Disfellowshiping dead people

free2beme

I was in the Witnesses in my twenties and one time I was over at a house of a woman who needed some help. We were cleaning her house, making her some meals and so on. All this was to make her life easier, while she dealt with some things in here life. One night, she called me over to talk and wanted to ask me a question. I came over with a few friends and she told us about how her brother, was was a well known elder in the congregation, was actually a very bad man in real life. She mentioned how he drank, smoked in the back yard and owned and watched adult material. She did not say it directly, but she did seem to indicate that there might have been some molestation involved. I knew her brother growing up, and actually really disliked him, as he was a hard nose jerk, who loved his power. She asked us a question, "Do you think I should tell the elders about this, and have him disfellowshipped." Which might seem like a normal question, if it were not for the fact that he died two years earlier. So it got me to wondering, do you think the Witnesses hold judicial committees or meetings in the back room on people who died? Ever hear of someone being suggested to be disfellowshiped, after their passing. I personally have, and it shows the thinking of the average Witness. Anyone else?

Abandoned

Disfellowshipping after death would bring up a number of sticky issues for a jw.

Aren't a person's sins paid for on death?
Isn't it jehovah and jesus's job to judge the dead?
Would this suggest that they aren't really dead - the soul doesn't really die?
Since disfellowshipping, by definition involves fellowshipping, does this suggest that witnesses fellowship with the dead?

Just my thoughts...

free2beme

I think she wanted to see him shamed for what he did. As for many, he was held up as a great elder. I think she feared telling people, while he was alive and wanted some way of showing what she knew after he died. She was sincere in her comments to us. As far as I know, she did take it to the elders. Whether she asked about disfellowshipping, I do not know. She might have just asked for some advice.

gaiagirl

I would be surprised if a judicial committee would disfellowship a dead person, as the society has in the past made a big deal of how silly it was for the Roman Catholic church to excommunicate dead people, including some former popes, who in a few cases had been dead for hundreds of years, more often a few years or even decades. Of course, if the society DID disfellowship a dead person, it would not be the first time they have made a complete 180 degree change in practice.

carla

According to jw theology he no longer exists, right? I suppose God could just choose not to 'remember' him at the big A? Wouldn't that make her a bit of a bad association for not coming forward while he was alive so they could have kept the cong clean at the time? Technically isn't she taking part in his sin for not reporting him earlier? Isn't that why they tell on each other all the time?

Amazing

Hi Free2beme,

While an Elder, and in all my years as a JW, I never once heard of the idea of DF'ing dead JWs. Yet one never really knows for sure in the JW organization!

If the Society were to employ this tactic, it will be to DF people whose reputations could get the Society into trouble. The Child Abuse / Molestation issue mentioned in your comments is one possible reason. If the Society shows that once they hear of this conduct, they still take action, it may be that in their own minds they perceive it will somehow protect them from later legal actions by abuse victims. The Society might even try to argue that the DF'ed molester was not a JW, and thus the Society has no legal connection to the dead person. What will stop them from taking this ludicris and inane action is if they have hired good attorneys who help them see the folly in such a ploy. One never knows with the Watchtower Society ... even with all their wealth to protect, and the best legal advice, they are still among the best at making fools of themselves.

Jim Whitney

Jim_TX

It wouldn't surprise me if they did this, however...

a living individual - once DF'ed, has the right/ability - to repent and get re-instated. Since this person was dead, they would not have that ability.

(Sorry - I am mentalling a DF'ed corpse sitting on the back row of the KH - being shunned - no one talking to them... laughable image)

They might, however - consider Disassociation in that case.

In either case... it's a moot point. They're beliefs are a bunch of hooey.

Regards,

Jim TX

P.S. This sorta reminds me of the Mormons who will get their long-dead relatives 'baptized' (with someone else standing in for them), so that they can be 'bonded' together for eternity (or somesuch). My question to that practice is... What if the dead relative/person doesn't WANT to be baptized as a Mormon?

fullofdoubtnow

I can't see them trying this, it would conflict with their belief that the dead know nothing, apart from making them look even more stupid than they already look, if that were possible.

bebu

Even if they would df the dead, another issue is that it's her word alone. Was there any other evidence or another person to corroborate?

I like the points raised by abandoned.

bebu

lawrence

Hell, if the Mormons can baptize the dead, why can't the Witnesses disfellowship the dead?

Disfellowshiping dead people

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