Posts by Chaserious

20

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA | The Age newspaper | March 16, 2013 | Slamming the Door on Jehovah's Witnesses

by jwleaks in

the age newspaper | fairfax media | saturday, march 16, 2013. http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/slamming-the-door-on-jehovah-20130315-2g6fo.html.

slamming the door on jehovah's witnesses.

she is an apostate, which sounds like a strange disease, and in many ways it is.

Chaserious

I bet they can massage those numbers anyway they want. Evangelizing? Teaching? You could probably put almost any expense in those categories. I mean, the whole purpose of the borg is supposed to be teaching and evangelizing, right? And what exactly is the difference between the two?

Also, lumping Donations in with Overseas Aid probably creates an impression that they are more involved with charitable work than they actually are. I am guessing that if they send some of their surpluses to Brooklyn or another branch, it's considered "Donations" and goes in that category. (They are "donating" from WTBTS of Australia to a different charitable organization, WTBTS of Pennsylvania or whatever). I wouldn't be surprised if they funnel extra cash from countries like Australia to the US, where less transparency is required and they can then invest it without having to disclose the returns on the investments or where it is ultimately spent.

7

A quote that sums up my thoughts on the truth about 'the truth'

by sd-7 in

jw
friends

"we never make assertions, miss taggart.

that is the moral crime peculiar to our enemies.

we do not tell--we show.

Chaserious

But all apostates seek to draw followers after themselves!

68

Raphael Aron in The Age newspaper: Jehovah's Witnesses 'a cruel cult'

by WinstonSmith in

this popped up on the age website today, might have to buy the paper tomorrow..... http://www.theage.com.au/national/jehovahs-witnesses-a-cruel-cult-20130315-2g5x3.html.

Chaserious

Good catch, Blondie. I had not seen that video before. They are rather sneaky with that experience about Vincent.

68

Raphael Aron in The Age newspaper: Jehovah's Witnesses 'a cruel cult'

by WinstonSmith in

this popped up on the age website today, might have to buy the paper tomorrow..... http://www.theage.com.au/national/jehovahs-witnesses-a-cruel-cult-20130315-2g5x3.html.

Chaserious

Requiring actual humanitarian or cultural work to be done by a charity to obtain tax advantages would be tremendous progress. I hope that Australia (and eventually other countries) move in that direction.

That way you make the group prove that are involved in a sufficient amount of positive qualifying work with the money they raise rather than having their self-interested organization subsidized by taxpayers and you don't have to get into the doctrines.

28

Does anybody know how they elect new Governing Body members?

by dgp in

now that "habemus papam", i was wondering how it is that someone in the watchtower becomes a member of the governing body.

does anybody know?.

and, how do they choose who gets to be a member of the corporations?.

Chaserious

They are still all annointed. At least to the extent that you believe annointed is really a thing.

13

What Would The Rank and File Do If The Governing Body Went To Jail Over Criminal Activity With Reguards To Failure To Alert Parisheners Of Child Molesters In Their Congregation?

by frankiespeakin in

i think it a very real possiblity:.

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jan/07/local/la-me-church-files-20130108.

judge orders archdiocese to restore names in abuse filesthe public's right to know how the church handled molestation allegations outweighs officials' privacy rights, court rules.q: haven't several states extended the statutes of limitation in response to the abuse scandal?.

Chaserious

Probably blindly follow the new GB that gets installed.

But luckily for the WT leadership, the Catholic Church took the early heat in terms of public outrage and law enforcement response to this issue and now they are no doubt much more careful to avoid anything that could lead to criminal penalties.

24

In Australia, A $3 Billion Jehovahs Witnesses Class Action Over Child Abuse looms Large

by Scott77 in

that's the approximate headline from steve unthank's website at www.jwnews.org.

assuming those numberous victims of sexual abuse prevail in the court and ultimately, get awarded substantial amount of compasation, what do you think will happen to the watchtower we know it today?.

.

Chaserious

Well, I don't know enough about the case to express a strong opinion, Scott. But it seems to me that if you want to influence people who are currently indifferent, a case where there are victims who were actually harmed is a lot more sympathetic than one where someone possibly didn't file the right paperwork at first, but then filed it later.

Rather than condemning Mr. Unthank. I was simply encouraging an examination of the details of the case instead of just thinking "This is a lawsuit against the Watchtower, so it must be good".

12

Conti Case: They Cannot Win

by metatron in

jw
friends

just my opinion but i see nothing but defeat for the watchtower regardless of what they do.. if they appeal and fight - it could go on for years, dragging their reputation thru the mud, at the same time that the catholic church is being slammed and sued.

they end up sharing the headlines with other religions that cover up child molesters.

talk about bad timing.... this defeat has already hit some witlesses like a ton of bricks, emotionally.

Chaserious

Looking at it realistically from their perspective, if they win the appeal, don't you think they would gleefully put out a press release and a comment in any media coverage about the case? One that says something like "By overturning this unjust decision, the court system has vindicated the reality that the sole person responsible for this sad case of abuse was a former associate of a congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses who has since been expelled. No court has ever found the Jehovah's Witness organization to be responsible for a case of child abuse. Jehovah's Witnesses abhor child abuse in all its forms and do everything they can to protect their children from this evil."

It seems like fighting for the chance to make statements like that one would be fairly attractive. They know dubs would read it and eat it up, seeing no reason to further investigate child abuse issues.

29

Hate Crime against Members of a Congregation

by cantleave in

jw
friends

i recieved this email from an active witness regarding "hate crimes" against members of the congregation he/she attends.

it is interesting as to how the elders are dealing with it.. .

for some time our hall has been suffering minor vandalism.

Chaserious

Weird... I thought they didn't have a problem throwing DF'D former members under the bus to outsiders. And if they don't want to report the DF'd person to police, what are they going to do if they catch him on cc video? Go to his house and stone him?

24

In Australia, A $3 Billion Jehovahs Witnesses Class Action Over Child Abuse looms Large

by Scott77 in

that's the approximate headline from steve unthank's website at www.jwnews.org.

assuming those numberous victims of sexual abuse prevail in the court and ultimately, get awarded substantial amount of compasation, what do you think will happen to the watchtower we know it today?.

.

Chaserious

Hi Chaserious,

Are you from the Mars?

No, I'm not from Mars. Litigating at every opportunity is not always best for a cause. I recommend reading about the history of the legal battles in the civil rights movement in the United States. It's a very interesting story. The court battles and the parties who were going to bring them were very carefully selected by the NAACP legal defense fund. They only picked the best cases to fight, and fought them in a certain strategic order.

In higher courts of appeal, once they hear what they consider to be a certain kind of case, they tend not to hear a similar case for a number of years, since the issue is considered decided. So the civil rights groups only wanted to take the best cases to the Supreme Court. Similarly the cases they picked were decided in a way calculated to be sympathetic to their cause and influence public opinion.

The NAACP leaned hard on some blacks who were legitimately wronged because it wasn't the right time or they didn't have a great case, or it just didn't fit into the larger picture of the legal battle correctly. Imagine being told you were not eligible for a job or being denied admission to a school because of your race, and the group that is supposed to represent civil rights for your race tells you not to bring a lawsuit. But that's exactly what happened, and agree or not, the movement won almost every important civil rights case they litigated, which turned out to be a very important series of cases for civil rights.