Posts by Incognito

207

Honest Questions About Child Abuse

by Richard Oliver in

i have two honest questions for everyone here.

i understand that most here want retribution from the courts against watchtower for child abuse allegations.

but let us take away the instances where someone was accused of child abuse and then later put back into a position of authority, such as an elder or an ms. let us just take the cases where a regular publisher or even an appointed person, with no previous accusation of child abuse has come up against that person.

Incognito

we as a people who are determined to protect children need to focus energy on changing the laws of the land in which we live.

For an organization which claims the highest morals and ethics, why do they oppose reporting child sexual abuse to worldly authorities? What would Jesus and Jehovah expect their chosen organization to do? Should they wait for worldly authorities to force them to report abuses or would they expect the organization to do everything possible to protect its members?

Even when required by law to report, do they actually do so? In Australia - 0 reported cases.

By not reporting even if not required, WT and elders are taking on a liability to which they are now often being made accountable.

Jehovah knows when a sparrow falls from the sky. Doesn't he hold humans in higher regard?

As Jehovah is 'love', I would assume he would expect his organization to be a positive example to the world on how to lovingly treat and protect others, especially those that cannot protect themselves.

WT warn congregants not to bring reproach on Jehovah's name yet it is WT behavior that is bringing the most reproach.

207

Honest Questions About Child Abuse

by Richard Oliver in

i have two honest questions for everyone here.

i understand that most here want retribution from the courts against watchtower for child abuse allegations.

but let us take away the instances where someone was accused of child abuse and then later put back into a position of authority, such as an elder or an ms. let us just take the cases where a regular publisher or even an appointed person, with no previous accusation of child abuse has come up against that person.

Incognito

But my question was if it is not against the law who are you going to report it too?

The issue is a law requiring 'clergy' to report when sexual abuse is reveled to them.

207

Honest Questions About Child Abuse

by Richard Oliver in

i have two honest questions for everyone here.

i understand that most here want retribution from the courts against watchtower for child abuse allegations.

but let us take away the instances where someone was accused of child abuse and then later put back into a position of authority, such as an elder or an ms. let us just take the cases where a regular publisher or even an appointed person, with no previous accusation of child abuse has come up against that person.

Incognito

As Orphan Crow clearly stated, the ongoing and biggest problem and source of liability is WT keeping these matters hidden and not involving proper authorities.

WT dictate to all JWs, to keep matters within the cong and not involve 'the world'. WT then instruct elders to contact WT legal depart for further instructions when matters of sexual abuse are reported to them.

Although WT claim that child sexual abuse is to be reported to authorities where required by law, the Australian RC has shown that doesn't actually occur as 0 of the approx 1600 cases involving over 1000 perpetrators was never reported. Australia does have a few mandatory reporting areas so it can be assumed that at least 1 incident occurred in one of those areas.

As each incident is not reported to authorities for proper investigation and as those reporting the matter to elders are often threatened against talking about it to others, the perpetrator continues to be unrestricted from repeating similar behavior with other children within or outside the congregation.

Congregants need to be encouraged to report matters directly to authorities but if they choose to first report to elders, elders need to then contact the authorities directly, not first reporting to WT legal dept.

For an organization which claims its members have the highest morals and respect for the law in a Christ like manner in representation of the one true God, most people would assume they would be a shining example of how these matters are to be correctly handled. Instead, WT has been shown as one of the poorest examples on the planet and they continually oppose being forced to fix the situation.

9

A better way to ask questions - Anybody remember "Amazing"?

by Bonnie_Clyde in

first of all, i wonder whatever happened to jim whitney (aka amazing).

when i first joined this forum, i remember being so impressed by the way he got his family out.

instead of knocking the organization head-on, he would ask questions that can't be answered during his family study, such as, "how would you answer someone if they said we were false prophets?

Incognito

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/280772/what-happened-member-amazing

28

Fading or Disassociating

by Saethydd in

hello, i'm new here.. i'm a college student who has been raised in the "truth" for my entire life.

i was baptized at 10 years old, and looking back now i know i didn't fully grasp everything involved, for one thing i don't even recall ever going to jehovah in a special prayer to dedicate myself to him, but anyway that's the past and my focus is really on the present.

i'm currently pursuing an associates degree, but i find myself desiring to pursue a bachelors in my chosen field so that i may have a somewhat more secure future.

Incognito

Welcome to the forum.

While I have reservations that the Society itself is evil and money-hungry, (the reason for this being that they do urge their followers to focus on the preaching work instead of wealth,

Yet, JWs with money will typically be treated more favorably than those without, regardless of how much preaching either do.

While the society urges followers not to focus on wealth, the society's focus and urgings of late, is for followers to donate more and more $ to the WT. Whatever donations received are never enough even as the sale of Brooklyn properties resulted in over $1 Billion for WT.

I would still be treated differently I know, but perhaps it wouldn't be quite so bad, though on the other hand if I fade then every time I do interact with my friends and family they would probably be trying to bring me back into the "truth."

Although we are not DF'd or DA'd but simply faded away, and although we say nothing negative, my family treat us as though we are DF'd anyway.

You are the best judge as to how your family would treat you. If they are the type that non attendance and no FS is equal to turning your back on Jehovah, then it maybe best to not worry about reinstatement just so you can walk away.

Many find that once they know the real truth about 'the truth', they can no longer tolerate attending meetings and pretending to be someone they are not, just to be favored by a few elders who will not accept them for who they are.

If you haven't been watching Leah Remini's show on Scientology, then I highly urge you to. The parallels to JWs & WT cannot be ignored.

26

Xmas / New Year - Time to Review Your Finances

by Simon in

it's that time of the year again, when most people spend too much buying too much crap for people .... it's also a good time to take advantage of the few days off to look at your finances and make sure you're not being "gouged" by the big companies that, well, like to extract as much money from people as possible.. for us, one of the biggest culprits was telecoms.. think about it: years ago you just had to buy a tv and probably paid to have a phone line.

nowadays you have cell phones for everyone in the family and a million and one tv channels (all showing crap or repeats of crap) and extra for movies and pay-per-view.

you can easily be paying hundreds of dollars per month.. it can all add up, quickly.

Incognito

That $25 may not sound much ... but per month, over 5 years, it's $1,500 even before you earn any interest for it.
So reverse it - imagine someone will pay you $1,500 to not watch a couple of channels. Hells yeah I'll switch over! - Simon

What is not even mentioned here is what any of us would need to earn (before tax and other deductions) before we would actually have $1,500 in hand.

$18 is quite a lot when you consider that they basically just give you VOIP anyway.

True, but my comment was mainly related to conventional landline costs (ie: Bell). Each company's goal is to make money so they will often charge what people are willing to pay.

I'm amazed so many people continue to remain loyal to Bell (and their excessive prices) simply because they have been a customer for years and therefore, refuse to even consider other options.

Our only hold-back in switching to Ooma is they don't yet (hopefully soon) offer numbers local to our specific location. We can't yet port our current number to the Ooma service. I'm OK with a new number but the better half, not so much.

26

Xmas / New Year - Time to Review Your Finances

by Simon in

it's that time of the year again, when most people spend too much buying too much crap for people .... it's also a good time to take advantage of the few days off to look at your finances and make sure you're not being "gouged" by the big companies that, well, like to extract as much money from people as possible.. for us, one of the biggest culprits was telecoms.. think about it: years ago you just had to buy a tv and probably paid to have a phone line.

nowadays you have cell phones for everyone in the family and a million and one tv channels (all showing crap or repeats of crap) and extra for movies and pay-per-view.

you can easily be paying hundreds of dollars per month.. it can all add up, quickly.

Incognito

Much cheaper than the $18 a month the local cable company was charging. - Simon

Sounds as though your cable phone service was already a reasonable amount.

We had been paying about $45 through Bell for only the most basic package including some N-A long distance so when Rogers offered a $19.95 package which included more features, we never looked back. After 2 years, the cost has increased considerably so we are now considering Ooma. It's nice to receive positive feedback on Ooma voice quality as we don't know anyone using it. We had previously tried MagicJack but the quality was terrible even though our cable internet bandwidth far exceeded MJ requirements and the router was programmed to give priority to VOIP.

62

Meeting Attendance levels

by freddo in

jw
friends

i attended a sunday meeting today after missing a couple due to a bout of chronic apathy.

out of 74 publishers we had a grand total of 33. wonderful.

for those that attend, how are you finding the numbers?.

Incognito

All I know is the seats are full. - A Believer

As you visited a cong you don't normally attend, you may not know the usual attendance.

Some congs are located in areas which are desirable locations due to job availability or lifestyle. Perhaps an affluent area which has stature or a vacation destination?

If there had been a recent merger of congregations, the remaining or newly formed congregation would be expected to have more regular attendees than before the amalgamation.

A locally observed situation at one location is not solid proof of what is occurring throughout the region, state, province or country.

18

Thread Post View Is Stuck At 10 & Can't Be Changed!

by Divergent in

i browse this site on mobile and noticed that the thread post view is now stuck at 10. previously, i could set it at 20 and it stays that way, but now if i set it at 20, it goes back to 10 again the moment i click on another topic.

i hope that you can look into this as it is extremely irritating for me to keep having to change it.

i want to view as many posts as possible in one page!

Incognito

I too experience the same issue as Divergent. I use a a few different devices but commonly use Chrome as my browser.

While the initial topic listing page consistently remains set to 20 topics per page once chosen, each topic returns to 10 postings per page when each post is first opened. This situation has recently changed as once 20 posts was initially chosen in one post, all subsequent posts then opened with 20 posts per page which remained a constant setting from session to session.

129

Hi forum

by A Believer in

i proably shouldnt be on here but i feel like saying this.

i have been for the last couple weeks been studying religion.

i've learned the only ones who today do what the bible says to is jw.

Incognito

I find it odd that active JWs posting here, often won't freely admit to being a JW but instead claim to be a member of the public who must defend the JW religion.

Having grown-up in the religion, I was always taught to be proud to represent Jehovah as one of his people. Just as the song: "We're Jehovah's Witnesses. We speak out in fearlessness."

There now seems to be a sense of embarrassment as JWs who actually do go door to door, often introduce themselves as bible students or volunteers, not JWs.