by sir82 77 Replies latest jw friends
I think Yknot may have identified the source of the "issue." If non-JW adult children have to move back in with parents due to losing their job, etc. they better get married or don't bring the boyfriend/girlfriend with them.
This will be a real problem for some families as many cohabitating couples have kids these days and parents will not only have to kick out their children, but young grandchildren too. This could be difficult if they have nowhere else to go.
Do the elders require 2 witnesses to prove whether a Christian family are allowing fornication under their roof?
This could be a real mess. What if the parents are elderly and truly need help with day to day activities? What if your son or daughter has lost a job (which is getting more and more common). Are you supposed to just let them live in a box or find a cozy park bench just because they rejected your rulers and have a significant other?
Password, the rules for all the sexual sins barely require any proof---EXCEPT raping children. If you are spending time with a person of the opposite sex they can get you for loose conduct simply because people are talking. If you are raping children, its okay as long as you don't sell tickets and have an audience.
@ dinah ...and this is exactly the point I'm making. Seems they're gunning for people who let 'unbelieving' kids sleep with their common-law spouse under their roof, but if a child comes forward and accuses the Presiding Overseer Congregation Co-ordinator of sexual misconduct there will be a lot of "ooh"s and "aaaah"s and hand-wringing and references to Mosaic Law texts.
Seems they may also be trying to get these damn unruly apostate kids away from their parents before the sanity rubs off on them and the elderly dubs start seeing the truth. They have been trying to crackdown on associating with df'd or da'd family members recently.
It also sort of negates the whole "the elders aren't spiritual policemen" vibe. I mean, how are the elders going to hear about some JW letting their "unbelieving" son or daughter stay-over with their common-law partner unless the elders are going to be poking about asking questions?
If Christian parents were to allow their unbelieving son or daughter to practice fornication in their home, they would thus be giving tacit approval to immoral conduct.
Oops. I wonder if my mother should confess to the Elders. I fornicated with two different women in my parents' house.
No Apologies, you make a valid point. I wouldn't knowingly allow unmarried persons to live with me. I recently ran my g'daughter off for sneaking her boyfriend into her bed in my house!
However, those are MY standards; I don't need anyone else laying out guidelines for me.
This is the most serious failing of the WT - they don't give individual JW's enough credit for making up their own minds about right and wrong.
Sylvia
Sylvia, don't you remember in Crisis of Conscience, one of the members of the GB was always saying "if you give the brothers an inch, they'll take a mile?" He was referring to keeping the sheeple in line.
Thanks for all the comments.
The most disturbing thing to me about the whole thing is that now apparently merely "condoning" fornication is grounds for DF - you don't even have to do it yourself. By "applying the principle", it seems that "condoning" smoking, or blood transfusions, or whatever else makes the DF list, would now be grounds for DF as well.
And what constitutes "condoning" such actions? So, say, a non-believing JW son or daughter is in a car wreck and gets a blood transfusion. Is the JW parent "condoning" the transfusion if he lets the son/daughter continue to live in his home while recuperating? Will he lose his privileges? Get DF?
What if the unbelieving son or daughter smokes at home?
What if the unbelieving son or daughter only smokes at work, but not at home, and the parent knows of it? Is he still "condoning" it?
If not, what about the case where the unbelieving live-at-home son/daughter fornicates like a hormone-imbalanced rabbit, but always does so away from the parents house? Is that acceptable? Or is that condoning too?
JW elders are trained to be legalistic regarding these BOE instructions. If I can think of these situations in 30 seconds, I'm sure there are elders out there who will "go nuts" and look for similar reasons to "keep the congregation clean". Or as vaguely similar situations occur in their congregations, they'll pull out this letter and ask, "So, is Brother So-and-so condoning this action? Do we need to form a committee?"
