THANK YOU, BILL!
My husband and I sat for an hour and again listened to an Elder, but this time an Elder who spoke truth in defense of the defenseless!
Best Public Talk we ever heard!
Thank you Bill and Meria(Interview)
by sf 13 Replies latest jw friends
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wasasister
I only heard the last half-hour, but what I did hear was remarkable! Kudos to Bill who managed the delicate balance between righteous outrage and precise delivery of facts without too much emotion. I also admire the interviewer (Meria has a charming accent), who mangaged to ask the right questions and emphasise important points without drowning out Bill. Her restraint makes her a wonderful hostess. She is obviously supportive of the "cause".
Congrats to all involved.
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ZazuWitts
Bill, It was dynamite. You presented the facts in a straight-forward no-nonsense fashion...yet with obvious sincereity and compassion. I hope Meria's regular listeners experienced outrage at the WTBTS's cover-up policy And, I'm happy Bill mentioned the absurd two-witness policy - really got that point across, IMO. Also, that such criminals could be knocking at anyone's door...that is a disturbing thought. I always try and mention this, as well as the two-witness policy whenever I write anyone re this issue...I think it helps because it kinda of 'puts it right on their doorstep.'
And a sincere 'thank you' to Meria for inviting you to present the issue on her show. I will be checking out her site often, to see what she has going.
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dungbeetle
This is on another thread but I thought I would post it here as well. Stuff gets buried so fast here sometimes...
Oh and also I emailed this to Meria....here it is reproduced for your reading pleasure...
Meria....an informative and inspiring show today regarding child molestation and pedophilia within the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (often called Jehovah's Witnesses or The Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses.Some interesting points for consideration by you and your listeners Meria if I may...
1) One Scripture the Jehovah's Witnesses use in support of their policy of allegegations of child molestation by one of their members is II Corinthians 13:1. In the Bible published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, that verse reads..(This is the third time I am coming to YOU. At the mouth of two witnesses or of three every matter must be established)
From another Bible published by this same group, the Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, this verse reads in the literal rendering..(Third time this I am coming toward YOU; upon mouth of two witnesses and of three will be made to stand every saying.)So you see, to take this Scripture and apply the statment..2 or 3 witnesses to each ACT is a misconstruction/misapplication of this verse. In the first place, the entire chapeter and the one preceeding it has to do with statements made by Paul himself, which were topics for discussion. Nowhere are 'judicial commitees' referenced here, and neither are ACTS/BEHAVIOR referred to here. In the second place, even if it were, the Jehovah's Witnesses are saying that a child molester is committing individual ACTS of molestation, rather than BEING a child molester and CONSPIRING to molest children, making the sum of alleagations and the totality of the behavior 'a matter'.
The bottom line as I see it is that child molestation is not seen as a sexual assault upon a child as is commonly viewed by mental health practicioners; it is seen as an 'act of sexual passion', a 'lapse of sexual morals' that just happened to be with a child. Someone has had sexual experiences with children some numbers of times rather than someone IS a child molester.
2) Jehovah's Witnesses are NOT being singled out by anyone but themselves. No other religion publicly proclaims in its own literature, as Bill brought out in the interview, that convicted child molesters MUST go to people's homes. There are various ways Jehovah's Witnesses use to gain money and new converts; telephone witnessing, letter writing, audio tapes and cd's, magazines through the mail, webpage publishing, speaking to passersby on streetcorners, witnessing to business owners, radio and television broadcasts, no; these criminally convicted pedophiles MUST go door to door. This is the Jehovah's Witnesses rule; no other religion SENDS convicted child molesters to people's HOMES. This manmade policy of their own sets them apart from other religions THEMSELVES.
3) Women have been victimized by this group since its very founding. From the book 'Visions of Glory' by Barbara Grizutti Harrison', is this exerpt concerning the man who Jehovah's Witnesses claim as a founder, from a judge of the court: "The indignities offered to [Mrs. Russell] in treating her as a menial...intimating that she was of unsound mind and that she was under the influence of wicked and designing persons...He says himself that she is a woman of high intellectual qualities and perfect moral character...His course of conduct toward his wife evidenced such insistent egotism and extravagant self-praise that it would be manifest to the jury that his conduct toward her was one of continual arrogant domination that would necessarily render the life of any sensitive Christian woman a burden and make her conditions intolerable." This was approximately 1896. Refusing to pay the court-ordered support, Russell's 'loyal followers...greeted him, upon his return from a European trip, with a gift of $9,000 to pay back alimony.
What do the modern-day Jehovah's Witnesses have to say? From their book Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, we read "Then flattery of Maria and appeals to pride on her part by others bagan to undermine that relationship; ..she sought to secure for herself a stronger voice in directing what would appear in The Watch Tower; Having failed to force her husband to acquiesce to her demands she put forth great effort after she left him to bring his name into disrepute.
Later, in 1946, in the book 'Let God Be True', the statement can be found.."Woman is merely a lowly creature whom God created for man as man's helper." Such a comcept, based on the Bible verse Genesis 2:18 in the same NWT; "And Jehovah God went on to say "It is not good for the man to conitnue by himself. I am going to make a helper for him as a complement of him."
No where in the Scriptures is it stated that this applies to anyone but Adam and Eve, whose circumstances in history were unique to them. The children born of them are never said to have had this applied to them. In fact, in defence of women and to elevate their status Paul said at I Timothy 2:11 (same NWT) "I suffer a woman to learn..." (education of women in those days was unusual, and Paul here was advocating change) and in verse 14: "Also Adam was not deceived, but the woman was thoroughly deceived..." laying the greater weight of responsibility on the man...also unusual for those days. (I quote only those parts of these verses that are in the least of contention by modern biblical scholars. The issue I am raising is the ATTITUDE of the Watchtower) these verses rendered in the Greek Interlinear is, verse 11: Woman in quietness let her be learning in all subjection; and verse 14:and Adam not was seduced, the but woman having been seduced out in transgression she has come to be."
So you see, how far back stretches this treatment of women by this group....
Dungbeetle...so much dung, so little time...