"Shunning" - now a Watchtower word?

by slimboyfat 12 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat

    I know JWs have long used the word "shun" in a general sense, as in "shun what is bad". But I think they have long avoided using the word in relation to disfellowshipping. In external media or literature wherever the word "shunning" was used in a piece about JWs it was usually a good indication it was critical of Watchtower and not a neutral or supportive commentary. A few years ago I think I searched the WT library for the words shun, shunned, and shunning and did not find them used in relation to disfellowshipping at all. (I can't repeat this now because I don't have the library)

    Yet now the word "shunned" is used freely on the website for their practice:

    https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/shunning/#?insight[search_id]=98e51141-6fb3-43a2-9ddd-91c7ec5ac653&insight[search_result_index]=1

    And the elder used the word freely during the "shunning" convention talk:

    https://youtu.be/WK7GPoGkWw4

    This seems like a small victory for critics of the practice that the Watchtower has finally admitted that their policy amounts to shunning.

    What's next, Watchtower articles defending the "art of mind control"?

  • ZAPPA-ESQUE
    ZAPPA-ESQUE

    Its an official word in JW world I suppose:

    shun / shunned / shunning /

    shunner / shunnee / shunnable

  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat

    I don't think it used to be though. I could be wrong.

  • darth frosty
    darth frosty

    Back in the day use of that term was shunned.

  • Tornintwo
    Tornintwo

    when I first started having doubts i used the word shunning and my jw husband said sarcastically "shunning?, we don't SHUN anyone, thats an apostate word" hmmm now his CD must be on high alert

  • freemindfade
    freemindfade

    Funny how quickly things change. Just in early 2015 I was having a blowout with my family and used the word shunning to describe disfellowshipping. I was quickly corrected by my aunt who said that is an "apostate" word.

    Guess not ...

  • OneEyedJoe
    OneEyedJoe

    Yeah this definitely looks like an about-face to me too. Like the others have said, I've been told I sound like an apostate for using the word in relation to disfellowshipping.

  • Room 215
    Room 215

    It's a word they've consistently avoided in the past, much like their aversion to "converting" or "conversion. "

  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat

    It's perhaps careless rather than design. I can imagine younger Watchtower writers have read media reports that talk about shunning, not realised the word is sort of proscribed in Watchtower speak, and just used it when writing Watchtower material.

  • dubstepped
    dubstepped

    Oh yeah, shunning was formerly an apostate word. They would claim to not shun. Now they're making the shun their own.

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit