As I recall, the “Abhor What is Wicked” article came out in 1996. In it, the Society outlined their new child abuse policy, namely that “known child molesters” could never hold any positions of responsibility in the congregations anymore. From what I understand, there were letters to the bodies of elders and special C.O. instructions that further clarified the new position on handling child sexual molestation.
My question is, how was child abuse handled before then? I’ve read many stories of elders instructing brothers to keep the abuse quiet in order to prevent bringing “reproach to Jehovah’s organization” and to observe the Bible's commandment to “not bring lawsuits” against one another, but was there ever any official policy in place?
I find it upsetting that the news reports don’t highlight the fact that the policy barring "known" child molesters from being elders is a relatively new one. I wish these reports focused on their past policy and on how the new policy was brought about as a way to prevent being cleaned out by lawsuits.
In my opinion, both the new and old polices were motivated by the same desire to protect the religious organization. Their old policy, if there was one, was designed to prevent damaging the religion’s reputation and the new one is motivated by the desire to protect the religion’s assets from being decimated by lawsuits. Any thoughts?
How was child molestation handled before 1996?
by neverendingjourney 5 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
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neverendingjourney
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buffalosrfree
My guess is, is that it was handled by hiding it as much as possible and encouraging those affected to rely on Jehovah and pray. But whatever you do don't talk about it or we will disfellowship you for causing divisions in the congregation. Just look under the rugs thats probably how it was handled. I don't believe they weoudl ever do the right thing unless their were multiple witnesses and then it probably was to just shut the abused up.
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horrible life
I have to make a comment, doesn't really belong here, but, you know me... lol
"Being sued, and not bring a lawsuit against your brother, to me, isn't the same as going to the police and filing charges, and putting his sorry ass in jail."
This scripture doesn't hold any water with me.
Thanks to neverendingjourney for allowing me to get this off my chest, without opening a new thread. HL
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blondie
It was handled in house and not reported to the secular authorities. Here are 2 articles from 1982 and 1983. This was the first time anything had appeared in the WT publications. Even so, many if not all BOEs disregarded any suggestions and concealed and protected the molester. It was most important to protect the "name" of the WTS than the victim.
*** w83 10/1 pp. 27-31 Help for the Victims of Incest ***
Help for the Victims of Incest
Incestuous child abuse is sexual abuse of children by an older relative. Usually, it is by a male relative—such as a father, stepfather, uncle or older brother. Sometimes, but much more rarely, it is by a female relative. According to the book The Silent Children, incestuous abuse can range from improper fondling to oral-genital contact to intercourse. Of course, affectionate physical contact between children and older people is proper. But when the older person finds these contacts arousing, or when he does things alone with the child that he would not do if the child’s mother were present, this will likely lead to sexual abuse of the child.
"FOR most of her life Rachel has been ridden with guilt, convinced of her own worthlessness, and trapped in a sense of hopeless isolation." What could so blemish the life of a British housewife and mother?
A 16-year-old girl from California said: "I now have a pain deep in my heart that will never go away, and it hurts, truly hurts." What could cause her such anguish?
The answer in both cases is the same: incest. Both of these women were sexually abused by their fathers when they were children. Unhappily, there are many like them. Studies in the United States suggest that one in five girls and one in ten boys suffer sexual molestation before they grow up. In most cases, the crime is committed by someone the young victim knows, and in many cases it is incestuous. Reports from other countries tell a similar story.
As the world becomes more degenerate, this problem will likely get worse. Even now, many women coming into the Christian congregation have emotional difficulties because of incest committed against them when they were children. Some have gone to professional counselors and psychologists for help, but many turn to the congregation, looking to their Christian brothers and sisters for support. Is there any way mature ones in the congregation, even if they are not professionals in the field of mental health, can help them? Often there is.—1 Thessalonians 5:11.
If you have any doubt about the harm incest does, consider the expressions of some of its victims many years after the crime: "For 15 years I kept all those things in, so I was engulfed by years of guilt . . . How I hated men!"
"Almost worse than the actual molesting is the guilt."
"I can truly say I think I would have killed myself by now because of the memories."
"I don’t want to get married because of the memory of sex. And I surely don’t want any children."
A study prepared by Doctors Bruce A. Woodling (of the University of Southern California School of Medicine) and Peter D. Kossoris (a deputy district attorney) confirms the above, stating: "Older women who were incestuously molested as children or adolescents are commonly depressed and neurotically anxious." A University of Washington study published in MedicalTimes adds: "Problems reported include: feelings of guilt and depression; negative self-image; difficulties in interpersonal relationships associated with an underlying mistrust of men, inadequate social skills, and sexual dysfunction."
Why is incest so shattering? The magazine ChildWelfare draws attention to the situation of a daughter molested by her father: "The daughter who has been molested is dependent on her father for protection and care. . . . She dares not express or even feel the depths of her anger at being used. She must comply with her father’s demands or risk losing the parental love that she needs."
A former victim rightly insists that incest "is selfish and reprehensible . . . and a grotesque violation of a child’s trust and dependency."
Some little girls who were victims of incest thought that the only way men would love them was sexually, so they behaved precociously toward other men besides the one victimizing them. Other victims, when they grew to be teenagers, were overly interested in sex, even promiscuous. Many have feelings of deep anger, worthlessness and, especially, guilt. They feel guilty because of what happened, guilty because they did not stop it, guilty because of the harmful emotions, guilty if they had any pleasurable feelings during the experience, and, if the incest affected the parents’ marriage, guilty because of that.
Is there any way they can be helped to handle such emotional turmoil?
It
DoesNotHelptoSay. . .One woman who was having problems because she had been a victim of incest over many years went to the elders in the congregation to discuss her problem. "They told me to forget about it," she reports. The well-intentioned reasoning behind that advice was doubtless that since the bad experiences were all in the past and nothing could be done about them now the best thing to do was to put them out of her mind and think good thoughts. (Philippians 4:8) Unhappily, it is not as simple as that.
Why not? Well, think of someone who has had an arm severely disabled in an accident. His friends visit him to help him. Would it help for them to say to him: ‘Oh, forget about it!’ Of course not. There is no way he can forget about it.
Similarly, many women who have been incestuously abused are unable just to forget about it. For some, it is stamped on their consciousness like an emotional scar. One victim wrote: "My grandfather assaulted me when I was seven years old, not just once but on a number of occasions. My naiveté left me defenseless. Now I feel the repercussions constantly. It’s been a living nightmare ever since. The memory can be pushed back for a while only to resurface and make me sick to my stomach. I feel ashamed and dirty, and I wasn’t even to blame."
True, the emotional scars of incest (and other traumatic experiences) are not visible. But they are just as real as physical scars. So how can those be helped who have them? One way is to listen to the victim and encourage her to "talk it out."
It
MightHelptoSay. . .The counselor should be helpful, not judgmental. The apostle Paul encouraged Christians: "Become kind to one another, tenderly compassionate." (Ephesians 4:32) In counseling situations, these qualities are vital.
Thus, a woman who was victimized over many years by her father when she was a girl says: "Elders (or whoever else is approached) should be superkind." Another who was also abused by her father says: "The main thing is not to be shocked. Be calm and understanding, not pushing for every detail but being willing to listen to whatever you are told. Try to understand the victim’s emotions."
Being calm and understanding is not always easy. One woman admitted that she often spoke excitedly, even belligerently, when discussing her problem. Is such conduct disrespectful? Perhaps. But a "tenderly compassionate," mature Christian will quickly realize that it is not meant personally. It is an expression of inner turmoil.—Philippians 2:1-4.
Additionally, those counseling incest victims need to listen, just as Jehovah God listens. (Psalm 69:33) They should not be quick to make comments or judgments. (Proverbs 18:13; James 1:19) Does listening and giving comfort really help? Yes, indeed. One victim reports: "I was able to talk it over with a sister older than I, and what a relief I felt! I . . . wept with her." Another said: "I think just having somebody to talk to was the thing that helped me most."
If the victim is suffering from severe emotional turmoil, a more experienced counselor may be able to help her determine the reason for that turmoil and how she can deal with it. Questions such as the following may help to draw out hidden feelings: "Do you want to discuss what happened? How do you feel about yourself? How do you feel about your father [or uncle, or whoever the abuser was]? Do you blame yourself for what happened? Do you think it makes you worse than other people?" A loving counselor will show that he is not shocked by the answers. Rather, he will explain that such feelings are not uncommon. Some have felt better when they learned this.
What if the victim reveals that she feels worthless because of the experience? A young woman who was abused by her grandfather, father and stepfather, says: "They [the counselors] could help her realize she is worth a lot. I used to feel different from my friends at school. I felt dirty compared with them. Then as a teenager I got into trouble a few times. But now I know that Jehovah does not hold this experience against me. He views me as a worthwhile person."—Psalm 25:8; 1 John 4:18, 19.
Victims often feel anger too. In her book TheSilentChildren Linda T. Sanford explains why, saying: "As the child grows older, she learns the real meaning of the sexual activity and becomes aware of the adult’s gross inappropriateness. Therefore she feels betrayed. She had looked up to and trusted this older person. She learns that his reassurances were monumental lies."
Some of this anger—and some of the guilt feelings victims experience—may be defused if the abuser straightforwardly admits what he did and apologizes. One victim, whose father was arrested after the incest was exposed, said: "About three years ago, my father gave me a nice present and said: ‘I just want you to know I am really sorry for a lot of the things that happened between us.’ I knew what he meant and accepted his apology. Now I have a good relationship with him."
Unhappily, however, many abusers flatly deny everything or admit to only a fraction of what they did. By the time a disturbed woman seeks help, the abuser may even be dead. But the anger may still be there. Those counseling may, nonetheless, be able to help her. They can kindly point out that her anger is completely understandable. Even Jehovah remains angry at sinners who do not repent.—John 3:36.
However, they may tactfully point out the dangers of letting anger overwhelm a person. (Ephesians 4:26) They may help her to reason on this by gently asking questions such as, "Is your anger helping you or is it harming you? By letting anger affect you so much, are you still letting him influence your life? Do you really think he has got away with something? Is not Jehovah the Judge even of those who commit crimes in secret?"—Psalm 69:5; Luke 8:17; Romans 12:19.
Reasoning, but not in a lecturing tone, on Romans 12:21 may help. The purpose of the counsel is to help, not to discipline or apply pressure. Rather than telling the victim how she should feel, it is far more beneficial to listen and find out how she does feel, and, by gently probing with questions, to help her to see for herself why she feels that way.
If discussions reveal a deep feeling of guilt, it should be pointed out that incest committed against a young child is never the child’s fault. True, young children often act affectionately toward adults. But they have no idea about adult sex. As the book TheSilentChildren points out: "The child never intended the closeness and warmth to become sexual. Incest is an adult’s interpretation of the child’s wishes—an interpretation greatly colored by the adult’s own needs."
Surely one who was sexually abused as a child can be certain of God’s understanding and loving acceptance. Why, Jehovah forgives even those who, unlike the abused child, commit gross sins—if they repent and change their course of action!—1 Corinthians 6:9-11.
A
RealisticViewHelping victims of emotional trauma is not easy. It cannot be handled in a few minutes in a crowded Kingdom Hall. It takes patience, love, kindness, repeated efforts and, especially, time. There are no miracle cures. It takes a lot of talking—and praying—before a disturbed victim achieves emotional stability. The bad experience is never forgotten. But the victim can learn to live with the memory.
Thus one victim said: "I still get feelings of worthlessness. But I tell myself it is not true. And in about a day, the feeling goes." Another victim said: "I’ve learned from the Scriptures to be forgiving, to help others and not to feel sorry for myself." Another added: "They helped me to see that Jehovah loves me still . . . I’m going to overcome all my problems with the help of Jehovah."—Psalm 55:22.
The
PermanentSolutionWhile Jesus was on earth, he miraculously healed those who were physically scarred, the ‘lame and maimed.’ (Matthew 15:30) In the approaching New Order, that miracle will be repeated many times over as all physical sickness is removed.—Isaiah 33:24.
In the case of those suffering emotional scars, often the loving, patient help of mature Christian men and women applying the soothing influence of God’s Word can help them to handle their problems and still find joy in Jehovah’s service. (James 5:13-15) However, in the New Order, we are promised: "The former distresses will actually be forgotten." (Isaiah 65:16) Thus, all servants of God look forward with confidence to the time when God "will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away." (Revelation 21:4) This will be the final healing of all sicknesses, including emotional ones.
[Blurb
onpage28]"The memory can be pushed back for a while only to resurface and make me sick"
[Blurb
onpage29]‘Just having somebody to talk to helped me the most’
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*** g82 6/22 pp. 5-6 "Chickens" and "Hawks" ***
"Chickens"and"Hawks"
The New Morality—Harvesting Its Crop
"Just as it occurred in the days of Lot."—Luke 17:28
HAWKS swoop down on chickens, and farmers keep loaded shotguns handy to blast the hawks. Today, however, those words can carry a different connotation. The "chickens" are young boys, the "hawks" are adult homosexuals, but the analogy ends there. The farmers are missing. The laws are inadequate, enforcement is poor, the judges are lenient and the "chickens" become victims. This problem is not new. It goes all the way back to Sodom and Gomorrah. But the last decade has seen an increasingly aggressive pursuit of "chickens" by the "hawks." Their brazenness has scandalized those elements of society still able to be scandalized.
In both New York City and in Los Angeles some claim that boys are more in demand than girls. A Los Angeles police sergeant who works with child vice says: "The figures for this area show that it’s between 70 and 75 percent boys to 25 percent girls." In Massachusetts a call-boy operation was discovered, where 250 boys were available for sex anywhere in the state for $50 and up. It turned out to be, however, only a branch of a national network headquartered in Houston, Texas. "Hawks" could call there from anywhere in the country and order "chickens" by telephone. Within half an hour a boy would be at the caller’s door, provided the "hawk’s" credit card cleared.
The "hawks" have formed groups and demand respectability. The Rene Guyon organization, based in California, boasts 8,500 members. Their motto is "Sex by eight or it’s too late." Numerous other man-boy sex organizations exist. Lists are compiled that show where boys can be picked up in every state. One such organization has headquarters in London, with branches in the United States and other countries. The homosexuals are pushing for changing the laws to lower the age of consent and to legalize sex between adults and children. They are fighting for children’s rights, they say, and make themselves out to be crusaders. The GayCommunityNews said:
"The gay liberation movement is fighting not merely for the rights of adults to engage freely in homoerotic acts, but also for the millions of our society’s children to enjoy a free sexual life . . . and [for] the rights of children to control their own bodies. At a time when abuse of children by their parents is epidemic, it is ironic that it is men who love boys who are made into the ultimate criminal."
Children’s rights to be abused, prostituted, sodomized? Their proclaimed concern for children’s rights is a cover-up for men whose only interest is gratification of their own sexual perversion. When the children become a little older these "loving" adults dump them back on the streets and pick up new victims. Willing or not, children at these tender ages are unable to understand the choice they are making or to foresee the consequences. They are victims. They are vulnerable. Misguidedly they seek affection from a homosexual and are psychologically devastated when they are cast off. Some are murdered. One homosexual man killed thirty-three boys and buried them under his house. Where has all that supposedly great love gone?
Support for homosexual causes comes from strange sources. The Bible is clear on its view of homosexuality. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of their practice of it. The Mosaic law forbade it, under penalty of death: "When a man lies down with a male the same as one lies down with a woman, both of them have done a detestable thing. They should be put to death without fail. Their own blood is upon them." The same position is expressed in the Christian Greek Scriptures concerning such men: "God gave them up to disgraceful sexual appetites, for both their females changed the natural use of themselves into one contrary to nature; and likewise even the males left the natural use of the female and became violently inflamed in their lust toward one another, males with males, working what is obscene."—Leviticus 20:13; Romans 1:26, 27.
In spite of these Biblical denunciations, many clergymen and churches speak up for the homosexuals. San Francisco, the population of which is 30 percent homosexual, illustrates the point. One news report reads: "Much of the tolerance comes, somewhat surprisingly perhaps, from organized religion—from the major Protestant, Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Jewish churches and synagogues. . . . Rev. Otto Sommers, the 50-year-old conference minister of Maine’s 250 United Church of Christ congregations, . . . says: ‘Homosexual sex, just like heterosexual sex, is a gift of God to be lived under the ethic of love. We all live under Christ.’"
Notwithstanding the pronouncements of many of today’s religious leaders and their church organizations, Jehovah God’s view of homosexuality has not changed. And, concerning conditions on earth at the time of his second coming, Christ Jesus said: "Just as it occurred in the days of Lot . . . the same way it will be on that day when the Son of man is to be revealed."—Luke 17:28-30.
[Box
onpage5]"The men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, from boy to old man, all the people in one mob. And they kept calling out to Lot and saying to him: ‘Where are the men who came in to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have intercourse with them.’"—Genesis 19:4, 5
*** g82 6/22 pp. 7-8 "Baby Pros" and "Kiddie Porn" ***
"BabyPros"and"KiddiePorn"
The New Morality—Harvesting Its Crop
Pimps and pornographers prey on the young and helpless
THE fastest-growing industry in America today is a brutalizing and depraved business—child vice. It employs more than half a million youngsters. Most of them are runaways, from homes to big cities, where they become vulnerable, easy prey to pimps and pornographers.
"Baby pros," child prostitutes, are used and abused by pimps. In the Times Square area of New York city 800 pimps control thousands and thousands of girls. Records disclose that hundreds and hundreds of these children have been brutalized, beaten, tortured and raped by their pimps. Some prostitutes end up murdered. Yet prostitution is called a "victimless crime."
Pornography dips into the even younger age brackets. Children as young as three and four years of age—who often end up in mental institutions or hustling on the streets—can be found doing unbelievable things in front of cameras. But if seeing is believing, then it must be believed, because it is there to be seen in pornographic movies and magazines. Five- and six-year-olds are exploited, engaging in every imaginable sexual activity and perversion, including masturbation, sodomy, sadomasochism and even incest.
Pornography started out comparatively mild, but quickly escalated to meet the increasing demands of quickly jaded perverted appetites. It began with nudity, which moved into simulated male-female intercourse, and from there to actual intercourse. Then came homosexual activities, men with men and women with women. Bestiality was next. And, finally, child pornography, called "kiddie porn." Children were shown in both homosexual and heterosexual activities, sometimes children with children, sometimes children with adults. By now "kiddie porn" has skyrocketed into a multibillion-dollar business, and yearly uses 300,000 children under sixteen.
Why such interest sexually in young children? They have been promoted by the media as sex objects. Advertisers pose them with their products, provocatively so, with windblown hair and pouting, promising lips. The young especially attract men who are afraid of adult women, psychiatrists say. The modern woman, the liberated female, equal and even a competitor, intimidates these insecure men. But the young girls, sexily attired and posed, look vulnerable, are nothing to fear, and are therefore inviting to such men. Presented as sex objects, these youngsters become sex targets.
Derek Eaves, a forensic psychiatrist who works with sexual offenders is worried: "There is an enormous increase in crimes against children." He considers society to be in a moral crisis. A Columbia University professor says that provocatively posing little girls means "they are for sale" and is a step taken toward the destruction of Western values. Daniel Cappon, analytical psychotherapist, says: "We’ve entered the new Dark Ages of society. We’re living through the black ages of degeneracy. Darkness has descended on our psyche; people are more brutalized now than ever before." Strong language, but maybe not too strong, when you read of a thirty-three-month-old girl assaulted by a fifty-one-year-old man. Or consider the sickness that’s evident when pornographers photograph and pedophiles (those who lust after children) buy pictures of a seven-month-old girl with her legs spread apart.
Psychologists Victor Cline and Frank Osanka scoff at the idea that pornography is a "victimless crime." Osanka says: "Child pornography is nothing less than the photographic record of the sexual abuse of children, and the severe psychological effect of that has been clearly established." Cline says: "The potential for real psychological harm from continual exposure to pornography is significant."
The pro-pornography groups, of course, see no harm in their sickness. Several groups, such as the Pedophile Liberation Organization, the Pedophile Information Exchange and the Childhood Sexuality Circle, are mounting a counterattack against opposers. They maintain secret underground networks that operate nationally and allow them to barter and exchange millions of dollars’ worth of filth. Some of these national and international organizations are now surfacing to push for their "rights." Pedophiles see no harm in "kiddie porn," only because they are blinded by their own lust.
But the children used in it are harmed, often ending up peddling sex on the streets and having trouble seeing themselves as desirable in any way other than as a commodity, a sex object with a price tag. Here again, as in the case of small boys sodomized by grown men, the courts have problems seeing "kiddie porn" as obscenity. "There is a widespread fear that prohibiting a ten-year-old from appearing in a pornographic film might violate that child’s First Amendment rights."
Incredibly, even some parents appear in "kiddie porn" films using their own children! And that brings us to the subject of the next article—INCEST.
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*** g82 6/22 pp. 9-10 Rape at Home ***
RapeatHome
The New Morality—Harvesting Its Crop
Now even incest clamors for acceptance
"EVERY child has the right to loving relationships, including sexual, with a parent, sibling, other responsible adults or children."—Article Seven of "A Child’s Sexual Bill of Rights," by the leader of Childhood Sexuality Circle.
All this time incest, the hidden crime, has been waiting impatiently in the wings, but now it is pushing forward for its turn on center stage.
Five thousand new cases are reported nationally each year, and experts say that for each one reported ten or twenty go unreported. One head of an incest clinic says: "I believe that incest is widespread in America." A childcare worker says that incest is "more common than rape, and less frequently reported." Some estimate that twenty-five million women in America today suffered incestuous abuse as children. Reports indicate that other countries are experiencing the same growing problem. "The latest thing now," a new book on child abuse says, "is father-son sex clubs." "The rate of incidence is so high," one source said, "as to make prohibition absurd." The strange logic is, if the crime is so widespread, why fight it?
The strangeness of that last-quoted opinion becomes understandable when its source is known. It is one of the many arguments advanced by the pro-incest lobby. The March 1980 issue of PsychologyToday reported some of the incest lobby’s contentions, as follows:
"Some incest experiences appear to be positive and even beneficial." "Incest in some cases may be either a positive, healthy experience or, at worst, neutral and dull." "Incest fear has a chilling effect on the expression of loving feeling within the home."
The writer of the article in PsychologyToday does not agree with these pro-incest arguments. He says: "To be loved for oneself, for what one is rather than for what one can give or become, is for a child as urgent a longing as that for physical nourishment. But few children can know from infancy the difference between being loved for oneself and being used . . . to serve an elder’s sexual appetite."
Time
magazine of September 7, 1981, also published pro-incest propaganda, titled "Cradle-to-Grave Intimacy":"Very young children should be allowed, and perhaps encouraged, to conduct a full sex life without interference from parents and the law." "Human beings, like the other primates, require a period of early sexual rehearsal play." "Children really are a disenfranchised minority. They should have the right to express themselves sexually, which means that they may or may not have contact with people older than themselves." "Such sex is basically harmless to the child." "Incest can sometimes be beneficial." "We believe children should begin sex at birth. It causes a lot of problems not to practice incest."
The Time article concludes with some statements by psychiatrists. One said: "Premature sexual behavior among children in this society almost always leads to psychological difficulties." Another who works with children concludes: "Childhood sexuality is like playing with a loaded gun."
The popular slogan, Do your own thing, is also a loaded gun. The pimp may be doing his own thing, but it isn’t his "baby pros’" own thing. The sodomist may do his own thing, but it isn’t his young victim’s own thing. An incestuous parent may be doing his or her own thing, but it is hardly the small child’s thing. A child’s own thing is to be a child, to be secure in his childhood, to be loved by married parents. Love is thinking of others; doing your own thing is thinking of self.
Incest is probably the most selfish and reprehensible kind of child abuse. It is a grotesque violation of the child’s trust and dependency. It is the child’s closest protector that is turning on it. And the child is a damaged victim. "I have never knowingly talked to a happy, well-adjusted, unconcerned incest victim," said Dr. Suzanne Sgroi, former chairman of the Sexual Trauma Treatment Program.
Dr. Judianne Densen-Gerber, director of Odyssey Institute in New York city, says: "In my own practice I have the hardest time imaginable treating these children who suffer from incest, even more than the kids who are battered, abused, set on fire, and whipped because at least those children don’t confuse what’s being done to them with love. The parent who sexually uses a child while telling him, ‘I love you,’ is raising a child who will be afraid to establish rapport, trust, and engagement with anyone else in his life, even with the therapist, because unlike the beaten child, he doesn’t seek affection, he fears affection and becomes extremely isolated."
On page 129 of the book TheDeathofInnocence, we read: "Among prostitutes, the frequency of sexual molestation in childhood is 92 percent; 67 percent of them experienced some form of incestuous assault. . . . At least 75 percent of the runaways, on the national average, are escaping incestuous abuse. The same figures apply to cases of adolescent drug addiction: About 70 percent are victims of incest."
And again, as in the case of homosexuality, the Bible views it as a crime worthy of the death penalty: "You people must not come near, any man of you, to any close fleshly relative of his to lay bare nakedness. I am Jehovah. In case anyone does any of all these detestable things, then the souls doing them must be cut off."—Leviticus 18:6, 29.
*** g82 6/22 pp. 11-12 To End Child Abuse ***
ToEndChildAbuse
The New Morality—Harvesting Its Crop
The remedy works when practiced, not when preached
THE new morality is not new. It is only a new name for the old immorality. The tree is still rotten, its fruit still worthless. Its wisdom is unrighteous, its "children" prove it so. As it occurred in the days of Noah and in the days of Lot, so it is occurring in these last days of another immoral system. The crop being reaped is the same, only this time it’s a bumper harvest. And not at all practical—very, very impractical. Especially so for the children.
The Bible’s remedy is practical, for children and everyone else. Even the professional people who are involved with the problem of child abuse offer similar solutions, up to a point. They know that bad family conditions cause children to run away from home, and that a high percentage of runaways end up on the streets and in prostitution and pornography and suffer appalling abuse. Some are escaping incest at home, homes broken by divorce, chronic conflicts with parents, lack of loving attention, and some are swayed by their peers. Whatever the specific causes, the remedy is the healing of family breakdown. So say the experts.
So does the Bible. It calls for close communication between parent and child. Concerning righteous principles, the command is: "You must inculcate them in your son and speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up."—Deuteronomy 6:7.
The Bible counsels both parents and children on how to act: "Children, be obedient to your parents in union with the Lord, for this is righteous . . . And you, fathers, do not be irritating your children, but go on bringing them up in the discipline and mental-regulating of Jehovah."—Ephesians 6:1, 4.
Psychiatrists agree. They say parents must be fair and set good examples, but children need regulations and discipline. One psychotherapist confirms this, saying: "We abandon our children also when, hoping to make ‘friends’ of them, we renounce our responsibilities as models and as law-givers. This is a betrayal that children feel acutely because no need is stronger to a growing child than the sense of boundaries and limits. The child experiences them as love." The Bible confirms this. "The one whom Jehovah loves he reproves, even as a father does a son in whom he finds pleasure."—Proverbs 3:12.
Some say that more sex education in the schools is what is needed; others contend it’s already too explicit and goes too far. One illustrated booklet for children, prepared by a Syracuse University professor, says: "All thoughts are normal." "Masturbation is a normal expression of sex for both males and females at any age. Enjoy it." Homosexuality is your business, "so choose the sexual life you want." "A lot of people wonder about oral and anal sex, and some think it is ‘perverted.’ We think there is nothing wrong with any kind of sex." "Pornography is harmless."
Perhaps Johnny can’t read or write because his teachers are too busy indoctrinating him with the "normality" of sexual perversions. Sex instruction for children can be too much too soon. Dr. Greenwood warns: "Parents in their efforts to be liberal often overeducate, and they may be giving their children material they’re not yet ready to cope with." Regardless of the pros and cons of sex education, the hard fact is the tremendous increase in child prostitution, sodomy, pornography and incest.
Those who greedily exploit children in these ways fit the Bible’s description, found at Ephesians 4:19: "Having come to be past all moral sense, they gave themselves over to loose conduct to work uncleanness of every sort with greediness." They fit those of Noah’s day: "Jehovah saw that the badness of man was abundant in the earth and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only bad all the time."—Genesis 6:5.
Only the Bible’s solution will end the abuse of children. Jesus summed it up: ‘Love God with your whole heart. Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:37-39) The apostle Paul repeated it: "Love does not work evil to one’s neighbor; therefore love is the law’s fulfillment."—Romans 13:10.
This solution of brotherly love is practical. When applied, it works. Too many are hearers of God’s Word but not doers of it. Too many say "Lord, Lord," but don’t listen to Jesus or do Jehovah’s will.—James 1:22; Matthew 7:21.
In God’s due time all who embrace his kingdom under Christ will become able to keep this law of love perfectly. Then will come fulfillment of Proverbs 2:21, 22: "The upright are the ones that will reside in the earth, and the blameless are the ones that will be left over in it. As regards the wicked, they will be cut off from the very earth; and as for the treacherous, they will be torn away from it."
This is the only way, the final way, to end child abuse.
Love, Blondie
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martinwellborne
Oh-no you must be wrong he is a wonderful bro'
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neverendingjourney
Thanks for the info., Blondie. I've always wondered if there ever was an official policy or if elders just handled it as any other fornication/adultery case. I've also wondered if there was an official policy that mandated excommunication for those who spoke out about confidential child abuse matters on slander grounds.
My time and experience as a JW tells me that, absent the 1996 policy, a judicial committee would probably view child abuse as a run-of-the-mill fornication case. If the molester didn't confess and two witnesses weren't available against him, he would be let go undisciplined. The child's parents would be told not to divulge any information about the case because it was confidential. If they didn't comply, they would be subject to excommunication for slander. However, I don't know if this in fact was the policy before 1996. If it was, this should be the focus of news reports, not the post 1996 policy (which isn't as airtight as they claim it to be, but that's a subject for another thread).