I have been shifting some ideas around and the threat of disfellowshipping may actually help me in this instance. If you've read my other posts, you know why it is I'm on here. And you know that I am adamant.
But in the research of disfellowship, I've tried thinking of good, alternate arguments or points of reasoning before pressing the red button. I saw on another post called 11 Things the Bible Bans, But You Do Anyway by IamPresence2012:
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/bible/220669/1/11-Things-The-Bible-Bans-But-You-Do-Anyway
As I read them, it made me energetic to know that more than 5 million or more of the R&F JWs probably do most of these on any given day. But my common sense hit me and the argument came clear "When Jesus set up the new covenant, the new law, he did away with the old." It got me thinking hard because I know that Jesus doesn't directly deal with the 10 Commandments, so I had to research them. The first that came to mind was "thou shall not kill (murder)."
Jesus didn't deal with killing, but he spoke of murder. But his sense of what made a person a murderer was broader than most.
1 John 3:15 (NIV) "Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."
1 John 3:15 (NWT)(So we know it's not a miscommunication) "Everyone who hates his brother is a manslayer, and you no that no manslayer has everlasting life remaining in him."
In the book What Does The Bible Really Teach, Chapter 13, Paragraph 6:
"Having respect for life includes having the right view of fellow humans. The Bible says: 'Everyone who hates his brother is a manslayer, and you know that no manslayer has everlasting life remaining in him.' (1 John 3:15) If we want everlasting life, we need to root out of our heart any hatred for our fellowman, because hatred is the root cause of most violence."
The Watchtower page for this article is listed here: http://www.watchtower.org/e/bh/article_13.htm (for any who feel I may have misquoted or misspelled something for my own gains).
Jesus spoke again on hating a brother in 1 John 4:20: (NWT) "If anyone makes the statement 'I love God,' and yet is hating his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot be loving God, whom he has not seen."
And again in Matthew 5:44 (NWT): "However, I say to YOU: Continue to love YOUR enemies and to pray for those persecuting YOU.
Clearly, in the new law with the new covenant, Jesus wants us to love one another, going so far as to call it murder for even being contemptuous toward each other. In the April 15 2012 Watchtower, as it's been referenced, page 12 I believe, where is the love? They are instructing many to bring misery, shame, and loneliness to their "fellowman." To cast away and view their brother with disdain.
We are all aware (and if not, welcome to the war) of the November 1993 Watchtower that states: "True Christians share Jehovah's feelings toward such apostates; they are not curious about apostate ideas. On the contrary, they 'feel a loathing' toward those who have made themselves God's enemies, but they leave it to Jehovah to execute vengeance." (thanks jwfacts)
Or the 1992 July Watchtower that states: "The obligation to hate lawlessness also applies to all activity by apostates. Our attitude toward apostates should be that of David, who declared: "Do I not hate those who are intensely hating you." (again, thanks jwfacts)
Where is this Christian love we hear so much about? When one chooses to leave the congregation, or is forced out, why does this Christian love that Jesus spoke so much not appear in Jehovah's spirit-driven Organization? Why do they go against the decree of Jesus (who spoke for God) to love your enemy and pray for them?
Even if they do wrong to you (expose for fallacies, misquotes, inaccuracies, etc.), love them. Even if they condemn your God (a handful of old men in Brooklyn), pray for them. Even if they question your beliefs (with evidence starting from the mid to late 1800's, and find contradictory statements made a year apart as recent as 2009), do good to them.
Yet none of this happens. Encouraged hate and loathing. Encouraged pyschological abuse toward dissenters. But no agape (a word every JW was using in 2009).