AUSTRALIA
The Australian
Sex abuse Royal Commission: Church elder reveals seven men control Jehovah’s Witness teachings
AUSTRALIA has been given a rare insight into the workings of the Jehovah’s Witness Church, which believes only 144,000 people will get to heaven and they are top of the list.
A member of the secretive church’s New York-based governing body Geoffrey Jackson is giving evidence at a child sex abuse royal commission hearing in Sydney.
On Friday Mr Jackson, quoting the Bible, including from the gospel of Matthew, Deuteronomy, and the Book Of Revelations, explained that the church believes the world is now in its “last days” and seven reputable men were anointed by the Holy Spirit to be the equivalent of Jesus’s disciples.
Mr Jackson is on the seven-member body which interprets scriptures for their congregations around the world.
The commission has raised concerns that the church’s scriptural interpretations applied as doctrine mean its handling of child sex abuse allegations traumatises abuse victims and is not safe or effective.
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