Unrepentant,sincere repentance and genuine repentance

by RULES & REGULATIONS 6 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  RULES & REGULATIONS

  WATCHTOWER APRIL 2015 ( STUDY EDITION )

  God pardoned David’s sin because of David’s sincere repentance. (Ps. 32:1-5) Likewise, a servant of Jehovah today will be disfellowshipped only if he is unrepentant or continues to practice what is bad. (Acts 3:19; 26:20) If genuine repentance is not manifest to the elders who serve on a judicial committee, they must disfellowship the person.

  
  

  Let's use teenagers ( as an example ) who get disfellowshipped from the congregation due to fornication. These teens admit to the elders that they were fornicating ( due to getting caught or from a guilty conscience ). How does the elder body follow up after a teen admits to fornication the first time? Are they questioned for a time period after? How many times can someone admit to fornication where someone is declared unrepentant?

  What is sincere repentance? How does the elder body know if someone is unrepentant or continues what is bad? How does someone show genuine repentance?

  
  

  
  
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  sir82

  Short answer: It is all based on the elders' gut reactions.It is entirely a crap shoot, based on what the elders feel like.
  

  When in a judicial committee, your "everlasting destiny" is determined on the whims of 3 men. Present your case identically to 20 different sets of 3 men, and 10 would DF you, and 10 would not.
  
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  RULES & REGULATIONS

  sir82

  My cousin was disfellowshipped at 19 years old. He told me that the elders were following him around while he had a girlfriend on the side. He had a guilty conscience one day and admitted to fornicating with his girlfriend. He was ''marked''. A couple of months later he was disfellowshipped.

  What happened in between? Did the elders bring him in the back room once in a while and ask him if he was still fornicating with his girlfriend? At what point did the elders feel it was time to disfellowship him?
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  matt2414

  When I was an elder, we were instructed to use Acts 26:20 as a guide. Sinners "should repent and turn to God by doing works that befit repentance." They say that "works" are actions that the sinner takes to show repentance, e.g., confession, apologizing to the recipient of the sin, prayer, meeting attendance, personal study, reading the Bible, etc., etc. Lying, trying to cover up the sin, lack of spiritual activity, etc., who mean the person hasn't turned to God and therefore hasn't repented.

  
  But like sir82 says, it all depends on the whim of the elders. One elder may see "repentance" while the others may not. Let's face it, most elders are unqualified to be "judging" other people for their so-called sins. The JWs and their Pagan governing body are more interested in covering their asses against lawsuits than they are in helping people.
  
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  sir82

  I don't understand "following him around" - like literally walking behind him while he was on a date?

  You don't get "marked" for admitting to fornication - likely he was "reproved". That means a judicial committee was formed, and the elders found him "repentant". He still gets punished (reproved), but is not DF'ed.

  One of the conditions for being put on "reproof" instead of DF'ed is that you must promise to stop whatever it was that got you in trouble in the first place. If the elders determined that he was "fornicating" a few months afterward, then very likely they re-formed the judicial committee and pretty quickly decided to DF him.

  Elders don't take kindly to being lied to in a judicial committee, or to slip-ups soon after they have extended "mercy". Either one is about the surest way to get DF'ed.
  
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  JW GoneBad

  The title of the article on page 29 is 'Why Disfellowshipping Is A Loving Provision'.

  It is soo odd to see the words 'Disfellowshipping' and 'Loving' in the same sentence....only in WT world!

  It reminds me of an incident that happened 2 weeks ago: A sister who is married, a mother of 2 boys and one girl (all in early teens) was disfellowshipped. The husband along with the kids were in attendance to hear the announcement, but the sister wasn't. It was the saddest sight to see them walk out of the Kingdom Hall looking red-eyed, bummed-out and cheerless! All I could think of was: 'Jehovah's Witnesses...what a loveless organization'!!!

  Over the past decades I have seen this sad and bitter scenario played out waaay tooo many times in the lives of many a family. I wouldn't wish this religion on anyone!!!
  
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  RULES & REGULATIONS

  sir8r
  I don't understand "following him around" - like literally walking behind him while he was on a date?

  The elders would follow them in a car and hide. They would park their car,stay inside and wait until he came out of his girlfriends house.

  I'm sorry that I used ''marked''. He was reproved. Sometimes I get mixed up with the terminology.