JW Insider

3 hours ago, Outta Here said:

Brother Edgar Clay

As far as I could see, Ewart Chitty did not appear effeminate, but it was often said that Edgar Clay was effeminate in a way that kind of creeped out other Bethelites. This might just be prejudice talking as I never crossed paths with Edgar Clay. Someone told me that Bro Chitty went back to live with this same man after he was dismissed from Bethel and dismissed from the Governing Body. That rumor seems unlikely, but did concern me at the time when I first heard it. If anyone has ever heard anything to confirm or disconfirm this, it might be of interest for this particular topic. Perhaps Edgar Clay was not even alive after Chitty left?

10 hours ago, Arauna said:

Russian writer Aleksandr I Solzhenitsyn.  He opened the eyes of the West about life behind the Iron curtain – what was really happening to the ordinary people of his country.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was found to be a liar. He probably never expected communism to fall, even though its fall was the dream he lived for. Because when it fell, the things that he claimed were in existence turned out not to have existed. He was not as pro-Christian as he was pro-Czarist.

54 minutes ago, The Librarian said:

I actually have a personal connection to Grant Suiter that I won't delve into here....

Interested. I knew him, but not very well. He was the hardest to get to know of all the 18 members of the Governing Body who were simultaneously on the Governing Body at the same time he was.

3 hours ago, Outta Here said:

Well well, @JW Insider, now you're going all JTR on me!!

Sorry about that. Sometimes he inspires me!

Some more trivialities:

The "Frank and Ernest" comic strip actually has billed itself as the "Hot Dog Comic Strip" because of a long-running hot dog theme, and these, of course, have nothing to do with the Watchtower's old radio show on WBBR called "Frank and Ernest." But it is true that this radio show moved over from the Watchtower's Bible Students to "Dawn Publishing" in 1928 or so where it kept going, to become one of the longest running radio shows ever.

2 hours ago, Arauna said:

Russia: The fact that soldiers came and collected all the food on farms cannot be denied

I'd love to deal with this in more detail. As part of a study related to the new "Ezekiel" book (Gog/Magog/etc), and TTH's book on Russia, I have been interested in a prolonged study including reading parts of several books on the topic, and 100% of a few more. There is so much information on this that I should probably continue this part of the discussion under that topic about Stalin and Mao. Looks like I might have to add North Korea to that topic, too. It'll probably have to wait until tomorrow, however. I'll have more free time because of the holiday.

1 hour ago, Arauna said:

The original idea of communism was to have no state - but this does not work – it always spawns a powerful central state which controls the thoughts, ideas of people and their material assets.

The original idea of the United States constitution was to have a state that conformed only to the interest of rich landowners. Only rich landowners could vote. Most men in the United States could not vote, to say nothing for women and slaves. This was to create a powerful central state of ELITE that controlled the thoughts and ideas and material assets of the 99% of the rest of the population. 

1 hour ago, Arauna said:

Why do you think many people have already been defunded on YouTube and kicked off of twitter and FB in the West?   They are kicked off because they are non-compliant with the dictates of the new world order. 

In spite of a lot of foolishness and stupidity and fraud that goes on in social media, it has also become a place where careful persons can distinguish and curate actual news and easily discover the true nature of events going on in various places. The "West," for example, has always tried to control what gets covered as "news' and how deeply (meaning, how "shallowly") a controversial story can be covered for the "West's" audiences. Social media exposes the flaws and propaganda of our news that invariably backs or defends the interests of American and Western multi-national corporations. 

So emphasizing how much of social media is fake is a good way to sow distrust of the more truthful sources of news, too. Many of the best sources of real news were caught up in the crackdown on fake news. Almost as if it had been orchestrated to accomplish this very thing.

Some of the things you say about China above prove just how well the Western propaganda has worked, in my opinion.

1 hour ago, Arauna said:

The new UN Migration Compact signed last week made it a criminal offence to talk against any form of migration and made migration a human right. 

I didn't see where it made it a criminal offense to talk against it. Can you point it out? It seems like the kind of thing that would come from a commentator who is fearmongering against the Compact, not something to be found in the Compact itself. The answer to these things is usually, "you have to read between the lines." Not saying it's not there, it's just sounds so much like the type of thing I've heard in the past.

1 hour ago, Arauna said:

the orchestrated famines in Russia……Unfortunately, they were not accidents

I am anxious to begin discussing many of the other points you have made. I agree with most of them. But I'd like to see if you'd wish to delve further into this idea of "orchestrated famines" first, because I think it will be very enlightening as to the effective methods of Western propaganda.

8 hours ago, Arauna said:

JW Insider:  I understand that you are trying to give a ‘’balanced view” to these pages by saying that Nazi propaganda and fear of socialism was behind the news of the orchestrated famines in Russia

True. That "Nazi" propaganda came to include propaganda from the United States which shared some of the same goals. Later, in the 1980's and 1990's this same propaganda was even tacitly accepted by Russia's anticommunist leaders as one of several ways to consolidate power against the communist party in Russia.

8 hours ago, Arauna said:

Unfortunately, they were not accidents…

We have been misinformed. Not only were they "not accidents," they didn't happen. There were no orchestrated famines of any kind in Russia. In fact, the idea of orchestrated famines was intended specifically to counter the evidence that the communist system had very quickly reduced and finally eradicated the famine problem that Russia had suffered for many years.

The propaganda about orchestrated famines, also helped to cover up the ACTUAL orchestrated famines elsewhere that killed millions under the orchestration of people like Hitler and Churchill.

In fact most people who wished to start propaganda about orchestrated famines, would not even point to a specific event or famine. If they pointed to a specific year or event, they probably knew that evidence might weaken their false claim, so they initially just put out a general false claim and hoped it would "stick." And of course it would stick because at the time (during the Cold War) communism had become the enemy. The West wanted very badly to believe the worst about it. It's what the West was programmed to hear.

8 hours ago, Arauna said:

A false face was held up for the Western world….

True. By the communist governments and by the Western governments themselves when talking about the communist governments.

8 hours ago, Arauna said:

Where there is freedom of speech one cannot hide things permanently; or as well as under totalitarianism.

This is quite true. In fact, much of what we now know about the propaganda about communist governments has been revealed through "Freedom of Information Act" (FOIA) requests in the US, and the release of historical contemporary documentation from the communist regimes, Nazi regimes, and American (US) regimes, too.

8 hours ago, Arauna said:

One cannot deny the totalitarian propensity of Communism.

This is true. Especially in its beginning, flailing, experimental stages, communism is doomed to sabotage and failure if there is not a strong majority behind it. And there is always an ego and power struggle in every form of government. It's human nature. Even Jesus' own apostle's seem to have begun maneuvering early for a higher position in Jesus' government. We had a taste of that here in the US when a socialist health care system was proposed, but it was sabotaged through the naivete of the President who thought it would be seen as a social good, and sabotaged through loopholes that made it easy to keep it from getting a strong majority. But it was also doomed by allowing strong elements of capitalism to struggle for power within its definition (pharmaceutical corporations, health care corporations, insurance corporations). With those corporations rushing to raise prices and position themselves as major profit-takers -- combined with the majority opting out instead of participating -- only a set of totalitarian mandates could have made it a workable, affordable system. It would be like my group health insurance at work trying to keep the same low prices for everyone after allowing all the young people in the company to opt out completely.

So the people with the most invested in a new system of government quickly move toward totalitarian mandates even when people begin speaking against the newly proposed system.

The methods of totalitarian propensities in the West are designed more subtly, and must play on existing prejudices. Those prejudices have be cultivated and maintained. But that's a somewhat different topic -- and I can tell you are already aware of these methods, and even their extent, to some extent.

1 hour ago, Arauna said:

What is all this complaint about grammar?  I thought this was a forum where one can have discussions similar to sitting in your lounge with friends.

Exactly so!

What apparently happened is that JTR noticed that if one happened to misread something that BTK said, it could sound painfully funny. There was nothing ungrammatical or funny about what BTK said, and JTR did not say there was anything wrong with BTK's words. BTK probably missed the fact that JTR was only finding a joke in JTR's own potential misreading of it.

Here was the entire exchange:

On 12/23/2018 at 2:10 AM, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

On 12/23/2018 at 1:57 AM, BillyTheKid46 said:

What is the test without ripping out an obstacle? 

If you have dyslexia when reading that sentence, it can be VERY painful.

I don't think that BTK got the joke, or he would have realized that JTR was making fun of his own self, and his own misreading, rather than making fun of what BTK said. I know that once you explain a joke it won't be as funny any more, but I'll break the unwritten rule. If one were not a good reader, they might take that serious and grammatical sentence: "What is the test without ripping out an obstacle?" and spoonerize it into one that contains the expression "ripping out a test-acle." Of course, this won't strike everyone as funny even if they get the joke. But the main point is to notice that no one was making fun of anyone else's grammar. 

Still, I knew better than to upvote JTR's joke, but I did it anyway and, sure enough, BTK claimed that JTR was making fun of his grammar, and that I was also making fun of it, because I laughed at JTR's "joke" with a "laugh" icon.  I had hesitated to laugh because I've seen this happen before when someone doesn't get someone else's joke and thinks people are laughing at something else. But JTR's joke was funny enough for me. Perhaps I am too easily amused. It reminded me of a experience while driving a car group just last week, when a person cut us off almost hitting us but swerved back into his lane when he realized it. For some reason, I quipped the spoonerism: "Stay in your lane . . . .or lay in your stain." No one laughed. They might have thought I suffered from the first stages of road rage. But if JTR had been in the car group, he might have given me an "upvote" of some kind.

After my upvote of JTR's nearly self-deprecating joke, BTK answered my upvote with:

18 hours ago, BillyTheKid46 said:

Obviously, if you and JWinsider’s attempt, is to force your idea of grammar on others. Keep in mind your own failures in grammar. Everyone has their own style, deal with it.

I completely agree with his sentiment, and only responded because of the false accusation BTK made:  that --by finding JTR's joke funny-- I was somehow forcing my idea of grammar on others, and implying that the joke was about a failure in BTK's grammar. I have never thought grammar was a big deal, and have always thought it was funny that anyone would think grammar or writing style was such a big deal.

(csvsh)

1 hour ago, BillyTheKid46 said:

where is AllenSmith34 . . . Whatever happened to this person?

I have not mocked him here, nor did I take any cheap shots. But to answer your question, I remember back on August 17, 2018, he was evidently both the writer and upvoter of a comment complaining about the "failures of JWInsider" ("If JWinsider would expose his failure . . .", he said). That was also one of a couple posts where he had pointed out that I (and others) have grammar failures (a fact with which I have always wholeheartedly agreed). Under the name AllenSmith34 and some previous names with AllenSmith followed by a number, he also claimed that I and others 'have tried to push our own idea of proper grammar on others.' But his biggest complaint, of course, about persons like me had always been the my real failure is the inability to understand scripture.  

So although I haven't seen that exact name pop up for a while, I have seen that same series of points made. So at least I am not completely out of touch with those insights. Similar to this one . . .

6 hours ago, BillyTheKid46 said:

Obviously, if you and JWinsider’s attempt, is to force your idea of grammar on others. Keep in mind your own failures in grammar. Everyone has their own style, deal with it. Now if you can't understand scripture, that's a different story. I can understand that handicap that many here have. Matthew 5:29

. . .  and similar, of course, to this from "someone else" on August 17, 2018:

1 hour ago, BillyTheKid46 said:

Did this person need to resort to another name usage to get access?

By the way, I would not have any problem with any of AllenSmith's monikers returning.  I have no issues with them. I learned a lot from him, and think it's easier for anyone to present a more complete and consistent view with less repetition when one keeps the same name throughout their entire history on a forum. I understand that there might be reasons for "banning" a person, but I think it's ridiculous because anyone can circumvent a banning with another name. Why not just make all banning temporary instead of so permanent?

Anyway, it's just like the UN Compact 2018 (mostly about immigration). I think it should keep the same name of the agenda that it is a part of, and not go under other names like Agenda 21, to be renamed Agenda 2030, etc.

8 minutes ago, TrueTomHarley said:

I still hadn’t found a parking spot.

UN Compact 2018 attempts to take care of this through strategic transportation management, making much more use of public transportation systems, and therefore much reduced use of the personal automobile. [If anyone asks, please let the Librarian know that I have successfully (and no doubt permanently) brought the topic back to "UN Compact 2018."]

22 hours ago, Outta Here said:

but surely anachronistic?

Nah! The dog was clearly born, and named, far back into the time of the previous leadership, which had ended only a few months prior.

However, this dog's previously sired pups on the other hand, all being hot little dogs, half-Beagle, half Dachshund, were named "Nathan" and "Frank" and "Ernest." Nathan stuck close to his "Pappy," although Frank and Ernest were found jumping the fence to Dawn's house (in Layman's terms) having previously been raised in the "House of the Rising Sun" with some Russell Terriers.*

[Sadly, Rutherford's phonograph players were sold to Berlitz.]

[This doctrine was later changed to "The World Will End When The King of the North and the King of the South Try to Get Even."]

*Perhaps the Librarian will not notice that this post has gone just a wee bit off topic.

58 minutes ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

I submit as an example a JOKE ... which thankfully, (whew!) JWI thought was funny!

I have to admit that I thought the joke was funny immediately, but I hesitated to respond with the "laugh" emoticon. In fact, I canceled my initial response because, well, I already knew that what just happened could easily happen because it had happened a few times in the past. And sure enough, it just happened again.

Let me explain:

You probably know that I equate BillyTheKid with AllenSmith and at least a dozen other monikers that I believe are used by the same person. You probably also remember that AllenSmith(s) went on a campaign for about two years on this forum trying to claim that I had made fun of his grammar (also claiming that you and Ann had made fun of his grammar). I knew I hadn't and I knew, therefore, that he also had no evidence for this false claim. But that didn't stop him from repeating the claim every few months. 

What made your joke, above, just as dangerous is that --even though your joke was not about him-- it could have been taken as a joke made at his expense. And even worse, it included the word "dyslexia."

I'll just pick up a few phrases from the search tools, and you will probably remember some of these conversations, usually involving the three of us. [I won't mention the topic, because I don't want to divert too far from this topic of the UN Compact. 😎

• [From February 2018] "I told a joke and maybe you thought I was making fun of you."

Here's one that's more to the point from September 2017:

On 9/24/2017 at 1:40 PM, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

On 9/23/2017 at 6:41 PM, AllenSmith said:

Comment Deleted!!!!!!!!

Self-Deletion in fear of having an “OUTRAGES” response from JTR as he has done in the past with my dyslexia without consequences from Queen Ester or the Librarian. It was seen as humorous, by many here. I just remembered!!!

If you have dyslexia, how is it that you do not type in reverse?

Seriously ... I never EVER made fun of your dyslexia ... I never knew you had it until you whined and undressed yourself in public .. . . .

Even TTH has been involved in a couple of these occurrences:

On 1/16/2018 at 5:53 PM, TrueTomHarley said:

On 1/16/2018 at 5:00 PM, AllenSmith said:

I would suggest you HOLD everyone accountable, to your [RESTRICTIONS] LIBRARIAN,

Allen, let me suggest that you use the ground rules here to improve your communicating skills. . . .  You have alluded to dyslexia. Maybe it is but the tip of the iceberg. Maybe there are other factors that affect your emotional control, for you do launch some zingers sometimes.

This was right after Allen Smith had complained that you (JTR) had made fun of his condition, saying:

• "When JTR (Someone calling himself a witness) insulted my condition . . ."

At any rate, I could go on and on here, but won't, even though Google and other search tools tend to "keep account of the injury." I just wanted to say that I realized the joke was not about BillyTheKid at all, so I put back my "laugh" up-vote. But the rest of this was completely expected and predictable, because it's evidently a kind of goal for him to find evidence that I somehow made fun of his grammar.

6 hours ago, Outta Here said:

what is the name of the dog?

Judge Ruff the Third?

Judge Ruffled Fur?

Peace on the Sidewalk?

14 hours ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

I still, in my own mind, assuming that I know the mind of Russian thinking ... especially of a man who used to be the head of the Soviet KGB, and also presumably knowing how adults in such positions think, do NOT believe that he used the word "persecute".  I believe this was in the mind of the translator, or the algorithm of the translation computer program,  ... NOT V. Putin.

JTR: I agree with you here. If you look at the entire meeting, the word "prosecute" was used in the translation a few of the other times, even in similar contexts. Judicial prosecution was already the topic here in nearly every case discussed, but the overall topic is a wider context than the auto-translator AI looks at. The fact that the name of a minority was used in the sentence, "Jehovah's Witnesses," and that the word "Christians" was in the immediate context, this is what probably triggered the translation, "persecute" instead of "prosecute."

Of course, this is still a very important admission as @Outta Here has said, and it's in line with what you were thinking about Putin being the one to get it straightened out, if it reaches to a high enough priority. There were several interesting admissions in the meeting, and Putin comes across as very professional, careful, knowledgeable and "wiley." He is just defensive enough to protect himself from various questionable decisions by judges, admits problems with some laws, understands some of the PR issues with the rest of the world, etc. But he also doesn't commit to overturn questionable actions, and doesn't want to give in too much, to avoid the impression, for example, that future amnesty can be counted on, based on past or current amnesty. 

Wallkill only prints the new Bible and new Songbook, by default. All other books are printed outside the United States. There are some softcover book exceptions, such as the new Ezekiel book, but this is only supplementary printing for that book. (If you take a tour there you can still get your own paper copy.)

There are some other expenses in running an international organization. There are large conventions that still expand beyond what our Assembly Halls can support. Rebuilding after natural disasters and rebuilding and retrofitting after mold problems and plumbing problems, etc. (The mold problem is big from 1980s "quickbuilds" which had no windows for sunlight and used NY style one-sided vapor barriers that were not suitable for more tropical climates or areas with constant seasonal temperature fluctuations.) There are also now truck and auto fleets, software licenses, professional equipment training, purchases of food from outside suppliers, and a lot of other things (including some printing, shipping & transportation) that are no longer handled in-house.

On 12/2/2016 at 11:03 PM, The Librarian said:

Anyone know the location?

For the picture with the dog, my guess would be Little Rock, Arkansas, USA, since that's where Travelers Field was. Also, it says Little Rock, Ark., right under Travelers Field. (And one of the signs in the background says "Arkansas Carpet and Furniture" which existed in Little Rock, AK., at either 6th and Main, or 709-715 Main St. in Little Rock.)

8 hours ago, Outta Here said:

http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/59374

The relevant portion is translated through bing as follows. I don't speak Russian, but can just about read it phonetically. After letting Bing and then Google translate, Google did a very good job overall, but this one portion appears to be better in Bing, but only for this one particular sentence that I've marked in red below.

------------------

V. Putin: Thank you.

With regard to the first of your stories about this African students got to see, of course, nonsense kakaja‑to. From what you are telling, it's just kakaja‑to nonsense.

And, of course, need to do what you suggest, to analyze the enforcement practice. And, if necessary, make adjustments to the kakie‑to.

B. Ryakhovskiy: For this girl to me now turned to the European Court of Justice, I have continued to ...

Putin: I don't know what denomination it belongs, she is Christian, but there are also a lot of directions. Jehovah's witnesses, too, Christians are being persecuted, I also do not really understand. So we just need to analyze, it is necessary to do so. I will talk with Vyacheslav Mikhailovich, and try to do it.

The Russian language original is 95% down into the page that @Outta Here provided above.

В.Ряховский: По этой девушке ко мне сейчас обратились, для того чтобы я продолжал в Европейский Суд…

В.Путин: Я не знаю, к какой конфессии она принадлежит, она христианка, но там тоже много направлений. Свидетели Иеговы тоже христиане, за что их преследовать, я тоже не очень понимаю. Поэтому надо просто проанализировать, надо это сделать. Я переговорю с Вячеславом Михайловичем, и попробуем это сделать.

The key word here is преследовать, which oddly enough can mean basically "chase" and therefore it can mean both prosecute and persecute. Formally you should to add a phrase that means "judicially" or "by trial" (i.e. преследовать + в судебном порядке, or преследовать + по суду ) and it means prosecute. Without these additions, I think it really should mean persecute, especially if used with a religion or minority in the context. Therefore, it SHOULD mean persecute here, but I suspect this translation could legally be challenged as just a less formal way of meaning "prosecute." 

In fact, if you just go to translate.bing.com and type in преследовать, you will get the following, which includes both prosecute and persecute without the formal additions:

------------------

For reference, I have also added Google's translation of larger portions of the context below. Both for the original question about JWs, and the context of the later discussion where Putin evidently brings up JWs on his own, even if the particular case (of the African med student "missionary" studying in Russia) was not a JW:

-----------the rest of this post is Google's translation of excerpts from the link that Outta Here provided: ----------

There is also a list, for example, of organizations that also have information that they are involved in extremism and terrorism. There are 489 of them, 404 of them are Jehovah's Witnesses. I will make here an ominous pause. Many, perhaps, there are claims to Jehovah's Witnesses - they don’t transfuse blood, don’t send children to the hospital - but they certainly don’t call for violence and don’t carry it out.

So 404 of 489 - this is it. That’s how many terrorist organizations we have in the Russian Federation. Thus, I would like to express the hope that the anti-extremist legislation will, let's say, be moderated in accordance with the requirements of society and in accordance with the real level of crime.

Because everyone has more or less understood that these searches for pictures on social networks and the initiation of cases on this issue - this does not contribute to strengthening anything, it does not correspond to any state interests, it does not prevent any terrorist acts.

As we can see, when, unfortunately, this kind of thing happens, these are people who did not follow these lists, who did not come into the view of law enforcement agencies, because, of course, they do not post pictures on VKontakte, they do not communicate among themselves in open communities. They coordinate their actions completely differently.

Thank.

V.Putin: Thank you very much.

Ekaterina Mikhailovna, I am very pleased that the questions, rather sharp questions, were raised precisely by you - an employee of the Institute of Social Sciences under the President of the Russian Federation.

E.Shulman: Yes, I am now twice under the President of the Russian Federation, both at the place of work and in social activities.

V.Putin: See, everything is the same.

And they require careful consideration, all the questions you raised.

Regarding Jehovah's Witnesses. Probably, we can, and even should at some point, be much more liberal to representatives of various religious sects, but we should not forget that our society does not consist solely of religious sects. 90 percent of the citizens of the Russian Federation, or so, consider themselves Orthodox Christians. We have three more practically traditional our religions, which the state provides assistance. We should treat the representatives of all religions in the same way - this is true, but nevertheless it is also necessary to take into account the country and the society in which we live. True, this does not mean at all that we should include representatives of religious communities in some destructive ones, not even in terrorist organizations. Of course, this is complete nonsense, you need to carefully deal with it, here I agree with you.

You always return me to the case of Ponomarev, he is probably a truly respected person. But the judge, when he made the decision, do you think I knew that he was making the decision? Of course not. But when a judge makes such decisions, he does not proceed from merit or from something else. If it were a simple citizen who few people know, even the question would not be raised. The law is the same for everyone. To close relatives could be released at parting, at the funeral, there is no other case in the law. The judge is guided by these direct instructions of the text of the law itself, that's all. There is nothing like that, there is no ambush here, there is no political motive.

About unauthorized rallies. Let's still come back to this and see. You yourself mentioned, said about Paris. See, there are victims already affected. The fight is mainly in the center of the capital, and a state of emergency has been declared because of this. How many pogroms there are, burnt cars, shops, the losses are not only in the state, but also in people who have nothing to do with the state, they are enormous. And all this time - like a match, and everything started.

This does not mean at all that we should not analyze our own life and not look after the law that is in place in our country. But still, we must understand the world we live in. Liberal approach to an unauthorized rally. The hard answer from the state what? Water cannons, gas, batons, hundreds of delays - hundreds, can you imagine? Don't we know that? More recently, there have been heavy events in which the Constitution of the Russian Federation was adopted in force, in conditions of growing civil war, in fact, civil war! Crowds of people with weapons ran across Moscow, stormed the Ostankino, crawled along some kind of underground facilities, communications. Regular units of the Russian army were brought into Moscow, internal troops were involved, and they still fired at each other, not understanding what was happening. Chaos! Carefully need to treat this very. Although, of course, it is necessary to analyze the conditions in which we live and the rules that govern our life, including its side, which you mentioned.

Please, I beg you.

---------------- skipping to the area near the end where Putin brings up JWs on his own---------------

If the damage was mitigated, repaid, and the antisocial act is not so serious there.

A.Sokurov: It is the New Year and Christmas amnesty.

Vladimir Putin: Let's think, we have Christmas every year. We must carefully approach this.

It is necessary to finish already. I promised, otherwise I will work until three in the morning.

Here it is, that's all. Please, I beg you.

V. Ryakhovsky: Vladimir Vladimirovich, thank you very much.

To be honest, this is the first time in six years, the turn has reached me.

I have two questions, I will try to short, saving time.

In July 2016, a federal law was passed under the title “On the adoption of additional measures to counter terrorism”, the so-called “Spring Act” among the people.

This law amended the law on freedom of conscience. The Law on Freedom of Conscience was supplemented by a chapter on missionary activity. The definition of missionary activity is given, the procedure for its conduct is established, to the extent that, in order for a person to speak about his convictions, he must be delegated by a religious organization and have a standard document.

The Code of Administrative Offenses introduced Article 5.26 on establishing liability. A year and a half has passed, and I would very much like to ask the initiators of this law: has the goal, which was set by the authors, been achieved? According to this law, at least one extremist was held accountable?

Nevertheless, law enforcement agencies initiated and brought to court more than 600 administrative cases involving representatives of various religious denominations, with the possible exception of one - the most widespread. These things are as unbelievable as imagination can probably be.

Here is just one vivid example: Nizhny Novgorod, a student, a citizen of an African country, a sixth-year student at a medical university, is a little more than a month from state examinations. She gives an interview to one of the Internet channels, talks about herself, about her family, about her childhood, about how she has been a believer since childhood, a Christian, and in Russia she also comes to church, and all this helps her in her studies .

Two administrative cases are brought against her. The first is for violating the rules of missionary activity, she is fined, the second is for violating the goals of staying in the Russian Federation. She arrived on a missionary visa, and here she says something about her convictions. And she is appointed in the second case a fine and expulsion from the Russian Federation. Fortunately, the appellate station probably had enough intelligence: they didn’t cancel these decrees, but they postponed her expulsion until they received the diploma, in just a few months.

Interestingly, the basis of these cases was the expert opinion, which saw in this video hidden appeals, hidden missionary activity.

That is, you understand what's the matter? Hidden. There are no obvious signs of missionary activity. And why are they not? Yes, because it is hidden, and because of this, she was brought to justice.

I can bring a lot of such things, because this is part of my professional interests. The Constitution has a stable notion: when the freedom of conscience is revealed, it is said about the right to impart one’s beliefs. This measure, this rule of law appears, to put it mildly, simply manifestly excessive, it does not contribute to the harmonization of interfaith relations, but, on the contrary, leads to imbalance and violation of the constitutional rights of citizens.

Therefore, Vladimir Vladimirovich, we kindly ask you to instruct the Supreme Court to simply summarize the practice. And then there are so many accumulated of these cases that you can just draw caricatures. It just comes to ridiculous! I just brought one thing, but in fact there are a lot of them. And to raise the question of generalizing this practice on 5.26 with respect to religious organizations, and in general, probably, raise the question of the expediency, to what extent is such regulation justified. There is the concept of "spreading religious beliefs." Why else to introduce the concept of "missionary activity"?

The second question is completely irrelevant to this. Literally the day before, I had a meeting with several businessmen who responded to your May invitation to return to the Russian Federation after the years of emigration on the so-called Titov list.

And indeed, it was precisely by believing your word and not doubting your innocence, because those behind whom there was something, I think, would not even come at your invitation. And the fact that several people have already returned to their homeland in the hope that, while at home, they will be able to recover and protect their good name.
And one of the first defendants in the so-called Titov list, who returned to Russia after 13 years of forced emigration in London, became a businessman from Yekaterinburg Sergey Kapchuk. I met him. You should have seen his eyes after he arrived. Just burning, shining - he came home, he came, believing your call and believing that here is true today, unlike those years when he left, justice.

But, alas, he encountered today the same methods of investigation from which he had once escaped. He was automatically charged since 2005. After reading the materials of the case, as he explained to me, the corruption scheme in the government of the Sverdlovsk region, in which it was used, simply became clear.

They filed applications for the interrogation of specific people, heads of individual industries, confrontations - all of this consequence closes his eyes today, and, as we understood, is ready to bring the case to court, to hang up some conditional or slightly lax sentence, order to forget this thing.

But he did not come for this. He did not come to be given a conditional sentence, not to be released under an amnesty, but to prove that he was innocent.

Therefore, Vladimir Vladimirovich, kindly requested. The first is to give the General Prosecutor's Office to take over the cases of Sergei Kapchuk, and similar cases for the people who came, returned to Russia, to take control. And to you, of course, such a request, to still follow the fate of these people not until they returned, but in general, before the completion of their work.

This case has a public outcry today. Why? Because others, those who still remain abroad today, they are closely watching the result of this business. This will be an example for them, as an urge to return to Russia too. And, fulfilling the request of Kapchuk, I just wanted to give you a short appeal from him.

Thank you very much.

V.Putin: Thank you.

As for your first story about this African student, you need to look, of course, some sort of nonsense. From what you tell, it's just some kind of nonsense.

And you need, of course, to do what you propose - to conduct an analysis of law enforcement practice. And if necessary, make some adjustments.

V.Ryakhovsky: According to this girl, they now appealed to me, so that I would continue to the European Court ...

V.Putin: I don’t know to which confession she belongs, she is Christian, but there are also many directions. Jehovah's Witnesses are also Christians, for which I do not really understand how to persecute them. Therefore, you just need to analyze, you need to do it. I will talk with Vyacheslav Mikhailovich, and try to do it.

K. Kabanov: Thank you, Vladimir Vladimirovich.

Dear Colleagues!

You know, I actually, probably, in my 14 years of work, every time I hear that we have two problems: law enforcement agencies and bad laws.

In fact, in the framework of the instructions you gave last time, Vladimir Vladimirovich, we dealt with the history of the criminalization of the teenage environment. But, as we were taught at previous duty stations, we must look deep into, look, study . . . . 

25 minutes ago, TrueTomHarley said:

Evidence is accumulating that much havoc in children’s development is wrought by chemical contamination. I suspect it is a great factor with gender-bending, as well, and maybe also with homosexuality taking the world by storm.

Could be. And some of these problems have been known since ancient times, but I can only suspect you are right about the great increase in gender-bending. Of course, Greece was famous for homosexuality, mostly as a form of child sexual abuse, not so much "men" who lay with "men" although that was clearly well known, too. (And women with women, as Paul references.) The supposed fluidity of sexuality has also been argued from the behavior of celibates who are closet non-celibates (e.g., priests), and even the most anti-homosexual prisoners who have been known to participate voluntarily within days of incarceration.

But I was hoping to stick with the topic from the perspective of Christian love and understanding of various sexual problems that even some Witnesses have been born with, or from decisions they made before becoming Witnesses. There have been some very effeminate-acting Bethelites, and I'm not talking about your Percy Chapman types or Leo Greenlees types who apparently would "gush" over each other even in public. I'm talking about brothers (more than one) who managed to get and keep jobs with varying levels of responsibility at Bethel, even though they were sometimes "called to the Couch" when someone complained perhaps based more on their own level of discomfort near them  ("called to the Couch" was a Bethel expression referring to Bro. George Couch, Bethel personnel dept). 

In the world, we can expect that our children and grandchildren will go to school with persons who have been known to have the highest rates of suicide and depression, and (related) who have also suffered the highest levels of peer persecution and bullying. Our children need to learn sensitivity and empathy to persons with any psychological, social, or even sexual problem. Schools won't have the answer to the underlying problem, although they can make stupid decisions that make matters worse. But when our children are in such schools who are trying to do the right thing, we should probably realize that we may have to accept even some of Caesar's stupider laws when those laws themselves do not directly conflict with God's laws. Of course, we could also become politically active and claim that bad laws encourage the breaking of God's laws, at least indirectly -- but that's probably not going to be our solution. Some of us can decide on home-schooling which has its own problems, usually related to the education levels of parents. 

On 12/21/2018 at 12:55 AM, Arauna said:

Saw a clip yesterday where the professor is drawing attention to a school in Ireland which is now teaching their students that boys can have periods so they do not feel excluded.

It has nothing to do with boys not feeling excluded. It is so that any transgendered or non-binary students do not feel excluded. Usually these types of stories are presented all out of proportion so that conservative sites and organizations can raise more monetary contributions from a conservative audience. But this one has more basis to it than some of the other fund-raising/fear-mongering headlines.

Even the Telegraph (UK) when reporting on this, tried to get attention with a headline that said "boys can have periods, too." The truth, as usual is more nuanced. The report was apparently taken down from the government-run site, but the most relevant quotes from it were already publicized. The bullet points below were not in the original, just the start of new paragraphs:

• The advice to teachers was approved by Brighton & Hove City Council as they try to tackle stigma around menstruation.
• The new advice follows a council report which said: "Trans boys and men and non-binary people may have periods", adding that "menstruation must be inclusive of all genders".

I have feeling that the emphasis in the original was that teaching about menstruation "must be inclusive of all genders." That idea shows up in the next quote from the Telegraph:

• The report recommends that "language and learning about periods is inclusive of all genders, cultures, faiths and sexual orientations. For example; ‘girls and women and others who have periods'".
• Brighton & Hove City Council said in a statement: "By encouraging effective education on menstruation and puberty, we hope to reduce stigma and ensure no child or young person feels shame in asking for period products inside or outside of school if they need them.
• "We believe that it’s important for all genders to be able to learn and talk about menstruation together… Our approach recognises the fact that some people who have periods are trans or non-binary."

It's about much more than inclusive language, of course, but at least that part of the recommendation is a little more understandable. For example, even the New World Translation added a lot of gender-neutral language in the 2013 Revision where the previous NWT had always used male-specific language. See, for example, https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20151215/nwt-bible-2013/

But this recent report recommendation is an amazingly detailed accommodation to what should be only a rare occurrence among school-age students. There really are persons born with both male and female organs at the same time, or organs so deformed as to not be definable except by "choice." That choice, one expects, would be based on chromosomes, but even here, one might present as a young man before it is advisable to operate. Children should never be encouraged to participate in such a life-altering choice based on their feelings. Parents should never push a choice on them that is not completely based on biological/chromosomal reasons. So it is possible that both physical and non-physical re-orientations will take place among students at various ages, and they will likely feel out of place or even bullied if there is no sensitivity to such issues.

I hate the ideas put forward in this society to push "choices" on children, or to drastically alter their physical bodies to accommodate a supposed "feeling" that might have even been transitory, but will now be etched permanently. But, on the other hand, it has happened, and children will unfortunately continue to be bullied to the point of suicide and even be killed outright (as often happens) if something isn't done to prepare more sensitive procedures and accommodations in schools. Part of this was also in the report, and as stated below in the Telegraph article, might make sense for several reasons.

• It asks teachers to be respectful and inclusive of children who are questioning their gender, and tells them that purposefully not referring to children by their preferred pronoun or name can constitute harassment.
• The toolkit also recommends schools adopt a non-gendered uniform so all children feel included, and to reduce bullying.

Should be noted that the original (by Gerhard Haderer) had nothing to do with JWs:

Also, this one below, also by Gerhard Haderer, with direct reference to Catholics might give us pause:

Then one of my favorites is Gary Larson-esque:

On 11/6/2018 at 2:48 PM, Kosonen said:

According to my current understanding of the exact time we are in relative to the prophecies in the Bible, the above mentioned scripture is going to get its fulfillment.

@Kosonen If we could say we were still waiting for specific prophetic events to occur in advance of the final judgment at Armageddon, then we would be saying that the Bible is lying. The Bible says that this "day" will come as a complete surprise, as a thief in the night. That final parousia/visitation/revelation/manifestation/synteleia/judgment --that every eye will see--  will come as a complete surprise, effectively without warning to Christians or the rest of the world. It  just as the final days of Sodom and Gomorrah came upon the men, women and children of that day without any warning. The initial prophecy of Matthew 24, relates to both Daniel and Revelation, and was about the overall results to the nation of Israel for their the rejection of Christ. (rejecting his  ministry, rejection of his life [clamoring for Roman execution],  and rejection of his resurrection.) At any point after that "parousia" upon Jerusalem and Judea, the final parousia upon the world could come at any time, "immediately." There would be know secret prophecies to figure out because that day (parousia, synteleia, judgment, destruction, revelation, manifestation) would be a surprise; it would appear suddenly and unmistakably, like lightning.

• (Luke 17:24-30) . . .For just as lightning flashes from one part of heaven to another part of heaven, so the Son of man will be in his day. 25 First, however, he must undergo many sufferings and be rejected by this generation. . . . 28 Likewise, just as it occurred in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building. 29 But on the day that Lot went out of Sodʹom, it rained fire and sulfur from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 It will be the same on that day when the Son of man is revealed.
• (Matthew 24:36-44) 36 “Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. 38 For as they were in those days before the Flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, 39 and they took no note until the Flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be. 40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken along and the other abandoned. 41 Two women will be grinding at the hand mill; one will be taken along and the other abandoned. 42 Keep on the watch, therefore, because you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 “But know one thing: If the householder had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have kept awake and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 On this account, you too prove yourselves ready, because the Son of man is coming at an hour that you do not think to be it.

The only warning we have is that it WILL happen, and this day is closer every day. We will not be able to look at signs and prophecies to figure out anything about the time period: the day and hour, or the "times and seasons."

• (Acts 1:7) 7 He said to them: “It does not belong to you to know the times or seasons that the Father has placed in his own jurisdiction.

Rather than use these scriptures only as an excuse as to why we continue to make the same mistakes the early disciples made, we should learn the actual lesson they offer. That we cannot know anything more about the times and seasons.

Notice that in Luke's account, there is only ONE thing that would be a true prior sign before "THE SIGN" that would finally and "immediately" appear in heaven. That was "(Luke 21:25) First, however, he must undergo many sufferings and be rejected by this generation." Similarly, Jesus said that the "sign of Jonah" is all that would be given to that generation as a warning. That was also the same sign of Jesus rejection (execution and resurrection). It was THAT sign of Jonah (picturing Christ's ministry, death, and resurrection) that fulfilled the crushing of the final world power. It's what finally sent Satan hurtling from his position in heaven down to the earth, so that all of us have a period of tribulation in this world due to Satan:

• (Luke 10:18) 18 At that he said to them: “I see Satan already fallen like lightning from heaven."

• (John 12:31-33) 31 Now there is a judging of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 And yet I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all sorts of men to myself.” 33 This he was really saying to indicate what sort of death he was about to die.

• (John 16:33) 33 I have said these things to you so that by means of me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage! I have conquered the world.”

We can quickly test the inspired utterances, and know if they originate with God. We know it is not scriptural if a person tries to use prophetic time periods to identify the times and seasons we are living in, especially if they are looking to some current or future event as the beginning of a time period so they can say: "The time is at hand."

• (Luke 21:8) . . .He said: “Look out that you are not misled, for many will come on the basis of my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The due time is near.’ . . .
• (1 John 4:1) . . .Beloved ones, do not believe every inspired statement, but test the inspired statements to see whether they originate with God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

If a person, or even an entire religion tries to present itself as having special knowledge of the times and seasons, we can know immediately that they have overstepped, and therefore have become unfaithful and indiscreet. After all, Paul said:

• (2 Thessalonians 2:1, 2) 2 However, brothers, concerning the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you 2 not to be quickly shaken from your reason nor to be alarmed either by an inspired statement or by a spoken message or by a letter appearing to be from us, to the effect that the day of Jehovah is here.

Paul lived at a time when there really was another fulfillment of prophecy on its way, prior to 70 C.E. But he also knew that Jesus had said that people would be eating and drinking and going about their lives so that the end would be a surprise to them, and therefore he knew that watching for specific signs (such as wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines, pestilence, etc.) could not help them foretell the one SIGN that Jesus responded to in his answer to Matthew 24:3. But notice that Paul did use this one prediction about a "man" of lawlessness, an "apostasy"  just as Jesus had predicted in Matthew 24:

• Matthew 24:11,12, Many false prophets will arise and mislead many; 12 and because of the increasing of lawlessness, the love of the greater number will grow cold. . . . 23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here is the Christ,’ or, ‘There!’ do not believe it. 24 For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will perform great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the chosen ones. 25 Look! I have forewarned you.

John, who significantly was likely writing after the year 70, says that this was already fulfilled, and this is how Christians knew they were already in the "last days" the "last hour":

• (1 John 2:18) 18 Young children, it is the last hour, and just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared, from which fact we know that it is the last hour.

So it's true that all these ideas have a counterpart in our own day, just as they have had a counterpart in all of history since the first-century congregation. We have been living among these "deluding influences" ever since Satan was cast down through Christ's death in the first century.

• (2 Thessalonians 2:6-9) 6 And now you know what is acting as a restraint, so that he will be revealed in his own due time. 7 True, the mystery of this lawlessness is already at work, but only until the one who is right now acting as a restraint is out of the way. 8 Then, indeed, the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will do away with by the spirit of his mouth and bring to nothing by the manifestation of his presence. 9 But the lawless one’s presence is by the operation of Satan with every powerful work and lying signs and wonders.
• (Hebrews 2:14, 15) 14 Therefore, since the “young children” are sharers of blood and flesh, he also similarly shared in the same things, so that through his death he might bring to nothing the one having the means to cause death, that is, the Devil, 15 and that he might set free all those who were held in slavery all their lives by their fear of death.

The point is to keep conquering Satan down to our last breath in this system, which is only possible due to what Jesus has already conquered. In his day, Jesus also conquered all governments and by taking out of them a government, a kingdom of its own.

• (Colossians 1:13) . . .He rescued us from the authority of the darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son,

So it should be very possible to already see the spiritual fulfillment of Jesus conquering the world, from way back in the time of the Roman empire. There will be a physical fulfillment against all governments, too, but we need not look to try to discover the time of any specific physical fulfillment against a future manifestation of Rome or other bestial world powers. When Jesus and the first century congregation conquered Rome, that was all the prophetic fulfillment needed to fulfill all the time-related prophecies of Daniel and Revelation. We are not to look to any future time periods because looking to discover any time related fulfillments would negate the idea that the end comes as a thief in the night.

• (1 Thessalonians 5:1, 2) 5 Now as for the times and the seasons, brothers, you need nothing to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know very well that Jehovah’s day is coming exactly as a thief in the night.