Was the Watchtower Society Justified in Disfellowshiping Some Individuals?

by The wanderer 24 Replies latest jw friends

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  sir82

  If Cano were DF'd, that would at least protect the children in the congregation to some degree. This would be desirable, no?

  Answering the question, yes it would be desirable to protect children.

  But the sole reason Cano was D-F'ed was that the case was notorious, on all the local TV stations. As I recall, during LDH's "interview" with JR Brown, he (Brown) pretty much said the elders went to the jail cell where Cano was awaiting his bail hearing and D-F'ed him on the spot. Strictly speaking, they broke their own rules, in not announcing it until his 7-day appeal period ran out. It apparently was such a heinous case they wanted to be able to immediately say he was "no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses".

  Do you think he would have been D-F'ed so quickly if the news media weren't involved?

  Heck, his victim wasn't even a JW! So, not only were there not 2 witnesses, the one witness would have been a "non-believer". According to the Elder manual, testimony of a non-believer only "may" be considered.

  I don't mean to sidetrack the discussion, but the WTS was typically hypocritical in the example you cited.
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  AuldSoul

  Richard,

  They may consider themselves justified. But according to the Bible, they were not justified. Even in the case of Cano. Publicly exposing what Cano was doing would have been "the right thing" and also what the Bible recommends.

  "Reprove before all onlookers." The elders reprove privately and announce the results of the reproof publicly. The elders also presume to judge several things that each Christian is responsible for judging for themselves: (1) guilt, i.e. whether or not wrongdoing actually occurred, (2) whether or not the sin and reaction merits non-physical discipline/rebuke, (3) the degree to which and length of time such discipline/rebuke should be carried out, and (4) the conditions under which individual Christians would feel sufficient repentance has been displayed.

  The fact is, the elders cannot protect the congregation from ignorance unless they inform the congregation. They cannot teach the congregants to become mature decision makers unless they let the congregants make decisions.

  Taking Cano as an example, suppose the behavior was not released on national news networks and to the Internet. Suppose the local body found out about it, verified that the wrongdoing occurred, saw no repentance and disfellowshipped Cano, and announced to the congregation that "Jesus Manuel Cano is no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses."

  Because, that is what USUALLY happens. Who, besides the elders, knows what Cano did? If Cano later gets reinstated, will parents know to keep their children from him? If not, why not?

  Doing it the way they do it renders their acts of disfellowshipping unjustified. The lack of justification, in this case, has nothing to do with the actions of the accused and everything to do with keeping sin hidden from the congregation.

  Respectfully,
  AuldSoul
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  parakeet

  wanderer: "Was the Watchtower Society Justified in Disfellowshiping Some Individuals?"
  
  Your question is framed such that it appears the WTS disfellowshipping policy is justified but merely misapplied in most cases.
  
  If the DFing policy is unjust and unscriptural (which it is), then there is no justification for disfellowshipping anyone. I think it was Farkel who said the JWs are the only religion that shoots its wounded.
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  BluesBrother

  Disfellowshipping is in the scriptures, so it has some weight of authority behind it. Any organization has the right to expel someone, BUT - that need not and should not reach out into family life , indeed any life outside. I am sure that a reasonable view of first century customs would reveal the fact that the scripture should not be interpreted as it is today.

  As for Paedophiles, sure, expel them from the congregation and make sure the authorities are made aware of their criminal and dangerous acts, in line with Romans ch 13..... I would not wish to ban Cano's mother (if she still lives) from ever speaking to him again
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  Wasanelder Once

  Well, we all know how reliable J.R. Brown's word is. In my mind, within the disfellowshiping game frame, DF'ing Cano would protect children at least short term. Yes, I agree the police should always be notified. In that case it would all be up front and the Congregation would be put on proper notice. But as has been seen in California recently, that doesn't make witnesses bright enough to stay away from the predator when they are released! "He is so sorry for what he did." blah blah blah.

  Ok, I don't really care if they drop him off a cliff. Honest, I don't. But according to the question, its about the only thing JW's have in their bag of tricks to isolate this kind of danger. That was my reference. There are better things to do, like turn them into the police.

  S'all I'm sayin. And I won't say no more....

  W.Once