So early this morning I had been working all night . Just got done eating MickeyD's in my truck , getting ready to take a nap before driving , and this JW young lady in her early 20's knocks on my closed window ! I put the window down and while forcibly handing the Watchtower to me just says, " Here is the Watchtower ! Thought you'd like to read it ! " So, I thought to myself ," she's not going to get away counting her time on me that easily - I'm gonna educate her and make her really EARN her time ! " LOL!
So then I stated to her , " Well, if it's the Watchtower, I have family that's tried to get me to join- but I have real problems with you guys and how the Watchtower society hid the child abuse going on for decades in your church ! " Then I asked, " Did you see the NBC news reports in November about the out of court millions of $$$ settlements ? " She replied , " Yes ! And others in my congregation saw it too ! " This surprised me as most witnesses I had talked to were not aware of it. And then she told me something that totally surprised me . She stated, " In the meeting right after the NBC news release our elders read a letter from the society saying that the "child abuse situation had been handled , that it was an isolated circumstance , and that the situation was over and had been rectified. "
After she told me that it led me to fully inform her of the Dateline program with Barbara Anderson and Bill Bowen revealing things in 2002 , and all the hiding that had been done of hundreds of abuse cases which had been swept under the rug. Also I informed her that Anderson and Bowen- although faithful JW's for years and in prominent positions were kicked out of the witnesses once they went public with the information about the abuse victims being unjustly treated. Told her even abuse victims and their relatives were DFed for reporting child abuse to the authorities ! So, I gave her the whole history of what had led up to these out of court settlements in 2007 ! I told her I got this information from news reports and the media .
Her reaction was one of concern , and she understood and appreciated why I took my stand against the witnesses for disagreeing with how the child abuse cases were handled. She stated that ," having been raised in the witnesses herself, if she had heard all the details earlier it would have made her angry too . " She was really paying attention to me , but got the glassy -eyed look in her eyes when stating , " But my elder father and his brother who is an elder helps me have confidence in the elders because I know I can trust my uncle and dad as elders. I'm sure that the ones being bad are minimal . "
So, I could see she was going to believe the illusion - however I left her with this thought , I said, " As you get older do yourself a favor though and please open your mind to think critically and watch things around you happening. The Jehovah's Witnesses are under " information control" which means all you are allowed to listen to or read is what they give you. And they try to suppress anything negative about the organization ; even if it's true , because they don't want to lose members. So, educate yourself and learn, it's what I did , and one reason I can't back up your organization." And I finished by telling her that I respect she has her views and beliefs, but please keep an open mind. Then she left and sat in her car with her partner for about 10 minutes and drove off . So, what do you think ? Do you think she may ponder on some things in the future ? She paid attention to what I was saying, but when some negative things were said , she would drift off with the glazed look in her eyes. As always , I look forward to and welcome your comments my friends ! Peace out, Mr. Flipper