James Thomas Rook Jr.

You have already conceded, True (Tom), by default, for leaving the battlefield, and by surrender, when you "overturned your King".
Using YOUR logic, you have  self-forfeited the right to disagree with anybody about anything .... and only think approved happy thoughts.
You cannot even reply to THIS!
Stupidity would be to referee a fight already lost.

Very simple answer ... find the scripture where it says the "lion will lay down with the lamb", and read it in CONTEXT ... for those in Rio Linda, that means the page before, and the page after.
Among God's people the lion will eat straw, as lambs being eaten scare children ... very messy ... but all animals in their natural environment will eat what they ALWAYS have eaten, and what they were DESIGNED to eat.
All else is a cartoon fantasy that would embarrass Walt Disney.
If you find that incredible, there is a way to test it ... let your lawn grow high, and eat ONLY grass for a week, and see how well YOU do.
You may find yourself online, ordering Purina Lion Chow.
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Whew!
I am glad you cleared that up ... I thought a "minimalist" was something like a dwarf.

The only thing I have against short people is I have to pick them up to say hello.

“A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once. ..."
Among sane, rational people, the following Meme applies, always.
 

Think about this:
When you are reclining ( sitting) at a dining room table bench, you take off your weapons but keep them close by.
When "Jesus said to THEM..." he was talking to ALL the Apostles, as their weapons were not evidently ON THEIR PERSON. Sitting down with a sword is ...um.. problematic, as you can visualize, and it was considered an insult to others to be armed at the dining table as well.
... but here is the clincher ....
NO ONE left the room to sell anything, and Peter produced two swords in seconds.
It took a blacksmith, once he had the metal, about a week of hard labor to make a sword .... NOBODY just "had them laying around", any more than I would deliberately leave an expensive camera OR A .45 CALIBER HANDGUN in a rented dining room.
Upon reflection, Jesus said the two swords were "enough", as they were NOT going to war, merely confronting a cowardly illegal mob who would chill when faced with seeing their own blood, which they did.
Oh... the clincher ... almost forgot...
WHERE DID THE TWO SWORDS COME FROM?
... the Apostles brought them with them to the Passover and the Memorial.
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I'm not ignoring you at all, nor am I ignoring the childish wordplay. It's just that you claimed Banda initially was praised as a kind and compassionate man, and you say "That's the position Ray took." You gave a source that might have explained why someone else might have said this during his first few years, but why would you say that this is the position that Ray Franz took?
If you are right, then that might be something interesting. But, it would depend on which years you are referring to. Since all your subsequent posts merely describe the history and  government from the perspective of other people, it appears that you have nothing to back up what you said. So I think we can now safely assume that you just made this up about Ray Franz, too.
The way that Brother Johansson told it was that the only really peaceful time under Banda was when he was the installed Prime Minister, before there ever was an election. And it was even before Banda was elected, that the problems started for the Witnesses. In fact it was during the preparation for the long-awaited, upcoming election and Banda was behind this idea that he personally was to be the face of complete independence from Britain. So a three-week election registration period started with the 1964 New Year. It became a time of nationalistic excitement about the "new era." It was during those first three weeks that Witnesses first saw great trouble for not registering to vote. That's when Kingdom Halls and homes were burned and the threats became constant. Brother Johansson himself met with Banda just a couple weeks after the trouble started during that three-week registration and Banda seemed nice about it to Johansson. But it was just a few days later, February 3, 1964, still months before he was elected, that Witnesses saw the first death and major injuries. Brother Johansson went back to Banda a few days later and this time Banda acted very angry with the Witnesses. They never trusted him again, and Brooklyn was made aware immediately, even though Banda acted magnanimous around the time of his own election in July. There were additional deaths and injuries up until the election.
Then not much happened until April 1967, and the work progressed nicely, but this did not mean anyone in Brooklyn really trusted Banda. It was peaceful for the brothers, but it was still a time of uneasiness at the Branch. Brother Johansson knew that Banda did not like the fact that the Witnesses were successful and growing, and rebuilding. There was still a lot of misinformation about the Watchtower from several Watchtower groups and "Watchtower prophets" that had grown as sects all over Central Africa from the time of Russell and Rutherford. It was still being spread that the Witnesses were just another one of these "Watchtower" groups, some of which were very political. And Banda still saw the JWs as political, and at the very least, their growth meant more people who did not support him directlly -- more people who would refuse to carry a membership card. And it was Banda himself who pushed the persecution that worsened again in 1967, resulting in a ban and further persecution and loss of life into the 1970's. Waves of further persecution lasted off and on from the mid-70's until 1992. The ban was officially lifted in 1993.
Yes. I did not show that the Watchtower endorsed or orchestrated the Mexican issues nor the Malawi issues. That's because I have never believed they did anything like that. And, as you have no doubt already seen yourself, this was never a part of the basis for the apostate Ray to suggest a "double standard."  I can only guess why you have chosen to make this up. I think you believe it helps the Watchtower when you demonize an apostate and claim he said and did things he didn't believe or do. But in the long run, what are you going to do when people find out you made it up, or perhaps "fell for it" when someone else made it up?
Real research is not about just making stuff up because it makes you feel good, or sounds good. It should require a measure of honesty.
 

Eoin Joyce:
I have read the two scriptures you posted, and it says NOTHING even similar to the way disfellowshipping and shunning is done today.
When a person was "banished from the realm", he was exiled, but communications with his family was never cut off, nor were THEY threatened with banishment if they continued to talk or correspond with him (or her).  They could even go with him, if they wanted, and come back freely.
Let's say the border was a small river ... he could move to the other side of the river, and his family, extended family, and his friends could go over at will to socialize, have dinner, or help him build a house, or plant fields, etc, and NOT BE THREATENED WITH BANISHMENT.
Banishment consists of forcing a person, under pain of death, to relocate PERSONALLY out of a particular geographic area. 
It does not cruelly punish OR THREATEN TO PUNISH  innocent bystanders who might love him ... or her, with the same treatment.
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Nnaemeka:
The phrase comes to mind, paraphrased ... " ... If a man does not take care of his own, he is worse than a man without the faith."  To me that means spiritual education, food, shelter, secular education, and when necessary DEFENSE.
An incompetent defense is no defense at all, and a MAN is supposed to know the difference.
I almost cried when I read your post, as when I was young I too was an idealist, and I miss the old me .... but I am 70 plus years old and have been all over the world, and seen hundreds of times , and sometimes been a part of the travesty, to my everlasting shame, how people with the very best of intentions  give BAD advice, and wrap it in a sarcophagus of scriptural references that ALMOST apply,  and with honest hearts, and the very best of intentions, ruin people's lives .
Been there ... done that. 
In all my years of watching and carefully noting the affairs of men, in and out of the Brotherhood, I have NEVER, EVER seen Jehovah intervene to protect anyone from evil, and have seen Brothers and Sisters infinitely better Theocrats than I am cut down.
In World War II, and even in Malawi, there is ZERO examples of God rescuing ANY individual person ... except in liberal fantasy not connected with what is REAL.  ZERO real evidence.
Zero ... none ...  nada ... goose eggs.
Apparently this ceased during the times of the Early Christians.
I am NOT going to even try to dissuade you from your faith, because right or wrong, Jehovah gives us full credit for what we do to the best of our ability with the conscience we have at any particular point in time.
Half of your first sentence I will take to heart ... as we all have to live with our conscience.    I am NOT a sheep person. I am a Sheepdog to my bones, and if I am wrong, Jehovah will judge me appropriately ... but I would rather die forever than allow innocent people to be harmed, especially my immediate family, the whole association of the Brotherhood, or even the clueless Snowflake beset upon by evil ... when I consider it my responsibility to protect these people, and myself ... if I can.
I did not exist for 14.5 or so BILLION YEARS, and it bothered me not in the slightest ... If I am not resurrected because of who I am, the Brotherhood will be better off without me.
FAMILY COMES FIRST!
For me, if I shirk this responsibility, I am not a man .... merely a BORG with male plumbing.
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During the time of Jesus' earthly ministry,  disputes and criminal charges were handled in the CITY GATES, so that everyone could see what was going on... and everyone could stand up and make themselves heard by everyone if they had anything to add.  This kept the witnesses honest, as they had no idea who MIGHT stand up and call them a liar, and be able to prove it ... and even MORE importantly, it kept the Judges honest, as if they were stupid, on the take, or railroading someone, it was obvious to all .... and they knew the Jews in the audience could throw rocks at them as well.

Evildoers were ordered to make reparations, or executed.  Juvenile delinquents were counseled and punished with hard labor, and if ineffective, they were stoned to death, and the parents had to throw the first stones. Prisons and jails did not exist, although chains did.

In the Jewish system, for thousands of years, this system worked .... and I have NEVER heard about institutionalized "shunning".  Individual people can "shun" whoever they want ...  this has always been an individual option.
Jesus even talked to and ATE WITH men of the nations, tax collectors and others the Pharisees shunned and looked down on.
If you want to emulate Jesus ... act courteously with ALL people ...
If you want to emulate the Pharisees,  first check the list, then shun, Shun SHUN yourself into an orgasm of self-rightousness.
Can you imagine Jesus treating people with deliberate cruelty like WE are instructed to do?
... and to discipline ONE PERSON, we tear apart entire generations and extended families?
I cannot.
 

Jehovah created predation as well as prey with defenses against predators. Predators using poison then to kill their prey is really a reflection of Jehovah's endearing engineering.  Also, Genesis 1:30 does not teach that all animals were created as herbivorous, as that is a common misunderstanding. Additionally, God did not alter the fauna after Adam's sin or after the Deluge to function within a predator-prey dichotomy--as there are no scriptures stating that, and which could even be seen as a contradiction of Jehovah resting from creation. 

I have carried weapons all my adult life, and my biggest crime was driving around a barricaded road when I knew the road construction to be completed, and good ( I designed roads for a living for many years...), and I got a ticket that cost $240.
Although my arsenal may scare the timid, I do NOT "live by the sword", and never have.  I even take spiders outside, assuming they are lost, so they do not starve to death.
Peter was being admonished not to GET INTO A BATTLE,  offensively,  and after he demonstrated that he was NOT going to let Jesus be murdered by an illegal night time mob (by cutting off the ear of the slave of the High Priest...) ... WITH THE SWORD HE WAS COMMANDED TO BRING WITH HIM ...  Jesus said the DEMONSTRATION was enough ... an ear cut off bleeds like a faucet turned on.
It has always been common knowledge that I "carry", and so far, to the best of my knowledge, in a half century, it has never stumbled ANYONE, even Elders who asked me about it, and in three different congregations throughout the U.S.A., I was called into "Room 101" before the triumvirate and questioned.
The last time it went something like this ...
"Um... Brother Rook, it has come to our attention that you carry a gun....um... is this true?"
"Yes, it is."
"Um, er... Brother Rook, uh.. are you carrying one now?"
"Yes, I am."
This is where they don't know what to say next ... there  are looks all around, and then after a pause,  they stand up, I stand up, they extend their hands, thank me for my time, and we all go out into the main Hall and go about our business.
When I go into a new Congregation, those elders that don't know I carry a firearm, I hand a prepared letter informing them that I do ... and it has NEVER, anywhere in the USA, created the SLIGHTEST ripple or complaint from ANYONE, in over 50 years. 
I have had elderly Sisters ask me about  security for them, and I always advise them NOT to be armed, as you have to have a certain mindset to use weapons responsibly.  
If you are scared of the responsibility, best to be a victim, than make someone else a victim by your own hand.
When we returned to the KH after Field Service, I did go to the trunk of my car and gave her a child's baseball bat I kept there, and explained how NOT to use it for self-defense ( a whole other story) ...
I agree with the Society's position that Elders, Ministerial Servants, and those in authority should NOT be armed ... I have yet to meet an Elder, etc., that could handle the responsibility necessary, or have the mindset.
I disagree with the rest that creates a mindset of cowardice.
I am un-apologetically NOT a sheep ... I am a Sheepdog, and all that implies.
It's even my job to protect Snowflakes, who think 7 minutes to an armed policeman  is faster than  a 1700fps defense, 30 feet away.
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AllenSmith:
I have noticed that hard facts are worthless to you, but approved agendas seem to be very important, even if they are irrational.
Thank you for calling to my mind many things I had completely forgotten ... I suppose the many years I associated  with people much smarter than me in the Engineering Profession has dulled my senses, to normal human thinking.
The paragraph you quoted CLEARLY states that POLITICIANS ... whose ALLEGIANCE was to Malawi, did all those mean and nasty, reprehensible things ... or did you miss that point?
NOWHERE in your reference is a Party Card addressed.

Tommy Tom Tom Tom Tom ...
If you don't get it ... it cannot be explained to you, even with puppets and crayons, and an infinite amount of time ......
I have the puppets and crayons, but I don't  have an infinite amount of time ...
The only thing I can suggest is that you don't forget your medications.
 
OH, and if I ever ... If I ever truncate your name, I will be sure to use "True".
 
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Thomas:
The reason no one saves someone that has fallen overboard, in certain circumstances, is because to stop the ship for a rescue makes that ship EXTREMELY vulnerable to submarine torpedo attack, and EVERYBODY on board knows this.  
Many a merchant marine sailor has learned this the hard way, by falling overboard while transporting cargo across oceans, and having to watch the convoy DELIBERATELY leave him in the middle of the ocean to die.  
WHAT IS AN ACCEPTABLE CASUALTY RATE FOR BROTHERS AND SISTERS BEING CHASED AWAY?
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Tom, Tom, Tommy Tom Tom ...
Being one of Jehovah's Witnesses was the greatest thing that could have happened to me .. and I marvel that it actually did happen.  No one has ruined my life, at all .... I live a GREAT life, and would not change a thing ... (don't mess with the time stream, if you could, you may end up as a butterfly or Schrodinger's cat ...).
I cry for the Brothers and Sisters who did NOT have the fortitude,  independence, or gumption to resist stupidity, and PubSpeak.
I carry my bags of rocks without complaint ... but there are ones who are loaded down with bad philosophy disguised as the truth from God, and, and have no natural defenses against it .. . and they are broken, crushed,  and chased away  ... THAT infuriates me.    THAT I complain about.
With millions of words, which always BECOME hypnosis ... JW.ORG has become JW.BORG, and I refuse to be assimilated.
besides, ... all those hoses in ones' cheeks have to be cumbersome ...
I am not of the opinion that it is all just a butterfly's bad dream.
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Please note that on each of the Governing Body's passport applications it it crystal clear that it is an OATH OF ALLEGIANCE ... and that before Jehovah God they all swore to "bear true faith and allegiance" ... and WITHOUT ANY MENTAL RESERVATION, AND THAT THEY WOULD SUPPORT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION AGAINST ALL ENEMIES,  FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC.
There is absolutely NO way a SANE person can get around what they did ... with fifty words or a million words.
The Malawi Party card was a national identity card that required NO OATH OF ALLEGIANCE, and was basically, a tax of 25 cents.
I spent time in the Congo  .... that was about a half day's pay at the time.
When my boys were growing up, they were members of the U.S. Air Force auxiliary, the Civil Air Patrol, which was basically the Boy Scouts, with airplanes ... and it did not require my sons to swear any oath of allegiance to ANYTHING, or pledge allegiance to any flag, which they also did not do.
I was there at EVERY meeting and exercise and watched, as the peer pressure on them by students and instructors was intense ... and they got to see FIRST HAND how the flag of the United States is literally worshiped in "color guard" ceremonies, and such.  My son, Yannick, was expelled from the classroom ( and me with him) for refusing to pledge allegiance to the Flag, and we went outside to see the most magnificent rainbow across the airfield I have EVER seen, in person or in ANY photographs.
It was close up, fully saturated colors, brilliantly lit  with sharply defined wide banded spectral  bows, went from left horizon to right horizon completely, and was against a background of dark rain clouds.
It is my strong personal opinion, and I am a natural skeptic about such things, that this was Jehovah God showing his pride in my son's actions.
I was so stunned, I ran back to the classroom, and burst in, and told everybody about the rainbow, and they abandoned their teacher to run outside to see it.
Later on, the teacher, a retired Marine aviation mechanic, came and apologized for his losing his temper and throwing Yannick out.
He did not know that I had previously cleared it with the Squadron Commander that my boys could be Cadets without any oath or pledge requirements whatsoever ... and apparently he got chewed out for his demands.
By the way, the Civil Air Patrol has NO weapons, and only does search and rescue of downed aircraft, with airplanes, etc. They would not even allow my boys to have knives, on camping trips ... so I bought them hatchets, and sharpened them.
 
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This type of situation has always resulted in double-think (a form of NON-thinking) or, as the psychologists say, a form of "cognitive dissonance."
*** w76 12/1 p. 712 Insight on the News ***
What Makes a Good Citizen?
● A Danish family was recently denied Canadian citizenship by the Federal Court of Appeal. Yet Mr. Justice George Addy of the court wrote that “both Appellants impressed me as being good, honest people with a deep religious faith which they translate into action in their daily lives. They are members of the movement known as Jehovah’s Witnesses . . . Both he and his wife are apparently strong believers in the work ethic and have never taken advantage of the social benefits provided for in our society. . . . Their children are exceptionally clean-cut and alert and the family from all appearances is a model one.”
Then why the denial of citizenship by this very judge? “The single obstacle to a grant of citizenship,” writes Ian Hunter of the University of Western Ontario law faculty, was the fact that, in taking the oath of allegiance, they would not agree to participate in any war effort.
The very person who wrote this knew that in his own "Oath of Allegiance" he had promised to participate in the defense of the constitution from all enemies, both foreign, and domestic. His wife took almost the identical citizenship oath referred to in the article.
Saluting the flag is just a preamble to the more serious "pledge of allegiance" that adults will be asked to sign or affirm if they are changing citizenship or will travel outside the country. The same person who wrote this also has claimed (to others) that he is finally withdrawing himself from defending the Watchtower's position on blood, after a quarter-century of not personally believing what he was famous for strongly defending. (For that matter, Ray Franz also claims that he defended the 1914 chronology for several years after discovering it was not Biblically supported, while researching the Chronology article in the Aid Book.)
In an almost related story, I've read (never confirmed) that the reason the Society changed their views against vaccinations was because several brothers needed to travel to other countries, and vaccinations were required for travel.

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It is the old classic "You are damned if you do... and damned if you don't."
If I take personal responsibility according to the dictates of my conscience and am wrong, Wrong WRONG ... I naturally have to pay the price, whatever that is.
I PERSONALLY HAVE TO PAY THE PRICE FOR RUINING MY LIFE.
If I follow the advice of ANYONE , oh...say... a Governing Body of some religious organization, and they are wrong Wrong WRONG ...  AGAIN, I naturally have to pay the price, whatever that is.
THEY PAY NO PRICE WHATSOEVER FOR RUINING MY LIFE !
.... and they NEVER, EVER .... even apologize.
 
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Oh, and by the way ... when EVERYBODY in a country buys a political party card... and by law ... there is ONLY ONE political party in the entire nation ... what REALITY is, is that the card is a National Identification Card. 
THAT IS WHY ... in Malawi, those who were NOT indigenous to Africa, were exempted.
Before you scroll down ... what would you think of a Brother, or a collection of Brothers,  who in order to get official government documents,  ACTUALLY SWORE ALLEGIANCE TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ?   Pretty despicable, huh?  Especially... ESPECIALLY  in light of the Malawi rulings that got PEOPLE KILLED AND TORTURED !
Would you even want to associate with such people, claiming allegiance exclusively to God's Kingdom by Christ Jesus ... while committing TREASON against God, by giving their allegiance to a political nation?   And for what?
Now ..... after you have considered these despicable actions by Brothers for selfish, worldly reasons ..... scroll down
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It is the old classic "You are damned if you do... and damned if you don't."
If I take personal responsibility according to the dictates of my conscience and am wrong, Wrong WRONG ... I naturally have to pay the price, whatever that is.
I PERSONALLY HAVE TO PAY THE PRICE FOR RUINING MY LIFE.
If I follow the advice of ANYONE , oh...say... a Governing Body of some religious organization, and they are wrong Wrong WRONG ...  AGAIN, I naturally have to pay the price, whatever that is.
THEY PAY NO PRICE WHATSOEVER FOR RUINING MY LIFE !
.... and they NEVER, EVER .... even apologize.
 
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Years ago, I lived in San Diego, California, and across the Mexican border in Tijuana,  bought a pair of those kinds of shoes ... 'flip-flops" made from the treads of old tires, and thought it was pretty cool, but today I give my best efforts to preserving cow life, and as long as they are usefull to mankind, they will NEVER become extinct.
I suspect the reason the dinosaurs REALLY became extinct ... is that they were not delicious, or that their hides made poor clothing.
 
 

SCENARIO:  You are at a packed Kingdom Hall on Memorial night, and ten minutes into the remembrance talk, six masked people with weapons enter the Kingdom Hall and begin shooting everyone they can, without any conversation.  
You are shot in the left side of your face and most of those teeth are gone.
Before you know what is going on twelve Brothers and Sisters have been shot, screaming and panic ensues, and there is blood and bodies and brains all over, and the shooting continues.
Would it be fitting for a Brother  to use his handgun to return fire on the murderers to try and save his own life, or the lives of his Brothers and Sisters?
Or, in PubSpeak ... "Would it be fitting for a Christian to keep a firearm, such as a handgun or a rifle, for protection against other humans?" ( July 2017 Watchtower )
This raises MANY Theocratic, moral, ethical, legal, and Societial policy questions ... all of which have REAL answers. 
What is the RIGHT thing for a responsible Christian to do?

Now you're thinking. (I couldn't upvote as the JTR thing is wasting time and space). 

Tom, Tom Tommy Tom Tom:
I hate to point this out once again, for perhaps the sixth time... but your reading comprehension skills need a LOT of work.
I was talking about ONE thing... how to tell if ones' arguments are valid, or are off on a tangent, up the creek without a paddle, or sauntering down Booger's Woods to the trivia pit of intellectual analysis.
NO MORE!
What I said was:
The substitution was a TOOL to analyze a point of view, to see if it was valid .... no more. Many other tools might be just as useful ...or not.  Good detectives can take the skimpiest clues and develop a strong cohesive picture of events ... bad detectives can take an explicit picture, and remark.. "nice colors".
I do agree with you about the nature of the problem may be overblown ... like the prostitute that complained to the police that she had been raped, but only realized it when the check bounced.  Money and the search for deep pockets make for VERY flexible memories ... but Justice we get from Jehovah God ... EVERYTHING else is due process.
That does NOT mean we slow down in the relentless, never ending search for Justice.
AND DEMAND it of ourselves ... and others.