Semer

In my opinion, this answer by Pjdriver is spot on. Try to read it not as a correction or a reprimand, but as a sensible reflection on the topic. Also, Carlos's point was very good. Take the total number of partakers: around 20,000; substract those who partake for mental health reasons and who might not even be annointed (I know some cases, but of course we can't know whether they are annointed in spite of having mental issues, this is just a speculative exercise to make a point); substract the number of females; then substract the number of brothers who, perhaps due to health reasons, are not in a position to live in the HQ; then substract those who do not speak English fluently; then substract those who are not elders; then substract those who do not have a lot of experience in positions of responsibility in the organization (travelling overseers, Bethelites, etc.), and then the options are probably really limited. Now rejecting a very qualified brother to choose another one less qualified because of his skin colour would be not only impractical, but a form of partiality. After all, the GB is there to do a job, not to represent my race.

That idea that Tortuga mentioned appeared in Paradise Lost, by Milton. Also, here on JWTalk we have a speaking tortoise.

No offence, but I like Tortuga's version better.

The United Nations created the State of Israel after WW2, in 1948, as the Jewish national home. Approximately half of the territory of Palestine was given to Israel and the other half to Muslim Palestinians. Muslim countries rejected this decision, and immediately, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq invaded the territory, starting a war. Israel won the war, and the Palestinian territory was reduced to half its original extension and divided in two territories: the Strip of Gaza and the West Bank. A Palestinian nationalistic group called Al-Fatah, began to launch different types of terrorist attacks in different parts of the world. In 1967 there was another war between Israel and an Arab coalition. Israel won and took Gaza and Sinai from Egypt (Sinai would be given back a few years later), the West Bank from Jordan (including Eastern Jerusalem) and the Golan Heights from Syria. I think the UN considers these as occupied territories, but Israel claims that they are vital for their own security. Then, in the 1990s a peace treatment was signed with Al-Fatah. They renounced to the use of terrorism and acknowledged the existence of the State of Israel; in exchange, they could create an independent Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza, with a sort of democratic regime. In 2005, Israel withdrew all of its settlers and soldiers and dismantled its military facilities in the Gaza Strip, but continues to control its access. In 2006, the Islamic Resistance Movement, HAMAS (considered a terrorist group by some countries), won the election and took control of the Strip of Gaza, while the Palestinian Authority controls the West Bank. Israel is supported by the King of the South. The Palestinians are not openly supported by any countries nowadays, but they are somehow connected to the King of the North. This is very complicated and I might be wrong in some details, but in broad terms, this is the background of the conflict.

In the meantime, we can ask Araujo JW...

Well, Tim, I hope the only similarity is his left hand. 😁

Not really. The thing is that I looked for the pictures and post them and then realized that brother "Hinata" had just post them a second before me. I'm afraid my "d'oh!" wasn't very clear.

These are the brothers: D'oh!

It seems that drinking too much coke has three serious risks: one, you may lose your memory. And, uh, second, er, I think that something... What were we talking about again?

Sometimes there are interesting parallelisms in history. In the domains of the KotN, in 1933 (about 15 years after being defeated in WW1), a new leader emerged, who got the pride for their country back. The same year, a wave of persecution against God's people began, instigated by the clergy. The brothers appealed to the authorities, but it was worse, they began an open and systematic persecution. The international community did not care. In 1936, all the world made it to Berlin to the Olympic Games. Nobody decided to boicott the KotN. In 1938 the KotN decided that they were the protectors of German speaking people in the Sudetenland. After their pretence of diplomacy, they attacked the territory allegedly to free the population, while the other powers decided not to intervene. Now, a few years later: After being defeated in the Cold War, a new leader for the KotN emerged, who got the pride for their country back. About 15 years after that defeat, a wave of persecution against God's people began, instigated by the clergy. The appeal to the authorities was to no avail. In 2009 and 2010 two important courts in Russia decided that Jehovah's Witnesses are extremists. In 2017 the High Court banned God's people. Some mild protests by the international community. In 2014, all the world gathered for the Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. Nobody considered to boicott the KotN. In 2022 the KotN decided that they were protectors of Russian speaking people in Ukraine. They attacked the territory -at the same time they conducted a pretence of diplomacy-, allegedly to free the population, while the other powers decided not to intervene, at least directly. The paralellisms do not have to go on, but the next step was the invasion of Poland in 1939...

I haven't been able to keep abreast with all the messages, so perhaps someone has mentioned something about this. Anyway, today in the news they were interviewing a Spanish person who is in Ukraine right now and he said that they are not forcing people to combat because there are so many volunteers that they do not have enough weapons for all of them. I don't know if this situation only happens in that particular city or if it is generalized, but it seems like good news for our brothers there.

Going back to the topic, I am worried because of the question of neutrality. Ukraine is now under martial law, and they go door to door recruiting soldiers. It is undoubtedly a trial to our brothers, since in this situation, our position must be difficult to understand by non believers.

Human brain has a strong tendency to look for recognizable shapes, especially human faces, everywhere. Pareidolia in clouds is a classic:

Dog of Magog He can both get your slippers or invade Ukraine for you:

Annointed ones in heaven would not materialize on earth, would they? So, we can safely assume that the vandalism was not on brother Russell... Or, was it?

Yes, I read about it on a blog by brother Bruce W. Schulz, a historian. But I'm not sure he wants any publicity for his blog, that's why I didn't include the link.

I wasn't sure in which forum to post this, but here it goes. Some of you may know that in 1920, the brothers built a monument in the plot they used as a cemetery for Betheites, in Rosemont United Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County. That monument, not far from Russell's tombstone, had the shape of a pyramid, as an homage to what was mentioned here in the book Proclaimers: Well, some months ago, the monument was severely vandalized. The cross and crown motifs were hacked out. The capstone that held the four heavy granite pieces together was gone, and the sides appear to have been partly prized open. These are some pictures taken a couple of weeks ago: Such a heavy monument in this weakened state, with its very structure compromised, may be a danger to the public. Finally, on September 1st, the pyramid was carefully taken down.

I think the tone of our publications in times of Rutherford was a reaction to the level of persecution we were suffering. I think that the tone of our attacks against Christendom has always been several notches below the level of their attacks against us. In times of Russell, opposition was farily civil; dishonest and nasty some times, but not too cruel. Our publications in times of Russell mentioned "our Catholic friends", "our Methodist friends", etc. But in times of Rutherford the pressure of our enemies was more savage and inhuman than ever, with mobs, physical violence, concerted attacks, false criminal accusations to send our brothers to jail (Rutherford included), etc. Let alone what was happening in Nazi Europe. So I think the tone in our publications was just a reaction or a protest, but nothing remotely comparable to what we were enduring. Now the pressure of our enemies in most countries is softer, and the tone in our publications is even softer. I mean, today our enemies use malicious lies and false accusations, but they don't invade our conventions armed with clubs to beat us. So, when some critics accuse our publications of being too verbally aggresive in times of Rutherford, they fail to mention the complete picture.

It seems like the real situation doesn't sound so bad, and so they need to exaggerate and distort the truth so that the reader agrees with them. (By the way, distorting what a minority group believes or does so that society in general turns against them. I might be wrong, but I thought that was incitement to hatred.)

I suppose the brothers will appeal, we will win, and the media will ignore the final verdict, as usual. But this case seems to confirm the trend we can see in Western society in the last 10 years or so. The wave of tolerance and respect that came up among institutions after the horrors of WW2 seems to be waning. Some institutions feel more and more entitled to impose their "single thought". They even feel entitled to interfere in our worship by hauling in our two witness rule, or what the Bible commands about the sanctity of blood or disfellowshipping. In this case, internal religious discipline, based on the Bible and known and accepted by all members, is now religious discrimination. How about the baseless accusation in Belgium against a whole religious group of covering up paedophiles? That is not religious discrimination? That is not incitement to hatred? This kind of things reminds me of how easily the institutions of this world can turn against us. The attack of Gog used to be harder to imagine. In any case, we have to follow 1 Timothy 2:1, 2: And we'll have to be thankful when they rule in our favour.

Thank you for your help. 😊 In my case, what worked was to download the update package from jw.org and apply it manually.

For the last couple of months, when I launch the WTL CD-ROM, a message "1907" appears, asking me if I want to update. When I accept (twice), a progress bar appears, but then an error message pops up, something like: "Watchtower Library update could not be installed. Make sure there is not another instance of Watchtower Library active and try again." (I'm translating from Spanish). Of course, there is not another instance of the software active, and I try again, but to no avail. Do you know what may be happening?

It's a brazilian miniseries titled "José do Egito".