Posts by LennyinBluemont

36

Pedophilia Summary

by LennyinBluemont in

ive read barbaras intro to the pedophile records and thought it might be useful to have a record here on the forum of the most damning and verifiable facts regarding the pedophilia situation.

sort of a summary.

that way we can all have a source to go to and be able to quickly summarize whats criminal about the way the society has used its authority in this matter.

The purpose here is that if someone (particularly a JW) confronts you about this issue, you can have at your ready a concise list of issues based upon, not opinion, but court documents. Each of the ten points shows the unethical, immoral manner in which the WT has handled this issue over the course of many years. Thought it would be useful.

Correct point 9 to read "nine cases in California, Texas and Oregon." (per Barbara)

Thanks, Barbara!

Anyone feel free to add, delete, correct.

40

WHA WAS THE TURNING POINT FOR YOU IN JWS

by chuckyy in

hi.. just wondering what it was that first made you realise that jws didnt have the absolute "truth"?

was there a specific event/turning point for you or was it a moment of enlightenment?.

chukky.

LennyinBluemont

The wt study about marriage. Lenny and I had decided to separate after 32 years of marriage, since he was not returning to the Borg and I was still going. We felt sooner or later he might be df'd and then I couldn't have my friends over and he wanted to make new friends and I wouldn't be able to associate with them. It was a horrible couple of weeks for me thinking about leaving my wonderful husband. We both cried for days. He hadn't done anything wrong except read a few books (Ray's, Diane Wilson's, & was on a website for x-dubs, too.) I was advised by many witnesses some I considered to be very close, to leave him. We run a business together, we had just built a beautiful house together and moved. The wt study had lots of comments from those there that day. Many had awful stories about abuse in their marriages, adultery, and other wrong things. The more I thought about it the more I realized that I shouldn't leave him. We love each other and have never had problems like were mentioned. I was crying so much I went to the ladies room. I came back to the meeting & continued to sob. I knew I wasn't going to be seeing these people anymore. I gathered my belongings and went out the door. A friend followed me out with her child in her arms. I told her I had to leave. She understood. She tried to encourage me to stay the course. I went home and felt so much better. I really think that was the finale study I went to the kh. It was too much. The friend that followed me out of the kh went through a divorce from her alcoholic husband who also left the wt. Wish I could get his number to call him. Lenny and I will have our 35th next May 5th.

Karen in Bluemont (Lenny's wife)

36

Pedophilia Summary

by LennyinBluemont in

ive read barbaras intro to the pedophile records and thought it might be useful to have a record here on the forum of the most damning and verifiable facts regarding the pedophilia situation.

sort of a summary.

that way we can all have a source to go to and be able to quickly summarize whats criminal about the way the society has used its authority in this matter.

LennyinBluemont

I’ve read Barbara’s intro to the pedophile records and thought it might be useful to have a record here on the forum of the most damning and verifiable facts regarding the pedophilia situation. Sort of a summary. That way we can all have a source to go to and be able to quickly summarize what’s criminal about the way the Society has used it’s authority in this matter. Anybody interested in vetting this? Barbara?

Court records prove that the Watchtower HQ appointed men to positions of authority, as a matter of policy, who were known to have either confessed to or been accused of pedophilia, provided the three year waiting period had been met.
Even when a prominent District Overseer wrote to the Society (letter in court records) suggesting this policy be discontinued in 1994, the Society continued with the policy at least until 2000.
The Society has implemented a policy whereby any alleged victim of child abuse who either (a.) speaks to others of their experience, or (b.) goes to the authorities to report their experience, is routinely disfellowshipped if there were not two witnesses to the event.
The Society’s KHAA insurance fund, which is in place to provide insurance for Kingdom Halls, and for which each congregation is billed $4.50 per publisher per month (or is it year?), has been used for years to pay settlements to victims of abuse by those in authority in the congregations (elders and MSs), to the tune of millions of dollars.
The Society’s legal department deviously designated the Society’s service department as it’s client in order to take advantage of attorney/client privilege in keeping all communications between the two (obviously the most damning of evidence) out of the court’s jurisdiction.
The Society’s legal department, when dealing with cases where the jurisdiction required reporting all cases of child molestation to the Police, routinely instructed the elders in those cases to notify the Police anonymously from a pay phone booth. Of course, this made it very difficult for the Police to follow up in any investigation being unable to communicate further with the one making the report.
When giving advice to local elders in these cases, the Service Department would rountinely ask the elder inquiring, whether the alleged victim had been "somewhat at fault."
The Society has an extensive database containing records of all reports turned in by congregations with information on a large number of accused, confessed or convicted pedophiles. Requiring and maintaining this type of information brings responsibility upon the authority requiring and maintaining it. This information has never been used to notify authorities, who may have then acted to prevent further crimes. This information has never been shared with local congregations affected, so that parents could take actions to protect their children from pedophiles right in their congregations. As a consequence of these policies, there are cases where molestations continued for years, and in congregation after congregation as the pedophiles moved around the country.
In February of 2007, after four years of battling the courts and motions filed by Plaintiffs, the Society quietly settled 12 cases in California, the estimated cost being $13 million.
Unlike the Catholic Church, when settling these claims, the Society made it a requirement that the victims remain silent about their experiences for the rest of their lives, effectively "gagging" them.

13

Recorded Conversation with elder

by Shepherd Book in

let's just say, hypothetically speaking, that an elder called me on the phone recently.

let's also say, hypothetically, that i just so happen to be recording the conversation.

let's then say he called me again and recorded it again.

LennyinBluemont

This has been the case in Virginia for many years. As long as you are a party to the conversation, it may be recorded without the knowledge of the other parties. As Auld said, if you record a conversation to which you are not a party and do not have a warrant to do so, you're looking at possible jail time. I was able to record both my 4 1/2 hour conversation with the elders that visited me in order to ~~help~~ convict me, as well as the phone conversation with the other two elders who were inviting me to a JC. I have shared the transcripts with first names only on the internet. As has been mentioned, this varies by state.

43

Hey where did SweetStuff go?

by kerj2leev in

jw
friends

i really enjoyed her posts!

she seems to have dropped off the face of the earth???.

hellooooooooo.....you out there?.

LennyinBluemont

Sweetface is also banned. Is there any provision here for an appeal, or at least a warning?

63

Massive donations to the WTS

by greendawn in

jw
friends

have any of you or people that you know such as relatives or friends, made a very significant donation to the wts?

by that i mean property, or money in excess of let's say $10 000. .

enriching an already very rich organisation has to be moronic, they are the ones that should be helping the poor among them the proverbial orphans and widows.

LennyinBluemont

Over a 30 year period, $80-100K. Thought we were supporting the "Kingdom Work". My sister gave them my grandmother's wedding ring. Also had them in our wills to get 1/3 of everything. Trashed the wills and notified them. Too bad we can't get it back for "misrepresentation". I've kept all my cancelled checks from the last 20 years or so. Just another part of the price we all paid. Would be nice to have it in a retirement account. Guess others are enjoying it.

49

God help me - Just finished Crisis of Conscience

by Orgull in

i don't know whether to laugh or cry.. a friend lent me coc yesterday and i stayed up most of the night reading it.

it took me 13 hours and i skipped the meeting today to keep reading, i couldn't bear to put it down.. i am shocked but not surprised at how closely ray's thinking mirrors my own in some ways.

the part that hit me hardest was.... "conviction, it has no meaning or validity unless it is individual, personal.

LennyinBluemont

Being released from prison is a good analogy, but it is also literal. The best expression I've come up with to describe the initial feeling of recognizing the WT for what it is, is stepping into the nothingness, because that's what we were trained and indoctrinated to think of life outside the WT. It can indeed be terrifying. But soon you will realize it is not "nothingness", but rather "reality". Grasp it. Make your place in it. Define YOU, and then be YOU.

20

do not understand "slow" fade, "controlled" fade, why not just stop quickly

by oompa in

jw
friends

onthewayout has a current thread about a slow fade, and i have read many others that are similar.

i do not understand how fading slowly vs. fading very quickly has any different consequences.

and i mean whether an elder or pioneer or not.

LennyinBluemont

As all of the above posters have stated, it is different for each of us. Lenny told me he wasn't going to attend anymore meetings the week of the co visit, right in the middle of all the activity. I was blindsighted by his action. I knew he was having a hard time, since he had resigned as an elder but never thought he would stop going. My attendance was pretty good at first because of friends that told me I must continue so he would come back! Then, I started to look around at everything going on at the meetings. Lenny was in a fog for a while until he read Ray's book. It opened his eyes. He couldn't keep from sharing with me the wonder things he learned that exposed the wt. I really didn't want to hear all of it at that time. He would slip small tidbits into our conversations. We moved to a new home in the country & from all my associates so it was easy to miss meetings. The meetings were on different days & at different times than my old cong. The drive time was further than before, I am older & don't like to drive at night. I didn't know but a few people & they weren't that friendly (there's strangeness in the country.) I even changed to a cong closer to my home & in the same circuit as my former cong to try to make it work. I began to wake up to what my loving Lenny, was telling me. Guess I am a slow learner. Going to meeting was not helping the marriage it was beginning to destroy it. Since, we have no family jw's, I told a few close ones that I was not going to come back to meetings. The elders did not bother me. Instead they went after Lenny. Since, he had been an elder & requested speaker they wanted to take him down. As for me, his wife a former pioneer & member for over 34 years, it did not make a difference that I was not coming back. It is almost a year & a half that I haven't gone back. So, the fade worked for me. Lenny quit flat out. We will celebrate our 35th year of marriage next year in May. We kept the marriage together & did away with cult. Karen in Bluemont, Lenny's wife

22

Swiffers Do you use one?

by Lady Lee in

jw
friends

i have one and use it for both wet and dry.

it gets pricey since you have to keep buying the cloths.. a couple of weeks ago i was in sears and they were having a demonstration of a swiffer type mop but you didn't have to throw awy the cloths.

simply remove from the cloth and throw it in the washer.

LennyinBluemont

I have the "star mop" with the micro fiber washable pads & several of the dust cloths. They are way better for the environment than the toss away sheets. The sheets for the swiffer have chemicals in them & are bad to use if you have pets or children. The micro fiber is just like the guy said it attacks the dust & dirt. I love the mops. The swiffer mop handle wasn't good. These are real tools for the work around the house. I am now going to admit I am a Stepford Wife! LOL

Karen, Mrs. Lenny in Bluemont

13

Anyone here live in Las Vegas?

by exwitless in

i've never been to vegas before, but i'm flying

LennyinBluemont

Don't live there but visited several times. Highly recommend the Beatles' LOVE show by Circ de Soleil. Buy your ticket now. For the best buffet, go to Aladdins.

Lenny