You know this is probably more of a form letter that they send out. 99% of the dubs involved will simply reply to the WT, "forget the conditional part, keep it as a straight-out contribution to advance Kingdom? Interests." I doubt that many actually ask for the money back...
No Apologies
JoinedPosts by No Apologies
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Apostates receive a letter from the Watchtower
by jst2laws inwe receive a letter from the watchtower yesterday.
thought it might be a card celebrating our disfellowshipping this time last year.
maybe threats or denunciations.
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More JW. Abuse Cases
by Kenneson infrom california: "lawsuits allege abuse.
compaints target jehovah's witnesses congregations".
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/mcherald/news/local/8255112.htm
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No Apologies
From the link:
Lawsuits allege abuse
Complaints target Jehovah's Witnesses congregations
By DAN LAIDMAN
[email protected]
A woman who has sued Jehovah's Witnesses leaders alleging sexual abuse at a Pacific Grove congregation encouraged others to come forward at a meeting in Monterey on Monday.
"It was a huge betrayal," the woman said. "If it could happen to me, it could happen to other children."
The local case is one of a slew of lawsuits being filed nationwide against Jehovah's Witnesses institutions accusing them of covering up the sexual abuse of children. Lawyers from the two firms pursuing the bulk of the cases have been gathering alleged abuse survivors throughout California for a series of meetings to draw out more potential victims and witnesses.
"This organization has a problem with child molestation," said Kimberlee Norris, a Texas-based attorney with the firm Love & Norris.
While cautioning that there are many "upstanding" churchgoers, Norris said that she has detected a disturbing pattern of religious institutions covering up molestation. The lawyer has spent several years handling abuse cases stemming from Jehovah's Witnesses congregations.
She and fellow attorney Bill Brelsford of the Sacramento firm Nolen Saul Brelsford brought four alleged abuse survivors to speak in Monterey on Monday. Several local residents came to the meeting to share their experiences with the attorneys.
In the Monterey County lawsuit, a woman who is now in her 30s and living in Silicon Valley claims to have been sexually abused throughout the 1980s by the leader of the Pacific Grove congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses.
The former leader, or "presiding overseer" named in the lawsuit, could not be reached for comment Monday. The current head of the Pacific Grove congregation said Monday that he knows nothing about the lawsuit and that the local congregation has not been served with any papers.
The current presiding overseer added that the man named in the lawsuit is no longer affiliated with the Pacific Grove congregation.
The lawsuit was filed Dec. 31, the last day allowed under a California law that suspended the statute of limitations on child molestation cases for the duration of 2003. An updated civil complaint filed March 12 accuses the former presiding overseer of molesting the Pacific Grove girl starting in 1979, when she was 13.
"As a young person in the Jehovah's Witnesses congregation, you're told to respect and to be submissive to these men who are in authority," the woman said in an interview Monday. "And not to question anything."
The lawsuit claims the man, "using his delegated authority as a leader" in the organization, repeatedly fondled, kissed and touched the girl during church activities and on church premises. When the girl spoke out, the lawsuit says, elders reprimanded her and told her to keep quiet.
The abuse continued throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s, the suit alleges. The woman said Monday that she was powerless to stop the molestation because her own family did not believe her, and in fact continued to place her in harm's way.
"It was my mom dropping me off at his house when I got into trouble," she said. "And he said he would take care of me."
The woman said her mother was on her deathbed when she finally accepted that her daughter had been telling the truth. She said she remains estranged from other family members who are still practicing Jehovah's Witnesses.
The lawsuit targets the former presiding overseer, the Pacific Grove congregation and the international Jehovah's Witnesses church, which is based in Brooklyn. National Jehovah's Witnesses representatives did not respond to numerous calls seeking comment late Monday.
In the past, however, church officials have sought to distance themselves from individuals accused of wrongdoing on a local level. They have denied any pattern of cover-ups.
"We abhor child abuse," Philip Brumley, general counsel for the church, told The Associated Press several months ago. "The assertion or allegation of a cover-up, or a nonchalance about child abuse, is just so far from the truth."
Jehovah's Witnesses institutions became targets for lawsuits several years ago after church whistle-blowers were excommunicated for exposing an alleged cache of secret files documenting abuse claims that were never reported to authorities. Critics have suggested that the church's distrust of secular bodies and its internal, scripture-based quasi-judicial system may have played a role in keeping abuse claims from reaching law enforcement.
The woman at the center of the Monterey County lawsuit said that the institutional pressures kept her from reporting the abuse for years. She never forgot about it, though, and finally last year she started the process of coming forward with a search on the Internet.
"For years you try to put it behind you and get over it and pretend it didn't happen," she said. "But it did happen."
Dan Laidman can be reached at 646-4346. -
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IMPORTANT REQUEST
by Amazing1914 inif you are an ex-elder ... there is something important i need to request of you.
please pm me using my current screen name amazing1914.
i will then relay the request to you.
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No Apologies
BTTT!!!!!
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J.W. Building Collapses
by Kenneson inin cincinatti a three -story structure owned by a j.w.
congregation collapsed, with only the walls standing.
dogs found no one in the building.
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No Apologies
Perhaps the collapse of this building is a portent, a metaphor, if you will, for the future of the entire WTB&TS...
let's just all daydream about that for a while, hmm?
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APOSTATES AT THE ASSEMBLY...
by cyber-sista in.
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can't seem to paste my words in here--will try below...
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No Apologies
Simple message that might work:
We used to be just like you.
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cult marriages
by No Apologies inok, i had a thought the other day, and since that is a relatively rare event, i thought i would share it.. .
remember the moonies and their mass weddings?
i don't know enough about them to know just what the point was, or the rationale for something like this.
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No Apologies
Ok, I had a thought the other day, and since that is a relatively rare event, I thought I would share it.
Remember the moonies and their mass weddings? Maybe they still have them, I don't know. I don't know enough about them to know just what the point was, or the rationale for something like this. But then I got to thinking about some of the JW philosphy on marriage and finding a suitable marriage mate. Although the Borg has said much about the need to be selective in choosing a marriage mate, oftentimes you can hear the sentiment that "as long as they both love Jehover, they can make a success of marriage."
Of course,most people (even dubs) knows that is not necessarily true. But what I realized is that maybe its the same thing with the moonies. Just assign everyone a mate, get them married, and it will all work out somehow.
Anyway, that was my brilliant insight for the day... comments?
No Apologies ( of the faulty-light-bulb class)
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No Apologies
I don't expect perfection, but I do expect a religion (or any organization) to admit when it is wrong.
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HELLO, WT-BATS!
by Frannie Banannie inmy name is noel (pronounced as in xmas) parsons.
i was disf'd from the lake hodges congregation in escondido, calif. in 1992, because i wanted to be.
the reason?
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No Apologies
Frannie,
Do you have any daughters? Are they single?
No Apologies ( of the I-can't believe-I-posted-this class)
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Congregation is building a new KH
by dustyb inup front at the weekly tcs meeting they are commenting about how much money they've rose for the new kingdom hall.
but i was thinking about how they get all the money, and if i understand it correctly, they raise money and sell the old kh property and give all that money back to the society.
then from there, the society gives out a loan w/ like a 3% interest rate, and on top of that, takes the title to the kh and puts the kh in their names.
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No Apologies
Ok this seems to be a urban legend in the making.
After construction the hall is dedicated which means given back to the WTS. Local elders are used to hold the deeds, but the WTS actually owns the property, building and attachments.
Can anyone furnish evidence that the Watchtower actually owns Kingdom Halls directly? I'm not talking about cases where a congregation is paying off a loan from the Society. I mean, somewhere where the deed actually names the Society as owner.
Every congregation I have been in, the cong has a local corporation formed to own the land, pay the bills, etc. Anybody remember the corporation annual meeting, a short little thing after the service meeting where not much happened but everybody voted in members to the local corp?
Looking for facts here, not hearsay, not rumors. Anyone?
No Apologies (of the kidney-harvesting class)
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LETTER TO UN'S DEPUTY SEC-GENERAL FINALIZED
by hawkaw inplease feel free to scroll down to scully's post to see a copy of the letter for you to copy and paste and use click here or please re-look at the first post of this thread for those interested:.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/17/68071/1.ashx.
please note this above noted link will be up and running shortly by at least 9:15 est march 12, 2004. there was a problem with the msword file last night and to protect people, things had to be adjust and of course i was not around.
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No Apologies
Awesome letter, but I wanted to point one small typo:
Even though it is a registered not-for-profit corporation in the United Stated of America
you misspelled States. I know its picky, but this is important stuff, appearance is everything. Spelling counts!
No Apologies (of the no nit too small class)