, incompetent thinking in the past.  Years from now those with a conscience will be lamenting the damage they created with what they taught TODAY.

Hopefully lamenting ...

... as they bear, as I do, PERSONAL MORAL RESPONSIBILITY for screwing up peoples lives. I ruined several peoples' lives with bad advice, with the ABSOLUTE best of intentions ... but their lives were still ruined ... and I could not fix it.

This also happens on an institutional level as official policy decisions that are not REALLY scripturally based ... ruins hundreds of thousands of lives, by leaders ALSO presumably with the very best of intentions.

The responsibility to have and use a trained conscience is not that of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Soclety. 

It is ours alone.

In the February 2017 Watchtower, they were eventually and FINALLY forced by outside sources (ARC) to admit in print that they were neither inspired of God, or infallible.

That means you have to check EVERYTHING they say ... just as in the early church, the Bereans did, and compare it with what is reasonable, and makes common sense.

Fortunately for us at the bottom, justice from Jehovah is  tempered with mercy for blind pawns.   (John 9:41)

About 12 years ago, when it appeared that I was on my "death bed",  and did not have very long to live ... I told my ex-wife how I wanted to be buried, and she flatly refused to do it.

I told her I wanted to be double wrapped in HEFTY yard leaf bag sized trash bags, and put out on the curb.

... Tuesdays, it was the City's problem.

Kevin Costner reported missing.

Yeah ... I remember how happy Michelle was when I bought her her first "Trailer Park" Barbie Doll, pregnant and holding a baby (the doll).

I got her the "Special Addition" that when you pushed the doll's belly-button, she (the doll) said "Pour me a double ... I'm drinkin' for TWO!".

About a month ago, I had a chat with some Elders who asked "how is it going" ... and I growled back at them "I could do without Caleb and Sophia".

The CC replied, "Well, I am sure they have their place ..."

I thought it anatomically prudent to not say where ....

14 hours ago, The Librarian said:

Wow.... they must have been doing over 120mph for that kind of 'air". 

I bet some smart person could calculate the weight of the car and the height to determine the necessary speed for such an accident.

I have calculated that the car needs to go at least 88 miles per hour, and be equipped with a Flux Capacitor, a "Mr. Fusion", matter converter, and get struck by lightening with 1.21 Gigawatts of current.

I relied on the equations of Dr. Emmett Brown, if memory serves. He is famous for the expression "Where we are going .... we don't NEED any roads.".

But how do the feel about Caleb's Teddy Bear, and Sophia's Pet Rabbit?

They have to know these things to answer all the baptismal questions!

As I was googling "Caleb and Sophias'  pet Rabbit", this popped up.

You misspelled Dembbells.

I NEVER joke with Robots.

It just irritates them.

Even Jesus and his Mother and Stepfather fled to another country, during the "Crazy Years".

1 hour ago, Matthew9969 said:

Jehovahs witness business owners may do better with Trumps tax plan, so they may be more willing to vote from trump because he's helping them make more money to give to the governing body. Jesus may benefit from that as well as He is just a bystander on the jw road.

I very seldom... perhaps once a year, "downvote" someone, but the logic of THAT approaches true insanity.

4 hours ago, Cos said:

Newton also got things wrong like universal gravitation, and the claim that time was absolute when its not and Unitarianism...just to name a few!

How about addressing the "Elephant in the Room"?

5 hours ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

Christendom, the political empire disguised as a religion, is responsible for slaughtering A HALF BILLION people, in Europe alone, in the last 1700 years .... and during World War One, killed a MILLION of their brethren on the border between Germany and France, in ONE year long battle.

Those that espouse TRINITARIAN BELIEFS KILL INNOCENT PEOPLE.

Hundreds of MILLIONS of PEOPLE.

The proof of any "philosophy" is how it works out in real life.

All else is FANTASY.

If a horse in a race is wearing a cowbell and says "MOOO!", perhaps you don't want to bet on THAT one.

Bad theology produces bad results.

Have you ever noticed that several of your friends seem not to have evolved?

Find a video documentary on how the Hawaiian Islands were formed by Plate Tectonics,  and consider that they were formed by a Earth Crustal hot spot ........ that never moves.

Tectonic plates move to the west between volcanic eruptions, creating a string of islands ... but that hot spot never moves.

This is a geological hot spot ... not like the biological hot spots mentioned above ...

The African Sahara Desert has its own ecology now... quite different from the time it was lush jungle millions of years ago.

99% of all species that have ever lived are extinct today.

STUFF HAPPENS .... but I digress.

Perhaps even a Starship impacting the Earth deep below the Pacific Ocean.

It might just be..... "those aliens".

Hmmmmmm.

I never advise people what to do on "theocratic matters"  ... I only give them information.

As a younger man, full of righteous zeal, my "theocratic" policy advice ruined several people's lives, and it cannot be corrected.

As today's WT study pointed out for the first time, in the last few paragraphs .... there is infinite variety to motives.

However, I do have to completely stay away from Kryptonite.

if it were completely legal (federal and State...), and my wife did not mind, I would have some Marijuana brownies in moderation for three days ONLY, then never again, under carefully controlled conditions, and competent independent supervision.

There are receptors on the ends of neuron synapses that are are sized and shaped for THC ONLY, and to me that implies design intent.

I have watched this phenomena for a half-century now, and I have actually noticed people that "imbibed" for very short periods being dramatically smarter, and people that were regular users being dramatically stupider.

However, ask any fireman, if you are unclear on the concept, about the effects of smoke in human lungs.

oH LIKE wow mAN... LOOKIT ALL THE new light!

..AND IT'S GETTIN brighter...ER BRIGHTER!

...sOMETHI' WRONG with my PUNCtuATION ... MAN.

Hey man ...uh ... as spokesperson for "United Heads for Hemp" I can tell you ....

..uh ....OH LIKE WOW!

I HEAR ORANGES!