Getting back to the original point of this thread....
This young man was obviously in the wrong in so many ways, both by Borg rules (the excess drinking, fornication, etc.) and the secular rules (driving drunk, killing someone, violating probation). What the point some were making here, and that a certain JW apologist seems to have missed, is that there is a serious lack of compassion from the elders among Jehovah's Witnesses. This lack of compassion starts at the top with the rules promulgated by the Governing Body twisting scriptures about "not even eating with such a man" and such and then continues down stream via District Overseers, Circuit Overseers, talks at Kingdom Ministry School for Elders, and policy letters from the Service Department. Those policy letters fly in the face of what is published in the Watchtower about compassion and love and everything that was discussed at the recent "Follow the Christ" District Conventions....WTBT$ talks out of both sides of its mouth and also its a$$.
This young man was definitely left to hang out to dry by the very organization that raised him. A politician once said "it takes a village to raise a child." The only "village" this young man ever knew was the Village of the Watchtower, and it booted him out. OK, boot him out because he violated rules. A 17 year-old raised in the Borg should know better. But why add to the pain by forcing all of his lifelong JW friends and especially his JW relatives to shut him and leave him with absolutely no support? How does that show Christlike love and compassion (Answer: it does not). He did not stand a chance.
HappyDad:
but his old man and the "others" should be locked up with him for ruining his life through brainwashing.
This is hyperbole and we all know it. If that is the case, let me raise this to a new level of hyperbole. Every one of us who has ever gone in the ministry, every one of us who has ever informal witnessed, every one of us who has studied the bible with someone resulting in their baptism, every one of us who have served as elders, especially on judicial committees...every one of us should be locked up because collectively, we contributed to the problem...that this young man found himself in. Do I believe this? Not for one second. But the attack on HappyDad (as was done in ALL CAPS (aka SHOUTING) was uncalled for...and this attack is what escalated this thread from a decent discussion to an unnecessary flame war between our favorite apologist and everyone else.
rosalee:
I stand by the JC committee. They are imperfect but from all I've seen they always try to be fair.
I hesitate to even quote the aforementioned poster again for fear of adding fuel to their fire. I must comment on this. "they always try to be fair." BULL$HIT. I know, I served on dozens of judicial committees. While I thought at the time I was compassionate, and was even told so by most I had to deal with, I realize in retrospect that the so-called "compassion" that I thought I was showing was really not compassion by any normal definition of the word. (i.e., any definition not from the Watchtower.) In a lot of non-judicial matters I was judgmental because that is the way I was raised and taught in this organization. This does not excuse my actions, only explains them. (One poster on this forum can attest to how my actions, directly or indirectly, affected her daughter. I have apologized but it does not reverse the subsequent events that stemmed from my words.)
Having served on many JC's, including as chairman of several, this comment shows an obvious lack of understanding by someone who is not, and has never been, an elder. The hearings are purportedly to "bring a person to repentance," but in my experience, and in the experience of many elders I know and/or have served with, this is not what generally happens. The elders that "serve" (and I use that word very very loosely) on these committees are imperfect, but I cannot say they always try to be fair. It depends on the individual elder's relationship with the person and their personal hidden agendas (and all humans have personal hidden agendas). If the elder(s) like the person, they go above and beyond to get them a slap on the wrist. But if there is a problem between an elder and the accused, instead of recusing themselves from the committee, they stay on and use their position to make life hell for the person. I seen it over and over and over again. These elders are NOT fair.....and they are NOT helping..
We cannot know for certain what happened behind closed doors in that JC, but the resulting D/F resulted in what we know happens... shunning..and a subsequent and very sudden loss of much needed support. That young man was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. 37 years in jail. Not enough....but possibly avoidable if he had had some support from his Village.
One last thought from the original news article:
"You need to get help," she said. "Alcohol is going to lead you into deeper and deeper and deeper trouble."
Blackledge's face reddened and tears fell. He nodded almost imperceptibly.
When Torres left the witness stand, she extended her hand to Blackledge. He reached out and shook it
THIS is true kindness. She obviously did have an old wound opened, the pain made worse. The families asked to give this young man a chance and he spit in their collective faces and on the graves of those he killed. Yet, Ms.Torres still showed a simple act of kindness to this guy. Too bad the Watchtower Society and its Witnesses could not have "extended a hand" to Mr. Blackledge in his time of need. Maybe he would not have returned to the bottle and violated probation. At least in jail, he won't (or shouldn't) have access to alcohol for the next 37 years. He will be 66 by the time he (if) gets out. Too old to start a new life. Most of the elders who failed him will be dead, many of his friends will be old too and will have put him out of their minds. Because we know the Big A will not be here even then.
SnakesInTheTower (of the "sorry he ever 'served' as an elder" Sheep Class)
PS....you know I leave the board to go to work for 12 hours and I come back to see this thread has gone to 4 pages, most of it Rosalee bashing. I am sorry I threw gas instead of water on the fire. My initial comments earlier today have inadvertently hijacked a very important thread and led it down this sorry path. I was making a point to Rosalee about her mere presence here and how unnecessarily inflammatory it is. I see that R did not get the point. Enough (really too much) said on that.
