James Thomas Rook Jr.

TTH:
You want a movie to REALLY review?
It's a little 9 minute movie about  intellectual integrity punished to conform to a prepackaged organizational agenda driven "truth"
Try THIS one !

Agenda Driven Truth .mp4

Its a good thing they didn't have the governing body back in Jesus day, they would have disfellowshipped Jesus.

Old Smothers Brothers joke went something like this:
Tom: My uncle died of natural causes. Dick: Oh really? When, where, tell me more? Tom: Yep. He got hit by a truck. Dick: Got hit by a truck? I thought you said it was natural causes. Tom: Well . . . . It was a dirt road.

“...never [enter] into dispute or argument with another. I never saw an instance of one of two disputants convincing the other by argument. I have seen many, on their getting warm, becoming rude, & shooting one another. ... When I hear another express an opinion which is not mine, I say to myself, he has a right to his opinion, as I to mine; why should I question it? His error does me no injury, and shall I become a Don Quixote, to bring all men by force of argument to one opinion? ... There are ... the ill-tempered & rude men in society, who have taken up a passion for politics. ... Consider yourself, when with them, as among the patients of Bedlam, needing medical more than moral counsel. Be a listener only, keep within yourself, and endeavor to establish with yourself the habit of silence, especially on politics. In the fevered state of our country, no good can ever result from any attempt to set one of these fiery zealots to rights, either in fact or principle. They are determined as to the facts they will believe, and the opinions on which they will act. Get by them, therefore, as you would by an angry bull; it is not for a man of sense to dispute the road with such an animal.” - Thomas Jefferson
 

CAN A PERSON ... OR SHOULD A PERSON . BE DISFELLOWSHIPPED IN ABSTENSIA?
Here is the situation .....  a person REPORTED to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses is accused, and NOT convicted ( ... because he is a fugitive from Justice ...) .....

Apparently he was at one time in a "Position Of Authority", which possibly alludes to his being an  "Elder", and he may have relocated to another State or even another Country. Possibly using an alias.
The  various Congregation Elders cannot find him, the Society cannot find him, and the U.S. Marshal's Service cannot find him.
Not having any indication to the contrary ... at least from the information given in the pseudo-Wanted Poster shown above, he is possibly still officially one of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Whether he is or not, his bad example raises an interesting  aspect of trying to figure out how the disfellowshipping "system" protocol actually works.
Can any of the Congregations  he went to disfellowship him without his being present  to answer charges ?
... and SHOULD he be?
 

 
JW.org _Publisher ID_ - leaked video 1-of-4.mp4

I thought you are the one that wrote it. Is there another JWinsider?

Au contraire Mon frère. Anyone really wanting anonymity can achieve it. That’s why hackers seldom get caught. But, those trying not to hide, are easily detected. Just like, from Virginia to Seattle Washington Amazon to Virginia, and Florida. There must be a lot of doubt and speculation in your life.

That wasn't me. It was someone else who gave the tip about the TOR browser. Also, it's much better to just recognize that there is no such thing as perfect anonymity. The TOR browser, for all we know, is promoted surreptitiously by government agencies because of their own ability to exploit weaknesses in it while tempting people to use it for dishonest and nefarious purposes. Better to just be honest and know that all things hidden can easily come to light.

These are exactly the kinds of situations where the protocol can go out the window. I don't know the status of this person, but you could probably call the WTS/CCJW and find out. Anecdotally, going back about 40 years and another situation going back 5 years, I know about a couple cases where the congregation was asked to DF someone "in absentia" to mitigate a possible crime scandal.
Also, in effect, all Witnesses who had previously disassociated were disfellowshipped "in absentia" in the early 1980's. This was a necessary change in order to be able to create protocol for disfellowshipping R.Franz. He was caught eating a meal with his employer who had previously disassociated himself. Making the two different statuses equal would mean that he was now eating a meal with someone who had been disfellowshipped which therefore made R.Franz subject to disfellowshipping.

As far as I know, GB is not against voting, as the principle by which decisions are made, have to make.
But GB uses this "democratic principle" of making a decision, about something that is tailored to the/by "majority", in a way that have "higher meaning", "sacred goal". There are several levels where decisions are made by this "democratic means", by voting. It is at GB level. At the director level of certain departments. At the elders level. At assembly level.
Less important items are often put to the vote in front of the assembly (rank and file members). Of course, the elders presents something in such a way that membership is moved to vote in according to a decision already in line by the elders (or some higher then elders), and only formal confirmation is required/made through voting and resolution.
Making decisions within an organization is actually a matter of how "politics" is carried out by those who are high in the hierarchy.
Thus, within the religion is not carried out "political politics", but "religious politics". :)))
Perhaps it would be better to "throw a cube" (throwing dice, stone, beans or what ever else), as this kind can reduces the impact of human, of various clans and streams within a group. In fact there is a biblical precedent that would allow such way,  how to run a "corporate governance" policy (in religious, financial and other matters).
It is primitive, demode ( démodé ), old fashion way but gives a lot of fun. 

Don't misunderstand. It's not an out-and-out fraud. It's just that what is shown here was rewritten to supposedly have more impact on Witnesses. The updated case information which is also linked from one of the usmarshals.gov pages shows the person to be considered a true candidate for the 15 most wanted. I would have had no problem with almost all the same information shown from the original sources. It was almost identical. But there are dangers in trying to manipulate something like this. One danger is that people can start to focus on the inaccuracies and not see the greater picture.
(Just as an aside, I find it odd that it focuses on the US and Canada, when it's so easy for an America citizen to hop on a "metro" in San Diego and get to Mexico in just a few minutes.)

Yes, that is all we need. No cream with my coffee, please! Thank you very much. You explained that quite clearly. I hope it helps in the future.

Excellent, JWInsider!

about as difficult to get most jw congs to report child abuse in the first place. 

From the Official U.S. Marshals Wanted poster from the link provided by JW Insider.
".... Original Charge: Sexual Assault on a child (multiple counts)
Frederick Cecil MCLEAN has been molesting young females for approximately 25 years with at least eight known victims; MCLEAN was a Jehovah's Witness and found his victims through people he met in church."
HOW THE HELL DID HE GET AWAY WITH THIS INSIDE OF CONGREGATIONS FOR 25 YEARS !!?
I know how Prince got away with his "lifestyle" for all those years .... he contributed $ 30,000 a month to the local Kingdom Hall.
I believe a three legged blind pig could have seen what was going on in less time than 25 YEARS !
HOW THE HELL DID HE GET AWAY WITH THIS INSIDE OF CONGREGATIONS FOR 25 YEARS !!?
Oh .... I just remembered .... we are not entitled to know.
.... nevermind.
JW.ORG on Child Abuse - Claims vs. Reality.mp4

As reported by the Australian Royal Commission on Child Abuse  No. 29 ... we still have the record of over 5,000 cases by 1,006 perpetrators.
STILL ... almost completely unknown by most Jehovah's Witnesses.

Yeah ... one time in England I was minding my own business, driving on the wrong side of the road, and turned into a Petrol Station.

You just cannot take off and land this thing from a Freeway .... you still have to fly in and out of airports.
For the daily INTEREST on 1.5 million dollars, you could have a limousine and driver waiting for you at both ends of the trip, and have money left over.
.... not to mention the cost of collision insurance for a 1.5 million dollar car, where a 5mph "fender bender" could cost  a hundred thousand dollars in airframe repair.
This may physically be done,  but they way things are ... probably should not.
Can you imagine trying to park this thing on ANY city street?

In this video, Jason Bermas of WeAreChange gives you the latest breaking news on the landmark decision by a jury to find that Monsanto's Roundup weed killer and glyphosate, in particular, caused Dewayne Lee Johnson's cancer. This opens the floodgates for hundreds of lawsuits, it's all over for Monsanto

You just cannot take off and land this thing from a Freeway .... you still have to fly in and out of airports.
For the daily INTEREST on 1.5 million dollars, you could have a limousine and driver waiting for you at both ends of the trip, and have money left over.
.... not to mention the cost of collision insurance for a 1.5 million dollar car, where a 5mph "fender bender" could cost  a hundred thousand dollars in airframe repair.
This may physically be done,  but they way things are ... probably should not.
Can you imagine trying to park this thing on ANY city street?

Years ago, a man was standing before a Judge, accused of multiple accounts of Bigamy.
He apparently had seven wives in different parts of town.
The logistics of this caused the Judge to ask  how could he possibly manage that.
The man said "I have a bicycle".

... that's why when I am sitting at a computer for hours at a time, as I did at work for about 30 years, I carefully avoid sitting on my brain.

... that's why when I am sitting at a computer for hours at a time, as I did at work for about 30 years, I carefully avoid sitting on my brain.

I wish the same....
I also wish someone could explain what the difference was between what happened in Malawi versus what happened in Mexico. But this is completely off topic here. I apologize @TrueTomHarley but this is JTR's fault, he started it

I lived through that time too, but I did not pay a lot of attention to it as I was too young.  However, a friend helped me to dig up a WT from 1975 that seems to make a distinction between an oath binding one to a person, and an oath to a country.
Here are a few excerpts:
......."Thoughtful Christians weigh the matter in the light of Bible principles before taking any sworn oath. In doing so, they find that some oaths are Scripturally unacceptable. For example, in the days of the Third Reich, every German soldier was required to take this oath: “I swear by God this holy oath that I shall render unconditional obedience to the Führer of the German Reich and people, Adolf Hitler, the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and that as a brave soldier I shall be prepared at all times to risk my life for this oath.” A person dedicated to Almighty God cannot bind himself unconditionally to a sinful human, for Jehovah exacts “exclusive devotion.”...........Hence, despite severe persecution, faithful Christian witnesses of Jehovah in Germany would take no oaths binding them to Adolf Hitler......
..........A true Christian, then, would not take an oath that would involve him in the controversies of the world or that would subject him unquestioningly to the will of another human. But what if a nation required that such an oath be taken by those desiring to become citizens? Could a person dedicated to God take an oath of that kind with mental reservations, reasoning that sex, age or other factors would make it unlikely that what had been sworn would ever be required? The individual must decide, but it would not be Christian to make a false oath of any kind, even if refusal to do so resulted in being denied the rights of citizenship.........
........A citizen of the United States of America who desires to travel abroad will find the following oath on a passport application: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations, or purpose of evasion: So help me God.” If an applicant finds this objectionable, he is permitted to strike this oath from the passport application, and he will not be denied the document on that basis"...........
Awake 1975/7/22 page 27-28
Interestingly this was written during the presidency of Nathan Knorr. 
edit:
In addition this is what the proclaimers book  ch 29, page 674 had to say:
In Malawi, there is only one political party, and possession of a party card indicates membership. Although the Witnesses are exemplary in paying their taxes, in harmony with their religious beliefs, they decline to buy political party cards. To do so would be a denial of their faith in GodÂ’s Kingdom. Because of this, late in 1967, with the encouragement of government officials, gangs of youths throughout Malawi launched an all-out attack on JehovahÂ’s Witnesses that was unprecedented in its obscenity and sadistic cruelty. Over a thousand devout Christian women were raped. Some were stripped naked before large mobs, beaten with sticks and fists, and then sexually assaulted by one person after another. Nails were driven through the feet of the men and bicycle spokes through their legs, and then they were ordered to run. Throughout the country their homes, furniture, clothing, and food supplies were destroyed.
Bellow are the translated contents of the card. I cannot verify the correctness of the translation as I do not speak Chichewa