How Many Here Remember Hearing Details from the Platform on Why a Person was Reproved or DF'd ???

by RubaDub 38 Replies latest jw experiences

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  St George of England

  I remember back in the1970's an elder in the congregation was disfellowshipped, he had been caught having an affair with the woman he was studying with.

  The brother that made the announcement started his talk with an illustration of the pretty and quaint cottages on a Mediterranean island. From a distance they look beautiful but if you were to get up close you would see that the lovely paintwork was all cracked and the wood beneath was totally rotten. That's just how brother --- is, and he has been disfellowshipped. He then went on at length about adultery.

  I must have heard dozens of disfellowshipping talks over the years but never another like that one.

  The disfellowshipped brother moved in with his study, I believe they eventually married. He was probably 20 years older than me so has probably gone by now.

  George
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  Wasanelder Once

  As a lad in the 1960's I remember the reading of the sin as a grievous event making me fear any contact with the censured one. How could they do that to Jehovah? I never took it as a warning, it seemed to me to be a death sentence. No one would dare speak the person's name for fear of reprisals by the Stalinist rank and file. It impressed me as a boy just how powerful the congregation was, it must come from God to destroy a sinners life. Bastards. Intimidation at its best.
  
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  cofty

  Anybody remember announcements that somebody had been put on 'probation'?
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  RubaDub

  Anybody remember announcements that somebody had been put on 'probation'?

  cofty ...

  Yes, absolutely yes. I remember it being for 6 months or a year, depending on the "severity" of the offense.

  I think they stopped doing that after the movie Animal House came up with phrase "double secret probation" ... lol.

  Rub a Dub
  
  
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  Fadeaway1962

  Probation was that the same as a public reproof ?
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  RubaDub

  Probation was that the same as a public reproof ?

  Fadeaway ...

  Technically no. From a practical standpoint, basically yes.

  Probably 40 years ago or so it was changed based on the premise that once a person shows evidence of repentance, there is no specific time limit they need to live with. You are forgiven. God is not looking at a calendar.

  However, there are still restrictions now that are imposed in many cases. It's just more of a private thing with no specific time period. This also applies to private reproof.

  For example, you are told that you will not lead the congregation in prayer or some other thing. It lasts for some number of months or however long the committee decides it to be.

  There is just no fixed time period anymore and it is kept more quiet.

  Rub a Dub
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  under the radar

  I was raised as a JW from infancy and clearly remember how things were and the many changes between, say, the late 50's and about 2000, when I left.

  I know for a fact that they used to announce the reasons for disfellowshipping, ie., "Joe Blow has been disfellowshipped for adultery." But I never heard them announce any further details or anything about specific restrictions or the like.

  Probably due to lawsuits for defamation, sometime in the 70's or thereabouts they changed the announcement to "Joe Blow has been disfellowshipped for conduct unbecoming a Christian." Later, they changed it yet again to the current, "Joe Blow is no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses."

  I remember one time when two disfellowshippings announced on the same night. Two young people of the opposite sex. Knowing people would naturally jump to the obvious conclusion, the elder did have the decency to further announce that the two actions were unrelated.

  Pretty soon after a DF or DA is announced, they have a local needs talk which pretty much reveals what was going on. Of course, by then most everyone knows anyway because of the inevitable gossip.
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  Fadeaway1962

  Thanks RubaDub was just a teenager then , should have listened better at the meeting rather than just wanting to talk to my pals after the meeting
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  tiki

  "Conduct unbecoming a Christian"....

  Probation was replaced with " reproof" that was announced...but no reasons given. That was all left up to the imaginations and enhanced by the gossips.
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  wannaexit

  I remember an announcement that said "so and so have been disfellowshipped for apostasy". If I knew then what I knew now----what a great conversation we could have had