Posts by Trauma

Ah ok, well don't know that, I hope the other city's post they're press releases. I do know one is being held in LA, e-mail Bill Bowen, he would know.

11

Seattle - Silentlambs Press Release

by Trauma_Hound in

jw
friends

my fax modem is currently working it's butt off right now, faxing a huge list of media contacts.

i also e-mailed a huge list of media contacs earlier today in the seattle area:

for immediat release september 3rd, 2002. .

Trauma_Hound

They're usually listed in the phone book Chevy. :)

11

Seattle - Silentlambs Press Release

by Trauma_Hound in

jw
friends

my fax modem is currently working it's butt off right now, faxing a huge list of media contacts.

i also e-mailed a huge list of media contacs earlier today in the seattle area:

for immediat release september 3rd, 2002. .

Trauma_Hound

My fax modem is currently working it's butt off right now, faxing a huge list of media contacts. I also e-mailed a huge list of media contacs earlier today in the seattle area:

FOR IMMEDIAT RELEASE SEPTEMBER 3 rd , 2002

silentlambs, inc.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE

Sex Abuse Victims and Advocates to Deliver Stuffed Animal to Local

Churches across America

Announce Nationwide First Ever March for Jehovah's Witness Child Rape

Victims

New Support Group Seeks Investigation of Church Hierarchy

WHAT:

Thursday September 5th at ten major cities across America at local

Kingdom Halls of Jehovah's Witnesses, a representatives for silentlambs

will deliver a stuffed lamb as a symbol of innocence lost, also adults

molested as kids by Jehovah's Witnesses and advocates will deliver a

formal request from the silentlambs organization for a church hearing to

investigate possible criminal cover-ups by the denomination's leadership

for Jehovah's Witnesses the Governing Body. We will hold a news

conference and announce a national march for molestation victims at

Jehovah's Witnesses home office in Brooklyn, scheduled on September

27th.

WHEN:

Thursday, September 5, 10:30 a.m.

WHO:

Representatives for "silentlambs", a recently established support group

for Jehovah's Witness abuse victims. Two abuse survivors and child advocates from the

Seattle area will attend, possibly more.

WHERE:

E-mail me for where...

DIRECTIONS:

E-Mail me for directions...

DETAILS:

This is the first public event ever for child rape victims of Jehovah's

Witnesses. According to William H. Bowen founder of silentlambs, "We

allege that Watchtower has established a child abuse policy that has

ignored abuse survivors, protected child molesters and disfellowshipped

those who have tried to support them. This will be a public statement

that leadership for Jehovah 's Witnesses (Governing Body) must stop

hurting children." Silentlambs is formerly requesting the church to

establish a tribunal to prosecute the governing body for their crimes

against children.

Local Contact: Charles L. Eakins: Both Home & Cell 206-706-0797

www.silentlambs.org, William H. Bowen: 270-527-5350, cell 270-559-5345

silentlambs, inc.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE

Silentlambs, inc is a 501,C, 3 non-profit corporation, helping Jehovahs Witness abuse victims find help.

Edited by - Trauma_Hound on 3 September 2002 21:6:12

1

More from Brother and Dad

by Trauma_Hound in

jw
friends

don't expect you to have the power to change them.

and wait on jehovah.

to take a sit back and wait on jehovah approach since i feel.

Trauma_Hound

I'll reply under select comments of yours. My comments will be proceeded
by - and end with ** :

-----Original Message-----
From: ********

Sent: *******
To: *********
Subject: RE: A reminder!

Once again you are missing the point C****.

-I'm not missing any points. I just don't agree with yours. **

That wolves could and would
enter into the Christian Congregation was prophesied by Christ. The
organization is not immune to this, and, change in the organization
comes
from "on high" not from below.
History has shown that the Governing Body
does not respond to pressure from below, or even a minority opinion on
the
Body itself.

-Since when did someone's not changing due to pressure free a Christian
from publicly denouncing falsities committed in Jehovah's name? Did the
prophets say, "oh the bad king will never change so I won't prophesy
against him anymore", or did the society themselves say, "oh well false
religion and Christendom will never change so we won't bother lambasting
them in the Watchtower anymore."? **

The responsibility for how one would act belongs on the head of
the person involved. I do not take any responsibility for teachings or
"rules" set forth by the Society because I have no power to change them.

-The point YOU are missing is that I personally (can't talk for charley)
don't expect you to have the power to change them. This whole thread
started because G*** and S**** sent an email reminding me to sit back
and wait on Jehovah. You got involved for some unknown reason and
decided to take my reply to them personally. My reply was to them and
it was only to establish the fact that I personally do not feel the need
to take a sit back and wait on Jehovah approach since I feel
responsibility to speak out against injustices if they are occurring in
Jehovah's name. That DOES not mean I EXPECT YOU to feel the same way.
IT DOES mean that I expect you to respect MY position. Now I personally
may not have power to do much either... right now. As you state, I do
not know these individuals personally. I also do not know they other
people involved in this "silent lambs" organization, nor the type of
people they are. Thus, I keep my distance until I have satisfied myself
as to the type of people they really are. That strong evidence exists
that something terrible has been happening is obvious to anyone who
examines the evidence. However, just because the society may be doing
something very wrong doesn't immediately make the other side as innocent
as doves. My stand is not to get actively involved in any "side" or
"group", it is to speak out against any injustice that is REAL and
EVIDENT when it is necessary or appropriate for me to do so. That is I
stand ready to add my voice instead of sitting back and expecting
Jehovah to do everything. Remember, the Israelite men were warriors
ready to go into battle for Jehovah. Many of them died doing so. They
did not say, "I will not go into battle for Jehovah because he will
handle it." They were ready and willing to be his tools, and so am I.
True christians offer themselves freely as instruments of god to not
only Preach his word but to speak out against those who defame his name.
Were we not all taught to speak out boldly against false religion? Does
not that same principle apply when the society does something wrong? Or
is there somehow a double standard? The responsibility to speak out, or
be ready to belongs to anyone seeing or aware of wrong doing. Where in
the bible does it state that responsibility belongs only to those
involved? **

That these ones don't have the strength of will to do the
right thing is truly sad, because that is what we are taught from the
Bible,
that we need to build a strong character.

-It may be what we are taught in the bible but it is not what we are
taught from the society. We are taught to be meek and humble and accept
anything that the society does as coming from God above. We both know
that the elder manual clearly states that anyone who disagrees with
"truth" as presented by the watchtower can be disfellowshiped. This is
the atmosphere in which we have been brought up. We are constantly
taught not to question the teachings or actions of the governing body
and just "wait on Jehovah". However, as you stated we all have our own
PERSONAL relationship with Jehovah and thus a responsibility falls on
each of us PERSONALLY to deal with in the manner that our own conscience
would have us act. So, I agree that no one should tell YOU how to
respond, so please don't try to tell ME how I should respond. **

The responsibility then falls on each of us to build
individual relationships with Jehovah and Christ.

-I completely agree.

Those on the Governing Body have enough scriptural learning to be
responsible for their own actions. If they are doing wrong, and it is
publicly exposed, then time will tell where their hearts are. Will my
standing up and condemning them with out the full facts in the case
endear
me to Jehovah, even if, by luck, I turn out to be right?

-I agree that if you don't have the full facts you should be hesitant
and cautious. However, what if you did have the full facts? What would
you do then? What if the full facts were available to you? Remember
that scripturally there must be at LEAST two witnesses against a person
to make a case against them before the congregation. Well, what if
there were literally thousands of witnesses? Are all of these people
liars and simply making it all up? Was this some grand conspiracy
plotted out and organized just to slander the JW's? before you come to
a conclusion, try doing some research. How would you feel about
speaking out when you DID have the full facts and they showed a major
injustice occurring in Jehovah's name? I do not ask you this because I
EXPECT you to do anything. I ask it just to get you to at least ask
yourself questions that may have an impact on your point of view.
Ultimately what anyone does is their own choice based on their own
conscience. My conscience tells me to be very disturbed by the
allegations, the testimony, and the evidence, and to be ready to speak
out against any REAL and EVIDENTLY DEMONSTRATED wrong doing in Jehovah's
name. **

My understanding
tells me that he would want me to do things with true knowledge of the
facts, and not public opinion and accusation. Remember that a large
crowd of
people condemned Jesus before Pilot, yet he was innocent of the charges
that
were brought against him, should I condemn him because of this crowd? I
don't think so. Should I condemn the Society because of the accusations
of
another crowd, I don't think so either. By their own acts will they be
condemned or exonerated.

-The problem with your example is that the crowd when questioned
couldn't really substantiate or bring forth and real credible charges.
That is why Pilot didn't really want to do anything to Jesus and only
did so because of the crowd pressure. This is a completely different
case where witness testimony is very specific and there is even a
substantial amount of police evidence as well as a database which to my
knowledge is being subpoenaed. **

What these men do or don't do does not affect my relationship with
my God and his Son, nor should it with you!

-when did I ever say that it would? I am taking my stand for what is
right on God's side not man's. **

As to a policy change, that is the "Governing Body's" problem and
responsibility.

-No, I disagree, it is the problem of everyone who cares about the
safety of young children, and the sanctity of god's name.**

And once again, should they be found to be wicked, should I abandon my
brothers and sisters who I have confidence are righteous men and women,
honest hearted ones?

-who ever asked you to do this? Are you just thinking out loud or
responding to something Charlie wrote? **

38

TRICKY SITUATION

by bay64me in

jw
friends

i got new neighbours a couple of months ago.

to get straight to the point, i'm sure the husband is knocking his wife about.

i can hear him shouting and screaming and loud thuds and bangs, sometimes late at night and even last week he was so loud that he actually woke me up at 7.30 in the morning with his behaviour.. i really feel intimidated by him.

Trauma_Hound

Being that I was abused by my ex-wife, yes guys it happens, women do hit also, I never once laid a hand on her however, but I did call the police, and she was arrested, in my state it's automatic on a DV call, at least one person goes to jail. And from a guys perspective, it was a real blessing to have a witness, even though I was the one that called, the cops automatically assumed I was the one doing the battering. Thank god for my neighbors. My suggestion is to call the police, ask questions later. It's they're job.

Edited by - Trauma_Hound on 3 September 2002 4:54:58

18

How will you commemorate the anniversary of 9/11?

by Kenneson in

jw
friends

1. attend a prayer service.

2. stay at home and watch the t.v.

specials.

Trauma_Hound

Can you believe the Unemployement office is making me come in on Sept 11th to show them the proof I've been looking for work. ;P

30

Great response by my brother to my JW Family

by Trauma_Hound in

jw
friends

he does take care of matters in his due time.. (1 samuel 2:12-17) now the sons of e'li were.

attendant of the priest came and said to the man.

be an old man in your house.

Trauma_Hound

Has anyone else had this intense a discussion with they're family like this? I really hope that Bill can make a difference!

30

Great response by my brother to my JW Family

by Trauma_Hound in

jw
friends

he does take care of matters in his due time.. (1 samuel 2:12-17) now the sons of e'li were.

attendant of the priest came and said to the man.

be an old man in your house.

Trauma_Hound

Reply by my brother:

The only one who is "wasting" time is yourself. If you weren't willing
or able to debate or talk about the topic you shouldn't have given your
opinion and just kept quiet. Either talk about it or ignore it.

Your point about how you would go to the police first is missing one big
detail. Some or many of these witnesses were strongly encouraged NOT to
go to the police and were disfellowshiped for doing so when they did. At
first I thought that was a bunch of malarky but the evidence is pretty
overwhelming. There is a policy in place that makes any witness who is
abused feel scared about going to the police. There is a fear of
loosing all of their friends in the organization, their entire social
structure. Maybe you being such a stuborn butthead sometimes (not
unlike myself... Apple doesn't fall too far from the tree) could easily
ignore the elders council not to go to the police, but many other people
out there are not as strong willed as you are and would succumb to the
societal pressure and such abuse might continue. There needs to be a
policy change that would allow someone to report to the police without
being ostracized by the entire congregation.

As for Charlie, I do think he is acting a bit emotionally and
exessively... Especially since he is not and never was a baptized
witness. So, I don't understand why HE is taking it so personally
unless he was abused and hasn't told anyone about it. I take it
personally because I feel this whole thing is slandering Jehovah's name
and they need to do something to fix it instead of hiding from it like
cowards. Stand up like men and admit you were wrong in your policies
and change them and make people feel comfortable about reporting such
things to the authorities. Additionally, it has been confirmed that
they have a database of known accused sex offenders. Many of them have
been accused only by one person but multiple times by different people.
There needs to be better communication with brothers and elders in the
Kingdom Halls especially when someone has been accused several times.
They should also be making such information known to the police if
someone has been accused several times. Additionally, victims should
not be threatened with disfellowshiping if they report it to the police
even if they don't have another witness. It may be that the police have
another record on the man. How could they possibly connect the multiple
reports unless they are reported?

As for what I would expect you to do... I have no expectations except
that neither you nor anyone else TELL ME to sit back and let Jehovah
deal with it. That has never been the way things were done in God's
organization. Throughout the scriptures we see nothing but vocality in
God's servants. Remember that even Abraham questioned God about whether
he would destroy Sodom and Gamorrah if he found even 5 righteous people
in it? Did God become offended at the questioning? Why then should
God's organization become offended and disfellowship people who question
it's actions out of genuine concern for the safety of children? Are
they somehow greater than God himself?

As for what I will do, there is not much that I can do except to be
vocal about true and right principals and hopefully motivate others to
not take a sit back approach. If everyone were at least vocal about it,
the pressure would be on and hopefully the policies would change. I
wouldn't be surprised if unknown to us certain policies aren't already
changing. If they do then I'll be happy. At the same time however,
they need to apologize and say they were wrong. Otherwise, the slander
is still on Jehovah.

30

Great response by my brother to my JW Family

by Trauma_Hound in

jw
friends

he does take care of matters in his due time.. (1 samuel 2:12-17) now the sons of e'li were.

attendant of the priest came and said to the man.

be an old man in your house.

Trauma_Hound

Yes that was my father saying that, and yes he's a witness, or at least like to think he is, I don't really think he goes to meetings. And he's read COC.

Trauma_Hound

Posts by Trauma_Hound

PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE

Churches across America

New Support Group Seeks Investigation of Church Hierarchy

Local Contact: Charles L. Eakins: Both Home & Cell 206-706-0797