krejames said: I'm a strong believer that no matter how evil someone has been in the past, they should be given a chance of rehabilitation and forgiven if they are truly sorry, have stopped whatever evil acts they did and tried to make amends. So on that basis I do not blame the WTS for reinstating him if he was genuinely repentant. But this raises questions in my mind. I don't know all the facts of this case but what were his "works befitting repentance"? Did they include telling him to go to the police to confess his crime? Surely that should have been a minimum requirement.
Pedophiles have a very high rate of re-offense.
There is a pedophile in my parent's previous cong. My Father said to me that we must be forgiving. I looked straight at him and asked, "If you knew an elder was a pedophile, even if he had repented, would you let him look after your children?" There was a silence for a moment and then Dad looked down and quietly said "No."
I said to him "That doesn't sound like forgiveness to me."
But at least he gave me the right answer.