Anna

There is something else I wanted to add to this. It's not that JW's personal views are valueless, but if you look up the definition of "to harbor" you will see that it means something like "keep (a thought or feeling, typically a negative one) in one's mind, especially secretly....with the synonyms  "nurturing" "nursing" "cherishing". It's all about attitude. There may be something that a JW understands differently to the GB/FDS, they just don't see it the same way. If someone understands something differently to the GB/FDS, do you think it would be reasonable to expect that someone to stop seeing it that way just for the sake of it? Or has it more to do with the attitude of that person? For example, someone may not really accept the explanation of the "Generation" although they tried, but just can't. The immature person might want to make a big deal out of it. They may "nurse" their idea until it becomes unbearable and consumes everything else, including all the "truths" they previously cherished. Now the only idea they "cherish" is their own opinion. The mature Christian accepts they may understand things differently and moves on, and waits till things become clearer one way or another. Let's say at some point in the past someone had a personal opinion on a subject which was not the official understanding at the time. Some years later though, the very opinion they had, now becomes the official teaching. Does that mean they were guilty of having the trait of an immature Christian just for having that different opinion? Obviously not. But they would have been an immature Christian had they "harbored" those thoughts to the point of advocating their opinion and becoming consumed by it.
When it's not merely a personal opinion or idea but a clear unambiguous Bible teaching. This is why it's important to know your Bible well. Those who didn't get carried away with 1975 were cognizant of the scripture which clearly says "no one knows the day or hour" no matter what anyone else was saying. Some who did get carried away blamed the org. for their losses. It's up to each person how they react, in the end we stand alone in front of the judgement seat of God and render an account for ourselves, not for anyone else.

I thought you were talking about me raising the topic of the nature of God's happiness. Not the actual topic "How are we to understand the GB/Slave interpreting scripture, as the sole channel, and at the same time accept that they can err?

To a certain extend I agree with your statement regarding the change in "language" when speaking to outsiders. JW's, do, and should do the same. Some don't, and as a result lose their "worldly" audience. As for GJ though to have intentionally used these comments to mislead, I do not think so, as this would be very short sighted. He must know that there will be other JWs who would hear his comment. 
The other thing is you do not know "he wouldn't dare to say anything like this to active members". That's just your opinion. Would you have ever thought you would see Tony Morris "dare" to go shopping for boxes of hard liquor? If TM was worried about being spotted he would have worn a disguise, or sent someone else.  Again, it seems to me that what the GB dares or not dares to do or say lives in the minds of others.

I have heard it said that soon pedophilia will be classed as just another sexual orientation and that pedophiles will feel discriminated against and will insist on their "rights".
Just to lighten things up a bit, are you the "man on the rocks" ?  😄: Cool song actually
 

No, and I have been witness to two elders, unprovoked, tell me irrespective of each other that if there is ever a case of reported child abuse, the victim and/or parents are specifically told that regardless whether there is proof or not,  if they want to contact the police it is their absolute right to do so and there will be no repercussions from the elders (which actually is a sad thing to have to say..... as if  contacting the police would ever warrant repercussions....but, as we know, historically this was sometimes the case. However, this was never the organizations policy as far as I know, but it was more a personal decision by some elders).

I'd like to add that another thing we must talk to our children about is suicide, as well as mental illness. To be brief, either of these isn't an easy subject to talk about, especially regarding the age of said child, and where they are in terms of wisdom and understanding. I say this because someone of blood nearly took her life several weeks ago due to some dark and wick things from the islands coupled with brutality manifested here in the states nearly led to the teenager's death. She is doing better now, but my reason for bringing this up is because some else whom I have had an somewhat brief encounter with succumb to suicide. Although he was an adult, but it still stings, and in my case, it brings up a friend of mine who took her life due to influence from pornography and the adult industry who took her. Regarding of who had succumb to his inner demons, mental illness and the temptation of being in and seeking the spotlight is a bad combination. Despite such things, it bolsters my faith in Yahweh and his only beget whom he made the Christ, Jesus. Because by means of God through Jesus, there will be a resurrection.

Or.....they would make damn sure they never got caught. But yes, I agree, report all child abuse to the relevant authorities, clergy privilege or no clergy privilege.

You are just kidding about this one right?

hee hee hee    (so are you)

TTH makes some good points .... technically, by adoption, TTH, BTK46 and myself are BROTHERS, and we are friends.
All here is just banter, trying to get the ground rules straightened out.
That does NOT mean there are any active "Bromances".

Or.....they would make damn sure they never got caught. But yes, I agree, report all child abuse to the relevant authorities, clergy privilege or no clergy privilege.

YAWN
 

YAWN
 

One of my hobbies is "looking" at houses on real estate websites. Of course the ones I like to browse the most are the ones in Beverly Hills. My favorite ones are the mid century modern, inside and out. Not too keen on the pretend Tuscan villas. Some houses are so terrible inside, it's as if these people have the need to buy everything and anything just because they can. But evidently they can't buy good taste....

Nice to hear of the work you did to facilitate your mother's comfort.
Sometimes just attending one of these functions is a high point in one's life in that under normal circumstances one might not get to experience it.  In 2001 I got invited to my uncle's wedding (not a Witness) (he got married for the third time to a socialite). It was the best spread I ever saw.  It was in a garden with water pools with lights shining in the water, and food stations every couple of yards - items of the richest quality. So I always remember it, and can also say I was really impressed.  That same year I  had two other very impressive invitations - one theocratic, one in connection with secular work - which I would not mention here. I always remember them. I am still wondering how I was selected.
In God's new system these things would be regular occasions, I believe, but we might still show great appreciation for an invitation to share with others. 

Hmmm. You probably found some good counsel for me on that one. The beauty of some of these places really was impressive to me, especially the Huntington Library (Gardens). And so was the wedding, with "bowers of flowers" and other decorations everywhere. Also, I was not just "secretly" impressed either, as I gladly admitted it out loud. And, of course, I am also secretly impressed that all this "free vacation" for a week, cost me no more than the plane flight, as everything else was paid for -- through no merit of my own.
(I paid for the plane ticket because my wife and I were coming out here anyway for an "anniversary trip" -- which mostly means that I am out here installing an automatic "lift" in the back of my parents' car so that my mother doesn't have to push my father's electric wheelchair/scooter up an aluminum ramp at a too steep an angle anymore. [She's afraid to just put it in gear and let it drive up the ramp by itself.] My father usually uses a walker, but for assemblies and other places with a lot of walking, he uses the scooter.)

Sorry for the strange type style, but I am down in the basement of my Super-Yacht, in the money bin where all the gold coins are stored, with my picture on the front, and Warwick HQ on the back, trying to get the bulldozer unstuck from the escalator landing up to the pontoon helicopter landing pad/olympic swimming pool.
I try to lead a simple life, but it is so hard to get good help, nowadays!
 

"A week later I was working on Pretencia Pond Way with Tom and Pearl Pearlsnswine, and also Bill Ding. I was already off to a bad start. It’s always dicey working in the same car group with Tom Pearlsnswine. I knew he’d do something outrageous. He always does. More than once I’ve vowed never to work with him again, but I always repent....As we cruised by the massive homes of Pretencia Pond Way, where the only Bible to be found in many is Consumer Reports, I watched uneasily in the mirror as Tom’s brow darkened. He began to mutter under his breath and presently erupted: “I don’t know how it happened! The pigs have escaped from the barn and they’re in the farmer’s house!” He is such an idiot!"
- Tom Irregardless and Me
If I ever rewrite this, I will include the detail that Pearlsnswines live in the trailer park. Actually, I think I have included that somewhere.

Many persons don't have the thinking ability  to come to the conclusion mentioned in the last sentence.  They usually learn by trial and error (often refusing to listen or without asking for advice from those with experience) and the aftermath is usually worse than when they were living a simple unpretentious life.
One has to examine himself/herself also as to why we might wish to share this kind of experience, as that in itself could also be a showy display. Are we too secretly impressed with this state of affairs?  The heart is treacherous.

Me missus wants to open up the castle in Capri. 🏰 Mmmmmmmmmm. 🙄

“How does it feeeel, to be on you own, 
with no direction hoooome,
like a rolling stooone.”

Not that I understand your reasons for the locomotive/circus, but the line "money does not impress me" reminds me of a group of us (6) driving in a rented van just a few hours ago. As it turns out, due to a "Grammys" connection, I am right now in a hotel in Beverly Hills for the wedding of a singer/songwriter who is also a dear friend of my daughter. Actually the father is the more internationally famous singer/songwriter (Bill Withers). The wedding was in the same hotel and the reception is going on right now and will last until about 1 am. It's a completely "worldly" wedding, very tasteful but ostentatiously expensive.
At any rate, as we are driving through a Beverly Hills residential area to get here (from the Beverly Hilton past the Beverly Hills Hotel) we were in a neighborhood where the average house cost $50,000,000 and we passed up one that was for sale. My daughter joked that it was for sale for only $35,000,000. I told her she should be embarrassed for even knowing that fact, because it meant she had looked it up earlier. (She had passed it up yesterday because she drove here last night for a rehearsal dinner, and it caught her eye, so she looked it up later just for fun.) 
Personally, I can't imagine having anywhere near that much, because of all the good friends who would definitely be getting chunks of it. (Of course, having 35 million doesn't mean one could afford a house that costs that much, because over the next few years it would cost ANOTHER 35 million for maintenance and taxes. Missing this point has bankrupted many an entertainer, athlete or lottery winner who lost/stopped their income immediately after such a purchase.)
You can make beauty even more beautiful with money, and the beauty can be impressive, but it isn't necessarily worth the extra expense because purely natural beauty can be just as pretty, even if less "concentrated." My wife and I visited the Huntington Library on our first day here on Wednesday. (Our 39th anniversary.) I visited it alone several years ago to see my first major exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and I was surprised to see that this "library" is actually a set of art galleries and exhibitions set on the property of one of the top botanical gardens in the country. It's a huge place of beauty and many of the hundreds of different species of flowers and trees and other plants are discreetly labeled so you know what you're looking at.
But the worldly attitudes toward money became very apparent at the hotel. We went up to the pool on the roof, and felt very out of place. Most of the visitors are merely "on display" never intending to go in the water. And, for some of the more female-looking types, I doubt their tiny thongs would even hold up if they got wet anyway. It's as if even people with a lot of money can't just be comfortable with it, even in laid-back California. They still have to make a showy display of it, speaking very pretentiously, holding their drinks pretentiously, etc, etc. They hope other persons will be just as impressed with their expensive style as they are with their own. Seems no one is really satisfied.

( JTR squints his eyes and rubs his hands together slowly, as if putting on hand lotion ...)  "So THAT"S your caper, eh, El Bandito?"

Fortunately, as most of you have probably guessed, Billy the Kid and I are really the same person, 😎, and I/we would have been prepared for everything a-la-Rambo, Apocalypse Now, and probably a John Wayne movie or two, too, that I have forgotten about.

It may be that the pilot was one of your detractors here who hadn’t realized that you were retired.