TrueTomHarley

This is not unlike the 'Six Stages of a Project' that used to be cynically posted at the workplace:
1) Enthusiasm
2) Disillusionment
3) Panic
4) Hunt for the Guilty
5) Punishment of the Innocent
6) Praise and Honors for the Nonparticipants.

Years ago I discovered in my research that almost all the days are taken, and therein lies the key for spotting the end of the world.
http://www.tomsheepandgoats.com/2011/05/how-to-predict-the-end-of-the-world.html

I think your definition of 'idolatrous' is off.
Right on. Study it.
 
Okay. Everyone else go home.

These are not bad sentiments, James. Why can't you simply learn yourself - I suspect your kids have mastered it - to acquiesce to headship? Nobody is saying you have to kiss up to it. Just don't torpedo it every chance you get.
Anyone adopting orphan children is a hero, regardless of the shots I may take at him otherwise. But will you really portray the most important lesson you will teach them as 85% crap? I fear you will not hold on to them that way. 
Better to comb through the abundant evidence of first-century misdeeds and blunders and say "our guys are no worse than them, and somehow God made it work."

this shows that it is not personal with him, as I try never to make it with me. I like that.

'There are seven. Just seven. And the GB members never used to until they started hanging out here too much. They had to face the incessant barrage of persons demanding equal (or greater) say, though such ones manifested little interest in doing comparable work. I fear they have or will suffer the same fate as Paul, who went "mad" dealing with these small persons with giant ambitions:
Are they ministers of Christ? I reply like a madman, I am more outstandingly one: I have done more work,been imprisoned more often, suffered countless beatings, and experienced many near-deaths.Five times I received 40 strokes less one from the Jews, three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned,  three times I experienced shipwreck, a night and a day I have spent in the open sea;  in journeys often, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers, in dangers from my own people, in dangers from the nations, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers at sea, in dangers among false brothers, in labor and toil, in sleepless nights often, in hunger and thirst, frequently without food, in cold and lacking clothing.  Besides those things of an external kind, there is what rushes in on me from day to day: the anxiety for all the congregations.Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is stumbled, and I am not incensed? (2 Corinthians 11:23-29)
What are the qualifications of these superfine apostles? They have not done the work, but the have followed the admonition of @Israeli Bar Avaddhon to 'study their Bibles' more.
There is no nice way to put it. Paul went nuts dealing with these idiots and I fear for the GB, too. Paul had to join @The Librarian for a stiff drink after his tirade had ended, pouring himself another each time the old biddy looked away to take another bite of her taco.

Once again I will handle your desire to malign by suggesting that even if it were true, it is exactly what one would expect when Jesus says he came to seek, not those who do not need a physician, but those that do. The groups to worry aboutmare those who have low rates of mental illness among them - for there are a lot of mentally ill people around. It must be that they feel excluded - driven away by condescension, lack of love, or inhospitality. 
Those who can operate smoothly among this world’s calamities – who can absorb all the atrocities that have become routine and who can accommodate themselves to it without fuss - those are the people to worry about. W
hen our people go off the rails, they nonetheless wouldn’t hurt a fly. If persons of the greater world go off the rails - better call the SWAT team and secure a new identity from the authorities!

Charlie Manson's greatest (maybe only) contribution comes as a sage remark toward the end of his life: "You know, a long time ago being crazy meant something. Nowadays everybody's crazy."

I don't think I know myself.

To be fair, Successor, this category of 'Controversial Posts' carries this caution: 
Only enter this section if you feel strong enough spiritually to defend yourself biblically. As you probably are aware, not everyone on Facebook, Twitter and the Internet is nice and civilized. Some are rather rude. You are hereby forewarned.
True, there are two dozen ways to get in here, and nobody sees the warning. I didn't. And I  initially was as I think you are now: outraged to see villains on the loose in what is supposedly a JW-friendly site. If you stay (I'm not suggesting that you should) you should get more of a feel for what's going on. 
I AM just a commentator, with no more powers than you. I'm not so sure about all the the other liars, though. The chief mastermind you have not named and I will only give the hint that she is a controlling old biddy who drinks like a fish. Even she is in fear, as is everybody, of the dreaded @admin, but they needn't be. He is not interested in anyone's corporate agenda. 
Maybe you are right and the whole thing should be shut down. Unfortunately, this is the internet, where nobody is going anywhere. You will find you cannot change anyone here. During my tenure, i have not seen anyone budge even a little (well - in some cases maybe a veerrrryyy little). Only I have changed. I have taken to the bottle.
Like you, for the longest time I suspected this was a "good cop/bad cop" apostate site, the good cops luring them in for the bad guys to chop them off at the knees. I have put that suspicion in the trash, but Waste Management has not yet come, and I can always retrieve it if need be.  
As far as I know, no one has ever been banned here. @Allen Smith was sent to the penalty box once and he is still sore about it. I don't know the reason - it was before my time. He may have simply been carrying on too long. I understand the motivation to do so.
And I once had an entire thread taken down because I was being too mean to those I thought apostates. Like Hester Prynee, I had to wear a scarlet A for a time, designating 'Abuse.' (Hers, from the Nathaniel Hawthorne book was for Adultery) In both cases, though, they eventually were reconstrued as 'Angel.'
I'm just here because I like to write and I don't have a life, Successor.
Run - save yourself before it is too late, as it is for me.
"and it's been the ruin of many a poor boy, and God, I know I'm one." - Georgia Turner/Bret Martin

Ouch
Ouch
I'm on it.
No
That's it.
Sorry.
 

I never could figure out how to use those suckers.

'There are seven. Just seven. And the GB members never used to until they started hanging out here too much. They had to face the incessant barrage of persons demanding equal (or greater) say, though such ones manifested little interest in doing comparable work. I fear they have or will suffer the same fate as Paul, who went "mad" dealing with these small persons with giant ambitions:
Are they ministers of Christ? I reply like a madman, I am more outstandingly one: I have done more work,been imprisoned more often, suffered countless beatings, and experienced many near-deaths.Five times I received 40 strokes less one from the Jews, three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned,  three times I experienced shipwreck, a night and a day I have spent in the open sea;  in journeys often, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers, in dangers from my own people, in dangers from the nations, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers at sea, in dangers among false brothers, in labor and toil, in sleepless nights often, in hunger and thirst, frequently without food, in cold and lacking clothing.  Besides those things of an external kind, there is what rushes in on me from day to day: the anxiety for all the congregations.Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is stumbled, and I am not incensed? (2 Corinthians 11:23-29)
What are the qualifications of these superfine apostles? They have not done the work, but the have followed the admonition of @Israeli Bar Avaddhon to 'study their Bibles' more.
There is no nice way to put it. Paul went nuts dealing with these idiots and I fear for the GB, too. Paul had to join @The Librarian for a stiff drink after his tirade had ended, pouring himself another each time the old biddy looked away to take another bite of her taco.

There is no reason to think she doesn't. One can still blast them out of the water when it is called for.

'There are seven. Just seven. And the GB members never used to until they started hanging out here too much. They had to face the incessant barrage of persons demanding equal (or greater) say, though such ones manifested little interest in doing comparable work. I fear they have or will suffer the same fate as Paul, who went "mad" dealing with these small persons with giant ambitions:
Are they ministers of Christ? I reply like a madman, I am more outstandingly one: I have done more work,been imprisoned more often, suffered countless beatings, and experienced many near-deaths.Five times I received 40 strokes less one from the Jews, three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned,  three times I experienced shipwreck, a night and a day I have spent in the open sea;  in journeys often, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers, in dangers from my own people, in dangers from the nations, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers at sea, in dangers among false brothers, in labor and toil, in sleepless nights often, in hunger and thirst, frequently without food, in cold and lacking clothing.  Besides those things of an external kind, there is what rushes in on me from day to day: the anxiety for all the congregations.Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is stumbled, and I am not incensed? (2 Corinthians 11:23-29)
What are the qualifications of these superfine apostles? They have not done the work, but the have followed the admonition of @Israeli Bar Avaddhon to 'study their Bibles' more.
There is no nice way to put it. Paul went nuts dealing with these idiots and I fear for the GB, too. Paul had to join @The Librarian for a stiff drink after his tirade had ended, pouring himself another each time the old biddy looked away to take another bite of her taco.

and benefited from the experience not at all it seems.

Nana reminds me of Paul going nuts under provocation. Squelch her, @The Librarian (you old hen) and you must also squelch Paul:
"Are they ministers of Christ? I reply like a madman I am more outstandly one!" Paul cried in exasperation, pulled rank for several verses, and then they hauled him away to check his blood pressure and give him a sedative.
"You are going mad, @Nana Fofana Great learning is driving you into madness!"

Charlie Manson's greatest (maybe only) contribution comes as a sage remark toward the end of his life: "You know, a long time ago being crazy meant something. Nowadays everybody's crazy."

I learned a lot from my grandmother, who we all called Nana, as a kid.
Also, here is a treat for hungry as a hog @The Librarian

I learned a lot from my grandmother, who we all called Nana, as a kid.
Also, here is a treat for hungry as a hog @The Librarian

Yes
Yes.
It had better be. But these three questions miss the one obvious fact that makes them all irrelevant.
How would they know? Because the individual annointed ones say so? The day that this happens I am going to reveal here that I am also annointed and I have been lurking here for months. I now have a pronouncement. It is that my fellow annointed @Witness is all wet and no one should listen to her, and that @James Thomas Rook Jr. is next in line as replacement in case someone bites the dust. He has many many many complaints. It is time to put them all on the front burner.
If anyone doesn't believe it, I will threaten to summon Jesus' white horse, who is not exactly Mr. Ed. I'm annointed. I said something. Jump!!
 
 

Oh? Jesus said any who would see life must eat his flesh and drink his blood. How would your 'critical thought' analyze that one? He lost a great many disciples that day. Probably it was ones who, like you, put their trust in critical thought.
'Critical thought' is the trademark of a generation that constructs a system that is swirling directly down the toilet, and yet proponents thereof project an air of superiority right until their heads go under.
Jesus could not have said anything more stupid if his concern was to cater to critical thought. It should be clear that he doesn't give a hoot about it. He violates its tenets all the time. He spins illustrations that he rarely explains. When he does explain them, it is not in a manner that would satisfy any advocate of critical thought. He raises strawmen as readily as he breathes. He launches ad homenum attacks willy-nilly. He speaks to the heart, in almost total disregard for the head. 
For every verse about the head, there are ten about the heart. People insisting on critical thought are the most obnoxious people in the world because each one assumes that he alone has a lock on the stuff. Critical thought is the main element of this world's wisdom that God laughs at.
Though I don't mean to equate the two, the current uproar over a Trump tweet illustrates the divide perfectly. I don't care how much I dislike @James Thomas Rook Jr. ; if he saved my kid from 10 years in a Chinese prison I would be on my hands and knees thanking him. A tweet that calls out ingratitude gets people stirred up because it speaks to the heart - everyone knows where gratitude is and when it is appropriate. But those who go in for critical analysis think the president petty for not letting it go. Doesn't he have more important things to do?
When Trump tweets that North Korea has launched all its missills, people of heart will run to take cover. People of critical thought will run to their computers to point out that the idiot can't even spell the word right.
THAT is my opinion of your 'critical thought.' As nearly as I can tell, it is Jesus' opinion. And God's.
Things that have been done on the GB's watch and on their behest - do the blessings outweigh the costs? There are costs - sometimes they are significant. Do the spiritual benefits the GB alone has enabled outweigh the costs? Or do the costs, invariably matters of personal rights curtailed somehow, outweigh the benefits? It is a matter of the heart. The head has little to do with it.

And Paul also said all these gifts would pass away. So it all becomes irrelevant to identifying divine backing today.
Then why keep doing it with the GB?
 
He doesn't NEED anything. That is not to say it does not come in handy. Replace Bethel with a pile of rocks, and look to those to 'cry out.'
My point is that your footing is much less firm here.
 
If anything, the JW.org disproves this. I see their faces all the time, whereas I never used to.
Yes! As long as God's temple doesn't do anything, all is fine. Far better to meet in each other's basements. (caution: unnecessary sarcasm here, the language of you-know-who)
 
Yes. It will. Why not allow it to make hay while the sun shines?
You think there's not? Didn't Jesus say something about 'cramped and narrow?' I think they simply don't want to be negligent. I don't think they know themselves how things will shake out beyond the hints from the scriptures. But whatever the caution be issued in the future, I don't think they want to see a brotherhood dominated by the sons-in-law of Lot, who imagine they are joking.
IMO, it is because of this that: 
 
You have much exaggerated this, but everyone knows where you are coming from. Nobody would say your words are groundless, only exaggerated. This is among the most recurring themes of this entire forum.
This statement strikes me as not unlike Peter's in the windstorm - panicking at the unknown and fear-inspiring. Congregation authority was pretty much unchecked in the first century, much to the dismay of Diotrophes and the superfine apostles. As so as the latter succeeded in checking it, it all fell apart.
We do tend to go by rote. How 'concerning' this is is anyone's guess. They don't call them sheep for nothing.
No.

Another thing I like about Allen is that he raises strawmen. Persons reveling in critical thought hate strawmen. They think the world is their courtroom where they can cross-examine anyone at will. Their critical thinking is always just that - it is the glory of being critical that they revel in. God help us should these persons of critical thought ever take over. The most vociferous among them famously do not gladly suffer fools  - and a fool is anyone who disagrees with them.
I like strawmen. They are a fine rhetorical means of putting things into perspective. In some cases, they amount to saying: "your point is too silly to merit a serious answer," which is true of many petty things opposers harp on in this forum.
The ARC hearing resulted in 'Not Much?' If so, it is typical of the "sound and fury, signifying nothing" we usually get from such folks. They stumbled upon the solution. They didn't even stumble upon it - it was put to them by one of our people. But the simple solution has thus far proved impossible to for them implement because they represent a tangled mess of conflicting agendas who simply cannot put such differences aside so as to cooperate no matter how dire the situation or sacred the cause. What they can do is build a platform upon which to grandstand. For some of them, that is enough.
Their actions screw up as many people as they help. Locally, police just nabbed a kindergarten teacher with kiddie porn on his computer. It is bad stuff, even for kiddie porn. They grilled him and he admitted he has fantasized over the children in his charge. They caught him via an international sting operation tracing filthy pedo content originating overseas. He has never actually done anything to any of the children he teaches. But he has pinched spare underwear from their backpacks to take home and he's drawn much pleasure from dreaming of what could be.
https://nypost.com/2017/11/22/kindergarten-teacher-busted-for-child-porn-stealing-kids-undies/
Okay? He is one sick puppy. No way can you have him teaching kindergarten, even though he has never touched a child. It is reasonable to think it is only a matter of time before he does, for he is feasting on what will only build his appetite. (Except for child porn, you can't even slip THAT assumption past ones of critical thought, since they will demand proof that indulging in such porn does not harmlessly distract perverted persons from the real thing) And these people would pose as our moral superiors?
The question to be addressed is: how do you remove him as teacher? For the sake of the children, you do it discreetly. You say "Mr. Feely has had to leave and he won't be coming back. He had an emergency come up. He wanted to say goodbye but had to leave immediately." Was it handled that way?
You know it wasn't. "MR FEELY IS A PERVERT!! HE WAS TEACHING YOUR CHILDREN AND JUST LOOK AT THE DISGUSTING FILTH ON HIS COMPUTER!! HE EVEN SWIPED JANIE'S PANTIES!!!!!!!!!" It was top news for days on end. Thirty children are scarred for life and know now that any adult - no matter how benevolent, might easily be (probably is) trying to molest them. What child does not love his or her kindergarten teacher? Who is trusted more? 
Even for the guy's own sake, it might be acknowledged somewhere that he had thus far resisted acting upon what he was feeding himself with. It might be a case of 'salvaging what is left.' Instead he is universally denounced as a depraved monster - thus there is no way he will ever cover. He might not anyway, but why ensure the outcome? He can be put on the sex registry list without throwing the city into an uproar. He is done so with maximum publicity mainly for entertainment purposes and to allow certain ones to puff out their chests about their moral righteousness.
The only reason authorities started tracking viewers of porn in the first place is because they thought they could thereby cut off the flow. I guess they got that wrong.  It has continued to grow exponentially for years.  Users will store the stuff on thumb drives and bury it in their back yards before they give up on it. The top cop in Britain recently said, though it pained him, that such users should not be prosecuted. There is no way police can possibly keep up - there are so many - and by attempting it they are torn from pursuing the most dangerous criminals. You can't have every third person employed as a cop.
And the world would play moral superiority with Witnesses?
The world slaps down perversion on one hand and feeds it with the other. Does anyone think the Law and Order - Special Victims Unit show is not a magnet to draw and feed molesters who fantasize over the world they would love to see? Does anyone think they walk away saying: "Wow. This is bad! I should never do it"? The show is entertainment for the average person? I cannot watch one straight through. It is entertainment mostly to vigilantes and perverts and perverts-in-training.
And they would pretend they are more righteous than us? I don't think so.
Meanwhile there is an underage kid placed on the registry for having sex with his girlfriend of 13. This, despite the prevalent teaching that parents should accept the fact that their kids are going to have sex and to get them vaccinated for HPV and not be so Victorian about it. Another young man is put on the list for having sex with his underage girlfriend who misrepresented herself as above age. In each case a domino effect is started and neither young man is likely to ever fully recover. 
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/11/oklahoma.teen.sex.offender/index.html
These stories are a dime a dozen. They are collateral damage in a war where zealots say: "we may not be able to do anything about terrorism or suicides or corruption or injustice or drug abuse or job insecurity, but by God - we CAN do something about perverts fiddling with our kids. But in fact, they can't even do that. A depraved world cranks out pedophiles as readily as it cranks out men who become radicalized and shoot up or run down anyone in sight. 
These people are our moral betters?
There is a style among women that I can only call the pedo look. Grown women with hairstyles and polo shirts to look like little boys. Probably just a coincidence.
Here is a headline story in the New York Times gushing over a ten year old male model. "His eye makeup is better than yours!" it swoons. Is this a perv site? No. It is the New York Times. The boy has over 330,000 followers on social media. What a great success story! Do you think they ask how many of them are pedophiles? Why - it doesn't occur to them to go there. Soon they will run another blockbuster story exposing the results of what they now push.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/style/his-eye-makeup-is-way-better-than-yours.html
And they would play the moral high card? This world does everything it can to titillate perversion and then acts all furious when it actually breaks out. Allen doesn't let them get away with it, though most others acquiesce to some degree, and the real villains push the notion that the world's pedo problems would largely disappear were it not for that religion they can't stand.
 

If we step outside the world of Bible believing people, we find this is exactly how those of critical though (higher criticism) regard Paul. They practically treat him as a person who founded a separate religion, reinterpreting the words and teachings of Jesus - linking them to OT events that Jesus himself never linked them to.
It brings to mind those who rail at the marked difference in direction from Russell to Rutherford, from Rutherford to Knorr, from Knorr to the GB. They are fixated on men. If they are going to harp on this, tell them to not be so namby-pamby. Tell them to follow through. Tell them to ignore Paul and focus on only what Jesus said. 
It is the same with those like @Noble Berean who started this line of discussion, with the GB. It cannot be that God works through that group of men? Don't be such a wimp! Extend your logic to Jesus and Paul. Take your Bible and rip out every book after Acts.