by laverite 2 Replies latest jw friends
It is so sad that the JWs continue to shun. I just don't see that ever changing, it's so heavily entrenched in the Organization. Even if the Org were to lighten up, so many hardliners would continue hard core shunning.
Pat Robertson isn't known for being the most liberal Christian in the media, but in this video he argues that there's nothing to gain from shunning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY7_QjmM4R8
It is so inhume to those who are shunned, and their families.
Too bad Pat Robertson's conduct and past crazy statements deprive him of any credibility. He is not my model Christian minister. Far, far from it.
BOTR said-
Too bad Pat Robertson's conduct and past crazy statements deprive him of any credibility. He is not my model Christian minister. Far, far from it.
True dat, since he made some real eyebrow raiser comments like saying the earthquake in Haiti was punishment for making a pact with the Devil, etc.
Laverite said-
It is so inhumane to those who are shunned, and their families.
I didn't see Pat Robertson saying anything like that; he said at the end that it wasn't a Xian lifestyle, and wasn't exactly endorsing it. He said the non-gay family had to look out for their daughters, since they wouldn't want them to grow up to be lesbians (as if it's a choice).
But anyway, pointing out that it's inhuman to shun since it causes emotional pain is exactly what it is supposed to do, and hence why it's pointless to point that out: it only provides confirmation to the group that the shunning is having a desired effect (causing emotional distress).
Rather, it's important to focus on the harm it causes the persons who are manipulated by the group to shun their own family members, since the injury and psychological harm on the individual is paradoxically even greater (they're throwing their own flesh and blood under the bus, in order to save face and maintain their congregational status).
The situation is very similar to Stanley Milgram's work on obedience to authority figures, where otherwise loving and normal people could be compelled to deliver lethal electical shocks by being ordered to do so:
Adam
