JW's And The Abuse Of Children...

Through out My 10yrs. of being involved w/ the organization I have witnessed a many Pyhsical abuse.

And I even have been to a many different halls, in which I saw the same abuse on children.

The last thing that had made me leave was a case of childabuse, in which NO elders nor any one did anything to help these poor children, so I REPORTED them and the children were taken from the home that day, the husband went to jail then prision for a probation violation by hurting the children.

The little one of age 5 was punched in the face, then kicked down a flight of stairs..This was it for me, After reporting this, I left the Organization and never looked back..How sad, when people just stood by and watched this happen, even an Elder's wife, and NO one did anything to help these poor children.

And the BEATings I witnessed in the bathrooms was just awful.After my research of this dangerous cult, and then the beatings of the children was enough for me to take my 5 year old daughter and myself out of this dangerous organization and never look back. Yes, we lost a many frineds, But I still keep in contact w/ some of my JW"S friends who sneek over at times to visit me..I sure Pray that GOD will helo them escape this dangerous organization before its too late..

I think many who become JWs come from a background where corporal punishment is the norm and acceptable way to raise children and nothing is done to turn that behavior around. The Bible is the problem when it speaks of beating your child, so groups that believe the Bible to be God's Word are stuck.

I had to give a talk, 1985, in the Service Meeting about corporal punishment in our Hall. Sisters were using Belts and Wooden Spoons on their infants. The State of California had just passed a Law making it a Felony to beat a child. Since most of these women were on State Aid of some sort I had to appeal to them that their meal ticket would be taken away if they raised a welt on their child. You can imagine how popular I was after that talk.

metatron

Now that mere children are encouraged to be baptized, the abuse gets worse.

I once read a defense of traditional punishment - spankings - and the authority claimed that the worry should be focused on ignoring children, in effect, shunning them. He claimed that the outcomes were much worse.

metatron

sizemik

shel54401 . . . your first post? . . . Welcome!

I don't think any ex-JW's got through their time without seeing this in some form.

Personally, here in NZ . . . it never manifested itself in quite such an ugly way as you witnessed . . . not that I observed anyway. Still, younger ones were taken out the back occasionally for a "stinger" just for being a bit restless . . . even that's pretty harsh.

My wife at one time was pressured about my first-borns behavior . . . to "give him some discipline" as he was pretty hyper-active. She gave in to the pressure on one occasion and smacked his leg . . . it fair broke the little guys heart. Neither of us ever did anything like it to any of our children again . . . ever. My wife still feels guilty about it over 20 years later.

I'm glad you saw through the wrongness of it . . . and good for you for reporting it . . . that can't have been an easy period for you.

And good on you for walking . . . and joining us here.

TotallyADD

I mention this in another post. The JW cult thinking is that children should not be children. They should be little adults. Think like adults and act like adults. They by doing this takes every shred of innocent childhood away from their children. For example who in their right mind would force a small child to go to a stranger home and knock on the door and try to talk about the bilbe. Is this not a thing that should only be reserved for a adult to decide? But yet the cult force young children to do this very adult thing. The WT cult is responsbile for tens of thousands of lost childhoods. Which in turn has caused extreme emotional problems for many. In the mid 50's and early 60's when I was a young child the WT thinking was children were a nuisance and in the way. When you live in a environment of unloving parents and unloving congregation members that is abuse x 10. Oh yes belts and hair brushes were the tool of choice when I was young. It's a very dangerous cult for children. Totally ADD

Band on the Run

I was kicked down a flight of stairs with a body cast on me. Clearly, I was going to die or be paralyzed. Nothing can ever make up for those moments. Nothing, ever. A switch went off in my brain. I had to fight back with all my might and forget all my defential upbringing. A social welfare org. wanted me to live far away. I was just a kid and thought he should be the punished one. They repeatedly sought the aid of JWs and my mom repeatedly said it would make matters so much worse. The professionals were shocked about such a religion.

Besides being reprimanded for being a bad, evil person, I would have caught hell for telling a nonJW so it could not be hidden under a rug.

Good for you!

aSphereisnotaCircle

Designs,

You gave a talk that encouraged parents to not spank their children, seriously? Or was it about not spanking them "to hard"?

Either way, its a shocker. I have never, EVER, in 30 some years of being a witness, heard any brother caution against spanking to hard.

The talks have always been "you better spank those kids!"

Welcome Shel54401!

designs

aSphere-

I had to be graphic in telling them where not to hit, I knew I could not tell them to not spank at all but they were using the Belts and Spoons on little kids legs and arms and sometimes their faces. It made my skin crawl. Like sizemik said about spanking one time and feeling horrible about it I spanked my daughter one time and to this day feel awful about it, and she turned out to be a lovely grown woman and a good mother herself now.

I told them their neighbors would turn them in and when Social Services showed up and saw welt marks on their kids they would be taken to Foster Homes. I resigned as an Elder 4 years later.

Mad Sweeney

I saw a guy at an assembly once smacking his kid in the restroom. Tyke must have been around 3 years old. Crying. He'd slap the kid and say, "stop crying!" then just as the kid was almost under control, SLAP! again, and "stop crying!"

It was heartbreaking. And what hurts just as much is I didn't have the balls to say or do anything at the time. It was a crowded restroom, too, and nobody said a damn thing.

designs

Mad-

I know what you mean, we were all guilty of standing by while things happened we knew were wrong. Guilty of group think or herd mentality whatever its called. Why didn't I speak up the night a young woman was hermoragging in child birth and say god would forgive you do what's ever necessary. I didn't and she died. I'll never forgive myself.

JW's And The Abuse Of Children...

Through out My 10yrs. of being involved w/ the organization I have witnessed a many Pyhsical abuse.

And I even have been to a many different halls, in which I saw the same abuse on children.

The last thing that had made me leave was a case of childabuse, in which NO elders nor any one did anything to help these poor children, so I REPORTED them and the children were taken from the home that day, the husband went to jail then prision for a probation violation by hurting the children.

Share this