James Thomas Rook Jr.

... sigh .....

"We have met the enemy ... and he is us."   -   Pogo.

Digital SLRs are easier to acquire than time machines ....

You apparently believe in "punctuated evolution", and I believe in "punctuated creation" FOR that evolution.

Again ... the six blind men trying to discern what an elephant is.

Polaroids, or a digital SLR, and a time machine would not help any of them.

That's why Callahan had a sign over the bar in his saloon, "Time Travelers Strictly Cash".

And AlanF:

I am sure your blood relatives were merely noble savages who sat on their horses with tears in their eyes, rolling down their cheeks, as they looked out over the amber waves of grain, and the purple mountains majesty, and saw all the roadside litter.

.... gentle pacifists, each and every one, when the Indian Nations were not killing each other.

3 hours ago, AlanF said:

Most of the time his opponents, as well as their groupies, were too ignorant and/or stubborn to admit it. Like you. LIke ever-Trumpers are about Trump's criminality.

Trump is GOOD at it, and as far as I am concerned is the best President since Jackson.

As far as I am concerned, he saved the Republic from the evil liberal swamp creatures, already.

President Jimmy Carter was a fine, "christian" man, and a nuclear engineer, and a good carpenter building houses for the homeless ... and a tireless worker, even when exhausted, and my guess is absolutely honest .... .... but was a really crappy President.

As far as Trump goes, politics is like playing poker ... You are there to cut the others' hearts out and eat them, or you should not be playing.

...that's what the job is.

I can see how a rudimentary eye might develop, but not one with multiple coordinated lens systems, an iris, to regulate light and exposure, etc, etc. and then there is the neural interface to the brain, etc., etc.

And the ear, which has miniature bones that move, and is an electromechanical marvel.

That being said, which to me, who spent a lifetime designing things... all kinds of things ... before I retired, and recognize designed things when I see them, I believe in ... based entirely on my own insight and experience, and observation ... in seeing in all life on Earth the directed hand of God.

After much study and reflection, taking into account millions of tons of hard fossil evidence that cannot be ignored, I believe in "Punctuated Creation" over the past few billion years, where guided evolution and dramatic corrections took place , which if explained simply enough to a 3rd grader, by being simplified into the word "Evolution".

The Humanoids that lived before the direct creation of Adam and Eve, did exist, and they did in fact "evolve", but had no spiritual component, or opportunity to live forever .... that we know about (!).

If you have a better idea, I am "all ears", as mine is only an educated and thoughtful "best guess", with what I know.

EVERYTHING that took place before Satan rebelled against God about 6,000 years ago ..... was "good".

...even versions 1.0, versions 2.0, and versions 3.0.

I do not have Polaroids.

.... and neither do you.

6 minutes ago, Anna said:

I think it's because they just don't trust a man who carries a gun

That's O.K.

I don't trust a man who doesn't..

I felt sorry for a man who had no shoes .....

,,... until I met a man who had no gun.

14 hours ago, 4Jah2me said:

I quite often think about Matthew 12 v 9 through 12.  ...' so it is lawful to do a fine thing on the Sabbath'.

I quite often think about that also ... and lament the burdens we have to bear because of legalism, verses common sense, love, mercy and justice.

Under the current environment and polices, if we DO "rescue a sheep on the Sabbath", we will be disfellowshipped and ostracized.

I know this, not on a theoretical level, but from recent personal, painful experience.

Fortunately, I was tough enough, and experienced enough to survive the experience.

...many, many .... are chased away forever.

10 minutes ago, TrueTomHarley said:

That says it all, then. You can seek revenge, or you can bury the hatchet.

I am fully aware that Justice you ONLY get from God ... everything else is due process, which only approximates Justice.

..... sometimes.

I don't expect much from humans, and I am never disappointed.

... just another day in the 'hood.

------------------------------------------------

... and with that exposition, I return you to real life, already in progress.

5 hours ago, Jack Ryan said:

Never would we want to be like the Pharisees, who resented those who questioned them and persecuted those who expressed an opinion contrary to their own.—Mark 3:1-6; John 9:29-34.

- Watchtower September 2019

I think I am going to find that quote, cut it out, have it laminated, and keep it in my wallet, as a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card for future use.

Several years ago I was Df'd, and at one of my many reinstatement hearings over a period of three years, the last one where I was reinstated, the C.C. asked me something along the lines of "What do you think about the decisions of the Governing Body?"

I looked at him in the eyes and replied "I will have to agree with what was stated in the February 2017 Watchtower, that they are neither inspired, or infallible."

Dead silence as if they had been bonked on the head with a wooden mallet.

Then the C.C. said to the other two Brothers' surprise "Oh, yeah ... I remember reading about that ...".

I was reinstated the following Wednesday night at the Circuit Overseer's visit.

5 hours ago, Srecko Sostar said:

 If some hooligans or organized mob go to attack KH and people in it, would fighting back be in harmony to Bible principles and self-defense interpretations?

If some soldiers go to attack your village or town, would fighting back be according to Bible principles and self-defense interpretations? 

I see no problem in the two instances you mention responding with lethal force, in the defense of ANY "innocent" people.

Plus, realizing that an incompetent defense is no defense at all, being a professional victim is something I try to avoid.

Just a a carpenter has to be skilled in his craft, sometimes taking many years to learn, piece by piece, and trial-and-error ... and have the proper tools, and be able to use them.

Luke 22:36

The Apostles, as all Galilean men, customarily carried swords, and at least TWO of the Apostles at the "Last Supper", and first Memorial, were armed WITH THEIR OWN PERSONAL SWORDS ... which they had in the room with them already, having taken them off to sit down and have dinner, and enjoy their Meeting, as was the custom at the dinner table back then.

We all die.

Cowards die a thousand deaths ... the valiant ...  only once.

10 hours ago, JW Insider said:

Witnesses have never actually taught pacifism.

There is often a difference between what is believed, and what is taught.

My was a Navy nurse during WWII, and working in Philadelphia hospitals, seeing men come back mangled and torn apart, and forever ruined, and dying, made her become a pacifist.  She finished her enlistment, however.  Years later, she saw a "Let God Be True" book on a neighbor's end table, and to my blessing and hers, she asked her neighbor if she could read it.

I was taught the Truth from an early age from my pacifist Mother who was in addition to being a devout Witness, a devout pacifist.

So ... "Stuff Happens" like that all the time, and later, when I went to the U.S. Selective Service Draft Board, I was still confused about what my role should be  ... but I knew that the issue was NEUTRALITY, NOT pacifism, because by them, I had learned that pacifism was a bogus philosophy for cartoons, much like our cartoons of all animals in the New System frolicking and eating straw.

More later ....

35 minutes ago, Arauna said:

Good point. I also read an article written after Hawkins' death wherein he also "debunked"  string theory by indicating mathematically that 23 universes are not possible.

WOW!

If Stephen Hawkings had not been a media superstar about what he did with his disabilities, he would have been known as a third class physicist.

Reading an article about his theory, and all string theory will forever be theory, because there is no way to ever prove it by observation ... nor will there EVER be.

I personally believe in Multiverses, because it solves the problem of having 12 times more gravity than the observable Universe has.mass.

Gravity bleeds from one Universe to another, and nothing else does., and depending on who you ask, there are 11 of them

Quantum mathematics is the only "microscope" we have, but there are good detectives, and there are bad detectives.

Stephen Hawking's book "A Brief History of Time" is infantile in its perception, as an example.

Beware of conclusions reached from reading articles in magazines.

Anybody's !

If its not the pompous pillars of pettiness, it's the pusillanimous pussyfooting pinkos.

As Arauna indicated, It's all a matter of having here ... a failure, ah ... to communicate.

Oh, I dunno .......

...reminds me of two guys whizzing off the side of a bridge ,...

First says "Wow, that water is cold!"

Second one says "Yeah, and deep!!"

I would probably have to wear high-top farm boots if I was around either one of you.
 

16 minutes ago, Srecko Sostar said:

"What kind of environment" do GB create inside JW Organization aka congregations ?

About nine years ago (?) I had three elders, like circling sharks in the water, surround me at the Kingdom Hall after the Watchtower Study, as I was standing in an aisle talking to someone, and without any foreplay, one asked me , while the others stared at me, "What do you think about the Governing Body?".

I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind, "I do not think about them at all."

They left me alone for several years after that.

One thing I really enjoy from the Governing Body is their new series of Animations, similar to the Caleb and Sophia animated cartoons, about how in the New System, all animals will be at peace with each other, play together, and be happy.

I have six dogs, and it's important to me that they have happy lives.  I enjoy watching them play and frolic, and just peacefully sleep in their doghouses, or on the sofa, in the living room.  I even buy them treats, and dog toys to play with.

Without further ado, here is a clip from the Writing Department's latest animated cartoon, of how the animals will all live in peace and harmony, in the Paradise earth ....  It's called "Wild Alex in the Paradise Regained".

Enjoy!

I guess we will all have to wait until there is some "new light" ,,, to see how it turns out !

Looking at the above graphic, I suppose there are a LOT of Brothers who would seriously consider donating their wedding ring .....

.... and after the money has traveled around the world a few times, and ends up in Colony Park, New York, in the hands of the Watchtower Lawyers, it is carefully accounted for, and is what is used for the basis of the  Annual Accounting Report published in the Watchtower, so the entire Brotherhood who MAKE the donations, can see how the Society wisely uses their donations, and have confidence that no one is siphoning off money to line their own pockets.

I would attach a copy, but it seems to have been misplaced.

Ever wonder why, although the Society is tax exempt from ALL taxes ... they wanted to get out of New York City, and the Society's Lawyers all relocated to Colony Park, NY, and not Warwick, NY ?

I would just like to say that if I did have the power to ban someone, I would not, as I believe EVERYONE should have the right to publicly demonstrate what a complete equestrian posterior excretory bodily orifice he or she is.

But then again, I am a Barbarian.

...... entertainment is where you find it.

OH .... I have been watching the Presidential Impeachment hearings for five days, and I forgot the point of this post.

I probably just need to hyperventilate into a paper bag for a week or so.

What is THAT supposed to mean?

You don't even live on the same side of the PLANET.

Vic Vomidog:

I first thought your story was a W.O.P.R.

When I started reading your post I was suspicious ... but everything you say checks out. I even learned that you were born January 12, 1992, in Urbana Illinois, the youngest of two other brothers.

One of the best British jokes I ever heard is:

On a magnificent 1000 hectare estate in England, the Lord of the Manor was out on the meticulously groomed front lawn, under a tree, reclining in a hammock, drinking tea and reading a book, with his butler by his side,

A flying saucer lands on the lawn, a ramp comes down and out walks an alien roughly resembling a cross between a squid, a cockroach, and a chicken, and waving many tentacles he sqiggles over to the Lord of the Manor and says "Take me to your leader."

The Lord of the manor puts down his tea, folds his book, and hands it to his butler and says "My good ...um... person ... you do not need a leader, you need a surgeon".

BWAHAHAHHHAAAAAHAHAHAHA !

..... sigh ......

Apparently ... sometimes my jokes are just for me!

I checked, and it seems that we ARE in fact allowed to eat meatless hamburgers, but we are NOT allowed to donate blood.

The working theological premise is that before you can be a blood DONOR ... you have to be a blood OWNER.

28 minutes ago, AlanF said:

Such an infantile rejoinder! You continue confirming that you're a real dummie. But since you suffer from the Dunning-Kruger effect you don't know it.

I had to look that one up ... I had never heard the term before .... but my fascination with Dilbert Cartoons indicates that I am familiar with the phenomenon.