I actually LOVE the policy you outlined. Good job!
My point in asking and interacting with you has been to get to this point -- we agree that the present policy is not working and you've agreed another policy is better.
Then WHY do Jehovah's Witnesses refuse to make real, appreciable differences? As I said earlier, if they want to insist on holding to the two witness rule, not a Biblical command, then why not use a conviction in court as the second witness? Why insist on maintaining the current structure as-is? I know they know thousands and thousands of people have been hurt this rule, how many other thousands have left because of what they saw?
There is no logical reason for them to refuse to change other than they want silence from abuse victims. I have maintained for some years that Jehovah's Witnesses have the child abuse policy that they do because they do not want distractions from selling magazines door-to-door. Child abuse distracts the congregation, even an entire circuit, and that cannnot be permitted.
IF Jehovah's Witnesses were truly interested in protecting children, and separating sexual offenders, spiritual wolves amongst the flock, then real changes would have been made years ago. That they do not, and I'm sorry but suspending privilieges is pretty weak, says a great deal about their real motivation.
I've asked several times, what do they do to Elders Gone Wild? What procedures are in place to correct the hideous treatment given to abuse victims? And then there are the multiple stories of offenders convicted in court, and yet no action is taken by Jehovah's Witnesses whatsoever. WHY?
The logical, dispassionate answer is the one I maintain -- anything that distracts the congregation from selling magazines must be cut off, put aside, ignored or thrown away. People be damned.
As I've said Sola, you strike me as a good guy, trying your best, but the vast majority of elders are nowhere near your ethical level. As a result, people have been hurt, are being hurt now and will be hurt in the future. That Jehovah's Witnesses do not address this issue says a great deal.
This fundamental reason is why I left. A religion is supposed to be the ideal, the inspiration for achieving a better self and a better world. Therefore religion must be held to a higher standard than say a business. But when religion falls so short and behaves immorally, unethically and sometimes illegally, then it no longer deserves any devotion whatsoever.
I said 20 years ago the two witness rule is evil. And I reasoned that wherever there is evil, the god of the Bible, the god of Love, will not exist or have any dealings with in any way whatsoever. Nothing in our discussion has changed my mind.
Be well,
Chris