Disfellowshipping use to be 6 months- now it’s 1 year

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

Even Einstein stood on the shoulders of giants that went before him ... notably Sir Isaac Newton .... arguably the smartest natural man who ever lived, and whose theology was almost EXACTLY the very best of what Jehovah's Witnesses teach today.

[TrueTomHarley]

12 minutes ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

and whose theology was almost EXACTLY the very best of what Jehovah's Witnesses teach today.

Even the part about 2060 being the final year?

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

4 minutes ago, TrueTomHarley said:

17 minutes ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

and whose theology was almost EXACTLY the very best of what Jehovah's Witnesses teach today.

Even the part about 2060 being the final year?

He actually never published that ... after his death, those conjectures were found in his notes.  He also thought that Armageddon may be as early as 2032.

I suppose it is a matter of credibility.

Would you be inclined to believe someone who was never wrong in what they published ?... or

someone who was never right in what they published.?

..... even if you are just looking over their posthumous notes.

It's all about credibility, and gullibility.

..... and money.

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

If you really believe something is the case, and you tell someone else ... and what you tell them is NOT true ...  you are NOT a  liar ... you are merely wrong.

If you KNOW something is NOT true, and tell someone else, only THEN is it a lie.

That is why credibility is so very important ... so the one receiving the information can correctly evaluate MOTIVE.

If it is difficult to determine what is truth... what is merely wrong ... and what is an outright lie ... FOLLOW THE MONEY..

The tracks money leaves, always tells the truth.

If someone is hiding their tracks ... they are hiding the truth.

They are lying about something.

.... perhaps everything.

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

...  to understand the above photograph, you have to know all the things that occurred Organizationally, from July, thru November 2015, that makes the caption make sense.

That's why we have a JW-Archive ... but I can no longer find anything. I miss the old "thumbnails" format, by date.

[TrueTomHarley]

On 2/4/2019 at 6:48 AM, JOHN BUTLER said:

I never even knew there was a 'keep out' time. I cannot think of any scripture to back that up.

That’s because there is not. Jack is drinking too much of his own Kool-Aid.

On 2/4/2019 at 1:26 PM, Witness said:

No mention of time limit after that was given; and no followup for years now, to see if indeed, I have a repentant heart defined by the WT. 

This is because I have tipped them off that you do not appear to, and they can save themselves the gas and time by doing other things with them.

[Witness]

1 hour ago, TrueTomHarley said:

This is because I have tipped them off that you do not appear to, and they can save themselves the gas and time by doing other things with them.

How do you define a repentant heart?

[TrueTomHarley]

1 hour ago, Witness said:

How do you define a repentant heart?

When Anthony Morris, at the 2016 Regional in Atlanta, spoke of coming down south, and his sons had asked him ‘What is a redneck?’ he replied that they “would know them when they saw them.”

He was having fun with his opening remarks. Everyone....well, almost everyone....took it in that spirit. In case there was someone who did not, in a subsequent talk he walked it back, referring the the gentle “folk wisdom” of the south.

He speaks off the cuff sometimes. Rise, for he too is human. He probably regrets that remark about the tight pants, because @James Thomas Rook Jr. has made it is yeartext ever since. 

It is very difficult counseling a huge and diverse group of people One will say: “Thanks for the new RULE!!” and his companion will say: “Huh? Did you say something.”

I think they just don’t want to find themselves in the shoes of Lot, whose sons-in-law thought he was joking.

Even at the Watchtower study last Sunday, the conductor gave an aside about the tight pants, observing that they must have to be put on when wet, so as to allow the fabric to stretch over the feet. Strictly speaking, (even loosely speaking) it is not necessary. But an 80-year old can be forgiven for a few seconds (it was no more than that, and he is universally regarded as a man of integrity and good judgment) of scratching his head and expressing bewilderment at the world that is today.

This is the same Watchtower conductor whose lifelong secular work was that of a Porsche dealer mechanic, and who quit in disgust when Porsche began manufacturing SUVs, as though an elite art museum commended displaying that painting of the dogs playing poker. It’s not true, he tells me. He was about to retire anyway, but he does nothing to counter the meme that others have spread around. 

This is the same Watchtower Study, on how the wisdom of Jehovah is superior to the wisdom of this world, in which I thought the artwork was wrong. The VW bus is one from the 70’s, whereas it should have been one with a funky grill that was from the 60’s. The impeccably dressed brother with the hat is from the 50s—hadn’t dress hats pretty well faded out by the mid-60s? And don’t get me going about the “hippy” conversing with him, who no doubt took off his wig and clothes thereafter and resumed his place analyzing a computer spreadsheet. 

And while I am on the topic of that Watchtower:

My daughter is in town for a few weeks. At the study observation of how some say God-given sexual desire argues for promiscuity, she said: “Well, that’s stupid! God made me to have to pee, too. Does that mean I should pee my pants?”

“That’s my daughter!” I told the family gathering, as she related her remark. Frankly, I wish I had thought of it.

But back to the tight pants. They were tight in the early 60s, too, and I can remember battles with my [non-Witness] Dad because I wanted to wear them and he had a fit over it, though I gradually won out. Even the “spray-on” descriptions are from the past. I wore clamdiggers, too, cool pants that came in pastel colors, had a stripe down the side, and ended mid-shin. I wore them when visiting my uncle who lives way way out in the sticks, and he said: “What are you doing wearing peddle-pushers? Those are girls’ pants!!” They weren’t peddlepushers, you hillbilly. They were cool clamdiggers.

It’s not just pants. Ties widened in the late 60’s as well, regaining the status they previously had given up. I remember Brother Park giving a talk about how the Bethel brothers were very concerned for Brother Knorr, who showed up for meals day after day with very wide ties, at a time when the styles were changing—I think he say they ultimately became as thin as a pencil. Those brothers were so worried about him, because he was “not in style.”

“BUT DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED?!” he gasped. Ties began to reverse and became wider and wider—and now Brother Knorr is “in style!”

And yes, I have rambled a bit, doing what John has accused me of. Sorry.

 

[Witness]

11 hours ago, TrueTomHarley said:

When Anthony Morris, at the 2016 Regional in Atlanta, spoke of coming down south, and his sons had asked him ‘What is a redneck?’ he replied that they “would know them when they saw them.”

So, you don’t have to define a repentant heart, you are able to “just know” a repentant heart when you see one.  I suppose it would be a lot easier to detect, if this heart returned to “Jehovah’s organization”, where God has supposedly lived for the last 100 years.  Acts 7:48-51; 17:24,25,29-31

Yet, if I say, I am saved through the grace of Jesus Christ, and not through an organization and its “faithful slave”; and I am told by the elders I still must repent for rejecting “Jehovah’s organization”, who is it that is telling a lie?  Acts 4:12; 15:11; Luke 9:35; John 5:43; Luke 21:8; Matt 24:24; Rev 13:11,15

Who really needs to repent?  Rev 3:17-20

 

Thirty-some years, and 4 VW vans later (one a 1974 bus), I now worship the Father in Spirit and truth.  John 4:23,24  I have repented for giving my worship and devotion to a form of idolatry that is getting more absurd by the day.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TrueTomHarley]

9 hours ago, Witness said:

Thirty-some years, and 4 VW vans later (one a 1974 bus), I now worship the Father in Spirit and truth. 

No! Say it ain’t so. The only thing that is lacking is that your VW bus ownership does not stretch back to the original ones of the 60’s.

You know, the more I think about it, the more I think that the JW website should be taken down and replaced with a Facebook page like yours. That way, Zuckerberg will steal information willy-nilly, the way he does, and we can count it all as placements.

[Witness]

3 hours ago, TrueTomHarley said:

No! Say it ain’t so. The only thing that is lacking is that your VW bus ownership does not stretch back to the original ones of the 60’s.

 

The bus and the first two vans were the preferred vehicle for "door to door". Especially for the long days when the table could be flipped up for lunch to be served.  The last Westfalia was rejected by our last congregation.  They preferred their leather seats and slick-looking expensive cars.  If a truck was taken in "service", gossip began, making its owner feeling inadequate in "Jehovah's service".    

3 hours ago, TrueTomHarley said:

You know, the more I think about it, the more I think that the JW website should be taken down and replaced with a Facebook page like yours. 

Are you a regular reader now?

[TrueTomHarley]

34 minutes ago, Witness said:

Are you a regular reader now?

Yes. I have cancelled my subscription to the Watchtower. Also The Week. Also my trips to the library. Also any further visits to JW.org. How could I ever have wasted all those hours?

Now I am a regular reader. I do nothing else. 

(No. I have yet to visit. That is not to say maybe it will be so someday. Try.to keep your enthusiasm in check)