Posts by freddo

19

Hospitality experiences during public talk trips

by tsar_robles in

a couple days ago i started having these flashbacks of back in the day when i was 17 or so and was a frequent outgoing public speaker.

believe it or not back then i was so naive in the fullest sense of the word, and none of the signs that i encountered then kicked in until years later.. i obviously could go on and on about the impressions and demeanor that i received from the big shots (elders, ms's) from these halls.

a couple that i remember were for ex., one time while visiting a congregation in southwest co i politely waited around to see if any of the elders or a head of a house hold would approach me and invite me for hospitality and tired of waiting around i decided to make that 5 hour solo trip back home.

freddo

I can confirm that some of today's older bigshots who grew up as a jw in the fifties and sixties were given responsibilities way beyond their years due to a lack of brothers - and this in a city of half a million population and a few congregations even then.

We certainly had a 16 year old give his first public talk, a 17 year old Assistant Ministerial Servant (as they were called in Qualified to be Ministers in 1967) taking a group study with a 50 year old doily wearing sister as his assistant - and even when the elder arrangement started in 1972 and there were plenty of brothers we had a 22/23 year old elder appointed.

28

Watchtower says Millions Living in 1997 Will Never Die

by LUKEWARM in

jw
friends

"in the early 1920's, a featured public talk presented by jehovah's witnesses was entitled 'millions now living will never die.

' this may have reflected over-optimism at that time.

but today that statement can be made with full confidence.

freddo

Nice catch, Lukewarm! And thanks to Nicolaou for the icing on the cake!

13

How Broke Are They?

by metatron in

jw
friends

the october km announces that, starting this year, there will be no theocratic school schedules as an insert in the km.

weekly tms parts will be printed as part of the monthly km.

this follows the experiment of dumping a pile of magazines at the kingdom hall and catch-as-catch can.

freddo

It could be a money saver; it could be as OTWO (changes to meetings) or Sir82 (internet-itis) suggest; I just feel the fist tightening it's grip on the $$$. Oh, And on the rank and file.

19

Reference to not mentioning GB in reports

by bibleresearcher in

i think my previous username was "tfjw" but i had to get a new account.. .

anyway, i'm doing some research on judicial cases, how they are handled, the use of the secret "flock" book (pay attention to yourselves and to all the flock) and other related topics.

i'm trying desperately to find the quote referring to the elders where they are not to mention the governing body or the society, as it may be, in certain reports.

freddo

I have two PA books and both have exactly what Alltimejeff said on page 143 in different elders handwriting - except being UK ones it says "legal advisors" instead of "attorneys". I don't have my own surrendered copy but I remember writing exactly the same things in mine at an elders school.

The WT leaders are sneaky self-serving bastards who will pull the carpet from under you in the blink of an eye to get themselves off the hook.

32

JWs produce useless men

by wouldacouldashoulda in

jw
friends

a non witness who had studied the jws commented that the religion produce unmanly men.

do you agree with him?.

.

freddo

Just reading metatron's post above re: 25% elders dominated by their smarter wives, 25% ill or incompetent, 25% uncaring cold hearted fanatics and 25% depressed.

I thought I'd apply it fairly to the degree it is true to the elders in my congregation and it is chilling in it's accuracy although there is a bit of overlapping!

Elder 1 (on service committee) Smarter wife but not domineering - Chronically ill and depressed; fanatical but does care.

Elder 2 (on service committee) Smarter wife who doesn't dominate him but she is bossy to others. Actually OK if a little incompetant

Elder 3 (on service committee) OK but if it's a matter of judgement then the next person up the food chain (CO or Branch) is always right.

Elder 4 TMS or WT overseer - Dominated by wife, Fanatical.

Elder 5 TMS or WT overseer - Uncaring and cold hearted

Elder 6 - Dominated by wife, chronically ill, incompetent, depressed

Elder 7 - Dominated by wife, chronically ill, depressed

Elder 8 - Fanatic

Min Servs

1. Chronically ill, dominated by wife

2. Incompetent, dominated by wife

3. Depressed

4. Single; Mentally challenged

5. Wife way smarter but supports him

6. OK

7. OK

8. Dominated by his mother.

9. Uncaring

102

Ever had some Witness storm out or turn off a Movie you were watching! Which one?

by Witness 007 in

i was watching steve martin "leap of faith" pg rated mind you with some witnesses.

he plays a fake faith healer.

their were a couple swear words, and the brothers asked me to switch it off.. same thing happened with christine applegate movie {pg 13} "don't tell mom the babysiters dead.

freddo

Life of Brian oops!

39

Besty Unplugged - My Life Story Part VI

by besty in

<< part v. .

part vi the great apostasy sets in.

if you ever leave the truth or get disfellowshipped thatll be that well be finished.

freddo

"... even though the elephant in the room would be a permanent addition to the group photos."

Glad I wasn't drinking coffee when I read that!

Brilliant stuff about a serious subject - please continue.

203

Anyone heard of Watchtower policy change concerning pedophiles

by Robert_V_Frazier in

i'm passing this along from someone else on another discussion board.

the claim of any substantive change in the policy on pedophiles is news to me.

can anybody verify or falsify this claim?.

freddo

A question for Barbara (and thank you so much for what I believe is your highly principled stand) - is there anything else as big as the payouts of 2007 that WT had to make that is coming down the pipeline against the WT society? Please say yes; because bucks is the only thing that will make this organization change it's abuse policies.

Pedo child abusing scum:-

When Dateline/Panorama came out there was a lot of concern in part of the JW community - the part where abuse had happened (no surprise) and matters were dealt with unsatisfactorily. I would not trust a member of the gb or a branch committee or a travelling overseer to mix scripture, jw policies and legal and financial considerations into a child abuse policy any more than I would trust myself to outrun Usain Boult!

Not related to pedo's but the 2 witness rule -

When I was an elder, a judicial committee I was chairman of accepted two independent witnesses when two women claimed they had had sex (consensual) with a MS in separate incidents (i.e. - not a threesome!) and he denied doing anything more than kiss either woman. One had occured a couple of months before the JC and the other about two years previously and the earlier one was still disfellowshipped from admitting her guilt and walking away seeing the MS get off scot-free in her case (only one witness at that time). We took her earlier testimony as one witness because it had the ring of truth about it. We didn't automatically accept their word or his but also checked for collusion which we believed was absent.

The MS who "had connections" threatened to go to the CO because we were accepting the word of a D/F individual and we said that when she gave her testimony she was a JW and that we could consider the testimony of a non-believer anyway. If he did go to the CO and the CO backed us then we said that would show lack of repentance and "tie our hands" with our judgement. We asked him to go away and consider everything for 48 hours and come back and re-consider his plea. He phoned the next day and confessed and he got removed as an MS and a public reproof. The second sister got a private reproof.

One of those brothers on the committee is still a died in the wool elder but I know he went to the police in 2003 about a historical abuse case he was involved in (where he was part of a jc that disfellowshipped a 19 year old abuser). But he didn't inform the authorities at the time (1989) because it was against society policy. So that bears out, as if it were needed, any testimony from abused posters that the WT covered over routinely certainly pre late 1990's and tacitly encouraged covering up to a lessening degree right up until now IMO.

So sometimes it is a matter of judgement. And many elders would have and sadly still would IMO not have been so thorough and independent as I honestly believe we were.

Until the society instructs any elder who hears about abuse to inform the authorities then their hands will remain filthy.

203

Anyone heard of Watchtower policy change concerning pedophiles

by Robert_V_Frazier in

i'm passing this along from someone else on another discussion board.

the claim of any substantive change in the policy on pedophiles is news to me.

can anybody verify or falsify this claim?.

freddo

I like AK Jeff's directions and would add:-

... send two independent elders to any court or other proceedings (child protection meetings etc) that they are allowed by Caeser's authorities to attend. Instruct them to take notes of any testimony/findings and present them to the body of elders. These elders along with the court decision will serve as additional witnesses (to anyone else who wishes to come forward to the elders) in a judicial case that will be formed after Caeser's authorities have had their say.

100

WTS attends as a NGO to OSCE in July- 4 branches present!

by yknot in

so i was just cruising www.extj.com/foro.

mary received a interesting bit of osce information via a brother (peter) from germany....... http://www.extj.com/foro/showthread.php?t=14643.

here is the pdf she has uploaded..... http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2009/07/38763_en.pdf.

freddo

Eet ees simples folks!

The Watchtower is only taking "fractions of the U.N." not "whole U.N."!

Of course you cannot take the four main components of the U.N. but anything that is only a fraction of the above four main components is for the individual to decide.

For example, a Christian may ask himself:- "How much of the lifeblood of the UN am I taking in to my veins - is it a whole component like Malawi political cards or is it simply a Mexican bribe er.... way of easing the passage of official sanction?"