Great response by my brother to my JW Family

by Trauma_Hound 30 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Trauma_Hound

  I wonder if he will respond again to us, or not. LOL
• 

  LB

  Charles that was difficult for me to read. But I understand your dad. He is probably about my age. This is the life he has chosen. He has been deeply brainwashed by repetitive stuides and brainwashed association. It's nearly impossible for him to break out of that mindset. He will have to actually be a part of something horrible before he learns the truth about the truth.

  I suspect that is the case or was the case for many of us.

  But it looks like dad loves you guys. That's a good thing.
• 

  witchywoman

  Why are we wasting all this energy and time on things that are beyond our
  power. I have more important things in my life, that is to learn about my
  responsibilities before God and Christ.

  Your father said this? Is he a witness? How sad.

  witchywoman
• 

  JT

  waiting

  excellent example
• 

  Trauma_Hound

  Yes that was my father saying that, and yes he's a witness, or at least like to think he is, I don't really think he goes to meetings. And he's read COC.
• 

  abbagail

  That reply from your Dad is reeeallly sad, but you really gave it back to him but good! It's like he just is not SEEING the point. You wrote that he knows your sister has been molested? Then I would think he's got a guilt trip going and can't face up to it. (Guilt in the sense that he could not protect his daughter, even if there was nothing he could have done, they still feel that guilt and never want to really see it or acknowledge/validate that it IS A BIG DEAL. -- At least that's how my Dad acts.)

  Also, I'm surprised your Dad talks just like a die-hard JW, yet you say he barely makes meetings and has read COC. Very interesting. I don't quite know what to make of that...

  Glad to see you got a speaker for Seattle. Pressure's off!

  Grits
• 

  Marilyn

  I "woke up" in 1979! Yet I have had difficulty believing the stuff about sexual abuse in the Org. - until very recently. Actually I have a book written by a Witness (here in Australia) which I read a couple of years ago before this problem came to light on the net. She wrote about her sexual abuse by her father, an elder. I read the book (written around 1990) and skipped the stuff about her abuse - well i skimmed over it, because i couldn't quite get it thru my head that it could happen in the Org. The rest of the book was very amusing - about her childhood in a large Witness family - and that's what I could identify with.

  My point is that it's sometimes really difficult to get ones mind around certain situations that are foreign to everything you've ever understood. The dubs have taken so much from me and I hate EVERYTHING they stand for. I don't have one nice thing to say about them, but I couldn't quite grip the idea that sexual abuse was happening in the Org. When I finally stopped ignoring the posts about it and started to take it in, I could totally understand the part the elders have played in turning it into an even bigger problem. How very them. Egotisical and ignorant to the last.

  I hope my comment helps you to see how difficult this would be for someone who thinks their religion is inspired of God. The rest of what your dad says is the usual chanting in the face of adversity.

  Marilyn
• 

  Trauma_Hound

  Reply by my brother:

  The only one who is "wasting" time is yourself. If you weren't willing
  or able to debate or talk about the topic you shouldn't have given your
  opinion and just kept quiet. Either talk about it or ignore it.

  Your point about how you would go to the police first is missing one big
  detail. Some or many of these witnesses were strongly encouraged NOT to
  go to the police and were disfellowshiped for doing so when they did. At
  first I thought that was a bunch of malarky but the evidence is pretty
  overwhelming. There is a policy in place that makes any witness who is
  abused feel scared about going to the police. There is a fear of
  loosing all of their friends in the organization, their entire social
  structure. Maybe you being such a stuborn butthead sometimes (not
  unlike myself... Apple doesn't fall too far from the tree) could easily
  ignore the elders council not to go to the police, but many other people
  out there are not as strong willed as you are and would succumb to the
  societal pressure and such abuse might continue. There needs to be a
  policy change that would allow someone to report to the police without
  being ostracized by the entire congregation.

  As for Charlie, I do think he is acting a bit emotionally and
  exessively... Especially since he is not and never was a baptized
  witness. So, I don't understand why HE is taking it so personally
  unless he was abused and hasn't told anyone about it. I take it
  personally because I feel this whole thing is slandering Jehovah's name
  and they need to do something to fix it instead of hiding from it like
  cowards. Stand up like men and admit you were wrong in your policies
  and change them and make people feel comfortable about reporting such
  things to the authorities. Additionally, it has been confirmed that
  they have a database of known accused sex offenders. Many of them have
  been accused only by one person but multiple times by different people.
  There needs to be better communication with brothers and elders in the
  Kingdom Halls especially when someone has been accused several times.
  They should also be making such information known to the police if
  someone has been accused several times. Additionally, victims should
  not be threatened with disfellowshiping if they report it to the police
  even if they don't have another witness. It may be that the police have
  another record on the man. How could they possibly connect the multiple
  reports unless they are reported?

  As for what I would expect you to do... I have no expectations except
  that neither you nor anyone else TELL ME to sit back and let Jehovah
  deal with it. That has never been the way things were done in God's
  organization. Throughout the scriptures we see nothing but vocality in
  God's servants. Remember that even Abraham questioned God about whether
  he would destroy Sodom and Gamorrah if he found even 5 righteous people
  in it? Did God become offended at the questioning? Why then should
  God's organization become offended and disfellowship people who question
  it's actions out of genuine concern for the safety of children? Are
  they somehow greater than God himself?

  As for what I will do, there is not much that I can do except to be
  vocal about true and right principals and hopefully motivate others to
  not take a sit back approach. If everyone were at least vocal about it,
  the pressure would be on and hopefully the policies would change. I
  wouldn't be surprised if unknown to us certain policies aren't already
  changing. If they do then I'll be happy. At the same time however,
  they need to apologize and say they were wrong. Otherwise, the slander
  is still on Jehovah.
• 

  Trauma_Hound

  Has anyone else had this intense a discussion with they're family like this? I really hope that Bill can make a difference!
• 

  abbagail

  Those last two paragraphs by your brother, TH, were fantastic. Who can refute such scriptural reasoning?

  Did you see this article about Barbara Anderson yet? It, too, is unbelievable, with telltale things I had not heard yet, about the GB, etc. What an attitude they have! Despicable! The article is posted here, and maybe your Dad/brother would like to see it too. http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=35937&page=1&site=3#483419

  Grits