No sane or moral person approves of pedophilia, including, as an organization, Jehovah's Witnesses.
#######
this is very powerful point that is being made in the above statement. the only problem is it overlooks or sidesteps the real issue on the table.
I would be the first to agree that the WT doesn't approve of pedophiles. the problem is how an organization that stakes the claim that they are the very mouth pc of god himself on earth handles it.
based on the wt claim, they really can;t even point to the catholic church or any other religion as to say:
See THEY AIN'T DOING IT RIGHT EITHER- well wt did stake out the claim of only source to god on earth since the days of russell
YOU See the problem is not really the person who is the pedophile, but how this person is dealt with by those in authority.
case in point, your apartment manager knows that a guy who lives in your complex has been raping women in the neigborhood . well what steps does he take to fix the problem--
well he sits down and talks to the rapist and he promises not to do it anymore, being that this building is well known he doesn't want to spoil the good name of the building by allowing folks to know that a rapist actually lives in the complex.
we the wt does pretty much the same thing, while technically the wt has NEVER INSTRUCTED ELDERS TO DIRECTLY TELL A PERSON THAT THEY CAN;T GO TO THE POLICE-
THEY DO create an atomsphere where one is reluctant to go.
Sister Johnson we met with bro smith and yes he admitted to what he did to your 9yr old, the body of elders have met and he has been dealt with, Private reproof since NO ONE outside of this room knows about it.
you can take this matter to the police that is your choice, but keep in mind how this will affect the congo here in this small community, how it will impact the effectiveness of the minsitry of so many of our dear bro and sister, how it will bring reproach on the good name of the congo and jah.
so while you do have the RIGHT you must decide is IT THE BEST THING TO DO? THE CHOICE IS YOURS
O BY THE WAY since the matter has been handled as a private reproof YOU CAN'T MENTION TO ANYONE IN THE CONGO WHAT HAPPENED if you do then we will have to bring you up on slander charges.
while i in noway excuse the man for being a pedophiles i mentioned that the issue really is not the person so much as it is those in responible postions.
allow me to explain, most of us would agree that a 45 yr old man who runs after little 6 and 7 yr old girls
while there are 100's of single women in his circuit who would give away "Coochie" for free is Sick to the bone, "Free Coochie" i mean come on-=
anyway we all agree the our boy is sick, so what does the catholic church AT LEAST DO-- well they send home boy off to the hospital for some help regardless of whether it w0rks or not THEY AT LEAST sent the dude for some help thier problem is they put him back on the job- that is another issue-
but what does wt do- well as our KM instructor told us at the last KM school i attended
95% of all your problems as elders can be handled by making sure that the bro or sister is :
1 out in service regualarly
2 at all meetings
3 keeps up with his mag reading
this is the extent of help that a man who likes children will get if he is a jw and why, well they don't want him to embarrass the good name of the congo - so this guy who is sick is actually not even getting any help at all.
it is due to such policies and pratices that the serivice dept is fully aware of that creates the enviroment that exist is wt.
so while they may hate pediphiles and what they do=
if they must chose between helping
1. the victim
2. the sick dude
3 keeping the name of the org lookiing and smelling good
points 1 and 2 will lose hands down and that is the problem
the mindset of "HOW WILL THIS LOOK" is what moves the avg jw to do what they do.
the constant mindset of appearance over rules anything else.
does anyone recall the exp in the mag about the bro in Germany who refused to drive a Mercedes Benz and the reason STATED:
WAS BECAUSE OF HOW IT WOULD LOOK.
I RECALL this exp in the mag so well because i spoke with a bro in the Writing Dept and he told us( a group of young bucks) that they got so many letters from pissed off jw- ok he didn't say pissed off,
but jw who could afford and enjoyed driving a high end car who were GETTING DOGGED FOR HAVING THEIR BENZ..
many of us can recite so many other examples of how the wt implants into it's memebers this mindset of keep the org looking good.
i recall giving so many talks myself where i reinforced this mindset as well
for example in the area of so call conscience matters- we would even dog folks for using what little conscience in areas that they were told were conscience matters.
we used the example of paul how he had the RIGHT TO DO MANY THINGS, BUT HE CHOSE NOT TO
MY FAVORITE TEXT TO IMPLANT THIS MINDSET IS :
"ALL THINGS ARE LAWFUL BUT NOT ALL THINGS ADVANTAGEOUS"
this is the type of text that would be shared with a jw who would be consider going to the police,
yes sister you have the legal right to go to the police, but will it prove to be advantageous to the congo and the name of jah
-(wink wink-now it is your right to go to the police)
and just think sister of the princple of "NOT TAKING YOUR BRO TO COURT"
-(wink wink-now it is your right to go to the police)
You have had your case handled by men of god why would you want a worldly man handling your case
-(wink wink-now it is your right to go to the police)
Sister ask your self this---has not the arrangement of the elders that jah has provided handled this case in the best manner or do you feel that these men who have no regard for the moral laws of god will do better for you and your daughter.
-(wink wink-now it is your right to go to the police)
As you know this bro is the City overseer and convention overseer - can you imagine how hard it could be for us to rent the stadium next year for the summer convention all because you decided to drag this matter into the public
-(wink wink-now it is your right to go to the police)
so yes i would be the first to say OFTEN TIME PERSON are told that they can go to the cops ,but the followup comments crush any desire to go forward so many times
and as we have seen here many elders just come straight out and tell the poor sister not to go, but when i was an elder i would have told her yes you can go but look at all the fallout
IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT
and beside if something is not done correctly (NOW THIS IS MY FAVORITE LINE)
JAH WILL TAKE CARE OF IT IN HIS OWN DUE TIME, SISTER YOU JUST NEED TO WAIT ON JAH LIKE DAVID DID
SMIle
you got to love the wt they have an answer for everything
james