FatFreek 2005

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Posts by FatFreek 2005

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  12

  Elder father "would check his daughter"

  by FatFreek 2005 in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  several days ago our beloved barbara anderson, watchdog of watchtower-abused children, posted our forum’s thread, “slate article: a new “wikileaks for religion” publishes its first trove of documents”.

  the new faithleaks web site began hosting document submissions aimed at whistleblowers of a religious bent.

  it must’ve caught the eye of some watchtower insider.. “faithleaks, like mormonleaks, is founded on the belief that increased transparency results in fewer untruths, less corruption, and less abuse in any organization.

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  FatFreek 2005

  Here is the link to the PDF.

  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hf1FGKLQk0cV7lN2wvAhQLFNxFAnoByq/view?usp=sharing

  Len
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  12

  Elder father "would check his daughter"

  by FatFreek 2005 in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  several days ago our beloved barbara anderson, watchdog of watchtower-abused children, posted our forum’s thread, “slate article: a new “wikileaks for religion” publishes its first trove of documents”.

  the new faithleaks web site began hosting document submissions aimed at whistleblowers of a religious bent.

  it must’ve caught the eye of some watchtower insider.. “faithleaks, like mormonleaks, is founded on the belief that increased transparency results in fewer untruths, less corruption, and less abuse in any organization.

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  FatFreek 2005

  Sorry, but the color coding and tables did not work on the original post or this one. Perhaps I'll attach a link to a PDF.

  Len
• 
  12

  Elder father "would check his daughter"

  by FatFreek 2005 in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  several days ago our beloved barbara anderson, watchdog of watchtower-abused children, posted our forum’s thread, “slate article: a new “wikileaks for religion” publishes its first trove of documents”.

  the new faithleaks web site began hosting document submissions aimed at whistleblowers of a religious bent.

  it must’ve caught the eye of some watchtower insider.. “faithleaks, like mormonleaks, is founded on the belief that increased transparency results in fewer untruths, less corruption, and less abuse in any organization.

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  FatFreek 2005

  Several days ago our beloved Barbara Anderson, watchdog of Watchtower-abused children, posted our forum’s thread, “SLATE Article: A New “Wikileaks for Religion” Publishes Its First Trove of Documents”. The new Faithleaks web site began hosting document submissions aimed at whistleblowers of a religious bent. It must’ve caught the eye of some Watchtower insider.

  “FaithLeaks, like MormonLeaks, is founded on the belief that increased transparency results in fewer untruths, less corruption, and less abuse in any organization. It provides the same service of anonymizing sources from all religions, religious nonprofits, cults, and creeds with documented information they believe deserves to be made public.”

  With this first submission, a disgruntled JW (yes, I’m guessing) with access to confidential congregation files did a bunch of copying, collating, and transmitting.

  You can find the posting here, https://faithleaks.org/newsroom/

  This submission includes 33 individually hyperlinked PDF files available at a click for download. However, I found that to be quite laborious to navigate back and forth to various pieces of information. I decided, then, to place them all into one document, however large (nearly 8 Mbytes).

  using a single click,

  You may find it here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KNaDEN7cGinS2zftJ59eBNTciwY_n9bW/view?usp=sharing

  The 33 files contain redacted names of the principals involved, doing so by covering them with opaque coded colors. For the sake of clarity, I have created fictitious names of the principals involved as placeholders in order to make this summary more readable.

  Mary Johnson tells of her father, James Smith, tying her arms to the bed in order to prevent her from performing masturbation. Smith “tied her hands and feet to the four corners of the top level of a bunk bed that Johnson and her sister Patricia Williams shared. In the morning he would check Johnson by opening the lips of her vagina and checking for redness. If it didn’t look right, he would beat her.”

  The documents tell the story of a father who admitted to a congregation judicial committee the sexual molestation of the younger of two daughters when she was 6 years old. The older sister apparently joins forces, conceding that she too was molested. The father gets disfellowshipped because of those “two witnesses”.

  The father atones his way back into good standing within the congregation.

  The youngest daughter remains troubled that her abuser remains free from the arms of law enforcement and sees that he is warmly welcomed inside the walls of the kingdom hall. The daughter apparently talks to others about her feelings and the father does not like that.

  The father appeals to the elders, claiming slander on her part.

  The Patterson, New York, ivory tower guys (anonymously signing their proclamation as Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses) resolved the issue by placing the father on restricted congregation assignments.

  The daughter’s account, however, details far more atrocities – regular episodes of rape, even sharing his daughter with other men for monetary gains -- that were never addressed by the committee and obviously not revealed to law enforcement authorities.

  It is entirely possible that these added atrocities are responsible for this 20 year-old episode to fester into an extremely complicated fiasco, one that undoubtedly nurtured seeds of discontent among congregations in Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.

  It is entirely possible – and by all means understandable, that Mary Johnson would feel that real justice had never been served and it is possible that she would even embellish such claims to serve her agenda. Only she, her older sister, Patricia Williams, and their father, James Smith, know the truth of all the details. We as empathetic bystanders should be thankful if we’ve never been sexually abused.

  The father was disfellowshipped in the 1980’s for admitting that his wife of the time told him to check his six-year-old daughter’s vagina, which he did. He then beat his daughter if her vagina didn’t look right. One has to wonder whether or not these admissions were ever revealed to law enforcement. I doubt they have and herein lies an issue that seems close to the heart of thousands of Watchtower cover-ups – shielding under the guise of pastor-parishioner confidentiality in order for Watchtower (JW.ORG) to keep its precious reputation from getting soiled.

  Finally, consider the father’s claims of slander by them because of their persistent gossip – even posting flyers of his picture accompanied by the text,

  “a minister in this community has raped and sexually molested children in our family. Due to statute of limitations, he remains free.”

  It is appalling to me that committees of non-professional people – janitors, window-washers, shoe salesmen – sit as judges of their peers in matters that would be best relegated to ones that society, imperfect as it may be, provides -- paid professionals who have been trained in the growing midst of abundant technical resources.

  I hope that somehow law enforcement can wade through such files despite their redactions and piece together facts enough to launch some type of investigation of their own.

  I hope that Watchtower officials and its appointed representatives, Circuit Overseers – along with congregation elders who serve on committees, will now see these public revelations as notification that they may be held accountable as being complicit in crimes toward children. They should finally realize that U. S. officials are not lenient toward sex offenders and anyone on their side. https://www.centralmaine.com/2017/07/18/child-pornographer-wade-hoover-loses-bid-to-lower-60-year-sentence-for-sexually-assaulting-boys/

  I realize I have nothing personally vested in this conflict and I will never face this monster of a father in a courtroom. If perchance I did, this is what I would tell him.

  James Smith (not real name): You escaped major incarceration for what you admitted, that of repeatedly touching your daughter’s most private parts at the tender age of 6. Egregious is a word I seldom use but it’s the worst kind of evil that I know and the most accurate way I can envision your behavior toward one of your own flesh and blood. If I were responsible for your sentencing within the scope of a modern U. S. courtroom, the alibi you presented to that local judicial committee – aka kangaroo court, perhaps comprised of a couple window washers and a janitor – that your wife asked you to do what you did, would fall on deaf ears.

  I also find that local tribunal deplorable in that they did not immediately call law enforcement. It is not surprising that Watchtower headquarters trained you in this behavior and continues to virtually endorse such a haven for monsters.
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  20

  "ah yes Dad, do you mean those times when Jehovah made those mistakes and errors?"

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so...while chatting with my ultra "spiritual elder" father on the phone this afternoon, i couldn't resist using that line!.

  i had sent him that video of the recent convention showing brothers and sisters dancing to the "kingdom song" and waving their illuminated phones and arms in the air like some sort of revival church concert.

  (perhaps someone can post that link to that thread again here?).

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  FatFreek 2005

  You must understand that Jehovah is going thru a learning curve -- wink, wink.
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  28

  JW's on my front sidewalk

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so last weekend, the jw's ring the bell and my wife answers.

  we live in a heavily spanish neighborhood but don't really speak spanish.

  i thought my wife was quite clear that she is a "sister" to them, but maybe the one in charge of the group didn't get the message.

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  FatFreek 2005

  OTWO -- great anti-witness.
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  34

  Strange

  by Jrjw in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a couple of times at the meetings this year we've been told that in the future we might get some strange directions from the society that might not make any sense to us.

  then they've said will we show our loyalty to jehovah by still obeying?

  seems a rather unusual thing to say.

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  FatFreek 2005

  Should we have our empty glasses ready?
  
  
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  12

  Daughter gets fondled -- mother's loving strategy takes back seat

  by FatFreek 2005 in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  nightmare on elm street.

  mother to elder: tiffany, my daughter, shocked me last night.

  she told me she was fondled by our hispanic neighbor after she babysat for their children.. elder: that is terrible to hear, sister.

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  FatFreek 2005

  Nightmare on Elm Street

  Mother to elder: Tiffany, my daughter, shocked me last night. She told me she was fondled by our Hispanic neighbor after she babysat for their children.

  Elder: that is terrible to hear, sister. How is she doing? Have you been able to comfort her?

  Mother: Thanks for asking. I think I’m going to take her to one of those agencies that offer emotional assistance. I also think that I need to let the police know about it in case they want to investigate.

  Elder: It sounds like you’ve got your daughter’s best interest at heart. Let me know how that all works out. By the way, I know your distant neighborhood fairly well – is the perpetrator someone I may know? We elders may want to alert the congregation as to his house number just in case we happen to do field service around those homes. We’d do that as a matter of precaution – you can understand that, can’t you, sister?

  Mother: Oh, yes, I certainly can understand. And, yes, you may know that perpetrator since he tends the microphones in that nearby Spanish congregation.

  Elder: Wait, sister. I was under the impression that the man is a worldly person and not one of our own. First of all, were there any witnesses to this dastardly act?

  Mother: Well, no. His wife and children had all gone upstairs to bed and he did this bad thing in their hallway as she was leaving his home. But I’m now a bit puzzled. Till you learned he is a JW, you seemed okay with my strategy to get my daughter some help and reporting him to the police. Exactly how does the fact that he carries a microphone change my daughter’s need for assistance?

  Elder: You really need to take hold of your emotions, sister. Anger won’t help this situation and besides, we first need to think about Jehovah and His organization, and how his supreme name could be soiled if one of his people gets accused of alleged wrongdoing. The first thing we need to do is …..

  ***********

  Okay, I concede this was just a nightmare I had recently. But the more I think about it, the more I suspect that it’s probably already happened – somewhere, and more than a few times.
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  36

  "Armageddon is already here"; "the preaching work is done" -- rogue teachings in your congregation?

  by FatFreek 2005 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  one of my jw sons seems to be putting pressure on his non-jw brother apparently to scare him into accepting the troof and start coming to meetings.

  wild statements like our topic title, which i know are not supported at jw dot org, have been made to my non-jw son several times over the past year or so.

  while i haven't been privy to the actual phone conversations i tend to believe that the jw son is being pressured by the local elders to cut ties with the non-jw since their conversations seem to degrade into arguments -- therefore tending to weaken the jws faith in wt teachings.. either my jw son is lying about what i would call rogue teachings (and this would disappoint me greatly) or he is in some close knit clique in his congregation which has secretly chosen to go rogue on certain wt issues.. based on many of the recent posts here about drastic money and wt organization problems this could be a sign of pending splits of certain congregation members.. what do you think?

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  FatFreek 2005

  The following is related and may be of interest. It is a snippet from some elder's resignation letter, a letter he wrote to the governing body in 2008.

  "And it was that thought that prompted me to take a closer look at the doctrine. I was horrified. Even a cursory examination of WT doctrine shows it to be terribly flawed. It is a patchwork of illogical, conflicting statements all aimed at proving the world's end to be "at hand." Nothing holds, no statement can be taken at face value, for it soon changes. To give an example: Recently a James Rayford made the comment at an SAD [Special Assembly Day]that the prophecy of Matthew 24:14 has been fulfilled. But this claim had been made eleven years earlier in 1995! (w95 9/1 p. 18 Christian Witnesses for Divine Sovereignty. ["Looking forward especially to our time, Jesus said: "This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:14; Mark 13:10) Has this prophecy been fulfilled? Indeed, it has."]) So what has changed? Were you wrong in '95? If so, how do you know that you are right now? Can you tell us? . . . "

  Fatfreek 2005 note: Above text within square brackets [ ] has been added to clarify context.
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  36

  "Armageddon is already here"; "the preaching work is done" -- rogue teachings in your congregation?

  by FatFreek 2005 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  one of my jw sons seems to be putting pressure on his non-jw brother apparently to scare him into accepting the troof and start coming to meetings.

  wild statements like our topic title, which i know are not supported at jw dot org, have been made to my non-jw son several times over the past year or so.

  while i haven't been privy to the actual phone conversations i tend to believe that the jw son is being pressured by the local elders to cut ties with the non-jw since their conversations seem to degrade into arguments -- therefore tending to weaken the jws faith in wt teachings.. either my jw son is lying about what i would call rogue teachings (and this would disappoint me greatly) or he is in some close knit clique in his congregation which has secretly chosen to go rogue on certain wt issues.. based on many of the recent posts here about drastic money and wt organization problems this could be a sign of pending splits of certain congregation members.. what do you think?

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  FatFreek 2005

  Some ten years ago that Rayford talk, a Special Assembly Day main discourse, was referenced on this forum. Some person back then even took the time and effort to transcribe the key part of it and I will paste that here. Firstly, here's the link.

  I’m going to put these notes down here for a minute and just say something to you.
  
  "I’d like for you to listen to this very carefully…
  
  For those of us at Bethel we have the privilege of working with the faithful and discreet slave - the governing body - and I would like for you to know how the governing body - the faithful slave - feels about the way things are right now in this system of things, the time period in which you are living.
  
  

  The faithful slave feels that that have fulfilled Matthew 24:14. This good news has been preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness.

  
  What does the next part of that text say, after?
  
  (a couple of people mutter in the audience)
  
  Yes. The end will come.
  
  Do you know that there are only three countries in the entire world where there are no Witnesses today?
  
  Only three countries. They are Somalia, North Korea, and Afghanistan. That doesn’t mean that the literature is not in those countries, there’s no Witnesses there.
  
  And I mentioned this yesterday to some of the friends, and they wanted to know why, and I will tell you why.
  
  Jehovah does not send his people to any environment where they will be killed.
  
  That’s why there’s no Witnesses there. Those two (sic) countries bear community responsibility. But the good news of the kingdom has been preached.
  Matthew 24. Luke 21. Mark 13. Revelation 6. Those scriptures are having their fulfillment. They’re being fulfilled.
  
  So where are you in the stream of bible prophecy?
  
  What is the next prophecy to be fulfilled - the next one?
  
  Do you know?
  
  (silence)
  
  I’m going to read it to you. Turn to Revelation. Revelation 17. Verses 15 through 17.
  
  And he says to me, the waters you saw where the Harlot is sitting means people and crowds and nations and tongues. The ten horns that you saw and the wild beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her devastated and naked and will eat up her fleshly parts and will completely burn her with fire, for God put it into their hearts to carry out His thoughts - or His thought, even to carry out their one thought - by giving their kingdom to the wild beast until the words of God will have been accomplished.
  
  The words of God will have been accomplished.
  
  The anointed - the faithful slave - is waiting for God with this one thought in their hearts.
  
  That’s the next bible prophecy to be fulfilled. For those who know what that means, that triggers the Great Tribulation.
  
  Once that starts, all of you will be locked into where you are now.
  
  Whatever you’ve done, you’ve done. There won’t be any more “well, you know I could have, I thought of, that I might do this, if I had the time.”
  
  This is the time.
  
  What will you going to, what will you do about the time in which you, we, are living?
  
  Be at it urge..urgently. Be quick about it.
  
  The time left is reduced."
  
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  36

  "Armageddon is already here"; "the preaching work is done" -- rogue teachings in your congregation?

  by FatFreek 2005 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  one of my jw sons seems to be putting pressure on his non-jw brother apparently to scare him into accepting the troof and start coming to meetings.

  wild statements like our topic title, which i know are not supported at jw dot org, have been made to my non-jw son several times over the past year or so.

  while i haven't been privy to the actual phone conversations i tend to believe that the jw son is being pressured by the local elders to cut ties with the non-jw since their conversations seem to degrade into arguments -- therefore tending to weaken the jws faith in wt teachings.. either my jw son is lying about what i would call rogue teachings (and this would disappoint me greatly) or he is in some close knit clique in his congregation which has secretly chosen to go rogue on certain wt issues.. based on many of the recent posts here about drastic money and wt organization problems this could be a sign of pending splits of certain congregation members.. what do you think?

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  FatFreek 2005

  Listening to that rogue audio reminds me of a 1968 talk given by Charles Sinutko. Sinutko (CO, DO, or Branch rep?) gave a talk entitled "Serving with Everlasting Life in View", also known as "Stay Alive Until 75".
  

  Here is the link to that audio. If you listen to the first 9 minutes (of 23:35 minutes) you will understand how strongly Watchtower and its podium representatives implied that 1975 was likely (though not definitely) going to conclude this system of things. Listen to his audio crescendo as he made his dire proclamations.