Outstanding post BroSun1. I'm very glad you are brought your intelligence and experience to bear on this issue.
POLICIES: This is one area where the Watchtower Society can clearly confuse the rank and file. To the best of my knowledge there is no Policy Document that is available to ALL in the Congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses. How anyone can talk about the Watchtower Organization as having the BEST policies is beyond my comprehension.
Excellent point. Surely Jehovah's Witnesses are not following God's example, for when he wanted the Israelites to follow a certain law, he made it very clear what they were and were not allowed to do. Not so with the Society, who try very hard to obfuscate. There can be only one logical reason to do so.
What angered me about the talk was that the Society was telling the rank and file that they should not seek help from Psycho Therapists as these persons where demonized and may land up blaming the Society for the problems experienced by them.
Now, if you asked me to show you this statement in any Watchtower writings I personally will not be able to do so. But this was clearly food coming from the Faithful and Discreet Slave, which I heard with my own ears. Why I was so annoyed is because at that same time I knew of Brothers in very important positions in Bethel whose wives were receiving treatment from Psychologists!
This is something I've found somewhat frustrating in responding to Witnesses who become deliberately obtuse and refuse to acknowledge the reality that what is said from the platform is just as much a directive as anything found in the publications. Perhaps even moreso as they will many times get somewhat more explicit in their pronouncements (see talks regarding 1975 for example).
This is also a fine point that is difficult to communicate to anyone who's never been a Witness. That there is a difference between what is said and what is written.
Did the Watchtower in the past through its DO’s, CO’s and Elders tell persons not to report Child Abuse cases to the Authorities? I Truly believe this to be the case.
Why else would they order elders to contact the Society first before even the police? I was told by a CO personally to "shut up" or I'd be disfellowshipped. That Witnesses refuse to accept that the Society does indeed order silence and tell elders not to report is insulting. Does it happen every single time? Of course not. But like most things in that sect, there is a conspiracy of silence with all orders given verbally so as to present plausible deniability.
Chris
