Pudgy

A rough parallel is dogs .... The Disney Character Pluto is Mickey Mouse's dog, and he walks on four legs and has a tail as thin as a clothes line, a collar, and makes normal dog sounds.

Another Disney Character is a dog, wears clothes, and a vest, and walks around on two legs, and can talk just as good as Mickey Mouse.

....and that's just Goofy!

So, which one is lying?

I suspect rules are different if you live in a two-dimensional world, of paper.

..... tell me about it !

It appears the Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse is Universal Dementia.

This always occurs when, as in the case of Australia, an entire population is disarmed.

Dementia is the only refuge of the powerless.

3 hours ago, ApostaBabe Linda James said:

Blocked?

What are the legal reasons?

The United States of America has in the past 8 months transitioned from "The land of the free and home of the brave", to petulent, insane and demented brain dead Zombie precursors where every public statement is a lie, or a damned lie, and they are printing money without any value whatsoever far beyond the ability of all the drunken sailors that have lived since the beginning of time to spend (at least they were spending their OWN money ....).

Since the Taliban now has a 3/4 trillion dollar Air Force (Build Back Better), it would be treason to let any real truth escape to Europe, currently being overrun by Muslims, or Asia, currently being overrun by Muslims.

It is suspected that after the Taliban decapitates all the civilian populations, the heads will be frozen and shipped to America, traded for atomic weapons, so that the Political Class may have something to eat.

...hope I cleared that up for you ......

7 hours ago, Srecko Sostar said:

And Jehovah struck the child whom U·riʹah’s wife had borne to David, and he became sick.

...seems pretty clear to me ....

On 8/31/2021 at 4:04 PM, Srecko Sostar said:

Also, JW members' "bible-trained consciences" would disregard the GB directive on how to treat former members.

You cannot fight a war with the army you want ... you have to fight a war with the army you have.

This is particularly true with Leadership ... and Leaders become Leaders for all sorts of reasons, just as men become soldiers for all sorts of reasons,

Classic example of "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly"

The Polish soldiers fought the Nazi Panzer tanks with horse drawn artillery, and were slaughtered, and Poland was lost to the Third Reich.

It is not a surprise, or even unusual in any way that Jehovah's Witnesses Governing Body has elements of hubris, incompetency, and self aggrandizement that permeates ANY effective Military Organization Officers' Corps, especially at the General Staff level.  Such is the curse of all men.

There are no exceptions in ANY Organization of more than, say 200 people ...... get used to the idea, or pick at your scabs until they turn cancerous.

They have a habit of going overboard in trying to establish discipline and consolidate their authority ..... we have a habit of resisting discipline, thereby undermining their authority.  Anytime three people interact there will be politics, and a jockeying for advantage. Internal politics must be a drama to see.

Interestingly enough, in the United States, it is not considered cruel and unusual punishment to impose the death penalty for crimes, but it IS considered cruel and unusual punishment to deny a person their Citizenship.

There are basic human rights that we have as a natural consequence of being human ... and although disfellowshipping is an absolute necessity in any society.... HOW it is done defines whether or not it is necessary protection of that Society, or is just an exercise in cruelty "... because one can".

There is nothing whatsoever in Christian Tenets that justify cruelty.

A lesson most of us learn too late ... just because we can do something, does not mean we should.

9 hours ago, xero said:

He's not directing the speculations any more than he killed the baby which came out of Bathsheba that wasn't Uriah's. Allowing and controlling are not the same as causing.

Although I agree with your principle here, the Scripture directly contradicts you. Apparently David's son was normal before being stricken with fatal sickness.

6 hours ago, Srecko Sostar said:

14  Nevertheless, because you have treated Jehovah with utter disrespect in this matter, the son just born to you will certainly die.”15  Then Nathan went to his own house.And Jehovah struck the child whom U·riʹah’s wife had borne to David, and he became sick.

I have often pondered that Jehovah God had expressed a particular fondness for humans, and no stated preference for dogs.

Perhaps in the New System, after the thousand year training and final exam, or perhaps even sometime before that (?) and "New Scrolls" are opened, perhaps we will learn that there is a plan, and perhaps has always been a plan, for a "Rainbow Bridge", where we wait for our Guardians to be resurrected, and be with us once again.

Like so many things discussed here .... the CORRECT answer is "I don't know."

It seems like a hint is that Jehovah knows our Guardians' limitations, and seems to have tolerated a tremendous amount of grievous error of his "Organization" back in the era of King David, et al.

Incredible amounts of grievous error!

Think of all the many thousands of Jews that fought in Jehovah's sanctioned and approved wars, who EVEN THOUGH JEHOVAH WAS WITH THEM ... they were slaughtered on the battlefields of those times. Jehovah COULD have preserved and protected each one of them, but he did not.

Why Not?

ANSWER: Because "Stuff Happens".

....... get used to it.

I remember, years ago, when I tried to expose a great evil that stalked the Earth ……. to no avail.

I got the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, and Jackie Onassis all together in the same photo, and my camera jammed. 

Do you take Pudgycoin?

Well, Witness ....

By not being able to recommend something better, you are like a handheld GPS with no batteries.

... useless.

We all know that Jesus was very concerned about the Christian Congregation ... so ..... if Jehovah's Witnesses, warts, scabs, drool and all, are not with whom we should be associating with ...... then who?

Specifically?

Where and who, ( a name, address, zip code is the specificity required) is the Congregation that is the "real deal"?

Give me  a better choice, and I will leave what I know in a New York second.

But I will need to know why the better choice really is the better choice.

Without specific proof of something better, your very best observations, reasoning, and logic is nothing more than light entertainment.

No more.

2 hours ago, xero said:

Strikes me that opposers are hanging on to the organization like a drunk man does to keep from stumbling.

That is a good thought, but probably very simplistic .... opposers, like everybody else, do what they know.

There is the drunk to whom the determination to drink supersedes all else, and blames the Organization for the consequences come with that, and

There is the drunk who hangs onto the Organization because he has seen the consequences of stumbling, and realizes that with all their deficiencies, they are less than his own.

... of course, there is no shortage of drunks, or reasons to be one....

... nor shortage of opposers, or reasons to be one.

Reminds me of the man who was trapped on an island in the middle of a river. He prayed to God to save him, as the waters got higher and higher, and he started climbing a tree.

A Fire Department rescue boat came by, but the Captain was an ugly midget, so the man waved them off.

Next a helicopter hovered overhead, and lowered a cable with a rescue ring, but the ring swung into his face head and hit him, man held onto the tree, as so far the water was only to his waist.

As the water rose and the current bent the tree over, it finally dawned on him he was about to die and he prayed "Oh God!, I am going to die, why did you not save me?"

... and God answered, " I heard your prayers, and I sent a boat and a helicopter .... you did not like either one."

…… according to the scripture you quoted, we are not yet into the “Last Days” …… unless you want to count my dreams of chasing rabbits at 90 miles an hour down the Interstate !

….. because we are, each and every living soul, mortal …… soon enough  ….. perhaps too soon …. We will all get a test of our theological ideas. 

…… if you cut them, and they bleed red blood, I trust them not.

The ones I trust the most is based on actual, put it in a spreadsheet and analyze it observed, definable, quantifiable and historical credibility.

Your assumptions about what God SHOULD DO is as bad as anyone else’s, including myself. 
 

I think everybody is in for a big shock.

…. Get more than 200 people together, in ANY religious group, and watch “the way things SHOULD be” go to hell in a hand basket.

…… it’s the nature of imperfect humanity.

….. sometimes also attributed to “bad luck”.

Ok …. What specifically WOULD YOU DO?

…… remember, on the plus side they teach core Bible truths, including the BIGGIE ……

….. Globally, they teach people to war, no more.

Somewhere around 50 years ago there was a television program on called “Slattery’s People”, starring Richard Crenna as a congressman who went around helping his constituents.

As the program opened the camera zoomed in on the two keyed desk receptacles a congressman uses to vote with, while a very distinguished voice intoned  “Democracy is a very bad form of government …… But all the others are so much worse.“

I think one of the reasons that I remember that so emphatically is that is the way I view Jehovah’s Witnesses in modern times, merely because we govern with heavily flawed human beings.

You are never going to get justice. You are never going to get equity. You’re never going to get fairness. You are never going to get reasonableness.

You are never going to get justice. You are never going to get equity. You’re never going to get fairness. You are never going to get reasonableness.

Until Christ’s Kingdom Is fully in place and is being administered by perfect people, angels or whatever they’re going to use.

I suspect that 700 years into the thousand year reign of Christ there will still be people in authority that have many of the failings and foibles that plague us today, and the survivors will still be bitching and moaning that life is just not fair.….. And they will be correct.

 ……. and they will be correct.

Get used to it.

Basically we are just big ugly bags of mostly water, trying to be something we’re not, and failing in some way, or most ways.

With all the colossal persistent and never ending screw-ups, arrogances and missteps that the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society engages in daily remember this, in reality, and for now…… And I cringe as I write this…… they are the best bet the human race has.

……. as the people of Poland discovered when invaded by the Nazis, you don’t fight a war with the army you want…… You fight a war with the army you have.

7 hours ago, Srecko Sostar said:

The body and blood of Jesus were given a transferred meaning in bread and wine. But bread and wine, precisely because they directly represent the body and blood of a man, are exactly what they are - body and blood. So to eat bread and drink wine, in commemoration of Christ's death, is nothing else but to bite into the flesh and drink some blood. 

If what you meant to say was literal, I disagree.

Catholics used to tell me ( Usually French Poodles), that the wafer and wine were actually the body and blood of Christ, and I responded it would be very simple to find out.

Just have the materials analyzed under a microscope.

… and what if it is a Tuesday, and you are an Eskimo, and your license plate ends in a odd number?

Hmmmmmmm ….. the thought just occurred to me ….. If you separate whole blood down to, say, 40 or so separate components, the infusion of each separate component being “ a matter of conscience”, as regards Congregational punishment …… the absurd theory being that it is now “not blood” ….. can you then mix it all back together , and pump it in?

How about if you DON’T mix it all back together, and use, say 40 separate IV tubes?

Perhaps our “NO BLOOD CARD” should actually be a “NO SANCTIONS CARD”?

…. if you have the Rx on the back …

Yeah …. The WTB&TS  got the Blood Issue  exactly right the first time, then as they were sued by families of those that died, they changed their stance to allow transfusion of separate blood fractions, so as not to hemorrhage money.  
 

The GB has admitted in the February,  2017 Watchtower that they are neither infallible or inspired of God, as regards any matters Theocratic. 
 

…… but they have the best Lawyers and Accountants money can buy!

After briefly scanning all of the above, I have one question. 
What is a MSC?

…….. growing a tail, and fur is scheduled for the booster shot.

Perhaps these experimental, not FDA approved, still under development vaccines will do for you what the Kennel Cough Vaccine did for me!