Sheila Bowen's Letter To the GB! (page 6)

blueroom

I hope the will to fight back and be strong that you and your husband have, inspire those who need it. And the courage that you and your husband have shown together, be with you all your days.

Lady Lee

(((Sheila)))

The power of your letter comes more in what it does for YOU rather in what it may do for those you wrote it to.

Both you and Bill have suffered a lot for taking a stand for victims. In doing so you too have become victims of this org.

We all know that the org will not listen. Letters such as this are not really for them. They are for us. They are an opportunity to say what is in our hearts and minds. When we stand face to face with the enemy and find the courage to speak our truth we grow stronger. In speaking our truth we lessen the death grip that abusers have over us. We grow into our own strength which is formidable to have taken on Goliath.

You have won. You may not feel like it right now but you have won a victory here. One that the world can see.

I am sure that as time goes on you will find a wide range of emotional reactions to the last couple of years. Please check into the symptopms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (if you haven't already. Take care of yourselves well. Get all the support you need. Take all the time that you need.

I think you will find that for all the support you have given to the victims you will receive it back one-hundred-fold. At least I hope so.

Please remember you are not alone. You and Bill have the affection of all those you fought to help and all their supporters.

Most importatnly you have your minds. And your hearts. You have your conscience. And you have your freedom.

Lee Marsh

Richie

Sheila....,

A letter so true, so heart piercing, so to the point! Your letter reinforces my belief that the Watchtower Organization is indeed an exact replica of the Pharisaical Jewish class, where they burdened down their followers with heavy loads of rules and regulations at the time. The WT is guilty by comparison as they likewise manufactured their rules to the letter of the law as prescibed by the bible, but they fail to administer the spirit of the law, which in the case of child abusers should not cold-heartedly be a matter of "how many witnesses are testifying to the crime", but more importantly, how genuine love and concern can be shown to the victims by helping them from the standpoint of Christian love based on the 2 commandments instilled in us by deeply loving your God AND your neighbor as yourself!

My heart goes out to you and your husband and to all the poor victims who cry out for help.....a cry that is heard by a loving God who will never forget the innocent ones.....and likewise will also not forget the guilty ones.....

Deepest regards,

Richie :*)

Edited by - Richie on 12 August 2002 21:34:53

bigfloppydog

A very OUTSTANDING letter Sheila, you hit the nail on the head, so to speak. Your husband should be very proud of you, and I'm sure he is, what you did took alot of courage.

However, some people have closed minds, and I believe the GB, will say and do exactly what they want. It doesn't seem to sink in with them.

I guess they will do anything to protect themselves and the org.

You and Bill have my utmost respect for what you are doing for the innocent children of this world.

sisteract

sheila,

welcome to the board. what an incredible and powerful letter! how sad it had to come to this, but you do not stand alone as you speak righteousness. we're behind both you and your husband. thankyou for your example of strenth and courage.

much love

Ranchette

I just want to thank every one for their kind comments,support and encouragement.I would love to respond to each indivitual post but I am truly exausted in every way and I know you will understand why I am doing it this way instead.

I did not go into that meeting with a fantasy that I could change the outcome with my letter.I had no expectations except for them to allow me to read it to them with my own voice. I wrote that letter and read it before them because I knew I would always regret not having a say when I had the chance.I did it for the victims,Bill, the others who stood up and for myself. If even one heart was reached in the process it would be a bonus.

I am not sad or depressed about the outcome last night. I am proud of what we have accompolished and will accomplish in the future. I am also proud of the victims who are now survivors because they are brave enough to speak out and tell about the atrocities that many Americans would have a hard time beliving could happen in their "Free Country"! I hope they continue to come forward, exposing this organization's so called "fruits" for the whole world to see.

I am not worried in the least as to whether they DF or DA me. I have been shunned for the last year and a half anyway so it would accompolish nothing.

I started rebuilding my life as soon as I quit going to meetings. I was through waiting with my life on hold till all the sudden I woke up one day and realized it was over and that I had wished it away for something better instead of appreciating the gift of this life.I am happy and like myself so much better than I did back then.

I want all of you to do the same. Move on, enjoy life, love yourself, I want you to be happy.

P.S. I am in the process of asking Simon to get my old Ranchette acct up and running. It wouldn't work so I started a new one.

Edited by - Ranchette1 on 12 August 2002 23:13:5

seedy3

That was a very brave and heart felt letter, you can almost feel the pain and agony that caused it to be written.

I find that the 2 witness rule that is used by the WTS to be very outdated. If you figure 2,000 years ago when Paul reinforced the rule and moses instituted it 2,000 years prior to that, there was no real scientific way to investigate crimes. But today we do have these things and the need for 2 witnesses is not always necessary and often should not even be used. If there is an accusation of this kind of crime, there should be no doubt as to have it properly investigated by the local authorities, if the accused is innocent they will find that out, as well as if he/she is guilty.

They say that "Gods Word" is unchanging, but think about it, parts of it are over 4,000 years old and the laws it uses often conflict with modern methods. This law being one of them. Now I'm not saying that the laws were not needed in thier day, but some of them are not aplicable to our day and time. For instance if your house was broken into, do you want the authorites to drop the investigation if they cannot find two people that saw the intruder? Or do you accept the fact that the finger prints that they lifted belonged to the neighbor kid down the street and push for him to be punished. Well under the law of moses he is innocent, there are no wittnesses, but under modern law it can be proven that he was the one that did the crime and will be punished.

The same applies to the sexual abuse, most rapests are not convicted on an additional wittness, other then the victim. The convictions usually come from scientific evidence, the reason is, most of these crimes are without wittness other then the victim themselves.

Perhaps the "Word of God" is unchanging, but the way it is applied should be, and much of it should be taken as principal rather then literal.

IMHO
Seedy

Lee Elder

Hi Sheila,

That is one terrific letter. Kudos!

Lee

one

cygnus,

Are you ok?

Why doesn't the WT stone to death any wrongdoer, (adultery)?

IT IS BIBLICAL!

Comnpare with the WT policy of two witness and no reporting to authorities.

Derrick

Jehovah has truly blessed Bill in crowning him with a true Christian lady such as yourself.

Derrick

Sheila Bowen's Letter To the GB!

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