The Disfellowshipping Arrangement is Total Double-Speak

by Pika_Chu 12 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  Pika_Chu

  I am livid right now, so please understand I'm venting, and I don't mean to sound like a troll. I just found out about the "Simplified" WT and the Koolaid edition reinforcing shunning. This is really freaking me out, but, anyway, I just had an epiphany. The disfellowshipping arrangement is a profound case of double-speak. I'm also a bit lazy, so if anone wants to add citations to the following statements, that would be lovely. Anyway, to illustrate:

  Premise A: Armageddon could come any minute now.

  Premise B: God desires none to be destroyed but attain repentance and return to his "organization."

  Premise C: A person who commits a "wrong-doing" only once is disfellowshipped for a an actual length of time. Most likely, it is at least a 6-month period.

  Premise D: A person recieves Holy Spirit only through the organization and at Christian meetings.

  Analysis: If A, B, and D are true, Armageddon is due any minute, and God doesn't want anyone to be destroyed. Why, then, does the Society insist on keeping people from participating in meetings, the only place where they--wait for it--EVIDENTLY can get Holy Spirit? This is especially weird considering the Holy Spirit is supposed to do things like give people a change of heart. Allowing someone to participate would allow for that (not really). So, by cutting people off from the one supposed source of freshly bottled HS on Earth, the waters of "eternal life," if you will, the Society impeeds the "spritual healing" of the disfellowshipped one. The Society also works against their own god's wishes that none be destroyed. If Armaggedon is just around the corner, what stops it from being within the six months you are outside his "protection." To me and the rest of us on this forum, it is rather obvious this is a major scare tactic, but what would a JW say in response to such logic? Would they say it was Satan's "crafty acts" of "prideful logic," taking control over our minds? Ah, but that would imply that Jehovah's Witnesses are not the smartest people on Earth. And if one's belief system is so fragile as to be shattered by "Apostate" information, then that probably means his/her belief system was built on weak logic to begin with. If "reasoning" can prove all other relgions false, why doesn't it prove the WT false? Again, double standards. Double speak. Oh, and notice the fact that I didn't use any apostate information? This is nothing but "reasoning" and their OWN literature. The RECENT ones, for Pete's Sake. Not even the old, apostate WTs...Can you say, "double speak?!"
• 

  Mad Sweeney

  You have explained well just one OF MANY irrational and hateful problems with the shunning arrangement.

  I am shunned by all but a tiny few and was recently told that I SHUN THEM by no longer participating in their religious rituals. They are able to turn things completely around in their boggled heads. Right is wrong. Hate is love. We have always been at war with Eastasia.
• 

  AudeSapere

  marking for later (also ref the July 15, 2011 article on DF Family threads)
• 

  Pika_Chu

  You have explained well just one OF MANY irrational and hateful problems with the shunning arrangement.

  I am shunned by all but a tiny few and was recently told that I SHUN THEM by no longer participating in their religious rituals. They are able to turn things completely around in their boggled heads. Right is wrong. Hate is love. We have always been at war with Eastasia.

  Thanks for the compliment. And I'm sorry about your shunning. I'm no stranger to this kind of conditional love. I became very close to being found out once...The ONLY reason I'm not being shunned is because I'm so secretive. It's really twisted. And, funny thing about Eastasia: I read 1984 and we had discussions in my English class over many Orwellian concepts. This actually helped my doubting a lot. What struck me the hardest was knowing that Winstion worked for the--get this--the MINSTRY OF TRUTH! Anyway, one discussion revolved around EastAsia, and how it doens't even necessarily exist. We had similar discussions about the Party. These things were likely only mental constructs designed to keep the masses under control. EastAsia=the world outside dubland. They are constantly fighting demons and the spirit of the world, when in reality, they have major persecution complexes and are fighting mental constructs. The expectation of persecution shapes their perceptions. Whenever something bad happens to a JW, it's Satan or "his world." Whenever something bad happened to (insert name of Winston's home continent here), it was EastAsia's fault. They were the ultimate invisible enemies. And the Party was something that only existed theoretically. Just like "God's organization" means nothing to anyone outside of dubland, the party only existed to keep people in line. It was made up of people, and yet Big Brother (or in the JW case, MOTHER) controlled even the Party members. Control, control, here they come to steal your soul...that should be a song...sorry, I need some meds or something.
• 

  Yan Bibiyan

  Arrangement, my a$$.

  Below is a copy/paste from another post of mine, with my views of the "arrangement":

  ....When speaking of an “arrangement”, one is conditioned to expect a conscious effort aimed for betterment.

  In a musical arrangement for example, musicians put an effort to sequence, harmonize and combine musical instruments into a composition of sounds that best conveys the composer’s ideas and creative force. In a flower arrangement, the florist uses individual flowers to put together a visually pleasing bouquet. In a seating arrangement, chars are situated in the best possible way for the audience to experience the presented program….you get the idea.

  Enter the Watch Tower.

  Disfellowshiping and resulting shunning is arguably one of the top ten WT practices that rightfully draw heavy criticism. Making it an “arrangement” not only does not help soften the resulting blow, but actually adds an insult to the injury by trying to present this harsh and unbiblical act as some kind of love! Disfellowshipping results in the spiritual, social, and sometimes physical death of the disfellowshipped.

  Lets see if used as “arrangements” other inhumane acts are more appealing:

  The Nazi gas chambers could be: “Confined Space Chemical Asphyxiation Arrangement”

  The Stalin firing squads could be: “Supersonic Lead Projectile Piercing Arrangement”

  Iranian public hangings could be: “Gravity-Assisted Vertebrae Separation Arrangement”

  Al-Qaida suicide bombers could be: “Shock Wave Tissue Separation Arrangement”

  Death by lethal injection could be: “Barbiturate, Paralytic, and Potassium Solution Overdose Arrangement”

  Sugarcoating does not change the underlying act; it makes it appear worse because of the added level of insincerity.

  -Yan
• 

  Mad Sweeney

  Not only that Yan, but they often add in the actual words "Loving" before and "from Jehovah" after. Disfellowshipping is a "loving arrangement from Jehovah," they say.
• 

  sd-7

  Double-speak? Well, the assumption is that Jehovah would be more merciful than 'his organization'. It was always my belief, though I wouldn't dare mention it, that 90% of JWs would probably not survive Armageddon, that it might be a million of them at most, assuming they were the one true religion. So...my thought was, since God knows the heart, he's not going to ice somebody because they're sittin' it out on the sidelines due to spiritual injury. They should get to share the prize of life like everyone else.

  Guess I was an apostate long before I knew it. Jehovah and mercy? "Mercy? I believe my current predicament has left me COLD to your pleas for mercy."

  --sd-7
• 

  jam

  The shunning practice is what cause me to question the WT.

  I beleive if not for that, I would be A JW today. My family members

  who has never been JW, withness this practice first hand . When

  they saw this act of love (df), they admittedly stop their study.

  They question, how can this be A act of love. When someone

  engage in wrong doing, you do not shut them off when they

  most need the help.
• 

  Pika_Chu

  BUMP!
• 

  Pika_Chu

  Bump bump bump? No takers?