Farkel, you illustrated beautifully the hollow hypocritical ring of J.R. Brown's words. The more exposure the wts gets, the less the public is going to accept their cop outs.
Salud, thanks for posting the article. It's great.
Libby
NY TIMES ARTICLE - Read it Here!
by Salud 20 Replies latest jw friends
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Max Divergent
Two lines yell out from this:
...leave it in Jehovah's hands....Since there weren't two eyewitnesses, they said there wasn't much they could do."
But Jehovah's hands* have brought about: reporting laws from Ceaser that set out a basic christian principle - protect the weak from the strong; case studies in the Catholic Church et al; many 'spiritual men' within the organisation who've brought matters to attention through the proper channels...
Dang!!! He even provided his Son's life to remove the two witness rule provided to the Isralites in Duteronomy that would otherwise have prevented them acting as 'reasonable men' do in these matters!
After all that work, what's left for an all-powerful God to do but to appeal to the New York Times?
In these cases we are not going to be vindictive because these are our brothers, and we would hope that they would change
Oh, so... right... So you're concerned that there may be a measure of 'vindictivness' in DFing and reporting your brother the child rapist, so to be kind you do next to nothing?
So... When people are accused of/confess to consentual sex acts (like fonding the breasts twice, or whatever), the elders can deal with this without vindictivness and there's no chance of horny teenagers or anyone else changing, so it's OK to DF. However if it's child abuse, strong action might include a measure of vindictivness and hamper personal development, so better just have a little chat...
Umm... a lot could be said about that attitude, but an obvious thing is that the JW's substantive punishment for consenting sex is greater than for raping children^.
Thank you for making that clear JR Brown.
Cheers, Max
* Alternative views include: 1. Jehovah dosn't exist, or 2. He exisits but is very different to what the WTS make him out to be, or 3. He is exactly what the WTS say he is and we're all hoping like hell that we don't have to live forever under the kind of rule currently enjoyed in the 'Spiritual Paradise'.. (btw, can W invade Brooklyn?)
^ For more insight to the careless, uncaring, ignorant way the GB/WTS deals with peoples sexuality (and lives generally), just refer to CofC, p.41-50. This mob still make life harder for horny teenagers and consenting adults than they do for child rapists.
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deddaisy
"But we say, if you take what our policy is for keeping our organization clean morally, it far outpaces anybody else's." ----------JR Brown
duh.......geez, how much do you expect from God's earthly organization, I mean isn't "outpacing anybody's else's" religion enough? duh, hey , I mean we're just his earthly organization, we're just better than anybody else on earth.........duh.......we gotta concentrate on those big bad cigarette smokers and those members that question our God-given authority, we don't have time to investigate our brotherly child molesters......duh......I gotta go get my 16 year-old daughter hooked up and married to a Witness boy before she fornicates........duh......it's not as bad if she's molested because she's too young to get pregnant and noone will know......duh......witnesses are some of the most intelligent people around.....duh......
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ISP
J. R. Brown, director of the public information office at church headquarters, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, in Brooklyn, said the church had exemplary policies for handling sexual abuse, which were based on biblical standards and had been widely published in church magazines. "We're not trying to say we handled everybody in the right way and our elders are all-knowing, all perfect," said Mr. Brown, who declined as a matter of policy to comment on individual cases, including Mr. Bowen's. "But we say, if you take what our policy is for keeping our organization clean morally, it far outpaces anybody else's."
Who is the 'we'? WTS? Why were people hot handled 'in the right way' other than deliberately?Elders are 'all knowing' in that they are controlled completely in these areas. They have the elders book and BOE letters telling them everything they <STRONG>have</STRONG> to do.</P> The WTS 'policy' doesn't work. They have 23,000 paedophiles still in the 'clean' organistaion while upright people like Bill Bowen are removed. Go figure.</P> ISP
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Bang
we hope that these brothers may change
Well, so do I, but preferably without using more of the live bait to determine what opinion I should form in the future. If they want to be holy men, then let them pray for everyone all day instead.
bang
Edited by - bang on 11 August 2002 5:24:19
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Pathofthorns
An excellent and well-worded article. The reasonableness and accuracy in what has been appearing in the media lately is commendable and hopefully is making some JW's, especially elders, realize that those on the "other side" are not the raving and lying lunatics that they thought.
Path
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teejay
>> Mr. Brown, said: "We view such judicial hearings as an extension of our shepherding
work as ministers. In other words, we're there to save a person's soul. In these cases
we are not going to be vindictive because these are our brothers, and we would
hope that they would change." (my emphasis)In the past, Mr. Brown has said truthfully and repeatedly that the elders at the local level
are untrained, that some have even bungled *some* cases. Good for him.What should be becoming even more apparent is that the leadership in Brooklyn,
including this director of public information, is at best clueless as to the nature of the
CRIME of pedophilia and are, at worst, criminal in their intent to cover it up. This man is
a complete fool on this issue, and if not a fool, an evil man.Keep talking, Mr. Brown. Keep talking.
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Would someone clarify something for me? If it's been explained in the past, I've missed
it. The Times article saidBarbara Anderson, of Tullahoma, Tenn., said that when she and her husband lived and
Speaking as a devil's advocate and knowing the inner workings of the average
worked at church headquarters in Brooklyn in the 1990's, she was asked to gather
information about child abuse in the congregations. She said she handed over to church
leaders dozens of letters complaining about how cases were handled. For her it was a
revelation.
congregation (but nothing about bethel), I'd think it very unusual that a woman, a sister,
would be asked to handle this very sensitive project. At the very least, an appointed man
on the rank of ms would be used.How was it that SHE was asked to handle it? Just curious.
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teejay
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