Thursday

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  5

  Royal Commission into Child Abuse Report available now (Australia)

  by Thursday in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/getattachment/c2d1f1f5-a1f2-4241-82fb-978d072734bd/report-of-case-study-no-29.

  for those that were following the australian royal commission into child abuse in institutions - case study 29 jehovah's witnesses, the report is now available.

  the summary findings were:.

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  Thursday

  http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/getattachment/c2d1f1f5-a1f2-4241-82fb-978d072734bd/Report-of-Case-Study-No-29

  For those that were following the Australian Royal Commission into child abuse in institutions - Case Study 29 Jehovah's Witnesses, the report is now available.

  The summary findings were:

  Having regard to the various matters we have discussed in this report, we have reached a number of general conclusions on the Jehovah’s Witness organisation’s response to the sexual abuse of children.

  We do not consider the Jehovah’s Witness organisation to be an organisation which responds adequately to child sexual abuse. We do not believe that children are adequately protected from the risk of sexual abuse for the following reasons:

  1. The organisation relies on outdated policies and practices to respond to allegations of child sexual abuse. Also, those policies and practices are not subject to ongoing and continuous review. The policies and practices are, by and large, wholly inappropriate and unsuitable for application in cases of child sexual abuse. The organisation’s retention and continued application of policies such as the two-witness rule in cases of child sexual abuse shows a serious lack of understanding of the nature of child sexual abuse.
  2. The organisation’s internal disciplinary system for addressing complaints of child sexual abuse is not child or survivor focused in that it is presided over by males and offers a survivor little or no choice about how their complaint is addressed.
  3. The sanctions available within the organisation’s internal disciplinary system are weak and leave perpetrators of child sexual abuse at large in the organisation and the community.
  4. In deciding the sanctions to impose and/or precautions to take in relation to a known or suspected perpetrator, the organisation has inadequate regard to the risk that that perpetrator might reoffend. This demonstrates a serious lack of understanding of the nature and impact of child sexual abuse.
  5. The organisation’s general practice of not reporting serious instances of child sexual abuse to police or authorities – in particular, where the complainant is a child – demonstrates a serious failure by the organisation to provide for the safety and protection of children in the organisation and in the community.

  
  
  
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  21

  JW Tattoos

  by bradford in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm sure there are countless opinions on whether you should get a tattoo or not.

  my personal view is that if you were to get one it should mean something.. anyone get a tattoo to remember their jw roots?

  i was thinking of getting a tetragrammaton somewhere.

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  Thursday

  I got a text tattoo shortly after I left, although it had been planned for about 6 months prior. I feel it sums everything up very succinctly.
  

  It's from a Walt Whitman poem: "Poem of Joys":

  "O,while I live

  to be the ruler of life

  not a slave

  to meet life as a

  powerful conqueror

  and nothing exterior

  shall ever take

  command

  of me"
  
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  6

  Reduce people's religosity through transcranial magnetic stimulation...

  by Thursday in

  1. social
  2. current

  found this interesting article in the december 2015 issue of the australasian science journal, on whether it might be possible to change a person's beliefs by stimulating their brain via transcranial magnetic stimulation (tms).. "the study by us and uk researchers recruited 38 undergraduate students, with each reporting they held significant religious beliefs and conservative political views.

  participants in the experimental condition received tms to the pmfc for a period of 40 seconds, a process that reduces neural activity in this region for up to an hour.

  control participants underwent a similar process, but with a low level of tms that has no effect on the functioning of the pmfc.. the researchers found that those who had received tms reported significantly less conviction in their beliefs concerning god, angels and heaven following a reminder of death than those in the non-tms control group.

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  Thursday

  Found this interesting article in the December 2015 issue of the Australasian Science Journal, on whether it might be possible to change a person's beliefs by stimulating their brain via transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

  "The study by US and UK researchers recruited 38 undergraduate students, with each reporting they held significant religious beliefs and conservative political views. Participants in the experimental condition received TMS to the pMFC for a period of 40 seconds, a process that reduces neural activity in this region for up to an hour. Control participants underwent a similar process, but with a low level of TMS that has no effect on the functioning of the pMFC.
  

  The researchers found that those who had received TMS reported significantly less conviction in their beliefs concerning God, angels and Heaven following a reminder of death than those in the non-TMS control group. Those receiving TMS rated the immigrant’s article significantly more positively than the non-TMS controls. Together, these findings of reduced religiosity and lessened disparagement of immigrants supported the hypothesis that disruption of the pMFC temporarily weakens the strength of previously established beliefs or attitudes, limiting their effect on decision-making."
  
  Thoughts?
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  80

  Are there any ex-missionaries here??

  by fulano in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i have been a missionary in the dominican republic for almost 10 years and i was wondering if there were any ex-missionaries on this forum.. i am back in my country now for 3 years and totally inactive.. what i noticed in those missionary-years was the lack of spiritual interest among the missionaries.. discussions were about rooms, cars and greater responsibilities, the bad territory.

  and the local c.o.s and d.os.. was this only in the dr or are there other experiences??.

  ere other experiences?

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  Thursday

  Hey fulano

  Did you happen to know a David van Brug and his wife Luana? They were in the DR and also in the US Bethel for some time, I forget the years, 90's and early 2000's maybe. They were also in Zambia.
  
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  27

  Help Me Undertand...

  by DarioKehl in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  according to the 2014 annual report:.

  "worldwide, there are 115,416 congregations of jehovahs witnesses and 8,201,545 publishers.".

  i don't understand how the borg is facing financial difficulty.

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  Thursday

  Here's my conspiracy theorist hat on:

  Can't be a coinky-dink that the front page of their website is "How does God view War" right after recent events in France. And "Is religion dying out", knowing full well that activities like these being undertaken will result in a crackdown on extremist religions.
  

  Given the issues they've had with France ... smells like sneaky payback.
  

  * http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/213191/resolution-on-jw-case-france

  * http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/130681/way-go-france
  
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  4

  Instagram witnessing

  by Thursday in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  sorry if this has been covered, but are they now counting time by linking to their website on instagram accounts of jws?.

  i keep a casual stalk on my niece and nephew on insta, and have found links to all their local jw youth insta accounts, even their parents have accounts, it seems quite acceptable.

  99% of them are private but every single one has a link to the website in their bio and a thing saying "jw" and often a scripture or god reference.

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  Thursday

  Sorry if this has been covered, but are they now counting time by linking to their website on Instagram accounts of JWs?

  I keep a casual stalk on my niece and nephew on insta, and have found links to all their local jw youth insta accounts, even their parents have accounts, it seems quite acceptable. 99% of them are private but every single one has a link to the website in their bio and a thing saying "JW" and often a scripture or god reference.

  Are they counting this as witnessing? Or is it ok now to use social media as long as you link it to their website?
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  42

  2015 10-20-BOE!

  by Atlantis in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  2015, 10/20/boe.. .. re: making wise use of printed magazines.. .. page 2: .

  this postscript should neither be read to the congregation nor be posted .

  on the information board.. .

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  Thursday

  well THAT explains why my parents are posting me books, and sending links to the jw.org website every single email. they're counting it as preaching lol
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  17

  Told a JW about ARC in August, finally got a reply - Return to Jehovah booklet!!

  by Xanthippe in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  so i've mentioned this friend of my husband's who started writing to me out of the blue about three years ago, decades after we d'aed.

  last august i wrote to her about the arc and jackson's summons.

  i gave her the website details so she could see for herself.

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  Thursday

  Xanthippe, similar with my family, I reached out to my fanatical father with the ARC info, several months of emails later, not one single email asking how I was or asking anything at all about my life (it's been like 5 years)... I get the prodigal son dvd and return to j-man book AND an email request to my partner (non religious non JW) to get me to look at the November broadcast. yeah, nah. kthxbai. I'm only keeping in contact with them (implying Im interested but never actually saying so) to try and get to my nephew and nieces, who are on social media and look like they may need someone to talk to someday when they figure it out for themselves.

  hugs.
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  83

  As a Matter of Conscience, I Am Resigning from the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses

  by Sail Away in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  after listening to the hearings of the australian royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, i am no longer content to have simply walked away from the organization.

  as a matter of conscience, i do not want my name linked with the organization in any way.

  i know this letter has been posted previously, and i thank the author.

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  Thursday

  I meant to bookmark it, apologies, but can someone link me to the thread where it linked to the exhibit from the RC on requesting a copy of your personal file from your country's headquarters?
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  232

  Geoffrey Jackson Royal Commission update

  by umbertoecho in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  hello people.

  the rc will still go ahead with it's live stream on friday 14th august.

  however, it seem that it will be a video link.

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  Thursday

  Angus is my hero.