"Pay Attention" book; Sharing on Judi...

TR

Sharing
on a Judicial Committee

"When having a hearing between your brothers, you must
judge with righteousness. " ( Deut. 1:16 ) It is a serious respon-
sibility to judge matters that affect people's lives and relation-
ships with others. Elders must have a reasonably complete
picture when judging a matter so that their decisions will not
be based on partial knowledge or on personal feelings. They
also need heavenly wisdom in order to make proper applica-
tion of God's Word and to determine how far their showing
mercy should extend. (Prov. 28:13; Jas. 2:13) They must
treat every person with impartiality at all times and desire that
the spiritually ill become well again, since a failure in this
regard is unjust and violates the law of love.‹I Tim. 5:21;
Jas. 2:1-9; 5:14, 15; w77 3/1 pp. 146-52.

Lofty responsibilities indeed. Notice that helping the "spiritually ill" and violating the "law of love" are the last things mentioned.

TR

Gopher

Wow, TR -- you have really touched a sensitive nerve here!

My background, briefly: I was disfellowshipped (it could be said on "partial knowledge"), and my sister DA'd herself many years ago after she felt the elders were seeking an excuse to DF her.

There are couple of dynamics at work here, I believe. They are both due to human imperfection and have nothing at all to do with the operation of God's holy spirit on the decision-making process.

(1) In the various congregations I have attended, it seems there was a sharp division between the "reasonable" and "merciful" elders who sought to apply the counsel you cited, and those who enjoyed their exercise of power and were, could I say, a bit harsh. And when there is such a division, whether on elder bodies or on judicial committees, guess which side wins, and guess which side yields?!

(2) At times the elders may be burdened with "too many things to do". You know, the Society has them on a treadmill doing a lot of the same things over and over. So when it comes to a matter of judgement, which can "affect people's lives and relationships with others", they may be in a bit of a hurry to get a matter over. Sometimes when dealing with other people's lives, elders ought to be very self-sacrificing and spend more time than they expected. After all, any disfellowshipping is very harsh and the consequences last years if not a lifetime. Do they ALWAYS fully take these facts into consideration?

Thanks for bringing up a vital topic!

somebody

Hi TR,

everytime I read this sentence and the scripture the WBTS uses to say that judicial hearings are what Jehovah commands.....

"When having a hearing between your brothers, you must
judge with righteousness. " ( Deut. 1:16 )

it just makes my blood boil! Because I've seen it it print in the "stuff" that the WBTS print over and over again that Christians are NOT under the mosiac law! They totalaly disregard the law of Christ, yet they claim that they follow Jesus. They ignore the fact that Jesus was given ALL AUTHORITY over the heaven and the earth after his reserrection. They also disregard that Jehovah judges no one and commited Jesus to do the judging. Jesus said to STOP JUDGING and STOP CONDEMNING. What kind of faith does the society have in Jesus anyway? what the heck does it mean to "excercise faith in Jesus' name" ? They hold their members under the mosiac law and their own members MUST be able to see that. It's CRYSTAL CLEAR by the scriptures they use. God giving his son's life means absolutely nothing to them.

I'll stop here because I'm getting riled up again.

Thanks for what you pointed out too.

peace,
somebody

Edited by - somebody on 18 March 2001 14:12:14

Focus

Sharing on a Judicial Committee

TR, where is your quote from? Thanks.

--
Focus
(Quotes Class)

somebody

Hi Focus,

I read TR's quote from Unit 5b in the flock book. it's on page 107 of it.

peace,
somebody

ShaunaC

I wonder how many on this board who were disfellowhshipped after succumbing to a judicial hearing feel that that the elders judged them with righteousness and not from partial knowledge or personal feeling!

I'm the one who contacted the brothers to arrange a judicial committee. It was on the matter of fornication (on purpose btw) to free my soon to be ex to remarry and to get myself out of the org. At the time I still thought it was "the truth" and had every intention of returning one day. I knew there was a bigger stigma on disassociating and so chose to succomb to disfellowshipment so as to have an easier road to return later.

There was one elder who I had talked to many times during the few months previous that I had separted from my husband. He was a young elder (time wise) and thus treated me with much kindness. One elder I was regretting dealing with but he ended up remaining relatively silent throughout the process. The worst of the situation was the 3rd elder who had been like a 2nd father to me since about the age of 2. He treated me with so much contempt. He even admitted that he hurt like he was my own father. Since it was on the matter of fornication, he felt he had the right to ask intimate questions which had nothing to do with my case. Remember, I was the one who called the committee together. I was not repentant & told them so. I wanted to be Df'd. Despite repentance not being an issue and the fact that I had not lived with my ex for 2 months nor had "been" with him in 6 months, he preoceeded to question about the number of times things happened, what kind of protection I used, even going so far as to berate me as to whether I was now going to live with this man who I slept with. Dealing with him was so awful that even if I were to be brainwashed again by WT propaganda, I could not ever meet before this person to get reinstated.

A few months back I was listening to Howard Stern. He had a former Witness on who described how in-depth the questions her committee asked her. Such as...how many orgasms & what positions. She had to describe them in great detail until she finally refused to no longer answer. After hearing her ordeal, I consider myself pretty lucky.

Have any of you had similar situations? Are elders worse when it comes to a matter of sex because they're all sexually repressed perverts?

Shauna

Gopher

Shauna,

All I can say is Whew! Congratulations on your escape!

I don't know if it's true that there is a bigger stigma for DA'ing yourself than going through the DF'ing process.

My sister DA'd herself several years ago when it became clear to her that the elders were going to find a way to DF her. (Long story) But the point is, she saved herself the inquisition you went through.

In my case, during my JC meeting I tried to draw the line and say "this is what happened," and past that line "nothing did". But they didn't believe me and kept pushing and pushing to get the line farther into deep sin.

So like you, such lack of love far outweighs any benefits that the "knowledge" and the "organization" may (theoretically) bring you.

TR

Hey guys,

sorry I didn't respond sooner. This topic got buried, and I almost forgot about it.

Focus,

Somebody's right, I got it from the flock book. Thanks, Somebody! http://home2.inet.tele.dk/carloc/index.htm Sorry that I didn't post the source.

Gopher,

You're right, I believe. The obnoxious elders seem to get their way. Like the brother stripped of duties for having a vascectomy.(see "disqualified from cong. duties" thread)

ShaunaC,

unfortunately, your experience sounds all to typical. Yes, I believe some elders are sexually repressed. Maybe they and their wives listened to them same "no oral sex" talk given from the platform that I heard.

TR

Edited by - TR on 20 March 2001 17:0:56

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