The hideous and cruel practice of disfellowshipping IS for protection! BUT---the only "protection" it affords---is for the Watchtower Society. Period. It is strictly done to keep folks from finding out what the WTS has been DOING---for years,---behind the loyal JWs backs. What *has* already been exposed, the GB is constantly designing their pitifully weak "damage-control" program to combat.
Many "mature Christians" (tm) can see that the WTS' weasel-words and slippery explanations are exasperatingly lame excuses for it's "questionable" behavior. [Tacoma Parking lot scandal, the UN involvement, the Jimmy Swaggart/WTS court tax evasion incident, the generation change problem, ludicrous doctrinal changes--each one taught as "bible truth", having cigarette company and Randcam war implement/parts connections, *several* false predictions ,etc, etc, etc.] "Her" sins have amassed to the Heavens.
The WTS needs time to do that to counter all these latest exposures that are becoming more and more widely known. Their trust and credibility are under a microscope and slowly disappearing because they couldn't control what the internet has shown.
Nobody likes to be lied to, and JWs are waking up and realizing that they HAVE been lied to, and then lied to ABOUT being lied to.....it's a nasty web of deceit that has gone way too far to "undo" any longer. By trying to cover up their "mistakes", they have made themselves an object of (deserved) ridicule. They have done it all to themselves......just like any other false prophet and/or cheesey televangelist.
It's despicable to shred families apart just for the sake of protecting an earthly organization that claims to be the ONLY ones who have "God's Holy Spirit", but never being able to *prove* it when it comes under scrutiny.
For a "religion" that claims that it's based on the "love of the Christ".....it's amazing how much harm and hatefulness it has fostered throughout the world.
For those still under the spell of this psuedo-religion, it's time to "Awake!" up and get OUT from among them! The WTS has left more than enough countless bodies along their insidious trail of "love".