Unsubstantiated Rumors In Recent Years

by metatron 19 Replies latest jw friends

  • metatron
    metatron

    Across the past several years, various rumors have appeared on this and other websites. If anyone else has knowledge about them, I'd be glad to hear more about them. Again, these are only rumors that I've wondered about but could never get more information on.

    1) Henschel Documents- long before the Watchtower's alliance with the UN was exposed, a rumor appeared from Europe that Watchtower President Milton Henschel carried some kind of diplomatic identification from the UN! At the time, this seemed unbelieveable. I wonder.....

    2) A Compromised GB Member - a person named "Raven" (or Rayvn?) appeared, claiming to be a victim of harassment and threats. She may have been disabled or an invalid. She claimed that she stumbled into a situation in which she was offering condolence to a Witness couple whose son died at Bethel - apparently of suicide. She said that his date of death and other facts created a controversy with the parents because it didn't agree with what the Society told them. She said that his suicide was related to being approached for homosexual relations by a Governing Body member (NOT Greenlees or Chitty). It was opined that, if this was true, it could partly explain why this GB member was so ineffective in opposing Jaracz , as he was permanently compromised.

    3)Stop The Presses - an account of a dispute in which the Awake was going to publish an article admitting that there were problems with wife beating and physical abuse in congregations. A member of the Governing Body demanded that the publication never take place when he found out about it but was somehow overruled.

    4) Deliberate Suppression - a rumor that, before the child molestation scandal hit, the Service Dept. gave secret orders to Circuit Overseers to privately threaten anyone who exposed child molestation to the authorities.

    5) Kingdom Hall Gone - a rumor that Witnesses were studying with a wife or relative of a "made" man. After ignoring a warning, they found their KIngdom Hall demolished and gone. They got the message.

    6) Message to SA - back when voting was a total no-no, there was a rumor that South Africans were given a special dispensation to go the polls to avoid violence. Supposedly, came from the very top...

    Again, just wild stories. I'll add more if I can remember them.

    metatron

  • baltar447
    baltar447

    Isn't there SOME truth to #4? I mean, we have many experiences of JWs who were threatened by Elders not to pursue the matter of molestation. So it's not TOO far fetched. Just sayin.

  • wha happened?
    wha happened?

    That's the only one I see that has any merit to it

  • 00DAD
    00DAD

    Other than #4, which there is definitely some validity to that (see some of Barbara Anderson's thread here), it would be interesting if any of the above could be true.

    But even without that, there is SO much about the WTBTS that has definitely be proven as facts which demonstrably show that they are NOT what they claim to be, but just another false religious organization.

  • metatron
    metatron

    Actually, I recall that Barb might know about #3.

    metatron

  • jamiebowers
    jamiebowers

    I'm pretty sure that Barbara Anderson has written about numbers 3 and 4. Check freeminds.org or watchtowerdocuments.com.

  • wha happened?
    wha happened?

    WE should start a column. "Ask Barbara" Everyone writes in and once a week Barbara addresses a question at random.

  • steve2
    steve2

    I agree that numbers 3 and 4 could have some verifiable backing. The others could readily deteriorate into "He, said, they said" type exchanges.

    Suicide is a complex issue made all the more painful when grief, authority, secrecy and shame are added to the mix.

    I work in a community mental health team and can state that when suicide occurs in families, fraught exchanges with authorities are more common than people may realize. I have seen instances in which grieving parents are absolutely convinced that health professionals were to blame for their adult child's death and will go to extraordinary lengths to vilify respective parties - so convinced they are.

    I just think that when someone kills themselves, the situation is often incredibly predisposed to emotion-charged accusations and blame - and the ability to sort fact from fiction is lost in the ensuing grief-struck process.

    Rumors are so easy to spread, so damn hard to verify...and even when hard to verify, persist beyond all absence of evidence.

  • blond-moment
    blond-moment

    I try very hard to stay out of the speculation business. If I can't find evidence, I have to let it go, personally, or I do my best anyway.

    #4 is believable because that does happen, it's common.

    The rest I am curious about, but I need proof, documentation, etc.

    As 00DAD said, there is already overwhelming evidence to prove they are anything BUT God's organization without it.

  • Billy the Ex-Bethelite
    Billy the Ex-Bethelite

    What about the rumor that some kid's smurf doll ran out of a Kingdom Hall and drove away in a car?

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