by metatron 32 Replies latest jw friends
here's what I'm hearing:
The Dateline show is beating a dead horse brought up by malcontents.
It brings up a dead issue because the Society is sending out
letters in child abuse cases to go to the police - in individual
cases. So, disgruntled ex-Witnesses are just trying to beat on
the poor, innocent, God fearing Society out of revenge, because
they already tell Witnesses to go to the authorities.
And blah, blah, blah
metatron
metatron,
Without doubt a large number of JWs will be unphased by it all. However, there's no doubt that some who are hanging on only by their fingernails will be affected by the obvious cover up and the lies of WT PR. Really, like the UN business, this is just more grist for the mill that is pulverizing the JW religion. Continued discussion on forums like this will, over the long haul, continue to help many to leave, or cause others not to join the WT at all.
It's unlikely the WTS will vanish or change overnight. But the days when they could speak for God without any accountability are gone. For example, the UN disclosure seems to have failed to shak ethe faith of JWs in general. Yet I know a good number who remain deeply shocked by the whole business. That state of afafirs cannot persist. Besides, they have nothing positive doctrinally to distract attention with. They need to set another date - I hope they do because that would probably finish them for good. Present day JWs are not the same breed as those in the 50s, 60s and 70s and earlier. All the damage control and decption that the WTS has had to deal in since 1975 has eroded the faith of the masses of JW. In the main, their spiritual foundations are in quicksand.
Herbert
Or this letter is going around to warn the molesters to get out, and to others to turn them in. This is just to avoid litigation and responsibility for years of victimizing, blind to pain & suffering.
Seeeeee weeeee've beeeeeeeeeeen doing this aaaaaaaaaaall allllllllong.
They'll resort to their old ways, it will just be another "house cleaning" like in the 80's.
Here is what one JW said on another site:
"What really cheeses me off is that these people have not bothered to get anything but the media side of the story before they have judged us. I know what is happening in this and I know that the brothers are not at fault, not the elders and certainly not the GB."
Even before the show airs the majority of the rank and file have already made up their minds that the society is not at fault. Will it make JW's stop and think? I hope so, but I feel it will be a small group who already have doubts. I hope it will give them the information they need to start doing som research on their own without using socity material to find out more about how the society has been deceiving them.
Most likely it will be all put on the local congregations and the society will simply say it was all the fault of the local elders and that they had no "knowledge" of the cover ups, much like they have done for years, simply pass the buck!
All I hope is that more people see what the society is really like and this may help keep them from gaining some new converts.
Take care.
Andyman:
Or the general feeling may be similar to what George Coyne, a Jesuit priest and the director of the Vatican Observatory, says about the Catholics' pedophilia problem:
The whole mentality of the Catholic Church has been secrecy and coverup, and that's where the problem is. The church has a tendency of not wanting to admit mistakes. It's the church I love, but it's a human church, too. I have no expertise in modern culture, but as one priest in the church, my evaluation is that secrecy never pays off in the long run. It will catch up with you.
There does not appear to be a big exodus from the Catholic Church over this issue, though it has produced revulsion and discontent, anger and in some instances, attempted murder and suicides. What has been produced is continuing reform.
Even if they have closed their minds, eyes, ears, and hearts to the Dateline story, they should pay attention to the disfellowshippings over the whistleblowers and past vicims. Little do they realize that all they have to do is rub one elder the wrong way, over anything, and they could be the next ones booted out over some trumped up nonscriptural reason.
After all the years of the Witchtower blasting the Catholic Church over this very issue, you would have thought they would have cleaned their own backyard first, but alas, they did not. Now, the issue has come home to roost. They would have done better admitting there was a problem and instituting immediate changes for the better of all the members. Then, us 'postates would have had otihng to complain about, would we? But, in typical Wishy/washtower fashion, they attempted a cover up. Now, they will receive their just reward. And, not a minute too soon.
accuracy, from what I am hearing on the local news you are right. There is no mass exodus, but there is something to consider here. From local reports it appears the Catholic Church is hurting tremendously from the major drop in contributions
Love that comment about it only being the media's side of the story.
How many news stories have we read in the last week or so that has the WT declining or can't be reached for comment.
Its like a horror/scary movie. At the start the "villian" is nice, trusted, ducks detection for a while, then when cornered a beastly maniac emerges climaxing with insane rampage.
I don't think this will have that much of an effect on devout JW's which is less than one percent of the U.S. population. But it may be the straw that breaks the camels back to inactive JW's. This will have a huge effect on the non-jw world, which is by far the majority.
Devon
I thought the point was to protect the children. If they are encouraging police reporting now, then Silent Lambs got what he wanted didn't he? A new reporting policy.
Joel
