Its way harsh isnt it?
What basis for disfellowshipping/shunning?
by Bad Girl 12 Replies latest jw friends
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tijkmo
According to the jws, shunning someone is an act of love, to encourage them to mend their ways and return to the congregation, so they can enjoy the fellowship of other jws again. I used to believe that, now it seems a wierd way to show them you love them to me.
i was thinking about this recently...this concept of family/friends not speaking to or including the df-ed one in stuff may well have the effect of making that one want to come back in order to enjoy that fellowship again...and yes that is what jws will say the effect should be...
but if you were to say to a reinstatement commitee that this was your reason for returning then it would be unacceptable...one is supposed to show complete hatred for the thing they did wrong..something very difficult to do in a depressed disillusioned state due to isolation experienced by shunning...the most a commitee can look for is acknowledgement of the wrong committed and a desire to return in order to build up the hatred for the wrong at some future time and a commitment not to re-offend (or try best not too)
but according to the latest watchtower..even shame is not enough...what chance has a wrongdoer got..whatever he does or says to endeavour to prove his repentant attitude can be interpreted as exactly the opposite if that be the desire of the commitee..
i know...i was that soldier
and then when you do get reinstated...even if it is for all the right reasons and has involved a physical mental emotional battle...then the friends that you returned to enjoy association with,..and who you are relying on to give you the strength to continue combatting re-offending and rebuild your faith, desert you because they dont want to associate with a failure..
and the only person who fully understands this and the damage it is doing..is alledgedly jehovah....who does nothing
the irony just knocks me out
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hillary_step
Badgirl,
Its way harsh isnt it?
I have personal experience of people commiting suicide due to the pressure of being shunned by their family, friends, and often those JW's that they work with.
The doctrine is not just harsh, it is murderous, and those that view the JW's as another benign but batty fringe religion often do so from a position of ignorance. Many doctrines that the Jehovah's Witnesses adhere to are dangerous, anti-social and were they not able to hide behind the First Amendment, of an imprisonable nature.
When the dangerous aspects of these doctrines are refined socially, as they will be with the passage of time, these XJW Boards will cease to have much use, but as of now they serve a life-line for many thousands injured and emotionally mutilated by their past experiences with the Witnesses.
Best regards - HS