You are asking this question of parents who are already prepared to let their child DIE if they needed a blood transfusion. (I was one of them) It is no wonder at all that a JW parent would follow the elders instructions, after all, they are representing GOD! Dubs are taught that being DFed is worse than death as death results in being in Gods memory and being DFed is complete alienation from God. This is why parents receive this threat from the elders -it works! Also many in the cong have never gone to the elders with a problem and had it go horribly wrong. They have NO IDEA the pedo won't get expelled and might even be promoted!
Why don't parents of an abused child go straight to police, why go to an elder first??
by FeelingFree 47 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
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konceptual99
It's the culture of deference that is endemic. This is why, whatever the spin on the policies presented by the WTS, the current process poses such risks for situations to be completely screwed up.
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flipper
FEELING FREE- It's a good question that you ask. Many JW parents have been admonished by the elders to keep these child abuse offenses and crimes quiet and hidden in the wrong view that it will " protect Jehovah's name " . What the elders REALLY mean is it will protect " the WT Society's name ". Ask yourself : Would a loving God who requires justice to be done for children and fatherless boys want parents of a molested child to NOT go to the police ? I think you know the answer is : no. So that only leaves the burden of guilt and responsibility on the WT leaders, the GB in what they counsel elders to do - instead of going to police elders call Bethel legal first to see how it will affect the WT Society's situation and the WT Society leaders TELL elders what to do.
And unfortunately many JW's are followers who do not think for themselves and they are led to the slaughter sacrificing their molested children to the JW elders for interrogation- instead of leaving child abuse in the laws of the land with police who are TRAINED to deal with such crimes. It's disgusting how manipulated even parents of children can be by the WT Society to put their own abused children through even MORE abuse. It's high time for parents to WAKE THE HELL UP ! Or they should lose their parent card altogether . WT Society is mainly concerned about WT Society's reputation and lawsuit financial payouts for child abuse cases - not concerned about molested children's welfare at all. My 2 cents
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3rdgen
Listen, OBEY, and be blessed. Over and over and over, you are getting sleepy , you are getting sleepy, don't call the police or you and your children will DIE, don't call the police or you and your children will DIE. Mind control, Mind control, Mind control.
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FeelingFree
The level of mind control they use, its a wonder anyone manages to break free from it! I never realised how bad it was until I left as I have always been exposed to a lot of negativity regarding the org by other family members, I could see what they were saying but still thought I wanted to part of it all. I was much more of a free thinker than most and it never went down very well lol.
Im finding all these abuse cases and cover ups very upsetting. Everytime I start to question my decision I just need to think about this subject and know that I cannot be part of something so disgusting.
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cognac
Thats happened where I lived. A JW molested a bunch of kids and the wife of the child molester found out and went straight to the police first. I've always been surprised when other adults didn't.
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Vidiot
The subject came up once when I was about 10, talking with my Dad.
He was of the opinion (at the time) that the police shouldn't be alerted at all, and that it absolutely needed be kept in-house no matter what "so as not to bring reproach, yadda yadda yadda..."
To which I immediately replied, "but if we hide it, and it comes out later, that would bring even worse reproach on God's Org..."
My mom quite vocally agreed with me (she was a teacher), but I never forgot the deer-in-the-headlights expression on my Dad's face; that possibility had never even occurred to him.
I'll say this about him; he was a humble man (my cousin once called him a Christian first, and a JW second), and once he saw the logic, changed his opinion on the matter.
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FeelingFree
Cognac - if only more people withing the org were like her!
Vidiot - You were a very wise 10 year old :) glad your dad changed his mind.
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MissFit
Feeling free:
Good question. You must also remember that many abusers are family members or close friends.
Sometimes the families have their own agenda and own reputation to uphold.
Many times sexual abuse is treated like a sin instead of a crime.
Feeling Free, yes you are more independant thinking than most JWs.
Btw: when I was 12 ,my 13 year old foster sister came to me to confide that our elder foster father had abused her.
Some of our concerns:
Would anyone believe us?
Would he retaliate?
What would become of us as a family?
would foster mother blame her?
I found out that night that he had been abusing
my younger sister for years.
It was several days before I could talk them into coming with me to tell someone. We had one more younger sister. I argued that the only way we could protect her was to tell someone.
Because of the 2 witness rule, even at age 12 I knew my word alone would not do.
(This was in the 70's.)
We did not think of calling the police, we went to our foster mother who went straight to the elders.
She had her own agenda. As children we were reliant on the adult's decisions.
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MissFit
Oops, Double post.