Patiently waiting for Truth

No, it's Empathy 
I've answered this many times but you and others don't like my answer.  The Watchtower / JW Org is not supposed to be like any other group. It is suposed to be 'God's chosen Org'.  It would be like me, if I wanted to compare myself, to make myself feel good. I'd compare myself to a drug addict, an alcoholic or a murderer. I could then say, Well I'm better than them. You and other JWs are doing just that with the Org. You are comparing it to things that you know are worse. Of course the JW Org is better than a whorehouse. now try comparing the JW Org to God's standards. You will find it fails miserably. 
Physically in - spiritually out.   BUT that creates a problem. What will you preach or teach to others ? Will you teach GB speak, or will you teach truth ?  That was one of the problems i faced because the GB / Watchtower goes beyond the things written. 
This breaks down into a couple of things. Firstly I have NO interest in politics and NO interest in this idea of pigeonholing  / name calling. "zeitgest of marxist-post-modernism"
Secondly. Lumping all JW's together as if they had a collective responsibility over actions others have taken (etc)
All JWs do have the responsibility because they follow the insrtutions of the GB, through the Watchtower and through the Elders.  They are taught to no longer BE individuals. As an example, when I've asked an Elder about a certain point in scripture, he has said to me, I'll have to look at how the organisation sees this. He would not give me HIS individual opinion. And when there is action to be taken it is done inline with GB / Watchtower insructions.  Everything preached is by order of the GB / Watchtower.  There is not supposed to be any individuals in the JW org. There are only sheep. The problem is that their shepherds are not serving God.
You try to be clever and to mix so much up in one ortwo sentances. You fail. 
Lets start here.  quote :
" I see a Satanic hand in all this as the nullification of the individual and individual responsibility and the denial of free will and truth. "
Same answer as above.  JWs are not suppoaed to have free will. They are supposed to do exactly as they are told.  The misuse of scripture such as 'Be obedient to those taking the lead anomg you'. Hebrews 13 :17
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1989685
Quote "Paul made use of his status as a Roman citizen without being guilty of the abuses of the Roman state."
Are you suggesting that a JW could make use of their JW 'citizenship' whilst acting, teaching and preaching, something completely different ?  Instant d/fed I would think.  
Not so easy is it ?  Congregation run by Elders, Elders in subjection to Circuit Overseer, in subjection to and in subjection to, right up to their HQ Bethel, then up to GB.  The ordinary congregant has two chioce, as i found. Stay in and put up with it, or, leave. 
As for you, you are one Elder, so I wish you well in sorting out your own congregation. But you'll probs not be looking to see where the problems are, as you say you just let things go by. 

I haven't got the energy to take offence anymore  

About as discreet as the Terminator.

"Also, do not take to heart every word that people say; otherwise, you may hear your servant calling down evil on you; for you well know in your heart that many times you yourself have called down evil on others." - Ecc.7:21-22 (This might be a good one too)
Though I confess to speaking thoughtlessly as with the stabs of a sword on occasion. Shame on me for that.
(the question of course that occurred to me now, was whether the servant in the aforementioned was discreet or not.) No matter. Because it does say before this "..every word that people say". Maybe he didn't say it. Maybe he said it and didn't mean it that way. Maybe he said it, meant it in that way and I needed to hear it.

Well, you DO raise an excellent point here.

Well I hope you don’t get banned..I don’t see why you would..probably for the reason you have quoted above..
Yes I liked JRT...for a number of reasons of which I won’t go into here...but yes I also winced as some of his phrases.... but I got him...
As to abusive  language..well I tend to be surrounded by it normally...so what you and some others here class as abusive probably wouldn’t bother me too much..
personally if I’m honest I dont really know who’s who..or who’s what..here...
But I would object strongly if you were banned...

Nor should they..this thread is stupid....brothers and sisters are dying out there.. being  tortured..thrown into prison...losing their employment..families turning on them...their faith tested to the max!!!!!!
And the worse is yet to come for many of us
and this is the Calibre of point of discussion...c’mon..people!!!

"Do not be quick to take offense, for the taking of offense lodges in the bosom of fools." - Ecc. 7:9
Of course today, it's a sport. Years ago someone in Portland put up a blog entitled "Stuff White People Like". This is No. 101
https://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/05/28/101-being-offended/

I understand where you're coming from, but I have to disagree as to differences in theology as being irrelevant. Take the Declaration of Independence, where it says "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." At the time this was written slavery existed in the colonies and wasn't wiped out at that time. It did, however establish a vector w/in the text as to the ideal. Theologies likewise carry within them a vector w/in, a text as to the ideal. I hold these things to not be irrelevant even if we are unable to fully realize them at present. There is value in intolerance, even beauty. The issue is one of hating sin, while not at the same time hating the sinner. For example homosexuality is practically embraced by so many so-called Christians today, because not embracing this behavior is seen as loathsome hatred of the being of another, a denial of these people and their existence. It isn't. People can and do change. Having unwholesome predilections can be curbed. But we need to make it clear that it isn't just these sins which are at issue, but we often can give this impression. The Bible is full of descriptions of sin and if we're honest we're all guilty. Legalism can be and is an issue w/many as these seek to avoid all condemnation in their own eyes. But we have to be honest, we're not better than anyone, but to the extent that we submit to God's direction (don't equate this w/fidelity to organizations) we can find ourselves moving in the right direction. Provided our theology is providing the right (or best) roadmap.

So what are we to make of this comment from Srecko? He yields on his ridiculous comparison of institutional abuse in various religions to abuse in families that happen to be religious. He yields on it because it is ridiculous and he can no longer support it.
So what does he do? He takes a “heads I win/tails you lose “ new argument. “Well, since other organizations have people who sin, and you do too, there is no reason to say you are any different.”
Will he say it of the hospital? “Well, since there are plenty of sick people in the world and also plenty in the hospital, there is no reason to go there.”

In writing about the May 2019 Watchtower, I mentioned how opposers would say, “It only happened because of our prodding.” They would claim “credit” for the “clarification.”
So? Give it to them, so far as I am concerned. Everything in life is action/reaction. “Out of sight/out of mind” is the universal human tendency that operates towards any who have gone out of sight, and in the case of former JWs who have suffered abuse from which they have not recovered, these opposers did not permit it to happen. I have no problem acknowledging their role.
https://www.tomsheepandgoats.com/2019/02/the-reproach-of-child-sexual-abuse-falls-on-the-abu.html
Even if you have to call them out on their excessive vendetta you can still recognize they have spurred on valuable change.

From this it could justifiably be concluded that all organizations are similar and that none meet the “divine” criteria.
Differences in theology become irrelevant if members cannot curb their negative urges/impulses and if cultivate prejudices toward members of other religions and toward former members. Out of a desire to please God, Cain and Abel forgot that they should love one another first, and only then love God.

I also read of a ex JW who stated he went to the Bible students ( Russell’s followers) and some other groups of which I cannot remember and he noted that all the problems he/she saw with In The org...was also present within those said groups..it’s everywhere...even Franz who wrote his famous book said he did not see that this was a issue any worse than any other faith...
 

This is a lot of energy. It doesn't not seem like what it appears to be - a lot of pain being expressed. Others have said and will likely say again that any trust in humans is misplaced trust, but none of it is convincing that it's the same sort of thing for which institutions have been convicted.
I asked whether there was any group untouched by this sort of thing, and the absence of a response means you understand that there isn't.
Others have pointed out how imagining that the organization is untouched by human imperfection is imagining an impossibility, and that idolizing it is a mistake. I've seen it done for years, but usually from those who wish to lord their relative positions over others.
As a christian, you have no authority other than that of a fellow brother or sister and no further responsibility either. You have to adhere to your conscience and if you don't or haven't that's on you. If an elder or even a body of elders has done something of this sort, that's on them.
I have and others who likewise consider themselves to be faithful test every expression ostensibly inspired or otherwise to see if it washes with scripture - if it does, fine, if it doesn't then you can't go along with it.
Lumping all JW's together as if they had a collective responsibility over actions others have taken or haven't taken flies in the face of individual responsibility. It does accord, however with the zeitgest of marxist-post-modernism whereby there is no truth, only power and the idea of collective guilt and collective responsibility. Marx failed to enthuse the workers to revolt, but the post-modernist-marxists at every turn seek to organize society into a myriad competing, yet miserable factions all of which are seeking the status of the penultimate victim.
I see a Satanic hand in all this as the nullification of the individual and individual responsibility and the denial of free will and truth.  Some might argue that being in an organization is equivalent to worshiping the organization. I don't. Paul made use of his status as a Roman citizen without being guilty of the abuses of the Roman state. Christians today could be in congregations which have strayed - that's on them to address. Are these addressing group sins, or those of individuals? If you have an issue w/an individual, you have recourse. Has a congregation gone wholly awry? If that's true, I haven't seen it yet, but if that time comes, it would be on me to deal with it. As an individual. And by scriptural means.
Oh and at the risk of being taken seriously.
 

How many? No more than anywhere in the overall population, and probably much less. It is almost always rank and file, in contrast to all other institutions on the hot seat whose leaders themselves were the abusers, and no mechanism even exists for tracking the rank and file.
What I much appreciate is HF’s righteous indignation that this vendetta from exJW’s redirects rage from child sexual abuse towards what is essentially a non-factor, or even a mitigating one, just to satisfy their hate. Thus, those exJWs serve to short-circuit legitimate efforts to curtail it, diverting resources. In pursuit of their greater goal, they actually show themselves friends of CSA.

Where has this been eliminated? I have yet to read of an organization anywhere where this has been eliminated.
All these things are red-herrings. These are important issues, but after years of deliberation I've considered that the hoping and waiting on Jehovah can create in some people so much stress and so much dissonance that they'd rather stop hoping and waiting. Hoping becomes for them another promise which they feel after years will ultimately fail.
Believe me, I understand the feeling. But the organization isn't the issue, which after a time we realize from viewing many who leave for one reason stay away from God altogether (if they don't narrowly reinterpret things into yet another private expectation).
We're all of us waiting on Jehovah and I'm as impatient as the next. (But who wasn't feeling all these things over the centuries?). I suspect this is why so many flock to organizations which promise a direct contact with the divine. You see this in charismatic churches, in people who dabble in the occult, people who look to new age religions, Ancient Aliens, anything which can provide them with that direct contact with the divine (even if that 'divine' turns out to be demonic).
I understand all that. Quite frankly, I'd get myself nailed up to a cross myself if I thought I could get five minutes verification of what's going on.
I don't do that, but I will go for a ten mile run and a dip in the ocean.

Cesar Chavez is Billy the Kid.  Strange how he keeps referring to James, perhaps CC has a similar problem. 

HF aka Holly Folk from Cesnur (strange organization indeed) speaking about "family abuse" inside JW organization/congregations as something that is real problem in WTJWorg. She explained/stated how cases of CSA in WTJWorg are not "institutional". Let see. 
How many parents / guardians have committed CSA to their children? When this became known, then the "institution" through WTJWorg elders, took "institutional measures" in this regard.
How many JW members regardless of status (rank and file, MS, elders) have committed CSA over other people's children? When this became known, then the "institution" through WTJWorg elders, took "institutional measures" in this regard.
In both cases, the WTJWorg institution became involved in "family" relations or "private" relations between members and decided that such a case was within the jurisdiction of WTJWorg, a "religious-business institution". Moreover, WTJWorg has over time established a “procedure” or “policy” on how such matters should be dealt WITHOUT involving “secular institutions”.
So please, who wants to tell stories here and blur the eyes of others? HF and Cesnur for sure. Who else?
On the other hand, if WTJWorg has had a problem with “domestic violence and family abuse” to such an extent throughout all these decades, than we need to seriously ask - where has the “WTJWorg institution” failed?

More human rules usually catches the innocent as well as the perpetrators. So yes, we do not print books in France any longer due to their other discriminatory laws. 
It is to be expected - life will become tough and oppressive in last days

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/15/frances-controversial-separatism-bill-explained
Critics say the so-called “separatism law” is discriminatory and targets France’s 5.7 million-strong Muslim community, the largest in Europe.
This month, French MPs staged two weeks of heated debates in the National Assembly, discussing some 1,700 proposed amendments to the bill’s 51 articles.
While France’s left lambasted an attack on civil liberties, the right criticised the government for failing to overtly tackle “Islamist extremism”, which is not mentioned in the text.
With debates in the lower house now completed and 313 amendments accepted, a vote will take place on Tuesday and the bill is expected to receive the green light at the Senate, before passing into law within months.
Any association in France that receives public funding will have to sign a “republican contract of engagement” which, if breached, can result in the removal of that funding. (Does JW Org receive funding in France ? )
The grounds for dissolving an association are also no longer limited to court orders – they would be extended to include administrative decisions.
 
Aimed at ending so-called clandestine schools with their own agenda, all homeschooling will need to be authorised by the state rather than be self-declared, starting from the 2024/2025 school year.... This will affect an estimated 62,000 home-schooled children in France, though exemptions include health and disability reasons, as well as geographic distance from school.  ( I wonder how many JWs home school thier children in France ? )
Foreign funding of religious organisations
Stricter financial controls would be put in place on foreign money sent to religious organisations in France, and so-called “anti-putsch” rules for religious associations are designed to allow the government to prevent takeovers by “extremists”.
Those that receive foreign financing will need to declare any income of more than 10,000 euros ($12,000) from abroad and to publish annual accounts that the government can access. ( As far as i am aware the Watchtower / JW Org has all monies from all congregations sent to America HQ. Now this may mean that money sent to France from America might be classed as 'foreign funding' ) 
It seems to be aimed at Islam although Islam is not mentioned in it. BUT could it affect the Watchtower / JW Org ? 
In honesty I can see some practical reasons for bringing in tighter restrictions, but of course it is worrying that it might be misused. 

I laugh at you JWs trying to clear your own conscience, just so that you can continue your 'comfort zone' way of life. Your social club. For that's what it is. 
Deliberately twisting truth and deliberately denying CSA in your 'oh so precious Org'. You continue to serve your GB, your 'F&DS', your heroes.  
Oh yes of course some of you admit, well yes it does happen, but it's because people are 'only human'. and then you go on to compare it to the 'world'. How really sad it is to compare things to the 'world' which is run by Satan. It seems you compare the Org on the same level as the 'world'. Very strange as the Org is supposed to be 'no part of the world'. But you people drag it into that 'world'. 
Let's take anna's stupid comment. Or was it tom's ? 
Can you see how this is so stupid ?  Walmart shoppers are not employed by Walmart. Walmart have no responsibility for it's shoppers in that respect.  BUT the GB and all it's 'official' ranks are the responsibility of the Watchtower / Org. 
(I'll ask one more time. What has happened to that 25 + year Pedophilia database that the GB and it's Lawyers are hiding away ? Have the GB done a deal with the Feds ? Or is the new president going to make pedophilia legal ? )
I don't think so. I think it is you that is confused. Because what has happened, and has been proven in courts, is that the Watchtower / JW Org has hidden the CSA by Elders and Ministerial Servants. Yes those 'highly thought of brothers' that abuse their own children and others, have been kept hidden in congregations, because the children have been frightened into keeping quiet. 
Oh well, it's lunch time here in Devon, England, and eating lunch is more positive that trying to teach truth to you that just want your ears tickled by your superiors. 

Stopping the door to door work probably stopped a lot of exercise for JWs.  I used to love the door to door out in our Devon countryside around the farms. Of course I believed the message then so it was a good feeling too. But exercise equipment is cheap enough so no real excuse to stop exercising. I have a stepper, a sit up bar that fits under a door, a chin up bar which fits into a doorway, all cheap and chearful stuff. I have a skipping rope too, but tend to hit the light bulb on the ceiling  .

If just cracks me up when someone downvotes a comment that undermines whatever they harp on—as though without a downvote, nobody would have any idea they might disapprove. 
It’s even more so when people downvote insults to themselves. Duh.
I think I’m going to collect a few insults and upvote them all as a subtle means of ridicule.

Alas, this fine thread has devolved into a cat fight. But I’ll bring it back on topic, thus redeeming myself in CC’s eyes. I’m not entirely sure how I fell from his good graces.
This is pretty much the standard in the land in which they live. They by no means are out of place. I think one reason no one gets too serious about clamping down on “fatties” is that the causes are difficult to quantify. 
I have known people to eat like hogs. It’s no surprise when they get fat. But I’ve also known people to eat sparingly and still put on weight. Moreover, cutting food does not necessarily make them lose weight. You would think it would but it doesn’t.
There is an acronym of SAD, “Standard American Diet,” which is sad in that it virtually assures packing on the pounds. Look at any TV show of 50+ years ago and note how rail thin the backdrop characters are as opposed to today. The processed foods, meat and potatoes, high carb, high sugar diet is conducive to overweight even without overeating, even with moderate exercise. Add a sedentary lifestyle, which comes with the job for some of these guys, and the waistlines start to swell. 
Alas, there is chicanery in the food industry. Fast food will make you bigger than a house. But even regular sold food will point one that way... Google and you can find how that campaign to go low-fat was actually started by the sugar industry in order to deflect damage from their own offerings onto someone else and sell more stuff. Starchy, sugary food is very addicting yet is not on the list of what anyone would call gluttonous. Everything is high sugar, even things you would not suspect, such as ketchup.
I think some weight campaigners cease being such when they reach a certain age and find that, even though they eat no more, even though they were once thin, they start to pack on the pounds with the same diet as before.