by isaacaustin 3 Replies latest jw friends
I know the Wt articles from 1974 thru 81...and the seeming lightening on the treatment of dfed indivuals.
How were these changes in practice? Dfed individuals were not shunned? What was the extent of the changes? Could you carry on a conversation? Socialize? Was it different with family members than non-family members?
I was of the age that I knew what was going on between 1974-1981. I don't remember treating DF'ed individuals any different, we didn't talk to them. Then again my family was very zealous. When my father was DF'ed in 1980 (very scandalous), even though I was a minor, it was very strongly suggested that I never speak to him again. The 1980's was a time that you didn't even have to be baptised to be treated as though you were DF'ed. Plenty of minor, non baptised kids would get caught up in some wrongdoing and there would be an announcement made that they were bad association and then they would be shunned.
We had a very beloved brother DFd back in my old KH then....... he wasn't spoken to in the KH proper, but we as children were encouraged to encourage him with a friendly smile and a wave. While no man shook his hand in the KH there were lots of pats on the back to show support of him seeking reinstatement. I remember he was spoken to in the parking lot and he went out in FS as silent support with some of the pioneer sisters (like my mom and our group, we actually broke out the doilies for prayer during breaks!) and elders. The DFment was short too cuz I remember his reinstatement party. There was so much joy at the announcement of reinstatement and anticipation as he was called to give his first reinstated comment, later he closed the meeting with prayer the next Sunday.
We had a lot of love and level heads in that KH.
The 1981 policy change pretty much started the shunning of disassociated members here. It also made associating with disassociated people a shunning offense, where to my knowledge, before 1981 it wasn't.
All of these corporate big business religion policy changes have been good for me. The Witnesses were wearing the wheels off my appliance cart and not one of them was smart enough to know how to rewind the strap back into the ratchet. Now I have cart peace.
