O.K. Hi, you all ! It happened again like in July when I talked to an elder and his wife about child abuse, but this time I got a hold of rank and file members who fortunately I was able to play like a fiddle as they had no idea what they were up against here.
So brother middle age ex-hippie convert ( as he told me later ) and sister middle age hair in a bun offered me the Awake on death or our view of death. I graciously accepted gaining their trust saying yes, I had close loved ones who had died over the years but didn't know if I believed in a resurrection or hereafter. I explained I was burned out on the hypocrisy in religion , especially in the news the last week, what with the Muslim father murdering his daughter for not wearing a scarf to school, and the young Colorado man who murdered 4 former church associate of his. Brother ex-hippie said, " Well, we see a lot of hypocrisy in religion today. The Episcopalians just started allowing gays in their church down in Modesto ( a central California town) , and of course you know about what has happened in the Catholic church in the news about child abuse. "
So, secretly lapping my chops like a barely contained hungry wolf, I saw my opportunity ! I had folded in my hand the AP news release of the witness child abuse settlements , but kept it folded until I made my points . I stated, " Yes, I heard about the Catholic child abuse scandals . Very tragic ! By the way out of curiosity , what religion do you folks represent ? " " Jehovah's Witnesses ", they said. I said, " Were you aware that the Watchtower society in an NBC nationwide news report was reported to have settled a multimillion $$ lawsuit with 16 witness child abuse victims out of court and they were given a " gag " order so as not to speak in public about what had happened to them ? " These witnesses stood there with mouths open looking like someone had just shot their mother . They said, " No! We were not aware of this ! " So, I proceeded to show him and her the news release and looking over it the brother immediately said, " well we are aware that these things happen . But it is dealt with and the person is DFed and disciplined . " The sister agreed. I continued, " Well, perhaps in your area around here they have handled it properly , but across the United States many cases have been hidden . In the NBC report it stated the society was aware of certain molesters for 20 to 30 years and did nothing to report it to authorities. "
Then I took a different approach. I said, " You know the Catholics were informed by their church leaders of their child abuse problem . Public apologies were made to the victims by the church leaders , and all Catholics were made aware of this problem. May I ask you, Did the Watchtower society make any announcement at your church meetings about the child abuse settlements ? Did the abuse victims recieve any public apology about the crimes happening? " They said, " No. Not that we knew about. " Then I said, " That is precisely my point. " I said , " In many religions, not just yours there is what is called " information control ". The leaders of some churches will not inform members of important information that you need to be made aware of out of fear of looking bad to the public eye outwardly . They control what and how much you hear from the media so you will not be informed, so that you are unable to make a fair and informed evaluation of the news yourself. I am reading a book called " Combatting Cult Mind Control " by Steve Hassan, a former Moony cult member, and he discovered his church had controlled him with " information control" so he got out, and became a cult exit counselor. "
So brother ex-hippie says, " Yes, but there are imperfect people in all churches . All people make mistakes everywhere. " So I said, " Very true, I agree with you . However that being said, there is a big difference in making unintentional small mistakes as opposed to tolerating felony child abuse in a religion then covering it over to the detriment of children's safety, putting them in further danger. " The bun sister nodded her head in agreement. I asked them, " If you found out by researching that I'm telling you the truth here, which I am, and you discovered the Watchtower society covered up these child abuse situations so as to look better to the public by saving face , and more children got abused because of that, would you agree this is wrong ? " They both said, " Yes. That would definitely be wrong. " I said, " Alright then. Please do yourselves a favor. When you go to your church meetings Sunday, please ask your elders that you want an explanation of what happened in regards to these child abuse scandals. If they answer you honestly then you know you can trust them. But if they avoid it , telling you to not worry about it , that it's untrue, then you know you are being duped by information control, and your freedom is being taken away from you. Will you promise me to do this ? " They both said, " Yes. They would ask their elders about it. "
I informed them, then towards the end, I had relatives who were witnesses, but I was never in it. And I told them when I talked with their presiding overseer at my doorstep in July, he had no idea about the child abuse scandal either ! And said the society had no plans to inform rank and file members about it, or no announcements to be made. So, that was it, I took their Awake, and I placed a news release with them and gave them very important things to think about in regards to " cult information mind control ". Interestingly enough, they were really paying attention when I talked with them about having the freedom of choice to be informed by the media, and the fact that they have not been allowed to hear about this from their superiors . I could tell they were really listening and pondering. So another 2 JW's informed. It made my day, and I hope they do something with the information I gave them. I look forward to your comments as always and insights on what you feel may happen , or any other comments. Peace out to all you good folks out there , man, lets keep informing any of these people we can. Thanks, Peace out, Mr. Flipper