If you are a former JW elder, can you share any examples of corruption which you personally witnessed that were kept secret from the congregation? Following is an account from a longtime elder named Tommy who recently disassociated.
The minor daughter of a presiding elder in a West Texas congregation committed fornication with a 19-year old baptized Witness in her father’s home. The daughter had to confess to a judicial committee which included the aforementioned Tommy. Tommy felt that while the girl seemed sufficiently repentant, she should be publicly reproved and her father should be deleted as an elder; however, the other two committee members overruled him, insisting that the reproof be private and that her father be allowed to maintain his position in the congregation.
Since the girl was 16–thus a minor–and the young man was 19, Tommy insisted that the matter be reported to the local police. The Branch was consulted and directed the elders to report the matter to the police. The father refused to press charges, thus the police took no action toward the young man, who, incidentally lived in the home of his father who was an elder in another city.
Tommy and the other committee members were told that the young man would face a judicial committee in his own congregation. However, the incident was never reported to the elders in the other congregation, nor was the young man’s father informed of the incident.
This story was related to me by a family member of the young girl and her father. He also happened to be a friend of the young man’s father and of Tommy, the elder who sat on the judicial committee.
One can only assume that the young man–who went on to marry the young girl–was advised by the girl’s father to keep his mouth shut, thereby allowing the father to maintain his position of power in the congregation and protecting the reputation of his family.
It was several years later that the young man’s father–who had subsequently been deleted as an elder and who had faded–was informed of these details. He consulted a couple of elders with whom he had served, and they confirmed that they were never apprised of the situation. He then talked with his son, who is serving abroad where the need is greater but who is having his own serious doubts. His son admitted to his father that the entire story is true.