by Igot2bme 77 Replies latest jw friends
If they have arranged a JC you won't be able to stave it off. They'll hold it with or without you and likely try to silence you like the good 'Jehu class' they are. They'll more than likely DF you anyway if you don't turn up.
Here's my experiences with those clowns............(no insult to actual clowns intended)..............
The letter from the elders is an astonishing example of a denial of natural justice. Advising a sister that she has been accused of apostasy is one thing, but how would it be possible for a person to arrive at a trial (sorry, judicial committee) prepared to make an adequate defence?
Precisely what was the act of apostasy? Where was the act committed and when?
Who has made this accusation? What is the basis of their accusation? Can the accused sister challenge or question the accuser? Will certain Bible scriptures be cited as evidence of a breach of proper Christian conduct? If so, which ones?
In a criminal trial, all this information is provided to a defendant in advance so they can prepare their defence.
In the case of a JC, a sister is expected to arrive at a hearing knowing none of those things. She will be informed of the charges, then, with no prior preparation and denied the opportunity to seek advice or support, be required to answer a series of back-to-back questions by three men who have had weeks to prepare for the meeting and anticipate her responses. Any chance to seek an adjournment to consider her position would be taken as defiance and obstruction.
She will not be allowed to record proceedings should she later wish to appeal a guilty verdict. If found guilty, members of the congregation will have no access to either the allegations or the reasons for the committee's decision. They will simply learn through gossip than a judicial hearing was held and that the result was a decision to disfellowship. There will therefore be no provision for other members of the congregation (including family or other elders) to consider for themselves whether the decision was correct.
These are the tactics of a tyrannical tinpot dictatorship that conducts its judicial activities in a climate of fear, surprise and secrecy, so unsure of the rightness of its actions that it ensures they can never be examined.
Anyone who walks into a judicial committee in those circumstances should know that a decision has already been made.
Ask them to define the meaning of apostasy (in writing) and to make it clear whether it is against God or the WTBTS.
Crap. Now you've gone and done it. You've committed the most serious sin of all----thinking for yourself!
Who do they think they can to tell you what to THINK--and to punish you for those thoughts. I mean think about it. These pompous assholes actually think they have the right and the authority to rifle through your brain and judge what is in there. Have you ever heard anything more ridiculous? More arrogant? It is truly an alternate universe where a bunch of janitors think they have the right-of-way into other people's brains where they get to lay the rules down. Absolutely nothing against janitors, but your average custodian doesn't grab a broom and bleach and delve into peoples minds to tidy up.
I'm sorry they can't just leave you alone. I'm sorry they think they are entitled to intrude on this most intimate part of your being. And I'm really angry. And if they are reading, they need to get a grip on the fact that they are puffed up insignificant little bits of carbon with no authority over self-determination. And they need to be ashamed of themselves.
Keep us updated.
NC
You need to do what you feel is best. If you have been just going through the motions, but no longer buy into the Watch Tower way of life, you might as well pull the pin and begin living. If you just cannot live without the family and friend who are Witnesses you need to prepare yourself and go along with the program.
If you have said or done something (usually it is said something) that would cause a body of elders to go forward with a judicial committee please listen to the prior posters. A judicial committee's purpose is not to judge whether or not you committed a sin. They have already convicted you of that. The purpose is to determine, based on their opinion, whether or not you are "worth keeping" (actual words used at my JC). They will judge you to see if your are "repentant".
The first big mark against you is what the allegation is - apostasy.
The second biggest is the fact that you didn't voluntarily come forward and figuratively fall on your sword. Someone else went and tattled on you to the elders.
The elders will most likely not reveal who your accusers are and, even if they did, you will not be allowed to face your accusers and cross-examine them at your judicial committee. Elders have to protect their snitch system in order to keep it going. There would be very few judicial committees if accusers had to face the people they have alleged wrongdoing to the elders.
If you do not want to be disfellowshipped you must:
1) Admit everything
2) Deny nothing
3) Bring a laundry list of things you have done to show repentance
You are on this website for a reason. If any Witness is here, actively participating or just lurking, the best advice I have is stop cold. You're on this site because you no longer buy into the Watch Tower Society's doctrine. When it comes to Jehovah's Witnesses, you are either all the way in or all the way out. Anything else will bring you misery.
It all sounds so medieval like when you read about the inquisition their like a bunch of wizards pointing their magic wand at you expecting you to grovel and then sentencing you to the rack and then they burn you at the stake.
Their living in some fantasy world where they think they have power of life and death.
seems like there is a hightened level of paranoia, especially against "apostates". the latest assembly stated that apostacy starts by complaining if you were mistreated. LOL, thats insane. and they kept talking about how apostates are inside the congregation. in addition there seems to be a pattern going on, and that is people who are fading are being offered a sheperding call, and if they decline and judicial comitee forms under the claim they need to "clarify your position about the faithful slave". they are creating a condition in the congregations where the slightest bit of complaining no matter how true or warranted has people shouting "apostate!". its incredible.
mind blown:
So they said I had by the end of the week to be sorry or they were going to announce my name.
Sorry, dear, but that is the funniest thing I've read here lately!!
It is a personal decision, but I know that if or when this happens to me I want tie up their precious time as much as I can - to get some of my own back.
It is not usual to put things in writing, they are discouraged from doing so. If the letter came unregistered and wrongly addressed I might tear it up and wait for them to contact me again (which they are obliged to do at least once before acting) then swear blind that I never received it and ask where they sent it to?
This is a legal action so I would fight it within their rules . Of course the dice are loaded in their favour so the outcome would probably be the same, but it could be fun, and in my case it might help family to see how rulebound and unjust they really are..
Of course if you would rather d/a and say "stuff 'em" - that is your right !
Ask them to define the meaning of apostasy (in writing) and to make it clear whether it is against God or the WTBTS.
That's a good one. They consider them the same (rebellion against one is rebellion against the other), but it still is good to make them admit even in thought that it IS the same to them.
(Also the grammar in this letter keeps jumping out at me: an 'alleged' charge means the charge may or not be real... not the crime ;) Charge should imply alleged... but like someone said; if they're calling a JC, they've already got their proof, so alleged doesn't factor into it for them.)
I have no advice though. It all depends on what you want to do. If you don't care about their 'authority' or what they can do, then ignore their summons if you want. If you do care and do not want to be df'd, then follow the advice of the many posters here who know how to avoid it for a while.
Peace and strength to you,
Tammy
