by LDH 350 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
Dear Leolaia
Thanks for the transcript.
I don't know if you're aware of this, but in many court proceedings it is the transcript that is used in evidence (certainly in the UK) and only if that is questioned is the actual recording itself referred to.
How I wish I'd had yourself and LDH on my side sometimes in the past!
Regards.
very scary stuff. for some reason, this whole thing is very similar to the whole Barry-Bonds-baseball-drug-scandal. I'm in shock, and this shit is going to hit the fan..... that is if, in fact, that interview is completely unadultarated. Which I hope it is.
B. This is exactly how we feel. In other words, there is no Jeremiah, Isaiah, or prophet among us today.
Compare with the following article:
*** w72 4/1 p. 197 ‘They Shall Know that a Prophet Was Among Them’ ***
In ancient times he sent prophets as his special messengers. While these men foretold things to come, they also served the people by telling them of God’s will for them at that time, often also warning them of dangers and calamities. People today can view the creative works. They have at hand the Bible, but it is little read or understood. So, does Jehovah have a prophet to help them, to warn them of dangers and to declare things to come?
These questions can be answered in the affirmative. Who is this prophet? ... This "prophet" was not one man, but was a body of men and women. It was the small group of footstep followers of Jesus Christ, known at that time as International Bible Students. Today they are known as Jehovah’s Christian witnesses. They are still proclaiming a warning, and have been joined and assisted in their commissioned work by hundreds of thousands of persons who have listened to their message with belief....
Of course, it is easy to say that this group acts as a "prophet" of God. It is another thing to prove it. The only way that this can be done is to review the record. What does it show? During the World War I period this group, the International Bible Students, was very active in preaching the good news of God’s kingdom, as their Leader Jesus Christ had set this work before them in his prophecy at Matthew 24:14....
Thus this group of anointed followers of Jesus Christ, doing a work in Christendom paralleling Ezekiel’s work among the Jews, were manifestly the modern-day Ezekiel, the "prophet" commissioned by Jehovah to declare the good news of God’s Messianic kingdom and to give warning to Christendom.... Yes, the time must come shortly that the nations will have to know that really a "prophet" of Jehovah was among them. Actually now more than a million and a half persons are helping that collective or composite "prophet" in his preaching work and well over that number of others are studying the Bible with the "prophet" group and its companions.
This story is huge and I'm surprised the media isn't reporting it more. I realize JWs aren't that big of a group, but this story is very scandalous. So here's a letter I just wrote to my local newspapers & will try to send it off to the AP etc. Sharing it in case anyone else wants to use all/part of it to contact their local media.
After writing it, I noticed Lisa's advice to just give links, so I deleted a bunch of stuff. Yet I found it difficult to not point out the stuff I'd like them to report on, stuff that a non-JW may never think of. So a word of caution--you might want to take Lisa's advice and shorten it even more. Do whatever you like--just sharing it in the hopes it will make it easier for more people to contact the media.
This past week, the media has reported the case of Jesus Cano, a prominent Jehovah’s Witness (JW) arrested for soliciting sex with boys. However, the story is much more significant than the media is currently reporting. I am writing to you to ask you to publish a more in-depth story, one that would be of interest to your readers. Dateline did a story on this topic several years ago and it generated a lot of scandal and dissention in the JW organization (http://silentlambs.org/education/dateline_trans.cfm). It is also of interest to the general public because people are concerned that pedophiles are knocking on their doors to distribute literature.
Cano was a JW Elder, comparable to a priest. (http://silentlambs.org/bethelitechildmolester.htm) He also lived and worked in one of the communes operated by the Watchtower Society (the official organization of the JWs). Police raided his room at the commune and found child pornography. This is shocking—comparable to police raiding a priest’s room at the Diocese of Rome, in the shadow of the Vatican itself.
Lifestyle at the commune is reportedly devoid of privacy. Work hours are long, and meals are eaten together. Cano had a roommate. Members are reportedly nosy about the intimate goings-on of other members. It is hard to believe there wasn’t even an inkling of his pedophilia before this.
The WTS has been accused of discouraging its members to report crimes to the police, and blaming rape victims instead of the rapist. (http://www.silentlambs.org/education/witnesses_accused.cfm A former member of the main commune in New York asserts the WTS has a database of pedophiles in its organization. (http://www.silentlambs.org/answers/23720.cfm) Apparently, the WTS has yet to turn it over to the police, or to even confirm records exist.
If there are records of other pedophiles, why on earth would they not be turned over to police?
LDH,
I listened to the conversation through the ears of my JW sister and, while I may be in the minority here, I think Mr. Brown handled himself well. There was no smoking gun here.
"We aren't perfect. We try to do our best in reading God's Word and living up to it. Badness existed in a person that we knew nothing about, but when it was discovered we took action and cleared away the contamination as the Scriptures recommend, unlike other religions."
It's unfortunate that you didn't get the very first conversation on tape. The one where he made bombshell comments such as: "JWs are not the ONLY spokesperson organization of God on earth," which would could be used by fading Dubs.
p.s. You *do* have a good voice!
p.p.s. I wonder if Mr. Brown will be taking any more calls from intrepid freelance reporter LDH. :D
I agree that from a JW viewpoint he spun things pretty well and said pretty much what he would be expected to say. To a JW mind, not being forthright about non-JWs dying in Armageddon is naturally due to the fact that he is speaking to an outsider and thus deemphasizes this aspect. He has well-practiced "outs" for some of the "conversation stoppers", such as saying "we don't judge hearts" -- which is true, and that may satisfy a JW, but which we know is a cop-out. A more critical mind would see through the spin and see such an answer as evasive because it OMITS what the Society does teach: that association with the organization is necessary for "survival". That is, the Society does not judge hearts but it does claim to know what Jehovah's standards of judgment are and thus second-guess his own "judging of hearts".
There are lots of cool tidbits in this interview that he does admit too. He was able to give his take on the pedophilia problem in other churches and he did say that if there has been any cover-up or shuffling of pedophiles from one congregation to another, then the organization -- and he is speaking as its representative -- is "guilty" (his choice of words).
Thanks rebel8! I've just contacted 4 more newspapers and 2 TV stations. We all need to keep chipping away.
I'm not trying to be a wet blanket here, but can't all of the things he said just be explained away as theocratic warfare (a.k.a. lying) against the media run by Satan? I don't get what is so damning about what he said.
Tammy
Lisa, I noticed beeps througout the recording. Was this because the recording devise allowed this? If so, then according to law you can not get in trouble for using it as this is considered a warning to those being recorded. May come in handy in the future.
