Shunning--newest directive

by stan livedeath 18 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  stan livedeath

  Sea Breeze

  "Where is mom?. He said her ashes were in the backyard lawnmower shed."

  this business of saving a cremated persons " ashes" ( plus coffin wood ash and crematorium sweepings ) really creeps me out.

  When a dead person is buried does someone chop off one of the thumbs for the bereaved to keep ?

  When my ( late ) father moved into a care home, i cleared his house out and sold it. I found a cardboard box containing a wooden casket with my mothers ashes in it. Ive still got it in my garden shed somewhere.

  After my fathers cremation i never went to collect the ashes. He lives on in my memory.
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  Jeffro

  Jehalapeno:

  The major on paper change is that you can greet and talk to disfellowshipped people at the Kingdom Hall now.

  Though there may be some latitude in what individual JWs might consider a suitable greeting at meetings, the official position allows only for briefly greeting and welcoming a removed person at the meeting, not extended conversation or socialising.

  stan livedeath:

  but has the cult relaxed the rules recently?

  They have relaxed the rules slightly, but only in the context of people who want to return. The leadership still dictates that individuals who have been baptised, including minors, who express that they do not accept JW doctrines and/or authority (i.e. ‘apostates’) are still to be completely shunned.
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  NotFormer

  "Disfellowshipping"". They called it scriptural. But it's nowhere found in the bible. "" That word ""disfellowship"" has been removed from JWBORG's vocabulary in light of what happened in Norway recently."

  You got me thinking. Did the WT coin the term themselves? Just as they couldn't use normal church terminology like "pulpit", "bulletin board" and "communion", they couldn't very well use "ex-communicate".

  According to the OED, the first recorded occurrence of the word is in the Troy (N.Y.) Watchman newspaper, in 1831. That in itself is interesting. The Watchman seems to have been an anti masonic publication. I wonder if further digging would find any familial relationship or line of descent between the Watchman and the Watchtower. Not very likely, but I find it very interesting, nonetheless.
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  Jeffro

  Notformer:

  You got me thinking. Did the WT coin the term themselves?

  No. The term 'disfellowship' was first used as a verb in the 1830s. The term is used by various minor Protestant groups (which is what JWs are at their core), though the specific application of the term varies. For example, Christadelphians also practice what they call 'disfellowshipping', but it generally involves exclusion from their church services but not strictly mandated social shunning.
  
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  St George of England

  Today in the WT study, the brother reading the paragraphs was using a WT magazine (Sept 2024, page 10). When he read par 7 it says "Opposers attack our Bible based beliefs on morality, and on the disfellowshipping arrangement, claiming we are intolerant and cruel"

  The digital version has been changed to "Opposers attack our Bible based beliefs on morality, claiming we are intolerant and cruel".

  Neither the WT Study conductor nor anyone else made any mention of this.

  In next to no time JW's will be asking if anyone has ever heard the term disfellowshipping!

  George
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  blondie

  Wow, St George of England, proof the WTS edits their magazines based on legal decisions in "caesar's" world.
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  Phizzy

  " In next to no time JW's will be asking if anyone has ever heard the term disfellowshipping! "

  True, but they must keep up with "Jehovah's Chariot" , and use only the current "Cult Speak", the term is now "Removed" we learn, as with a number of changes in the J.W Esoteric Cult Speak over the years, the word has changed, but not the practices associated with it.

  The "removed" person will still be shunned, which IS intolerant and cruel !
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  dropoffyourkeylee

  The disfellowshipping/removal thing has happened so fast that the print- WT has the word DF but by the time it was studied they had to edit it out of the online version. Wow, unreal.
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  Listener

  Good pick up St George.

  A good demonstration of their pure hypocrisy.

  Even the wording of the original statement is telling -

  “ Opposers attack our Bible based beliefs on morality, and on the disfellowshipping arrangement”

  They are stating that their moral beliefs are bible based but that clarification is deliberately not made in regards to their disfellowshipping arrangement.

  According to Scribbr regarding the use of a comma before an ‘and’, it states ‘You need a comma before “and” when it connects two independent clauses’.

  Another point is that their disfellowshipping arrangement is full of moral issues.