Anna

I don't know if this is really new, but I learned it's very important to love, and show love to one another because we as heck are going to need it in the future. And I'm talking about true love, the principled kind, not the sentimental kind.
 

Talking about songs, the oddest thing happened at our convention. on the last day, the afternoon, just before we get ready to sing "Give me Courage", the brother announces that we should pay attention because the music was slightly changed. ??? My excitement dwindled as I and others had diligently practiced the song since its release on the website last year. Anyway, everyone sang their hearts out, and I must say sounded pretty good, except in the last chorus. For some unexplained reason the music WAS different, however no one was deterred and sang as they had learned it. As a consequence it sounded absolutely awful. Terribly out of tune. Like cats and dogs howling. I stopped singing and just shook my head. When I got home I checked the recorded version of the convention we have for my mother in law who is house bound, and there was no such problem there. It sounds like it was just our convention....?

I don't know if this is really new, but I learned it's very important to love, and show love to one another because we as heck are going to need it in the future. And I'm talking about true love, the principled kind, not the sentimental kind.
 

Talking about songs, the oddest thing happened at our convention. on the last day, the afternoon, just before we get ready to sing "Give me Courage", the brother announces that we should pay attention because the music was slightly changed. ??? My excitement dwindled as I and others had diligently practiced the song since its release on the website last year. Anyway, everyone sang their hearts out, and I must say sounded pretty good, except in the last chorus. For some unexplained reason the music WAS different, however no one was deterred and sang as they had learned it. As a consequence it sounded absolutely awful. Terribly out of tune. Like cats and dogs howling. I stopped singing and just shook my head. When I got home I checked the recorded version of the convention we have for my mother in law who is house bound, and there was no such problem there. It sounds like it was just our convention....?

... and we all know historically how the Germans love to pay back, when you give them an opportunity ...
Sounds like they are selling the debt so when it defaults, 1.) plausible deniability, and 2.) the phone can be disconnected, so to speak.
...same thing with the publications you mentioned..
Blame it on the Germans!
 

What was the ghost wearing?
 
 

Wow! It's been years since anyone expected Biblical men of old to appear at a convention.

It is exactly that way with modern assemblies, assuming you brownbag the mutton and chicken, and hold the wine.

Kids cost an arm and a leg to raise. Two of them will disable you for life.
Okay. I’ll approach it in that spirit.
I think you defeat yourself looking at it this way. The Bible is a finite book. You have been reading it for 70 years. Just what do you expect to learn that is new?
There are three assembly events in modern times. There were three assembly events, connected with the festivals, in ancient times. What did they learn then that was new? Why did they go?

Almost exactly the same. It was recently song 17 in the 2009 Songbook, when the words were changed again (to what they are now). That was to simplify singing with a new rule that every syllable had to have its own note, just to avoid "slurring" a syllable over two or more notes. But musically, it's still very similar to the original version. (Written by a German brother during or very shortly after the WWII persecution there, where he served time in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1942.)
https://www.ushmm.org/exhibition/music/detail.php?content=witness
 

.... that's why REAL men  never set their Phasers to STUN !
( ... puts a wrinkled age-appropriate paper bag with eye holes over head and hyperventilates, to get back on topic ...)

Hard to get anything past me... I type with TWO fingers!
It would go faster if I removed the finger-tip rubber chicken heads.

Remember the song in the old pink shirt cardboard songbook,  that I used to call the "Let's drag the stones to the Pyramid" song?  I forget the name ...
 Bum dee dee BUM de de,  BUM BUM BUM dum bum.
BUM de de BUM de de bum dum dum dum DUM.
Bum de de, Bum de de DUM,  DUM ....
... etc.
I miss that song ....
 

Forgot to use this scripture in my first post.
Reason we go to meetings and conventions and assemblies (apparently these two are not synonyms)
(Hebrews 10:24, 25) And let us consider one another so as to incite to love and fine works, 25 not forsaking our meeting together, as some have the custom, but encouraging one another, and all the more so as you see the day drawing near.
Plain and simple.
 

Always happy to learn things like this about people. Without details, I can imagine anything from from music lessons to a professional recital hall.
I think I mentioned once that I played a harmonica at the District Assemblies (aka Summer Conventions), not an instrument one would normally associate with the assembly orchestra. (In fact, we currently associate no instruments with assembly orchestras.) We also don't have choirs anymore. My parents met each other in the volunteer portion of a convention choir. In the early 1950's there was always a core choir assigned from past volunteers, and then they would often invite more volunteers, if they wished, to join them in a section up close to the actual orchestra/choir.
Hey! Maybe we should create a section for posting "Kingdom Songs," or other songs.

I don't know if this is really new, but I learned it's very important to love, and show love to one another because we as heck are going to need it in the future. And I'm talking about true love, the principled kind, not the sentimental kind.
 

I don't know if this is really new, but I learned it's very important to love, and show love to one another because we as heck are going to need it in the future. And I'm talking about true love, the principled kind, not the sentimental kind.
 

Next week DV I will know, and will tell you.   
Maybe this time your children will learn something that will show them the need to visit more often and to process information so they practice godly devotion more fully which includes checking on your parents. (mentioned somewhere in 1 Timothy.) Work in progress.

There seems to be myth being addressed in this discussion hence the erroneous and void conclusions.
Fact: Rape by definition takes place when force or the threat of force is used to gain sexual penetration, of any kind whatsoever, against a person's will. It is the rapist's use of force against an unwilling victim that makes him a rapist. Thus, a rape victim is not guilty of fornication. Like an incest victim, they may be forced to submit to an act they doesn't want because of the perceived power held over them by another person. In some cases this coercion could be very subtle, but nevertheless, coercion it is. When a person is forced to submit to a rapist out of terror or disorientation, it does not mean that they consent to the act. Consent is based on choice without threat and is active, not passive. 

I think that people were noticing some language issues, and he mentioned dyslexia, hardly in a category of "mental illness."
But there is good reason for concern, not the least of which is the evidence that not just the three names, but literally more than 30 different names have been used by him. The "projection" and "blame-shifting" and something I'll call "grudge echolalia" seem to come too natural to be faked. And I think several here have suspected certain obsessions and pathological tendencies.
That said, I think his defense of the WTS is actually sincere.

.... Just as a point of interest ... if I was a wretched cur, wouldn't my God be the human that fed me, and took me to the Vet?
Seriously though ... I seem to remember that both Allen Smith and BillyTheKid46 have both alluded in the past to being mentally ill, and castigated those of us (?) who were ridiculing his/their "condition", when in fact I knew nothing about it until he/they brought it up.
I make jokes about this or that person being mentally off, but then again I make jokes about everything and most of the time it is in jest, and the other person is mock-insulting me right back, which is what guys do.
I even make disparaging jokes about myself, if I think the jokes work.
I personally believe that Allen, Billy and Foreigner and perhaps one other are the same person, as a matter if casual speculation .... but perhaps we are making the mistake of assuming that the "Fantastic Four" are mentally competent, and at least marginally sane ... and therefor holding him/them to a higher standard than would be reasonable.
What disturbs me is when a person that appears to be borderline insane "has" a fantasy .50 caliber BMG sniper rifle, in addition to another possibly fantasy arsenal, and is as insulting and bitter as he/they is/are.
In 1972 I spent 6 hours in a psych ward from an allergic reaction to a drug I was taking for asthma, as I was delirious, my estranged first wife sent me there after the ambulance rescued me from the asthma .... and I walked around for awhile looking at the "crazy people" in the ward, and decided I had to get out of there quick, or soon I would become like them.
The "doctor" wanted to keep me for further observation, although I was fine, until I said "You know, of course, that I am not going to pay you.", and I signed myself out.
The point of this shaggy dog (cur?) story is that interacting with crazy people can make an empathic person just as nutso as they are, and I suppose that is why even psychiatrists have psychiatrists.
If you get a chance, be sure to see the movie "One Flew Over The Cookoo's Nest", with Jack Nicholson getting electric shock therapy, walking out and winking at the Indian.  That scene was worth the whole movie!
"Sling Blade" .... was another story!
 
 

You probably remember the time about 4 years ago, when I first mistook Allen Smith for a disgruntled ex-JW trying to make JWs look bad. At that time I came to the defense of other Witnesses on here (the old jw-archive.org forum at the time) and made it clear that all other Witnesses that I know, or have ever known, weren't at all like him. I certainly hope you not playing a game just to make JWs look bad.
Then again, you appear to think that my goal is to make JWs look bad, although I would say that I'm pushing for improvements. Even if you can't see a need for any improvements in processes and doctrines, you might still understand why others could want better explanations for certain difficult doctrines, and want more transparency when it comes to certain decisions and policies.
At any rate, I still find many of your points interesting, especially when you are talking to others here. When you talk to me, however, you seem to give up too easily, avoiding evidence offered, and offering non-responsible material in return. You do yourself no favors by merely lashing out with ad hominem vitriol, because it makes it look like you didn't have anything reasonable to offer.
For example, I asked:
You're answer was this:
Maybe it's just me, but I really can't get the sense of this answer. I can't see how it lets your reasonableness be known to all.
(Titus 3:2) " . . .  to speak injuriously of no one, not to be quarrelsome, but to be reasonable."

No, of course God does not want us to misuse nor misunderstand scripture, and to understand scripture we need to ask God for help, which as you mention is the holy spirit. But holy spirit can only do so much. Since we are all free moral agents, but are imperfect at the same time, we CAN make mistakes in understanding where holy spirit is leading "us" (the person in question). Just because the holy spirit guides, doesn't mean that someone is capable of following it perfectly all the time.  Look how long it took Jonah to finally do what he was told. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) including the anointed. I think one of your problems John is you are waiting for someone to interpret the scriptures to you perfectly.  But the irony is, how would you know? How would you know what that one person is saying is better than what another person is saying? Jesus gave people identifying marks so we can recognize his true followers. It's not complicated. Matthew 7:21, John 13:35, John 17:16 etc... The Bible  lets us know clearly and unambiguously what is important to God. That's not complicated either. 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10 1 Corinthians 5:11, Ephesians 4:28, Colossians 3:8, Corinthians 7:1, 1 Timothy 5:8, Galatians 5:20, 21 etc....
Perhaps they are not going beyond what is written. How would you know?
Yes, in fact God and Jesus want us to be obedient; "Be obedient to those who are taking the lead among you and be submissive, for they are keeping watch over you as those who will render an account"... (Heb 13: 17)
But complete obedience is first and foremost to God. It's a no brainier. The GB know that. Yes, God and Jesus support trustworthy older men. Paul told Timothy: "You, therefore, my child, keep on acquiring power in the undeserved kindness that is in Christ Jesus;  and the things you heard from me that were supported by many witnesses, these things entrust to faithful men, who, in turn, will be adequately qualified to teach others". (2 Tim 2:2). And as you know, not only do God and Jesus trust older men, but they trust all Christians who strive to obey God, since they entrust them with "shining as illuminators" and with preaching the good news
"“You are the light of the world. A city cannot be hid when located on a mountain. People light a lamp and set it, not under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it shines on all those in the house.  Likewise, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your fine works and give glory to your Father who is in the heavens" (Matt 5:14-16)
 

To be honest @JOHN BUTLER, I just couldn't be bothered to give you a detailed reply because your reasoning is so out of whack. But here goes:
As far as I am aware there is not much difference between an error and a mistake, they are just synonyms of each other. Once you put the adjective "deliberate"  in front of any of those words, then it changes the meaning to being  ummmm....deliberate, intentional, calculated, wilful etc. And no, I do not think their errors are deliberate. To which you will no doubt say I am brainwashed. It's good to have an opinion John, it doesn't mean someone is brainwashed, to the contrary.
Sure. But ultimately it is God. 
It's still up to God to grant that, not up to the GB. You could be part of the WT/JW etc. and still be disapproved by God. Just being a part of something is no guarantee.
The WT org. didn't foretell anything new, it just repeated what the Bible already foretold.
As for moral standards, you already forgot how high they are. You don't remember if someone is found to be unrepentantly flaunting God's moral standards they are out on their ear? 
Already covered above
Your opinion 
You are reading FAR too much into this! My inconsistency has nothing to do with the intention of twisting anything. Just laziness.
1975 was speculation. To be baptized as JW to be saved is a belief. Armageddon being close is also a belief.
Sorry, can't finish. Got to go. Will carry on later.
 

To be honest @JOHN BUTLER, I just couldn't be bothered to give you a detailed reply because your reasoning is so out of whack. But here goes:
As far as I am aware there is not much difference between an error and a mistake, they are just synonyms of each other. Once you put the adjective "deliberate"  in front of any of those words, then it changes the meaning to being  ummmm....deliberate, intentional, calculated, wilful etc. And no, I do not think their errors are deliberate. To which you will no doubt say I am brainwashed. It's good to have an opinion John, it doesn't mean someone is brainwashed, to the contrary.
Sure. But ultimately it is God. 
It's still up to God to grant that, not up to the GB. You could be part of the WT/JW etc. and still be disapproved by God. Just being a part of something is no guarantee.
The WT org. didn't foretell anything new, it just repeated what the Bible already foretold.
As for moral standards, you already forgot how high they are. You don't remember if someone is found to be unrepentantly flaunting God's moral standards they are out on their ear? 
Already covered above
Your opinion 
You are reading FAR too much into this! My inconsistency has nothing to do with the intention of twisting anything. Just laziness.
1975 was speculation. To be baptized as JW to be saved is a belief. Armageddon being close is also a belief.
Sorry, can't finish. Got to go. Will carry on later.