TrueTomHarley

If I understand this correctly, then the new truth you have arrived at is that the world is salvageable and we should all work to fix it, rather than carry on about there being a true religion and an end of this system of things.

We have already covered the scriptural evidence of a triune God and it is laughably small.
The reason I shy from these type of discussions is that always participants have been convinced by revelation of some sort. How does one counter that?
Truth revealed through revelation is fine until you find someone else who has also received truth by revelation and it differs from yours.

This may be one of the most evil schemes I have ever read, and it is all the more evil in that it is perfectly legal. It is more evil still in that perpetrators may think themselves benefactors. Rachel Aviv deserves a Pulitzer. No punishment is too severe for the perpetrators, who may be legion. People who insist upon gun rights will say this is exactly why they advocate for them.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/09/how-the-elderly-lose-their-rights

This may be one of the most evil schemes I have ever read, and it is all the more evil in that it is perfectly legal. It is more evil still in that perpetrators may think themselves benefactors. Rachel Aviv deserves a Pulitzer. No punishment is too severe for the perpetrators, who may be legion. People who insist upon gun rights will say this is exactly why they advocate for them.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/09/how-the-elderly-lose-their-rights

Yeah, so much is done for them now, you have to do this just to wake them up!

I'm going to get me one of those things someday that all you have to do it tap the cashier on the forehead with it and the transaction is done.

I can't see anything particularly sinister about publicising the manner in which donations can be made to fund the worldwide work of Jehovah's Witnesses. It would actually be pretty naive to ommit to do this nowadays,  as electronic systems have changed the options available, and opened up a way of reducing the costs involved in processing money.
Equally, to suggest ways that experienced ones can help those who are unfamiliar with electronic donation methods is completely practical and of great assistance to those who wish to use these channels, but feel a little daunted by the methods.
To have this as a meeting item is beneficial, as it covers all of the various contribution methods currently available and alerts all present to these varied facilities. To make such information geographically specific by means of the website is also highly efficient.
I have found contribution methods to nearly always be a topic of interest to new ones I bring to the meeting. Not only do they expect to contribute something to costs, but they are often puzzled as to why so little is said about money. This sometimes arouses suspicion on their part as to some sort of financial "whammy" that might be waiting in the wings should they pursue their interest. So having information on contribution methods clearly available and transparent is indeed prudent. Considering the content of the video, it would seem to fit the generally held view of such contributions as "unsolicited". 
 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/nonprofits-difference-between-solicited-unsolicited-rosana-ortega/
It is true that religions in general have behaved in a scandalous manner with regard to "unrighteous riches",  unashamedly heaping great reproach on God's name, as pointed out so ably by George Carlin. Notwithstanding, people are still willing to contribute to what they feel is a good cause, and I am regularly given funds by members of the public as a contribution to our work which, even if they do not belong to our movement, they see as genuine and above board. Most people I witness to quickly see that with Jehovah's Witnesses, they get much value for actually no money at all. I am happy to contribute to an organisation that seeks to genuinely preach "the good news of the kingdom", and most of those who stick around are of the same mind.
(I will let the cynics blow their hot gas about fancy suits, expensive watches, "misappropriated" Kingdom Hall funds, legal expenses etc. etc. themselves.)

This is ridiculous. Yes, of course you can find some who have espoused the same, but given where we are in the stream of time, it's a bit late to be still meeting in a Quonset hut under the direction of a pork chop preacher. It's a bit late not to have made serious headway in preaching the Matt 24:14 good news, and nobody else is doing that. You don't have to go to the archives and search the journals of religion. You just have to look around you.

I was a sleeping JW for the last 8 hours or so, but now I have awaken.
I don't believe in answering questions like this because there is no way for you to check. I could tell you I am a circuit overseer. I could tell you I am disfellowshipped. How would you know?
To the extent you are interested, judge for yourself by what I have written. Seriously. That is your best guide. You may say that you are not that interested to do it. That's okay, too.

I was a sleeping JW for the last 8 hours or so, but now I have awaken.
I don't believe in answering questions like this because there is no way for you to check. I could tell you I am a circuit overseer. I could tell you I am disfellowshipped. How would you know?
To the extent you are interested, judge for yourself by what I have written. Seriously. That is your best guide. You may say that you are not that interested to do it. That's okay, too.

Ford had just pardoned Nixon. After a bruising several months of the Nixon Presidency under assault, people ate up Ford's promise of better times ahead and the words he used to describe them.
At a convention I attended, the speaker worked his way through end-time themes, before holding aloft that morning's paper with the huge headline:  "Peace and Security." 
"Have you seen today's headlines?" he cried.
It was irresistible. I would have done it, too.
It will absolutely happen. But there have been false positives along the way.

When I say 'right reasons' I am not speaking biblically. I am simply speaking of reasons that are not hypocritical. Things you have flagged are not the right reasons, imo. The GB has done flip-flops on doctrinal things? They've never said otherwise. What is 'the light gets brighter' or 'tacking' if not an admission that positions are being revised? 
But they are all on superfluous things. They are all trimmings on the tree, and not the tree itself. The essential doctrines of Jehovah's Witnesses that distinguish us from anyone else have been bedrock for over 100 years - teachings that the Trinity is false, for example, and that the soul does not live on after death. These are the the important points that one should focus on. No one else figured it out. You didn't. I didn't. The GB did. We should cut them slack for that reason. If they have all become villains, as some people here seem to think, then God will make them all drop in their tracks. He's God. He can do things like that.
2 Timothy 4:10 tells us that Demas left Christianity because he 'loved the present system of things' One may not agree with his decision, but it is not hypocritical. That's what I meant by the 'right reasons.'
John wrote (1 John 2:19) that many had left because 'they were not of our sort.' Again, one may think their actions unwise, but they are not hypocritical.

Nobody ever said that that would not happen. And if they ever did, they changed it.

Actually, I meant 'spinning' that might not translate, for in the U.S. it has only been applied to political matters in the last decade or so - perhaps that new definition has not caught on with other lands.
Spin (from thesaurus.com)
Synonyms for spin
noun circular motion spiralstar twiststar circuitstar gyrationstar revolutionstar rollstar rotationstar turnstar whirlstar   None of these words apply. 'Spin' the way I have used it is slanting or interpreting data one way or another according to one's bias.

Of course. Nobody produces a translation and says "our translation sucks." I'm amazed people expect that should happen. Translators anywhere defend their translation and laud it's virtues.
 
To a large degree, that's why I started blogging. 'Why should scoundrels own the internet?' I asked. I don't even fear going a bit over-the-top at times - though I hope not routinely. Heaven knows, they do. 
Of course, they always will own the internet, just as you-know-who owns the fence. But here and there perhaps one can poke a hole through the wall. It need not be monolithic.

Not exactly. "Exoneration" is not a legal term. They were never declared innocent of all charges. But the prosecution admitted that errors had taken place during the trial. It was declared to be a kind of mistrial that needed to be retried. We were actually one of at least a dozen cases based on the new Sedition Act of 1918. (Several were from other small religions, or individual rogue preachers within a religion.) The prosecution could have renewed the case at any time, but these types of cases are not considered worth the trouble outside the context of some kind of war.
*** yb75 p. 118 Part 2—United States of America ***
Reversal of the eight Bible Students’ erroneous convictions on May 14, 1919, meant that they were free unless the government chose to reprosecute. But the war was over and the authorities realized that on the basis of the facts it would be impossible to get a conviction. Hence, in open court at Brooklyn, on May 5, 1920, the government’s lawyer announced withdrawal of the prosecution. The indictments were dismissed by action of nolle prosequi.  
 

When the only reviews are negative, I've felt the same need to get in and counter with something a bit over-the-top positive. But I like to keep it honest.
In truth, JW Library is an excellent technical achievement. Considering how little we knew in the 1970s about technology (at Bethel) and how the entire computer department was still having trouble getting anything finished correctly well into the 1980s, the Watchtower Library CD is an amazingly good piece of technology. The entire JW.ORG website is top-notch. The WOLJW.ORG is top notch, TV.JW.ORG is almost top notch (JW Broadcasting), and serves its purpose perfectly. So far, all the apps work perfectly, especially on Apple products.
Is there bias in our translation? Yes. But not as much as most people think. But it's still a very useful translation, because many of those biases are based on the fact that the Hebrew and Greek can actually support a wider range of correct translation than most people have imagined. When I worked college/university territories around the campuses of the University of Missouri, I found it very easy to place the Kingdom Interlinear Translation for $2. It didn't matter so much how we had translated it in the margin, but I could show how the Interlinear portion worked as a primer for NT Greek. The value was excellent and the product gave us a lot of credibility. I think all of our recent forays into technology have given us a lot of credibility, even if some had a rough start.

No. I do not think your take is correct. 
There is no way proscecuting authorities are not going to know what religion you came from, and this will make "problems" for them regardless of what you say. That is especially true when young men of that religion routinely refuse military service as they come of age. It won't matter what they say - the fact that they come from a certain religion will cause problems for that religion in the eyes of YU government.
He was probably giving you your highest chance of success, for the Bible is more respected in the country than is the JW religion. Attach your refusal to the highest cause possible if you want to maximize chances of success.
 

Yes! No wonder you are coughing when you see the amazing accomplishment of those eight dear men you have pictured! 
Look at the witness they have given! And all of our brothers worldwide who wrote in have a share! And, of course, our 175K brothers in Russia are the real heroes. 
Note the two pronounced and permanent spikes in web traffic to jw.org following the April 20th verdict and the July 17th appeal! You have good reason to praise these men, @James Thomas Rook Jr. I understand why you would do it. Millions of people check to see if jw.org is truly extremist as reported. Of course, they see it is not. What an amazing service they have rendered to Jehovah - almost as much as certain ones who go online and do nothing but bitch!
However, James,, you should remember that they are but men, who give all glory to Jehovah. You should not be worshiping these guys.
 

.    https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/jw.org
 

Unfortunately, after my experience, a thief could break down my door, yell "Peace and Security," and I would roll over and go back to sleep.
There's too many ways things can be spun. I leave it to others and focus on the work that is engrossing in its own right. i take the party line without fuss, but always tentatively, for maybe it will change someday.
Meanwhile....oops...sorry - just had to dodge a missile from RocketMan

Ford had just pardoned Nixon. After a bruising several months of the Nixon Presidency under assault, people ate up Ford's promise of better times ahead and the words he used to describe them.
At a convention I attended, the speaker worked his way through end-time themes, before holding aloft that morning's paper with the huge headline:  "Peace and Security." 
"Have you seen today's headlines?" he cried.
It was irresistible. I would have done it, too.
It will absolutely happen. But there have been false positives along the way.

Yes! No wonder you are coughing when you see the amazing accomplishment of those eight dear men you have pictured! 
Look at the witness they have given! And all of our brothers worldwide who wrote in have a share! And, of course, our 175K brothers in Russia are the real heroes. 
Note the two pronounced and permanent spikes in web traffic to jw.org following the April 20th verdict and the July 17th appeal! You have good reason to praise these men, @James Thomas Rook Jr. I understand why you would do it. Millions of people check to see if jw.org is truly extremist as reported. Of course, they see it is not. What an amazing service they have rendered to Jehovah - almost as much as certain ones who go online and do nothing but bitch!
However, James,, you should remember that they are but men, who give all glory to Jehovah. You should not be worshiping these guys.
 

.    https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/jw.org
 

Yes! No wonder you are coughing when you see the amazing accomplishment of those eight dear men you have pictured! 
Look at the witness they have given! And all of our brothers worldwide who wrote in have a share! And, of course, our 175K brothers in Russia are the real heroes. 
Note the two pronounced and permanent spikes in web traffic to jw.org following the April 20th verdict and the July 17th appeal! You have good reason to praise these men, @James Thomas Rook Jr. I understand why you would do it. Millions of people check to see if jw.org is truly extremist as reported. Of course, they see it is not. What an amazing service they have rendered to Jehovah - almost as much as certain ones who go online and do nothing but bitch!
However, James,, you should remember that they are but men, who give all glory to Jehovah. You should not be worshiping these guys.
 

.    https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/jw.org
 

There are some who, if they came to my door merely as themselves, I would run in terror.

This is a classic example of getting slammed for doing the right thing and should not be spun any other way.
The way you (as a faith) avoid such problems is to take no interest in the conduct of your members. Preach to them on Sunday  and let that be the end of it. If they apply it, they apply it. If they don't, they don't. It's no concern of yours as the pastor. That way, should any turn out to be molesters, you can never be made to look bad for investigating it because you never even learn of it.
God gets shortchanged that way because he expects a clean people, but who cares? He's God. Tell him to suck it up.
Witnesses alone investigate wrong conduct so as to keep the congregation clean, which God expects them to do. In the case of pedophiles, they investigate also to make sure one does not simply slip out of one congregation and into another. That is the sole purpose of any records kept.
If they have ever erred in any investigations, this should not be spun as a negative, for no one else even attempts it, though they all should.