Posts by elderINewton

112

Did an EX-JW wake you up to TTATT or did you put the effort to wake up yourself?

by John Aquila in

how many of us were woken up by some apostate yelling false prophets at a convention?.

how many of us were woken up by someone holding a sign and yelling, what happened to 1975.

how many of us were coerced to investigate the wt because some ex-jw pulled up a bunch of old watchtowers magazines and told us to read the false predictions?.

elderINewton

Funny for me, it was simple, I had lines that could not be crossed, that one being of supporting victims and justice for them. The other was money, they could never mislead anyone with money, if they did I couldn't be part of it.

I read the letters to elders and lived with the first line, but I showed my wife and said that if it happens to me I'm crossing the line. I told her about the money line and said I'd cross it again.

Then the "forgive the loans" crock of lies letter came and I really let them cross that line waiting to fix it. Then I saw for the third time how they treated victims of pedo's and that was a line I could not live with being crossed.

In many ways though the first time the line was crossed, I opened myself up to the internet as I could not believe I was the only one with a problem on the money. Then the world was opened up to viewing apostate information, but to me I've personally never been scared of apostate information, as I believe light can shine through any darkness. Funny when you realize your in the dark though.

10

Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse

by Dissonant15 in

all states in the us mandate health care workers and teachers to report suspected child abuse to law enforcement.

this year our commonwealth expanded the law to include clergy, and to include a mandatory two hour training on what to look for and how to report, required for all mandatory reporters.. my coworker at the hospital said she and her husband did the training together, because her husband volunteers in the sunday school at the church, they required him to take it too.

i asked several witnesses when this law came into effect if all the elders and ms are going to be taking the training and everyone looked at me like i was an alien and they had no idea what the heck i was talking about.

elderINewton

To me this is the biggest secret that they hold over every single elder in the world. First and foremost, the watchtower expects:

1) To follow the letters.

2) To not ask liability questions.

Why liability?

Say for an elder they say that its "confidential talk" - as so they view that information is privileged, so that even countries that have mandatory reporting laws, usually get some clergy exemption. So if your an elder ask yourself, am I exempt? - My own personal lawyer asked me one question, and I was floored, the question was so where is your proof that you are even a member of the clergy? - My reply was that I don't have it and that I did know that brothers who marry have to request it. Without proof, I'm personally liable, and ignorance is not a defense in the eyes of the law. Now, I'm 100% positive, that if the court ever requested such document one would magically appear.

So even most elders have no proof they are a member of clergy, and as such could (and in my opinion) and should be held accountable for not following the laws as they can not prove they even have any clergy privilege.

Either way - this information is really hid from all publishers - think about it, when your baptized, your all baptized as ordained ministers of Jehovah's Witnesses, at least they tell you that, but offer dick all proof that you are.

I'm amazed that I have never even heard of any cases trying to highlight this blatant side stepping of the law.

Its one of the many reasons I disappeared, just like my lawyer said, they will take your $ before suing the WT. Low and behold we have letters warning elders to shut up so they don't get personally sued.

So mandatory reporting is useless, when a society side steps the law.

(I just wonder if the WT spy's will recognize this loophole as I asked them about it directly and was told "its a theocratic organization." - theocratic my ass)

16

The Org's Chariot Rolls On - Over the Top of People!

by The Searcher in

information just received from a reliable source.. here is an example of how the org's "expansion" is being carried out in 3 continents: .

japan - special pioneers under age 50 are being told they will now only be regular pioneers.barcelona spain - the regional translation (catalan) office is being closed.mexico - special pioneers being told they will only be regular pioneers - no age specified on this one.. the scene of the org's world is changing - rapidly!.

elderINewton

I wonder if they plan on pushing the cost of CO's to the congregations fully. Maybe even the remaining special pioneers.

11

Question - thoughts on explaining your fading to teachers?

by elderINewton in

jw
friends

weird/odd question, but with our family fading, and our daughter in school how or should one approach teachers with this?

our child is a little too young to understand why we are fading, but it proves challenging in school as they have been, well brainwashed, to say i shouldn't do that etc... .

i don't like explaining anything to teachers about the fade, etc.

elderINewton

Weird/odd question, but with our family fading, and our daughter in school how or should one approach teachers with this?

Our child is a little too young to understand why we are fading, but it proves challenging in school as they have been, well brainwashed, to say I shouldn't do that etc...

I don't like explaining anything to teachers about the fade, etc. as they could very well have friends that could report back to the cult center.

Anyone with experience with this? I'm just trying to open my mind to other ideas.

42

Warwick, What is it good for?

by freemindfade in

absolutely nothing.... has anyone dared ask what they need this place for?

think about a few things.

in bethels hay day, there was a shit ton of literature being printed, they even need a giant factory with elevators a truck could fit in.

elderINewton

Sh@t, after all this time, I am now reminded of why during the Conti case the WT was acting so funky around the bond costs and wanting to use real estate. At the time, and I bond stuff all the time, I was thinking that's a shit load of work to use real estate instead of 50k for a bond, and now the answers are finally coming, money f'n crunch. Only in this tread I see the damn "new light."

I get the feeling that some scriptures from the OT are going to be used to require our own Mecca experience to bethel to cover the use of this new facility. Its over the top for its needs.

14

money

by Defianttruth in

jw
friends

i keep seeing references to the 750 million in sales of the nyc properties and confusion around the apparent cash flow problems of the wtbt society.

here's the reality.

if they went, to a bank and asked for loans for the buildings here's what a bank would say, "absolutely.

elderINewton

Crazyguy - the D&B actually does list them as a religion, but in the credit request documents Bethel identifies themselves as in the printing & construction business. So its Bethel identification, not D&B, so its quite ironic.

As for the float, if they are being required to use outside contractors, then they are needing quick payment turnaround. If vendors are jumpy they might also be requiring large deposits or bonds as well.

14

money

by Defianttruth in

jw
friends

i keep seeing references to the 750 million in sales of the nyc properties and confusion around the apparent cash flow problems of the wtbt society.

here's the reality.

if they went, to a bank and asked for loans for the buildings here's what a bank would say, "absolutely.

elderINewton

FYI - I have yet to personally see a credit downgrade. They are a customer of the company I work for and the D&B indicated "good" credit. Funniest part to me was when they said they are in the "printing & construction" business, religion was not listed.

The likely issue is that you can't get a mortgage on contaminated property. Banks don't lend on buildings with issues like that. It might have caught them off guard so the cash grab could be to maintain a float rather than have a bank provide the service.

They will need a sizeable float to maintain construction of Wakhill.

I have also seen a fair number of special pioneers shipped out for assignment via airplane, so they are not acting like its a money issue with the ministry. Only construction, it further clouds the whole issue.

12

Just 10 more days. How are they going to spin the news on Oct 3 annual meeting?

by John Aquila in

so they asked all the kingdom halls for all the money in their savings account and then make them give a monthly payment for the rest of their life.

the reason for this was because the in-gathering is so great, that they need to build, build, build!.

now the massive building will stop..

elderINewton

Who says they will tell everyone they have stopped building? Either way they might say they are simplifying things at bethel so that more can devote themselves to the ministry. (I fully realize that if you spend more time in the ministry and get more recruits you need more facilities, but that is logical and the message is not).

I really don't think people will bat much of an eye. They sure didn't with the 2014 funding scam.

50

Is the WT SLOW-ly Changing the importance of the Door to Door preaching work to something more profitable?

by John Aquila in

its been a couple of weeks since a new c.o.

was appointed to the circuit and im starting to hear tidbits of his talks..

one brother told me that in one of his talks he asked the question; .

elderINewton

Carts are the key to solving the "generational" issue (aka old people). Carts allow them to just sit and wait, while counting time. The reality is that most large cities have for years had witnesses at various stops for approach work, but this is much easier for a senior to do. Its really just busy work. I've had to pleasure of watching several carts for the past year, and the success is minimal at best. I'd argue the workers are more disheartened as the likelihood of bad apostates talking to them is greater. But the vast majority appear to just enjoy sitting in a chair (or motorized chair). This is really nothing new, its just that they added a cart, and you can just sit on your arse and do nothing.

In the circuit I was with, we got 2 bible study requests since JW.borg has been active, a sizeable circuit at that. Still if you did the math and said 1,000's then its still a very small number considering the publicity.

I watch the analytics on the website and its pretty flat. Really with about 800,000 page views daily and 8,000,000 witnesses its actually pretty bad. I like one site that says the traffic is worth about 1.7 million dollars. http://www.freewebsitereport.org/www.jw.org

The real question I have is if the risk of lawsuits is greater for door to door or from the carts?

91

Anthony Morris III: Jehovah Blesses Obedience

by wifibandit in

http://tv.jw.org/#video/vodprogramsevents/pub-jwbmw_201509_1_video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf9j7qs7bvm.

obey.

elderINewton

freemind - that is good - the are not dogmatic they issue decrees, but enforce them dogmatically. -

I said to my wife a while back they can go either two directions from here - lay the hammer down and enforce or just start to let things slide. At the time I said they would hammer down, and videos like this at least give me some comfort in saying I told you so.