I recently did some research on Biblical Shunning.. Hopefully this may help you some.
1 Corinthians 5:1 "Actually sexual immorality is reported among you, and such immorality as is not even found among the nations—of a man living with his father’s wife. "
5:2 And are you proud of it? Should you not rather mourn, so that the man who committed this deed should be taken away from your midst? Although absent in body, I am present in spirit, and I have already judged the man who has done this, as if I were actually with you. When you are gathered together in the name of our Lord Jesus, and knowing that I am with you in spirit along with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you must hand such a man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
9 In my letter I wrote you to stop keeping company with sexually immoral people,
10 not meaning entirely with the sexually immoral people of this world or the greedy people or extortioners or idolaters. Otherwise, you would actually have to get out of the world.
11 But now I am writing you to stop keeping company with anyone called a brother who is sexually immoral or a greedy person or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner, not even eating with such a man.
12 For what do I have to do with judging those outside? Do you not judge those inside, 13 while God judges those outside? “Remove the wicked person from among yourselves.”
Christian congregations in the First Century, were far more intimate then what we see in the Kingdom Hall today, the Meetings took place on Sabbath Day each week, and they were Joyful times which consisted of Fellowship,Eating of Meals, praying and Teaching. It's important to note, that all members of the First Century Christian congregation were members of "The Body Of Christ" they were each Annointed by Holy Spirit..
For an Annointed Christian to practice any of the deeds mentioned in verse 5:11 would very possibly be Sinning Against the Holy Spirit, the unforgivable Sin (Hebrews 10:26)
With this in mind, the admonition not to eat with them or have communion with them, would have had primary implications in the Congregation.. These sinners would not be allowed to enter the Congregation and worship with other Christians at all.
The Jews had a similar method of Ex-Communication, this method can be seen in John 16:2.
The Reputation and public appearance was important to the Christians, and if anyone was seen eating with a Gross Immoral Sinner, who had clearly Rejected Jehovah's Spirit, this would not look good to a Gentile.
For this reason the admonition given by Paul, was primarily relating to communion within the congregation, however it did not necessarily stop there.. Fellow Christians may have shunned other members of the Body of Christ, if they were clearly unrepentent sinners.
The Important word is "Unrepentent Sinners" See Matthew. 18:15-17 to get an idea of a Proper "Judicial Meeting" there were multiple steps, and at the conclusion of these steps it would be clear that the Christian was unrepentent.
Matthew 18:15-17 "15 “Moreover, if your brother commits a sin, go and reveal his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take along with you one or two more, so that on the testimony of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. 17 If he does not listen to them, speak to the congregation. If he does not listen even to the congregation, let him be to you just as a man of the nations and as a tax collector."
So the act of Disfellowshipping, that Witnesses support is not scripturally wrong. However the above scriptures are referring to Annointed Christians.. Witnesses that are not Annointed, should be considered somewhere between a Gentile and a True Christian.. (They should have more leniancy in shunning because they are not led by Holy Spirit)
Beyond this.. These scriptures were intended as a guide, they were not intended to have strict and burdensome Rules & Regulations built around them..
In a Simple and Autonomous congregation that is lead by Holy Spirit, the Decesion whether or not to "Disfellowship" is straight forward.. The Sinner knows that he is committing Gross sin, the Public knows it, and the congregation knows it.. There should not be any Back Room secret meetings, that are determined by personal opinions or emotions.
(This was written to a Current Witness, so it is slanted for a current Witness to be able to read it)
