rumor out that governing body is going to adjust the loveing disfellowshiping arangment df yes shunning no.

poopie

can anyone confirm they seem to be having disagreement writing dept and service dept some feel that df ok as long as you do not add wholesale across the board shunning regardless of the sin .

The Searcher

If the RUMOUR was true, it would have been aired rather loudly and more widespread!

They talk out of both sides of their mouth. They'll do an article about loyalty to the cult and go on and on about how your DF'd relatives are similar to those who have been killed by jehovah and you need to show your firm resolve not to associate with them, then the next day they'll do an article about helping weak ones and they'll tell you to show love to DF'd people.

I would guess it's more about having something to point to to show outsiders that they don't shun, while still enforcing the shunning policy internally. They love to use loaded language and dog whistles to get their message across to the R/F while not setting off alarm bells when outsiders see it.

user100

it would be a good compromise if they just ban DF people from making comments or giving talks and maybe even discussing spiritual matters with others in the cong. then allow the DFed person talk to people in the cong as normal human beings.

joe134cd

I honestly believe that they are to far in that they can't back out of it now. If they ever did away with shunning it would not only cause serious credibility issues but a major exodus of members. If Wt knows what's good for it they will carry on as usual.

hoser

The only way I see things changing in regards to shunning is if the IRS would revoke their tax exempt status if they didn't change. Follow the $$$$.

OnTheWayOut

If there is a rumor, I would suspect that it is for the courts or the governments to hear about. Maybe it is something that will wind up on their website, But it won't be actual policy. They will say that members choose to shun on their own, and that it is not a written policy. They will say that they never encourage things that are damaging to fragile teens but that some family members are choosing tough love in order to protect the family and to show the best kind of love.

They are too far gone to abandon their actual enforcement of shunning DF'ed/DA'ed ones. It's still their policy and I wouldn't even believe anything they put in writing.

stuckinarut2

It will never change...

Can you imagine the law suits from previously hurt people if it did change the policy??

sparrowdown

I'll go against consensus here and say I see it as distinctly possible.

And of course the GB will come out the other end as heroes, maybe not to the poor bastards who have been shunned for years, but the ones who would go along with anything the GB told them to.

DesirousOfChange

They talk out of both sides of their mouth. They'll do an article about loyalty to the cult and go on and on about how your DF'd relatives are similar to those who have been killed by jehovah and you need to show your firm resolve not to associate with them, then the next day they'll do an article about helping weak ones and they'll tell you to show love to DF'd people.

The article to "love" DF people will be in the Public Edition.

The article to treat DF people as tho dead will be in the Study Edition.

That's their standard MO.

However, I do think that they are getting so much "heat" about shunning being abusive or a "hate crime" that an official change could really come. They will never just do it because it's the right thing to do. They will do it (if ever) because they are forced by law or by punitive treatment (like taxes). They SHOULD change their rules on shunning. Shunning is abusive and hateful and anyone that condones it or enforces it should not just lose a tax exempt status but be fined (a lot). If governments would arrest and prosecute the author or editor (if said in print), or the speaker (if said publicly such as at a Reg Conv), that rule would change faster than a blink of the eye.

Doc