Posts by ABibleStudent

39

Petition to Revoke Scientology's Tax Exempt Status

by ABibleStudent in

fyi, if you feel that scientology's tax-exempt status should be revoked, you can sign a white house petition to revoke its tax-exempt status at https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/revoke-scientologys-tax-exempt-status.. i signed the petition even though i have mixed feelings about this petition.

i would prefer that dangerous cults like scientology be reformed by suspending its tax-exempt status until it makes needed changes and i do not like targeting a specific organization when the whole system should be changed.

on the other hand this type of action may help to promote debate about revising the tax codes in the us.. i do prefer revising the tax code like i wrote about in revise tax code to protect children from sexual abuse .. peace be with you and everyone, who you love,.

ABibleStudent

Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Hi SonoftheTrinity, If this petition to revoke Scientology's tax-exempt status does obtain 100,000 signatures, I'm sure that the White House's response will have some statement of protecting 1st Amendment rights as an excuse to do nothing.

Have you read the 1st Amendment? I feel that when Congress created tax-exempt status for religions without prohibiting religions from infringing on the free exercise of members to leave a religion (i.e., using undue influence and shunning) that Congress inadvertently infringed on individuals rights under the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses of the 1st Amendment.

There are very few requirements for organizations to qualify for religious tax-exempt status, such as self-declare that an organization is a religion, that donations do not enure to the benefit of a few people, and that an organization is not declared a terrorist organization or helping to fund terrorism by Executive Order.

I feel that adding a few more more requirements to the Tax Code for all tax-exempt organizations that help protect children from sexual abuse and stop organizations from promoting and using undue influence on its members would not infringe on any 1st Amendment rights for individuals. Individuals can think and organizations cannot!

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

47

I'm at a loss at how to get thru to my parents. I fear they will die before they will stop shunning me.

by cognisonance in

all i want is this: for us to be a family, to spend time together enjoying life.

i don't wish to debate about their beliefs when together.

they can remain jws for all i care.

ABibleStudent

cognisonance -
"We can't keep doing this. We just can't"
"We love you so much, but you know we shouldn't be talking with you."
"We must trust that doing things Jehovah's way, no matter how much we don't want too or how much it hurts, will be the best course of action in the long run"

Hi cognisonance, Have you asked your parents questions about thier good-bye statements? Something like , "How can you love me so much, but don't want to talk with me? If you love me so much you would want to spend as much time with me as I want with you. Not talking with me and loving me unconditionally only convinces me that I made the right choice to critically think for myself instead of blindly following instructions from imperfect men."

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

39

Petition to Revoke Scientology's Tax Exempt Status

by ABibleStudent in

fyi, if you feel that scientology's tax-exempt status should be revoked, you can sign a white house petition to revoke its tax-exempt status at https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/revoke-scientologys-tax-exempt-status.. i signed the petition even though i have mixed feelings about this petition.

i would prefer that dangerous cults like scientology be reformed by suspending its tax-exempt status until it makes needed changes and i do not like targeting a specific organization when the whole system should be changed.

on the other hand this type of action may help to promote debate about revising the tax codes in the us.. i do prefer revising the tax code like i wrote about in revise tax code to protect children from sexual abuse .. peace be with you and everyone, who you love,.

ABibleStudent

I checked the status of the revoke Scientology's tax-exemption petition. It has 15,000+ which is 5,000 more than a few days ago. 100,000 signatures are needed by April 22, 2015 to qualify for a White House response.

I hope that more people will sign this petition to force the White House to write a response on this issue. People can easily find the petition by googling "revoke Scientology's tax status".

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

16

The end

by Garrett in

jw
friends

oh...my...god.... i can't.. well, i am officially done trying to explain things to them.

they talk in circles, and their excuse for everything is "imperfect men".

imperfect men!.

ABibleStudent

Hi Garrett, Don't be soooo hard on yourself. You at least cared enough to try to help them.

Instead of discussing doctrine with JWs, what fun, time-consuming, non-JW activities would you enjoy doing with your JW friends? JWs might be JWs for social reasons more than for doctrine. Show JWs that life is more fun outside of the WTBTS so that they might hate being whipped to do more for the WTBTS.

From what you described it seems like your JW friend(s) had their shields up (i.e., saying imperfect men). Did you ask them a question, like, "What would ever make you want to disassociate/fade from the WTBTS?" If they say, "Nothing.", then they are not ready to critically think for themselves and should be victimized by the WTBTS.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

8

Well...I blew it

by Garrett in

jw
friends

(follow up to my last post).

i let it rip.

i can't take stupidity from people i thought were capable of using their brain.

ABibleStudent

Hi Garrett, Before you reverse witness to a JW, you need to be able to control your emotions and actions.

If your friend does start to shun, mark, or avoid you, you could ask her the following question: "How come you will blindly follow the instructions [15 Nov 2013, Watchtower (Study Edition), page 20, paragraph 17] of imperfect men to not report suspected child sexual abuse, and avoid me for saying report all abuse to local law enforcement or for promoting to critically think for yourself? At least I don't proclaim that I have the "Truth" and say follow me even though I'm imperfect."

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

39

Petition to Revoke Scientology's Tax Exempt Status

by ABibleStudent in

fyi, if you feel that scientology's tax-exempt status should be revoked, you can sign a white house petition to revoke its tax-exempt status at https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/revoke-scientologys-tax-exempt-status.. i signed the petition even though i have mixed feelings about this petition.

i would prefer that dangerous cults like scientology be reformed by suspending its tax-exempt status until it makes needed changes and i do not like targeting a specific organization when the whole system should be changed.

on the other hand this type of action may help to promote debate about revising the tax codes in the us.. i do prefer revising the tax code like i wrote about in revise tax code to protect children from sexual abuse .. peace be with you and everyone, who you love,.

ABibleStudent

Encase the revoke Scientology's tax-exempt petition obtains 90,000 signatures to qualify for a White House response, I sent President Obama the following comment.

I hope that more people will sign the petition to force debate on this issue. People can easily find the petition by googling "revoke Scientology's tax status".

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

Dear President Barack Obama:

I respectfully ask that you use your presidential influence to actively promote introducing a bill to the 114th Congress by the end of May 2015 to revise the Tax Code to require tax-exempt organizations to protect children from sexual abuse instead of protecting and enabling pedophiles.

Instead of singling out a specific organization to revoke its tax-exempt status as requested by the White House “We the People Petition” https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/revoke-scientologys-tax-exempt-status, why not fix the Tax Code instead?

If you are interested, a rough-draft copy of a bill (~ 85% finished) with the following provisions is available at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lbrkte086omivtt/AADN7PQHNylsdKwbltjHxBUea?dl=0 :

* Insert a new sub-section in 26 U.S. Code § 501 to describe the criteria and process to suspend an organization's tax-exempt status, and would allow the IRS to charge all tax-exempt organizations a nominal annual fee (may be $10 to $50) to fund the effort. Applicable tax-exempt organizations would be required to ensure that applicable adults pass a criminal background check and complete sexual abuse awareness training, to promote to members and employees to report suspected violent felonies to local law enforcement, to prohibit using undue influence on members and employees, and to prohibit promoting bigotry, prejudice, and inciting hatred and civil unrest.

* Amend 26 U.S. Code § 6033 to require that all tax-exempt organizations, including religious organizations that are currently exempt, to file annual reports and adds additional requirements about what to include in the annual reports.

* Amend 26 U.S. Code § 6104 to require the Treasury to provide free access to applications for tax-exemption and annual reports through the internet. The Treasury would be prohibited from releasing personal contact information (not business contact information) through the internet.

* Create Section 520 to allow taxing of funds transferred from/to non-compliant organizations to reduce funding to such organizations.

After reading the draft bill you will better understand how it will protect children from sexual abuse, prohibit promoting prejudice, bigotry, and hate-speech, and increase transparency and accountability by all tax-exempt organizations.

Sincerely,

Robert

14

Need your thoughts... Again

by Garrett in

jw
friends

(sorry for any typos, i'm on my ipad) so, remember how in my last post i mentioned that i had told some of my dear friends why i decided to leave?

well, one of those friends was a girl... not just any girl, but rather, a girl that i've loved since the moment i've met her.

she used to say that she considered me her best friend and we were really close she just never really returned my feelings for her due to different circumstances i presume.. but i always felt a connection.. anyways, after telling her that i decided to leave because of multiple reasons but that the tolerance of child sex abuse was the final straw, she responded asking where i got my information and that she wanted to talk about it with me.. this feels like an opportunity for me to tell her about my findings, what do you think?

ABibleStudent

Hi Garrett, Remember the KISS principle - Keep in Simple $tupid! Don't tell her how you feel about her, because she may feel that your feelings for her will bring you back or she may have too much on her mind.

Ask her simple questions instead of telling her where to look. Ask her questions, like "If child sexual abuse is rape, why doesn't the WTBTS tell witness to go directly to the police? Does the WTBTS have more money and better resources than the police to investigate rape? What is the downside for the WTBTS to tell JWs to report violent crimes to the police? How come the WTBTS doesn't help JWs to identify signs of abuse or grooming behaviors

Also, help her to do her own research using the internet and selecting which sites to view from news organizations and non-JW sources. Ask her to google "child protection awareness training" as a starter.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

39

Petition to Revoke Scientology's Tax Exempt Status

by ABibleStudent in

fyi, if you feel that scientology's tax-exempt status should be revoked, you can sign a white house petition to revoke its tax-exempt status at https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/revoke-scientologys-tax-exempt-status.. i signed the petition even though i have mixed feelings about this petition.

i would prefer that dangerous cults like scientology be reformed by suspending its tax-exempt status until it makes needed changes and i do not like targeting a specific organization when the whole system should be changed.

on the other hand this type of action may help to promote debate about revising the tax codes in the us.. i do prefer revising the tax code like i wrote about in revise tax code to protect children from sexual abuse .. peace be with you and everyone, who you love,.

ABibleStudent

I will be glad to answer additional specific questions about how to revise the Tax Code, as I propose. Please read what I wrote in Revise Tax Code to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse or the proposed draft of the bill that I wrote at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lbrkte086omivtt/AADN7PQHNylsdKwbltjHxBUea?dl=0 .

I do not agree with singling out specific organizations to revoke their tax-exempt status like an opinion poll, but I do feel that the aforementioned White House petition will spark debate on this issue and maybe constructive and needed legislative changes. I have already written 99 senators about revising the tax code to protect children from sexual abuse in February 2015, and I plan to write the White House tonight encase the Scientology petition does obtain 90,000 signatures by April 22, 2015.

The worst that can happen by signing the White House petition is that Scientology's tax-exempt status will be revoked. Scientology is very will connected and has lots of money so I do not feel that will happen.

@ never a jw, IMHO I would rather define what is minimum socially acceptable standards of behavior for tax-exempt organizations, instead of attempting to define what are acceptable charitable activities to revise the tax code. Political organizations can be tax exempt. How do political organizations relieve physical pain and basic needs of the needy?

I feel that many more people will agree that tax-exempt organizations should protect children from sexual abuse. A root-cause of organizations that enable and protect pedophiles is that they use undue influence to keep members compliant. If members are not afraid to voice their concerns about issues such as child abuse and how to protect children from sexual abuse, it is very unlikely that an organization will use or condone using undue influence on its members.

@ Half banana, Please read my comments above.

Organizations like Scientology and the Watchtower will never reform without being forced to by suspending their tax-exempt status until they meet basic minimum requirements, or suing them into oblivion. I feel that revising the Tax Code will allow members with doubts and former members to file complaints with the IRS to suspend a dangerous organization's tax-exempt status.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

39

Petition to Revoke Scientology's Tax Exempt Status

by ABibleStudent in

fyi, if you feel that scientology's tax-exempt status should be revoked, you can sign a white house petition to revoke its tax-exempt status at https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/revoke-scientologys-tax-exempt-status.. i signed the petition even though i have mixed feelings about this petition.

i would prefer that dangerous cults like scientology be reformed by suspending its tax-exempt status until it makes needed changes and i do not like targeting a specific organization when the whole system should be changed.

on the other hand this type of action may help to promote debate about revising the tax codes in the us.. i do prefer revising the tax code like i wrote about in revise tax code to protect children from sexual abuse .. peace be with you and everyone, who you love,.

ABibleStudent

Londo111 - The Watchtower Society needs to be added to the petition as well...

Hi Londo111,

If you are an American citizen, then write your representative and senators to revise the tax code like I wrote in the thread Revise Tax Code to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse . I have been trying to motivate people to revise the tax code to protect people from undue influence about 4 years including creating a White House petition in the thread

URGENT: Please Sign White House Petition to "Protect Americans from Dangerous Cults: Modify USC Title 26 § 501 Tax Exemption Requirements"

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

39

Petition to Revoke Scientology's Tax Exempt Status

by ABibleStudent in

fyi, if you feel that scientology's tax-exempt status should be revoked, you can sign a white house petition to revoke its tax-exempt status at https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/revoke-scientologys-tax-exempt-status.. i signed the petition even though i have mixed feelings about this petition.

i would prefer that dangerous cults like scientology be reformed by suspending its tax-exempt status until it makes needed changes and i do not like targeting a specific organization when the whole system should be changed.

on the other hand this type of action may help to promote debate about revising the tax codes in the us.. i do prefer revising the tax code like i wrote about in revise tax code to protect children from sexual abuse .. peace be with you and everyone, who you love,.

ABibleStudent

FYi, If you feel that Scientology's tax-exempt status should be revoked, you can sign a White House Petition to revoke its tax-exempt status at https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/revoke-scientologys-tax-exempt-status.

I signed the petition even though I have mixed feelings about this petition. I would prefer that dangerous cults like Scientology be reformed by suspending its tax-exempt status until it makes needed changes and I do not like targeting a specific organization when the whole system should be changed. On the other hand this type of action may help to promote debate about revising the tax codes in the US.

I do prefer revising the tax code like I wrote about in Revise Tax Code to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse .

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert