TrueTomHarley

5 hours ago, Space Merchant said:

This action was part of the plan the Russian Orthodox Church

Yes. It certainly does call to mind the prior actions of the dominant church in other lands.

You know if it wasn't for @The Librarian (the old hen) breaking in about her hunger pangs, salivating over tacos, as though she were expecting - though believe me, if she was at her age, THAT would be a miracle to make the sun of Joshua's day hanging out for a month look like a cakewalk in comparison - we might be able to enjoy some order around here. 

There IS such a thing as starting another thread, you know. Did I not set the fine example doing so over Mike Duds? JWI and crew would have gone on and on and on about Milk Duds right there in the thread about the museum!!! With mummies and all overhearing! I wouldn't permit it!

A separate thread, if you please, Miss Librarian. I'm tired of having to enforce all the rules around here.

10 minutes ago, JW Insider said:

We were at Bethel together for several years. He's the one in the middle. One year younger than me.

IT'S OUTRAGEOUS!!! THE WICKED PLACE EVEN MAKES BABIES WORK!!!!

Well - that was a lot of work to be done during an eclipse. Better to pin the planets in place for awhile. Why force yourself to do a day's work in fifteen minutes?

3 hours ago, AllenSmith said:

Well, not with the 30% percent I've read so far!

Wait till you get to the knock-down bare-knuckes fist fight I have with COJ!!!

4 minutes ago, Anna said:

No it's not. I see you didn't read anything yet.

3 minutes ago, Anna said:

Let Stan know, so he can add it to his library!

Baran is not a Witness, nor ever was to my knowledge. is that not a pre-requisite for the list?

22 minutes ago, AllenSmith said:

I’m sure if I read TTH books, I will find certain aspects of his books to disagree with.

No. 

12 minutes ago, JW Insider said:

By the way, I did just get a response from him,

Uh oh

1 hour ago, J.R. Ewing said:

I’ll give you a disingenuous down-vote, so TTH can once again, be regaled by his friend.

I feel his pain

5 minutes ago, AllenSmith said:

See, now TTH feels better!

Yes. Now is cleared up a great mystery.

9 minutes ago, Israeli Bar Avaddhon said:

I dont know Emily Baran

Find the book and read it if you can. it is the only book I'm aware of that covers the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses exclusively from Stalin's time to its publication date (2007 or so). It is secular. It does not get into prophetic patterns at all. But it is probably good background for you, as you write of these things. 

I will look at your post in time. Thanks for it. I don't go into such things in a big way - one cannot do everything. I leave it to those smarter than me. But in time I will get to it.

(Blush) I am also chronicling present matters pre and post-Russian ban and will release it soon in an Ebook. The Ebook will be free - it will be the first book I will try to get into print (which will not be). When released it will be on my profile page, which is now referring to another book.

No special credentials here, other than being a long-time Witness, faithful I hope, who follows world events both spiritual and political, and who indulges a hobby of writing now that the kids are gone and the bills are paid. 

A poll there found that 79% of Russians supported the ban. However, someone else observed that it depends upon how you frame the question. If it is a ban to stop something people think a nuisance - unannounced calls, then yes, 79% think it would be well to stop that.  It is not dissimilar to many places.  However, if the idea of ban is reframed to include going to jail and physical violence the percentage number will drop quickly. Russians are people like anywhere. They may be more given to uniformity, but they know what is fair and what is not.

There are many things I don't like. That doesn't mean I think people should go to jail who do them.

7 minutes ago, JW Insider said:

which is why I have given you another "up-vote."

I wondered about that up-vote.

17 hours ago, Israeli Bar Avaddhon said:

whether the king of the north

According to Emily Baran's book, the Soviet Union didn't like being called 'the king of the north.' Atheists there, they could hardly be expected to get their heads around biblical themes. It was all evidence of subversive politics to them.

56 minutes ago, Anna said:

That's ok, because I only watched half of it! lol (Don't tell True Tom though)

Sooooooo! 

"You must see it, TrueTom. Did you see it yet? How bout now?

"Well, when you gonna see it? C'mon! Prove that you're a spiritual man. See it!!!"

And now it turns out it's so dull you couldn't plow through it yourself!  I'm even going to like my own comment!

Oh for crying out loud! Five singers cover Fats Domino's Blueberry Hill. Who is #5?

Putin!!!

https://www.rt.com/news/407764-fats-domino-dies-89/

One sister said she liked it. It humanized him. But then she remembered how he's treated our brothers.

1 hour ago, Anna said:

But I was talking about those who begrudge the fact that THEY, in their eyes, made a "bad" decision and blame the Society/the truth/slave etc. for it

Waiting at the bus stop and the bus doesn't come because you misread the schedule or your copy was blurred is a downer. There is no way to spin it as a good thing. But there is no need to overdramatize it as some great tragedy, either - not unless you've decided that you don't know or care whether the bus comes or not since you've come to like it right where you are.

If the bus doesn't come when expected, that is a pain, but if you busy yourself in the general vicinity and speak to passerby the time seems to move on quickly. When it comes, the five virgins who took top jobs at Exxon and are no longer around have nothing on you.

1 hour ago, Anna said:

However, how would that work in a practical way....that kind of doctrinal democracy?

I'm for 2333. It has a lot of 3's in it, my favorite number.

1 hour ago, Anna said:

We've got to remember though that we are not swinging the hammer, that's left up to the Slave. All the dates we've ever had were put out there by the Slave. We just either agree with the dates or not...

Well...it is like when I am expected to lead the car group with all sisters who know the area better than me. "Just tell me what you want to do, Shelly, and I'll bless it."

1 hour ago, Anna said:

I know what you mean

That one was for real.

1 hour ago, Anna said:

1 hour ago, Anna said:

 

 

Cat got your tongue?

1 hour ago, Gone Fishing said:

Once these time periods are properly understood, I have a feeling there will be no ambiguity at all, and a lot of people will be saying "There. I always said it was something like that!".

In the meantime, one might consider a missed date as the time you swung a hammer and missed the nail. And the dates all around as the frustrated swings you took thereafter, also missing each time.

49 minutes ago, Gone Fishing said:

While I was growing up in a jw home, participation in school sports was a big no-no

If a family head makes rules for his family over such things - and many have - is it so horrendous to obey? It is only for a period of three or four years, which will pass soon enough. Must everyone be obsessed with short-term considerations?

Having said that, when a certain young brother wanted to join his school's golf team, his father, a local elder, assessed his son's spirituality and told him: 'just do it. Don't advertise - just do it if you want.'

Of course, golf is probably the least 'team' of team sports. Some people think it is not a sport at all.

19 hours ago, Anna said:

But then so is reading the comment in the first place

No. It is the difference between idling the car and stepping on the gas. Granted, some might choose not to get into the car. Those ones will not be here.