Another Joke I made up, because I tried to learn Klingon, and was equally bad at it, was:

"Yeah, I like to speak Klingon ... because I get to yell and spit at the same time!'

Queen Ester:

7 hours ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

.. easy for YOU to say... hehehe

I was referring to the German language ... ( it was a joke..). I took about two months of German in High school, and had no talent whatsoever for learning a foreign language ... my Mother was one of identical twins and was almost telepathic, and I did not learn to talk until I started 1st grade in school.

There is an often used joke line in the USA when someone speaks or types in a foreign language, that when they do not understand ANY of it ... to make an astonished face, roll your eyes and say "Easy for YOU to say!", which in your case ... IS easy for you to say .... you speaking the German Language.

Another joke goes like  ....

ME: "Well .. it's a good thing I was not born in Germany!"

SOMEBODY ELSE: " Oh! ... and WHY is it a good thing you were not born in Germany?"

ME: " Because I CAN'T SPEAK GERMAN!"

bADDA-BING !

 Both jokes are better after Pizza and a pitcher of beer!

.

3 hours ago, Witness said:

@James Thomas Rook Jr.,  I am responsible for contributing to going off topic, for which I apologize.  If you can bend just a bit more, I would like to make one last comment on this thread to Arauna, but I’m all for moving it to another spot, since you have that ability, and I don’t. 

For complete and unrestricted freedom of speech, I will bend myself into a pretzel!

I LIKE a "free association", "who knows where the conversation will lead"  semantics and subject brawl.

It's called "Thinking Out Of The Box" .... and I am all for it.

THAT way ... when you discover "New Light" ... next year you just add to it, because it was correct to start with!

 "Old Light" is just darkness, mis-labeled.

.

SS:

I am afraid you are correct about that ... so I have decided to write the Russian Embassy in Washington DC ... and the Governing Body in Warwick, New York, asking BOTH for English Language Transcripts, with a link to this thread for context, and see who, if anybody responds.  I am also going to enclose a check for twenty dollars, each ... and ALSO see who does and does not cash the checks.

It will probably be Monday next when I get to it.

I will post the results, if any, here.

As a precaution, I will also try to find some SPF 5 Million sun tan lotion.

.. easy for YOU to say... hehehe

Even though the authoress died at 103 years, the effect of that 1965 book made its way into a movie ("Back to School", 1986) with Rodney Dangerfield, as a multi-millionaire who very late in life went back to college with his son ... the only way he could get in was with suitcases full of money, and paying for a new building..

With a suitcase full of money, I highly suspect you could get a COMPLETE BETHEL TOUR ... any morning you showed up.

... REALLY.

 

.

 

Since Trump got elected, the LIBERAL Snowflakes have gotten louder and louder!

Details are important.

My wife and I just watched the movie "The Butterfly Effect" last night .... WHoAAA !!!

I would have no problem wearing a Tetragrammaton pin as an Identifier.

About 40 years ago,  I had the letters YHWH on both the rear bumpers of my pickup truck and travel trailer ... I had just arrived in Pennsylvania for a new job, and  Brothers witnessing door-to-door noticed it, and knocked on my trailer door, and that was the Congregation I attended while I was there.

It was on their recommendation, even though I had a FULL BEARD,  that I got to help build the Bethel Branch Office in Lima, Peru, almost 40 years ago, and it changed my entire life ... met a Peruvian Sister there, later married her, and we had three kids who turned out well.

... all because of the YHWH, on the back of my travel trailer bumper.

However, a CORPORATE LOGO is NOT the same thing.

Yeah  ..... so sad that tobacco has hurt so many people ... It killed both of my parents, and a great many great film actors.  Second hand smoke as an infant caused a lifetime of problems for me.

Before I became one of Jehovah's Witnesses, my intrinsic morality was shaped by the characters (NOT the real people!), John Wayne and Paladin.

They both ( the real people) died of cancer ... I think the death of Richard Boone, (Paladin) who died of throat cancer, hit me the hardest.

All 225 of his series episodes in "Have Gun-Will Travel", were in some way excellent morality plays. My wife and I watch these (We have the complete series, on DVDs), several times a week, before we go to bed, and discuss the lessons in the scripts, many which were written by Gene Roddenberry, creator of STAR TREK, also often very good morality plays.

In Star Trek TNG, Worf's portrayals in the episode "Sins of the Father" might be especially poignant for most Jehovah's Witnesses.

 

I remember Burl Ives on a respirator in one movie ... his character was dying ... and he probably was in real life ... and his portrayal was so strong, I remember his performance , but forgot what movie it was.

 

This is GREAT!

I am laughing so hard at the irony of this I can't find my hinges!

If I did that TTH ... you would never learn how to do it.

Think of it as "Tough Love".

Think of me as the mean, nasty, Drill Sergeant that makes your life miserable ... but so that you can survive.

Ever see the movie "Full Metal Jacket"? 

For the discerning ... there are many lessons that can be learned.

It is NOT a movie for the faint of heart, or the deliberate Mickey Mouse.

I am not in ANY way criticizing the far afield meanderings this thread has taken ... just a reminder that the topic

"Why doesn't the Society translate and provide the Russian Court Transcripts for us?"

... is still a topic that is open, and without a real answer.

Without evidence other than 50 or so years of watching ... it appears to me that (OF COURSE!), it's because they do not WANT the general Brotherhood to know the REAL reasons, specifically, of why we were banned... not as individuals ... but the Organization was banned. 

The ORGANIZATION was made illegal, and it's property was confiscated.

An individual Russian Jehovah's Witnesses Family got highly honored awards in public ceremonies by President Putin, at the same time the Organization was dissolved.

...just a thought .. now, back to the regular programming, already in progress.

.

Melinda:

In the grand scheme of things, probably not ... what infuriated me is that the Elders TOP SECRET book the Publishers did not know about, and Sisters were forbidden to read ... that edict was still in effect ( AND STILL IS to the best of my knowledge, but is comically sad...) when Finnish Government officials  were giving copies to the women in the Finnish Government.

I knew for years ( if memory serves) about the book, and said NOTHING anywhere, until I learned the Society had put it into the public domain ... STILL DELIBERATELY keeping it a secret from the general Brotherhood.

I bound myself by a rule the Governing Body  themselves violated ... with BABYLONIANS!

As far as I know, they have NEVER announced the existence of the book by which we are ruled to the general Brotherhood, and it has been SEVEN YEARS.

But several of the Governments we say are under Satan's control were GIVEN copies.

What's wrong with THAT picture?

TTH:

I think you are correct ... that it would be helpful to have some better answers.

Now that more people have cell phones or home phones with unlimited long distance calling for the same price ... why not put on a Sherlock Holmes  double-brimmed detective hat, sit down at the dining room table, and make an investigation!

Probably in less time than it takes to see two TV shows you could have full and complete answers!

No.... I read the book probably before many Congregations had it, from the Internet ... and found it to be a fine and wholesome manual reasonably approximating human justice ... it is the fact that it was kept secret from the Congregation average Publisher that infuriated me and still does!

The "secrecy for the sake of secrecy" model is a cult mentality, that CREATES cults, where none was before, as that model ALWAYS  incubates tyranny.

There have never been any exceptions in the history of civilization. There are none now.

1.) We should be proud of EVERYTHING we do and EVERYTHING we publish .. or we are already ON the slippery slope to evil and eventually to oblivion.

2.) AND, for past failures ....  learn as an organization , top to bottom .... to recognize,  openly and fully admit,  apologize and repair.

This is not the current governing model of the Governing Body

9 hours ago, Gone Fishing said:

Maybe it's just another case of Ei pidä tehdä kärpäsestä härkää.

... and you need to DO SOMETHING, about that "bully" cough!

Arauna:

Of course not, I highly respect your carefully considered opinions, even when I do not agree with them. And I never take offense at carefully considered criticisms, or even baseless malignant and ignorant insults, which I find entertaining and funny.

I came into the TRUTH over a half-century ago because it was the truth, as I understood truth at that time.

... but years before that, in 1962, if memory serves, I adopted the oath Thomas Jefferson declared:

"for I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

... when my life was galvanized and changed forever by a single 4 cent postage stamp.

I do not find our core beliefs incompatible with either my oath of baptism, which, because I was baptized before 1985, when they changed the oath and it did NOT include the Corporate  "Association" clause, or Thomas Jefferson's oath ... which also became my own.

Different people see different things, like the old poem by John Godfrey Saxe of the Elephant being examined by six blind men traveling together.

https://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/blind-men-and-the-elephant.htm

" Blind Men and the Elephant – Theological Truth
When it comes to the moral of the Blind Men and the Elephant, it seems that today’s philosophers end their agenda too quickly. Doesn’t the picture of the blind men and the elephant also point to something bigger -- The elephant? Indeed, each blind man has a limited perspective on the objective truth, but that doesn’t mean objective truth isn’t there. In fact, truth isn’t relative at all… It’s there to discover in all its totality. In theology, just because we have limited access to Truth, that doesn’t mean any and all versions of Truth are equally valid. Actually, if we know the Whole Elephant is out there, shouldn’t this drive us to open our eyes wider and seek every opportunity to experience more of Him?  "

Who can disagree with THAT?

 

As you take a look arcoss these happy Russian, Finnish and other Jehovah's Witnesses, enjoying what they do ....  remember ( if you ever knew) that in 2010 the WTB&TS came out with a super-secret Elders Handbook that governed every aspect of their Congregational Judicial Liability to censure and punishment ... that the rank and file Witnesses  were not allowed to read, and if copied  by a non-elder, had to be WATCHED to make sure they did not read it.

At the same time, of course... the Congregation Elders were running a "court system" parallel to the Finnish court system, and the Finnish Government did not like subversion of their national sovereignty, and could not allow "two court systems". 

The Muslim immigrants which had overrun their country insisted that they be governed by Sharia Law instead of Finnish Law, which started the whole clamp down.

Several years later, if memory serves, at which time, the 2010 supposedly TOP SECRET elders handbook was all over the Internet for anybody to download, but MOST of the Brotherhood was not even aware of it's existence, and still are not seven years later ... TODAY .... which book was NEVER mentioned in the meetings.

Because they were not even aware it existed of course they never got a copy of THEIR "Law Book". ( ! )

To all Jehovah's Witnesses It is a tightly controlled Elders "Eyes Only" book.

The Finnish Government found out about the book, and the WTB&TS gave them TWO copies ... one to the Finnish Minister of Justice, and the other to the Finnish Minister of Education, which again if memory serves , one or both,  or both are women.

Meanwhile, this same book is still "EYES ONLY" classified, FOR JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES and the instructions were THAT IT BE SECRET to the extent that ELDERS WERE TO KEEP IT LOCKED UP AT HOME ... do not leave it on a desk at home, WHERE A SISTER MIGHT READ IT.

This "running movie" started seven years ago, and I am posting this from memory, so please, look it up yourself on the Internet to correct or fill in the blanks.. This sad story is available in great detail if you want to know about it ... and are willing to do the work.

As you take a look across these happy people in Finland, enjoying what they do ....remember the old saying "Ignorance is Bliss"

That old "proverb" was not intended to be an orgasmic goal.

.

Not to me ... because of its religious substitute basis.

The same way that the "cross" may at sometime in the past have been a symbol of Christianity, or perhaps it was the "Fish" .. but nevertheless the cross came to be worshiped as a magic talisman, and the fish .... well ... Google "Pope's Hat Dagon".

The JW.ORG Logo is ALREADY a symbol of adoration to many, many Jehovah's Witnesses, so that battle is ALREADY lost.

At one time in my life I thought about having my Social Security Number tattooed between my toes, as in explosions, sometimes the feet are left more or less intact. Perhaps a sword morphing into a plowshare might work (?)

But, if I wanted a religious Tattoo, it would have to be Jessica Rabbit.

But in the Christian Covenant arrangement there is no prohibition against a generic tattoo .. but there may be against WHAT IT IS ABOUT.

But, if you get a tattoo ... you can't be buried in a Jewish Cemetery.

.

Under the circumstances, that makes perfect sense to me!

Can you make a good case for the idea that it is me?

 The difference between a flower vase and a flower VASE (pronounced Vaaaase"), is  $75.00

The difference between vitriolic,  and "Oh, he is just LIKE that, hehehe ...." eccentricity,  is whether a person is insulting a non deserving person, or a malignant idea.

And I am not trying to persuade you about ANYTHING.

I am trying to get you to think about EVERYTHING.

On 10/17/2017 at 6:15 AM, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

You may have noticed  from the above, TTH, that I ALWAYS try to answer your specific questions, and you NEVER answer mine.

I have submitted to, and answered ALL your questions I ever remember you asking, specifically, and in detail ... and to everybody elses' questions they have submitted ... year after year after year.

The REASON for cross examinations is to arrive at the TRUTH of any matter.  

I submit to all cross-examinations ... and have told many very personal  things about myself to stimulate controversy so that the pot is stirred, and hopefully TRUTHS of all kinds will separate and rise to the top, and have, here on the Archive, for somewhere around six or seven years.

The TRUTH is painful .... and hard .... and soul searching.

The REASON for cross examinations is to arrive at the TRUTHS of many matters   ...  but without them we swim with chains, and we share those chains with others who swim.

There is ALWAYS enough chains.

We both believe in the same God, the Same Christ, the same Kingdom, and the same basic principles, except for only one principal thing, as far as I can see.

You are afraid of the water ... I am afraid of the chains.

Well said... for a "company man".

5 hours ago, TrueTomHarley said:

It's because nobody reads this stuff. And what of this next beaut?

Apparently you don't read it either ... correction ....You do read it but do not understand what you have read, or,  do understand what you have read, and it's too painful to acknowledge.

5 hours ago, TrueTomHarley said:

You do not. You keep telling me I'm in serious needs of meds. And maybe I am. But I never was before I started hanging out here.

It's not enough that you have driven yourself loony?

The fact that you NEVER answer my specific questions PROVE that your thinking that I am looney is hard evidence that I am thinking correctly ... but only hard evidence for those that understand WHY you never answer my questions.

You do understand what you have read, AND  it's too painful to acknowledge.

... therefore, it follows .... I must be loony.

Hmmmm .... having again once answered what I believe is all of YOUR questions (more on that follows...) .... specific, to the point, and to the best of my frazzeled ability, this would be a good time to reiterate my original observation about that, as follows .......

6 hours ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

You may have noticed  from the above, TTH, that I ALWAYS try to answer your specific questions, and you NEVER answer mine.

In your last two posts, I did not know what to do with the second of the three questions you asked me ... but if you would clarify what a "beaut" is, I will earnestly try .... this paragraph being, as you might note an attempt to answer your specific question, and technically it is a specific answer.

5 hours ago, TrueTomHarley said:

And what of this next beaut?

You have to excuse me, now ... I am about to take my wife out to brunch at Golden Corral, as it is cheaper than buying a really good breakfast and lunch at home ... and no preparation ... and no dishes !

I assure you there is no nefarious intent being away from the keyboard for an afternoon, or even all day ... like giving the invisible ninjas stationed in your house the "go code".

yeah... I wouldn't do THAT this afternoon ....

(rubs hands together as if putting on hand lotion ... with maniacal giggling)