Posts by Anders Andersen

posted

4
1 Timothy 6:1: One of the funniest verses in the Bible that reveals its very shortsighted human authorship.
by Island Man in
1. social
2. humour
let those who are under the yoke of slavery keep on considering their owners worthy of full honor, so that the name of god and the teaching may never be spoken of injuriously - 1 timothy 6:1. .

yes, you've read correctly.

it's not the fact that the author condones slavery and never tells his readers that it's bad to own slaves - it's not that that will bring reproach on the religion, no!
Anders Andersen

@Wasanelder,
Jewish males could be freed. Females were not (if I recall correctly).
Also the female slaves could be 'married' to their owner or his son just like that (I call that rape and sex slavery).
And foreign slave (those captured during wars) were never freed.
Regardless of all that, those were Jewish customs. The letter to Timothy is from the Christian era. They had to deal with Jewish, Roman and Greek slave owners, all with their own customs regarding slavery. Some (classes of) slave were treated relatively well, others were brutally abused.

How hard could it be for God to tell Christian slave owners to free all their slaves?
How hard could it be for God to tell people it is plain wrong to buy, own and sell other people like cattle, and deny them basic human rights and freedom?
51
I was impressed by part of today's symposium entitled ' Safeguard your children from what is evil'
by UnshackleTheChains in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
well i have to give credit where credit is due.

it was the part of today's symposium - build a house that will endure.

the part i was most impressed with was 'safeguard your children from "what is evil".
Anders Andersen

I agree with all who say a talk like this was long overdue. I also applaud any improvement Watchtower makes to their policies, regardless of their motives or whether it's not nearly enough improvements.
Yet I think this talk may even worsen the problem! Yes, parents are told to be vigilant. And they're told in almost all cases the abuser is someone the child knows, which is very useful information.
But with the common distrust of non-JW and the blind trust of all JW within the 'spiritual paradise', a talk like this should mention explicitly that abusers can hide within congregations as well. But all examples focus on non-JW activities.
This silently reinforces the very much false notion that only non-JW abuse children. This may make the parents even less vigilant towards inappropriate behaviour of JW towards (their) children. And it's other JW that are closest to JW children....
51
I was impressed by part of today's symposium entitled ' Safeguard your children from what is evil'
by UnshackleTheChains in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
well i have to give credit where credit is due.

it was the part of today's symposium - build a house that will endure.

the part i was most impressed with was 'safeguard your children from "what is evil".
Anders Andersen
Yeah that talk is really too little too late.
- It focuses on parent's and children's responsibility. While educating parents and children in itself is good, they completely fail to mention what the organization does (not) do to protect children.
- The importance of children dressing modestly is mentioned. Implicit and ridiculous victim blaming. Asshats.
- It is mentioned that most child abusers are people the child knows and trusts. For JW children, that would be almost exclusively other JW! Yet the examples of 'suspect' situations make no mention of anything related to JW (such as a bro studying with someone else's child, or lone field service)
- The talk makes no mention whatsoever of the importance of alerting the police.
- The talk makes no mention of the importance of getting professional mental help for victims.
- The talk doesn't mention any of the utterly flawed and failing policies the JW have.
Imagine listening to a Catholic bishop telling his flock they should watch out for abusers (implying they'd be non-Catholic), while everyone knows that bishop just transferred an abusive priest to another parish instead of calling the police.
I'd spit on that bishop and his talk. And I spit on the Watchtower and their fucked up policies and 'it's your problem and not our fault' talk on child abuse
27
Am I selfish?
by Jules Saturn in
1. jw
2. experiences
tonight i had an argument with both my parents.

my parents are aware of my feelings towards the organization, and it saddens them because i am their first born son.

they had high expectations of me, my father dreamt of him and i serving together as elders.
Anders Andersen

What's the most important responsibility of parents?
To raise healthy children who are capable of making their own decisions and living their own life.
And good parents realize that 'making their own decisions' means just that: their children will make decisions that are different from what the parents would have done themselves.
This should be something for parents to be proud of: their child can handle himself in life.
Parents who believe the only good decisions are the ones they would make, are narrow minded and/or arrogant.
Parents who don't allow their child to make their own decisions or try to manipulate the child to alter his decision are controlling.
How does this translate to JW?
First they spend years 'teaching their child to become 'spiritually strong', listen to his conscience, love and stand for truth and righteousness, and prepare him to make a decision with big consequences: commit to God and religion.
Then when the child actually uses all those tools, but in a way the parents don't like - choose to leave JW instead of joining, refuse to spread falsehood in fs, refuse to go to meetings where people are misled - the parents are shocked and try to force the child to back into their perception of the world.
Not. Healthy.
Not. Ok.
It's the parents who are (likely unknowingly) selfish. The student has surpassed it's teachers.
18
Call for investigation into JW child abuse in the Netherlands
by Anders Andersen in
1. watchtower
2. scandals
after yesterday's newspaper articles about how jw (mis)handle child abuse cases, today the newspaper reports that both members of the national house of representatives, and the national commissioner on human trafficking and sexual violence against children are petitioning the minister / secretary of state to launch an investigation into jw and other closed religious communities.. the newspaper article (in dutch).

the newspaper also published the personal story of a victim, and how he fought for justice within jw to no avail.this story is from my home town (just few years before i move there), different congregation in the same hall..
Anders Andersen

Yeah sorry.
Basically the Commissioner states that her concern is not whether abuse within JW is more prevalent, a child abuse is everywhere (churches, sports clubs, foster care), especially in situations where there is some level of authority.
18
Call for investigation into JW child abuse in the Netherlands
by Anders Andersen in
1. watchtower
2. scandals
after yesterday's newspaper articles about how jw (mis)handle child abuse cases, today the newspaper reports that both members of the national house of representatives, and the national commissioner on human trafficking and sexual violence against children are petitioning the minister / secretary of state to launch an investigation into jw and other closed religious communities.. the newspaper article (in dutch).

the newspaper also published the personal story of a victim, and how he fought for justice within jw to no avail.this story is from my home town (just few years before i move there), different congregation in the same hall..
Anders Andersen

A (dutch) radio interview (radio 1, national public radio) with the National Commissioner on Human Trafficking and Sexual Violence against Children on the JW topic.
21
Huge article(s) in Dutch media on JW child abuse
by Anders Andersen in
1. watchtower
2. scandals
so today the well-respected and serious newspaper trouw.nl came with child abuse within the jw as their topmost frontpage article.. the articles are well researched and aim primarily at the dutch jw situation.. afaik at least on member of this forum assisted the newspaper with the articles.

.

other media are picking up as well.....
Anders Andersen
2 more articles (dutch) about a specific case in my home town:
- https://www.trouw.nl/religie-en-filosofie/-een-paradijs-voor-pedofielen-~a228c45c/
- http://www.rtvnoord.nl/nieuws/181138/Ik-werd-jarenlang-misbruikt-bij-de-Jehovah-s-Getuigen-en-ik-ben-niet-de-enige
18
Call for investigation into JW child abuse in the Netherlands
by Anders Andersen in
1. watchtower
2. scandals
after yesterday's newspaper articles about how jw (mis)handle child abuse cases, today the newspaper reports that both members of the national house of representatives, and the national commissioner on human trafficking and sexual violence against children are petitioning the minister / secretary of state to launch an investigation into jw and other closed religious communities.. the newspaper article (in dutch).

the newspaper also published the personal story of a victim, and how he fought for justice within jw to no avail.this story is from my home town (just few years before i move there), different congregation in the same hall..
Anders Andersen

NL Times has a short report in English:
http://nltimes.nl/2017/07/21/jehovahs-witnesses-paradise-pedophiles-report
18
Call for investigation into JW child abuse in the Netherlands
by Anders Andersen in
1. watchtower
2. scandals
after yesterday's newspaper articles about how jw (mis)handle child abuse cases, today the newspaper reports that both members of the national house of representatives, and the national commissioner on human trafficking and sexual violence against children are petitioning the minister / secretary of state to launch an investigation into jw and other closed religious communities.. the newspaper article (in dutch).

the newspaper also published the personal story of a victim, and how he fought for justice within jw to no avail.this story is from my home town (just few years before i move there), different congregation in the same hall..
Anders Andersen

I know of at least one person who'll send an email to [email protected] about an abuse case in their congregation in the past and how JW didn't properly handle it.
Hopefully there'll be more people willing to come forward.
Btw I never understood why - apart from the Catholic Church - no investigation was done around here.
But now the time is right: abuse within sports clubs is a topic now, and we can add closed religious communities to the list of those to be investigated I hope.
18
Call for investigation into JW child abuse in the Netherlands
by Anders Andersen in
1. watchtower
2. scandals
after yesterday's newspaper articles about how jw (mis)handle child abuse cases, today the newspaper reports that both members of the national house of representatives, and the national commissioner on human trafficking and sexual violence against children are petitioning the minister / secretary of state to launch an investigation into jw and other closed religious communities.. the newspaper article (in dutch).

the newspaper also published the personal story of a victim, and how he fought for justice within jw to no avail.this story is from my home town (just few years before i move there), different congregation in the same hall..
Anders Andersen

BTW (Dutch) people who wish to share a story about (mis)handling of child abuse within JW are invited to contact [email protected]

I guess that every fact that emerges adds to the arguments to start a government investigation...