James Thomas Rook Jr.

I ask Jehovah to give me patience .... because

if he gives me strength ... heads are gonna roll!

J.R. Ewing

I thought you were doing fine ... just fine ... until the last three sentences.

They do not seem to be related to what you stated before them.

Could you be more clear?

I find it amusing and sad at the same time that through the Watchtower, we had to be counseled that we could no longer KILL OUR APOSTATE RELATIVES!

( ... probably advice from the Society's Lawyers and Accountants...)

.

4 hours ago, JW Insider said:

5 hours ago, bruceq said:

5 hours ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

I upvote ANYBODY when what they say is true, and/or really applicable.

We know. Satan said some things that were also true. 

But wasn't it Billy Graham or one of those preachers from a bye-gone generation who said:

"We should learn to love and value truth for its own sake. . . . A truth presented by Satan himself is just as true as a truth stated by God."

 

Actually, it was Charles Taze Russell ....in

the very FIRST issue of the Watchtower.

July 1, 1879 in the article "What is Truth?"

Here is the full text of the article ....

"WHAT IS TRUTH?" 

This question is one which every sincere Christian should ask and seek to answer. We 
should learn to love and value truth for its own sake; to respect and honor it by owning 
and acknowledging it wherever we find it and by whomsoever presented. A truth 
presented by Satan himself is just as true as a truth stated by God. 

Perhaps no class of people are more apt to overlook this fact than the Christian. How 
often do they in controversy overlook and ignore truth presented by their opponents. 
This is particularly the case when arguing with an infidel. They feel at perfect liberty to 
dispute everything he says on religious subjects. This is not the correct principle. Many 
infidels are honest— as anxious to speak and believe the truth as are Christians— and if in 
converse with them we ignore truths which they may advance, we not only fail to 
convince them of our truths, but put an end to all hope of reaching them; for our failure 
to admit the evident truth which they advance begets in them contempt for the one who 
is not honest enough to admit one truth because he does not see how it can be reconciled 
to another. Accept truth wherever you find it, no matter R9 : page 3 what it contradicts, 
and rely for ability to afterwards harmonize it with others upon "The Spirit of truth, 
which shall guide you into all truth," as Jesus promised. 

Truth, like a modest little flower in the wilderness of life, is surrounded and almost 
choked by the luxuriant growth of the weeds of error. If you would find it you must be 
ever on the lookout. If you would see its beauty you must brush aside the weeds of error 
and the brambles of bigotry. If you would possess it you must stoop to get it. 

Be not content with one flower of truth. Had one been sufficient there would have been 
no more. Gather ever, seek for more. 

Weave them together as a garland —"Bind them on thee as a bride doeth." "Bind them 
about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: so shalt thou find favor and 
good understanding in the sight of God and man." Prov. 3:3. 

C. T. R. 

I believe that covers it ALL.

Oh ... and JW Insider ... thanks for the "setup".

 

.........

2 minutes ago, J.R. Ewing said:

You would think so. This physics automatically “assume” the diameter of the round peg is narrower. Forgetting the color sequence. Then, what if the circumference of the round peg is larger? Can you fit a round peg in a square hole without having to “force” it?

Does a bullfrog bump his tail, every time he hops?

I dunno.

3 minutes ago, bruceq said:

We know. Satan said some things that were also true. 

The source did NOT make those things any LESS true.

If your allegiance is to the TRUTH ... it is never mis-spent.

I upvote ANYBODY when what they say is true, and/or really applicable.

bruceq:

You mentioned that it was in the late 70's ... that would make it AFTER the 1975 fiasco.

Perhaps a case, a GOOD case can be made ...  that by polluting the Word of God with silly, irrelevant and completely fabricated made up drivel,  and having NOTHING to do with reality, spirituality or TRUTH .... that the Elder you mentioned was CHASED AWAY.

Thrown to the wolves for not believing in what proved to be WRONG!

People ...most all people ... come to a point when they notice that there is a BIG difference between theory, and reality ... and when the people they have been relying on for spiritual guidance FAIL them ... they flounder about and get caught up in all kinds of things.

I greatly appreciate that by staying close to Jehovah's People during the 70s, through the 90s, and beyond, it saved me from MANY dangers and trialsome things I have seen happen to outsiders .... but then again, I never trusted ANYBODY overly much.

ESPECIALLY self-appointed "Sheriffs".

My Mother was a wonderful woman, and loved Jehovah with her whole heart, but there were many areas of human experience that she just did not see or understand ... even though she had been a Navy nurse during WWII, and saw more than most. 

She gave me much good advice ... and some bad advice.

I loved her dearly .... but I did not take her bad advice.

DISOBEYING HER, AND IGNORING HER BAD ADVICE WAS NOT DISLOYALTY !

This is how I view Jehovah' Witnesses, whose competence and motivations, as are my own,  cyclic like the ocean tides ... NOT a static thing.

Such is life among DNA based big ugly bags of mostly water.

Reality 101.

JUSTICE ... we get only from Jehovah God.

... all else is just "due process" ... sometimes resembling Justice.

On 8/20/2017 at 11:41 AM, Brother Rando said:

 The Last Days that began in 1914 are now coming to their end.

It is NOT a kindness to hang a man ... slowly.

September 1, 2017

I am pleased to relate that the Jehovah's Witness Governing Body has decided to open all Kingdom Halls and Convention and Assembly Halls from Oklahoma, Texas, Nevada, New Mexico, Louisiana  and surrounding states to all  Hurricane refugees ... and those built with commercial grade kitchens (from former years when cooked meals were available at Assemblies ...) will be operated around the clock by Brothers and Sisters to provide hot meals not only for displaced JWs (4,100 from Houston, alone...) but for any person displaced by this natural catastrophe.

By liquidating just 3% of the Society's stock investments, they will be able to care for all those men, women, and children who hunger and thirst..the sick and injured, and the weary who have no place to even dry off, or lay their head.

I doubt that any quantum computer in the foreseeable future will be able to jump an air gap of about six feet.

There is a quantum computer already with INCREDIBLE properties, made of meat (mostly fat), that has not yet managed telepathy.

If we can no longer kill our children ... can we chain them to the rafters in the attic?

I mean ... if we take them outside when they howl and wail, to "go potty"?

.....

9 minutes ago, J.R. Ewing said:

Well, you can bluster all you want. That's typical of a jaded person that has NO common sense. But, I was referring to intellectually, NOT childish gibberish. So, you and JTR need to try harder, possibly in the realm of adulthood.

This is why I LIKE being a comedian on this forum ... no shortage of comedic "Straight Men".

And don't forget, 1914 was when Edgar Rice Burroughs published  his famous book "Tarzan of the Apes", which was such a magnificent piece of literature (seriously), that the little town North of Los Angeles, California where Burroughs lived was renamed Tarzana, California!

I have a similar problem ... when I attempt to use Computer Assisted Drafting (CAD) on my Etch-A-Sketch, the only thing I can draw is stairs.

Due to there being water EVERYWHERE ... the Society has changed some training procedures.

IN FACT .. there is so much water in South Texas, that TrueTomHarley, way up there in Liberalville, is able to now use his new Home Depot Bluetooth Cordless Hose.

I go back to my statement, (paraphrased) "You cannot make someone do what he ethically would not do ... but you would be surprised what a person WANTS to do, when his inhibitions are removed."

Some people are hypnotizeable... some are not ... and a great majority of people KNOW what they are doing when they get up on stage and act like a chicken, or engage in orgiastic sex, or kill someone ... because their ethics would have allowed them to do that in the first place WITHOUT hypnosis ...

If I gave a person a strong post-hypnotic suggestion to murder Adolph Hitler, as an example ... most people would try and follow through, as an obsession ... because they would do that if they normally could.

... and don't believe what may "experts" say about hypnosis ... they are selling books or scripts or audio "tapes".

1 hour ago, J.R. Ewing said:

That’s an odd statement coming from a supposed liberal, TTH. Are you trying your hand at censorship now?

 

 

I would think, that direction would fit first with JTR, then others! or am I hurting the bottom financial line.

I just woke up, so perhaps I have neurons still sleeping, but could you please explain that statement as if I was a three year old?  I do NOT believe in censorship of ANY kind, anywhere, any time. I believe in people making themselves smarter so they can see what is true, and what is not.  I do draw the line at fighting for an idiots right to free speech, but I would not censor him (or her). 

I may ignore them completely, AND/OR separate myself from them .... and if they threaten my safety or life,  I may kill them,  but everyone should have the right to speak freely without censorship and repercussions ... BUT NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO BE LISTENED TO.

.

Only because they burst out in laughter while explaining it.

9 minutes ago, TrueTomHarley said:

2 hours ago, Albert Michelson said:

Granted they're not fundamental doctrines

No. They're not.

Why harp on them, then? Who cares?

These doctrines are NOT necessary for Salvation.

But if you DON"T give lip service to believing them,  you get slandered, "banished to Coventry" and your family gets taken hostage, until you lie and say they ARE ...

.... and do it convincingly!

I designed a 10.000 year storm model for Savannah River Site (Dept. of Energy, near Aiken, SC), for a radioactive waste burial grounds, which was silly, as it would be part of the Atlantic Ocean ... and no records exist, it was calculated using a great range of assumptions and questionable formulas. ... but Houston supposedly is a 500 year storm, which would have cost billions of dollars to design for, and may turn out as a 1,000 year storm before it is finished.

NOBODY can afford to plan for every possible emergency.

Putting up barriers to prevent a person from running into porcupines is an example.

I used to work in Houston, and it has flooding problems with a five year storm, and less ... and cannot afford to design for normal annual rainfall without underpasses into the city flooding.

Theoretically, you have a thousand year storm every thousand years ... practically you can have two in one week.

I designed a 10.000 year storm model for Savannah River Site (Dept. of Energy, near Aiken, SC), for a radioactive waste burial grounds, which was silly, as it would be part of the Atlantic Ocean ... and no records exist, it was calculated using a great range of assumptions and questionable formulas. ... but Houston supposedly is a 500 year storm, which would have cost billions of dollars to design for, and may turn out as a 1,000 year storm before it is finished.

NOBODY can afford to plan for every possible emergency.

Putting up barriers to prevent a person from running into porcupines is an example.

I used to work in Houston, and it has flooding problems with a five year storm, and less ... and cannot afford to design for normal annual rainfall without underpasses into the city flooding.

Theoretically, you have a thousand year storm every thousand years ... practically you can have two in one week.