Posts by NotFormer

7

Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of New York - Balance Sheets

by BoogerMan in

can anyone reveal the "mothership's" income/expenditure stats for any recent year?.

in the uk, charities must be transparent and publish their annual financial information, but in the u.s. it's not so clear..

NotFormer

They didn't even have to absorb the tax. They could have just done what every other business does and passed the tax on to the customer. So your 40c magazine (the price they were selling at in Australia before they stopped charging for them) is now 45c: so what! It wouldn't dent sales, and the householder would still get change from a dollar for two magazines.

They were a successful publishing business and they threw it all away because of some stupid aversion to paying taxes to "evil government". In this case, believing their own propaganda (well, part of it; they didn't believe the "render unto Caesar" part) ultimately destroyed their underlying business and sowed the seeds of their current demise.

4

The Blood Policy

by NotFormer in

a couple of decades ago, any question of the wt dropping or changing the blood policy was met with something along the lines of "they're in too deep, they've killed too many people, the lawsuits would kill them; they can't change it".

a somewhat warped version of the "sunk costs fallacy".. they're already in very deep with the other rod for their own back, the csa payouts.

and some small changes have occurred in the way they handle csa cases.

NotFormer

It's when you realise that the HLC exists that you begin to understand that the WT made the decision to move from being just a high control group, to being out and out sociopaths/psychopaths. At least they aren't just "sending the boys around" anymore. 🙄

10

Literature Carts

by NotFormer in

whenever i see a photo of a literature cart, they all look the same to me.

are they a standard design?

who makes them?

NotFormer

Thanks, that pretty well answers all my questions. On the one hand I'm surprised that individual JWs don't own them for bragging rights, but on the other hand, I'm not surprised that they are owned by congregations, as that creates another "privilege" that can be handed out.

Does Bethel get a cut from the company that sells these things?

10

Literature Carts

by NotFormer in

whenever i see a photo of a literature cart, they all look the same to me.

are they a standard design?

who makes them?

NotFormer

Whenever I see a photo of a literature cart, they all look the same to me. Are they a standard design? Who makes them? Does the WT sell them? If they do, do they sell them to Kingdom Halls or individuals? Are they different in different countries? Are they just bought off the rack at hardware or office supplies places?

It may seem a bit of a trivial thing to be asking about, but getting a cut from something that JWs are required to have has been the WT's modus operandi in other areas. Something needs to be purchased for use by many JWs around the world for their kingdom service. Does the WT get a piece of the action?

7

Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of New York - Balance Sheets

by BoogerMan in

can anyone reveal the "mothership's" income/expenditure stats for any recent year?.

in the uk, charities must be transparent and publish their annual financial information, but in the u.s. it's not so clear..

NotFormer

I always wondered why they didn't just cave and pay sales tax on the magazines back in the 90s. They could still be in the magazine business to this day, if they had.

Is there a deep aversion to paying tax, written in their very DNA, tracing back to Rutherford?

68

Governing body

by moley in

are the governing body really in charge or are they just a figurehead with the real power being behind the curtain .

NotFormer

"Everything bad you hear about us is false! Even the stuff that’s true!”

Reminds me of Deep Space Nine

Garak: Everything I've told you is true

Bashir: Even the lies?

Garak: Especially the lies!

4

The Blood Policy

by NotFormer in

a couple of decades ago, any question of the wt dropping or changing the blood policy was met with something along the lines of "they're in too deep, they've killed too many people, the lawsuits would kill them; they can't change it".

a somewhat warped version of the "sunk costs fallacy".. they're already in very deep with the other rod for their own back, the csa payouts.

and some small changes have occurred in the way they handle csa cases.

NotFormer

Interesting. Does the hospital liaison committee still exist?

28

Lawyers release survey on alleged Jehovah's Witness child abuse

by Tahoe in

a team of lawyers has released the results of its survey on alleged child abuse by members of the jehovah's witnesses religious group in japan.. the team held a news conference in tokyo on monday.

it provides legal support to former members of the group as well as to children of its members.. the lawyers conducted the survey, following the publishing of the health and welfare ministry guidelines last year about child abuse related to parents' religious beliefs.

a total of 560 people responded.. the survey shows 81 percent of the respondents said they had cards indicating they desired to refuse blood transfusions.. the ministry's guidelines state that parents' refusal of medical treatments for children on religious grounds amounts to neglect --- a form of abuse.. the lawyers said investigations are necessary to find how many people died from refusing blood transfusions, and how many of them were children.. the survey also shows 92 percent of the respondents experienced whipping, 96 percent were banned from school activities, and 93 percent were forced to limit their human relations.. the lawyers said many of the children experienced physical and mental abuse, which afterward led to problems such as loneliness, sense of alienation and a lack of self-esteem.

NotFormer

Balaamsass2, I asked on another thread a few months ago about the blood card. I had memories from years ago of people discussing incidents where the blood cards ♦️ were checked by visiting officials, probably COs, to make sure that they were current and being carried on the person of the various JWs. Do you remember any such enforcement measures being taken? I was under the impression that it was an annual event.

28

Lawyers release survey on alleged Jehovah's Witness child abuse

by Tahoe in

a team of lawyers has released the results of its survey on alleged child abuse by members of the jehovah's witnesses religious group in japan.. the team held a news conference in tokyo on monday.

it provides legal support to former members of the group as well as to children of its members.. the lawyers conducted the survey, following the publishing of the health and welfare ministry guidelines last year about child abuse related to parents' religious beliefs.

a total of 560 people responded.. the survey shows 81 percent of the respondents said they had cards indicating they desired to refuse blood transfusions.. the ministry's guidelines state that parents' refusal of medical treatments for children on religious grounds amounts to neglect --- a form of abuse.. the lawyers said investigations are necessary to find how many people died from refusing blood transfusions, and how many of them were children.. the survey also shows 92 percent of the respondents experienced whipping, 96 percent were banned from school activities, and 93 percent were forced to limit their human relations.. the lawyers said many of the children experienced physical and mental abuse, which afterward led to problems such as loneliness, sense of alienation and a lack of self-esteem.

NotFormer

They'd better get some new light fast, on the issues of how to treat CSA cases, blood transfusions and the shunning of children.

Does anyone remember when the Japan branch was the WT's golden boy, the example held up to the rest of the JW world?

3

Rape you need 2 witnesses and don't call the cops! Crazy!

by Witness 007 in

are we a cult?

well the "truth" tells us that a old jewish 2 witness rule means any rape or paedophile is free to rape in our organisation.

in no circumstances would there be a second witness.

NotFormer

JWs should just call the police. The elders and the organisation have no dog in that fight.