James Thomas Rook Jr.

...and now ... we return you to your regular scheduled programming ....

Of course!

We just finished Halloween!

As the fictional character Lazarus Long once said " Delusions are often functional. A mother's opinions about her children's beauty, intelligence, goodness, et cetera ad nauseam, keep her from drowning them at birth.".

Religious leadership having functional delusions will often keep them out of the snow, in winter.

... especially if there is absolutely NO ONE on this planet that can fire you for being delusional.

On 11/9/2019 at 4:29 PM, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

...this even makes the sheep VERY nervous, but the reason many of them are sheep is not a desire to be peaceable with all men, as far as it depends upon them ... but because they are naturally stupid, and or cowards.

If you will refer to what I actually said, Arauna, I said "many" ..... not all.

I faced 5 years in Federal Prison during the Vietnam War, and there were as many reasons why different people became conscientious objectors, as there were who became soldiers.

30 minutes ago, Arauna said:

Why should a  ignorant  office worker in some government department decide we are 'extreme' people and a 'threat to public health' when the God of the universe tells us to abstain from blood?

You are asking the wrong question, Arauna, about people who have police power (bayonets) to enforce whatever their perspective is .... right or wrong.

The question SHOULD be... the question you should be concerned about is why does the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society LIE to the Bulgarian Government that we do not impose congregational sanctions on those who accept blood... SPECIFICALLY, disfellowshipping, and and extreme shunning.

ANY JW, ANYWHERE, knows this is NOT TRUE.

THIS is what you should be concerned with.

Oh, as an aside, I still do not have my answer about are there congregational sanctions currently against a person voting in a political election.

The answers we get are so weasel worded that they can mean ANYTHING.

If you know better ... please correct me.

What I am looking for is the latest information, in light of Norway's threat to withhold MONEY from the Society, for violating what Norway considers one of the most basic of all human rights... and labeling us us as "extremists".

I strongly suspect because there is MONEY involved, we are soon, if not already, going to be allowed to vote without being censured or disfellowshipped.

What you need ... is a steel trap!

BINGO!

Thanks!

I remember the second instance you mentioned, and vaguely the first.  Would you please cite your references ro remind me, and of course "the fourth wall"?

It's always helpful to PROVE assertions that most Jehovah's Witnesses are unaware of, or you lose all credibility.

If memory serves, they lied to some European Government about forbidding blood transfusions, but I don't remember the details. If memory serves, they told that government that there were no congregational sanctions if a JW willfully accepted a blood transfusion.

Of course the lie about the shunning is on video to the Australian Royal Commission on Child Abuse Case No. 29 and 54, which is still on-line.

My mind is like a steel trap, but after 73 years, it's rusty, and  full of old fur and fat.

Norway is the great catalyst that will force the GB to start thinking about basic human rights, as currently there is a lot of discussion in the Norwegian Government about " ... Why are we giving the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society Norwegian dollars (Kroners) every year from Tax money for their charities ... for EACH and every of the approximately 112,000 JWs in Norway (paraphrased), when they prohibit their members to vote"... which THEY consider to be an inalienable, and non-negotiable human right of all peoples, everywhere.

The WTB&TS is currently being governed by the Lawyers, Accountants, and the Finances department, with the GB not admitting being personally responsible for ANYTHING.

What we consider "reasonable", they consider EXTREMIST, and many European nations give tax money to ALL legitimate churches, without restriction on how they spend it.

By violating what these governments' and peoples' basic understanding on what constitutes extremism, soon, if not already, it is going to affect the flow of cash into the Society's Treasury.

14 hours ago, JW Insider said:

In a practical way, some of the practice hasn't caught up with the "human rights" rhetoric yet.

One of several major concerns of the Governing Body is to not hemorrhage money, as it has been doing for years in the constant Child Sexual Abuse court cases.

THIS is what will drive any change .... not love ... not justice ...not fairness .... MONEY!

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By the way .... has the Society recently decided that voting is a matter of personal conscience?

What I have read is so "weasel worded", I cannot tell.

Norway is the great catalyst that will force the GB to start thinking about basic human rights, as currently there is a lot of discussion in the Norwegian Government about " ... Why are we giving the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society Norwegian dollars (Kroners) every year from Tax money for their charities ... for EACH and every of the approximately 112,000 JWs in Norway (paraphrased), when they prohibit their members to vote"... which THEY consider to be an inalienable, and non-negotiable human right of all peoples, everywhere.

The WTB&TS is currently being governed by the Lawyers, Accountants, and the Finances department, with the GB not admitting being personally responsible for ANYTHING.

What we consider "reasonable", they consider EXTREMIST, and many European nations give tax money to ALL legitimate churches, without restriction on how they spend it.

By violating what these governments' and peoples' basic understanding on what constitutes extremism, soon, if not already, it is going to affect the flow of cash into the Society's Treasury.

47 minutes ago, JW Insider said:

In a practical way, some of the practice hasn't caught up with the "human rights" rhetoric yet.

One of several major concerns of the Governing Body is to not hemorrhage money, as it has been doing for years in the constant Child Sexual Abuse court cases.

THIS is what will drive any change .... not love ... not justice ...not fairness .... MONEY!

By the way .... has the Society recently decided that voting is a matter of personal conscience?

What I have read is so "weasel worded", I cannot tell.

1 hour ago, Arauna said:

I think a person should put money away for certain projects. We know that most projects go over the projected budget because of inflation, unexpected problems, rising costs, etc.. So a discreet person that is busy with a large project will put away money where it can gather interest until it is needed.  The GB is often involved in large projects- they would not be smart to not factor this in.

The ONLY environment I know of where it would be smart NOT to factor this in is religion, where apparently contributed money NEVER stops flowing in, like a Japanese Tsunami.

Double negatives make my head hurt!

It appears that Kingdom Halls, like old people, and radioactive materials, have a "half life".

I am 73, so statistically, half of people my age will be dead in 10 years. At 83, half of those people will be dead in ten years.

Then it speeds up.

At the end, I hope to read about it on the Internet .... BECAUSE ... I read FOXNEWS, and not CNN.

Perhaps he was just tired of having her incessant screaming, smearing poop on the walls, chasing him arount' the house with a machete, poisoning his food, and microwaving the cat.

Should we be concerned that Brothers and Sisters increasing getting heavier and heavier every year is a lack of self control?

They may be depressed, have anxiety, or other emotional disturbances that may play a roll in their increasing obesity.

There is every reason to believe that it is spoons that make us fat..

 .... the problem with that is you have to have them with you.

Hmmmmmm.

You cannot economically justify having a baby ... but willy-nilly ... people DO have babies.

Some things are more important than economic justification.

.....  yeah ... I know the feeling. 

Here in the United States we invest in ways to get 1.21 gigawatts of electricity by building crude models that are not to scale, nor have they been painted properly.

3 hours ago, TheWorldNewsOrg said:

Young First-Time Buyers Are Vanishing From US Housing Market

Here is where someone might tell a joke about knowing the Clintons ......

A LOT of people that know the Clintons have died mysteriously ... According to pilots' logbooks, Bill Clinton made 26 trips with Epstein to Epstein's personally owned "Pedophile Island".

Dead men tell no tales.

... this is why an ice skater pulls her arms in closer to her body ..so that she will spin faster.

.... Skeleton walks into a bar, and orders a beer and a mop.

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Abraham Lincoln walks into a bar, takes off his  large hat, and orders a beer.

There is a frog on his head.

Astonished bartender asks "How long have you had THAT?"

Frog answers "It started out as a wart on my butt."

...........................................................................

Midget walks into a bar ....

I don't know .... it changes so much I get a headache trying to keep up with "light" that is profoundly explained with hundreds of thousands of words, and a potload of scriptures, that backed it up ... all which turned out to be wrong!

I don't like headaches.

1.)  Jesus was on a mission that required him to walk into a trap, and be executed. He willingly did this knowing he would die, in a manner most painfull, where agony is an understated word.

In the Military this is called a "suicide mission" ... a concept that EVEY civilization INCLUDING the armies of ancient Israel fully understood.

2.) Jehovah NEVER prohibited suicide, and was well aware that there were circumstances where it was the only option available, as in the circumstances of King Saul's last battle.

3.) Jehovah never even prohibited cannibalism, which was widely practiced in Jerusalem under siege by enemies.... it is a CULTURAL taboo, not a prohibition from God.

Same thing with suicide.

As Brother Splaine of the governing body said in a video awhile back, "we" once had opinions on ever imaginable subject, and they were presented as inspired directives and pronouncements from God. The example he gave was the hidden and profound meaning that it was downhill from one town to Jerusalem and that camels walking downhill had one symbolic meaning, and camels walking uphill had another symbolic meaning.

To be kind, this was some writer's opinion only ... but it was presented as profound insight from the Word of God.  What it really was was unmitigated crap.  I had a LOT of respect for Brother Splaine as being the only sane person in the bunch, until he came out with the "overlapping generations" chart, and tried to explain that nonsense as TRUTH.

I suppose he could be reassigned to the basement janitorial closet of Bethel laundry room if he did not obey the directive, and that is why he did it.  Of course, again, I am trying to be kind.

How many THOUSANDS of times can you be wrong about everything in everyday life and still have credibility? I would have to quote Circus Master P.T. Barnum.

Four years ago my Siberian Husky got cancer in her right eye, and after several thousand dollars we thought it was "fixed", but it spread, and she was being eaten up by cancer, and we took her to the Veterinarian and had her painlessly executed. It was with great anguish on my wife and my part to have to do that, but that is what love and compassion required of us.

LOVE NEVER FAILS ... remember that one?

FOLLOW JESUS  ... remember that one?

What EXAMPLE did he set for all time, in considering whether suicide is or is not ALLOWED by Jehovah God?

He committed suicide by deliberately walking into a known trap, for the EXPRESS purpose of being executed.

AND JEHOVAH RESURRECTED HIM !

When the Governing Body admitted for the first time, and only time, that they were NEITHER inspired of God, or infallible, in the February 2017 Watchtower, my reaction was ...

DUH!

"Quod est necessarium est licitum"

That which is necessary, is legal

Like, AS JESUS POINTED OUT, rescuing a lost sheep on the Sabbath, when doing work on the Sabbath is expressly forbidden.

How much more that principle can be applied when there is no prohibition whatsoever.

Playing with and manipulating words and phrases to conform to cultural taboos that you already believe, all the way to your bones ... DOES NOT COUNT!

I am saddened by knowing that when my time comes ... and it will all too soon .... there will be no one at all among Jehovah's Witnesses  to show me the same love and compassion that I showed my dog.

19 minutes ago, Tom Henry said:

A good reason not to elect Elders that persuade its members to mythical conclusions.

I dunno ... I always vote for the hunchbacks,

If they have gossamer wings is NONE of my business!

In Nevada bankruptcies, and although it is a Federal provision, how it works varies from State to State ... casino bankruptcies sometimes involve waking up on a helicopter, flying over Lake Meade, with your feet set in a bucket of cement.

I have heavily invested in  a lesser precious metal... lead.

Oh wait ... I prepared for the Zombie Apocalypse..