Posts by ABibleStudent

it needs to be done as soon as possible.. and i need you to help me.. i need someone, maybe more than one person, to draft a template, for a letter to the white house.. it has to clearly state that the usa is falling way behind many other countries, in terms of protecting children in institutions nationwide.. it has to make this clear: .

both australia and the uk (independent inquiry into child sexual abuse in england and wales, see here: www.csa-inquiry.independent.gov.uk/about-the-inquiry ) are currently investing large amounts of time and financial resources to research the best possible policies to protect children, across all institutions, religious and nonreligious.. they are working to expose the failures of various institutions, that have not reported child abuse, or have even covered it up... why are the united states of america not doing the same?!!.

ABibleStudent

Although Australia and the U.K. having special commissions investigating institutional responses to child sexual abuse are very commendable, a similar type of special Congressional commission would not have the same powers and would be more of a dog-and-pony show. Congressional commissions can only make recommendations to Congress and religious organizations are currently exempt from filing annual financial reports to the IRS.

Nothing will change unless laws are changed. Besides why not do something to solve the problem than talk about it - isn't 3 decades long enough to talk about it!

If you want to change laws for tax-exempt organizations, I would recommend tweaking the USA Tax Code like I have been promoting for several years on JWN and also on LinkedIn. If you want to learn more about tweaking the Tax Code, please read the overview of a proposed bill and the draft bill at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lbrkte086omivtt/AADN7PQHNylsdKwbltjHxBUea?dl=0. The draft bill would require all tax-exempt organizations to file annual reports including currently exempt religious organizations.

If you want to jump start the legislative process, please read and like the LinkedIn discussion at https://www.linkedin.com/grp/post/6784497-6034388592510394371?trk=groups-post-b-title to create a "We the People" petition to obtain a response from the White House as well as writing to members of Congress and promoting tweaking the Tax Code to protect children to family, friends, and on social media.

I would be pleasantly surprised if 10% of JWN members would spend less than 5 minutes to sign a "We the People" petition withing 24-hrs of it being created. If they did, 100,000 signatures could easily be obtained within 30 days. The only requirements to sign a petition is being older than 12-years old and have an email address. According to the White House website there is no requirement to be a USA citizen.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

15

Should Charity Organizations Be Forced To Be Transparent As To Where The Money Goes? Watchtower's Financial Books Should Be Made Public

by Brokeback Watchtower in

i know there is much encouragement for charities to have financial transparency and i'm all for it reguardless of whether they are a religion or whatever.

also lawsuit pay out should made easy identifiable on tax form too.

any charity should be accountable to the general public when funds are used to pay out lawsuits so that the general public is aware of where their money is going.

ABibleStudent

In the USA tax-exempt religions are exempt from making annual disclosures according to 26 U.S. Code § 6033.

If enough individuals would become politically active to help contact members of Congress to enact legislation to tweak the tax codes like I am promoting to protect children from sexual abuse, all tax-exempt organizations would have to file annual reports, those reports would be made available through the internet for free, and suspicious organizations would be required to pay for their records being audited by CPA's.

If you would like to learn more you can read a draft of the bill or a proposal overview of the bill at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lbrkte086omivtt/AADN7PQHNylsdKwbltjHxBUea?dl=0 . If 150 people would like the LinkedIn discussion Advocates Needed to Sign "We the People" Petition within 24 hrs, I would happily create a "We the People" petition to jump-start the political process on the following Tuesday.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

28

Elderly widows targeted, convinced to sign over Power of Attorney and Personal Representative of Estate

by Stop.the.abusers in

i discovered that my 96-year-old grandaunt had named her jw elder as personal representative of her estate and another jw "best friend" as her power of attorney.

i learned that they used a financial advisor at wells fargo advisors to help raid my grandaunts bank accounts in the years before her death, and then the wt and jws received most of what was left of her estate.

i am currently working on a book to expose this horrific practice.

ABibleStudent

Hi Stop.the.abusers, I'm sorry about what happened to your grandaunt.

Have you thought about filing an IRS 13909? I feel that what happened to your grandaunt would be classified as a "Organization engaged in deceptive or improper fundraising practices". Even if you are not a US citizen, you should file the form since the money would have flowed to the WTBTS in PA.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

16

venting: My wife is in cult mode again! she tried to start a fight..

by goingthruthemotions in

so when i was at luch today, my wife was in full cult mode.

she started in on me about us not being able to hang with other witnesses and when i go to the meetings with her that i don't talk with nobody nor pay attention and act angry.

i told her that i don't want to fight and i have better things to do than argue.

ABibleStudent

Hi goingthruthemotions, Your wife has a typical authentic persona and cult persona for a member of a high-control group. I doubt she has dissociative personality disorder per a clinical definition. If you want to learn more about communicating better with you wife, have you read any cult-exit counselors' works like Steven Hassan's book "Combating Cult Mind Control" with one "t" instead of two "t's", or watched his free videos on his www.freedomofmind.com website like https://freedomofmind.com//Media/video.php?id=23 .

If you haven't I would recommend that you do before visiting an attorney about a divorce.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

30

"I am Happy to be Controlled" - Edinburgh Elder on Cult Cart

by cofty in

so my wife and i were up in edinburgh for the weekend for the international festival - we had a great weekend including going to see the military tattoo at the castle.. we were walking up the royal mile watching the street performers among hundreds of thousands of others from all over the world when i spotted the cult cart in it's usual spot being universally ignored.

feeling confident after my confrontation a couple of weeks ago we decided to go and have a chat with the two men.

i asked them if they were keeping up with the events in australia and proceeded to share lots of information with them.

ABibleStudent

@ Cofty, JW baiting sounds like a worthy cause.

Peace be with you and everyone who you love,

Robert

4

Reveal News: One Thing Leads to Another

by ABibleStudent in

according to reveal news' website at https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/one-thing-leads-to-another/, "in august, we're is picking up the threads from three major investigations to see whats happened since they aired.

these are stories that moved people, made them angry and sparked change.".

peace be with you and everyone, who you love,.

ABibleStudent

According to Reveal News' website at https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/one-thing-leads-to-another/, "In August, we're is picking up the threads from three major investigations to see what’s happened since they aired. These are stories that moved people, made them angry and sparked change."

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

25

This too Shall Pass (RC Commission vs WTS)

by undercover in

jw
friends

while i'm glad that the practices of the wts are under review and the australian commission is taking them to task, i'm not really expecting huge changes in the long run.

oh, they may have to agree to some changes in how they report crimes brought to elders' attention, but this excitement over the supposed expose of wt practices shall pass, and jws will soon be canvassing neighborhoods and rolling their carts, looking for converts.

conventions will go on.

ABibleStudent

Although I applaud and greatly admire what the Australian Royal Commission is doing, nothing will change unless the (Tax/Charity) laws are changed.

Enacting legislation like tweaking the American Tax Code as described in the draft bill and its executive summary at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lbrkte086omivtt/AADN7PQHNylsdKwbltjHxBUea?dl=0 , is the most effective and reasonable way to protect children in organizations like the Watchtower and prevent organizations like the Watchtower from victimizing its members. Too bad most JWN members would rather post on JWN than write to their members of Congress to affect real change!

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

10

The Guardian: JWs Church says it will comply with mandatory reporting of child abuse

by AndersonsInfo in

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/aug/04/jehovahs-witness-church-says-it-will-comply-with-mandatory-reporting-of-child-abuse.

august 4, 2015. australian associated press .

the jehovahs witness church says it will comply with mandatory reporting obligations when they learn about sexual abuse crimes against children in their congregation.. a royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse has heard that the theocratic church records more than one child abuse allegation every month yet in 60 years has never reported them to police.. in the second week of a hearing into the churchs handling of abuse incidents, the head of the communitys service desk, rodney spinks, acknowledged they dealt with matters internally and did not encourage reporting to police.. the service desk under the auspices of the churchs legal entity, the watchtower bible and tract society australia, is the first point of contact for elders looking for advice on how to deal with child abuse reports.. spinks said the first issue addressed is the safety of the child, and elders are referred to watchtower publications on the matter.. they are also given generic advice based on a handbook that says they should never suggest not reporting the allegation to police.. spinks acknowledged they had not had a practice, against the wishes of the victim or otherwise, to directly report to police.. the commission chair, peter mcclellan, pointed out there were mandatory reporting obligations when a crime had been committed.. spinks said he had been made aware of this in these hearings and the church would accept and comply with mandatory reporting, regardless of our strongly held religious belief that individuals should have the right to decide what is done with that information.. he said when there were mandatory reporting requirements with some sort of uniformity across the country we will happily and willingly comply.. mcclellan pointed out that uniform laws were not yet in place and they would differ from state to state but they would impose a criminal sanction on a person who knows [about an abuse crime] and does not report.. spinks said he understood that.. mcclellan said the church needed to have a very good look maybe with the help of the churchs lawyers at what the law provides.. the commissioner also pointed out that what the jehovahs witnesses were doing was different to what other churches might be doing because you might be taking allegations and resolving, as you see it, the truth of the allegation by reason of your process.. the commission has heard that the jehovahs witness process is based on a biblical rule that the wrongdoing is only proven when there are two witnesses, and expect the abuse victim to confront the abuser..

ABibleStudent

If the Aussies changed their charitable/Tax laws to require that charities promote to their members to report child abuse and other serious felonies to the police before its legal department or risk its charity status being suspended or revoked, the WTBTS would probably rush to comply. JWs would hail it as New Light and praise Jehovah for his blessing!

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert