Two witnesses rule

2015/08/10 1

child sexual abuse

X f W T in
Unreasonable application of two witness rule
by the Watchtower society.

If child is molested and no one else saw it or admits to it, it didn't happen and nothing is done.

Circumstantial evidence to substantiate a charge

Hi all

I'm writing about WTS's unreasonable approach to the two witnesses rule.

The way WTS treats Biblical principles can be unduly literal, which doesn't fit real-world situations.

For example, they do nothing for the victim of the child molestation due to their unreasonable application of the "two witness rule."

Mosaic Law requires two witnesses for establishing perpetration.

De 19:15
15 "No single witness should rise up against a man respecting any error or any sin, in the case of any sin that he may commit. At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses the matter should stand good.

But the Law also allows the circumstantial evidences to establish crime.
After all the Bible itself uses many circumstantial evidences to establish the truth of things invisible.

Ro 1:20
2 For his invisible [qualities] are clearly seen from the world's creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship, so that they are inexcusable;

The principle of cause and effect should be regarded as something useful to establish the matter.

If a person holds many stolen products in his house, most likely his a thief.
If a person keeps many drugs in his car, most likely he is a drug dealer.

Jesus also used circumstantial evidences to establish his identity.

Mt 11:2-6
2 But John, having heard in jail about the works of the Christ, sent by means of his own disciples 3 and said to him: "Are you the Coming One, or are we to expect a different one?" 4 In reply Jesus said to them: "Go YOUR way and report to John what YOU are hearing and seeing: 5 The blind are seeing again, and the lame are walking about, the lepers are being cleansed and the deaf are hearing, and the dead are being raised up, and the poor are having the good news declared to them; 6 and happy is he that finds no cause for stumbling in me."

Joh 5:36
36 But I have the witness greater than that of John, for the very works that my Father assigned me to accomplish, the works themselves that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father dispatched me.

Joh 10:37-38
37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, do not believe me. 38 But if I am doing them, even though YOU do not believe me, believe the works,

Christians are encouraged to discern people by observed evidence, not by claims or words.

Mt 7:15-16
15 “Be on the watch for the false prophets that come to YOU in sheep’s covering, but inside they are ravenous wolves. 16 By their fruits YOU will recognize them.

Considering of many examples of circumstantial evidences to establish something, the following WTS's statement is faulty. Circumstantial evidences are a one of the way to establish the matter as well as verbal evidence by witnesses.

W98 6/15 pp28-29
Jehovah gave Israel an outstanding judicial system. In the case of an unsolved murder, the death was atoned for by sacrifice. There was no pressure to solve every crime at the risk of convicting an innocent person. No one could be convicted of murder purely on circumstantial or scientific evidence; at least two eyewitnesses were needed. (Deuteronomy 17:6; 21:1-9)

■ Is it not possible to convict suspect based on circumstantial evidence alone, as WTS says?

Recall, how Solomon judge the case of murder which has no witness.

It was a difficult case, two women arguing over a baby. The women shared a home, and each had given birth to a son, just days apart. One of the babies had died, and now each woman claimed to be the mother of the living baby. There were no other witnesses to what had happened. The case had likely been heard in a lower court but not resolved. Finally, the dispute was taken to Solomon, the king of Israel. Would he be able to uncover the truth?

After listening for a while as the women argued, Solomon called for a sword. Then, with seeming conviction, he ordered that the child be cut in two, with half given to each woman. At once, the real mother pleaded with the king to give the baby - her precious child - to the other woman. But the other woman kept insisting that the child be cut in two. Solomon now knew the truth. He had knowledge of a mother's tender compassion for the child of her womb, and he used that knowledge to settle this dispute. Imagine the mother's relief when Solomon awarded her the baby and said: "She is his mother."-1 Kings 3:16-27.

Solomon solved the problem with circumstantial evidence attributed to human nature.

The Watchtower judicial system's inability to handle cases of crimes where there are no witnesses is proof that they know neither the Bible nor God, and does not protect the sheep from harm.

The Watchtower Society should also be judged for concealing serious crimes within the organization and not seeking the necessary help from outside, leaving the risk of crime recurrence, and increasing the number of victims.

WTS's unreasonable approach to the two witnesses rule

They argue that only by two witnesses, child molestation has to be established, totally ignoring circumstantial evidence. Due to their literalism and dogmatism, they do nothing for the molested child since there is no other witnesses other than the victim. Unless there is the confession of the molester, the case is left as it is, doing nothing. People who have been treated in such a awful way are more than 20,000 in the Watchtower religious organization.

Proper application of Bible principle in the real world require reasonableness.

Child molestation is committed privately only between abuser and abused child.
There is no other witness for the establishment of the molestation.

The things we can do to establish or handle the matter
We should seriously consider the voice of apparent abused child.
We should immediately report the case to the police so that a professional team investigates the alleged abuse.

It is the child abuse protection professional that can inquire rightly into the matter so as to determine what should be done. They are the ones who well know circumstances for the crime, and physical and mental effect created by the molestation on children.They are the trained expert to detect any symptom of child molestation.

So that it is wise to get necessary help from them, which JW's elders can't provide.

The WTS's policy of handling the child abuse actually deprive children of receiving vital help from the expert. As the result it tends to intensify the trauma of abused child.

Don't belittle the serious result of faulty application of the Bible principles made by the WTS.

What would you do when your child get sick?
You don't consult elders in your congregation, do you?
They are not the expert, are they?
You will bring your sick child to the doctor, won't you?

What would you do when your child discloses being molested?
Would you consult elders who can do nothing?
They are not the expert of such crime, are they?
It is wise for you to get contact with local police office immediately for professional assistance.

Child molestation devastates child's mind and heart and physical function too.
It is like being hit by a car, something is broken inside of your child.
The child desperately needs the professional care immediately for the recovery.

The crime of the child molestation can not be properly handled by the elders of the local congregation who are all laymen in that field. It should be handled by the experts of child abuse field, should it not?

Lu 5:31
31 In reply Jesus said to them: "Those who are healthy do not need a physician (expert), but those who are ailing do.

Abused child needs an adequate mental and social cares from the experts, and professional judicial protection. These cares and protection can't be provided by the WTS. What they can do is merely to record abuse allegation cases in their file doing actually nothing. They have such records more than 20,000 cases.

The WTS's judicial committee lacking consideration

They perform judicial hearing in such a way that victim and abuser are present at the same time even in child molestation crime case.

So a child needs to meet three elders and a abuser alone.

In the Narrogin congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses in the West Australian Wheatbelt town of Narrogin, a elder Bill Neill serially molested a girl BCB throughout the 1980s.

BCB said about her judicial meeting being present with four men (three elders and the abuser Bill Neill) this way,

“Throughout the meeting, Bill looked at me defiantly,”
“I felt like he was challenging me to tell the full story of what he had done. I felt uncomfortable and could not bring myself to tell the elders everything that had happened. I felt like I was still Bill’s victim. I was still so scared of saying anything that would get me or Bill into trouble.

“It was already very hard to talk about sex in a room full of men. It was especially hard to talk about what Bill had done to me while he was sitting there in front of me. I didn’t feel like it was a safe environment and I was scared of what the consequences would be if I told the whole truth. Perhaps if a Sister who I was comfortable with had been there too, it might have been easier.”

Another example
A teenage girl BCG in the Mareeba congregation in Australia was raped by her father an elder.
When BCG told her mother the matter, her mother's response was "I think he did something to your sister."
It turned out that the father molested four girls.

BCG said about her judicial hearing this,
“Because the elders were all male and all were my father’s friends, I was very reluctant to speak to them about what had happened. Unless they asked me a direct question, I didn’t really offer the full detail of the sexual abuse,”

“I attempted suicide several months after the committee meetings in 1989 as a result of my experience of the committee meetings with the elders. I couldn’t bear the judgement of those around me, the public vilification and ostracism. I wanted to dig a hole and die.”

As shown above experiences, the WTS's judicial procedure and policy are not constructive, nor beneficial, but rather harmful.

What is wrong with them?
They lose sight from the more important matters mercy and justice due to their narrow application of one or two scriptures.
They lack reasonableness to assess emotion of others, and discreetness to discern the best way to help.

The WTS's self appointed faithful discreet slave is a fake one.
They are the sons of Pharisees.

Mt 23:23
23 "Woe to YOU, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because YOU give the tenth of the mint and the dill and the cumin, but YOU have disregarded the weightier matters of the Law, namely, justice and mercy and faithfulness. These things it was binding to do,

Australian Loyal Commission's hearing videos for 1 through 7 Days

see ya  

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About Me



I became a Christian being baptized in 1972. Since then, I was a Jehovah's Witnesses for about 40 years.

When I was an elder, I was removed from the eldership of the congregation because I took a position that differed from the policy of the Watchtower Society.

Many years of life as a Jehovah's Witnesses I have experienced a discord between the style of worship of the Watch Tower Society and the teachings of Christ. So, using the Internet I began investigating the Watchtower Society from its beginning.

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