There is a common saying that “the crime should fit the
punishment”. A minor violation should receive a minor correction; a major violation
receives a major punishment.
Take the example of a kid who accidently spills soda on the
carpet. I’d have a low opinion of a parent that would go ballistic over such a
mistake. Sometimes one can diffuse a situation by saying, “Spilling a soda on
the carpet…that’s worse than Hitler!” Obviously when said aloud, it sounds
quite silly.
In the Watchtower’s fundamentalist mindset, things are not
always the weighed that way. In their teaching, Hitler might come back in the resurrection,
but if you did or did not [fill in the blank], you might get everlastingly
destroyed at Armageddon. And that fill in the blank might be, not being regular
enough in field service, not attending all the meetings, or perhaps a married couple did
something in bed that Watchtower said is out of bounds. It’s either all or
nothing. It’s either “faithful in what is least” or everlasting death.
Could you do more? Sometimes the thought is: Pioneer or die!
Can you do any less? So perhaps you could have pioneered if you really tried
hard enough, but you didn’t. Perhaps you were pioneering, but could’ve tried
for a special assignment where “the need is greater”. Perhaps you watched
fantasy movies. Sometimes a JW might not know what act of non-compliance one
has done that could make one birdfood at the Big A. To be safe, they might live
a very strict life, or live in fear and doubt as far as their near future--sometimes
both.
You didn’t pioneer--that’s worse than Hitler! You watched
Harry Potter--that’s worse than Hitler! Doesn’t that sound silly?
This is reflected in Watchtower’s system of crime and punishment.
Being disfellowshipped, in essence, is saying that a person is in line for everlasting
death. Obviously, this is reinforced by shunning and the person becomes dead to
their friends and family. It is a religious stoning.
Volitions are not weighted. Did you murder someone? You can
be disfellowshipped. Did you celebrate Christmas? You can be disfellowshipped.
Did you go a little too far with someone you are dating? You can be disfellowshipped.
Did a church hire you to do some maintenance? You can be disfellowshipped.
Therefore, in that system of crime and punishment, something
relatively minor in importance becomes equal to murder. That is even assuming
the Governing Body’s interpretation of what is right and wrong is correct and
overlooking how often it vacillated on issues like organ transplants, blood
fractions, the YMCA, alternative service, and so forth.
It is truly “a tenth of the mint and the dill and the cummin”,
“straining out a gnat” but neglecting “weightier” matters. The Watchtower morality
does not have its priorities straight.
To a person who has bought into this belief, it doesn’t take
much for someone to feel bad, evil, doomed, even criminal. If a minor matter is
equivalent to something major, then how easy it is to think, “In for a penny,
in for a pound. I might as well.” If a person becomes convinced they are evil, then sometimes,
that might be how they act.
It’s a slippery slope of morality.
Take the Watchtower’s gradient of porn. A man viewing
lesbian porn could be a disfellowshipping matter, but so is looking at child porn.
Clearly the two are not equivalent! But under Watchtower both actions can receive
the same punishment.
Take another matter. Two people are dating and they go “too
far”, perhaps a single man getting to “second base” with his girlfriend.
Doing this one time might merit a slap on the wrist, as this would be viewed as
“minor uncleanness”. But then Watchtower viewed Jonathan Kendrick’s doing the
same toward his underage stepdaughter as “minor uncleanness” and got a similar
slap on the wrist. But even though Watchtower weighted these situations the
same, clearly the two matters were not equivalent!
Of course, there are people who are of a predatory or sociopathic
nature, to whom no system of punishment would deter, and they would not be
swayed any by fear, guilt, or obligation. And not everyone under Watchtower
morality goes down that slippery slope.
I believe people naturally have an innate sense of right and
wrong, as well as common sense. In general, many people do not even need a law
or rule enforced by an external agency to do the right thing and to avoid the
bad. But Watchtower morality can warp this, skewing perspective and priorities.
During the Australian Royal Commission, it was brought up
that certain repressive environments produce “perfect storms” that lead to
things such as higher rates of child abuse. Of course, the Watchtower organization is not the
only group where such perfect storms exist, but nonetheless it is recognized by
experts that the conditions in Watchtower are rife for such things to occur.
