TrueTomHarley

34 minutes ago, Equivocation said:

I am also wondering what drove Putin to go ballistic at a critical time 🤔

“Putin’s spiritual destiny

The religious president wants to rebuild Christendom”

BY GILES FRASER

https://unherd.com/2022/02/putins-spiritual-destiny/

Fraser is a media-savvy priest—both a journalist and broadcaster.. He said some kind things about Witnesses a few years back, though he tempered it by saying their tracts were “cringeworthy.”

Doesn’t matter. I’ll take it with a thank you. After all, those tracts aren’t exactly designed for PhDs, are they? It was a good writeup:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2017/mar/09/in-russia-the-persecution-of-jehovahs-witnesses-begins-all-over-again

46 minutes ago, Srecko Sostar said:

I'm just wondering if they are listed by name at JW meetings?

No. 

54 minutes ago, Arauna said:

Apologies - I will not try to defend myself.  I obviously have offended you. Sorry. 

Did you at least read the above comments I made where I explained that these books are not worthy of studying in detail?

I am so sorry. Somehow my remarks did not translate. ‘Your remarks prove otherwise’ means that you are being modest, and that you obviously are intelligent.

The big dumb animals ramming each other with horns—does not include you. You are the refreshing contrast here. 

But now Dimitar is acting up in ways totally incomprehensible to me. Maybe I am not paying adequate attention here. But then, it’s not a particularly easy task.

1 minute ago, Dmitar said:

Good, now start showing some intelligence Jehovah's Witness. Blocked again!!

For crying out loud, what do you expect? It will be a miracle if you are not..

2 minutes ago, Arauna said:

I do not profess to be intelligent and will never do so.

Your remarks prove otherwise, but thank you. It is so tiresome to see ones loudly proclaiming their intellect. It reminds me of those nature shows in which the big dumb animals with horns ram each other to prove ‘who’s the man.’

15 hours ago, Dmitar said:

I believe the reader would be more interested in the reason behind the Nephilim existence and why God took action.

The only thing I know for sure on this topic is that when I relied on A.I. to transcribe a Bible talk, it rendered ‘Nephilim’ as ‘Netflix.’

4 hours ago, Equivocation said:

Not sure who @Dmitar is

There you go then.  

I almost dropped my teeth in my coffee when I saw that @Pudgyhad cited a Doonebury strip (which means he read it). Isn’t its cartoonist the same surname as that tough guy in Canada?

3 hours ago, Space Merchant said:

Just so you know, childish remarks does not work on me, people tried, Srecko, Butler, Witness, Cos, Shwi.

That last name is actually Shwiii with three ‘I’s. He hasn’t been around for a long time.  I used to call him Shwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

FIVE tags of JWI in the same post!!!

And the fellow wonders why he gets banned.

7 minutes ago, TrueTomHarley said:

I’m not so sure. That Accidental Terrorist—Confession of a Mormon Missionary has garnered some very high praise, more than any of my stuff has garnered. I am half-inclined to read it. 

He gets more dough for his books, too. I did download the above for Kindle. It fits in with a new WIP project I am working on, a travelogue of sorts in which two themes repeatedly come up: that of God and that of slavery. Mormons originated in my neck of the woods—a portion of the country once called the ‘Burnt Over Region’ for all of the religious firebrands running around. Brigham Young, the 2nd Mormon leader, is viewed as a generally respectable guy, assuming you can overlook the 27 wives. But he led the group out West and thus isn’t too much of a factor locally. Joseph Smith, his predecessor, remained in the area for many years before joining the trek out west. He is not remembered fondly by local sources of that day, which mostly describe him as a shiftless dreamer.

There is a regional historian, Arch Merrill, a newspaperman who began writing books in the 40s. He has over 50 on local history covering all periods—sometimes going back to pre-Revolutionary War days. I spied a collection of his books at a local antique shop and bought them in bulk. One of them has a chapter on the founding days of the Mormon church.

20 minutes ago, xero said:

he's a good writer...not as good as you of course... )

I’m not so sure. That Accidental Terrorist—Confession of a Mormon Missionary has garnered some very high praise, more than any of my stuff has garnered. I am half-inclined to read it. 

8 hours ago, xero said:

Because I know this is going south. It reminded me of this old clip. (now wrap your head around how ADD works)

 

Too funny. This may be in response to a series of ads Mormons began running about this time. The ads broke new ground in that they emphasized trendiness, totally lacking in anything spiritual. I had a lot of fun wroting up a few posts on them:

https://carriertom.typepad.com/sheep_and_goats/2010/08/the-new-cool-mormons.html

31 minutes ago, Srecko Sostar said:

This is about the documents (paper) not a "spiritual treasure" stored in the people's hearts and minds.

Well, by this ridiculous reasoning, the Bible itself is not a “spiritual treasure.” It is a “document (paper)”

Why seek one? Show yourself too spiritual to seek mere physical objects.

44 minutes ago, xero said:

It is, the NYTIMES, not some unknown publication

I would say regardless of how the dispute turns out, much value from the archives is already realized by today’s NYT coverage. How are these for quotes?

“Some 1,600 Jehovah’s Witnesses died as a result of Nazi persecution. About 4,200 were sent to concentration camps, where they were identified by a purple triangular badge attached to their camp uniforms.

“They were the only persecuted people who had the choice of ending imprisonment: If they signed a declaration renouncing their faith, they were liberated. Very few agreed to sign, Slupina said.”

Is it an example of what Geoff Jackson said—Jehovah not only doing things but doing them in style? I mean, it’s kind of a good witness, isn’t it? And here that nasty Matthew 4 5784 was trying to put such a slanderous spin on it—a spin that no one other than he (along with that phony prophetess of FB, the preeminent one of all christsdisciples, exercising her “important role from God”)  would ever be able to dream up.

9 hours ago, Space Merchant said:

Tom has his own remarks, he can be serious, mainly to what I stated on Russia a few years back, which turned out to be true, for what is taking place, the banning of JWs was a stepping stone in Russia's move. He may have made mistakes before, and has corrected himself, but never have I seen him profess conspiracy.

I appreciate the kind words. I have taken on Witness before but no longer do so because the task never ends. Upon being confronted, she just repackages the same stuff and runs it through again. 

As for her most recent CSA contribution, I think the words of Holly Folk (herself a victim of child abuse, and not a JW) give the overall picture:

https://www.tomsheepandgoats.com/2021/02/holly-folk-speaks-to-child-sexual-abuse-among-jehovahs-witnesses.html

3 minutes ago, Dmitar said:

Once again, I'll claim @TrueTomHarley words that everyone here is a liar.

1 hour ago, Witness said:

Pearl has a role, an important one given to her by God.

I too have a role, and it is an important one given me by God:

to update Paul’s words from Romans 3:4: “every man is a liar” to “every man online is a liar.”

6 minutes ago, Dmitar said:

@TrueTomHarley I think the word that applies is "especially" when it comes to some here.

It is a sea of icebergs

44 minutes ago, Witness said:

Pearl has a role, an important one given to her by God.

This says it all. 

At least the ones taking the lead among JWs are not a single person.

Nor can I imagine it being said of any individual among them, ‘Tony has an important role—one given to him by God.’

8 hours ago, Dmitar said:

I claim @TrueTomHarley words about everyone here being a liar in one form or another.

Even me when I point out that The Beach Boys hit  ‘Little Smurfer Girl’ of the 60s predicted it all.

“So they knew!”

4 hours ago, Witness said:

This is my website:  http://www.christsdisciple.com/

I am not a part of THIS, if that is what you are thinking:  http://www.christsdisciples.com/

Notice the difference in the link?

Yes. It indicates to me that, though are many of christsdisciples, you are THE disciple, a self-proclaimed shining star even among them.

1 hour ago, Srecko Sostar said:

Freedom of faith and religion is an achievement which existed in some ancient civilizations and is not a novelty of the 20th century

Yeah, we don’t live in those centuries, do we? We live in the century where authoritarian governments would severely restrict faith and religion. And were it not largely for the coordinated actions of Jehovah’s Witnesses, dominant mainline churches would have snuffed out diverse religious belief in America during the first half of the 20th century.. Dmitar makes a good point.

18 hours ago, Mic Drop said:

 

“Why do you people always have to believe that the world is getting worse? What is it about that view that does it you?” one critic threw my way.

“It helps me to explain why the Doomsday clock is set at 100 seconds to midnight and not 10:30 AM,” I replied.

1 hour ago, xero said:

"...you know much that is hidden oh Tom"

To be sure, I am a busy man.

16 minutes ago, xero said:

I prefer split vs spilt infinitives.

You wouldn’t if you came from one of those olden-day cultures in which the townspeople armed themselves at midnight and set off in search of doubleheaders to split.

If it wasn’t Frankenstein it was Bigfoot. And if it wasn’t Bigfoot, it was the Doubleheader.

You sure don’t know much about monsters. Even Captain Kirk encountered them, boldly going where no man had gone before. Like those vicious Tribbles. And Monty Python even encountered a Tripleheader.