James Thomas Rook Jr.

How does he brush his teeth, and.....uh .... "other necessary stuff"
He HAS to have a terrific attitude, and wonderful outlook as a survival trait, or he would have a VERY short life.
By the way ..... this is true of ALL OF US.

This is NOT true ... from the legal sources you yourself quoted earlier ... go back and read your own citations.
Your agenda has clouded your reading comprehension and perception skills.
If we lable OURSELVES Clergy, which the Society HAS DONE .... we are saddled with the law regarding Clergy
In the United States, the government cannot label your religious affiliated people "Clergy" ... separation of Church and State. They cannot even question you about ANY beliefs or labels you GIVE YOURSELVES.
It is the WTB&TS that is claiming CLERGY PRIVILEGE ... not them ( the government) assigning it, which is illegal.

Billy:
You downvoted my last two posts.
Are you mad because you are flat wrong ... or is there something specific about those two posts you can rationally explain where I am wrong?
It's a fair question.
 The key to the whole thing is the WTB&TS claiming the same privileges and titles of the Catholic Church ... which they do in court, time after time, yet claim in the Kingdom Halls that we are NOT clergy.

I made a mistake ... Billy's point here is VERY relevant.
Morality and Justice NEEDS to trump legal considerations ... or its all just a million words .... written in discarded books that sell on Ebay for collectors of the nostalgic past, and home libraries covered in dust, and eventually eaten by worms.
ALWAYS REPORT CRIMES TO THE POLICE!
ALWAYS!
....don't look for ways to weasel out of Justice.

That is EXACTLY why it is blatantly STUPID .... to label YOURSELF as CLERGY.
It's like deliberately  running into an incoming  shoulder-thrown fist from professionals that needed your cooperation to break your skull
I believe it is time for BillytheKid46 to post something irrelevant and off point now, so I will yield the floor ....

John: The logic of your argument is inescapable ... or at least beyond my abilities to misconstrue.
 

And your crybaby whinny opinion would be...?

This isn't an office. It's Hell with fluorescent lighting.

I started out with nothing & still have most of it left.

I pretend to work. They pretend to pay me.

Sarcasm is just one more service we offer.

If I throw a stick, will you leave?

If I want to hear the pitter patter of little feet, I'll put shoes on my 
cats.

Does your train of thought have a caboose?

Errors have been made. Others will be blamed.

A PBS mind in an MTV world.

Whatever kind of look you were going for, you missed.

Suburbia: where they tear out the trees & then name streets after them.

Well, this day was a total waste of makeup.

See no evil, hear no evil, date no evil.

Not all men are annoying. Some are dead.

A woman's favorite position is CEO.

I'm trying to imagine you with a personality.

A cubicle is just a padded cell without a door.

Stress is when you wake up screaming & you realize you haven't fallen asleep 
yet.

Can I trade this job for what's behind door number 1?

I thought I wanted a career, turns out I just wanted paychecks.

Too many freaks, not enough circuses.

Macho Law prohibits me from admitting I'm wrong.

Nice perfume. Must you marinate in it?

Chaos, panic, & disorder - my work here is done.

I plead contemporary insanity.

How do I set a laser printer to stun?

Meandering to a different drummer.

I majored in liberal arts. Will that be for here or to go?

 

Facebook (+0.57%) has acquired “visual shopping”/artificial intelligence startup GrokStyle to pad its own AI roster.

This is rather old, nonetheless I tried to do it justice when it first appeared:
Few things cause more distress in the world of celebrities than a neglected birthday celebration. Yet Serena Williams presented them exactly that woe with regard to her baby daughter, soon to turn one. “Serena and husband Alexis Ohanian won’t be throwing an over-the-top birthday bash for their baby girl…In fact, they won’t be throwing a party at all,” reported Caitlyn Hitt for the Daily Mail. Why?
Serena says: “We’re Jehovah’s Witnesses, so we don’t do that.” She repeats the tack that she took with President Obama, back when she was “excited to see Obama out there doing his thing….[but] I’m a Jehovah’s Witness, so I don’t get involved in politics. We stay neutral. We don’t vote...so I’m not going to necessarily go out and vote for him. I would if it wasn’t for my religion.’’ Let me tell you that she took heat for it from people immersed in civic affairs, not to mention from those who dislike Witnesses.
Notwithstanding that the support organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses encourages congregation members to give reasons for their stands and not just say “I do it because I’m a Jehovah’s Witness,” there are times when the latter response is exactly the right thing to say. The actual reason takes a while to explain and people don’t necessarily want to hear it. You have to know your audience. I have come to like Serena Williams more and more. She doesn’t buckle under pressure, mumbling something half apologetic. No. She says: “We don’t do that.” She reminds me very much of a young Witness named Jackie who was hounded at school for her modest way of dress. She threw it right back at them. “I set the style!” she told the would-be bullies. “If you want to be cool, you dress like me!”
Speaking of modest dress, Serena hasn’t exactly done that over the years on the tennis court. Even given that you want freedom of movement in sports, you will hear her criticized for that from time to time, often from people who think they can embarrass Jehovah’s Witnesses on that account. Outspokenly she has thanked Jehovah for her tennis victories, yet how does that work with the flag at the Olympics? Jehovah’s Witnesses are circumspect about the flag of any nation, declining to salute, not for any reason of protest, but because of the second of the Ten Commandments. And didn’t she cuss out that official at a certain match? Ah, well, athletes have been known to do that and people cut them slack. After all, if she was mild-mannered Clark Kent, she would find transition into Superwoman difficult.
So she has sent mixed signals over the years. Why would that be? Ah, here it is in the Caitlyn Hitt article: Last year she told Vogue, “Being a Jehovah’s Witness is important to me, but I’ve never really practiced it and have been wanting to get into it.” Okay. She was brought up in the faith and has made part of it her own but not entirely. Apparently, she is not baptized, a big event for Witnesses. Now, with a child, she means to change some things. The birth of a child will frequently trigger a shift in priorities. Likely, she is conscious of a spiritual need not completely attended to in her own case and she does not want the same for her daughter. Since Jehovah’s Witnesses call each other brother and sister and I am old enough to be her dad, I tweeted: “Knock it out of the park! You go, my daughter.” I’m sure she saw it out of the gazillion tweets she receives each day, many from JW detractors telling her that she is nuts.
Her outspokenness has served her well in another instance. When the man she was dating wished her a Happy Birthday and she responded as she does now for her daughter, the man admired the courage. He “saw this gesture as Serena stepping outside her comfort zone for him and decided immediately that he wanted to marry her.”
It only gets more interesting. He is Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian. He is not a Jehovah’s Witness and was not raised with any religion at all but is reportedly okay with Serena’s faith. Now, it turns out that Reddit is a huge online discussion forum in which topics are hosted for everything under the sun. One of those groups, with thousands of participants, is dedicated to bringing down the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses. When the Philadelphia Inquirer reporter wrote four incendiary articles about Jehovah’s Witnesses, he used this group as his source of information and between articles he checked in with them, as though Trump playing to his base.
It therefore reminds—I mean, it is not a type/antitype kind of thing—but it sure does remind one of Jewish Queen Esther of long ago, married to the wealthy Persian King who had been maneuvered by enemies into decreeing that her people be destroyed. The sentence surely would have been carried out but for Esther’s (putting her life at risk to do it) bold intervention. Yeah, why don’t you go in there to Mr. Ohanian, you Reddit Witness haters, and tell him that his wife is crazy? That sounds like a brilliant plan to me. Tell him that the reporter from the Philly paper is on your side. Just make sure that you read up on Haman before you do it.
Look, it is not parallel in all respects. Nobody is literally threatening to kill anyone, but they are threatening to kill the Christian organization that supports and coordinates the worldwide work that Jehovah’s Witnesses carry out, just as like-minded Witness haters are now doing in Russia. Moreover, Mr. Ohanian cannot be expected to pull the group’s Reddit credentials; he runs a website dedicated to free speech. There is also a pro-JW group on the site, as well as a squirrelly in-between one, seemingly supportive of Witness teachings but unsupportive of the human leadership. Such will always be the sticking point in the divine/human interface.
See Doesn't Do Birthdays. Part 2
From the book TrueTom vs the Apostates!

I like this what you wrote. Intresting.

This is NOT true ... from the legal sources you yourself quoted earlier ... go back and read your own citations.
Your agenda has clouded your reading comprehension and perception skills.
If we lable OURSELVES Clergy, which the Society HAS DONE .... we are saddled with the law regarding Clergy
In the United States, the government cannot label your religious affiliated people "Clergy" ... separation of Church and State. They cannot even question you about ANY beliefs or labels you GIVE YOURSELVES.
It is the WTB&TS that is claiming CLERGY PRIVILEGE ... not them ( the government) assigning it, which is illegal.

Um, so, if all are Ministers in the JW Org, then all those that commit the crime of Child Abuse in the Org are Ministers.
So it could rightly be said that JW Ministers commit Child Abuse. Some of those ministers are JW Clergy  
Child Abuse is not funny, but this forum is funny. 
 

The Clergy Privilege is a PRIVILEGE THAT ONLY EXISTS IF IT IS CLAIMED!!!!
If we RECANT it ... it will INSTANTLY cease to be a factor in any deliberations.
That little piece of fluff is REMOVED from the considerations of any firm, persons', corporations', or religious organizational OTHERWISE legally mandated reporting requirements.
Even though in courts of law the Society now claims the Elders and up  are Clergy, and that the World Headquarters is a "Monastery", for real estate zoning purposes, and we should be treated with the same deference as the Catholic Church, this position is held when it is beneficial, and claimed not to exist when it does NOT serve the Society's financial and political  interests.
The Clergy Privilege is a PRIVILEGE THAT ONLY EXISTS IF IT IS CLAIMED!!!!
And CLAIMING something does NOT make it so.
A sad little Lizard claiming ancestry with a T-REX dinosaur only makes it a sad little lizard ... but since happy lizards are in such short supply, I might have a penchant to humor him.
But NOT when The Society demands they be treated like Clergy .... that is flat out DANGEROUS.
To understand that, which I do, would require an essay of massive proportions.  It's a lot simpler to watch the 1939 movie "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", with Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara and understand how important the concept of "Sanctuary" is as it has evolved over the centuries, and also the "Priest/Penitent" religious custom which is embodied like concrete in the societal matrix ... and even extends to lawyers who have inviolate "lawyer/client" privilege.
That is between ONE person and ONE other person.
Although when it is to their advantage, the Society has represented themselves in court many, many times as being a hierarchical organization "exactly like the Catholic Church", in matters of Clergy/Penitent privilege, and also in the ownership of Kingdom Halls and other real estate assets, the fact remains that a Congregational trial is held before three or more people, with full details the Circuit Overseer,  copies to the Society's legal department, prepared by the Congregational Secretary, so all in all,  not to even mention back channel gossip from Elder's wives whose curiosity would put Sherlock Holmes to task, this "confidential matter" might be shared with 8 to 15 people.
These Clergy/Penitent laws have a 1200 and more year history in Roman and British and others' "common law" and it has ALWAYS been between ONLY two people ... at least in Theory.
In actuality, the Priests of the Catholic Church have ALWAYS acted as political intelligence officers for the nations they were prostitutes for, and of course for the Vatican, so while giving absolute lip service to the Priest/Penitent relationship, in order to get the gullible faithful to believe in THEM, as they served as spies with that information, serving their own interests.
People KNOW this, but believe to the very core of their bones it is not the way things really are.  They want to see examples of honorable men, where there are none ....or at the least, very few.  Very VERY few.
The Society is trying to have it BOTH ways ... trying to convince the legal systems that they are due the same respect, deference, and privileges long firmly established by the Catholic Church,, when in fact BOTH are completely disingenuous.
Simpler to watch the movie, than for me to continue for the next 20 pages.
If that does not work, read the 1831 novel by Victor Hugo.
I have an audition to host a local radio talk show next  week, and I did not sleep at all last night, mind racing like a mile wide tornado, so I am completely worn out.
Also, remember Ferengi Rule of Acquisition No. 48:
"The Bigger the Smile ... the sharper the knife".

If this is true TTH .... AND IT'S NOT ... Why does the WTB&TS represent themselves in court case after court case .... AS CLERGY ... in order to not have to tell the secrets they are privy to, that in the genuine public interest .... our own ... and outsiders .. there needs to be full disclosure, and reporting as a MORAL imperative ...screw getting a legal exemption, which they salivate and lust for ... crimes to the Civil Authorities?
I did not TRY to say anything other than what I did say.
AS USUAL, your agenda driven thinking caused you to deliberately misunderstand, and attempt diversion and obfuscation.
Theoretically, like us, no Catholic clergy gets a paycheck ... but like us ...  in most cases ....   they get all expenses covered, and never miss a meal, sleep cold, or dress shabbily.
I have done all three WITH a paycheck.
 

If you are paid, you are clergy.
If you do it for money, you are clergy.
If you are a “mercenary minister,” you are clergy.
If you do it out of love for God and neighbor, and do not collect pay, then you are not clergy and you are NOT extended the same privileges as they for the spiritual aspects of the job. 
If you can shake the congregation down for a paycheck, then you ARE extended those privileges 
Is that what you are trying to say?
 

Lies and cover-ups ALWAYS lead to MORE lies and MORE coverups ... and there are no exceptions.
We should be proud of EVERYTHING we do, and where we screw up ... fess up, take a beating, and keep on keeping on.
That's how it works with men of integrity, which in the GB, seems to be in short supply....
...if it involves money.
 
 

Since to the best of my knowledge, and please correct me if you have Watchtower guidance SPECIFIC to the question I asked .. it may be obvious TO YOU ... but it is NOT obvious to me ..... from an objective statement of Corporation Policy.
 There IS a difference !

The question above remains unanswered by the Society .....  so So I guess the GB Helpers would be the College of Cardinals.

I just thought this was SUCH an important question ... it bears repeating!
And just as important ..... who does the Watchtower consider to be Clergy, and who does the Watchtower consider among us NOT to be Clergy.
I am not  an Elder .... can I baptize someone in a municipal pool without getting yanked into "Room 101"?
If I am "Clergy" ... am I going to be a defendant in a criminal trial for conspiracy?

Billy:
You downvoted my last two posts.
Are you mad because you are flat wrong ... or is there something specific about those two posts you can rationally explain where I am wrong?
It's a fair question.
 The key to the whole thing is the WTB&TS claiming the same privileges and titles of the Catholic Church ... which they do in court, time after time, yet claim in the Kingdom Halls that we are NOT clergy.

The next thing you know, the 40 days or so in which we have articles, talks and videos leading up to the Memorial of Christ's Death every year, we will be calling "Lent", and Memorial Invitations will allude to the Cadbury  Bunny.

You are overthinking it John! I am just an ordinary sister. And I explained why I said "we".

I will believe THAT, if Anna baptizes her Bible Study in a neighbor's pool, and Anna does not get disfellowshipped, and the baptism "nullified".

Aren't all jws consider ministers? 
 
15. What happens when a person gets baptized? (See also footnote.)
15 Eventually, the Bible student, having developed a love of Jehovah God and a strong faith in the ransom sacrifice, wishes to dedicate himself completely to his heavenly Father. (John 14:1) He makes that dedication in personal prayer and then gets baptized as a public symbol of that private act. His baptism is  his ordination ceremony because that is when he is recognized as a fully dedicated servant, a di·aʹko·nos, of God. He must remain separate from the world. (John 17:16; James 4:4) He has presented his whole self “a sacrifice living, holy, acceptable to God” without reserve or condition. (Romans 12:1) * He is God’s minister, imitating Christ.
The Watchtower—Study Edition  |  November 15, 2000
 
 
So wouldn't Anna's comment be correct? "we"