TrueTomHarley

Relax. You’ve done nothing wrong (this time).
Are you kidding me? He has more aliases than I do.
Imagine my rotten l**k. Here I have almost succeeded in the reappearance of the three amigos—Witness, Ann, and JTR—the original three of the thread the Librarian assigned to me, ‘TrueTom vs the Apostates,’ which I resisted because i didn’t want the job, but when my resistance proved futile, I warmed to the task and went after them with such ferocity that the same Admin that put me on it took me off—and many months later it became inspiration for my fourth book, ‘TrueTom vs the Apostates!’
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/917311
Ann suddenly reappears and what happens? JTR disappears to do penance! JTR, who never was apostate in many ways but who so closely resembled one that I couldn’t tell the difference. He’s gone!—only days before the story breaks that may or may not fit so nicely into ‘TrueTom vs the Apostates—Round 2’ should such a book come about.
Ann O’Maly, who is herself my inspiration of Top Cat O’Malihan—an alias I trotted out to mess with than pretentious buffoon AlanH—Ann herself appears as JTR disappears. I tell you, it is not right.
Incidentally, the cat in Top Cat’s profile photo is dead. It was my cat but when I took my daughter’s dog in because she was moving away as a need-greater—well, the dog has a thing about chasing cats. So I took the cat to my Dad’s house, who was just coming down with dementia and in time I stayed with him for a few months. He figured that it was one of the barn cats that he grew up with and kept leaving it saucers of milk around the house, just as he had done in his boyhood with the other barn cats. “Great, Pop!” I would mutter. “Here I want to pour myself a bowl of cereal and I can’t because you have put all the milk out in a dozen bowls for the cat—who never touches it!”
The cat was old by the time I took it to my Dad’s. It was a great comfort for him and would sit on his lap. He was looking for it one day and I knew he would not find it. It had crawled under the basement workbench, a place that it had never been before, to die. There really is something to the expression, ‘Crawl under a rock and die.”

Of course. You have people here being purposefully obtuse.
I liked this point too. Just because someone is ‘haughty’ doesn’t mean he is wrong—it is just a weakness that does not bode well for hitting the nail on the head—but it is not a guarantee that one will miss it. 

Yeah, this guy is a pain, isn’t he, making us all do this extra work?
When I was traipsing around with a certain DO one afternoon, taking him with me on some I knew could stand visiting, we visited a certain nursing home. In the hallway, he invited an attendant to hear the public talk at the upcoming circuit assembly “that I am giving.” ‘Huh!’ I said to myself—it never ends, does it, that urge for recognition? 
I liked this brother a lot, and would not classify his as haughty, even with that faux pas. Unlike you, who once said that you could not recall a traveling overseer who was not a cooling refreshment for all whom he encountered, I can. But he was not one of them. Most of these brothers by far were sterling in faith and example, but not every single one of them. You put it just right—“they are humans like the rest of us with questions and concerns and even frailties.”

Not if they don’t read it.
But even if they do, I suspect that they will not come all unglued.
That is my preliminary impression. Is he really calling for a panel of Independent elders to review GB policy? You know how that will work out. If they do not reach his own conclusions, the reason will be that they were not independent enough. 
It is a very familiar scenario. It plays out in all situations of national and international politics. It plays out in multiple other areas of practical and/or philosophical disputes. It is good to follow some of these other interests because it enables one to so quickly see parallels. 
There is a firm movement under the guise of ‘anti-cultism’ to make religion a decided subset of the state—with all its policies to be reviewable by the state. How strongly Rulf plays into this I cannot say, but I’ll bet it leans that way. You have probably hit the nail on the head.
 

Apostasy (if this is an example of it—I don’t know that is, though it clearly is not an ‘attaboy”) usually occurs at the divine/human interface. You could even say that was true with Judas. He and God were tight! There were no problems there! But that “imposter” claiming to be the messiah was just not at all what Judas was expecting—and those “uneducated” followers that he was attracting—don’t even go there. My offhand impression, not having read the book (I did get my free copy—hee, hee, hee) is that he has acquired himself some ‘education’ and is disturbed that the Message is not better received among his new contemporaries, and he feels that it might be if his old contemporaries weren’t so ‘dumb.’ It is classism at work, imo.
The challenge here with Rulf appears to be the divine/human interface. Bear in mind that those who discuss it here DO NOT share the same concept of what that interface ought be. Some are atheistic, and essentially contend that there will be no such interface because the ‘divine’ does not exist for them. A few here have contended that they themselves are the divine/human interface, or at least part of it, and they are miffed about being ‘cut off’ from the rightful role. And others think that the divine/human interface should be that of Santa Claus giving gifts to children, each gift perfectly wrapped without ambiguity, with no need to do anything other than play with your new toys all Christmas Day.

Of course. You have people here being purposefully obtuse.
I liked this point too. Just because someone is ‘haughty’ doesn’t mean he is wrong—it is just a weakness that does not bode well for hitting the nail on the head—but it is not a guarantee that one will miss it. 

Yeah, this guy is a pain, isn’t he, making us all do this extra work?
When I was traipsing around with a certain DO one afternoon, taking him with me on some I knew could stand visiting, we visited a certain nursing home. In the hallway, he invited an attendant to hear the public talk at the upcoming circuit assembly “that I am giving.” ‘Huh!’ I said to myself—it never ends, does it, that urge for recognition? 
I liked this brother a lot, and would not classify his as haughty, even with that faux pas. Unlike you, who once said that you could not recall a traveling overseer who was not a cooling refreshment for all whom he encountered, I can. But he was not one of them. Most of these brothers by far were sterling in faith and example, but not every single one of them. You put it just right—“they are humans like the rest of us with questions and concerns and even frailties.”

Apostasy (if this is an example of it—I don’t know that is, though it clearly is not an ‘attaboy”) usually occurs at the divine/human interface. You could even say that was true with Judas. He and God were tight! There were no problems there! But that “imposter” claiming to be the messiah was just not at all what Judas was expecting—and those “uneducated” followers that he was attracting—don’t even go there. My offhand impression, not having read the book (I did get my free copy—hee, hee, hee) is that he has acquired himself some ‘education’ and is disturbed that the Message is not better received among his new contemporaries, and he feels that it might be if his old contemporaries weren’t so ‘dumb.’ It is classism at work, imo.
The challenge here with Rulf appears to be the divine/human interface. Bear in mind that those who discuss it here DO NOT share the same concept of what that interface ought be. Some are atheistic, and essentially contend that there will be no such interface because the ‘divine’ does not exist for them. A few here have contended that they themselves are the divine/human interface, or at least part of it, and they are miffed about being ‘cut off’ from the rightful role. And others think that the divine/human interface should be that of Santa Claus giving gifts to children, each gift perfectly wrapped without ambiguity, with no need to do anything other than play with your new toys all Christmas Day.

Says you. Look closely at the drawing in next week’s Watchtower on materialism—the drawing of the prideful brother thumbing his chest with one hand and motioning to his riches with the other—fine large home, boat almost at large, sports car, stacks of bills. Look closely at the face and tell me if you recognize him.
At the coffee shop a fellow customer began ribbing me about the nearby closed Kingdom Hall. “It’s because of our great growth!” I told him.

I have never seen anyone so willfully stupid in my life. If JW HQ so much as pays their light bill, he charges they trust in man for power, not God

I like to think that we (I) are all works in progress.  Some of us will need a large portion of that thousand years to attain perfection. 

Yeah, this guy is a pain, isn’t he, making us all do this extra work?
When I was traipsing around with a certain DO one afternoon, taking him with me on some I knew could stand visiting, we visited a certain nursing home. In the hallway, he invited an attendant to hear the public talk at the upcoming circuit assembly “that I am giving.” ‘Huh!’ I said to myself—it never ends, does it, that urge for recognition? 
I liked this brother a lot, and would not classify his as haughty, even with that faux pas. Unlike you, who once said that you could not recall a traveling overseer who was not a cooling refreshment for all whom he encountered, I can. But he was not one of them. Most of these brothers by far were sterling in faith and example, but not every single one of them. You put it just right—“they are humans like the rest of us with questions and concerns and even frailties.”

Of course. You have people here being purposefully obtuse.
I liked this point too. Just because someone is ‘haughty’ doesn’t mean he is wrong—it is just a weakness that does not bode well for hitting the nail on the head—but it is not a guarantee that one will miss it. 

Many creatures are changing sex, especially those who are sensitive to hormones. Our waters are all polluted, full of female and other hormones.  Plastics also immitate female hormones. I will not go into the subject of gender dysphoria in humans which it is causing.
Animals follow instinct or learn new behaviour by watching.  They do what comes naturally. As the crown if Jehovah's creation we are not supposed have sex anywhere, anyhow and with anyone.... it makes us into animals with no conscience and no  thought of a future - just immediate gratification with no self-control. 
These new corrupting teachings at schools and universities are corrupting minds so people do not have a hope to get the approval of God. Satan is turning them into fodder for destruction. Since he is the father of death - that is his ultimate goal- to destroy. And if he could use the state and its institutions to do it quicker and more thoroughly - so much the better.
Dr Feruli is living in the past...... in the days when university education still meant something and could bring edification to the mind.  He seems to be in a bubble as JWInsider  mused. 

This could be an important key, or clue, as to why Furuli has gone this far. If he has become a policy "wonk," perhaps with a serious health problem, and lives in an online bubble, then his world might not be as safe for him as in a congregation of persons who will help keep you "grounded." House-to-house work will do the same as TTH already pointed out. But it's possible Furuli has bcome someone who lives for his reputation, and that reputation is all online these days.
This is not the guess I would have made as to what triggered him to take it this far. But it might still be related. I would certainly like to have this cleared up myself if I were to begin trying to brainstorm ideas (or is it gossip?) about why he took the "book" step.
He has quite possibly had troubles in the past with HQ, and if COJ is to be believed, others have been "stumbled" out of the organization over his attitude and tactics. But he is a more complex person than I imagined. Gossip exists that he was to be removed as an elder about two decades ago, but that the local body of elders in his congregation somehow out-voted the Circuit Overseer sent to handle the matter. That comes from a 12-year-old post on a site that I rarely visit except by Google-directed accidents. What makes it seem real, however, is that even 12 years ago, he was already taking the same stand against the "GB" on a couple of issues:
# 1. Education. Furuli says: Do take education!
# 2. Governing Body. Furuli says: GB is not spirit directed.(GB don't claim to be, but a lot of JW believe they are.)
# 3. Service. (Society says, do take part in all kinds of service like door to door, street work and bla bla.) Furuli says: You don't have do do everything. Do the kind of service that makes you comfortable.
I don't know anything about who I was just quoting from that site. But to see that all this was documented 12 years ago says something about a longer struggle than I had imagined. I see the points numbered 1 and 2 even more deeply ingrained now, and point 3 hinted at, too.
I went into some depth on the attitude of Fred Franz in earlier posts because it's part of my theory. I think Furuli is stuck on the man, (as both a gentleman and a scholar) and the whole Franz era, with all its types and antitypes, and chronologies, etc. I'm sure you are seeing that in the book, too. I think Furuli actually sees himself as capable of stepping into Franz' shoes and even improving the types and antitypes from that idealized era.
Reading the book reminded me of the Annual Meeting talk by Brother Splane in October 2014. In that talk, Splane went on about a certain brother (A. Smith but not our A. Smth) who just loved the pyramidology theories. But when Rutherford dropped them as Satanic, Smith obediently dropped it too. But then Splane went on to talk about how wonderful and exciting the "types and antitypes" have appealed to certain ones, and how he hoped that these persons, too, will be able to gladly drop them. It made me think that Furuli had already been in correspondence about a couple of the old Franz-esque types and antitypes that had already been dismissed or greatly de-emphasized from "types" to "reminders" especially since 2010. Furuli would have had even more interest in giving feedback to the WTS over the 2013 release of the "Simplified" NWT, which he "trashes" in his book.

In this world nothing is perfect because humans tend to overstep boundaries - even Moses did so.
But if we are really prepared to give our life for another (spirit of christ), then reading our bible and sticking close to jehovah would be our main goal - and spreading the core teachings of the bible, such as the kingdom government. This saves lives. No other actions are worth a reward from jehovah more than these. To humbly serve others.
Literal rebellion against any other human (turn the other cheek ), or earthly institution would not come up in our mind......BUT: this would not in any way mean that we tolerate any form of ' yeast'. Our conscience will help us to quickly quelch any form of wickedness or even speak up against evil,  when needed,  in a kind and loving way. This is possible within our small sphere of influence..... 
If this was the prevailing attitude (which is closer to perfection) in the entire organization, from top to bottom, everything would run better. But people are always overstepping boundaries due to imperfection. They go overboard or extend their influence.
Because : if you read the quoted scriptures above (several people referred to scriptures) about humility, not being contentious, then a TRUE Christian with a genuine humble spirit will self-regulate. 
Granted, self-control regarding bad inclinations is the hardest part of being a Christian..... and to my thinking receives too little attention.  We will do NOTHING out of egotism which can hurt our brothers or sisters and not overstep the invisible boundaries but stay in JEhovahs love. (The governing body and Feruli included).
If everyone had this spirit not even elders would be necessary. But jehovah in his wisdom knew that we are dust and set a precedent in first century Jerusalem and also gave us elders and ministerial servants........ because we as humans need some form of  facilitation. 
A world- wide organization needs some form of coordination and fiscal management as well as policy management.  Neglect of management direction brought the tolerance of child molestation accusations.  
If they manage too much they are called dictators.... if they manage to little they are called incompetent and degenerate regarding  morals.... the pharisees and self-appointed judges of our time are everywhere! 
Is it just a form of public rebellion?  Or has he seen specific abuses of people by the GB? (Not mistakes, but abuses of trust which can be proved....)
HERE IS MY OPINION: 
In my secular working life I have seen CEOs of global corporations move from one corporation to another.  Many have good degrees and without a doubt  walk around like gods ......with everyone in fear of them, pandering to them to obtain a favourable eye..... following every instruction to the letter...... or lose their jobs.
When these CEOs have made many arbitrary decisions, which bring the company almost to ruin, they usually leave just in time so someone else can pick up the pieces. They do NOT navigate companies through hard financial times perfectly because their chrystal balls are usually defective.  (I worked for the 4th largest logistics company in the world in 2008).  Yet, these CEO's CVs read like a dream, they were CEOs of several companies, maybe a fortune 500 company, and are celebrated, get millions of dollars  in bonuses, get astounding salaries, chauffeurs, trips with business air seats etc....... despite all the wrong decisions and attitudes.
They are truly a mini-government, fat cats with perks that will make the Sun king blush.
In contrast, simple men take a world-wide responsibility and in the process get a lot of respect (not worship). They have small personal perks which can never ever be measured up against a secular company.
They cannot change jobs when they have messed up or made a mistake. THey are more accountable than CEOs because they have to fix up their own mistakes and face the music........and eager worldly criticism.... AND on top of that are accountable to Jehovah.
Most people expect NO mistakes (always highlight even small mistakes) and they are always accused (by opposers) of setting themselves up as gods. People judge them so easily....... even though they are navigating us through highly  critical financial times and even critical spiritual times.  Did Jesus not predict that many would leave the faith and turn against brothers? I am sure there is  more is to come..... when brazen opposers stand up in the congregation and betray brothers. 
I can only encourage brothers to not be 'swayed' by these winds that bring cross-winds and storms before the end... Steadily stay the course.... eyes humbly focussed on the promised  target  - everlasting life. 

Says you. Look closely at the drawing in next week’s Watchtower on materialism—the drawing of the prideful brother thumbing his chest with one hand and motioning to his riches with the other—fine large home, boat almost at large, sports car, stacks of bills. Look closely at the face and tell me if you recognize him.
At the coffee shop a fellow customer began ribbing me about the nearby closed Kingdom Hall. “It’s because of our great growth!” I told him.

Well—I mean, big deal. It’s true with anyone. Anyone can go anywhere at any time. It is not that profound of a statement that he makes.
He encourages me to keep venturing “out of the organizational box.” Why? Because he either thinks that by doing so “my eyes will be opened” or someone will lower the boom on me, because “we must walk in lockstep.”
These guys are nuts! They are squirrelly. Because the irresistible bug of being free from all restrictions! bit them, they are convinced it will bite anyone—and they hope with all their hearts that it does.
I know the meaning and value of relative freedoms. Anybody of common sense does. His wet dream may come true of me (or anyone else here) jumping ship, but at present it seems not too likely. I know where my home is, I know when to yield, and I know when to press forward. I have written of it before:
https://www.tomsheepandgoats.com/2020/01/a-bad-boy-turns-over-a-new-leaf.html

I have never seen anyone so willfully stupid in my life. If JW HQ so much as pays their light bill, he charges they trust in man for power, not God

There used to be a local speaker in much demand who truly had a gift for speaking. He would twirl the globe he had brought up to the platform, quote Matthew 24:14, “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth” and then put his finger down upon this or that spot representing some local king’s sovereignty: “This good news of the kingdom WILL NOT be preached in MY part of the inhabited earth,” with the air of—who do you think is going to prevail?
He was a great speaker, a good man. But I visited his congregation once when he was conducting the Watchtower. He explained all the questions, and so blatantly ‘over-explained’ everything that I wondered how anyone could stand it. ‘Just ask the questions’ is what you should do, and make your own comments very few. There was no bad motive—he had just become a little full of himself—building upon an obvious talent.
Most often it is something more innocuous. There was another conductor who had some mannerisms—I hate mannerisms!—in fact, that’s where ‘Tom Irregardless’ comes from, he says it so much that I named him that—who would throw in after almost every one of his expressions, words to the effect of ‘That’s helpful, isn’t it?’ Once he announced the dates for the upcoming circuit assembly, and added, ‘that’s helpful, isn’t it?’ ‘I guess it is,” I thought.
It’s people. I love people. These days I find I don’t really like them very much unless they are a little quirky. Sometimes people misunderstand it as ridicule. It’s not. I present it in the spirit of Paul trying to rid himself of a ‘thorn in the flesh’ ‘No way!’ God told him, “I look good when you are a clod, because it is evident that no way could you be doing this on your own.”

I do agree with this. For several years running I was called upon to give talks in the District Convention. Most of them were family-oriented talks that you looked for a brother with a family to give, even if he wasn’t pioneering, which I wasn’t. They ceased after I turned one down, facing a perfect storm of calamities at the time. During that time, I might cook up my own illustrations, but I would never dream of adding my own scriptures. I knew it was not me that everyone had come to hear.
On the school talks that I give now, sometimes I take small liberties—seldom reading extra verses, but sometimes incorporating excerpts in passing. It is all clearly within the pattern of the fine words, done sparingly, and nobody makes a fuss over it. One conductor, though, observed: “You actually didn’t address the theme of the talk” “Oh—I changed that,” I said, and so unexpected was the reply that he almost fell over himself laughing. This was not “adding to doctrine,” or anything—don’t misunderstand—it was merely adding a personal touch to a student talk and everyone understood that. 
I gave a funeral talk in another congregation where one elder, a fine man but known to be a stickler, asked if I was using the Society’s outline, and I said that I wasn’t. He was most concerned because I was neither an elder nor servant, and I hadn’t even known up front whether I would be permitted to give the talk, only the widow had requested me—her husband had been my best man and we had always remained close. After the talk, though, he was content and made no waves. The talk did all that a funeral talk should, plus was personalized as only a best friend might do.
So there might be a few instances where you are the speaker and people wonder how you will handle this or that small part. But they would clearly end at the circuit level, and even at the congregation level, you would be very sparing of what was personal.

I do agree with this. For several years running I was called upon to give talks in the District Convention. Most of them were family-oriented talks that you looked for a brother with a family to give, even if he wasn’t pioneering, which I wasn’t. They ceased after I turned one down, facing a perfect storm of calamities at the time. During that time, I might cook up my own illustrations, but I would never dream of adding my own scriptures. I knew it was not me that everyone had come to hear.
On the school talks that I give now, sometimes I take small liberties—seldom reading extra verses, but sometimes incorporating excerpts in passing. It is all clearly within the pattern of the fine words, done sparingly, and nobody makes a fuss over it. One conductor, though, observed: “You actually didn’t address the theme of the talk” “Oh—I changed that,” I said, and so unexpected was the reply that he almost fell over himself laughing. This was not “adding to doctrine,” or anything—don’t misunderstand—it was merely adding a personal touch to a student talk and everyone understood that. 
I gave a funeral talk in another congregation where one elder, a fine man but known to be a stickler, asked if I was using the Society’s outline, and I said that I wasn’t. He was most concerned because I was neither an elder nor servant, and I hadn’t even known up front whether I would be permitted to give the talk, only the widow had requested me—her husband had been my best man and we had always remained close. After the talk, though, he was content and made no waves. The talk did all that a funeral talk should, plus was personalized as only a best friend might do.
So there might be a few instances where you are the speaker and people wonder how you will handle this or that small part. But they would clearly end at the circuit level, and even at the congregation level, you would be very sparing of what was personal.

There used to be a local speaker in much demand who truly had a gift for speaking. He would twirl the globe he had brought up to the platform, quote Matthew 24:14, “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth” and then put his finger down upon this or that spot representing some local king’s sovereignty: “This good news of the kingdom WILL NOT be preached in MY part of the inhabited earth,” with the air of—who do you think is going to prevail?
He was a great speaker, a good man. But I visited his congregation once when he was conducting the Watchtower. He explained all the questions, and so blatantly ‘over-explained’ everything that I wondered how anyone could stand it. ‘Just ask the questions’ is what you should do, and make your own comments very few. There was no bad motive—he had just become a little full of himself—building upon an obvious talent.
Most often it is something more innocuous. There was another conductor who had some mannerisms—I hate mannerisms!—in fact, that’s where ‘Tom Irregardless’ comes from, he says it so much that I named him that—who would throw in after almost every one of his expressions, words to the effect of ‘That’s helpful, isn’t it?’ Once he announced the dates for the upcoming circuit assembly, and added, ‘that’s helpful, isn’t it?’ ‘I guess it is,” I thought.
It’s people. I love people. These days I find I don’t really like them very much unless they are a little quirky. Sometimes people misunderstand it as ridicule. It’s not. I present it in the spirit of Paul trying to rid himself of a ‘thorn in the flesh’ ‘No way!’ God told him, “I look good when you are a clod, because it is evident that no way could you be doing this on your own.”

Editors get involved with a printed book and then the printing process itself gets 4 proofs which are read and re-read and corrections made. ( I worked as a publicist for many years).  It is truly a blessing to have different eyes on a paper. 
As I said before- you throw this word around like candy. Mr Feruli himself agrees that all the core teachings are correct..... The ones I think of is the teaching of mortality of the soul, the name jehovah, jesus who really died for our sins, we are no longer under mosaic law, the kingdom government, the preaching work,..... and much more. We have an abundance of spiritual food, videos, movies, songs and videos for the young ones! 
Why MUST some people have a platform to prove themselves!  It comes from ego and ambition!   Some are never thankful and count their blessings! The glass is half empty if they cannot have a "spiritual " say......
The core teachings are there! So what can you add?

So true. I send off posts here that I don't always look at again until someone quotes from them to respond. (It's always the part they quoted that had the typos.) Then I look back and find half a dozen more typos in some of my own posts that I missed on the first reading. Yet, typos in someone else's posts just sort of jump out.