James Thomas Rook Jr.

JehovahÂ’s Witness Elders Fined for Failure to Report Child Abuse: Watchtower Settles with Delaware
Posted on July 17, 2018  by JOHN REDWOOD Jehovah’s Witnesses in Delaware paid $19,500 in fines for failure to report child abuse.
" On January 18th, 2018, attorneys representing JehovahÂ’s WItnesses signed a formal settlement agreement with the State of Delaware, concluding a historic case in which two elders and one congregation were held responsible for withholding detailed knowledge of a sexual relationship between an adult and a 14-year-old minor.
This case is unique, profound, and will likely set a precedent for other States.
According to the terms of the settlement, JehovahÂ’s Witnesses paid a total of $19,500 to the Delaware Department of Justice, and the body of elders from the Laurel Delaware congregation was required to attend the Stewards of Children training program and pay associated costs.
A third requirement mandated by Delaware included the signing of an affidavit stipulating that Jehovah’s Witness elders must comply with all Delaware statutes involving the reporting of child abuse. Among the itemized requirements, the Coordinator of the Body of Elders, William Perkins, agreed that communications with minors related to matters of abuse would not be treated as “penitential confessions.” This is significant, since attorneys for Jehovah’s Witnesses attempted to claim clergy privilege as their defense for failure to report.
On January 26, 2016, Justice Mary M. Johnston threw out WatchtowerÂ’s motion for summary judgment. Johnston pointed out that the eldersÂ’ sworn statements suggested that the victim and the perpetrator did not seek out the elders for private confession, which is the basic definition of penitential confession.
The case, formally called the State of Delaware versus Laurel Congregation of JehovahÂ’s Witnesses, Joel Mulchansingh, and William Perkins, was filed November 9th, 2015. It was brought by the Delaware Attorney GeneralÂ’s office following the discovery that 35-Year-old Katheryn Carmean-White had been arrested for engaging in at least 40 incidents of sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old boy. Both were baptized members of the JehovahÂ’s Witness religion.
Deputy Attorney General Janice Tigani became aware of this case from police reports, which had been filed in 2011. The mother of the 14-year-old victim contacted local authorities. A warrant was issued for Katheryn L. Carmean-White, who was arrested on 10 counts of third-degree rape, continuous sexual abuse of a child and endangering the welfare of a child. Carmean-White is currently incarcerated in the Baylor WomenÂ’s Correctional Institution of Delaware, serving a 6-year prison sentence.
Neither William Perkins nor Joel Mulchansingh contacted the police.
Instead, both elders initiated internal JehovahÂ’s Witness judicial proceedings which resulted in the disfellowshipping of both Carmean-White and her victim. Despite his age, the victim was considered a willing participant in consensual sexual acts. The repetitive nature of these sexual encounters was the foundation for disfellowshipping action by the church.
Delaware Sets the Example
Until now, the national epidemic of child abuse has been brought to light primarily through the efforts of mainstream media and numerous documented civil lawsuits. Such cases have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements against the Catholic Church and JehovahÂ’s Witnesses, the religions most notorious for their mishandling of abuse allegations.
While individual states have codified laws penalizing mandated reporters for failure to report child abuse, almost none have brought charges against clergymen, or elders. Tackling religious organizations is often seen as trampling the First Amendment rights of these groups.
According to Deputy Attorney General Tigani, the Delaware case was about to go to trial when Watchtower lawyers opted for a private settlement. In part, the agreement stated:
Tigani agreed that Watchtower benefitted by conforming to the stipulations of the State of Delaware, in lieu of a protracted public trial. Evidence presented on both sides, including depositions from the two Witness elders, clearly pointed to gross infraction of Delaware law.
The progressive nature of DelawareÂ’s punitive measures for violation of mandatory reporting laws comes on the heels of the worst case of child sexual abuse in United States history. Pediatrician Earl Bradley was sentenced to seven consecutive life terms, plus 165 years in prison for the molestation of hundreds of child patients, whose average age was three. The Bradley case was so egregious that Attorney General Beau Biden abandoned his bid for his fatherÂ’s vacated Senate seat to funnel all energies into the prosecution of this case.
As Delaware prosecuted and jailed the notorious Bradley, lawmakers began to question how this man could have abused so many children for more than a decade, evading detection and prosecution. In 2010, Governor Jack Markell commissioned the Dean of Widener University Law School, Linda L. Ammons, to investigate what went wrong, and to itemize necessary changes. One key discovery involved the lack of proper reporting of abuse allegations to law enforcement or other state officials. Under the topic “Mandatory Reporters,” Ammons stated:
Pediatrician Earl Bradley Arrested
Families of victims were shocked to discover that allegations against Bradley stemmed back to 1994 in Pennsylvania, where the doctor had completed his residency. Layers of bureaucracy stymied the reporting process. Plausible deniability was contagious, and without enforcement of reporting laws, organizations, members of clergy, and ordinary citizens are without incentive to abide by these statutes. Professor Ammon made numerous recommendations to the Governor of Delaware, including the following:
“Increase penalties for violating the mandatory reporting requirements in the Medical Practices Act.”
Delaware agreed. Enforceable penalties were signed into law. Delaware code 914 states:
This code enforcement is not limited to the medical practices field. In fact, every Delaware citizen is expected to report, regardless of their occupation. The ProfessionalsÂ’ Guide to Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect says:
“Professional reporters are often referred to as mandated reporters, although all citizens of Delaware are required to report child abuse and neglect.” [bold, italics ours]
JehovahÂ’s Witness elders Joel Mulchansingh, and William Perkins were found liable, both as professional mandated reporters, and as citizens of the State of Delaware. The congregation body of elders was also named as a responsible party.
The Settlement
In addition to financial penalties paid, the Laurel Congregation body of elders was required to attend the Stewards of Children training program, an initiative sponsored by the Beau Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children. The Biden foundation is a non-profit organization created in 2015 to further the goals of the late Biden in ensuring that children are afforded every possible protection from predators.
I spoke to a representative of the Stewards of Children program, who confirmed that their educational materials have been sanctioned by courts across the United States on the basis of competent, peer-reviewed research.
The third and final settlement term involved a multi-part affidavit, signed by the Laurel Coordinator of Body of Elders, and distributed to all congregations within the State of Delaware. Terms included:
Communications with individual involving acts of abuse shall not be considered as “penitential confessions” Communications with minors involving acts of abuse shall not be considered as “penitential confessions” Elders and the Congregation will comply with the law in accordance with the two items above A copy of the signed and notarized affidavit will be provided by Jehovah’s Witnesses’ attorneys to all congregations within the state of Delaware While Jehovah’s Witnesses have been forced to comply with the terms of this settlement, there is no evidence to suggest that this organization will participate in mandatory training programs in other states or countries. Currently, Witness policy dictates that the first notification of allegations of child abuse must be made by local elders to the Jehovah’s Witness legal department in Patterson New York. This policy has a profound chilling effect upon justice for victims and protection of the community.
Exterior Sign for Laurel and Seaford Congregations
Once their legal department advises elders whether they are in a mandatory reporting state or not, the call is handed over to the Service department, also located in Patterson. These men advise local elders of their internal judicial responsibility, such as whether to disfellowship a minor deemed as a willing participant in sexual acts.
Nowhere in Watchtower literature are victims or others encouraged to immediately contact civil authorities when allegations of abuse become known. By design, Jehovah’s Witnesses are trained to regard local elders as the primary authority, particularly when any sexual contact is discovered between two unmarried persons. 
A Precedent Has Been Set
Delaware’s lawsuit against Jehovah’s Witnesses has broken the barrier which has, until now, protected churches from prosecution for failure to report child abuse.  
In 2006, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s office recommended that charges be filed against Catholic Bishop Daniel Walsh. Walsh failed to file a timely report upon discovery that Catholic Priest Xavier Ochoa sexually abused at least three boys, the youngest being 12. The delay in reporting gave Ochoa the time he needed to escape to Mexico.
According to the the San Francisco journal SFGATE:
Charges were dropped, however, in lieu of a plea agreement in which Bishop Walsh was required to attend a four-month counseling program.
The State of Delaware did not back down so quickly in its case against JehovahÂ’s Witnesses, leaving Watchtower attorneys little choice but to settle the case on DelawareÂ’s terms.
Other states may soon follow suit, including Pennsylvania, where police are investigating the abuse of 4-year-old Abby Haugh in 2005. The assault occurred inside the local Kingdom Hall and was reported to congregation elders by the victim’s father, Martin Haugh. Local elders did not contact law enforcement. 
Police are not commenting on this case, as the investigation is currently ongoing.
The terms of the Delaware settlement stipulated that once Jehovah’s Witnesses paid the agreed-upon fines, the State would dismiss civil action with prejudice.  The settlement agreement was obtained by filing a Freedom of Information Act request. "
 
 

I haven't viewed it yet, but I will
Mickey Spillane's wife survives him and through social media, I sometimes have contact. She is an ardent Trump supporter. She loved the post.

Actually, I think I fantasized pretty well with regard to my revised introduction.

Look, I knew you wouldn't get off your rear end. I sent in enough to make up for you.

You forget that the letter-writing campaign made possible the introduction of this year's best-selling book, Dr. Mr Putin.... (assuming more people download it):
In early 2017, Jehovah’s Witnesses were invited just once to write Vladimir Putin. Within two months, up to 49 million letters had been sent. They weren’t all to Putin – other officials were identified – but his was the most visible name. Trouble was not averted, yet Russia came to know of one nation on earth where every citizen cares deeply about every other.  On the surface, the letter-writing campaign was a failure. Opposition which would ultimately lead to a Supreme Court ban of the religious organization continued unabated. It has only intensified since. Two and only two groups of children have been recognized by authorities as at risk of “destructive psychological influence” - children of ISIS members and children of Jehovah’s Witnesses. At present, the stripping of parental rights for members of the two groups is an unused tool, but it is a tool that has been approved for use.
  Witnesses around the world felt and feel the heat on their Russian brothers and sisters as though it were on them. They longed to do something and here was something tangible they could do. By taking part in letter-writing, they fortified their Russian counterparts, who are now in the eye of the storm. However, I have thought over matters. I can see that you have a point. I have revised the introduction as follows: In early 2017, Jehovah's Witnesses were invited just once to write Vladimir Putin. They said: "You've got to be kidding me! That costs a dollar. And why? Just to fill up 11 hundred boxcars of paper that Russians can burn during winter? Let them freeze! This is all your screwup anyway! The world would love Christians except for you! And don't get us going about shunning and the two witness rule! You have messesd up everything and it is supposed to be that the "every sort of wicked thing that people lyingly say about Jesus' followers is: "Well....they woke me up when I was sleeping. And they were a little pushy at the door." So forget it! We're not doing nothing! Russian brothers entered into their greatest tribulation ever. They didn't really know if anyone anywhere else even knew what was going on. The brothers they thought they would hear from had all tuned into JTR. "This can't be the truth," they said. "Where's the love?" #ublockhead
   

Just because (as a general rule ...) prostitutes and murderers wear shoes ... does notmean that everyone that wears shoes are prostitutes and murderers.
Although it would be imitative and suggestive to wear a brown shirt during the Nazi reign ... does not mean that today wearing a brown shirt indicates one is a Nazi.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/09/the-secret-history-of-guns/308608/
Reagan's words were as Republican Governor of California in 1967. He was definitely in favor of a Republican-sponsored bill repealing gun rights.
The problem was that the framers of the U.S. constitution thought of guns not as an item that all people should have, not especially for hunting and protecting their homes/family/property from just anyone, although that would be their primary use. The constitution only addressed the right for all citizens to carry guns in order to form militias in the event that tyranny reared its ugly head, within US Government agencies.
But the real problem is that there really were forms of tyranny that had been rearing their head in America for many years against blacks, American "Indians" and poor whites who could not pay their debts. The most violent tyranny was against the native American "Indians" but the most insidious was against blacks. And then after the constitution allowed more than just land-owners to become citizens they allowed blacks to become citizens, while they were still being tyrannized by tyrants in their own government.
That created a problem for the hypocrites running the US Government. A group of black citizens began watching some of the most tyrannical agents of the US government, the white-sponsored police in economically abandoned urban centers. What they were doing was called "copwatchting." But they were watching while armed with guns and, what's even worse for some, cameras. See Mulford Act in Wikipedia, for example.
Organized copwatching groups emerged as early as the 1960s in urban areas in the United States when the Black Panthers famously patrolled city streets with firearms and cameras, and other civil rights organizations conducted unarmed patrols in groups. Obviously, Reagan, a rather dullard hypocrite, realized he didn't really believe in the constitution. In this situation it was easy to get both Democratic and Republican support. (Especially "Dixie Democrats" [in the Southern United States], most of whom would later become Republicans as soon as Northern Democrats began to associate the "Democratic" agenda with civil rights toward blacks.)

Prepare for a tweet about Groucho

I doubt seriously that this is the ONLY issue where you agree with the philosophy of Karl Marx. He was a brilliant economist who supported the theories of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations (1776), considered to be one of the most important capitalist economists of his time. More of Karl Marx advances on such theories have withstood the test of time and produced more predictable results.
Most anti-Marxists have never read Marx's works. (What's even worse is that most most PRO-Marxists and Marx experts have never read his works either.) People who think they are anti-Marx often merely associate him with things they have heard they shouldn't believe in.

What makes the AWAKE particularly interesting is that the writers are experts on every imaginable subject.
It is like a cross between "Reader's Digest", Marvel Comics, and Disneyland.
Cost was 5 cents then, free is a very good price now.
Is "Reader's Digest" even published, anymore?
 

Cos:
You have already proved by your own words in the Archive Topic "Demonism and the Watchtower", that you are completely clueless as to what constitutes proof, or reason, or logic .. and it's possibly only because you do not understand what is generally referred to a "figures of speech".
When you hear on the News that North Korea tested a hydrogen bomb ... no they didn't. The MILITARY of North Korea tested a hydrogen bomb (if true).
If the news says "The White House today said that this action will NOT be tolerated !'"  The building itself did not actually say anything at all.  The building is recognized as a symbol of the will of the President and his administration.,
In the scriptures giving personification to a force as a person ... like Reddy Kilowatt, or the HOLY SPIRIT, is what is known as a "Metonymy".  It's a subset of a "Synecdoche", which is a subset of a "Metaphor" 
After all ... what's a meta phor?  *coff"*
This is what Wikipedia has to say about that: (bold type added by me)
" Synecdoche is a rhetorical trope and a type of figurative speech similar to metonymy, a figure of speech in which a term that denotes one thing is used to refer to a related thing. Indeed, synecdoche is sometimes considered a subclass of metonymy. It is more distantly related to other figures of speech, such as metaphor.[6]
More rigorously, metonymy and synecdoche can be considered subspecies of metaphor, intending metaphor as a type of conceptual substitution (as Quintilian does in Institutio oratoria Book VIII). In Lanham's Handlist of Rhetorical Terms,[7] the three terms have somewhat restrictive definitions, arguably in tune with a certain interpretation of their etymologies from Greek:
Metaphor: changing a word from its literal meaning to one not properly applicable but analogous to it; assertion of identity rather than likeness, as with simile. Metonymy: substitution of cause for effect, proper name for one of its qualities, etc. Classification
Synecdoche is often used as a type of personification by attaching a human aspect to a nonhuman thing. It is used in reference to political relations, including "having a footing", to mean a country or organization is in a position to act, or "the wrong hands", to describe opposing groups, usually in the context of military power.
The two main types of synecdoche are microcosms and macrocosms. A microcosm is when a part of something is used to refer to the entirety.An example of this would be someone saying that they “need a hand" with a project, when they really need the entire person.   A macrocosm is the opposite, when the entire structure of something is used to refer to a small part.  An example of this could be referring to "the world", when the speaker really means a certain country or part of the world. The figure of speech is divided into the image (what the speaker uses to refer to something) and the subject (what is being referred to).
This type of reference is quite common in politics. The residence of an executive is often credited for the executive's action. A spokesperson of the Executive Office of the President of the United States is identified in "The White House announced a new plan to reduce hunger." References to the King or Queen of the United Kingdom are made in the same fashion by referring to today's official residence, Buckingham Palace. Worldwide examples include "the Sublime Porte" of the Ottoman Empire, and "the Kremlin" of Russia.
Sonnets and other forms of love poetry frequently use synecdoches to characterize the beloved in terms of individual body parts rather than a coherent whole. This practice is especially common in the Petrarchan sonnet, where the idealised beloved is often described part by part, from head to toe.
It is also popular in advertising. Since synecdoche uses a part to represent a whole, its use requires the audience to make associations and "fill in the gaps", engaging with the ad by thinking about the product. Moreover, catching the attention of an audience with advertising is often referred to by advertisers as "getting eyeballs", another synecdoche. Synecdoche is very common in spoken English, especially in reference to sports. The names of cities are used as shorthand for their sports teams to describe events and their outcomes, such as "Denver won Monday's game", when it would be more accurate that a sports team from the city won the game.[
Kenneth Burke (1945), an American literary theorist, declared that in rhetoric the four master tropes, or figures of speech, are metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony. Burke's primary concern with these four master tropes is not simply their figurative usage but their role in the discovery and description of the truth. He described synecdoche as “part of the whole, whole for the part, container for the contained, sign for the thing signified, material for the thing made… cause for the effect, effect for the cause, genus for the species, species for the genus". In addition, Burke suggests that synecdoche patterns can include reversible pairs such as disease-cure. Burke proclaimed the noblest synecdoche is found in the description of microcosm and macrocosm" since microcosm is related to macrocosm as part to the whole, and either the whole can represent the part or the part can represent the whole".[15] Burke also compared synecdoche with the concept of "representation", especially in the political sense in which elected representatives stand in pars pro toto for their electorate.
Part referring to whole (pars pro toto)
Referring to people according to a single characteristic: "the gray beard" representing an older man or "the long hair" representing a hippie Referring to a large group of related peoples according to the proper name of one subgroup: Eskimos instead of Native Alaskans; Caucasians instead of Europeans or Whites Describing a complete vehicle as "wheels" referring to a vehicle's manual transmission by the control handle ("stick shift" or "stick") referring to the whole vehicle by the transmission control handle ("can you drive a stick?") Referring to people by a particular body part. For example, "head count" or "counting noses" Saying "bubbly" to refer to Champagne or any other sparkling wine Using "Arabian sands" to refer the Arabian deserts Using "ivories" to refer to a piano (particularly in the phrase "tickling the ivories", meaning to play the piano), by a pair of synecdoches: the piano designated by its part, the keys, which in turn were historically made of ivory He asked for her hand in marriage. Using "boba" to refer to the drink, Bubble tea General class name used to denote specific member of that or associated class
Using "the good book" or "The Book" for the Bible ("Bible" itself comes from the Greek word for "book") Describing any four-wheel drive vehicle (including long-haul trailers, etc.) as a "truck" In the phrase, "He's good people", the word "people" is used to denote a specific instance of people (a single person) "The pill" is used to refer to 28-pill packets of the combined oral contraceptive pill, a common birth control method Specific class name referring to general set of associated things
"John Hancock" used in the United States, for the signature of any person A genericized trademark, for example "Coke" for any variety of cola (or for any variety of soft drink, as in the southern United States), "Band-Aid" for any variety of adhesive bandage, or "Styrofoam" for any product made of expanded polystyrene A "Rube Goldberg (or Heath Robinson) contraption" to refer to any machine which seems overly complicated or bizarrely constructed Referring to material actually or supposedly used to make something
"brass" for brass instruments, or the shell casings of bullet cartridges "cement" for concrete, cement being just the binder in concrete "glasses" for spectacles "armor" for tanks "paper" for a journal article or newspaper "pigskin" for an American or Canadian football "plastic" for a credit card "steel" for a sword "strings" for string instruments "threads" for clothing "tin" for a container made with tin plating Container is used to refer to its contents
"barrel" for a barrel of oil "keg" for a keg of beer "He drank the cup", to refer to his drinking of the cup's contents " If the "White House" actually started talking .. I suspect people would be running out of all exits ...  but that is the expression.
GET USED TO IT.
Perhaps I am different than most Jehovah's Witnesses ... and although JWs are often represented as a monolithic  group of marching robots, that is not always true ... my guess is more than half would not agree with anything that violated their concept of plain old common sense, even though they would not press any points for fear of being disfellowshipped for apostasy.
Among most people ..... there is truly infinite variety.
I became one of Jehovah's witnesses FIRST ... because it made sense ... it agreed with the real world ... I did not have to stretch my perception of the Universe into a pretzel.  The theology AGREED WITH PLAIN OLD COMMON SENSE.  I did not join because I agreed with them ... but because they agreed with ME.
OK ... now, lets look at the two scriptures you quoted  -  I always like to put it in context with what went before, and what is stated after a cited scripture, to see if someone is trying to lead me up the creek to booger's woods.
Isaiah 6:6-12New American Standard Bible (NASB)
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is [a]forgiven.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 9 He said, “Go, and tell this people:
‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive;
Keep on looking, but do not understand.’
10 “Render the hearts of this people [b]insensitive,
Their ears [c]dull,
And their eyes [d]dim,
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
Understand with their hearts,
And return and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered,
“Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant,
Houses are without people
And the land is utterly desolate,
12 “The Lord has removed men far away,
And the [e]forsaken places are many in the midst of the land."
OK...fine scripture ... but it is only your OPINION that it relates to this discussion. 
Here's a clue for you Cos ... IT DON'T !
Acts 28:23-30New International Version (NIV)
23 They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus. 24 Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. 25 They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet:
26 “‘Go to this people and say,
“You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.”
27 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’[a]
28 “Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!” [29] [b]
30 For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him."
From your viewpoint , this is a "worst case scenario" ... here we have another example of a synecdoche ... as the men received what they heard by inspiration due to an UN-NAMED force.
But here is the clincher, which makes the most common sense .... "HOLY SPIRIT" IS NOT A PERSONAL NAME, ANY MORE THAN GAMMA RADIATION HAS A GOOD FRIEND NAMED "WENDY".
It's "something", for sure, but NOT A PERSONAL NAME.
When Jehovah wants to accomplish something fro 30 billion light years away ... there HAS to be a force carrier ... a DIRECTED force carrier, to make things happen at OUR END OF THE UNIVERSE.
If you want to get a tan .. you use UV radiation that comes from the Sun, at this end.
If you want God's blessing, you try to be the recipient of directed "Holy Spirit", at this end.
Casper is a name FOR A SPIRIT, ....... but only The Farce will be with you.
That's why "Casper the Friendly Ghost" was a COMIC BOOK.
ps:  And Casper DID have a friend ... Wendy the Witch.
.
 

Just because (as a general rule ...) prostitutes and murderers wear shoes ... does notmean that everyone that wears shoes are prostitutes and murderers.
Although it would be imitative and suggestive to wear a brown shirt during the Nazi reign ... does not mean that today wearing a brown shirt indicates one is a Nazi.

Just because (as a general rule ...) prostitutes and murderers wear shoes ... does notmean that everyone that wears shoes are prostitutes and murderers.
Although it would be imitative and suggestive to wear a brown shirt during the Nazi reign ... does not mean that today wearing a brown shirt indicates one is a Nazi.

SO  cute  pictures.... 

That  was  the  beautiful  *Cubby*  from  our  JTR.
A  very  especially  dog...   ? .•*¨`*•..¸???¸.•*¨`*•. ?

Yes, customs are quite different in different countries.
In Ireland weddings and funerals are usually accompanied by 5 days of very heavy drinking Irish whiskey.
The difference between an Irish Wedding, and an Irish Funeral is ....
(wait for it ...)
.... one less drunk.

Since the disfellowshipping arrangement, necessary as it is ... became the exercise in sustained and clueless extremism of applied cruelty it is today.
"Worldly people", as a general rule, when a child is disobedient, do not cut off it's head ... figuratively speaking, and in a very "loving way" ... of course.
 

Expressions and conversations are sometimes misunderstood.
I remember being in a bar in England, I obviously being from America, because I was wearing a cowboy hat, and two somewhat large women were having a conversation that sounded like Scottish to me and they both had red hair, about something about the original Star Trek that interested me, so I sat down beside them and asked if they had ever met James Doohan, who played Scotty on Star Trek.
The taller redhead asked why I would think that?
I replied, because they were both Scots.
They replied "We're Wales ... Wales ... not Scots!"
I then asked if I could buy the two whales a drink.
I woke up on the floor with a lump on my head.
 

NO

When I was visited by two elders because of my association with an adult child who no longer was professing to be a Witness and whose life choices meant she would have been disfellowshipped if only they could contact her, I asked, "When I am old and need help will you be over here taking care of me?  Because I know my daughter will."
The subject was never brought up again.  And I'm still in good standing, but then my congregation elders have never been hardliners. 
 

It is about the IDEA of human governments being placed in their relative positions by God.
Not specific governments.
The alternative is total anarchy, where every man and woman are a law unto themselves ... which is worse than the WORST human governments.
It's free-for-all non stop carnage.
You have to mentally visualize how really terrible anarchy would be on a day to day basis to understand that.

Expressions and conversations are sometimes misunderstood.
I remember being in a bar in England, I obviously being from America, because I was wearing a cowboy hat, and two somewhat large women were having a conversation that sounded like Scottish to me and they both had red hair, about something about the original Star Trek that interested me, so I sat down beside them and asked if they had ever met James Doohan, who played Scotty on Star Trek.
The taller redhead asked why I would think that?
I replied, because they were both Scots.
They replied "We're Wales ... Wales ... not Scots!"
I then asked if I could buy the two whales a drink.
I woke up on the floor with a lump on my head.
 

Why do JWs have huge lunches / dinners after funerals?
...because they are really, really hungry?

Not all teachers are enlightened.
Not all teachers are talented.
Not all teachers give a damn.
Some do the very best they can, but in reality it falls short because of infinite variety in people, places, and circumstances.
This is "normal".

The nicest thing you could say about Alan Harrall was that he was a terrible employee. I used to pick him up at his rooming house on Boise St. Sometimes I had to delicately suggest that he ought to pay more attention to his hygiene. Then I had to knock him over the head with the same idea when he blew off the initial suggestion. It really wasn’t him. It was his clothes. The laundromat cost money, so he would swish his clothes about in the tub with some soap mixed in.
Coming back from Fairport, you had to merge from the 490 lane into 590 North. I usually didn’t think of it until my lane was about to run out - he would have done it immediately - that's just the way he was. Though he would never say anything, as the end of lane approached, Alan would look over his shoulder to see if we had finally outrun our luck and would find ourselves shoved off the road. I admit with shame that, when I repeatedly saw him doing this, I used to delay my lane-change even more than normal until I saw that response. It was a little mean, because he was a recovering drug addict and he was a jittery sort.
I was not an early adapter of the cell phone, for it represented a change in habit, and I hate things like that. I used to carry on about ‘What Would Jesus Do’ – “I’ll tell you what Jesus would do; Jesus would use a phone with a wire attached to the wall! He would never use a cell phone and especially one with apps!” before I even knew what they were and imagined they were like bugs.
So when I say that Alan lived to talk on the phone, understand that it was one with a wire attached to the wall - this story is from pre-cell phone days. On one occasion, I unexpectedly entered the room he was assigned to mop and there he was, sitting on the desk, talking on the phone, with the mop in one hand, pushing it back and forth in case I might come upon him suddenly like I did.
Nonetheless, I never fired him and I’m glad. The man had many issues and he later hung himself. Had I fired him, might I not have always feared I had been a contributing factor? You want to keep your conscience as clean as possible. I wasn’t a very good small business person but I had a clean conscience.
I think he was studying but I forget with whom. I think he attended meetings but I forget where. At any rate, he was loosely recognized as one of us. The closest family connection he had in the congregation was the mother of his child, who was also studying, and in time was baptized.
It wasn’t clear to me at all who was in charge at the Metropolitan Funeral Home. I mean, someone must have been, or he would not have been there. Was it his family, of whom I’d never heard a word? Or was it the studying mother of his child, who found much support in the congregation she attended? At any rate, there wasn’t a funeral talk – just a gathering of many mourners. The place was packed.
After I’d been there a half hour, the mother of the child approached me in some confusion because nobody wanted to give a prayer and Alan’s family’s preacher would be soon clearing his throat if no one stepped up to the plate. I knew he would butcher it, sending Alan, who was afraid of heights, up to heaven to play the harp like Little David, so I said I would give one.
It’s not hard. Just don’t promise anything. How do you know what God will do? Just say whatever good things about Alan that you can – he was never mean-spirited – acknowledge how this world is rough and not necessarily fair, and tread heavily on Jehovah’s merciful qualities.