Posts by freddo

37

Jehovah’s Witness jailed for sexual activity with a child

by LevelThePlayingField in

source: http://stratfordobserver.co.uk/news/jehovahs-witness-jailed-for-sexual-activity-with-a-child-8997/.

a jehovahs witness from stratford who took part in sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl has been struggling with those demons for the last seven or eight years, a judge has heard.. but pleas for craig allen, who was said to have support from the jehovahs witness congregation, not to be jailed cut no ice with a judge at warwick crown court.. the 43 year-old of evesham road, dodwell, was jailed for two years and eight months and ordered to register as a sex offender for life after he pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual activity with a child.. prosecutor andrew wallace said allen had met the girl in the mid-2000s through the church.. the girl, now a young woman in her 20s, said she began to fancy allen, who had started to pay her compliments.. then on one occasion when he gave her a lift, despite being fully aware she was only 15, allen sexually touched her.. she did not object or tell anyone what had happened, and there were further consensual incidents between them, including various types of sexual activity but not full intercourse.. someone who suspected what was going on between allen, a family man in his 30s, and the girl said something to her mother.. but when she challenged both her daughter and allen about what she had heard, they both denied it.. things stopped after the girl began to feel guilty about what was happening, and she eventually decided to come forward last year and contacted the police.. she said she had been dramatically affected by what had gone on, and that what happened with allen caused her to suffer a breakdown and still haunted her.. when allen was questioned by the police he accepted the incidents had taken place, but claimed it was the girl who had taken the lead.. elizabeth power, defending, said allen, who has a son and a daughter who were now both in their 20s, had attended for a voluntary interview with the police and made admissions.. he did not force himself on her but he was the adult and she was a child.

he says he was weak and was attracted to her.

freddo

I agree wholeheartedly with Konceptual.

If it was an older teenager - certainly a sixteen or seventeen year old then I would say no crime deserving any jail term.

I would even go up to say 18 or even 19 for the boy because it is fairly normal for a 15 year old girl to have a 17 or 18 year old boyfriend.

20 plus and we are getting into deeper water every year the age of the older participant (male or female) goes up.

There is no excuse for any man of this age (30's plus) to do what he did and prison is right IMO. It is a question of degree and situation. A workmate of mine who I have known for over ten years confided that he had got his girlfriend pregnant when he was 19 and she was 15. They married and now have four kids and have been together for 25 years.

@Prologos

Two teenagers being sexually active doesn't have the same level of criminality (if any) as one participant being 20 years older than the underage teenager.

11

New meeting answer sheet

by Saltheart Foamfollower in

hi all - thought you might be interested in the instructions for the answer sheet for the new meeting - full document to follow:-.

"our christian life and ministry meeting answer sheetfor use by meeting chairman for weeks of january 4-25, 2016source material: new world translation of the holy scriptures [nwt] and thewatchtower [w].instructions: these review questions correspond to material found in treasuresfrom gods word.

well in advance, the meeting chairman should ensure that theelder or ministerial servant assigned a part during treasures from gods word willconsider the question and answer for the week.

freddo

Indeed it is staggering SF...

Q1 What is the most practical step we can take to prepare for future difficulties?... w13 11/15 p20 para 17

"... We must all be ready to obey any instructions that we may receive, whether these appear sound from a strategic or human standpoint or not. Now is the time for any who may be putting their trust in secular education, material things, or human institutions to adjust their thinking."

Q2 What encouragement can we draw from Josiah's example?

"... Josiah's repentant grandfather, Manasseh, may have exerted a positive influence on him," ... !!!!!!!!! (exclamation marks mine.)

Q3 Contains ... "and make voluntary donations to further the ... work."

Q4. Blah blah "threat of intermarriage" blah blah

112

Did an EX-JW wake you up to TTATT or did you put the effort to wake up yourself?

by John Aquila in

how many of us were woken up by some apostate yelling false prophets at a convention?.

how many of us were woken up by someone holding a sign and yelling, what happened to 1975.

how many of us were coerced to investigate the wt because some ex-jw pulled up a bunch of old watchtowers magazines and told us to read the false predictions?.

freddo

Short answer - this forum.

Long answer ...

Looking back, some of the stuff that the org was spewing out jarred with me. The huge generation change of 1995 was a biggie although not decisively so at the time. Beards and pant-suits always stuck in my craw as did other petty rules. Sex rules that weren't in the Bible such as masturbation and oral sex with your marriage mate irritated me too.

Old testament brutality and capriciousness on the part of Jehovah "who never changes" WTF?

Though funnily enough I am always grateful for the stance on smoking - I come from a family background where about 50% were smokers and I could have got addicted.

But when I came on this forum about ten years later and saw that others felt the same way about many of the same things as I did, well that gradually woke me up.

Not instantly and probably a few years before I finally felt able to mentally dismiss anything the org said or did.

101

My mom passed away yesterday....

by minimus in

jw
friends

thank you all for your sincere encouragement during these last few weeks.

finally, she is at peace.

i was with her , holding her hand when she died.

freddo

Sad news indeed, minimus - please accept my condolences.

26

Bygone Days of Old Bethel...

by freemindfade in

something occurred to me last night.

people that made their pilgrimage to jw mecca (bethel) would often be excited about some silly things, i say silly because for those of you who were there or lived near enough to be involved in these things regularly they lost their magic.

i am talking about on tours one of the most memorable things people talked about or looked forward to... lunch.

freddo

I remember going to London Bethel on a congregation coach not long after I resigned being an elder. We were only about an hour away and it was a pleasant day in May and the tour left us enough daylight to do something else - maybe see some sights or stop at one of the London museums on the way back or visit the gardens of a stately home (mansion with large landscaped grounds) and have a picnic.

But no ... we had to think about being up bright and ready for the ministry in the morning so that was voted down by the elders on board.

The next time my wife wanted to go and I said sure I'll take the car so I dropped her and her friend off and I went to the Imperial War Museum and picked them up five hours later on the way back! Much more interesting.

Tell me again how fast those presses go? Yawn.

32

Impressions of the Governing Body; who's smart, who ain't?

by Room 215 in

jw
friends

based on what we've seen, it seems to me that of the seven, splane and jackson are the smartest; herd, lett and morris the least intelligent; and sanderson and losch somewhere in the middle.

.

what's your impression?.

freddo

What is the main qualification to be on the GB?

That you won't rock the boat.

So they choose people who have followed what they say without hiccup for many years.

Like all bodies of elders there are the alphas and the betas. As long as you don't have two alphas fighting each other then they just choose yes men into the group.

From what I see they all like relative power and they all toed the line to the man above them in the pecking order. You don't get to D.O. or branch committee member without that.

But most of all they had to take the wine and crackers without raising suspicion.

80

THE WATCHTOWER (STUDY EDITION) JANUARY 2016

by wifibandit in

pdf .

this issue contains the study articles for february 29 to april 3, 2016.. what about the number of those partaking at the memorial?12, 13. why should we not worry about the number of those who eat the bread and drink the wine at the memorial?12 in recent years, we have seen an increase in the number of those partaking at the memorial of christs death.

that trend contrasts with the decrease in the number of partakers that we saw for many decades.

freddo

Yearbook 2016

Dear Kingdom Publisher,

Have you looked at the worldwide report for M'Baaataland? This tiny landlocked African territory had a 100% increase in the year!

Just note the thrilling bountiful thrilling blessings that were to be had when two Special Pioneers in South Africa were asked to serve where the need is greater. Mike O'Loony says "The increase was happifying indeed! We were reassigned as regular pioneers which meant we could serve shoulder to shoulder with the local brother and sister on equal terms without such a title as "Special". Now there has been a 100% increase and instead of two there are four worshipers of Jehovah serving here." How thrilling!

Have you been wondering about the increase in partakers at the memorial? As we don't know which partakers are real, real loony or just plain cuckoo we won't publish the figures of the partakers anymore. Are we not thrilled and happified at the discretion and faithfulness of the faithful and discreet slave? We surely are!

How thrilled blah blah blah blah ...

Your ever loving

Governing Body

13

Geoffrey Jackson's father

by One_day in

jw
friends

hi everybody, does anybody know if geof jacksons father is still alive?.

i wonder if he would dare return to australia again, maybe for his funeral?.

freddo

So did Geoffrey stay in Oz throughout? As in July through until now? So Ron Jackson suffered from Motor Neurone Disease? - I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.

5

Latest about Chelmsford H.Q.

by Prefect in

just received this google alert this morning.. http://www.chelmsfordweeklynews.co.uk/news/13800813.plans_for_huge_jehovah_s_witnesses_hq_continue/.

freddo

Wasn't that some sort of rebuttal because someone leaked to the local paper it was being stopped? I think you will find it may continue but at a much reduced size and pace.

312

Mass disassociation pact...

by freemindfade in

any takers?

we can pick a date and pull the plug?

lol .

freddo

If you are staying anonymous you need to send five letters - real letters - not emails.

1 letter to an elder - any elder. Saying you disassociate/don't play by their rules and why etc.

4 letters to rank and file members of yours and/or a nearby congregation adding the sentences "hundreds of these letters are being sent in the area. (Don't tell them "the area" is the whole country!) Do not pass them to the elders."

They likely will immediately show one of their elders who will contact fellow elders, the branch or CO.

So only 4 or 5 letters will likely be handed in but they will think that there are loads of letters still out there not being handed in. It will send them crazy. They may even announce that if you have received a letter then hand it in.

If you are really cool post a letter to yourself and hand it in saying you received it in the mail - which of course you did!