Here is the typical apostate ploy:
1. Claims of special inside information that no one else has, information not gathered from other apostate sites.
2. Claims that the elders knew about it all along but did absolutely nothing or disfellowshipped the victim instead of the abuser.
3. Have no proof of anything claimed and banks on the hopes that no one will ever take time to investigate their claims and find information that can disprove what they are saying.
4. Tries to play on emotions making anyone who questions them appear to be on the side of the molester and against the victim.
You've no doubt heard these types of stories: 'I knew someone that was disfellowshipped for reporting allegations to the police. A sister in my congregation was told by the elders not to go to the police. This brother molested children for decades and the elders stood by and did nothing about it. This elder molested children and was never removed as an elder.' And so on and so on. In fact, Bill Bowen of Silentlambs claims to have some 7000 similar horror stories.
You will agree that there are many haters and opposers of Jehovah's Witnesses. They would stop at nothing to discredit Jehovah's Witnesses. No doubt, some of the stories are from those ones. Others may be based on truth but are exaggerated somewhat. Many times you will agree that there are two sides to the story. Sometimes a person will omit or forget some of the facts to make themselves look more believable. Two of the most famous cases against the Watchtower Society, involving Vicki Boer and Sara Poisson, are two examples of this. A closer examination of their stories and the court records shows their claims to be bogus as we have previously shown.
Are we saying that all stories about elders mishandling cases are untrue? Of course not. As long as you are dealing with imperfect humans mistakes are bound to happen. Some elders may overstep the policy of the Watchtower Society and decide how to handle the case on their own resulting in serious mistakes and problems for those involved. Even an attorney for the Watchtower Society, Philip Brumley admitted: "There are instances when a situation that should have been reported is not. Or where care should have been extended and it was not. But to say that the policy is not followed perfectly is a far cry from saying that there exists a policy to affirmatively minimize, or hide this problem. The policy that Jehovah's Witnesses have on how to handle cases of child molestation is without equal in the religious community."
But by the same token there is no doubt that the numbers are greatly exaggerated by the Silentlambs group because they apparently have a goal that is not readily seen by the ones who do not want to see it. Their statements and writings are misleading and twisted. They slant reality to fit their agenda as shown previously. Ask yourself why should I believe every word they say? Am I willing to believe the words of ones trying to discredit the Watchtower Society but not believe factual documentation and the words of the ones who help me to see the truth of the Bible? Am I willing to believe their words but unwilling to believe the words of an organization that trys to stay clean by disfellowshipping fornicators, rapist, child molesters, and the like? What other organization disfellowships practicing child molesters and shuns them? If Jehovah's Witnesses wanted to boost their ranks all they would have to do is allow the fornicators to remain or join. They could probably triple their membership in no time if that was simply the goal of the Watchtower Society.
Why would Jehovah's Witnesses possibly want to keep child molesters in the organization? Because they make such great elders and ministerial servants? JWs just LOVE these guys! They're so nice to have in the congregation! Yeah, sometimes they get into a little too much hot water and their acts have to be hidden to do whatever to protect these lovable molestors, but it's worth it. Even when the elders are forced because of overwhelming evidence to remove them from the congregation (such a sad thing to see a molestor go) they still try to make sure they're safe from the authorities. It would be such an injustice if they were to have to go to jail where they wouldnt be able to slip back in to some other congregaton elsewhere so that their company could be enjoyed once again. And yeah, the Watchtower realizes this practice will cost them millions of dollars in the courts eventually, but I tell you, its worth it, to have these wonderful individuals among us drooling over our little ones. How ridiculous the above reasoning is. But isn't that essentially the reasoning of those who claim Jehovah's Witnesses cover up child molesting?
There is no logical or reasonable explanation why the Watchtower Society would want molesters to be in the organization or be servants in the organization. They are simply trying to follow Bible principles in the policy they have in place. It is not sinister. It is not a cover up to try to show we have a spiritual paradise. If that was the case, why not cover up fornication as well. There are far more fornicators than child molesters. Why not keep fornication hush hush to give the appearance of an organization that lives in a perfect spiritual paradise with no wrongdoing whatsoever. It makes no sense. It is illogical. And it is nonfactual.
One poster at Topix summed it up concerning child abuse stories when he said, "People claim all sorts of things. They claim they know about all sorts of instances of child abuse. They know every detail of what happened. They know who knew about it, they knew when they knew about it, they just know everything. And of course, the subject of all the 'knowing' always got away with it...
This is a variation on an atrocity story- a common tactic used by the so-called 'anti''cult' movement. It doesn't need to be true. It doesn't even need to be verifiable. All that matters is that you cause an emotional reaction in the reader. Get them mad. Get their witchhunt mentality worked up. Get their desire to be 'in the know' worked up. Remember, these people have 'inside information,' they have 'the truth' about 'the truth.' They have knowledge that no one else has,...
It's a great deal of arrogance, born out of the idea that the exJW turned opposer was an oppressed person who was smarter or better than the rest of the JW congregation and they're going to make JWs and their agent the WTS pay for 'keeping them down.'
That isn't to say that some things stated by opposers aren't or can't be true. I'm sure there are stories on 'silent''lambs' that may be true. What I've always said is that they are unverifiable. They are unsubstantiated. They are hearsay. And many of their details are just so outrageous that, sans cognitive dissonance, they cannot be believed without some sort of proof.
But proof is the enemy of the JW opposer. That's why they can make outrageous claims... because they don't expect you to question them or their 'proof.' Of course the proof they present damns them- like the evidence in the Boer case. But they're so arrogant they expect their readers to take their word for it. To ask for proof of the JW opposer is to make yourself 'an apologist troll'..."
We have a classic example in the Ralph Heroux case of this type of ploy used by opposers. Please continue if you would like to read about it.
Chapter Twenty-three: The Apostates' Heroux