Arauna

Yea, agree.  The level of judgment is like a nagging wife.....(I will refrain from using hate-OCD MO).
I had a few good moments with two of her cohorts when they stepped out of their usual MO shoes yesterday and we could just decently share thoughts like human beings.... I enjoyed that. 

Interesting words srecko. Any "aquired" demeanor is hypocritical.  I believe in being who I am and showing it.   JWs come from all parts of the world and have different personalities. As long as we show love and kindness, impartiality we are acceptable to jehovah and each other.  When we expect others to be like ourselves it is a red flag. Live and let live. 

Moral damage effects all if them.  Even if they do not  do those things - they no longer hate what is bad but condone it.

I don't think so...... very few courses are worth their salt these days and children come out dumber than before they went into the propaganda machine. 

Vocational training is the best.  Countries which still offer this kind of training do well in manufacturing  Germany has a tradition if this kind of training and has combined it with on-the-job training while going to night school..
In south Africa we had many renowned vocational schools which were accepted al over the world (like the German model) .  Then the UN came in with their advice and  guidelines for generic degrees..... and they closed vocational colleges.  Joblessness sky-rocketed. 
I recall when I lived in UK, there was also a system for this kind of vocational training.  I have forgotten the name of it now.  But one could train for all kinds of vocations. My daughter studied for a specific type of buyer in supply chain management.  She works in the City of London in banking now and earns substantially more than her husband who has a master decree in chemical engineering, and a few additional diplomas such as project management.
If one chooses a career wisely one can still have a job in difficult times. My son did not choose a career in what he loved to do. He chose an essential vocation in manufacturing which is similar to an industrial engineer.
Later he did a degree in Packaging in which one learnt about all the different bacteria, temperatures etc in food packaging.   Last year, when he wanted to leave dangerous South Africa,  he immediately got a job in NZ (his vocational training got him in - not the degree).
There was a waiting list of half million people...... his prospective company requested the NZ government that  they needed him urgently and he was pushed to the front of the line. He is there already for 10 months and enjoying the working conditions. Not as stressfull as SA.
Vocational training is tops.  I can attest to that. The GB has always pushed vocational training in place of degrees...... and they are absolutely correct on this. Generic degrees are useless - just a debt-ridden piece of paper that does not guarantee a job.
And universities are hotbeds of foreign subversive propaganda these days.

Interesting words srecko. Any "aquired" demeanor is hypocritical.  I believe in being who I am and showing it.   JWs come from all parts of the world and have different personalities. As long as we show love and kindness, impartiality we are acceptable to jehovah and each other.  When we expect others to be like ourselves it is a red flag. Live and let live. 

Yea, agree.  The level of judgment is like a nagging wife.....(I will refrain from using hate-OCD MO).
I had a few good moments with two of her cohorts when they stepped out of their usual MO shoes yesterday and we could just decently share thoughts like human beings.... I enjoyed that. 

If one is already very familiar with a very literal translation, that stays close and consistent to the original Hebrew and Greek tenses and expressions, then almost any translation in more modern or flowing language will work.
I like the original NWT for a very literal translation because I'm familiar with it. The Hebrew Scriptures are a bit "stilted" and not very flexible, but that can be good for a literal translation. The Greek is very good and more readable even for a literal translation. You should already be familiar with all the controversial portions of the translation to make up your own mind on stauros, parousia, synteleia, etc.
Other good literal translations include the New Jerusalem Bible (Catholic) which also has excellent footnotes. I have not found it available online. The ASV and RSV and YLT are good for this too.
After the literal, then you are ready for almost anything. The NWT 2013 is a good compromise between literal and simple ease of reading. But just about anything will work as the second translation you read, even another literal.
 

When my homeschooled son entered community college at age 16, he said in all innocence, “I had no idea that there were so many stupid people.”

True. We do not take sides. Only government under christ can restore the earth to it's original purpose...... and it is a shame that so many people have lost their jobs and  many children will suffer....... We must therefore get ready to help teach those who have realized from this lockdown that things are not kosher. It's time for them to learn about jehovah.

@Srecko Sostar In a sense, Higher Education can be used as a tool by the Devil. This is why people nowadays are starting to see this, that is, if they carefully see the things unfold in front of them and trend their path within the education institutional spectrum with caution.
That being said, there are a lot of Millennials like me, as is with Generation Z, and the soon to come, Alpha, who are taking different paths, and most are not going towards the default. In a sense, think of it this way, in every video game regardless of genre, there is always a default setting set by the programmer and or developer, the player can change said settings and do not have to submit to the default, some do, some do not. Likewise with higher education, the default path is set before such folks, but that is not always the 100% path. Plus as said before, there is a danger in higher education, I need not have to post, link and cite examples and articles on the matter, nor do I need to speak on my own experience.

I am almost 68 and got an immunity disorder when I was forced to take a vaccine before immigrating to USA on green card at age 55 years old.  I also ate genetically engineered soy......in US.....  almost died.
Thereafter I did proper investigation of USA food sources and FDA..... and got the shock of my life! I thought US will keep it's people safe. 
I was very athletic (climbed mountains) and still active but plagued by an immunity disorder. I was prescribed hydroxychloroquine but do not use any medication.  I use herbs and homeopathy...... which I make myself. 
I would have been dead by now if I used the pharma medications prescribed me by  doctors who follow big pharma protocols. 

No prob.  I prefer to talk to you when you show some  kindness - even if it is to stand up for shrecko. While you openly call GB dictators, bad insinuations can also  come out as accusations.... referring to Mr shrek. 
If jehovah had to judge all of us on our actions in our youth or the past - none would qualify as servants.  Some people are very judgmental on others'  past or their performance ....but they themselves would have done worse if they were in their  shoes..... such as filling GB shoes.  It is so easy to judge. I always ask myself what I would do if I were in their shoes. 
If you live in the past one can never heal...... yet people walk around with baggage forever! They cannot move forward!  They keep renewing the old baggage by referring to it and mulling it in the brain.  The brain keeps making new emotional connections which are detrimental to themselves! 
The translation for Kurdish is done in Germany and printed.....there.  This is one example of rare language done in Germany.
The watchtower in every language is the same..... so the source is the same for unity and uniformity.  So is the other meeting.  JWs have a similar life outlook..... jehovah comes first in our lives. 
To me it is a miracle that we all view ourselves as one nation....... despite a world that is wracked by divisions and hate.   They shall identify us by the love amongst us. 

We have a lot of it direct in our inbox - electronically.

Can we aspect, in a future, packages from Walkill post office directly?
just for fun :)))

The generic degrees, to just produce degreed people, is the problem. One cannot get a decent job with them. (Generic degrees pushed by UN).  Degrees are no longer value for money. Integrity of universities is lost. Many department are funded by organizations which influence the "studies" and foreign governments such as China, Qatar etc are influencing policy etc.
Lol. Since many of our teachings have changed...... why hang onto the past? Move on to the future!  The future is much more fun and gives us hope because the kingdom-government is our focus! 
We have enough detractors or hate-OCDs to keep referring to our past..... you know....... like a nagging wife!  We need not go search out the past - the nagging wives bring it up all the time! 
 

Of course ! And there are many chapters in the bible dealing with unselfish and principled Christian love. We must be prepared to give our lives for each other - like jesus.
But Luke 21 and Math 24 deals with the time of END of Jewish system and the greater end. It talks about preaching in the entire inhabited earth! So this slave will feed fellow believers all over the earth with proper food at right time.  For this one needs a central dispensary which is efficient and quick!  

To me this serves as good reason to think 24:45-47 is as the brothers say it is. Matt 24 and 25–both chapters devoted to end-time prophesy in which conditions will get really terrifying—and right in the midst of it is some nice little sappy story the moral of which is ‘always do your best?’ I think not.
We lean into punches when we could just as easily duck them—and then the big slob’s own momentum would send him hurling over the edge. I don’t know why we do this.
When confronted with a charge that this new teaching is not the same as an old, say, “Oh, we changed that.” I see no reason why not. It is only opponents who think this not permissible—we don’t say it (nor do reasonable people) What is “the light that gets brighter” and “tacking” if not an admission that things change? They are not the essential things, is the point, the core beliefs that everyone who became a Witness did so on that account, and the core beliefs—that distinguish us from any other religion—that opposers forget all about, and thus reveal they haven’t a spiritual bone in their bodies, as they harp on trivial matters of human imperfection, and imagine that Santa Claus should be running the show—showering presents on everyone and asking nothing more than a vague ‘be nice,’—which people define any way they like.
The trick also is not to sanitize the present. It is to de-sanitize the past. It is to say, if opposers think they have caught someone in a ‘gotcha’, “So what’s new?” Show them all the crazy things done in Bible times.
We don’t desantize the past nearly enough, I think. If we did, it would make it so easy to deal with faux pas of the present. Instead we chastise Dinah for hanging out with the riff raff and dismiss her brother’s retribution as ‘just one of those things.‘ To be sure, Jacob was displeased. But Eli was also displeased with his louts of sons and it turned out differently for him.

Of course ! And there are many chapters in the bible dealing with unselfish and principled Christian love. We must be prepared to give our lives for each other - like jesus.
But Luke 21 and Math 24 deals with the time of END of Jewish system and the greater end. It talks about preaching in the entire inhabited earth! So this slave will feed fellow believers all over the earth with proper food at right time.  For this one needs a central dispensary which is efficient and quick!  

The generic degrees, to just produce degreed people, is the problem. One cannot get a decent job with them. (Generic degrees pushed by UN).  Degrees are no longer value for money. Integrity of universities is lost. Many department are funded by organizations which influence the "studies" and foreign governments such as China, Qatar etc are influencing policy etc.
Lol. Since many of our teachings have changed...... why hang onto the past? Move on to the future!  The future is much more fun and gives us hope because the kingdom-government is our focus! 
We have enough detractors or hate-OCDs to keep referring to our past..... you know....... like a nagging wife!  We need not go search out the past - the nagging wives bring it up all the time! 
 

“How has your day been going?” I said to my dog. “Rulf!” it replied.

The UN has a hand in both political parties as is with religious and educational institutions and the like that are part of their movement 100%, i.e. Kairos Movement, PEAK, Together, etc. granted this connection is to bring forth both peace and security.
Regarding Charlottesville, after the chaos that went about regarding a crowded Unite the Right protest where white supremacy members were involved, as is, with the tragic death of a young woman named Heather Danielle Heyer. I mentioned this a couple of times because some of us are aware of how the United Nations operate in full force, some to which both me and JTR understood and even discussion on whereas others such as Witness was unaware of what the UN resolutions are and how they operate from the 1900s and onward. Going back to the case of Unite the Right, after Heyer's death, they used her as a martyr to further spark racial tension and anarchy, granted during that time, the protesting was not as high level such as the one today and it died down. After the event The United Nations took this opportunity to speak of a totalitarian based narrative in order to control the people, in addition to that, they began to focus their attention on the 1st amendment, which if they had their way, you, me and even the JWs here will have a lot of trouble from that point onward. The actions of the UN resulted in a lot of angry people, and due to this, they had to step back a bit. The UN only moves in as the heat of tension begins to rise, either in the US and or elsewhere in the world, for instance, because of them, we almost had a lot of trouble with the Syrians.
As of present day, as stated, their movement is subtle, but their motive is still the same, even one of it's still connected members, Nikki Haley, had said something ridiculous the other day, and her words is an example of increased violence and chaos, should you question her about the comment, she has no answer for it, as is with her past statements, for she honestly believes this is the right path.
It is one of the reasons, I said a while back that... No one likes the United Nations and those that do are supporting them, even going as far as to seek sponsors from them. As well as: Those in the conquest of Peace and the other faction in the conquest for Security is a MAJOR THREAT to real faithful God fearing Christians - be on your guard whereas on the other side of the spectrum, there is brutality and violence.... The UN and connected allies who are on their side are on the Conquest of Security. Which was evident with their members in the past, examples such as Nikki Haley.
That being said, a lot of Christians are aware, especially what went down with those in connection such as Kairos in Washington DC, and parts of the US. We are not fooled, and to be fooled by such only enables you to be devoured by such an enemy.
This is why it is critical, very critical with absolute certainty for Christians to know who their real enemy is. As much as I disagree with pagan practices and the Triune doctrine, I do not wish such an enemy even against those I refute, for this enemy can bring quite the damnation upon an individual and or group.
The rabbit hole is even deeper, too much to explain here, but this is just but a peddle on the surface as of now. With that in mind, I suggest paying attention, otherwise you can easily, without knowing slip into the hands of this enemy, such as many out there, even people who profess God and his Christ become victim quite swiftly.

So true. Only the triassic ones or those in a bubble do.  Why look back when you can look forward?  New ones look at present teachings. The only past they look at is the old history if Israel and some even find that too much.... but necessary. 
How can one compare history and teachings from 150 years ago (when they were shooting up the wild west and people took months to go into the interior with wagons and there were slaves in the south) to present times?  Lol..... I myself read old publications but remain aware of its historical context - it is useful but still old.
WARNING! Higher education is not what it was EVEN 10 years ago.  One lives in a bubble if one does not know about the violence, emotional triggers, injustices and loss of free speech on campuses....(there are just too many negatives to mention here).. It is critical times - hard to deal with. Why put your child in that hotbed of propaganda where money from countries like Qatar and China is buying the  opinions of the professors ? ....... You pay for this together with LQBTQ indoctrination and sit with large debt for the rest of your life!  
 

I like this. They surely know it, and yet they do it anyway.
It is tremendously difficult to lead a large group of people. One person says: ‘Thanks for the new rule!’ His neighbor says, ‘Huh? Did you say something?’  I’ll bet they are amazed at how seriously some of their ‘offhand’ remarks are taken, as well as the lesser regard given for some of their more serious remarks. 
They don’t want to find themselves in the shoes of Lot, is my guess, whose sons-in-law thought he was joking. But I’ll bet they wrestle with just how strong to make various statements, knowing how different people respond differently. For the most part, they lay on counsel with a trowel—they’re not known for being subtle. But sometimes they are—as they wrestle with how to give adequate direction and encouragement, while not being “masters of your faith.”
I think we suck up to scholars altogether too much. There is nothing scholarly about the “unlearned and ordinary” men taking the lead in the first century, and there is no indication that they regarded their “ignorance” as a condition to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps from. When the “scholars” began having their day in the sun, the first thing they did is to infuse long pre-existing philosophies into Christianity, making it all but unrecognizable.
God gives his Holy Spirit to those obeying him as ruler, says Acts 5:32. It says nothing about their ‘scholarship,’ and one of the first things ‘scholars‘ do is refuse to obey. We should kiss up the them? I think not. “Okay, you did well, Peter and John—amazingly well considering how uneducated you are. Good job! But we smart people are here now, so shove aside and let us show you how to do it.” No.
In the overall world of scholarship, any ‘scholar’ believing the Bible makes a mockery of the word. The first thing ‘scholars’ do is to declare Adam and Eve a ludicrous tale for primitive peoples, thereby gutting the means to understand anything of importance—why death? why suffering? It all goes out the window. People are left clueless on the most important questions of life as they imagine themselves smarter than anyone else.
Not to put it down too much, of course. It is a gift that some will bring to the altar. But if those at the altar decline to spin that altar like the ‘Wheel of Fortune’ dial, hopefully the relatively few scholars that are JW scholars will be able to hold their peace. It is one component of Christianity—not nothing, but also not overriding. “Everything You Thought You Knew About Such-and-Such is Wrong!” is a headline that experienced ones have seen all too often.
As for me, I can’t believe how many pig-headed scholars have not come around to my point of view. I do have George Chrysiddes who wrote some nice things about Tom Irregardless and Me, and I ignored all my ‘stupid’ friends for a month when he bestowed his great favor. I am waiting on Rolf to join in with effusive praise. But other than that, these guys who squabble no less than we ordinary mortals have mostly not come around.

I have heard this. One quote from Russell that has been faithfully preserved since his death is, “If you stop to kick every dog that barks at you, you’ll never get very far.”
Granted, if someone barks, they may be quick to assume that such person must be a dog—but you would have to excel in scholarship to know otherwise, and as stated, that is not their strong suit, nor should it be. The second thing that ‘scholars’ do—I’ve seen plenty of it here from people who think themselves learned—is to start quibbling over the Name—this pronunciation is better than that one and since that is the case, maybe it should not be used at all. Scholars reason this way. But if I go to another country and start ragging on the locals every time they botch my name, nobody says, “Whoa! That brother is scholarly!” They say, “What a pin-headed idiot!”
Because the HQ brothers are not scholarly, they are inclined to accept that what is done is done, and what is written is written. Once in awhile someone like Splane comes along, looks it all over, and says, “We’re not doing anti-types anymore!”—maybe because too many have blown up in his face, but for the most part, the past is assumed to be stable past that can be built upon. It’s too bad they’ve tossed aside anti-types because I have a doozy for them. You think it is nothing that Dennis Christensen’s surname points to the one he follows, and his very profession is the same? They are going to twiddle their thumbs on that one, putting equal significance on the second Russian imprisoned for the faith—Mgoyahen Bloggabodidillyvich? Not to worry, though—Kos will pick up and run with it.
I can’t believe how many seem to take for granted that the devil’s gameboard is not rigged, or that his rules of ‘critical thinking‘ should carry the day. They do not see for a moment how flawed the tool is—or perhaps more to the point—how sharp it is on the points for which it has merit, too sharp for its staunch advocates to handle without cutting themselves. It is the words of the prophet Tom Cruise: “You can’t handle the truth!” 
The notion that we are rational creatures is a joke. The heart decides what it want and then entrusts the head to devise a convincing rationale for it. For the most part, people read mainly so as to confirm what they already believe. It is amazing on social media how few are the people who change their minds on anything. Accordingly, for every verse in the Bible about the head, there are ten about the heart. Few of Jesus’ parables would stand up to rigorous critical thought—some of them barely make sense. But they target the heart, which is his goal. 
I also can’t believe how many may be stumbled over what Rulf or any fellow scholar will say—or even what complainers will say. “Well, we could be wrong on that,” I say to almost all of it, and move on. Do they in any case, speak to the fundamental reason that I was attracted to Jehovah’s Witnesses in the first place? “Finally—a religion where the people at the helm are smart and can be counted upon to say nothing wrong!” Did I say that? Does anyone? Of course not! There was religious truth found no where else, and we soon enough discovered (few did not know it already) that it was carried in earthen vessels. This is why whenever persons are ‘stumbled’ over something like Rulf’s input, they are simply seizing on something to justify a decision already made in their heart. Why can’t they just say, “I’m like Demas—I prefer the present system of things?’ Why can’t they say as with from John, “I’m leaving because—I gave it a good whirl—but I’m just not one of their sort?” 
I also note that Rulf has not left the faith, and that he does not declare he intends to. Nor do I take for granted that he will be given the boot, even though he seems think it a foregone conclusion. Maybe—I certainly won’t be shocked if it goes that way—but I’ll take it as a done deal only when it is done.