What Would The Rank and File Do If The Governing Body Went To Jail Over Criminal Activity With Reguards To Failure To Alert Parisheners Of Child Molesters In Their Congregation?

by frankiespeakin 13 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

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  frankiespeakin

  I think it a very real possiblity:

  http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jan/07/local/la-me-church-files-20130108

  Judge orders archdiocese to restore names in abuse files

  The public's right to know how the church handled molestation allegations outweighs officials' privacy rights, court rules.

  Q: Haven't several states extended the statutes of limitation in response to the abuse scandal?

  A: Some states have changed their laws to give victims several more years to file civil lawsuits. Three states — California, Delaware and Hawaii — also opened a one-time window of at least a year for accusers to sue the people who allegedly abused them as children. However, criminal statutes of limitation are a different story. Even if lawmakers extend the time limits now for a criminal prosecution, it wouldn't apply to old crimes. In California, legislators tried to retroactively waive the criminal statute of limitations for child molestation. The U.S. Supreme Court later threw the law out.

  Q: If government authorities can't prosecute the diocesan officials, can't the church at least hold them responsible?

  A: The toughened child safety policy the bishops enacted in 2002 contains a discipline plan for abusive priests, but not for the bishops who failed to report them to police. Only the pope has authority over bishops, and none has been forced out for mishandling abuse cases from decades ago. Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as archbishop of Boston in 2002 after court files revealed his role in sheltering accused priests. However, Law reportedly did so against the wishes of Vatican officials. Last year, Cardinal Justin Rigali stepped down as Philadelphia archbishop after the grand jury accused him of keeping credibly accused abusers on the job. However, Rigali had already submitted his retirement request to the pope the year before, at age 75, as the Vatican requires.

  http://heraldbulletin.com/breakingnews/x1254881066/Priests-conviction-is-a-first-will-more-follow

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  ion

  Priest's conviction is a first, will more follow?

  Anonymous Associated Press Sun Jun 24, 2012, 08:30 AM EDT

  NEW YORK — A decade after the clergy sex-abuse crisis erupted, the first Roman Catholic church official has been criminally convicted for failing to alert parishes or police about known predators.

  Advocates for children said the verdict Friday against Monsignor William Lynn sends a critical message that diocesan officials who supervise priests must report offenders or face prosecution.
• 

  Dismissing servant

  Probably a lot of them would see it as persecution; The big A is coming closer.
• 

  Chaserious

  Probably blindly follow the new GB that gets installed.

  But luckily for the WT leadership, the Catholic Church took the early heat in terms of public outrage and law enforcement response to this issue and now they are no doubt much more careful to avoid anything that could lead to criminal penalties.
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  punkofnice

  It'd be seen as the same as happened to Rutherfraud when he was sent to jug. They'd see it as persecution. A sign ARMAGEDDON is about to happen.
• 

  frankiespeakin

  http://www.watchtowerdocuments.com/documents/1918_Rutherford_Jail_Letter_small_with_transcript.pdf

  How a Christian Can Suffer

  This letter was written by J. F. RUTHERFORD, President of the

  INTERNATIONAL BIBLE STUDENTS ASSOCIATION from his cell in

  Long Island City jail on the night preceding his removal to the Atlanta

  Penitentiary to begin his 20 years' sentence for publishing THE FINISHED

  MYSTERY, a commentary on the Bible prophecies of Revelation and

  Ezekiel.—Editor.

  To the dear Saints in Christ Jesus:

  So many of you have written me and my companions in bonds words of love,

  sympathy and encouragement, and our opportunity for writing is so limited, that

  we ask all of you to take this as an acknowledgment of your sweet messages. I

  know that like Onesiphorus (2 Timothy 1:16) you are glad to "refresh us," and that

  you "are not ashamed of our chains." And we, Beloved, count it a great privilege to

  suffer with Christ Jesus, our Blessed Head, our Lord. Looking back, I praise the

  Lord for all the sweet privileges I have had of serving you, and the sweet

  fellowship in Christ I have enjoyed with you......

  .....

  We have beheld the degraded characters in these prisons. We walked by a prisoner

  who boasted that he had murdered his fellow man. He was sentenced to ten years.

  Seven men were there who had given their all to help mankind; and they were

  sentenced to twenty years on four counts, or eighty years each. We have beheld

  much sorrow and suffering. What joy awaits mankind when "the ransomed of the

  Lord shall return [from death and degradation] and come to Christ, with songs of

  joy upon their heads!" What joy to have a part in returning and blessing them!

  Beloved in the Lord, the history of the ages is behind you; and a sad history it is.

  The glories of eternity are before you, and its grandeurs are beyond the dreams of

  man. Long have we hoped and prayed for the coming of God's kingdom of

  righteousness. We are standing at its very portals now. Let us hold fast a little

  while, and we shall enter into the presence of our King. Then by his grace we shall

  see him face to face. Oh, that will be glory for me and for you!

  The guard has graciously granted [ ] close. Never have I loved you so much, and

  never have I desired so much to talk to you.

  And now tomorrow, as prisoners for the truth's sake, we go to Atlanta. We go in

  the strength of the Lord. We seven have learned to love each other with an ever

  increasing love. We may not again see you in the flesh. We commend you to the

  gracious and loving arms of our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, how my

  heart yearns to do something for you! But our dear Lord will do what I cannot. His

  grace, peace and love be multiplied unto you. Be faithful, be brave, be loyal, he

  true; and may the Father of mercies and God of all comfort bless, keep and comfort

  you.

  Your brother and bond-slave of our blessed King,

  J. F. RUTHERFORD
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  frankiespeakin

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Jehovah's_Witnesses

  Rutherford introduced a vast advertising campaign to expose the "unrighteousness" of religions and their alliances with "beastly" governments, expanding on claims in The Finished Mystery that patriotism was akin to murder. [ 89 ] [ 90 ] The campaign provoked anger among the clergy and governments in North America and Europe, where Bible Students began to be arrested, mobbed and tarred and feathered. [ 70 ] [ 91 ] On February 12, 1918 The Finished Mystery was banned by the Canadian government for what a Winnipeg newspaper described as "seditious and antiwar statements". [ 92 ] On February 24 in Los Angeles Rutherford gave the first of his talk series "Millions Now Living May Never Die" (the title of the talk was changed five weeks later to "Millions Now Living Will Never Die") [ 93 ] [ 94 ] in which he attacked the clergy, describing them as "the most reprehensible men on earth for the great war that is now afflicting mankind". [ 92 ] Three days later the Army Intelligence Bureau seized the Society's Los Angeles offices and on March 4 the US government ordered the removal of seven pages of The Finished Mystery if distribution was to continue. [ 95 ] In early May 1918 US Attorney GeneralThomas Watt Gregory condemned the book as dangerous propaganda [ 96 ] and days later warrants were issued for the arrest of Rutherford and seven other Watch Tower directors and officers on charges of sedition under the Espionage Act amid claims they were conspiring to cause disloyalty and encouraging the refusal of military duty. On June 21 seven of them, including Rutherford, were sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment. They were released on bail in March 1919 after an appeals court ruled they had been wrongly convicted and in May 1920 the government announced all charges had been dropped. [ 97 ]

  Watch Tower Board of Directors jailed in 1918 for violation of the Espionage Act

  On his release from prison, Rutherford began a major reorganization of Bible Student activities. The Watch Tower Society set up its own printing establishment [ 98 ] and in 1919 Rutherford founded the magazine The Golden Age (now Awake!), which the Bible Students began distributing publicly [ 99 ] in response to an increasing emphasis by the Brooklyn headquarters on door-to-door preaching. [ 10
• 

  cobaltcupcake

  Well, when Jim Jones and his cult fled to Jonestown when he was exposed for abusing his followers. Less than a year and a half later the Kool-Aid came out.
• 

  Vidiot

  cobaltcupcake - "Well, when Jim Jones and his cult fled to Jonestown when he was exposed for abusing his followers. Less than a year and a half later the Kool-Aid came out."

  So, what, you're thinkin' at some point in the near future we'll see a "strategic" withdrawal to the Salem compound where they'll try and stick it out 'til it all crashes and burns?

  Call me crazy, but that... actually... sounds plausible (and sure reminds me of that secret bunker complex theory that was thrown around here a while back).

  I'm sure no one at Masada originally thought that they'd go out the way they did.
• 

  Glander

  At the chosen time the publishers will receive their special Watchtowers. There will inserted be a choice of 3 scratch and sniff flavors, orange, strawberry and grape. The pleasant smell and vibrant colors will help in giving the small ones their dose. Then the adults will follow.

  Hello New World!
• 

  punkofnice

  It'd be a great platform (no pun intended), for the WBT$ to get the R&F into an armageddon(R) is almost here frenzy.

  Some arseholses would assume control of the WBT$ if they haven't already.