i dont understand the term "marking"

by in a new york bethel minute 8 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  in a new york bethel minute

  i was raised a Jdub, was with it until last year... i know everything there is to know about it, i preached it and lived it for 24 years. but i have never heard of the act of "marking" an individual until i joined this site. i understand the idea of it, but i dont understand what is involved... what exactly happens when someone is marked? do they make an announcement about the individual? do they say, "so-and-so is not considered good association"? maybe its different in canada than other places, i dont know

  bethel
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  Mystery

  I was "marked" after graduating high school in the '80's. I moved to the next congregation over from us with another sister. Before we even unpacked our boxes, comments were already circulating, that the younger (teen?s and early 20?s) brothers and sisters should not associate with me nor the other sister. We were both active and were considering pioneering if we could financially make it with our bills.

  We were ?marked? as bad association due to us not marrying immediately upon graduation or staying with our parents and pioneering and doing Jehovah?s work.\

  And ? I was one of the ?special kids?, an elders daughter. But ?. I had been disfellowshipped prior to graduation. (for 9 months).
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  unbeliever

  I once had a special needs talk given in my honor for listening to the band Guns N Roses (what ever happened to them?). They went on a speal about how aful such music was. Everybody knew they were talking about me. They will give enough details for the congregation to figure it out. I remember a talk that was given about dating/marrying unbelievers. Well just the week before it came out that a young "sister" was getting married to a *gasp* worldly man. The point of marking is that if you continue in such activity you are considered bad association and to be avoided.
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  garybuss

  It's a part of the shunning practice and is done to make people feel like more of a piece of crap than they already do. Did anybody ever see a person marked for gluttony?
  
  
  
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  blondie

  Marking is DFing in reverse. Instead of naming the person (and then you guess what they did), they name the sin (and you guess who did it).

  But if anyone is not obedient to our word through this letter, keep this one marked, stop associating with him, that he may become ashamed. And yet do not be considering him as an enemy, but continue admonishing him as a brother. 2 THESSALONIANS 3:14-15

  A talk is given during the service meeting outlining the sin, why it is bad, and how to treat people who are doing it. It is not a DFing offense but one the elders feel others might be contaminated by. The most frequent sin is marrying an unbeliever.

  The difference between DFing and marking too is that there is a formal reinstatement process and announcement so that people know they can once again associate with you. With marking, the only clue is if you see an elder(s) talking to the person you suspect was marked.

  Blondie
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  Mac

  I think the interpretation, process and application varies somewhat from congregation to congregation...they used to place theocratic "kick me!" stickers on the asses of the less than holy where I attended! Permanent markers for disfellowshipped ones...water soluble for the rest!

  mac, always looking behind me class
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  peacefulpete

  Yeh, marking differs from place to place. It generally consists of giving a talk about marking and then going on about specific behavior or "apostasy" that merits marking. My wife and I were named as marked in a talk 2 weeks after she stopped attending. They are a bunch of yahoos here and probably didn't know they were not supposed to name us. We found out when someone from a neighboring congo gave their sympathys to my folks.
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  Leolaia

  This sounds a little like what happened to me. Well, I wasn't the one who "sinned," rather I was the victim of rather nasty rumors on the part of the petty sisters....and the elder gave a talk during the service meeting about the danger of rumours and how it is un-Christian to gossip. Unfortunately the elder divulged the content of the rumors (which utterly embarrassed me, as they were untrue), and since everyone had heard the rumors from this one particular person, it was obvious who the elder was "disciplining". It was so humiliating, and the kids were like pointing and laughing during the talk at me and the gossiper. At least, the next day at school, the sister apologized to me. But it sure wasn't worth the humiliation. Taught me never to go to an elder to discuss a problem with someone in the congregation.
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  XQsThaiPoes

  I think marking depends on the area. If your hall is so bad for something like drinking nobody will be marked for drinking. THey may mark you for expensive clothes. That is until someone is DFed cuz they got drunk as did something bad then there is a giant local needs part on the dangers of over drinking.

  It could also be lack of recomendation for a position. You will never know a person was marked unless a position comes up and the edlers turn them down. Like one elder allows his kids to listen to rap. His daughter (a pioneer) wanted to go to bethel. He said he could not recomend her because she listend to rap, and two disqualifications on the form are rap and heavy metal. So it is okay to listen to rap, throw and attend parties with lots of rap music, but he can't recomend her unless she gives up rap. Silly eh.