Anna

Whenever I get a pang of conscience, I think; it's ok, Tom's on here! 😂🥳🤪💃

Whenever I get a pang of conscience, I think; it's ok, Tom's on here! 😂🥳🤪💃

Exactly. People almost never change. In all the time I have been here, I have seen only one possibly do that, after which he participated no more. But he had other things going on as well that may have been more significant.
Just so you know, I stay here & have become one of the key players, because I fancy myself a writer. I’ve said before, but not lately, that a writer needs more than a muse. He needs a villain. Here there are villains galore. 
In most cases I’ve probed a little at first to see how the “villains” came to be as they are. I’m under no illusion of changing anyone, and what I do not do, because I think it is wrong, is discuss spiritual things with them as I would with persons in good standing with Jehovah and his earthly organization—in other words, my attempt at abiding by counsel to leave blind guides be.
It is in the eye of the beholder. Maybe some people do think I chat happily away with them.  I don’t frequent anywhere else but here. I do worry about setting a bad example.

I don't think you're a bad example. I find your posts encouraging and I'm sure a lot of other people here do. I think some of the "complainers" may just be working out their own demons, or I hope they are. Jehovah knows we cause most of our problems just fine all by ourselves.

If you're happy with your decisions, then I hope it goes well with you and one would wish the same for anyone who is choosing their path. If any JW's feel they are on the wrong path, they will choose as they will. One thing I've learned from decades of pioneering is that I've changed very few people's minds by arguing with them, but I have changed myself from wearing myself out in the attempt. I don't do this any more. If someone wants to speak with me and has something positive to share them I'm more than willing to listen, however chasing after someone else w/whom one disagrees with is usually a toxic behavior. You may imagine the person/persons holding these ideas to be snakes w/whom you've been bitten, however chasing the snakes simply drives the poison to the heart.

It seems to me that paragraph is speaking of wicked people who appear to be happy. If you aren't wicked and you're happy, then this wouldn't apply to you. There are people who are ignorant of what the bible says as to the hope for the future or incorrectly assess the hope and find some happiness and that's undeniable, however until this system is replaced we can all agree that no one's happiness is complete. Everyone must choose their own path. If you've chosen a path you consider to be superior, then you can rejoice in your superior way of life. The thing everyone would do well to consider is that no one is immune from sin or even a heart which is potentially treacherous.

Yes that is true, but it doesn't mean someone can't raise a question regarding something that appears not as serious as those things you mention. I think it is a fair question though since the Bible clearly condems gluttony. I merely gave my opinion. Now I have found this article in a Question from readers in the 2004 WT:
https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines/w20041101/Questions-From-Readers/

What do you mean they never even mentioned page 9, you idiot? It was studied paragraph by paragraph.
See how @xerosays he has been comparing many different sources for Revelation interpretations? Ask him if he has found one with the preface: “This is probably a load of manure, but I’m putting it out there anyway. I have nothing else to do with my time.”

Your exactly right brother....I often think as you just articulated..we know so much but really so little....Jehovah loves a seeker..a searcher of the scriptures...but that doesn’t mean the reward will be any different than one that’s is not quiet so interested in scriptures ..but has bowed their knee to their God Jehovah.
The things we may grasp a little earlier can be a stumbling stone..as Jesus was with the Pharisees...or it can develop in us a much admired and treasured thing...that is highly favoured by Jehovah...humility and grace in remembering where we came from..( I was sort of a heathen from the world ) I owe my life because of the witnessing work..organised by the then GB
I liken us as the same as the Israelites that were cornered at the Red Sea...Pharaoh bearing down and the mountains on one side the sea in the front ...
So where is this God Jehovah they all submitted to...nothing is turning out as promised...let’s stone Moses and Aaron in our fear or disappointment...
( and NO I do not liken Moses to the GB) 
BUT..ones perhaps with a little more faith..or insight ...bore up..and did not panic..or push ahead...now THAT is the type of faith he loves....mind you they were probably wetting themselves in fear whilst waiting for him to act.
We know so very little..even when we  say we know a lot!..( or think it) and besides....I remember where I came from🙂 I’m not sure if it is intentional as you think..perhaps it is...but it’s very important as to how we act with insights we may THINK we have....it’s there for all to search for.......but we often have to search so hard....we have to use the lamp..and bend our back...possibly in a uncomfortable position for a long time to find that spiritual gem or insight.
But how we handle that gem.  Shows our true personality...

Thinking...what I often wonder is whether it's intentionally ambiguous to make us constantly try to solve the puzzle, and in trying we're forced into a spiritual pattern of reanalysis and humility as we realize how we know so much and yet so little and in knowing this we can see when people imagine themselves to be wiser than they actually are and for doing so not only realize this in ourselves but perhaps reconcile ourselves towards being a little less critical of the missteps of others as these have also tried and failed.
In the end those counted as meek aren't the ones who've solved all the puzzles.

You have to account for yourself. I have to account for myself. If you know how to do what is right and don't do it, that's a sin for you. The same for me. If you fail to listen to your conscience that's a sin for you as it is for me. People have to defend their beliefs (if these have beliefs) which are attached nominally to an organization. I have beliefs which are attached nominally to an organization, and yet those beliefs are not owned by the organization. As the old saw goes, "I make the truth my own". Those who argue for the Catholic Church and it's sliding scale of beliefs as being in perpetuity the unadulterated voice of Christ or any other organization including the WTBS have to deal with that. I don't. Yes there are company men. I am not. There are interpretations of prophesy which seem forced in my view. I see that there was diversity of opinion on the meanings of prophesy among the faithful in the 1st century and I believe there is the same latitude today among JW's. Yes, there are some for whom any wondering is considered disloyal. I don't. I'm focused on what I can know and what I do know. I do know that there is greater textual and historical testimony for the gospel accounts from a strictly historical perspective which, in combination with my understanding of the mathematical obstacles inherent in every evolutionary non-theistic scenario lead me to believe both that there is a Creator, that Jehovah is God, and that Jesus is is Son and that he both lived, died and was resurrected. I also believe that he will return and that this foretold kingdom will address all these issues. Exactly how and when I don't know. I'm not sure any do, however the more I read on this matter, the more I'm convinced that no one knows exactly how this will play out.
On the other hand I'm reminded of Jaron Lanier and his feelings about the internet. ("You Are Not A Gadget") This thing has made it so that no one can forget the past. No one does anything creative w/o first looking to see if it's been done before, or done better. He argues that this inability to forget has killed creativity in the music business. There was a time when you could identify an era by the music which was played, as each group got creative. Creativity is shot now. No truly new music. It's remixes and retro and dub-step (sounds like a fax machine getting  molested).
This thing, this recreation of the tower of babel has created a kind of totalitarian thought control, so any subtlety which might come from holy spirit isn't going to regenerate a world wide organization of Christians anywhere on this planet. Not without Jesus-like miracles, like raising people from the dead and splitting the waters of the red sea or like Moses and the plagues on Egypt.
If we see anything happening is a degradation of spirituality everywhere.
The Good News of The Kingdom has been preached. General revelation is available to all, even the illiterate Sentinelese living like proto-hominids on Sentinel Island have the general revelation.
No. The end will come when the world is just like it is right now. Or possibly worse.
I wonder that it isn't over now. So do many JW's.

So the simple answer is no. You have no alternative anywhere. So the positive statement you are making is that no one anywhere should associate with a group who claim to try to be Christians. The reason you give is that they are all imperfect.
Or did I miss anything? This doesn't seem like a good argument. It's not realistic and not scriptural.

I understand where you're coming from, but I have to disagree as to differences in theology as being irrelevant. Take the Declaration of Independence, where it says "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." At the time this was written slavery existed in the colonies and wasn't wiped out at that time. It did, however establish a vector w/in the text as to the ideal. Theologies likewise carry within them a vector w/in, a text as to the ideal. I hold these things to not be irrelevant even if we are unable to fully realize them at present. There is value in intolerance, even beauty. The issue is one of hating sin, while not at the same time hating the sinner. For example homosexuality is practically embraced by so many so-called Christians today, because not embracing this behavior is seen as loathsome hatred of the being of another, a denial of these people and their existence. It isn't. People can and do change. Having unwholesome predilections can be curbed. But we need to make it clear that it isn't just these sins which are at issue, but we often can give this impression. The Bible is full of descriptions of sin and if we're honest we're all guilty. Legalism can be and is an issue w/many as these seek to avoid all condemnation in their own eyes. But we have to be honest, we're not better than anyone, but to the extent that we submit to God's direction (don't equate this w/fidelity to organizations) we can find ourselves moving in the right direction. Provided our theology is providing the right (or best) roadmap.

So what are we to make of this comment from Srecko? He yields on his ridiculous comparison of institutional abuse in various religions to abuse in families that happen to be religious. He yields on it because it is ridiculous and he can no longer support it.
So what does he do? He takes a “heads I win/tails you lose “ new argument. “Well, since other organizations have people who sin, and you do too, there is no reason to say you are any different.”
Will he say it of the hospital? “Well, since there are plenty of sick people in the world and also plenty in the hospital, there is no reason to go there.”

In writing about the May 2019 Watchtower, I mentioned how opposers would say, “It only happened because of our prodding.” They would claim “credit” for the “clarification.”
So? Give it to them, so far as I am concerned. Everything in life is action/reaction. “Out of sight/out of mind” is the universal human tendency that operates towards any who have gone out of sight, and in the case of former JWs who have suffered abuse from which they have not recovered, these opposers did not permit it to happen. I have no problem acknowledging their role.
https://www.tomsheepandgoats.com/2019/02/the-reproach-of-child-sexual-abuse-falls-on-the-abu.html
Even if you have to call them out on their excessive vendetta you can still recognize they have spurred on valuable change.

This makes me feel like I'm one of the characters opposite Adam Sandler who hasn't a clue what's going on.
 

I do not try to be a jerk to you. I honestly cannot read you and so have no idea how to answer earnestly. That, and a certain innate playfulness, results in the comments that it does. To me, you have a way of issuing veiled, unpredictable, and sometimes unaccountable rebukes. But I have nothing against you, really. I just can’t follow your thinking.
”Come, is not the land big enough for the both of us? I’ll even grant you the greater portion, so that you can keep kicking the stuffing out of JWI and I will do other things.”

I have noticed they are getting a little chubby, that does tend to happen with age. I would by no means call them obese though. Plus, as I mentioned, you don't know people's circumstances. In any case, I am wondering why, if you have such an aversion to them, you even know what they look like lately. Do you have an unhealthy obsession with them?

I do think Tom's reference to the outside source which distinguishes between institutional abuse and abuse in familial non-institutional settings is important. The source noted 1-2% of any given population having issues in this regard. This same percentage appears to be present among those identifying as JW's. These are humans w/the same failings. What's at issue is what it is that's suggested - conflating institutional abuse, Sunday Schools, Camps and the like w/paid clergy/laity vs abuse which happens in a home and later reported on.

If just cracks me up when someone downvotes a comment that undermines whatever they harp on—as though without a downvote, nobody would have any idea they might disapprove. 
It’s even more so when people downvote insults to themselves. Duh.
I think I’m going to collect a few insults and upvote them all as a subtle means of ridicule.

“Both official reports and media often confuse ‘institutional’ abuse in religious settings and abuse happening in families that happen to be religious.” HF
"Next move will be to hold Walmart responsible for abuse that has occurred among their shoppers"- True Tom
Yes, I would say that is the crux of the matter. 

@xeroCezar Chavez is just a trouble maker who delights in calling people names, I would say he is a bit of a troll....

“Both official reports and media often confuse ‘institutional’ abuse in religious settings and abuse happening in families that happen to be religious.” HF
"Next move will be to hold Walmart responsible for abuse that has occurred among their shoppers"- True Tom
Yes, I would say that is the crux of the matter. 

And as everyone knows, calling for harm to anyone is against all internet rules globally.   

And as everyone knows, calling for harm to anyone is against all internet rules globally.