judge sanctions jehovah's witnesses.
imposes $4000-a-day penalty for not producing documents in sex-abuse case.
by dorian hargrove, june 24, 2016. a san diego superior court judge has ordered the church of jehovah's witnesses, also known as the watchtower bible and tract society of pennsylvania, to pay $4000 a day for every day that it fails to produce documents requested in a civil lawsuit brought by former parishioner, osbaldo padron, who claims a church elder sexually abused him when he was seven years old.. in a june 23 ruling, expected to be made final today, judge richard strauss admonished the church for willfully ignoring a court order to produce all documents associated with a 1997 body of elders letter that church leaders sent to parishes around the world in a quest to learn about sexual abuse of children by church leaders.. over the course of the past year, the watchtower society and its lawyers have fought hard to keep the letter confidential, claiming that turning over the documents would infringe on the privacy of those mentioned in the letter that were not associated with the case.. in march 2015, the church turned over a heavily redacted version of the letter.
So sorry, LevelthePlayingField.... Yes, it worked on those judges.
I was so irritated, it came out of the blue, I don't think Rick Simons was prepared for that kind of JW thinking (from a non-JW lawyer)
That is what got the WT off the hook for "being responsible to report", the old "What would Coca Cola do?" trick... sad.
judge sanctions jehovah's witnesses.
imposes $4000-a-day penalty for not producing documents in sex-abuse case.
by dorian hargrove, june 24, 2016. a san diego superior court judge has ordered the church of jehovah's witnesses, also known as the watchtower bible and tract society of pennsylvania, to pay $4000 a day for every day that it fails to produce documents requested in a civil lawsuit brought by former parishioner, osbaldo padron, who claims a church elder sexually abused him when he was seven years old.. in a june 23 ruling, expected to be made final today, judge richard strauss admonished the church for willfully ignoring a court order to produce all documents associated with a 1997 body of elders letter that church leaders sent to parishes around the world in a quest to learn about sexual abuse of children by church leaders.. over the course of the past year, the watchtower society and its lawyers have fought hard to keep the letter confidential, claiming that turning over the documents would infringe on the privacy of those mentioned in the letter that were not associated with the case.. in march 2015, the church turned over a heavily redacted version of the letter.
I read the Conti case... When the 'worldly' lawyer for the WT argued to the 3 judges, "you can't expect these elders to warn everyone, do you know what you'll do to companies like Coca Cola? You will set a precedent. If there is a pedophile there, they would have to notify all the workers, it would cost money and take time, how can they do that?" (not exact words, but that is what it boiled down to)
When the judges bought into that idea, I wondered, "What about California's Megan's Law? Pedophiles already have to register where they live, are put on a list that potential buyers of homes can check before they move to a neighborhood."
The people who work at Coca Cola can already go look on a list to see where pedophiles live.
Number one, little kids don't work for Coca Cola. There ARE little kids at the Kingdom Hall. The lawyer compared apples to oranges.
Number two, why shouldn't elders turn in the pedophiles to the police, the police investigate (like they do for every other religion) and when the alleged perpetrator is convicted, they are put on Megan's list.
I believe these judges dropped the ball. They missed an opportunity to make things right, and follow the not only 'spirit of the law', but a law that already existed.... Megan's.
hey guys!
i'm new on this site and am a non jw here married to a jw.
my husband's family are active members and they daily post articles on facebook from jw.org which i know is meant for me to see and read.
Looking back at my 50+ years in JWville, and the things that were repeatedly stressed, over and over and over and over.....
I have come to conclude that "the cross or not the cross" the "we don't celebrate that" the "we print magazines in over 200 languages" the "we were the first to make a movie" the "we are the only ones to use God's name" ..... These things are really a distraction, something the WT makes JWs feel proud to say, as if all THOSE things make them the 'one true religion'.
WT uses the hamster wheel.. the spin, spin, spin, do, do, do, repeat, repeat, repeat idea to keep you busy, keep you from thinking about the real things that mean so much.
Are you wearing the right clothes? not yoga pants, right? men: not the "skinny" pants? no beards? (unless you are in a country that has them brokered in).. All of those things are part of the hamster wheel.
JW's have been claiming they were chosen by God in 1799/ the 1800's, 19181919 (their "governing body" "faithful slave" was chosen) BUT, they really use people to promote their book selling organization, they hide behind the Kingdom Hall "let's give our time freely" "let's put the Hall in the WT's name", they get people to donate their lifelong belongings when they die, "since we are living in the last days, and Armageddon will come at any minute"
The cross is a distraction. Who cares if Jesus died on a cross? Would God not accept his sacrifice if it was not a cross? if it was a cross? Or, what if we didn't even KNOW how he died? just that he died faithful?
The WT uses these things to keep witnesses "proud" of their man made organization, while it uses the publisher's resources up. It allows terrible things to happen to children in sex abuse cases. It blackmails families into shunning their loved ones.
The cross... just another thing to view on the hamster wheel.
i am a newbie, and yes current jw.
i have been dealing with a lot confusion for months now.
i guess it started last year when i found myself losing my zeal, desire for spiritual things.
Welcome, It is great you are in your mid 30's, my husband and I were in this org for 40 years before we were able to see the reality of what this organization is about.
I like this site, as you are able to talk w/o fear of anyone "turning you in" (tho don't post your real name, or give too many details that would ID you, in case some elder wants to "catch you")
As was said above, just read the topics that interest you, go slow, absorb.
www.jwfacts.com is another great site where you can read facts from the WT's own publications. It is very simple and straight forward (unlike the WT that can take you down 10 paragraphs, in circles to make a very unclear, double meaning point... right?)
Enjoy your life without fear, without guilt... It is so great that you have begun a journey of happiness.
Congrats, cha ching!
below is a paste of the front of my recent essay.
ask most jws today and they'll tell you that, yes, watchtower has made a few mistakes -- that there are a couple date failures -- 1925 -- and maybe another one they can't even remember.. lest they forget, the following should jog their collective memories as to how egregious watchtower has been in their obsession with date predictions (oh, but we don't make predictions, they may tell you) over the 138 years of watchtower history.. len miller.
.
Thanks, Len... I love researching, haha!
day two (wednesday 8 february 2017).
see also posts and threads regarding: pre-trial / day one / day one update / day five (last day, settlement).
jefferson: not totally.. zeff: okay.
Thank you John Redwood!
Thank you for the hours of your time that you spent documenting what happened, for the hours you spent reading the court docs, for interviewing the jurors and giving us insight into how they felt...
I thought, that because of the settlement, we might never know what kind of a conclusion the jurors would have come to.
Thank you again, for all of your hard work. We appreciate it!
i have had it confirmed now, that since stopping attending over 18 months ago, the elders have set out to deliberately ruin my name and character .. they have been talking to every witness from the local area and saying things like "be careful of him, he has the ability to implant thoughts in your minds, and he only pretends to be kind and caring".
so, all i have to say to them is, "bravo!
if that is the method you want to employ, you have reached the very depths of bad behaviour!".
So sorry, stuckinarut2.... It is maddening that after all your years of being nice, helping people, being known as someone reasonable, that the elders do the very thing they would DF someone for... "slander"
However, this proves they are "united." The same thing happened to our family.
Meanwhile, back to the real life.... it hurts... People who "knew" you are easily persuaded to fear you.
Want to get rid of a threat? Slander them. Best thing we can do? Act normal, smile, say "hi" and move on so that what the elders say has no basis. My husband does, and that works well.
We can only hope the crack in the "wall" widens, and more escape.
Regards, cha ching
i always wondered that while i was in especially when i was an elder.
i recognize that some people,elders included are brain-dead.
but do you think that the average older today knows it's all nonsense?
I was an elder's wife.... I did not think of myself as "special" because of it. Personally, I did not enjoy the long hours my husband spent helping others, instead of "us"... or sitting at the K Hall, waiting for the committee meetings to end, with two little kids whinining, sleeping, waiting to go to bed.
I did like that my husband was 'spiritual', we both could 'explain' all the doctrines (haha, I mean we thought we could... remember 'type/ anti-type'? the heads of the beast? 2,520? times time and half a time [hated that one, still lived with it] , neither of us like hypocrisy, we helped people, were 'real'....
That being said, I am glad that he is no longer an elder, no longer a JW and we are both out. Like I said, we both hate hypocrisy.
The elders left in the hall that we left, years ago, are either:
1. Dedicated to God, but scared to think of any reality checks that would crush their bubble of life.
2. Just in a routine.....
3. Know something is wrong, but are hoping to see a dead loved one, and don't want to give that chance up... OR
4. Very into being "the top dog", wearing cool suits, telling people what to do, being admired, and getting letters from the top brass.
"Free" will? No, this is a choice with a price to pay.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance
In psychology, cognitive dissonance is the mental stress (discomfort) experienced by a person who simultaneously holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values, when performing an action that contradicts those beliefs, ideas, and values; or when confronted with new information that contradicts existing beliefs, ideas, and values.[1][2]
