James Thomas Rook Jr.

There are two parts to a Corporate Baptism:
1.) Dedication and public declaration of agreement of being adopted by Jehovah God, and Christ Jesus,  and
2.) An oath of fealty and subservience to the Corporation's ( The "Organization" ) policies and procedures.
I suspect the Watchtower Lawyers, which now dictate the nuances of our "Corporate Theology", will have to work a LOT of overtime, when this issue hits the courtroom, as respects to Corporate baptized  minors, below the age of 18, when challenged on that point alone.
UNless legally emancipated, they do NOT have the right to make contracts, except for food, clothing, shelter, and suchlike absolute essentials .... and CERTAINLY (to be tested in court ...) not contested fealty to a Corporation, the contract being entered into before the age of majority.
I do NOT agree with JW.ORG, becoming JW.BORG .... but the Watchtower Lawyers and accountants are now running the show, and there is NOTHING... NOTHING, anybody on Earth can do about it.
The Governing Body CANNOT be fired by anyone on Earth.
...and they know it!

It makes no sense to you because you have missed the point tht Baptism to God and Christ is what is in the person's heart ....the fact that Witnesses are DELIBERATELY kept ignorant OF THE  CORPORATE LOYALTY OATH, that they are ALSO swearing fealty to a Corporation excuses their ignorance, completely.  Not every soldier is a John Rambo.
The Corporate Fealty Oath  is deliberately obscured and hidden until the very last moment for a specific reason.
That part of the ceremony is a deliberate legal trap.
The Governing Body and the Watchtower lawyers know EXACTLY what they are doing, and exactly what the words mean .... in a court of law .... where someone  is suing them for malfeasance or other crimes against the dignity of the individual.
With those weasel words, expertly disguised or completely hidden, and DELIBERATELY not taught ... to the baptismal candidate ... they can legitimately say to a judge or jury ... and have it hold up in a court of law ... that the baptized Witnesses agreed to be subordinate and mistreated by the Corporation.
 

I am glad that in America, we have more noble people.
One political party is grossly incompetent, but has good intentions.
The other is bat crap crazy, but very competent at evil.
That's why we all need a sense of humor!
Trump's House of Wings .wmv

The person in black at the right side of my wife (Green bathing costume) who was about to be baptized, was himself a baptised brother who even endured two years of detention at military barracks in Pretoria during the early seventies. I was among those welcoming him back.
On return to the congregation in Southern Wood East London, South Africa he did an about turn in a letter to the local Daily Dispatch newspaper apologising to the people he called on during his field ministry, for spreading false good news. He felt that the elders who refused to attend to the needs of people on the outside, or something to that nature. I wasn't present when that particular meeting. He became politically involved, often submitting letters to the Daily DIspatch.

If you think that the GB, Branch Office personnel and Circuit Overseers do not think of themselves as "Clergy", try baptizing your Bible Study one afternoon at a local public pool, without congregation oversight.
The Baptism may be acceptable to God, and Christ .... but you will "catch hell" in the little back room, and may be disfellowshipped, yourself, for not including the fealty oath to the Organization., as represented by the Governing Body., and the Elders declare the baptism invalid.
Or do you think the Ethiopian Eunuch answered all 100 questions, and pledged his allegiance to the Organization in Jerusalem, before he was baptized?

.... Psychological Beatings and heavy unnecessary burdens of every description will continue, until morale improves ...
 

...
 

Perhaps TTH, the person dedicating his life to Jehovah wanted to do it NOW .... just as the Ethiopian Eunuch did..
Apparently the Eunuch was smart enough to text and drive at the same time, and not run into a camel, and was aware enough to see a lake or pond nearby, while driving a chariot, listening to the "radio", and reading.
Perhaps there are some people that do not agree with the philosophy that JW.ORG  should be JW.BORG, where resistance is futile, and everyone WILL be assimilated, and be exactly the same.

If you think that the GB, Branch Office personnel and Circuit Overseers do not think of themselves as "Clergy", try baptizing your Bible Study one afternoon at a local public pool, without congregation oversight.
The Baptism may be acceptable to God, and Christ .... but you will "catch hell" in the little back room, and may be disfellowshipped, yourself, for not including the fealty oath to the Organization., as represented by the Governing Body., and the Elders declare the baptism invalid.
Or do you think the Ethiopian Eunuch answered all 100 questions, and pledged his allegiance to the Organization in Jerusalem, before he was baptized?

Because every thought and motivation would not then be dictated by "Central Command"
The Elders would be using their NATURAL human conscience, instead of following the "outline" ... the script.
One way to consolidate your authority is the exercise of arbitrary and capricious POWER.
---------------------------------------
Hitler was OBVIOUSLY insane to all sane people ... but his arbitrary , capricious, and irrational exercise of power short-circuited the reasoning abilities of his minions.
It also short-circuited their natural consciences, and their natural abhorrence to tyranny.
The ONLY way to rationalize the irrational .... was absolute obedience.

Because every thought and motivation would not then be dictated by "Central Command"
The Elders would be using their NATURAL human conscience, instead of following the "outline" ... the script.
One way to consolidate your authority is the exercise of arbitrary and capricious POWER.
---------------------------------------
Hitler was OBVIOUSLY insane to all sane people ... but his arbitrary , capricious, and irrational exercise of power short-circuited the reasoning abilities of his minions.
It also short-circuited their natural consciences, and their natural abhorrence to tyranny.
The ONLY way to rationalize the irrational .... was absolute obedience.

John Butler:
This is what happens when you pervert Justice,  by even having the ABILITY to destroy whole families, when someone does not "tow the line" of Company Policy, by those who invoke the authority of Jehovah God to excuse their methods.
If we disciplined a baby .... by cutting off it's head, and exiling the parents and relatives, and cutting out their tongues .... human civilization would cease.
In the times of the Crusaders, they actually DID cut out peoples' tongues, to keep them from speaking , but just as in the case of our shunning policy and practices ... the  REAL reason is to generate  FEAR AND OBEDIENCE to the exercise of man-made authority ... to consolidate power, and not have the income stream disrupted.
This is nothing new ... it is a story as old as human existence.
What is new, is that the brutality is wrapped in silken words, loving tones,  soft voices, , and the claws are concealed by a silk and velvet glove.
... and millions and millions of hypnotic, well chosen words, continually repeated.
Every real problem we have in the Truth, is DIRECTLY because of the policies of HOW disfellowshipping is done.
Disfellowshipping is a necessary surgery to cut out cancer that will spread.
Mutilating the spectators and family  is evil.
From that fountain flows compounded injustice, fear,  bitter cold, and unnecessary heavy, heavy load of EVERY sort.
It is a cascading avalanche  that turns good men of conscience into cowardly minions of EXPERTLY and COMPETENTLY disguised evil.
There is a word for this ......
 
NORMAL.
 
 
 
 

John Butler:
This is what happens when you pervert Justice,  by even having the ABILITY to destroy whole families, when someone does not "tow the line" of Company Policy, by those who invoke the authority of Jehovah God to excuse their methods.
If we disciplined a baby .... by cutting off it's head, and exiling the parents and relatives, and cutting out their tongues .... human civilization would cease.
In the times of the Crusaders, they actually DID cut out peoples' tongues, to keep them from speaking , but just as in the case of our shunning policy and practices ... the  REAL reason is to generate  FEAR AND OBEDIENCE to the exercise of man-made authority ... to consolidate power, and not have the income stream disrupted.
This is nothing new ... it is a story as old as human existence.
What is new, is that the brutality is wrapped in silken words, loving tones,  soft voices, , and the claws are concealed by a silk and velvet glove.
... and millions and millions of hypnotic, well chosen words, continually repeated.
Every real problem we have in the Truth, is DIRECTLY because of the policies of HOW disfellowshipping is done.
Disfellowshipping is a necessary surgery to cut out cancer that will spread.
Mutilating the spectators and family  is evil.
From that fountain flows compounded injustice, fear,  bitter cold, and unnecessary heavy, heavy load of EVERY sort.
It is a cascading avalanche  that turns good men of conscience into cowardly minions of EXPERTLY and COMPETENTLY disguised evil.
There is a word for this ......
 
NORMAL.
 
 
 
 

You have deflected to the Boy Scouts.  In your mind, you are desperately trying to preserve a corrupt leadership/organization that claims to represent the Almighty God.  Is it not more important to preserve our relationship with God, rather than with men who fail deliberately and repeatedly, to protect their "sheep"?  
I am more "vested" in the prophetic outcome of this organization, of which this matter only contributes to.  
When it is in your power,
don’t withhold good from the one it belongs to.
28 Don’t say to your neighbor, “Go away! Come back later.
I’ll give it tomorrow”—when it is there with you.
29 Don’t plan any harm against your neighbor,
for he trusts you and lives near you.
30 Don’t accuse anyone without cause,
when he has done you no harm.
31 Don’t envy a violent man
or choose any of his ways;
32 for the devious are detestable to the Lord,
but He is a friend to the upright.
33 The Lord’s curse is on the household of the wicked,
but He blesses the home of the righteous;
34 He mocks those who mock,
but gives grace to the humble.
35 The wise will inherit honor,
but He holds up fools to dishonor.  Prov 3:27-35
 
 

John Butler:
This is what happens when you pervert Justice,  by even having the ABILITY to destroy whole families, when someone does not "tow the line" of Company Policy, by those who invoke the authority of Jehovah God to excuse their methods.
If we disciplined a baby .... by cutting off it's head, and exiling the parents and relatives, and cutting out their tongues .... human civilization would cease.
In the times of the Crusaders, they actually DID cut out peoples' tongues, to keep them from speaking , but just as in the case of our shunning policy and practices ... the  REAL reason is to generate  FEAR AND OBEDIENCE to the exercise of man-made authority ... to consolidate power, and not have the income stream disrupted.
This is nothing new ... it is a story as old as human existence.
What is new, is that the brutality is wrapped in silken words, loving tones,  soft voices, , and the claws are concealed by a silk and velvet glove.
... and millions and millions of hypnotic, well chosen words, continually repeated.
Every real problem we have in the Truth, is DIRECTLY because of the policies of HOW disfellowshipping is done.
Disfellowshipping is a necessary surgery to cut out cancer that will spread.
Mutilating the spectators and family  is evil.
From that fountain flows compounded injustice, fear,  bitter cold, and unnecessary heavy, heavy load of EVERY sort.
It is a cascading avalanche  that turns good men of conscience into cowardly minions of EXPERTLY and COMPETENTLY disguised evil.
There is a word for this ......
 
NORMAL.
 
 
 
 

Any data that an organization keeps with respect to a policy or prior practice is always considered fair game in a lawsuit, because these lawsuits seek to find out whether the prior practice matched the stated "public policy." The claim, if one goes after an organization for damages, is that the practice has been different from the policy.
For example, a particular city or jurisdiction claims that their policy is to always change the lead (Pb) pipes in all areas where the levels of lead reach a certain threshold, and they have kept data on all lead level complaints, and data on every area where they have changed pipes (or fought against changing the pipes).
If the city is proud of their record, and wants to prove that their stated policy was honest, they would be happy to have this record made available to the courts. And even if the courts say that they only need it to determine the probability of organizational wrongdoing in one particular case, there is a chance that this document/database will be leaked, or that the knowledge of such a document/database will cause it to be requested for multiple future cases, for as long as it is still viable to sue the water district or organization. If the water district has done a commendable job, they might even be happy that the document/database gets leaked. They might even leak it themselves.
Of course, no organization is perfect, and there will always be items in such a database that make organizations concerned, or even ashamed. The fact that over a thousand cases of abuse in the Australian Branch were NEVER reported to authorities, and that not even one was reported, produced powerful circumstantial evidence that there may have been pressure from somewhere to keep such crimes unreported. It may have shown that almost any excuse will be grasped at to keep such crimes unreported, even in areas where reporting is not only ethical, but mandatory. The Australian database was therefore very important to show a pattern, in the event that a new case would claim that such a pattern actually existed.
The other concern, of course, is that, if the database cannot be redacted, that some well-known names of brothers at the highest levels of responsibility in the organization could be revealed, bringing shame on the organization, and the families of those brothers. The Australian database had two names, I'm told, that went to the very top of the Branch in Australia (still living), and one name that went to the very top of the US Branch (a person no longer alive who was moved around after accusations surfaced). If this is true, it would give a whole new dimension to why it is suspected that the US Branch will never release the US database.

Witness:
I am deeply ashamed for the reputation of Jehovah, and the Brotherhood that the Governing Body has Lawyers that will spare no effort, time, and money to PERVERT Justice.
I wish you were lying or agenda driven, but I know from independent research everything you said here is true .... and that there is more, besides that.
Thanks for the vigilance.

Witness:
I am deeply ashamed for the reputation of Jehovah, and the Brotherhood that the Governing Body has Lawyers that will spare no effort, time, and money to PERVERT Justice.
I wish you were lying or agenda driven, but I know from independent research everything you said here is true .... and that there is more, besides that.
Thanks for the vigilance.

This is puzzling. Why should the plaintiff have the right to demand anything that had nothing to do with his case?
I wouldn't go that far.
I have no idea what John Redwood is talking about here. Perhaps I should ask him.
If elders became mandatory reporters, how would that affect anything? It would just mean that every future case, or suspicion of child abuse or accusation would be reported to the police. How would that be losing a tight grip on the elders?
It appears that the main reason for the appeal is that this would allow for non disclosure of historical cases, and hence limit law suits.

From John Redwood...
A preview of upcoming news:
Jehovah's Witnesses are appealing to the Supreme Court of the United States, but this time it has nothing to do with preaching or saluting the flag.
It's all about child abuse.
Specifically, the protection (or cover-up) of information, documents, and testimony of persons involved in cases of child abuse.
I will be covering this story in the coming weeks and months, but I thought I would share some of this news and try to distill it down as simply as I can.
I'd like to point out first that Watchtower has appealed to the Supreme Court in connection with their loss of yet another California child abuse case. The chance that Watchtower's appeal being will be heard by the Supreme Court is slim, but anything is possible.
What brought this about?
There are many ongoing civil child abuse cases in California. One such case is J.W. versus Watchtower. J.W. happens to be the initials for the victim of former JW elder Gilbert Simental, who went on a spree of molestation which touched the lives of numerous victims.
As with other cases, the plaintiff demanded that Watchtower turn over to the court a database of child abuse cases known to be maintained by Watchtower of New York.
In this particular case, because Watchtower failed to turn over the documents in a timely manner, attorneys asked for a default judgment of just over 4 million dollars.
The court agreed with the plaintiff and entered a default judgment in that amount. Watchtower was required to post a bond of more than 6 million dollars while their appeal was pending.
Watchtower lost their appeal, and the decision of the court was upheld. This decision is final- with one exception.
Watchtower has decided to appeal to the United States Supreme court on the basis that their judicial hearings related to child abuse matters are "confidential intra-faith communications" and that they do not, and should not, reveal those communications or documents to anyone, including civil courts.
I'd like to make it very clear what Watchtower is doing here. They are fighting for their right NOT to allow civil authorities to dictate what is confidential, and what is not confidential.
All of this is in relation to their claim that elders do not have the right or duty to report child abuse to the authorities.
Watchtower overtly lies to their members by claiming that they obey secular laws, except when they conflict with God's laws.
Yet they break the law every single time by advising elders NOT to report child abuse to the authorities.
It does NOT matter whether child abuse occurs in a mandatory reporting state- elders STILL do not report to the police because Watchtower has told them that ALL of their communications are protected by clergy-penitent privilege.
This is false- and it is exactly why they are losing tens of millions of dollars in child abuse civil cases. Watchtower advises elders to break the law.
And now they want the Supreme Court of the United States to agree with them.
The claim that the state of California has unfairly targeted Jehovah's Witnesses and "intruded upon matters of church governance."
Why???
How does compliance with mandatory child abuse reporting laws conflict with God's laws? It doesn't. This is a fabrication of Watchtower attorneys working for the Governing Body, and it's become quite clear that they feel that compliance with these civil laws will spell disaster for their religion.
And they might be right.
If Jehovah's Witnesses did the right thing and complied with the law, they would lose the tight grip of control over their elder bodies in ways which frighten the hell out of them.
There is a whole lot more to this story as well as the underlying cases involved, but I wanted to let you know what's going on.
Attorneys for J.W. (the abuse victim) will be filing an opposition to Watchtower's appeal in August, and we should have a decision from the Supreme Court by October on whether they will accept Jehovah's Witnesses appeal for review.
Stay tuned!!
https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/chtj2j/watchtower_appeals_to_supreme_court/
 

IT'S AMAZING WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH MUTATED CAULIFLOWER !
 

Years ago, I was at a Drop Zone in Tallequah, Oklahoma, in an airplane hanger with many long tables, where the skydivers would lay out their parachutes to repack them after a jump, and there on the wall, above the packing tables ... was a six foot tall poster of Superman, in flight ... right hand on his chest, and the other fist in front of him ... and words of wisdom to smokers of tobacco products who disregarded their health ... but BETTER NOT drop a burning ash on someones' parachute ......
"ONE SHOULD NOT SMOKE ... UNLESS ONE IS ON FIRE!"
 
 

Years ago, I was at a Drop Zone in Tallequah, Oklahoma, in an airplane hanger with many long tables, where the skydivers would lay out their parachutes to repack them after a jump, and there on the wall, above the packing tables ... was a six foot tall poster of Superman, in flight ... right hand on his chest, and the other fist in front of him ... and words of wisdom to smokers of tobacco products who disregarded their health ... but BETTER NOT drop a burning ash on someones' parachute ......
"ONE SHOULD NOT SMOKE ... UNLESS ONE IS ON FIRE!"
 
 

TTH:
And there are infinite reasons why people do or do not shave, just as there are infinite variations in people.
You know what happens when you make the classical definition of "ASSUMING" something ...
If Jehovah thought something was important in the Bible... it would be spelled out EXACTLY.
 

TTH
sigh ....
..always trying to divert from any discussion of issues to try and disparage the character of someone ....
... and I believe you when you said you would walk away from such reasoning ...
... there were MANY people throughout History with the same opinions, and History is replete with horror of how it turned out for them.

 
TRUTH does not cease to exist because it is ignored.
 

It's NOT REALLY about "beards" .... It's about how much garbage is acceptable in one's "spiritual food".