James Thomas Rook Jr.

Of course. The first thing to remember is that any time the Watchtower tries to defend a chronology that is not based on Biblical or secular evidence, you should start by looking at the words that the Watchtower has left out when a quote is made. In other words, the resources that the Watchtower uses are often well-respected resources, such as the Soncino commentary. When the topic is chronology, you can just assume that a respected commentary doesn't actually say what the Watchtower is trying to make you think that it says.
So, without even looking you will know that these commentaries have probably been misused, misquoted, or selectively quoted. This way it will give the appearance that respected scholarship supports the Watchtower view, when of course, it doesn't. Here's the full Soncino quote from Insight, but with the Soncino chronology added back in where the Watchtower left it out:
*** it-1 p. 462 Chronology ***
The Jewish understanding of this prophecy, as presented in the Soncino Books of the Bible (commentary on Ezekiel, pp. 20, 21) is: “The guilt of the Northern Kingdom extended over a period of 390 years ([according to the] Seder Olam [the earliest postexilic chronicle preserved in the Hebrew language], [and Rabbis] Rashi and Ibn Ezra). Abarbanel, quoted by Malbim, reckons the period of Samaria’s guilt from the time when the schism took place under Rehoboam (c. 932 BCE). . . until the fall of Jerusalem. [*footnote] . . . The right [side, on which Ezekiel lay] indicates the south, i.e. the Kingdom of Judah which lay to the south or right. . . . Judah’s corruption lasted forty years beginning soon after Samaria’s fall. According to Malbim, the time is reckoned from the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah (c. 626 BCE). . . when Jeremiah began his ministry. (Jer. i. 2).”—Edited by A. Cohen, London, 1950.
*[footnote] The entire Soncino Ezekiel commentary is consistent at dating the destruction of the Temple in 586 BCE, as is the Soncino commentary on Jeremiah, etc.
The Watch Tower publications follow the very unethical practice of tacking on an extra 20 years to the prior dates before 607, without any explanation. This is why it isn't just 587/6 that they invariably leave out of scholarly quotations, but they must leave out most other dates related to the period. But in this case, they not only left out the dates, they also completely left out the "Jewish understanding of the prophecy." To save space I didn't include those explanations in the two other places where words were left out. The Jewish understanding, per Soncino, is that Ezekiel meant what he said: 390 years PLUS 40 years. The Watchtower completely disagrees saying:
*** w72 5/15 pp. 310-311 Do Not Try God’s Patience Too Far ***
However, in the actual fulfillment upon ancient Jerusalem, the forty days for the “error” of the “house of Judah” would run concurrently with the last forty days of the three hundred and ninety days for the “error” of the “house of Israel.” The unit of time measurement that Jehovah gave to Ezekiel was, “a day for a year,” made emphatic by being repeated. Accordingly, the forty years for the “error” of the “house of Judah” were to run concurrently with the last forty years of the 390-year period for the “error” of “the house of Israel.” The last forty years of that time period began in the year 647 B.C.E. Both time periods, the longer one and the shorter one, had to converge on the same date, for ancient Jerusalem was destroyed only once, namely, in 607 B.C.E.
You see what they did? They pretended they were giving the "Jewish understanding of this prophecy, as presented in the Soncino Books of the Bible." Yet, they not only left out the chronology of the Jewish understanding, they completely left out the "Jewish understanding," too.
And of course the Watchtower added about 20 years to the thirteenth year of Josiah to change 626 to 647. If you did this in any scholarly setting, it would be considered devious. It's called "academic dishonesty."
 

I've mentioned this before on the forum, but I was traveling with Brother Schroeder (along with Charlotte and Judah) in 1978 where we visited several countries in Europe together (England, France, Spain, Italy) but I had to do work for about a week in the Athens branch and didn't catch up to him again when he went to Innsbruck, Bern, Wiesbaden, Hamburg, Copenhagen, and a couple other places for meetings specifically about Carl Olof Jonsson. I knew in early 1978 that Jonsson had sent his manuscript a few months earlier, and had asked for comment, but no researchers at Bethel would touch it. I saw a photocopied portion of it in 1978, but actually never saw the entire manuscript until Brother Rusk had it in 1980. (Rusk and I were going over logistics for my upcoming wedding, but I asked him about it when he had it across his desk, and was making some notes.) He never responded to the manuscript either. One brother in Writing told me that no one even wanted it on their desk because they knew it was the same information, basically, that they had already come across in researching the Aid book. Similar information had come in from two different sources in the 1960's, too. None of the research projects that Brother Schroeder assigned to me were directly related to it, and I was not aware of Schroeder's specific actions he was taking with reference to Jonsson, until I read about it decades later.
But Jonsson has put copies of his correspondence with the Society up on a website:
http://kristenfrihet.se/english/corr.htm
Jonsson admits to making at least one mistake in this correspondence, but the Society does appear to be the one "playing dirty." I would love to say that I don't believe it, but I was working even more closely with Schroeder back when he showed all the same "qualities" in his campaign to get rid of R.Franz from late in 1979 right up into the 1980's when he was finally successful. It was not something that a squeamish person (like me) wanted to see.
I don't really know what kind of a person Jonsson was, but I suspect that he is mostly right in the claims he makes about how he was treated. Also, I can just imagine even some of the personalities that show up on this forum and imagine what they would be like if they thought they had the actual power to cast someone into Gehenna, for example.

Better the pilot be redirected and take action than to crash into a mountain.

His 'discovery' was, in fact, what had long been already known and established in ANE and biblical scholarship. His downfall was believing that the Society was interested in the truth of the matter. Unfortunately, the responses from HQ were inadequate, rehashing what had already been questioned or rebutted, and they repeated platitudes and promises to address the evidence - which they didn't do. Instead, they urged him to keep quiet and instigated a nasty smear campaign against him. This is what alienated COJ from the org and caused him so much frustration and hurt.
'In the end the truth will eventually always come out'? The truth had already come out - several times before COJ's treatise. The truth had been flagged up in Russell's day, in Rutherford's day, and many times since, by those inside the org and by never-been-JWs. Even now, had COJ 'waited on Jehovah' to change matters, he would still be waiting - 40 years later. The ones who first alerted Russell to the errors are long dead now. Could it be that Jehovah has been nudging and jabbing the leaders of His people to make corrections all along, but they've been ignoring Him?

Some signs are CLEARER than others .... Do you REALLY think Jesus
would make signs less clear than the average small town mayor's signs?

WHEW!
With this posting there have been 14 LOOOOOONG pages of discussion.
I am so, SO glad it has been resolved.
It has absolutely NO application to my life, that I can do anything about, BUT, it's like watching people pick, and pick and PICK at their dandruff ... it's SO hard to look away.
The ONLY "saving grace" is that when on our deathbeds, we will get all this time back, spent discussing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin ... but ONLY to check our emails.

WHEW!
With this posting there have been 14 LOOOOOONG pages of discussion.
I am so, SO glad it has been resolved.
It has absolutely NO application to my life, that I can do anything about, BUT, it's like watching people pick, and pick and PICK at their dandruff ... it's SO hard to look away.
The ONLY "saving grace" is that when on our deathbeds, we will get all this time back, spent discussing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin ... but ONLY to check our emails.

WHEW!
With this posting there have been 14 LOOOOOONG pages of discussion.
I am so, SO glad it has been resolved.
It has absolutely NO application to my life, that I can do anything about, BUT, it's like watching people pick, and pick and PICK at their dandruff ... it's SO hard to look away.
The ONLY "saving grace" is that when on our deathbeds, we will get all this time back, spent discussing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin ... but ONLY to check our emails.

It is a well known fact that the word "Rapture" is not found in the Bible.  The word actually used originally meant "Raptor", and referred to Saurians, which we know today as Dinosaur(ians).
The Dinosaurs had many of the same problems as humans, and add to that, their arms were so short they could not floss, and got gum disease, and went extinct for their sins.
The only surviving dinosaur was for centuries the Thesaurus, which use to hide in peoples' homes, often forgotten behind a sofa, but with the rise of Google, has also become extinct. We used to talk incessantly about "types" and "antitypes", but always being wrong after a hundred years got boring and tiresome, like a tire with a slow leak ...especially with that damned Google rising to ascendancy.
The "Great Dragon" in Revelation was actually a type of Dinosaur, that made it all the way to the Flood of Noah's day, but he and his and her Brethren and Sistern were on Ark No. 2, and did not make it, because they got into  a feeding frenzy, and capsized the boat. 
The only Dragons that survived were the reptiles, such as the salt and fresh water crocodiles, and of course the Komodo Dragon, known for its pacifism and extremely bad breath.
Anytime you can ignore a hundred million years of History, supported by a hundred million tons of hard evidence, one theory is as good as another ... just ignore all facts.
 
 

How do Jehovah’s Witnesses explain the dinosaurs?
SM - Dallas, TX

If you try to reason with pigs, muddy is all you will get.

I went to a Jewish  Funeral, many years ago, and the men who passed by the open casket were dropping in hundred dollar bills.  I counted ELEVEN of them!
It looked like a mandatory custom, to me ... at least for the men.
I did not have that much cash, so I wrote a check for $1200, and took back $1100 in "change".

I find it very EASY to resolve these discrepancies.
I don't care any more about such things.
They have no practical application WHATSOEVER to my life ...
.... and I strongly suspect that is true for all humans in existence.

I went to a Jewish  Funeral, many years ago, and the men who passed by the open casket were dropping in hundred dollar bills.  I counted ELEVEN of them!
It looked like a mandatory custom, to me ... at least for the men.
I did not have that much cash, so I wrote a check for $1200, and took back $1100 in "change".

If I was a weapons dealer, and had made a fortune selling arms and armament all over the world, and I contributed twenty million dollars to the WTB&TS ... do you think they would righteously return it?

I find it very EASY to resolve these discrepancies.
I don't care any more about such things.
They have no practical application WHATSOEVER to my life ...
.... and I strongly suspect that is true for all humans in existence.

Except for people with a combination of tourette's syndrome, dislexia, and one leg shorter than the other, which gives you brain-tilt .... that seems to wrap up THAT discussion.

Jehovah God has given us dominion over the animals ... technically we could kill and  EAT an Elephant.
But then again ... TECHNICALLY ... Jehovah God never, EVER prohibited cannibalism ( presumably war dead who bled out... ).
But I would not kill an elephant for just one sandwich.
Interesting how various cultural acclamation feels to the heart like direct commands from God.

Jehovah God has given us dominion over the animals ... technically we could kill and  EAT an Elephant.
But then again ... TECHNICALLY ... Jehovah God never, EVER prohibited cannibalism ( presumably war dead who bled out... ).
But I would not kill an elephant for just one sandwich.
Interesting how various cultural acclamation feels to the heart like direct commands from God.

....

Try this:
Make some WANTED posters offering a $1000 reward for a
copy of your book ... this will make people WANT your book.
Staple the posters to telephone poles around Rochester ..
... the town, not Jack Benny's housekeeper.

Somehow, when I see this view of Warwick HQ,
I think of Colonel Klink, and Sgt. Shultz.

Pachyderm Art Institute
"GO DUMBO!"

Elephants’ “Sound of Silence”
On a hot afternoon in the sprawling Amboseli National Park in Kenya, the large herd of elephants seems undisturbed by any intrusion into their habitat. 
Yet, the air is full of “elephant talk,” ranging from low frequency rumblings to high frequency trumpets, roars, bellows, barks, and snorts. Some of the calls contain components that are below the level of human hearing and yet are so powerful that they can be heard by an elephant several miles away.
Experts in animal behavior continue to be puzzled by the intricate ways in which elephants convey serious messages. 
Joyce Poole has spent over 20 years studying communication concepts among African elephants. She has concluded that these huge creatures, known for their coveted tusks, exhibit feelings found in very few animals. “It is hard to watch elephants’ remarkable behavior during a family or bond group greeting ceremony [or at] the birth of a new family member . . . and not imagine that they feel very strong emotions which could be best described by words such as joy, happiness, love, feelings of friendship, exuberance, amusement, pleasure, compassion, relief, and respect,” says Poole.
When getting together after being separated for long periods, their greetings turn to pandemonium, as members rush together with heads high and ears folded and flapping. 
At times, an elephant will even put its trunk into another’s mouth. These greetings seem to give the elephants a deep sense of joy, as if they were saying, “Wow! It’s simply fantastic to be with you again!” 
Such bonds renew the support network vital to their survival.
Elephants seem to have a sense of humor too. Poole describes watching elephants draw the corners of their mouths in what she called a smile, wagging their heads in a manner suggesting amusement. 
She once initiated a game in which the animals took part, and for 15 minutes they behaved in a totally absurd manner. Two years later, some participants seemed to “smile” at her again, perhaps remembering her involvement in the game. 
Not only do elephants amuse each other in play but they also mimic sounds. In a research project, Poole heard a sound that was different from the normal elephant calls. On analysis, it was suggested that the elephants were imitating the noise made by trucks passing nearby. And they were apparently doing it for fun! It is as if elephants look for any excuse to get excited.
Much has been said about the way elephants appear to mourn when calamity befalls a family member. Poole once observed a female standing guard over her stillborn baby for three days and described it this way: Her “facial expressions” seemed “similar to a grief stricken, depressed person: her head and ears hung down, the corners of her mouth were turned down.”
Those who kill elephants for ivory do not consider the ‘psychological trauma’ of the orphans who may have witnessed the killing of their mothers. These babies spend the first few days at an animal orphanage trying to overcome their “grief.” A keeper reported having heard the orphans “scream” in the morning. Repercussions can be observed several years after the death. 
Poole suggests that the elephants can detect the hand of man in their suffering. We look forward to the time when man and beast will live together in peace.—Isaiah 11:6-9.
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102002249
IMG_3564.MP4

Of all the suffering that is common to the human
race .... I hope the worst I have to suffer is hair loss.