A warning would be fair

by greendawn 30 Replies latest watchtower scandals

• 

  slimboyfat

  Eh? I am sure there is a section on disfellowshipping in the baptism questions.

  Slim
• 

  slimboyfat

  Part II, Question 27. What action does the congregation take when a person in its midst proves to be an unrepentant violator of God's commandments? (And it quotes 1 Cor 5:9-13)

  There is also a section in the Organized to do Jehovah's Will book about disfellowshipping that publishers are given before baptism.

  I think it is a bit unfair to claim there is no warning.

  Slim
• 

  nvrgnbk

  There is no warning about what happens if you wake up one day and don't believe it anymore and want to leave and not be bothered.
• 

  dobbie

  thats cos there is no way to leave it and not be bothered, plus i think some of them might actually find it embarrassing to admit that they will treat you that way if you leave (ok i said only SOME of them would be embarrassed). But when your'e starting to go along and they are all so pally getting to the stage where you just can't do it anymore doesn't seem believable at first.
• 

  slimboyfat

  There is no warning about what happens if you wake up one day and don't believe it anymore and want to leave and not be bothered.

  You do have a point there. Maybe they should play this at the baptism to make it clear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJt86UqHtX8 Slim
• 

  nvrgnbk

  There is no warning about what happens if you wake up one day and don't believe it anymore and want to leave and not be bothered.

  You do have a point there. Maybe they should play this at the baptism to make it clear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJt86UqHtX8 Slim

  LOL!

  I have renewed respect for you, Slim.
• 

  JWdaughter

  SBF: The scrpt cited in 1 cor: 9I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

  12What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you."[a]

  Hmm, That doesn't cover most of the 'sins' that I know people are being disfellowshipped for: Smoking, voting, joining the Y, disagreeing with WT interpretation. . .come on, I have known personally of 'fornicators' who were repentent from the get go and still expelled, and I still know drunkards and MURDERERS, swindlers etc. who are going door to door preaching the good news as a member of the JWs in good standing. I was expelled for not agreeing with a teaching NOT covered by the above scripture.

  Many families will not associate with those who have hurt others by bad behaviors listed above. That is actually natural, and not a strange request by the bible writer. But to stop talking to a person who doesn't agree with a doctrinal point, or who SMOKES, or had a transfusion or was in a compromising (not in a court of law, but a back room trial) position??? Not actually covered by the above scripture. I would be interested to know how the book(as I don't have it) explains the WT process of the JC, the evidence actually needed and the fact that it is NOT done in a biblical manner. Does it explain how shunning works? When people were expelled for not quitting smoking in 6 mos back in the '70's, how was that in any way explained before they joined OR justified in a truly biblical way. It wasn't. They weren't grandfathered in or given any mercy. How about the ever changing blood teachings? The WT is so vague now about EVERYTHING, that one doesn't have any firm teaching on what will get one expelled or not. You are just said to be "no longer one of JWs". They change the rules in the middle of the game and don't even tell you what the darn rules ARE.
• 

  Awakened07

  I was raised a witness, but I did get baptized, and I did of course study and read for the baptism questions before doing so, so I'm not without excuse. But this whole shunning and disfellowshipping business didn't really register with me at all while active. I obviously knew it was the practice, but I never thought it would be possible to stop believing in the Truth™. To have doubts in a few details, yes - but not to stop believing it altogether.

  So I figured those who were disfellowshipped were so because they had sinned without regretting, as per the scriptures quoted above. It's weird, but when you're in, you don't really allow yourself to think deeply about these things. At least I didn't. It was the disfellowshipped person's fault, so it was 'sad' and 'too bad', but they would have to pay the consequences of their actions. I don't think it really registered with me until someone in my family got disfellowhipped.

  But I actually would defend the disfellowshipping practice for quite some time - it was maybe one of the last doctrines I chose to disregard. And I think it was just as much out of fear. I could feel some kind of fear of bumping into people who had been disfellowshipped. This was a person I really didn't want to associate with or talk to, both because the person could influence me, and also because God was watching and wouldn't want me to.

  I guess my point is you don't really see what it does and how wrong it is when you're on the inside. Even when "pressed against the wall" and you start to almost think(!), there's that Big Black Book with the scripture telling us it's right to shun (as the JWs interpret it, at least). So for me it was hard to shake. But as I gradually "woke up" in several areas, the veil was lifted, and I saw how ridiculous it was for me to 'shun' people. I didn't want to be the kind of person who could treat others that way. I don't think I dared even think along those lines until I allowed myself to "think outside the box", in my case outside the Bible, and outside a God-created universe. A God I should fear. With an objective view on how God could and/or should be, all kinds of new thoughts emerged in my brain.
• 

  metatron

  The absence of any explanation of disfellowshipping in the Society's new book - which tells people to

  request baptism in it's later chapters - is fraud , pure and simple. What would people's reaction be if

  a loan company did something like this?

  metatron
• 

  FairMind

  I was so sure that the WTBTS was truly the Christian congregation that I truly believed that they would not do anything unfair or contrary to God's love. It took a few years but one day I woke up and saw that their number one concern was the authority of the organization over all aspects of one's life including what you think. What is right and what is wrong is secondary to their exercise of authority.