announcement at service meeting

by heathen 42 Replies latest jw friends

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  searcher

  Possible reason?

  “I’m seeing dozens of separate problems united by a theme,” Grassley said. “The theme is

  some individuals are exploiting vagueness or silence in or a lack of enforcement of the laws

  governing tax-exempt groups to enrich themselves rather than serve the public. It’s unseemly for

  tax-exempt groups to function this way. It’s also unfair to the taxpayers who subsidize that behavior.

  That’s why I continue to try to tighten the laws governing tax-exempt groups and encourage the IRS

  to step up enforcement of the existing laws and go after bad actors.”

  Source: http://finance.senate.gov/press/Gpress/2005/prg060106.pdf
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  MeneMene

  This is off your original topic but since you asked for more info -

  so which is it , did the WTBTS settle out of court or did this thing actually go to trial? I do stand by my statement of the family or legal guardian of a child not doing something to protect the child. In the catholic system the church is the legal guardian of the orphans thereby placing the guilt on the church for not protecting them .

  Here's the thread where it was announced on JWD - http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/11/133819/1.ashx

  The 9 cases involving 16 victims were all settled out of court. Note also that the WTBTS required the victims to all sign confidentiality agreements to effectively silence them. Thanks to Barbara Anderson, she & her friends contacted all the courts and purchased copies of all of the court documents. Bet the Society was shocked they were released. One of the courts accidentally sent Barbara a copy of one form that had the amount of that settlement.

  I agree with you 100% that the JW parents should have gone directly to law enforcement. However, they are trained [brainwashed] to go to the elders with any problems. The elders were not advising them to contact law enforcement. Quite the opposite - according to many people that have come forward. They were threatened with being disfellowshipped for slander if they told anyone.

  The elders are trained to contact Bethel Legal Dept first. At that point the form, Child Abuse Telememo, is completed. Did you read the questions on it? Legal dept determines how widespread the knowledge of the pedofile is. If very few know about it then it's easier to cover up.

  It appears you are under impression the children molested in the catholic system were all orphans. While probably there were many who were orphans, there were also many who had families and lived with their family. The catholic clergy were molesting the children and covering it up just the same as the Watchtower. One thing I found interesting is that the catholic church did not make their victims sign the 'gag orders' silencing them.

  There are many situations where the JW elders have covered up for pedofiles. Even allowing them to either continue to serve as elders, ministerial servants, publishers, etc. or allowing them to be re-appointed to those positions of authority. This is all explained in Barbara's Commentary that I mentioned to you earlier. Please take the time to read it.
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  OnTheWayOut

  I like Outlaw's straightforward comment here.
  BabaYaga adds good points too.

  I like to break things down for simplicity.

  Members donate money to their local congregation and to the worldwide work (WTS).
  Members borrow money back from the WTS to build a new Kingdom Hall.
  The organization technically owns the Kingdom Hall, so money is borrowed to build
  their own property, then the local members pay the borrowed money back.
  Further conflict of interest occurs when WTS starts suggesting (practically ordering)
  that locals switch all of their liquid assets from their local bank to the WTS which
  can use the funds to further their own interests until the locals need the moneys.

  I think what we are about to see is this:
  WTS will make a local congregation submit a request to get their own moneys back,
  and it will have to be approved, but can be denied. WTS will deny that the money is
  actually the property of the locals.
  There is probably some legal conflict there if they are charging interest like a bank,
  but not just cashing the checks that locals write when they want their own money.
  WTS is going to, legally and technically, admit that all the money is theirs so they
  stop charging interest, but just find some loophole to keep charging the principle to
  the locals.

  Some WT lawyer has pointed out how they are "breaking the law" but WTS will
  act like this change is a wonderful provision from Jehovah instead of a necessary
  end to an illegal action.

  All of the above is pure speculation. Come up with better wild theories and we
  can talk.