Judicial Committees - "Works Beffitting Repentance"

by xelder 13 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  xelder

  A couple years ago the COs and DOs were pushing a letter at elders meetings about being more critical of so-called repentant wrongdoers and being tougher on such claims. Are they really sorry? Do their recent works prove it. Don't just believe tears. Did they fully disclose all of their wrongdoing?

  I got so tired of trying to do Jesus job since our committees always did a poor job anyway. One or two hour JC meeting of personal questions isn't much help to a person. A CO actually wanted us to re-open a case because we didn't disfellowship a fatherless young person. (The stories of the two wrongdoers weren't exactly the same.)

  I wish the GB had to face a Judicial Committee for every doctrine change. Would they be honest and forthcoming? Would they manifest 'works beffitting repentance"? Of course they would. They would be cut to the heart. Probably even tears
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  JimmyPage

  How dare you question God's appointed servant Moses, you sons of Korah! May the Earth open up beneath your feet.
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  xelder

  What "works befitting repentance" were shown at the city of Nineveh in Jonahs time- did all 100,000 plus inhabitants all feel regret. What about king David, the Prodigal son parable?

  They were sorry - no proof - God forgave them
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  cantleave

  JC's for GB, now that's an idea. How about marking talks for CO's who do their own thing and disseminate their pet ideas. There is so much hypocrisy in this organisation. Noone can tell if someone is truly repentant or not, I have been on quite a few JC's and believe I have pretty good judgement, but I still don't have the ability to "read hearts" ..............ohh yeah only God can do that
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  dinah

  I would wear a kleenex on my head to be on that committee.
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  straightshooter

  JCs were the most difficult for me. Like cantleave stated, the ability to "read hearts" is not in our possession.

  The requests for reinstatement were not pleasant either. Because even if the jc thought the individuals were repentant, they still had to wait for almost a year just to see if their works befit repentance.
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  WTWizard

  I personally would not look for blatant "works" befitting repentance, since such are not usually obvious. Rather, I would look for that "I do not give a f***" attitude. That attitude is necessary before declaring a person to have willfully "sinned" rather than having stumbled or made a mistake. Any reasonable attempt to correct the mistake should be enough.

  Additionally, most of the "sins" that lead to these committees are not even wrongdoing. If someone questions the accuracy of the doctrine, there is Scriptural backing that this is actually righteous. If you don't, you could be led into a scam, or you could be misled by others. This also happens on the highway if tailgaters follow a vehicle right into an accident that would have been prevented if you weren't so bent on following too close. If the Filthful and Disgraceful Slavebugger makes a whopper of a mistake (or deliberately misleads people), and people question it, the "mistake" will still stumble the Filthful and Disgraceful Slavebugger, but those questioning it will avoid the accident. There is no need to "repent" for this.

  And, if someone does something "wrong", and the doctrine is changed directly after the disfellowship (so it is no longer wrong), the disfellowship should be immediately revoked (unless the person wishes to stay out of the organization because of instability of doctrine or other serious problems). There simply is no excuse for demanding someone to repent of something done wrong, and then it turns out it wasn't wrong after all.
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  inbetween

  this is another example of a typical approach of the WTS to scriptures:

  while there is scripural basis for handling wrongdoing ( 1 Cor 5 ) and even for repentance, the WTS creates numerous rules around it that actually hide the real purpose and meaning, much like the Pharisees did with the Mosaidc law...

  I come more and more to this conclusion: WTS = modern Pharisees
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  OnTheWayOut

  It should be run by Holy Spirit. Roll the urim and thummim after a JC grilling and see what Jah wants to do.
  Short of that, WTS only has you kick out unrepentant wrongdoers. The wrong is defined by WTS and the repentance is defined be WTS.
  Kind of stacks the deck.

  If they don't have that attitude mentioned by WTW, then assume they mean it when they say they are repentant/sorry.
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  yadda yadda 2

  Here's an idea: Elders should stop harshly judging people through Watchtower glasses and start paying attention to what Jesus actually said about such matters.

  Here's what Jesus said: If the wrongdoer asks for forgiveness you must forgive them.

  This means if they wrongdoer says they are sorry and they have prayed for forgiveness, the elders MUST forgive them and help them, not shun them. Do this up to 77 times (hyperbole).