TrueTomHarley
-
Posts
8,273 -
Joined
-
Days Won
417
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
World Wiki
Events
Everything posted by TrueTomHarley
-
While I have, at times, been surprised at what @JW Insiderchooses to spill, I have never (after an initial re-assessment) not regarded him as in the camp of the good guys. Some people simply like to rove about. 'Roving about publicly' is another question, for one could simply write Bethel a letter. Nonetheless, I have not had his experiences, nor have I rubbed shoulders with those he has rubbed shoulders with, so I'll leave that matter to others. Not to mention that @ComfortMyPeoplequotes 'before them all' and 'in front of all Israel,' though, here again, it is 'in front of all Israel.' The internet is not the congregation. That is why Bethel recommends we exercise caution, if not keep our distance, from places where you cannot know who's who. I've chosen to bypass that counsel (within limits, for I do use caution - and I do have second thoughts about it). So have you, or you would not be here. -
Don't forget 'and The American Way.'
-
Many things should be given a rest
-
Along with your 'time machine' remark: I have noticed whenever I time travel that CBS's Major Garrett becomes Sargent Garrett or Genral Garrett, depending upon direction.
-
All along our brothers have stated that opposition to us is not monolithic. I agree it will be interesting to see how July 17 ties it all together.
-
Did I not say you were warm and fuzzy? Nothing slanderous about that. I am reminded, however, of the same eternal plea apostates make on any Witness board they invade: Notwithstanding that few points they raise have not been raised, answered, the answer rejected, and the point raised again, countless times all over the internet. One has to go to one's grave re-inventing the wheel?
-
My wife can certainly detect 99 million more odors than I can.
-
In view of the latest writing about types/anti-types, ('We're done') I wonder if there will be spillover as to how we view Revelation, which fairly begs for the application of anti-types
-
To my own astonishment, I am coming to think of him as the house apostate, a warm and fuzzy version of what is really a very bad thing. It is as has been previously observed: 'the internet is not the congregation.'
-
Elders later counseled him over this. 'Pay attention to your dress and grooming!' they said.
-
This is because you no longer recall when the Watchtower ran, or should have, the comic strip Lil Abner. Abner would show up at his big city job as a mattress tester, descending from the hills. There he would sleep all day in the department storefront window. He looked so deliciously happy flipping and flopping that the store sold mattresses like hotcakes. You have inadvertantly touched upon something I feel strongly about. There is nothing worse than a brother or sister who rattles on and on. The congregation meeting is not the WorldNewsMedia forum and I do not run over there. Congregations that don't get enough comments can fix the problem by gagging the windbags. If they do not, the average publisher rolls his eyes and gives up. In time, he gives up preparing. Thirty seconds or less. Elders should insist upon it. They need not be like Hitler, but Musollini is okay.
-
After Colombine, newspeople said that grief counselors had been dispatched, with the same air as they might use reporting that fire fighters had been dispatched to the house fire. “I’d love to hear what they have to say,” I told one woman in service. Her eyes got big. “You have an interesting job!” she exclaimed. But it’s not as interesting as Ezekiel’s. “Honey, I’m hooomme!” “Oh, Ezekiel. How was your day?” “Great! Today I bored a hole through the wall and carried out some luggage.” “Oh daddy, daddy,” the children come running to embrace him. “That sounds like fun. Can we do that?” “Ha, ha, you’ll have to ask your mother first. Remember, she didn’t like it much when you crayoned on that wall.” “How did you get that bump on your head, Ezekiel?” “My boss had me cover my face so that I couldn’t see where I was going. Some of the guys at the assignment – it really is a rebellious place – said that I should report him to OSHA! Some of the other guys asked me what it meant that I was doing.” “And what did you tell them?” “I told them it meant they were toast.” “Oh, honey, I’m so proud of you!” “Thank you, dear. It was almost as fun as my gig last week, lying on my side naked staring at a brick.” “It’s a wonder you didn’t catch your death of cold.” I have a lot of comments I can make at the spiritual gems portion of the meeting this week. The trouble is, will any of them be 30 seconds or less? (Highlights from Ezekiel 12)
-
Sometimes those who are trying to embarrass me with failed end-of-the-world predictions include 1994. Search around and it can be found online. I have no idea what that is or where it comes from. There was certainly never anything in print. Does anybody know, like @JW Insider, who knows a lot?
-
Lending support to what you have said, one of the situations in that symposium to be endured was "humbling experiences," discussing Galatians 2:11-14. That certainly must have humbled Peter, who was among those taking the lead at the time. Still, he endured it, and continued to take the lead. I recall thinking then that the year would likely be the end of this system. However, as it wore on and nothing happened, it provoked no crisis. I dismissed it as 'one of those things.' I'm not sure why. Nor does it necessarily speak well for me. I simply was not tripped up in this instance.
-
"How many times do I have to tell that @Annato put her books in the right category?" fumes @The Librarian "She should start another topic, as I have told her again and again till I am blue in the face." "She is getting to be like that bad @TrueTomHarley. Lord, I think he just throws in off-topic remarks to aggravate me! Here is a book he replaced upside down! Here is one dog=eared! THIS one he just left lying on the table! And, ARRRGGGHHHH, did he WRITE in this one?!" "It's MY library and they will have to learn MY rules. When I see @Anna again, I will tell her to start a new topic on the new subject! @TrueTomHarleywill probably join her, UNLESS he sees that it is actually in the right place, and refuses just to annoy me. Nice clean, straight rows - that's all I ask. Is it too much to do for an old lady?"
-
I was counseled quite severely on this point. I had to give each of the brothers a quilt to get rid of them.
-
Yes. it was easy to get the frustrated feeling back then that whatever you were doing, it was not enough. And there was always some individual loose cannon somewhere to push that meme even harder. Such motivation has faded, and pioneering increasingly is presented for a more noble reason. Pioneering is also being redefined, IMO, as a means of keeping ones occupied in kingdom activities of various types, giving ones more avenues to bring their gift to the altar. As to the hour requirement, it is a concession to the times - an acknowledgment that life is simply so much more aggravating on all counts, and not just that of making a living. An insurance matter, for example, can take hours, even days to unravel, whereas at one time, you simply reached into your pocket and paid it. One now needs help to 'negotiate the health care system,' an indication plain as day that it is no good. Sometimes in jest, with the new permutations of auxiliary pioneering at special times, I play hardball with the brothers. 'I'll do it,' I tell them, 'when the requirement drops to 15.' If one counts 'online witnessing,' I have special pioneered for many years. But I don't count it. Having said that, a brother once expressed his annoyance at those who harp that Jehovah's Witnesses stress hours over people. 'The hours are people,' he said.
- 487 replies
-
- 3
-
-
-
- 7 times
- overlapping generation
- (and 10 more)
-
Having said that, and not disagreeing that there was great emphasis then on increased activity, most of the statements you have underlined have been continually said right down to today. If anything, the perception that one should pioneer whenever possible - that it is an activity 'right as rain' - as opposed to a special escalation of preaching, is more pervasive now than it was then. I recall pushback from the Watchtower to those who wanted to have the faith, but live a 'normal life.' 'How can one lead a normal life in an abnormal world?' was the GB's answer. I think they have won that battle. What is also true today, and it is a good thing, is that there is far more emphasis on how one may acquire education 'a la carte,' so as to support oneself 'decently.' These days, after high school, we are encouraged to 'cherry pick' what we will need, rather than let an unbelieving world shovel indoctrination at us to undermine superior moral qualities. Jehovah's Witnesses do not ignore education. We redefine it.
- 487 replies
-
- 2
-
-
-
- 7 times
- overlapping generation
- (and 10 more)
-
No. However, in each of the four cases you mention, the person said what he said to the one he said it to - analagous simply to writing Bethel a letter. He didn't discuss it at length on numerous threads on a public forum. I will acknowledge that the counsel about avoiding 'poison' can be overdone. Sometimes poison is best countered by a tiny bit of exposure up front, so should it hit full body slam later on, a person is not knocked out of the ring for being totally unprepared. Is is really possible to sit for three days through a convention when you loathe every word said, or at least the persons who say it? I don't think I would be able to do it.
-
How long was your wedding talk?
-
It's a bridge we cross when we come to it, for perhaps we will not.
- 487 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- 7 times
- overlapping generation
- (and 10 more)
-
In the meantime, Armageddon is just around the one heckuva corner. It's either that, or down the drain for us all, because the world isn't looking too good these days. I'll hang with what we have because its the only game in town, at present, imperfect though it is.
- 487 replies
-
- 4
-
-
-
- 7 times
- overlapping generation
- (and 10 more)
-
At my baptism, the brothers sang "You Ain't Nothin But a Hound Dog." What a nasty bunch they were there. But, seriously - at a congregation out in the hills, a duo playing piano and viola accompanied all songs. Such beautiful music you have never heard.
-
Did I ever tell you how spaceships fly in and out of those tunnels? Conspiracy theories, much?
-
How does the GB travel, @JW Insider? Do they go first class or passenger. Ever via private jet? It would hardly do for one of them to be dragged off the plane like that Vietnamese doctor was, especially if it meant skipping the Lagos convention they were due to address.
