August 31, 2017 BOE Re: Procedure for Handling Certain Cases of Wrongdoing

by wifibandit 31 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  menrov

  If you come to know of an accusation against one of these broth-
  ers or sisters assigned to your congregation, two elders with knowledge of the circumstances should

  immediately contact the Service Department. Specific direction will be provided on how to handle
  the case and what kind of report is to be sent to the branch office. For example, depending on who

  was involved and where the offense took place, elders from outside your congregation, such as el-
  ders serving at Bethel, may be asked to handle the case.

  So much for confidentiality
• 

  ToesUp

  Watchtower is running out of people so if one of their "special" ones screws up "give us a call so we can decide on how to sweep it under the rug." Are some of these "special" ones starting to question the fabulous 7?

  Whitewashed graves full of dead men's bones.
• 

  dozy

  Yeah - this letter has the inky fingerprints of the legal desk all over it - especially the mention of "where the wrongdoing took place". Bethelites etc do have a different status to the average rank & file grunt congregation publisher - they can be regarded ( for legal liability purposes ) as employees or representatives of the Society. So any wrongdoing ( such as child abuse ) clearly could risk a potential multi million lawsuit.

  There is also a control aspect here. Ray Franz's disfellowshipping was done by the local elders in Alabama , but the Society clearly had an involvement , and it makes sense for any judicial matters involving "higher-ups" in the Society to be handled directly by the branch.
• 

  _Morpheus

  All animals are equal. Some are more equal than others...
• 

  scratchme1010

  
  
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  JustHuman14

  So before the elders take any action, they have to contact Bethel and inform what is the problem, wait guidance from Bethel and then take the next steps....
• 

  NotBlind

  Very interesting that wrongdoing involving Circuit Overseers is conspicuously absent from that list!
• 

  darkspilver

  who serve as Bethel family members, construction servants, full-time and part-time commuters, full-time and part-time construction commuters, remote servants and volunteers, field missionaries, special pioneers, Assembly Hall servants, and Bible school facility servants.

  NotBlind: Very interesting that wrongdoing involving Circuit Overseers is conspicuously absent from that list!

  Not really, IMHO - I expect that COs, and their wifes, are not included because they are not actually assigned to a congregation - ie no congregation holds their publisher cards, I suspect that Bethel themselves hold them, so Bethel would deal with them judically, if needed, anyway, rather than an individual congregation.
  
• 

  sir82

  Wow - even "part time commuters".

  There is a provision now for people to be "remote Bethelites" - working on Bethel projects on their own PCs from their own home, for just a few hours a week. Are they counted as "part time commuters"?

  If so, that seems like potentially a huge chunk of the JW population will be under the umbrella of this new arrangement.
  
• 

  BluesBrother

  I know a bro in this locality who serves Bethel from home with his P C , Skype conference calls and so on. His cong. Don t see a lot of him although he holds eldership . It must cheaper for Bethel , less of an upheaval for him than moving in there, and they can stop using him when they so choose. Business thinking.

  I won't speculate on the motivation behind this letter, but thanks Wifi for providing it.