Anna

Jesus is that source of truth, and does not produce bad fruit. We as humans must try to imitate Jesus and follow to the best of our ability. But even a piece of good fruit has flaws when you look at it too closely.
You appear to be interpreting this statement as if it is saying:
(Matthew 5:48) . . .You must accordingly be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
But this is mitigated by another statement from the same Sermon on the Mount:
(Matthew 6:14-15) . . 14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; 15 whereas if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
If everyone must be perfect, and can never produce bad fruit, then what's the point of asking for forgiveness of our trespasses?

You have several recent posts here that would fit right in to the recent topic that Anna started in the closed club. 4J laughs at it, to be sure, but he holds a perspective that reflects his admitted lack of trust for just about anyone and anything. But, I just wanted to say that I suspect you are giving this whole idea a lot of very good and deep thought. Not that I'm the best judge of such things, but it's a matured perspective, too, I'm thinking. I hope you are planning to put it together into a very accessible format to refer to again (like a book/blog/etc). And I should add that I'm glad it's out here in the open for a little more public scrutiny.
I have personally avoided Evan's videos and site(s). But I paid attention for a bit when The Atlantic published something that appears to have come from someone associated with him. There were issues with bias in the article, and outright mistakes of fact. I think this was actually not Evans himself, but it reflected a lot of "bald" hatred of elders and the whole arrangement that supplies them. Like you say, it's as they've tasted something that the rest of us see as good, and they see it all as bad. I lose interest quickly when thinking becomes so black and white that they focus ONLY on the extremes and don't even think about what is generally going on.
Like going to a huge banquet/picnic where hundreds of items of great food are available to choose from, but because someone brought some tainted potato salad, they go around screaming that everything has been poisoned.

Yes, and that according to Bible chronology, the FDS was appointed in 1919. So if 1914 was questioned, when were the FDS appointed? It would remove that whole aspect of what we have been taught, including the brothers being in prison. 
I agree though that in reality it shouldn't change much about the authority of those taking the lead, because the scriptures say to be obedient to them. And I agree with the sister, I thought it was nothing new either (regarding the FDS only being the GB). But still, everyone is aware that Jesus was supposed to have appointed a specific group to provide spiritual food. If 1914 was removed, that small specific group would be dispersed and would include anyone who was feeding others spiritually, as you have suggested. All this would remove the thought that the GB are the only channel God is using, although G.Jackson admitted that it would be presumptuous to think that they were the only chanel. However I don't think he, or any of the others have put this in writing in any of our publications though. So unless someone has read Jackson's ARC deposition, they will be under the impression that the FDS, therefore the GB  are the ONLY chanel God is using, and therefore to question anything they say is tantamount to going against God himself. A few know this is not true, and the GB themselves think it's not true, but most  r&f believe it. (As you know, this was the reason why I got kicked out of one forum*. And this is  also why it appears that we "worship" the GB, because anything and everything they say is gold and must not be questioned, even if it could be wrong....because they are not infallible and can err...). 
*Questioning God is allowed, but questioning the GB is not! How strange is that?

If there has been kickback on manipulation and ‘control’ charges, and if there has been kickback on ‘flip-flopping’ charges, then I would like to see kickback on charges that Witnesses ‘cover up’ child sexual abuse. A good place to start is by pointing out that leaving reporting up to the involved parties is not the same as ‘covering up.’
Instead, the Witness organization states that it “abhors child sexual abuse,” which, in combination with its reluctance to go there otherwise, is spun by determined enemies as though they love the stuff. Not all will do what reporter Elizabeth Chuck did and attribute it to a “penchant for privacy.”
Why do they not respond in more detail? It may be that the sheer wickedness of the charge takes their breath away and makes them look like deer caught in the headlights. Yes, they know well the verse, “every sort of wicked thing will be lyingly said about you” but this—this is the wickedest thing of all! And the proactive arrangement started with such good intentions. Not so many years ago the notion of a religion “policing its own” was lauded as the ultimate in practicing what one preached. 
It wouldn’t be hard to do—to provide a brief defense of criticisms leveled at them. It might start with points such as:
“Covering up” is not the same as leaving it to the digression of ones affected to report. There wouldn’t be anything to be accused of covering up had not the Witness organization practiced what almost nobody else did—policing its own. Countless persons are arrested with regard to child sexual abuse. Their religious affiliation or lack of is never reported. The reason that it is so with Witnesses is that they tried to do something about it among their own. Unlike virtually anywhere else, where the leaders of an organization are themselves the abusers, the leaders of the Witness community are accused of botching the handling of instances—bad, perhaps—history will judge—but nowhere near as bad as being the ones who commit it. That’s a few for starters. More could be added, such as
The current “gold standard” of child sexual abuse to “go beyond the law” will inevitably cause you problems with those who, not surprisingly, expect you to abide by law. Child sexual abuse would appear to be the primary gross planetary product—30 years into all-out war against CSA and barely a dent has been made. Therefore efforts to prevent it ought to be given at least as much creedence as efforts to secure the barn door after the cows have fled. Nobody, but nobody, has done what the Witness organization has done, gathering every member in the world to consider detailed scenarios in which child sexual abuse might occur so that parents, obviously the first line of defense, can be vigilant. This was done as part of the program of the 2017 Regional conventions.  The reason that the greater world will never make inroads with regard to child sexual abuse it that it feeds with one hand what it is trying to punish with another. The TicTok app taking young people by storm has been described as a pedophile’s dream come true. Though it is parallel and thus not exactly the same thing, the 2020 NFL halftime show demonstrates that objectifying woman is the force that makes the world go round—the MeToo movement is doomed from the start.  The matter of CSA does not go away. It is not being solved. Rather, each month brings some new revelation of how the very elements of this world keep it firmly entrenched as a societal ill. It’s intricate involvement with the Child Protective Service agencies recently was reviewed in a story I must have missed. “We have set up a system to sex traffic American children” said Newsweek in January 2018:
And the latest scandal—pediatricians! “Sheds light on a problem that could rival priest scandals,” states an article extrapolating from a notorious case just how many there might be. And to think I got into a squabble with that nasty O’Mally, determined to put down the Caleb and Sophia video “Protect Your Children,” while she heralded one that specifically said that it was okay for a doctor to touch you in private areas. “Ask the young women of the U.S. Gymnastics Olympic team which video they think would have offered them more protection,” I told her.
Just a few basic tenets of defense for those who would like to have some response to when workmates, schoolmates, or neighbors hit them over the head with what they just saw on TV. It doesn’t cover every tiny thing—just the general outline. The nature of critics everywhere is that they would like their complaints on center stage, to the exclusion of whatever else used to be there. Maybe its not a good idea to indulge them so. Maybe it’s enough to correct matters that need it, such as making it crystal clear to members that there is no reproach in reporting child sexual abuse to police, since the abuser has already brought about the reproach. Maybe it is enough to focus on creating an atmosphere where CSA is less likely to happen. 
Maybe. But sometimes you do wish there was more (or any) of a public response.
I did like the WT attorney’s words at the reversal of the Montana verdict. “There are no winners in a case involving child abuse. ‘No child should ever be subjected to such a debased crime....Tragically, it happens, and when it does Jehovah's Witnesses follow the law. This is what the Montana Supreme Court has established.”

See @TrueTomHarley you did it!
 
 

I don’t think he knows anything.

This hardly applies to Child Sexual Abuse which is a crime and a sin, not some conflict. Didn't you know that?

This hardly applies to Child Sexual Abuse which is a crime and a sin, not some conflict. Didn't you know that?

Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Regarding the novel Coronavirus: "The virus “has demonstrated the capacity to spread globally"
Is it just me, or is that a really stupid statement. I mean surely ANY virus that is inside a host, and the host travels from one side of the globe to the other, will have the same capacity? (Don't blame the virus).
 

Nice poem, but it was not by C.T.Russell.
It had already been published in the Christian Science Sentinel in 1899.
It had already been published in a Theosophy journal in 1904.
The Oregon Law School Journal in 1902.
The Current Literature magazine of October 1890 published it with the added information that it had come from "The Fireside Magazine."
I assume it was published anonymously in the Fireside, because it shows up in several other places from the 1890's even up through very recently.

Solved. But John Butler, . . . oh well.

I have heard it is supposed to take over a year to develop a vaccine. If that's the case then Armageddon might have to come earlier!

If it wasn’t so much work you’d be hearing from Mr RealFineAuthenticJWInsider about now

A
Perhaps his real, full name is: Mr. Authentic J. Winsider. No relation.

So far, the Johns Hopkins site seems to have the best information about the spread of the coronavirus. Looks like it will hit 10,000 today with 213+ dead. If you move the map to the United States you can click on each individual case (5 so far).
https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

Not to minimize the potency of the coronavirus. But it looks like CNN finally decided it was time to make the point some have been making here for several days. It's not the coronavirus. It's the flu (this 2019-2020 season, so far). The article is here:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/30/health/flu-deadly-virus-15-million-infected-trnd/index.html
Even the low-end estimate of deaths each year is startling, Savoy said: The Centers for Disease Control predicts at least 12,000 people will die from the flu in the US every year. In the 2017-2018 flu season, as many as 61,000 people died, and 45 million were sickened. In the 2019-2020 season so far, 15 million people in the US have gotten the flu and 8,200 people have died from it, including at least 54 children. Flu activity has been elevated for 11 weeks straight, the CDC reported, and will likely continue for the next several weeks.  

That's what my dog gets when I give him some of my chili..
 
Really the question should be why does Jehovah allow a Kingdom hall in the Philippines to be destroyed including several brothers and sisters with it, and then why does he seemingly provide sand for another kingdom hall to be built?

Most witnesses will tell you that they do not expect divine protection at this time. But when they do experience a life saving situation, they thank Jehovah for it. They will also tell you that they can see Jehovah's blessing in their life and in the life of the organization as a whole, regardless of negative events that are beyond their control. If a tornado came tomorrow, and destroyed the new HQ in Warwick, what do you think most JWs would be saying?

That will give you your answer.

 

That's what my dog gets when I give him some of my chili..
 
Really the question should be why does Jehovah allow a Kingdom hall in the Philippines to be destroyed including several brothers and sisters with it, and then why does he seemingly provide sand for another kingdom hall to be built?

Most witnesses will tell you that they do not expect divine protection at this time. But when they do experience a life saving situation, they thank Jehovah for it. They will also tell you that they can see Jehovah's blessing in their life and in the life of the organization as a whole, regardless of negative events that are beyond their control. If a tornado came tomorrow, and destroyed the new HQ in Warwick, what do you think most JWs would be saying?

That will give you your answer.

 

In the video from the linked post, Paula White says:
"...we declare that any strange winds, any strange winds that have been sent to hurt the church, sent against this nation, sent against our president, sent against myself, sent against others, we break it by the superior blood of Jesus."
I hope this clears up any misunderstandings.

I will let you guys discuss this among yourselves. You seem pretty adamant at twisting what was really being said there, and no amount of logical reasoning will change your minds 😊.

I know you said you are not very educated. Well I will explain it to you.  Obviously Satan does not have control of God. But you are forgetting that the punishment for disobedience was death, and as I already mentioned above, this included God removing his blessings from mankind in general. Therefore: "Satan, by his action, deprived all humans of God's protective power" is obviously meant that God would carry out his sentence, as he said he would, not that Satan was controlling God to carry out the sentence. In other words, it was God's own righteous principles and a promise God couldn't break (because God cannot lie) that caused God to keep his word and punish by removing his blessings and protection. And it was Satan's fault because he lied, and caused the first human couple to obey him instead of God and thereby incur God's punishment. 
Some advice for you as well; try to differentiate between what is obviously meant in a manner of speaking and what is meant to be taken literally.
I can see you sitting at your computer trying to think up another ridiculous argument. Now don't worry, I can't literally  "see you" so no need to close the curtains!
 
 

I know you said you are not very educated. Well I will explain it to you.  Obviously Satan does not have control of God. But you are forgetting that the punishment for disobedience was death, and as I already mentioned above, this included God removing his blessings from mankind in general. Therefore: "Satan, by his action, deprived all humans of God's protective power" is obviously meant that God would carry out his sentence, as he said he would, not that Satan was controlling God to carry out the sentence. In other words, it was God's own righteous principles and a promise God couldn't break (because God cannot lie) that caused God to keep his word and punish by removing his blessings and protection. And it was Satan's fault because he lied, and caused the first human couple to obey him instead of God and thereby incur God's punishment. 
Some advice for you as well; try to differentiate between what is obviously meant in a manner of speaking and what is meant to be taken literally.
I can see you sitting at your computer trying to think up another ridiculous argument. Now don't worry, I can't literally  "see you" so no need to close the curtains!
 
 

Don't get carried away over it. Man is ruining the earth and God will soon ruin those who keep doing it.  Rev. 11: 18 says:
(Revelation 11:18) But the nations became wrathful, and your own wrath came, and the appointed time came for the dead to be judged and to reward your slaves the prophets and the holy ones and those fearing your name, the small and the great, and to bring to ruin those ruining the earth.”
I endorse the points Anna raised; however about the ground being cursed it seems that the Watchtower is saying otherwise, see quote below:
*** w17 June p. 8 par. 17 Jehovah Provides Comfort in All Our Trials ***
17 Young ones who learn to love the true God and to follow his counsel can become a source of comfort in a family. They can do so by showing respect for their parents and by helping in material ways. They can also make a valuable spiritual contribution. Before the Flood, Seth’s descendant Lamech worshipped Jehovah. That family man said of his son Noah: “[He] will bring us comfort from our labor and from the painful toil of our hands because of the ground that Jehovah has cursed.” That prophecy was fulfilled when the curse on the ground was lifted. (Gen. 5:29; 8:21) On a more personal level, children who pursue true worship can prove to be sources of comfort in their families, helping all to endure present trials and then to survive something greater than the Flood. End quote
Due to lack of knowledge and wickedness, man has ruined the earth by his ignorant mistreatment of it. Governments try to educate people on the right way to treat land, where to build, etc., and people fail to listen.  They prefer to listen to "soaps" and things like that, whereas educational documentaries and directives are not listened to.  And they don't like reading God's Word nor man's. Solomon talked about the benefit of knowledge; Jesus said it would lead to everlasting life (John 17:3)  So we need knowledge and we need righteous people and righteous government to implement knowledge.This would not happen until God's Kingdom is holding sway.  Wicked people and governments have to be removed and righteous government (by God and his Son) has to be in place for the prophecies to be fulfilled. (Dan 2:44)  God is not going to make Satan's system and rule look successful by intervening in the affairs of this world.  He will do it under his righteous rule.
As was stated by Anna, Jesus the King of the new earth will speak to the wind and will control all the elements.  Obedient mankind will also contribute to this, as the prophecy says in Isaiah 11:6-9.
(Mark 4:37-41) 37 Now a great violent windstorm broke out, and the waves kept crashing into the boat, so that the boat was close to being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern, sleeping on the pillow. So they woke him up and said to him: “Teacher, do you not care that we are about to perish?” 39 With that he got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea: “Hush! Be quiet!” And the wind abated, and a great calm set in. 40 So he said to them: “Why are you so afraid? Do you not yet have any faith?” 41 But they felt an unusual fear, and they said to one another: “Who really is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him.”
This will also apply to all other natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, forest fires, etc. The causes of these things will be no more.  Knowledge of looking after the earth and its environment will be taught everywhere. Love for God, neighbour and the animal creation will be abundant. 
Isaiah 11:6-9:  The wolf will reside for a while with the lamb, And with the young goat the leopard will lie down, And the calf and the lion and the fattened animal will all be together; And a little boy will lead them.  7 The cow and the bear will feed together, And their young will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the bull.  8 The nursing child will play over the lair of a cobra, And a weaned child will put his hand over the den of a poisonous snake.  9 They will not cause any harm Or any ruin in all my holy mountain, Because the earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah As the waters cover the sea. 10 In that day the root of Jesʹse will stand up as a signal for the peoples. To him the nations will turn for guidance, And his resting-place will become glorious. 

Eccl 7:12 For wisdom is a protection just as money is a protection, but the advantage of knowledge is this: Wisdom preserves the life of its owner. 
(Isaiah 26:9) In the night I long for you with my whole being, Yes, my spirit keeps looking for you; For when there are judgments from you for the earth, The inhabitants of the land learn about righteousness.

 

Yes. "And this good news of the Kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come". You are forgetting that ALL this is only there to further Kingdom interest. Which in simple terms means preaching the good news of the Kingdom.
This also explains why we can say:
 
 

In other words; Satan, by his action, deprived all humans of God's protective power when it comes to the elements, and over other things too. When Adam and Eve were thrown out of the garden of Eden, God said to them: " Because you listened to your wife’s voice and ate from the tree concerning which I gave you this command, ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground on your account. In pain you will eat its produce all the days of your life. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, ...."  To me this indicates that if they had not sinned, the ground would not have been "cursed" so to speak, and there would be no "thistles and thorns" and no natural disasters. In this way, Jehovah removed his protective power from the earth, and this affects both good and bad people of course. He does not cause natural disasters, he just doesn't stop them. It is assumed that in the new world, God will control the weather (miraculously) for man's benefit, just like Jesus did when he calmed the storm.