Hello folks . As other posters have mentioned , I feel , too , that this is something that needs to be kept in the forefront of practicing Jehovah's Witnesses minds , as they will never hear about these settlements from their elders or governing body. So , you folks know me well enough that I don't have a shy bone in my body , and if I see an opportunity I will take it.
My 22 year old son and I were on our way to a hiking trip , and stopped to get gas at a medium size food/gas market in the foothills of the Sierra mountains. As we walked in I noticed an approximately 60 year old JW man sitting behind a large table with English and Spanish watchtower and awakes spread out all across the table . Entering the store my son gave me a wry look with a smile and said, " Dad, you gonna talk to him ? " I said, " What do you think ? " He knew the answer. As my son went to fill the truck up with gas , I went and got my folder which I always have in the truck for these moments with the news releases of the child molestation settlements of the witness victims.
So I approached this man at the table and asked, " What do you have there? " He said, " Watchtowers and Awakes. " I said, " I have some relatives in your church, but I haven't read the new Awake on , " Keeping your Children Safe from Child Abuse." Do you have that new one ? "He said , " No. I just have back issues from months before. " I inquired of him, " I'm really interested in keeping children safe from abuse . Keeping them protected. Do you have any older issues dealing with helping children , protecting them ? " Then he proceeded to show me an awake from March or April that dealt with children. Then it was time for me to make my move. I proceeded, " The reason I have some concern about this is , as I've mentioned to my witness relatives, I have an associated press news release from May of this year saying the witnesses had to settle out of court with 16 child abuse victims, and put a gag order on them to keep them from talking about it publicly. " As I handed the news release to him, " I asked have you heard about this ? " He said, " No. I'm an elder and haven't heard anything about it. " Then he scanned the news report and said, " Oh!, this is from Bill Bowen. He's an apostate and doesn't have anything good to say about our organization and disrespects us. " Then he asked me, " Is this news release yours or are you giving it to me ? " I said, " It's for you to read ." He said, " I don't want it." Then handed it back to me. Then I took the awake he had given me on children, and I threw it a few feet down on his table and said, " Well then, I don't want yours either! "
So, I gathered my thoughts quick and said, " Well I don't think Bill Bowen is what you call him, I think he was just concerned about children's safety. This news report was in many newspapers across America in May and the actual settlements did in fact take place, it's documented. " Then the elder went into damage control mode, he said, " Well, there is child molestation in every religion. You can't get away from it. " ( As if that makes it acceptable ? ) I then said, " That may be so , however the Catholic religion admitted to the public this had occured and apologized to the church members so they would be aware of the molestation settlements. " Then I asked him, " Do you think your elders or governing body will make an announcement at your meetings about these molestation settlements ? Or will they inform your members of your church so they know this occured ? " He said, " I'm sure they will let us know something about it . " Then I proceeded to explain to him, I said, " No they won't. Your religion is controlled as to what information they release to you. That's why you didn't know about this. You would have only found out about this in the news releases , because they don't want you to know about these settlements because it would make members know the truth and leave your religion. " Then he further went into damage control, " Well your welcome to your opinion. " I said, " Yes I am. And believe me, I certainly have one. " Then I turned and walked away , hoping maybe I had planted a seed of doubt in his head.
Interseting experience, eh? Once again though my friends it shows that these people are totally controlled in what news they are allowed to believe. I really believe sometimes that the members of their governing body are held in higher esteem to the witnesses than Jesus Christ himself , or their God Jehovah. It's almost like Jaracz and his governing body boys become bulletproof with their mind control tactics, and the cult mind control has all these witnesses running around like programmed robots with preinserted responses programmed into their brains. Amazing. So as my son and I drove away, we just shook our heads at the ignorance and darkness of this guys head and heart. So I welcome all your comments on this. What do you think? Really strange? Or just typical? Have you folks had some experiences too ? Please share, would love to hear them as I'm sure others would. Peace to you all, here's hoping for the safety of all witness children in time