TrueTomHarley

I wrote a post long ago about how they had modified a certain phrase in a Revelation book update: “Some scientists believe that nuclear war might destroy all life on earth within 25 years.”
The reason they had done that is because Vic Vomodog had marked off the time on his calendar and he was hoping, praying, pleading that there would be no worldwide nuclear war within 25 years so that he could crow over how they had been wrong again. (after 25 years was okay) 
I said then I thought taking the quote out was a mistake. Who would be left with egg on their faces if 25 years passed? “Some scientists.” What great debt to we owe to “some scientists” that we should cover for them? They urinate all over Genesis. Why should we bail them out?

Am I on Candid Camera?
Of course you do. Patch up with those kids first. Send them your above post as a letter of introduction, if you must. If you have all your children serving Jehovah, you have a better track record than me.
You likened yourself to Mickey once. Based on my limited knowledge of both, I can easily see a likeness.
“We made Miller Lite the #2 selling brand in the country, and everyone said ‘Nobody will drink that stuff.” Sometimes an actor switches roles.

I wrote a post long ago about how they had modified a certain phrase in a Revelation book update: “Some scientists believe that nuclear war might destroy all life on earth within 25 years.”
The reason they had done that is because Vic Vomodog had marked off the time on his calendar and he was hoping, praying, pleading that there would be no worldwide nuclear war within 25 years so that he could crow over how they had been wrong again. (after 25 years was okay) 
I said then I thought taking the quote out was a mistake. Who would be left with egg on their faces if 25 years passed? “Some scientists.” What great debt to we owe to “some scientists” that we should cover for them? They urinate all over Genesis. Why should we bail them out?

That would have to be looked into.
That being said, there's always the Issac Newton route.

There was a feature in the Watchtower for a while that roughly paralleled ‘Watching the World.’ Does @JW Insider, who may have done the mock-up in a quoin, remember it? One page, and three items to the page.
There was an item in the 1970s of some historian who pointed out that generation could be described as clustered around broad historical events, such as the generation of the Industrial Age. I well remember thinking that the organization might make use of that one day. If so, there might me one last hurrah even if 2034 came and went.

Had my former prophesy been heeded that the end would come prior to January because we had reached the end of our current Bible reading schedule and it was too inconvenient to make everyone start again at Genesis, we wouldn’t be in this pickle.

Am I on Candid Camera?
Of course you do. Patch up with those kids first. Send them your above post as a letter of introduction, if you must. If you have all your children serving Jehovah, you have a better track record than me.
You likened yourself to Mickey once. Based on my limited knowledge of both, I can easily see a likeness.
“We made Miller Lite the #2 selling brand in the country, and everyone said ‘Nobody will drink that stuff.” Sometimes an actor switches roles.

“C'est moi! C'est moi, I blush to disclose. I'm far too noble to lie. That man in whom These qualities bloom, C'est moi, c'est moi, 'tis I.”

There was a feature in the Watchtower for a while that roughly paralleled ‘Watching the World.’ Does @JW Insider, who may have done the mock-up in a quoin, remember it? One page, and three items to the page.
There was an item in the 1970s of some historian who pointed out that generation could be described as clustered around broad historical events, such as the generation of the Industrial Age. I well remember thinking that the organization might make use of that one day. If so, there might me one last hurrah even if 2034 came and went.

This I don’t know about. I was referenced ‘anonymously?’ Well.....it’s a start. 
I followed RM on Twitter. After she died, BW became active on it. He expressly states that he steers clear of FB and IG for all the “idiots” on it, but he allows that Twitter is a nice distraction—it is like the background chatter in a coffee house. 
There was a time when I thought neither of them liked me very much, but I have since come to think it was just due to their being no-nonsense researchers who think that humor in research is an abomination, and note that I have no such aversion. He is steadily warming. In answer to my post about Woodstock and how it was held during a pandemic, he tweeted that he and his “antique wife” were pulling the leg of his nephew, giving the young man to believe that they had been there, apparently toking up with rest of them. He then threw in the unnecessary detail that he later fessed up and told the truth.

$2.00 per word to quote me. Book sales have hit a lull.

When I am captain of the dodge ball team, choosing up players, my first choice will be Joseph. Just look at his stats:
“From the time [Potiphar] appointed him over his house and in charge of all that was his, Jehovah kept blessing the house of the Egyptian because of Joseph, and Jehovah’s blessing came to be on all that he had in the house and in the field. He eventually left everything that was his in Joseph’s care, and he gave no thought to anything except the food he was eating.” (Genesis 39:5-6)
“So the chief officer of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners in the prison, and everything that they were doing there, he was the one having it done. The chief officer of the prison was looking after absolutely nothing that was in Joseph’s care, for Jehovah was with Joseph and Jehovah made whatever he did successful.” (Genesis 39:22-23) 
“Pharaoh further said to Joseph: “I am Pharaoh, but without your authorization, no man may do a single thing in all the land of Egypt.” ...The people began to cry to Pharaoh for bread. Then Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians: “Go to Joseph, and do whatever he tells you.” ...People of all the earth came to Egypt to buy from Joseph, because the famine had a strong grip on all the earth.” (Genesis 41:44, 55-57)
The bolded words say it all. He was a really good player. Were he on my team, he would soon be doing it all. We wouldn’t have to suffer being smashed with a ball and tagged out—that hurts!—we would voluntarily tag ourselves out and sit on the sidelines drinking Gatorade while he singlehandedly won the game.
He had dreams, too. Cool dreams. Not the type of dreams that I have, like how I  am sitting in the stands and suddenly remember that I have the next talk, only I have forgotten to wear my pants this day, and—come to think of it—the talk itself had slipped my mind so I haven’t prepared, but I might possibly be able to ad lib my way through—still, it would have been better had I remembered my pants...
No. Joseph’s dreams were about the rise and fall of peoples. At first, they got him into trouble, but later in life they got him out of trouble and landed him in some hotshot jobs, like being savior of the earth. (41:57)
He wasn’t full of himself, though. After interpreting Pharoah’s dream about how seven years of plenty will be followed by seven years of want, he says: “So now let Pharaoh look for a man who is discreet and wise and place him over the land of Egypt.” He doesn’t add—after he had just interpreted the dream that no one else could!—“Ahem...and I’m your man.” But it goes that way anyhow because he just interpreted the dream that no one else could. Isn’t there some verse somewhere about how it is better for other people to praise you than it is to jump the gun and do it yourself? 
“Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; Others, and not your own lips.” (Proverbs 27:2)
I like too how he always showed interest in others. Here he is in a prison hole greeting his mates with: “Why are your faces gloomy today?” (40:7) Turns out that they were gloomy because they’d each had a dream that they couldn’t figure out, and so Joseph did it for them. It ended up springing him from the hoosegow—so it couldn’t have been too much a waste of time for him to show fellow-feeling. 
Genesis 41:46 is relevant, too: “Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt” [to be granted his new role as administrator]. 30—same as was David when he began to rule and Jesus when he began his ministry.
Now, as it turns out, I was married on my thirtieth birthday. When elders sneak up the way they do trying to make it hot for me with my birthday cake, I always turn the table on them and send them away frustrated by pointing out that it is an anniversary cake. However, this fact of a significant phase of my life starting at 30 like with other worthies—it indicates that I am a hotshot. I am someone to be listened to and it distresses me that nobody is.
I throw in this personal revelation on account of a recent comment from Kos, upset that the GB should be “discouraging the ‘other sheep’ to ask the anointed about anything that conserns their anointing or if they could have any ‘new light.’”
 
To me, this says it all, not only for him, but for others in his spot. The longing to instruct and to be recognized as an instructor is palpable. And when they are NOT so recognized—since all you would have to do to be so recognized is to partake of the emblems, and there is no way to separate the crazies from the real anointed, and so I can’t imagine any real anointed making a fuss over it, since it is mostly a token of a future assignment—whoa! you should hear them carry on!
Well, me too! I want to be listened to, but nobody is. With all the blogging I have done for 15 years, I ought to be an in-house theologian by now. Not just me, but also @JW Insider. He should be in-house theologian for all his posts—and even (God help us) @James Thomas Rook Jr.. None of us are recognized. We all want to be. The organization isn’t enthralled with bloggers and maybe this post serves to remind why. Sure, I’m loyal now—but what if I park on the lawn and the elders tell me not to and I point out that I live in America so I can do anything I want and I decide to settle the score with them on my own blog—well, what then? If a brother goes bad at Bethel, they simply yank him and throw in another, but what will they do when I go bad? No wonder blogging doesn’t do it for them.
Now—whereas Kos and his contemporaries complain non-stop that their enlightenment is not recognized, do I? (much?) No. Does JWI? Not at all. Does JTR? Even though he lodges more complaints than most people take breaths, he does not complain about that! So I offer our excellent example to these frustrated anointed who want so badly for the flock to listen to them. You would think they would go out and find their own flock, but no! they want to filch sheep from the present Witness congregation.
 
 
 
 

I came across the GIF recently in yet another context and I delight in how many areas it applies. Give me a break. When a man discovers GIFs it is “like a mighty man emerging from the bridal chamber.” (Ps 19:5)
A few years ago it was hashtags. “They’re call hashtags, Dad, not crosstags,” my daughter told me.

When I am captain of the dodge ball team, choosing up players, my first choice will be Joseph. Just look at his stats:
“From the time [Potiphar] appointed him over his house and in charge of all that was his, Jehovah kept blessing the house of the Egyptian because of Joseph, and Jehovah’s blessing came to be on all that he had in the house and in the field. He eventually left everything that was his in Joseph’s care, and he gave no thought to anything except the food he was eating.” (Genesis 39:5-6)
“So the chief officer of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners in the prison, and everything that they were doing there, he was the one having it done. The chief officer of the prison was looking after absolutely nothing that was in Joseph’s care, for Jehovah was with Joseph and Jehovah made whatever he did successful.” (Genesis 39:22-23) 
“Pharaoh further said to Joseph: “I am Pharaoh, but without your authorization, no man may do a single thing in all the land of Egypt.” ...The people began to cry to Pharaoh for bread. Then Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians: “Go to Joseph, and do whatever he tells you.” ...People of all the earth came to Egypt to buy from Joseph, because the famine had a strong grip on all the earth.” (Genesis 41:44, 55-57)
The bolded words say it all. He was a really good player. Were he on my team, he would soon be doing it all. We wouldn’t have to suffer being smashed with a ball and tagged out—that hurts!—we would voluntarily tag ourselves out and sit on the sidelines drinking Gatorade while he singlehandedly won the game.
He had dreams, too. Cool dreams. Not the type of dreams that I have, like how I  am sitting in the stands and suddenly remember that I have the next talk, only I have forgotten to wear my pants this day, and—come to think of it—the talk itself had slipped my mind so I haven’t prepared, but I might possibly be able to ad lib my way through—still, it would have been better had I remembered my pants...
No. Joseph’s dreams were about the rise and fall of peoples. At first, they got him into trouble, but later in life they got him out of trouble and landed him in some hotshot jobs, like being savior of the earth. (41:57)
He wasn’t full of himself, though. After interpreting Pharoah’s dream about how seven years of plenty will be followed by seven years of want, he says: “So now let Pharaoh look for a man who is discreet and wise and place him over the land of Egypt.” He doesn’t add—after he had just interpreted the dream that no one else could!—“Ahem...and I’m your man.” But it goes that way anyhow because he just interpreted the dream that no one else could. Isn’t there some verse somewhere about how it is better for other people to praise you than it is to jump the gun and do it yourself? 
“Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; Others, and not your own lips.” (Proverbs 27:2)
I like too how he always showed interest in others. Here he is in a prison hole greeting his mates with: “Why are your faces gloomy today?” (40:7) Turns out that they were gloomy because they’d each had a dream that they couldn’t figure out, and so Joseph did it for them. It ended up springing him from the hoosegow—so it couldn’t have been too much a waste of time for him to show fellow-feeling. 
Genesis 41:46 is relevant, too: “Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt” [to be granted his new role as administrator]. 30—same as was David when he began to rule and Jesus when he began his ministry.
Now, as it turns out, I was married on my thirtieth birthday. When elders sneak up the way they do trying to make it hot for me with my birthday cake, I always turn the table on them and send them away frustrated by pointing out that it is an anniversary cake. However, this fact of a significant phase of my life starting at 30 like with other worthies—it indicates that I am a hotshot. I am someone to be listened to and it distresses me that nobody is.
I throw in this personal revelation on account of a recent comment from Kos, upset that the GB should be “discouraging the ‘other sheep’ to ask the anointed about anything that conserns their anointing or if they could have any ‘new light.’”
 
To me, this says it all, not only for him, but for others in his spot. The longing to instruct and to be recognized as an instructor is palpable. And when they are NOT so recognized—since all you would have to do to be so recognized is to partake of the emblems, and there is no way to separate the crazies from the real anointed, and so I can’t imagine any real anointed making a fuss over it, since it is mostly a token of a future assignment—whoa! you should hear them carry on!
Well, me too! I want to be listened to, but nobody is. With all the blogging I have done for 15 years, I ought to be an in-house theologian by now. Not just me, but also @JW Insider. He should be in-house theologian for all his posts—and even (God help us) @James Thomas Rook Jr.. None of us are recognized. We all want to be. The organization isn’t enthralled with bloggers and maybe this post serves to remind why. Sure, I’m loyal now—but what if I park on the lawn and the elders tell me not to and I point out that I live in America so I can do anything I want and I decide to settle the score with them on my own blog—well, what then? If a brother goes bad at Bethel, they simply yank him and throw in another, but what will they do when I go bad? No wonder blogging doesn’t do it for them.
Now—whereas Kos and his contemporaries complain non-stop that their enlightenment is not recognized, do I? (much?) No. Does JWI? Not at all. Does JTR? Even though he lodges more complaints than most people take breaths, he does not complain about that! So I offer our excellent example to these frustrated anointed who want so badly for the flock to listen to them. You would think they would go out and find their own flock, but no! they want to filch sheep from the present Witness congregation.
 
 
 
 

@TrueTomHarley A bit related, but regarding children, teach one, reach one, and in turn they do the same. Raising children to do good, the right way, as is, with informing and teaching them of dangers of this world, in turn, they can and will avoid said dangers. Even during this pandemic, the children of whom I was with for a long time even for those who are not by blood and of different races, they learn from example, and what they've learn, they are able to teach others, something of which of what I mention time and time again about solutions regarding children and some going into adulthood. The thing is, some children, especially within my culture, they represent of whom they originate from, i.e. if let's say Smith Baptiste, he represents his family, for whether his actions are good or bad, it not only falls on him, but his family line. Stuff like this is taken seriously, even as said young one progresses into adulthood.

Tell those younguns to stop by my home for a visit. The stories they must have to tell.....
There are plenty of guys who, if they could say of their three children what you have said of yours, would have long-ago buried the hatchet and forgiven any wrongs.
You are a strange bird.
If it helps, tell them that, with considerable effort, I have come to see redeemable things in you—it has taken me years—and that one of the best tonics to counter your rants is to think of you as an ol pork chop. Tell them I no longer feel obliged to blast away at you with a double-barreled shot gun, and have found that a single barrel generally suffices.

$2.00 per word to quote me. Book sales have hit a lull.

$2.00 per word to quote me. Book sales have hit a lull.

Make it Pluto, and I’ll throw in 90,000.

seriously, I cannot imagine why anyone would care about upvotes. (Not saying that you do)

When I am captain of the dodge ball team, choosing up players, my first choice will be Joseph. Just look at his stats:
“From the time [Potiphar] appointed him over his house and in charge of all that was his, Jehovah kept blessing the house of the Egyptian because of Joseph, and Jehovah’s blessing came to be on all that he had in the house and in the field. He eventually left everything that was his in Joseph’s care, and he gave no thought to anything except the food he was eating.” (Genesis 39:5-6)
“So the chief officer of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners in the prison, and everything that they were doing there, he was the one having it done. The chief officer of the prison was looking after absolutely nothing that was in Joseph’s care, for Jehovah was with Joseph and Jehovah made whatever he did successful.” (Genesis 39:22-23) 
“Pharaoh further said to Joseph: “I am Pharaoh, but without your authorization, no man may do a single thing in all the land of Egypt.” ...The people began to cry to Pharaoh for bread. Then Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians: “Go to Joseph, and do whatever he tells you.” ...People of all the earth came to Egypt to buy from Joseph, because the famine had a strong grip on all the earth.” (Genesis 41:44, 55-57)
The bolded words say it all. He was a really good player. Were he on my team, he would soon be doing it all. We wouldn’t have to suffer being smashed with a ball and tagged out—that hurts!—we would voluntarily tag ourselves out and sit on the sidelines drinking Gatorade while he singlehandedly won the game.
He had dreams, too. Cool dreams. Not the type of dreams that I have, like how I  am sitting in the stands and suddenly remember that I have the next talk, only I have forgotten to wear my pants this day, and—come to think of it—the talk itself had slipped my mind so I haven’t prepared, but I might possibly be able to ad lib my way through—still, it would have been better had I remembered my pants...
No. Joseph’s dreams were about the rise and fall of peoples. At first, they got him into trouble, but later in life they got him out of trouble and landed him in some hotshot jobs, like being savior of the earth. (41:57)
He wasn’t full of himself, though. After interpreting Pharoah’s dream about how seven years of plenty will be followed by seven years of want, he says: “So now let Pharaoh look for a man who is discreet and wise and place him over the land of Egypt.” He doesn’t add—after he had just interpreted the dream that no one else could!—“Ahem...and I’m your man.” But it goes that way anyhow because he just interpreted the dream that no one else could. Isn’t there some verse somewhere about how it is better for other people to praise you than it is to jump the gun and do it yourself? 
“Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; Others, and not your own lips.” (Proverbs 27:2)
I like too how he always showed interest in others. Here he is in a prison hole greeting his mates with: “Why are your faces gloomy today?” (40:7) Turns out that they were gloomy because they’d each had a dream that they couldn’t figure out, and so Joseph did it for them. It ended up springing him from the hoosegow—so it couldn’t have been too much a waste of time for him to show fellow-feeling. 
Genesis 41:46 is relevant, too: “Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt” [to be granted his new role as administrator]. 30—same as was David when he began to rule and Jesus when he began his ministry.
Now, as it turns out, I was married on my thirtieth birthday. When elders sneak up the way they do trying to make it hot for me with my birthday cake, I always turn the table on them and send them away frustrated by pointing out that it is an anniversary cake. However, this fact of a significant phase of my life starting at 30 like with other worthies—it indicates that I am a hotshot. I am someone to be listened to and it distresses me that nobody is.
I throw in this personal revelation on account of a recent comment from Kos, upset that the GB should be “discouraging the ‘other sheep’ to ask the anointed about anything that conserns their anointing or if they could have any ‘new light.’”
 
To me, this says it all, not only for him, but for others in his spot. The longing to instruct and to be recognized as an instructor is palpable. And when they are NOT so recognized—since all you would have to do to be so recognized is to partake of the emblems, and there is no way to separate the crazies from the real anointed, and so I can’t imagine any real anointed making a fuss over it, since it is mostly a token of a future assignment—whoa! you should hear them carry on!
Well, me too! I want to be listened to, but nobody is. With all the blogging I have done for 15 years, I ought to be an in-house theologian by now. Not just me, but also @JW Insider. He should be in-house theologian for all his posts—and even (God help us) @James Thomas Rook Jr.. None of us are recognized. We all want to be. The organization isn’t enthralled with bloggers and maybe this post serves to remind why. Sure, I’m loyal now—but what if I park on the lawn and the elders tell me not to and I point out that I live in America so I can do anything I want and I decide to settle the score with them on my own blog—well, what then? If a brother goes bad at Bethel, they simply yank him and throw in another, but what will they do when I go bad? No wonder blogging doesn’t do it for them.
Now—whereas Kos and his contemporaries complain non-stop that their enlightenment is not recognized, do I? (much?) No. Does JWI? Not at all. Does JTR? Even though he lodges more complaints than most people take breaths, he does not complain about that! So I offer our excellent example to these frustrated anointed who want so badly for the flock to listen to them. You would think they would go out and find their own flock, but no! they want to filch sheep from the present Witness congregation.
 
 
 
 

William Arauna was posting an upbuilding observation about the earthly organization. Suddenly a giant lizard with tiny brain appeared out of nowhere to taunt him about things that were not relevant. He shoved back, of course, but the niggling little taunts never ceased. 

When I am captain of the dodge ball team, choosing up players, my first choice will be Joseph. Just look at his stats:
“From the time [Potiphar] appointed him over his house and in charge of all that was his, Jehovah kept blessing the house of the Egyptian because of Joseph, and Jehovah’s blessing came to be on all that he had in the house and in the field. He eventually left everything that was his in Joseph’s care, and he gave no thought to anything except the food he was eating.” (Genesis 39:5-6)
“So the chief officer of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners in the prison, and everything that they were doing there, he was the one having it done. The chief officer of the prison was looking after absolutely nothing that was in Joseph’s care, for Jehovah was with Joseph and Jehovah made whatever he did successful.” (Genesis 39:22-23) 
“Pharaoh further said to Joseph: “I am Pharaoh, but without your authorization, no man may do a single thing in all the land of Egypt.” ...The people began to cry to Pharaoh for bread. Then Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians: “Go to Joseph, and do whatever he tells you.” ...People of all the earth came to Egypt to buy from Joseph, because the famine had a strong grip on all the earth.” (Genesis 41:44, 55-57)
The bolded words say it all. He was a really good player. Were he on my team, he would soon be doing it all. We wouldn’t have to suffer being smashed with a ball and tagged out—that hurts!—we would voluntarily tag ourselves out and sit on the sidelines drinking Gatorade while he singlehandedly won the game.
He had dreams, too. Cool dreams. Not the type of dreams that I have, like how I  am sitting in the stands and suddenly remember that I have the next talk, only I have forgotten to wear my pants this day, and—come to think of it—the talk itself had slipped my mind so I haven’t prepared, but I might possibly be able to ad lib my way through—still, it would have been better had I remembered my pants...
No. Joseph’s dreams were about the rise and fall of peoples. At first, they got him into trouble, but later in life they got him out of trouble and landed him in some hotshot jobs, like being savior of the earth. (41:57)
He wasn’t full of himself, though. After interpreting Pharoah’s dream about how seven years of plenty will be followed by seven years of want, he says: “So now let Pharaoh look for a man who is discreet and wise and place him over the land of Egypt.” He doesn’t add—after he had just interpreted the dream that no one else could!—“Ahem...and I’m your man.” But it goes that way anyhow because he just interpreted the dream that no one else could. Isn’t there some verse somewhere about how it is better for other people to praise you than it is to jump the gun and do it yourself? 
“Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; Others, and not your own lips.” (Proverbs 27:2)
I like too how he always showed interest in others. Here he is in a prison hole greeting his mates with: “Why are your faces gloomy today?” (40:7) Turns out that they were gloomy because they’d each had a dream that they couldn’t figure out, and so Joseph did it for them. It ended up springing him from the hoosegow—so it couldn’t have been too much a waste of time for him to show fellow-feeling. 
Genesis 41:46 is relevant, too: “Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt” [to be granted his new role as administrator]. 30—same as was David when he began to rule and Jesus when he began his ministry.
Now, as it turns out, I was married on my thirtieth birthday. When elders sneak up the way they do trying to make it hot for me with my birthday cake, I always turn the table on them and send them away frustrated by pointing out that it is an anniversary cake. However, this fact of a significant phase of my life starting at 30 like with other worthies—it indicates that I am a hotshot. I am someone to be listened to and it distresses me that nobody is.
I throw in this personal revelation on account of a recent comment from Kos, upset that the GB should be “discouraging the ‘other sheep’ to ask the anointed about anything that conserns their anointing or if they could have any ‘new light.’”
 
To me, this says it all, not only for him, but for others in his spot. The longing to instruct and to be recognized as an instructor is palpable. And when they are NOT so recognized—since all you would have to do to be so recognized is to partake of the emblems, and there is no way to separate the crazies from the real anointed, and so I can’t imagine any real anointed making a fuss over it, since it is mostly a token of a future assignment—whoa! you should hear them carry on!
Well, me too! I want to be listened to, but nobody is. With all the blogging I have done for 15 years, I ought to be an in-house theologian by now. Not just me, but also @JW Insider. He should be in-house theologian for all his posts—and even (God help us) @James Thomas Rook Jr.. None of us are recognized. We all want to be. The organization isn’t enthralled with bloggers and maybe this post serves to remind why. Sure, I’m loyal now—but what if I park on the lawn and the elders tell me not to and I point out that I live in America so I can do anything I want and I decide to settle the score with them on my own blog—well, what then? If a brother goes bad at Bethel, they simply yank him and throw in another, but what will they do when I go bad? No wonder blogging doesn’t do it for them.
Now—whereas Kos and his contemporaries complain non-stop that their enlightenment is not recognized, do I? (much?) No. Does JWI? Not at all. Does JTR? Even though he lodges more complaints than most people take breaths, he does not complain about that! So I offer our excellent example to these frustrated anointed who want so badly for the flock to listen to them. You would think they would go out and find their own flock, but no! they want to filch sheep from the present Witness congregation.
 
 
 
 

When I am captain of the dodge ball team, choosing up players, my first choice will be Joseph. Just look at his stats:
“From the time [Potiphar] appointed him over his house and in charge of all that was his, Jehovah kept blessing the house of the Egyptian because of Joseph, and Jehovah’s blessing came to be on all that he had in the house and in the field. He eventually left everything that was his in Joseph’s care, and he gave no thought to anything except the food he was eating.” (Genesis 39:5-6)
“So the chief officer of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners in the prison, and everything that they were doing there, he was the one having it done. The chief officer of the prison was looking after absolutely nothing that was in Joseph’s care, for Jehovah was with Joseph and Jehovah made whatever he did successful.” (Genesis 39:22-23) 
“Pharaoh further said to Joseph: “I am Pharaoh, but without your authorization, no man may do a single thing in all the land of Egypt.” ...The people began to cry to Pharaoh for bread. Then Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians: “Go to Joseph, and do whatever he tells you.” ...People of all the earth came to Egypt to buy from Joseph, because the famine had a strong grip on all the earth.” (Genesis 41:44, 55-57)
The bolded words say it all. He was a really good player. Were he on my team, he would soon be doing it all. We wouldn’t have to suffer being smashed with a ball and tagged out—that hurts!—we would voluntarily tag ourselves out and sit on the sidelines drinking Gatorade while he singlehandedly won the game.
He had dreams, too. Cool dreams. Not the type of dreams that I have, like how I  am sitting in the stands and suddenly remember that I have the next talk, only I have forgotten to wear my pants this day, and—come to think of it—the talk itself had slipped my mind so I haven’t prepared, but I might possibly be able to ad lib my way through—still, it would have been better had I remembered my pants...
No. Joseph’s dreams were about the rise and fall of peoples. At first, they got him into trouble, but later in life they got him out of trouble and landed him in some hotshot jobs, like being savior of the earth. (41:57)
He wasn’t full of himself, though. After interpreting Pharoah’s dream about how seven years of plenty will be followed by seven years of want, he says: “So now let Pharaoh look for a man who is discreet and wise and place him over the land of Egypt.” He doesn’t add—after he had just interpreted the dream that no one else could!—“Ahem...and I’m your man.” But it goes that way anyhow because he just interpreted the dream that no one else could. Isn’t there some verse somewhere about how it is better for other people to praise you than it is to jump the gun and do it yourself? 
“Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; Others, and not your own lips.” (Proverbs 27:2)
I like too how he always showed interest in others. Here he is in a prison hole greeting his mates with: “Why are your faces gloomy today?” (40:7) Turns out that they were gloomy because they’d each had a dream that they couldn’t figure out, and so Joseph did it for them. It ended up springing him from the hoosegow—so it couldn’t have been too much a waste of time for him to show fellow-feeling. 
Genesis 41:46 is relevant, too: “Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt” [to be granted his new role as administrator]. 30—same as was David when he began to rule and Jesus when he began his ministry.
Now, as it turns out, I was married on my thirtieth birthday. When elders sneak up the way they do trying to make it hot for me with my birthday cake, I always turn the table on them and send them away frustrated by pointing out that it is an anniversary cake. However, this fact of a significant phase of my life starting at 30 like with other worthies—it indicates that I am a hotshot. I am someone to be listened to and it distresses me that nobody is.
I throw in this personal revelation on account of a recent comment from Kos, upset that the GB should be “discouraging the ‘other sheep’ to ask the anointed about anything that conserns their anointing or if they could have any ‘new light.’”
 
To me, this says it all, not only for him, but for others in his spot. The longing to instruct and to be recognized as an instructor is palpable. And when they are NOT so recognized—since all you would have to do to be so recognized is to partake of the emblems, and there is no way to separate the crazies from the real anointed, and so I can’t imagine any real anointed making a fuss over it, since it is mostly a token of a future assignment—whoa! you should hear them carry on!
Well, me too! I want to be listened to, but nobody is. With all the blogging I have done for 15 years, I ought to be an in-house theologian by now. Not just me, but also @JW Insider. He should be in-house theologian for all his posts—and even (God help us) @James Thomas Rook Jr.. None of us are recognized. We all want to be. The organization isn’t enthralled with bloggers and maybe this post serves to remind why. Sure, I’m loyal now—but what if I park on the lawn and the elders tell me not to and I point out that I live in America so I can do anything I want and I decide to settle the score with them on my own blog—well, what then? If a brother goes bad at Bethel, they simply yank him and throw in another, but what will they do when I go bad? No wonder blogging doesn’t do it for them.
Now—whereas Kos and his contemporaries complain non-stop that their enlightenment is not recognized, do I? (much?) No. Does JWI? Not at all. Does JTR? Even though he lodges more complaints than most people take breaths, he does not complain about that! So I offer our excellent example to these frustrated anointed who want so badly for the flock to listen to them. You would think they would go out and find their own flock, but no! they want to filch sheep from the present Witness congregation.
 
 
 
 

My Dad stood ever apart from religion, including mine, but he used this expression frequently to describe world conditions. And he didn’t say “hades.”

I have barely seen a more stupid chart in my life, apparently designed to demonstrate that there is no God:

See original: https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/2012/08/02/the-flow-problem-of-evil/
 
The dopiest part has to be the boxes at bottom and lower left. They pose a dilemma akin to: “Can God make a mountain that he cannot move?”
People who would have you believe that they are ‘thinkers’ assume they have knocked it out of the park with this ‘gotcha.’
The most skilled critical thinkers of our age employ their intellect to miss what is right before their nose. Their underlying assumption, entirely unproven, is that God should be Santa Claus, showering presents without regard for whoever is naughty or nice. If he doesn’t do that, then there must be no God.
[Edit....I played with this one all morning and eventually expanded it to something I put on my own blog. Comment on it here, if you will, not there, since my own comment section is selective and does not stay open long in any event:
https://www.tomsheepandgoats.com/2020/04/this-has-to-be-one-of-the-stupidest-charts-i-have-ever-seen-on-evil-and-suffeirng.html ]