Question for Elders... Will Refusing to meet with Elders

rrb2016

Does anyone know if this strategy will work to avoid being disfellowshipped? If one moves their card from one hall to another before a "wrongdoing" becomes public - and then refuses to meet with the Elders at the new hall - will they simply be able to fade away without being disfellowshipped. I had heard that if you refuse to meet with the Elders, they generally will not DF you - in order to avoid possible legal issues. Does anyone know this to be true?

Iamallcool

Just move out to where the elders can't find you anymore, they won't df'd you if they have never invited you to JC.

flipper

RRB2016- " Will refusing to meet with elders - Avoid Disfellowshipping ? " It depends. Sometimes yes, but many times you WILL be DFED by not meeting with elders if they know where you live if you refuse to meet with them at a JC meeting they will send you a certified letter and if you don't come will decide to DF you in absentia if you don't attend. This happened to me 2 months after the elders DFed me for not attending the JC meeting. They sent 2 elders 70 miles to where I lived to tell me I had been DFed for " circumstancial fornication " ( not even any proof ) and I did NOT attend the JC meeting. I appealed the decision and WON my appeal and wasn't DFed, but they can and will make your life a living hell for months.

IAMALLCOOL gives you very good advice. If you move WITHOUT them knowing where you moved to with no address for them to find you - then they cannot mail you ANYTHING certified mail or inform you of a possible JC meeting. So that would be the way to go if you possibly can. Otherwise you'll have a fight on your hand like I did. But be careful : I did nOT give the elders my new addresss, they got my address from JW relatives still in their immediate area, so be careful that your JW friends or relatives don't give elders your new address. Good luck with that if you want to stay in touch with JW friends or relatives. Elders may try to GUILT them into giving out your new address just in order to catch you. And yes- they ARE that subversive and tricky. Be careful. Good luck

Mum

If you move, keep your cards, and don't give them to the elders at the new KH. I moved to the other end of the U.S., so I was not bothered at all.

DesirousOfChange

rrb: You have a PM.

Paralipomenon

They don't give you your cards anymore.

You are suposed to contact the secretary of your new congregation and he will call the secretary of the old congregation and request they mail your cards out.

There have been ex-Witnesses that play the part of a new congregation secretary and get your cards sent to them.

If a wrongful act is to be imminently discovered, and you live within traveling distance to your old hall, they will likely just send it back to them for a JC.

Stubborn Disbeliever

I was DF'd because I coudln't meet with the elders 2000 miles away... I told them that I wanted to be anyways, so it was kind of a mutual thing> I was reinstated though, and my file was sent to the state I'm in now. I moved shortly after my papers arrived, and somehow they were "lost". I became "inactive" and then moved 2 more times after that, no one knows where I am, no one knows me in this state (that's a JW), so I'm probably just "inactive" now. But if they know where you live and you just blatantly ignore them, they can DF you without a JC meeting. As far as I know from my Elder dad and P.O. grandfather.

cantleave

No - you can be DF'd in abstentia, I was involved in DFing someone for smoking who refused to meet with us.

Oh and we were DF'd in absetentia too!

ÁrbolesdeArabia

No, if you refuse to meet we can disfellowship or delete your membership from the rolls. Ray Franz and Sue H. was disfellowshiped for refusing to meet with a Kangeroo or Star-Chambered JC. Say you are having a nervous breakdown right now and meeting with them could cause you great emotional harm. Your doctor,psychologist, psychiatrist said you are to keep everything at a minimum stress level now and you will meet once your doctors have gotten you balanced. You can go after legally if they persist in harrassing you, there is a way to draw this out a long time, you must play their game to do it.

LisaRose

I moved out of state and was never disfellowshipped, as far as I know. But it made no difference to my family, because I left my husband and lived with and married somene else, they treat me as if I am disfellowshipped. I know that was the price I would pay, so I felt it was worth it. My children never became dubs, so I got off fairly easy.

Question for Elders... Will Refusing to meet with Elders - Avoid Disfellowshipping?