DF'ing and DA'ing procedural change in the horizon

by iloowy 285 Replies latest members private

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  cognac

  If they did this it would not suprise me. But there are problems with it. How many meetings constitute inactivity. Would not going out in service at all but going to the meetings qualify. What if half the congregation qualifies. The congregations I have been associated with have a large number of jws that do not go out in service. There could be entire families that qualify.

  I don't really agree with this interpretation. I think that most JWs would probably put in an hour or so and those that miss a lot of meetings still go to a meeting here and there.

  I think this new policy is in regards to people who have completely faded and haven't been to even 1 meeting in at least a year or so. If you are going to a meeting here and there or putting in at least 15 minutes, I don't think this would apply to you.

  However, correct me if I'm wrong...
• 

  daniel-p

  Well, if it's true (and I find it easy to believe it is), I welcome whatever action they feel they need to take in my case. No more games.
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  neverendingjourney

  I hope this is true. I don't have it in me to DA myself. Being able to interact with my family is too important to me. At the same time, I'm unable to make a life for myself. Because of my desire not to get DF'd, I'm being held back by my JW past. There are a lot of things I want to do that I can't do openly for fear of being disfellowshipped. As a consequence, my life is going down the tubes.

  I'm a few months shy of turning 30. Much of my "youth" is gone, and I can't say I've lived life on my own terms. Ever. I'm not enjoying myself, nor am I living life to the fullest. I hope the involuntarily DA me. I doubt I'll ever have the strength to do it myself, at least not while my mother's alive.

  I'm tired of keeping up appearances. For instance, I haven't gone to meetings in almost 4 years, and I still shave my beard every time I go see my mother. There's no reason why a grown man should have to do that.
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  crazycate

  I seriously doubt this. Too many variables involved. It's like gluttony. How many have been disfellowshipped for this? I've never known anyone who was.

  I could imagine them strongly discouraging association with ones who never go out in service or to meetings, saying they would be "bad association." But actually announcing that such ones had "disassociated" themselves? I really don't think so.

  Cate
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  blondie

  The term "inactive" in WTS parlance only refers to turning in a time slip. I have known jws that turned in and still do turn in time slips but never attend any meetings and are not housebound and the elders accept it, after all it makes their numbers look good.

  How would they know for sure where and when you were attending meetings? You could very well be going to other congregations in the area on a rotating basis. Would they start making it mandatory to attend where your cards are and penalize you if you don't; and penalize themselves by having to keep a name by name attendance roster. Would they have to check with those other congregations to make sure you indeed did attend?

  BTW, 15 minutes a month is only for older and infirm jws that have gotten approval from the service committee. Otherwise, younger and healthy jws are expected to turn in 1 hour a month for 6 months in a row to be considered "active."

  What happens to irregular jws? Especially those they haven't been out for 5 months in a row?

  I'd like to see what scriptures they stretch to show that the 1st century Christians were required to turn in a time slip for 1 hour every month or they would be disassociated. In fact, I'd like to see where in the bible any Christian was ever "disassociated."

  Blondie
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  cabasilas

  Actually, this kind of makes sense from the WT perspective.

  If the person will not respond to the elders in an appropriate manner, then they're virtually outside of the Organization already. So, this makes it easy to make sure they're not going to "infect" anyone on the inside.

  So, if this is true, then the word "expulsion" from Jehovah's Witnesses would disappear from their vocabulary. All former members just leave the Organization, either expressly or "by their actions." It would seem, however, that a court could see through the double talk.

  Also, what would happen if a JW is seen as disassociated because he/she committed fornication and was not repentant enough? They still want to be a JW, but the elders would say they are showing by their actions they don't want to be. Sounds messy to me.
• 

  passwordprotected

  @neverendingjourney - if you're so unhappy with life and you don't enjoy being you, is interacting with your family really worth such misery???
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  passwordprotected

  I think we could easily lose some focus on this thread; if this rumour is real, then it will act as both a threat, deterrent and control technique.
  
  Spouses can use it as a threat, parents can use it as a threat, BoEs can use it as a threat. "If you don't get back to the meetings and turn in some time the elders will DA you!" Suddenly an army of faders return to their nearest KH.
  
  It becomes a deterrent to the point that few even consider becoming faders in the first place. DAing becomes the only option and the R&F will just view that as 'sifting'.
  
  It will control the R&F, putting them under pressure to put fading relatives and friends under pressure to get back to the KH. It will be about loyalty, testing the loyalty of the R&F. "We're trying to get a hold of your daughter, Brother Fradeycat, do you have any contact details for her?"
  "Er, why are you interested in her? She hasn't been to a meeting in 4 years."
  "Exactly. Now, where does your loyalty lie? To your daughter or to Mother?"
  "Um, ok, her number is...."
• 

  passwordprotected

  @ cabasilas; they already DF people who claim to be repentant and want to be a JW. Claiming the person has DAd themselves thru their own actions is actually less messy, IMO.
• 

  slimboyfat

  First of all I don't believe this rumour.

  Secondly even if the Witnesses tried to do something like this it would fail. People would make excuses ("Yeah sure I am still a Witness, I am going to start going again next week..." never hear from them again until the next time the elders decide to pay a visit; "I really wish I could still go to the meetings but I have this debilitating illness..." what are they going to ask for a doctor's signature or something? "Oh that's a shame we missed meetings recently but we are actually planning on moving to another town really soon..." and so on. The excuses are endless).

  Plus many families do not even shun disfellowshipped relatives as it is. Even if the Watchtower said to totally shun inactive Witnesses many people would ignore it. It would be a ridiculous rule and there would be a significant number who would see it that way.

  It might give certain elders the ability to abuse their position by pursuing grudges with inactive people by having them excluded just on the basis they don't like them and they aren't at the meetings any more. I can imagine a few "zealous" elders who would enjoy doing that. But most elders could not be bothered I reckon, or would not have the appetite for causing so much trouble.

  And can you imagine how depressing the meetings would be if every few weeks they had to announce this or that inactive person was now persona non grata? It would drag the mood down and be self-defeating. And it would also underline just how high the turnover of membership really is too, something they don't tend to dwell on so much as it is.

  So I don't believe this is going to happen, and I don't think faders would need to worry about it even if it were to happen because it is basically unworkable and you could find a loophole.