TrueTomHarley

though not especially relevant, I came across this witticism:
Give a man a poem and he will starve for a day. Teach him to be a poet, and he will starve for a lifetime.

There is such a thing as 'God,' you know.

though not especially relevant, I came across this witticism:
Give a man a poem and he will starve for a day. Teach him to be a poet, and he will starve for a lifetime.

Why am I not more like good @Araunawith his spot-on definitions of knowledge and wisdom? Is he not on track with how Jesus reasons?
Jesus speaks a lot in the gospels, yet very little of what he says would satisfy today's disciples of argument and reason. He spins complex parables which he rarely explains. He diverts from hostile questions by asking counterquestions. He even goes for ad hominem attacks, though, as someone here mentioned, he always connects the attack with the reason, so it is more like character cross-examination in court. Nowhere does he patiently thrash out matters with his opponents. He speaks things for the heart to figure out.
Increasingly, I think he (and Jehovah) do it on purpose, so that those too carried away with Western-style argumentation and proving themselves right will argue themselves right off the deck of the ship before it reaches Port Newsystem.

That says it all, IMO. 
It is the uneasy passenger who tried to redirect the plane - for he has studied flying himself -  and the pilot's response was 'inadequate.'

That says it all, IMO. 
It is the uneasy passenger who tried to redirect the plane - for he has studied flying himself -  and the pilot's response was 'inadequate.'

though not especially relevant, I came across this witticism:
Give a man a poem and he will starve for a day. Teach him to be a poet, and he will starve for a lifetime.

The judge knew what he had to do.
I am sorry to hear it, and not just for the right reason. I am sorry to hear it for Russia's sake, too - which should be none of my concern.
I am saddened to see a 'great' nation so clearly paint itself as Neanderthal-witted,  and contemptuous of universally and clearly recognized truth. 

though not especially relevant, I came across this witticism:
Give a man a poem and he will starve for a day. Teach him to be a poet, and he will starve for a lifetime.

though not especially relevant, I came across this witticism:
Give a man a poem and he will starve for a day. Teach him to be a poet, and he will starve for a lifetime.

@bruceq alerted me to the Alexa.com site, which I had never seen before. it rates websites for traffic.
As the persecution of our brothers in Russia is gathering steam, the worldwide ranking of jw.org shoots up from #1200 to #800 -  in the span of just three months.  People worldwide hear the charge that the website is extremist. They visit to see whether that is so. Of course, they discover that it is not.    https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/jw.org
The Russian authorities are doing kingdom interests a great favor. It is a 21st century adaptation of Acts 8:1&4: Villains succeed in shutting down the good news locally. But not without much publicity, which ultimately intensifies the witness. In time, the kingdom message spills right back into where it was banned in the first place - stronger than before. 

Where do jw.org's visitors come from?
Search Traffic
What percentage of visits to this site come from a search engine?
Search Visits
14.10%  Notice the two big jumps right after the first verdict in Russia and then the second verdict in Russia. And since JW.ORG is banned in Russia this is a worldwide increase in searches not just people in Russia searching. As you stated Russia has done more for Jehovah than they realize. 39. For if this scheme or this work is from men, it will be overthrown; 39  but if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them.+ Otherwise, you may even be found fighters against God himself  .Acts 5:39.00a%  a

True tom:
A brother gave a talk about preaching, and he said that Jesus took his disciples apart and explained the parables to them.  Yet Jesus avoided to answer the Pharisees, who were always trying to trick him,  except when there were people present who could benefit by his reply.
I thought it was a neat point.
To add to what you said so well: we have a saying in my language....literally translated it means :  the clever one is trapped by his own cleverness. 
 
 
 
 

Why am I not more like good @Araunawith his spot-on definitions of knowledge and wisdom? Is he not on track with how Jesus reasons?
Jesus speaks a lot in the gospels, yet very little of what he says would satisfy today's disciples of argument and reason. He spins complex parables which he rarely explains. He diverts from hostile questions by asking counterquestions. He even goes for ad hominem attacks, though, as someone here mentioned, he always connects the attack with the reason, so it is more like character cross-examination in court. Nowhere does he patiently thrash out matters with his opponents. He speaks things for the heart to figure out.
Increasingly, I think he (and Jehovah) do it on purpose, so that those too carried away with Western-style argumentation and proving themselves right will argue themselves right off the deck of the ship before it reaches Port Newsystem.

@bruceq alerted me to the Alexa.com site, which I had never seen before. it rates websites for traffic.
As the persecution of our brothers in Russia is gathering steam, the worldwide ranking of jw.org shoots up from #1200 to #800 -  in the span of just three months.  People worldwide hear the charge that the website is extremist. They visit to see whether that is so. Of course, they discover that it is not.    https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/jw.org
The Russian authorities are doing kingdom interests a great favor. It is a 21st century adaptation of Acts 8:1&4: Villains succeed in shutting down the good news locally. But not without much publicity, which ultimately intensifies the witness. In time, the kingdom message spills right back into where it was banned in the first place - stronger than before. 

Why am I not more like good @Araunawith his spot-on definitions of knowledge and wisdom? Is he not on track with how Jesus reasons?
Jesus speaks a lot in the gospels, yet very little of what he says would satisfy today's disciples of argument and reason. He spins complex parables which he rarely explains. He diverts from hostile questions by asking counterquestions. He even goes for ad hominem attacks, though, as someone here mentioned, he always connects the attack with the reason, so it is more like character cross-examination in court. Nowhere does he patiently thrash out matters with his opponents. He speaks things for the heart to figure out.
Increasingly, I think he (and Jehovah) do it on purpose, so that those too carried away with Western-style argumentation and proving themselves right will argue themselves right off the deck of the ship before it reaches Port Newsystem.

Why am I not more like good @Araunawith his spot-on definitions of knowledge and wisdom? Is he not on track with how Jesus reasons?
Jesus speaks a lot in the gospels, yet very little of what he says would satisfy today's disciples of argument and reason. He spins complex parables which he rarely explains. He diverts from hostile questions by asking counterquestions. He even goes for ad hominem attacks, though, as someone here mentioned, he always connects the attack with the reason, so it is more like character cross-examination in court. Nowhere does he patiently thrash out matters with his opponents. He speaks things for the heart to figure out.
Increasingly, I think he (and Jehovah) do it on purpose, so that those too carried away with Western-style argumentation and proving themselves right will argue themselves right off the deck of the ship before it reaches Port Newsystem.

Perhaps I should not say this, but this discussion does not bother me. Nor does it do damage to the cause, even if Ms. Violin appears to hope it will. Historically, many have peered intensely into these things. They still are. It is nothing new that they do it here.
The big fat books we used to study, when explaining some teaching, would preface their remarks with: "it does not mean this' and 'it does not mean that." 'Why do they say what it does not mean?' the Circuit Overseer asked. 'Why don't they just say what it does mean?' It was for the sake of the old-timers, who were being called upon to unravel understandings they once had. Understandings come and go. I'll take the GB's current version because they have some tangible apparatus to show that what they spin has been blessed by God. God's spirit has moved countless volunteers to do things that they do nowhere else. I'm actually a little heartened to see some discuss at length things like this because "it ain't me, babe." I don't feel threatened by it. Let them quibble chronology till the cows come home and hope they are not missing the facts on the ground @Araunaspeaks of, for that is where the real proof of is - faith expressed in practical ways that no one else has gotten around to doing. This stuff is icing on the cake with innumerable variables arguable many ways.
Listen, I'm smart (if you are not fussy) yet this all goes over my head. It will do the same to everyone. Not so if I took hours to review and digest it, but I don't - the real truth is supported by deeds, and if there are no supporting deeds, then it is mere academic air and no one ought to get too worked up over it. Let the ones who have made it a special interest carry on with discussion. For personal reasons, there are a few non-spiritual subjects I know in considerable detail. Why should I object that some have made this theirs? I'll just interrupt here and there to insult @The Librarian.(the meddlesome hen)

Though some carry on about it more than you think they should, nobody can ever say that in a lifetime of service to God, you won’t experience some injustice. It is not business-as-usual routine, but when it does happen, it can be serious. All the more so because you expect trouble from the general world, but not from the brotherhood. When it comes, it throws you for a loop. It is like the verse quoted in the Watchtower study this week, Psalm 55: 12-14:
“For it is not an enemy who taunts me; Otherwise I could put up with it. It is not a foe who has risen up against me; otherwise I could conceal myself from him. But it is you, a man like me, my own companion, whom I know well. We used to enjoy a warm friendship together; into the house of God we used to walk along with the multitude.”
The study article was illustrated with one real-life injustice, and one from the scriptures. A Brother Diehl from 1949 is mentioned. He caught all kinds of heat when he decided to marry. Brothers were all serious back then about single persons in the circuit or Bethel work remaining single, a situation that was not resolved, legend has it, until Brother Knorr himself married. Now THAT’S human! Let nobody say that these guys aren’t. Diehl could certainly be understood if he bellyached about it, but it wouldn’t do him any good. All he could do was get others stirred up. So he waited it out. He was right, but he didn’t make a big deal over it. Eventually, everyone came around. He took it on the chin for a while.
The example from scripture is more serious. Joseph was sold out by his brothers and ended up in slavery. A silver lining eventually materialized and he became a big cheese in Potipher’s house, then he was slammed again and sent to prison for 13 years. Believe me, I would whine plenty about it, but if Joseph did, there is no record of it. What the record shows is that overall he allowed it to mold him:
But now do not be upset and do not reproach one another because you sold me here; because God has sent me ahead of you for the preservation of life … So, then, it was not you who sent me here, but it was the true God, in order to appoint me as chief adviser to Pharoah and lord for all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. (Genesis 45:5-8)
He didn’t know he would be appointed chief adviser to Pharoah until he was, and had he moaned forever about his kidnapping and later imprisonment, he wouldn’t have been. Everyone could have understood him bitching, but it wouldn’t have done him any good. People screw things up. Usually, their motive is not bad, but sometimes it is, as in Joseph’s case. Often, you don’t have the power to fix things. You do have the power, however, to make them worse.
(‘The Judge of the Earth Always Does What is Right;’ the Watchtower, April 2017 – study edition)

He does it all the time, spinning parables designed to draw out the heart, & frustrate junkies of critical analysis.

Several literal renderings went out the window, and I miss them. I see why they had to go - for the sake of clarification, especially to cultures not attuned to Hebrew thinking, but I miss them nonetheless.
No longer do the grousers grouse that God's way is 'not adjusted right' and Jehovah turns the tables on them by asking 'is not your way not adjusted right?' Now they simply call each other 'wrong.' (Ezekiel 33)
No longer do faces sharpen one another. That's too bad. There are faces here that you could shave with.
Yikes! Alexa declines to even rate my website - tomsheepandgoats who? it says. I have to register. To be sure, I would have been blown away had I appeared in the top 10,000,000. But I did't think they would deign to acknowledge it's existence. Surely they are in cahoots with @The Librarian
 

Several literal renderings went out the window, and I miss them. I see why they had to go - for the sake of clarification, especially to cultures not attuned to Hebrew thinking, but I miss them nonetheless.
No longer do the grousers grouse that God's way is 'not adjusted right' and Jehovah turns the tables on them by asking 'is not your way not adjusted right?' Now they simply call each other 'wrong.' (Ezekiel 33)
No longer do faces sharpen one another. That's too bad. There are faces here that you could shave with.
Yikes! Alexa declines to even rate my website - tomsheepandgoats who? it says. I have to register. To be sure, I would have been blown away had I appeared in the top 10,000,000. But I did't think they would deign to acknowledge it's existence. Surely they are in cahoots with @The Librarian
 

Perhaps I should not say this, but this discussion does not bother me. Nor does it do damage to the cause, even if Ms. Violin appears to hope it will. Historically, many have peered intensely into these things. They still are. It is nothing new that they do it here.
The big fat books we used to study, when explaining some teaching, would preface their remarks with: "it does not mean this' and 'it does not mean that." 'Why do they say what it does not mean?' the Circuit Overseer asked. 'Why don't they just say what it does mean?' It was for the sake of the old-timers, who were being called upon to unravel understandings they once had. Understandings come and go. I'll take the GB's current version because they have some tangible apparatus to show that what they spin has been blessed by God. God's spirit has moved countless volunteers to do things that they do nowhere else. I'm actually a little heartened to see some discuss at length things like this because "it ain't me, babe." I don't feel threatened by it. Let them quibble chronology till the cows come home and hope they are not missing the facts on the ground @Araunaspeaks of, for that is where the real proof of is - faith expressed in practical ways that no one else has gotten around to doing. This stuff is icing on the cake with innumerable variables arguable many ways.
Listen, I'm smart (if you are not fussy) yet this all goes over my head. It will do the same to everyone. Not so if I took hours to review and digest it, but I don't - the real truth is supported by deeds, and if there are no supporting deeds, then it is mere academic air and no one ought to get too worked up over it. Let the ones who have made it a special interest carry on with discussion. For personal reasons, there are a few non-spiritual subjects I know in considerable detail. Why should I object that some have made this theirs? I'll just interrupt here and there to insult @The Librarian.(the meddlesome hen)

Perhaps I should not say this, but this discussion does not bother me. Nor does it do damage to the cause, even if Ms. Violin appears to hope it will. Historically, many have peered intensely into these things. They still are. It is nothing new that they do it here.
The big fat books we used to study, when explaining some teaching, would preface their remarks with: "it does not mean this' and 'it does not mean that." 'Why do they say what it does not mean?' the Circuit Overseer asked. 'Why don't they just say what it does mean?' It was for the sake of the old-timers, who were being called upon to unravel understandings they once had. Understandings come and go. I'll take the GB's current version because they have some tangible apparatus to show that what they spin has been blessed by God. God's spirit has moved countless volunteers to do things that they do nowhere else. I'm actually a little heartened to see some discuss at length things like this because "it ain't me, babe." I don't feel threatened by it. Let them quibble chronology till the cows come home and hope they are not missing the facts on the ground @Araunaspeaks of, for that is where the real proof of is - faith expressed in practical ways that no one else has gotten around to doing. This stuff is icing on the cake with innumerable variables arguable many ways.
Listen, I'm smart (if you are not fussy) yet this all goes over my head. It will do the same to everyone. Not so if I took hours to review and digest it, but I don't - the real truth is supported by deeds, and if there are no supporting deeds, then it is mere academic air and no one ought to get too worked up over it. Let the ones who have made it a special interest carry on with discussion. For personal reasons, there are a few non-spiritual subjects I know in considerable detail. Why should I object that some have made this theirs? I'll just interrupt here and there to insult @The Librarian.(the meddlesome hen)

The shriveled-up old biddy @The Librarian often makes pupils wash their mouths out with pages of her books. 
(Am I overdoing this? Vote it down and I will cease and desist for awhile - one mustn't be an annoyance -, depending upon who votes.)