Comment: You make mention of the Society covering up child abuse, the fact is, in Corinth the congregation was in a poor state spiritually, including sexual immorality. It is likely the elders in that congregation were part of a cover up. In Revelation it mentions 7 letters & seven lampstands meaning the world wide congregation. Not all of the words in the seven letters were complimentary. When we leave after our meeting to go home, it is fair to say that many come home to broken homes, but it is also fair to say many come home to happy families. The arrangement is perfect but the people are not.. King David realized this when he regretted cutting the sleeve of King Saul, God’s anointed one. David could not respect the bad things Saul did but David nonetheless respected God’s arrangement.
Response: There is no explicit question here, but there is certainly an implied one, which I will address.
First, the very fact that Paul directly addressed the deplorable situation within the Corinthian Congregation and that his exposure of it remains to this day in the collection of sacred little books is directly counter to the Watchtower’s hush-hush policy when it comes to pedophiles among Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is quite telling that Paul did not shrink from confronting the evil by claiming that doing so would bring reproach on Jehovah or go against his arrangement.
That being so, a question you might consider is this: If the apostle were alive today would he refrain from condemning the Watchtower’s policies that have directly contributed to allowing pedophiles to abuse children?
After all, the sexual immorality that Paul exposed was at least between consenting adults. Should we imagine the apostles of Christ would commend an organization that maintains a secret database of over 20,000 known child abusers, and which instructs its elders not to cooperate with the police or courts when it comes to investigating and prosecuting crimes that have been perpetrated by Jehovah’s Witnesses against innocent children?
An even better question to ponder is, ought we to imagine that Jehovah is pleased with such policies on the part of those who have been entrusted with God’s precious sheep?
Here is something else to consider: Is it really just a matter of human imperfection when intelligent men sit around a boardroom table and formulate and enforce policies over years and years, which are known by them to be harmful? Is it really honest to dismiss such wickedness as mere human imperfection? And if the Society’s policies are not evil why do they secretly pay out millions in donated funds to abuse victims?
And while it is nice that some of Jehovah’s Witnesses leave the kingdom hall and return home to happy families, what about the thousands of families that have been devastated by child abuse perpetrated by predators lurking within the congregation? What about all of those who have been stumbled by the Watchtower’s wicked doings? Does Jehovah care at all? Is there to be a day of reckoning?
The prophet declares: “Woe to those who are enacting harmful regulations.” Jehovah did not say: ‘Woe to those who make an occasional mistake and who are imperfect.’ Woe, indeed, for the Watchtower Society.
Now as for Jesus’ letters to the seven congregations: Jesus actually commended those in Ephesus who refused to accept the claims of apostleship of certain men, saying to them: “I know your deeds, and your labor and endurance, and that you cannot bear bad men, and that you put those to the test who say they are apostles, but they are not, and you found them liars.”
Please note that Jesus did not say that the liars were merely imperfect. He described them as “bad men.” Now, here are a few other questions to consider: If Jesus commends those who cannot bear bad men and who impose a test upon those who claim to be apostles, why do Jehovah’s Witnesses imagine that putting the Governing Body to the test is some great evil? Why ought the leadership of the organization be exempt from proving they are true? And since those who falsely claim to be apostles are within the congregation of Christ, is it going against the “arrangement” to refuse to accept evil men within? Moreover, why do Jehovah’s Witnesses reflexively denounce as “apostate” anyone who exposes the Watchtower’s lies, such as I have done?
The day is coming when all of Jehovah’s Witnesses will individually have their love of the truth put to the test. It will be unavoidable.
