TrueTomHarley

What a weird congregation you have.
It’s like when the Regional brother and his wife hit town and it isn’t yet clear just what congregation they will be attending. “Are we in that stage of trying to haul in the big fish?” I ask them, making gestures of reeling in the big one. They reply yes. “Well,” I tell them, “just between us, I’m not sure they even believe in God at those other congregations.”

Very clever. Fact-checking Jesus!
and pretty much the truth. I mean, no one actually does what he says today. They have fact-checked him away.

Almost as good:
https://www.tomsheepandgoats.com/2007/07/isaac-asimov-an.html

Almost as good:
https://www.tomsheepandgoats.com/2007/07/isaac-asimov-an.html

Few realize that the Beatles later built upon his platform of philosophy:
”because I told you before…oh…you kant do that.”

What a weird congregation you have.
It’s like when the Regional brother and his wife hit town and it isn’t yet clear just what congregation they will be attending. “Are we in that stage of trying to haul in the big fish?” I ask them, making gestures of reeling in the big one. They reply yes. “Well,” I tell them, “just between us, I’m not sure they even believe in God at those other congregations.”

I’m working up a post with more on that topic of so many going down in the census and subjects related but I’m just not going to do it in front of that moron who ignores the substance of any remark to insert some completely irrelevant insult of those taking the lead in the evangelizing work. In time it will be in the closed forum.

I’m working up a post with more on that topic of so many going down in the census and subjects related but I’m just not going to do it in front of that moron who ignores the substance of any remark to insert some completely irrelevant insult of those taking the lead in the evangelizing work. In time it will be in the closed forum.

I leave all the judgement in the hands of jehovah.  You think YOU are the vehicle of God to do that. If you lived in the time of David you would have been a rebel clamouring with the people that jehovah must destroy David for his sins. Many died because he had a sensus taken of the nation.... I believe in modern language that is called collateral damage..... 

They don’t have to advertise. The state does that for them.
(did you hear on account the country’s enthusiastic embrace, some are call Israel “Pfisrael?”)

About as many who wish he’d never spoken of eating his flesh and drinking his blood.

I think the way I should have put it is that the doctrines don’t change. Once you’ve dealt with them, you’ve dealt with them. Accordingly, in any given year, our publications will barely mention trinity and hellfire beyond a reference or two to how they are “trash’ that interfere with building a relationship with God. Very seldom are there specific paragraphs on trinity, let alone an entire article. Mostly they just refer people back to the Trinity brochure, or whatever has replaced it.
My own blog is the same way. In sixteen years I have maybe 5 or 6 posts specifically on the Trinity. In the Enjoy Life Forever interactive brochure there is almost nothing on trinity or hellfire. All I found was something in the Explore section of lesson 13, How False Religion Misrepresents God:
“For generations, religions have told lies that make God seem distant and cruel. Learn the truth about three of those lies.“Lies That Make God Seem Unlovable” (The Watchtower, November 1, 2013)”
It was even a little frustrating to me because I did have a Bible student from fundamentalist background, a very studious guy always wanting to ‘dig deeper.’ So I dug into how all renderings of hell stem from just 3 original language words—sheol, hades, Gehenna, (with a single exception of one ‘tartarus’), and that all renderings of hellfire come only from Gehenna. I didn’t see where that was specifically dealt with in depth and I ended up going off on my own tangents—Insight book material, and so forth. It is not part of the basic study guide.
Few people seriously believe these doctrines anymore—people have “moved on” from doctrines—and the ones who do, fundamentalists for the most part, are seldom persuaded no matter how much you quote scripture. They are the people who “accepted Jesus” in a flash. Some preacher said “come down and be saved” and in an instant they did, having had no intention of doing so before. They get their “truth” by revelation, not by Bible study. They thereafter cherry pick the Bible to find verses that back up what they believe. Where they find passages that don’t, they dismiss them as poor interpretation, corruption, bad translation, the Bible is too complicated to know, and so forth. Their minds were made up at their “conversion” that happened in an instant. “I’ve never convinced one” my favorite circuit overseer said, an old timer now deceased, on arguing with people over the trinity. 
If we are oldtimers ourselves, and we remember a time when these doctrines were important to people, we can easily fall into the mindset that they still are. But they rarely are. The approach of the Enjoy Life Forever is not to teach people doctrines they don’t believe in anyway only to thereafter tell them they are wrong. Instead, it just teaches Bible truth, and reserves the ‘Lies that Make God Seem Unlovable’ article for anyone still attached to those beliefs. 
Of course, if you happen to be surrounded by people who do love and cherish these doctrines, then lots of time spent disproving them may be just the ticket. But those people are becoming rare, they are rapidly dying out and being replaced by persons who don’t give a hoot. I think that’s way the Watchtower devotes relatively little space to the “false doctrines of Christendom.” They try to keep up, not with how people used to be, but how they are now. They focus on teaching the positive things of the Bible, rather than disproving the negative
 

What if Gordon Lightfoot’s feet really are light?

That could be. A very dear friend of mine lived in Serbia for a time and called them the best people on earth.
It also may be that lawyers are prohibited from media advertising in many countries, maybe there is even a professional code that considers it too crass, as the case year many years ago. Last I heard, pharmaceutical companies are only allowed direct-to-consumer advertising in the U.S. and New Zealand. Trust me, it is an excellent reason to move to Croatia or anywhere else. 

You should get over your obsession on this. Unfortunately, lawyers are a byproduct of living in the modern world. 
You and I both remember when the premier sponsors for TV news programs were manufacturers or merchants. Now they are lawyers. With no exaggeration I can count over a dozen lawyers who regularly advertise on local media, some a dozen times a day. If you have pockets, someone will find a pretext to try to empty them. It Is a societal transfer of funds for every reason under the sun, with barristers netting a third.
Don’t misunderstand. There are wrongs to be righted. We live in a society that views money as the way to right wrongs. It’s not to say that every lawsuit is just a money grab. But when lawyers replace manufacturers and merchants as the premiere advertisers, well—it’s one crazy way to run a planet.
 

Maybe it’s that “Patiently waiting for the Truth” is exactly the opposite of the course Jesus recommended:
““Keep on asking, and it will be given you; keep on seeking, and you will find; keep on knocking, and it will be opened to you;”  (Matt 7:7)
Though most modern Bibles have removed the next verse as spurious, some versions read:
”And some of his lazy disciples said, ‘Isn’t it enough to patiently wait?”

I think the way I should have put it is that the doctrines don’t change. Once you’ve dealt with them, you’ve dealt with them. Accordingly, in any given year, our publications will barely mention trinity and hellfire beyond a reference or two to how they are “trash’ that interfere with building a relationship with God. Very seldom are there specific paragraphs on trinity, let alone an entire article. Mostly they just refer people back to the Trinity brochure, or whatever has replaced it.
My own blog is the same way. In sixteen years I have maybe 5 or 6 posts specifically on the Trinity. In the Enjoy Life Forever interactive brochure there is almost nothing on trinity or hellfire. All I found was something in the Explore section of lesson 13, How False Religion Misrepresents God:
“For generations, religions have told lies that make God seem distant and cruel. Learn the truth about three of those lies.“Lies That Make God Seem Unlovable” (The Watchtower, November 1, 2013)”
It was even a little frustrating to me because I did have a Bible student from fundamentalist background, a very studious guy always wanting to ‘dig deeper.’ So I dug into how all renderings of hell stem from just 3 original language words—sheol, hades, Gehenna, (with a single exception of one ‘tartarus’), and that all renderings of hellfire come only from Gehenna. I didn’t see where that was specifically dealt with in depth and I ended up going off on my own tangents—Insight book material, and so forth. It is not part of the basic study guide.
Few people seriously believe these doctrines anymore—people have “moved on” from doctrines—and the ones who do, fundamentalists for the most part, are seldom persuaded no matter how much you quote scripture. They are the people who “accepted Jesus” in a flash. Some preacher said “come down and be saved” and in an instant they did, having had no intention of doing so before. They get their “truth” by revelation, not by Bible study. They thereafter cherry pick the Bible to find verses that back up what they believe. Where they find passages that don’t, they dismiss them as poor interpretation, corruption, bad translation, the Bible is too complicated to know, and so forth. Their minds were made up at their “conversion” that happened in an instant. “I’ve never convinced one” my favorite circuit overseer said, an old timer now deceased, on arguing with people over the trinity. 
If we are oldtimers ourselves, and we remember a time when these doctrines were important to people, we can easily fall into the mindset that they still are. But they rarely are. The approach of the Enjoy Life Forever is not to teach people doctrines they don’t believe in anyway only to thereafter tell them they are wrong. Instead, it just teaches Bible truth, and reserves the ‘Lies that Make God Seem Unlovable’ article for anyone still attached to those beliefs. 
Of course, if you happen to be surrounded by people who do love and cherish these doctrines, then lots of time spent disproving them may be just the ticket. But those people are becoming rare, they are rapidly dying out and being replaced by persons who don’t give a hoot. I think that’s way the Watchtower devotes relatively little space to the “false doctrines of Christendom.” They try to keep up, not with how people used to be, but how they are now. They focus on teaching the positive things of the Bible, rather than disproving the negative
 

Yes. We need you. There’s no end to the outrageous things they’ve been saying in your absense.

Maybe it’s that “Patiently waiting for the Truth” is exactly the opposite of the course Jesus recommended:
““Keep on asking, and it will be given you; keep on seeking, and you will find; keep on knocking, and it will be opened to you;”  (Matt 7:7)
Though most modern Bibles have removed the next verse as spurious, some versions read:
”And some of his lazy disciples said, ‘Isn’t it enough to patiently wait?”

I may not have expressed myself well. It wouldn’t be the first time.

You should get over your obsession on this. Unfortunately, lawyers are a byproduct of living in the modern world. 
You and I both remember when the premier sponsors for TV news programs were manufacturers or merchants. Now they are lawyers. With no exaggeration I can count over a dozen lawyers who regularly advertise on local media, some a dozen times a day. If you have pockets, someone will find a pretext to try to empty them. It Is a societal transfer of funds for every reason under the sun, with barristers netting a third.
Don’t misunderstand. There are wrongs to be righted. We live in a society that views money as the way to right wrongs. It’s not to say that every lawsuit is just a money grab. But when lawyers replace manufacturers and merchants as the premiere advertisers, well—it’s one crazy way to run a planet.
 

About as many who wish he’d never spoken of eating his flesh and drinking his blood.

I think the way I should have put it is that the doctrines don’t change. Once you’ve dealt with them, you’ve dealt with them. Accordingly, in any given year, our publications will barely mention trinity and hellfire beyond a reference or two to how they are “trash’ that interfere with building a relationship with God. Very seldom are there specific paragraphs on trinity, let alone an entire article. Mostly they just refer people back to the Trinity brochure, or whatever has replaced it.
My own blog is the same way. In sixteen years I have maybe 5 or 6 posts specifically on the Trinity. In the Enjoy Life Forever interactive brochure there is almost nothing on trinity or hellfire. All I found was something in the Explore section of lesson 13, How False Religion Misrepresents God:
“For generations, religions have told lies that make God seem distant and cruel. Learn the truth about three of those lies.“Lies That Make God Seem Unlovable” (The Watchtower, November 1, 2013)”
It was even a little frustrating to me because I did have a Bible student from fundamentalist background, a very studious guy always wanting to ‘dig deeper.’ So I dug into how all renderings of hell stem from just 3 original language words—sheol, hades, Gehenna, (with a single exception of one ‘tartarus’), and that all renderings of hellfire come only from Gehenna. I didn’t see where that was specifically dealt with in depth and I ended up going off on my own tangents—Insight book material, and so forth. It is not part of the basic study guide.
Few people seriously believe these doctrines anymore—people have “moved on” from doctrines—and the ones who do, fundamentalists for the most part, are seldom persuaded no matter how much you quote scripture. They are the people who “accepted Jesus” in a flash. Some preacher said “come down and be saved” and in an instant they did, having had no intention of doing so before. They get their “truth” by revelation, not by Bible study. They thereafter cherry pick the Bible to find verses that back up what they believe. Where they find passages that don’t, they dismiss them as poor interpretation, corruption, bad translation, the Bible is too complicated to know, and so forth. Their minds were made up at their “conversion” that happened in an instant. “I’ve never convinced one” my favorite circuit overseer said, an old timer now deceased, on arguing with people over the trinity. 
If we are oldtimers ourselves, and we remember a time when these doctrines were important to people, we can easily fall into the mindset that they still are. But they rarely are. The approach of the Enjoy Life Forever is not to teach people doctrines they don’t believe in anyway only to thereafter tell them they are wrong. Instead, it just teaches Bible truth, and reserves the ‘Lies that Make God Seem Unlovable’ article for anyone still attached to those beliefs. 
Of course, if you happen to be surrounded by people who do love and cherish these doctrines, then lots of time spent disproving them may be just the ticket. But those people are becoming rare, they are rapidly dying out and being replaced by persons who don’t give a hoot. I think that’s way the Watchtower devotes relatively little space to the “false doctrines of Christendom.” They try to keep up, not with how people used to be, but how they are now. They focus on teaching the positive things of the Bible, rather than disproving the negative
 

I think the way I should have put it is that the doctrines don’t change. Once you’ve dealt with them, you’ve dealt with them. Accordingly, in any given year, our publications will barely mention trinity and hellfire beyond a reference or two to how they are “trash’ that interfere with building a relationship with God. Very seldom are there specific paragraphs on trinity, let alone an entire article. Mostly they just refer people back to the Trinity brochure, or whatever has replaced it.
My own blog is the same way. In sixteen years I have maybe 5 or 6 posts specifically on the Trinity. In the Enjoy Life Forever interactive brochure there is almost nothing on trinity or hellfire. All I found was something in the Explore section of lesson 13, How False Religion Misrepresents God:
“For generations, religions have told lies that make God seem distant and cruel. Learn the truth about three of those lies.“Lies That Make God Seem Unlovable” (The Watchtower, November 1, 2013)”
It was even a little frustrating to me because I did have a Bible student from fundamentalist background, a very studious guy always wanting to ‘dig deeper.’ So I dug into how all renderings of hell stem from just 3 original language words—sheol, hades, Gehenna, (with a single exception of one ‘tartarus’), and that all renderings of hellfire come only from Gehenna. I didn’t see where that was specifically dealt with in depth and I ended up going off on my own tangents—Insight book material, and so forth. It is not part of the basic study guide.
Few people seriously believe these doctrines anymore—people have “moved on” from doctrines—and the ones who do, fundamentalists for the most part, are seldom persuaded no matter how much you quote scripture. They are the people who “accepted Jesus” in a flash. Some preacher said “come down and be saved” and in an instant they did, having had no intention of doing so before. They get their “truth” by revelation, not by Bible study. They thereafter cherry pick the Bible to find verses that back up what they believe. Where they find passages that don’t, they dismiss them as poor interpretation, corruption, bad translation, the Bible is too complicated to know, and so forth. Their minds were made up at their “conversion” that happened in an instant. “I’ve never convinced one” my favorite circuit overseer said, an old timer now deceased, on arguing with people over the trinity. 
If we are oldtimers ourselves, and we remember a time when these doctrines were important to people, we can easily fall into the mindset that they still are. But they rarely are. The approach of the Enjoy Life Forever is not to teach people doctrines they don’t believe in anyway only to thereafter tell them they are wrong. Instead, it just teaches Bible truth, and reserves the ‘Lies that Make God Seem Unlovable’ article for anyone still attached to those beliefs. 
Of course, if you happen to be surrounded by people who do love and cherish these doctrines, then lots of time spent disproving them may be just the ticket. But those people are becoming rare, they are rapidly dying out and being replaced by persons who don’t give a hoot. I think that’s way the Watchtower devotes relatively little space to the “false doctrines of Christendom.” They try to keep up, not with how people used to be, but how they are now. They focus on teaching the positive things of the Bible, rather than disproving the negative
 

Yes. We need you. There’s no end to the outrageous things they’ve been saying in your absense.