when the church calls abuse, dicipline..how safe?

[Gjest eyewitness]

Hva om..... A black female member of the jehovah’s witnesses congregtion in norway was verbally abused and bullied with racial overtones ,by a white american man once a 'hippie type', turned watchtower missionary, turned circuit/district overseer visiting her congregation,

He apeared to apologize to her and her husband but then said to her husband he 'wanted to see how she reacted'??? when she wrote a letter to speak of the incident, hoping to resolve it although still very hurt by the abuse,

He (with the help of other elders) took action to further abuse his authority toward her, along with other elders followed his lead.

They then libeled against her reputation, and character, appeals of her husband and father were ignored!

Within this structure many have experienced ( My active pioneer friends, missionaries have witnessed cases like these) been abused, spiritually, emotionally, psychologicallly. And most appear fearful to speak out about this as they have been told (ambigously) that the authority of elders are not to be questioned dpending on who you talk to( althought watchtower claims there does not exist any clergy-laity) sadly some deviant,narccistic elders destroy individuals, seemingly with impunity.....for how long??????

[Gjest Gjest]

Hva om..... A black female member of the jehovah’s witnesses congregtion in norway was verbally abused and bullied with racial overtones ,by a white american man once a 'hippie type', turned watchtower missionary, turned circuit/district overseer visiting her congregation,

He apeared to apologize to her and her husband but then said to her husband he 'wanted to see how she reacted'??? when she wrote a letter to speak of the incident, hoping to resolve it although still very hurt by the abuse,

He (with the help of other elders) took action to further abuse his authority toward her, along with other elders followed his lead.

They then libeled against her reputation, and character, appeals of her husband and father were ignored!

Within this structure many have experienced ( My active pioneer friends, missionaries have witnessed cases like these) been abused, spiritually, emotionally, psychologicallly. And most appear fearful to speak out about this as they have been told (ambigously) that the authority of elders are not to be questioned dpending on who you talk to( althought watchtower claims there does not exist any clergy-laity) sadly some deviant,narccistic elders destroy individuals, seemingly with impunity.....for how long??????

Psychopathy is a concept subject to much debate, but is usually defined as a constellation of affective, interpersonal, and behavioral characteristics including egocentricity; impulsivity; irresponsibility; shallow emotions; lack of empathy, guilt, or remorse; pathological lying; manipulativeness; and the persistent violation of social norms and expectations (Cleckley 1976; Hare 1993).

The common features of psychopathic traits (the PCL-R items) are:

Glib and superficial charm; Grandiose sense of self-worth; Need for stimulation; Pathological lying; Conning and manipulativeness; Lack of remorse or guilt; Shallow affect; Callousness and lack of empathy; Parasitic lifestyle; Poor behavioral controls; Promiscuous sexual behavior; Early behavior problems; Lack of realistic, long-term goals; Impulsivity; Irresponsibility; Failure to accept responsibility for own actions; Many short-term marital relationships; Juvenile delinquency; Revocation of conditional release; Criminal versatility

BEWARE!!!

[Gjest Gjest]

......... bullying, rudeness, and gestapo-like behavior on the part of elders at times. I agree with you that there are different kinds of abuse among the Jehovah's Witnesses, some more subtle than others, but abuse just the same. Adult Witnesses have been targets of this abuse as well as children, even if the abuse has not been of a sexual nature. Abuse is abuse. That's all there is to it. Period. And in a so-called religion no one should have to put up with it