TrueTomHarley

Moreover, if they really wanted to pump everyone into fever pitch, as John charges they do, they would not have let 1Thess 5:2-3 go unmentioned during last week’s assigned Bible reading—the verse about “whenever they are crying ‘peace and security.’ They would have hyped it to the heavens. Instead, they let it pass unnoticed.
I think they are sailing a “steady as she goes” course among treacherous waters, doing their best not to overhype nor underhype. I just don’t like to second-guess their every move. Everyone knows what a pain a back-seat driver is. I don’t want to be one.
Does John want to go back to what he once was doing, reasoning that it is enough to know that the end is “out there somewhere?” This course I believe we are “not allowed” to take—not by the GB, but by Jesus, if we would prove ourselves faithful to him. Does John point to things he thinks the GB does wrong? (Does he ever!) I note how Miriam and Aaron began to speak against Moses on account of his Cushite wife—and how Jehovah really, really didn’t like that, and He let them hear about it. This was so even though Moses actually did have a Cushite wife.
As much as it is good to roam history in the spirit of “he who does not know history is doomed to repeat it,” it is probably one of those things we are just going to have to accept that we do from time to time. The presumed motivation for so searching past publications is so that we do not yet again emerge with egg on our face when something doesn’t turn out as anticipated. I think it is fair to assume that we may—for the alternative is to forget all about “keeping on the watch”—the opposite shoal, which is even more dangerous than the one we are trying to navigate.
To the extent that the intent is to appear “respectable” by never again having to backtrack on prior expectations, I think the intent is misguided, though certainly understandable. Paul was described as a “pest” who was leading a “sect.” Witnesses today can expect no more. Christians then were considered the “offscouring” of the earth. Witnesses today can expect no more. 
What we have on this site is multiple players trying to make the case that the doers are doing it wrong—overlooking the fact that in most cases they themselves are doing nothing. Witnesses just have to accept that it will be that way. Malcontents and renegades will pick up the same refrain as you-know-who, the one who “accuses our brothers day and night before our God.”

Moreover, if they really wanted to pump everyone into fever pitch, as John charges they do, they would not have let 1Thess 5:2-3 go unmentioned during last week’s assigned Bible reading—the verse about “whenever they are crying ‘peace and security.’ They would have hyped it to the heavens. Instead, they let it pass unnoticed.
I think they are sailing a “steady as she goes” course among treacherous waters, doing their best not to overhype nor underhype. I just don’t like to second-guess their every move. Everyone knows what a pain a back-seat driver is. I don’t want to be one.
Does John want to go back to what he once was doing, reasoning that it is enough to know that the end is “out there somewhere?” This course I believe we are “not allowed” to take—not by the GB, but by Jesus, if we would prove ourselves faithful to him. Does John point to things he thinks the GB does wrong? (Does he ever!) I note how Miriam and Aaron began to speak against Moses on account of his Cushite wife—and how Jehovah really, really didn’t like that, and He let them hear about it. This was so even though Moses actually did have a Cushite wife.
As much as it is good to roam history in the spirit of “he who does not know history is doomed to repeat it,” it is probably one of those things we are just going to have to accept that we do from time to time. The presumed motivation for so searching past publications is so that we do not yet again emerge with egg on our face when something doesn’t turn out as anticipated. I think it is fair to assume that we may—for the alternative is to forget all about “keeping on the watch”—the opposite shoal, which is even more dangerous than the one we are trying to navigate.
To the extent that the intent is to appear “respectable” by never again having to backtrack on prior expectations, I think the intent is misguided, though certainly understandable. Paul was described as a “pest” who was leading a “sect.” Witnesses today can expect no more. Christians then were considered the “offscouring” of the earth. Witnesses today can expect no more. 
What we have on this site is multiple players trying to make the case that the doers are doing it wrong—overlooking the fact that in most cases they themselves are doing nothing. Witnesses just have to accept that it will be that way. Malcontents and renegades will pick up the same refrain as you-know-who, the one who “accuses our brothers day and night before our God.”

Moreover, if they really wanted to pump everyone into fever pitch, as John charges they do, they would not have let 1Thess 5:2-3 go unmentioned during last week’s assigned Bible reading—the verse about “whenever they are crying ‘peace and security.’ They would have hyped it to the heavens. Instead, they let it pass unnoticed.
I think they are sailing a “steady as she goes” course among treacherous waters, doing their best not to overhype nor underhype. I just don’t like to second-guess their every move. Everyone knows what a pain a back-seat driver is. I don’t want to be one.
Does John want to go back to what he once was doing, reasoning that it is enough to know that the end is “out there somewhere?” This course I believe we are “not allowed” to take—not by the GB, but by Jesus, if we would prove ourselves faithful to him. Does John point to things he thinks the GB does wrong? (Does he ever!) I note how Miriam and Aaron began to speak against Moses on account of his Cushite wife—and how Jehovah really, really didn’t like that, and He let them hear about it. This was so even though Moses actually did have a Cushite wife.
As much as it is good to roam history in the spirit of “he who does not know history is doomed to repeat it,” it is probably one of those things we are just going to have to accept that we do from time to time. The presumed motivation for so searching past publications is so that we do not yet again emerge with egg on our face when something doesn’t turn out as anticipated. I think it is fair to assume that we may—for the alternative is to forget all about “keeping on the watch”—the opposite shoal, which is even more dangerous than the one we are trying to navigate.
To the extent that the intent is to appear “respectable” by never again having to backtrack on prior expectations, I think the intent is misguided, though certainly understandable. Paul was described as a “pest” who was leading a “sect.” Witnesses today can expect no more. Christians then were considered the “offscouring” of the earth. Witnesses today can expect no more. 
What we have on this site is multiple players trying to make the case that the doers are doing it wrong—overlooking the fact that in most cases they themselves are doing nothing. Witnesses just have to accept that it will be that way. Malcontents and renegades will pick up the same refrain as you-know-who, the one who “accuses our brothers day and night before our God.”

Absolutely TTH! I see from your comment that you understand the significance of the heightened understanding of these things. We do not become angry and attack others simply because what is being discussed does not hold any personal interest. However, you are certainly correct about Jesus' words, 'what I say to you, -(let the reader use discernment)*my comment - I say to ALL, keep on the watch!'

These are the things that are written:
"Do not love either the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; 16  because everything in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life—does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world" (1John 2:15)
John, honestly, what percentage of people would you say "love" the things in the world?
"....... you know the season, that it is already the hour for you to awake from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than at the time when we became believers. 12  The night is well along; the day has drawn near. Let us therefore throw off the works belonging to darkness and let us put on the weapons of the light. 13  Let us walk decently as in the daytime, not in wild parties and drunkenness, not in immoral intercourse and brazen conduct, not in strife and jealousy. 14  But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not be planning ahead for the desires of the flesh". (Romans13:11-14)
 “But pay attention to yourselves that your hearts never become weighed down with overeating and heavy drinking and anxieties of life, and suddenly that day be instantly upon you  as a snare. For it will come upon all those dwelling on the face of the whole earth. 36  Keep awake, then, all the time making supplication that you may succeed in escaping all these things that must occur and in standing before the Son of man.” (Luke 21:34-35)
The above scriptures I conveniently extracted from a July 2016 study WT article "Why must we keep on the watch". 
The article concludes: "Through the pages of the Bible, God and Christ tell us what they have in store for us in the immediate future and how we can keep on the watch. We have to pay attention to our spirituality, to our relationship with Jehovah, and to Kingdom priorities. We must be aware of time and events so that we can be ready for what is coming. (Rev. 22:20) Our life is at stake!
Perhaps you might want to peruse the article to check that there is nothing beyond what is written in the scriptures.
https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/watchtower-study-july-2016/why-keep-on-the-watch/
 
 
 

And it is enough to know that He won’t get around to it for a long time—it is “a long ways off.” That way, hit the ‘snooze’ and catch a few more zzzzz’s
’Keeping on the watch’ is a bear.

Not so much as it encourages people not to blow off Jesus’ words as nothing:
’”What I say to you, I say to all; keep on the watch.”

Not so much as it encourages people not to blow off Jesus’ words as nothing:
’”What I say to you, I say to all; keep on the watch.”

Not so much as it encourages people not to blow off Jesus’ words as nothing:
’”What I say to you, I say to all; keep on the watch.”

“Now as TrueTom was saying these things in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice: “You are going out of your mind, TrueTom! Great learning is driving you out of your mind!”  But TrueTom said: “I am not going out of my mind, Your Excellency Festus. Well, actually, you do have a point. I guess I am going nuts, but it is not on account of great learning. I am spending too much time with the yo-yos on the worldnewsmediaforum.”

In this case, the gist of the spoof is spot-on, even if the humor should miss. The four participants referred to are implacably opposed regarding spiritual matters, but for the sake of slamming the JW organization, they are soul-mates. Get them scrabbling with each other, and I can write my next book in peace.
And don’t get me going about the Billyites, the Bubbatites, The Annites, and the JWwhites.

Now TrueTom, knowing that the one part was made up of Rookites but the other of Butlerites, and yet another of Sreckoites, and let us not forget Witnessites, cried out in the Forum: “Men, brothers, I am a writer, a son of writers. Over the existence of God I am being judged.”  Because he said this, a dissension arose between the Rookites and the Butlerites and the Sreckotites, and the Witnessites, and the assembly was split.
For the Sreckotites say that there is neither resurrection nor angel nor spirit, but the Rookites accept them all except for 85% that they say is crap. And the Butlerites also say the 85% is crap, but they DO believe in some of the 15%. And the Witnessites believe—well, who knows what they believe except that their Queen Mother is the REAL anointed and the anointed of Jehovah’s Witnesses are no good—and the Queen Mother has a Facebook page to prove it. 
So a great uproar broke out, and some of the ones with common sense of the party rose and began arguing fiercely, saying: “We find nothing wrong in this man, but if a spirit or an angel spoke to him—.”  Now when the dissension grew great, the military commander feared that TrueTom would be torn apart by them, and he commanded the soldiers to go down and snatch him from their midst and bring him into the soldiers’ quarters. 
All in a day’s work.

Now TrueTom, knowing that the one part was made up of Rookites but the other of Butlerites, and yet another of Sreckoites, and let us not forget Witnessites, cried out in the Forum: “Men, brothers, I am a writer, a son of writers. Over the existence of God I am being judged.”  Because he said this, a dissension arose between the Rookites and the Butlerites and the Sreckotites, and the Witnessites, and the assembly was split.
For the Sreckotites say that there is neither resurrection nor angel nor spirit, but the Rookites accept them all except for 85% that they say is crap. And the Butlerites also say the 85% is crap, but they DO believe in some of the 15%. And the Witnessites believe—well, who knows what they believe except that their Queen Mother is the REAL anointed and the anointed of Jehovah’s Witnesses are no good—and the Queen Mother has a Facebook page to prove it. 
So a great uproar broke out, and some of the ones with common sense of the party rose and began arguing fiercely, saying: “We find nothing wrong in this man, but if a spirit or an angel spoke to him—.”  Now when the dissension grew great, the military commander feared that TrueTom would be torn apart by them, and he commanded the soldiers to go down and snatch him from their midst and bring him into the soldiers’ quarters. 
All in a day’s work.

A fine example of three groups that overlap would be the adherents of JTR, of John Butler, and of Srecko. 
Put them on the same planet and they will fight like cats and dogs. Put them on the worldnewsmediaforum, and they suddenly find that they are practically bedfellows.
As the light gets brighter, we can even make out 4, for there is always Witness.

“Now as TrueTom was saying these things in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice: “You are going out of your mind, TrueTom! Great learning is driving you out of your mind!”  But TrueTom said: “I am not going out of my mind, Your Excellency Festus. Well, actually, you do have a point. I guess I am going nuts, but it is not on account of great learning. I am spending too much time with the yo-yos on the worldnewsmediaforum.”

“Now as TrueTom was saying these things in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice: “You are going out of your mind, TrueTom! Great learning is driving you out of your mind!”  But TrueTom said: “I am not going out of my mind, Your Excellency Festus. Well, actually, you do have a point. I guess I am going nuts, but it is not on account of great learning. I am spending too much time with the yo-yos on the worldnewsmediaforum.”

“Now as TrueTom was saying these things in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice: “You are going out of your mind, TrueTom! Great learning is driving you out of your mind!”  But TrueTom said: “I am not going out of my mind, Your Excellency Festus. Well, actually, you do have a point. I guess I am going nuts, but it is not on account of great learning. I am spending too much time with the yo-yos on the worldnewsmediaforum.”

Yeah, that’s what I’m talkin about!

A fine example of three groups that overlap would be the adherents of JTR, of John Butler, and of Srecko. 
Put them on the same planet and they will fight like cats and dogs. Put them on the worldnewsmediaforum, and they suddenly find that they are practically bedfellows.
As the light gets brighter, we can even make out 4, for there is always Witness.

Yeah, that’s what I’m talkin about!

I have just gotten online for today and I did not realize that this firestorm had erupted. I will be back on when I get something to eat. Be back soon!...Tom (Bubba)

Oh, very well. Sign up for her as your ‘anointed’ source, if you like.  You two deserve each other.

Oh, very well. Sign up for her as your ‘anointed’ source, if you like.  You two deserve each other.

Not everything in the world is about you and your pissy little complaint that you are a better anointed one than those of the GB.
Corinth was a center of Greek thought. These were the ones who put such emphasis on ‘wisdom’—as opposed to the ‘signs’ of the Jews. Paul came to them with fear and trembling because he had determined that he would know nothing among them except Christ, and him impaled. 
My application (and @Outta Here‘s) application of 1 Corinthians 3:19 is exactly correct.
Ditto the above reply. It’s not all about you and your complaint.This example of an “empty speech” involves making a mistake while keeping on the watch. It beats by a country mile not keeping on the watch at all. An excellent way to not make any mistakes is to not do anything.
The empty speeches that do the most damage are the dominant philosophies of this system of things, which you apparently buy into, or at least take umbrage should the genuine anointed caution against them

What I like about the JW organization is that they’re unafraid of verses like 1 Timothy 6:20: “O Timothy, guard what is laid up in trust with you, turning away from the empty speeches that violate what is holy and from the contradictions of the falsely called “knowledge.” For making a show of such [knowledge] some have deviated from the faith.”
Everyone else embarrassedly pretends those verses don’t exist, fearful lest they be seen as narrow and restrictive, the worst of all possible sins in today’s world. Watchtower applies them, unconcerned with how the world will react, so long as they discharge their scriptural responsibility to warn against specious reasonings. They want Christians to “attain to the oneness in the faith and in the accurate knowledge of the Son of God...in order that we should no longer be babes, tossed about as by waves and carried hither and thither by every wind of teaching by means of the trickery of men, by means of cunning in contriving error.”  (Ephesians 4:13-14) It is a stand that takes guts, that exposes them to sneering ridicule, and to absurd charges that they want to “control” people.
Once Witnesses have taken a position not to let “the empty speeches that violate what is holy and from the contradictions of the falsely called “knowledge” such as is the lifeblood of this world’s education, dictate their world view, then they “cherry-pick” its offerings for what is truly useful, and obviously, some is.
I wouldn’t mind if they dropped the line that some go to higher school “to make a name for themselves,” since most don’t. But some do. It is what it is, and there is no need to scream over every little thing that does not go your way. What I like is that the JW organization cautions strongly about not putting oneself in the 24/7 unfamiliar environment that is “higher education”—cut off from all former stabilizing influences (a classic tool of brainwashing) so as to be indoctrinated by the latest “wind of teaching” designed by those who think faith is for chumps.