Mephis

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Posts by Mephis

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  72

  My RC hearing brought forward. Will be in two weeks

  by umbertoecho in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  through this forum of wonderful freaks, i have met someone who is coming with me to my hearing.

  initially i was slated for next year, but will be attending in two weeks time.

  all is in place from travel vouchers, support, where to go ............very efficient and well done.

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  Mephis

  1.) If the view of the GB is that elders' consciences should move them to report, then they should explicitly give guidance to elders saying that. Write it down, no weasel wording, but a direct message to elders: "Your personal conscience is very important. Use it regardless of whether or not the law specifically obliges you to try and protect children. You are responsible before Jehovah for your own actions and inaction. Take advice from those qualified to give it on child protection issues, which the service desk is not, and act accordingly."

  2.) A formal and fully documented procedure for elders to follow when child abuse is reported to them should be written for each different jurisdiction which takes into account both local law but, more importantly, that this is about protecting children as the priority. The 'sin' aspect of things comes after that. A long way after that.

  3.) Involve recognised outside child protection experts in creating a curriculum and training course for elders. Allow them to provide it at elders' schools. This will help to raise awareness as well as give elders outside perspective of the issues involved and the need to pass things to people who can help appropriately. Regularly seek updated perspectives from child protection professionals on amendments to policies - review of what is effective and what isn't is important.

  4.) Acknowledgement of there being an issue publicly. Openly admit the problems being faced and what is being done to solve them. No weasel wording. No passing the buck. An acceptance that they are a hierarchical religion and a willingness to accept they have a duty of care, sometimes legally but most definitely morally. An apology to those they've failed and public statement of what steps they are now going to be taking to try and ensure it doesn't happen again.

  Sorry I can't be more practical with suggestions, and it's sad that even those will have little chance of being approved by Brooklyn. If someone keeps closing the curtains on the inside, it's hard to get sunlight from the outside.
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  60

  Watchtower's response to Royal Commission shows they have learned nothing and will do nothing

  by wannaexit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've quickly read through watchtower's submission to the royal commission.

  seems like they aren't planning to change policy anytime soon.

  they are critical of how the royal commission handled the situation.. the tone is of the submission is shear arrogance.

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  Mephis

  In case of emergency, claim persecution...

  "Jehovah’s Witnesses consider, however, that some of the criticisms made by Counsel Assisting go beyond what is necessary to assist the Commission in fulfilling its task or what is required by the Terms of Reference. They appear to be unjustified attacks on Jehovah’s Witnesses as a faith and the individual members thereof. These attacks seem to be the result of misinterpretations of the beliefs and practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses and of the Bible and the law."

  Wryly amused that that they even try to disagree with points where the commissioner has already told them they have issues.

  But morally bankrupt leadership yet again. They claim they assume elders will be moved by their conscience to report, whilst being absolutely adamant that they need mandated reporting because it's just too difficult for them to say it explicitly and actively put elders through a process to figure out whether or not they're legally obliged to report.

  More of the same on other issues. Whitewashed graves as one chap was meant to have phrased it.
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  75

  Australian Royal Commission Findings released

  by Mephis in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  will just post the general findings by counsel for the commission (angus stewart) - case specific ones are prior to them.

  in short, absolutely damning.. not been through every submission myself yet.

  available for download here: http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/case-study/636f01a5-50db-4b59-a35e-a24ae07fb0ad/case-study-29,-july-2015,-sydney.aspx.

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  Mephis

  I'm reading through the JW rebuttal, because that's what they've done, of the suggested findings. Incredible attitude from them. They're now claiming:

  "Irrespective of whether a parent or guardian of an abused child takes responsible action, if a congregation elder believes that children are at risk, then the elder can inform the authorities so that children are protected." (which cites Jackson's evidence to support it)

  "The safety of the victim and other children is paramount. In cases where the parent or guardian of a minor fails to take necessary measures to protect the child, a congregation elder can inform the authorities for the protection of the child or other children."

  But they need mandated reporting, which allows no loopholes for them to avoid reporting, because they firmly believe in the right of the family to be free from interference in such matters? Which is it? The whole point of mandated reporting is to place child safety first. That's why we report. Because Brothers Dimwit and Footinmouth really aren't best qualified to be making those calls.

  Deeply bizarre response from them. Not unexpected. But, even so, how can they be so willfully blind?
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  75

  Australian Royal Commission Findings released

  by Mephis in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  will just post the general findings by counsel for the commission (angus stewart) - case specific ones are prior to them.

  in short, absolutely damning.. not been through every submission myself yet.

  available for download here: http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/case-study/636f01a5-50db-4b59-a35e-a24ae07fb0ad/case-study-29,-july-2015,-sydney.aspx.

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  Mephis

  Used an old account to upload to googledrive. Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6Yoi3LAtDtBeHdrN2pVcVhoZ0U/view
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  75

  Australian Royal Commission Findings released

  by Mephis in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  will just post the general findings by counsel for the commission (angus stewart) - case specific ones are prior to them.

  in short, absolutely damning.. not been through every submission myself yet.

  available for download here: http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/case-study/636f01a5-50db-4b59-a35e-a24ae07fb0ad/case-study-29,-july-2015,-sydney.aspx.

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  Mephis

  You'd probably need to upload to an FB group, unless you wanted to mess about taking screenshots of a pdf and posting those. Other option is to upload to somewhere like google drive and link to there.
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  75

  Australian Royal Commission Findings released

  by Mephis in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  will just post the general findings by counsel for the commission (angus stewart) - case specific ones are prior to them.

  in short, absolutely damning.. not been through every submission myself yet.

  available for download here: http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/case-study/636f01a5-50db-4b59-a35e-a24ae07fb0ad/case-study-29,-july-2015,-sydney.aspx.

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  Mephis

  Reason link is to the main link page for downloads from ARC is I know I don't particularly like hitting a link and finding large pdf files downloading. Other people's mileage may vary. There are also multiple submissions, including that of the JWs, available for download too.
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  75

  Australian Royal Commission Findings released

  by Mephis in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  will just post the general findings by counsel for the commission (angus stewart) - case specific ones are prior to them.

  in short, absolutely damning.. not been through every submission myself yet.

  available for download here: http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/case-study/636f01a5-50db-4b59-a35e-a24ae07fb0ad/case-study-29,-july-2015,-sydney.aspx.

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  Mephis

  And this is just proves how clueless, and tacitly culpable, the governing body have been with this issue down the years - and to have the brazen cheek to go on their tv show and call it 'apostate lies'. They have no shame.

  "F67 The practices and procedures of the Jehovah’s Witness organisation for the prevention of
  child sexual abuse, and in particular for the management of the risk of an abuser reoffending,
  do not take account of the actual risk of an offender reoffending and accordingly place
  children in the organisation at significant risk of sexual abuse."
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  75

  Australian Royal Commission Findings released

  by Mephis in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  will just post the general findings by counsel for the commission (angus stewart) - case specific ones are prior to them.

  in short, absolutely damning.. not been through every submission myself yet.

  available for download here: http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/case-study/636f01a5-50db-4b59-a35e-a24ae07fb0ad/case-study-29,-july-2015,-sydney.aspx.

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  Mephis

  Will just post the general findings by counsel for the commission (Angus Stewart) - case specific ones are prior to them. In short, absolutely damning.

  Not been through every submission myself yet. Available for download here: http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/case-study/636f01a5-50db-4b59-a35e-a24ae07fb0ad/case-study-29,-july-2015,-sydney.aspx

  Available findings on the authority of the Governing Body
  
  F39 Mr Spinks’ evidence that the Australia Branch has full authority to produce documents,
  seminars, letters to elders and letters to publishers without the approval or agreement of the
  Governing Body is rejected.
  F40 The Governing Body retains authority in respect of all publications in the name of the
  Jehovah’s Witness organisation and any view or perspective contrary to that of the
  Governing Body is not tolerated.
  
  Available findings on the investigation process
  
  F41 There are no circumstances in which the survivor of a sexual assault should have to make her
  allegation in the presence of the person whom she accuses of having assaulted her, and,
  contrary to the present position, the documents, manuals and instructions produced by the
  Jehovah’s Witness organisation should make this clear.
  F42 The requirement that two or more eyewitnesses to the same incident are required in the
  absence of a confession from the accused, the testimony of two or three witnessesto separate
  incidents of the same kind of wrongdoing, or strong circumstantial evidence testified to by at
  least two witnesses (i.e. the two witness rule):
  a) means that in respect of child sexual abuse which almost invariably occurs in private, very
  often no finding of guilt will be made in respect of a guilty accused
  b) causes victims of child sexual abuse to feel unheard and unsupported when it results in
  allegations of child sexual abuse not being upheld
  c) is a danger to children in the Jehovah’s Witness organisation because its consequence is
  that very often nothing is done about an abuser in the organisation
  d) does not seem to be applied by the Jehovah’s Witness organisation in the case of an
  accusation of adultery, which suggests that adultery is taken more seriously by the
  organisation than child sexual abuse, and
  e) needs to be revisited by the Jehovah’s Witness organisation with a view to abandoning it
  or at least reformulating it to ensure that safe decisions as to someone being guilty of
  child sexual abuse can be made more easily.
  F43 The requirement that only elders (i.e. men) can participate in the making of decisions in the
  investigation process on whether or not someone has committed child sexual abuse:
  a) is a fundamental flaw in that process which weakens the decisions by excluding women,
  and
  b) needs to be revisited by the Jehovah’s Witness organisation to ensure a meaningful role
  for women.
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  31

  2015-11-18-BOE--Credits to jwfacts!

  by Atlantis in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  thanks to mr. jwfacts we now have a copy of this letter.

  i would have posted it on his thread but there was already 2 pages of replies and i didn't think the link would be seen.. thank you again mr. facts!.

  .. click the green download button.. http://wwwb.fileflyer.com/view/bbduxaa.

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  Mephis

  Part of the evidence uncovered by the ARC was a curious letter explaining how JWs massage their account figures to try and avoid certain legislation (I believe JWFacts ran into that with his attempts to get them to share his personal records). That may explain the accountants.

  Legal staff, well, would seem to speak for itself. They do seem to prefer to have their inhouse teams deal with court cases - would suspect not least because a good dub will give the authorised answer provided to them rather than checking to ensure the answer actually meets the question being asked.
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  27

  The Exodus confirmed..

  by Crazyguy in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  for those of you that don't research this stuff i will give a little back story.

  we all know about the moses exodus, but history and archeology didn't seem to confirm this event.

  the only exodus out of egypt ever recorded was that of a group of asiatic tribes that had taken over egypt for a bit over 100 years called the hyksos and the followers of the pharaoh akhenaten who perpetuated a monotheistic idea of worshiping only one deity the aten.

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  Mephis

  Just with the Moses name thing, the idea is that Moses is a shortened Egyptian name, "son of...", and could include *any* Egyptian god in it. So Tutmoses, Ramoses, Ptahmoses etc. But it isn't certain Moshe does come from the Egyptian. There is a Hebrew root which could also explain it very reasonably.

  I'd generally just caution against trying to pin too much 'history' to a narrative which really isn't about history. To take a neutral example, one can find historical fact in Homer's Iliad, but one wouldn't then want to use it as a full and accurate guide to Mycenae Greece and look for the 'historical' Helen. It's been done in the past, and it's failed! The setting is not as important as the story being told.

  Exodus is very fuzzy on the whole history thing, and the aim of it isn't so much to give a historical record but to provide a religious narrative. There may be points where it matches history, or a distorted oral tradition of it, but trying to hammer on historical events is always going to be problematic. There were links between Canaan and Egypt for half a millenia and more before the supposed time period of Joseph and Moses and we know but the barest fraction about what was going on. There may be many events which could have seeded the idea of people coming and going from Egypt. Choosing the Hyksos is quite literally choosing just one we know about and hanging things from that. Fun exercise but ultimately futile without knowing which sources were feeding those writing by the rivers of Babylon and later.