TrueTomHarley

3 minutes ago, Anna said:

Let Stan know, so he can add it to his library!

Baran is not a Witness, nor ever was to my knowledge. is that not a pre-requisite for the list?

22 minutes ago, AllenSmith said:

I’m sure if I read TTH books, I will find certain aspects of his books to disagree with.

No. 

12 minutes ago, JW Insider said:

By the way, I did just get a response from him,

Uh oh

1 hour ago, J.R. Ewing said:

I’ll give you a disingenuous down-vote, so TTH can once again, be regaled by his friend.

I feel his pain

5 minutes ago, AllenSmith said:

See, now TTH feels better!

Yes. Now is cleared up a great mystery.

9 minutes ago, Israeli Bar Avaddhon said:

I dont know Emily Baran

Find the book and read it if you can. it is the only book I'm aware of that covers the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses exclusively from Stalin's time to its publication date (2007 or so). It is secular. It does not get into prophetic patterns at all. But it is probably good background for you, as you write of these things. 

I will look at your post in time. Thanks for it. I don't go into such things in a big way - one cannot do everything. I leave it to those smarter than me. But in time I will get to it.

(Blush) I am also chronicling present matters pre and post-Russian ban and will release it soon in an Ebook. The Ebook will be free - it will be the first book I will try to get into print (which will not be). When released it will be on my profile page, which is now referring to another book.

No special credentials here, other than being a long-time Witness, faithful I hope, who follows world events both spiritual and political, and who indulges a hobby of writing now that the kids are gone and the bills are paid. 

A poll there found that 79% of Russians supported the ban. However, someone else observed that it depends upon how you frame the question. If it is a ban to stop something people think a nuisance - unannounced calls, then yes, 79% think it would be well to stop that.  It is not dissimilar to many places.  However, if the idea of ban is reframed to include going to jail and physical violence the percentage number will drop quickly. Russians are people like anywhere. They may be more given to uniformity, but they know what is fair and what is not.

There are many things I don't like. That doesn't mean I think people should go to jail who do them.

7 minutes ago, JW Insider said:

which is why I have given you another "up-vote."

I wondered about that up-vote.

17 hours ago, Israeli Bar Avaddhon said:

whether the king of the north

According to Emily Baran's book, the Soviet Union didn't like being called 'the king of the north.' Atheists there, they could hardly be expected to get their heads around biblical themes. It was all evidence of subversive politics to them.

56 minutes ago, Anna said:

That's ok, because I only watched half of it! lol (Don't tell True Tom though)

Sooooooo! 

"You must see it, TrueTom. Did you see it yet? How bout now?

"Well, when you gonna see it? C'mon! Prove that you're a spiritual man. See it!!!"

And now it turns out it's so dull you couldn't plow through it yourself!  I'm even going to like my own comment!

Oh for crying out loud! Five singers cover Fats Domino's Blueberry Hill. Who is #5?

Putin!!!

https://www.rt.com/news/407764-fats-domino-dies-89/

One sister said she liked it. It humanized him. But then she remembered how he's treated our brothers.

1 hour ago, Anna said:

But I was talking about those who begrudge the fact that THEY, in their eyes, made a "bad" decision and blame the Society/the truth/slave etc. for it

Waiting at the bus stop and the bus doesn't come because you misread the schedule or your copy was blurred is a downer. There is no way to spin it as a good thing. But there is no need to overdramatize it as some great tragedy, either - not unless you've decided that you don't know or care whether the bus comes or not since you've come to like it right where you are.

If the bus doesn't come when expected, that is a pain, but if you busy yourself in the general vicinity and speak to passerby the time seems to move on quickly. When it comes, the five virgins who took top jobs at Exxon and are no longer around have nothing on you.

1 hour ago, Anna said:

However, how would that work in a practical way....that kind of doctrinal democracy?

I'm for 2333. It has a lot of 3's in it, my favorite number.

1 hour ago, Anna said:

We've got to remember though that we are not swinging the hammer, that's left up to the Slave. All the dates we've ever had were put out there by the Slave. We just either agree with the dates or not...

Well...it is like when I am expected to lead the car group with all sisters who know the area better than me. "Just tell me what you want to do, Shelly, and I'll bless it."

1 hour ago, Anna said:

I know what you mean

That one was for real.

1 hour ago, Anna said:

1 hour ago, Anna said:

 

 

Cat got your tongue?

1 hour ago, Gone Fishing said:

Once these time periods are properly understood, I have a feeling there will be no ambiguity at all, and a lot of people will be saying "There. I always said it was something like that!".

In the meantime, one might consider a missed date as the time you swung a hammer and missed the nail. And the dates all around as the frustrated swings you took thereafter, also missing each time.

49 minutes ago, Gone Fishing said:

While I was growing up in a jw home, participation in school sports was a big no-no

If a family head makes rules for his family over such things - and many have - is it so horrendous to obey? It is only for a period of three or four years, which will pass soon enough. Must everyone be obsessed with short-term considerations?

Having said that, when a certain young brother wanted to join his school's golf team, his father, a local elder, assessed his son's spirituality and told him: 'just do it. Don't advertise - just do it if you want.'

Of course, golf is probably the least 'team' of team sports. Some people think it is not a sport at all.

19 hours ago, Anna said:

But then so is reading the comment in the first place

No. It is the difference between idling the car and stepping on the gas. Granted, some might choose not to get into the car. Those ones will not be here.

On 10/26/2017 at 1:37 PM, Anna said:

You have to watch the video @TrueTomHarley

As stated, such things interest me only to a degree. I will eventually get to it, once a project or two is out of the way.

I could spin this all in 'self-righteous' mode if I wanted to - that I am actually applying Christianity while others merely endlessly debate over it. Sometimes in my heart of hearts I entertain that thought. But a scenario just as likely is that they are smarter than me and are able to do both without breaking a sweat.

10 minutes ago, Anna said:

Yep

13 minutes ago, Anna said:

And have you watched the video yet?

Well, no. But I'll get to it.

On 10/29/2017 at 9:45 AM, Srecko Sostar said:

You complicate your life and mind and emotions and spread own insecurity.

None of those things are so. it is simply my applying the consideration over stumbling found in scripture. 

It is just how I do things. I don't say that others must do it. As Anna said, this is not the Kingdom Hall. Nor are there any rules over such things. Each will decide differently.

There! It was a like. A real genuine grade A honest-to-goodness like. Don't ever say it wasn't.

8 hours ago, Anna said:

They are free to leave any time they want and not listen to a word you say. You are here to say what you feel is the right thing to say. We can't please everyone. This is not the Kingdom Hall

There is a balance, to be sure. When Paul speaks of not stumbling another, it is newer or weaker persons he is speaking of. He is not primarily speaking about those who have been around forever and who should have, by now, resolved such matters and learned not to be offended at the drop of a pin. 

In this case, I let myself corrected because I thought he had a good point. Maybe he was right entirely and I should allow myself to be reigned in. It made sense to me. If saluting the flag is a form of idolatry, surely 'liking' the comment of an apostate is a form of association.