Talking out of both sides of their mouth, as always, Biahi.
The Sydney Morning Herald is one of the main newspapers here in Australia.
It's not a bad article, hopefully it'll raise or maintain awareness as to the true nature of the WT.
NotFormer
JoinedPosts by NotFormer
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17
Punishment and control: the secret handbook that rules a religion
by Tahoe inthis article is behind a paywall: https://www.smh.com.au/national/punishment-and-control-the-secret-handbook-that-rules-a-religion-20231026-p5ef9z.html.
a herald investigation has uncovered disturbing practices within the jehovah’s witness church, including the systems for discipline, punishment and control in a secret rule book for church “elders”.. australian children in the jehovah’s witnesses religion are being trained to avoid life-saving blood transfusions and parents are being coached to thwart court processes that may prevent their children from dying, internal church documents reveal.. an investigation following an inquest into the death of jehovah’s witness heather winchester, who died in newcastle after refusing a blood transfusion, has uncovered disturbing practices within the australian church, including the systems for discipline, punishment and control contained in the secret rule book for church “elders”.. the church’s blood transfusion ban forces people to choose between risking death by refusing treatment or being “shunned” – cut off from family and friends under the church’s strict rules – according to 16 former and current members of the church interviewed and the testimony of many others.. .
some of them believe it has cost hundreds of lives in australia.. “i think it’s truly dangerous for children, who are not old enough to vote or drive, to be coached about how to convince a judge or doctors about a decision that is potentially life-threatening,” said fleur hawes, 32, a solicitor who escaped the religion and is speaking out for the first time.. in public, the jehovah’s witnesses’ leadership downplays the impacts of its ban on blood transfusions, which are based on interpretations of bible passages that say christians should not eat blood.. .
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Talk Outline needed
by vienne ini need the talk outline connected to the handbill pictured here:.
https://truthhistory.blogspot.com/2023/11/talk-outline.html.
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NotFormer
What year is that dated from?
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Jehovah's Witness' bid to be excluded from abuse inquiry dismissed
by Tahoe inlink to article.
a legal bid by the jehovah's witness church to get out of being part of the royal commission of inquiry into abuse in care has been dismissed by the high court in wellington.. after nearly three years of behind-the-scenes legal wrangling to avoid scrutiny from the inquiry, the church applied for a judicial review in june.. at a hearing, held earlier this month it argued it was beyond the inquiry's scope because it did not operate institutions that cared for children or vulnerable people and the inquiry had uncovered no evidence of abuse in that context.. lawyers representing the inquiry argued that jehovah's witness elders - equivalent to ministers or pastors - exercised a level of control over the congregation that allowed them access to children.. the inquiry informed abuse survivors who gave evidence to the inquiry in relation to the jehovah's witnesses of the news this afternoon.. "we have received advice from the high court that none of the causes of action brought by the jehovah's witnesses has succeeded and the application for judicial review has been dismissed.
the judge's reasons are not yet available, but are expected in the near future," the email to survivors, seen by rnz, said.. the church was the only faith-based institution in the country to legally challenge its involvement in the inquiry, although it had attempted to challenge its status in other countries where similar inquiries have also been carried out.. the inquiry said, in a statement, that the dismissal "means the royal commission can continue to investigate the jehovah's witnesses, and all other faiths, in accordance with the pastoral care approach we have been applying since 2019".. "reasons for the high court's judgment are not yet available but are expected in the near future.
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NotFormer
I was a bit premature about NZ's change of govt. Labour lost the election on October 14, but the winning parties are still negotiating a coalition agreement.
Does anyone have any idea if a change of government will affect the inquiry in any way?
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CIVILIAN SERVICE
by blondie inhow many remember when the wts changed their policy on alternative service; changed it to alternative civilian service so jw men could choose it because it was not supervised by the military.
shows how the wts quibbles with words to advance a "new teaching.
" flag salute, voting, civilian service p. 212. civilian service.
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NotFormer
I wonder how many Australian JWs did prison for refusal. We were in Vietnam, and we had the draught as well.
Any Aussie exes who can shed some light?
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CIVILIAN SERVICE
by blondie inhow many remember when the wts changed their policy on alternative service; changed it to alternative civilian service so jw men could choose it because it was not supervised by the military.
shows how the wts quibbles with words to advance a "new teaching.
" flag salute, voting, civilian service p. 212. civilian service.
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NotFormer
Vanderhoven, that's a great idea. Amnesty and a pardon for those forced by their religion to reject even civilian service in lieu. How do you lobby Congress or the president to get that sort of thing to happen?
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Women in JW Ministry
by NotFormer inwomen make up the main population of the kingdom halls, and the pool of young males willing to step up to "serve" is drying up.
what is the likelihood of "new light" on jw women in ministry roles formerly held only by males?.
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NotFormer
Anony Mous, that's how they'll frame it, isn't it! They can't just have new light and tell the sisters that they are being rewarded for their perseverance and faithfulness by being given the opportunity to serve as the times get darker (falling membership). They can't announce anything without it being somewhere between an insult and a threat. So you're right, it'll be spun as something that was always available to the sisters and that it was their reluctance to step up for Jehovah that has caused this announcement to be made.
Beth Sarim, unless the financial situation with the CSA payouts is much more dire than we believe, the WT will be around in some form for some time to come. But it will never return to its glory days. I wonder how the current GB feel about watching it all slowly crumble away.
Diogenesister, it must take some serious thought manipulation to get to the point that such tasks are handed down by God himself!
TonusOH: "NotFormer: my cats [...] don't attend Kingdom Hall meetings
You... you haven't encouraged them?"
No, they'll probably be given "the privilege" of cleaning out the Kingdom Hall litter trays! 😱
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Women in JW Ministry
by NotFormer inwomen make up the main population of the kingdom halls, and the pool of young males willing to step up to "serve" is drying up.
what is the likelihood of "new light" on jw women in ministry roles formerly held only by males?.
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NotFormer
It's nice to know that my cats 🐈 outrank Tony Morris, but they don't attend Kingdom Hall meetings, so they may not be in this hierarchy.
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NotFormer
It looks like the organisers ignored safety regulations and common sense. They hired a venue not intended for full seating and didn't have qualified security. Chairs from outside the venue were brought in to seat 2000 people, in what is meant to be used as a dancefloor.
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NotFormer
From the page linked to by + above:
"In the meantime, the media is focusing on the fact that the event did not comply with safety regulations.
Most of the 53 injured were injured in the panic.
When the bombs exploded, all 2,000 visitors jumped up and threw their chairs over at the same time.
In an instant, the entire hall was full of flying chairs over which event participants fell.
There were no more escape routes.
Event participants fell over the chaos, injuring each other, while the smoke spread and caused life-threatening injuries to the escapees' respiratory tract.
Now there is an investigation team that is determining who is responsible for the blatant disregard of safety regulations.
State anti-terror detectives and National Security Forces (NSG) are investigating the explosion site.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said he was closely monitoring the situation.
The organizers did not have any trained stewards.
According to unconfirmed reports, Jehovah's Witnesses allegedly only used their own members as security personnel.
Why were there no local, trained security personnel on site?
There are trained security personnel who are regularly deployed at the congress site and know the locations.
But this would have cost money.
The congress hall is also not designed for full seating.
The hall is intended for catering events.
Weddings with a free dance floor.
It is unclear who provided the thousands of additional chairs that were shown in the posters.
Images from local television channels showed firefighters, ambulances and police officers being blocked from accessing the crime scene by a large number of people.
There were no security forces to keep the access routes clear and, for example, direct the victims to a collection point.
After the explosion, many people were seen inside and outside the convention center.
This hindered the evacuation and disturbed investigators.
The pictures show Jehovah's Witnesses re-entering the smoke-filled hall to get their cell phones or wallets.
You can see a brother picking up his cell phone from a puddle of water on the ground.
According to Kerala Industries Minister P. Rajeev, the explosion site was cordoned off by the police much too late.
Who is responsible for this chaos, which resulted in numerous unnecessary casualties among event participants?
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The investigation files show that Dominic Martin bought the electronic components for the bombs in several stores under the pretext of making toys for children.
For example, he bought four remote controls and cables from electronics stores near Medical Trust Hospital at Pallimukku in Ernakulam.
To avoid arousing suspicion, he purchased the other components from various other stores.
That's why the bombs only went off one after the other.
They were toy car remote controls from various toy manufacturers.
He bought the gundu (high-impact crackers) from a shop in Tripunithura and filled petrol bottles at various petrol pumps.
A total of eight bottles, each containing one liter of petrol.
He then brought the material to his second home.
The neighbors thought he was renovating there.
Dominic drove to his second home in Athani near Nedumbassery on Friday morning after purchasing all the materials needed to make the bombs.
The police assume that he stayed in his apartment during the day on Friday and that Friday he finally assembled the bombs.
On Saturday he was briefly in the second home, but left after a short time.
On Sunday mornings he picked up the explosives in jute bags from his second home and brought them to the congress grounds.
It is unclear why he recorded his confession video in a hotel room.
After detonating the bombs, he returned to the second apartment and left the congress paraphernalia that he had with him for camouflage and the two toy remote controls used for the explosion there.
Only then did he drive to the hotel in Koratty and check in before posting a message in the hotel room on Facebook Live and then turning himself in at the Kodakara police station.
When he turned himself in at the police station, he had the receipts for the purchased materials with him.
During the on-site interrogation in the second home, Dominic Martin willingly assembled a bomb for the officers using the remaining components.
Judges and investigative authorities are shocked by the cold-bloodedness of Jehovah's Witnesses.
The documents he produced included invoices for gasoline purchases related to the production of the explosives.
The fact that he presented invoices for the purchased materials when posted at the police station strengthens the case against him, according to a senior police officer.
Martin is described as a person of "extraordinary intelligence and hard work."
His decision to give up a high-paying position abroad for such a shocking act leaves authorities perplexed.
Investigating officers described Martin as a "brilliant mind."
He left behind a lucrative job as a designer in the Gulf, which led many to doubt his motives.
In the meantime, he was in a Chief Judicial Magistrate Court for a "test identification parade", a procedural step in the legal process.
Again he refused any legal aid.
Although the court repeatedly offered him urgent legal representation, Martin insisted on representing himself.
He clearly stated that this was his decision and indicated that he had no financial difficulty affording his own lawyer.
Here's what he said at the Test Identification Parade:
Quote
"Since I had no other choice, I made this decision"
said Dominic Martin.
The investigation team is still trying to understand why Martin, who had a successful career abroad, carried out the attack.
As the case progresses, more information is expected to emerge.
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Three people are still in mortal danger.
They are hooked up to life support machines.
Skin transplants are currently being performed on two people.
16 are in the intensive care units of surrounding hospitals."
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NotFormer
Unfortunately the refusal of blood transfusions and subsequent deaths will not be hammered home by the news media; they'll be too polite and treat it as a religious freedom issue. I don't get it; the media loves sticking it to religion. Is the WT seen as a particularly cuddly sort of beast that is off limits to being called out for its shortcomings?