James Thomas Rook Jr.

"Where can you find security in this world?"
As I sit here typing my phone sits beside me, with the message "Tornado warning - TAKE COVER NOW !!"
I am listening to WBT radio on the internet, and there is a tornado 7 miles from where I sit, one is over Charlotte, and one is about 20 miles North of Charlotte, and South of me in South Carolina there is tornadoe(s), massive lightning setting fires to buildings, and buildings have been destroyed, and people are trapped in their cars with trees and live electrical wires on top. People are advised not to get onto Interstate 85 as there is no place to hide if the Tornadoes pass over the freeways
I didn't think about it too much, as there is a LOT of space, and I take up very little
I consider the expectation of "security" an unreasonable fantasy, leading to unnecessary anxiety, fear, and poor mental health.
"STUFF HAPPENS"
...get used to it
PS: If there is a war going on, best not to all huddle in a room packed with people ... The bad guys might splash gasoline on the doors, and set the thing on fire.
PPS: If you don't hear from me again, you will know what happened.
 
 

I for one, have cut my contributions back to about 1/3 of what I normally intend to contribute.
My wife and her mother left the Catholic Church forever because the priests could not stay zippered ... and I am sure many here on this forum, such as yourself, have already voted with their feet.

You are wrong, TTH.
The blue envelopes were ONLY for CSA reporting.
Isabella is correct.
"Normal" disfellowshipping reporting to central control is done on a standard form.
If you have some references to the contrary, please provide them, and I will beg your humble pardon.... when they are checked out.

yikes!

Well, in the face of such a confident challenge (given that you always speak that way).....I’m not iron-clad sure, big boy. But I think so. I was an elder for 20 years until about 2000. I served as secretary for most of those years. Blue envelopes were well-known to me and to the elder body. Yet I never sat in on or forwarded any judicial case involving CSA. So I start to revert back to what I said in the first place—for me to recall them so well, even submitting them I think, they would have had to have been for any form of wrongdoing. 
Furthermore, had there been a specific request, in 1997 or any other time, to write detailed reports of anyone in the congregation who had.ever been accused of CSA, I certainly would have remembered it, because I would have been the one charged to do it. I would not have been like Pilosi ripping up the letter. I took letter-writing seriously, something that should hardly be a surprise to anyone.
So that’s my evidence. I could be wrong—20 years time is enough to forget details—but I don’t think so. What is your evidence? Do you have any? Or are you just repeating what you have read on the internet?

agreed that is how it should work, right? So why then is it not this way? 
 
Classic definition of insanity.......just saying. 
 
 
These statements of yours have a taste of disdain, but yet in the same breath almost an acceptance as that's just how it is. 
If that is just how it is, who is going to " ... is vote with their wallets ........ and their feet." ?

....  probably the random synapse discharges from the neurons of a dying mind.

I am not interested in survival at any cost ... it did not bother me one wit the 4-1/2 billion years before I was born ... and after I am dead, I strongly suspect I will not be upset about that for longer than about four minutes.
I have found that those who serve God as a mechanism to try and live forever have TOTALLY missed the point of why we should serve God.
A coward dies a thousand deaths, the valiant only once.

Even Jesus stayed on the "old leaky boat", until it was time for the launch of the "new boat".

I understand these principles better than you do, Witness
It is clear to me that in Jesus' time on Earth, the system of theology practiced by the Jews he fulfilled without exception, until it was God's time to change it,  The Jewish System had the EXACT same problems we do today in Christian Congregational arrangement.
Such are the limitations of we poor souls, made of DNA, and dust.
We are just big ugly bags of mostly water, but the fact of the matter is ... that is the best we are capable of.as humans, of which I have a realistic expectation of little or nothing.
If you know a global Christian Congregational Arrangement that does NOT have these common problems,, and still has a core of pure Truth, let me know, and when verified, I will abandon what I have and switch to what you have discovered.
Until then, your opinions as expressed are irrelevant hyperbole, and
I will wait in expectation, content that loyalty to God, common sense, and Truth (where I find it), will be enough to "make do".
 

dduane:
World News

If a conspiracy promoter doesn't want to be discredited they should be more careful with facts and evidence. There is a lot of truth in many of the things that any good conspiracy promoter uses. But all too often they start to promote an ideology or an agenda that requires them to begin avoiding and hiding facts that don't fit. If they are not completely honest, then they should be discredited, not for the whistleblowing or truthful parts of their message, but only for the untruthful parts.

I'm sure I could find a thousand places for that, if I thought arguing over conspiracy theories was important.
The idea of cheap labor is a constant search for companies everywhere. I worked for an international financial company that was constantly looking for cheaper labor for call centers, programmers, print and mail centers, even data centers (in spite of the dangers of having financial data transmitted over open lines often unencrypted). Several countries had bad reputations from 'fair labor' perspectives. China is a large country that is still basically poor even though the majority of persons are already above what the USA would consider a poverty level. Their track record on labor practices is no better than most other poor countries in spite of better laws than most countries on workers' rights and labor practices.
The evidence on "factory suicides" in particular is probably not a number I'd expect to get very accurately, but overall reported suicides in China (9.7/100k) are relatively low, with much higher suicide rates in Russia (31/100k), with USA  suicide rates (15.3) somewhere between those two countries, worse than China, but better than Russia. China's rate is about as low as Georgia, and the US is about as high as Sweden. http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/suicide-rate-by-country/
China traded on the greed of of countries/companies willing to do this, only allowing them to base factories in China if those countries/companies were willing to share important intellectual property patents. Of course, this is how the US got many important patents, too, by sharing with other countries, or syphoning off inventors from other countries. I was surprised to learn that many of the patents that US companies have fought over were actually already on the books years earlier in other countries and it is only the US version of the patent that is being fought over. This even goes back to the 19th century telegraph (later AT&T) where S.F.B.Morse was only getting a patent for a version of a design already in use in the UK.
I agree. If you read Exxon Mobil's annual financial reports, sometimes you'd think you are reading the charter of one of the most powerful nations in the world, not merely an international company.
That's true, although these corporations usually have lawyers to lobby Congress to put laws on the books so that none dare call it treason.
Absolutely true, and it keeps getting worse because they have reached a degree of power so that they keep pushing the envelope on what they can get away with with no one to stop them. 
Investigative reporting is expensive and cuts into profits, and all too often will embarrass the corporate advertising sources of the media outlet, which is itself a monopoly with conflicts of interests after merging with and buying up competing media outlets. Entertainment made from "fluffy" or insignificant (or fake) news is what the audiences have already been trained to expect - and want. Most people probably don't realize that their news is carefully culled for them so that they don't learn anything real about what their own country is doing. And even a serious and important issue can be manipulated to create fear, propaganda, or a distraction from something else that should be more important.

I couldn't agree with you more.  
No faithful prophet of God from old, or faithful disciple of God and Jesus Christ, have as their agenda, a personal vindication.  Jesus vindicated His Father, knowing also that he would be glorified. But his motivation was out of pure love; firstly, for God and then for those whom he knew, and whom he desired to experience the love which becomes mutual between God and man.    
When I was a JW, the paradise promise was always put before me.  Obey the direction of the organization and that reward was waiting.   I see it so differently now.  I can understand how one yearns to please the Father and Christ.  It is not because of the reward, but it is through an awareness of THEIR love for a mere worm wriggling in the dirt. Isa 41:13,14   I know that obedience brings its reward; but having the fear of God within one’s heart, the respect for His power, patience and love, His blessing bestowed on those shown Truth, helps comprehend that earnest desire to be where truth, Christ and God reside.  It is the connection that love makes through the blessing of Holy Spirit.  It is “the bond of perfection”.  Col 3:14  
Michael – “Who Is Like God?”  That is the call of Christ’s faithful servants in the last days.  Rev 12:7  Through the developing an authentic love for the Father only possible through His grace, nothing should stand in our way of making that call – no organization that demands to be glorified, no man who expects obedience to his failures, no man-made rules that cannot be verified by God’s Word.   Isa chapter 48
 
 
 

JW Survey has obtained documents affirming that the Jehovah’s Witness headquarters in the United Kingdom has orchestrated a systematic takeover bid of all Kingdom Hall properties located in England, Scotland and Wales.
In a letter dated November 8th, 2019, the London-based Kingdom Hall Trust announced that all UK congregations will dissolve their status as individual charities and become branches of the KHT.

The Kingdom Hall Trust (KHT) is a Jehovah’s Witness legal corporation established in 1939 as the London Company of Kingdom Witnesses. On June 30, 1978, it was officially registered as a charity in the UK.
In 1994, the name was changed to the Kingdom Hall Trust.

While the KHT was already engaged in the acquisition of property used by Jehovah’s Witness church members, the latest directive “proposes” that all UK Branch Congregations relinquish their individual charity status and operate under the blanket control of the Kingdom Hall Trust charity.
Five documents were leaked, including a private letter to all elders, a separate letter to be read to congregations, and an FAQ document explaining the dissolution of congregation charities. Also included are the pre-formatted meeting minutes and congregation resolutions to be filled out, resolved, and returned to the KHT.
According to the letter presented to individual congregations, the UK Charity Commission approved the merging of all UK congregations into the Kingdom Hall Trust, with the premise that all congregations in the United Kingdom agree to these changes.
The language used cleverly suggests that the merger is optional:
“Your charity is now being invited to take part in this process and merge with The Kingdom Hall Trust. Next week a resolution will be put to all baptized members of your congregation so that you can decide whether or not to go along with this proposal.” [bold ours]
It may be of interest to the Charity Commission that congregational compliance to central directives is not optional. All resolutions placed before congregation members from the Jehovah’s Witness governing entities are passed without contest.
Financial Implications
While the Kingdom Hall Trust directors state that these changes are for purposes of simplification, the leaked documents suggest that permanent control of property and finances may be the true motivation.
The November 2019 letter to congregation members says:
“However, because elders would no longer serve as trustees, your local donations would be administered by KHT as part of its general funds. This could mean that the Trustees decide to use your donations to support the Kingdom work elsewhere in our branch territory and throughout the world to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters. This is in harmony with the equalizing explained at 2 Corinthians 8:14 “… that by means of an equalizing, your surplus at the present time might offset their need, so that their surplus might also offset your deficiency, that there may be an equalizing”.” [bold ours]
While Witnesses have always been able to donate funds to the “Worldwide” work, the latest directive appears to give the Kingdom Hall Trust the ability to extract funds normally marked for local use only, and allocate them for use by Jehovah’s Witness leadership anywhere in the world.
Read more: https://jwsurvey.org/news/jehovahs-witness-uk-headquarters-dissolves-kingdom-hall-charities-seizes-full-control-of-property-and-finances

....  probably the random synapse discharges from the neurons of a dying mind.

This topic makes zero sense.

I understand these principles better than you do, Witness
It is clear to me that in Jesus' time on Earth, the system of theology practiced by the Jews he fulfilled without exception, until it was God's time to change it,  The Jewish System had the EXACT same problems we do today in Christian Congregational arrangement.
Such are the limitations of we poor souls, made of DNA, and dust.
We are just big ugly bags of mostly water, but the fact of the matter is ... that is the best we are capable of.as humans, of which I have a realistic expectation of little or nothing.
If you know a global Christian Congregational Arrangement that does NOT have these common problems,, and still has a core of pure Truth, let me know, and when verified, I will abandon what I have and switch to what you have discovered.
Until then, your opinions as expressed are irrelevant hyperbole, and
I will wait in expectation, content that loyalty to God, common sense, and Truth (where I find it), will be enough to "make do".
 

Yes.... but here is the way I look at it ... I am also an American, a citizen of the United States ... and as we have seen this past week .. fully a half of Americans (less one Senator), are certifiably evil, insane, mad as a hatter, full of hate and vitriol, and obsessed with invoking the principles of Justice, without allowing it for another, willing to convict in the absence of law, because they despise someone, and do their best to destroy them ... under color of law.
Does that make me less of an American, or less dedicated to the principles of Justice, Truth, and the American Way?
NO
Same thing.
Either you get that.... or you don't.

In some ways, it’s surprising that private air travel remains so dangerous, especially 👀 as flying on a commercial ✈️ is now one of the safest things you can do — safer even than even walking. In 2013, an MIT statistics professor calculated that “flying [on a passenger ✈️] has become so reliable that a traveler could fly every day for an average of 123,000 years before being in a fatal crash.” While in 2018, some 393 people were killed in civil aviation accidents across the United States, only one of those deaths was an airline passenger fatality. Worldwide, commercial airline fatalities actually fell 50 percent in 2019.
Context is important, of course: Helicopters, which are a favored transport of the uber-wealthy, tend to fly at lower altitudes than airplanes and thus increase the overall chance of crashing into hillsides and buildings when compared to jets. Still, helicopters are a relatively safe mode of transportation — except when it comes to personal and private flights, which “account for just 3 percent of flight hours but more than a quarter of fatal accidents,” NPR reports.

That is what is called a "binary question" which has a tendency to be grossly unfair.  I presumes that the only choice on one side of the equation is to pray .... and the other only choice is to "run".
It's like the famous example .. "Do you STILL beat your wife".
It is also a matter of credibility, which is very important .. as there are many well meaning buffoons who with the very best of intentions, and the very highest known motives, will give advice that is rooted in their agenda, whatever that might be ... and NOT common sense reality.
To the best of my knowledge and belief .... and I have been paying close attention for the past 50 years and more ... is that the Society and all it's counsel is SUPPOSED to be based on the Bible, but seriously lacks basic common sense.
Never ONCE have they been right about anything in the real world.
If they did not have an unlimited and constantly flowing waterfall of "Free Money", they would have imploded, years ago.
This is extremely important, because if I lean on my own understanding ... which gets better and better over time ... if I am wrong, it is only I who have to pay the price, be it large or small.
If the "Society" gives advice, about such common sense matters, and I follow that advice ( and their track record is zero for 1000, or whatever the real number is ...), I STILL have to pay the price, no matter how small or large ... AND THEY PAY NO PRICE WHATSOEVER.
If they shared the consequences, I might be more inclined to take a "leap of faith", but the record shows that if it all blows up, they will weasel word what they said, deny saying it in words so carefully crafted that it appears to be MY FAULT, and continue with the practice.
Leaning on my own understanding, of course can get me dead, dead, dead .... but so can leaning on theirs..
"STUFF HAPPENS".
 
 

And assets...
https://scientologymoneyproject.com/2018/11/15/the-watchtower-bible-tract-society-1-45-billion-in-assets/#comments

That's pretty simple using Trump's own words:
"We can't continue to allow China to rape our country, and that's what we're doing,"
"the greatest theft in the history of the world [is carried out by China]"
He was speaking about China's unfair competitive advantage over the USA through subsidies, currency manipulation, and their low-cost labor. China was put on a watch-list to watch for currency manipulation but there was no evidence they had done this.
So Trump went after the trade deficit, which had been $365 billion as reported for 2015 when Trump was running. It's now reported at $419 billion for 2018. (US exports 120 billion a year to China and we import 540 billion.) 
Trump said that the tariffs could greatly reduce this deficit. America would win big by NOT trading with them any more.

 
So this isn't about the idea that Trump had anything to do with the coronavirus. It's just that it would have the effect of reducing China's ability to produce, slow down their economy, and stop a lot of people from trading with China. There are persons in governments who are so stupid that they would think of such a vicious solution without concern for the possible consequences for the rest of the world, or the reputation the US would suffer. After all, look at America's use of weapons of mass destruction, napalm, agent orange, chemical and biological weapons development. Look at what America did to North Korea. Or even so-called "conventional" weapons like MOAB that apparently killed more civilians in Afghanistan than soldiers.
But I'm only talking about where and why such conspiracies will so easily get spread.

@James Thomas Rook Jr.  That is just insane.  
Another take is that while The Who is praising China's model way of quarantining..... the west cannot do many of the same things legally.
 

From Wikipedia:
"1938 Yellow River flood
Main article: 1938 Yellow River flood
In June 1938, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Nationalist troops under Chiang Kai-shek intentionally broke the levees of the Yellow River near Huayuankou[3] to slow the advance of the Japanese army. Although several thousand Japanese troops were drowned, 12 million Chinese were affected, nearly 900,000 of them dying.[4]
Reason for breaching the dike
As the Japanese had been reported to have taken the city of Kaifeng, many of the dikes near Zhengzhou were along the path the Japanese would take if they wanted to capture the city of Wuhan. This was the triggering idea for the Nationalist troops as they pictured the Yellow River being a military tool to stop the advancement of the Japanese. The plan of attack by Chiang and his subordinates was to breach the dikes that withheld the mass amount of water from pouring into the 500-square mile area of central China. However while this long-term idea was in full swing, Chiang’s dilemma stood behind the thought of the many lives that stood past the dikes. This dilemma was thought of in two ways, the first being if he were to breach the dikes then he would be spreading death, wiping hundreds of thousands of people. The other thought was if he didn’t break the dikes then Wuhan would collapse within days. In all a decision was needed quickly and eventually was made as Chiang gave the orders to General Wei Rulin to blow up a dike holding the Yellow River near Henan. As this order was put in place the first few attempts stood no match for the army between June 4 and 6 1938 as the structure was too durable. While the attempts failed left and right, “hour by hour, the Japanese were moving closer.” [5]"
-----------------------------------------
To try and stop the advance of the Japanese .. the Chinese killed 900,000 of THEIR OWN PEOPLE, and subjected 12 million to destruction and hardship of every sort ... to kill several thousand Japanese troops.
....makes you wonder ... what might REALLY be going on now, in Wuhan.