Watchtower cover of May 2019 magazine reveals a devil with horns, hidden in plain sight. See inset. This, in the same magazine that appears to protect pedophiles. Why am I still so shocked by the religious dissonance?
One of several recent videos drew my attention to the religious dilemma of whether child sexual abuse could be more properly viewed as a sin or a crime through the Watchtower’s corporate lens. After even a brief scan of the article in question, I am inclined to say pedophilia definitely needs to be viewed as a crime.
Unfortunately, even the title makes only a vague reference by calling pedophilia “wickedness”. As I read through the information, I keep hoping the article will say something about the criminality of child sex abuse. I’m waiting, scanning. But, nothing.
Sadly, very little is stated in the congregation’s study article, “Love and Justice in the Face of Wickedness” about the criminality of pedophilia. The glaring lack of narrative from the article compels me to speak up on the religious dilemma of sin or crime, when it comes to child sexual abuse. Especially when it’s such a huge problem in our family’s religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Publicly, one of the religion’s governing body members called it a plague. To confirm that the Watchtower Society knows what they have created, the term “plague” appears in print twice in the introduction to their article.
Dare I speak of the abuse that occurred within my very own family? Yes, it definitely strikes too close to home to leave so much unsaid. More on that later.
I’m astonished. So, just where is the justice for abused children, while their abusers get away with molesting innocent youngsters? Raping children is a mere “sin” while the CRIME of raping and sodomizing children continues to be ignored like the great elephant in the room.
Evading the Crime
Sin, sin, sin, grave sin. I see the emphasis on “sin” more than twenty times. All the while ignoring the fact that sexually abusing children is a serious crime, punishable by law. Elders could easily address the crime by one simple phone call to the police, instead of calling the Watchtower Corporation’s legal department to cover their asses. Perhaps the elders already know they are complicit somehow. It seems to me that covering up the crime further by not reporting puts them in extremely unfavorable light.
Meanwhile, publicly, elders claim to “report” where required to do so by law. However, in private, elders tell victims verbally a completely different story. Privately, victims are manipulated into not reporting the crime in order to “save god’s ‘good’ name”. What a ruse! What a glaring cover-up this conduct appears to me, as I put their actions into print!
From my perspective, quashing reports of child molestation makes the religion’s elders “a sharer in the evil works” of their congregation’s predators (2 John 1:11). That is, if elders were to believe their own “holy book”.
Excuse Me — A Grave Sin?
Watchtower wrote multiple paragraphs (pars. 4-9) under the subheading "A Grave Sin" to discuss how pedophilia is a sin.
Watchtower wrote multiple paragraphs (pars. 4-9) under the subheading “A Grave Sin”. The article defends their stance that pedophilia is a sin — and sins must be forgiven. Worse still, the victim must continually be in community with their rapist, pretending all is “normal” — when the minor child placed into the rapist’s presence is anything but “normal”. What if the perpetrator decided to sit next to his prey? What kind of message would that send the abused child? How safe would the child feel? The word “crime” is suspiciously absent — again — I see.
It is my opinion that elders are actually obstructing justice by not reporting the crimes to proper authorities. Where is the subheading about the crime of child sexual abuse and justice for the innocent youth in this article?
Under the pretense of dealing with secular authorities, they have only one paragraph on the subject of crime. But still, where is the counsel to report this crime to the authorities, namely the police? Why the avoidance? There are a few reasons, in the mindset of the Jehovah’s Witnesses religion.
Pedophilia — Sin Against God?
Incredibly, members are warned strongly against bringing reproach on god’s name, so they might choose not to report such a crime to the police. Unfortunately, it’s not really a true choice if the child or responsible adults affected by the crime have been manipulated and deceived into not calling the police. I realize I’m using double negatives, but I’m attempting to unravel the double-speak of the Jehovah’s Witnesses elders and their corrupt handlers in Warwick, New York. I trust the reader understands.
I am heartbroken that Watchtower is more concerned with “bringing reproach on god” rather than keeping children safe. I say let god look after himself. Protect those precious children!
Furthermore, does a real god need corrupt men to save his name? Who is the savior here anyway? God? Or the men who “save his name” from reproach? To me, this is a smoke-screen!
Then, there’s also a scripture about not “taking your brother to court” (Matthew 5:22). Why is this crazy? To me it’s glaringly obvious. By not reporting crimes of child rape, the predators are being protected, instead of the innocent children.
Elders ‘Endeavor’ to Comply?
Elders endeavor to comply with secular laws? What does that word endeavor mean, anyway? Some synonyms provide a clue to how blatantly insincere Watchtower’s response to the crime appears to outsiders. Synonyms of “endeavor” according to the Miriam-Webster thesaurus indicates “an effort to do or accomplish something” is required. To “endeavor” indicates they attempted, offered, or perhaps took a stab at calling the police about a crime. Another way to look at it is that the elders “attempted” to inform the authorities about a case of suspected pedophilia in the congregation. Words related to endeavor could also include strove, struggled, or undertook to report a crime. Really?
Dial 911 and the authorities are there immediately. No struggle required. No failed attempts. It seems to me that the wording implies that for some strange reason the elders failed in a type of “trial and error” attempt to ask secular authorities for help. That sounds seriously disingenuous to me. Your “trial-and-error” attempt is an epic fail in my books!
How About Call the Police First?
Beyond what the article discusses, as a parent and a grand-parent, I have a few suggestions of my own. I suggest parents call the police FIRST if a suspected child molestation occurs. The call assures that any required evidence will be collected to provide proof of the crime. When that call is made to secular authorities, that would further mean that no elders are needed. Ever!
Parents might simply allow the SECULAR authorities to remove the criminal from the congregation and put him away in jail for his crimes against children. Do whatever it takes to keep the children safe. Because the elders won’t remove the criminal. They seem to habitually protect the criminal!
Parents may wish to think about another potential scenario as to why the elders wish to evade justice for the harmed child. Crooked elders and even corrupt bethelites who have access to the pedophile database in New York may even intend to blackmail the perpetrator from that day forward. Then there is the potential to make the whole ordeal for an abused child profitable for some greedy men.
Even worse, is the possibility that if the predator is being blackmailed, he* might convince himself that he is free to commit the crime again. Why? Because he may reason he is in effect “paying” for his crime in the form of the secondary crime of blackmail. Twisted? That demonstrates the level of depravity of this type of criminal. They don’t care who they hurt. Narcissists are all about themselves. I know about narcissists. My father was one.
Downplaying Crime?
How does the Watchtower downplay crime? I have noticed in the article that they soften the language using synonyms which are less incriminating. Paragraph 10 calls it “serious wrongdoing” instead of pedophilia. I say call it what it truly is, without soft-peddling the verbiage.
Remember too, religious elders are untrained and uneducated, believing sexual predators can be “restored” by healing their “spiritual sickness”. Paragraph 11 teaches that elders are “spiritual physicians” who “endeavor to make ‘the sick one’ [in this instance, the wrongdoer] well.” Yes, wrongdoer — not criminal. They don’t appear to understand that sexual predators are very rarely rehabilitated. Most predators will re-offend once that line of decency has been crossed. Sadly, most predators have themselves been victims of sexual predators. For elders to think that prayer and bible reading can repair the emotional, psychological, and sometimes physical damage is a seriously uninformed belief.
Paragraph 16 says “elders provide ongoing support to any individuals who have been hurt.” Wow! Speaking of downplaying a criminal act! “The child was hurt.” How patronizing! How non-validating for a small child who needs desperately to be heard by responsible adults!
Furthermore, that statement of “help” is an outright lie. If anything, abused children are re-traumatized when the elders silence them using threats, intimidation, and manipulation. One of the worst things elders will do is bring the accused and his prey together in the same room with each other. The elders then ask the child — whose parents aren’t allowed in the room — to provide an account of what happened during the predatory event in question. Chances are considerable that the predator is also a friend of the elders engaged in the questioning.
Imagine how a child would feel in that room with now four men repeating the nightmare event in question. I’ve even read of cases where the predator got to question the distressed child. Is this reasonable? Is this questioning even legal?
Confusion as a Weapon
After all those paragraphs about wicked sins, I’m more confused than ever. I’m seeking clarity. Yet instead I’m utterly confounded. The glaring omission of a reasonable discussion of child rape being a crime is the reason for my confusion. It’s a distraction tactic of the MK-Ultra — mind-kontrol kind, manifested in religions these days, if you ask me.
Confusion is an effective weapon, and it is being used against innocent casualties of the crimes. Watchtower induces members to believe there are only a “few bad apples” within the walls of their organization. But when it’s a system-wide cover-up, with thousands of predators involved, does that really fit the “few bad apples” description? You know the child sexual abuse is systemic if Watchtower devotes an entire secret server to record the list of their known pedophiles!
These pedophiles are not “outsiders” as the religion’s elders might have you believe. These pedophiles are baptised members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses religion. Some of them hold responsible positions in their hallowed organization! How else could these predators win members’ trust and obtain access to these children?
Members Kept Ignorant With Intent?
Jehovah’s Witnesses have been preaching that pedophilia is a “sin” as is evidenced when a family member attempted to show me “something interesting” when I was only fifteen years old. He led me to my brother’s crib and proceeded to manipulate my sleeping baby brother’s penis. I sternly reprimanded him, when I realized what he was doing.
“You shouldn’t do that. It’s a sin!” I exclaimed. It’s a sin? Why did I say that? Why didn’t I know child sex abuse was a crime? Because from the platform I had heard child molestation was a sin my entire life. That the act was a crime wasn’t even in my vocabulary or my consciousness! Why? Because that narrative of “sin” was the only one in my heavily controlled mind.
Thanks to religious indoctrination that protects pedophiles and blames the victims, I suspect most JWs “born-in” think the same! Members are kept ignorant — with intent!
My Own Conclusion of Systemic Child Molestation
1006 cases with 1,800 victims of child molestation were discovered in the Australian Royal Commission’s Case Study 29! Astonishingly, that’s just one small country. The potential numbers globally could run into the hundreds of thousands of pedophiles! I’m appalled! This scourge against our precious children needs to be stopped immediately. That’s one of the reasons I built this website. Our global civilization is being undermined by criminals of the worst kind — sexual predators of our beloved children. Our children were NOT born for the sick pleasure of these psychopaths!
Do religious folk believe their own holy book?
“25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed[k] and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup,[l] so that the outside of it[m] may also become clean.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and every kind of impurity. 28 In the same way, on the outside you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”—Matthew 23:25-27.
Meanwhile, religion puts on the pretense that they are loving, pure, upright, and honest — and all those other white-washed synonyms they apply to themselves. Yet, their corruption reveals an entirely different picture of who they are. Examine the evidence for yourself and find your own descriptors.
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* The term “he” is being used in this instance. However, even some women are known to prey on children as well as men, for sexual gratification.
Related Material on this Website
Jehovah’s Witnesses and Pedophilia
Why Isn’t Recruiting Children a Crime?
Child Sex Abuse Among Jehovah’s Witnesses
Over-Riding Maternal Instincts
Related Material Off Site
John Cedars Channel on YouTube Everything Wrong About the Child Abuse Study Article (Paragraph-by-paragraph discussion)
Visit website "Phoenix of Faith" Esther's memoir. Follow on Twitter: @_phoenixoffaith Copyright © 2019. These are my thoughts about the article in question. I exercise my right to speak freely to protect the rights of children whose parents and religions fail our most vulnerable members of society, namely our beloved children and grand-children.
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