How long do the elders expect a DF'd person to wait before coming back?

by JH 10 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  JH

  When I attended meetings years ago, if a brother or sister got DF'd they weren't supposed to come back to their meetings right away even if they wanted to repent....

  If I remeber well, you had to stay away from the meetings for a few months and them come back if you wished, as if to show that you made changes in your lifestyle and then decided to come back.

  If you were disfellowshipped and went back to the meetings right after, it was a sign that you didn't understand what happened to you and you weren't trying to fix what you did wrong.

  Maybe it was different in other congregations.
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  ButtLight

  Its exactly the opposite here. They expect you at every meeting right away. If you dont, it will just take that much longer to get reinstated!
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  JH

  The way a MS told me back then, the disfellowshipped person wasn't showing respect for the elders decision, if they came back the next meeting.

  You had to show that you made changes in your life, and then come back.....
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  nvrgnbk

  Its exactly the opposite here. They expect you at every meeting right away. If you dont, it will just take that much longer to get reinstated!

  That's what I've seen too Butt. Either way, there will be some "good" elders that are compassionate and want to see you "succeed" and there will be some that are looking forward to the opportunity to humiliate you. It's a crap shoot. It would appear that the Holy Spirit is schizophrenic.
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  juni

  NEVER experienced that JH! They want you back at all meetings PRONTO...... that shows you are performing works that PROVE you are repentant. Sick, hey? How unlike what they teach about the prodigal son.

  It's all part of their "Jump Through the Hoops" repentence rules. It's getting that control over you once again before you're accepted back in so that others are then "safe" from defilement.

  Juni ~~
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  BluesBrother

  I dont think they "expect" anything when they d/f you. If you professed repentance and they did not believe you, then it would look better if you continued in unbroken meeting attendance - silently saying "You see I really was repentant"

  Of course if you are still living with your boy/girlfriend then there may be not much point in attending until you have got married or split up..Or better still never go back at all.
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  drew sagan

  My wife was told that she could as soon as she wanted to. Nothing was said regarding a waiting period.
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  dedpoet

  Around here, they like to see the df'd person attending the meetings
  before the ink is dry on the S-77 form.

  They need them there to keep control over them, to make sure that
  they are still being indoctrinated, rather than risk having them go out
  into the "world" and maybe getting ideas that being df'd isn't such a
  bad thing after all.

  I think they must get some sort of perverse pleasure from seeing df'd
  ones having to sit at the back of the hall, not being allowed to speak
  to anyone, comment in the watchtower or other q&a items, and being
  ignored by the rest of the congregation. It's as if being announced isn't
  humiliating enough, and they want to teach the "sinner" a lesson they
  won't forget.
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  sammielee24

  Return immediately. Sit in the car though and wait until all the 'friends' have sat down so as to spare them the tragedy of having to look you in the eye or recognize that you are in the hall. Slink in the door and sit at the back. Keep quiet. Slink back out just before it ends so that the 'friends' can avoid being further tainted by your presence and run back to your car. Do that for 5 or so years and you might be allowed back in the membership and all that time you should understand that these are your true 'friends'. LOL....yeah right...sammieswife.
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  WTWizard

  Just one more sign of disunity within the "Christian" congregation. They talk about unity, and yet there are examples of where disfellowshipped people are expected to wait before going to meetings again. Yet the majority of them expect the person to start going to all the meetings immediately. Unity?