I thought there was talk awhile back of them expanding the auto-DA list....
Under that idea the BOE could still make the "not one of Jehovah's Witnesses" label for those not willing to submit themselves to BOE sanctions.
Is DISFELLOWSHIPPING being phased out?
by african GB Member 47 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
New light for you
I wonder if the Witnesses got rid of disfellowshipping if the ex-JW community would disintegrate. It seems to be what keeps many former Witnesses together in a certain sense - the common experience, the shared sense of injustice. If disfellowshipping is done away with, I wonder if people who walk away would be less inclined to see the need to come together for support. It stands to reason. JWs might just become like any other religion and former members would not need to feel so bitter. Apostate websites would decrease in number and intensity.
I
I would have to say i disagree with this for another reason. There are many on this website and others that have somehow achieved leaving without DFing. It does bind us, the fear, the manipulation of our lives to skirt around it... but it seems we've been able to divert it. Just being in this cult has binded us all together, and it seems like for forever. People have said they've been out 10, 20 years but STILL are on this site, avidly posting. That shows me that we'll be needing the support, and being able to support the "multitudes we can not even number" that will be coming OUT of the "truth".
-
garybuss
I've noticed in my lifetime of living among and watching Jehovah's Witnesses, that shunning and disfellowshipping are two different subjects. I've seen many disfellowshipped people not snubbed or shunned, and inversely, I've seen more than a few Jehovah's Witnesses who were not disassociated or disfellowshipped who were shunned and snubbed as if they were disassociated or disfellowshipped.
Many Jehovah's Witnesses that I know are mean people. It doesn't take much for them to turn on another member. Jehovah's Witnesses here have been trained to be mean. Basically they have two things to remember: (1.) Obey the governing body, and (2.) Be mean!
I was around Jehovah's Witnesses for so many years that when a non-Jehovah's Witnesses person was nice to me, I'd become uncomfortable. When I was a kid, whenever my mother was nice to me, all hell was about to break out. Jehovah's Witnesses were virtually never nice to me when I was a kid. I hated the service and meetings and the story books about ghosts and gods, but I was trapped.
Finally they broke me and I became institutionalized. I've been spending the last 35 years breaking that. -
slimboyfat
There will always be exjws, whether Christian, atheist or otherwise, who will want to expose the false doctrines of the WB&TS, so there will always be a community.
Exactly all that would be left would be Christian kooks banging on about the Trinity.
-
slimboyfat
Would "apostate" sites decline? Maybe so but if we accomplish what is needed in regard to Watchtower cultishness and injustice, why would victory be a bad thing?
Indeed no bad thing. I did not mean to say it would be bad, just speculating on the implications.
-
slimboyfat
I've noticed in my lifetime of living among and watching Jehovah's Witnesses, that shunning and disfellowshipping are two different subjects. I've seen many disfellowshipped people not snubbed or shunned, and inversely, I've seen more than a few Jehovah's Witnesses who were not disassociated or disfellowshipped who were shunned and snubbed as if they were disassociated or disfellowshipped.
Many Jehovah's Witnesses that I know are mean people. It doesn't take much for them to turn on another member. Jehovah's Witnesses here have been trained to be mean. Basically they have two things to remember: (1.) Obey the governing body, and (2.) Be mean!
I was around Jehovah's Witnesses for so many years that when a non-Jehovah's Witnesses person was nice to me, I'd become uncomfortable. When I was a kid, whenever my mother was nice to me, all hell was about to break out. Jehovah's Witnesses were virtually never nice to me when I was a kid. I hated the service and meetings and the story books about ghosts and gods, but I was trapped.
Finally they broke me and I became institutionalized. I've been spending the last 35 years breaking that.Deary me you had a bad time in the Witnesses. I recognise some of the pettiness you describe, and there is merit in the disfellowshipping/shunning distinction you make. On the other hand I have had some very good experiences of Witnesses. I think you are right in as much as even if they got rid of disfellowshipping it would not overnight mean an end to nastisness toward non-conformists, or simply people who are not well-liked for one reason or another. It might just succeed in making the shunning process even more arbirary and subject to personal whims than it already is. But over time the culture might change without the structure in place to support it.
-
willyloman
"They could make the change with much fanfare..."
This is not a group that makes changes accompanied with fanfare... the pattern is to stop talking about a doctrine for several years and then casually imply that it's old light, long abandoned: "At one time, some of God's people might have felt...." So I wouldn't expect a major announcement at a KH near you anytime soon.
-
slimboyfat
This is not a group that makes changes accompanied with fanfare... the pattern is to stop talking about a doctrine for several years and then casually imply that it's old light, long abandoned: "At one time, some of God's people might have felt...." So I wouldn't expect a major announcement at a KH near you anytime soon.
Sometimes they take that approach, and sometimes they don't. For instance it might have made sense for them to sweep the change in approach to alternative service under the carpet since the previous policy had adversely affected so many lives. Instead they had a full study article on the change proclaiming the light was getting brighter and praising themselves for being a flexible organisation responsive to the proddings of the holy spirit. Changes in the elder arrangement in the 1970s and in the legal restructure and GB reorientation toward 'spiritual matters' in 2000 were similarly decorated as being fantastic innovations.
-
thomas15
I'm an outsider and probably have no business giving my opinion but I'm going to do it anyway.
Not to hijack this thread, but the general tone of this discussion seems to center around the effect DFing would have on numbers of members. I have heard that the society gets a large precentage of money from literature sales. Since it is using a donation system in the US and since printing hard copy is going the way of the pony express, coupled with hard economic times, where does this leave the society?
Sale of real estate assetts is one thing but in these economic times not as profitable as it might have been. So then there is the idea of putting the squeeze on the membership. Again, the less money a member has the less they are able to give. So, what do I really think you ask?
Well, I'm sure I'm not the first to suggest this but I think the society has to make an appeal to a different demographic in at least the US. To do this they are going to have to make some changes. I don't know if it will be changes in DFing or removing the ban on higher education or what but the society needs to see some Mercedes-Benzes parked in front of their KHs. I don't mean to insult anyone but they may be forced to offer more than the hope of an earthly paradise to attract the six figure check out everything on the internet crowd. They will, in my opinion, look to the Mormons for guidence. They need to become a little more family friendly while still remaining in control, so I think the DFing police will be relaxed at least a little.
And that's what I think.
Tom
-
still_in74
great thread.
at first i thought this was just another pointless discussion but there are some good points here. I think the main point is that way DFing happens will change but the ultimate end is shunning. We see it already!
The WTS no longer DF's in announcement - "no longer a JW" , then we see the move to bring back inactive ones by offering a study - if they refuse? We all know this will turn into official WTS policy that those faders that do not accept an offer to return will be announced "no longer a JW"
Eventually the WTS will never officially DF anyone - all R&F will "know" that one has, by their own actions, chosen to no longer be a JW. Without having to police the R&F, the WTS can sit back and let the R&F do all the shunning while the WTS shakes hands with politicians.
the R&F will police themselves. The WTS will never have to inflict a punishment on anyone, they just need to "associate" the unwanted with those who are not JW's and let the R&F police themselves. Like crabs in a bucket........