JW child abuse crisis, crisis of faith?

Can a religion that fails in its obligation to protect children still be the true religion?

“WHO REALLY IS THE FAITHFUL AND DISCREET SLAVE?”

12 The Governing Body is neither inspired nor infallible. Therefore, it can err in doctrinal matters or in organizational direction. WT February 2017

This frank admission of fallibility is not unique. Read on from Matthew 24:46,47 where the faithful and discreet slave is described and you will read what happens if that slave messes up his assignment, he is to be punished with the “greatest severity “. That Jesus himself flagged up this possibility is especially significant.

Search the scriptures carefully and judgements on authority figures within Gods arrangement who have misused their positions or defaulted on important responsibilities are everywhere. Moses does not escape punishment for wrongfully claiming God’s power as his own. Losing the prospect of life in the promised land in consequence of claiming that he and Aaron would provide water at Meribah by striking the rock. 

Also notable is the Judgement on the house of Eli who failed to effectively rebuke his sons Hophni and Phineas for sexually assaulting the women who came to worship at the tabernacle, 1Sam 3 and4 4 (“the error that he has known about “) the punishment on Eli was correspondingly severe.

Two of the great institutional sins were here addressed, predation and negligence, the third, hypocrisy is addressed by Jesus in his confrontations with the Pharisees with a very similar strength of feeling. There is not really any doubt as to how Jehovah and Jesus feel about the appearance of these failings within an arrangement that they have set up.

That “ judgement starts with the house of God “ is a consistent theme of the Bible itself and one of the proofs of its divine authority since the community in which the Bible appeared is most often the object of its denunciations.

That wicked men would infiltrate the Christian congregation is attested to by Jesus himself, Paul, Peter, James and Jude, in fact preparing for the arrival of “ oppressive wolves” seems to have been one of the chief concerns of the 1st century Christian leaders. The parable of the wheat and the weeds neatly describes the phenomenon highlighting its resolution at the end of the system when angels remove the weeds and burn them, an event prophesied in psalm 1:5 “That is why the wicked will not remain standing in the judgment;Nor will sinners remain standing in the assembly of the righteous.” 

That the wicked would have infiltrated the “assembly of the righteous “ is an established biblical truth, a horrible and disturbing reality perhaps but an anticipated feature of the “time of the end “.

Isaiah chapter 1 describes Jehovahs frustration with a nation that trampled his courtyards in displays of religious devotion but neglected the poor and vulnerable in their community. Ezekiel 13 describes His anger at leaders who construct a whitewashed wall to fool the people into believing everything was fine, that God would never allow Jerusalem to fall. The same prophet in chapter 34 vilifies  shepherds whose neglect results in Gods precious sheep being scattered and exploited.

The point of all this is to say that an appointment from God is not a guarantee of His approval but neither does he bring retribution without fair warning. 

If the organisation has sheltered child abusers, if it’s policy has been weak and inadequate in protecting the vulnerable. Then bad press and a crisis of confidence in its authority is the least of its worries since the God that they claim to represent has made his feelings abundantly clear on these issues no power on earth can protect them from His rage.

Ezekiel 13:13 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah says: ‘I will cause powerful windstorms to burst forth in my wrath, and a torrential downpour in my anger, and hailstones in destructive fury.  14 I will tear down the wall that you plastered with whitewash and bring it down to the earth, and its foundation will be exposed. When the city falls, you will perish within her; and you will have to know that I am Jehovah.’