to Island Woman;
Here is a quote;
"Many xJWs began to see that something was wrong years before they finally left. Yet they continued to participate in the JW religion, hoping that changes would come. You make some of the GB sound like reasonable men, and that is not easy to do."
What you say is very true, as I know from my own case. I discovered that sexual abuse of children was happening in the JW congregation I attended. The mother of the child could not reveal to me who had molested her daughter because she had been threatened with disfellowshipping. she had also been prevented from going to the police. This troubled me greatly. Ii didn't know what to do about it... I had no one to expose as a molester, no knowledge of who the heck it was. Then a new family moved to our territory. They were "spiritually weak" and I was discouraged from spending time with them. But they were near neighbors and I thought perhaps I could be encouraging to them. It turned out they were "spiritually weak" because they were angry at the way their daughters molestation by a regular pioneer was handled. They had been put through the same trial as the other mom I knew!
Was I horrified? YES! Did I have one iota of proof? no. Later, I heard even more cases of this.. I was heartsick. I knew in my heart that the JW religion was not the spiritual paradise it claimed to be... but I had not one name of an abuser. Still, I was a JW for over a year from that point. But... did I participate in the religion from that point on? Did I attend meetings? Go door to door? Witness informally? No. I backed away as much as I could (married to a JW at the time) and thought through the repercussions of leaving. I was so brainwashed that i equated leaving with dying, pathetic, huh?
Well, even though I left knowing the rank and file were totally decieved about their wonderous org. I had no concrete proof, so I exposed nothing and no one. BJC's point is that Ray Franz was in a position to do a great deal more good than he chose to do. I like Ray Franz, i appreciate all he did and know he did the best he could at the time... it is hard to escape the wt! But BJC is right, Bill Bowen and COJ did more and stood up bravely to help others sooner facing tremendous consequences. They deserve our respect and support. If I was Ray Franz, I would have some regrets about not standing up sooner, not helping the decieved masses of jws while I had the most power to do so. If I was Bill Bowen or COJ, I would not have those regrets. I hope it is obvious that I respect and admire all 3 of these fine gentlemen.
The increased responsibility to speak up goes to those with knowledge and proof, position and authority. Most of us had none of the above.
Peace,
Witch
