Is Disfellowshipping a form of Bullying?

by Quarterback 22 Replies latest jw experiences

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  JW GoneBad

  Is Disfellowshipping a form of Bullying?

  That's a Big 10-4 Good Buddy!

  WTBTS=Bullies

  Shame on them!
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  Black Sheep

  It's just a polite name for psychological abuse.
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  DesirousOfChange

  Is Disfellowshipping a form of Bullying?

  If you are a parent with school age kids, and they are being shunned by JW kids at school.......THAT is clearly bullying. DO NOT TOLERATE IT! It is religious discrimination. The kids who shun should be held accountable for it. By forcing the school to educate them, they will see the evil in the practice of shunning.

  DOC
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  Joey Jo-Jo

  I call it discrimination.
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  00DAD

  I'm a teacher at a high school in California. We deal with bullying every day. Mostly it's just a relatively minor grievance: two kids on the play ground in a pushing match calling each other names. But--as no doubt many of you know--bullying has led to some students feeling so depressed they actually kill themselves. So, YES, bullying is a real problem in schools throughout world. Obviously it continues after school.

  Yet, what the WTBTS Society does is so much WORSE than bullying that even calling it that diminishes what they do as if it was just mere childish immaturity.

  These are GROWN MEN that CLAIM to be the ANOINTED OF JEHOVAH. They say they are Jesus' "FAITHFUL AND DISCREET SLAVE" for goodness sake. What they do is so completely wrong on so many levels that calling it "bullying" minimalizes it in ways that confound justice. It really ought to be criminal.

  After leaving the organization, I find that I am no longer sure of what I believe. And while I find myself doubting whether or not there even is a God, I find myself hoping there is. Why? One of the reasons I want this is to that he will mete out justice on the so-called "Governing Body" of Jehovah's Witnesses for the evil they have so arrogantly foisted on many countless sincere people that only want to be good and serve their God.

  Enuf' said ...
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  jonathan dough

  Definately.

  Verging on the macabre in this 21st Century, the Jehovah's Witnesses draconian practice of disfellowshipping and shunning current and former members is one of the most controversial aspects of this religion and has caused untold psychological and physical harm to thousands. The Watchtower Society mislabels the practice of shunning and disfellowshipping, as an act of love and a means of enforcing conformity.
  
  Scriptural justification for shunning is weak, at best. It is considered by many on the outside as one of the most offensive and unbiblical tools in the Watchtower Society's arsenal of weapons used to enforce rigid conformity to their multitude of rules and regulations. Grounds for disfellowshipping, a radical form of excommunication, are legion. The list includes adultery, fornication, greed, accepting blood transfusions (with modifications), drunkenness, associating with the disfellowshipped ... the list is very extensive and subject to wide interpretation. Many of those shunned or disfellowshipped are guilty of apostasy - abandoning the religion and turning away from the teachings of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Similar to the Mob, once you're in there's no easy way out without suffering severe consequences.
  
  A significant amount of judging and attendance at judicial committees is involved. The act of shunning and disfellowshipping as implemented by the Jehovah's Witnesses has caused untold pain and suffering among friends and family members. Families are routinely destroyed and broken up, forever; siblings are separated, often for life, parents lose their children, children lose their parents. Grandparents are ostracized and cut off from their grandchildren for the sake of keeping members 'in.'
  
  Most often the simple act of saying hello to a disfellowshipped person, or one who has disassociated him or herself from the organization, is forbidden. The horror stories told by the disfellowshipped, thousands of them, are ghastly and heartrending. The ancient practice of disfellowshipping and shunning causes profound psychological damage, and has led to suicide. As practiced by the Jehovah's Witnesses, their extreme form of shunning in most cases is simply cruel, nothing more.
  
  Anyone considering joining the Jehovah's Witnesses is advised to pay close attention to the consequences and repercussions for not living up to the Watchtower Society's standards, or questioning their doctrine. The ultimate price might be unbearable and irreversible. To assist you in making the right decision and help you learn more about this practice, visit the websites listed below for additional information.

  http://www.144000.110mb.com/directory/shunning_disfellowshipped_shunning_disfellowshipping.html
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  carla

  Yes, as well as being emotional abuse it is, in my opinion, spiritual abuse as well.
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  looloo

  i attended a safeguarding vunerable adults course once and shunning is classed as abuse !
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  ssn587

  IMO is is torture mental torture at best, the WTBTS uses it as a severe form of brain washing, slavery, and just plain mean.
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  Quarterback

  Thanks, for all of your comments.

  I appreciated OODad's comments from the school environment and how much worse it is in the JW faith.