Srecko Sostar

Yes, i understand. If elders make decision about, that sin is forgivable, than congregation follow direction.

I think it would be dependent on surrounding circumstances and handled on a case by case basis, as no situations are alike...I think, it may even be possible to visit the person in prison to establish some facts...

I can't think of any real life situations that I am personally familiar with. But from gathering information from various sources it seems that there is a clear separation of sin and crime.  A sin can be forgiven by the congregation, but the person still obviously has to be punished by secular authorities for the crime. I do know of an example, nothing to do with CSA but theft and fraud. My friend studied with the  man, and the man became JW. His sins were forgiven, because he repented and stopped doing those things. However, he still had to go to the police and give himself up to serve a prison sentence. So it might work similarly with someone convicted of CSA. If they admit to it, but are remorseful and repentant, they may be forgiven by the congregation, but will still have to pay for their crime. However, if they denied everything in front of the elders, but the authorities found evidence to convict him of his crimes, then I think that would serve as a reason to disfellowship. 
So its on the basis whether the convicted person was honest with the elders and has shown true remorse and signs of repentance, or if he denied and lied. 

Yeah, how blessed people must be with their leaders, capitalist or communist :))
The Trump administration proposed rule changes that would allow shower heads to boost water pressure, after Trump repeatedly complained that bathroom fixtures do not work to his liking.
The Department of Energy plan followed comments from Trump last month at a White House event on rolling back regulations. He said he believed water does not come out fast enough from fixtures.
“So what do you do? You just stand there longer or you take a shower longer? Because my hair – I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect. Perfect,” he said.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/12/us-shower-pressure-trump-hair-water
 

I know that the organization teaches that Revelation’s “woman” is the “heavenly organization”, or the “wifelike organization”, even calling it the “wife of Jehovah” (w63 12/1 pp. 712-719)
In another instance, your organizations says of the woman,
She is a “bride” of many component parts, a composite “bride,” and so an organization following, imitating and doing the will of the prospective Bridegroom.  w81 5/1 pp. 22-27
Which they mean by the “bridegroom”, Jesus Christ.
Is this “woman”, the wife of God, or Jesus Christ?  Which WT teaching do you adhere to?  Which do you believe is “truth” about the woman?  You deserve, yes anyone is worthy, to know the truth. 
Gal 4:22-26 tells us exactly what the “woman” represents.
“For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23 His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.
24 These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants.
“Covenants” – a contract, compact, a testament
…a “promise”:
“ But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.  Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. Gal 4:26,28
Can you see that the “woman” of Revelation is the New Covenant which is symbolized by “Sarah”, and includes those within it, which are the anointed as @4Jah2me pointed out?  (Gal 4:31)
They are “New Jerusalem”, because…they are the Temple.
1 Cor 3:16,17 – “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”
They are “heavenly”, as a new creation – “born again” in the Spirit.  2 Cor 5:17
The only “organization” that God recognizes is the Temple built on the chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ.  Eph 2:20-22
God does not need a wife.  He didn’t need an “organization” to produce Jesus Christ, which is another lie of the WT.   
To reason on this false doctrine.....
It is asserted that by means of the "heavenly wife-like organization", Christ was brought forth. It is said that these angelic Sons of God somehow gave birth to Jesus Christ, as well as the group of 144,000.
Please...according to reason and logic....
Who created these angelic sons of God in heaven? Were they not created by means of the Firstborn...the Christ? (Col 1:15-18) Yet, he himself was NOT the WIFE of Jehovah. He was God's firstborn Son, and "master worker" (Prov 8:22,30). It was through HIM that the angels were created...not the other way around (Col 1:16). Once created, these angels are also referred to, as "sons"... (not as "wife") (Job 38:7).
 So, the last remnant under the “woman” covenant is the target of the dragon.  Rev 12:17,17  He uses deceit against them – LIES, which we know are Satan’s most effective war weapons.  Rev 13:7
It looks like you, and all JWs have been lied to.
 
To learn more about the truth of the “woman”:
http://pearl-thewoman.blogspot.com/

Yeah, how blessed people must be with their leaders, capitalist or communist :))
The Trump administration proposed rule changes that would allow shower heads to boost water pressure, after Trump repeatedly complained that bathroom fixtures do not work to his liking.
The Department of Energy plan followed comments from Trump last month at a White House event on rolling back regulations. He said he believed water does not come out fast enough from fixtures.
“So what do you do? You just stand there longer or you take a shower longer? Because my hair – I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect. Perfect,” he said.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/12/us-shower-pressure-trump-hair-water
 

CC for sure made interesting points on subject. But, because many of you are part of JW congregation, you are under pressure. From one side WTJWorg doctrine is about how members have to be complete "neutral" toward "worldly things" and to not even express personal opinions about secular subjects. Because that is not of your "concern", that is what belong to "worldly people". JW members don't want to be involved, nor intellectually neither physically in matters of this world. 
According to "official viewpoint" of WTJWorg, members are not allowed to participate in any "social improvement" or in any activity that is seen as "worldly activity" from perspective of JW doctrine and policy. On other side GB leadership  allowed participation of their own representatives in "worldly institution" aka OSCE and have some sort of political involvement and participation and contribution to this "old system of things" in "improving" political and civil freedoms. If we speaking about "human rights" or "civil rights" they are in fact "political rights", because secular governments create "politic /policy" which make it possible to have this and that "freedom" or "rights".
If JW members found his free will to agree or disagree with some movement of "secular authorities" (as CC recommended) than they are also entitled to agree and disagree with GB politics too. Because this both "authorities", one is "secular" and other is "spiritual" are in subject to same "supreme authority" of god, according to Bible interpretations. By obeying god instead/over "GB" or "secular government" JW people with own "free judgement" would/will be in better position to prove "neutrality" in next/greater sense of the meaning of that word - to be "independent" from influence of other people.   

Having been in contact with the IICSA they requested information about a situation that I made them aware of.  So I have forwarded the information with my contact details, which it seems they will forward to the Police. 
@Anna had made a comment on another topic about what would we do if we knew the person or persons in question. Here is my answer. I did what should be done. Children need to be protected as much as we are able. Nobody should be hiding paedophiles and nobody should be walking away from their responsibility to report anything suspicious that could result in harm to a child or adult.  Here is the letter that I answered. (highlighting mine)
Our reference: IICSA-xxxxxx 
Dear xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
Thank you for contacting the Inquiry via email on 13 August 2020 and bringing to our attention your concerns about the abuse of a young child.  
We would still strongly encourage you to contact your local police force directly, or the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000 if you believe that there is an ongoing current risk to any child or vulnerable person www.nspcc.org.uk
As you may be aware, the Inquiry has a legal duty to pass on any allegations of child abuse to Operation Hydrant, which is a national policing team set up to coordinate the police response to non-recent child sexual abuse. Because of our legal duty, we need to pass some of the information you provided to Operation Hydrant. 
We can send information to Operation Hydrant anonymously, however, we would like to ask for your consent to pass your name and contact details to the police along with the allegations. This would allow the police to make contact with you if they deemed it necessary to gain further information about the allegations. 
If you do consent to us including your name and contact details, please respond to this email by 21 August 2020 and advise what your preferred method of contact would be (e.g. phone, email etc). Please be aware that we cannot guarantee which police force (if any) will make contact with you or they will use your preferred contact method. 
The attached leaflet “Passing Information To The Police” explains consent and how the police may use your information in more detail. 
Support
You mention in your email that you are looking for Jehovah's Witnesses UK Sexual Abuse Helpline, unfortunately we are not aware of any such helpline.
Whilst there are no support organisations that are directly attached to the Inquiry, we are able to signpost people to trusted ones that provide specialist therapeutic support and information to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. While the Inquiry cannot endorse individual organisations, it recognises that those organisations are recognised for the services they offer. 
If you feel that you might benefit from some support you may be interested in some organisations who provide specialist advice and therapeutic support specifically for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse at this link.  Although some of these organisations may currently be offering reduced services due to the COVID-19 crisis, the vast majority of them are still offering therapeutic support and advice. It may also be beneficial to talk to your GP so that they can signpost you to some appropriate local support. 
Truth Project
Please do remember that there is a part of the Inquiry which enables victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to share their experiences with us - you can find more information at the Truth Project website. 
Finally we would like to make sure that you are aware of an investigation that the Inquiry is carrying out into current child protection policies, practices and procedures in religious institutions that have a significant presence in England and Wales.  This investigation includes the Jehovah’s Witnesses.  You can find out more about this investigation on our website and you can find details of the public hearings relating to this investigation here. 
Thank you again for contacting us. If you have any questions regarding the work of the Truth Project, or the Inquiry in general, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Yours sincerely

Jodie Yarborough
Head of Correspondence & Engagement Team
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse 

Did not Joseph go,to,the city of his birth for a 'census at the time of Jesus' birth?

The census is something the government does every 10 years. Somewhat similar to what the Israelites did in the old testament.

It is interesting how we sometimes put ourselves in contradictory positions. WTJWorg is expert on this field, and successfully teaching members how to act in that manner. 
The best example is "human rights". WTJWorg and CCJW are so fast to go to Courts and going against "governments" when some law of some land limits actions of WT organization. This particular "human right" is of "Christians concern" but in other cases it seems how other things are not of "Christian concerns" (for example ecology, poverty, social problems of many kinds, etc). Social activity to make this life and this world to be better is not of "Christian concern" because, as WTJWorg explained, this World is "sinking ship" and why to rescue what will sink?   
On contrary, whole world from Adam and Eve time is "sinking ship", so it is interesting that God find interest and have concern to save this "sinking" World from ruin.
 

If a person, who has studied and know the many doctrinal changes over the years, the failed predictions, the overlapping generations and legalistic nature of the watcher....all aka, incompetence, also reading that the watchtower is the mouthpiece of Jehovah, the channel of communication between Jehovah and man, etc. That person may seem Jehovah is incompetent  because of the incompetency of the watchtower. 

Oh dear........

It seems like he saw a storm coming.

@Srecko Sostar It would seem as if the true Anointed are not in a 'spiritual paradise' because they are under the control of the GB and even under the Elders. The true Anointed are told not to meet together for Bible study or prayer. They are also told it would be working against the Holy Spirit. So it would seem that they are in a desert, without the true 'water of life'.   John 4 v 13 & 14.
In answer Jesus said to her: “Everyone drinking from this water will get thirsty again. 14  Whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty at all, but the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water bubbling up to impart everlasting life.”

What if 42 different GB sets, series of members have to be changed while in spiritual deserts on way to promise land :))

It is interesting. Well, IF WTJWorg consider themselves as "Israelite" on there way to Kingdom, it means how they are not in "spiritual paradise" today, but rather waking around in deserts of this world. :)) 

Sadly, her viewpoint is fanatical. Perhaps one of the questions will be: What religion do you belong to. Then she may not deny the truth, give a testimony, and say she is a JW. :))

What sort of record is needed to validate that a person is preaching about God and Christ? A filled-out time slip for men to record, which benefits only the organization? Do scriptures back up this "tradition"?   Those are rules of men. God doesn’t need a time slip; only men who judge one’s spiritual worthiness, need it.   How many JW's here, count their time when speaking to an exjw?     It doesn't take an organization, it doesn't take rules and regulations by men, to speak about God and Jesus.   If we have to be spoon-fed, rule upon rule on how to preach, it is not the Holy Spirit that is directing that sort of preaching work.  If we have to submit any time that we have accrued for what you call, "preaching the good news",  it is the influence of scheming leaders who feel they must know what you are doing, and not doing, for the sake of the organization. 
"Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:  “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”?  These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.  Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence."  Col 2:20-23 
There were believers of Christ among rulers in the days of the Pharisees, but they couldn't make the break and follow only Christ.  They were slaves to men, and feared for their immediate role of leadership and prestige among their people.  They feared being thrown out of the synagogue, and losing everything and everyone they knew.  Every JW is aware of what they will lose if they refuse to follow the organization’s guidelines. 
Can our heart be manipulated by wickedness and the dominance of others?  Most certainly.
“For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.”  Acts 20:29,30
 Just because the WT touts to "preach" worldwide, does not mean that the organization is "the truth".
Either we genuinely believe in Christ and follow him, or we hypocritically believe in an organization, and follow it.   
“But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, 38 that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke:
“Lord, who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
39 Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:
40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts,
Lest they should see with their eyes,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.”
41 These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.
2 Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.  John 12:37-43
All JWs, strive for the praise of men.
Synagogue – “congregation/ assembly”
 
 
 
 

Actually, it doesn't. I purposely started this topic in a non-Jehovah's Witnesses area of the forum. And no one has moved it to a JW area, even though several people kept bringing up JW beliefs here.
But I do agree that it should be clarified for everyone that this is just a discussion of politics. As far as I am concerned it's just another area where we can learn about history, geopolitics, and political biases. I never came at this topic from a religious perspective. (Just as when I post something about a singer or musician, I don't come at it from a religious perspective.) Things that catch my attention in this area often start from noticing the bias in the way things are worded in the news, or the way reports and statistics can be so easily skewed. I've probably already mentioned that my first full-time job started out from an internship after I took a course called "Statistics in the Social Sciences." The Computer Science degree required at least one course to be from that department. It turned into an internship with the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) which was highly political. That turned into a few years with A.D.Little where the statistics were used to promote policy. I even worked on the Trump account, when D.Trump was still more of a "player" and not so political yet. But, even here, it turned more and more political in pushing a landlord-supportive policies on NYC. I tried to get less political accounts, but it turned out that A.D.Little was geared to this kind of thing, so I left it to do IT and ROI projection work for a global financial company, and kept that job for nearly 30 years before retiring. But my interest is still piqued when I hear the common patterns of statistical skewing and the patterns of "spin" that the media is famous for.
So studying some historical politics and geopolitics is just something triggered by reading the news. Also, one of my sons went to school with several Chinese students, and is becoming more proficient in the Chinese language, and has several acquaintances from all parts of China with whom he writes and speaks in Chinese. (Before graduation, he had an offer to do physics research in China for a semester.) That, coronovirus, and my Chinese boss before my retirement, have all influenced my more recent interest in China.

Mr Gillies was asked if his religion's policies made provision to apologise for child sexual abuse where there is institutional fault. His answer was, "No". The group asks, how can any organisation move forward willingly in child-focused safeguarding if it cannot conceive of the need to apologise for its failings? 

Summing up today Friday 14th August 2020 
https://www.iicsa.org.uk/key-documents/21108/view/public-hearing-transcript-14-august-2020.pdf
I turn to the Jehovah's Witnesses. As we will set out in our written submissions, we feel that much of  the evidence from Mr Gillies was evasive and misleading.  In the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, he tried to tell you that the Jehovah's Witnesses don't  have any arrangements or activities which separate children from their parents, whether in field service or  Bible study or elsewhere. He used this obvious untruth to justify rejecting any secular advice on safeguarding. 
It was notable just how many pretexts the Jehovah's Witnesses will find not to report abuse or to disclose documents, and we heard more about that obstructionism this morning. The only reasonable conclusion from this litany of excuses is that they simply do not want to report. Mr Gillies was also very discomforted quite clearly by Mr Frank's questions about document destruction.
Child sexual abuse is abuse, whether it is perpetrated by an elder or an ordinary member of the congregation, whether in a Kingdom Hall or in a home. By permitting CCJW to present their data so selectively, we are concerned that hundreds, if not thousands, of abuse cases were effectively excluded from consideration. The many victims whose abuse is currently confined to Watchtower's records, especially those whose abuse is yet to be reported, remain completely silenced. Chair, if you fail to seek disclosure of the full data, you unwittingly make things worse for survivors than if you had sought no data at all. Cherry-picked figures -- which the  Jehovah's Witnesses repeatedly, and wrongly, characterised as the full figures during this hearing will, we fear, in future be touted by them as the actual figures and they will try to say that they have your stamp of approval.

Transcript of day two (11/8/2020) of the hearing:
https://www.iicsa.org.uk/key-documents/20895/view/public-hearing-transcript-11-august-2020.pdf
 
 

"Keep on the watch" is the best advice, for so many things (everything) in the people's life. 
In the past WTJWorg said how time will come when "preaching" will be stopped, just before Armageddon. But it was never said, as i can recall, how Covid 19 or similar "unconscious" cause/condition (wars, famines, earthquakes, etc.) would do that.
Soon Jehovah will decide to stop the preaching of the good news and “the end” will come. (Matthew 24:14) - https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1102015149
Of course, WT publish company using word "soon" so often and for few things about "the end" of the World, for decades, almost for whole century and half, in fact. Well, we have almost dubious situation about claim how GB/FDS in WTJWorg is God's Spoke Person here on Earth who is sole "channel" in warning people to "keep on watch", as they claim.
But this sort of "keep on watch" is/was inside WTJWorg interpretations what this Jesus' words supposedly have to mean and when meaning of this words is at "right place" and in "right time". And they (GB) failed so many times. If GB is only spoke person for god on earth, than this mean how JHVH decision about moment when "preaching will stop" shall come from GB. But they not sending such direct message. Mass sale of real estate can be sort of "message"in that direction, but can be "announcement"  for something else too. Title of WT article down/below and WTJWorg moves are significant in current events about CSA.
 
Love People, Not Money and Possessions
 Secret 1
Love People, Not Money and Possessions
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE TEACH? “The love of money is a root of all sorts of injurious things.”—1 Timothy 6:10. - https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines/wp20101101/Love-People-Not-Money-and-Possessions/

If 144000 are "Kings" and "Priests", than Kingdom which started in 33 or in 1914 is not complete or legal enough without all "governors" as members of government or administration. If Jesus is able, entitled to make decisions and to rule without 144000 now, today, than he is capable to doing this in the future too. In that respect 144000 is not necessary to participate in administration in the "heaven" or on the "earth".