Sect demands biblical proof http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4430293,00.html Stephen Bates, religious affairs correspondent
Elders of the Jehovah's Witnesses in the have been given instructions to deal with pedophiles after a series of damaging revelations. But its critics say that the sect's decision to accept accusations only if the abuse has two independent witnesses is unlikely to solve the problem. The , its headquarters in , is used to implicit obedience and is struggling to regain its battered authority. In a letter to be read at services, it says: "We abhor the sexual abuse of children and wil ot protect any perpetrator of such repugnant acts ... "However, we must bear in mind the Bible's clear direction: 'No single witness should rise up against a man respecting any error or any sin. At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses the matter should stand good (Deuteronomy )." The church, which has 6 million members around the world, has been convulsed by the revelation that its elders have protected sex offenders, refused to report accusations to the police, and even punished children and families making accusations. Two members have been charged with "disrupting the unity of the congregation" and "undermining confidence in Jehovah's arrangement" fo epeating their accusations on an NBC television program. Barbara Anderson, a former headquarters employee who claimed to have seen hundreds of suppressed files of accusations, was expelled after a private hearing held in her absence. The case against the second, Bill Bowen, a elder, has been postponed. Mr Bowen was so alarmed by the suppression of allegations that he created a website, silentlambs.org, to investigate the scale of the problem. He told NBC: "It's a pedophile's paradise within the organization. I believe that. I believe it with all my heart." |
Guardian Article
by silentlambs 3 Replies latest jw friends
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silentlambs
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Francois
"'No single witness should rise up against a man respecting any error or any sin."
Right. However, we are discussing a CRIME, not some Bedouin five thousand years ago stealing his neighbor's ass - or his neighbor's wife's ass. Jehovah's Witnesses arrogate to themselves taking the LAW into their own hands, which is in itself a criminal act.
Futher, we ARE NOT under the Law of Moses. GB, read Galatians. You've apparently forgotten it.
Additionally, there was nothing available at the time of Deuteronomy but TRIBAL law. No cops. No courts. No juries. No prosecutors. Nothing.
To hide behind a five-thousand year old standard of justice, and to attempt to undo modern jurisprudence by the simple expedient of quoting a hoary old scripture is not less than insane.
I suggest that the next approach to this issue be a prosecution of the governing body for failure to report a crime. And any other attempt to take the law into their own hands. The nerve.
Francois
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ozziepost
Well done, Stephen! The more this is brought to the attention of the public, the better. Some dubs might also be "honest hearted" and this will cause them to think.
Cheers, Ozzie
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nancee park
Ecclesiastes 3:1 "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven" and "everything" covers the Two Witnesses rule Brooklyn says justifies their not doing more to protect the congregations and the kids. Besides which a man's guilt in crime needs left to the courts for James says not to be formally judging people. Formal judging had been done prior to Christ, but he fulfilled Mosaic Law and it was set aside, but even when it was in effect the formal judging was done openly by elders hearing cases before the town gate where all could see and hear. Criminal matters are biblically put into the hands of Caesar, i.e. the secular police and courts. The Watchtower Society's disobediance to the Bible (Ro 13:1) heaps reproach on Jehovah's grand name, making the current Governing Body "apostates."