TrueTomHarley

“Russia’s religious persecution focuses almost exclusively on Jehovah’s Witnesses,” said Denber. (See below article)
This is much stronger than I would have put it, but it is also from someone more in the know. Rachel Denbar is a spokesperson of Human Rights Watch. She spotlights human rights violations in Russia for all causes—not just religious, but also political, journalistic, persecution of gays, etc. When it comes to religion, there is only one worth mentioning, she reports.
I have said that all minority religion in Russia is harassed, but that JWs are in the vanguard; I said in Dear Mr. Putin - Jehovah’s Witnesses Write Russia that JWs are banned, but others are shaking in their boots that they will be next. Turns out I was wrong. They can rest easy. For all practical purposes, it is only Jehovah’s Witnesses. “You don’t see this kind of ban on other sorts of religious life,” Ms Denbar says.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/russia-sentences-66-y-o-jehovahs-witness-to-6-years-in-prison.html
“In the 2017 Supreme Court case, the actual verdict wasn’t about condemning beliefs, it was about liquidating legal entities. Whether or not someone is a believer, really has nothing to do with liquidating a legal entity,” he said. “They’re using that law as a weapon and misapplying it to attack Jehovah’s Witnesses religious beliefs.”
Of course! The notion of outlawing a religious organization but not the individuals of that religion is so duplicitous that ordinary people cannot get their heads around it and just carry on as though the people themselves were outlawed. It may have been planned that way. Or it may simply represent manipulation from devious ones, even a Devious One, who prefer to remain hidden.
The 66-year old just sentenced to prison, where he will rub shoulders with violent criminals and risk getting COVID-19, says: I have found myself being accused not of a crime, but of being a follower of the religious teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I have no enemies, and for my almost 67 years I have never been brought to administrative or criminal responsibility. I am against any form of violence, be it verbal, psychological or physical.” Everyone knows it is true, save for a few fringe anticultists who equate not hanging out with those who turn 180 degrees against you as “psychological violence.” Everyone else instantly realizes the truthfulness of his statement.
“The law targets those who are extremists or terrorists or dangerous. It’s a gross misapplication of the law.” Of course, again.
And what are the chances, in any kind of a sane world, that these are the persons who would be persecuted, when there are so many who in the blink of an eye will turn to violence, and a few that specialize in it? It makes no sense from a human point of view. Therefore, persons can be forgiven if they look for a superhuman point of view—and there they can find one.
“The Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing that he has a short period of time....[He] became enraged at the woman [mommy, according to Alan] and went off to wage war with the remaining ones of her offspring, who observe the commandments of God and have the work of bearing witness concerning Jesus.”
I think of a local brother with a certain dramatic flair decades ago taking a globe onstage for his public talk. He quoted Matthew 24:14: “This good news of the kingdom will be be declared in all the earth for a witness and then the end will come,” and as he did so, he put his finger down upon this or that small area of the globe in which the area king said, “This good news of the kingdom WILL NOT be be declared in my part of the earth.” The unspoken question carried an implied answer: “Who will prevail—the maker of the globe or the one who would defy God on this small section of it?”
Sometimes those who don’t like Witnesses will carry on about how they overstate their “persecution complex.” We see here from the Christianpost.com that, in reality, Witnesses understate it. 
 
 

Alas, it is too late for the mask. The poor guy already has Covid.

You are right! My son already chided me for building it without them. However, they're staying overnight as I write this. It was too cold today, and the snow too crispy/icy, although the older one made "snow angels." (She's 4.) But it should be warm enough tomorrow to make another one together. We have plenty more carrots for noses, but those buttons are avacados, and we only had three.

Alas, it is too late for the mask. The poor guy already has Covid.

Alas, it is too late for the mask. The poor guy already has Covid.

Ever since they reported Fred Flintstone’s lower facial discoloration as evidence of masking during a prehistoric pandemic my faith in them has been shaken.
 
 
 

Ever since they reported Fred Flintstone’s lower facial discoloration as evidence of masking during a prehistoric pandemic my faith in them has been shaken.
 
 
 

I like the acknowledgment that neachers may find it hard neaching the nen nimes nable.

IMG_6402.MP4

IMG_6402.MP4

If this is a reference to 607 (it is not JWI's fault if I do not do my homework), I think of the expression 'it is the victors that write history.' It is a political statement regarding world powers, but it applies to everything. Certainly, science is fraught with accounts of one view coming into vogue, and then crushing the opposition for as long as possible.
My understanding is that some scholarly type has written a defense of 607. That's all you need. Not one Witness teaching is the majority view today; should we insist this one must be? For all the hype about 'critical thinking' today, the pattern remains what it has always been; in fact, it intensifies: choose your belief (largely based on 'heart') then go find some 'experts' to back you up.
Will 1914 fall? If it does, it does. But I am far from burying it just yet. Nor do I feel I should encourage the GB to have the wisdom and courage to do whatever is right. If I drop dead tomorrow, they will do just fine.
 I have grown used to explaining that 'if the greatest war in history, the ONLY time until then that the entire world went to war at the same time (China & region excepted, as it was isolated at the time), AND if the greatest pestilence in history does not constitute fulfillment of Matt 24:7 and Luke 21:10, 11, what does? Vs 8 of Matt indicates it starts off with a bang, but continues for some time.
Will I have to change my tune on this?
On the vs 8 'you ain't seen nothin' yet' front, terrorist knife or vehicle attacks, unheard of not long ago, are now just 'one of those things.' The gay revolution took decades; whereas the transgendered revolution has taken mere months, and a 9 year old girl can be, on National Geographic, not just transgendered, but a transgendered activist. 'Fake news,' absolutely unheard of just 3 years ago, is now a staple of life, one more of many pitfalls to mess with us.
Perhaps 1914 will suffice to get us through to the end. Maybe that won't be so far off after all.

You almost think that she would use her talents to root out villainy and solve a few problems in her country instead.

These would be the only cases that correspond to the abuse cases of other groups—and they are a very tiny minority. If they were the rule, as is the case elsewhere, then yes—signing on to a redress plan might be appropriate.
But they overall make up a very small number. The vast majority of cases comes from a quarter that is not even tracked anywhere else—individual incidents that have nothing to do with leadership. 
It is why the ‘one size fits all’ model that fits most if not all other signees does not fit JW. 
You think it is the elders’ place to forbid any child to leave its parents side, then.

The key words here are “we think.”
The WT thinks differently and their thinking makes more sense. To my knowledge, every other party in this redress plan is structured so that children will be separated from their parents—it is not optional—it is standard operating procedure. That being the case, it stands to reason that they should be penalized if they so separate children and then fail to protect them.
With WT, there is no program that separates children from parents. Almost all abuse reported is cases among the ‘rank and file’—those from elders or servants are unusual. 
So—it is “within the ranks” in the case of Jehovah’s Witnesses. In these other organizations, there is not even a means to track abuse entirely among ordinary members—let alone the supposition that anyone other than the actual perpetrators ought be held responsible. So the WT should sign on to some plan that equates them to groups that systemically separate children from parents? I think not, and so apparently do they.
Next thing you know Hyundai will be penalized for any abuse that occurs among its customers. No. The WT being substantially different, it is better to handle all cases on an individual basis rather sign on to some plan that lumps everyone together as though they all operate the same.
And, goodness knows, these things are often a wedge to drive in further concessions. Even a formal apology that some seem to feel is so important, will no doubt have huge implications in the world of lawyers—who will seize upon it as though a guilty plea.
 
 

IMG_6342.mov

Yes. “While they were listening to these things, he told another illustration, because he was near Jerusalem and they thought that the Kingdom of God was going to appear instantly.” Luke 19:11
No. Unrepentant wrongdoers would be expelled, as happens today.
Yes. “As they traveled on through the cities, they would deliver to them for observance the decrees that had been decided on by the apostles and the elders who were in Jerusalem.” Acts 16:4

Yes. “While they were listening to these things, he told another illustration, because he was near Jerusalem and they thought that the Kingdom of God was going to appear instantly.” Luke 19:11
No. Unrepentant wrongdoers would be expelled, as happens today.
Yes. “As they traveled on through the cities, they would deliver to them for observance the decrees that had been decided on by the apostles and the elders who were in Jerusalem.” Acts 16:4

With reasonable certainty, I am. Or at least I have been up till now.

It is pretty much like that now. The Great Courses lecturer Luke Thomas Johnson observes how Christians “would not even perform the minimal political gesture of offering a pinch of incense to the gods.” To Christians it was religious. To everyone else, it was “political”—not a big deal. 
The polytheistic world back then had no problem in itself with Christians bringing in another god. There was always room at the table for another god—pull up a chair. The problem was that once He was seated at the table, he ordered all the other gods away. All of the other gods were willing to share their worshippers. If you worshipped Baal, he had no problem if you also worshipped Dagon, for example. And if some human came along like the Emperor who also wanted to be worshipped, it was not a problem with anyone but the Christians. Their God was the only one to spoil the party with his insistence upon exclusive devotion. That is the practical manifestation of “exclusive devotion” that only Christians fretted about.
For that reason, charges abounded that Christians split up families One member alone became a Christian and suddenly there appeared a host of seemingly inconsequential things that they would no longer do—it put a strain on families.
One cannot listen to these courses without the thought occurring that early Christians were persecuted for reasons exactly parallel to those of Jehovah’s Witnesses. 
 

Please don’t tell me you’ve escaped into a world in which there is no flippancy. Next you’ll be saying that peace, brotherhood, and mutual respect are the default conditions in the overall world.

“Is it still a God dishonoring sin to eat turkey on Thanksgiving day?”
From the turkey’s standpoint, yes.
 

Please don’t tell me you’ve escaped into a world in which there is no flippancy. Next you’ll be saying that peace, brotherhood, and mutual respect are the default conditions in the overall world.

Not only did I try. I did. Not only was it not “sick.” It was apropos. It’s called getting the overall picture and not just zeroing in on what you want to see.
You were saying it yourself not five posts ago. You can and they can’t? Hold out for the last of the last of the last of the last days if you like. You’re welcome to try.
And what of this diatribe of yours that the ‘true anointed’ is to manifest itself (out of nowhere) in but a few years max? Is that not you asserting we are in the last of the last?

“Is it still a God dishonoring sin to eat turkey on Thanksgiving day?”
From the turkey’s standpoint, yes.
 

“Is it still a God dishonoring sin to eat turkey on Thanksgiving day?”
From the turkey’s standpoint, yes.