TrueTomHarley

Yes. But I have no experience working with audio files. Nor do I have any studio. Some workarounds present themselves. But realistically, it will be a while and may not happen at all. I do have a voice though. I have consistently been told throughout my life that I ought to be on radio. (And no, it is not because I show my face on TV)
 

I will rename the latter DIScomfortmypeople. How’s THAT for “exposing apostasy?”

I once wrote of Tom Pearlsnswine that I visited one day and mentioned Trump had tied his shoe. “We must be no part of the world!!” he told me.
Next day I told him that Hillary had worn a nice bright pantsuit. “We must keep our eyes on Jerusalem above!!” he rebuked me.
Next day I stopped by as he was watching the Olympics. “Look at that metal count, Tommy!” he yelled. “We’re cleaning up!”

Noted, and probably deserved. It is good for me to be rebuked on this from time to time, for I might be far worse without it. On the other hand:
Actually, arguing doesn’t play a role in “scriptural arguments.” You know the verses as well as I: debates about words, leave blind guides be, answering a fool, even spreading pearls before swine. At least if I spread stuff before “swine,” it is not pearls.
I can think of a way of solving that problem.
In addition to blasting away at everyone as “apostate,” your weird mistake is in thinking you can convert this forum into a Kingdom Hall. You can’t. The internet is inherently a lawless place, where nobody’s identity is known for sure, where it is so easy to hide who and what you are, where rocks lurk to rip the bottom from your love feast boat, where there is no spiritual food, where there is no stabilizing presence of elders, and where any claim of anyone who says he is an elder is unverifiable. Do you think that which is crooked can be made straight?
Or perhaps you somehow think you have a “sacred calling” to argue, but in that case you are in direct contradiction with the Bible and the earthly organization.
On my blog profile, I do nor say that I am. Nor do I have what many seem to feel is the obligatory link to jw.org. That’s deliberate. Everyone has some idiosyncrasies (Lord knows you have some! to the point where your identity itself is questionable) and if you link to the Witness website you convey the impression that you got it from them. I’d rather not tarnish them that way. 
Of course, one can read my posts and readily conclude I am a Witness, which I am, but I don’t outright say so on the front page. I admit I veer into the crass at times. There is one stereotype I like to counter, and that is that JWs eat Bible sandwiches—that is, apart from the Bible, they have no interests at all, from which some interpret that they are nothing but self-righteousness on steroids. I like to counter that with an image of someone more true to what I think Witnesses really are, who lives in the world, and as such reacts to it, but attempts imperfectly to be no part of it—in short, a regular joe that other regular joes might relate to.
Of course, there are some Witnesses who do eat Bible sandwiches. To these, some of what I write is a turnoff. And as stated, to those who heed the WT’s advice as to hanging out where there is riffraff, anything written here is questionable.

Here is a brother who got his start in the Bethel art department:
https://www.facebook.com/100003863247474/posts/2000662983405790/
 

In 1973, when I quit high school, I was still 15, almost 16, and my art teacher had a terrible time with it. The principal came over to the house once, but my art teacher made several "shepherding" calls to our house during that summer, encouraging me to come back after the summer break. He tried to bribe me with paints, canvases, pens, charcoal, brushes, etc. I took some of these to Bethel in 1976 and still run across leftovers in the house now and then.
But, in 1973, I had already switched from auxiliary to regular pioneering and decided that this was an example of Jehovah providing a work opportunity. So I painted landscapes and sold them for between $10 and $25 depending on size. I became "rich" to the tune of about $50 a month for a few months. Even if I had been any good at portraits --I definitely wasn't-- I probably could have barely doubled that, since more people will pay to have a likeness done. So I had to change my strategy quickly to join my brother's cleaning business. This put me in a "club" of regular pioneers, where I knew members across the entire state.
There was even a lot of buying and selling of cleaning accounts. And real mergers and acquisitions.
Yes. I read about him here: https://www.tomsheepandgoats.com/friends/
After Bethel, I still didn't feel ready for the great big world. Art was not an easy thing in NYC so I didn't even try. And I didn't get the bindery or printing  or construction experience that most Bethelites got. I had my letters of recommendation from Dan Sydlik and Bert Schroeder that were supposed to be useful for general employment. But if you have ever seen examples of these letters, they were only about exemplary conduct and honesty, and this was supposed to impress a prospective employer, but without any specifics or skills mentioned. I tried to use one of them with my resume which necessarily included my years of Bethel experience, but I had the impression that these letters actually detracted.
My brother would leave Bethel later and start a micro-controller business which followed directly upon his Bethel assignments, and he had help from our Dad who had been doing electronics work since the 1940's. I hoped not to just fall into the older brother employment network again, so I ended up getting married and going off to college myself part-time.
Reminds me that ex-JWs have sometimes unfairly made fun of an old Circuit Overseer refrain that a few years of reading the Awake! magazine can be the equivalent of a 4-year college degree. But I also found that the university had a program called "Adult Collegiate Education" which allowed night classes and also allowed one to work with professors of various departments to try to test out of a bunch of credits to meet the 128-132 credit requirement for the B.A./B.S. degree. It wasn't from the "Awake!" of course, but due to some research projects I managed Middle-East history credits (8), first semester Classical Greek (3), first semester Modern Greek (4), and since I had been attending a French congregation on the side, even got 3 French credits. I had a large art portfolio worth, sadly, only 4 credits. I also tried with limited success at some other subjects: religion, philosophy, Bible as literature, music theory, psychology, but only squeaked out about 6 more credits altogether. But it shaved a full year off my 4-year Computer Science degree so that I could mostly focus on math, computer programming, and 7 semesters of Hebrew.
I have discovered, as many others have, that you are paid better for less tangible work. The person who works hard at menial jobs is paid for some measure of productivity and, nearly always, very little. But the higher paying jobs are often much less taxing to the mind and soul. Sometimes, if your productivity cannot be measured, the sky is the limit.

Well, I would get more of it if you would post the link and not just the cover! For crying out load, you should always do that! What is wrong with you?
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/917311
Don’t forget to point out that it can be had on Amazon, too. And that it will be in print, eventually, as the book on Russia will be first (to accompany its free digital version) And also that it is high time for TTvtA Round 2, though that will have to wait a while
Got it? If you are going to do an ad campaign for me, kindly do it right! Or I will pull the contract and let it out to someone more competent!
incidentally, even the metadata of this book has more about “combatting apostates” then all of you thousands of vicious barbs put together:
”Fire leveled Rome in 64 CE. Suspicion fell upon Nero. He shifted blame to the new religion of Christianity, it’s members “hated for their enormities,” says Tacitus. They were hunted and killed in heinous ways, History is not now repeating itself—but under the guise of a modern "anti-cult" movement that extends the age-old derogatory C-word to new targets, it is beginning to rhyme a little....”
 

Sorry, you’ve got me going on this new topic. Forget about yours.
For many years I worked in what would now be called the gig economy (but wasn’t then). If it is a “fault,” it is my fault and cannot be laid at the feet of the organization. Relatively recently I heard an update of this sister I vaguely know who decades ago said (regarding fellowshopping), “I thought of Tom, but he was too immature.” Let me tell you that my estimation of her rose, for I had been a young elder at that time, and not everyone was so astute. Someone else described me as being “so spiritually minded that I was no earthly good.”
As to the “gig economy,” another sister said (not specifically about me) that often really creative and/or intelligent people deliberately choose menial work so as not to hand over their mind and soul to “the man.” I can apply this to myself with some truth, but it also smacks somewhat of putting lipstick on a pig. For the longest time I would say, “If I am good at it, it does not pay, and if it pays I am not good at it.” Thus I took a lot of “gigs,” most of which I enjoyed or made the best of, but they kept me “grounded.” I was not like another friend, a brother with the “Midas touch,” who said, “If it were not for the truth, I could be filthy rich. As it is, I am just a little dirty rich.”
Much less was I like “Davey the kid,” who bypassed a college scholarship to pioneer, who loved his time in Bethel but confessed he always felt a little cheated there by not being able to make his own way. Upon leaving Bethel, he walked into the 8-story Medical Arts Building to secure the cleaning contract. The building manager pointed out this and that requirement and challenge, noting, “I don’t know much about cleaning.” “That makes two of us!” Davey said to himself as he signed the contract, “how hard can it be?”  “It’s my gift,” he told me later, “they never say no.” He used his gift to good effect, building two Kingdom Halls and one Assembly Hall, more or less taking charge of the latter, and absolutely the former—this was before the days of the Regional committees which was before the days of the LDCs. Being daily at the Assembly Hall, he would receive phone calls. “Sorry, I have to put out a cleaning fire,” he would tell the other brothers, and spend some moments sweet-talking some businesspeople on the phone. Finally he tired of it, took a few college courses, combined it with college credit for “life experiences,” and emerged a psychotherapist. “Poor Davey,” I would joke later. “He always thought half of us were nuts. Now that he is in the field he finds that even those he thought were sane, they’re nuts, too.” He didn’t regard all of his preparatory coursework as nonsense, which he may have assumed would be the case going in. “Some of this stuff I’m not doing myself,” he said, as he applied his new training to good effect. But I digress.
I was lost while I was in college, not really knowing why I was there, having merely taken the path of least resistance, not sure where it was leading me, if anywhere, and not sure if I wanted to go wherever it was leading, with a ton of questions, issues, misgivings, and considerable immaturity, that was unaddressed there. I wanted simplicity, yet felt pressured (as though “manipulated”) to “succeed.” Running across Jehovah’s people was a liberation for me. It addressed questions that I didn’t know I had. It pointed towards a way of life where happiness and contentment lay. In short, it offered a way to leave the “rat race” with impunity. It put together the puzzle pieces. I still say that “once you have assembled the puzzle and have reproduced the box top picture, you are pretty much immune to the person who says you put it together wrong. You are especially immune if that person’s own puzzle lies unassembled in the box on his closet shelf.”
Yearning for that simplicity, once when I drove home for break from university and I carried a passenger who lived nearby, I mentioned as we approached the Thruway toll station that such a job would suit me just fine. The girl laughed hysterically, certain I was pulling her leg. I wasn’t. She was the daughter of some local politician, lived in a very upscale community—mine was no slouch, but it did not approach hers, and I sometimes wonder what became of her.
Decades later, when i just needed pocket money, I quizzed one of those Thruway toll-takers. They were then hiring part-timers. I knew the person hiring, and no doubt could have easily gotten the job had I pursued it. The toll-taker assured me it was peaceful gig and unstressful. “What do you do for bathroom breaks?” I asked him. He assured me THAT was a problem—all the more so for a guy as they reach senior years/
All the toll-takers are gone now. Long after everyone else abandoned them to go the digital scanning route, New York finally followed suit. I noted once how you can drive from Florida and soon after crossing any state line you would encounter a “Welcoming Center.” This happened until you crossed the state line into New York, where you would encounter, “Stop! Pay toll!” In recent years, I got into the habit of saying, “Worth every penny!” after paying this or that toll-taker, just to play and see their reaction.  One of them said, savoring his drawn-out words, “It is not!”

Noted, and probably deserved. It is good for me to be rebuked on this from time to time, for I might be far worse without it. On the other hand:
Actually, arguing doesn’t play a role in “scriptural arguments.” You know the verses as well as I: debates about words, leave blind guides be, answering a fool, even spreading pearls before swine. At least if I spread stuff before “swine,” it is not pearls.
I can think of a way of solving that problem.
In addition to blasting away at everyone as “apostate,” your weird mistake is in thinking you can convert this forum into a Kingdom Hall. You can’t. The internet is inherently a lawless place, where nobody’s identity is known for sure, where it is so easy to hide who and what you are, where rocks lurk to rip the bottom from your love feast boat, where there is no spiritual food, where there is no stabilizing presence of elders, and where any claim of anyone who says he is an elder is unverifiable. Do you think that which is crooked can be made straight?
Or perhaps you somehow think you have a “sacred calling” to argue, but in that case you are in direct contradiction with the Bible and the earthly organization.
On my blog profile, I do nor say that I am. Nor do I have what many seem to feel is the obligatory link to jw.org. That’s deliberate. Everyone has some idiosyncrasies (Lord knows you have some! to the point where your identity itself is questionable) and if you link to the Witness website you convey the impression that you got it from them. I’d rather not tarnish them that way. 
Of course, one can read my posts and readily conclude I am a Witness, which I am, but I don’t outright say so on the front page. I admit I veer into the crass at times. There is one stereotype I like to counter, and that is that JWs eat Bible sandwiches—that is, apart from the Bible, they have no interests at all, from which some interpret that they are nothing but self-righteousness on steroids. I like to counter that with an image of someone more true to what I think Witnesses really are, who lives in the world, and as such reacts to it, but attempts imperfectly to be no part of it—in short, a regular joe that other regular joes might relate to.
Of course, there are some Witnesses who do eat Bible sandwiches. To these, some of what I write is a turnoff. And as stated, to those who heed the WT’s advice as to hanging out where there is riffraff, anything written here is questionable.

I like it. It addresses spiritual needs and provides a fine support for service to God. Plus I learn how to respectfully deal with people.
Come come, your cover is blown. You’re not a Witness at all, most likely. Have you ever witnessed here? Have you ever built anyone up here? Have you ever comforted the discouraged here? Have you ever spoken gently to those who have doubts here? Have you ever shared any good word whatsoever? Have you ever done anything other than criticize others with a severity that would make Alan blush? At least he doesn’t pretend to be what he is not.
You have a encyclopedic knowledge of old WT publications, but Alan’s is no less. Do you do use it for any other purpose than to rebuke others and prove yourself right? Most Witnesses tend to get rusty with the old publications. This is because they stretch forward to what is ahead., and put deemphasize that which they leave behind.
You don’t “expose” any “apostasy” here. Rather you lend the impression that JWs are the nastiest, pettiest, most narrow-minded people in the world. I think that is your purpose, as you pretend to be one of them.
”Once you laugh at something, you never quite look at it in the same way again,” it was said of Voltaire. I recommend nothing but laughter as regards you. You overstayed your “welcome” long ago—as near as I can tell never had one—and you prove it with each successive comment.

That’s just it. I don’t want to be a poor one. I want to be a rich one. It hasn’t happened yet. I may have to put a price tag on the Russian one.

That’s just it. I don’t want to be a poor one. I want to be a rich one. It hasn’t happened yet. I may have to put a price tag on the Russian one.

Noted, and probably deserved. It is good for me to be rebuked on this from time to time, for I might be far worse without it. On the other hand:
Actually, arguing doesn’t play a role in “scriptural arguments.” You know the verses as well as I: debates about words, leave blind guides be, answering a fool, even spreading pearls before swine. At least if I spread stuff before “swine,” it is not pearls.
I can think of a way of solving that problem.
In addition to blasting away at everyone as “apostate,” your weird mistake is in thinking you can convert this forum into a Kingdom Hall. You can’t. The internet is inherently a lawless place, where nobody’s identity is known for sure, where it is so easy to hide who and what you are, where rocks lurk to rip the bottom from your love feast boat, where there is no spiritual food, where there is no stabilizing presence of elders, and where any claim of anyone who says he is an elder is unverifiable. Do you think that which is crooked can be made straight?
Or perhaps you somehow think you have a “sacred calling” to argue, but in that case you are in direct contradiction with the Bible and the earthly organization.
On my blog profile, I do nor say that I am. Nor do I have what many seem to feel is the obligatory link to jw.org. That’s deliberate. Everyone has some idiosyncrasies (Lord knows you have some! to the point where your identity itself is questionable) and if you link to the Witness website you convey the impression that you got it from them. I’d rather not tarnish them that way. 
Of course, one can read my posts and readily conclude I am a Witness, which I am, but I don’t outright say so on the front page. I admit I veer into the crass at times. There is one stereotype I like to counter, and that is that JWs eat Bible sandwiches—that is, apart from the Bible, they have no interests at all, from which some interpret that they are nothing but self-righteousness on steroids. I like to counter that with an image of someone more true to what I think Witnesses really are, who lives in the world, and as such reacts to it, but attempts imperfectly to be no part of it—in short, a regular joe that other regular joes might relate to.
Of course, there are some Witnesses who do eat Bible sandwiches. To these, some of what I write is a turnoff. And as stated, to those who heed the WT’s advice as to hanging out where there is riffraff, anything written here is questionable.

Beating up on a sweet, cane-toting old lady of failing eyesight! What is wrong with him?
He should be holding out his arm to help the old lady across the street, not shoving her into the path of a semi, much less driving it.

Noted, and probably deserved. It is good for me to be rebuked on this from time to time, for I might be far worse without it. On the other hand:
Actually, arguing doesn’t play a role in “scriptural arguments.” You know the verses as well as I: debates about words, leave blind guides be, answering a fool, even spreading pearls before swine. At least if I spread stuff before “swine,” it is not pearls.
I can think of a way of solving that problem.
In addition to blasting away at everyone as “apostate,” your weird mistake is in thinking you can convert this forum into a Kingdom Hall. You can’t. The internet is inherently a lawless place, where nobody’s identity is known for sure, where it is so easy to hide who and what you are, where rocks lurk to rip the bottom from your love feast boat, where there is no spiritual food, where there is no stabilizing presence of elders, and where any claim of anyone who says he is an elder is unverifiable. Do you think that which is crooked can be made straight?
Or perhaps you somehow think you have a “sacred calling” to argue, but in that case you are in direct contradiction with the Bible and the earthly organization.
On my blog profile, I do nor say that I am. Nor do I have what many seem to feel is the obligatory link to jw.org. That’s deliberate. Everyone has some idiosyncrasies (Lord knows you have some! to the point where your identity itself is questionable) and if you link to the Witness website you convey the impression that you got it from them. I’d rather not tarnish them that way. 
Of course, one can read my posts and readily conclude I am a Witness, which I am, but I don’t outright say so on the front page. I admit I veer into the crass at times. There is one stereotype I like to counter, and that is that JWs eat Bible sandwiches—that is, apart from the Bible, they have no interests at all, from which some interpret that they are nothing but self-righteousness on steroids. I like to counter that with an image of someone more true to what I think Witnesses really are, who lives in the world, and as such reacts to it, but attempts imperfectly to be no part of it—in short, a regular joe that other regular joes might relate to.
Of course, there are some Witnesses who do eat Bible sandwiches. To these, some of what I write is a turnoff. And as stated, to those who heed the WT’s advice as to hanging out where there is riffraff, anything written here is questionable.

The reason there is an expression “skeletons in the closet” is that throughout history, people have succeeded in keeping them there. It is only in modern times that any sin of any degree is expected to be reported to others. 
Some ought be, no doubt. Others not so much. But the idea that the involved parties, even the victim him/herself, has NO SAY in the matter is uniquely of our time.

This is the case with many unsavory personalities. They have to be given the last word, because they WILL NOT yield. If you insist upon it yourself you will write until well past Armageddon (and possibly be distracted from it on that account)
The trick is, not to insist upon the last word, for you will not get it, but to make your own words cogent, reasonable, and persuasive. Write a little and rest from your labors while they flail away at points already addressed.
On the other hand, to the extent this really is an “apostate” site, as he contends—certainly there are some of those ne’er-do-wells here, who cares? Strictly speaking, no one ought to be hobnobbing with these characters anyhow. The fact that some are, self included (and among the ‘worst offenders’), indicates that they all have unique reasons, purposes, intentions, circumstances, etc. The more long-winded threads are, the more likely that anyone with any value on their time will stay away from it.
A great way to deal with “apostasy” is to encase it in so much nonsense, like T-cells encasing a virus, that it all but sinks from sight.

Yes. It’s a valid question. Though, of course, I have done the same (or parallel)
Speaking of “anti-cultism,” I quoted someone saying, “Oh, sorry for not having a PhD in whatever b******t you have your PhD in.” Everyone knows what the word is. 
Language changes. I have always avoided that acronym but, as above, have said things just as bad. 
I even had some fun with it in Tom Irregardless and Me. Some heavy-metal group, I forget which, had just released a critically acclaimed song, with lyrics raging at the current state of the world:
”We are so f**ked, s**t out of luck!” (asterisks the writer’s)
I recapped it as: Yes! Exactly! Now you’ve got it!
You are so f**ked! You are shit out of l**k!
But it doesn’t have to be that way! Clean up your act! Pick up those Bibles! “Shave off those beards! Apply yourselves and maybe a year or so you can do one of our original songs! Why—with your background, maybe you can do two!”
I’m still waiting. 

This is the case with many unsavory personalities. They have to be given the last word, because they WILL NOT yield. If you insist upon it yourself you will write until well past Armageddon (and possibly be distracted from it on that account)
The trick is, not to insist upon the last word, for you will not get it, but to make your own words cogent, reasonable, and persuasive. Write a little and rest from your labors while they flail away at points already addressed.
On the other hand, to the extent this really is an “apostate” site, as he contends—certainly there are some of those ne’er-do-wells here, who cares? Strictly speaking, no one ought to be hobnobbing with these characters anyhow. The fact that some are, self included (and among the ‘worst offenders’), indicates that they all have unique reasons, purposes, intentions, circumstances, etc. The more long-winded threads are, the more likely that anyone with any value on their time will stay away from it.
A great way to deal with “apostasy” is to encase it in so much nonsense, like T-cells encasing a virus, that it all but sinks from sight.

The reason there is an expression “skeletons in the closet” is that throughout history, people have succeeded in keeping them there. It is only in modern times that any sin of any degree is expected to be reported to others. 
Some ought be, no doubt. Others not so much. But the idea that the involved parties, even the victim him/herself, has NO SAY in the matter is uniquely of our time.

These sorts of differences in gospel account differences has been discussed by dozens and dozens of individuals... I don't use solely WT material in going through all these issues, however literally 5 seconds of searching provides the lazy one w/a banquest https://answersingenesis.org/jesus/resurrection/christs-resurrection-four-accounts-one-reality/
 

That odd passage at 2 Kings 22 in today’s Watchtower sidetracked me temporarily as I began to think of mischievous modifications and uses that I could put it to.
“So he said, ‘You will fool him, and what is more, you will be successful. Go out and do that.’”
CC had better start behaving—that’s all I can say.

When time travel is invented, historical revisionists will give a friendly wave to American forefather slaveholders as they race past them to bring the real arch-fiends, the Ancient Greek pedophiles, on whom Western society is based, back in leg-irons.

When time travel is invented, historical revisionists will give a friendly wave to American forefather slaveholders as they race past them to bring the real arch-fiends, the Ancient Greek pedophiles, on whom Western society is based, back in leg-irons.

I sincerely hope our boy has never sat in on judicial committees. On the other hand, if he has, that will make identification a snap.
Look for the congregation with 2000% turnover and the job is done.