I found this paragraph in the Watchtower study to be so ridiculous and offensive......

by Pyramid Scheme 30 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Pyramid Scheme

  God decides through the elders then 7 days are given for appeal.

  Great point, punkofnice!

  When i was an elder, I always struggled with that whole arrangement. It had no scriptural basis, was more complicated than the judicial courts of the government, and the appeal process just prolonged the inevitable for the poor person who was to be disfellowshipped.

  I never once saw a successful appeal....Even though as an elder, I helped a friend of mine prepare one once! I thought we had an airtight case to get the DF overturned......I was wrong. That was the case that opened my eyes and began my journey out the door.

  You said it all....it comes down to CONTROL......
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  THE GLADIATOR

  Why do they need inspiration or holy-spirit, when the faithful and indiscreet slave has provided the Elders manual?
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  cobaltcupcake

  Last time I checked, the GB is made up of imperfect men too. Of course, now they're very close to claiming infallibility.

  I watched a program about a cult made up of a few people who broke off of the Reformed Mormon Church to follow a guy who claimed to be God's prophet.

  For some reason, a family of 5 of his followers were deemed to be sinners and essentially shunned within a very tiny cult. The "prophet" claimed that the family members were responsible for one of his failed prophecies and the group needed to be "cleansed" of these holy-spirit-sapping sinners. One night they were all killed and the whole cult decamped for a distant mountain town.

  Later, the whole cult was rounded up and thrown in prison for the murders.

  Stuff like this scares me when I see the GB consolidating power and retreating to a remote location that could easily become a "compound."
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  Christ Alone

  Hence, what they decide in such matters after seeking Jehovah's help in prayer will reflect his point of view "

  The point that I find deceptive in this statement is that they WILL reflect his point of view. It would be an understandable (and somewhat accurate) statement if they said, "Hence, what they decide in such matters after seeking Jehovah's help in prayer should reflect his point of view." But this statment is written to the rank and file JWs. The GB is trying to instill confidence in the flock that whatever the elders say comes directly from Jehovah.

  Like Blondie said, they are speaking out of both sides of their mouth. On one hand it is claimed that they are not inspired and not infallible. But on the other side, whatever they decide IS God's point of view.
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  EmptyInside

  At the Watchtower study Sunday,this paragraph was explained that Jehovah has already decided if one is to be disfellowshipped or not. It's up to the elders to figure out what Jehovah has already decided. I don't know how they come up with this stuff. I didn't hear a scripture read to support this.
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  Bobcat

  And why is half the time at KM schools devoted to helping the elders handle JCs correctly?

  If the congregation knew what was being considered at KM schools they would have no faith at all in JCs.
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  james_woods

  I never once saw a successful appeal....Even though as an elder, I helped a friend of mine prepare one once! I thought we had an airtight case to get the DF overturned......I was wrong. That was the case that opened my eyes and began my journey out the door.

  I concur with this...never, ever saw any appeal go ANYWHERE. I am not saying that there has never, ever been a successful appeal, but they would have to be so rare in occurance as to be practically non-existant.

  I was just discussing this, as a matter of fact, with a local ex-JW at lunch this weekend - and again, we both agreed that appeals against a DF verdict go nowhere.
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  00DAD

  BTW, was it a Freudian slip the way you quoted the paragraph in question? You quoted:

  In accord with Jehovahs's will, Christian elders have been entrusted with the responsibility of wrongdoing in the congregation.

  When it actually reads:

  In accord with Jehovah’s will, Christian elders have been entrusted with the responsibility of handling cases of wrongdoing in the congregation.

  The part you left out significantly changes the meaning! ... lol

  00DAD
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  00DAD

  Of course that paragraph makes no sense, but in the context of the entire article it is obvious why they needed to shoehorn it in there.

  They just spent nearly an hour telling us how we need to forgive one another, even of serious sins, so they need to do some "damage control" to re-assert why they shun people without even know why other than because some announcement was made from the platform.

  I thought it was interesting to note that (in the congregation where I observed) only one individual commented on disfellowshipping or shunning even though there were several references to that and repentance in the article.

  Apparently the subject of "the elephant in the room" was was too awkward for most people to touch.

  It's all about control, they have it you don't: Shun anyone we tell you to shun even if you don't know why; on the other extreme you must forgive anyone we tell you to forgive even if they've caused you great personal injury and have not done anything to warrant your forgiveness.
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  wha happened?

  Cupcake. U have a good point as an example of how far it can go. I don't see any direct orders to kill anytime soon, but suicides as the result of a df'ing is in fact a murder. Put someone in an intolerable situation, remove all form of support and then shun them, and anyone who tries to help. Throw in a little condemnation of satan like behavior and boom goes the pistol to the head.

  I've seen that scenario, although rather than a pistol, it was a car in the garage.

  I call it murder. Not in the 1st degree, but with extenuating circumstances