I finally noticed this thread and am not at all surprised.
Mr. Bowen -
With all due respect, did you expect anything less?
You stated the actions of the appeal committee included:
They refused to look at the letters from people all over the world that stated silentlambs had not divided them from JW's
they refused to look at over 1000 stories of abuse I had with me
they refused to read the New York Times
they tried to refuse the witnesses who came with me the right to speak with them
This is how the Watchtower Society administers justice?
The original judicial committee reached the decision to disfellowship you not only in absentia, but without any eyewitnesses to the alleged offenses you were charged with. Time and again the original committee ignored your legal requests for all correspondence to go through your attorney, and this aids in demonstrating the arrogance and self-righteous attitude that the Watchtower possesses in reasoning that they are above the law.
The very fact that you were charged with "causing divisions in the organization" and the Watchtower leaders chose to focus on that matter and expel you instead of attempting to address the issue of abused children speaks volumes. Choosing to not appear for the committee hearing when you had the candlelit vigil with witnesses who had been abused that were to testify in your defense? Another example that they were not interested in the truth, only in your being silenced, and avoiding any further damage to the organization's reputation.
From the Watchtower Society's perspective, they HAD to disfellowship you.
Surely you understand and expected this. It is the only means they possess in order to attempt damage control within their ranks.
From this moment forward, you will be viewed by the average, loyal Jehovah's Witness as a inherently wicked person who lied and slandered God's true organization and was rightly expelled from the congregation for doing so.
To them, it does not matter what you did. When you are disfellowshipped, you are viewed as unclean whether you committed murder, adultery, smoked a cigarette, or questioned Watchtower doctrine. They lump each and all in the same convenient category. All that matters to them is that you are disfellowshipped, and subsequently they will turn a deaf ear to your message. This should serve as a telltale sign that the Watchtower Society is a micromanaged CULT. One dare not listen to any information an outsider has to provide, for the only accurate truth trickles down from the Governing Body in Brooklyn, everyone else is not to be trusted.
To disfellowship you is the ONLY way that the Watchtower Society could rationalize to their members that your message is false, and a malicious attack on their organization. It is also the ONLY way they could prevent future members or those currently naive to your cause from daring to listen to what you have to say.
Anyone who takes the time to truly analyze the facts will know that you were railroaded here.
If it is any consolation, I would think that you could sleep more soundly at night knowing you are no longer affiliated in any fashion with the book publishing corporation which preserves its image at the expense of countless lives destroyed or forever haunted because of being sexually abused.
Your message HAS been heard, and by millions. From Dateline NBC which averages a viewership of over 1 million households in the United States, to BBC Panorama, a reputable journalism program in the United Kingdom, to even more recently the publishing of the article in the Sunday New York Times, which is one of the most respected and widely circulated newspapers in the country, if not the world.
Many will continue to hear your message, and your actions have made a difference.
I find it ironic, that so often in Watchtower discourses people are discouraged from becoming like the Pharisees in Biblical times. They warn of becoming haughty and greedy, to plot and to scheme to destroy one who is innocent, so as to preserve their own position.
I am not making a comparison between you and Jesus, but I am making a comparison between the actions of the Watchtower Society and the behavior of the Pharisees in the 1st century.
They have become that which they denounce.
Walk proudly Bill Bowen, with head held high.
The Watchtower Society is not worthy of men like you.
The ivory tower in Brooklyn continues to collapse, and in due time they will have to answer for their many transgressions.
Edited by - Reborn2002 on 13 August 2002 2:51:54