A QUESTION FOR JW'S

by Dia 11 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  Dia

  Apparently, 'causing divisions' is a disfellowshipping offense for Jehovah's Witnesses.

  Now, I have a question for you:

  When someone in the Congregation is 'causing divisions' by pointing out the injurious criminal behavior of someone else in the Congregation, WHO is responsible for 'causing divisions'?

  WHO is 'causing divisions'?

  Is it the person who is engaged in dangerous criminal behavior - TOWARD FELLOW MEMBERS OF THE CONGREGATION and others? Or is it the person who is reporting the person who is engaged in this injurious criminal behavior?
• 

  blondie

  This question reminds me of a game played by children, The Monkey is in the Courthouse.

  "The monkey is in the courthouse, the monkey is about to speak."

  In JW thinking, the monkey is the one who speaks.
• 

  Bleep

  Very nice try blondie but I am sure this was a question for a JW.

  Guess I could help matter since I am still a regular JW.

  A readiness to forgive helps to keep the congregation free of divisions, grudges, and feuds.

  If it is grounds for disfellowshiping then the one accusing the matter will have to have another Witness to back them up. They would cause a division that is true but it is for the benifit of the other Christians. Hopefully, one will repent so that he can be accepted back.

  We can be sure that God's arrangement for Christians refuseing to fellowship with someone who has been expelled for unrepentant sin is a wise protection for us.

  Hopefully they are not wrongly accused but that happens alot in court. If they are wrong all they have to do is ask to be reprooved. If they are not wrong all they have to do is ask to be reprooved. That's what I would do.

  Then maybe after the smoke was cleared there could be proof that the accused did no wrong in the first place. Maybe the real sin came from someone else.

  I hope that might of helped a tidbit more than the last poster.
• 

  SYN

  Blep takes out his Field Service bag and prepares to say stuff at our "door":

  Guess I could help matter since I am still a regular JW.

  Yes, regular JWs are the best. I was a regular JW too, until my Mom began to develop a taste for hot Mexican chilli dishes and started feeding them to us every night. After that, I was what we in the industry like to call an "explosive" regular, and was very popular with the car groups and so forth, especially after extra helpings of that nuclear salsa. To this day, there are dark black craters in my bed from that.

  A readiness to forgive helps to keep the congregation free of divisions, grudges, and feuds.

  i.e. "Wait on Jehovah, he'll bring it out".

  If it is grounds for disfellowshiping then the one accusing the matter will have to have another Witness to back them up.

  Right, all those little kids who were raped when nobody was home but them and their rapist are going to have Witnesses to back them up. Oh, and they have to make their accusations in EXTREME detail in front of their abusers, too. What a loving judicial system!

  We can be sure that God's arrangement for Christians refuseing to fellowship with someone who has been expelled for unrepentant sin is a wise protection for us.

  Notice that the Society's definition of "unrepentant sin" includes going against even the most utterly ludicrous of their teachings, for instance, to save the lives of your children from their Blood Policy and such things a Christian would never do. Certainly, that keeps the Congregation free of those dangerous "Free Thinking" people who are always "Running Ahead of Jehovah's Organization".

  Hopefully they are not wrongly accused but that happens alot in court.

  Yeah, all that DNA evidence the cops could've gotten if it was reported immediately is just so unreliable, you know?

  Then maybe after the smoke was cleared there could be proof that the accused did no wrong in the first place. Maybe the real sin came from someone else.

  Yes, the accused is guilty. There was a case mentioned on this site where a girl was abused and her mother was told that the girl wanted the acts to happen. By a very high-up figure, too. Once again, the love just shines through so much I can barely handle it.
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  Bleep

  Even in court there must be at least one witness to the fact. And like any crime, the Witness that was abused should try to go to the authorities as soon as possible, even if they have to walk to a neighbor and ask for help.
• 

  StinkyPantz

  Dia-

  Both parties can be disfellowhsipped. The one accusing and the one being accused, depending on the circumstances. But, if someone brings the media in on it this angers them and I believe (this is only my opinion) that their anger and disgrace are the reason they kick out the person, not for other reasons.

  Bleep said: "Even in court there must be at least one witness to the fact." What? Not true! Many people have even gone to jail for murder before a dead body was even found and NO witnessess. I'm sure that you are specifically speaking of child molestation but even that is not true! How often is there a witness to abuse? Five percent of the time maybe. Can't you admit that the elder's policy is wrong and that people shouldn't feel like their children's lives are less important that "keeping the congregation clean"; the same congregation that tells them to hide their secret?
• 

  blondie

  One witness only, well, the victim counts as a witness to the crime. And there is such a thing as forensic evidence, which, of course the elders are not qualified in. In fact, only certain people in law enforcement are qualified in gathering forensic evidence. That is why it is imperative that the victim and/or their family get the police involved as soon as possible so that evidence can be gathered (and that the elders not discourage them from doing so; and if the elders tell the victim and/family that by going to the police with a possible felony crime would be causing divisions then the elders are discouraging them from reporting. In fact, I would call it religious blackmail).

  (BTW, Bleep, how do you know I'm not a JW?)
• 

  gumby

  Bleeper

  Imagine you have a little 7 year old girl and she begins to have nightmares and dosen't want to be alone. She begins to do poorly in school. One days she tells you brother .....has been touching her and making her do things.

  Youare outraged and you go to the elders. They call in the accused...he denies it.....they tell you to forget it and "leave it in Jehovah's hands". The nightmares continue and your daughter is messed up emotionally.

  Now you are really pissed so you go to the authorities and deal with it your way. The accused man goes to the brothers and says your making him trouble. They tell you to back off and quit "causing divisions". You cannot drop this as you "know" your daughter isn't lying.

  Bottom line......you get DFed for making trouble and going ahead of Jehovah's arrangement.

  ............. This is the problem......don't you know this?
• 

  Bleep

  Hi gumbyman, my hero

  It is a problem everywhere. I have shown people how to break the cycle of abuse. I have shown people what the Elders are do. I have shown examples of how my family saved my nephew from his step mother and bad father. I have talked about the grounds for disfellowshiping.
  To be done right the Bible information should allready be known. So the family should know what to do. They should have an investigation and since the U.S.A. has a strange court system it might take some time. DO NOT blame the Witnesses for having a bad government here. That is the reason the accused get off so easy.

  Just my thoughts on the matter, thanks.
• 

  tiondaj

  IT LOOKS AS THOUGH(FOR JW'S)THAT YOU WOULD HAVE TO GO TO THE PEOPLE IN YOUR CONGREGATION AND ASK FOR FORGIVENESS AND HOPED THEY DON'T DISFELLOWSHIP YOU. SHOULDN'T YOU GO TO GOD(THE ALMIGHTY!) FOR FORGIVENESS?

  PLEASE.........HELP ME UNDERSTAND.