Comments on the Letter to BOE regarding inactive ones - LIES

by lepermessiah 13 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  lepermessiah

  Thank you JWFreak for posting these letters!

  I was offline for a few days and just saw this.....this subject would have raised my ire right away!

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/188898/1/New-BOE-letter-on-inactive-ones

  This is such BS - a TOTAL LIE!!

  The November 15, 2008, Watchtower, pages 14 and 15, paragraphs 12 and 13, states:
  “Some individuals stop preaching and attending meetings because they have committed a serious
  sin. They may feel that if they confess their wrongdoing to the elders, they will be disfellow-
  shipped. But they will not be expelled from the congregation if they have discontinued the un-
  scriptural practice and are genuinely repentant. (2 Cor. 7:10, 11) Instead, they will be welcomed
  back, and the elders will give them the spiritual help they need. . . . The elders will know how to
  assist anyone desiring to return and live in accord with God’s will. Loving discipline may be re-
  quired. (Heb. 12:7-11) If the person acknowledges that he has sinned against God, has ceased to
  engage in wrongdoing, and is truly repentant, the elders will help him, and he can receive Jeho-
  vah’s forgiveness.—Isa. 1:18; 55:7; Jas. 5:13-16.”

  This is the issue that was the final breaking point for me.

  I wrote the WTBS in regards to that WT article AFTER a loved one was DF'ed after 5 years inactive.

  The loved one had taken all proper steps in coming back (great attitude, "repentant", etc) and yet was STILL DF'ed for things she had done 5 YEARS previously!

  I would tell you what the response was from the BORG, but I shredded the letter about an hour after I received it, so you can imagine what the tone was.......

  For anyone who may be on the fence about returning, and are on this site:

  Please Be Forwarned!

  THIS IS A TOTAL FARCE - ANY COMMITTEE OF 3 ELDERS CAN DF YOU AT ANYTIME!
• 

  hoser

  IMO repentantce means nothing in a JC. People are DF'd for political reasons only. If the sin is not widely known, and you're best buds or related, or on the elder body, no disfellopshipping.

  If the sin becomes widely known and if you're a nobody or if you pissed off an elders wife you're gonna get it.

  I've seen some pretty wild stuff swept under the carpet in my day and some pretty minor stuff df'd for.

  Pretty unfair if you ask me.

  Anyone wishing to come back a word of advice Shut Your Mouth and play the game
• 

  Mad Sweeney

  They qualify the word 'repentant' with 'genuinely' which gives them all the leeway they could ever dream of since the JC is the sole arbiter of the genuineness of one's repentance. And here's something I was once told (elders here can confirm or deny this): if you have 'sinned' and subsequently covered it up in ANY WAY, the cover up is a symptom of UNrepentence no matter how much time has passed. Maybe you're repentent NOW but that doesn't matter to them. That you covered up your sin is as bad (maybe worse) than the sin itself.

  The only chance one has in that case is to plead repentence for both the sin AND the coverup (and emphasize the repentence over the coverup). Even then, it's a crap shoot as to whether they determine you're repentent or not.
• 

  Think About It

  IF.....I ever decided to go back and they wanted to bring up something in the past that happened when the person had been gone from the org. for long time and never claimed to be a JW, and they wanted to DF over it.........I'd tell them to kiss my f'n ass. (that they could DF me for)

  Think About It
• 

  sir82

  It all boils down to, humans are incapable of judging whether another human's repentance toward God (or anyone else for that matter) is "genuine".

  In the end, all judicial committees are crapshoots. It's 100% dependent on how well the "sinner" can sell his repentance to the 3 elders.
• 

  WTWizard

  It really is up to the hounders. If you commit "sins" that they can force you to discontinue, and they feel you are sufficient value to warrant drastic measures, they will not disfellowship you. They might keep you on a short leash, even hosting you (and it only takes one family to do this, with or without the blessings from the congregation or the Washtowel Slaveholdery itself)--but they will not disfellowship you.

  However, if you are not sufficiently valuable, there is sufficient for you to lose, or if they don't feel like hounding you every second, they might well opt to disfellowship. You could have gone inactive, for instance, in 1990. In 1995 and 1996, you tried smoking several times but felt it was not worth it. This went unnoticed until 2008, when someone spread the rumor that they remember you smoking a time or two. In 2009, they catch up with you, and then they drag the smoking up. You haven't touched a cancer stick since 1996, yet they are now going to disfellowship you for smoking. And yes, this scenario does happen frequently--I even witnessed it happening once in the congregation I used to attend, and it happened a second time just as I was fading out.
• 

  fokyc

  I don't believe the elders take any notice of these instructions from above;
  that includes the elders manual and CO's instructions.

  Each cong is different, there may be a few that do follow these instructions.

  In my wife's cong they just use their own opinion as it is at the time, which is usually lies.

  fokyc
• 

  Wasanelder Once

  If they don't like you or have any beef with you, you will be ass out. Who needs them? Keep sinning and go in peace. Sheesh, no one can leave because they think its BS? C'mon. W.Once
• 

  Titus

  I think that GB directives are OK, but elders usually don't apply it. This reminds me of Matthew 23:15:

  “Woe to YOU, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because YOU traverse sea and dry land to make one proselyte, and when he becomes one YOU make him a subject for Ge·hen′na twice as much so as yourselves.
• 

  observador

  They may feel that if they confess their wrongdoing to the elders, they will be disfellow-
  shipped. But they will not be expelled from the congregation if they have discontinued the un-
  scriptural practice and are genuinely repentant.

  Never mind that this is in itself a change from previous doctrine, according to which if the person did commit a disfellowshinp offense he/she would be disfellowshipped regardless of repentance (not sure about the passage of time).

  This was one of various changes in the disfellowshipping practice the Org has implemented along the years.

  Those types of subtle, clever, disguised changes in doctrine was one of the things that contributed to my abandoning of the JW religion. I felt being fooled by a dishonest Organization.

  Observador