by AndersonsInfo 80 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
The problem is, many parents are "all in" and trust the elders implicity. Also, they simply don't want to be there when the details are reviewed. So they can give their permission for elders to meet with the minor child, and many do.
Blondie cited chapter and verse of the instructions, but note the weasel words (in yellow):
It would be best to meet with the youth and his or her Christian parents...
It seems to be an issue over whether or not elders & M/S should undergo Criminal Record Checks because they work with children , right ?
I do not see why the WTS are so opposed to this. Is it simply pride? Do they dislike "satan's World" so much that they will not cooperate? What is the problem in having every elder & m/s undergo a criminal check?
I would have been willing to do so ..........
There is more to this tha meets the eye.
When Barb speaks, pay attention.
We are not into sensationalism.
Randy
Why is this authorized to the media by jwnews.net? Are they allowing this type of inflammatory information to get to the public now? Wouldn't they think the ones at the door would tell the pubs to get off the doorstep....
I am pleased this is happening.... no longer should they be able to hide this disgusting practise of allowing those they know to be perverts to go d2d, there should be severe restrictions on anyone, male or female, who has committed crimes against children.. only God can judge these ones in the next life, this life must be protected against sexual pedos- just because they did not speak of it in the bible should not be viewed as of no consequence... and the two/three witness application is a terrible misuse of God's intention in a crime such as this... maybe if it happened to elder's children or ms's children there would be something done about it........
It's all swept under the rug, like everything else, no one mentions it anymore..there has to be more visibility, more news releases, why won't someone go straight to trial and not be paid off and sign a confidentiality clause to keep it under wraps???
It is so frustrating.. it seems like the congregations are settled down to believing the apostates and news media are in cahoots, trying to destroy WTBT$...everything is ignored..... something has to happen to bring the pubs to their senses..
A law should be passed to have everyone who mentors children in any format has to have a criminal records check and never be alone with a child, whether or not having a criminal past....
that goes for daycare, bible schools, JC's, scouts, girl guides, bible students studies.. etc.. if they know they won't pass the check, it may cut down on abuse
From the days of Rutherford there has been a keen resistance to Authority by the very people who press down hard from the top in the Watchtower Society with their OWN.
Rather than humble servants charged with TAKING CARE of the flock with tenderness and humility, Watchtower leaders chafe under the Superior Authorities.
The first indication that this was so came when a blatent lie was told to congregations around the world. Romans 13 was deliberately MISINTERPRETED.
JW's everywhere were required to believe the obvious context of scripture was the opposite of secular authority ruling over christians. Why? Because J.F.Rutherford wanted to excoriate Governments and declare them counterfeit! If Romans 13 actuality MEANT what it SAID this would indicate Rutherford
was going against God's intentions!! How could Jehovah's ONLY TRUE organization be countradicting His arrangement??
Clearly, whatever Rutherford decided was going to be Truth for Jehovah's Witnesses; let the scriptures be damned.
Enough young men ended up pulling prison terms by listening to Rutherford (and later, Knorr) rather than simply obeying Romans 13 that a few generations of martyrs were sent in harm's way on purpose!
Eventually, a quiet change took place and Knorr and Fred Franz RECEIVED NEW LIGHT: what Christendom had taught for over a thousand years had been TRUE all along!!
The mindset of the Governing Body has changed very little. They still act as ones who DEFY secular authority and sneer at any effort to bring them in line with law protecting innocent people from wrongful injury.
They will lie and instruct others to do the same to get their way. All the while mainting a public stance of high innocence and righteous indignation.
Hayden Covington won many cases before the Supreme Court for freedom OF religion. However, Jehovah's Witnesses need more than anything else
to win a court case freeing them from THE GOVERNING BODY! If ever there lived an "evil slave" who mistreated the Master's little ones it is this body of men puffed up with their own self-importance.
The game has never changed. "Listen to us and take your beating!"
BlluesBrother, there is a cost associated with criminal checks. One of my volunteer organizations requests an update every six months. They get a discount because of their non-profit status, but it adds up. Take a dozen volunteers, twice a year, at twenty dollars a pop, and it starts to add up.
The Government of Alberta is piloting a grant program to cover the costs for these checks, but their budget is limited and they are accepting applications from non-profits on a first-come first-served basis.
My Sunday School coordinator noted an interesting side-effect of this rigor. Some volunteers, hearing that they would have to undergo a check, withdrew their interest. Makes you think, eh?
Another angle that I wonder whether it concerns the WT is, will this be another reason out of many, that would cause men not to reach out and become elders? Would this also be a reason to cause some if not many elders to step down? If elders, COs, amongst others have to get registered for this so called "voluntary work", and it costs to get this done, its reasonable to not expect the WT to assist with that cost in any way, shape, or form. The WT could give a rat's tail about anybody's financial difficulties when individuals voluntarily contribute their time and money in assisting this organization. There's more than a few elders that would say, "screw this" if they had to pay to get registered. Not to mention the non-elders and ministerial servants who would stop going out in field service or have any contact with youth in the organization if they have to add another burden to the already unneccesary financial toll for serving this organization.
Then there's the legal aspect of it that would weigh heavy on someone's mind. What I mean is, when someone gets registered for something like working with kids, there's a thought in the back of their mind that if something happens, either accident, or whatever, the responsibility falls upon the adult. I personally would not want to be in such a position, knowing that if something goes down, the WT would leave me out to dry and distance themselves as far as they could with me.
From 1 July 2011, the fee to process a WWC Check Employee application will be $79.60*.
Looks like it would cost $79.60 AUD for each elder and ministerial servant criminal records check if this would be required. Don't know how many elders and ministerial servants are in Australia. But since JW incomes are of the lowest of most other religions memberships, whose going to pay? Not the WTS headquarters I am sure.
To compare: If this ever went on as a requirement in the U.S. Recently, it was reported on this site that there are 88,500 elders and 65,000 ministerial servants in the U.S. (average 12 per congregation) So, if the U.S. government required the same fee, now according to the Exchange Rate,
| 1.00 AUD | = | 1.05582 USD |
That would come to $12,900,140 just for the U.S.
So if many elders and ministerial servants are already in a financial crunch, that would be less available that they would be able to donate to the Headquarters.
And if this requirement went global? $$$$$$$$$$$ So, obviously, if the WTS loses this, as a precedence, it will lose mega dollars.
Gayle, thanks for posting that. That's exactly what I was thinking. So hypothetically speaking, it would cost an individual elder, ministerial servant, or possibly any adult JW that does field service who might possibly partner up with a minor, a cost of roughly $80.00 a year to do a so called voluntary work. Not to mention, the very thought of "registering" carries legal connotations that quite frankly would disturb me enough to resign tonight, considering the WT's history of leaving their own out to dry when things hit the fan.
Another thing too, this registering wouldn't apply to family heads would it? A father could still work with his children out in field service without having to register. There's plenty of fatherless families amongst JWs, and when it comes to field service its been stated often enough that its the family's responsibility to train and work with their children in field service. When it comes to families that lack both parents for whatever reason, be it an unbelieving parent, or a widow, often enough ministerial servants and elders would work with those young ones in the field, especially the males. Pioneers often work with young sisters and brothers too, so that means pioneers would have to get regisitered too. If this were to happen, I can see a whole lot of young ones with a JW parent that wouldn't have to go out in service, or wouldn't have to worry about a pioneer/elder/servant/CO/DO encouraging them personally, because it would cost roughly $80/year for registeration to provide that kind of encouragement, and the legal ramifications lingering in that "volunatary counsler's" conscience.
