James Thomas Rook Jr.

Arauna:
Thank you for your honest and valid criticism .. every word you typed is valid. I am impressed, and at 70, and having "paid attention", not much impresses me.
Like I tell my wife, Susan, when she is right and I am wrong ... I do not mind at all when she is right .. but it embarrasses me when I am wrong.
... same thing with your coherent analysis.
I do recognize that Jehovah's Witnesses have the only true theology, even though the TRUTH is 15% of the billions of words spent, and opinion, and drivel, and irrelevancy clouds it, and creates enormous damage.
By people who suffer my rants I have had the accusation (paraphrased) "With what you know, and how you have been treated, how can you POSSIBLY still give your allegiance to that religion?".
I have resolved it in this way .... My allegiance is to Jehovah God, Christ Jesus, and the Brotherhood ... and I respect the WTB&TS for the very improbable fact that I stumbled across the Truth about God's Kingdom, so many years ago BECAUSE of the WTB&TS,   ... however I personally expect NOTHING from anyone. 
You cannot be stumbled if you have NO unreasonable expectations, and realize that we are all just big ugly bags of water with DNA ends that get shorter every year until we wrinkle up and die.
However, people with the very best of intentions have a HEAVY responsibility to do things RIGHT when they claim to be God's "Faithful and Discreet Slave", and command respect and obedience to their CULTURAL as well as Theological perspective.
November of 2015, everything we studied in the Ministry School, and the Watchtowers, and the Public Talks was on the topic of Justice.
I see the magnificent things the Brotherhood has accomplished but I also see a continuous string of injustices and cover-ups ... and the Society is paying the price for that now both in ruined reputation globally, and because they claim to reflect the will of God, which in many cases they do .. but the incompetence has gotten so bad that it has gotten silly, and embarrassing.
You can cover up a LOT with an unlimited supply of free money, and free labor ... but the damage grows and escalates, year by year by year.
We are not in Kansas, anymore, ToTo. 
The Internet has opened the whitewashed graves of those who have been cruelly treated .... by an institution with presumably the highest motives.
I have an advantage .... I was baptized in 1964, when the baptismal oath was "The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit" .. so my allegiance is not to the Corporation or to the "Organization".  If you were baptized AFTER 1985, when the oath generally took it's current form .. you are STUCK.
if 85% of what we promote was not irrelevant drivel ... we would not have to knock on other peoples' doors  ...
THEY WOULD BE KNOCKING ON OURS!
If you don't think so .. just ask Caleb and Sophia.

... JUST A NOTE ALLEN SMITH:
... for what it is worth, and certainly worth the price of electricity of a few photons on a screen ... um ... when someone defends a view that is completely contradicted by actual real world facts, and they are intelligent people, normally prone to use their intellect, as you are ... they have a choice .... change their viewpoint to reflect what is real .... which will almost always involve a great deal of anguish ... and consequences from those who hold the same irrational viewpoints ... or begin that slippery slope that leads to a fractured, and fragile mind.
As the group The Eagles sang in their incredibly perceptive song from the late 1960s or so, (paraphrased) ...
" ... Take it easy, take it easy ... don't let the sound of your own wheels, MAKE YOU CRAZY ..."
I have to daily remind myself of these things ... as the Universe will decide what is true .. and it is without mercy.
" There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters." " — Daniel Webster
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You are simply amazing.
A guest in someone else's personal space .... and you insult them.
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Yeah ... I also caught those lies ...  I am particularly sensitive to such things .. because as a JW Newbie, over a half century ago ... I did the very same thing ... to my everlasting shame.
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The Organization is currently implementing a plan to avoid the problem of Branch Coordinators, and Service Desk personnel having to be fired , or exiled to Pacific Islands when called before the Australian Royal Commission's Inquirys, as well as others that have embarrassed the Organization under oath.

The Organization always knows what is best .......

I really liked that idea the Brother made,  with the Literature Rack on the back of his red Yamaha Motorcycle ... it has the advantage of being a licensed vehicle, and the motorcycle is cargo, so no "corner permit" should be needed (?).
Many of you will remember Bro. Johnny 5, who started out as a military robot with lasers and missiles ... but who forsake war as he got smarter, and whose credo was " input, Input, INPUT, INPUT!", and who could read about 126 pages a minute.
His baptism was at age three, and was a bit different, as water would have short circuited him after he dropped his armament, so he was baptized in a lightweight oil.
What?  What's that you say?  ....  Oh!, gimmee a break! ... TPT invented Caleb and Sophia, 
'NUFF said.

I really liked that idea the Brother made,  with the Literature Rack on the back of his red Yamaha Motorcycle ... it has the advantage of being a licensed vehicle, and the motorcycle is cargo, so no "corner permit" should be needed (?).
Many of you will remember Bro. Johnny 5, who started out as a military robot with lasers and missiles ... but who forsake war as he got smarter, and whose credo was " input, Input, INPUT, INPUT!", and who could read about 126 pages a minute.
His baptism was at age three, and was a bit different, as water would have short circuited him after he dropped his armament, so he was baptized in a lightweight oil.
What?  What's that you say?  ....  Oh!, gimmee a break! ... TPT invented Caleb and Sophia, 
'NUFF said.

I really liked that idea the Brother made,  with the Literature Rack on the back of his red Yamaha Motorcycle ... it has the advantage of being a licensed vehicle, and the motorcycle is cargo, so no "corner permit" should be needed (?).
Many of you will remember Bro. Johnny 5, who started out as a military robot with lasers and missiles ... but who forsake war as he got smarter, and whose credo was " input, Input, INPUT, INPUT!", and who could read about 126 pages a minute.
His baptism was at age three, and was a bit different, as water would have short circuited him after he dropped his armament, so he was baptized in a lightweight oil.
What?  What's that you say?  ....  Oh!, gimmee a break! ... TPT invented Caleb and Sophia, 
'NUFF said.

If you call a cow, a race horse ... and get everybody on the Planet (presumably Earth ... Sol3), to agree with you ... entering the cows in the Kentucky Derby you will ALWAYS be a loser.
... same thing.
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I suppose it is appropriate to have a laugh now and then in this very serious topic. And high blood pressure often necessitates some of the reasons for having surgery (stroke, heart attack, ravages of diabetes etc) and the medical people telling us we need a blood transfusion.
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On a more serious note
REMINDER - We have to practise what is mentioned in the article and note what is mentioned in the following scripture. We are not stronger than Eve who was perfect.
 
(James 1:14, 15) But each one is tried by being drawn out and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then the desire, when it has become fertile, gives birth to sin; in turn sin, when it has been carried out, brings forth death.
*** w86 3/15 pp. 14-15 ‘Do Not Be Quickly Shaken From Your Reason’ ***
Confidence in Jehovah
14 As we go forward, building faith and keeping busy in Kingdom service, we can confidently put our trust in Jehovah, knowing that, as our loving heavenly Father, he wants the very best for us. God teaches us; he warns us. He does this through his Word and by means of clear direction provided by his visible organization. If we were to ask a loving parent for bread and fish, he would not give us a stone or a serpent. Neither will God fool us or deceive us. (Matthew 7:7-11) Yet, God will not completely shield us from temptations or even deceptive lies and devilish propaganda. He says of himself: “I, Jehovah, am your God, the One teaching you to benefit yourself, the One causing you to tread in the way in which you should walk.” (Isaiah 48:17) Yes, Jehovah ‘teaches us to benefit ourselves.’ He tells us to keep separate from apostates and their teaching, and this for our own protection. It means our life.
15 The apostle Paul warned fellow Christian elders: “From among you yourselves men will rise and speak twisted things to draw away the disciples after themselves.” (Acts 20:30) If we keep listening to subtle arguments and specious reasoning, “twisted things” can sound as though they were straight. The longer Eve looked at the forbidden fruit and listened to the twisted reasoning of the Devil, the more she was convinced that he was right. Paul warned: “Look out: perhaps there may be someone who will carry you off as his prey through the philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary things of the world and not according to Christ.” (Colossians 2:8) The apostle also indicated that “by smooth talk and complimentary speech [apostates] seduce the hearts of guileless ones.” (Romans 16:17, 18; compare 2 Corinthians 11:13-15.) Of course, the fact that a few are drawn away by that kind of propaganda does not mean that we have to follow them. Nevertheless, we need to be continually alert.
 
16 The Devil’s tactics have not changed since Eden. He uses subtle questioning and an appeal to self-interest. Peter wrote: “There will also be false teachers among you. These very ones will quietly bring in destructive sects . . . Also, with covetousness they will exploit you with counterfeit words.” (2 Peter 2:1-3) Something counterfeit is designed to look or sound genuine. At 2 Timothy 2:14-19, Paul stressed the importance of using Jehovah’s Word to set matters straight but warned of the need to avoid apostates, whose ‘empty speeches violate what is holy,’ for, said he, “their word will spread like gangrene.”

The problem is that our publications have made use of the ambiguity. The publications have made use of the fact that the major/minor distinction refers to the size of the breakdown in fractions, based on the KM chart which highlights the "minor" percentages after breaking down blood into 4 "major" fractions. But one of those so-called "minor" percentages is 33% of a "major" component. (And one was 99% and therefore left off the "approved" list even though it was approved.)
At the same time one of the "major" components, platelets, was only considered to be 0.0017 of the total volume of blood. That's 0.17%.
Therefore, by Watch Tower definition, a MINOR component can be 99% of 55% of whole blood (cryosupernatant), or 33% of 45% of whole blood (hemoglobin), and yet a MAJOR component can be as little as little as 0.17% of whole blood. Here is a visual chart showing just how much of whole blood can be an acceptable minor component compared to an unacceptable major component. The acceptable amount of the total blood is in RED:
The following, then is the unacceptable portion of whole blood because the very tiny small red portion of the total line is a MAJOR component:
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The following large red portion is an acceptable portion of whole blood, even though it is over half of the total blood volume, because it is a MINOR fraction:
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This kind of arbitrary play on words is hypocritical. Note a recent Watchtower's comments:
*** w01 6/1 pp. 4-5 Whose Standards Can You Trust? ***
Would you trust a merchant who uses two sets of weights, only one of which is accurate? Certainly not. Likewise, “a cheating pair of scales is something detestable to Jehovah, but a complete stone-weight is a pleasure to him.” (Proverbs 11:1; 20:10) In the Law that he gave the Israelites, Jehovah included this command: “You must not commit injustice in judging, in measuring, in weighing or in measuring liquids. You should prove to have accurate scales, accurate weights, an accurate ephah and an accurate hin. Jehovah your God I am, who have brought you out of the land of Egypt.”—Leviticus 19:35, 36.
 

@Melinda Yet, Scripturally, it is also our duty to fight against error and strongly entrenched things, and to point out where tradition has made the word of God invalid. The Watchtower might be perfectly correct in this area. Yet, if the Watchtower is speaking twisted things in this area, is it really our duty to obey it, or is our duty to obey God as ruler rather than men? As you reminded us, Eve was perfect and yet was still seduced by false reasoning. But the word of God is alive and exerts power. If it happens to break down false human reasoning, this is not our fault. It is our Christian duty to be noble-minded and question all reasoning to test it against God's word, otherwise we are trying to please humans. Isn't this the lesson that Paul wanted us to learn from Galatians and 1 & 2 Corinthians?
I'm reminded of words recently attributed to Voltaire, but closer to words from a more modern writer: "To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize."
There is a certain kind of fundamentalist thinking that shifts one's loyalties to the humans that we credit for bringing us into all truth, even if they brought us into most truth. It's the Bible, the product of Jehovah's holy spirit, that brings us into all truth.
For example, there are those who read the following verses:
(Luke 10:19) Look! I have given you the authority to trample underfoot serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing at all will harm you.
And also the following verses:
(Mark 16:17, 18) 17 Furthermore, these signs will accompany those believing: By the use of my name they will expel demons, they will speak with tongues, 18 and with their hands they will pick up serpents, and if they drink anything deadly it will not hurt them at all. They will lay their hands upon sick persons, and these will become well.”
And the experience of Paul:
(Acts 28:3-6) But when Paul collected a bundle of sticks and laid it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand. 4 When the foreign-speaking people caught sight of the venomous creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another: “Surely this man is a murderer, and although he made it to safety from the sea, Justice did not permit him to keep on living.” 5 However, he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 But they were expecting him to swell up or suddenly to drop dead. After they waited for a long time and saw that nothing bad happened to him, they changed their mind and began saying he was a god.
And Paul's counsel:
(1 Corinthians 4:16) I urge you, therefore, become imitators of me.
Putting all that together, some small "Christian" denominations thought it was incumbent upon them, therefore, to show they had the faith to handle snakes and suffer no harm. Some died, but the common fundamentalist thinking structure did not allow that problem to change their mind. In fact, it makes people dig in their heels and become even more dedicated to the idea. Some of them, we suppose, could even claim that the medical community learned more about venom and treating snake bites due to their efforts. Perhaps the sacrifice of a few led to saving many more people from snakebite.
Yet, all that one needed to do was notice that the passage in Mark was not supported from the earliest manuscripts, and to think about the spirit of the Bible, rather than specific passages without their context, in order to break down this dangerous practice.
Edited to add that this wasn't directed specifically at you Melinda, but to an argument I heard recently about how non-blood therapies have now saved more people than ever died from lack of blood therapies, or even directly from blood therapy deaths through error, contamination, etc.

You inferred even more from the comment than I expected. Agree with most of what you said. However the main point I wanted to stress was the danger of thinking upon something prohibited continuously. It might seem to be a simple point - like the fruit in Eden was simple. Fertility then causes the thing to look like something slight - that can be overrided, manipulated, changed, or even discarded. If you revisit the comment with that in mind you might agree.
If an angel or any one in authority (human or spirit) suggests to us to disobey Jehovah we should do the same. You know the scripture. How else will we be prepared to face Satan at the end of this system and at the end of the millennium? I think when we are dealing with anything that Jehovah says not to do, we should strengthen our resolve and dismiss anything else.
That is how I meant to bring James 1:14,15 into play. Remember Joseph fled. It does not only apply to sexual things where most people are weak. Like you I am not afraid to say unpopular things. My take does not have to be your take, but I thought I should bring that side to the discussion. Bro Rook even asked us if we were out of our minds, whether playfully or seriously, he has a point.

I agreed with almost everything you said, too. But it struck me that the above quote was backwards. We have to practice what is mentioned in the following scriptures, and note what is mentioned in the article. (Not the other way around.)
Also, I was thinking about what the process is behind the Biblical counsel "do not be quickly shaken from your reason." This is the exact danger I mentioned earlier about how everyone was against all forms of organ transplant --and we were sure we had good reason for this-- but then, as quickly as a new article came out, every one of us was quickly shaken from those reasons, and most of us instantly accepted the new reasoning. We all believed we were using a Bible-trained conscience when we refused blood in all forms, even fractions. But then we were quickly shaken from our reason so that most Witnesses suddenly began accepting fractions. If we can be so quickly shaken from our reason, then we must not be following the Bible's counsel to question in order to make sure of all things. Therefore, it must not have been our own conscience in the first place that was real the reason behind our reasoning.
I think that most of us, at least at some point during our spiritual growth as Witnesses, would read that sentence just quoted, and instantly see it only as a warning not to spend time listening to anyone who says something that might point out a flaw in the teaching that currently comes from the visible organization. In context, this is exactly how the Watchtower is applying the idea. But we have to be careful that we don't use two sets of scales. What if the Bible has already answered the questions about blood fractions, for example, but we keep listening to subtle arguments and specious reasoning about blood fractions? What if we have become bloodguilty by accepting these subtle arguments and specious reasoning? What we have accepted, in general, might be perfectly good reasoning, but what if it isn't? What if it isn't questioned, precisely because we are always so quickly shaken from our reason every time a change is made?
Edited to add: I included the following comment, but it kept getting merged/attached with another post. I'm editing it back here:
I know what you mean. I over-reacted. I didn't think you had in mind exactly what I thought others might take from it.

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I would like to apologize for directing my previous rant to individuals ... I try to be an "idea man" ... but I suppose it is a carry-over from when I worked for Dallas Area Rapid Transit years ago, sitting in a room with 25 very highly paid individuals  arguing about what kind of screws to put in bus shelters .. ONE SHELTER costing an average of about $55,000 ... in the early 1990's.
I told them "Why not just park a new Mercedes Benz Car on the corner, let the air out of the tires, and let them wait for the bus in the car?"
I occasionally stop and ask when that happens  "Did I actually say that out loud ?"
It was like that for two years, every day ... and I developed  uncontrollable high blood pressure.
When I left DART and went back to just straight Engineering, my blood pressure returned to normal.
I did learn a lot about the specifics of fractionating.

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IT IS A GREAT KINDNESS and a great Merciful act, when one deliberately kills one's beloved Dog, when racked by disease. My dog Cubby, a Siberian Husky, had cancer in her left eye, and we had it removed ... but it had spread to her intestines and she was in great pain, and it would take a long time to die.
We took her to the Vet, and with wailing tears and anguish had her executed.
I felt it was my responsibility as a man to "pull the trigger" myself , but my wife, Susan, could not abide it.
There comes a time when every man has to shoot his own dog ... farming it out does not make it better .. it makes it worse.
I KNOW Cubby would never even had heard the sound. ... but it would have been messy.  Fortunately, we had the $140 to have her executed and she never knew it.
Many people do NOT!
It was completely painless and she died with her eyes open ... never knowing she had died.
I lament that when my time comes... and it WILL come ... there is no one to show me the great Kindness and Mercy that I was able to do for my beloved dog.
Jehovah God has stated many times in many different ways that he wants mercy ... and not sacrifice.
People that are COMPLETELY divorced from reality ... as it really is ... find the idea of killing ones child abhorrent, but there is a PRINCIPLE that reality based people understand, that liberals living in a fantasy world do NOT understand ... in Latin it's " Quod est necessarium est licitum", which means "that which is necessary, is legal" .
People of courage DO WHAT IS RIGHT, at ANY cost.
Slaves do what is legal.
If any of my three children had Rabies, as an example, and no medical care was available ... I would shoot him or her first ... and myself second.
Should I treat my children with LESS MERCY than my dog?

TrueTomHarley:
WOW!  That is absolutely stunning !
Reminds me of "Hogan's Heroes" TV show of years ago, Sgt Shultz.".
 

True TomHarley::
You have your opinions about me ... and I have my opinions about you ... the difference is I believe in Freedom of Speech ... for without freedom of expression, all people make themselves into slaves ... sometimes quickly .. sometimes they just ossify slowly, but they ALWAYS become slaves.  This has been true since Babylon was a world power, and before.
When you object to my MANNER of speaking ... instead of addressing the ISSUES .. you enter the world of cognitive dissonance and self induced fantasy scenarios.
Please feel free to turn your eyes aside and skip over my choice of  non-"True Tom Approved Fonts"
There are many "holy" secular phrases I recognize, and you do not.  One of them is:
" I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOU SAY, BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT !"
The issue is whether or not we have Freedom, and Liberty to exercise it ... not font styles.
YOU want everything that is not expressly approved and conventional, forbidden, 
Again, lease feel free to turn your eyes aside and skip over my choice of  non-"True Tom Approved Fonts". That way you can ignore the REAL ISSUES , and live in a mental cocoon.
 
 

I've been involved in looking into matters of immorality (fornication, "loose conduct" etc) but have only seen a child abuse case from a distance. I would agree however that not all elders are the same. So I can't speak for the reaction to a case of child abuse, but I would certainly guess that you are right in that elders would surely place the safety of the victim first even if they could not prove that the accused was guilty.
But in areas of immorality, elders don't always agree on recognizing the victim. I've seen cases where two sinners were treated equally wrong, but have also seen cases where the majority of elders missed a victim-in-the-making or treated the victim with more punishment than the aggressor.
There's the all-too-typical case of a brother who takes advantage of a sister who lives alone, and offers to do things for her around her house, making sure that he gradually stays around later and later, stays for a meal and a TV show and finally "pushes the envelope" to see where a backrub or a massage might lead. There's the sister who has too much to drink and a brother claims to have been seduced. There's the sister-down-the-street who just happened to notice a brother's car parked overnight in "Sister Pioneer's" driveway. In that last case, we know that both parties to the overnight guest have been disfellowshipped for denying the sin, and thus being both unrepentant. That is surely a case where the elders decide without a heavy burden of proof (and only one witness!)
The case of the tipsy sister, I have seen blamed on the sister as seductress, so that hers was the greater punishment.
The brothers who worm their way into a single or widowed sister's home are usually both considered equally guilty even if it takes months for the prowling brother to discover the moment of weakness.
The exposure and discussion of these matters is making us all more aware and more attuned to the right action to take.
My wife, serving as principal of a high school with nearly 3,000 students has had to deal with this a couple of times. As a mandatory reporter she has been screamed at and begged not to turn in an incestuous abuser in one case, and a physically violent abuser in another. But it's the law. The best you can do sometimes is to get a social worker, or CPS rep to take over, but sometimes a mandatory reporter ends up breaking a family apart. It's the nature of the law, but more importantly, it's the nature of the crime.
Of course the most insidious thing about institutional response to following the rules about contacting local authorities, is that, especially in religious institutions, there is the expectation that no one will believe you. It is often a person taking advantage of their authority and position in the first place. This makes the victim expect that even civil authorities will do nothing. When a priest, elder, deacon, or branch overseer is the perpetrator, then it's even worse: the victim and victim's guardians expect not to be believed. Guardians, other elders, and most of the entire congregation aren't expected to really believe the victim either. 

TrueTomHarley:
WOW!  That is absolutely stunning !
Reminds me of "Hogan's Heroes" TV show of years ago, Sgt Shultz.".
 

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TIRED OF BEING MANIPULATED BY FAKE NEWS?
VERY SIMPLE SOLUTION ... GET EDUCATED ABOUT WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON AROUND YOU!
Royal Commission Case Study 54: What to expect - by an anonymous reporter who DOES homework !
 
With Case Study 54 only a few days away, THIS FRIDAY (AUSTRALIAN TIME) MARCH 10, 2017 (You do the math for local time...) a lot of discussion has been circulating as to exactly what we can expect when Watchtower appears once again before the Australian Royal Commission.
I’ve decided to chip in a few observations here to help set expectations and to contribute to the discussions as best I’m able. So without further ado, let’s quickly run through what we know:
 
What exactly will be discussed?   According to the Commission website, the scope of the study is as follows
1.      The current policies and procedures of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia Ltd in relation to child protection and child-safe standards, including responding to allegations of child sexual abuse.
2.      Factors that may have contributed to the occurrence of child sexual abuse at Jehovah’s Witnesses and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia Ltd institutions.
3.      Factors that may have affected the institutional response of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia Ltd to child sexual abuse.
4.      The responses of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia Ltd to relevant case study report(s) and other Royal Commission reports.
5.      Any related matters.
The purpose of this public hearing is not to inquire into individual sets of facts or particular events as has occurred in previous Royal Commission case studies.
Why does the Case Study 54 hearing appear to be only one day long?   This may appear at first glance to be a surprise. How can a single day of testimony possibly be enough to cover the vast and complex issue of Watchtower’s child abuse scandal?
 
Well, remember that Case Study 54 isn’t a fact finding mission. That was Case Study 29. The Commission spent days digging and interviewing, and ultimately issued a detailed report on every aspect of Watchtower’s failure. As far as the Commission is concerned, the facts are in. There is no further debate. Case Study 54 is tasked purely with a quick review of those facts and then with publicly asking Watchtower what is has done to address the damning failures identified in Case Study 29.
Remember what Justice McClellan said to Watchtower’s legal team? That they were going to come back to Watchtower and publicly ask them what had been done to address the issues?
That’s what this is.
 
So what has Watchtower done in the 21 months since Case Study 29?   As far as I am aware, the only potential effort from  Watchtower to address any of the concerns raised in the Royal Commission has been to no longer require an abuse survivor to confront their attacker. However, it was not clear from testimony if this practice had actually been halted before the Commission sat. Watchtower seemed to insist in testimony that it was, but their documentation did not reflect this.
Thus one cannot say with certainty that even this potential change has come as a result of the Commission report.
 
So Watchtower is going to stand before the Commission, after 21 months, and basically say they’ve done nothing at all?   I have no idea.
 
I mean, that would be the honest thing to do, but remember how slippery and devious Watchtower was in Case Study 29, with senior Watchtower officials like Rodney Spinks, Terrence O’Brain and Governing Body Member Geoffrey Jackson attempted to mislead and outright lie to the Commission on multiple occasions. As far as I can see, Watchtower has three options
 
Admit they’ve done nothing and that they don’t intend to for religious reasons, and turn the whole thing into an issue of religious freedom.   Try to stall and muddy the waters by saying they’ve not had enough time, that they have no authority to make the changes required without Brooklyn agreement, knowing full well that Brooklyn is beyond the reach of the Commission. The idea here would be to stall until the day is over, then slink away and wait, knowing no further testimony is required.   Dive full into another round of misleading doublespeak and outright lies to try and pull the wool over the Commission’s eyes. Which one will they pick? Again I have no idea. Judging from Watchtower’s jaw-dropping legal incompetence in Case Study 29 and in the recent Fessler case, it’s very hard to predict their strategy. It seems to have no rhyme or reason, but keep in mind three things.
 
The men in charge of Watchtower are firstly very deluded. They genuinely think they are defending God’s organization against Satanic and apostate attack, and feel that compromise will be a victory for Satan.   The men in charge of Watchtower are very out of touch with real life, spending all their days in a world where you don’t question Watchtower or those who run it, and now they’ve risen to the top. Their word is law. Odds are that no-one has told Anthony Morris III that his ideas are stupid for a very long time. They have no idea how to handle the kind of environment the Royal Commission brings to the table. Geoffrey Jackson’s excruciating performance, where the Commission made mincemeat of his arguments, was proof of that.   The men in charge of Watchtower are caught between being honest with a Commission that has all of their dirty little secrets on the one hand, and playing to the growing audience of JW’s who they know WILL find out about March 10th one way or the other. They have to both be as compliant as possible to the Commission whilst also appearing to be steadfast and unmovable to the Witnesses who will end up seeing the testimony on YouTube.   So delusion, seclusion, and public relations are all going to crash into once horrible mess as they did in Case Study 29 and as a result I have no idea what Watchtower will do on Friday.
 
We  hope to preserve the live steam video for future reference as the Commission does not archive or make this video available once the live stream is over. However, technical gremlins are always a factor so if you have the ability to record the live stream, it would be a great idea to do so as well. The more people do this, the less chance of this footage being lost forever.
 
Lastly we will of course be following up with articles on the day, giving you a more detailed analysis of what has transpired.
Get your popcorn (and your coffee if you’re staying up late) and lets all observe the car crash together!
And one last thing: if it is safe for you to do so, please tell as many Jehovah’s Witnesses as you can about the events on March 10th. Their children are at risk and they don’t even know it. They may choose not to look up the Case Study, but simply being aware that it exists is the first step in raising awareness that the Governing Body is not being honest with them about the international scandal of child abuse inside the Watchtower organization.
(edited for political correctness and other stuff ...) JTR
 
 

I HAVE REVIEWED THE LAST FOUR PAGES OF INCREDIBLY DISGUSTING LOGIC AND EXCUSES.
During World War II, England was almost conquered by the Nazi Luftwaffe in a long series of Air battles over England as waves of German aircraft continuously bombed London and other cities, and the outnumbered British RAF pilots knew as they rose into the sky to meet this barbarian horde, that being outnumbered, and out-gunned, and running out of planes and pilots ... barring unforeseen circumstances .. in less than an hour, they would BE DEAD! .. and their Nation soon destroyed.  This was called the "Battle of Britain".
Shot out of the sky, their bodies burned, crushed, shot or blown to small pieces. NOW!
Many of these men truly believed in Christ, to the limits of their understanding, and many were atheists.... but they sacrificed their lives, many knowing they would be FOREVER DEAD ... to fight for Justice, Truth, Fairness, that their extended Family would not become slaves of the Third Reich.
All this crap about "who is or is not clergy", and "what is the law on this side of the boundary" is TOTALLY IRRELEVANT to people who love righteousness, and have the courage to FIGHT for it.
When the opinions, and culture of your friends turns you into a weasely lawyer looking for loopholes to escape censure, and you get into the mindset that just because the Governing Body cannot be fired, that they are the will of God  what you have is an eight sided Trinity ... an Octopus Pope.
Do you not REALIZE that rough men of violence, who swear, drink, and screw around, who are willing to put their lives on THE LINE ... and die for Justice .. compared to our craven abdication of our responsibility to the Brotherhood for disfellowshipping those who talk and cry out in anguish ... and hide their gross incompetency and craven greed for money and authority,  these men HAVE THE MORAL HIGH GROUND!
NOT US !

INTREPID TRAVELER said;
" """""Nooooooooo. My momma said never to let a RCC priest or a Jehovah's Witness man touch me ever ! I mean look what is happening in Australia at the Royal Commission into Sexual Abuse within the Jehovah's Witness movement - 1006 perpetrators ....and not one of them was reported to the authorities ! ..................so put me down ! """"
http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/getattachment/c2d1f1f5-a1f2-4241-82fb-978d072734bd/Report-of-Case-Study-No-29
https://www.revealnews.org/blog/jehovahs-witnesses-settle-lawsuit-alleging-coverup-of-child-sex-abuse/
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/16/australian-catholic-church-has-paid-276m-to-abuse-victims-so-far-inquiry-shows
i WATCHED the Entire Australian Royal Commission Inquiry 29, which went on for more that than week, and even if you know NOTHING else except the TRUTH, which many of the elders being interrogated under oath showed so pitifully clearly, those HARD FACTS exposed for all the world to see how much SHAME the GB, the Branch Offices and the Elders have brought on Jehovah's Name and slanders HIS name by us behaving in such a manner, perverting JUSTICE for over 5,000 victims of over 1,006 perpertrators ALL HIDDEN IN SECRET ENVELOPES IN THE KINGDOM HALL FILES, and in BLUE secret envelopes copies sent to the Branch Offices, and in NOT ONE of these cases was this CRIMINAL activity reported to police to protect the small Brothers and Sisters... THE SOLUTION was to threaten the victims and their families with disfellowshipping, and in many cases that WAS DONE, to keep everybody's mouths shut, for over 50 years.
I talk to MANY people a week about the Truth of God, and half of them DO keep up with global news, and they ask me ... "How can you POSSIBLY still be a champion of Jehovah's Witnesses, when they are involved with all this evil (not just in Australia, but in the UK and the United States ...) ?".
There is NO way to defend it, and I would not ... so to make a VERRRRRyyyyy long story very short .... I just say "All clergy, once it reaches a certain organizational size ALWAYS evolves into making many buildings, and may distractions, and if Justice interferes with the cash flow ... Justice is the FIRST thing that is abandoned."
There has NEVER in the History of Civilization been ANY exceptions to this rule. None exist today.
This March the Australian Royal Commission on Child Abuse #29 will have a week long follow up, Case #54, or #57, if memory serves.   THE WHOLE WORLD KNOWS ALL ABOUT THIS, as Intrepid Traveler's links show.
YOU HAVE A CHOICE .... Remain ignorant, and by extension deliberately choose to be a fool .... or find out what is REALLY going on around you.
When you deliberately choose NOT TO KNOW .... just like in Nazi Germany ... the appropriate label is ....
EVIL.
The REAL question is why are 90% of ALL JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES ignorant of ALL of this.
The answer is:  They GB thinks we are all wallets and small children, and their complicity in all of this would be exposed, and the financial empire .... AND THEIR JOBS .... would be forfeit.
.

"No. I am your Father!"
"No! That's not true! That's impossible!"

Antiquis temporibus, nati tibi similes in rupibus ventosissimis exponebantur ad necem.
[In the good old days, children like you were left to perish on windswept crags.]