So I was taking a look at the next Caleb and Sofia videos we'll be covering and the next one is actually called "Lesson 17: Protect Your Children".
What could they possibly mean by that?
It's gonna get interesting. Let's get into it.
[Introductory Music]
As many of you know, Jehovah's Witnesses are known for their problem with child abuse.
They cover up lots of sexual abuse cases and as a result, they've been hit with lawsuit after lawsuit paying out the wazoo.
I think the first really big one was Candice Conti, where they covered up this girl's sexual abuse.
They told the people in the congregation to keep it quiet. They allowed this person to go on to re-offended.
And that would be bad enough if it had happened a single time -
But it didn't just happen once, it happened again, and again, and again, and again.
They protected so many offenders, and the root of the problem was a rule they call the "Two Witness Rule".
This isn't just internal stuff either-
this has been brought out in multiple court cases,
where multiple judges ordered the watchtower society to pay millions of dollars to multiple victims. So it's a real problem.
They refused to change the "Two Witness Rule" because it's from the Bible,
even though it wasn't really intended for this type of thing. It was intended for civil disagreements.
Well, ultimately what happened was the watchtower society felt pressure from the judges and the victims and everybody around them,
so instead of changing the rules to be more humane, to make sure their members are safe from that type of abuse,
they released a Caleb and Sofia video about it.
This video is the result of them paying out hundreds of millions of dollars in court-ordered fines for mishandling these cases.
This was their solution. Instead of changing the damn rule, they give us this. Let's see how they did.
[Introductory Music to Jehovah's Witness Video]
[Chalk hitting chalkboard]
[Father] Children, Jehovah wants you to be happy and keep you safe. But some people want to do bad things to you. [Stormy music]
So Jehovah gave you
"A Conscience"
[Alarm Sound Repeating] It's like an alarm system that helps you to know right from wrong. It will protect you from danger.
[Telltale] Okay, so here we have them depicting this dark evil shadowy figure trying to do bad things to them
"Quote" "Unquote" and they're talking about their conscience
I find it exceptionally Interesting
that they're talking about a conscience here, because their real goal is to silence people's consciences- their goal is to get people to act
based on their doctrine, not on their consciences. If they aren't pushing the doctrine over their conscience by
demonizing the conscience saying that it's Satan's voice speaking in your ear, then they're trying to shape their members consciences by telling them
it's wrong to talk to a family who left Jehovah, or it's wrong for women to take any part in teaching, or it's wrong to
get divorced under any circumstances-
even if the person to whom they're married is physically and emotionally abusive. The moment people question this stuff they're told that they're letting Satan into their lives too much.
If they break any of these rules, then they risk losing every person they ever knew or loved.
So I find it really interesting that they're even getting into consciences here. Well, let's see what they have to say about it
Let's continue.
[Father] So mom and I will help you test your alarm system. Ready?
[Telltale] There you go. They aren't giving their conscience free reign.
They're still shaping it into what they want it to be. Encouraging its use at all is risky for them, honestly.
But here we are. So, let's see how they shape it.
[Father] What if someone tells you something that makes you feel uncomfortable or scares you? What do you do? [Creepy Whispering in Background]
[Caleb] I'm not sure but that's weird.
[Caleb] Stop!
[Dark Shadowy Figure Hisses]
[Father] Very good! Tell them to stop it and you tell mom and daddy.
No matter what someone tells you never keep a secret from us.
[Mother] What if they ask you to do something that makes you feel uncomfortable?
[Sofia] I Would say no! [Mother] You're right, you should say no and walk away.
[Father] What if they try to touch you where they shouldn't?
[Caleb] I wouldn't let them-
[Caleb] I'd get out of there
[Telltale] Okay, so they address the elephant in the room- if they try to touch you or something then tell them no-except my biggest problem
up to this point is the fact that they're still depicting this "bad person"
as a dark shadowy figure
The majority of abuse cases are committed by somebody who's close to the family- a trusted friend or a family member.
Depicting them as a dark shadowy figure isn't helping anybody. Now don't get me wrong, this is true-
if somebody does that stuff, you should tell them no- there's nothing wrong with explaining this to a kid.
But ultimately the onus falls on the adults and the leadership to protect the kids. Kids are completely
powerless in these types of situations. A lot of the time, abusers specifically seek out emotionally and physically vulnerable kids.
So telling kids to look out for somebody evil who wants to do bad stuff doesn't really seem helpful.
It falls to the adults in the room to protect them. That means it's the Watchtower Society's responsibility to change the "Two Witness Rule",
it's the elders responsibility to instruct the parents to report it to the police if it's brought to them, and it's the parents responsibility
to completely skip the elders and go straight to the police in the first place, if for no other reason than to protect potential future victims.
Arm kids with the information they need to protect themselves, but ultimately it doesn't fall to them-
It falls to the Watchtower Society since they're the ones controlling the parents' minds
They're the ones who are responsible for this mess. If the parents minds were their own, it would be different
Let's continue.
[Mother] Good Caleb!
Even if it's an adult, you know and trust, you should say no and run away. And you should yell "Stop doing that-
I'm gonna tell on you!"
[Family] Stop doing that, I'm going to tell on you!
[Shadowy Figure] Argh! [Windy Sounds]
[Father] The world can be a scary place, but you are never alone.
[Father] Remember you have your conscience, your mom and dad who love you, and you have Jehovah.
[Happy Music from Beginning]
[Telltale] Right, I can appreciate the fact that they said "even if it's somebody you know"
But they're making it out like it's going to be some tool who just appears out of nowhere,
and tries to abuse the kid.
That isn't really how it works.
Abusers will spend years grooming a kid and getting them to a point where they trust them inherently.
It's a lot more insidious than they're implying here. So it was a valiant effort, but we really need those rules changed. Until then-
I'm not cutting them any slack. They're responsible for these cases of abuse and dozens of judges agree.
Like I said, I'm not opposed to Jehovah's Witnesses putting out a Caleb and Sofia video about how to deal with a potential abuser,
but don't make that literally the only thing you do about the problem.
You have the power and the obligation to do more about it.
Okay, let's take a look at the next Caleb and Sofia video. That one was pretty dark.
Maybe the next one's going to be a little more lighthearted. I'm not holding my breath.
[Grunge guitar music]
[Grunge guitar music] [Crowd cheering]
[Sound of Jets flying above]
[Announcer] On your marks!
[Announcer] Get set!
[Starting pistol fires]
[Crowd cheering]
[Father] Whoa Caleb! Do you know what could have happened?
[Jet Propellers]
[Collision]
[Caleb] Yeah, it could've been bad...
[Telltale] So they've given us a scenario where Caleb is running through the kingdom hall and almost nails Sister Elsa
Let's see what kind of advice
Jehovah's Witnesses provide
What reason could they give for not running in a Kingdom Hall?
Do you think it's: A - because you might run into somebody and break something?
B - make Jehovah mad and literally no other reason, or C
Both make Jehovah mad, and you might run into somebody. Let's find out:
[Father] Caleb whose house is this?
[Caleb] Jehovah's House.
[Father] Imagine this was your house, and you invited your friends over
[Sounds of children laughing, glass shattering and loud thumps, with Grunge Guitar Music Playing in Background]
[Father] But they broke all your toys
[Flatline Heart Monitor and short circuiting buzz]
[Caleb] At least my plane's okay.
[CRUNCH]
[Caleb] [Sadly] Oh man...
[Father] How would Jehovah feel if you were running, and poor Sister Elsa got hurt?
You can't fix her if she breaks. So no running in the kingdom hall.
Besides you need to save your energy
[Caleb] I do?
[Sister Elsa] [In Announcer Voice] On your marks!
[Sister Elsa] Get set!
[Sister Elsa] Go!
[Children laughing and cheering]
[Telltale] If you said "it would make Jehovah mad because you'll break all of his toys" then you were correct.
Look, this is another thing that's reasonably sound advice. You shouldn't be running in a building like that.
Certainly, not a church or something. But the fact that they have to involve Jehovah in every single thing
they teach kids is concerning to me.
They find some link between what they're trying to communicate and Jehovah and they feed it to them.
Just imagine the types of things a parent would teach a homeschooled kid. This isn't healthy.
It's a method of pushing them in a certain direction-
influencing them, getting them to think to themselves,
"How would Jehovah feel?" every time they make a decision.
It's part of their method to replace their members' personalities with the fake cult persona-
the mask.
Waking somebody up from this kind of indoctrination isn't easy
But once they get a peak from behind that mask just one time, there's no turning back. This is a one-way street.
Once they see the organization for what it is, they can't justify supporting it for another second.
That's why you find lots of people absolutely desperate to get out-
at any cost.
Burn any bridge- whatever it takes to be who they are and get out of this toxic mess.
The goal is to get that indoctrination in so deep that even when they're kicked out, they don't question it.
I didn't question it for years and maybe I never would have if my brother-in-law hadn't mentioned some of the corruption in "The
Organization" to me when I was about 22. Shout out to him. Thanks Tim. Anyways, that's all I've got for you guys.
Don't forget to check me out on Patreon.
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If you like the work I do and you want to see it continue then consider supporting me on Patreon.
Also check out my podcast where I talk about all kinds of interesting stuff.
I also read Jehovah's Witness literature once a week. Okay. Thanks for watching guys
[Outro}