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Dear Faithisthekey,
Thank you for your questions.
You are absolutely right – the brothers were disfellowshipped for apostasy, but for one of them it was later deliberately linked to immorality by the BC, to disguise the fact it was apostasy – and that was a result of his own actions, after the events. Of course, that does not change the facts it was for apostasy – hence the fact I mentioned it on the other thread.
As you rightly said, the very sad thing is that it played into the hands of the WTS, in obstufucating the Bible's message. I think the really sad thing is that the individual concerned was/is very sad that it caused such an important message to be discredited in the eyes of so many – and yet, as you rightly said, faith in Jehovah and Christ should not be dependent on the actions of others. Still, since the message is the vital thing for those that believe in God, hopefully God's spirit will move them to faith in the Bible's message, as so ably presented by many outside the organisation.
As for the identity of the other brothers and myself, and your subsequent questions, I haven't identified any of the others or myself at any point, nor discussed my personal life or that of any of the other people involved, since these are public forums and I feel to do so would not be appropriate. My purpose here is simply to share my experiences of Bethel and the organisation with those who wish to leave the organisation – please see the topic entitled “Mill Hill Disfellowshippings”. I have not preached on here, since I personally do not do that anymore. However, if the other disfellowshipped persons would come on here and discuss their beliefs, I think that they would find many who might listen – however, there are many here who have been turned off the idea of God and the Bible, and do not want to hear more preaching.
I have explained my situation, as far as I feel comfortable with, on another topic – please see “Mill Hill Disfellowshippings” started by another poster - but only from a experience point of view, not from a personal point of view. Privacy dictates I would only discuss personal details in a one-on-one setting, if I knew who I was talking to, so please feel free to PM me, if you wish to have a clearer answer to your question. I'm sure you understand.
In terms of the scriptures, my thoughts on the scriptures you have mentioned are these (apologies to those who do not believe in God and the Bible here, of which I know there are many) -
Romans 6:1,2, 12-16 are absolutely essential for a person to truly be in the “gospel” or be “in Christ” - a person could not say that he has Christ living in him, if he is abusing the grace of God, using it to sin. For instance, how could a person preach about Christ, if he does not actually believe and follow Christ? Thankfully, to the best of my knowledge, all the individuals concerned who still profess to be “in Christ” are not “slaves to sin”, but rather have “impaled the flesh.”
As for 1 Tim 5:8, I absolutely agree – if a person is not providing for his family, then yes, he is worse than a person without faith. I personally feel this would make him no different to the many people in world who do not believe in God or the Bible, and reject Jesus. That is the personal choice of all of them, I feel.
Love
PP