Yrs2long,
Ouch,
You hit too close to home.
Some of this I have been through.
If I had my WT cd on hand I actually would show you their spin on it.
BUT, I can tell you what I know.
You pointed out,
The sister, although lacking any evidence, reports the matter to the elders, who confront the husband. The husband denies any fornication.
Believe it or not all she has to do is turn in a letter saying SHE SAW this. What they are worried of is if the elders are responsible. With her letter of VEIWING The Sin
They no longer need his word. She saw it. She is a sister. That is the end. She can divorce and remarry. Now of course there are elders who are old boys club reminisant but, she has witnessed it. So that should be the end of matters. No matter what the grounds of divorce as long as they retain her letter of 1 st hand witness they should have no problems.
You asked,
Is the marriage vow considered broken by Jehovah? She witnessed it and Jehovah is all knowing and seeing so you answered yourself. Jehovah has nothing to do with the traditions or laws of imperfect men. If you saw it then he took note long before you walked in! In that case who cares what the bros say anyway? You know If your heart is broken beyond repair Jah is on your side.
Something you stated, Understandably, it will require two witnesses to get the elders to act against the brother. However, given that the woman was witness to the event, SHE knows that adultery has taken place.
Even the elders and the Org know this to be true. If your elders dont seem to just do a search on the Cd . Its there. Even if you dont witness it and your husband just confesses it you can divorce. Even if he retracts his confession later you may divorce and turn in a letter that he confessed. What I remember from my research at that time is a guilty spouse may after confession may not want to loose his family and retract so it is up to you the innocent party to remain strong and turn in a letter to you elders stating what was confessed. As odd as it may seem to us, the GB is worried they may some how be blamed by Jah for our unclean conduct. So they need a letter from us imperfect humans to make things clear between Jehovah and them about all our dirty little deeds.
Then they didnt support maybe us throwing out our adulterous, disease breeding spouses!
You further probed,
According to WT doctrine, is the sister scriptural free to divorce and remarry?
As long as you turn in the letter of the sinning spouses adultery that makes it so your divorced spouse cant blame them and sue them for tearing apart his familyof course!
Another of your questions,
if the brothers don't accept the woman's word as sufficient for divorce and the woman continues to cohabit, would she be required and/or can she be disciplined by the brothers for failing from that point to render the marriage due?
Lets be honest. The Brothers do as they please and manipulate scripture and WT Dogma as they please. They May diss whom the choose. If you go as far as divorce you must be clear in your heart , mind and conscience that it is the right thing and move ahead. If they diss you so what. As My Mom Who Hates Me Says, They Are Imperfect Men. They Are Bound To Reinstate You One year Or Another. You must do what is right for you and your fam screw the elders. Its all between you and Jah.
You went on to a rediculas scenario that could only happen to JWs because the elders dropped the ball and you were too afraid to move ahead with out their ok. You mapped out for us,
consider if the sister, unable to divorce, remains with the fornicating husband and does have sex with him. If the brother later feels remorse and confesses to the brothers about the adultery, does the sister's sexual acquiescence constitute forgiveness on her part due to her having had sex when she KNEW he had fornicated
Well at this point if you are like me you are screwed. But if you think for your self and remember God is love. You Divorce the Prick and remember that one-year or another the elders (who are imperfect) will reinstate you. Or better yet you realize Jehovah and Jesus dont expect perfection from you and this bloody wanker is going to bring you to the point of murdering him and chopping him up into little pieces which would be a worse sin and so you give the WTBS the 2 finger salute(or one if your from the USA) and divorce the fascist pig! You can then go on to marry Fernando the wealthy Matador from Spain spending all your days making love, drinking wine,and raising fat children till Jehovahs new system in which you and Fernando will be Princes Who just you presence will be like drinking cool water. The closed-minded elders job in the new system will be out house sanitation and of course picking up after you, Fernando and all the sheep like ones who come before you to acquire your sage advice.
Just my 2 cents,
Hope you semi-Amused.
Agape,
Utopian_Raindrops
P.S. Yes I have been through some of this but, at this time in my life I realize only Jehovah and Jesus count and the elders *&^%$*@(&^$&*#(9@(
