TrueTomHarley

The public ministry grounds a person. Stray from it at your personal spiritual peril.

I will make the job easier by supplying #14 myself:
14.) "And the Devil who was misleading them was hurled into the lake of fire...." (Rev 20:10)
That's supposed to bother him? I believe he has a summer cottage on the Lake of Fire.

Disfellowshipped or disassociated persons do accumulate. And they don't always pine for the day they will be reinstated. Sometimes they go on the attack. When they do, like people anywhere, they play down whatever responsibility they had in favor of how others done them in.
You would think that the BBC would get the accurate scoop on what circumstances can lead to this most extreme form of discipline and what ones cannot. It's not as though the process is hidden.

I will make the job easier by supplying #14 myself:
14.) "And the Devil who was misleading them was hurled into the lake of fire...." (Rev 20:10)
That's supposed to bother him? I believe he has a summer cottage on the Lake of Fire.

Disfellowshipped or disassociated persons do accumulate. And they don't always pine for the day they will be reinstated. Sometimes they go on the attack. When they do, like people anywhere, they play down whatever responsibility they had in favor of how others done them in.
You would think that the BBC would get the accurate scoop on what circumstances can lead to this most extreme form of discipline and what ones cannot. It's not as though the process is hidden.

Disfellowshipped or disassociated persons do accumulate. And they don't always pine for the day they will be reinstated. Sometimes they go on the attack. When they do, like people anywhere, they play down whatever responsibility they had in favor of how others done them in.
You would think that the BBC would get the accurate scoop on what circumstances can lead to this most extreme form of discipline and what ones cannot. It's not as though the process is hidden.

I once worked with an agnostic woman who knew God's name was Jehovah because she had seen 'Indiana Jones.' She knew God's original purpose was for the earth to be a paradise because she had seen 'Dogma.'
Though she had never been in a church, she knew from two movies, more about God than do 90% of churchgoers! 

America is bombing more countries than is he.
Look, he's not my pal, but we are wrong if we demonize anyone personally - it's just buying into Western media. Who is there knowing whether with him it will one day be: "The man who formerly persecuted us is not declaring the good news about the faith that he formerly devastated."
No, I don't think it likely, either. But neither was it with Paul. Why poison the well?
And you feel the same way, most likely. It's just that with such a blatant injustice, it is hard not to look for a human villain. That is easy to understand.
It's good that you are here, putting in the loyal comments that you do.

Oh come now. Reports sent to HQ are cumulative, not individual. There they are used to get a thumbnail on the preaching activity in that area.
'Tabulating them' is merely adding up the publisher reports by the congregation secretary so he can send the final sum to HQ - where you would have us believe, they must shake with rage because they want to know each individual's report so they can JUDGE them, but are thwarted in their sinister scheme by only having a single number.
 

I will concede that counting time has some drawbacks. It leads to notions of being 'on duty' or 'off duty,' even though we are encouraged not to be that way. I suspect evening witnessing is eschewed by pioneers in favor of less-productive daytime witnessing largely because they can get more time with the latter. That's not the only reason, but it is probably among them.
Videos are changing the nature of reporting, as are the contact cards, which I use as a businessman uses his cards. "Everyone has a cause," I will say, "and this is mine," followed by perhaps an observation of the 900 languages and how, for that reason alone, they ought to check it out. Or something else. There is no way I am going to keep track of cards, and at the end of the month, I give a ballpark figure.
increasingly, I do something like that for hours, too. I enjoy evening witnessing. Those hours, IMO, are 'better,' though fewer. What with using cards and even the videos on devices spontaneously, how can one keep track of that time-wise? I don't attempt it. Ballpark suffices. And don't get me going on internet writing. I count none of it, until Bethel is more enthused about it. It's just a personal choice. Some probably do, though I think going online solely to witness is extremely ineffective. Ones who do it, from what I have seen, end up merely talking to each other or arguing with opposers.
Perhaps if we were going to track anything, it might be people talked to, not hours.  Or choose one or the other depending upon the nature of one's territory.  But this could also lead to manufactured situations. 
No matter. The main idea is that the preaching work ought to get done, and nobody is doing that other than Jehovah's Witnesses. Few know the Bible well enough to do it if they wanted to. I'll stick with the people spearheading this work and I'll leave it to them how or to what extent they want to keep track of it.
 

I will concede that counting time has some drawbacks. It leads to notions of being 'on duty' or 'off duty,' even though we are encouraged not to be that way. I suspect evening witnessing is eschewed by pioneers in favor of less-productive daytime witnessing largely because they can get more time with the latter. That's not the only reason, but it is probably among them.
Videos are changing the nature of reporting, as are the contact cards, which I use as a businessman uses his cards. "Everyone has a cause," I will say, "and this is mine," followed by perhaps an observation of the 900 languages and how, for that reason alone, they ought to check it out. Or something else. There is no way I am going to keep track of cards, and at the end of the month, I give a ballpark figure.
increasingly, I do something like that for hours, too. I enjoy evening witnessing. Those hours, IMO, are 'better,' though fewer. What with using cards and even the videos on devices spontaneously, how can one keep track of that time-wise? I don't attempt it. Ballpark suffices. And don't get me going on internet writing. I count none of it, until Bethel is more enthused about it. It's just a personal choice. Some probably do, though I think going online solely to witness is extremely ineffective. Ones who do it, from what I have seen, end up merely talking to each other or arguing with opposers.
Perhaps if we were going to track anything, it might be people talked to, not hours.  Or choose one or the other depending upon the nature of one's territory.  But this could also lead to manufactured situations. 
No matter. The main idea is that the preaching work ought to get done, and nobody is doing that other than Jehovah's Witnesses. Few know the Bible well enough to do it if they wanted to. I'll stick with the people spearheading this work and I'll leave it to them how or to what extent they want to keep track of it.
 

I will concede that counting time has some drawbacks. It leads to notions of being 'on duty' or 'off duty,' even though we are encouraged not to be that way. I suspect evening witnessing is eschewed by pioneers in favor of less-productive daytime witnessing largely because they can get more time with the latter. That's not the only reason, but it is probably among them.
Videos are changing the nature of reporting, as are the contact cards, which I use as a businessman uses his cards. "Everyone has a cause," I will say, "and this is mine," followed by perhaps an observation of the 900 languages and how, for that reason alone, they ought to check it out. Or something else. There is no way I am going to keep track of cards, and at the end of the month, I give a ballpark figure.
increasingly, I do something like that for hours, too. I enjoy evening witnessing. Those hours, IMO, are 'better,' though fewer. What with using cards and even the videos on devices spontaneously, how can one keep track of that time-wise? I don't attempt it. Ballpark suffices. And don't get me going on internet writing. I count none of it, until Bethel is more enthused about it. It's just a personal choice. Some probably do, though I think going online solely to witness is extremely ineffective. Ones who do it, from what I have seen, end up merely talking to each other or arguing with opposers.
Perhaps if we were going to track anything, it might be people talked to, not hours.  Or choose one or the other depending upon the nature of one's territory.  But this could also lead to manufactured situations. 
No matter. The main idea is that the preaching work ought to get done, and nobody is doing that other than Jehovah's Witnesses. Few know the Bible well enough to do it if they wanted to. I'll stick with the people spearheading this work and I'll leave it to them how or to what extent they want to keep track of it.
 

Oh come now. Reports sent to HQ are cumulative, not individual. There they are used to get a thumbnail on the preaching activity in that area.
'Tabulating them' is merely adding up the publisher reports by the congregation secretary so he can send the final sum to HQ - where you would have us believe, they must shake with rage because they want to know each individual's report so they can JUDGE them, but are thwarted in their sinister scheme by only having a single number.
 

They're also fairly unique among Christian denominations about actually doing anything about the Word of God,  insomuch as it involves spreading a united message. Denominations that do not completely neglect that work fritter away most of their energies taking sides over social and national issues, and in the end convey only that 'Jesus is God.' When I see the group that has participated in the fulfillment of Matthew 24:14 to even a fraction of JWs, perhaps I will bolt to them. 
'Advertising the kingdom' is the overwhelming theme today. All else is fine print, arguable this way or that, but fine print nonetheless.
 

People keep track of many numbers - blood pressure, age, speed at which they are driving, weight, exact bank balance. It's not wrong to do it and it doesn't interfere with one's appreciation for 'the real thing.' There will always be some anal people who obsess over any number, but that is them, not the number. 
It's a quick take on one's participation in the work Jesus said people should do. It makes possible an overall glimpse of the regional preaching activity enabling planning and allocation of resources.
Nobody drops people like the paid church preachers, where the only metric they track is donations - the one metric that no one ever knows about in the Christian congregation. Our elders are unpaid volunteers who often have much on their plates - working, and raising families. They do the best they can, feel bad when they fall short, and are continually trained to do better. They don't have to serve at all. 
It's not that your point is invalid, but to obsess over it too much is to show yourself as anal as the ones you gripe about.

Dr. Mike 'Ace' Inhibitor strode into the hospital to see his patient, who looked grim. "Nurse, get me this man's metrics." he said. 
His nurse, Hep See, was shocked. "Doctor, this is a person, not a collection of 'metrics!' she rebuked the man.
"All I meant was..." the doctor began.... "It's very clear what you meant!" she shot back. "You need more love!"
"Oh for crying out loud!" Dr. Inhibitor cried in disgust. "Give me a hack saw. We're going in blind."

Oh? And those passing by a cart are all skipping and laughing over the sheer joy of life and banishment of cares?
In fact, doing good is much like exercising a muscle, or working out your brain. It triggers a bottomless capacity to do more. It is not the win-lose situation you seem to be stuck on. It is a win-win.
The '"ten hours" (your emphasis - not mine) is not a lot, and it represents helping people, as it is a measure of Jesus command to preach the good news. Generally speaking, people who do it will not be too busy to also visit the sick and the elderly. And people too self-absorbed to do it will not instead visit the sick and the elderly.

For whatever it is worth, when I was an elder, I kept my own personal check list of all attendees. During the course of the meeting I would discreetly (I hope) look about and place a check/no check by everyone's name. It is too easy to fall through the cracks when there are many things to occupy one's attention. To the extent possible, I wished to avoid that.
I stopped serving for a variety of reasons and forgot all about my lists. Two decades later, I visited my daughter's congregation and sat next to her. There in her lap was a list on which she was discretely entering check marks.
I don't claim that we are always good at human interaction. But we are head and shoulders above the world in general where people ask: "so, what do you do?" and if there is no interesting job or interest in something contemporary and silly, have no idea how to interact afterwards and sort of look forward to slipping away.
Some of it comes with age. But if age has conspired to make one self-centered, that does not help, either. Everyone is self-centered to some degree. More than any group I know, JW's help people to break away from that.

Well - it's very touching but it's hardly rocket science. There are not 500 people in a Kingdom Hall. There are usually under 100. I look around, and when I see someone I don't know, I walk up and talk to them.

Great grandfather. My grandfather was a Kodak man, back when there was a Kodak. (it still exists, but it is a shadow, and is largely out of town.
 
Well, that's what they told us at Cobb's Hill Reservior, when they unveiled a monument (plaque) to great grandpa. they opened up the facility then and anyone that wanted could climb down and see the infrastructure. Whatever was today is not necessarily the same as yesteryear, but the general pattern is the same, with updates.
I don't have it at my fingertips, but if he died at 102 and maintained an office at City Hall till then, his 30 years might be more. Perhaps it is 40. Or perhaps it is his formal employment as C.O, after which there were years of consulting. He is listed as among Rochester's most dedicated public servants. Nobody has heard of him anymore, which is a good reminder of how quickly we are forgotten after our time, regardless of our accomplishments,  and how welcome is the prospect of everlasting life.

"This concludes this evening's performance of 'The 1914 Overture,' with Maestro Bruce Q conducting the Forum Orchestra and Chorale, with JTR acccompanying on the cymbals. Maestro Q brilliantly led the orchestra through a strident interpretation of 'Hail to the Chief,' before finally rallying all for a stirring rendition of 'We Will Be Loyal With Caveats!' Our thanks to @The Librarianfor keeping the concert hall open past her bedtime. Tune in next week when we will hear a performance of the timeless opera 'The Overlappers.'"

Yes, of course I'll go along with that. When I bought my ticket from Holy Bus Lines, it was their photos I saw on the terminal wall. That was never hidden from me.
I also know that they may hit a pothole or three, for the weather is abysmal and the road is uncharted.  Moreover, they do not require me to sit up straight at all times - they allow me to stretch, talk to my neighbor, and use the bathroom.
I'd be surprised if the date goes. It's been around forever and it was reaffirmed at the Regional. The herd is running another way at present, but we all know about running with the herd. Perceptions can change.
Still, if it goes, it goes. It's not why I'm here. Nobody else can explain why God permits suffering. Nobody else can explain what happens to the dead, why we die at all, and what hope for those who have. Nobody else can explain why human governments do nothing but foul the nest, so that I am not stuck with the pathetic hope that the next leader, this time for sure, will fix things. Nobody else preaches the good news of the kingdom, nor unifies those responding. Nobody else would have kept me safe from the new morality.  Perhaps my marriage would not be intact, for few teach the Bible's message of yielding to the other person. The Bible would be an unassembled jigsaw puzzle in my closet were it not for the GB spearheading the work others feel free to criticize but do not offer to do. I owe them loyalty. I will pay it.
If understandings change, you do damage control, hope for the best, and pray for Jehovah's continued goodness.  It has been that way ever since Jesus spoke about 'drinking his blood.' 
You can't change people, Bruce. They'll be what they'll be. To some extent, the more one carries on, the more fuel is added to the fire. The less fuel offered, the quicker it goes out.

"For at present we see in a hazy outline by means of a metal mirror, but then it will be face to face." 

The Hemlock Lake to Rochester fresh water channel is gravity fed. Once the water reaches city reserviors, of course, it is pressurized. 
 
I do notice, however, that I have taken you up on your constant taunt: 'challenge me on ANYTHING - PLEASE DO IT! - and see if I am not the VERY PERSONIFICATION of TRUTH' and you skulk away, tail between your legs, with a 'oh, sorry, I was talking about someone else.' 
Too scared to walk the sewers, are you? My great grandpa would have eaten you for lunch!

We have stumbled upon another way in which one might thwart the nefarious JWI. Just when he is about to shanghai the very stars from their orbits, respond to one of JTR's taunts - he offers up dozens each day - and bicker it out with him for several pages. Poor JWI will put his head in his hands and cry, despairing that he will ever complete his points. Or perhaps he will be grateful for the camouflage provided, since it is not his aim to shine in the first place.
Plus, it makes for fine comic relief.