Jack Ryan

Help! College is filling my mind with 'HARMFUL PROPAGANDA'.

He reiterated this again just today!
Gerrit Lösch gives a special talk the Norval Assembly Hall in Georgetown Canada
There were 2 sisters who got up and had a dramatization about a sister not wanting to go to College. I will paraphrase as best as I can.
High School Counselor: ''Have a seat Karen and I will show you all the College applications I have for you.''
Sister: ''Thank you for all the work you have done.''
Counselor: '' I have an application from Harvard,one from Michigan University,and a couple from the East Coast.''
Sister: '' I have done alot of thinking and decided not to go to any College."
Counselor: ''Karen,you have a 4.0 grade average and scored very high on the A.C.T. and you would have no problem getting into any of these schools."
Sister: '' As you know,I'm a Jehovah's Witness and we believe that we are near the ''end times.'' I decided that I will go into the preaching work part time and maybe go to a 2 year school."
Counselor: ''You will probably get into these schools at almost no cost because of your 4.0 average and high A.C.T. scores and have a good career the rest of your life.These are great schools and will prepare you to land a good job.''
Sister: ''This world is passing by and may not be here any longer. I decided to enter the ministry work and Jehovah God will provide for me in the future."
 
He brought up the fact that "70% of freshman go to post-secondary for MORE MONEY" - of course this is what ppl focus on when going to post-secondary. Does he seriously expect people to make over $20/hour without a post-secondary education, with the exception of trades? (I know you can get a good salary without post-secondary but this is increasingly hard to do in the 2010s) I guess we all should be making minimum wage for the rest of our lives and focus on pioneering!
Including the musical interlude, Watchtower summary, Canada stats, and Losch's talk, the program was 2h 40m..
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Item about child sexual abuse within community of Jehovah's Witnesses, RTL Nieuws (Netherlands), October 6th, 2018 English subtitles included
 

Item about child sexual abuse within community of Jehovah's Witnesses, RTL Nieuws (Netherlands), October 6th, 2018 English subtitles included
 

On the heels of a $35 million jury award to a woman who alleged the congregation mishandled her childhood abuse, other survivors say there's a pattern of cover-ups.

She was 14, and at first, the attention felt innocent — like any other friendly interaction Moriah Smith had with fellow Jehovah's Witnesses during worship meetings.
Smith didn't think anything of the casual conversations she was having with Elihu Rodriguez, a 25-year-old man in her Seattle-area congregation. When he started giving her gifts, like new clothing and a cell phone, Smith — who was taught through her religion that sex is only between a husband and wife — did not think she was being groomed for sexual abuse.
Smith says it was in October 2012, five days before her 15th birthday, that Rodriguez had sex with her in the bedroom of the house she lived in with her father, a respected Jehovah's Witness elder. More sexual abuse followed for the next three months, she said. Ridden by panic attacks but ashamed and confused by what was happening, Smith didn't tell anyone, including her family, what was going on.
"I didn't understand anything really about sex," Smith, now 20, said. "I also had the fear of disappointing God. Not only that, but I could potentially be shunned."
The following year, Smith moved to Fairfield, Washington. Although she still did not feel comfortable disclosing to her parents — who she says did ultimately cut off contact with her when they found out years later what she endured in her prior congregation — she worked up the courage to report it to three elders at the Fairfield Kingdom Hall.
The elders "basically told me that it was my fault. They told me that I wasn't sorry enough to God for what I had done," said Smith, who has since left the religion and works in the Spokane, Washington, area as an administrative assistant at a private medical company. "They talked about putting Jehovah first, putting God first in your life, and I wasn't, apparently, doing that to their standards."
How the Jehovah's Witnesses handle sex abuse claims
In the tight-knit Jehovah's Witness community, outsiders, including authorities, are often viewed suspiciously, according to religious scholars. As a result, accusations of any sort between members of the congregation are typically first dealt with through an internal judicial process — one that requires two witnesses to a crime to prove guilt, a tenet that's in keeping with the Witnesses' strict, often literal interpretation of the Bible.
The religion's handling of abuse claims has recently come under fire. In the past decade, there have been at least 30 lawsuits nationwide against the organization arising from its responses to childhood sex abuse, and a jury award of $35 million on Sept. 26 to a Montana woman who claimed the congregation covered up the abuse she suffered at the hands of a congregation member as a child put a rare spotlight on the insular religion.
In Smith's case, she said the elders she reported to privately reproved her, Jehovah's Witnesses' quiet way of denying wrongdoers in the congregation of certain privileges. Rodriguez was not punished, she said.
"They had used the Bible to victim-shame me for what I had done, and they never did anything to him."
"They had used the Bible to victim-shame me for what I had done, and they never did anything to him," Smith said. "He got married, and he remained within the congregation — a child molester living among them."
Smith's allegations led to charges against Rodriguez. NBC News verified the details of her claims through charging documents filed in King County Superior Court in Washington in July; in addition to rape of a child in the third degree for what allegedly happened with Smith, Rodriguez was also charged with rape of a child in the second degree involving a 12- or 13-year-old Jehovah's Witness girl he allegedly had a relationship with around the same time.
When reached by phone, Rodriguez repeatedly told NBC News that he had no comment. He has not entered a plea in the case.
The Office of Public Information at the World Headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses responded to last month's Montana jury verdict with a brief statement that said Jehovah's Witnesses "abhor child abuse and strive to protect children from such acts," while adding it planned to appeal the $35 million fine.
Photographs of Moriah Smith's grandparents, (from left) her mother, her brother and her father, sit on a table at her house near a memento signifying the date of her baptism into the Jehovah's Witnesses faith in 2011. Rajah Bose / for NBC News
In response to questions from NBC News about what happened to Smith, Fairfield Kingdom Hall did not return a request for comment, and the Office of Public Information at the World Headquarters said in an email that "it would be inappropriate for us to comment on specific cases."
It directed NBC News to its "scripturally based position on child protection," a two-page document on its website that intersperses Biblical references with denouncements of child abuse and outlines how the congregation aims to protect its children.
"When elders learn of an accusation of child abuse, they immediately consult with the branch office of JehovahÂ’s Witnesses to ensure compliance with child abuse reporting laws. (Romans 13:1) Even if the elders have no legal duty to report an accusation to the authorities, the branch office of JehovahÂ’s Witnesses will instruct the elders to report the matter if a minor is still in danger of abuse or there is some other valid reason," says one bullet point in the document.
Smith says that kind of protection was never offered in her case. Even worse, when she finally told her family a couple of years later that she had been in a sexual relationship with an older man at age 14, she says they accused her of flirting, and have since stopped talking to her because they view her as a "spiritual threat" to their own commitment to their faith.
"They were willing to turn their back on their own child to pursue a religion rather than support their own child," she said.
'There's no list of questions or protocols'
Other former Jehovah's Witnesses say they have experienced a pattern of covering up abuse to protect the religion's reputation dating back decades.
"There's no list of questions or protocols. These men are literally flying by the seat of their pants. They're not cops or welfare workers," said William Bowen, a former elder who now serves as an expert witness on how Jehovah's Witnesses operate with respect to allegations of sexual abuse. Bowen is also the national director of Silentlambs, a victims' support group where abuse survivors who have gotten kicked out of the religion anonymously share their stories. He says he has collected more than 1,000 stories on the website since he started it in 2001.
Chessa Manion, 29, describes the abuse she saw within the religious organization as "systemic." She says she was raped by the teenage son of an elder in 1994 in Illinois when she was five years old, and when her parents told elders what had happened, their response was: "Let bygones be bygones for Jehovah's sake. Don't ruin his name by taking this public."
"I feel that their first interest is not for the victim. It's for themselves," Manion said. "It's really this culture of silencing and of cleaning things up and of tolerance."
'This is not tolerable in a civilized society'
Smith's attorney, Irwin Zalkin, whose San Diego law firm has been litigating against Jehovah's Witnesses across the country for nearly two decades, expects to file a civil lawsuit in the coming month on her behalf.
He says the suit will claim negligence on the part of Jehovah's Witnesses for how they process child sex abuse claims such as Smith's. It will seek financial compensation and an overhaul of the religion's response to victims.
"At some point, they have to understand that this is not tolerable in a civilized society," Zalkin said. "She was the was the one who they, in essence, prosecuted."
Smith said she hopes that by taking legal action, she will prevent what happened to her from happening to other Jehovah's Witness children.
"It is absolutely an environment where the abuser is set up to abuse again," she said. "They are putting children at risk all the time because of the lack of action on the part of the organization. They do not have things in place to get these dangerous people out of the midst of their children."
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jehovah-s-witnesses-use-bible-victim-shame-sex-abuse-survivor-n916326

On the heels of a $35 million jury award to a woman who alleged the congregation mishandled her childhood abuse, other survivors say there's a pattern of cover-ups.

She was 14, and at first, the attention felt innocent — like any other friendly interaction Moriah Smith had with fellow Jehovah's Witnesses during worship meetings.
Smith didn't think anything of the casual conversations she was having with Elihu Rodriguez, a 25-year-old man in her Seattle-area congregation. When he started giving her gifts, like new clothing and a cell phone, Smith — who was taught through her religion that sex is only between a husband and wife — did not think she was being groomed for sexual abuse.
Smith says it was in October 2012, five days before her 15th birthday, that Rodriguez had sex with her in the bedroom of the house she lived in with her father, a respected Jehovah's Witness elder. More sexual abuse followed for the next three months, she said. Ridden by panic attacks but ashamed and confused by what was happening, Smith didn't tell anyone, including her family, what was going on.
"I didn't understand anything really about sex," Smith, now 20, said. "I also had the fear of disappointing God. Not only that, but I could potentially be shunned."
The following year, Smith moved to Fairfield, Washington. Although she still did not feel comfortable disclosing to her parents — who she says did ultimately cut off contact with her when they found out years later what she endured in her prior congregation — she worked up the courage to report it to three elders at the Fairfield Kingdom Hall.
The elders "basically told me that it was my fault. They told me that I wasn't sorry enough to God for what I had done," said Smith, who has since left the religion and works in the Spokane, Washington, area as an administrative assistant at a private medical company. "They talked about putting Jehovah first, putting God first in your life, and I wasn't, apparently, doing that to their standards."
How the Jehovah's Witnesses handle sex abuse claims
In the tight-knit Jehovah's Witness community, outsiders, including authorities, are often viewed suspiciously, according to religious scholars. As a result, accusations of any sort between members of the congregation are typically first dealt with through an internal judicial process — one that requires two witnesses to a crime to prove guilt, a tenet that's in keeping with the Witnesses' strict, often literal interpretation of the Bible.
The religion's handling of abuse claims has recently come under fire. In the past decade, there have been at least 30 lawsuits nationwide against the organization arising from its responses to childhood sex abuse, and a jury award of $35 million on Sept. 26 to a Montana woman who claimed the congregation covered up the abuse she suffered at the hands of a congregation member as a child put a rare spotlight on the insular religion.
In Smith's case, she said the elders she reported to privately reproved her, Jehovah's Witnesses' quiet way of denying wrongdoers in the congregation of certain privileges. Rodriguez was not punished, she said.
"They had used the Bible to victim-shame me for what I had done, and they never did anything to him."
"They had used the Bible to victim-shame me for what I had done, and they never did anything to him," Smith said. "He got married, and he remained within the congregation — a child molester living among them."
Smith's allegations led to charges against Rodriguez. NBC News verified the details of her claims through charging documents filed in King County Superior Court in Washington in July; in addition to rape of a child in the third degree for what allegedly happened with Smith, Rodriguez was also charged with rape of a child in the second degree involving a 12- or 13-year-old Jehovah's Witness girl he allegedly had a relationship with around the same time.
When reached by phone, Rodriguez repeatedly told NBC News that he had no comment. He has not entered a plea in the case.
The Office of Public Information at the World Headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses responded to last month's Montana jury verdict with a brief statement that said Jehovah's Witnesses "abhor child abuse and strive to protect children from such acts," while adding it planned to appeal the $35 million fine.
Photographs of Moriah Smith's grandparents, (from left) her mother, her brother and her father, sit on a table at her house near a memento signifying the date of her baptism into the Jehovah's Witnesses faith in 2011. Rajah Bose / for NBC News
In response to questions from NBC News about what happened to Smith, Fairfield Kingdom Hall did not return a request for comment, and the Office of Public Information at the World Headquarters said in an email that "it would be inappropriate for us to comment on specific cases."
It directed NBC News to its "scripturally based position on child protection," a two-page document on its website that intersperses Biblical references with denouncements of child abuse and outlines how the congregation aims to protect its children.
"When elders learn of an accusation of child abuse, they immediately consult with the branch office of JehovahÂ’s Witnesses to ensure compliance with child abuse reporting laws. (Romans 13:1) Even if the elders have no legal duty to report an accusation to the authorities, the branch office of JehovahÂ’s Witnesses will instruct the elders to report the matter if a minor is still in danger of abuse or there is some other valid reason," says one bullet point in the document.
Smith says that kind of protection was never offered in her case. Even worse, when she finally told her family a couple of years later that she had been in a sexual relationship with an older man at age 14, she says they accused her of flirting, and have since stopped talking to her because they view her as a "spiritual threat" to their own commitment to their faith.
"They were willing to turn their back on their own child to pursue a religion rather than support their own child," she said.
'There's no list of questions or protocols'
Other former Jehovah's Witnesses say they have experienced a pattern of covering up abuse to protect the religion's reputation dating back decades.
"There's no list of questions or protocols. These men are literally flying by the seat of their pants. They're not cops or welfare workers," said William Bowen, a former elder who now serves as an expert witness on how Jehovah's Witnesses operate with respect to allegations of sexual abuse. Bowen is also the national director of Silentlambs, a victims' support group where abuse survivors who have gotten kicked out of the religion anonymously share their stories. He says he has collected more than 1,000 stories on the website since he started it in 2001.
Chessa Manion, 29, describes the abuse she saw within the religious organization as "systemic." She says she was raped by the teenage son of an elder in 1994 in Illinois when she was five years old, and when her parents told elders what had happened, their response was: "Let bygones be bygones for Jehovah's sake. Don't ruin his name by taking this public."
"I feel that their first interest is not for the victim. It's for themselves," Manion said. "It's really this culture of silencing and of cleaning things up and of tolerance."
'This is not tolerable in a civilized society'
Smith's attorney, Irwin Zalkin, whose San Diego law firm has been litigating against Jehovah's Witnesses across the country for nearly two decades, expects to file a civil lawsuit in the coming month on her behalf.
He says the suit will claim negligence on the part of Jehovah's Witnesses for how they process child sex abuse claims such as Smith's. It will seek financial compensation and an overhaul of the religion's response to victims.
"At some point, they have to understand that this is not tolerable in a civilized society," Zalkin said. "She was the was the one who they, in essence, prosecuted."
Smith said she hopes that by taking legal action, she will prevent what happened to her from happening to other Jehovah's Witness children.
"It is absolutely an environment where the abuser is set up to abuse again," she said. "They are putting children at risk all the time because of the lack of action on the part of the organization. They do not have things in place to get these dangerous people out of the midst of their children."
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jehovah-s-witnesses-use-bible-victim-shame-sex-abuse-survivor-n916326

Old light is New Again:
 

And now it is worth more.... a well thought out plan from the art community.

there is a new Ministry School guidebook, but it’s smaller, and in the form of a brochure (available online Monday)
no more personally assigned counsel points. Everyone with the same talk, worldwide, will be working on same counsel point, as found in the weekly meeting

A new book....

New Ezekiel book has been released

Book will be released for every one on Monday.
The old one was released in 1971

@Space Merchant  True Christian JW's are supposed to 'quit being fashioned after this system of things' and put away national identities and embrace the JW culture above all.
There is NO place for such nationalistic pride within the JW community. But that is for another discussion.
Meanwhile... no skirts above the knee for sisters!!!
AND while we are at it.... those tight pants... FORBIDDEN!!!
"You must be perfect". or else.... sisters will gossip about you as in the illustration above.
Welcome to the mentally warped world of JW fashion and life. Hypocrisy at its best.

Source: jw.org/en/publications/magazines/watchtower-study-july-2018/we-belong-to-jehovah/
So having nice hair and a good outfit is apparently bad? I see people dress like this at the convention all the time lol
Wild colored socks.
Anthony Morris III actually wasn’t saying thereÂ’s anything wrong with that. He said that sock color was a matter of taste, and that he thought some of these young brothers with brightly colored socks were demonstrating poor taste, but it wasnÂ’t immodest.
- Anthony Morris III - Governing Body member speaking at the US Branch Visit on November 8, 2014 
Tight Pants
(tight pants on the young brothers who the worldly gay designers are drooling over at 27:35)

“…and the other one that needs addressing is for these young fellows, cause the older ones aren’t doing much of it, thankfully, uhhh, it’s the metrosexual look. We’ve addressed that in the past, we’ve said things about it, but what’s happened now has really caught on more. 

Now the metrosexual look, that’s the tight suit jacket and the tight pants, better known as ‘tight pants’. (laughter) And, uh, they are tight, I mean tight all the way down to the ankles. And, that is not modest brothers. No. It’s not appropriate. It’s not sound of mind. 

And I was proud of one Circuit Overseer who told me this past summer at one of the Intl. Conventions, 'cuz he brought it up, one of these fellows, he shows up for his Circuit Overseer’s visit and wants to go out in the ministry work with him, door-to-door, he’s wearing 'tight pants’. And the Circuit Overseer was man enough, spiritual man enough to say, 'No. I’m not going door-to-door with you. Not with that dress on. Inappropriate.' 

So a lot to think about and you elders out there listening in, and be kind now, we always want to try to imitate Christ Jesus. You be spiritual man enough to tell these young fellows 'You don’t go out in the ministry looking like that. Not in this organization.' 
And frankly I have asked sister after sister, 'You know, what do you think of this? Do you find that appealing, attractive? You know, I’m just curious, 'cause I’m not a woman. Ahhh.’ (laughter) And you know what, I’ve not found one yet that thought they look good. (Garbled, poor audio quality for a couple seconds.) 

And this is a fact, the homosexuals that are designing these clothes, they like you in tight pants. (Huge laughter) Not, spiritual people. So, it’s something to consider for Christian grooming. Is it appropriate? Is it modest? Does it display soundness of mind? If not, do something about it.”
- Anthony Morris III - Governing Body member speaking at the US Branch Visit on November 8, 2014 
Spanx
“…what it is is this Spanx, this skin-tight stuff they wear. Now, are you sisters wearing this in the ministry? No. I can’t say that I’ve ever seen that. But when they exercise, they leave their home and they’re jogging in this stuff? 

Look at the verse. Is that appropriate to wear skin-tight Spanx or whatever they call them? It’s not modest and it’s certainly not sound of mind. It’s really inappropriate. There’s nothing else to say about it. Now you want to be in your home or your room and wear that stuff, that’s your business. But don’t go out in public like that and say you worship the True God. ‘I’m just trying to stay in shape’. (laughter) Inappropriate.”
- Anthony Morris III - Governing Body member speaking at the US Branch Visit on November 8, 2014
See also:
Did I miss anything important?

Meanwhile in Spain at an international convention that same year 2014:

 

@Space Merchant  True Christian JW's are supposed to 'quit being fashioned after this system of things' and put away national identities and embrace the JW culture above all.
There is NO place for such nationalistic pride within the JW community. But that is for another discussion.
Meanwhile... no skirts above the knee for sisters!!!
AND while we are at it.... those tight pants... FORBIDDEN!!!
"You must be perfect". or else.... sisters will gossip about you as in the illustration above.
Welcome to the mentally warped world of JW fashion and life. Hypocrisy at its best.

No. Donations have no relevance as to whether a person is counted as a Witness or has any particular assignment or privilege in our organization. (Acts 8:18-20) In fact, most donations are made anonymously. Each Witness donates his time, energy, and resources to our worldwide work according to his own desire and circumstances.—2 Corinthians 9:7.

Serious made me choke.....❌

But when grace is shown to the wicked,  they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil  and do not regard the majesty of the Lord." - Is. 26:10
- @Srecko Sostar

But when grace is shown to the wicked,  they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil  and do not regard the majesty of the Lord." - Is. 26:10
JWorg said how JW members living in  Spiritual Paradise (land) that exist now on Earth in the middle of satan world. 
Does in such Paradise today, among JW members exists this two group of people, unrighteous and wicked? 
Because verse said how that is not possible and how showing grace to such ones will not do any good.  
- @Srecko Sostar

That’s funny because during the recent court case in Canada regarding shunning, that the org bragged about winning, their lawyers flat out lie with this line :
"As far as their family members are concerned, normal family relations continue with the exception of spiritual fellowship."