I think others have explained it for me. But some people will never understand. I hope this never happens to you. May the WTBTS burn on the ashes of its own policies.
Media request to record/broadcast oral argument; from ABC News New York
by Londo111 75 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
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LisaRose
From my own experience and having read dozens of accounts, a lot of factors determine who gets disfellowshipped in cases of serious sin, (or what the Watchtower considers serious sin). The elders can and do take a lot of factors into consideration, and do use their own judgement when determining guilt or innocence, so it's ridiculous to maintain that their hands are tied when it comes to child abuse.
The Watchtower knows that their policies can and do enable pedophiles to freely operate in the congregation, and they don't care. The scriptures they use to defend their practices are very much open to interpretation, the bible doesn't even talk about "judicial committees" and the word disfellowship mentioned. But the Watchtower stubbornly refuses to change, they would rather continue to see children abused than admit that there might be a better way to do things, when the reality is that they flip flop on doctrine constantly in other matters.
Common sense and basic human decency dictates that you don't put children at risk, anything else is contrary to the very basic biblical command to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The elders who become aware of a pedophile can take steps to protect their children, but they leave other families vulnerable, how could that possibly be considered right, or moral or Christian?
Rather than stand on a rigid and debatable interpretation of a few scriptures, the scripture the Watchtower should be concerned with is Matthew 7:21-23
…21"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22"Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' 23"And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'
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EdenOne
If the Governing Body would be even mildly interested in protecting the vulnerable children instead of protecting their own reputation, it would be a simple matter to make an interpretation of the two-witness rule in a broad way, in favor of the abused victim, for example, by saying that:
a) the two-witness rule is only valid for church discipline; when a public crime is involved, the elders should squarely tell the parents to immediatly contact the authorities, regardless of them thinking that enough evidence is present or not. They should let the authorities deal with that issue. In the cases where parents are unaware / not present / not taking action, the elders should be the ones contacting the local authorities themselves.
AND WHEN THAT HAS BEEN DONE
b) let the secular authorities become the "second witness" in church disciplinary actions taken against the individual charged with accusations of child molestation. Plus, any accusation of paedophile conduct levelled against an Elder or a MS or a pioneer should result in immediate suspension of their office/service privilege until matters have been clarified by the law enforcement authorities.
AND
c) Whenever a publisher has a recorded past as a pedophile [either in public records or congregational files] that person should be excluded from going in any form of evangelizing work that involves visiting people at their homes [this would serve a double purpose: to protect young publishers and the public at large], and to go out in the field service without being escorted by an elder or a MS; and parents in the congregation should be discreetly informed about that person's past, so that they could take precautions to protect their children. Plus, past sexual offenders against minors should NEVER be allowed to occupy positions of responsability within the congregation.
Sadly, none of the above seems to be a priority to the GB, who is too busy in playing the persecuted victim whose reputation is being tainted by Satan's agents.
Eden
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jwleaks
Complete Register of Action in relation to Watchtower's appeal
Related Documents are available here: www.jwleaks.org/candace-conti
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rebel8
What I am condemning is someone whom becomes aware that their child or a child has been abused and does not go to the authorities first
Ok, that's right, adults of sound body and mind need to take responsibility for their own actions.
However, that is really not the main issue here. The one and only person responsible for the crime of child rape is the rapist.
Leaders of a religion whose evangelical and social practices supply adults with unfettered access to a pool of potential victims must take better precautions than dubs do. It's wrong to accept a leadership role in any group and then cherry pick which things you're going to lead and ignore the rest. That makes you a cowardly, negligent shithead.
Leaders of said religion should not punish victims for being victims. (I have seen that punishment happen to someone.)
They should not interview victims about details of the assault. Besides the fact that it is none of their business, it humiliates and traumatizes the victim.
Leaders of that religion should not gossip about the victim to their wives, who spread it around the hall and the victim is further humiliated and ostracized, just for being a victim.
Leaders of said religion, who punish people for swimming at the YMCA or practicing yoga, should not be so lenient with pedophiles. That creates a social acceptability for rape.
etc.
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breakfast of champions
Leaders of said religion, who punish people for swimming at the YMCA or practicing yoga, should not be so lenient with pedophiles. That creates a social acceptability for rape - REBEL8
But rapists are humans too ya know!
The intended victim should remember that the rapist is a human. No doubt there are circumstances in his life that have precipitated his behavior. So although a woman should not cower in fear and permit a rapist to intimidate her, at the same time she should treat him understandingly, as a fellow human. - Feb 22 1984 Awake
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PaintedToeNail
Deut. 22:27- An engaged girl who being raped screamed. No one to help her. She is not to be put to death, but rapist is. Where is the 2nd witness? If there was a 2nd witness, they should have helped the girl. Her word against his. In this case, 2 witnesses ARE NOT required. Shouldn't that be the case where a child is molested and there is no one to witness it?
The borg needs to follow Deut 22:27 when a child is being molested and there is no one to help them. They should be believed, the offender should be promptly reported to the authorities and the victim and family given all the support they need. THAT would be scriptural.
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Doubting Bro
Let's hope ABC does a huge story on this one!
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rebel8
she should treat him understandingly, as a fellow human
GOOD LORD. WHAT SICKOS THEY ARE!
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Vidiot
never a jw - "The moral values of the 21st century of most western democracies are more just and compassionate than those found in the Bible."
Even in Texas.
lisarose - "The Watchtower knows that their policies can and do enable pedophiles to freely operate in the congregation, and they don't care."
Oh, they care.
About the WTS's survival, that is.
x
I've long suspected that it's more than just the Org's reputation at stake.
I think they've kept a lid on it because it's become so widespread and endemic that they're afraid if it were all exposed, a mass exodus (of panicked JW parents trying to protect their kids) would occur too quickly for the Org to adapt and recover from.
Remember, the WTS's financial survival is dependent on the donations from the membership; if that revenue flow dries up too suddenly too soon, no amount of assets or holdings will make a difference.
