Do You REALLY Believe That A Pedophile Issue Will Bring Down The Watchtower

by minimus 50 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  codeblue

  Probably NOT...

  But, ones that believe in the statement: "pure worship"....will have nagging doubts as to whether this religion really is pure and represents Jehovah.

  That's what the May 2002 Dateline did for me. For many years the WTBS made a huge point in talking about the Catholics and their pedophile/molestation problem and how that was evidence they were part of Babylon the Great.

  Well....after seeing the last 10 minutes of that May 2002 Dateline about the pedophile problem in the WTBS.....I had HUGE doubts that the religion I thought was pure and spirit directed was any of those things. IN FACT....I only went in the door to door one more time because I couldn't tell people in good faith that we have "pure worship" when we had the same problems as the Catholics.
• 

  Leolaia

  the most i hope for is that it forces the policy changes that so many people have been working hard for.

  Those are my thoughts too. I believe the only way real change can come is from outside....the leadership won't do it of their own accord and the R&F have no voice. But the Society cares very much about its public image. If there is more embarassing disclosure in the media like the Dateline report about how their policies allow pedos to flourish and commit crimes, that might be what it takes to have those policies changed. Unfortunately, thus far the media has not taken the angle that Dateline has...
• 

  Nosferatu

  There is no ONE thing that can bring down the WTS. But if you give thousands of people one hit with a sledgehammer to the WT structure, it will eventually start to crumble.

  Silentlambs has been banging at the WT structure for years. The Cano thing could cause a large chunk to fall.
• 

  undercover

  I don't think it will bring the religion down. Look at the Catholic Church. It's still around and still has faithful adherents.

  What it can do, is show that the WTS is no different than any other religion or group when it comes to scandals and controversies. The WTS for decades has placed themselves on this pedestal of being above reproach when it comes to the sins of the clergy, so to speak. With more and more cases like the Cano case coming to light and more and more abuse cases being reported in the media from the local congregation level, the WTS will no longer have credibility in the "above reproach" catagory.

  Yes, there will always be a core group of fundie JWs who will believe with every fiber of their being every utterance from the mouth of the GB, but more and more free thinkers will start to see the crack in the wall. Even better, outsiders will see that even though the JWs may claim to have all the answers, their record will show better that, no, they really don't...and these people can be saved from being indocrintated into this borderline cult.

  I'd love to see this Cano case break open a major child porno ring inside Bethel...maybe not involving higer ups, but involving enough Bethelites, Bethel elders and trickling down to the local KH level that would catch up pioneers, elders, MSs and even regular publishers and just shake the religion to it's knees. Major PR work for sure, and there would be some who would stick with them, but many others would say, "this can't be God's organization, if he allows this to happen inside his own walls". Wishful thinking, yea, but even without that made for TV storyline, the cases that are out there can be used to show anyone willing to be objective that the WTS can't be God's organization if this stuff continues to happen.
• 

  purplesofa

  NO.

  Maybe there is one young boy that CANO looked at in a suggestive weird way and made this person feel uncomfortable about themselves, and now that CANO is exposed........will have some answers to nagging thoughts, that may otherwise have haunted them for years.

  This man was an elder.........maybe there is one person, that has doubted and discounted something within their own heart and conscience that was told to her/him by an elder. And because of the pedestal the elder body is put on...........now realizes that no matter what religion, race, sex, nationality, someone is..........everyone has problems. Maybe one person will recognize their own strengths and ability to reason and think on their own and gain peace and resolve.

  I do believe the truth about anything does set people free. Even among the higher ups in the organization.......exposing....coming to the real truth of members........should humble and humiliate them ........maybe one will understand the pain of individuals that have done just what they were instructed.......to believe in the FDS.....and how they are let down now......disappointed, lost.

  Maybe one mother out there was told by her son that he was propositioned by a pervert in the congregation, and she discounted him, brushed it off..........maybe she will be able to reconcile.

  I think its these truths that will strengthen individuals and help them to grow and not need any type organization to control their lives.

  purps
• 

  wannaexit

  No, it wont bring it down But is another nail in the coffin.

  wanna
• 

  james_woods

  PUBLIC IMAGE - Just a little minor scandal - sort of like another witness family murder-suicide. Regrettable, but just a fluke.

  Unless - and this is a big unless - what if the Society knew about him, and had let him slide on a previous occasion? Unlikely, yes...but certainly possible. The only way it would ever come out, of course, is some honest JW elder whistleblower, or perhaps a concerned JW parent who could not find justice on this guy in the past? Or maybe they get outed on keeping that list, and Mr. Cano's name is on it...

  I was on a committee years ago who faced such a charge on one of our elders, and it was just routinely dismissed as unbelievable nonsense - no real investigation ever took place.

  Could such a thing have happened here?
• 

  sir82

  Of course one incident will not "bring down" the WTS, whatever that means.

  But it should serve to wake up some otherwise sleep-walking JWs.

  As has been noted elsewhere, this guy was an elder "appointed by holy spirit". The 7/15/06 WT study articles point out that Jehovah & Jesus are "always aware" of what is going on in the congregations.

  People don't just wake up one day & think, "Hmm, today would be a good day to start soliciting sex from teenaged kids". This guy has almost certainly had these inclinations for years, maybe decades. He didn't accumulate hundreds of DVDs and self-made video tapes over just one busy weekend. He's been fooling hundreds, maybe thousands of people for years, maybe decades.

  But, as JR Brown said, there was "no indication" that he was a trouble-maker.

  So, for all the JW lurkers out there reading this: How many "spirit-appointed" elders (or others) in your congregation are fooling you? Do you feel safe leaving Brother Nerdy to take your 12 year old with him out in service? Still feel OK taking your kid to a JW convention & letting him roam around without you? What are the odds, in a convention with 8-12,000 in attendance, that there is at least one "hidden" pervert there? Or a dozen? Or a hundred? How many of them carry camcorders into the bathrooms?
• 

  blondie

  Nothing will bring the WTS down............nothing.........there will always be dimwits who will not see the facts. But that is true of all abusive organizations.

  If the goal is to bring down the WTS, it is not a good goal........if the goal is to expose the abusive nature of the WTS so more people will leave and others will not become part of it, that is a better goal. The goal should be to protect children from abusers, whether it be the WTS or some other religious or secular institution that hides the abusers to protect their "good" name.

  What about the clergy reporting laws in your area? Not just the WTS but all religious organizations.

  Blondie
• 

  james_woods

  My memory has just been jogged!!!

  Back in the seventies, the body of elders in my congregation was secretly informed that a certain circuit overseer was removed for fondling boys out in service. Seems the said CO was using the tactic of telling the young guys that they might unknowingly have a sex disease from using public restrooms, but that he was a "male nurse" and could check them out - that way they wouldn't have to be embarrassed to say anything to their parents.

  This was a higher level thing than just common rumor mill; the current CO (not the molestor one) told us during one of the elder meetings.

  I was not told the name, nor if this guy just got removed from the circuit work, or was actually DFd. There was not really any admonition to watch out for such stuff, it was just given as a sort of news item from another circuit.