The Librarian

I have carried weapons all my adult life, and my biggest crime was driving around a barricaded road when I knew the road construction to be completed, and good ( I designed roads for a living for many years...), and I got a ticket that cost $240.
Although my arsenal may scare the timid, I do NOT "live by the sword", and never have.  I even take spiders outside, assuming they are lost, so they do not starve to death.
Peter was being admonished not to GET INTO A BATTLE,  offensively,  and after he demonstrated that he was NOT going to let Jesus be murdered by an illegal night time mob (by cutting off the ear of the slave of the High Priest...) ... WITH THE SWORD HE WAS COMMANDED TO BRING WITH HIM ...  Jesus said the DEMONSTRATION was enough ... an ear cut off bleeds like a faucet turned on.
It has always been common knowledge that I "carry", and so far, to the best of my knowledge, in a half century, it has never stumbled ANYONE, even Elders who asked me about it, and in three different congregations throughout the U.S.A., I was called into "Room 101" before the triumvirate and questioned.
The last time it went something like this ...
"Um... Brother Rook, it has come to our attention that you carry a gun....um... is this true?"
"Yes, it is."
"Um, er... Brother Rook, uh.. are you carrying one now?"
"Yes, I am."
This is where they don't know what to say next ... there  are looks all around, and then after a pause,  they stand up, I stand up, they extend their hands, thank me for my time, and we all go out into the main Hall and go about our business.
When I go into a new Congregation, those elders that don't know I carry a firearm, I hand a prepared letter informing them that I do ... and it has NEVER, anywhere in the USA, created the SLIGHTEST ripple or complaint from ANYONE, in over 50 years. 
I have had elderly Sisters ask me about  security for them, and I always advise them NOT to be armed, as you have to have a certain mindset to use weapons responsibly.  
If you are scared of the responsibility, best to be a victim, than make someone else a victim by your own hand.
When we returned to the KH after Field Service, I did go to the trunk of my car and gave her a child's baseball bat I kept there, and explained how NOT to use it for self-defense ( a whole other story) ...
I agree with the Society's position that Elders, Ministerial Servants, and those in authority should NOT be armed ... I have yet to meet an Elder, etc., that could handle the responsibility necessary, or have the mindset.
I disagree with the rest that creates a mindset of cowardice.
I am un-apologetically NOT a sheep ... I am a Sheepdog, and all that implies.
It's even my job to protect Snowflakes, who think 7 minutes to an armed policeman  is faster than  a 1700fps defense, 30 feet away.
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@Allen Smith I implore you (again) to please try and make your claim / counterarguments WITHOUT name calling or attacking other posters.
Simply state your possibility or claim and call it good. 
 
 

Some 150,000 aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families, and sent to live in church-run boarding schools where they were forbidden to speak their language or practise their own culture.
Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission has called for a papal apology, as part of the healing process for survivors. 
Although the Vatican has not commented on Mr Trudeau's request, it confirmed the talk was "cordial" and lasted about 36 minutes. It said the conversation "focused on the themes of integration and reconciliation, as well as religious freedom and current ethical issues" but did not mention an apology directly.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which has been tasked with collecting the stories of survivors and recommending a way forward for the country to heal, has called the residential school system "cultural genocide". 
        Survivors of 'cultural genocide' still healing         Canada promises 'full reconciliation'  In its report, the commission recommended the Catholic Church issue a formal apology for its part in the residential school system. 
Similar apologies have been issued by Anglican, Presbyterian and United Churches, who along with the Catholic Church helped run these schools as joint ventures with the Canadian government. 
In 2008, former prime minister Stephen Harper issued an apology on behalf of Canadians, calling it "a sad chapter in our history". 
A year later, Pope Benedict expressed "his sorrow at the anguish caused by the deplorable conduct of some members of the Church" to a delegation from the Assembly of First Nations, a national advocacy organization, who went to the Vatican.
 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40087126
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has asked Pope Francis to apologise for the role of the Catholic Church in a Canadian school system where indigenous children were abused for decades. 
The PM met the pontiff at the Vatican on Monday as part of his trip to Italy for the G7 summit.

@fiskilis is welcome to post on here as is anyone else. (Similar to Facebook)
Yet, I would ask that he share something of value rather than just criticize others.
I can't read greek so I don't usually keep up with what he posts elsewhere.

Aren't the writers of the Watchtower, translators of the New World Translation (Bible) AND jw.org ALL ANONYMOUS?
I get tired of the double standard by many out there.
@ARchiv@L if you could translate my words into Greek that would be helpful. 

Aren't the writers of the Watchtower, translators of the New World Translation (Bible) AND jw.org ALL ANONYMOUS?
I get tired of the double standard by many out there.
@ARchiv@L if you could translate my words into Greek that would be helpful. 

I personally wrote letters to Banda using that exact same official title. It was similar back when I wrote to him in 1967 and then again in 1976 just a few days before starting at Bethel, and then again, directly from Brooklyn.

Me too. The address we were given was:
His Excellency the Life President of Malawi
Ngwazi Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda
Central Government Offices
Private Bag 301
Capital City
Lilongwe 3
Malawi, Central Africa
 
 Ngwazi meant "chief of chiefs" (more literally, "great lion", or, some would say, "conqueror") in Chicheŵa. (Wikipedia)

Even worse! I wasted two pages of R.Franz' opinion on this matter. When I said that PART 2 was mostly commentary on the PART 1 photocopies, I was referring to the commentary R.Franz had included in his book. Only about one sentence [that I bracketed] was my own worthless opinion. The reason I was summarizing the words of R.Franz was to avoid too much direct quotation of R.Franz, lest someone would take offense at the idea of quoting an apostate. Then you subsequently quoted him at length, so I have decided that it's probably for the best that I quote him, too.
Besides, your only good points included the idea that Ray Franz had equated the two situations in the two different countries (which he hadn't according to the very words you quoted from him).
The only other good point you made was that R.Franz had called it a "political" card and that this was proof that he didn't realize that it was a "loyalty" card. But your point was pretty thoroughly discredited when it was pointed out that R.Franz himself had said that the card was really about "loyalty" to the corrupt President Banda.
Why would you wait for that? The point is only that the Watchtower left it up to individual consciences for persons in Mexico, and said that they didn't want' to dictate their conscience. Then for the situation of "alternative service" in other places, and the buying of a 25 cent political/loyalty card in Malawi they made it clear that things like this should never be left up an individual's conscience. In the Dominican Republic and Latin American countries where the same type of situation occurred ---and where the Watch Tower Society has already admitted that similar bribes can be paid to avoid military service--- there were brothers who were serving multiple prison sentences. So, I don't think it was "racism," but something specific about the situation in Mexico. (Trying to figure out if there is any evidence that could lead us to the real reason why this occurred in Mexico, and yet the same principles were not applied in Malawi or other some other Latin American countries, well, that is the point of wasting all this space on worthless opinion, in my opinion.)
 

You should realize that Jesus was aware that there were so many things his apostles had to learn and overcome such as fear of man and the customs they grew up with. Jesus did not set out correcting every fault they had instantly but when the occasion arises. Realize that in the Luke 22 you quoted when the apostles showed him two sword he answered them: "It is enough." He went on to emphasize that their confidence should not lie in weapons when he laid down a principle before them right at the moment when Peter cut off Malchus' ears. This was stated in Matthew 26:52 thus:
Jesus admonished Peter for using one of those swords. Just picture this scenario with the one you pointed out in your original post. They are both similar. But Jesus reproved Peter for falling on a weapon to protect himself and his master. Jesus laid a principle that all his followers will do well to follow. Jesus then in the next verse showed why it is wrong to do as you imagined in your original post scenario - that is, bring weapons to the Kingdom Hall. He emphasized to his disciples that he had legions at his beck and call - invisible spirit weapons - but in this time of death, he did not and would not use it when he said in Matthew 26:53 thus:
That idea above, allowing Jehovah's will to be done irrespective if your life is in danger, does not show Jesus to be a coward as you contend. Or do you think he also is one? I doubt it. Jesus was bold and courageous to exercise self control at the darkest moment in his life and he never flinched from his resolve. We do well to follow his steps closely as Peter urges in 1 Peter 2:21.

New Dutch revised bible in the common language. Thanks to Jehovah, who wrote us this touching letter. Greetings from The Netherlands! 

This type of situation has always resulted in double-think (a form of NON-thinking) or, as the psychologists say, a form of "cognitive dissonance."
*** w76 12/1 p. 712 Insight on the News ***
What Makes a Good Citizen?
● A Danish family was recently denied Canadian citizenship by the Federal Court of Appeal. Yet Mr. Justice George Addy of the court wrote that “both Appellants impressed me as being good, honest people with a deep religious faith which they translate into action in their daily lives. They are members of the movement known as Jehovah’s Witnesses . . . Both he and his wife are apparently strong believers in the work ethic and have never taken advantage of the social benefits provided for in our society. . . . Their children are exceptionally clean-cut and alert and the family from all appearances is a model one.”
Then why the denial of citizenship by this very judge? “The single obstacle to a grant of citizenship,” writes Ian Hunter of the University of Western Ontario law faculty, was the fact that, in taking the oath of allegiance, they would not agree to participate in any war effort.
The very person who wrote this knew that in his own "Oath of Allegiance" he had promised to participate in the defense of the constitution from all enemies, both foreign, and domestic. His wife took almost the identical citizenship oath referred to in the article.
Saluting the flag is just a preamble to the more serious "pledge of allegiance" that adults will be asked to sign or affirm if they are changing citizenship or will travel outside the country. The same person who wrote this also has claimed (to others) that he is finally withdrawing himself from defending the Watchtower's position on blood, after a quarter-century of not personally believing what he was famous for strongly defending. (For that matter, Ray Franz also claims that he defended the 1914 chronology for several years after discovering it was not Biblically supported, while researching the Chronology article in the Aid Book.)
In an almost related story, I've read (never confirmed) that the reason the Society changed their views against vaccinations was because several brothers needed to travel to other countries, and vaccinations were required for travel.

Please note that on each of the Governing Body's passport applications it it crystal clear that it is an OATH OF ALLEGIANCE ... and that before Jehovah God they all swore to "bear true faith and allegiance" ... and WITHOUT ANY MENTAL RESERVATION, AND THAT THEY WOULD SUPPORT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION AGAINST ALL ENEMIES,  FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC.
There is absolutely NO way a SANE person can get around what they did ... with fifty words or a million words.
The Malawi Party card was a national identity card that required NO OATH OF ALLEGIANCE, and was basically, a tax of 25 cents.
I spent time in the Congo  .... that was about a half day's pay at the time.
When my boys were growing up, they were members of the U.S. Air Force auxiliary, the Civil Air Patrol, which was basically the Boy Scouts, with airplanes ... and it did not require my sons to swear any oath of allegiance to ANYTHING, or pledge allegiance to any flag, which they also did not do.
I was there at EVERY meeting and exercise and watched, as the peer pressure on them by students and instructors was intense ... and they got to see FIRST HAND how the flag of the United States is literally worshiped in "color guard" ceremonies, and such.  My son, Yannick, was expelled from the classroom ( and me with him) for refusing to pledge allegiance to the Flag, and we went outside to see the most magnificent rainbow across the airfield I have EVER seen, in person or in ANY photographs.
It was close up, fully saturated colors, brilliantly lit  with sharply defined wide banded spectral  bows, went from left horizon to right horizon completely, and was against a background of dark rain clouds.
It is my strong personal opinion, and I am a natural skeptic about such things, that this was Jehovah God showing his pride in my son's actions.
I was so stunned, I ran back to the classroom, and burst in, and told everybody about the rainbow, and they abandoned their teacher to run outside to see it.
Later on, the teacher, a retired Marine aviation mechanic, came and apologized for his losing his temper and throwing Yannick out.
He did not know that I had previously cleared it with the Squadron Commander that my boys could be Cadets without any oath or pledge requirements whatsoever ... and apparently he got chewed out for his demands.
By the way, the Civil Air Patrol has NO weapons, and only does search and rescue of downed aircraft, with airplanes, etc. They would not even allow my boys to have knives, on camping trips ... so I bought them hatchets, and sharpened them.
 
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He says (in greek) .. that this page is an apostate page..  and it is because we do not have our names written , and that we are anonymous.=ανώνυμος= means without name.
 

Has now been refined in the 2017 "Don't Give Up! Regional Convention of Jehovah's Witnesses. 
Details to come for sure.... stay tuned.

Part of the:
 

I don't yet have a transcript for this video. Maybe someone will be kind enough to share theirs with us?

See also:
 

This section is only for the Dutch language.... so maybe you could translate and edit your posts please? ;-)

Tom, Tom Tommy Tom Tom:
I hate to point this out once again, for perhaps the sixth time... but your reading comprehension skills need a LOT of work.
I was talking about ONE thing... how to tell if ones' arguments are valid, or are off on a tangent, up the creek without a paddle, or sauntering down Booger's Woods to the trivia pit of intellectual analysis.
NO MORE!
What I said was:
The substitution was a TOOL to analyze a point of view, to see if it was valid .... no more. Many other tools might be just as useful ...or not.  Good detectives can take the skimpiest clues and develop a strong cohesive picture of events ... bad detectives can take an explicit picture, and remark.. "nice colors".
I do agree with you about the nature of the problem may be overblown ... like the prostitute that complained to the police that she had been raped, but only realized it when the check bounced.  Money and the search for deep pockets make for VERY flexible memories ... but Justice we get from Jehovah God ... EVERYTHING else is due process.
That does NOT mean we slow down in the relentless, never ending search for Justice.
AND DEMAND it of ourselves ... and others.

"Wait, this one belongs somewhere else in the Dewey Decimal system," frets the Librarian - the old biddy, hunched over her cards. Well - yes, I guess it does.
At least it is not 'TrueTom vs anyone' (yet)

Thank you. You inspired me to ask the @admin to start a Dutch language section here on the forum. Enjoy!
https://www.theworldnewsmedia.org/forum/1066-nederlands/

Thank you. You inspired me to ask the @admin to start a Dutch language section here on the forum. Enjoy!
https://www.theworldnewsmedia.org/forum/1066-nederlands/

(( Dear brothers and sisters, a request, we need the lyrics of the written music, so that the Russian brothers and other languages, can understand. Can someone send us? Grateful.)) 
Do Not Be Afraid (A Song For Russian Jehovah's Witnesses)
This song I now dedicate to Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, who have been under attack by the Orthadox Church and russian officials for many years. they have Outlawed Jehovah's Witnesses, calling them as extreme as Groups like ISIS. This original song, is based off The bible scripture found at Isaiah 41:9,10
( Photos are newspaper articles and website jw)
Music James Jury