OK, I had initially intended on commenting on two things in Barbara's commentary in another thread, that combined, make for an interesting scenario for JW pedophiles - then I was distracted by a question from Purps, and decided I'd use this comment to start a new thread. That is a hell of an avatar pic, by the way, Purp. If you're half as cute as that smile you're wearing, you must be quiet a heartbreaker! And what kind of a name is Purplesofa?? Why not Browncouch? Or Stainedsettee?? Lavenderloveseat???
Anyway - there is this interesting situation of the "three year rule," the "evidence" of Jehovah's forgiveness, and JW pedophiles that Barbara mentions on the CD.
A brother can have committed a serious sin, and if it's been a few years, and the brother's life gives evidence that he's been forgiven by Jehovah, the elders don't necessarily have to be told about the sin, and if they are, they don't necessarily have to deal with it. Barbara discusses this "three year rule" in her commentary, and I remember well when it first came out in WTS literature.
So, we have this kind of scenario: A beloved elder is accused of sexually touching a child. It is years later, when they have the maturity and the courage, that the now adult victim tells the elders. The pedophile elder then admits that, in a moment of weakness, he was inappropriate with the child, but he was deeply troubled and it never happened again. He's asked Jehovah for forgiveness. The body looks at his record of years of faithful service, assembly parts, auxiliary pioneering, etc., and all they see is evidence of the Holy Spirit in his life. Obviously, in their eyes, Jehovah has forgiven him. Considering it has been years since the abuse, and he's produced such good fruits, the elders can just let sleeping dogs lie. (Pun intended!)
What's wrong with this scenario? The elders assume that the good conduct and seeming blessings the pedophile elder has in his life are evidence of Jehovah's forgiveness and blessing - when the reality is that anyone can behave in such a way as to seem to be blessed by god. He's got some social skills, so he gives good talks. He's smart so he can give what sounds like righteous counsel to those in need. He puts down 15 to 20 hours a month on his time report no matter what, so he seems to be doing better that way than most of the rest of the elders. He kisses ass and has some ability, so he gets privileges. He's a model elder in so many ways.
In other words, anyone can create the circumstances in their life that makes it look like they are god's special little darling in the eyes of JW elders who think that anyone wicked like a true pedophile would end up being revealed to the congregation by Jehovah. The elders are trusting in the help of someone - Jehovah - and something - the Holy Spirit - which aren't really there!
So a clever pedophile, especially one who could move from congregation to congregation every few years (which in itself could be looked at as an example of his spirituality - "see, he's always moving to help out a new congregation!!"), could in fact have abused dozens or hundreds of children over the years. If here and there some child or former victim comes forward, he can use the three year rule, his contriteness and evidence of forgiveness, and what body of elders wouldn't fooled by the "evidence" that this elder has holy spirit in his life.
The sad thing is that this is not just a hypothetical - these sort of situations actually happened.
These are some of my thoughts about the evidence that Barbara discovered in the court documents.
S4
