an open letter from stakeholders, survivors, and their advocates.
1 october 2023. to the new zealand abuse in care royal commission of inquiry and the new zealand attorney-general, the honourable david parker:.
firstly, thank you for the time and effort the royal commission has expended in its impartial investigation and examination into historical abuse and neglect in state care, and in the care of faith-based institutions in new zealand.. secondly, thank you for your understanding, acknowledgement, and your response to the harm abuse and neglect causes to individuals, families, and communities; and your efforts to ensure lessons are learned for the future.. we were disappointed that the jehovah’s witnesses are seeking a judicial review and high court declaration in relation to being the subject of any review by the abuse in care commission of inquiry.
This is significant…
…the Org is spending time and money trying to get a government-appointed agency to reverse investigative findings made seven years ago.
When they’d get publicly embarrassed back in the day, their typical MO was to just clam up and wait for it all to blow over and fade into the past.
Asking “WTF’s changed?” would not be unreasonable.
here is an apostate elder's honest testimony.. https://youtu.be/epmbbou4nve?si=lzhgmnbyyryurayx.
Pointing out how wrong everybody else is whilst refusing to even acknowledge how wrong you might be (and threatening action if and when anyone else does it) is fundamentally dishonest and under-handed.
The moment you use unethical methods in your efforts to claim the moral high ground, you forfeit the moral high ground.
No matter who you are.
i see this phrase a lot: "the indication of a cult is what happens when you leave.
" i'm not sure where that originated, but it is a faulty categorization.
"cult" is almost always used in a derogatory way.
Waco, the Hare Krishnas, and Heaven’s Gate have pretty much defined what a “cult” looks like in the public eye. Polite, well-dressed door-knockers get an easy pass.
Up till now, anyway.
I prefer the term “authoritarian high-control group”.
It’s a bit wordy, but IMO, break it down into its component parts and I think even the most die-hard JW loyalist would have trouble refuting the label.
I could be wrong.
this video starts slow, but is worth the watch.
.
https://www.youtube.com/live/oo6tyxodkvk?si=oduof8kkvjypkoyh.
I’ve said this before, but…
…reading XJW material on the Net doesn’t turn you “apostate”.
It just helps you realize you already are one.
this video starts slow, but is worth the watch.
.
https://www.youtube.com/live/oo6tyxodkvk?si=oduof8kkvjypkoyh.
Re. EasyPrompt’s post…
Distill it down, and - basically - thinking the Governing Body is wrong about something constitutes “apostasy”.
Which is insane.
Anyone remember Letto the Clown’s little nugget?
”…That little baby is an enemy of God…”
By the aforementioned logic, a rank-and-file JW just privately disagreeing with that statement (let alone calling it out as the weirdest, most batshit thing ever said), makes them - in the WT’s eyes - worse than a rapist, child molester, or serial killer.
this video starts slow, but is worth the watch.
.
https://www.youtube.com/live/oo6tyxodkvk?si=oduof8kkvjypkoyh.
Hmm. Okay.
this video starts slow, but is worth the watch.
.
https://www.youtube.com/live/oo6tyxodkvk?si=oduof8kkvjypkoyh.
Drearyweather - “…a judicial committee is formed even if a person has not shared apostate thoughts with anyone, but just has it in his mind. This is incorrect.”
Funny.
This subject has been discussed here before, and it actually sounds right.
If they become aware of “apostate” thinking, they’ll check from time to time to see if they persist, even if you don’t talk about them to anyone, and will keep “counselling” you until you change your mind.
If you don’t, they’ll initiate a JC.
Maybe you’re using an older copy of the Shepherding book.
public information department us branch office must be pulling their hair out by now.. .
opinion.
decision by jehovah’s witnesses church in springfield failed the community (editorial).
I think the (real) world is finally starting to figure out that sex offenders don’t/can’t reform…
…repentance or forgiveness notwithstanding.
A comparison I once heard of was to alcoholism…
…sober or otherwise, an alcoholic never stops being one, and the danger-slash-temptation is always there.
i remember him on this site when he was called cedars and had jw survey.. straightaway i noticed he could not accept suggestions.. the time i knew he was dangerous was when his group aawa added people to their fb group without their permission and were outed.. he refused to close the fb page (whilst celebrating 1300 members joining in a few days).
one member complained and was subsequently disfellowshipped, which could easily have been avoided.. three week's after launching, the fb page was closed down.
from that moment i knew james lloyd evans was dangerous.. when did you realise he not good?.
I gave him the benefit of the doubt back in the day… even offered to contribute op-ed work for his website.
He declined.
Guess I dodged a bullet, there.
i hear of a plenty of personal testimonies of abuse but it is harder to prove organizational complicity.
.
“That the problem is widespread, institutionalized, and endemic…”
So widespread, institutionalized, and endemic, in fact, that…
a) …the problem has spread all the way from the lowest to the highest positions in the entire WT hierarchy…
b) …the methodology in dealing with it is ingrained and standardized to the point that any deviation threatens to destabilize the entire organizational structure, and…
c) …in terms of internal discipline, they’ve had to minimize its severity just to have enough male members available to keep everything functioning (in the face of fewer and fewer “qualified brothers” being interested it “reaching out”).
Its a Perfect Storm.
