James Thomas Rook Jr.

You misunderstand AllenSmith ... they WERE  sincere upvotes. 
If I make it into the New System, I plan on going down to the local cemetery and play a GREAT game of Whack-A-Mole.
You ought to stay away from trying to use facts, TTH.... it was 1006 PERPETRATORS with over 5.000 cases of abuse.  And the WTB&TS of Australia refused to comply with requests for records, and they HAD TO BE SUBPOENAED, and were produced under threat of prison for contempt of court.
 

Why does the Watchtower not build a hospital or provide aid for bloodless procedures?
TWO REASONS come to mind.
Because it  requires requires educated, certified and tested medical people ... and they ALREADY have enough lawsuits.
Bethelite Bobby Brother with a box of band-aids just isn't the surgeon you want working on your heart.

...... may I suggest that as the issues are debated, that full and complete quotes IN CONTEXT be provided to strengthen one's points being asserted .. with citations for check-able references..
Bad scholarship is still scholarship ... but it is bad in that it is designed to deceive... or deceives by default.
Try to be clear enough so that the evidence or fantasys asserted are irrefutable, as if what you write will be used in a court of law to either exonerate you ... or convict you of a Capital Crime, and if you fail, you will be impaled butt first on a wooden stake while still alive.
The hours of our lives are too painfully few to suffer fools ... or in good conscience ... be a fool.
 
 
 

I tell you what AlanF, since you have done THAT much research, it is clear one of two, possibly three  things:
1.) You are onto something, and we have all missed it, or
2.) You are deliberately lying, and making this stuff up completely out of context, which means you are dishonest, evil, and can be completely disregarded, or
3.) some third scenario that is worse than number two, that I have not discerned.
Since you have ALREADY done the research, why not, for a change,  give some credibility to your posting by showing the full quote in context.
By that I mean several paragraphs BEFORE the listed quote, and several paragraphs AFTER the listed quote.
Further, instead of shorthand, spell out "Watchtower and Awake, etc. in your citations.
I for one, would certainly entertain anything you have to say, if it does not on the face of it the same appearance of the factual statements that Chancellor Hitler was a vegetarian, a dog lover, and loved his mother, and niece, and made his nation into an industrial powerhouse.....which taken out of context makes him appear a fine person.
AS it stands, what you say MAY be true, in context, but the probability is approximately the same  with what you have posted so far, as the probability that the Earth is flat, which without PROOF, can be instantly dismissed without any further investigation whatsoever.

AllenSmith:
For someone like you who not only misunderstands the simplest analogies, but EVERYTHING ... there is nothing I can do in any discussion to help you.
What you wrote is a CLASSIC, so I am saving it here in case you come to your senses and erase it.
 

.... because, AllenSmith, the GB has supposedly taken a vow of poverty, the same as everyone else at Bethel has ... and SOMEBODY is living in the 1.4 MILLION DOLLAR HOUSE in the Watchtower owned property in the community of Colony Park, 35 miles from the Warwick Campus .
Paragraph 12, on page 20 of this months Watchtower ( The One with the airplane on the cover) talking about the Apostle Paul's handling of contributed funds ... " He took steps to ensure that those delivering the funds cared for "everything honesty, not only in the sight of Jehovah but also in the sight of men"  Read 2 Corinthians 8:18-21" (emphasis mine)
There is solid evidence that the Society has deliberately distorted the truth in the past through selective quote mining, and the fact that in the United States, once contributed money reaches the District level, there is absolutely no accounting for it to the Brotherhood.
These things make it a very reasonable and prudent thing to ask.... and a real need to really know.
 

AlanF:
You are now doing what you in earlier posts on evolution castigated, and for which I just gave you an "upvote" ... quote mining.
I hope the REAL purpose of your post is to teach the fallacy of quote mining as representing truth ... and NOT asserting the quotes you gave as being truth.
If that is true, then your post has real value ... otherwise ... on the face of it ( using the criteria I posted above...) ... it was designed to deceive.
Quote miners shovel through tons of gold bearing earth, to find crap.

Fair enough?

I tell you what AlanF, since you have done THAT much research, it is clear one of two, possibly three  things:
1.) You are onto something, and we have all missed it, or
2.) You are deliberately lying, and making this stuff up completely out of context, which means you are dishonest, evil, and can be completely disregarded, or
3.) some third scenario that is worse than number two, that I have not discerned.
Since you have ALREADY done the research, why not, for a change,  give some credibility to your posting by showing the full quote in context.
By that I mean several paragraphs BEFORE the listed quote, and several paragraphs AFTER the listed quote.
Further, instead of shorthand, spell out "Watchtower and Awake, etc. in your citations.
I for one, would certainly entertain anything you have to say, if it does not on the face of it the same appearance of the factual statements that Chancellor Hitler was a vegetarian, a dog lover, and loved his mother, and niece, and made his nation into an industrial powerhouse.....which taken out of context makes him appear a fine person.
AS it stands, what you say MAY be true, in context, but the probability is approximately the same  with what you have posted so far, as the probability that the Earth is flat, which without PROOF, can be instantly dismissed without any further investigation whatsoever.

Either you do...or you don't.
Apparently you don't.

TTH:
I would give that treatise TWO upvotes.
I find myself  agreeing with both your premise, and conclusion .... which is, for me, berry, berry  strange.
My concern is not what happened for the very reasons you stated ... but the institutionalized coverup,  and the intimidation ... and the threats of disfellowshipping. and the ACTUAL disfellowshipping of those who wanted to go to the Police, in the decades before the time period of your analysis, and the fact that in 1006 cases actually subpoenaed from the Society's own records ... NOT ONE was reported to the police.

Could you please supply  more detail?
With what you have posted so far, it can be instantly dismissed.
Perhaps both quotes in context, so a person who does NOT have any idea what you are talking about, has a clue.
Further, if you want to be taken seriously, don't just "give a clue" .... spell it out in unmistakable detail with such clarity and hard facts that whatever you are trying to say becomes defacto irrefutable?
With what you have provided so far, it can quite fairly be instantly and completely dismissed.

The key to understanding anything ... is CONTEXT!
In context, what is being said is "If you are invited in as a guest, and shown hospitality ... do NOT go shopping around for better food and accommodations".
It is as simple as that.
CONTEXT.... IS everything!
Your mind is clouded by your agenda.
"Quote Mining", however should not be a capital offense.
....for the first one.

The key to understanding anything ... is CONTEXT!
In context, what is being said is "If you are invited in as a guest, and shown hospitality ... do NOT go shopping around for better food and accommodations".
It is as simple as that.
CONTEXT.... IS everything!
Your mind is clouded by your agenda.
"Quote Mining", however should not be a capital offense.
....for the first one.

Sorry, AllenSmith ...
I had completely forgotten that my humor and cartoons have always been SHAMEFUL!
What was I THINKING ?

The key to understanding anything ... is CONTEXT!
In context, what is being said is "If you are invited in as a guest, and shown hospitality ... do NOT go shopping around for better food and accommodations".
It is as simple as that.
CONTEXT.... IS everything!
Your mind is clouded by your agenda.
"Quote Mining", however should not be a capital offense.
....for the first one.

Your premise is based on a false assumption analogous to assuming the Battleship Missouri is a woman named Mo.
For all the reasons I have stated earlier, I reject your not understanding Hebrew thought processes and linguistic conventions.
My theology may be described as a "chainsaw theology".
It has to make common sense and have real life examples .
You don't define common sense with scripture ... YOU DEFINE SCRIPTURE WITH WHAT MAKES COMMON SENSE.
Nowhere in the known Universe, or on the other side of the "Big Bang" are there any known, observable examples of natural  three-in-one life forms.
NOWHERE!
Even a man and his wife, referred to as "One" in the Bible, are not joined at the hip ... although I have actually seen a teenage girl with two heads riding a bicycle, in a documentary.
 

As Carl Childers once said between bites of canned potted meat "Get it?"

You know, or might know, that Battleships in the USA are referred to as "she", as are many large ships, and boats, and that the Battleship Missouri, that fought in WWII, and upon which the surrender of Japan was signed, is referred to as "Mighty Mo" and other nicknames.
Notice that I just referred to the Battleship Missouri as having fought in WWII.
Ships do not actually fight ... men on those ships fight.
It is similar to the expression " ... the White House said today ..." when the President makes some comment or opinion.
The White House is not actually a talking building .... but that is the expression.
"A synecdoche (/sɪˈnɛkdəkiː/, sih-NEK-də-kee;[1] from Greek συνεκδοχή, synekdoche, lit. "simultaneous understanding")[2] is a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something refers to the whole of something or vice versa.[3] A synecdoche is a class of metonymy, often by means of either mentioning a part for the whole or conversely the whole for one of its parts. Examples from common English expressions include "bread and butter" (for "livelihood"), "suits" (for "businessmen"), "boots" (for "soldiers") (pars pro toto), and "vacuum" (for "vacuum cleaner") or conversely "America" (for "the United States of America") (totum pro parte).[4]
The use of government buildings to refer to their occupant(s) is on the border between synecdoche and metonymy. "The Pentagon" for the United States Department of Defense can be considered synecdoche, as the building can be considered part of the department. "No. 10" for the British Prime Minister can be counted as metonymy, since the building is not part of the person, but using "No. 10" to mean "the Office of the Prime Minister" is synecdoche"  - Wikipedia.
Hebrew uses extensively a parallelism of ideas in its structure.
"Mighty Mo" is not a sentient transvestite war combatant, and ...
... the Holy Spirit is not a person.
 
 

You know, or might know, that Battleships in the USA are referred to as "she", as are many large ships, and boats, and that the Battleship Missouri, that fought in WWII, and upon which the surrender of Japan was signed, is referred to as "Mighty Mo" and other nicknames.
Notice that I just referred to the Battleship Missouri as having fought in WWII.
Ships do not actually fight ... men on those ships fight.
It is similar to the expression " ... the White House said today ..." when the President makes some comment or opinion.
The White House is not actually a talking building .... but that is the expression.
"A synecdoche (/sɪˈnɛkdəkiː/, sih-NEK-də-kee;[1] from Greek συνεκδοχή, synekdoche, lit. "simultaneous understanding")[2] is a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something refers to the whole of something or vice versa.[3] A synecdoche is a class of metonymy, often by means of either mentioning a part for the whole or conversely the whole for one of its parts. Examples from common English expressions include "bread and butter" (for "livelihood"), "suits" (for "businessmen"), "boots" (for "soldiers") (pars pro toto), and "vacuum" (for "vacuum cleaner") or conversely "America" (for "the United States of America") (totum pro parte).[4]
The use of government buildings to refer to their occupant(s) is on the border between synecdoche and metonymy. "The Pentagon" for the United States Department of Defense can be considered synecdoche, as the building can be considered part of the department. "No. 10" for the British Prime Minister can be counted as metonymy, since the building is not part of the person, but using "No. 10" to mean "the Office of the Prime Minister" is synecdoche"  - Wikipedia.
Hebrew uses extensively a parallelism of ideas in its structure.
"Mighty Mo" is not a sentient transvestite war combatant, and ...
... the Holy Spirit is not a person.
 
 

If I could live in a 1.4 million dollar house tax free, wear $ 20,000 dollar Rolex watches, and have my every other need taken care of ... I too, would take a "vow of poverty".

That is quite a thesis you have there ... and what I read seems well considered, but .......

Is this some kind of "Rap" code phrase?
What does that even MEAN?

In the "Old Days" the anal retentive clergy would just threaten you with Hell.

In the Shakespeare play, "Henry V"  the King was walking around at night, amidst the camped soldiers who had invaded France, to see what they were talking about around the campfires before another day of battle, slaughtering both French combatants and civilians.
These were battle hardened men ... veterans of many military campaigns .. who in this case were deeply concerned about the long wake of innocent bodies, and the rivers of innocent blood that they were creating to obey the political greed of King Henry. 
They had been taught from infancy that their sacred obligation was to obey the one that governed them, their King ... but their natural conscience was rebelling and they hated what they were obligated to do.
Paraphrased, "I hope we are doing what is righteous ... because if we are not .. because we are obligated to serve the King, he will have to answer to God for what we do here ...".
The Clergy had inculcated these soldiers that the King ruled by Divine Appointment .. that King Henry was God's "Faithful and Discrete Slave".
Those that do not know and understand History ... are doomed to repeat it. 
Especially so if they have "employment" where they can eat well, dress well, and sleep warm, and have the adoration of their minions.

... follow the money ... the trail ALWAYS leads to the TRUTH.