Lee Elder

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Posts by Lee Elder

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  33

  If you are a current active JW, What rules do you deliberately break?

  by Truthexplorer in

  1. social
  2. humour

  do the lottery.

  celebrate my child's birthday.

  sign workmates birthday cards.

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  Lee Elder

  Oh and I started www.ajwrb.org - while I was an elder. Pretty sure they still are pretty upset over that one :-)
  
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  33

  If you are a current active JW, What rules do you deliberately break?

  by Truthexplorer in

  1. social
  2. humour

  do the lottery.

  celebrate my child's birthday.

  sign workmates birthday cards.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Lee Elder

  I was the "liberal elder" after all. I had a band, Pioneered, drank, went to college, made good money, rejected new light on 1914, rejected the blood policy, wrote a number of letters to the WTS, brazenly fought with "conservatives" and generally stood up for the average publisher. They were glad to see me go I'm sure :-)
  
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  33

  If you are a current active JW, What rules do you deliberately break?

  by Truthexplorer in

  1. social
  2. humour

  do the lottery.

  celebrate my child's birthday.

  sign workmates birthday cards.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Lee Elder

  What a bunch of wankers!
  
• 
  16

  Great Evening....

  by Lee Elder in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ...with dick and helen kelly.

  got to meet joe and barbara anderson and their friend joy on their whirlwind u.s. tour.

  wonderful conversation and opportunity to reminisce about our wts experiences and our plans for the future.

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  Lee Elder

  Barbara is a dynamo and sharp as a tack. Marvin - they talked about you quite a bit. Lots of things in the works in Australia. Got to hear the story behind the story and how Angus came to be so knowledgeable about JWs. What a messed up bunch they are in Australia. Joe was telling us how he essentially was disfellowshipped because he was expected to convince Barbara not to talk with Dateline. Dick is the Treasurer and one of the founding members of AAWA. Helen is just a lot of fun and a great hostess. Lovely evening.
  
• 
  16

  Great Evening....

  by Lee Elder in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ...with dick and helen kelly.

  got to meet joe and barbara anderson and their friend joy on their whirlwind u.s. tour.

  wonderful conversation and opportunity to reminisce about our wts experiences and our plans for the future.

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• 

  Lee Elder

  ...with Dick and Helen Kelly. Got to meet Joe and Barbara Anderson and their friend Joy on their whirlwind U.S. tour. Wonderful conversation and opportunity to reminisce about our WTS experiences and our plans for the future.
  
• 
  28

  Is the end of Watchtowers hated No Blood doctrine in sight?

  by nicolaou in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  i won't pretend to know things that i don't but just look at the incredible rate of change we've witnessed recently.

  it seems that since candace conti and the australian royal commission the watchtower are scrabbling around to shore up their finances in the face of unprecedented legal action against them.. abuse settlement claims are one thing but what happens when children die as a result of your religious teachings?!

  you can bet wt legal are arguing for a complete rewrite of policy to protect the organisation from litigation.. do you think their religious privilege will protect them forever?

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  Lee Elder

  A Physician who worked closely with AJWRB proposed another solution in this article:
  Journal of Medical Ethics
  Ultimately, it is the WTS policy to decide what to do with. Personally, I would have guessed that they would have put further distance between themselves and this monstrous nonsense that was born in the ignorance of C.J. Woodworth, and nurtured by WTS men who knew almost nothing of science and precious little more of Bible scholarship.

  It may well be that they continue to believe and hold out hope that either artificial blood or the great tribulation are going to come along and save them from this mess. If so, the policy may be here to stay.

  Call me an optimist, but I still think they will eventually realize they have more to gain than lose by simply distancing themselves from this.
  
• 
  28

  Is the end of Watchtowers hated No Blood doctrine in sight?

  by nicolaou in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  i won't pretend to know things that i don't but just look at the incredible rate of change we've witnessed recently.

  it seems that since candace conti and the australian royal commission the watchtower are scrabbling around to shore up their finances in the face of unprecedented legal action against them.. abuse settlement claims are one thing but what happens when children die as a result of your religious teachings?!

  you can bet wt legal are arguing for a complete rewrite of policy to protect the organisation from litigation.. do you think their religious privilege will protect them forever?

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• 

  Lee Elder

  All they have to do imo is this:

  1. Stop taking any action against individuals who accept blood products.

  2. Issue a statement that the technology has become so advanced they simply cannot keep up with it. They can continue to say that the Bible tells us to "abstain from blood" and it is incumbent upon the individual to discuss the matter with his doctor and act in good conscience.

  3. If they are asked why they no longer DF or DA (perhaps in a Questions From Readers), they repeat item number two above and could also add that the WTS cannot afford to be drawn into legal responsibility for the actions of individual JWs and/or their doctors.

  I could probably refine these arguments further, but that is essentially how I believe it would be done. It would take a number of years for the average JW to understand what really happened. Perhaps the majority would miss it completely. They simply quit writing and giving talks about it, the same way they quit all of the silliness on vaccinations.

  Would there be some lawsuits? Probably some would try, but I don't think it would be anything like the nightmare they are dealing with on child abuse.

  The upside for the WTS? They lose one of the primary criticisms that causes them to be labeled as a dangerous cult. The eliminate future liability. They make it easier to attract converts. They free up all of the resources currently committed to HLC and HIS.

  If and when they are sued, they can either say that their policy really hasn't changed. They still teach JW's to abstain from blood. I think it would work and ultimately be a plus for the WTS.
  
• 
  101

  My mom passed away yesterday....

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  thank you all for your sincere encouragement during these last few weeks.

  finally, she is at peace.

  i was with her , holding her hand when she died.

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  Lee Elder

  Sorry to hear this. Glad you were able to be with her.
  
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  28

  Is the end of Watchtowers hated No Blood doctrine in sight?

  by nicolaou in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  i won't pretend to know things that i don't but just look at the incredible rate of change we've witnessed recently.

  it seems that since candace conti and the australian royal commission the watchtower are scrabbling around to shore up their finances in the face of unprecedented legal action against them.. abuse settlement claims are one thing but what happens when children die as a result of your religious teachings?!

  you can bet wt legal are arguing for a complete rewrite of policy to protect the organisation from litigation.. do you think their religious privilege will protect them forever?

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• 

  Lee Elder

  There is certainly precedent for the WT to eliminate the blood doctrine. Note how they accomplished something very similar with respects to vaccination:

  Questions From Readers
  

  “Is vaccination a violation of God’s law forbidding the taking of blood into the system? – G. C., North Carolina.

  The matter of vaccination is one for the individual that has to face it to decide for himself….our Society cannot afford to be drawn into the affair legally or take the responsibility for the way the case turns out….all objection to vaccination on Scriptural grounds seems to be lacking….We merely offer the above information on request, but can assume no responsibility for the decision and course the reader may take.”
  – The Watchtower 12/15/1952 p. 764

  It can be safely assumed that JWs who skipped vaccinations for their children suffered the effects of polio, measles, mumps, rubella, etc. My suspicion is that most JWs continued to feel that vaccinations were a contamination and avoided them whenever possible. That attitude persisted among JWs for decades and I remember it well. We would likely see something similar with blood.
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  63

  AUSTRALIA – Artemis Legal launches inquiry into group and class action lawsuits against Jehovah’s Witnesses

  by jwleaks in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jehovah's witnesses - group action lawyers fighting for justice | artemis legal .

  artemis legal | watchtower claims.

  13 october 2015 .

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  Lee Elder

  Now there is a shocker :-) The Royal Commission has provided them with reams of evidence. Should be fun to sit back and watch the dominoes fall. You shall reap what you sow.