"(1) Believe and support your child when he or she reports being sexually abused. (2) Explain to the child that he or she is not responsible for what happened. (3) INFORM THE CHILD THAT WHAT HAPPENED IS AGAINST THE LAW AND THAT IT IS NECESSARY TO REPORT IT TO THE POLICE SO THAT IT WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN." Can you explain the diferences in your post and this?
Well, I lived it. My avatar is myself at just under the age of 2. I was sexually abused from infancy until I was 5. When I was an adult, I finally found the courage to confront my parents (my father is still a Witness, and I think he's still a ministerial servant). Originally they did not deny what I said, and didn't until it was pointed out to them by the elders that they could be disfellowshipped unless they denied what I said. Naturally there soon followed a flood of denials.
This was when I discovered the two witness rule. Now with me being so little when the abuse happened, quite frankly most of my memories are fragmented and disjointed. So I talked to my worldly relatives and was shocked at some of the stories they told me. My paternal grandmother (dad's mother) and an aunt told me they were more than willing to tell my elders what they knew.
This was when I found out that the rule, after a quick call to Brooklyn, had been modified a bit. Now I needed 2 EYEwitnesses. Believe it or not, my grandmother did in fact witness something. This was when I found out that anything she said (exact quote): "didn't count" because she was worldy and (quote from an elder) "We all know how the world is full of lies." Another elder told me a child can hurt a parent more than a parent hurt a child. Guess he's never been raped before.
But still I pushed on, too dumb and too stubborn to know when to quit (or to know when I'd been told to quit). Until the day came when the circuit overseer paid a visit to my house and told me to "Shut up right now or else I will see to it personally you are disfellowshipped." When I asked on what charge, he informed me I was a troublemaker and he would be doing Jehovah's organization a service by getting rid of me.
And so I left. Never was DF'd or DA'd, just left.
How do I reconcile this with what the Society printed? The same way I would my family. In public they said all the right things, did all the right things; they smiled, were friendly and gave every appearance they could that we were a good family. But when the door closed and it was just us ... well it was bad. Very bad.
The Bible is full of examples of two-faced hypocrites, people living double lives saying one thing and doing another. That Jehovah's Witnesses are guilty of this should come as no surprise. People are the same now as they were 4,000 years ago. "There is nothing new under the sun."
Again, by their actions Jehovah's Witnesses put a lie to the above statement. If you don't believe me, I understand. But your disbelief doesn't chane the reality of tens of thousands of children being abused in this organization.
