TrueTomHarley

You are getting close......awfully close. In fact, close enough. I will solve this baby for you. Put your ear down to the turtle very very close and say just the right words, and he will explain the overlapping generations to you.

WILL YOU STOP SNORING SO LOUD!? I CAN’T HEAR MYSELF THINK! You know, the more I think about it, the more I think John is right. Yes, I will backtrack some. I now think that the end is probably a long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long ways off. Tennis, anyone?

hehehe :)))

Moreover, if they really wanted to pump everyone into fever pitch, as John charges they do, they would not have let 1Thess 5:2-3 go unmentioned during last week’s assigned Bible reading—the verse about “whenever they are crying ‘peace and security.’ They would have hyped it to the heavens. Instead, they let it pass unnoticed. I think they are sailing a “steady as she goes” course among treacherous waters, doing their best not to overhype nor underhype. I just don’t like to second-guess their every move. Everyone knows what a pain a back-seat driver is. I don’t want to be one. Does John want to go back to what he once was doing, reasoning that it is enough to know that the end is “out there somewhere?” This course I believe we are “not allowed” to take—not by the GB, but by Jesus, if we would prove ourselves faithful to him. Does John point to things he thinks the GB does wrong? (Does he ever!) I note how Miriam and Aaron began to speak against Moses on account of his Cushite wife—and how Jehovah really, really didn’t like that, and He let them hear about it. This was so even though Moses actually did have a Cushite wife. As much as it is good to roam history in the spirit of “he who does not know history is doomed to repeat it,” it is probably one of those things we are just going to have to accept that we do from time to time. The presumed motivation for so searching past publications is so that we do not yet again emerge with egg on our face when something doesn’t turn out as anticipated. I think it is fair to assume that we may—for the alternative is to forget all about “keeping on the watch”—the opposite shoal, which is even more dangerous than the one we are trying to navigate. To the extent that the intent is to appear “respectable” by never again having to backtrack on prior expectations, I think the intent is misguided, though certainly understandable. Paul was described as a “pest” who was leading a “sect.” Witnesses today can expect no more. Christians then were considered the “offscouring” of the earth. Witnesses today can expect no more. What we have on this site is multiple players trying to make the case that the doers are doing it wrong—overlooking the fact that in most cases they themselves are doing nothing. Witnesses just have to accept that it will be that way. Malcontents and renegades will pick up the same refrain as you-know-who, the one who “accuses our brothers day and night before our God.”

And it is enough to know that He won’t get around to it for a long time—it is “a long ways off.” That way, hit the ‘snooze’ and catch a few more zzzzz’s ’Keeping on the watch’ is a bear.

Not so much as it encourages people not to blow off Jesus’ words as nothing: ’”What I say to you, I say to all; keep on the watch.”

Most of those bad boys are either in the hoosegow or the asylum.

In this case, the gist of the spoof is spot-on, even if the humor should miss. The four participants referred to are implacably opposed regarding spiritual matters, but for the sake of slamming the JW organization, they are soul-mates. Get them scrabbling with each other, and I can write my next book in peace. And don’t get me going about the Billyites, the Bubbatites, The Annites, and the JWwhites.

Now TrueTom, knowing that the one part was made up of Rookites but the other of Butlerites, and yet another of Sreckoites, and let us not forget Witnessites, cried out in the Forum: “Men, brothers, I am a writer, a son of writers. Over the existence of God I am being judged.” Because he said this, a dissension arose between the Rookites and the Butlerites and the Sreckotites, and the Witnessites, and the assembly was split. For the Sreckotites say that there is neither resurrection nor angel nor spirit, but the Rookites accept them all except for 85% that they say is crap. And the Butlerites also say the 85% is crap, but they DO believe in some of the 15%. And the Witnessites believe—well, who knows what they believe except that their Queen Mother is the REAL anointed and the anointed of Jehovah’s Witnesses are no good—and the Queen Mother has a Facebook page to prove it. So a great uproar broke out, and some of the ones with common sense of the party rose and began arguing fiercely, saying: “We find nothing wrong in this man, but if a spirit or an angel spoke to him—.” Now when the dissension grew great, the military commander feared that TrueTom would be torn apart by them, and he commanded the soldiers to go down and snatch him from their midst and bring him into the soldiers’ quarters. All in a day’s work.

“Now as TrueTom was saying these things in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice: “You are going out of your mind, TrueTom! Great learning is driving you out of your mind!” But TrueTom said: “I am not going out of my mind, Your Excellency Festus. Well, actually, you do have a point. I guess I am going nuts, but it is not on account of great learning. I am spending too much time with the yo-yos on the worldnewsmediaforum.”

A fine example of three groups that overlap would be the adherents of JTR, of John Butler, and of Srecko. Put them on the same planet and they will fight like cats and dogs. Put them on the worldnewsmediaforum, and they suddenly find that they are practically bedfellows. As the light gets brighter, we can even make out 4, for there is always Witness.

Yeah, that’s what I’m talkin about!

Oh, very well. Sign up for her as your ‘anointed’ source, if you like. You two deserve each other.

Not everything in the world is about you and your pissy little complaint that you are a better anointed one than those of the GB. Corinth was a center of Greek thought. These were the ones who put such emphasis on ‘wisdom’—as opposed to the ‘signs’ of the Jews. Paul came to them with fear and trembling because he had determined that he would know nothing among them except Christ, and him impaled. My application (and @Outta Here‘s) application of 1 Corinthians 3:19 is exactly correct. Ditto the above reply. It’s not all about you and your complaint.This example of an “empty speech” involves making a mistake while keeping on the watch. It beats by a country mile not keeping on the watch at all. An excellent way to not make any mistakes is to not do anything. The empty speeches that do the most damage are the dominant philosophies of this system of things, which you apparently buy into, or at least take umbrage should the genuine anointed caution against them

What I like about the JW organization is that they’re unafraid of verses like 1 Timothy 6:20: “O Timothy, guard what is laid up in trust with you, turning away from the empty speeches that violate what is holy and from the contradictions of the falsely called “knowledge.” For making a show of such [knowledge] some have deviated from the faith.” Everyone else embarrassedly pretends those verses don’t exist, fearful lest they be seen as narrow and restrictive, the worst of all possible sins in today’s world. Watchtower applies them, unconcerned with how the world will react, so long as they discharge their scriptural responsibility to warn against specious reasonings. They want Christians to “attain to the oneness in the faith and in the accurate knowledge of the Son of God...in order that we should no longer be babes, tossed about as by waves and carried hither and thither by every wind of teaching by means of the trickery of men, by means of cunning in contriving error.” (Ephesians 4:13-14) It is a stand that takes guts, that exposes them to sneering ridicule, and to absurd charges that they want to “control” people. Once Witnesses have taken a position not to let “the empty speeches that violate what is holy and from the contradictions of the falsely called “knowledge” such as is the lifeblood of this world’s education, dictate their world view, then they “cherry-pick” its offerings for what is truly useful, and obviously, some is. I wouldn’t mind if they dropped the line that some go to higher school “to make a name for themselves,” since most don’t. But some do. It is what it is, and there is no need to scream over every little thing that does not go your way. What I like is that the JW organization cautions strongly about not putting oneself in the 24/7 unfamiliar environment that is “higher education”—cut off from all former stabilizing influences (a classic tool of brainwashing) so as to be indoctrinated by the latest “wind of teaching” designed by those who think faith is for chumps.

There IS such a thing as paying attention.

I learned that Scott Adams is peeved when you bend his work to further your inane and incessant complaints about the Witness organization—complaints that he knows nothing about and would not side with you if he did. It is inherently more noble to build something than it is to take the wrecking ball to it. Everything about him suggests that he sides with those who build, not those who demolish. Few Witnesses have any problem with their GB. Most greatly appreciate their work. The line that invariably brings the greatest applause at the Regional Convention is “Would you like to send your greetings to the brothers at Bethel?” Conventioneers look around themselves and everywhere see evidence of that group’s hard work. What! You think that Scott Adams will buy that they clap because they “have to?” No. He knows the machinations of loons when he sees them.

This is like when I “borrowed” Scott Adams’ car to travel to the Odd Duck convention in my fair city so as to make the point that you would be an excellent candidate for this year’s Duck. As I was hauled away in the police cruiser, I hollered. “What about the important points I have raised?” Your dopey points have been made and addressed countless times on this forum, by me and others, and you didn’t have to hijack Scott’s work so as to run them still through one more time. This is the fellow who thinks that you are backward for still believing in God. Not only does he dislike the 85% that you dislike—he dislikes the other 15% as well. An odd ally for you.

That’s good. I think I would only have been able to abstain for a short time. It would have been like when I told Shiwiii that I would no longer misrepresent his name. I held true for a time, but then reverted to the irresistible Shiwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. I mean, what is it with three consecutive i’s in a name?

This is because Scott Adams, whose intellectual property you have hijacked for your own dubious cause, does not address them. Zero, zip, nada, goose eggs, youdolt. I’m not so sure. At any rate, I didn’t speculate whether Adams would sue. I speculated only about what would he think of your ripping off his work. It is not the same. Eat it was a satire of Michael Jackson’s own work, Beat it. Your rip -off is not a satire of Scott Adams work, but it is to apply it to an agenda that he probably doesn’t even know of, and if he did, he would more likely side against you that with you for the accurate reasons I stated. Your use of his work is more analogous to when you release a batch of special brew and label it “Hillybilly Coke,” using the recognized company’s logo for your own personal advantage. Coke will sue your pants off. To illustrate my point, those who pay attention, should those ones exist, know that I like Bob Dylan and occasionally use his lines in my writing. For example, a byline of TrueTom vs the Apostates! is his line, “The game is the same; it’s just up on another level,” to illustrate how Witnesses now must defend the truth against brand new and unfamiliar attacks—but it is the same truth. If I take just this line from Bob and apply it to my own purposes, he will not care. But if I rewrite the entire song to reflect my opinions on Witnesses vs their opponents, he may. My attacks are ad hominem? And the ones you incessantly make on individuals taking the lead in the present organization, are not? Two can play at this infantile game: ”Did you hear the news, he said with a grin—[JTR’s] gone mad? When? Last night. Where? Downtown. Gee, that’s too bad. Well, there’s nothing we can do about it. I guess its just one of those things we are going to have to forget.” From: Clothesline Saga, thought to be a parody of Bobby Gentry’s Ode to Billy Jo—with a tragedy more maudlin, not to say ridiculous, than hers, and surrounding conversation more banal, not to say ridiculous, than hers.

Should that happen, I will refrain for a while from calling you “the ol pork chop.”

In most cases, the reason to attack the head is to kill the body. It is the game that Russia plays. The country has banned, not Jehovah’s Witnesses, but the organization that they use. Everybody knows that the intent is not to kill the “head,” but the “body” that is directed by it. The policy is so disingenuous that ordinary people, like the cops, legitimately cannot understand the difference. They simply pursue a mission to take out Jehovah’s Witnesses. One wonders whether Scott Adams would approve of his work being ripped off to attack a people he probably has no beef with and may even admire. I suspect he would not approve, though he may be too preoccupied to pursue the matter. He defends Trump, someone who he sees as representing ordinary people, and someone who he thinks is for that reason under continual, often ludicrous attacks, on every conceivable pretext. The attacks, he thinks, come from those who despise the common people, a group of “educated” elite who are “wise in their own eyes” but not in reality, and the ones that these “elites” have managed to indoctrinate. No, I think he would not approve of people stealing his work to promote their own bizarre agenda. He is not one to go in for manufactured “us against them” scenarios, such as the ones malcontents use against JWs. He sees right through them and is likely to equate them with the non-stop attacks on the president that he thinks is standing up for the common people. That president gives ample evidence of being human. Scott does not attack him on that account. He defends him despite some flaws. If he were ever to devote his attention here, (a big if) I think he would draw parallels that would go the way of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and not their incessant attackers. This is not to say that JTR is one of those who want to “kill the [Jehovah’s Witness] body.” He is more like the one who saws off the branch on which he sits, confident that only good can come of it.

Anton Chivchalov keeps up on Twitter and FB. @chivchalov. Also @jwrussia on Twitter

It is simply not that way. Everything else is permitted to have a history, and in no case is that history one of straight line problem-to-solution. In every case they include wandering, exploring, waffling, flip-flopping, backing-up, dealing with human foible and imperfection. Only in the case of spiritual things do some demand a final perfected product delivered as though by Santa, without history. And this demand usually stems from but a few common factors. Jesus says “exert yourselves vigorously” and people tire of doing that. Paul says grab hold of the “real life” and people say, “yeah, that means this one.” Jesus says “When the Son of Man returns, will he really find the faith on earth?” and Srecko answers in purple, “Not if I can help it, he won’t.” There is nothing wrong with the present leadership among Jehovah’s Witnesses. Or rather there is—it is comprised of people. But that has always been the case, and if you complain to God that you will only stick around where there is perfection, He will say, “Well, you are no great shakes yourself. You’ll have to take what is offered. It will do you good to learn to yield, cooperate, and get along with each other.” If you really think that the “real life” is what 1 Timothy 6 says it is, and that you-know-who is the ruler of this world, like Jesus says he is, then you realize that the two “worlds” being polar opposites in so many ways is going to cause you some present problems in this system of things. If you are inclined to stick with one, you will have problems from the other.

I scan these posts quickly to make sure that I am not on the current list of villains. If I am not, then I’m good.