Posts by defender of truth

17

'Jehovah is using the Royal commission'??.. Ok, let's work with that.

by defender of truth in

what do you think of the following line of reasoning for helping a jw start to think about what they are admitting.. (essentially, the organisations way of handling child abuse has been wrong, harm has been caused, god is now putting it right.).

reply:.

"i appreciate your honesty, in admitting that child abuse has not been handled in the right way in the past.

defender of truth

Vidiot+Splash, those are excellent questions. Nicely thought out ;)

77

GEOFFREY JACKSON TO APPEAR BEFORE ROYAL COMMISSION ON FRIDAY 14TH August!!!

by defender of truth in

the royal commissions public hearing into the jehovahs witnesses will recommence in sydney on friday 14 august 2015 at 11:00am.. it is anticipated that the hearing will hear from one witness, mr geoffrey jackson, a member of the governing body of jehovahs witnesses.. .

.

www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/2015-08/public-hearing-into-the-jehovah%e2%80%99s-witnesses-to-rec.

defender of truth

I just sent this email to Angus Stewart:

Dear Mr.Stewart,
Thank you very much for the excellent work you have done in the public hearing into Jehovah's Witnesses for the Australian Royal Commission. You are clearly very dedicated to your cause. It's been a pleasure to watch your professional and methodical approach.

I do not wish to bother you or waste your valuable time, but this is, I feel, an important question to address to Mr Geoffrey Jackson..

Not only for the court record, but also for the sake of many (JW or otherwise) that will be listening in and reading the transcripts, who are told (in the case of Jehovah's Witnesses) not to read any negative stories in the press or pass them on. Most have no idea of the court battles that the organisation has fought to protect the details of those who have committed crimes against children..

This is only a rough and amateurish outline, of course. I have no doubt you would be able to do much better with the phrasing and such, but I hope that you might consider using at least part of the general reasoning. I would be honoured if you even read this, to be honest.

----------
Do you, as a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses and a proclaimed follower of Jesus Christ, always obey the law and cooperate with the courts of the land, except of course where your understanding of the scriptures tell you that you cannot do so?
*Yes, I do*

And bearing in mind that both yourself and the other members of the Governing Body view yourselves as anointed followers of Jesus Christ, and must therefore be exemplary in your conduct, and in obeying what you are instructed to do as written in the Bible, which includes obeying the 'secular authorities'..
Would you be able to say that your fellow Governing Body members would be scripturally required to do the same as you have stated, always obeying the law and cooperating with the courts of the land, so long as there was no conflict with Gods law?
*Yes, I can say that.

Do you believe that each one of them would do these things?
*Yes*

I submit to you that you are wrong in saying that.

*I'm sorry?

Is it true that in 2014 Mr. Loesch, your fellow member of the Governing Body ignored a direct court order to appear, and that the Watchtower organisation (which you oversee and direct) refused court orders to hand over vital documents regarding child abuse, when they were in fact able to do so?
-------

Here are 2 links that contain much of the information regarding the case:

http://jehovahswitnessreport.com/blog/child-molestation-governing-body-and-wbts-refuse-to-comply-with-court-orders
http://watchtowerdocuments.org/zalkin-lopez-trial-court-documents/
.......

Thank you for taking the time to read this, sir.
Yours respectfully,

What do you think?

I'm not very good with words, but the general idea hopefully came across.

17

'Jehovah is using the Royal commission'??.. Ok, let's work with that.

by defender of truth in

what do you think of the following line of reasoning for helping a jw start to think about what they are admitting.. (essentially, the organisations way of handling child abuse has been wrong, harm has been caused, god is now putting it right.).

reply:.

"i appreciate your honesty, in admitting that child abuse has not been handled in the right way in the past.

defender of truth

Can anyone reading this please consider the following article..

If Jehovah is using the Commission to correct his people at this time, how should they respond?

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/402013446

17

'Jehovah is using the Royal commission'??.. Ok, let's work with that.

by defender of truth in

what do you think of the following line of reasoning for helping a jw start to think about what they are admitting.. (essentially, the organisations way of handling child abuse has been wrong, harm has been caused, god is now putting it right.).

reply:.

"i appreciate your honesty, in admitting that child abuse has not been handled in the right way in the past.

defender of truth

Sorry, slight alteration..

"In Bible times [and we are encouraged to apply the same principles in the congregation today] , when things were done in the wrong way rather than Jehovah's way, the person (or people) responsible would not receive God's blessing until they had taken certain steps.."

26

Depressing chat to my still-in brother about the RC

by Lemonp in

here is a quick breakdown of our conversation (by text message).

me: "have you read about the royal commission?

the org has been covering up child abuse.

defender of truth

Excellent point Brighid.

I share your optimism.

Let's see how we can use this..

www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/422980002/jehovah-using-royal-commission-ok-lets-work-that

17

'Jehovah is using the Royal commission'??.. Ok, let's work with that.

by defender of truth in

what do you think of the following line of reasoning for helping a jw start to think about what they are admitting.. (essentially, the organisations way of handling child abuse has been wrong, harm has been caused, god is now putting it right.).

reply:.

"i appreciate your honesty, in admitting that child abuse has not been handled in the right way in the past.

defender of truth

What do you think of the following line of reasoning for helping a JW start to think about what they are admitting.. (Essentially, the organisations way of handling child abuse has been wrong, harm has been caused, God is now putting it right.)

Reply:

"I appreciate your honesty, in admitting that child abuse has not been handled in the right way in the past. In some cases terrible and lasting damage has been done by abuse cases being handled in the wrong way, as you know.

I was just thinking about the scriptural way that we show repentance ..

In the Bible, when things were done in the wrong way, rather than Jehovah's way, the person (or people) responsible would not receive God's blessing until they had taken certain steps..

1) Admit that they were in the wrong, and acknowledge that they had not followed Jehovah's direction.. rather than try to defend, minimise or justify their actions.

2) Demonstrate repentance by apologising to the wounded party, taking steps to put right the wrong and try to make up for it in any way possible.

3) Finally, they would need to be determined to change, and show that by action.. not just offering words of sorrow or repentance. They had to show they were truly sorry for any harm that had been caused.

Do you believe the Faithful Slave will do all these things, in line with those Bible-based guidelines?

The organisations' policies and procedures have been shown to be in need of correction, and harm has been caused to innocent victims.

If Jehovah is moving the Slave to make changes, it's because they are needed, and have been needed for some time now. Will the Faithful Slave accept the correction and show repentance in the above ways?

[ Wait for reply, basically no they don't have to do all those things]

Reply:

" Why not? If some correction is coming from Jehovah, it is only because the former ways were not the correct way to act. The correction must be needed, and this is not a small matter that can be put aside and forgotten by the victims.

Which means that repentance (turning around from a former course of action) and apologising for your past mistakes is required, wouldn't you agree?

A public apology would go a long way to help victims of abuse whose cases were not handled as well as they could have been, sometimes because of inadequate policies or procedures.

Many of these victims have suffered very badly in the past because matters were not dealt with properly.. because the instructions from the organisation were, at the least, not very well formed.

Mistakes have been made, horrible abuse covered over when it should have been reported, and even pedophiles being reappointed to positions of trust.

At least some of these child abuse victims have a valid 'cause for complaint'.

Don't you agree?..

Please read Matthew 5:23, 24.

What course of action do you feel that the organisation, and those carrying the burden of it's oversight, should take?

The way to show repentance for past wrongs, and how to make peace with those who were hurt, is clearly set out in both the scriptures and Watchtower publications.

Please think about what I have said.

If the Governing Body do not take these steps, what would that mean? "

Feedback very much welcomed, particularly clarification or suggestions of how to be more clear/to the point.

I think we need a strong counter response to this soon-to-be common reply.

Please bump if/when this issue arises again, I'll be away for a while.

77

GEOFFREY JACKSON TO APPEAR BEFORE ROYAL COMMISSION ON FRIDAY 14TH August!!!

by defender of truth in

the royal commissions public hearing into the jehovahs witnesses will recommence in sydney on friday 14 august 2015 at 11:00am.. it is anticipated that the hearing will hear from one witness, mr geoffrey jackson, a member of the governing body of jehovahs witnesses.. .

.

www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/2015-08/public-hearing-into-the-jehovah%e2%80%99s-witnesses-to-rec.

defender of truth

Bluesbrother, why not just turn it on, load it up on Roku YouTube once it's posted.

It's not apostate, it's a court case.

77

GEOFFREY JACKSON TO APPEAR BEFORE ROYAL COMMISSION ON FRIDAY 14TH August!!!

by defender of truth in

the royal commissions public hearing into the jehovahs witnesses will recommence in sydney on friday 14 august 2015 at 11:00am.. it is anticipated that the hearing will hear from one witness, mr geoffrey jackson, a member of the governing body of jehovahs witnesses.. .

.

www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/2015-08/public-hearing-into-the-jehovah%e2%80%99s-witnesses-to-rec.

defender of truth

I have sent the following email to [email protected] , [email protected], and [email protected] :
My subject line was..Story to follow up on - Jehovahs Witness leader to defend child abuse policies LIVE on Friday
"I sincerely hope that this will be of interest to you.
Sources are here:
www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/08/10/jehovahs-boss-appear-abuse-inquiry

Royal Commission news link
Watch here:
http://childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/public-hearings/webcast
Full transcript will appear here:
Link to Transcripts " (you obviously have to enter those 2 links yourself, I can't fit them on the page)
Does anyone else want to send a similar email to a news outlet?
Feel free to use this as a rough template.
We need to get this story to as many media outlets in different countries as possible.
Only 2 days left to do it!!

69

Could the Independent Inquiry in England and Wales expose jw.org's child abuse failures? And how can we help?

by defender of truth in

with all the talk about the org's policies and failures regarding child sexual abuse being publically exposed in australia, i thought that it may be a good time to highlight this... i apologise if this has already been discussed, but on the 9th of july the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse in england and wales was opened.

here is some information regarding it's aims.. "about the inquiry.

the inquiry offers an unprecedented opportunity to examine the extent to which institutions and organisations in england and wales have taken seriously their responsibility to protect children.. the inquiry will investigate a wide range of institutions including:.

defender of truth

Here's the link:

www.csa-inquiry.independent.gov.uk/submit-information

69

Could the Independent Inquiry in England and Wales expose jw.org's child abuse failures? And how can we help?

by defender of truth in

with all the talk about the org's policies and failures regarding child sexual abuse being publically exposed in australia, i thought that it may be a good time to highlight this... i apologise if this has already been discussed, but on the 9th of july the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse in england and wales was opened.

here is some information regarding it's aims.. "about the inquiry.

the inquiry offers an unprecedented opportunity to examine the extent to which institutions and organisations in england and wales have taken seriously their responsibility to protect children.. the inquiry will investigate a wide range of institutions including:.

defender of truth

Excellent Mickey, thank you.

Can anybody else share the Independent Inquiry contact link via social media / other forums?

Please?..