JW Insider

Typical again. As usual, more false claims about others without evidence. That's bluster. But you add so much arrogance to your bluster. Furthermore, when it's pointed out, you reflexively project the things you do wrong back onto others.

That is a GREAT idea ... as I am sure that only a Box Turtle could make sense of it.
 

Moreover, if they really wanted to pump everyone into fever pitch, as John charges they do, they would not have let 1Thess 5:2-3 go unmentioned during last week’s assigned Bible reading—the verse about “whenever they are crying ‘peace and security.’ They would have hyped it to the heavens. Instead, they let it pass unnoticed.
I think they are sailing a “steady as she goes” course among treacherous waters, doing their best not to overhype nor underhype. I just don’t like to second-guess their every move. Everyone knows what a pain a back-seat driver is. I don’t want to be one.
Does John want to go back to what he once was doing, reasoning that it is enough to know that the end is “out there somewhere?” This course I believe we are “not allowed” to take—not by the GB, but by Jesus, if we would prove ourselves faithful to him. Does John point to things he thinks the GB does wrong? (Does he ever!) I note how Miriam and Aaron began to speak against Moses on account of his Cushite wife—and how Jehovah really, really didn’t like that, and He let them hear about it. This was so even though Moses actually did have a Cushite wife.
As much as it is good to roam history in the spirit of “he who does not know history is doomed to repeat it,” it is probably one of those things we are just going to have to accept that we do from time to time. The presumed motivation for so searching past publications is so that we do not yet again emerge with egg on our face when something doesn’t turn out as anticipated. I think it is fair to assume that we may—for the alternative is to forget all about “keeping on the watch”—the opposite shoal, which is even more dangerous than the one we are trying to navigate.
To the extent that the intent is to appear “respectable” by never again having to backtrack on prior expectations, I think the intent is misguided, though certainly understandable. Paul was described as a “pest” who was leading a “sect.” Witnesses today can expect no more. Christians then were considered the “offscouring” of the earth. Witnesses today can expect no more. 
What we have on this site is multiple players trying to make the case that the doers are doing it wrong—overlooking the fact that in most cases they themselves are doing nothing. Witnesses just have to accept that it will be that way. Malcontents and renegades will pick up the same refrain as you-know-who, the one who “accuses our brothers day and night before our God.”

That's good advice. I really did take a risk in guessing that @Bubba Johnson Jr also had in mind how Brother Splane's "Chart of the Ages" could be related to 1 Thess 5. It turned out that I was right, and that this was not a distraction from the subject matter, but ended up getting right to the heart of the subject matter.
To me, the mistake that Russell made with the pyramids also gets exactly to the real heart of the matter. This is why, as a joke, I did something similar with Splane's chart to what Russell claimed he did with the charts of the crisscrossing drains and ducts that were built into the Pyramid. I won't discuss the pyramid topic in full here, but if anyone else is interested in a serious discussion I'm up for it under another topic heading.
Your own post was typical. A few things right, a few things wrong, a few WT quotes with unrelated information that you believe defended Russell. You add information that you pretend is not already simple and obvious so that you can call others ignorant and deceptive. Unfortunately, even if you already see where you were wrong, I still have come to expect only more attacks, arrogance, name calling and diversions.
If you want anyone to take you seriously, I recommend a method that gives more weight to facts and evidence, rather than just bluster and arrogance.

That's good advice. I really did take a risk in guessing that @Bubba Johnson Jr also had in mind how Brother Splane's "Chart of the Ages" could be related to 1 Thess 5. It turned out that I was right, and that this was not a distraction from the subject matter, but ended up getting right to the heart of the subject matter.
To me, the mistake that Russell made with the pyramids also gets exactly to the real heart of the matter. This is why, as a joke, I did something similar with Splane's chart to what Russell claimed he did with the charts of the crisscrossing drains and ducts that were built into the Pyramid. I won't discuss the pyramid topic in full here, but if anyone else is interested in a serious discussion I'm up for it under another topic heading.
Your own post was typical. A few things right, a few things wrong, a few WT quotes with unrelated information that you believe defended Russell. You add information that you pretend is not already simple and obvious so that you can call others ignorant and deceptive. Unfortunately, even if you already see where you were wrong, I still have come to expect only more attacks, arrogance, name calling and diversions.
If you want anyone to take you seriously, I recommend a method that gives more weight to facts and evidence, rather than just bluster and arrogance.

Request please:  would people refrain from down voting or up voting the arrow on the left because it throws the whole thread out of sinc and makes it harder to follow replies. It seems to be automatically set on "sort by votes" so if you want to see the chronological order of comments you have to keep clicking  "sort by date". It just gets to be a pain after a while.

I hope you know that the ruler I added to the illustration was just a joke, to show how anxious some people are to get any additional information about the timing of the Great Tribulation. The joke is actually based on comments that Russell made, and a related comment here by someone else about how Russell had used just such a method on a rough illustration of the Great Pyramid at Giza. He took the original illustration from C. Piazzi Smyth's book (1864) about the Great Pyramid, and tried to measure various lengths to show where all the prophesied dates in the pyramid landed and finally ended. Most of this was borrowed from Joseph Seiss who had not only done the same thing, but who had "teased" the readers of his book (MIracle in Stone, 1877) by producing an illustration which didn't exactly predict the end date but showed the reader the "known" dates, in an illustration and then tempted the reader with just how easy it would be to see where the dates of the Great Pyramid finally dropped off. He said he wouldn't include that date in the text of his book because it might not be prudent. It was clearly designed to tempt readers to get out a ruler and measure it for themselves.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramidology#Joseph_A._Seiss
C. Piazzi Smyth himself and Seiss, elsewhere, had predicted dates for the end from the 1880's up until the early 1900's as each previous date failed.
So my joke was NOT intended to add any further information about what we could know, but only because I agree with Jesus and Paul about the silliness of any such attempts:
(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. (1 Thessalonians 5:1) . . .Now as for the times and the seasons, brothers, you need nothing to be written to you.

This is true. But then again this will always be true because the end is closer now than at the time we became believers.
(Romans 13:11, 12) . . .And do this because you know the season, that it is already the hour for you to awake from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than at the time when we became believers. 12 The night is well along; the day has drawn near.. . . Since the late 1600's, especially, religions that focus on where we are in terms of chronology and prophecy have claimed we are at the cusp of the Great Tribulation. The Millerite movement apparently produced at least 100,000 people who could be convinced that 1843/1844 was the end. A Millerite named Barbour was able to convince Russell from his updated version of Miller's chronology that Barbour had used to prove 1873/1874 was the end. The Watchtower said that the signs were unmistakable that the last days had begun in 1799 and the Watchtower pointed to heavenly signs in the sun and stars in the early 1800's as proof. The evidence is so overwhelming now, today, that it would seem crazy to deny that we are deep into the last days, and yet we should keep in mind that the evidences seemed just as overwhelming to Miller, Barbour, Russell and others, and probably just as overwhelming to Paul's contemporaries.
And we truly HAVE been on the cusp of the Great Tribulation ever since 70 C.E. when the first part of the prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem was fulfilled. Remember that Jesus said that "immediately after those days, the sun would be darkened" etc. As Peter said, it could be 1,000 years off, and yet we are still to live as if the parousia could be within our lifetime. If we happen to survive to that time, we were on the cusp, and if we happen to die before that time, we were on the cusp, because our next waking second after our death, should be in the resurrection.
 

I hope you know that the ruler I added to the illustration was just a joke, to show how anxious some people are to get any additional information about the timing of the Great Tribulation. The joke is actually based on comments that Russell made, and a related comment here by someone else about how Russell had used just such a method on a rough illustration of the Great Pyramid at Giza. He took the original illustration from C. Piazzi Smyth's book (1864) about the Great Pyramid, and tried to measure various lengths to show where all the prophesied dates in the pyramid landed and finally ended. Most of this was borrowed from Joseph Seiss who had not only done the same thing, but who had "teased" the readers of his book (MIracle in Stone, 1877) by producing an illustration which didn't exactly predict the end date but showed the reader the "known" dates, in an illustration and then tempted the reader with just how easy it would be to see where the dates of the Great Pyramid finally dropped off. He said he wouldn't include that date in the text of his book because it might not be prudent. It was clearly designed to tempt readers to get out a ruler and measure it for themselves.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramidology#Joseph_A._Seiss
C. Piazzi Smyth himself and Seiss, elsewhere, had predicted dates for the end from the 1880's up until the early 1900's as each previous date failed.
So my joke was NOT intended to add any further information about what we could know, but only because I agree with Jesus and Paul about the silliness of any such attempts:
(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. (1 Thessalonians 5:1) . . .Now as for the times and the seasons, brothers, you need nothing to be written to you.

I hope you know that the ruler I added to the illustration was just a joke, to show how anxious some people are to get any additional information about the timing of the Great Tribulation. The joke is actually based on comments that Russell made, and a related comment here by someone else about how Russell had used just such a method on a rough illustration of the Great Pyramid at Giza. He took the original illustration from C. Piazzi Smyth's book (1864) about the Great Pyramid, and tried to measure various lengths to show where all the prophesied dates in the pyramid landed and finally ended. Most of this was borrowed from Joseph Seiss who had not only done the same thing, but who had "teased" the readers of his book (MIracle in Stone, 1877) by producing an illustration which didn't exactly predict the end date but showed the reader the "known" dates, in an illustration and then tempted the reader with just how easy it would be to see where the dates of the Great Pyramid finally dropped off. He said he wouldn't include that date in the text of his book because it might not be prudent. It was clearly designed to tempt readers to get out a ruler and measure it for themselves.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramidology#Joseph_A._Seiss
C. Piazzi Smyth himself and Seiss, elsewhere, had predicted dates for the end from the 1880's up until the early 1900's as each previous date failed.
So my joke was NOT intended to add any further information about what we could know, but only because I agree with Jesus and Paul about the silliness of any such attempts:
(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. (1 Thessalonians 5:1) . . .Now as for the times and the seasons, brothers, you need nothing to be written to you.

We come to know the "ring" of truth as we study it prayerfully and diligently. Our minds and hearts accept the logic as facts fall in to place clearly. Jehovah's holy spirit opens our minds and hearts wide to understand what we are reading. Right food at it's proper time. Then, what's unique above all, is how the Bible's teachings are accepted by millions of people in just the same way as we believe, in our time. This is unifying and Jehovah liberates us from a world of division by what Jesus said at John 17:17: "Your word is the truth." The Bible is God's expression, breathed into the mind of men, handpicked by him to accomplish this beautiful guide for life. It's a comfort to hear our Father's voice when we read the Bible.

This is true. But then again this will always be true because the end is closer now than at the time we became believers.
(Romans 13:11, 12) . . .And do this because you know the season, that it is already the hour for you to awake from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than at the time when we became believers. 12 The night is well along; the day has drawn near.. . . Since the late 1600's, especially, religions that focus on where we are in terms of chronology and prophecy have claimed we are at the cusp of the Great Tribulation. The Millerite movement apparently produced at least 100,000 people who could be convinced that 1843/1844 was the end. A Millerite named Barbour was able to convince Russell from his updated version of Miller's chronology that Barbour had used to prove 1873/1874 was the end. The Watchtower said that the signs were unmistakable that the last days had begun in 1799 and the Watchtower pointed to heavenly signs in the sun and stars in the early 1800's as proof. The evidence is so overwhelming now, today, that it would seem crazy to deny that we are deep into the last days, and yet we should keep in mind that the evidences seemed just as overwhelming to Miller, Barbour, Russell and others, and probably just as overwhelming to Paul's contemporaries.
And we truly HAVE been on the cusp of the Great Tribulation ever since 70 C.E. when the first part of the prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem was fulfilled. Remember that Jesus said that "immediately after those days, the sun would be darkened" etc. As Peter said, it could be 1,000 years off, and yet we are still to live as if the parousia could be within our lifetime. If we happen to survive to that time, we were on the cusp, and if we happen to die before that time, we were on the cusp, because our next waking second after our death, should be in the resurrection.
 

This is true. But then again this will always be true because the end is closer now than at the time we became believers.
(Romans 13:11, 12) . . .And do this because you know the season, that it is already the hour for you to awake from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than at the time when we became believers. 12 The night is well along; the day has drawn near.. . . Since the late 1600's, especially, religions that focus on where we are in terms of chronology and prophecy have claimed we are at the cusp of the Great Tribulation. The Millerite movement apparently produced at least 100,000 people who could be convinced that 1843/1844 was the end. A Millerite named Barbour was able to convince Russell from his updated version of Miller's chronology that Barbour had used to prove 1873/1874 was the end. The Watchtower said that the signs were unmistakable that the last days had begun in 1799 and the Watchtower pointed to heavenly signs in the sun and stars in the early 1800's as proof. The evidence is so overwhelming now, today, that it would seem crazy to deny that we are deep into the last days, and yet we should keep in mind that the evidences seemed just as overwhelming to Miller, Barbour, Russell and others, and probably just as overwhelming to Paul's contemporaries.
And we truly HAVE been on the cusp of the Great Tribulation ever since 70 C.E. when the first part of the prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem was fulfilled. Remember that Jesus said that "immediately after those days, the sun would be darkened" etc. As Peter said, it could be 1,000 years off, and yet we are still to live as if the parousia could be within our lifetime. If we happen to survive to that time, we were on the cusp, and if we happen to die before that time, we were on the cusp, because our next waking second after our death, should be in the resurrection.
 

“Now as TrueTom was saying these things in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice: “You are going out of your mind, TrueTom! Great learning is driving you out of your mind!”  But TrueTom said: “I am not going out of my mind, Your Excellency Festus. Well, actually, you do have a point. I guess I am going nuts, but it is not on account of great learning. I am spending too much time with the yo-yos on the worldnewsmediaforum.”

If anyone is interested, I was able to move all the comments that were related to the CAIN topic over to here:
https://www.theworldnewsmedia.org/forums/topic/84241-did-cain-marry-his-sister/
Yes, I know it wasn't originally about Cain marrying his sister, but if JTR has a better name for it, I can still change it (I think).

I think I can answer the question above under the chart that asks: "How do Jesus's words indicate that we are living deep in the time of the end?"
A. Because if we were to look carefully at the chart and notice the scale that was used to indicate the time for each event, we can see that the Great Tribulation breaks out exactly 148 years after 1893, which is the year 2041. Therefore we are living deep in the time of the end.

Yeah, that’s what I’m talkin about!

I have just gotten online for today and I did not realize that this firestorm had erupted. I will be back on when I get something to eat. Be back soon!...Tom (Bubba)

I think I can answer the question above under the chart that asks: "How do Jesus's words indicate that we are living deep in the time of the end?"
A. Because if we were to look carefully at the chart and notice the scale that was used to indicate the time for each event, we can see that the Great Tribulation breaks out exactly 148 years after 1893, which is the year 2041. Therefore we are living deep in the time of the end.

It's a good question. I think it might be related to the fact that @Bubba Johnson Jr put these verses in his profile along with Brother Splane's updated "Chart of the Ages" that tried to explain the "overlapping groups of Anointed in 'This Generation.' " He posted this chart among the references to the verses above, and it obviously includes THREE GROUPS of anointed:
Anointed who saw and discerned the sign in 1914 Anointed who were once contemporaries with those who saw and discerned the sign in 1914 Anointed who were not contemporaries with those who saw and discerned the sign in 1914 It's possible that Bubba hopes to find scriptural support for the THREE GROUPS, marked separately in the chart below. But I don't understand his reasoning, and I hope he will explain. Here is what Bubba posted adjacent to the verses above:
Bubba Johnson Jr

 
What are “all these things”?
How does Exodus 1:6 help us to understand the meaning of “generation”?
To what particular generation was Jesus referring?
What two groups make up “this generation”?
How do Jesus’ words indicate that we are living deep in the time of the end?
 

It's a good question. I think it might be related to the fact that @Bubba Johnson Jr put these verses in his profile along with Brother Splane's updated "Chart of the Ages" that tried to explain the "overlapping groups of Anointed in 'This Generation.' " He posted this chart among the references to the verses above, and it obviously includes THREE GROUPS of anointed:
Anointed who saw and discerned the sign in 1914 Anointed who were once contemporaries with those who saw and discerned the sign in 1914 Anointed who were not contemporaries with those who saw and discerned the sign in 1914 It's possible that Bubba hopes to find scriptural support for the THREE GROUPS, marked separately in the chart below. But I don't understand his reasoning, and I hope he will explain. Here is what Bubba posted adjacent to the verses above:
Bubba Johnson Jr

 
What are “all these things”?
How does Exodus 1:6 help us to understand the meaning of “generation”?
To what particular generation was Jesus referring?
What two groups make up “this generation”?
How do Jesus’ words indicate that we are living deep in the time of the end?
 

Asking about, for example, how many  JW witnesses groups exist, can bring us to answers as: Past and Present, Loyal and Not Loyal, Zeal and not Zeal, Discreet and Non Discreet, Died and Alive .... etc. What would be benefit of such research?
You can used the same methods for "anointed". And come to similar answers.    
What is the purpose for your question, and by what methods, by what tools, you want to making operation upon verses to see what is the content under the skin? :))

This is just a quick reply, have no time to post any support for this, but I remember researching this at one time since I also had the same question. It would appear that since there is no time frame on what happened from Adam to when Cain left to wander somewhere else, it is possible that the people he might encounter were his distant relatives, who had already procreated sufficiently to establish several communities.  Also, the scriptures do not always detail everything. It was Moses who supposedly wrote about this, perhaps he had no need to explain where the other people came from, if he believed they came from Adam and Eve, since as Melinda mentions, he said that Eve became the mother of everyone living. So it makes sense that Adam and Eve had a heaps of children during their long life, besides the main characters of Cain and Abel, and these children had heaps of other children. I even did a hypothetical diagram of possible families and relatives, and it seemed quite feasible that after several generations there were quite a number of people scattered all over the place. Granted, not to the extent that "science" tells us. For me, scientific evidence, especially in the area of evolution, can be dodgy, and I am not sure everything can be believed as facts, even though you say there is hard evidence for it. However, I cannot argue with you on this because I have not investigated this "hard evidence" myself. Not thoroughly anyway. 

If anyone is interested, I was able to move all the comments that were related to the CAIN topic over to here:
https://www.theworldnewsmedia.org/forums/topic/84241-did-cain-marry-his-sister/
Yes, I know it wasn't originally about Cain marrying his sister, but if JTR has a better name for it, I can still change it (I think).

whaaaaaaatttttttt!???