John Ortberg’s Estranged Son Accuses Him of Protecting Pedophile

[livinginthelight]

I want to say thanks for the understanding tone when I know what I'm saying is not a popular opinion. I want to be sensitive and to support abuse survivors. I definitely admit I could be wrong when I express my doubts and as a general rule I believe it's important to err on the side of believing the accuser when there is doubt.

I realized another thing that is nagging at me. This is a BOMBSHELL accusation against both John Ortberg and Nancy Beach, and yet Danny, when posting it, has made zero additional commentary other than what he said on the original post. This is his FATHER and Danny usually is never silent about any issue this close to home. He has since posted about a bookshop and warhammer games.  It just seems odd to me.

Also, Ruth Hutchins, who was all over the other Ortberg accusations and who specializes in exposing abuse in churches, has said nothing on her Twitter account. I know she is close to Danny. Why hasn't she said anything? I am suspecting because she doesn't give credence to the accusation.

https://twitter.com/RuthDHutchins/

Edited March 1, 2021 by livinginthelight

[closetcagebaby]

3 hours ago, livinginthelight said:

I want to say thanks for the understanding tone when I know what I'm saying is not a popular opinion. I want to be sensitive and to support abuse survivors. I definitely admit I could be wrong when I express my doubts and as a general rule I believe it's important to err on the side of believing the accuser when there is doubt.

I realized another thing that is nagging at me. This is a BOMBSHELL accusation against both John Ortberg and Nancy Beach, and yet Danny, when posting it, has made zero additional commentary other than what he said on the original post. This is his FATHER and Danny usually is never silent about any issue this close to home. He has since posted about a bookshop and warhammer games.  It just seems odd to me.

Also, Ruth Hutchins, who was all over the other Ortberg accusations and who specializes in exposing abuse in churches, has said nothing on her Twitter account. I know she is close to Danny. Why hasn't she said anything? I am suspecting because she doesn't give credence to the accusation.

https://twitter.com/RuthDHutchins/

I don’t get this. Danny has known about this for a while now. He has obviously done his grieving - he cut off his family and changed his name. He tweeted about it, he obviously believes this woman, but why does he need to do more than that? I don’t understand why you see his tweet about a bookstore as “evidence” of anything. 
 

eta:

Ruth said she was going on Twitter hiatus four days ago. These allegations were tweeted by Danny six days ago. It’s just as reasonable to assume her hiatus is related to her own feelings about rape trauma, etc, as it is to assume she doesn’t believe this victim. 

I don’t see why it’s easier to believe that a woman fabricated allegations with the hopes that two years down the line they would get tweeted to 60k people than that a man with horrible judgment, extreme capacity for hypocrisy, and pastoral power did what so many in that position do. 

Edited March 1, 2021 by closetcagebaby

[closetcagebaby]

The victim literally says that Ruth put them in touch with Danny and Grace, so I don’t think the theory about Ruth not believing the allegations holds any water. 

[livinginthelight]

3 hours ago, closetcagebaby said:

The victim literally says that Ruth put them in touch with Danny and Grace, so I don’t think the theory about Ruth not believing the allegations holds any water. 

That's a good point.

According to Ruth, Menlo has finally hired a qualified independent investigator. I am hopeful that we will get some answers.

[Howl]

On 3/5/2021 at 2:55 PM, livinginthelight said:

According to Ruth, Menlo has finally hired a qualified independent investigator. I am hopeful that we will get some answers.

From The Roys Report: 

Menlo Church Investigation Finds No Direct Evidence or Disclosures of Sexual Abuse

Interesting read.  No direct evidence that John Ortberg's son (Individual A) abused boys, but Individual A would not allow any inspection of his laptop and specifically his search history. 

Spoiler

The report also raised concern about a laptop belonging to Individual A, which had gone missing at one point. Several witnesses reported that Individual A was concerned about their search history being reviewed, because of visits to sites about people who were attracted to children. Individual A denied any illegal activity to the witnesses Zero Abuse spoke to.

“In our conversation with him, Individual A also denied doing anything illegal with the laptop. However, he did decline our offer to examine the laptop,” the report stated. The report also stated the evidence “supports a conclusion that Individual A’s laptop had a search history related to his attraction to children.”

 

Edited October 14, 2021 by Howl

[livinginthelight]

11 hours ago, Howl said:

From The Roys Report: 

Menlo Church Investigation Finds No Direct Evidence or Disclosures of Sexual Abuse

Interesting read.  No direct evidence that John Ortberg's son (Individual A) abused boys, but Individual A would not allow any inspection of his laptop and specifically his search history. 

  Reveal hidden contents

The report also raised concern about a laptop belonging to Individual A, which had gone missing at one point. Several witnesses reported that Individual A was concerned about their search history being reviewed, because of visits to sites about people who were attracted to children. Individual A denied any illegal activity to the witnesses Zero Abuse spoke to.

“In our conversation with him, Individual A also denied doing anything illegal with the laptop. However, he did decline our offer to examine the laptop,” the report stated. The report also stated the evidence “supports a conclusion that Individual A’s laptop had a search history related to his attraction to children.”

 

I read the whole report. Wow. Excellent job on the part of the investigators, particularly in their recommendations section.

While there thankfully was no evidence of abuse by Ortberg's son, it's very very clear that John Ortberg's negligence, aided by the Session (governing body) caused significant damage to all involved. Such a sad situation.

I have already forwarded the report to the staff of my church and volunteered to help review our youth safety procedures.