Pedophile Lawsuits. Which account did it come out of?

by horrible life 7 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  horrible life

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/11/153653/2818067/post.ashx#2818067

  This question was posted by poster Chris Cross about a month ago. I have been wondering about this ever since. It didn't get any answers, maybe It should be asked again.

  First I would like to thank everybody for replying. There is a lot of great information here. Due to my schedule I haven't had a time to reply until now...and still it will be kind of short. Is it made clear to a rank and file what money donations are done within the congregation? I am really interested in the msnbc story posted by Billy the Ex-Bethelite and I really think the question of where did the money come from for the pedophile lawsuits is important. Is it safe to assume that all money gathered by the WTS is ALL donations? If so, does every rank-and-file member feel that monies paid out for court cases such as this is kosher? Would a case such as the pedophiles mentioned in the news story contradict, in any way, any money policies set by the organization?

  If I donate to something, I want my money going for what it is intended. If I was a JW giving to the WT, I would think it would go toward the World Wide Work, or whatever they use as a catch all.

  Not paying off those parents who weren't watching their children from the 8 or whatever, bad seed, men, that were sneaking around pretending to be JW's. Thank Jehovah and his holy spirit, that they were all caught, and the congragation is clean once again. Those men weren't JW's. Why should I pay?

  Even cities have accounts for street, sewer, bond issues, improvements. Money is earmarked for specific needs. Would this be the "Pedophiles "R" US" fund?
• 

  Alpaca

  HL,

  I don't think there is any way around the fact that no matter where the money comes from (i.e., which specific asset of the Borg's) the bottom line is that everything the Borg has is sustained by the contributions of the R&F. Even if the argument is made that the source is their investments, the ultmate source of the money used to make the investments comes from the R&F.

  They are a morally corrupt, deceitful, dishonest, and just down right slimy.

  From the looks of things, they are probably using money from the sale of the Brooklyn properties, to stay liquid.

  The whole pedophile scandal reeks of coverup, damage control, and shielding the average Dub from as much information as possible. Unless someone on the inside leaks the information to those on the outside, we may never know.

  Sorry, I know this isn't much help, but it is my take on things.

  Alex
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  Burger Time

  This may not be technically true Alpaca. Russel was the first to invest in to his own missionary which then became the WTS and he invested ALOT. That being said they could use the argument that it was used from stock funds and other diversified investment that are not part of the R&F contribution. It would be a stretch but it could be true.
• 

  Alpaca

  BT,

  I thought about that while I was formulating my comment. The thing is that Russell's investments were made so long ago and the Borg could never have sustained itself for so long without additional input of funds and especially "slave" labor. Without the continuous support of the R&F from the 1920s down to the present they would have folded long ago (IMHO).

  Alex
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  Burger Time

  Well even in Rutherford's time investors paid in and were able to vote on things. So the key elements of how it started were not based on donations per say. I am just being devil's advocate on how they could honestly argue out of the donation element.
• 

  avishai

  The sad thing is that most of the money bethel is spending is on attorneys fees, they did whatever they could to lowball these people, and then shut them up, the lion's share goes to attorneys, not victims.
• 

  Burger Time

  The saddest thing is that they could have avoided all of it if they practiced what they preached.
• 

  horrible life

  Alpaca and Burger Time, Thank you both for your answers. Both make sense. They could bring up the Russell seed money, and get away with it, or, just say it came out of what the R&F have donated, that wasn't earmarked.

  I wish they had to be accountable for the money they spend, and report it in the magazines.

  Another sad thing, they still haven't changed their way of handleing abuse of the children.

  HOW can they pay off settlements, and be taken to court, and still stand on the same practices?