James Thomas Rook Jr.

Wow ... and all these years I have been drop-kicking them through a hedge ....

Good questions Srecko Sostar!
Since the GB, through the February 2017 Watchtower has actually ADMITTED what was so very painfully obvious, with terrible and sustained real world consequences for those that trusted them TO HAVE COMMON SENSE, that they are NOT inspired of God, and are NOT infallible ... what is "spirit directed" ??
It seems to me that anyone with a real, developed conscience that parallels Scripture ... is in fact "spirit directed".
... ANYONE AT ALL !
I am going to make some popcorn ..... the replies should be interesting !

I am sorry, Grey Reformer, but your text is too small for my 71 year old eyes to read, and I don't need anyone to "review" for your approval what is general and common knowledge. 
When I find my reading glasses, I will try again to go through your material ... but one thing I have learned over the years ... the probability of someone's words being valid and topically important DECREASES with the quantity of words used.
I agree with the need for disfellowshipping ... my objection is to the cruelty in HOW it is practiced, and that there is NEVER, EVER any "extenuating circumstances" that would legitimately call for mercy.

O.K. ... let's do exactly THAT!Are Wrongly Disfellowshipped People Automatically Reinstated?
Answer:
The way that disfellowshipping is handled today has only one purpose ... to maintain the powers structure of the Governing Body.
If a person was disfellowshipped for being right ... he is NOT automatically reinstated ... the fact that he was right makes his crime ESPECIALLY grievous.
This is reality ... where the "rubber meets the road".
 

The problem is, that Grey Reformer is too lacking in general knowledge of what has been going on around him (or her) to reform anything.
Before you can fix a problem ... you have to know there IS a problem.

Yes, but Ray Franz left behind two very detailed biographies of his experiences and observations .... which at least one is available on Amazon.com, or, with a little searching, you might be able to get either or both off the Internet for free in PDF or EPUB format. 
You should research these things for yourself, and not rely on others,  whose information may be distorted by being second-hand information.
Waterboarding is very effective, in most cases, and has the advantage that it does not leave any documentable  marks ....
By not allowing any representation, witnesses, recordings, or notes in disfellowshipping trials, completely secret ... the Society does not need to waterboard anyone to avoid any tell-tale evidence of iron fists in a velvet glove. 
For it's intended purpose, without ever showing mercy of any kind, the system works perfectly, now.
 

This is true at the GB level ... except for Ray Franz .... who WAS disfellowshipped, for having lunch with his landlord and employer, back in his home town, and recalled from his" sick bed" to Bethel to be interrogated.
However, at the "bottom", there is a continuous awareness that unless you say exactly the right things, in exactly the right way, with exactly the right words, you are subject to being called into "Room 101", and run through the wringer. (Old WWII washing machine reference.)
...and if you give any expression whatsoever to any legitimate grievance ... it is at best considered sedition ... and at the worst .... treason.
It is ESPECIALLY grievous ....  if you are right.
 

The way that disfellowshipping is handled today has only one purpose ... to maintain the powers structure of the Governing Body.
If a person was disfellowshipped for being right ... he is NOT automatically reinstated ... the fact that he was right makes his crime ESPECIALLY grievous.

I am beginning to believe that ALL the Scriptures in the Bible, talking about how the "love of the greater number will cool off", and in the end times, a wide range of cruelties will be abundant, that it is talking about what is going on INSIDE the "Truth" ... not the world.
We have been thoroughly trained, year after year after year ... to be able to turn family love and affection on and off ....on and off ..... on and off, with the "light switch" of disfellowshipping.
We deeply love our families ... unless they get disfellowshipped ... then they are invisible, and in effect cease to exist.
If they are reinstated, we are taught to flip the switch and turn those affections back on ... at least in theory.
It is insane in theory .... and insane in actual practice.
This is cruel, mean, extreme, despicable,  hateful, and hypocritical .... and does not lend itself to sane thinking.
These policies over time can erode and  destroy a civilization, theocratic or secular.
Even the Russkies understand that!

Good questions Srecko Sostar!
Since the GB, through the February 2017 Watchtower has actually ADMITTED what was so very painfully obvious, with terrible and sustained real world consequences for those that trusted them TO HAVE COMMON SENSE, that they are NOT inspired of God, and are NOT infallible ... what is "spirit directed" ??
It seems to me that anyone with a real, developed conscience that parallels Scripture ... is in fact "spirit directed".
... ANYONE AT ALL !
I am going to make some popcorn ..... the replies should be interesting !

Unfortunately, the FIRST responsibility of Witch Doctors. Shamans, Priests, Clergy, Elders, and THE Governing Body ... is to protect their own jobs, power and authority, real estate, and money.
This is how religions have ALWAYS evolved, once they start accumulating real estate and piles of money ... and start dressing well.
We are NOT the exception.

The Laws of God, and Corporate regulations and protocols .... and ingrained-to-the bone  cultural morays that FEEL like the laws and regulations of God, but are not .... are two (or three) different things.
Like Bob Hope in THE MUPPET MOVIE as a curbside ice cream vendor in a white suit and cap,  at a County Fair somewhere in mid-America, said to Fozzie Bear as he was getting a  honey ice cream cone for himself, and a dragonfly ice cream cone for Kermit ...
" Don't get 'em mixed up".

I am beginning to believe that ALL the Scriptures in the Bible, talking about how the "love of the greater number will cool off", and in the end times, a wide range of cruelties will be abundant, that it is talking about what is going on INSIDE the "Truth" ... not the world.
We have been thoroughly trained, year after year after year ... to be able to turn family love and affection on and off ....on and off ..... on and off, with the "light switch" of disfellowshipping.
We deeply love our families ... unless they get disfellowshipped ... then they are invisible, and in effect cease to exist.
If they are reinstated, we are taught to flip the switch and turn those affections back on ... at least in theory.
It is insane in theory .... and insane in actual practice.
This is cruel, mean, extreme, despicable,  hateful, and hypocritical .... and does not lend itself to sane thinking.
These policies over time can erode and  destroy a civilization, theocratic or secular.
Even the Russkies understand that!

I am sorry, Grey Reformer, but your text is too small for my 71 year old eyes to read, and I don't need anyone to "review" for your approval what is general and common knowledge. 
When I find my reading glasses, I will try again to go through your material ... but one thing I have learned over the years ... the probability of someone's words being valid and topically important DECREASES with the quantity of words used.
I agree with the need for disfellowshipping ... my objection is to the cruelty in HOW it is practiced, and that there is NEVER, EVER any "extenuating circumstances" that would legitimately call for mercy.

The problem is, that Grey Reformer is too lacking in general knowledge of what has been going on around him (or her) to reform anything.
Before you can fix a problem ... you have to know there IS a problem.

Yes, but Ray Franz left behind two very detailed biographies of his experiences and observations .... which at least one is available on Amazon.com, or, with a little searching, you might be able to get either or both off the Internet for free in PDF or EPUB format. 
You should research these things for yourself, and not rely on others,  whose information may be distorted by being second-hand information.
Waterboarding is very effective, in most cases, and has the advantage that it does not leave any documentable  marks ....
By not allowing any representation, witnesses, recordings, or notes in disfellowshipping trials, completely secret ... the Society does not need to waterboard anyone to avoid any tell-tale evidence of iron fists in a velvet glove. 
For it's intended purpose, without ever showing mercy of any kind, the system works perfectly, now.
 

Happened to me once. Ended up with a torn hibiscus.

I often chalk up your statements as hyperbole-laden rants. But this I must agree with whole-heartedly. One can make an argument that our process is actually Biblical, but then Jesus said it was OK to throw out some of those legalistic principles in favor of love and mercy.

I am beginning to believe that ALL the Scriptures in the Bible, talking about how the "love of the greater number will cool off", and in the end times, a wide range of cruelties will be abundant, that it is talking about what is going on INSIDE the "Truth" ... not the world.
We have been thoroughly trained, year after year after year ... to be able to turn family love and affection on and off ....on and off ..... on and off, with the "light switch" of disfellowshipping.
We deeply love our families ... unless they get disfellowshipped ... then they are invisible, and in effect cease to exist.
If they are reinstated, we are taught to flip the switch and turn those affections back on ... at least in theory.
It is insane in theory .... and insane in actual practice.
This is cruel, mean, extreme, despicable,  hateful, and hypocritical .... and does not lend itself to sane thinking.
These policies over time can erode and  destroy a civilization, theocratic or secular.
Even the Russkies understand that!

I am beginning to believe that ALL the Scriptures in the Bible, talking about how the "love of the greater number will cool off", and in the end times, a wide range of cruelties will be abundant, that it is talking about what is going on INSIDE the "Truth" ... not the world.
We have been thoroughly trained, year after year after year ... to be able to turn family love and affection on and off ....on and off ..... on and off, with the "light switch" of disfellowshipping.
We deeply love our families ... unless they get disfellowshipped ... then they are invisible, and in effect cease to exist.
If they are reinstated, we are taught to flip the switch and turn those affections back on ... at least in theory.
It is insane in theory .... and insane in actual practice.
This is cruel, mean, extreme, despicable,  hateful, and hypocritical .... and does not lend itself to sane thinking.
These policies over time can erode and  destroy a civilization, theocratic or secular.
Even the Russkies understand that!

The problem is, that Grey Reformer is too lacking in general knowledge of what has been going on around him (or her) to reform anything.
Before you can fix a problem ... you have to know there IS a problem.

Not, of course, if you came to that conclusion after multiple interactions among several different types of personalities under several different types of circumstances.
We are naive if we jump to such conclusions prior to seeing good evidence about someone, or at least the personalit(ies) they represent. On social media, people are apt to represent only specific sides of their personality, or specific (or special) aspects of their life and lifestyle. It's very difficult to get a well-rounded view of a person on such a limited basis, no matter how much they write.
That said, I agree that we can all get a good sense of the personality of all the people you mentioned, among many others (yourself included). But I was rather surprised to see that picture of you with the King of Siam when I looked you up on the Internet. 

Actually, I did not take my first commercial flight until I was in my 50's. It was very exciting. Successive flights increasingly become a pain, mostly for things having nothing to do with the plane but for the hassles boarding it. In the old days, you could pull up with 15 minutes to spare, and nobody at all wanted to strip-search you. 
Occassionally, some witnessing helps pass the time, and I don't always do it  but sometimes I do. Like one flight where I laid the contact card down on the armrest midflight and said to the man traveling next to me: "Look, everyone has a cause, and this is mine. We don't have to talk about it, or anything else. On the other hand, there is time to kill, we will never meet again, and it may suggest some conversation if you want it."
It was a while before he said anything. Presently he opened up on the purpose of his trip and his background. He was a microbiologist at some university. He said he liked the power of faith, but of course, he was a scientist. We exchanged some boiler-plate remarks, and somewhere along the line I mentioned telemeres. He took up the topic but pronounced the word differently. "You mean I've been making a donkey of myself all these years, saying it wrong?" was my response.
It was just idle conversation, not particularly going anywhere. Out of the blue he brings up that his trip had another purpose. He is traveling to get his daughter out of her latest jam. He doesn't know what happened to her. He did his best to bring her up right, but she takes up with one lowlife scoundrel after another and has made a hopeless hash of her life. 
I didn't say: "Too bad she is not a Jehovah's Witness. Then all of her troubles would be over." I mostly just listened, and asked a few questions to draw him out. Who doesn't like to be reminded what can happen to kids in the absence of Bible prinicples, and sometimes even with  Bible principles they veer off the track. I was blown away that, not knowing me from a bag of beans, he would so quickly turn to me as Father Confessor. It was likely because he had NO spiritual componant to his life, and when he came across one, the dam burst.
The time flew with the plane and landed in no time at all. I'll never see him again, most likely. But you never know. Perhaps he will be like the man who accepted a few magazines, but eventually told me he would do so no more because his wife was allergic to newsprint. 'Look, just tell me if you don't like them,' I said to myself. 'What a stupid excuse!'
Years later I met them at a convention, both baptized.
 
 

Assembly can mean many things, in this case, it is a group of people gathered together in one place for a common purpose and or the action of gathering together as a group for a common purpose. Pretty much a place where a great multitude of people gather for the same thing, turning Bible pages in unison I suppose.
In this sense, it can be applied to a large warehouse or work environment, example, Toyota or Honda manufacturing areas where workers assemble together for the same type of work function. Or it can be applied to a group.

Yes, it could be applied that way, but it almost never is. It's called a Toyota assembly plant because that's where they assemble Toyotas, not because workers assemble together. They should only assemble there when they are not assembling.
Jehovah's Witnesses -- Some Assembly Required!