Posts by careful

11

Dutch (ex) JWs: Online survey sexual abuse within JW Netherlands by Utrecht University

by jochie in

since today dutch (ex)jws are asked to fill out an online survey by utrecht university with regard to (child) sexual abuse.as chairman of reclaimed voices i call on all dutch speaking (ex) jws to fill out this survey in case you were a victim of abuse or in case you know of someone else that was abused within the jehovah's witnesseswith your participation you contribute to an important investigation that is carried out.link to the survey: https://usbo.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/sv_4hkmbqjhlm0uhmh

careful

WOW, "remarkable" indeed, as the news article puts it. I'm relying on a google translation since I have zero knowledge of Dutch. Is this guy rogue or is the GB orchestrating something here? It's difficult to believe they're coming clean in Holland. This is certainly worth watching!

Google translation of picture caption:

The board of Jehovah's Witnesses Netherlands has called on its members to participate in research at Utrecht University into sexual abuse within the organization. The appeal is remarkable because the denomination normally avoids contact with non-ecclesiastical authorities.

The rest:

The call is included in an internal letter in the hands of RTL News.
Personal choice

In the letter, which was sent to all departments last week, the board asks members who are victims of child abuse to fill in a questionnaire on the Utrecht University site. He is commissioned by the Ministry of Justice and Security to investigate abuse within Jehovah's Witnesses.

"Of course participation in this study is a personal choice," the board writes in the letter. "Nevertheless, we hope that this will give Utrecht University accurate and balanced information about how our organization responds to abuse."

According to sources within the church, the letter was read during meetings in the church buildings. Jehovah's Witnesses was unable to respond to this message on Monday, a RTL News spokesperson said.

Under attention

Jehovah's Witnesses have recently been discredited because they only prosecute perpetrators of child abuse internally and do not report them to the police and the judiciary. The organization also refuses to hand over documents on internal court cases to the judiciary. Therefore, last November the police raided the headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Kees van den Bos, research leader at Utrecht University is 'naturally' happy with the appeal from the board of Jehovah's Witnesses. "We have been in touch by email over the past few weeks and have asked them to bring our research to the attention of their members. It's nice to hear that they have done so now." The researchers were not involved in the preparation of the letter.

Victims

The investigators have now received 'a few hundred serious reports' about abuse within Jehovah's Witnesses. Van den Bos could not say whether the last call led to new reports.

The Reclaimed Voices Foundation, which represents victims of abuse within Jehovah's witnesses, is also "positive" that the Jehovah's Witnesses point their members to this investigation. "We hope that active Jehovah's Witnesses who are victims of sexual abuse or who are aware of a situation will participate in the investigation," says President Raymond Hintjes.

The research at Utrecht University came about following a motion from the House of Representatives. The goal is to see how Jehovah's Witnesses deals with reports of child abuse. Anyone who has experience with abuse within that church can report to the investigators until 1 June. The intention is that the final report can be published in the autumn.

17

Has anyone on here used this forum to announce they were out and revealed their real name?

by HiddenPimo in

just wondering if anyone has ever posted their personal information and have proof that the borg is watching and sent the gestapo to get them?.

i will be announcing my resignation and da myself - and i am objectively looking at either doing it bud dwyer (not really like him but by extension) style at a meeting or an email blast or just giving a letter to the boe?.

any advice is appreciated.

careful

HP,

A few thoughts for you to think about:

Isn't writing a letter of disassociation playing by their rules and doing what they would prefer you to do? Doesn't it save them the trouble of having to DF you? Isn't it playing into just what they want you to do?

While you may be upset now at finding out about their corruption, lies, etc., what might be the possible benefits of allowing a cooling down period of six months to a year? Will you feel differently then from what you feel now? Will your thinking be clearer and less emotional then?

Some people here have expressed regret at having written such a DA letter, sometimes because it hindered their trying to help others see TTATT. That act closed doors that might have remained open had they acted with more insight into the future.

Just some ideas to think about...

29

Was There An Occasion Where An Entire Congregation Broke Away?

by pale.emperor in

i remember reading somewhere (perhaps on here?

) than an entire congregation disassociated and started their own congregation after decided that the gb were apostate.. was this an urban myth or is there any evidence of this?.

careful

Thanks SBF for that ref. I read it and although it mentions the problems in Taiwan, I remember reading something else that had much more honest detail. i wonder if that source has to be found in print form since it has been sanitized in the electronic version (?). Anyway, somewhere I read statistics that showed how the majority of Taiwanese Witnesses went off after some local bro who disagreed with Knorr and his reps, and that it took years for the org to recover in Taiwan. Perhaps it was in the stats on average publishers there in individual yearbooks, and/or in the ybs following the schism when each country had a small blurb on it.

29

Was There An Occasion Where An Entire Congregation Broke Away?

by pale.emperor in

i remember reading somewhere (perhaps on here?

) than an entire congregation disassociated and started their own congregation after decided that the gb were apostate.. was this an urban myth or is there any evidence of this?.

careful

Pretty much an entire country once broke away: it was Taiwan, I think. This was reported in the WTS literature. I remember reading about it in a yearbook, back when the yearbooks, for a particular year, focused on the history of the org in just a few countries. The incident occurred years ago, back in the days of one branch servant. The guy had some falling out with Knorr and Franz, or maybe it was JFR? They "removed" him but most of the country went with the guy, not with the org. For years afterward, "growth was very slow there," to quote the official line. The guy had poisoned the well for the org. Eventually the org recovered, of course, but it took many years to do so.

If someone here has the yearbooks in their library, perhaps they can find the story by finding out which year has the history of Taiwan in it. Today they would never relate the story (or likely put the ybs online or on a CD), but I remember reading it in a old yb. That yb dates to sometime after the late 50s or early 60s. Back then they gave a short blurb on each country. If I remember correctly, it was a yb from the 1970s (but I might be wrong here). I think it was in the late 60s or early 70s when they began the yb format of focusing on the history of just a few countries each year. They used to give quite a history. I imagine when they came out with Proclaimers book, those ybs were a major source of info for it. The Proclaimers book, however, nowhere mentions the Taiwan break-away like the older yb did.

If someone could find this yb, I'd appreciate knowing the year.

2

2 Class Action Lawsuits in Canada

by ZindagiNaMilegiDobaara in

another class action from canada.. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/jehovahs-witness-sexual-abuse-1.4532041.

zing.

careful

Thanks again. Is it likely that the two provincial lawsuits can be combined into one federal one?

4

Lawsuits In Canada N WBTS

by ZindagiNaMilegiDobaara in

the lawsuit saga continues to pursue wbts in canada, montreal now.. https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/superior-court-green-lights-suit-regarding-alleged-sexual-abuse-among-jehovah-s-witnesses-1.4323076.

quebec superior court has authorized a class action lawsuit against two jehovah's witnesses entities alleging a culture of silence within the group led to the covering up of sexual abuse.. zing.

careful

Thanks for the update, Zing.

5

A film on the Amish and those that leave

by days of future passed in

it's a simple but telling film of two families that leave the amish.

they experience what jw's do when leaving.

the film maker has a slow but interesting view of what goes on in the amish religion as well as the challenges that the two families have.

careful

I know one ex-Amish chap who left that faith along with 4 of his 10 siblings. 5 stayed and 5 left. Those who leave are completely cut off, like JWs. The 5 who left are very tight. They provide support for one another. The one I know is very bitter about his past religion and the family who cut him off. He tells me his siblings who left are too. Sound familiar?

10

No Religion is growing

by Giordano in

(cnn)for the first time "no religion" has topped a survey of americans' religious identity, according to a new analysis by a political scientist.

the non-religious edged out catholics and evangelicals in the long-running general social survey.. https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/13/us/no-religion-largest-group-first-time-usa-trnd/index.html.

ryan burge, a political scientist at eastern illinois university and a baptist pastor, found that 23.1% of americans now claim no religion.. .

careful

Ask SBF. He studies this sort of thing.

12

No fun debating "imperfect" JWs

by Tantalon in

well that was no fun at all, just got a visit to invite me to the last supper memorial.

haven't had a call for a long long time.

i tried to engage them about following bible not watchtower, they just kept changing the subject as they have always done but this time every challenge was met with "we are not perfect,the slave is not perfect" and "we don't want to have a debate".

careful

They love to say that about the org and/or the GB being imperfect. But when you ask for some specific modern-day examples of such imperfections they clam up. Press the issue and they run off.

How different the Bible is where numerous leaders' specific imperfections are highlighted: Moses, David, Solomon, Peter, James and John, Paul. Must be how close the org is to the Bible, eh?

4

The Catholic Church and the Scandal of sexual abuse

by TexWiller in

my dear friend machislopp gas passed me this information .

taken from the well noted italian newspaper “il corriere della sera “.

only 24 hours ago.. just the main title and the link for the complete article article.. benedict xvi: the church and the scandal of sexual abuse.

careful

mikeflood,

Your idea may be the GB's latest thinking. The turning of the wild beast (governments) on Babylon the Great (false religion) is taking place now over the child sexual abuse issue. Then when the governments finally turn their full attention on moving against the org (maybe by arresting the GB?), Jehovah, Jesus, and the angels will intervene and save them. It might help explain their "bunker video" and similar depictions in other videos and artwork. Who knows how these guys think, especially when it comes to interpreting prophecy in advance? But if one looks at the batting average they have doing that in the past, they wouldn't even make the minor leagues.

Their statements in the publications about prophecy best being understood after it has been fulfilled, clearly out of harmony with their trying to do the opposite, namely, trying to figure it out in advance, has never struck them as grossly contradictory. They do such conflicting things pretty regularly.

As for Benedict's strange article, some experts are saying that it's a quiet move by the retired pope against Pope Francis. Who knows? These religious leaders, the GB or the RC hierarchy, have never been big on transparency, and there has been long history of intrigue in both camps.

Thanks TexWiller, for the post.