Arauna

I did see that you were joking but I have to admit - subtle jokes often elude me, my dear friend - my strict Dutch Reformed background is too telling! But I am learning! ...

I think we all have some conceit somewhere deep down and we have to learn to control it. This week's Watchtower is sooo good reminder to watch ourselves!

Yes - sometimes people make the choices to stay in a marriage themselves (for the children or for some other reason) and then the elders get the "blame." If her husband had an adulterous affair she had the right to divorce him but she may not have had the inclination to go the whole way - mental strength is needed to go through with this. Insecurity and lack of confidence and many other factors play a role in this. Often women cannot support themselves financially (she had many kids) or they have the "absolute subjection" mentality. Remember that Ms Jackson is a product of the 1930s mentality (when she grew up). In this time period when people divorced they were basically ostracized by family and society.... it was a no-no because it brought disgrace. Older men from this era also have a "bunker" mentality - as someone named it above. Many women suffered abuse up until the 60s. Thereafter divorce was more prevalent. I was a child in the fifties and remember well the attitudes of men and women. My grandmother divorced in the 1940's and she suffered tremendously because of this. The 60s brought sexual freedom and more power to women because they did not fall pregnant (with new medication) and became more free. More women were showing up in the work place as well. A few years back I went on a call with an Arabic sister and the student had been abused by her husband (gun threats involved) and the police took him to jail. This sister was 80 years old and with her Arabic background and her age, she was "a time capsule from the Palestinian values of the 1930s". So she ignored the "other' Bible principles and was telling this woman to "withdraw" the complaint to police because the "husband" is your head and master. There was also evidence of adultery. Not only was this the worst advice but it could have erupted in more violence. I went to and elder and asked his advice about this - but the situation was too late to rectify... The case was already withdrawn and the man joined his wife at home again. A little later, this man was put in jail - again - for putting a gun to his wives head. The children had called the police. A restraining order was granted and later a divorce.... The single parent family are now thriving. Fortunately - no-one was hurt and this man later on turned out to be really vile. He was abusive to his children as well. We must never "tell" our students what to do - or for that matter - anyone else (because we can face the consequences, be responsible, if the wrong decision is taken..... and the Witnesses can get the "blame". We show them all the Bible principles involved and help then to think things through. If you do this - he may do that - if you do that - he may do this...or that may happen.... to give the student options. But they have to choose what to do themselves.... no matter how weak or lost they feel. I enjoyed last weeks Watchtower study - because it taught us this fact: everyone must exercise their own free will - we cannot do it for them - no matter how well our intentions. Jehovah knows the hearts. If a study, who is suffering violence, goes back to her husband it is not our place to judge her or give comment. Or if she decides to leave - it is also not our right to judge.... and all must be cautious to give the organization the "blame" for other individual persons' actions and the decisions involved.

We must not think from our own perspective only. There are many people in Jehovah's organization that come with a lot of baggage. Some have never learnt to say " I love you" and others do not know how to show love - they have to learn this. They may be in Jehovah's organization being healed from a bad life and they learn slowly how to communicate and show love. One does not change overnight all the problems you had before by being baptized... so many are still on the road to learn. I was talking yesterday to a very nice young brother on field service. He must be 32 years old. He is seriously in love with a sister and he is troubled by the fact that Swedes do not show gushy feelings. The love of his life is Spanish (people who show their feelings). So he told me that a friend (not Swedish) gave him the advice to spill his tremendous love for this sister and to be honest with her. But it is giving him sooo much pain to do this....he may never get to the point to do this. This gave me insight in how different cultures can be - that a young man is so stifled in his communication to tell a girl he is crazy over her. Yes - communication is the life blood of any good relationship and especially in marriage. I was happy recently when I saw a photo of my son and his wife on Facebook and he declared to the world that she is his "best friend." We must be best friends (one can tell your best friend anything and trust them with the revelations) as well as husband and wife. By the way - I can add a few more sagely comments from husbands to the list above - but I may offend some!

My dear Sir - my only comment on your comment is - on which planet do you live? We know about the murders, abortions and child molestation in the Catholic church, due in part, to their priests not being allowed to marry. Yes, they are still covering up child molestation even though there are proper routes for them to go through now that there have been enquiries in UK and NZ and better laws have been put in place to protect children during court cases and during the gathering of evidence. I agree with you that these type of practices have been insidious in the Catholic Church for at least 1500 years - apart from all the other infamous historical baggage of wars and killing the true servants of the true God.. BUT to equate us with them is far fetched. I do not know of murders, abortions, and so many of the other covered up practices that you mentioned - that it has ever taken place in our organization - not even once has it been acceptable. However, I agree with you that just ONE case of child molestation that was badly handled, and is widely publicized, can give the organization a nasty reputation... and Satan will use this to his advantage to sully the name of Jehovah and the organization which carries his name. Child molestation happens everywhere on earth but to imply that it is prevalent amongst JWs is nothing but a blatant lie - it is divorced from reality.. It is the exception - and it has NEVER been accepted as acceptable behavior. I am very happy now that it has become the government's responsibility to gather evidence (in countries with laws in place and the infrastructure, psychologists in service, who can help to gather evidence and enforce the laws), - because it is a pretty hard type of crime to prove. 25 Years ago - many child psychologists were putting children back into homes where they had a history of sex abuse because the prevalent way of thinking was that the father can be rehabilitated. Alas - the field of psychology had to learn, through trial and error, that child molesters are rarely rehabilitated - although it is possible in rare cases. I do not think that is it still a 'practice' to put removed children back into the home where they were molested.

Natural swings together with human mismanagement can create a permanent change because it upsets a delicate balance.

I look forward to the time when this will not even be a collectors item any more! The plastic weapons which people now print on 3D printers are putting more cheap weapons into the hands of criminals....yes, the world is really changing for the worse. Soon they can make a movie about the wild west set in 2025.... when people draw weapons on each other to settle issues....

LOL

Doing what they know to the best of their being - if we let them!

I come from Africa - it used to be the most corrupt continent in the world - now other continents are catching up real fast!. Do not believe everything from Africa, especially 'proof' like this. His half-brother was expecting favors - as they do in Africa - and his high hopes were shattered when he received a cold shoulder. It is a smear.... A friend of mine was scammed - went to see a high official in the minister's office to see if all is legit so he could trust the person to do business. He later found out (after losses) that the minister rented his office out to the scammer! (Added this paragraph to demonstrate how high up the corruption is - ministers renting out their offices to scammers who want to pretend to be high officials!)

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2017/mar/09/in-russia-the-persecution-of-jehovahs-witnesses-begins-all-over-again

Tom - interfaith is not accepted by Jehovah. It is seen as disloyalty to him. Remember when Solomon started interfaith by going of the gods of his wives? He lost Jehovah's favor and common sense left him. His previous wisdom was gone! He became oppressive to his people by transcription of them for his own material benefit. They had to build many buildings for him. After he died his son kept on with this practice and was more harsh. The climax came when the 10 tribe kingdom broke away from Solomon's son and left only 2 tribes and the Levites (Juda). The pope is the head of a major false religion of the world that not only has killed many faithful servants of god and approved of wars (in their past history) but this particular pope is now having interfaith sessions with Islam leaders - praying with them and putting his head in the direction of Mecca! If this is not idolatry then what is! This tells me he has no common sense and no knowledge of the bible / or of Islam ... and yet he is seen as a great spiritual leader! A false teacher and a person who does not know the personality of the true God, Jehovah - who exacts exclusive devotion. Yes - it is good to have a photo opp with children - it always makes unthinking individuals go soppy! I personally think it is a great ploy. Took many photos like that myself for the newspapers many years ago!

The European union has been forcing nations to take refugees. Some smaller countries cannot deal with all the refugees. The far-left EU government is ignoring any complaints regarding instability. It is pressing the economies to the hilt.... where must all the money come from to support these people? Most cannot speak the language and cannot work. So the opposition has a fear for the future and now a populist movement is growing to counteract the EU actions - which has banned anyone from saying anything about Islam. But the EU recently removed Le pen's immunity from prosecution. She is facing jail time for posting an ISIS photo of a non-believer being beheaded! It is so bad now in Europe that they are suppressing any negative news regarding this immigration - even though the crime rate of rape (to mention only this one crime) has spiralled uncontrollably high. Many refugees are not from Iraq and Syria where the war is raging - most from Africa - Somalia, morocco and other African countries as well as Afganistan. They all have one ideology in common: they are 'superior' to other nations and in the "final days" they must fight to take over the world - this is if they follow the example of the perfect man - Mohammad - which one can find in the Siri and Hadith (Qur'an only 26% of the trilogy of books regarding this religion). Mohammad raped many women which were non-believers and took slaves - so this is not viewed as morally wrong in Islam. Analyses: we are seeing a tide of political entities turning against a major religion of the world because they believe they must lift the sword to fight for their religion - this leads to a situation that is very explosive. How far we are into the end? it seems to be the beginning of a new tide. Christians are militant too and are starting propaganda against Islam. The people will easily take up arms.....and get involved in the political issues - they do not understand the term: neutrality. The coalition against her is too strong - other parties will form a coalition against Le Pen - she mayl only win some seats.... but it is unpredictable. Here is a 'true' situation in Sweden - 2017- short video. "They say there is peace - where there is no peace"

I also try to use logic - especially when talking to atheists or scientists.

Yes there have been victims - as I said before - in every organization where children are you will find that this happens in secret. It is heartbreaking. But because you work in this field you are focusing just on one organization which you seems to dislike. Please keep in mind this organization has put steps in place to curb this as much as possible and has corrected errors which it has made in the past.... it did not act fast enough to the new laws that were put in place in the first world countries (and only a few countries enforce it). I personally know of a case where a young boy had only touched his cousin in an inappropriate place out of curiosity and the father went to a lawyer- who reported it to authorities. This young boy was put into a reformatory at age 13 with his reputation ruined for the rest of his life. This is how the law can also overreach. There are two sides to every story.... and therefore one must acknowledge that human laws are just not sufficient to curb all wickedness..... and bring true justice. The alternative is to spy on everyone and create a police state situation. And this is the reason I said above that God assures us that there is a future life and all the injustices of the "past" and present" will be dealt with personally by Him. One either believes that God is going to do this - or not. We cannot help 'all' people who have suffered from this crime BUT.... they are being reached by the Kingdom message. If their pain is very great they can find consolation and comfort from Jehovah's promises. Many people only focus only on the 'now - the present' and not on these promises. If you are one of these people, I then suggest you start fighting religions where it is part of their religion to allow "thighing" of young children already at the age of one year (the practice of sex on young children without penetration) - that is, if you really want to accomplish something and clean up all dirty" organizations and sexual crimes on earth. Become an activist for all the children in Africa who are raped on a daily basis with no-one to stand up for them. Or focus on religious organizations that are still moving their clergy around even though there now are new laws being put in place to assist them. Do not focus on the one organization who is really trying to be aware of the problem while not excluding anyone with "repentance" to attend a meeting. Or are you hardline on this too..." once a criminal - always a criminal" label"? I personally do not believe that molesters reform easily - but there may be a few who do - and therefore I understand the measures that has been put in place by our organization. I have told this incident before on this forum: a friend of mine brought a young boy to the meeting without his mother accompanying him. Afterward an elder called her and told her that it was a "fine" thing to bring him but she must not do it again. She must be cautious and careful because people can turn around and accuse her of child molestation.... A simple act of kindness can turn into a nightmare. Most people in the organization are "clean" as you said but Jesus himself said that there would be people within the congregation that will be "enemies" of the congregation and will bring reproach on it through their (secret) behavior. This is why God promises that these will receive their due from Him - all those who do NOT have the mark of survival given by the angel with the "inkhorn" will perish. This angel is Jesus who is leading the "marking work" - and he knows all things that go on in secret.

I am not writing this to cause a debate - I'm actually tired of people who have the education to gather a lot of 'information' but have not learnt to think about all sides of an issue and put it in perspective. They become stuck on the information and then they judge everything on this one-sided information and become belligerent. 1. Sexual abuse of children is in every organization on earth - wherever there are children. This is why we see government institutions intermittently in the media where children were found to have been abused - the tip of the iceberg - even though the perpetrators know the penalty if caught . This practice is insidious and 'hidden' and it is hard to pinpoint and it is prevalent amongst ALL levels of society - judges, doctors, policemen, gardeners. People can also be falsely accused - but one should always act to protect the child. 2. People who react so nasty to religious child abuse (whatever the church or organization) - look back at time with "modern" views. They know that it is not accepted by law - now - but what about 50 years ago? Most people do not look at the history of the 'laws' against child abuse. 3. Governments are now launching inquiries so they can be seen to be 'doing something about the issue" and trying to understand the issue. Why only now? Because decent laws to protect children have only been in place for a relative short period of time - in most first world countries. Children have been suffering for a very long time, long before this overwhelming outcry, cases coming forward, and media attention been given to it in the past 30 years. Why were governments negligent to bring laws against child sexual abuse for such a long time and why was the media complicit in its silence? Only 50 years ago - only the first world countries - started to look at this problem. Before this - society was closed and it was a taboo subject to talk about. The sixties brought a sexual revolution when people started to talk openly about sex but it took another 15 years before people started to mention this taboo subject in public. I also know that reporters did not write much about the issues regarding this. Some countries had insufficient laws and procedures which made it impossible to prosecute a child molester. I was working for a newspaper myself (not an English one) and a case came up where the entire nation was shocked because a child molester had stolen kids and murdered them. I told my friend, who was a reputable reporter, to use this time of media attention - to bring to the attention of society - that most people could not take a child molester to court because a child could be cross-examined in court. This meant that even a small child had to become a "victim" a second time by having to face the perpetrator in court and then be cross-examined. Most often a conviction could not be had. The way evidence was collected also did not favor the child. I know that a law (to protect the child during court proceedings in America) was only ratified as late as 2003. Consequently - if I were a lawyer in a court case where millions was to be paid out - I will point to finger to the lawmakers (congress) - who were supposed to be the protectors of its people. If there were not proper laws in place to get a proper conviction - why would an organization put themselves out there and fight the legal system - whatever the organization? After all these inquiries (Australia, England) into child abuse and the procedures followed by religious organizations - hopefully these governments will bring in laws to cover the holes still left in the legal system and provide clarity to (religious and other) organizations on proper government procedures to follow when someone is accused of child abuse. 4. There are many countries with laws against child abuse - but the age of consent is between 12 - 14 years. Belgium comes to mind (13). Most pedophiles travel to Thailand and other countries to indulge in pedophilia. There are many countries across the world with strong laws against child abuse but it is never enforced because child abuse is not viewed as an important issue - they have more pressing problems such as hunger or socio-economic problems. It is part of daily life in some third world countries. What this indicates to me is that world-wide organizations, who have children in their midst at any time, have to try to adapt to the many different laws (in many countries - child marriage is still allowed) and cultures regarding this issue. 5. We expect religious organizations to have 'higher' standards - but in the past no-one spoke of these things and people did not know how to deal with it....with lawmakers and media complicit. The Watchtower organization has not been perfect but it has adjusted and put the best possible procedures in place for every country (but it will never be fool-proof, perfect or sufficient). Child molestation is not an easy crime to determine. One needs experts to examine each case - and even experts can be fooled. 6. Religious organizations cannot ban people - so child molesters can attend meetings if they wished. This is why it is important for brothers and sisters to obey instructions to take their own children to the toilet, to let their children only visit with supervision etc. An unbelieving relative like a grand-father can perpetrate this crime (happened to a friend of mine). So to sum up - parents are responsible for the safety of those in its family unit - and it has never been easy to intervene in family affairs if the father is the perpetrator. This is why it is better that it becomes the government's responsibility! It seems that governments are now doing enquiries into the procedures of organizations - so they can put proper laws and procedures in place to take up this responsibility in a proper way - at last! In the end - it is only Jehovah who will do the final judging of all people who have lived on earth. He is justice personified and he is the one who sees the things that go on in secret. He promises that all suffering will be done away with under his future government and it will not even come to mind of the victim! I live in Sweden now (who is in denial of all the rapes going on) and I read recently that a case was thrown out of court - a young woman who was raped by six refugees. The reason: she must have consented. My husband made the comment that even a woman who makes her money by this way of life will not consent to violent sexual actions by 6 different men.... but this is where our world is heading now. No More justice....

It will happen long before 2050: Many Muslim men have 4 wives and between 5 - 8 children with each wife. In Europe, the Europeans have a negative population growth. Many Europeans do not marry and live alone with occasional sexual flings. They are paying the tax for these large expanding families - and Muslims believe that "unbelievers" must support them... with Jizya.... Most believe that they will eventually rule the world....... and Satan may actually use this religion for his purposes. Within 20 years the upcoming generation of Muslims will be voted into government and we will see changes to laws which may take away your choice of religion and you will have to pay the Jizya tax for being an unbeliever..... or if things get more violent... suffer under islam if one refuses to submit. It will not be a matter of popularity - but one of submission. Our faith will be tested! Movements to this effect are already present in Europe and Canada and laws are being ratified wherein one is not allowed to criticize Islam (it is the only religion which has been singled out for this privilege!). Islam is not a minority - they are now the most populous on earth and are the largest minorities in many countries. This is the reason we see that far-right organizations are suddenly gaining so much political traction because people have woken up to this fact..... It is already too late ....... we know the end will come with the worst tribulation ever on the earth! Things have been set in motion! False religion (militant Christians of the far right and other far-right organizations) are the same as Islam because of the militant frame of mind. Yesterday a large, bearded man came out of his house (we knocked twice and left after receiving no answer). He ran after us in uncontrollable anger and belligerence and shouted for the entire neighborhood to hear: " I am a Muslim and if you knock at my door again I will take a knife and kill you. " ! he repeated this phrase in his anger. We apologized and left. I knew that he saw us as "weak" because this is how these militant people think.... but I already know that Jehovah is the only one who can clean the earth of all kinds of "beastly" people.... no group of humans can do this. We need a heavenly army of angels to do this! False religion (which is showing its true colors) will really be riding the beast! I saw a clip yesterday that ISIS has given its fighters permission to eat humans - this is not barbaric, it is 'beastly'. It reminds me of the prophesy in revelation 6, which talks of the pale horse - premature death due to hunger, plagues and "beasts".

This clip gave me tears in my eyes because a lot of them should have received help before they landed up in the prison system. With privatization of prisons (lack of care and help for personal improvement) the situation is going to get seriously bad - so hopefully JWs can expand this work to most prisons. I heard last week that Sweden received the right to be recognized as an official religion which may from now on receive funding from government and they may also work in prisons - great chance for us. I do know that Islam has been actively recruiting in prisons for many years and their teachings do not help people to change into lambs but more fierce tigers.

Nothing surprises me any more!

I'm not into movies - watch them now and then... as cinema-therapy or biographic movies of people who really existed. So I am not prone to see life through the lens of movies as many Americans do. Saw only one matrix movie and I thought it was good. But I met a man the other day (and I am sure there are many more matrix fans who think this way) who think that the end of 'everything' is going to be that we all will live in a Matrix-like utopia....forever ..... that each person will have their own wishes fulfilled in this way ....god will bring this to mankind... yea... well... how far can one get from reality! The reality is that Satan wants to rule the world - literally. He is using authoritarian worldly governments, greed for money, secret organizations, and false religion (religions who want to rule the entire world and make everyone submit to their form of religion through violence) to accomplish this. Humans are going to suffer terribly in future when the full impact of satanic rule takes over - under human governments and political false religion (all 666 - triple emphasis). Up till now the democratic elements and the basic decency of humans have curbed satanic influence - but this is rapidly disappearing! It depends on how far Jehovah will allow it to go. But we have been warned that many would lose their faith due to the tremendous suffering "the great tribulation" will bring (the worst the world has ever seen). This is peculation of course - but as things are unfolding - it is almost the only way to think ahead about the future..... with one exception- the predictions in the Bible: that mankind will ruin the earth; that a most terrible time under satanic rule is coming ... One thing is sure: Jehovah will take over at the correct moment in human history - once He has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Satan (and whatever human organizations he chooses to use) cannot rule the earth successfully. Independent rule from Jehovah only brings great misery..... It is ironic that in 'advanced' societies (such as Sweden/Germany/France/) where philosophies such as humanism and secularism is replacing the bible and God - they are totally blind to what awaits them in future for example: I see that the far left militant woman's organizations are having rallies together with Muslim women and wearing hijabs in political solidarity to this religion - they have ignored the fact that these muslim leaders (several have terrorist connections) have all publically said that they want Sharia law implemented (sharia has no respect for women) and yet they form an "alliance"? Satan is truly "blinding" the eyes of people. The world has really gone crazy.... and more to come.

Too many fanatics who can take his place!

LOL!

Satan is ruling the world - we all know this - but we have not seen the full manifestation of it. Democracy and these kind of governments has softened the plight of people. I think we cannot now imagine the kind of oppression which may come when we see the full impact of Satan's rule in totalitarian governments which will oppress the people and not value their lives. In this time it will be possible for governments to oppress all religion and any form of recruitment (preaching).

I totally agree with all statements made above. I have also had one very needy person (could not read or write from Iraq) who monopolized a lot of my time and later found fault with other sisters who did not do the same..... So I learnt through hard experience that we must focus on "spiritual enrichment " first. Because we really care, people can see this and take advantage. Most other churches only focus on "social injustices" and these type of issues by having food banks etc. I have had people directly ask me if we have "social assistance" because they think all Christian churches focus only on this. This charity in itself is wonderful - but these Christians have not been given the job by Jehovah as the "faithful and discreet slave" to dispense spiritual food to the rest of the world. All of us has this important commission as those " who are grabbing the skirt of the Jew". So I now try to imitate them by being "faithful" and 'discreet' - using good judgment regarding focus (and even your own safety) - in these communities. Many of them have been traumatized by war (or the way their society operates) and are truly pitiful - but they have no spiritual need. Most come from communities where a standard of life (the family gold and how much you can pay for a wife) is important. So we must learn how they think and learn to distinguish who wants "things" and who truly has a spiritual need. I have found some (mostly women) who cannot focus on a study because they have just too many emotional stresses because of extreme poverty. Women tend to show this kind of stress very quickly and some have husbands who beat them etc. In these cases I have helped them fill out forms to get the appropriate social services. However, I am very careful to come between a husband and wife because we cannot (by helping) be blamed for things that go wrong afterward - so I give only emotional support in these cases.

I saw an article recently which talked about the 'abuse' and lack of staff in these prisons because there are too few wardens and no investment in prison infrastructure. The prisons have become a place for open drug smuggling and the vilest of practices - in comparison to the time that government managed it. Private companies do not care about the level of service / humanitarian issues because they are enriching themselves off the money from the government for providing a "service." No chance of anyone being reformed in places like those!