Nope. At the KH I would smile or wink at the person that came in late. I hope it made them feel a bit more welcome. If I saw someone out of the KH I would greet them. They were the ones that smiled and said hi and then walked away quickly incase someone saw. One of the ladies that got reinstated came to thank me afterwards said it ment a lot to her to see one friendly face at the KH week after week.
When you were a dub, did you shun DF/DA'd people?
by exwitless 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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blondie
In my younger years to my detriment. In my mature years, I finally realized that no one would come back if you treated them like dead people. I did avoid some nasty people at the hall that should have been df'd.
No more, though. I don't run into too many since I no longer go to the KH.
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eclipse
When I was a kid, my aunt was DF'd, and I always talked to her...she would tell me I wasn't supposed to, but I told her, I don't care! I love you and I like being around you.
I never shunned a DF'd person at the hall either. I wanted them to know that I was happy to see them, and that I wished I could talk to them, with just a smile.
If I saw a DF'd person in public, I would nod my head and say hi and smile, but not converse with them.
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Bonnie_Clyde
I always shunned and never questioned why.
One incident that always haunts me was when my son was starting Kindergarten. He had a speech impediment and he had several sessions scheduled with a speech therapist. On about the third session, I walked into the room and the speech therapist introduced me to her new assistant. Horrors! It was a young woman who had recently been disfellowshipped. I was shocked and did not respond. I saw the reaction in her face, and she walked out of the room. I never saw her again.
I wish I could talk to her now. Don't have any idea where she is.
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brinjen
No, I always at least acknowledged them with a smile and a nod.
As for me, I live a few thousand km's from the closest kh I ever attended, none of the dubs up here know I was ever one of them.
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DaCheech
same here, I would shun them for fear of the elders.
but I would ackowledge them with a smile or smooth look.
trust me it is hard, since anyone can see you
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garybuss
I'd only snub someone if I was with "certain" other Witnesses, like my parents. When I was a teen my good friend's brother was disfellowshipped and we'd hang out with him at his place all the time. Once in a while a disfellowshipped person would be stupid enough to come to the Kingdom Hall. That guaranteed they'd be snubbed by all there. Their coming to the hall kind of put us in a double bind. We'd either have to snub them or be in trouble ourselves and neither was a good choice.
When the committee disfellowships someone, those on the committee are saying we don't want you around anymore. I figured that at the hall, I was encumbered to follow the club rules, but outside the hall, I figured that I'd judge for myself who I greeted and talked to and if the Witness judges wouldn't tell me any details of why I should shun a person, I figured I didn't have enough information to shun or snub.
I think almost without exception, I liked the disfellowshipped person better than the Witness judges who disfellowshipped them. -
Honesty
No.
I just didn't feel like it was right to shun anyone because we are all sinners.
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Nellie
I was definitely in the smile and nod group. I never felt had pompous, self-righteous attitude that many I knew did - I guess that's why I never really fit in!
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winnie
Never.
Apart from anything else, there's no excuse for rudeness, and I'm not the type that cared what others thought of me anyway. As long as what they did never affected me in any way, that's their business, and generally doesn't change what type of person they are anyways.
...and yes...I did get 'spoken' to many times for not doing the 'shunning' thing, but in my opinion, shunning does more harm than can ever do good.