The fact that we even have to discuss this subject is telling. *sigh*
Disfellowshipped for Being Raped!
by UnDisfellowshipped 84 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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wallsofjericho
what a crock of shit!
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3rdgen
To Longhaired girl, If the rapist is a non-JW , there would be absolutely NO reason to tell the elders. However, if the purp is a JW, she is programed to tell in order to to do her part to warn others within the cong and to keep it clean. The problem is this: The way the Elders handle the situation is often deplorable! They turn the victim into a consentual participant. She is then judged and executed by the people entrusted to care for her spiritual welfare. This is a horrific abuse of power.
Additionally, by mislabeling it consentual, others are put at risk as well. In other words we can't blame the victim for being a dumbass for not knowing better than to trust the elders. WE know better but these innocent victims don't.
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King Solomon
One elder made a remark about judicial action as "judicially processing." You and me are like products that's being processed.
A judicial committee is both the judge and jury, as well as the prosecutors.
Further proof that most JWs don't understand much about principles of law: if they DID, they wouldn't be members of a convoluted religion which tells them they are "witnesses", when real witnesses don't form clubs.
Denial by women is also a strong factor. The "it can't ever happen to me. I am too virutous" helps a woman cope poorly with the risk of losing control over her body.
Yup, there's a pattern of all others remaining silent to avoid similarly being reprimanded. How many of those JW wives fit the profile of being weak, even victims of abuse themselves? If there were more strong women to stand up for others, this wouldn't be an issue; now we see why they downplay ANY attempts for the individual to stand up for themselves, let alont others, EVEN their own children. The name, 'silent lambs', is not without reason; it's more like herding livestock to the slaughter house.
Sad, it really is.... Evil, it really is..... ;(
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ninja_matty69
A lot of what people are putting in here is out of context and also in anger. If a person feels they have been assaulted then they have every right to go to the police. If the law says the person was raped then it is highly likely this would supercede any judicial review by the elders and so they would not be df. If the law says they were not raped then if the person was adament they were raped they would not be df in my experience.
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3rdgen
Ninja, How many years have you been a JW? Your experience is limited.
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Band on the Run
May I ask how using a Greek word "peroia?" changes the meaning of the translated English word. It seems that by using Greek, the Wt can be very imaginative with defining what it is. Yet there are no documents or tradition certifying that it meant in the first century. My feeling is that it was never defined and practice would vary from area to area. The scriptures are not a legal code and the WT is nowhere appointed in scripture as the exclusive agent of interpretation. When the Roman Catholic asserts that authority with the explanation that we need tradition and ecclesastical filters, the WT mocks them. Anyone can read the Bible. Yet JWs don't read the BIble. JWs read WT literature.
The main problem is not legalistic technicalites of whether one is disfellowshipped or not. A culture exists. It is no elders' right to know. God knows. Convincing JWs of this fact is the problem. It seems to me that a Witness who can refer to Bethel and note circumstances, plays the system and short of outright disobedience, the person can flourish in the Witness. Most members just accept what they are told by someone with no power to bind the Society.
Every so often something just knocks me off my feet. After decades I still feel the outrage. The two witness rule in all cases and these rape quotes have NO excuse under the sun. I do feel that if the elders were women that the rules might be even harsher.
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NewChapter
But Ninja---that is in your experience. Listen to the experience of others. In my experience, even if charges are pressed and conviction achieved, the elders still follow the 2 witness or confession rule. They don't let external factors change their policies---they are god's people and this is his org and his rules---or so they claim---they cannot accept 'worldly' ways of handling judicial issues.
I personally know people who when underage had their cases swept under the carpet. Your is experience is just that---your experience. And the fact is, you may not know about most of this, even if you know a victim. They don't generally run around telling people---they could be accused of slander and df'd.
NC
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3rdgen
Yes, NC, you're right. Sisters have not only been disfellowshipped for not following their screaming rule, I know at least 2 victims personally who were told they could NEVER speak the name of the accused to anyone or else they would be back in the comittee room with charges such as slander, walking disorderly, and causing divisions. Not surprisingly, they are now EX JWs.
Incidently, threatening a person to shut up about a crime is illegal in California. It is called Conspiracy to intimidate a witness. I hope victims will persue their legal remedys now while the climate is favorable.