Posts by freemindfade

34

FMF Rant on Abuse and JW Apologists: The Single Root of the Whole Issue(s)

by freemindfade in

for the jw apologists, they debate certain factors to down play all the recent sex abuse information in the jehovah's witness organization.

and there is so much focus on "two witness rule" and "parents can report" the "elders aren't legal authorities" and many other smoke screen issues.

a lot of these issues and discussion are down stream from what i believe to be the root of the issue.

FMF Rant on Abuse and JW Apologists: The Single Root of the Whole Issue(s)

by freemindfade in

for the jw apologists, they debate certain factors to down play all the recent sex abuse information in the jehovah's witness organization.

and there is so much focus on "two witness rule" and "parents can report" the "elders aren't legal authorities" and many other smoke screen issues.

a lot of these issues and discussion are down stream from what i believe to be the root of the issue.

freemindfade

@cappytan

Before al gore invented the Internet (El oh el) it worked! This was hidden well.

But now they are exposed by the information age. And it's too late.

I may send a softer version of this post to my wife. Im sick of the in apologists brushing it off as nothing. Number don't lie. Number say jw's have a problem.

34

FMF Rant on Abuse and JW Apologists: The Single Root of the Whole Issue(s)

by freemindfade in

for the jw apologists, they debate certain factors to down play all the recent sex abuse information in the jehovah's witness organization.

and there is so much focus on "two witness rule" and "parents can report" the "elders aren't legal authorities" and many other smoke screen issues.

a lot of these issues and discussion are down stream from what i believe to be the root of the issue.

For the JW apologists, they debate certain factors to down play all the recent sex abuse information in the Jehovah's Witness organization. And there is so much focus on "two witness rule" and "parents can report" the "elders aren't legal authorities" and many other smoke screen issues. A lot of these issues and discussion are down stream from what I believe to be the root of the issue. And at the root is in fact the arrogance and self protection of the organization.

Yes many many details of how its dealt with are damning and thank Dionysus (my new god @_Morpheus and Cappy) the Aussies are picking the gory details apart one elder at a time. This commission is showing an undeniable systemic problem with the curtain pulled back and its AMAZING to watch unfold. But still I think when speaking to an in RF witness, this is my stance, without getting bogged down in the details.

A sex crime against a child is a criminal act

If religious authorities are made aware of the mere allegation, it should be brought to criminal authorities FIRST

Then the almighty elders can deal with the spiritual JC (bullshit) later.

As it is now, they are interfering with protecting others (witnesses and non-witnesses) from predators. This is what the facts of the commission show.

By making this a Judicial witness matter, they are (most of the time) making it possible to keep a predator out of jail. They may find him guilty or not guilty by their own means, but this NOTHING to do with taking a monster off the streets and out of the hall.

They say "we (elders) are not legal experts, thats why we call the legal dept at bethel and they tell us what to do"

Then why get involved at ALL! Give it to the authorities. It is a CRIME, not a sin. The fact that they don't do this shows the institutional desire to protect their own image, and to deal with it on their own. You don't have to get too engrossed in the downstream issues when it starts out wrong from the beginning.

So they say "the parents can report it." Then why aren't more abuse cases reported? I will tell you why. From my own experience in the org, and knowing of many such crimes, the abuser was one of two people the majority, if not, every time:

A parent
Very close family relative

So... you (elder) are privy to abuse, and you say "we'll i'll leave it up to the family if they want to report it."

Well their interest and motive is often in protecting their own ass, their own privacy, and their own embarrassment. Not in protecting other kids in the hall or even other kids that are not in the hall. They will generally protect the predator for their own selfish interests

The bottom line, all semantics aside, the Jehovahs Witness system in dealing with these matters has quantifiably kept people exposed to predators no matter how you slice it. It's not treated from the beginning as an actual crime. The Jehovah's Witness's policies and whole process leaves the door wide open for dangerous perverts to continue walking the streets, simple as that. For every apologist thing they say, "catholics are worse", "people just want money and to hurt the org", "elders do what they should" on and on and on so many more, the basic reality is systemically and institutionally they keep pedophiles in business.

Just based on the fact that by their own admission "ours is a spiritual protection" these mother f%$#ers should hand these things over immediately to those who will provide physical protection... FIRST AND FOREMOST. and they just don't. Period.

FMF

40

Is the two-witness rule really unreasonable?

by stillin in

i'm picturing a situation in which a savvy 12 year old doesn't like the house rules that mom's new husband has put into place.

or something along that line.

i can certainly agree that protection of children is paramount, but who protects the real victim in those cases?

freemindfade

It shouldn't matter. Because the org and elders should have the brains and humility to step aside when someone comes to them with criminal allegations.

They should contact the police and let then start working on it then deal with their fantasy spiritual JC bullshit later.

At the crux of all this is their arrogance to day elders are not legal experts but to still turn it first into a congregation matter where it has the potential to keep a molester free from jail. Dumb ass elders shouldn't even have to decide two witness matter or the like, because at thay point it should be a police investigation.

3

What I believe to be true- and how I have come to believe it.

by defender of truth in

i apologise if this story has already been posted.. it gave me hope... hope that even those who ignore their doubts and bury themselves can awaken, and become authentic people who just want to make the world a better place.

both man and wife woke up at the same time.. great thoughts on the meaning of life and humanities potential towards the end... www.medium.com/keep-learning-keep-growing/what-i-believe-to-be-true-and-how-i-have-come-to-believe-it-13df821c3ed.

freemindfade

It's amazing. I read it regularly

15

Why are none of the 'Governing Body' being summoned to any of the abuse commissions?

by GodZoo in

i'm not sure if this has been covered but i'm wondering why none of the gb are being requested at or formally summoned to any of the australian abuse commissions or other investigations that are taking place around the world?

they after all are the ones single handedly responsible for making and enforcing all the rules that are the sole cause of all these abuses and problems.. why are they just keeping their silent distance and leaving all the ill-equipped and sadly incompetent local elders exposed to take the full public blast, criticism and humiliation for all that is now being brought out in these investigations?

how are they seemingly able to sit cosy in their ivory tower immune and unaccountable?.

freemindfade

insulation

36

Going to a bad place when i die

by 060702015 in

i've thought and said too much to ever gain jehovahs forgiveness and love if i want to be a christian again.

i made a topic on my unforgivable sin and blaspemy of the holy spirit.. i feel saddness everyday having no relationship with god, no religion and fear of the afterlife.

even when i was kid i feared death and the end of the world.

freemindfade

Don't worry, all us cool people will be in hell, the hookers, rockstars and so on. It ill be the cool place to be!

Witnesses are not living as happy a life as their stepford smiles would lead you to believe, trust me. They are a ticking time bomb of nerves most of them. Take a deep breath and go enjoy the life you are fortunate enough to have and experience.

Also what _morpheus said is true. You can get to a place where you have so much peace, you just haven't found your way all the way there yet.

39

JW Reaction to Royal Commission Reports

by maksutov in

has anybody confronted any jws with the royal commission reports on the news yet?

i showed my 8-year old daughter a newspaper headline about it, and when she told my jw wife that the jws in australia were in trouble for not reporting over 1,000 child abusers to police, her response was "oh, really?

well, i don't know what the rules are over there.

freemindfade

Told my wife "JW's are harmful, google news search Jehovah's Witnesses and see whats happening in Australia". It's as if I didn't say anything at all. Like the words never existed and she never heard them.

8

This is getting more and more disgusting: "JW Abuse Victim Told to Bottle Her Tears"

by cappytan in

it took six years and three trials before a senior official in the jehovah's witness church was jailed for sexually abusing his daughter.. the only support the jehovah's witnesses gave the woman was to tell her to" put her tears in a skin bottle".. .

source: http://goo.gl/pjgy7p.

.

freemindfade

wow... when in doubt quote obscure, strange sounding, bronze age scriptures that will sound utterly culty and bizarre in a trial. This stuff is making them out to be giant assholes!

23

Uh-Oh, JW's are confused by the news reporting... Getting texts from active members

by thedepressedsoul in

you can refer to me as a still in mole.

anyway, i've been getting texts from jw's about the australia news.

the general census is that the jw's are very, very confused.

freemindfade

This thing is gonna be going on for many more days and the its getting attention and serious hits, it could make it to more and more mainstream media. Im impressed with the amount of exposure its had in two days, wonder how it will look a week from now?

And yes it is in Australia, but it is an American religion (eh hem cult), that has worldwide reach and controversy over the years. People find witnesses odd and generally wouldn't pay much attention, but the media feeds peoples hunger for scandal and bad news and atrocities (sad but true). So i am not surprised this could reach far outside Australia.