It seems the Bible has no moral code as anyone can use their favorite translation and see how the world was always filled with violence and immorality with God doing little to nip it in the bud.
They had those ten commandments to follow but when Jesus walked the earth he replaced that with simply saying we must love our neighbor as ourselves and love is the only commandment people need to lead a successful life.
Adam and Eve apparently rushed things with God as God didn't even create a mate for Adam but I guess he insisted on it. Then when they gained forbidden knowledge they were driven out of the Garden of Eden and started having children. Of course the Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) take everything literal in the Bible as in an actual snake was inhabited by the Devil and spoke to Eve goading her into eating of the forbidden fruit that would lead to knowledge of good and bad. Some Bible scholars believe it was her own inner voice goading her on and not a physical being. Why wouldn't the Devil just materialize and start talking with Eve? I guess God Almighty forbade that for awhile, as we know from the Bible stories, eventually the demons made human bodies for themselves and starting mating with the women of the earth. Some suggest that the reason they kept taking different women, was because the women died when giving birth to these oversized giant hybrids. Who knows, but the JWs don't like to start thinking logically about anything in the Bible. They are blind followers without critical thinking skills and the leadership just basically hoard money and keep badgering their membership to give them more and more of the green stuff.
But why does the Watch Tower corporation seem to want to conceal any wrongdoing among their own ranks? Obviously, those who still defend the JW belief system feel that every religious organization has its flaws and flawed people. Even some so-called ex-JWs continue to defend the JW belief system, going so far as to defend the banning of the religion in Russia and in other countries since these so-called ex-JWs have their own agenda which I will not address here and now.
Even though I was born and raised as a JW, I came to realize later in life that my earliest influences were from the Christian Science beliefs, Catholic beliefs and the JWs with my mother having a fascination with the occult, as did her sisters. My paternal grandparents were strict Italian/Catholic and my dad converted to being a JW when he met my mother. My mother was from a background of Freemasons, Catholics and Christian Science before she and her sisters converted to being JWs. Pretty interesting with my mother's background, how easily she merged into the JW belief system since the JWs are simply a hodgepodge of the Freemasons, Christian Science beliefs and copying ancient pagan beliefs that require a blood sacrifice from its membership which has gone unchallenged for decades by their own rank and file followers.
As blogged about here before, anyone can do a quick Google search of the Australian Royal Commission's investigations into institutional child abuse allegations and one of their targets was the JWs. The testimony and proceedings is available online. I find it interesting how the JW leadership cling to a few scriptures which prevents them from revealing any wrongdoing to the authorities, but the cases are handled in-house by a group of Elders having almost zero knowledge of how to handle any problems beyond a child back-talking to their parents.
The JWs wholeheartedly cling to old teachings of the Bible where there had to be eye witnesses to certain crimes or sins before the leaders of the day would step in and take action. Obviously, we are in modern times and can take full advantage of the trained and licensed mental health professionals, law enforcement, etc., when dealing with horrible crimes against children. There are trained professionals who know how to ferret out the truth in any abuse allegations and in most cases, there will be physical evidence a crime and/or sin has occurred. I know the JWs split hairs by saying these are all sins and they may put the perpetrator on probation from Kingdom Hall duties or they can't participate in the recruitment work which is a minor slap on the wrist. The authorities will never be summoned unless the victim wants to deal with that on their own and be ostracized from their congregation.
I found an interesting discussion on this from the website of the former JW Barbara Anderson. I am sure readers are aware of her name, she spoke out against the child abuse among the JWs about 14 years ago and appeared on national television. She used to be a researcher for the Watch Tower corporation at their former headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. She now engages in anti-JW activism.
To access her article about why the JWs hide abuse among their ranks using a few scriptures as their foundation, can be found here:
Yes, the JW leadership hide behind a few scriptures thinking that they still apply in our modern era yet we don't know why they insist on hiding alleged pedophiles among their ranks based on a few scriptures they think still apply today. Are they that afraid of God's wrath if they don't attempt to follow the scriptures and take them literally? What makes them think judicial procedures of thousands of years ago still apply today when we have so many modern advances in forensics, DNA, fingerprinting, on and on, where the proper authorities can find out the truth and put the perpetrator behind bars and get physical and emotional help for the victims. Victims do not need to suffer in silence providing they first leave the JW mindset that the victim is to blame.
I was raised with this belief. Whenever my JW Elder dad would come home with some intel about his latest judicial committee meeting, me and my mom would close ranks and tsk tsk at the victim. Gosh, she deserves that, did you see how she dressed for the Sunday meeting? She's a flirt, thank goodness she was forced to leave our congregation...you get the message, dear reader. Yes, we were taught to protect first the men in the congregation, if a woman was accused of doing something horrible, she would easily and quickly be disfellowshipped and shunned by the rest of the congregation, forcing that woman to move out of the area. Basically, they protect the men in the organization. It is really something to be studied by trained professionals. How a group of men can get on a witness stand at the Australian Royal Commission and defend other men who blatantly abused their children or their children's friends, with evidence presented, and look the other way. Oh, well, Jehovah will handle it, as they go on their merry way back to their homes defending a multi-billion dollar corporation hoping these poor victims will not have the time, energy, or resources to take action against the JW giants.
Most people who are caught up in the JW belief system and have no desire to leave and like it this way, that they can operate freely with little or no repercussions for their disgusting habits. One ex-JW YouTuber named Lloyd Evans going by the name of John Cedars, was one such Elder that abused his power in the congregation. He has freely admitted he was sexting girls and women in his Kingdom Hall and neighboring Kingdom Halls and becoming addicted to online porn sites when his wife caught him in the act. This guy brags about it online and in his blog and in his first book. This is the element you will find inside the JW organization and from some Elders who were ousted. They have that same smug personality with the females in their lives who are put down and berated and you rarely hear from their spouse.
I went to the Lloyd Evans book signing to meet him and his wife, their first daughter was also with them. Evans arrived as any JW Circuit Overseer would when they came to visit the congregation. He strode up to the people there with confidence, he looked me directly in the eyes and smiled, shook my hand, and thanked me for coming. He did this to all the small groups of people gathered in his name to buy his book, get it signed, or just meet and chat with him. Evans brought in cases of books and began selling them taking cash from his followers and posed for photos. He gave a brief presentation, then had a Q&A session.
Evans never spoke a word to his wife. She was assigned her task of playing the humble servant dressed down in worn jeans and looked haggard, while she dressed up her young daughter as a bizarre plaything in an overly frilly dress like a pageant princess. I approached his wife Dijana as I would have approached any Circuit Overseer's wife who visited my Kingdom Hall. I welcomed her, thanked her for coming, traveling all this way from Croatia. Dijana was polite and appeared shy and she spoke a few words to me and others, and basically sat on the floor of the coffee shop tending to her daughter who played with toys on the floor.
This strange threesome trekked into a coffee shop in the LGBTQ community and a few other ex-JW YouTubers were there to tape the whole thing, one being Kameron Fader and Ex JW Fifth who pandered to Evans' every need. Everyone was friendly, maybe 15 people attended, at least what I saw myself, since it was already a crowded coffee shop and not all people were there to see Evans of course.
It was quite sad and shocking to me to see Evans in action. He and his wife had their script and assigned tasks and are the element bred out of the Watchtower. I found that it's best to avoid the Elders and former Elders who claim to suddenly want to help us little women and men out here of the rank and file. Well, they were of the rank and file too, and have little knowledge of anything but how to hit that marketing button to plug into some fake subs and views to their boring YouTube videos and haul around boxes of their books to sell, oh, and to repeat myself, cash only please.
Nope, that's not you dear reader, you are above all that and can think for yourself and do not need anyone to lead you out of the JW mindset. You can start to pick up those books about real people with real experiences both inside and outside of the JW organization. Start looking at non-JW YouTube videos to learn meditation, exercise and diet routines that support healthy emotions. I have a few suggested sites at the footer of this blog and I hope you take advantage of them. They helped me along my journey to personal freedom and I hope they can help you too.
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I am a spiritual being that believes in a Higher Power and Creator
of heaven and earth without feeling the need to be tied down to any
particular religious belief system. It's called being humbled
by this vast universe we were born into. |
#barbaraanderson
#jw #jworg
Sometimes we all have to leave the little kid behind and move forward in life. Becoming an adult, not only physically, but mentally and emotionally, is difficult. 
