Ben Franklin Gets Jilted and Flip-Flopping on the Resurection

[TrueTomHarley]

Ben Franklin courted the widow of his good friend, but the woman turned him down flat: ‘I could never be untrue to my husband.Â’ Then, in a dream, he went to heaven and met his good friend. They exchanged pleasantries until the friend presently said: “You must meet my new wife. SheÂ’ll be along soon.” Ben Franklin couldnÂ’t believe it. ‘Your earthly wife is more loyal than you!Â’ he said. She turned me down cold on your account!Â’ ‘ThatÂ’s too bad for you,Â’ the friend said. ‘She is an excellent woman and I missed her terribly at first, but now it is time to move on.Â’

As Ben Franklin grumbled, the ‘new’ wife showed up and it was Ben’s own deceased wife! Ben Franklin turned his rebuke on her, but she said: ‘I was a good and loyal wife to you for 50 years. Let that be enough for you!’

It is a mangling of Luke 20: 34-36, most likely, botched, but nonetheless used as a starting point. No need to say what is wrong with it. Suffice that it addresses the changed nature of relationships after death:

“Jesus said to them: ‘The children of this system of things marry and are given in marriage, but those who have been counted worthy of gaining that system of things and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. In fact, neither can they die anymore, for they are like the angels, and they are God’s children by being children of the resurrection.’”

For the longest time JehovahÂ’s Witnesses took those verses to mean that those who lost a spouse in death would not reunite in the earthly resurrection. After a certain public talk years ago that had mentioned the verse, a sister raised her had during the chairmanÂ’s remarks, something I had never seen before and have not seen again. She was new in the faith, widowed, and she looked forward to reuniting with her husband in the resurrection. She quizzed the chairman until the speaker himself raised his hand and said he would clarify the verse for her afterwards.

About 30-40 years ago, the Witness organization looked at the verses anew and said maybe she could reunite. They didn’t want to be dogmatic. Maybe the verses just applied to those having the heavenly hope, as they were the ones in abundance back then. It can’t even be said of earthly ones “neither can they die anymore.” They can, and surely will, if they show a rebellious spirit. I mean, if you were raised up to life on a paradise earth, would you grumble about the ground rules?

Grousers who say that Jehovah’s Witnesses flip-flop on doctrine miss the point. They’ve never said they didn’t. They do it all the time, re-examining verses in the face of accumulating knowledge. It has been called ‘the light getting brighter.’ (Proverbs 4:18) It has also been called tacking. The only ones who say they can’t do it are the grousers themselves.

That said, the major teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses regarding the nature of God (no Trinity), the nature of the soul (not immortal), who goes to heaven (not everybody good, but only a minority), have been firmly in place for over a century. Ridding the false doctrines that make knowledge and a close relationship with God all but impossible is part of the job of ‘the messenger preparing the way.’ The first thing you do in preparing the way for a building project is to take out the trash.

(the Ben Franklin writing is called 'A Proposal to Madame Helvetius')

[JW Insider]

Some good points:

*** w61 11/15 p. 704 Questions From Readers ***

• In the resurrection of the “other sheep” on earth, no former married person will have occasion to envy another former married person, as would be the case if this latter one got back his former marriage mate who had remained single, whereas the envious marriage mate does not get back his former partner because this partner remarried and survived Armageddon with his new marriage mate. What the resurrection promises men is, not remarriage, but reliving, and this under God’s kingdom by Christ. Is that not something satisfying? Has anyone a right to demand more through Christ’s sacrifice? Christ died for you, not to marry, but to live! Let us not be swayed or overcome by sentimentalism or emotionalism.

Of course, some of these types of questions ended up pushing the idea that the Greek Scriptures were written only to the anointed. This is not a point of emphasis any more. More reasonable answers and non-dogmatism are always welcome, especially when we are willing to humbly admit that we just don't have all the answers.

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

Some people would complain if they were hung with an old rope.

EVERYBODY is guessing.

Get USED to it.

It's the only game in town.

It's not "old light", or "new light", or any kind of light at all.

Everybody is GUESSING ... giving their opinions ... and claiming it is also the opinion of God. (A VERY profitable business not requiring a lot of hard, uncomfortable labor...).

Approximately 4 minutes after we stop breathing .... there will be a test.

[TrueTomHarley]

1 hour ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

Some people would complain if they were hung with an old rope.

This is incorrect.

They should ALL complain about being hung with an old rope.  It’s people that are so fussy that they would complain even were it a brand NEW rope that makes it funny. A good friend of mine used to say it all the time.

[JW Insider]

2 hours ago, TrueTomHarley said:

This is incorrect.

I'll stick my neck out and offer some last words on the topic.

You are right that the common expression uses new rope. But it's a dumber, and more ambiguous perspective, in my opinion. As you know I don't always side with JTR, but when I do, it's usually because I think his humor is working. In this case, I think it's a bit funnier with old rope. But I can swing either way with this one.

Editing to add that JTR's version reminds me somehow of the 3 men in the process of being beheaded by a guillotine. The first, a farmer, puts his head in the slot and the blade gets stuck, stops short, so the executioner says it must be fate, and they let him go. Same thing happens to the next man, a salesman. The third man, an engineer, puts his head in the slot, looks up and says, "Oh wait! I see the problem."

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

Yeah, my take on it was they would want a NEW rope.

Like Hugh Hefner had in Latin, on a brass plaque outside the Chicago Playboy Mansion, above his doorbell:

" Si Non Oscillas Noli Tintinnare."

... roughly translated: "If you don't swing .. don't ring."

He always had a bunch of sycophants "hanging around".

 

[Evacuated]

13 minutes ago, JW Insider said:

"Oh wait! I see the problem."

Yeah!  Give'em enough rope (old or new), and they'll hang them....................selves!!!

[TrueTomHarley]

 

4 hours ago, JW Insider said:

I'll stick my neck out and offer some last words on the topic.

You guys are all nuts. It only makes comedic sense if it is a new rope. Old rope is decidedly not funny and anyone thinking so should be observed for at least 48 hours.

It is like new new prisoner puzzled that the mere shout of a number would evoke uproarious laughter until he was told that in a closed population all jokes eventually get told many times and so to save time all are assigned numbers. He asked if he can do one, too, and when he shouts out a number, it is met with dead silence. He asks why that is and is told:

”Some people just can’t tell a joke.”

[JW Insider]

8 minutes ago, TrueTomHarley said:

”Some people just can’t tell a joke.”

I told that joke on the forum already. If you want to tell it again just refer to it as #487. Thank you. I find that it gets more upvotes (and HaHa emojis) if you put it in italics and it's underlined.

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

Wearing a white lab coat, and with a long wooden pointer with a piece of chalk on the end, JTR points to the chalkboard where it is written "Comedy should be left to the Professionals!"

[TrueTomHarley]

You will be happy to learn that I got a G on my talk last night, which was written here. The deciding factor was when I threw in, entirely spontaneously, that Franklin was hung with a NEW rope and yet still complained about it 

Imagine. Even when the hangman goes to all the trouble and expense of procuring a NEW rope, it is still not enough for Mr. Fussypants.

For those in Rio Linda, let us illustrate the situation thus:

”He would complain even if he was hung with a NEW rope.” Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

“He would complain even if he was hung with a OLD rope.” ? ?

 

 

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

1 hour ago, TrueTomHarley said:

I”He would complain even if he was hung with a NEW rope.” Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

“He would complain even if he was hung with a OLD rope.” ? ?

 

10 hours ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

Wearing a white lab coat, and with a long wooden pointer with a piece of chalk on the end, JTR points to the chalkboard where it is written "Comedy should be left to the Professionals!"

JTR rests his case ....