Posts by Max Divergent

21

How many MS & ex-MS are here or lurking?

by Dismembered in

jw
friends

how many ms or ex-ms are here?

dismembered <--------- 14 years (could not keep mouth shut so no advancement made) .

dismemberededited by - dismembered on 7 october 2002 10:4:0.

Max Divergent

Yeah - for about 4 years in two congos. Getting appointed had been my main preoccupation for years before. Fancy needing somthing like that to boost your esteem!

Saw enough in that time to decide that if CO/DO's were representative of the Society, then the Society stank; and if Elders were God's Gifts in Men, then God was both rotten at selecting gifts and a poor judge of men's character.

I'm no hypocrite and couldn't teach what I belived to be false to people I had regard for and I think had regard for me. I stepped-down using health as an excuse, went to the meeting where it was announced and felt good about it. Went on a planned vacation for a month and never returned. I was 3rd Gen JW.

I feel sad now that I left without a word to people I'd known since being small, but I concluded that they set the rules of their own association and I'd respect that while at the same time avoid runing the gauntlett of DF/DA myself. Makes me feel like a selfish prick. It was a self-defence at the time.

That was 4 years ago in December.

Cheers, Max

25

Blessings from Jehoovah - BAH!

by Beck_Melbourne in

jw
friends

i had so many fine blessings as a dub that after pondering on them...i am starting to wonder why i left.. some of my blessings were having the bookstudy in our home, oh what a fine blessing....i didnt have to go out on a cold night and i could save 20 minutes in travelling time....woohoo!!

making the unleven bread for the memorial, cool, i got to have the left overs *blech*.

also, working with the cos wife out on field service...yeah that was awesome, i got to pretend i was spiritual and i could talk crap all morning about the co's use of illustrations *choke*.

Max Divergent

Patroling the car park during the meeting!! That was good untill a no good scum of the earth MS suggested getting an FM microphone inside the hall and a receiver outside so you could listen into the blessings from the carpark!!! You'd get messages like 'Come to the door NOW!' to make sure you weren't listening to the radio!

Nearly as good was doing the sound. Do nothing much all night hidden out of sight at the back of the hall!

Sleep, talk, do crosswords, grafiti your WT, wander around the back of the hall making caustic remarks to the hall attendants slagging off the speaker... whatever.... (then when YOU were up on the platform, you'd watch the bastards doing the same to you!!)

Cheers, Max

4

Just watched the Sunday program

by A Paduan in

jw
friends

just watched the sunday program, finished a few minutes ago - covered the bbc panorama story - i'll admit i'm fired up.

i was very pleased to hear the sternly spoken comment at the end by channel nines jim waley, ' we are continuing to investigate the jehovahs witness and more cases of abuse' .

for the non-aussies, jim waley is universally considered as among the most credible and straight shooters of high profile journalism.

Max Divergent

I watched it too - Fantastic! On Sunday, it's been seen by a large and influental audience. This will have legs in Australia, wonder how long it'll be till names are named and the AFP are in Ingleburn?

I'd read the transcript before, but on video I thought Bill Bowan came over really well but this JR Brown came over as a liar - but not a practiced liar. Looking down and to the right when delivering the line was a dead giveaway.

Cheers, Max

17

Can I visit Brooklyn HQ?

by Max Divergent in

jw
friends

i'm planning to go to nyc soon and i would like to tour hq!!

i seem to remember members of the public were welcome?

i went to watchtower.org but that didn't tell me anything about tours and there's no email contact - anyone know what the score is or who i book a vist (or protest march or whatever's going :-) through?

Max Divergent

G'Day unclebruce - Wow! Nice to be remembered, but I'm not so sure that's a good reason for it :-(

I'm searching back in my mind, and realising to my horror that's exactly what I did. That was not good, no, that was very bad. I'm sorry to have spoken like that.

Are you still on the property? It always sounded a fantasitc place! We've moved from the city to the Kimberley and really have little desire to return!! Fantastic country around here. We're on the edge of town and look out to a National Park on one side and scrub on the other which suits us well.

The main purpose of the trip is to go to India, but the fare there was so similar to the Round the World fare that we decided to go that way instead. I'm going to Washington to go to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and a few other places, but NYC was a freebie flight so I thought 'why not'!

Thanks for saying Hi.

Cheers, Max

Edited by - Max Divergent on 5 October 2002 12:4:34

28

The Famous Five

by DJ in

jw
friends

you all can thank the infamous thread searching poster named, undisfellowshipped for this!.

hmmmm....t.j. d.s.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=4734&site=3&page=1 .

Max Divergent

Yeah, it's a dangerous (and perhaps ill-advised) strategy. At least BB's letter didn't name the dead. Being generous, maybe it goes to establishing a long pattern of behaviour by the corporation? As I said elsewhere, I hope this is a shrewd strategy concealed in a wrap of naivety. Anyway, it's done now.

I'm pretty sure that concealment of knowledge that someone committed any serious crime after the fact is I think a crime itself in most/all jurisdictions - be than murder, rape, molestation, robbery or whatever. That might happen by hearing a confession by the perpetrator.

Jurisdictions and terminologies vary, but the general Western legal principle I think is that if you conceal a crime after you find out what happened, you become guilty of a form of conspiracy in that crime. '50 Years a Watchtower Molestation Conspirator'

Cheers, Max

Edited to add a paragraph

Edited by - Max Divergent on 5 October 2002 3:44:44

28

The Famous Five

by DJ in

jw
friends

you all can thank the infamous thread searching poster named, undisfellowshipped for this!.

hmmmm....t.j. d.s.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=4734&site=3&page=1 .

Max Divergent

I think the issue is concealment of allegations from the police and child welfare agencies rather than the abuse itself. So these are allegations about the actions of the living non-abusers who maintained a cosy environment for molesters on the GB and amongst the JW's worldwide who live under the effective judicial direction of the GB and, seemingly, often their shield from the criminal system too.

For Bill's allegation to be true, all there has to be are ALLEGATIONS against these five guys that weren't turned over to the authorities to investigate if they were required to by law (as you are if you have knowledge a serious crime has been committed).

Presumably this database of 26,000-ish reports has records of these allegations in it?

Cheers, Max

38

Bill Bowen, Who Are the Five?

by IslandWoman in

jw
friends

bill's letter stated:with the current the allegation that theodore jaracz is a child molester, this now brings to five the number of governing body members who are alleged child molesters.

who are the five alleged child molesters who have been or are governing body members?

iw

Max Divergent

Are these perhaps shrewdly thought out strategies executed under a clever veneer of naivety? If so, we might sit back one day and marvel at the sheer tactical audacity of the play.

Forgive the bad analogy from a non-gambler, but maybe it's a bit like watching a possibly angry poker player seemingly risk everything (including the children) on a single hand against a cold, calculating and practiced opponent - it brings out the worrier in sensible watchers who know either or both players might have Straight or even Royal Flushes, but suspect there might be some bluff involved and aren't quite sure what the deal is on Wildcards...

Yours hopefully from Max, an admitted Worry Wart

17

Can I visit Brooklyn HQ?

by Max Divergent in

jw
friends

i'm planning to go to nyc soon and i would like to tour hq!!

i seem to remember members of the public were welcome?

i went to watchtower.org but that didn't tell me anything about tours and there's no email contact - anyone know what the score is or who i book a vist (or protest march or whatever's going :-) through?

Max Divergent

Hey, thanks all - that's really great! I was presuming that if you said you were a Bro they may check up on you via the congo, but maybe not?? So maybe I'll announce I'm visiting from the Gutarealliph Congo, or maybe Lambside Junction would be better... oh, no they're not dumb just misled... Shall I just put on an accent and say I'm from Truth and Consequences, Az?

I'm really excited about this! And thanks Jeannie, might just do that...

Cheers, Max

17

Can I visit Brooklyn HQ?

by Max Divergent in

jw
friends

i'm planning to go to nyc soon and i would like to tour hq!!

i seem to remember members of the public were welcome?

i went to watchtower.org but that didn't tell me anything about tours and there's no email contact - anyone know what the score is or who i book a vist (or protest march or whatever's going :-) through?

Max Divergent

Of course, there's lots of sites - Doh! I'm supposing a Home tour would be cool - see where the poor beggars sleep, so would a factory tour.... I can't even remember what 360 Furman St or 90 Sands are!!!! I think they're residences... ? Or offices... Urgghh.. whatever...

I've seen the video years ago, and skimmed the pictures in the wt/g and the opening sequence of Welcome Back Kotter, but that's about all I know of the place itself!! The Assembly Hall with the chandaliers would be great to see - Is that the Stanley Theatre? Maybe there'll be an assembly on??

I'm not DF or DA but I think I'll just be a memebr of the public who's got relitives who are JW and am interested to see the palce they talk about so much!!

Danny - LOL!

Cheers, Max

17

Can I visit Brooklyn HQ?

by Max Divergent in

jw
friends

i'm planning to go to nyc soon and i would like to tour hq!!

i seem to remember members of the public were welcome?

i went to watchtower.org but that didn't tell me anything about tours and there's no email contact - anyone know what the score is or who i book a vist (or protest march or whatever's going :-) through?

Max Divergent

Hi Funch & Out

LOL!! Yes, dress befitting God's House!! Mmm... better pack the 'ole suit 'n shiny shoes in the backpack then!! That'll be a langh! Good look!

I guess it's got a certain place in my heart & mind after all those years, so now I've got the opportunity to go I'd like to see it. Of course, I live just about as far away on the globe from NYC as it's possible to live so I probably won't get the chance again any time soon.

Now having lunch there is an interesting idea - I actually stayed O/N and breakfasted at Sydney once and it all freaked me out a bit! Now, to 'share a meal' with 'the HQ family' would be an interesting life experience...

Cheers, Max