Disfellowshipping - But You KNEW About It Before You Were Baptized! (page 3)

gubberningbody

I know I thought it was ok to disagree as long as you had a biblical foundation for your conscientious position.

That's why the WTBS is a lying sack of merde.

freydo

You were never told that absolute loyalty was the primary basis for good standing.

And you were never told that unchecked elder abuse was the method of enforcement and that it was systematic.

And you were never told the consequences and that it was all unscriptural.

So df'g was just a just word without meaning.

jwfacts

I hear it all the time. But there was so much I didn't know:

All the reasons a person can be d/f
That JWs used to worship Jesus
That JWs used to hold pyramids significant
That the Watchtower says Jesus is not my mediator
That a generation was an overlapping one.
What a rhetorical fallacy is

Most here leave because the learnt things they did not know, not because of things they did know and chose to change their stance on at a later date.

nelly136

my understanding and comprehension of dfing as a child and teen up to baptism was pretty sanitised, it didnt actually come anywheres near the reality.

my only experience of dfing in my own family was when i was very young and my aunt left her wife beating husband or visa versa (depending on who was referring to it) and took up with the man i remember fondly as my second uncle.

from a childs eye view it didnt seem to be too big a deal, we'd go stay at hers and spend the holidays and sit up the back of the hall with her in the special seats, my nan and grandad would go visit her regularly blah blah

so my understanding was the so called dub friends would drop you like a hot coal but when it came to family there was to be absolutely no doctrine or jw stuff discussed but your family matters were seperate.

when push came to shove the reality was a bit of a learning curve.

serenitynow!

Those who are born in dont get the opportunity to get all the info on the cult. We're taught about independent thinking from infancy. when i pressed the issue of god having no beginning &no end made no sense, my mother hit me in the mouth. that's how the evil of independent thinking was handled in my house. we trust our parents, that what is being taught is the truth. most of us really believed, thought we were serving god. they pulled a big bait & switch on us. the org likes to sucker the born ins into baptism as early as possible. its emotional blackmail. that means they have the entire family enslaved. none of them can leave. when you really think about the way this org operates, they are truly diabolical.

mrsjones5

when i pressed the issue of god having no beginning &no end made no sense, my mother hit me in the mouth. that's how the evil of independent thinking was handled in my house.

When I was 15 I put forward the idea to my father that someday I might just have a different opinion from the one he had. We were driving in a van on the way to my grandparents and he pulled over the van and slapped me down for saying such a thing. Independant thinking = bad.

MrFreeze

All I have to say is that my brother left the organization before he was baptized. Good thing it wasn't after he was baptized or I'd have missed out on one of the best friends I've ever had.

Aussie Oz

Yes they can claim on technicality that those getting baptised know already the facts about disfellowshipping. It is in the publications. The watchtower mainly, which a good many JWs seem to sleep thru either literally or figurativly.

what i find most distasteful is the fact that the organized to do jehovahs will only talks very briefly about disfellowshipping and disassociation. The paragraph that deals with D/F only remarks on the issue of shunning with the words about the announcement; ''this will alert faithful members of the congregation to stop associating with that person''. No explanation of that is given.

only one review question deals with the subject and the answer is a quote of 1 cor5:9-13. nowhere is the term ''quit mixing in company...'' is not explained at all.

The back of the book admonishes an elder to spend an 'hour or so' making sure the person qualifies. Hardly enough time considering the gravity of a dedication and baptism.Even worse and neglectful if it is a minor to be baptised.

I make a statement that i for one have no problem with the practice of disfellowshipping. Many sorts of organizations expel members for rule breaches. It is the practice of shunning that i take issue with.

At no time does this book, which is the text book studied leading to baptism touch on the realities of shunning. Yet this is the one book that should. No where is it mentioned how it affects families. How mothers will shun children. How sons will shun parents and siblings.

That is why i have already talked about this with my children. Soon i will also show them watchtowers that spell out the practice in no uncertain terms. There is no way they are baptizing my kids without them knowing accuratly what it means.

Shame on the WT Soc for the gloss job they do in order to get members

mindmelda

I was 15 when I got baptized in 1976. Yeah, sure a 15 year old knows the full ramifications of a lifelong contract...NOT!

Ironic to me that parents who wouldn't dream of letting me MARRY at that young age were tickled to death when I entered into a contract that has at least as much if not more effect on one's life.

I had no idea what I was getting into in a lot of ways. Hell, I didn't even have a driver's license yet...and yet I could make a lifetime, binding contract.

From a legal standpoint alone, ridiculous!

No, I had no idea about the full extent of the effect of DA and DF when I was baptized, other than the bare bones....you got DF'd for fornication and joining the military or another church was all I knew.

Besides, in the congo I came into, we had an elder's wife who got DF'd every four years or so for adultery, as she was some sort of nympho...he was always catching her sleeping with his friends, relatives and finally, some of his Bible studies.

She was NUTS, but poor thing, I later discovered she'd been sexually abused as a child, and yes, raised as a Witness. I don't know who did it, but obviously another victim of pedophilia among the ranks of Witnesses.

I just feel terribly sorry for her now.

Disfellowshipping - But You KNEW About It Before You Were Baptized!