New rules for inactive ones?

by Lynnie 14 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Lynnie

  Have the rules changed as far as disfellowshipping inactive ones when it's clear they are engaged in "wrongdoing?"

  I have a cousin in Seattle who was disfellowshipped about 3 years ago or so and then went through the process of being reinstated (took only 6 months) and then proceeded to fade and do nothing regarding the JW's . Fast forward to today and now she's had a baby out of wedlock and the uber JW elder father and mother are all on board somehow. AND her older sister and brother in law who live in the compound in Warwick are here for two weeks helping her!!! So I guess if you have an elder dad and Bethelite siblings you get a free pass? This cousin is 41 years old BTW not a teenager or anything like that. I've been DF'd for 45 years and no one will ever forget in my family. But I guess if you have JW royality in your family it's a different story. I hate these people.
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  TonusOH

  Sometimes it's easy to see the favoritism at work. If you are in long enough, you will see examples of it. And if you are close to some of the elders, you get to hear about a lot more of it. Not only is it always a bit surprising that it is happening, it is even more shocking when you realize that they are fine with breaking certain rules or looking the other way, even though the Sunday sermons are all about minding those little things and not chipping away at one another's faith.

  I think it is one of the things that very quietly undermined my own faith. How can you say "no exceptions, you must be perfect like God" on Sunday and then shrug your shoulders when you see people who don't even try, and nothing happens to them?
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  Disillusioned JW

  Could the JW elder father and the JW mother, and the fader's older sister and brother in law, be to some degree mentally out of the religion?
  
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  Foolednomore

  There also a flip side to that. My family and I have faded. We have businesses and the Jw's just seem to come out and want stuff from us. Jobs or money and even one joker after my sister which she wasn't having no part of that. For awhile we where shunned. What has happened is hard to say?
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  Hellothere

  Think in a lot of congregations the elders have called it quits. The members are exhausted and don't care anymore that much about congregation issues. I have seen that development for some years now in different city's and country's i lived in
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  Disillusioned JW

  Regarding the comments made by Hellothere, that might explain an experience (involving me accepting a blood transfusion) I detailed in two posts I made at https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5709197172801536/if-wt-jw-relgion-where-else-we-go-why-atheistic-scientific-philosophical-naturalism?page=9#/5084172721324032 . I encourage people to read those posts. When reading them keep in mind that I told the two elders that I wish keep my status as an "inactive Jehovah's Witness"/'an inactive one of Jehovah's Witnesses".
  
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  Lynnie

  My cousin's sister and BIL have been Bethelites for at least 10 years and are very much in the fold. The elder father and mother are very much in however the father is in his mid seventies and starting to have some dementia issues but not too bad. And the elderette mother is very much a control freak etc. So yes there's a baby involved but I know other JW"s that would shun her even though she's not DF'd for getting pregnant outside of marriage. It makes NO SENSE to me at all!! I'm ready to say something but hesitate because it will probably backfire on me as usual,
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  LongHairGal

  FOOLEDNOMORE:

  Unfortunately, money is the attraction, as always. You and your family must look like a ‘dynasty’ to them!.. If you were a poor, broke slob they’d never be pursuing you. They also would never pursue a single woman they’d never so much as get the time of day from.

  Then, some guy shows an unwelcome interest in your sister. I guess he hoped to marry into a family where there is money 🤣. Too many people would want to do that, sadly.

  HELLOTHERE:

  Maybe some elders are calling it quits because they can’t bring themselves to stick their noses into people’s lives. The religion is much too intrusive and has waay overstepped their boundaries. I would never tolerate this and this is one of the main reasons I’m Glad I left ages ago.
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  Foolednomore

  Longhairgal- This young brother interested in one on of my sisters was such a brown nose to my parents and me being the older brother. He would not last long in our family. We work from sun up to sun down till 2am sometimes. Everyone works. We play hard too. But yes if we were average the Jw's would have Nothing to do with us.
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  Lost in the fog

  I have seen similar in the past. I think it often comes down to local elders in each congregation.

  Case 1: I know of a brother who was presiding overseer whose daughter married outside of the "truth", and who paid for the honeymoon. Based on the elder's book this would have called his qualifications into question. But because he was pally with the circuit overseer nothing happened.

  Fast forward to a year or so ago. The previous elder is no longer the presiding overseer because of age and ill health. Another elder in the same congregation let his daughter marry a man she met at work. Resulting in a committee being formed and his family being investigated, and restrictions placed on them, and the elder being demoted down to a ministerial servant.

  Another case: two single baptised people came forward and admitted to "heavy petting" during dating. They were in 2 different congregations. Congregation 1 restricted their publisher for 6 months. Congregation 2 disfellowshipped their publisher. Both said the same story. Different elders with separate personalities and different perceptions. Oh and by the way, at the time, the congregation that disfellowshipped their publisher was run by the elder whose story began this post!