James Thomas Rook Jr.

" To the extent people think he is a Witness, he paints them as the most intolerant, rigid, and anger-prone people on the planet. " - TTH
That is an incredibly IMPORTANT observation, that I also have considered at great length, as I have seen that many times in the secular world, and occasionally in the Truth.
That is why I personally think it is VERY important that BillyTheKid46 come out of the closet, and declare whether or not his opinions are that of a Jehovah's Witness, and even whether or not he is a Watchtower Lawyer  ... specifically, himself. He is trying to sit on the fence, hide behind his fake avatar, and fake persona.
I have often (every time he starts typing ..) thought that he is a bitter enemy of Jehovah's Witnesses, and an excellent psychologist, and deliberately portrays himself as a petulant, angry, demented, slow and  truly nasty person (when he may in actual fact be NONE of those things ...), in order to with reverse psychology make Jehovah's Witnesses look like all those things ... so that others are deliberately CHASED AWAY from any idea that they might want to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses.
That's why I started my series of "Weasel" cartoons, to try and "force the issue", of having Billy declare who he REALLY is, behind his anonymous false front .... that he deliberately keeps as a false front to deceive, and mislead.
I hope Billy clarifies this issue, and I would be heavily inclined to accept his clarification at face value, as stated.
Years ago, I told a Brother who had come to visit me, that he might want to consider not doing so, as I was not a very good example of a Jehovah's Witness, officially, and hanging around me might get him in serious trouble with the Elders.
.. I seem to have lost my train of thought ... but there is a lesson in there somewhere ....
Fortunately, I have a stockpile of cartoons to get refocused on ....
 
 

I disagree .... you lack the perspective that only time and a LOT of varied experiences can give you.
Jehovah's Witnesses management does a LOT of things wrong, but they also do a lot of things right ... that no one else is doing right.  In the Corporate world, a good executive is one who gets 50% of his decisions right ... and of course WHICH 50% makes all the difference in the world.
Would you quit a job at Microsoft, because every other operating system they release bombs out, and drives everyone nutso?   I would not.
The reason God commanded us to be in subjection to the "Superior Authorities" is NOT because they are even right most of the time .... but because even the VERY WORST are better than anarchy.
The fact that we know Jehovah and Christ as they really are gives us a significant edge in having a quiet, peaceful, and prosperous life.
The TRUTH sets us free.
Humans are just nasty, selfish and no-good, so stuff ALWAYS gets lost, in translation.
I don't bitch and moan about what the Catholics, Baptists, etc., ad nauseum do or do not do, because they are a lost cause, and cannot reform.
My sincere hope is that we, do.
 
 

Although it may leave a lot of scars, callouses, and actually make you stronger and more aware ... "Anything that does not kill you will make you stronger".
If you want a good audience laugh ... use me as a good example.
 

YOU ARE MAKING A GENERAL STATEMENT THAT DOES NOT APPLY TO ME, ON ALL POINTS.
... and there is no hypocrisy on my part.
No one has EVER accused me of being "Brother Watchtower", nor have I ever been, or represented myself as such.
If I was "two faced", my head would have a LOT more hair!

Yeah ... I don't expect much from people, and less from people getting free money.
What they do or do not do does not affect the TRUTH, that I could not have learned anywhere else, and has been a blessing to me my whole life .... keeping me out of the hospital, prison, and the graveyard. Knowing the TRUTH has set me free, and KEPT me free.
..but I can completely do without Caleb and Sophia, and nutso stuff like the "overlapping generations", which is so transparently completely fake, and completely contrary to ANYTHING Jesus taught.
..... ad 85 percentum.

.... and have the Governing Body solemnly charge the Watchtower Lawyers to pursue JUSTICE, wherever it may be found ... NOT to forsake and pervert justice, to preserve the WTB&TS Treasury, and Warwick lifestyle.

I see no evidence that the Governing Body is trying to "extricate" themselves from the 100 and more years of failed false prophesy, and all the arrogant presumptuousness that accompanies their brazen self-aggrandizement,
I think, JWI that your considered assessment is a hopeful fantasy ... until they openly and completely and unambiguously make a full and public written apology for all the harm they have caused over the last at least 60 years with their arrogant and transparent manipulations for the sake of power and money, and real estate.
.... and put into effect policies and procedures for it not to happen .... again, and again, and again, and again, as we have watched for half a century.
.... and fer crying out loud .... throw those atrocious "Telly Awards" in the trash.
Nothing is more embarrassing than watching a con-man that is not good at it....
... and get those Caleb and Sophia dolls out of Tight Pants Tony's Office!

We have met the ENEMY ..... and he is us!   -   Pogo
(my emphasis)

I agree, but people claiming to represent the words of God are quite sure, and they apparently care a great deal ... and will disfellowship us if we admit we do not believe them.

In fact.... we need no personal conscience whatsoever!
Anything not specifically approved .... is forbidden..
...try using unapproved words and extra-magazine phrases and concepts to make a comment at the Watchtower Study, and it will be like someone threw a brick through a plate glass window.
 
 
 

I hope you meant that in a positive way, as I use the normal common usage of words ... even the word "Grok", which can be looked up ... but my favorite, is the standard definition of the word "generation", which some have stretched, and bent into a pretzel
When Jesus used the expression " ... this generation will not pass away until all these things occur ...", how did the people he spoke it to understand what he meant?
Whatever that understanding was ... that's how we should understand it ... because ..... that is what he ACTUALLY said.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grok
 

If you continually change the definitions of words, and people trust you, you can short-circuit even their ability to think rationally.
  "New Light" is stroboscopic, and can give you cognitive epilepsy.

I do remember noting that "Anything that does not kill you will make you stronger", was fraught with lots of scars, and callouses.

.... remember Billy, the anagram of God, is doG.
karb?
oops....
Grok?
 

Very, very true ... but the first step to becoming invincible ( which is only a goal you might get CLOSE to ..) is to grit your teeth, and form an unbreakable resolve that that is who you WANT to be.
The following poem helped me a great deal ... written by a man who was dying of disease. I was taught it in the 8th grade in public school, and it took me 40 years of repetition to learn it by heart, without missing lines.
Invictus
By William Ernest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,       Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be       For my unconquerable soul.   In the fell clutch of circumstance       I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance       My head is bloody, but unbowed.   Beyond this place of wrath and tears       Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years       Finds and shall find me unafraid.   It matters not how strait the gate,       How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate,       I am the captain of my soul.   Also, it may help to watch about 5 or 10 times, John Wayne's last movie, "The Shootist",  made as he was dying of cancer in real life. At that time, one lung had been removed, and the other was failing.   He had to rest between "takes".    
 

Only if you mistakenly had faith and confidence that I was telling you the truth, and that I knew what I was talking about.
Fantasies can be disregarded ... if you have discovered and know them to actually be fantasies ... and nobody is threatening to destroy your family if you do not believe them.

It's a matter of general credibility .... someone that is ALWAYS wrong about such things gets the credibility they deserve from rational people, and faith in their PRESUMABLY good intentions by others.

Only if you mistakenly had faith and confidence that I was telling you the truth, and that I knew what I was talking about.
Fantasies can be disregarded ... if you have discovered and know them to actually be fantasies ... and nobody is threatening to destroy your family if you do not believe them.

I agree with you, Anna, but what is REALLY being discussed now is CREDIBILITY.    
Those that put themselves in the position as God's spokesmen ... delivering "food at the proper time" have a responsibility to deliver good wholesome food at the proper time.
Uncontaminated wholesome food.
Not rocks painted to look like real food.
I have told the story before about years ago when I lived near Lake Jackson Texas, and I saw a Mexican family, obviously starving ... eating grass on the side of the road. I stopped and entreated them to come to my home, and they piled into the back of the pickup truck and drove about 20 miles. When we got to my home, I opened the chain link fence gate, and showed them my luxuriant green lawn, that needed mowing.
That story is not credible ... but I hope it makes the point about good, wholesome food at the proper time.
Had it been a true story, the people I supposedly rescued would have been exploited, and betrayed .... not saved ..... and the "food at the proper time" would have served MY agenda ... only!
 

It's a matter of general credibility .... someone that is ALWAYS wrong about such things gets the credibility they deserve from rational people, and faith in their PRESUMABLY good intentions by others.

I agree, but people claiming to represent the words of God are quite sure, and they apparently care a great deal ... and will disfellowship us if we admit we do not believe them.

In fact.... we need no personal conscience whatsoever!
Anything not specifically approved .... is forbidden..
...try using unapproved words and extra-magazine phrases and concepts to make a comment at the Watchtower Study, and it will be like someone threw a brick through a plate glass window.
 
 
 

No, unfortunately I have no musical talent, ESPECIALLY with banjos.

Baptisms?
 

Didn’t the apostle Paul have similar problems? Yet he said “So I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in times of need, in persecutions and difficulties, for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am powerful.” (2 Corinthians 2:12) Why? Because ….. “ the power beyond what is normal may be God’s and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7)  The issue of child abuse is horrendous, but if we are to believe God, then even the consequences of that can be overcome with His help. We know that whatever happened to us, could have happened anywhere, and that all those who committed these horrendous crimes will eventually be punished.