James Thomas Rook Jr.

What is that, the horn sound from one of those tiny European cars?

I just got back from the meeting, and having lunch at Golden Corral with Susan, and had planned on working on my chicken coop and run, but it's 94 degrees out there!
Plan B is to irritate you, TTH, and then take a nap.
I sleep better if put a few bees in your bonnet, before a nap, or get a big red down arrow vote from BillyTheKid46.!

I'm A Little Black Rain Cloud, of course..mp4

I just got back from the meeting, and having lunch at Golden Corral with Susan, and had planned on working on my chicken coop and run, but it's 94 degrees out there!
Plan B is to irritate you, TTH, and then take a nap.
I sleep better if put a few bees in your bonnet, before a nap, or get a big red down arrow vote from BillyTheKid46.!

I'm A Little Black Rain Cloud, of course..mp4

No, but they have a platonic spiritual "Bromance" going on, and are beginning to think alike.
(shudder!)
 

No, but they have a platonic spiritual "Bromance" going on, and are beginning to think alike.
(shudder!)
 

That is EXACTLY what I think of when I hear the cringeworthy label "overlapping generations"..

Things like this are a good test of peoples' integrity.  
ESPECIALLY when the test has a simple YES or NO answer, and they are aware that they will answer to Almighty God, for lying.  Honest questions deserve honest answers, and unless life or liberty are at stake, are appropriate.
Especially in a discussion room where credibility is so very important ... as we are casually discussing life and death matters.
 


so here goes.....
1.) BillyTheKid46, ... are you now or have you ever been one of Jehovah's Witnesses ? ... and,
2.) are you now, or have ever been a Watchtower Lawyer, or anything similar?
3.) Space Merchant:  Are you now or have you ever been one of Jehovah's Witnesses?
Working on the exchange of information theory of Steven Covey, in "The Seven Habits of Successful People", about emotional "bank accounts" ... that it is immoral to try and make a withdrawal without having enough "deposits" to cover it ... please consider all the personal information about myself I have freely given here, to try and contribute to general understanding ... including my real name, and real picture, ad nauseaum, as enough "deposit" to cover the request for a withdrawal from YOUR emotional bank accounts, for information not already volunteered.
Of course this only works between men of integrity, and will be ridiculed and/or ignored by weasels.
 

That is EXACTLY what I think of when I hear the cringeworthy label "overlapping generations"..

Things like this are a good test of peoples' integrity.  
ESPECIALLY when the test has a simple YES or NO answer, and they are aware that they will answer to Almighty God, for lying.  Honest questions deserve honest answers, and unless life or liberty are at stake, are appropriate.
Especially in a discussion room where credibility is so very important ... as we are casually discussing life and death matters.
 


so here goes.....
1.) BillyTheKid46, ... are you now or have you ever been one of Jehovah's Witnesses ? ... and,
2.) are you now, or have ever been a Watchtower Lawyer, or anything similar?
3.) Space Merchant:  Are you now or have you ever been one of Jehovah's Witnesses?
Working on the exchange of information theory of Steven Covey, in "The Seven Habits of Successful People", about emotional "bank accounts" ... that it is immoral to try and make a withdrawal without having enough "deposits" to cover it ... please consider all the personal information about myself I have freely given here, to try and contribute to general understanding ... including my real name, and real picture, ad nauseaum, as enough "deposit" to cover the request for a withdrawal from YOUR emotional bank accounts, for information not already volunteered.
Of course this only works between men of integrity, and will be ridiculed and/or ignored by weasels.
 

The abused child is one of the witnesses to the crime. If the abuser admits his crime, then the abuser becomes the second witness to the crime.
(This only means that the congregation will not automatically take disciplinary action against the accused. It should never be used to avoid or discourage reporting the accusation to authorities.)

No, and I have been witness to two elders, unprovoked, tell me irrespective of each other that if there is ever a case of reported child abuse, the victim and/or parents are specifically told that regardless whether there is proof or not,  if they want to contact the police it is their absolute right to do so and there will be no repercussions from the elders (which actually is a sad thing to have to say..... as if  contacting the police would ever warrant repercussions....but, as we know, historically this was sometimes the case. However, this was never the organizations policy as far as I know, but it was more a personal decision by some elders).

Until now, as SM and i had conversations, he never said his clear position to this question. I don't know what stops him to tell us to Whom He Belong? :)) He is man of integrity and don't want to lie, but in the same time not want to tell the truth... perhaps he is silent on this because of that reason. 

Yes. I know. I was more talking about myself. I went ahead and posed the question because I personally am only GUESSING that he is a JW. I also think that he is probably quite a bit younger than several of us here, and therefore does not have the personal experience that many of us experienced directly with those predictions for the 1970's and the expectations surrounding 1975. 
I have believed since the first set of posts I read from SM, that he is a JW and is using a kind of "lawyer's honesty" in focusing on the fact that he is a Unitarian, [Primitive Christianity] Restorationist, etc. If you read closely you will notice that these terms are exactly in line with his definition of JWs. JWs are, in fact, both unitarian and restorationist, and most of us should have no problem admitting this.
In fact, what do you think would happen if someone tried to point out some information from so-called "official" Unitarian sites and publications that sounded too different from what Witnesses teach? We shouldn't be surprised to see SM ridicule such sources as "stupid" and point out that he is a "Biblical Unitarian." In other words, one of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Things like this are a good test of peoples' integrity.  
ESPECIALLY when the test has a simple YES or NO answer, and they are aware that they will answer to Almighty God, for lying.  Honest questions deserve honest answers, and unless life or liberty are at stake, are appropriate.
Especially in a discussion room where credibility is so very important ... as we are casually discussing life and death matters.
 


so here goes.....
1.) BillyTheKid46, ... are you now or have you ever been one of Jehovah's Witnesses ? ... and,
2.) are you now, or have ever been a Watchtower Lawyer, or anything similar?
3.) Space Merchant:  Are you now or have you ever been one of Jehovah's Witnesses?
Working on the exchange of information theory of Steven Covey, in "The Seven Habits of Successful People", about emotional "bank accounts" ... that it is immoral to try and make a withdrawal without having enough "deposits" to cover it ... please consider all the personal information about myself I have freely given here, to try and contribute to general understanding ... including my real name, and real picture, ad nauseaum, as enough "deposit" to cover the request for a withdrawal from YOUR emotional bank accounts, for information not already volunteered.
Of course this only works between men of integrity, and will be ridiculed and/or ignored by weasels.
 

This is a good set of points. (I changed the bullets to numbers for discussion.)
Do you think that all of them have to be true at once? Or can 5 of the 7 bullets be true? Or only 2 of the 7?
Actually it appears that #1 through #6 are characteristic "ingredients" or features that will ultimately lead to #7 which is the actual cult product. That product becomes a support structure that can continue to support and enhance and defend the features of #1 through #6.
But there is also the question of a spectrum rather than black and white labeling. Within that spectrum there are variables for intention, motivation, flexibility, freedom, independent thinking, perceived spiritual value, etc.
I've kept an interest in this topic for years.
In fact, at Bethel I tried to study with some Moonies, who seemed receptive (they weren't). I did it mostly to get into their "community" warehouse, where they offered me crackers, milk, and fruit nectar (and more publications). Since then I've had a couple of LDS elders come by the house and make 4 return visits to try to study with me (I would point out things I found on anti-LDS sites, but woudn't study with them of course). And, working right near the NYC Scientology center in midtown I also took their little Bethel-like presentation tour a couple of times, and even met David Miscavige (from a short distance away) and heard him talk about how they helped 9/11 responders. On May 20, 2011, I spoke at length with a Harold Camping follower who gave me an entire CD/DVD full of proof that the rapture would be on May 21, 2011. I have a cousin who is a staunch Seventh Day Adventist, so I also studied as much of the early historical information about them as I could to try to convince her that the Witnesses had the more correct Adventist path. After trying to study them closely, I decided there was a little bit of "cult" in all of them. Of course, I mean in the pejorative sense that people use the term cult --based mostly on those bullet points you offered.
It's a stretch, but one could even defend or explain why one might call the Catholic Church a cult, because there are several of your bullet point features that are often seen in the lives and activities of some Catholics. The same might go for various political ideologies, even so broad as the United States Republican or Democrat parties, or various others  -- all in the pejorative sense.
But there are also nearly neutral or even nearly positive senses in which scholars use the term cult. Scholars can also look at the history of various religious groups and can speak of the cult of Yahweh in Israel, or the cult of John the Baptist, or the cult of primitive Christianity. This is not intended pejoratively. It's mostly used to help one realize the context in which a religious group survives and "cultivates" itself in a setting where they might be outnumbered by other larger religious groups surrounding them.

“Debunk” – to prove that something such as an idea or belief is false and silly.
 

It wasn’t falsely “debunked” until the expectations of the organization never were fulfilled.  It was then that the responsibility of believing in a scam fell on the shoulders of the members, even though it was the "serious students of the Bible" who believed 1975 to be an important date.  I would guess the most serious of "serious students" would be the leaders who approved of printing the article.  
A collage of expectations:

 
 

Instead of just guessing, a person might be able to get closer to the answer just by asking @Space Merchant. Assuming SM responds at all, one can see whether a direct YES or a direct NO appears in the response @Space Merchant gives to the following question:
@Space Merchant, Are you now, or have you ever been, one of Jehovah's Witnesses?

They spread rumors in print :)))

Each to their own thinking Tom. I'll be happy that the specialist I've got to see at hospital has had some higher education. To know that those guys have some idea about cancer etc, well it gives one a bit of hope. And those guys that design and build the big scanners that can examine the whole body without actually tearing it apart, well you know I think higher education helped them a bit. There is still a lot of good that comes from higher education Tom. Even bloodless surgery must have involved higher education. The 'cell salvage' machines. 
 
 

As a matter of fact, Billy ... I do have a perfect plan (almost) than CAN be implemented.
 
Some parents can .... and do.
Happy thoughts will not make it happen.
A Brother who was later convicted of raping another Sister, and who is now in prison, backed off from pursuing my daughter because she told him " ... my Dad will kill you ... yes, he will go to prison, but you will be dead!", and he knew that was true.
In a similar manner, if the Society had a global non-negotiable policy of  "All reports or suspicions of child sexual abuse, without exception, will be reported to the Police, and all  other Civil Authorities.", and use the two witness rule for internal deliberations .... the threat of certain punishment would deter almost all of these potential cases, except for the retarded or insane.
You wanted a real answer that would actually work.
There ... you have it ....  in one sentence.

Actually, since I treat everyone exactly the same, inside or outside of "The Truth"  ....  that is not as significant as you might think, John.
I assume BTK46 is one of Jehovah's Witnesses, but I don't remember him actually indicating that he is one ... specifically.
He may be just one that adores the Governing Body (?)  There is a guy that worships President Trump, and paid $2,000 for a statue of him to worship.     BTK46 has not, to the best of my knowledge, joined the JW ONLY CLUB, and there is some evidence that he is a Watchtower Lawyer as well as him being a self-proclaimed scholar. 
Who knows?
I suspect, but I do not know ... so I give him the benefit of the doubt as really being one of Jehovah's Witnesses, as shown in the cartoon that mentions him, above.
There is such a thing in everyday life as "The Myth of the Monolith", which is sometimes true, but most of the time, it is NOT true ... and that is that the general assumption that all ( pick a group) are the same, and have the same motives, aspirations, values, and loyalties.
All Catholics are not the same, all USA Spanish voters are not the same,  all Jehovah's Witnesses are not the same, and all Negro people are not the same ... and the list goes on and on.
I have stated many times before .... I do not try to throw my lot in with the Jehovah's Witnesses as a religion because I agree with them ..... but BECAUSE THEY AGREE WITH ME. 
At least about core theology, and what is true, and what is TRUTH. I did learn the Truth from Jehovah's Witnesses, and it has been a blessing for me all the days of my life ... and probably kept me from being executed by the Governments, or being maimed or killed in various misadventures, or spending my entire life in a cell.
Thinking we are a monolith is a mistake, even though current management is continually trying to make us one.
.... I do not take up the torch for ANYONE .... except my wife Susan.
I take up the torch for IDEAS I agree with, and use that same torch to try and destroy the IDEAS I know are false.
Whether anybody here lives or dies is only of casual interest to me.
 
 
 

If you really are a hunchback dwarf with duck feet, you could be a HUNCHMAN for the devil, and STILL keep your job as a Watchtower Lawyer!

You know.... I give considerable thought to being FAIR, with all people ... and the thought occurred to me that I am taking up a CONSIDERABLE amount of space In your head, Billy, and not even paying rent.
I am living rent-free in your head, and although there is a lot of empty space, I seem to be taking up most of it.
Here is what I propose:
Lets say you, Billy, have 2 acres of free space up there, and I am taking up at least half of your imagination.  I think a fair market value is $35 dollars a day per acre, with a $10 a day bonus per day for my not having to be exposed to any competing sense of humor. 
OK ... so that would be $45 a day .... and lets say I have been consuming your thoughts for about a year and a half ... say ... for want of a better figure, 548 days.  So that would be 548 days, times $45 dollars per day so that would be in round numbers $24,640.
I am assuming you do not dream about me, because you have never mentioned it .... but that would subtract from the above estimate, anyway.  I am trying to be fair about this.
I have decided to pay you IN FULL for the space that I appear to be permanently occupying, and from time to time as it appears to continue to be the case,  perhaps at 600 or so day intervals, give or take, to catch up on the back rent, for living in your imagination.
I asked a Lawyer if I would need a receipt, but he said since there was no formal agreement, it would not be necessary,  Apparently all Real Estate transactions in every State are only legal if they are in writing, but he suggested that since I do not have any personal information about you, except that a lot of people have given you firearms over the years, and you hide behind an imaginary persona, with imaginary pistol and rifle as shown in your photo, and have an imaginary .50 caliber sniper rifle, and I live only in your imagination, the safest bet would be to pay you in the "coin of the realm".
Since I do not know how to use BitCoin, please consider this code Blc%d42dyyjTHY65, as payment in full .... in imaginary money.