'the belgian church, facing rising protests after a television film on sexual abuse and cover-ups in its ranks, has appealed against a government data protection agency ruling that the diocese of ghent must let a person be “debaptised”.
the church considers baptism a permanent act that cannot be done away with, but the agency ruled in december that the plaintiff’s personal data record overrides the church’s interest in preserving its records.. .
the number of “debaptism” requests had been falling since a peak of 5,237 in 2021, when the vatican said it could not bless same-sex unions, but they have reportedly spiked again after the television series gotvergeten (“forgotten by god”) last september depicted the scandals in belgium.
In the USA Religion gets a freer hand than in most other countries.
As the congregation Secretary, WTBTS would swing back and forth on record-keeping policies.
I believe they will continue to do that...depending on which way the wind blows from country to country.
They would save a lot of energy, angst, and money if they simply got Elders out of the spy and cop business.
things got a bit lively after the agm leaks in october.
there was a lot of discussion going on on this board for a few months.
now that all the leaks have been more or less confirmed as policy, and we've had lively discussions at length concerning the changes, things seem to have slowed down here.. a few suggestions have been raised as to what might be the next changes, such as women being allowed to wear slacks (in the usa, anyway), decoupling from 1914 as an anchoring date and others.. so, what changes do you think will be announced this year?.
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Women more visibly in positions of trust is a popular speculation. How likely is that? Is the male population dire enough in some congregations that it may be contemplated?"
In the 1960s when I was a little kid, a single Pioneer Sister conducted our book study group.
In the 1960s a servants wife, who was an accountant, did the congregation accounts.
no doubt everyone has been following the juan viejo postings regarding the watchtower kingdom hall "grab" on jwn for the last couple of years.
called the mrs and me to say "wow- you have to google this" we did...came here to jwn ...became members..and the rest is history.. in the last nine months i have been calling and emailing contacts in the silicon valley for verification on the societies theft and forced sale of the menlo park kingdom hall (near the new facebook heaquarters) because the story seemed...a little far fetched.
every reliable contact i made has confirmed what juan reported.
This was an early post of mine. After attending a few Tahoe Aposta-fests I learned firsthand of other "Disfellowshipping in Absentia" cases. One was for a San Francisco Bay Area Elder who simply obeyed Ceasar's command to testify truthfully in court in regard to a Child Molesting case. (related to the C. Conti case) He was simply following biblical commands...#1 Obey the government #2 Not Lie.
Result? He was secretly disfellowshipped... in absentia....for refusing to Lie...directly by Watchtower's service desk.
i assume someone from wt attends the reading of the will.
an elder, a co, some especially selected person from the branch under whose purview this sort of thing is maintained?.
what is the procedure?.
Notformer, not unusual in Watchtower land. This particular Elder has no issue with helping Watchtower direct JWs into disinheriting "worldly family".
He hasn't spoken with his own grandchildren in years because his Daughter left Watchtower.
a home remodeling job in england that went wildly wrong:.
a builder who bludgeoned his client to death with a hammer in a row over her new extension has been jailed for at least 15 years for murder.. peter norgrove killed sharon gordon at her home on 20 july last year.. her daughter rhian brown said norgrove acted like a "wolf in sheep's clothing" after earning her trust at the church they attended in dudley.. wolverhampton crown court heard he led the jehovah's witness service the same night he killed mrs gordon.. he repeatedly lied to her about the work he was doing, which took 15 months instead of six weeks.. .
"he didn't have the experience to be doing the work he was doing," miss brown said.. "he took full payment for the extension in advance, which we believe to be more than £30,000.".
Yikes!! That poor woman!
We have given lots of work over the years to down-and-out JWs. About 75% of the time it didn't go well, and it became obvious why they were down and out in the first place. Lots of mental illness. :)
Now that we are no longer JWs we don't get hit up as much, and it is so much easier to say no thank you.
i assume someone from wt attends the reading of the will.
an elder, a co, some especially selected person from the branch under whose purview this sort of thing is maintained?.
what is the procedure?.
"Not former", yes, a kooky/confused member did falsely accuse me of being a different well-known Northern California Elder who was scamming many seniors with some sort of mortgage investment scheme in Northern CA that eventually blew up. Strangely, the confused poster never helped any of the victims file a case with the local District Attorney or SEC. He (and others) simply posted here and on the Kingdom Hall door.
The licensed Elder I mentioned earlier operated LEGALLY at the direction and supervision of Bethel.
yes, waiting on jehovah for him to handle a problem/ doctrine etc.. when did the jw's first start saying that?
they've been saying it as long as i can remember.. what scriptures do they trot out to back that teaching up?
?.
I have regularly heard that phrase since the 60s.
It was used as a cop-out frequently by lazy elders.
hello all.. i need a quick answer, and also a solid reference in the literature, please.. if a jw marries an unbeliever, there is reproof, it's frowned upon, it's disloyal, there will be loss of privileges, etc, but there's no other more serious consequences.
but, in a scenario where two people are free to marry, but one is a baptized jw and the other is disfellowshipped / disassociated, what are the consequences?.
thanks for your help.. r..
If the JW was "active" they would lose all privileges at a minimum and be grilled about premarital sex/contact.
If the couple had moved and was inactive...and on the down low....perhaps nothing.
If they were in the same town and well known...probably be Disfellowshipped as a "warning" to everyone in the area.
personally i think they gonna realise god's not backing org.
that idea gonna get even more established in their minds.
i think the real selling of kingdom hall gonna start then.
Norway is 27th in GDP ranking, so it isn't a big deal...but Watchtower hates to lose a case so they will appeal appeal appeal.
I agree with DOC:"
If they lose I think they will seriously consider what action they need to take to "get their ducks in a row" and requality EVEN IF it means some New Light on shunning.
They found New Light on blood transfusions when Bulgaria refused legal recognition of the religion due to their policy of DFing if one accepted transfusion. Today, if anyone accepts a BT all they need do is profess "weakness" and repentance and they will not be DFd. But failure to do so results in "disassociation" by their actions.
Yes, it's word play, but WT will play the game."
I expect some changes to disfellowshipping especially for the under 18 crowd.
i assume someone from wt attends the reading of the will.
an elder, a co, some especially selected person from the branch under whose purview this sort of thing is maintained?.
what is the procedure?.
"
This would never work Bal, watchtower are ruthless kicking out daughters from their dead mums homes to sell it."
:) It has been working well for three years. They had moved out of state, and Watchtower is still unaware she died. lol.
