A little back story; I have been having a lot of Debates with my Mom about society stuff. Anyways I directed her to the Watchtower documents and the molestation charges. She then sent me an email here is what she wrote, the orginal email was just a link to the site and I said something to the effect of, Jehovah makes public the records that were supposed to be hidden! Not sure whats going on with the formatting?? I have tried changing it but it doesn't work. Sorry it's so small.
Jon,
As regards the unclean behavior of "so called" brothers who misuse their positions or their brotherhood to harm others, the apostle Paul gave excellent advice on this very matter in 2 Thessolonians 4:1-12/ Note verse 11 and 12 in particular. The advice to mind your own business in context refers to not getting involved in matters that do not involve you personally....not broadcasting the problems of others. It coincides with 2 Thessolonians 1:8-10 and Romans 12:19. These are not particularly easy concepts to grasp.....but for all of Jehovah's people to know the details of the judicial cases involving child abuse would not incite love and fine works.....it would stir up contentions and would have a dividing effect rather than a unifying effect ....... a distraction from the main issue at hand......God's Kingdom needs to be preached about ........People are going to die if they don't "get in the ark".
Our District Overseer gave a good illustration as to where people are today.....even some of Jehovah's people are in this situation. " A man was driving in a blizzard. Things were looking really bad when he saw a snow plow just ahead. He decided to follow the snowplow. He drove and drove following as closely as he dared , sometimes losing sight of the plow, but then seeing it again. Things were really bad. Finally, the snowplow stopped. The driver got out and came to the man's window. the man rolled down the window and the plow driver asked, "Where are you going? The man replied, " Well, I'm on my way to Montana." The snow plow driver said, " Well, I'm clearing this parking lot!" The people in the world are like the man following the snowplow in the parking lot......they are going nowhere . The job of the faithful slave and our job as their companions is to "take as many as will, to Montana"......no to the Kingdom Hope. there is more to life than just driving around in a parking lot. ( getting involved in matters that are going to be cleared up completely in the New System.....rather than concentrating on the real issue at hand) Our heavenly Father thru his Son Jesus has a much higher purpose for us and they are the only ones who can fix things the right way.....they are the only ones who know what we need and how to give it to us.
Love YOU,
MOM
My reply:
Mom, Peter took the exact same attitude you are taking when the Jews got on to him about eating with Gentiles. When you see gross sin occurring much like this molestation thing it needs to be cleaned out immediately. The question again and again comes up as to why Paul brought up Peter in such a public manor as a letter to a congregation. What kind of an example is that? If we are to just sit idle and wait on God when we see horrible things why would Paul bring up Peter in a letter, to EVERYONE in the church? Why would he point out that he went to the Jerusalem church to point this out? He didn't pull any punches on the matter. Neither should we. About the scriptures you used: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12; I agree that we should mind our own business, but this scripture was for dealings with the outside world, not the inner problems of the church. Paul made it clear by his own example(Galatians) and in his letters that if your brother sins you point it out, and with an Elder or a anointed one you find two witnesses to point out a sin, and you can do it in front of the whole congregation and publicly (1 Timothy 5:17-19). Paul even said that in the last days if men were not from God their "follies" would be know to all (2 Timothy 3:9). Furthermore Paul said if someone is teaching something wrong they are to be silenced and rebuked sharply (Titus 1:11,13) this was directed towards people with clout in the congregation. But if you go along with the flow when you know something is bad then you are as bad off as the sinner (James 2:9). We are to judge people by their actions (James 3:13). So the bible makes it very clear that when dealing in problems within the church people are made as examples, much as Paul, Peter and James also were. Paul even encouraged the church to look at his mistakes and his good deeds and they could judge for themselves if he was from God. Again he held himself to the standered he held everyone else to. Romans 12; This whole chapter is about doing things with the right spirit. As Christians we should never tear down one another in a bad spirit. But what is more loving then seeing your brothers and sisters hurt and trying to correct that hurt? Is it not better for the many if you point out to them that someone is doing hurt and they know how to correct it? What did Paul say in the bottom part of verse 2? He said, "then YOU will be able to test and approve what God's will is". The whole point of the scripture is having Christian freedom but having it in the right frame of mind. There is nothing wrong with doing your own thing so long as your doing it with the right intent. This goes back to what I discussed in the last paragraph. You can judge the intent by the actions. I personally have never heard anything about or from Barbara Anderson that leads me to believe she is maliciously trying besmirch the Witnesses, just trying to help children in a situation that is clearly bad. but for all of Jehovah's people to know the details of the judicial cases involving child abuse would not incite love and fine works.....it would stir up contentions and would have a dividing effect rather than a unifying effect ....... Mom it would not have a dividing effect it would have cleansing effect. Having a true scriptural viewpoint isn't dividing but cleansing. Only by teaching one thing and doing another does something divide. The truth does not divide it cleanses. So it wouldn't be the details that divide, it would be the WTS blatant hypocrisy that would divide, which would be scriptural. Again who was Jesus referring to about stumbling your brother? If the facts never came out could anyone be stumbled? The whole point is that your actions WILL BE KNOWN and therefore it could stumble someone and the person doing the stumbling would also be held accountable. " A man was driving in a blizzard. Things were looking really bad when he saw a snow plow just ahead. He decided to follow the snowplow. He drove and drove following as closely as he dared , sometimes losing sight of the plow, but then seeing it again. Things were really bad. Finally, the snowplow stopped. The driver got out and came to the man's window. the man rolled down the window and the plow driver asked, "Where are you going? The man replied, " Well, I'm on my way to Montana." The snow plow driver said, " Well, I'm clearing this parking lot!" The people in the world are like the man following the snowplow in the parking lot......they are going nowhere . The job of the faithful slave and our job as their companions is to "take as many as will, to Montana"......no to the Kingdom Hope. there is more to life than just driving around in a parking lot. ( getting involved in matters that are going to be cleared up completely in the New System.....rather than concentrating on the real issue at hand) Our heavenly Father thru his Son Jesus has a much higher purpose for us and they are the only ones who can fix things the right way.....they are the only ones who know what we need and how to give it to us. N O ONE should ever be discouraged for trying to stop others from being hurt, and letting the truth be known. This goes against everything both you, Dad and the bible teaches. Perhaps we should look at the underlying issue here. If the man would have simply gotten out of his vehicle or waited for the storm to let up, he may have realized he was in a parking lot. Instead he just aimlessly followed something he thought was right. Never stopping to ask or seek out what was really going on. Had he not just followed what appeared to be correct he would not have wasted all of his gas and could have been on the true path to Montana. Isn't the truth of this illustration that the man in the truck took action to correct the driver behind him? Would it have been loving to just let the man follow him for as long as he was working? So why would it be loving to purposely let yourself and others follow in something that is both unscriptural and hurtful? Even it is based on the old "perfect" law if it hurts your brother you shouldn't follow that law (Romans 14:13)! You should never follow anything without finding out the FACTS of the situation. Lets say someone makes you a map, from what you know this person has a good reputation for map making. You have no reason to doubt your map is wrong. What though if you receive a call from your friend who tells you he used the map and it was completely wrong? They say their lost and need help getting to their location. Would you just assume they were making up a false story to smear the person who made the map? Or would you call, ask the map maker and then test the map yourself before you made a choice? Now lets say you call the map maker to ask him about his map. He gets angry and tells you that your friend is being malicious and that you are to believe nothing your lost friend says. Would you just automatically take his word for it? Of course not! You would let the map, his work be the judge! Like wise the facts in this case are the judge of this policy and people should know the truth on this subject so they can judge for themselves. Only Jesus and his Father are perfect. So should we strive to be, this means sometimes we have to make tough decisions, like speaking out against those who are powerful.
..It`s always good to have a Jehovah`s Witness clear things up..LOL!!...OUTLAW