James Thomas Rook Jr.

WDS

If it is that bad, I would cash in my 401k, take the penalty hit, make sure my passport was in order, and exit, stage left! When they start rounding up people .... it's too late to make preparations, and execute plans. By the way ... I did exactly that, once in my life. I had no choice. If memory serves, it was a 20% penalty, AND I had to pay income tax on the proceeds.

Do you think this is by design? ... or just the way it seems to be perceived? When did it change?

Sometimes life is filled with difficult decisions, and unexpected opportunities. As Caleb and Sophia would tell you, this is true in cemeteries, and in the cartoon world.

I remember those ...... in order to save disc space, everyone had to write in lower case letters. Computers used real mice, in a cage with a hamster wheel (optional upgrade ...) and all computers had bugs.

Billy, since you have no sense of humor, whatsoever ... you do not see the screaming irony of your last post. .... and just as an aside ... I laugh at EVERYBODY, and even myself! You ought to try it, sometime ... it's good for the soul! ..and just to rattle your chain ....

Even in ancient days, Assemblies were VERY important ... but they discussed theology, economics and military strategy, and agriculture and animal husbandry, and judicial matters, as well as keeping the gene pool strong, through long distance marriages. I used to ( and still would, except that they are grown and on their own...) insist that Assemblies are VERY important .... if for no other reason than to find an exceptional mate ... which two out of three of my children did in fact do, and my Daughter is still single. Assemblies are too far for my wife and I, and we have six dogs and 20 chickens ... the dogs need insulin twice a day, and the chickens needing fresh water five times a day. And I and my wife need a nap, to avoid dying in mid-step in the living room like one of our overworked Elders did, in his living room. When I lived and worked in Roanoke Virginia, I met several old brothers who had NEVER been out of Roanoke County, which, like an elephant graveyard, is where all the ugly Sisters go to die.

Noaw that the GB is no longer preaching types/antitypes out the Wazoo, prophesys that never come true out the Kazoo, and juggling Gog of Magog and King of the North like live chain saws, the 85% drivel is slowly evaporating ... but the 15% core truths that are valuable and irreplaceable can be stated in two pages. That includes our ENTIRE theology. The part that is not clueless pontification anyway. I would include some imogis (emojis?), but I did not download the worksheet from the Society's web site of how to decide which one to use, and I do not want anyone to think I am flirting with you .

TTH: Because I never take offense ... ( Invariably a sign of neurotic insecurity, living in a fragile fantasy world of mental construct, or other mental instability ...) give it your best shot ! I gives me a rational, non-pushy excuse for a broadside rebuttal! The worst that can happen is I get a hernia from belly-laughing!

Many words put people into an "Alpha State" of mind, which lowers their mental acuity dramatically. When someone can answer a question with one sentence, and I get a half-hour dissertation on the history of the Universe. I either walk away, or interrupt with "Is there a bottom line to this story?" I have found most three day Assemblies can be covered in a two page email.... and save three days, and $400.

Your son is old enough to have a pension?

No. ...sounds like a good time to sign on as a Merchant Seaman on a ship going anywhere else. In Africa, they catch monkeys and eat them. The way they catch them is they take a dried gourd, hollow it out, put a banana inside, and tie the gourd to a tree. The monkey comes along, smells the banana, and sticks his hand through the hole to grab the banana ... but now .. the banana in his fist is too large to get out of the hole. He will not let go of the banana, and he is captured and eaten. There is a lesson there for humans .. let go and run like hell. The Jews in Poland during WWII stayed with their ancestral inheritances ... businesses and homes ... and left Poland up a crematorium chimney.

If there is a choice between two equally well thought out answers to a conundrum ... the one with the fewer words is probably the right one.

WDS - "Watchtower Derangement Syndrome" is when people's thinking processes are governed by their agenda ... and it is a sword that cuts both ways ... whether you are on the inside looking out .... or the outside looking in. You see things clearly that are not real ... because your agenda forces your thinking along certain paths, like a railroad track, and you have no choice but to follow that track, and stay on it. Much like the Democrats view everything Trump. They hate everything he does with a malicious, irrational vengeance, that has NOTHING to do with reality. This is called TDS. Trump Derangement Syndrome. ...same idea.

No.... in fact, such self-serving declarations I find repugnant ... as I am well aware that the REAL reason such drivel is promoted is to consolidate political and religious power into the hands of the Governing Body. It keeps the troops in line, and the money flowing in. I believe the core theology of Jehovah's Witnesses is true, and deserves respect and loyalty, and in my opinion, the brotherhood is being loaded down with 85% drivel ... but that is slowly evaporating like the morning mist, as it is being "run up the flagpole" (like the 1914 overlapping generations ludicrousness), and only the weak minded, afraid of disfellowshipping, even give lip service to it. From ANY sane perspective, it is arbitrary, made up out of thin air, and makes no sense whatsoever. The "Truth" of God's word has been subverted by the Watchtower's lawyers and accountants, who are now running the show, with the self appointed Governing Body serving as clerks, yes men, and conservators of the treasury. It has become a sacred cash cow, and Real Estate Empire. With all that being said, and I, like yourself, could fill up many pages of cringeworthy examples, the reason I stick with Jehovah's Witnesses is that ..... in the things that REALLY matter, they really are ... "the only game in town." In SPITE of self-serving management. NOT because of it.