James Thomas Rook Jr.

Hmmmm... I thought the Governing Body was supposed to be faithful and discrete slaves .....   ministering to ..... to the brotherhood.
The IDEA of providing " food at the proper time" is not to spiritually feed God ... it is supposed to feed the Brotherhood ... QUALITY food at the proper time.
WHOLESOME food at the proper time.
We seem to have, with BLIND respect for the Governing Body,  evolved into an idolatrous situation, divorced from common sense reality.

I agree with you to a certain extent ... but there is a line ... and it has to be drawn "somewhere" .... otherwise honest hearted people with the very best of intentions unknowingly will direct you to jump off a cliff (so to speak...) and ruin your life ... all with the very best of intentions.
As a young man, at periods in my life, I was more empathic, and  was sorta like the Congregation "Ann Landers".
I ruined several Brother's  lives with my ignorant advice ... with the very BEST of intentions, because I was not competent to give good advice, on the subject being discussed.
Perhaps they SHOULD have asked me about the things of which I was expert, such as photography ... but they did not.
Bro. Lett is in a position to help ... or ruin ....  MILLIONS of Brothers and Sisters lives ... so he has to be evaluated on what he actually says ... NOT his reasonably assumed pure heart and good intentions.
I have no doubt that Bro. Lett is deeply loved by Jehovah God, and many, many people.
Unfortunately, there is no way for me to wind back the clock, and make reparations for the unintentional evil I did ... and the same applies to almost anybody else, with very few exceptions ... and that includes Bro. Lett.
Here is an example, from his own words.

Gravity Electricity Wind .mp4 Being of the Anointed does NOT give license, or a "free Pass", to encourage deliberate cluelessness in others.
 
 

Since you, TTH, were unable to supply a SINGLE example, and had a time frame of a THOUSAND YEARS ( ... and more!) to draw from, it PROVES .... and you yourself by specific intentional omission have PROVIDED the proof .... that your opinions on this conversation thread are completely irrelevant.
The "proof is in the pudding" so to speak ... but FIRST ... you have to have some pudding.
Your opinions on pudding bowls may be valid in some other context, but are irrelevant here and now.
 

Please give me ONE SINGLE EXAMPLE of something like what you referenced happening in modern times, to any individual ... or any group of individuals .... anywhere on Earth .... ANYWHERE AT ALL ... in the last thousand years, TTH.
If you cannot .... it shows that the example you referenced does NOT apply to this discussion.
It's a "stretch" that snaps when tested.

..... placekeeper for whn I get back from the Meeting, and have time for a good answer ...
 

This got my attention ....
There is a difference between hyperbole, and utter and total nonsense cluelessness.
I am sure Bro. Lett is loved by Jehovah, but down here on the ground suchlike thinking is contrary to reality (There is more evidence for something COMPLETELY unseen, and un-provable, and by rational people could be reasonably argued to be a COMPLETE fantasy ...), and is DANGEROUS!

Lett on Gravity, Electricity, wind .mp4 Next thing you know, we will be specifically asked to blindly obey things that from a logical standpoint make no sense at all.
I could not help but think that the "two inch brush" analogy was actually meant to defuse global problem of several BILLION hours of work has so few converts ... but hey, that could just be me, projecting.
A common problem with many people.
 
 

I was there, and paying attention.
I know better.

I was there, and paying attention.
I know better.

That is just plain SILLY!
It's "Aluminum Foil Hat" silly!
That is correct ... and that is Reality, as it exists on the ground ... where the "rubber meets the road".
64 MILLION LETTERS TO TRY AND GET A GOVERNMENT TO CHANGE ITS POLICIES ... IS POLITICAL ACTIVISM.
YOU are the one playing with words ... to take what is actually the case, and pretend that it does not apply in THIS case ... and it DOES.
The FACTS are either one of two things ... and cannot be a third thing.
The past Presidents of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Russell, Rutherford, and Knoor (whom I have seen in person) did in actual fact swear allegiance to the Constitution of the United States, and swore to defend it, in their heart of hearts, without reservation, or mental evasion .... OR ... to get a Passport, they Swore under Oath before God... and LIED .... lying under oath before man and God to the United States State Department, and each of their Passport applications were fraudulent ... AND they lied SPECIFICALLY before God by their signing that crystal clear and unambiguous oath.
There is no third choice, unless you are agenda driven irrational, and borderline (?) insane.
MEANWHILE ... the Brothers and Sisters in Malawi were being tortured and killed because Bro. Knoor, who signed an oath of allegiance to the United States Constitution, before God and man, refused,  when there  was only ONE political party in Malawi at the time, to  let them buy a 25 cent National ID card. (foreigners were exempt from that requirement).
I lived through those times, when it was all going on, as contemporary news !
I REMEMBER IT !
 
 

Sure ... I do the same thing, completely of my own initiative ...Any JW I refer to as Brother  or Sister. I also capitalize the first letter of "holy words", such as Justice, and similar words.   It also helps to differentiate between a family brother or sister.
I break the "rules of grammer", according to the amount of honor I attribute to something.
That being said, I do maintain, entirely due to the book "1984" by George Orwell, the capitalization of "Big Brother", which I see as a VERY important philosophical concept to "Grok" ... which is another capitalized philosophical concept, of major importance.

That is just plain SILLY!
It's "Aluminum Foil Hat" silly!
 

I think several postings above this one Sreko Sostar did provide standard definitions.
The problem with people making their OWN definitions ... is that people make their OWN agenda driven definitions, to fit their distorted world view, and call good, evil ... and call evil, good.

No ... not really ... petitions to God prayer is trying to influence God.... NOT politicians.
 

I was there, and paying attention.
I know better.

How do you define Christian Activism, Political Activism, and Civil disobedience?

What you're implying is what? That, Jehovah’s Witnesses send their letters to the Orthodox Church? At some point, making sense reflects upon the one making the argument.

Just like in 1975. It was a self-inflicted incident perpetrated by overzealous individuals that misunderstood the Watchtower message. Therefore, there was NO! Test of faith within the organization. However, there are still confused individuals that continue to mislead the public just as any former witness does to continue a known conspiracy theory. So, there is no need to defend the Watchtower with occurrences that were out of their control.

Interesting and quirky line of reasoning.
Probably stretches it a bit too far to be accurate. What people generally believe about soul and/or spirit is that it/they are an entity with a life of their own...somewhere. We do not believe this at all. That would seem to me to present too fundamental a difference to advocate similarity in concept.
Perhaps the nearest we could get is to liken the dead to be in a digital media archive with as much detail as possible to characterise the individual, and then the resurrection would be like printing them out again in a 3D printer. Although that might put a rather different slant on the greeting mentioned elsewhere: "Hello Dolly!" (Let the reader provide a link).

Yeah, my take on it was they would want a NEW rope.
Like Hugh Hefner had in Latin, on a brass plaque outside the Chicago Playboy Mansion, above his doorbell:
" Si Non Oscillas Noli Tintinnare."
... roughly translated: "If you don't swing .. don't ring."
He always had a bunch of sycophants "hanging around".
 

I'll stick my neck out and offer some last words on the topic.
You are right that the common expression uses new rope. But it's a dumber, and more ambiguous perspective, in my opinion. As you know I don't always side with JTR, but when I do, it's usually because I think his humor is working. In this case, I think it's a bit funnier with old rope. But I can swing either way with this one.
Editing to add that JTR's version reminds me somehow of the 3 men in the process of being beheaded by a guillotine. The first, a farmer, puts his head in the slot and the blade gets stuck, stops short, so the executioner says it must be fate, and they let him go. Same thing happens to the next man, a salesman. The third man, an engineer, puts his head in the slot, looks up and says, "Oh wait! I see the problem."

Some people would complain if they were hung with an old rope.
EVERYBODY is guessing.
Get USED to it.
It's the only game in town.
It's not "old light", or "new light", or any kind of light at all.
Everybody is GUESSING ... giving their opinions ... and claiming it is also the opinion of God. (A VERY profitable business not requiring a lot of hard, uncomfortable labor...).
Approximately 4 minutes after we stop breathing .... there will be a test.

Ben Franklin courted the widow of his good friend, but the woman turned him down flat: ‘I could never be untrue to my husband.Â’ Then, in a dream, he went to heaven and met his good friend. They exchanged pleasantries until the friend presently said: “You must meet my new wife. SheÂ’ll be along soon.” Ben Franklin couldnÂ’t believe it. ‘Your earthly wife is more loyal than you!Â’ he said. She turned me down cold on your account!Â’ ‘ThatÂ’s too bad for you,Â’ the friend said. ‘She is an excellent woman and I missed her terribly at first, but now it is time to move on.Â’
As Ben Franklin grumbled, the ‘new’ wife showed up and it was Ben’s own deceased wife! Ben Franklin turned his rebuke on her, but she said: ‘I was a good and loyal wife to you for 50 years. Let that be enough for you!’
It is a mangling of Luke 20: 34-36, most likely, botched, but nonetheless used as a starting point. No need to say what is wrong with it. Suffice that it addresses the changed nature of relationships after death:
“Jesus said to them: ‘The children of this system of things marry and are given in marriage, but those who have been counted worthy of gaining that system of things and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. In fact, neither can they die anymore, for they are like the angels, and they are God’s children by being children of the resurrection.’”
For the longest time JehovahÂ’s Witnesses took those verses to mean that those who lost a spouse in death would not reunite in the earthly resurrection. After a certain public talk years ago that had mentioned the verse, a sister raised her had during the chairmanÂ’s remarks, something I had never seen before and have not seen again. She was new in the faith, widowed, and she looked forward to reuniting with her husband in the resurrection. She quizzed the chairman until the speaker himself raised his hand and said he would clarify the verse for her afterwards.
About 30-40 years ago, the Witness organization looked at the verses anew and said maybe she could reunite. They didn’t want to be dogmatic. Maybe the verses just applied to those having the heavenly hope, as they were the ones in abundance back then. It can’t even be said of earthly ones “neither can they die anymore.” They can, and surely will, if they show a rebellious spirit. I mean, if you were raised up to life on a paradise earth, would you grumble about the ground rules?
Grousers who say that Jehovah’s Witnesses flip-flop on doctrine miss the point. They’ve never said they didn’t. They do it all the time, re-examining verses in the face of accumulating knowledge. It has been called ‘the light getting brighter.’ (Proverbs 4:18) It has also been called tacking. The only ones who say they can’t do it are the grousers themselves.
That said, the major teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses regarding the nature of God (no Trinity), the nature of the soul (not immortal), who goes to heaven (not everybody good, but only a minority), have been firmly in place for over a century. Ridding the false doctrines that make knowledge and a close relationship with God all but impossible is part of the job of ‘the messenger preparing the way.’ The first thing you do in preparing the way for a building project is to take out the trash.
(the Ben Franklin writing is called 'A Proposal to Madame Helvetius')

That was very interesting. Of course, the real idea behind not believing in an immortal soul is that we don't believe there is a part of the person that goes on living as a separate entity (or life force) of some kind that can have its own memories of itself, and which can obtain and maintain new memories of things like suffering in eternal torment or heavenly bliss (or anything at all).
None of those ideas fit your idea that Witnesses believe in an immortal soul. But we do believe that something "like" what some people call "soul" is encompassed in the set of memories/personality/qualities/traits that make up a person and which can be remembered by Jehovah and recreated in a new body for either a heavenly or earthly environment. This can be summed up in the idea of "spirit" or "soul" but there is still quite a difference between the Witness belief and what most people think of when they hear those words.

Definitely bad, oppressive, a tool of the insecure. There is a tendency for some to try to lever on this basis. Seems to be a kind of convoluted version of what Peter said at Matthew 26:33.
However, I do not think Paul and Barnabas were fear-mongering when they said “We must enter into the Kingdom of God through many tribulations." Acts 14:22, or Paul when he said to the Hebrews, "In your struggle against that sin, you have never yet resisted to the point of having your blood shed." Heb.12:4.
Certainly, Peter counseled vigorously against abject "obedience to men" at Acts 5:29: “We must obey God as ruler rather than men.", all the more notable as coming from one who displayed the opposite behaviour at times.
However there is a balance in this matter too, as the same Scriptures counsel children to be "obedient to your parents" (Eph.6:1), slaves to "be obedient in everything to those who are your human masters" (Col.3:22) all faithful Christians to mark those who are "not obedient to our word through this letter" (2Thess.3:14), "to be obedient to governments and authorities" (Titus 3:1); and, finally, to "be obedient to those taking the lead among you" (Heb.13:17).
So when a b(B)rother says obeying instructions in what is of little consequence now is good practice for obeying instructions regarding what might be big consequences later, I don't feel blackmailed by some sort of bogey-man tactic really. I just feel that this is someone giving me a bit of good advice on how to turn a bumpy ride into something a little smoother. But then, that's just me. Everybody has their own way of dealing with and reacting to these things it seems. 
I agree entirely with avoiding the creation of a fear-mongered, man-pleasing attitude.
I endorse fully the need to engage in reflecting Jesus' manner in refreshing our fellow worshippers, working to lighten their "burdens" wherever we can.
But at the same time we need to balance the fact that it was Jesus who instructed a heightened level of alertness in "keeping on  the watch", an avoidance of everyday distractions in maintaining a personally calibrated "whole soul" level of activity, and a full appreciation of the "torture stake" element involved in our acceptance of discipleship. ?

I think several postings above this one Sreko Sostar did provide standard definitions.
The problem with people making their OWN definitions ... is that people make their OWN agenda driven definitions, to fit their distorted world view, and call good, evil ... and call evil, good.

No ... not really ... petitions to God prayer is trying to influence God.... NOT politicians.
 

How can there be an argument about this? Isn't it one of the functions of prayer?
Me too.
I wish someone who actually through those times as a participant rather than a bystander could give us a comment.