Those judicial committee videos are remarkable viewing. (Part 1, Part 2) They can leave one in no doubt about the humiliating way that Jehovah's Witnesses treat their men. I urge you to get hold of a copy. Hopefully they are out of reach where they are on mediafire, but you never know. They are well worth watching. I know it means having to screw your courage to the sticking place. It takes balls to watch men being served theirs on a plate - even more so when you witness them castrating themselves. I have commented on these videos at some length elsewhere, but I yet find I have more to say on the matter.
You can forgive the recently appointed young brother in the elder's meeting for his premature ejaculations. “John” has been sitting on these pent up emotions surging through his testicles for years. He has paid his dues for enough time as a ministerial servant and now he has finally attained to a position where he foolishly believes he actually has a voice with which to speak. "Ah, my young apprentice, you have much to learn in the art of mock humility." Not one but two humdingers in the course of one short meeting: He recommended himself, and then he recommended one too close to the wrongdoer. Tsk, tsk, whatever next? Still a long way to go before you can attain to the zen-like denial of all things good and proper attained by the likes of Brother Dead-Eyes, the co-ordinator of the body of elders. Why, witness Tom thoroughly washing his hands of the brother whom he has known “since he was a baby.” That's the way to do it.
Oh, even the old can still learn humility. Brother Elderman doesn't realise that he is the pushover in this whole sordid affair. He entered the hearing with a heart tainted with the embers of love. The other two were already aware of where this business was inevitably heading. Brother Elderman has failed to remember that the heart is treacherous. He must humbly learn that sentimentality has no place in a judicial hearing.
It is a sham hierarchy where the term, "Brother," is used as a mark of respect for the position of authority. Robbie has to weep and weep and weep and still Brother Sharp is going to cut his balls off. "Are you boyfriend and girlfriend?" He asks tiny little coochie-coo Robbie at one point. I mean, wait, what? It's no wonder that Robbie begins to look like a man hearing that he must submit to having his foreskin cut off with a piece of flint.
For god's sake, he put his manly penis in a woman's vagina! He has fathered a child. And for this he must be disembowelled. In the process he is scourged with verse upon verse from the holy scriptures, no doubt reminding him of how despicable porneia is in the eyes of the Lord as if he doesn't already know where his religion stands on this matter.
All these men in positions of authority have not been empowered, they have been emasculated, rendered power-less. Where flapping your elbows is mistaken for being concerned. They are shackled to their textbook, unable to reach any conclusions without first making sure they are abiding by the rules.
We gave talks, chaired book studies and Watchtower studies on subjects we may not have fully agreed with, toeing the party line. We were told this was an act of humility when in reality it was a humiliation - our own thoughts and understandings being stamped down, told it was presumptuous to think we might know better than the Faithful Slave. Told, “the heart is treacherous, who can know it?” over and over again until we could barely believe anything else. We sat on judicial hearings exactly like the one illustrated here, allowing brothers to confess their so-called sins, listened as they fumbled their way through their private goings-on. And then we had the gall to render judgement.
In bible times they quite literally hacked away at a man's penis, crippling his manhood and rendering him subservient and violent. Today Jehovah's Witnesses pride themselves on claiming that they understand Paul's declaration that the Law has passed away, but still they submit themselves to a form of spiritual emasculation. And having submitted themselves they must do violence to others.
Testify to ritual humiliation in the judicial process
by rory-ks 9 Replies latest jw friends
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rory-ks
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Oubliette
Good writing Rory, that's a powerful analysis of the videos.
Rory-ks: They are shackled to their textbook, unable to reach any conclusions without first making sure they are abiding by the rules.
The WTBTS's Book of Rules:
Now available in paperback!
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AnneB
Ps 51:17 (NWT 2013) http://www.jw.org/en/publications/bible/nwt/books/psalms/51/#v19051017
The sacrifices pleasing to God are a broken spirit; A heart broken and crushed, O God, you will not reject.
The elders in one of my former congregations took this verse very seriously when convening a judicial committee. They wanted to see a broken person. They said so, in my house, in my living room, in my presence, to one of my relatives.
Notice that the verse says "heart," not psyche.
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Slidin Fast
A lovely scathing analysis AnneB, not an original thought or creative judgement or morsel of love between them.
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Apognophos
We were told this was an act of humility when in reality it was a humiliation - our own thoughts and understandings being stamped down, told it was presumptuous to think we might know better than the Faithful Slave.
Exactly. As I've said elsewhere, humility is a two-way street. If just the rank and file are showing it, it's not humility -- it's oppression or subservience.
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out4good3
Who would want to put themselves through this?
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Apognophos
People who need regimented structure in their lives. People with subconscious self-loathing. People who are afraid that the world might end soon. There's a lot of them out there.
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sir82
People who need regimented structure in their lives. People with subconscious self-loathing. People who are afraid that the world might end soon. There's a lot of them out there.
Amen.
There's a lot more than 8 million of them out there.
JWs, with all their ineptitude, only manage to get the lowest hanging fruit.
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scotoma
There was so much in those videos that could be commented on.
I think there would be more comments except there were so many issues that were so obvious that you hardly know where to start.
Why didn't they act like the wannabe jews they are and tell him that since he got the girl pregnant he ought to marry her and take responsibility for raising the child as a witness. Sometimes a person's mate doesn't become a JW. Live with it. At least take care of the kid and who knows maybe his worldly girlfriend may become a witness once they are married and she sees that she has allies in an organization that will help her control his penis.
The part that smelled was when the coordinator asked the one elder to TALK TO JEHOVAH. That was stinky cult talk if I ever heard it.
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AndDontCallMeShirley
Here's my thought on the WT, its judicial process, and the elders that politic to become part of it:
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"Force always attracts men of low morality." --- Albert Einstein
