hangin_on....I have already posted one reply but have another...but before I do...I gotta say this about something sparkplug said:
old fucktards
OMG that is so damn funny... a combination of the f word and bastards....OMG, I have to add that word to my vocabulary to describe idiot elders.... now back to the more serious topic at hand....
Sorry hangin_on....speaking of idiot elders, this you said made me reply again:
I believe that the judicial hearing is no different than a court hearing and the elders seek to be guided by holy spirit but that jah does not directly influence them... they make the ultimate decision based on what they see from you and the application of bible principles.
no....no....no....let me break this down for you. it is a conflict to say that "the elders seek to be guided by holy spirt" and immediately turn around and say "Jah does not directly influence them"..... Holy spirit, by either the non-trinitarian or trinitarian version of the doctrine, is inseparable from God. In the (nonJW) trinitarian belief...God and the holy spirit is the same....In the JW non-trinitarian belief, the holy spirit is God's active force...that he controls...either way...you cannot make the statement you made with accuracy....
Operating under the assumption that the holy spirit (with or without Jehovah being involved) is with the elders is BULL$HIT.... you next state "they {the elders} make the ultimate decision based on what they see from you and the application of bible principles." Again I say BULL$HIT...and here is why I say that.
Hangin_on, my dear friend, I was until very recently, an elder. I served on nearly two dozen committees in the time I was an elder. I had inside knowledge of how things work (officially and unofficially) that even the local BOE I served on did not have. The ultimate decision to DF/DA/unannounced reproof/unannounced reproof/reinstate/not reinstate is based on the feelings of the local BOE that took action against you. If they have an axe to grind against you, you are doomed.
There is nothing Scriptural about the process. Most JC's just want to "Get it over with" as quickly as possible. Often, the decision was made off the record when the BOE met to appoint the JC...."open and shut" cases is what they were often called. So the JC was the judge, jury, and executioner....very different than a worldly court hearing.
On the few committees that I was chairman of (thus guiding the process), I insisted that we use Scriptures. I did this before we met with the accused as we were reviewing the case, during the process with the accused, at the end of the process to either counsel and reprove, or to give sanction and show scripturally what the accused needed to do to get reinstated.... and after the accused was dismissed as the JC wrapped up the notes and paperwork. I irritated the hell out of the local elders because of this...they just "wanted to get it over with"...their words..... I was apparently a rare elder (a renegade is what I was called by one group of elders on a JC) that wanted to try do things Scripturally....at least according to WT intrepretations of "Scriptural".
Hangin_on...I realize now -- as a former elder and fading JW -- that there is nothing "Scriptural" about the entire Judicial Committee process. The WTS twists the Scriptures to allow for JCs and to allow for shunning. I certainly understand why you may want to get reinstated, etc. I myself do not want to get DF or DA either....I dont want to lose what few friends I have.....(some would, maybe rightfully, say that they are not real friends if they do that..but that is a topic that has been covered on this board many times)
Please take care of your wife....dont worry about the WT (aka the Borg).....your immediate family is what is important...
Snakes ()