Another Shocking clip From JW Australia Royal investigation Elder would not report MURDER
by Watchtower-Free 24 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
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Watchtower-Free
This is Dino
*** w12 2/1 pp. 10-12 The Bible Changes Lives ***
“I Love Being Part of This Large Family.”—DINO ALI
YEAR BORN: 1949
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: AUSTRALIA
HISTORY: TOBACCO FARMER
MY PAST: My parents emigrated from Albania in 1939 and settled in Mareeba, a small town in Queensland, Australia. Many Bosnians, Greeks, Italians, and Serbians, among others, also settled in this area, bringing with them their values, customs, and cultures. Mareeba was a tobacco-farming area, and my parents began growing that crop.
Soon, my older sister was born, followed by my two older brothers and me. Sadly, Dad died of a heart attack when I was a year old. Mum remarried and had four more sons. We all grew up on my stepfather’s tobacco farm.
I left home in my teens. When I was in my early 20’s, I married my wife, Saime, in the local mosque, since we were both Muslims. All of my uncles, aunts, and cousins followed the Islamic faith. I read the Koran and a book about the prophet Muhammad’s history. At the same time, I also read a small Bible. The Koran speaks of the prophets mentioned in the Bible, and reading the Bible helped me to understand when they lived.
Jehovah’s Witnesses called at my house and regularly left magazines and books, which both Saime and I enjoyed reading. I remember having many stimulating debates with the Witnesses on various religious subjects. On each occasion, they answered my questions from the Bible, rather than giving their personal opinion. That made a real impression on me.
The Witnesses offered to study the Bible with me and invited me to their meetings, but I always refused. My immediate priority was to own my own farm and to have a large family. I never did own a farm, but I eventually did become the proud father of five children.
HOW THE BIBLE CHANGED MY LIFE: Nine years after my first contact with Jehovah’s Witnesses, I had still not changed my religious beliefs. However, I enjoyed receiving and reading all the publications that they produced. Every Sunday, Saime and I took time to read this literature. We kept all the magazines that we had received over the years. They proved to be a very helpful resource when others began to test the faith that was growing in my heart.
For example, I met an evangelical preacher who tried to pressure me to accept Jesus as my Savior. He had succeeded in convincing Saime’s brother and one of my half brothers to follow him. Soon, acquaintances from all sorts of religious backgrounds began trying to convince me to join their religious groups. Some gave me literature that attacked Jehovah’s Witnesses. I asked these critics to show me from the Bible the reasons for the doctrines that they taught, but they could not answer my questions.
All this opposition only made me dig deeper into the Bible and do more research, using the literature I had collected from the Witnesses. Finally, I realized that the time had come for me to act on what I was learning.
I didn’t have a personal Bible study with one of the Witnesses; I just began attending their meetings. At first, I was very nervous and shy, but I met many friendly people at those meetings, and I enjoyed what I learned. I made up my mind that I would become one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and in 1981, I symbolized my dedication to God by being baptized.
My wife did not oppose my decision, although she sometimes questioned whether I was being deceived. Still, she attended my baptism. I continued to share with her the many truths that I was learning. About a year after my baptism, as we were driving home from vacation, Saime expressed her desire to become a Witness. I was so surprised that I almost drove off the road! She was baptized in 1982.
Making the needed changes in our lifestyle was not easy. I had stopped growing tobacco because doing so conflicts with Bible principles. (2 Corinthians 7:1; James 2:8) It took some time before we found acceptable employment that provided a steady income. Also, for many years after that, some of our relatives refused to visit us. We tried to treat them according to Bible principles by showing them love. Eventually, the barriers came down, and now our close relatives no longer shun us.
HOW I HAVE BENEFITED: Going through various tests, whether overcoming my shyness, coping with financial anxieties, or dealing with family opposition, has taught me how patient Jehovah God is in helping me deal with my problems. For example, I now serve as a congregation elder and must often teach from the platform. This is still a challenge for me because I battle with stammering as a result of nervousness. But by means of constant prayer and with Jehovah’s help, I am able to care for this privilege.
My wife and I have grown closer, and the bond we now enjoy is beyond value. We made mistakes when raising our children but tried our best to inculcate in them the Bible truths that we learned. (Deuteronomy 6:6-9) In fact, my oldest son and his wife are serving as missionaries.
I remember one occasion shortly after we began attending the meetings of the Witnesses as a family. I parked the car and looked inside the hall at the crowd gathering there. I asked my family, “What do you see?” Inside were people of different cultures, backgrounds, and tongues—Aboriginals, Albanians, Australians, Croatians—yet they were happily mingling together. I love being part of this large family of spiritual brothers and sisters, which exists not only in Australia but all over the world.—1 Peter 5:9.
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sparrowdown
So it's up to the individual to decide whether or not to report a crime like murder to the police, and the elders would not do so. But if that same person were to....oh I don't know let's just say....unrepentantly smokes cigarettes, they would get expelled from the congregation.
Wow, that could only make sense dub world.
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zebulon
All of the elders that I have watched are morons! Everyone of them should be held responsible for all the pain and suffering, they have added, to the children that were abused! -
sparrowdown
Apparently, the best argument against elders being in any way "qualified" to handle anything is to spend five minutes talking to one. -
Village Idiot
I'm surprised, almost shocked, by the level of honesty with which he's responding. Another elder would probably have lied through his teeth about reporting crimes to the authorities. -
sparrowdown
If you are proud of your beliefs, why lie?
They are "spirit directed" after all.
Oh yes God and Jesus would be high fiving each other in heaven saying "atta boy"
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cognac
Wtf??? Is he a complete idiot??? -
gda
doesn't he have to follow the laws of the land and report it? Is he considered a part of the crime if he doesn't? -
Crazyguy
So are they saying these types of thing because of clergy privilege like the Catholic Church does with confessions?
