I was invited to a congregation in Ontario, Canada today and as soon as the meeting opened the brother conducting the meeting said there was a very important statement coming from the borg.
This talk replaced the two last parts of "Living as a Christian" section. He started reading a letter from the borg about how much they loved us. Some key points:
- The media is WRONG
- They are biased
- The media has decided to ignore all the material on JW.org regarding Child Abuse despite them telling to look into the articles, broadcasting and magazine articles about protecting the child(s) /members of the cong.
- These "slanders" are SATANIC LIES
- Satan is bad and hates us
- We love you and hope you remain strong.
Second part of the talk was about answering two questions.
1. How do JWs view child abuse?
Answer: It's wrong and elders have authorization to report these scumbags to the authorities.
(Now here's the part I do not understand. I thought they weren't allowed to do this, can someone point me to a source or reference to show it to my friend? He has lost faith because of the new child abuse cases)
They also, said and read a scripture about how God forgives everyone and how people can have a change of heart but since elders can't read hearts it is possible that these people may commit the same offences. He added as well, that these people would never be able to hold important positions in the cong. Cited Watchtower from Jan 1997.
(Is this also true or is there a twist behind this?)
2. How can we help our families understand that these are cruel lies?
They encouraged everyone and gave sort of like a pre made outline of what to say. I really hate this cult! The outline said to encourage family or people from service to look at the other side of the coin. Also, encouraged bros and sis to cite stuff from an article on JW.org about Pedophiles.
and that was it!
It all felt like a really bad press release // damage control. I felt really sick because I've seen the AU Royal Commission stuff and that isn't a lie, it is out there, even on video. But they just tell people that it is a lie and to look the other way when confronted about it. Sickening!