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TrueTomHarley

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Posts posted by TrueTomHarley

  1. This is strong counsel we are speaking of from a source we all respect and accept as part of Jehovah’s teaching – we’re foolish to blow it off. But it is not rules. Detailed scenarios are described because we’re being helped to develop our conscience and use our thinking ability. Every Christian in this truly horrible situation must decide how they will conduct themselves. Surely, no two situations are exactly alike. If they are hard and fast rules, then you get into all the absurd situations, and more, that CMP describes.

    Every Christian must apply these sometimes contradictory thoughts as best they can. Keep it to yourself if you know what you do will get some people going. Don’t advertise. Make the onlookers few. Accept that it is possible to lose some privileges if your stand doesn’t square with what others think is right. If that happens, don’t bitch about it. Take that, too, as discipline. “Maybe I should do it differently,” say to yourself. But if the answer, upon prayerful thought, is no, then suck it up and carry on. Don’t go saying the elders are wrong. Just suck it up.

     

  2. In the non-Witness world, there are brilliant people, smarter than us. When their efforts can accumulate, they go to the moon. They do open heart surgery.

    But there are many inefficiencies. Every participant has accumulated tens of thousands of dollars of university debt (sometimes more) along the way. Even so, through circumstances or personal weaknesses, many have stumbled over the hurdles and are now working at MacDonalds to pay off their college debt.

    The successors from the university system pass their knowledge along, but only for a significant fee. They thus price their knowledge out of the reach of most humans. It is not their fault. They are often fine persons. It is the fault of the selfish model where they make their home.

    In contrast, one expert in Jehovah’s organization can do what fifty cannot in the outside world. Free from petty competitiveness and jealousy, they give their knowledge away. They are thus ‘bringing their gift to the altar.’ The GB generally has no specialized knowledge in anything, but they know where to find it when they need it and they coordinate it. They put the teachers in touch with those who will benefit from it.

    It is in this way that such astounding feats as the 880 languages are accomplished. The educated world has long assumed that only they are capable of doing anything smart. They are dismayed to find persons they look down upon have outstripped them at some things. Those who are noble strive to get their heads around it and examine how it happened. The ones not noble stand on their favorite paradigm and ridicule the accomplishment that they did not produce.

  3. 1 hour ago, JW Insider said:

    Ann bravely applies the Unified Field Theory.

    I didn't know you were serious. You know that this comes from the currently studied Watchtower which is also found here: https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/watchtower-simplified-december-2016/throw-all-your-anxiety-on-jehovah/

    So it is intended to remind you of the kinds of things that cause stress and anxiety. There is nothing in the article that specifically defines a meaning to each picture. This is probably on purpose, so that you can impose your own ideas on a couple of these. This way you can see them as depicting some of the stress and anxiety that you face. Images very similar to the man on the left forefront have been used in past Watchtowers to indicate financial problems, but it is somewhat similar to depictions of stress over family and marital problems, too. (and several other things) But the "rolled up sleeve" motif usually means that he realizes he now has to face an issue and deal with it. The man in the hospital bed is more obvious, although there could be a connection between these first two. Perhaps the older man's left-handed son knows his father is not covered by health insurance, or long-term care insurance.

    The woman-and-son "pieta" is similar to recent depictions of refugees from crime in war-torn and drug-lorded countries. Single motherhood, hunger, stress of dealing with children with special needs, and a dozen other things could be read into this, too.

    @TrueTom notes that "megaphone man" could be one of those loud opposers near a convention site. This could very well be the artist's intention because something similar was the idea behind a recent image (2012?) of a megaphone being used against street witnessing. But any kind of protest could also be depicted. The surroundings are urban and it's therefore easy to see it as part of a political or ideological protest of some kind.

    @Maron should realize that some here are JWs being serious. Some are JWs making jokes. Some are non-JWs heaping ridicule. This is not the congregation where you personally know people

  4. Dr. William Woo, Professor Exaltus at Bulldog U, recently wowed the academic world with an astounding breakthrough in the highly specialized field of linguistical translagistics. His findings are to be published in the April issue of Wonderful Scientist Magazine and he is very excited, for he will get to rub shoulders with persons almost as brilliant as he.

    For years experts have scratched their collective heads at reports that, in a bi-lingual household, children become expert in both languages and in a tri-lingual household, all three. This clearly makes no sense. Lingual inter-fluency is an extraordinary complex skill. Good tools are critically important ... but the MOST important tools are highly qualified, trained, experienced, intelligent, and creative highly motivated, extremely competent "Renaissance Babies" who have the analytical skills of Sherlock Holmes.

    Dr. Woo’s hypothesis was that bi-lingual families have been clandestinely sending their infants to Harvard for eight years. He tested this hypothesis by telling Harvard not to accept them for a while. Sure enough, when he went back to check on his test families, the children were grunting like cavemen. Even the adults had regressed.

    Dr. Woo has traveled an unconventional path in his rise to stellar brilliance. For many years, he belonged to an oppressive religious cult where he and three others were the only smart ones. All the rest were morons. Oh, there was a fellow named Fred from long ago. But there has been no one since. There are some there who would like to think with their heads, but the cult leaders make them read endless material produced at a grade level far below anything Dr. Woo would ever be caught dead with. His former friends all hang out at various headquarters around the globe, where they can’t even figure out how to procreate, for that, too, requires a high level of special expertise which cannot be had without years at the university.

    Finally, Dr. Woo could stand it no more at the cult and he left. But – strangely, he didn’t leave. He spends all his spare time – possibly all his time – stalking his former chums and digging up slander on what used to be his most cherished cause. He will comment on some of his ex-friends posts, and if they reply, he will not seriously address their answer. He will just continue with more bitching. He doesn’t necessarily realize that his former chums will read the first paragraph of his endless comment, in huge font and bold print, see that no serious reply has been attempted, and skip all the rest, since they know a blowhard when they see one. I mean, he kind of comes across as a loser. You would think that, having decided to move on in life, he would do just that, instead of harassing his old chums like a crazed ex-wife who just can’t let go.

  5. Put your things away when you are done with them! Someone could trip. My mother told me this countless times. Why didn’t @AAFO4ever’s mother tell him the same?

    He landed his plane on the runway. Well, okay. Then he put it on the taxiway. Well, I can’t fault him for that. But then he just LEFT IT THERE!

    Harrison Ford could have been killed! He tried to land on the taxiway and almost hit the plane that stupid @AAFO4ever hadn’t put away! Now do you see why putting your things away is so important, @AAFO4ever?

    Look, we must all act together to protect our celebrity national treasures, because when they are gone they are gone. “A scary moment for Harrison Ford, CBSThisMorning said. They didn’t mention you or your 130 passengers. Who cares about them? Passengers can be replaced, @AAFO4ever, as can you. Boeing can even build you another airplane, but if our celebrities die – well, I don’t know what to say.

    Every day I rail at people who should know better to put their things away!  I talk until I’m blue in the face! I don’t know what more I can do.

    ************************

    Tom Irregardless and Me         No Fake News but Plenty of Hogwash

    airport-1209575_1280.jpg

  6.  

    If all the highly specialized and wonderfully cooperative and phenomenally briliant people that you so admire and imagine you're one of succeeded in going to the moon, they should have stayed there. I notice you made no reference to the translation resources on JWBroadcasting that I pointed to that would have furthered any discussion. 

    Since you plainly loathe everything JW, why are you here?

    Tom

  7. “Make the place of your tent more spacious.

    Stretch out the tent cloths of your grand tabernacle.

    Do not hold back, lengthen your tent cords,

    And make your tent pins strong.”……Isaiah 54:2

     

    Jehovah’s Witnesses have proved in recent years that they can put up and take down Kingdom Halls almost as readily as non-Witnesses can put up or take down tents.  So that’s what they are doing.

    Back in the day, congregations expanded almost like independent churches. When members grew enough in this or that locality, they would build their own Kingdom Hall. But it wasn’t the most efficient way. Some Halls became overcrowded, some remained lightly used or even shrunk.

    Since Kingdom Halls all belong to the same God who uses the same organization, these days there is a reshuffling. Some Kingdom Halls are shut down, the members moved to a nearby Hall, so that others can be built where there is more of a need. Thereby dedicated funds are not squandered, but used efficiency.

    Sometimes that area of special need is here in the U.S. Other times it is overseas. Jehovah’s Witnesses have a worldwide organization and think nothing of transferring funds where there is the greatest need.

    An LDC brother and his wife, who oversee such things, make their home in our congregation. “Don’t cross him,” I tell everybody. “If you do, he will shut down your Kingdom Hall and make you go to another one.”

    I was worried about closing any Kingdom Halls. What if you need them later on.  ‘Then they’ll just build another one, like putting up a new tent,’ is the answer.

    image (2).png

  8. The thousands of highly specialized and talented people you keep referring to are all outside, where their combined efforts don't amount to squat because they don't know how to cooperate.

    Cooperation, love, humility, coupled with reasonable intelligence, will trump your qualities every time. Remember: the organization has 8,000,000 people to draw on. Just because they don't strut around and boast of their talent and highly specialized knowledge doesn't mean they don't exist. When the organization needs someone with truly stellar ability, they just reach into the ranks and get one. Or train one. Our people are generous with their knowledge. They don't hoard it.

    Peruse JWBroadcasting and you will learn of schools to circumvent the translation problems you speak of. You will find it if you search. Frankly, given the JW track record and accomplishments, outside translators should come to us for pointers, not the reverse.

     

    Where did they get the THOUSANDS of highly specialized and talented people to do all this?

  9.  

    There are quite a few of them out there – some shunned, some not. Some go online. They’re not necessarily wrong as they relate their experiences and viewpoints. Some have had run-ins with Tom Pearlsnswine, who never met a fly he didn’t counsel. Some caught the consumer mentality of religion and could “no more imagine a church disciplining them than they could a store that sells goods disciplining them. It is not the place of the seller to discipline the consumer.” Others lost their balance as standards of child-rearing veered more sharply than ever before. ‘If you kids don’t stop crying, I’ll give you something to cry about!’ my non-Witness Dad would holler, a phrase that was no idle threat – every child knew that phrase, as they did “I’ll kill you for that!” It was a commonplace ‘threat’ bestowed almost lovingly on a mischievous child – I can’t tell you how many times my mother said it to me - but the deed itself was rare. Today the deed is commonplace but you’ll have to explain your words before the judge. Lightning-like shifts in morals and mores caught youngsters and parents alike flatfooted. Besides – let’s face it – a lot of Jehovah’s Witnesses are nuts. Probably in no greater proportion than the world in general and certainly without the baggage of violence that can so easily attach itself to non-Witness nuts, but that doesn’t mean they’re not nuts. Sometimes your best option is to hit the reset button.

    From: 'Tom Irregardless and Me'

  10. We're all a bunch of screwballs but somehow Jehovah makes it all work.

    Or, as someone said, 'it's amazing what Jehovah does with what he's got to work with.

    But Melinda Mills is not a screwball because she could have taken offense when I chose a wrong word and did not.

  11. From Tom Irregardless and Me:

    “the official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses, is the most widely translated website on earth today. This should not be surprising. If you are serious about proclaiming ‘this good news of the kingdom in all the inhabited earth,’ (Matthew 24:14) then naturally, you will have such a site. I’m critical of those who don’t; when your car needs repair, do you take it to the shop that has equipped itself with every modern tool? Or do you go to the shop content to operate with hammer, vice grips, WD-40, and duct tape? The extent of jw.org’s translating is amazing - it includes more than 800 languages.”

    I’m dumbfounded when I see brothers unduly concerned over topics like ‘spirit directed’ or ‘Jehovah’s modern-day prophet.’  If they harp on it, I question their motive. The now-880 or so languages means nothing? How many does the next religious organization have – maybe 12? Isn’t it like comparing the modern auto shop with the one that relies on duct tape? Shouldn’t anyone serious about carrying out Christ’s commission to preach be so well-equipped? Aren’t they inept at best and frauds at worst if they have not equipped themselves in such a way?

    Why would anyone want to be a fly on the wall in the inner rooms of Bethel? Who cares? It’s their business and they apparently have a lot to show for the work they do. It is Western media that drives the destructive meme that there should be no confidential talk – that it’s our business to look over the shoulders of all in government – that persons should ‘take responsibility’ or be ‘held accountable’ every time they fart.

    I’ll focus on the 880 languages and the one organization that has so obviously succeeded in carrying out Christ’s words.

    *****************

    Tom Irregardless and Me     

  12. 8 hours ago, JW Insider said:

    I think the best thing to do is to go into same the costume shop to buy a less conspicuous fake beard, and then if he tries it again next week you can trade "barbs" with him. Last pun, I promise. Or perhaps he remembered that 'love covers a multitude of chins.' Oh wait, just one more, OK? Maybe he's making progress, and he no longer believes in "once shaved, always shaved."

    Seriously, though....

    You should take the time, of course, to understood his reasons. Perhaps something he saw or read triggered it. As I recall there were a lot of pictures of people discussing travel plans in that particular Watchtower Study, and travel experiences might be all he ever talks about all year. There is also a little picture of a man carrying a large stack of presents on page 22, and a reminder to have a sense of humor on page 23. Or perhaps he was trying to hide his Santa-sized stomach from his line of sight to avoid "setting the mind on the flesh" (see paragraph 10, for example, in the "middle" of Sunday's study, p.16). Or perhaps he misunderstood the opening of paragraph 13 when it said it was possible for a Christian to change, and he decided to change right there at his seat. 

    I have to say that it is difficult to believe that a doppelganger for Friedrich Engels could actually engage himself as the catalyst for such a capitalistic enterprise.

     

     

    8 hours ago, JW Insider said:

    I think the best thing to do is to go into same the costume shop to buy a less conspicuous fake beard, and then if he tries it again next week you can trade "barbs" with him. Last pun, I promise. Or perhaps he remembered that 'love covers a multitude of chins.' Oh wait, just one more, OK? Maybe he's making progress, and he no longer believes in "once shaved, always shaved."

    Seriously, though....

    You should take the time, of course, to understood his reasons. Perhaps something he saw or read triggered it. As I recall there were a lot of pictures of people discussing travel plans in that particular Watchtower Study, and travel experiences might be all he ever talks about all year. There is also a little picture of a man carrying a large stack of presents on page 22, and a reminder to have a sense of humor on page 23. Or perhaps he was trying to hide his Santa-sized stomach from his line of sight to avoid "setting the mind on the flesh" (see paragraph 10, for example, in the "middle" of Sunday's study, p.16). Or perhaps he misunderstood the opening of paragraph 13 when it said it was possible for a Christian to change, and he decided to change right there at his seat. 

    I have to say that it is difficult to believe that a doppelganger for Friedrich Engels could actually engage himself as the catalyst for such a capitalistic enterprise.

     

    Hmmm. 'Setting his mind on the flesh.' You could be on to something. He does have a lot of it.

  13. The E-book ‘No Fake News But Plenty of Hogwash’ is now out and ready for download.

    As with Tom Irregardless and Me, it is 30% Free Preview – then we’ll talk.

    In the same vein as Tom Irregardless and Me. As zany. As thought-provoking. More personal. Released at the halftime show of the 2017 Super Bowl by Lady Gaga while you were up getting pretzels. We worked on it for months – her people and mine. Top stories of 2016 with unique commentary on selected items.

    If ever there will be an auto-biography, this is it. Personal accounts are woven throughout a hilarious narrative of the top stories of 2016. The book is a forward followed by an expansion of certain items into chapters of their own. Longer anecdotes and more personal material. A few delicious rants but not a single harangue. (Alas, no pictures)

    Foreward – Adieu Adieu Fine Stories of 2016 – We’ll Never Forget You

    Chapter 31 – Santa Claus

    Chapter 1  -  Choosing

    Chapter 26 – Wegmans

    Chapter 9  -  Bill Belichick

    Chapter 14 – Celeste

    Chapter 25 – The Shooting Channel

    Chapter 3  -  The Surly Bear

    Chapter 7  -  Mark Twain

    Chapter 24 – Trolls

    Chapter 12 – Dirty Rotten Lowlifes

    Chapter 20 – Randy Newman

    Chapter 29 – Piltdown Man

    Chapter 30 – Denyers and Evolootionists

    Chapter 10 – Tom, You Know all These Answers

    Chapter 13 – Charlie

     

    www.smashwords.com    Search: Tom Harley

    or enter as URL: bit.ly/2kjaTjv

     

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