Disfellowshipping.......

by Cori 10 Replies latest jw friends

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  Cori

  I have a good friend who has been disfellowshipped twice, and currently has been for over 2 years with the local elders not wanting to reinstate him. He always was viewed as the black sheep in our cong. when we were growing up and the elders have decided to teach him a lesson now. We have been keeping in contact, and recently over a telephone conversation, he let me know about his frustration with the elders and the whole disfellowshipping issue. (He doesn't know about my doubts or fading...) I told him I wanted to talk to him about that, and made arrangements to meet him face to face. He's the type of person that will understand where I'm coming from, even if he doesn't agree with me in the end. I wanted to have some information ready, especially on how disfellowshipping is wrong, to show to him, and finally start him on the real 'truth'. Does anyone have any ideas where I can start??

  Any help would be appreciated....Thanks

  Cori
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  diamondblue1974

  Be careful he might be quite open minded and genuinely annoyed with his situation but you never know; he still may have his apostate radar on and reject any negative point you may make which seems alien to the witnesses view; be careful is my advice....test the water...

  DB74
• 

  Ellie

  Mmm, not too sure really, I agree with Diamondblue so maybe for starters you could be really subtle, make it personal to him, like go on about the disfellowshipping procedure and the shunning policy and tell him you don't think Jesus would have treated him like that, etc etc.
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  TopHat

  Listen to what he has to say to you first before you jump in with your views.
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  Legolas

  Do you have a copy of In Search Of Christian Freedom or Crisis Of Conscience? ...I would tell him to read those!
• 

  AlmostAtheist

  DF'ing isn't in line with Jesus prodigal son illustration.

  There is no scripture indicating how to form or conduct a judicial committee, nor is there any even vague reference to one. (They pull that out of their ass the old testament, but it isn't even close to that arrangement either)

  It's only common sense that a christian would choose not to associate with a person that claims to be a christian while also committing adultery, idolatry and so forth. Reading the shunning scriptures without the Watchtower bias, you can see that they are just advice to christians, to be applied individually and not as a result of congregation action.

  That it was not a hard-and-fast shunning rule is shown by 2 Corinthians 2:6 where it says, "This rebuke [shunning] given by the majority is sufficient for such a man". If the rebuke was given by the "majority", wouldn't that indicate that a minority did not join in the shunning? Where is the scriptural record of this wicked minority being shunned? Apparently, it was ok to handle people however your conscience and good sense told you to.

  Dave
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  Cori

  He was asking me recently why I havent been to a meeting....he said it in a joking way. So i definitely understand the need to tread subtlely over some subjects...I just dont have any idea where to start.
• 

  Cori

  Good Points, Dave...Thanks
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  jgnat

  Even though my JW husband has been frequently misused by the Elders, he still believes that it is the "truth". So first of all you need to find out, what is the cord that binds?

  Then, show him there are alternatives.

  He likely feels trapped in his situation. Show him there is another way to live. This may not be covered in a single conversation.
• 

  AK - Jeff

  Cori - Although Franz covers it better in ISoCF than he does in CoC, there are still some good points in CoC about Df'ing.

  Just look in the index under Df'ing for the portions on that.

  I would discuss the misapplication of 1 Corr 5 and 2 John. These scriptures are misapplied by the WTS to make shunning appear scriptural.

  Someone here may know of a good thread that covers those points well - I don't off the top of my head.

  Jeff