TrueTomHarley

On 7/3/2017 at 4:09 PM, JW Insider said:

At any rate, I have enjoyed all aspects of service, an my only complaint in life right now is stiff knees, and I never get enough sleep

Try counting sheep. Writing apparently does not do the trick.

9 hours ago, Eoin Joyce said:

Just a printed sheet on the stop, if it had not been vandalised. It was notoriously difficult to figure out the schedule. The print was too small, the light too dim, the mind too clouded, the need to relieve nature too pressing. And the schedule always contained exceptions to scheduling for late hours and weekends in even tinier print, indicated by impossibly small asterisks and the like. And if the bus number was different for the out-of-hours service.......! It was so easy to misinterpret and a frustrating excercise.

"For at present we see in a hazy outline by means of a metal mirror, but then it will be face to face." 

56 minutes ago, Shiwiii said:

Do I subscribe to the teachings of the gb? NO

Unfortunately, one cannot know anything on the internet.

Shiwiii is actually a circuit overseer who is having a bad day.

14 minutes ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

One is a pressure system for drinking water .. the other is a gravity sewer system for crap and wastewater.

The Hemlock Lake to Rochester fresh water channel is gravity fed. Once the water reaches city reserviors, of course, it is pressurized. 

19 minutes ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

My last posts about ONLY Sanitary Engineering was NOT about me ... it was about the fact that those who "walk through sewers" 

I do notice, however, that I have taken you up on your constant taunt: 'challenge me on ANYTHING - PLEASE DO IT! - and see if I am not the VERY PERSONIFICATION of TRUTH' and you skulk away, tail between your legs, with a 'oh, sorry, I was talking about someone else.' 

Too scared to walk the sewers, are you? My great grandpa would have eaten you for lunch!

We have stumbled upon another way in which one might thwart the nefarious JWI. Just when he is about to shanghai the very stars from their orbits, respond to one of JTR's taunts - he offers up dozens each day - and bicker it out with him for several pages. Poor JWI will put his head in his hands and cry, despairing that he will ever complete his points. Or perhaps he will be grateful for the camouflage provided, since it is not his aim to shine in the first place.

Plus, it makes for fine comic relief.

17 hours ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

For about 5 years I used to design sewers, and sewage treatment plants .. and have walked in flowing sewers with turds and waste of all kinds floating past my feet.  I have broken up obstructions, and repaired walls and ceilings where roots and breaks occurred.

Alright, big man! You are treading upon sacred territory. "Shit Happens" was your daily text? For five years? ONLY for five years? What a newbie!

My great grandfather was city engineer of Rochester for 3 decades. It is he who authored a fascinating tome about sewage conditions in the city. It is he who designed the city's water supply from faraway Hemlock Lake, laying infrastructure still in use today, 100 years later, though valves have been replaced.

It is he who wrote another page turner that sits proudly upon our family hearth: 'Flood Conditions of the Genesee River,' looked to as writings of Moses by those who would later design the Mt. Morris dam 50 miles upstream and finally put an end to floods that periodically ravaged the city.

It is he who, after he retired, continued to report and consult at  his City Hall office until he was 102.

'Yea, though I walk through the Valley of Turds' my rear end! For 5 years? Try 30.

And he didn't wear no Rolex watch, either.

31 minutes ago, Anna said:

Just think, when we are all (hopefully) sitting at dinner in the new world, and someone mentions 1914, or 1975, or the overlapping generation

For whatever it is worth, when I think of it, which is not often, I imagine I will die in this system. Of course, I am 'up there,' but not absurdly up there. And when world conditions seem too outrageous, I imagine the end could come sooner. But for the most part, I don't think of it, instead preferring verses that assure us that Jehovah will pull us through perilous time.

I don't spin my lack of interest in dates into a virtue. Perhaps it indicates dullness. But it strikes me as reading a bus schedule that some try to worry out every detail. When the bus comes, it comes. If I have been behaving, I should be okay.

38 minutes ago, Anna said:

I mean JTR, flattering speech?

He's not tripping ME up with his flattering speech, let me tell you that.

7 hours ago, bruceq said:

by answering people with pages and pages of junk that most just don't have the time to read anyway.

Since that is the case, it probably is less of an issue than you suppose. He makes the same point himself in his ever-so-lengthy rebuttal - so lengthy that I nodded off before I got to it.

Does JWI need an apologist? He has not asked for one. Nevertheless, perhaps I am like him in a few regards. Perhaps I am more like him than he himself is.

1.) I am a good writer, if one is not fussy.

2.) I can explain Jehovah's Witnesses inside and out - at least the portions of it that interest me. Not all do, such as things that happened in Russell's time. Who cares? These days complete villains makeover their image in decades

3.) I am not good at anything else.

Therefore, if I choose to offer my 'gift,'  it is going to be writing about the faith I know so well. I can and do write about other things, but the dialogue ultimately comes around to the same thing: 'it's all screwed up because we 'need the kingdom.''

Now, if my gift is anything other than writing, I can offer it to my heart's content, and receive nothing but praise for it. But if I write about the thing that most interests me, I am subject to misinterpretation by some on my own team who think that is wrong. Of course, i could write about how we know there is no hell-fire or trinity, but that gets old and you find yourself talking to the most stubborn people on the planet. So I write about topics of the day. Alas, we have some people who misinterpret mere knowledge of political things as 'taking a side.'

Perhaps JWI has felt some of that frustration. If he has not, I have.

I have not read Franz' book, the same as I have not read ARC report material gift-wrapped for me by those who hate us. I am not opposed to reading the report itself, and I no doubt will, as such material is included in the new book. As to Franz' book, there hardly seems a point to my reading it, since everyone else sums it up for me. However, it's hard for me to find fault with him for writing it - whatever he goes on to say is another thing. He leaves Bethel as he is getting on in years. it is a 'vow of poverty' place; he does not leave with a 401K. What is he to do? Work at Mickey D's?

5 hours ago, bruceq said:

You have also quoted and shown cartoons from apostate websites as Truetom  pointed out some time ago to me

Actually, those sites are all jealous of him, for his collection far surpasses their own for numbers and quality. The secret is to water and fertilize them each day. Don't hold back on the cow manure.

I actually do not recall pointing it out. If I did, then it is 'silly me,' for it is a little like pointing out that bears live in the woods.

24 minutes ago, bruceq said:

Roving about is fine if it is ones foray

I have also come to regard him, I hope not incorrectly, as a provider of accurate information, within the limits of human perception. When he writes about 'out there' topics, he does not do what apostates do: throw as much dirt out there as they can, uncritically, hoping that as much of it as possible will stick.

His sympathies lie with the home team. He does not want to send them back to the showers.

4 minutes ago, bruceq said:

the owners of this blog, if they are even Witnesses.

I think admin has made it pretty clear that he is not. He has mentioned before how he is unconcerned with our 'corporate agenda.'

@The Librarian, the old hen, is. (I think) She has sat behind me at our Hall from the day before anybody else was born, rapping me whenever I slouch, scolding everyone for the slightest misbehaviour. Brothers have thrown away their prepared funeral talk remarks about her, despairing that she will ever require that service.

Eventually, she will, and "Ding Dong, the witch is dead." will probably suffice.

29 minutes ago, bruceq said:

  insider and some others on this blog...

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.

36 minutes ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

.... except the fight for Truth, and Justice.

Don't forget 'and The American Way.'

2 minutes ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

I rest my case.

Many things should be given a rest

34 minutes ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

I suspect that once AGAIN .... you have been duped by FAKE NEWS !

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.

7 minutes ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

If you don't, you have with your own fingertips on the keyboard ... condemned yourself as a petulant slanderer.

 

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:

9 minutes ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

PLEASE, for a change .. CHALLENGE what I say about ANY subject

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

13 hours ago, Anna said:

Most things JTR says has to be taken with a pinch of salt, and definitely not personally. And this is how those who reacted probably took it too, just JTR black humour. 

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.'

23 hours ago, TrueTomHarley said:

“Thank you, dear. It was almost as fun as my gig last week, lying on my side naked staring at a brick.”

Elders later counseled him over this. 'Pay attention to your dress and grooming!' they said.

5 hours ago, Anna said:

I haven't found anything in our publications regarding that yet.

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.

5 hours ago, Anna said:

I cannot ever imagine ANY of your comments lasting 30 seconds or less

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?

9 hours ago, Anna said:

my thoughts are that the GB is reminding us that they make mistakes, and that ultimately, when it comes to the crunch, if something doesn’t seem right, then the scriptures take precedent

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.