JW Insider

Some current musings about it, that might all change tomorrow.
Interesting and prescient now that Trump is being pushed around by the CIA.  The Snowden paragraph (16th) was not as bad as I'd feared, if anything I would say it doesn't go far enough.  HUGE chunks of Silicon Valley are currently government contractors or crucially depended on being government contractors at their inception, and the CIA has been intertwined with the Internet from its foundation.  Silicon Valley is not only "complicit" with the surveillance state, it literally IS part of the surveillance state (for example see this https://surveillancevalley.com/blog/why-is-thcia-protecting-google).  My beef with Snowden is that his libertarian ideology prevented him from fully grasping the magnitude of his own revelations, (even now https://surveillancevalley.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-tor-project) which is that the private "free-market" spying is a bigger and more pervasive problem in most people's daily lives than government spying on terrorists and criminals.  The libertarian notion of "internet freedom" is a tool used by the USA State Department for regime change around the world.  (Again, Tor is a perfect example https://surveillancevalley.com/blog/tor-project-the-super-secure-anonymity-network-built-on-deception-false-promises-and-heaps-of-libertarian-bullshit)  

Ultimately the term "deep state" is not well defined enough even here.  This article, to me does a good job of describing the circumstances of why the term is popular, but the nailing down a precise and useful meaning is tricky.  Was Alexander Hamilton an agent of the "deep state" when he established military sovereignty violently against the native nations and Whiskey Rebellion in the 1790s?  Or did he and George Washington form the USA's "deep state" through western land speculation/conquest?  When did USA's "deep state" take form?  Under what possible circumstances could any society advanced enough to have an intelligence apparatus NOT have a "deep state"?  The spies of any nation are usually fanatical supporters of that nation, but that alone doesn't prove that they can actually control what that nation does.  

Yes, evidence has piled up since the 1970's that the USA's spies are a "class unto themselves" in the sense that spying is an industry autonomous from the government (https://www.thenation.com/article/five-corporations-now-dominate-our-privatized-intelligence-industry/) but ... so what?  You could say that about all defense contracting in general (see: the F-35).  Is the network of capitalist interests behind the building and maintenance of firepower really so important in the decision-making process of the deployment of that firepower?  Or are they merely loyal servants of politicians who are just greedy careless murder-happy imperialists?  This is the crucial question posed by the term "deep state" and the article doesn't directly answer it.  If anything, I'm leaning towards the latter hypothesis, and if that's true, then there is no deep state, just a plain old classical Marxist ruling class.

To argue by analogy, Hollywood is an industry autonomous from the government too (even though, just like Silicon Valley, it grew out of the machinery of war - early WWI-era propaganda techniques laid the material basis for the modern advertising, movie and recording industries), controlled by interlocking rings of capital who profit from it.  These capitalists make similar products, and the industry has become dominated by monopoly and oligopoly over time.  Do we need the concept of "deep script" to explain why the new Star Wars movie is basically Al Qaeda propaganda?  I don't think so, at least not necessarily.  Seems to me that media act as state propaganda because that's what's materially profitable (Like Chomsky and Herman said https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_model), as plain and simple as that.  When private actors work in concert to serve state ends, it can be explained by shared material class interests... the question is what exactly are those interests?

Since inception the USA's spy-state it has served the interests of capital around the world by systematically attacking and destroying secular multi-ethnic nationalism and communism everywhere.  The CIA's very first job was overthrowing the 1948 Italian election results.  The entire purpose of NATO was to prevent the spread of communism west, and the CIA immediately picked up on anti-communist counter-insurgency techniques from the Nazis, and recruited collaborators into the highest positions of government (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip).  NATO has never had a problem with working with terrorists whether the Islamic Jihadist or the European Fascist.  We (US) invaded Iraq and destroyed Libya for the same reasons we (US) helped destroy Yugoslavia and pressured the Soviet Union to fall apart - our ruling class WANTS large secular non-racist governments to fall into chaos so they can buy off the remains after the collapse for cheap.  No need for a "deep state" explanation; it's simple class interest.  Same goes for our cooperation with Arabian oligarchies, Central and Latin American juntas, Turkey, Israel, criminal militias in the Congo, etc.  Class interests, and a material need for cheap resources.

Oxford Circus. Thank the Interwebs for Google Street View ?  
I would love to know the story behind that picture. Is 'loudspeaker man' shouting about JWs or something completely unrelated?
AWESOME! 

It's a "congregation" where any one of us can pick up a 12-pt or a 14-pt "megaphone" in a professional looking font. We can even shout in a bolder and larger font if we wish.

@Maron should realize that some here are JWs being serious. Some are JWs making jokes. Some are non-JWs heaping ridicule. This is not the congregation where you personally know people

I remember the talk shortly after 9/11 by a friend of mine from Bethel, who suggested that we seriously consider the possibility that Islam be considered the new "King of the North." I think he didn't have the right to express this, but the talk went "relatively" viral for a couple of years. (At least among some brothers I spoke to.)
Interesting how this same interview above asked the candidate why he obsesses about Islam when non-Muslim Russian/Ukranian issues were the only source of "terrorists" death to Dutch in recent history. I imagine that Ciro got a similar speech as his talk was making the rounds.

I think the man with the loudspeaker is walking up and down past the hospital building rapping and beatboxing at the top of his voice, but really, really badly, and he won't shut up. He's been going at it for 5 hours straight and believes his new composition is the best he's done yet so he wants the exposure. Meanwhile inside, a mother and child are in great distress - see the child is crying. This contributes to the awful din being heard inside the hospital, so much so, that the patients and hospital staff are getting severe headaches. Everyone is in a state of high anxiety. To throw off all that anxiety, throw things at the man.
Hope that helps.

I have no interest in Valentine's Day, but I understand the appeal, especially for young ones, to have an excuse to express an amorous feeling verbally in a kind of teasing way that won't get them into trouble (because the holiday is designed to create an approved way to do this without the typical issues that young ones would deal with trying to navigate social norms). But the very fact that such a day was named after a "saint" that I knew nothing about was enough for me to avoid it and disapprove of it for my children. I can't say I ever cared to learn about the true history of the holiday, but it wouldn't surprise me that many things that might have some small value to some people are based on practices that we would and should find disgusting today.
I often hear that we make it difficult to our children to get along in school by taking away so many things that others find "innocent." To me, however, taking a stand against something is a good and healthy thing, as long as we can explain our reasons correctly. (1 Peter 3:15)
That said, I am very glad that someone (Ann, in this case) actually answered the question with relevant research. The question implies that Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Valentine's Day is related to Nimrod, and this should be quite embarrassing to many Jehovah's Witnesses, if they don't know anything about the basis for the claim.
The Bible doesn't say anything about Nimrod being related to any one of the gods mentioned in the OP. None of that is Biblical and therefore 2 Tim 3:16 doesn't apply directly.
What if the topic had been:
Was Santa Claus and the Babylonian God of Pedophiles the same god worshiped?
The Bible does not say anything about a Babylonian God of Pedophiles, of course, but neither does it say anything about Nimrod being worshiped. But if we became known as a group of supposed "Bible students" or "Bible researchers" and we went around talking about the "God of Pedophiles" then we should rightly be ridiculed for sloppy research. It turns out there also is no research that ties Nimrod to any of these claims we have made for him, either. 
Now if the discussion had turned toward false or improper practices and the ease with which religion absorbs these things for syncretic or ecumenical purposes, or the relationship of worldly attitudes in religion as a form of Satan's influence, then this could still be a useful and reasonable discussion of how such things from old still related to our times and our conscience. 
The fact that the Watch Tower publications stopped making such claims years ago, is a hint that we should probably be more careful ourselves. 
Just a quick follow-up quote from the Watchtower:
*** w84 9/1 p. 20 Would You Spread a Rumor? ***
DURING the Middle Ages an incredible rumor spread among the so-called Christians of Europe. It was whispered that each year at Passover, the Jews murdered a Christian and used his blood in their rituals. Sometimes they were said to capture Christian children and torture them horribly before killing them and using their blood. Right up until this century, during the Nazi period in Germany, this rumor was used as an excuse to persecute the Jews.
The story was investigated and disproved several times, yet it persisted for almost a thousand years. If someone had told it to you, would you have shared in spreading it? Hopefully, all of us would have had enough common sense or compassion not to do so. Yet rumors are persistent and complex things. Once started, they are difficult to stop. Even today, absurd rumors spring up and spread like wildfire.
For example, Procter & Gamble, a large firm supplying household products in the United States, was recently victimized by a rumor that it promoted Satanism and that its trademark was really a demon symbol. Another widespread rumor had it that a well-known chain of fast-food stores was putting worms in its hamburgers! Some years ago it was widely believed that a member of the singing group the Beatles had died in an auto accident and had been replaced by a double. Even the Watchtower Society’s publications have been the subject of rumors—for example, that one of the artists had secretly been introducing pictures of demons into the illustrations, was subsequently found out and disfellowshiped!
Did you share in spreading any such stories? If so, you were—perhaps unwittingly—spreading an untruth, since they were all false.
 

I have no interest in Valentine's Day, but I understand the appeal, especially for young ones, to have an excuse to express an amorous feeling verbally in a kind of teasing way that won't get them into trouble (because the holiday is designed to create an approved way to do this without the typical issues that young ones would deal with trying to navigate social norms). But the very fact that such a day was named after a "saint" that I knew nothing about was enough for me to avoid it and disapprove of it for my children. I can't say I ever cared to learn about the true history of the holiday, but it wouldn't surprise me that many things that might have some small value to some people are based on practices that we would and should find disgusting today.
I often hear that we make it difficult to our children to get along in school by taking away so many things that others find "innocent." To me, however, taking a stand against something is a good and healthy thing, as long as we can explain our reasons correctly. (1 Peter 3:15)
That said, I am very glad that someone (Ann, in this case) actually answered the question with relevant research. The question implies that Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Valentine's Day is related to Nimrod, and this should be quite embarrassing to many Jehovah's Witnesses, if they don't know anything about the basis for the claim.
The Bible doesn't say anything about Nimrod being related to any one of the gods mentioned in the OP. None of that is Biblical and therefore 2 Tim 3:16 doesn't apply directly.
What if the topic had been:
Was Santa Claus and the Babylonian God of Pedophiles the same god worshiped?
The Bible does not say anything about a Babylonian God of Pedophiles, of course, but neither does it say anything about Nimrod being worshiped. But if we became known as a group of supposed "Bible students" or "Bible researchers" and we went around talking about the "God of Pedophiles" then we should rightly be ridiculed for sloppy research. It turns out there also is no research that ties Nimrod to any of these claims we have made for him, either. 
Now if the discussion had turned toward false or improper practices and the ease with which religion absorbs these things for syncretic or ecumenical purposes, or the relationship of worldly attitudes in religion as a form of Satan's influence, then this could still be a useful and reasonable discussion of how such things from old still related to our times and our conscience. 
The fact that the Watch Tower publications stopped making such claims years ago, is a hint that we should probably be more careful ourselves. 
Just a quick follow-up quote from the Watchtower:
*** w84 9/1 p. 20 Would You Spread a Rumor? ***
DURING the Middle Ages an incredible rumor spread among the so-called Christians of Europe. It was whispered that each year at Passover, the Jews murdered a Christian and used his blood in their rituals. Sometimes they were said to capture Christian children and torture them horribly before killing them and using their blood. Right up until this century, during the Nazi period in Germany, this rumor was used as an excuse to persecute the Jews.
The story was investigated and disproved several times, yet it persisted for almost a thousand years. If someone had told it to you, would you have shared in spreading it? Hopefully, all of us would have had enough common sense or compassion not to do so. Yet rumors are persistent and complex things. Once started, they are difficult to stop. Even today, absurd rumors spring up and spread like wildfire.
For example, Procter & Gamble, a large firm supplying household products in the United States, was recently victimized by a rumor that it promoted Satanism and that its trademark was really a demon symbol. Another widespread rumor had it that a well-known chain of fast-food stores was putting worms in its hamburgers! Some years ago it was widely believed that a member of the singing group the Beatles had died in an auto accident and had been replaced by a double. Even the Watchtower Society’s publications have been the subject of rumors—for example, that one of the artists had secretly been introducing pictures of demons into the illustrations, was subsequently found out and disfellowshiped!
Did you share in spreading any such stories? If so, you were—perhaps unwittingly—spreading an untruth, since they were all false.
 

You made some very good points. I was not referring to the type of people who cancel a life insurance policy, or stop paying their loans back on time, sold their homes, or put off all dental appointments and elective surgery, etc. I did know about people who claimed they were putting off the dentist for the next couple of years, but this was often said in jest. I knew of only one person who took that a little too seriously (the Gilead missionary) and I remember it because my father had hired him to work in one of the engineering labs at the university. I often hung out in the electronics labs in the afternoons after pioneering, and this brother's enthusiasm for 1975 was a little too embarrassing for my father. He had to tell him to tone it down, and I then heard them get into a discussion that turned toward the idea of why everyone else had faith in the "1970's  date." But "many" according to the Awake! made significant life-altering decisions:
*** g74 11/8 p. 11 Is This the Time to Have Children? ***
The evidence is that Jesus’ prophecy will shortly have a major fulfillment, upon this entire system of things. This has been a major factor in influencing many couples to decide not to have children at this time. They have chosen to remain childless so that they would be less encumbered to carry out the instructions of Jesus Christ to preach the good news of God’s kingdom earth wide before the end of this system comes.
 
Even my own parents sold their house to move into a rental near the Kingdom Hall. They also talked my brother out of using a full scholarship to a nearby university (he was good at electronics) so that he ultimately opened up an office cleaning business instead. But this might have happened anyway, and I still never think of this as related to 1975.
For myself, I was to graduate in 1975 and was allowed to quit school if I passed the GED (high school equivalency) to start pioneering in May 1973. I know full well that my own experience was related directly to 1975, because I had a serious discussion about it with my parents who were split on whether I should finish high school or not. My mother was not a fanatic about it, but often said she believed it was more likely to come in 1974 since everyone would be looking for it in 1975 and after. My father, the congregation's presiding overseer at the time, spoke about living a reasonably ordinary life because we hoped the end would come as soon as possible, perhaps even tomorrow, but we can only know that it will come within this generation, which could last from 1914 to 1994 for all we knew.
My father had been given district assembly parts in the past, but had not even been assigned a circuit assembly talk ever since he was disciplined by a district overseer for toning down a pro-1975 talk at a 1970 or 1971 circuit assembly. (These assignments started up immediately again in 1976 or 1977.) I heard my father discuss that experience with my uncle who was a circuit overseer in another circuit at the time. I know that the discipline was based specifically on his addition of Matthew 24:36 to the talk, and he was reminded about the Watchtower's comments:
*** w68 8/15 pp. 500-501 par. 35 Why Are You Looking Forward to 1975? ***
This is not the time to be toying with the words of Jesus that “concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matt. 24:36) To the contrary, it is a time when one should be keenly aware that the end of this system of things is rapidly coming to its violent end.
 
We were in Missouri at the time, but yearly we visited my uncle who was a circuit overseer in California, and he was of the opinion that 1975 should be promoted strongly (this was in 1973) because even if the end doesn't come in 1975, we still know that it will be here before the end of the 1970's (1979). I didn't get involved too much in the conversation, but I must have believed about the same thing, because I remember thinking that even if it didn't come by then, I would like to apply to Bethel, and could even be there from 1976 and beyond the four years I had originally intended.
Immediately after the 1976 Watchtower, however, ideas changed completely, and everyone's view seemed to suddenly normalize. My mother claimed to never have put any weight on 1975. My uncle said it was never really emphasized that much anyway. It was surreal to me, and by the time I got to Bethel, there was absolutely no talk of working the rest of our careers at Bethel, this side of Armageddon. Mentioning 1975 was a taboo, and the July 15 issue quoted was one of the very first issues we studied for the Bethel Watchtower study after I got there. The comments by the conductor were just as surreal about putting the blame on the brothers who read too much into the "Life Everlasting" book. 
But my point was that, if you were spiritually mature, you were expected to make changes in your life based on the idea that the 1970's would bring the end of the generation, and that this idea, along with the end of the 6,000 years, would make it the "appropriate time for God to act." If you had Bible students you were expected to give them an ultimatum about making up their mind within 6 months. If you didn't believe the end would be here by the end of the 1970's you were pretty much required to believe it would be here by the end of the century (1999/2000).  
Our family also knew Brother Toutjian in California and we laughed at the way his own experience was toned down from a "1975 rootin'-tootin' Toutjian" to the way he states his own experience in a 1984 Watchtower:
*** w84 2/15 p. 25 Always Ready for the End ***
Decades of expanded activity passed quickly, and the question now was, What will the 1970’s bring? My two sons, Duane and Jonathan, and my daughter, Carmel—a fourth generation—were grown and had families of their own. We were expecting that 6,000 years of man’s existence would be reached in 1975. Would this date bring us to the start of Christ’s Millennial Reign? That possibility intrigued us.
Now we can look back on that year and appreciate that the words of Jesus at Matthew 24:36 do not allow us to fix a date for the end. 
At the time, 1984, my father admitted to me that he laughed at that line about how "that possibility intrigued us." By then my mother, still pioneering, had forgotten all memories of 1975 fever, and was already claiming that the Society never said anything about 1975 even being a possibility, even though Brother Toutjian was probably still on tape somewhere (from a 15-year-old assembly talk) embarrassing himself. 

I discovered something today that surprised me greatly, even though it should not have surprised me at all.
This post could have gone in the Jewish section or a Controversial Post section, but I chose to put it here because, for me, it concerns my beliefs as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, and our recent reading of Isaiah. I base this discussion on a principle found in Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, although Paul at the time was specifically concerned with a different subject:
(2 Thessalonians 2:1, 2) . . .we ask you 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. . .
When I left Bethel, I had an opportunity to go to college. My work at Bethel had included picking up some valuable skills for study and research at libraries at Bethel and around NYC. Also, I was starting to pick up some Hebrew and wanted to learn more. I took a part-time job as an assistant editor and illustrator for a University publisher. This was the perfect job that became a kind of continuation of Bethel, and also allowed me to pioneer and to be on campus so that there would not be any push-back if I decided to attend college full-time. I took Computer Science as a major, but also took 8 semesters of Hebrew for 4 years. One of my reasons was because I had a strong interest in the Dead Sea Scrolls. I thoroughly enjoyed learning Hebrew, because much of the text used as a basis for learning was the Hebrew Bible itself. But after graduation in 1985 I got more heavily involved in congregation responsibilities, my first son was about to be born (1986) and the only jobs I could get in computer science were full time jobs. (Bureau of Labor Statistics,  then A D Little, Cambridge [NYC account for NYC property owners]). 
However, during the time I was studying the "Dead Sea Scrolls" I became suspicious that so many of them matched the LXX (Septuagint), but that some (Isaiah scrolls in particular) were touted to be so much closer to the MT (Masoretic Text). I was suspicious of quite a few more things, too. This made me wonder if some of these scrolls had not been all buried prior to 70 C.E. What if some of them were written or "edited" from, say 400 or 500 C.E, a time closer to when the MT became finalized [900 C.E.].? 
But no one else seemed to talk about these issues and anomalies. Every time I saw one mentioned, no one ever dealt with more than one single issue, with a potential explanation for it, and this gives the impression that the overall set of anomalies is not so serious. 
However, this morning I got up at 3am and decided to start taking these questions seriously, after dropping them for 30 years. I'm talking about dozens of research resources. I'm not done yet, of course, but I did find one simple overview that only touches on some of the issues lightly. This will give about the quickest idea of what most of those issues and anomalies are.
It's here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1991/03/31/dead-sea-scroll-mystery/121c7d28-aff8-47a4-893a-b94820204136/?utm_term=.3b7aaa886bcc
The issues mentioned here are quoted from the article linked above, written by Neil Altman.
a series of marginal scroll markings that have now been identified as being Chinese symbols, probably from a period corresponding to the West's Middle Ages. About 800 A.D., writes Charles Pfeifer in his book, "The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible," "the Nestorian Patriarch Timotheus I wrote a letter to Sergius, the Metropolitan of Elam, in which he described the discovery of a large number of Hebrew manuscripts in a cave near Jericho," a discovery also cited by John Allegro in his account of the scrolls. The eventual disposition of these manuscripts is not known. Many scrolls were discovered not by archeologists, but by Bedouins, and passed through the hands of numerous people -- shady antiquities dealers and local priests as well the Bedouins -- before scholars were able to purchase them. This is the case with both the Order of the Community and the Isaiah scrolls. The discovery of codices in one of the caves; codices are manuscripts with pages written on both sides, and came into use in the 2nd Century A.D. The presence in the caves of lamps from the 3rd Century A.D.; while this does not directly affect the scrolls, it opens the caves to later entry. The use in the scrolls of consonants to replace vowels to assist pronunciation, as Solomon Zeitlin pointed out years ago, along with the use of final forms of Hebrew letters, suggests a late date. The discovery at Qumran of Arabic and Byzantine coins, which raises questions about the use of the site after its apparent abandonment in 68 A.D. A reference in one of the scrolls to the koshering of fish; though Jews supposedly wrote this document, Jews have never ritually prepared fish. The apparent use on the so-called "Copper Scroll" of both upper- and lower-case Greek letters suggests a late date for this curious finding, as does what I believe to be the presence of anachronistic script. The possible presence of Arabic and Roman numerals raises further doubts about the history of this very unusual metal document.

I discovered something today that surprised me greatly, even though it should not have surprised me at all.
This post could have gone in the Jewish section or a Controversial Post section, but I chose to put it here because, for me, it concerns my beliefs as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, and our recent reading of Isaiah. I base this discussion on a principle found in Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, although Paul at the time was specifically concerned with a different subject:
(2 Thessalonians 2:1, 2) . . .we ask you 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. . .
When I left Bethel, I had an opportunity to go to college. My work at Bethel had included picking up some valuable skills for study and research at libraries at Bethel and around NYC. Also, I was starting to pick up some Hebrew and wanted to learn more. I took a part-time job as an assistant editor and illustrator for a University publisher. This was the perfect job that became a kind of continuation of Bethel, and also allowed me to pioneer and to be on campus so that there would not be any push-back if I decided to attend college full-time. I took Computer Science as a major, but also took 8 semesters of Hebrew for 4 years. One of my reasons was because I had a strong interest in the Dead Sea Scrolls. I thoroughly enjoyed learning Hebrew, because much of the text used as a basis for learning was the Hebrew Bible itself. But after graduation in 1985 I got more heavily involved in congregation responsibilities, my first son was about to be born (1986) and the only jobs I could get in computer science were full time jobs. (Bureau of Labor Statistics,  then A D Little, Cambridge [NYC account for NYC property owners]). 
However, during the time I was studying the "Dead Sea Scrolls" I became suspicious that so many of them matched the LXX (Septuagint), but that some (Isaiah scrolls in particular) were touted to be so much closer to the MT (Masoretic Text). I was suspicious of quite a few more things, too. This made me wonder if some of these scrolls had not been all buried prior to 70 C.E. What if some of them were written or "edited" from, say 400 or 500 C.E, a time closer to when the MT became finalized [900 C.E.].? 
But no one else seemed to talk about these issues and anomalies. Every time I saw one mentioned, no one ever dealt with more than one single issue, with a potential explanation for it, and this gives the impression that the overall set of anomalies is not so serious. 
However, this morning I got up at 3am and decided to start taking these questions seriously, after dropping them for 30 years. I'm talking about dozens of research resources. I'm not done yet, of course, but I did find one simple overview that only touches on some of the issues lightly. This will give about the quickest idea of what most of those issues and anomalies are.
It's here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1991/03/31/dead-sea-scroll-mystery/121c7d28-aff8-47a4-893a-b94820204136/?utm_term=.3b7aaa886bcc
The issues mentioned here are quoted from the article linked above, written by Neil Altman.
a series of marginal scroll markings that have now been identified as being Chinese symbols, probably from a period corresponding to the West's Middle Ages. About 800 A.D., writes Charles Pfeifer in his book, "The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible," "the Nestorian Patriarch Timotheus I wrote a letter to Sergius, the Metropolitan of Elam, in which he described the discovery of a large number of Hebrew manuscripts in a cave near Jericho," a discovery also cited by John Allegro in his account of the scrolls. The eventual disposition of these manuscripts is not known. Many scrolls were discovered not by archeologists, but by Bedouins, and passed through the hands of numerous people -- shady antiquities dealers and local priests as well the Bedouins -- before scholars were able to purchase them. This is the case with both the Order of the Community and the Isaiah scrolls. The discovery of codices in one of the caves; codices are manuscripts with pages written on both sides, and came into use in the 2nd Century A.D. The presence in the caves of lamps from the 3rd Century A.D.; while this does not directly affect the scrolls, it opens the caves to later entry. The use in the scrolls of consonants to replace vowels to assist pronunciation, as Solomon Zeitlin pointed out years ago, along with the use of final forms of Hebrew letters, suggests a late date. The discovery at Qumran of Arabic and Byzantine coins, which raises questions about the use of the site after its apparent abandonment in 68 A.D. A reference in one of the scrolls to the koshering of fish; though Jews supposedly wrote this document, Jews have never ritually prepared fish. The apparent use on the so-called "Copper Scroll" of both upper- and lower-case Greek letters suggests a late date for this curious finding, as does what I believe to be the presence of anachronistic script. The possible presence of Arabic and Roman numerals raises further doubts about the history of this very unusual metal document.

Ooh wow! Beautiful Southern Lights! ❤️️
More pictures from the same (I think) event in Nov. 2015.
Thanks for posting 

JEHOVAH'S  HEAVENLY  STUNNING  COLORS - ALL  NORTH - LIGHT  COLORS  IN  ONE  MOMENT ❤
 

Of course, back then the pre-Watchtower site looked more like this:
 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
the original song below is about the "purpose of our life".

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
the original song below is about the most important Name of all.

One is naive if one does not think this is going on all the time! 
I am of the opinion that WikiLeaks is being used as a pawn by some hostile/manipulative regimes to get information out only when they want it out!   I do not know if Assange has already realized this - or not!  The timing of some of his revelations are just too orchestrated.... or maybe he is manipulating things....

I can understand this completely. I believe that giving such counsel has been much easier for the past couple of decades. However, during those years when our counsel was supposed to be more dogmatic and pharisaic, I also had to give similar counsel to a sister with an unbelieving husband, and a couple where one of them was partially disabled.
However, I still think that it is proper to counsel a couple based on the principle in Romans 1, because it speaks of the "natural use of the body." It's true that we might have charged it with meaning that wasn't intended, but that also means that we might not have. Therefore, if conscience should play a role, then these verses ought to be included in potentially relevant counsel when helping one whose conscience is unclear. This also means that I would make an adjustment to your first and third bullet point. Just because both agree, does not necessarily mean that their conscience should be clear. I'm uncomfortable with using 1 Cor 7 in exactly the way you used it here as if should apply to an entire range of activities that might even push the envelope of what one spouse finds comfortable. It's possible that the verse is being "charged" with meaning that wasn't intended. 
Even if the principle is correct most of the time, I believe that any reasonable Christian couple should keep in mind that the real principle should not be that they simply agree, because agreement can be manipulated by emotion. Therefore, what someone might consent to at one time, might be something they would not have consented to at another time. Just the acknowledgment that this possibility might exist might make a couple think twice before engaging in experimentation that might prove dangerous either literally, or spiritually.
I don't believe we should ever use the Bible as a kind of legalistic book of rules, but every part of it can and should be used for guidance, discipline, encouragement, and training/adjusting our conscience.
I like your exposition of the verse in Proverbs 5:19. So true.

Good point. Also, if that last aerial picture of the lake were shifted just slightly to the right, you would see IBM Sterling Forest, a place I went to every year from 2002 to 2012. (We had several contracts with them for backup, disaster recovery and key server mirrors for our data center.) It was only an hour away from our own company headquarters in NYC, and only 1.5 hours from my house before rush hour.
 

Of course, back then the pre-Watchtower site looked more like this:
 

Will the day come, or has it already arrived, when the number of lives saved through bloodless medicine will exceed those lost by fearless members of a relatively tiny religion who refused to compromise in matters relating to God's law? 

Of course, back then the pre-Watchtower site looked more like this:
 

Good point. Also, if that last aerial picture of the lake were shifted just slightly to the right, you would see IBM Sterling Forest, a place I went to every year from 2002 to 2012. (We had several contracts with them for backup, disaster recovery and key server mirrors for our data center.) It was only an hour away from our own company headquarters in NYC, and only 1.5 hours from my house before rush hour.
 

@JW Insider  Thanks  so  much  for  your  very  good  explanations !

Good point. Also, if that last aerial picture of the lake were shifted just slightly to the right, you would see IBM Sterling Forest, a place I went to every year from 2002 to 2012. (We had several contracts with them for backup, disaster recovery and key server mirrors for our data center.) It was only an hour away from our own company headquarters in NYC, and only 1.5 hours from my house before rush hour.