by Dawn 36 Replies latest jw friends
LAST MONTH MY WIFE AND I WENT TO UTAH, TO ATTEND MY DAUGHTERS WEDDING.
AT THE SMALL TOWN AIRPORT, I SAW AN AWAKE AND A WATCHTOWER MAGAZINE IN THE SEATING AREA.
I LEFT THE SPINES INTACT BUT RIPPED THE PAGES INTO 3 FLAPS OR PICECS.
I FELT FULLY JUSTIFIED IN DOING SO AND HOPE THAT PEOPLE WILL GET MY MESSAGE.
NEST TIME THOUGH, I WILL WRITE SOME MUCH NEEDED INFORMATION ON THEIR PAGES AND THE SILENT LAMBS INTERNET ADDY.
HOW'S THAT GDT??
Outoftheorg
mkr, I'm sorry to hear this. I feel for you, I really do. I went through something very similar, only my father is still a ministerial servant. Just know you don't ever have to go through that again.
Hey GDT, from one Queenslander to another, if you feel you can stand up for the Organization's destructive child abuse management policies of years past (which they only "updated" recently, after their spin doctors couldn't help them anymore), then I feel pity for you. Also, and I stress this very greatly, unless you yourself are high up in the Organization, believe me, you don't know the half of it. You're just a peon. And peons aren't generally told what's *really* going on. Oh well. Seems some people are happy as peons.
wow, talk about taking words out of context........dawn I appreciated your words, please let me assure you there was not a question of my suggesting any untruths at all about the cases. what i was referring to was the fact that in my 50 years active in the organization there has only every been effort to help, not hinder, any child. The policy of 'two witnesses' (Bible policy, society application thereof) has caused much anguish, but what I said was 'untrue and unjust' was the broad label against the brotherhood. Surely none of you believe the society sat down and said 'what can we do to hurt kids and protect evildoers'.....though it sounds like many do.
So please don't jump to wrong conclusions without checking the 'other side' opinions, and I won't either. Dawn, you have shown 'grace' in your answer, but I still feel it is no way to get your point across that way.
And, my fellow qlder, give me a break!
gdt
Hi Geoff,
I think the point is not that the Society "sat down and said 'what can we do to hurt kids and protect evildoers,' " but that they made of point of trying to minimize damage to the organizational image, rather than thinking about what was best for the children involved.
In this respect, it is really almost exacty the same as the problem in the Catholic church. Church officials surely did not sit down and scheme evil to children. However, when it came time to deal with the problem, they clearly were more concerned with business matters than with the health and well-being of the victims.
From all accounts, I think it is impossible to deny that the same attitude prevailed in the Society when dealing with the problem of child abuse. Also, the general distrust of "worldy" authority figures such as police and psychologists - the people who best could have helped the victims - probably played into the problem.
Regardless of the minutiae, the fact is that the culture the Society created and maintained led directly to the child abuse epidemic in the organization.
SNG
Well said SNG.
umm no I think your wrong, I do think their are PLENTY of people in the Jehovah's Witness organization who did just that... sat down and thought if I molest this kid how can I do it in such a way that I won't get caught... Just like the Catholic church had the inside Track as to priest telling each other when they were about to get caught moving people around to make them hard to catch. One hand does wash the other! Yes there are good (although misguided) people in the borg-org but their are LOTS of baddies too!
In my old hall almost all the elders had some sort of pedophilia in thier past and when it came up (as it did A LOT) they absolutly hid it and whitewashed it I know four elders (including my dad, see previous post) who were so distraut over what they had allowed to go on that they all steped down two of them left the "truth" one commited suicide. Both of the ones who "stayed in" are chronic drunks and have to have counsiling...
Sometimes it is just that the elders are stupid and want two witnesses sometimes the elders are smart and call the cops but it's usually not that it's either cover up entirely and screw the victim or I'll cover yours if you cover mine and maybe later we'll scew the victim TOGETHER! trust me I've been there...
