by dontplaceliterature 44 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
Bobcat,
My statement was incomplete. Sorry for that. I keyboard as I think and rarely take time for proofreading it. My statement should have read:
It is beyond comprehension why it has restrained itself from coming out and telling the Witness community that it is the right and moral thing to report such suspicions to the police for sake of protecting all children, whether Witnesses or not.
Marvin Shilmer
-
Why can't they come out with this position?
Because it would encourage Witnesses to report to authorities of nasty things being done by Witnesses. This would, in Watchtower’s historical view of things, tarnish the reputation it advertises for the “spiritual paradise” supposedly enjoyed by the Witness community.
What stands in the way?
The leadership’s ineptness and stupidity.
I know you said "power" in the other thread, but in what way?
Power is as intoxicating as illicit use of mind altering drugs. It is difficult to explain to the ordinary person the actions of an addict.
What would happen that they would view as bad if they did take that position?
In Witness jargon, it would “bring reproach on Jehovah and his organization.”
Marvin Shilmer
dontplaceliterature you have a pm
marked
Marvin, thank you. (And others too.)
In the years I had dealing with judicial cases, this particular type of sin never came up. Or at least I was never aware of it. But judging from others comments it might not be a surprise that I never became aware.
Some others have mentioned km school where the Society would have write in rules (for the flock book) that certainly looked like it was protection for them.
One example was to never mention the Society in Judicial paperwork. It was odd because everything about a judicial case involved following their instructions. I used to wonder what would happen if an elder on a JC would refuse to sign his name to the forms.
In the 1980s when I was an Elder we had no real training in areas of marital counseling, teen counseling, drug and alcohol abuse and addiction, transgendered individuals, suicide, nor sexual abuse. It was like handing a scapel to a kid. We did our best to be compassionate and kind but we dealt with some really serious and tragic cases.
designs, why do you think you didn't turn these problem over to people who had training?
They discouraged us as Elders from reporting it to the authorities and told us to neither encourage or discourage the mother of the victim to report it. (Fortunately she did)
stuckinamovement, when you say you were "discouraged," how do you mean? I would assume you were directed not to report the matter, but perhaps I am mistaken.
@Sulla, They did direct us not to report the matter to the police but to instead leave it up to the mother.
I was an elder in the 2000's. There was a situation that came up about a man who came forward with some past wrongdoing that 'involved children'. He was removed as a servant, never to hold a position again. He was no longer allowed to 'take the lead' in field service groups, nor say prayers for meetings. The elders were to police the situation. He was 'not supposed' to go to the door by himself or be left in a car group with kids alone. But it was to be kept strictly confidential by the elders. They were the only ones allowed to know.
What really scary is unless the elders were there who would enforce it...and sometimes even them being there didn't even matter. One elder put him with my wife, another woman and my kids on a Saturday morning when I wasn't there. I was working that day. I asked my wife how her day went and she told me about the service group and being with this man. I asked her if they ever went to the door (her and this other woman) and left the kids with him in the car alone. She said 'Yes.' I was mad, and proceeded to tell her that he is never to be alone with any kids. I should have said something sooner, but I was a new elder and I was told not to say anything. Needless to say she put two and two together and she was pissed that the elder (the p.o. at the time) would do that.
See what happens when they try to take care of this stuff themselves.
It was only part of what made me leave, but about a year and a half later we were gone for good. That place is a haven for that sort of thing to happen....because JWs trust other JWs and thats it. That is a bad combination and dangerous if you ask me.
As someone mentioned earlier, we were to neither encourage or discourage anyone going to the police...but we were supposed to get on the batphone right away to the WTS. That was the policy.
This is an important thread exposing the faulty directions given to elders from the WT society over the years. Although I was never an elder , I was an MS, this needs lots of former elders chiming in regarding how they were directed to handle child abuse cases. Access to information and free expression of experiences is everything. Peace out, Mr. Flipper
