The full program for the 2016 District Convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses is now available, and it may prove to be an extremely memorable event, though perhaps not for the reasons the Organisation intended.
It is important to keep in mind, before we discuss the specifics of the program, that the District Conventions often act very much as a barometer for the overall concerns and general state of health for Watchtower worldwide. In years when there is no specific pressing worldwide need, the convention may be a “general interest” mix of subjects all loosely connected by an overall theme.
But in years when a specific need or concern is affecting the worldwide organisation, we often see the Convention focused upon a specific theme. For example, a convention may focus on the preaching work and full time service, if the Governing Body feel there is a specific need in this area.
This is understandable, as a Convention allows the Governing Body three whole days to focus the minds and hearts of the Witnesses on whatever is considered to be the chief matter of interest at that moment.
So it is fascinating to discover that this year, the entire convention is focused upon one specific theme, and one specific theme only, as this tells us a great deal about the Governing Body’s main concern in 2016.
The theme is loyalty.
With a theme of “Remain Loyal to Jehovah”, the convention appears to focus solely around concerns over the reliability and trustworthiness of the flock. The titles of the talks are striking, and even a little disturbing. One can almost imagine them being stamped on huge Government signs in the kind of Totalitarian state that George Orwell so chillingly envisioned in his novel 1984. Imagine if you will, shuffling along in the rain, in a grey cityscape, whilst above you in neon letters loom commands such as:
Maintain Loyalty in Thought!
Loyal Love is BETTER than Life!
Maintain Loyalty in Word!
Freedom is Slavery!
HATE What Jehovah HATES!
Do Not Imitate DISLOYAL Ones!
Thoughtcrime IS Death!
Jehovah Deserves UNDIVIDED Loyalty!
Okay, hands up, some of those sentences are not talk titles from the convention, they are slogans used by the Totalitarian government in 1984, but if you did not already know this, you might be hard pressed to guess exactly which was which.
This controlling demand for loyalty goes on and on throughout the program, but in some ways, this isn’t even the most disturbing aspect of the planned material.
That privilege is reserved for a Friday afternoon talk that is part of a symposium entitled “Loyally Uphold Jehovah’s Judgements.”
The title of the talk?
“Shun Unrepentant Wrongdoers”
Shunning: Is Watchtower finally coming clean?
Shunning is one of the most controversial practices currently employed by Watchtower. We have covered the policy and its devastating effects many times here on JW Survey, but to cut to the chase for those who may not be familiar with the policy, it boils down to this.
If a baptised Jehovah’s Witness decides to leave the religion for any reason, all other Jehovah’s Witnesses will be required to pretend that person no longer exists. And if they disobey the shunning order, they too will be shunned.
As a result families are split apart, long term friends vanish overnight, grandchildren have never met their grandparents, parents do not speak with their children, and many Witnesses remain as Witnesses not out of devotion to the religion, but because of fear of what will happen if they leave.
Understandably, this practice has horrified many independent observers and experts. For example, The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found the practice (which had been used by Watchtower to throw out and shun child abuse survivors who refused to “forgive” their attackers) to be as follows (bold is mine:)
F70 The Jehovah’s Witness organisation’s policy of requiring its adherents to actively shun those who leave the organisation
a) makes it extremely difficult for someone to leave the organisation
b) is cruel on those who leave and on their friends and family who remain behind
c is particularly cruel on those who have suffered child sexual abuse in the organisation and who wish to leave because they feel that their complaints about it have not been adequately dealt with
d) is not apparently justified by the Scriptures which are cited in support of it
e) is adopted and enforced in order to prevent people from leaving the organisation and thereby to maintain its membership, and
f) is in conflict with the organisation’s professed support for freedom of religious choice and the belief that Jehovah God is a compassionate God who recognises the worth and dignity of all human beings.
Yet crucially, perhaps recognising the policy to be cruel, difficult to defend, and a potential PR disaster, Watchtower frequently tries to misrepresent their shunning practice.
For a start, they usually refer to the practice as Disfellowshipping (for one who is involuntarily removed from the congregation for transgressing upon one of a growing number of Watchtower’s intrusive and controlling edicts) or Disassociation (for one who chooses to remove themselves). By changing the name of the practice, Watchtower is clearly trying to lessen the stigma attached to it, in much the same way that the cult of Scientology refers to their shunning orders as “Disconnection,” and the shunned as “Suppressive Persons.”
Additionally, when directly questioned about the practice, Watchtower officials will often present half truths or even outright lies, portraying the practice as less harsh than it really is, or sometimes even denying that it exists altogether.
Therefore, to see a talk at an international district convention open to the public so blatantly champion the policy, to the extent that they even dispense with the pseudo-terms “disfellowshipping” and “disassociation”, and directly use the word “shun” appears to be a significant step up in rhetoric. The fact that it is then followed by a talk entitled “Be Forgiving” is so incongruous that it demonstrates how those who organised the schedule are either utterly oblivious to taste and decency, or have a very dark sense of humour.
Are the Governing Body threatening Jehovah’s Witnesses?
The overall message of the convention appears to be “You’d better remain loyal if you know what’s good for you,” with the overt brandishing of the cruel and inhumane shunning sanction as a threat of what is in store for the “disloyal.”
It would appear that any Jehovah’s Witness who may have become increasingly concerned that their organisation was not the loving brotherhood they once assumed, but was rather an increasingly controlling, harsh and unloving entity have good reason to be afraid.
Yet it is clear that the Governing Body are also afraid.
The bottom line? You don’t get a convention like this when those in charge feel safe. You get a convention like this when those in charge are very afraid.
Link to the full .pdf file of the program.
No one can leave–out of own will–without losing every single relationship formed within the organization and, worst off, family ties are broken, trampled, and crushed under foot.
I hope this organization is torn apart. They more than deserve a good beating. They deserve an execution for the damage done to innocent people
Religious organisation are never tored apart. WT have tried that with Catholics over the years and it never works. That’s the nature of religion. That’s how religion is. Information like this only helps those be aware of what they are really doing and why this men should never be trusted with their very lives. There are humans like us.
I have great hopes that this evil organization will completely fold or divide within the next 5 years. Can we not see the handwriting on the wall?
Never before have they been so trapped, so desperate, so furious.
Never before have people been able to inform themselves so well.
And never before has there been a combination mass exodus and mass fading
as now. By the way, they lie about numbers.
I agree. I personally see the watchtower as completely dead and gone by 2020 or sooner.
I understand you are now an anti-JWGB. But have a reasonable doubt you are an anti-Christian.
Besides claims of maliciousness of some practices, here and there, amidst JW(not necessarily GB established rules) or claims motivated by some kind of frustration(sometimes caused by lack of democracy vs ‘theocratic’ procedures) – What religious group will better represent you now- as a former JW?
@Mirage
Hmmm! There are at least two possible solutions to your question and probaly more.
The first, as you say is that many of us who, having determined that the ‘JW land’ is false and damaging go further and accept that ALL religion and religious text are all equally man made and false and so we reject all of it.
But others choose to follow a different path. The founder of JW organisation itself when they were still known just as Bible Students ‘Charlse Taze Russell’ rejected all ORGANISED religion and chose to remain an idependant Christian with each individual following his/her own path(With his help of course). Only later was it turned into the organisation/religion of today. Therefore it is not necessary to belong to any religion. The idea that you NEED to ‘belong’ to an ‘organisation’ is Cult mind control ideology fed to the ignorant so WT control them.
Very good article thanks.
As reporters say – there are 28 ways to present same information. To achieve desired effect just use proper one from list of templates. This one also operates with half-truths.
“Shun unrepentant wrongdoers”
…well what does that cover? That’s a pretty broad brush for some people because it’s open ended to rumour or slander. We all know that when someone walks away, the rumours can vary from person to person or congregation to congregation as to why that person left. Especially when they refuse to listen to the reasons why that person left & label them apostate.
I think the Australian Royal Commission should look closely at this.
I was a baptised witness and left. Made no secret as to why either. There are some in the congregation that still talk to me and some that don’t. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if none of them talked to me. Fricken judgmental holier then thou bsers.
@James? What were your reasons for leaving?
How many years were you an baptized active JW?
I agree they really think they are “HOLIER” than thou.I faded 20 years ago but 2 of my family members still Super JW’s. So it is still around me although I get in useless debates about how hypocritical they are with them. They know it but have some close friends that are nice and also My wife ( not living together now ) likes to go to NYC and hang out w the Big Shots2-3 times a year. Even some GB members so it is hard to reason with them. They really are 2 faced organization. They have done a lot of hurt.
now James Ezell….u know if you were a witness once in your life, then, u know better than to feel
this way. You can fool others that dont know, but you cant fool youself. The doors are still opened and you are welcome to return to Jehovah. I know its the best life ever and I’m quite sure you do too..
*yourself
Let’s hope that this helps those who have doubts to wake up further and realize that all the “remain loyal to Jehovah” is in actuality, “remain loyal to the GB.”
We can all pray that our phone will ring and on the other end will be a family member, with questions, now ready to really listen to us, and now realizing that we may have been right.
That day can’t come soon enough!
Wow!!! What else can I say? My wife is still very much in and I faded. I have kids and my wife takes them and I find this incredibly disturbing. I need to find some kind of way for them not to go without causing a great division. This theme is horrible!!!
Why people always refer to leaving the WT as ‘fading’ ? – ‘I brightened up’ would be more accurate.
Ha, you are correct!!! I brightened!!! No more meetings, no more kingdom songs, no more field service…… Brightened indeed!!!
Once again a home run
Thank you so much
It reminds me of why I grew tired of “enduring” the meetings, the long dull meetings, and the books and magazines that were written at a less-than-high-school-level with awkward grammar and convoluted structured sentences; the literature which focused all attention on the narcissistic leadership. A local leader attempted to lure me in at a young age with statement “I should make the truth your own by making the Watchtower’s lofty and inspiring words real in my mind”. It was increasingly difficult to do when I found so many contradictions with reality and repeatedly finding the narrow one-size-for-all mentality failing.
I hate to split families, but for the sake of your own mental health it may well be beneficial to have some “breathing room” between yourself and frothing-at-the-mouth-Jehovah-needs-you-back relatives until you have your footing and balance as a non-JW. I know some former JW’s that had to build their life–family, education, job and social ties–before attempting to bring frothing-mouth-JW relatives back into their social ties.
Revenge, as a roaring success cut-off from relatives, is a tasty dish best served cold when you return flaunting your resilience.
Right now, if you are fresh off the “crazy train” [we all road it], your mental training, especially if you’re 2nd or 3rd generation, keeps tugging with you–maybe your doubts are unfounded, maybe you do need to “get right” which shroud out the reality of the pain, angst and emtional stress this environment brought to you.
Remember how you got the obligatory smiles at the KHall but lacking trust–who did you trust, because you knew everyone was watching everyone else for a misstep. Recall the focus on dogma–being “right” versus doing the right thing for individuals. Recall the focus on working to prove you had faith, and that lack of proof = no salvation. Recall the requirement (iterated above) of unconditional loyalty–obedience–even if it meant your loss of life or that of someone else’s.
So, do you want to be shot or poisoned? Take the gun, shoot a hole in the cup.
Yeah! You said it. I would pick up the gun, shoot a hole in the cup, then look the ‘elder’ in the eye and shout, “LOOSER!!!!”
Of course I would carry the gun out with me and not turn my back on the ‘elder’.
For anyone who wants to see for themselves the program for the 2016 Convention, it is on the JW org. website. Just search for conventions and it pops right up. Personally, this just makes me sick. Why can’t they just leave us alone?!? There is even a part on “helping inactive ones”…and that means they will keep at you and keep at you. I just want them to leave me and mine alone.
I have used your exact comments! Ex: They make me sick, and why dont they leave me alone. I can give you some advice on how to get them to leave you alone
This is scary….I went to the memorial yesterday and have told my lovely husband that I will go to the Special Talk… I want that to be the last time I attend…but this scares me..its as if they want us faders to show our hand and be shunned so that anyone contemplating fading will re-consider…I know I will be under oressure to attend the convention…I really really dont want to go so I think I must decide now that I will not… my real need now is to make friends outside the org…Im trying with my University course and talking to my neighbours…but I realised yesterday that I miss everyone…and that these relationships that have lasted years are going to be destroyed with my being inactive…which I suspect after 6 months of inactivity that is what I am considered… Im 58 now…this is so hard and so heartbreaking… this Assembly programme has an air of evil about it…people are going to have their lives destroyed by these edicts from a failing group of old men…I cant let it be mine.
Thank you for your comment you are not alone i took my wife to the memorial sat thru the usual stuff prove your faith by works etc .i have agreed to take her to fri and sun assem .i dont know how im gona sit thru it .as you say “evil ” i hace wife and most family in .was hopeing to fade but the line is being drawn every study WT brings somthing more wicked. Im now 72 and have been in since 60s the org has lost any love they might have had.it is now a nasty tv evangleist cult. And unchristian in every way.
My daughter and I went to. Love bombed by many and cold shoulder by others. I felt nothing through the whole thing. Didn’t even listen. I am so distant from it now it’s like watching something alien. This shunning talk should be shown to outsiders so they can see how this ‘loving’ organisation treats it’s people.
@Tara , I also went to the Memorial. 1st time in at least 15 years. My wife and I are currently legally separated (( she is on the strange side )I believe much of it due to WT influence. Many Jw’s were doing the love bombing but I knew many of them so kept my distane. One Elder who I had not seen in some years approached me and asked what hall I have atteneded lately? I said none why? He said bc I have something for you direct from the Governing body. He went and got me the Brochure “Return to Jehovah”. He said this is direct from the GB and they want you back. I said, Oh thanks’ did they autograph the brochure for me also. lol I told him I watched the pod cast already, The point is they see you as someonbe they want to control again. I even told my wife well at least you can count me as a return visit and you can count time on me! She is a pioneer. I thought the memorial was just a practice in rituals and I could have argued the point about the scriptures they were using and how only the “anointed” can partake but I did not want to go there, I just wanted to go home after he Memorial!
I’ll never go again. I am so done.
@Idontknowhatodo,
I feel for you, as I have been through it. The consequences of leaving are frightening to consider at first. You have a husband who will need time to adjust to your decision. But, it can be done. I know an elders wife who quit, and her dear husband considered her decision personal and would not discuss it with anyone. They remained happily married. She would come to memorial and that was it. I am 55, born and raised in this religion, my mom was of the anointed, and yet, successfully left it behind. Except last night, Memorial, I get a lovely message from my sister and the video invitation. I watched it(why??) and felt this little twinge of guilt, and slight doubt over my decision. But, I said to myself no, I am who I am and proud of it. I became inactive, hid it from family and JW friends until I could not cover it any more.(when asked if I were attending a convention, I would say I was too sick) I am essentially shunned by them all. Their loss. You will make a new life, and it will be soooo much better. I believe this religion is loosing lots members, and this summer convention theme proves it. Stay true to yourself, be strong, we are here to help.
Peggy
My heart goes out to you. I’m in a very similar position, but am unwilling to give details due to fear. I want to fade so bad, but need to help my spouse wake up. It all has an air of evil, I’ve felt it for a while. I just couldn’t put my finger on it until I left mentally. I went last night and my heart was pounding so hard and fast in the beginning, I just sat and thought of Steve Hassan’s advice to listen to your body. Anyway, please know well wishes go to you, and hopefully me too. Love this site. Thank you all.
One thing that really helped me was that I had made some very good friends outside of the JW religion before I faded. In fact those friendships helped me appreciate the difference between true friends and conditional friends. Once I realized that all my JW friendships were conditional (that is the friendship would only continue if I remained a “good” JW) I began to see them as of little value. Thus when I finally went inactive and truly faded away, I felt very little sense of loss. I don’t need conditional friendships. The relationship I had with my former JW “friends” wasn’t real. It was a facade. Who needs to live a lie?
Another thing I did was I reached out to former close JW friends who had faded before me. Of course I had some apologizing to do for formerly shunning them, but they were much more forgiving than JWs ever could be. I found we now had a common purpose which lead to close comradery.
I suggest you (everyone who is fading or trying to fade) put yourself out there and get to know more non-JWs. Join a club or an office bowing league. Our JW conditioning makes us fearful of people outside the religion. A few weeks ago my boss invited several of us out to dinner after work. My default JW programming would have said “no.” But since I am past that i said “yes” and had a grand time with my workmates. Don’t let the JW indoctrination hold you prisoner a moment longer.
WS
@Idon’tknow. I too faded and had to make all new friends also. I wasnot as old as you when I did I was only 40 years old but I had raised all my kids as JW’s and I was 110% active and an Elder etc. Everything was JW in my life. I felt so Guilty when I faded and I felt I let my kids down and had fear of Armageddon and all the emotional distress that comes with it, However I just could not mentally believe it anymore and I felt my life was slipping away and getting older etc. Little by little I made new friends, My kids also left the ORG except 1 daughter and My wife who I do not currently live with.You will be fine. Go to a social club,join a Bocce ball team, join a softball team, a Book club, a swimming club, a tennis team, an Ethnic club, hiking club, music club etc.. We have been so Cocooned as JW’s we don’t even know how to socialize outside of the WY and it’s boring life they offer. You will be surprised how easy it is o make new friends but you can. WHat have you always dreamed of doing for your self? Music? Painting? Exercising or getting in top shape? Many things to explore. I have done it and will never go back to the slavery they put on us. I still believe in God and Have faith that someday things on earth will be corrected but I do not believe the nonsense the WT puts out and it is not all consuming anymore. Faith now is personal and it feels right.
@idontknowhatodo please visit the site friendsofjehovahswitnesses dot com, there I think you will definitely find what you need.
In Him, Cazenovi
idontknowwhattodo…Pray hard to Jehovah..you know what to do, you just might feel like you dont know what to do..i’m sure people are going to cut me down, but we are so close to the end, just look around at the world..satan is trying harder than ever now to get christians down, and keep inactive ones from coming back because he knows what he is doing just pray..( 1john 5:19) like i said to James, This is the best life ever, u may have had a bad experience somewhere, but keep pushing forward..
I can tell you how to make them stop coming back eventually. You simply need to ask pressing questions that call into question portions of their new revision of the New World Translation, questions like why is it that the Watchtower used the rules of the J versions inconsistently, why they accepted some places to help them put the name Jehovah into Christian Greek Scriptures portion of the Bible and rejected those that clearly and unmistakably state that Jesus also is thought of as Jehovah in those versions. For instance, J7 at Acts 9:5 has the following:
“And he said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And Jehovah said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting…'”
There are others, but the Watchtower actually lied in print and claimed that such J references don’t exist! And, yet, they do exist. I have seen many of them for myself.
Read the writings of Justin the Martyr (c. 150 CE) and see what his stance is on Jesus being the very Jehovah of the Hebrew Scriptures. It is an eye-opener, particularly when they have said in their literature that none the early Christians ever believed that Jesus was Jehovah. Reading such early literature for one’s self also reveals that the earliest Christians who wrote of such things actually did believe that Jesus was crucified on an actual cross (they describe the instrument of Jesus’ death as being two pieces of wood at right angles in their descriptions and analogies that they use) and not on a so-called “torture stake.”
When they get tired of such questions and cannot find adequate answers for them, they will stop coming by and they will also instruct others to avoid you. After that, you will only get knocks by mistake from those who don’t know of your situation. Ask them the same questions.
On my street, Witnesses who start down the road will turn around before they ever reach my home. Those who are unsure of the situation and try to venture toward other homes near me, when they see me come out of my door they turn around and leave the street where I am standing entirely. It has been eerily quiet for a long while and several homes around me also do not get knocks anymore.
Where are you getting that version of that Scripture?
Best to read the Bible for yourself. There are many versions now. Stick with a reputable one such as NJKV, or NASV, keeping in mind that most of them have some bias. Use Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible to aid your study of Hebrew and Greek words.
Hi AussieneedingComfort,
I feel your pain. I’m at the crossroads of emotionally angst-ridden depression causing a marriage meltdown at the moment; the ARC trial was the nail in the coffin for me. I’m from AU also and have had the “check-ins” to see if I need someone to talk to… Yeah, because I’m sure their professional counselling experience will be of great assistance to me right now. What exactly do they expect me to say to them? My entire life I was lead to believe something, it was who I was as a person for decades – it was at my core. And now, who am I? Where is my identity? What is my identity? Who am I now?
Unfortunately, there’s no one you can personally talk to (face to face) because unless you know someone who’s fading/inactive etc. you’re left to turn to forums and faceless names (which I am by no means belittling this site or others like it, as they have been an enormous help beyond belief and without them I would be even more lost) but you still don’t get that human contact/ability to express and relate to one another.
I’m not sure if you are in the Sydney/Central Coast/Illawarra/South Coast area but if so, I’d love to be able to actually speak to someone in person to get some insights from them also. Happy to publicly post an email address if you are in or near any of these areas and are interested in emailing me.
I hope you find someone to talk to in your home region. It’s true what others have said; finding faders–brightened people–is tough considering we don’t truly know where they are. People who never had a hint as to what it means to grow up as a Jehovah’s witness can understand little, but are horrified to learn that such an organization exist. Even those who have been disfellowedshipped are still believers, and a converstaion between them is mostly short because they intend to go back. So, again, I hope you find someone local. Someone to share your views and provide an actual company. However, don’t focus all conversation on the flaws of the cult. Find yourselves an uplifting spirit.
Thank you for your kind words Roman. It is definitely not for the purpose of finding flaws, as these are already well known. I just need to unload my mind I think…
Stirring Awake, I would be happy to talk with you, so please send along your email. I am happy to help out!
Hi AussieneedingComfort
So glad to hear back from you. My email is jacen.walker@hotmail.com :)
As always a very well thought-out and thought provoking article. The cork is out of the tub and the water is running out as well as the general membership. The Governing Body is losing their hold on the rank and file. They can’t stop the hemorrhaging.
The internet has been a God-send for the generations that can use it. All the assemblies and ‘New Light’ nonsense will not stop the ever increasing Exodus of people who can use the internet to their advantage to find out the TRUTH about ‘the Truth’. Soon only the feeble minded morons who hang on the words of the seven mental midgets (calling themselves the ‘faithful and discrete slave’) or the elderly will all that will remain of this cult as the techno-generations have already started their fade.
Soon the assemblies will be shorter in length as more elderly complain about missing their nap-time and of the coldness sitting down near the convention floor. District Conventions will be held in places with smaller venues so as to fill them due to the ever shrinking flock. Within the next twenty years I can foresee District Conventions turning into a nursing home, geriatric beg-a-thon. There will be no field service being accomplished as the elderly will not be physically able and no contributions imminent as the elderly are on a fixed income.
So you seven mental midgets, go ahead and shun us, we’re not afraid as you hold no control over us unless we surrender it to you! Your wickedness is self-evident and you are reaping what you have sowed for decades. Yes, you pitiful purveyors of pretense, deceit and every sort of uncleanness; be afraid, be very afraid.
Wow! I loved this post! Obviously, I have no intention of ever stepping foot in a convention again. But it is great to get this preview. It only proves that the GB are doubling down because they are so so afraid. And the use of the word “shun”?? Not like their usual 10 word vocabulary……maybe something in the works?
There was a great dip in membership after the Armageddon no show of 1975. Subsequent to that there was a world full of potential recruits who had known nothing of the Watchtower’s wacky, flip flopping and flaky history.
This time there can be no such revival. JW.org has to compete with dozens of informative ex JW websites and blogs, shedloads of ex JW Youtube vids as well as repeated exposure on national and international media.
I think we can genuinely have confidence that ‘The End IS Nigh’.
Yes, I remember that quite well. The mantra at that time was “door to door in ’74 to be alive in ’75”. What a bunch of malarkey.
The ’75 debacle effected my entire family (wife, mother-in-law, father-in-law and three brothers-in-law) all left the “truth” by 1980. I was soon divorced not long afterward as my wife committed adultery (and why not, there was no everlasting life or future with me a mere draftsman with no chance of worldly career advancement).
I haven’t really spoken to any of them in years and don’t plan to however, I think they made the correct choice in leaving the ‘truth’. Even though my ex is on her third marriage she has at least had 40 years of guilt free Christmas’, birthdays and other holidays living her wretched life without the harassment of the stupid, asinine, rules of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
I’m thinking that this is a set-up to redefine the term “shun” and spin it into something that will make JWs more willing to engage in the practice. It will reinforce for them what a beneficial and loving act it is to treat your own family like gum on the bottom of your shoe.
When the GB sacked down it is all over. Members living in the North Korean propaganda cult. For many years i was even inside this cult but have a lot of doubts against GB teachings and practices.
Elders, you must be loyal to the organization. Destroy files and documents related to the sexual abuse of minors. And above all, you must keep your mouth shut. Secular judges may know nothing of our secrets. It is the will of God!
Long live the Governing Body Bank!
It’s crazy how they can say 2 complete opposite things in the same breath!! Shun wrongdoers, next talk, be forgiving!! Slightly confusing!! It’s quite subtle, but when they speak about forgiveness, it’s focus is always on forgiveness within the congregation. And as long as you submit to the organisation, they are quite forgiving. You can murder someone, be a pedophile etc.. as long as you submit to their authority you will eventually find yourself in good standing in the congregation. But God forbid if your son smokes a cigarette or celebrates a birthday without begging for forgiveness. Organisation’s advice ” shun your loved one! Do not find excuses for communication, not even through email”. It seems you can only redeem yourself if you recognize their authority. Forgiveness inside the congregation, aggression outside the congregation. Good old crowd control, if you ask me, cleverly disguised as loving biblical law!!!
The Australian commission’s comment that there is apparently no scriptural basis for the action of shunning is interesting. A ‘worldly person’ has corrected the Governing Body. There is no scriptural basis to shun someone who leaves because they can’t cope with the unscriptural handling of sex abuse. This practice copies the Catholic Church which used to believe that simply leaving the religion is cause for excommunication. So which ones are the unrepentant wrongdoers? Which side has acted wrongly? I left because elders lied and used secret unlawful procedures which breach human rights. I do practice shunning, I suppose, but it’s the other way round.
It’s true, it’s there on their website.
They equate worship of God to themselves.
You disagree with them you disagree with God therefore we shun you, no arguments. You have to accept all and everything we say! No wonder people do not wish to be JW’s. Who would want to be apart of that and why do I have to shun a person when I don’t even know the reasons as judicial inquiries are held in private?, it’s obscene.
Here’s the killer question for JWs,
In the program it cites 1cor 5, if judicial investigations are held in private and kept confidential how do you know if they meet the criteria for shunning?
“With what judgement you are judging”
At the memorial last night I had this incredible urge to partake….not that I feel I should but just to send everyone one in a tailspin! Then I thought why didn’t I make a bunch of stickers that say JWFACTS.org and put them in everyones bible. I wish somehow I could know how many there last night felt the same way.
As has been indicated many times, shunning is a violation of basic human rights especially when it concerns young people who may be acting out due to suffering some type of abuse, or depression or just not knowing where they fit in.
I heard so many times how we should value our children and that children were a gift from God. But then we are told to shun them just because they dont want to be witnesses anymore.
Most elders are not psychologists and in many cases do not know how to discern what is really going on with a teenager who is rebelling or acting out. They simply look at the surface without delving into what is really going on with the child and then throw them away.
Big problem is that we are all told we must throw these ones away too. So many witness parents follow and throw away this precious gift.
Families are not just divided by this cult – families are destroyed.
But I know that God is watching and my hope is that one day this will all come to an end.
On a side note my family asked me if I would go to the memorial last night and I declined and said that it was much better that I did not attend any meetings anymore because I know that if I was there during a talk about shunning I would raise my hand and give my honest opinion on the matter.
I would then probably be escorted to the door.
Sticks and stones may break my bones. But, words will never hurt me. The juvenile GB and their gestapo will try, but people will make sure the latest is exposed to the world. Now the world’s judicial system understands the full implications of Watchtower’s shunning policy. It has taken some time, but it is now finally out in the open.
This subject hits very close to home for me. The “disfellowshipping” of my daughter was my undoing. After being in the organization for 35 years I’d had ENOUGH!
I was at one time a regular auxiliary pioneer and my husband served as an elder. We raised both of our children in the “truth” ( that hurt my fingers to type).
One experience I witnessed with shunning was with a young 17 yr old girl. She had gotten involved with an unbeliever and ended up committing fornication. My husband served on her “judicial committee”. She ended up getting disfellowshipped. A week after the public announcement the young girl was involved in a fatal one car accident. In one of her pockets was a note to her family expressing her apologies for hurting them and letting them know that she would not be able to live without the love and support of her close friends and family. Wow…whose blood guilty now??? Of course the brothers were only doing what they were directed by Holy Spirit to do. Really???
After this incident my husband began drinking heavily and was relieved of his position as elder. Come to find out he was the only one on the commitee that did not want to disfellowship this young girl, but was persuaded by the other 2 elders.
After he stopped going to meetings all together the elders reached out and asked him why. He told them that he was having a hard time with the suicide of the young sister. They tried to console him by saying they only did what was communicated to them by Holy Spirit. OMG!! He told them that he couldn’t accept that. They then wanted him to write a letter to the GB to see what council they have for him. He of course never did, but he lives with that decision every day. Very sad.
Thank you for sharing this story. It is such a tragedy and this type of story makes me angry and even angrier that the powers that be within this religion will never ever take responsibility for this.
Your husband is among those elders whom ex-GB member Raymond Franz wrote about in his book: IN SEARCH OF CHRISTIAN FREEDOM, who are not without natural compassion and feeling when dealing with JWs who have erred. Franz makes the point, however, that many of these elders have succumbed to a religious system that has taken over the exercise if their conscience resulting in a hardening and unnatural effect on their human feelings.
Franz also makes the following point regarding the religious system: “And it must be said that this undeniably does create an atmosphere in which any who might incline to be domineering or unfeeling can prosper, while those who are of a compassionate nature find themselves faced with possible charges of lack of “loyalty to the organization” if they express that compassion.”
Franz also notes that there are elders who have resigned and/or disassociated themselves on account of the religious system’s hardening effect.
It simply sickens me that they abuse this power in the name of God and his Holy Spirit. Remind you of anyone??? Scribes and Pharisees…
Your husband was a victim of serious systematic brainwashing. I too regret having sat on judicial committees against children who we pushed into baptism because the CO wanted to see progress and my fellow elders were desperate for assembly assignments.
Mrs. Valdez…i have tears in my eyes..35 YEARS, that means that you know the TRUTH and its still in your heart, that’s why you are here on this site..remember all you have learned and Jehovah cannot and does not lie ( hebrews 6:18) all he says will come true and he wants us to endure till the end..People are imperfect and they make mistakes, but we have to forgive and move on..Just pray for strength and Jehovah will help you and see you through. If its in your heart you will and can return to Jehovah. Ms Shirley 35 yrs is a long time to turn around..please look at the world today..pray hard and think about it.. you could be the one to help your fam..
@melldell, just so you know, the name Jehovah was never in the original manuscripts but was an invention by the Catholic church (Feb. 1, 1980 watchtower “The Divine Name in later times” page 11).
When Watchtower is so proud of “restoring” God’s name to the Bible, they are lying to you and all the rest of the rank and file and the rank and file take that lie directly to the householders, not knowing they are spreading lies. I know because I was a loyal Witness for fifty years. We were lying when we told people that God’s name was Jehovah in the Bible. The Society knows full well they are lying about it but as long as the rank and file don’t look it up, they believe the lie.
As far as your other comments, the Witnesses do think of themselves as holier than thou. That is because they have been fed the line that God is speaking only through them but if you are brave enough to watch Geoffrey Jackson’s testimony before the Australian Royal Commission last year, he had to admit that it was presumptuous to say we are the only one and true religion, so, yes, Witnesses do think they are the cream of the crop and I should know because of my history with the organization. That is what we were taught to believe.
If we didn’t think we were the only ones God was speaking through, then why would we go from door to door preaching? We could be looking at another religion as maybe being the only true religion. That is why we called it the “truth”.
Covert Fade, I really appreciated your commentary and analysis of this year’s program. You’re absolutely right: the Orwellian methods of control are blatantly obvious to anyone with an objective perspective.
Although I did find it confusing that you mixed in some of Orwell’s slogans from 1984 with some from the convention program.
Let’s review: It’s a cult!
Anyone else experienced a low attendance at the memorial last night? Normally we are packed, but this time there were quite a few empty seats; almost entire rows.
Fantastic news! Yes I am hearing reports of this everywhere. Where are you located?
While the evidence is there, that the organization is running scared is wonderful news, I can’t help but feel sorry for those remaining who live in perpetual fear.
Would like to see some support for the assertion that strongly themed conventions are meant to address specific concerns. It seems obvious that this would be the case, but past convention programs (i.e. was the 1981 program all about apostasy? Was 2000 about forgetting false prophecy of the org?) that can be linked directly to problems that the org is known to have had at the time would make this much more convincing. The author speaks in specifics regarding highly themed conventions vs ones with a more general theme – if these comments come from something beyond gut feel I’d sure like to see the supporting evidence.
I definitely tend to agree that there’s a lot of circumstantial evidence that the rhetoric around blind obedience is ramping up, but something a little more concrete would get me more excited. This convention sure seems to be more culty than any others I recall, though.
Regarding the shunning/forgiveness talks’ proximity to one another, I think the reason is because it’s more about obedience – the point of putting these two together is to demonstrate that you should shun those the org tells you to shun, and you should forgive those the org says to forgive. It’s not about developing christian qualities, it’s about providing examples of how you should obey at either end of the spectrum. If they can convince you to obey inconsistent demands, then you’ll obey anything. And that’s the real goal. Loyalty is code for obedience. Stressing loyalty in such a variety of situations implicitly requires blind obedience.
OneEyedJoe, you are right. The talks, loyalty, is code for obedience. The JWs aren’t allowed to think or speak for themselves. Whatever the elders want me to do, I wont do. It drives them crazy. I was going to meetings for awhile to please my sister until she figured out I wont go door to door. Whatever they want me to do I wont. The elders tried to get me to write a letter and I laughed at them. I said I don’t want to write a letter. I wont say any of the negative things they want me to say because I wont give them that power. The elders are trained on how to make people powerless. They are good at manipulation. The elders have been deceitful while counceling me because they have wanted me to damn myself and throw me out. I deliberately said the opposite of what I know they were trying to make me say because I feel there is evil in what they are doing and I refuse to give them that power. I laughbecause there is nothing they can do. One elder said out loud there is nothing they can do with me. I’ve told several in the congregation. The elder freaked more than I thought he would. I told the truth and the elder is emberassed. Without meaning to I caused the two elderstalking to me to get into a debate with each other. I told several about what they said and how they acted and how they tried to manipulate me to say something to damage my self. My own sister said “Well, he can go to hell.” She thinks I was handled wrong. I refuse to be manipulated into being powerless by them.
I forgot to explain, I said I don’t believe god is real. The elder wanted me to write a letter explaining my beliefs. I said no, I believe I have the right to express my thought without getting into trouble. I refuse give them that power over me. When it comes to this I don’t take advice from anyone. It’s up to me. The elder said they hope I will change my mind about God. He said there was nothing they could do. I’m not being shunned yet.
I want to add, I feel noone has the right to cram their beliefs down my throat just like I don’t have the right to cram my beliefs down their throats. I refuse to give the elders any power. It feels good to be out in the way I’m comfortable with. Like my JW sister said, they can go to hell. I’m happy with the way things turned out. I no longer fell ‘grumpy’.
I meant feel
Alexandria R. If you feel like that and believe it why do you still attend meetings and are part of the JW congregation? Wouldn’t it be easier if you just left and then you do not have to see the Elders and/or listen to them? From what you are saying it doesn’t sound like you are a believer in any of what they teach so why attend meetings and hang out with JW’s?
@Alexandria R
Kudos to you. I feel the same way. The elders (and the organization in general) don’t have any power over you unless you give it to them.
Also don’t know if you noticed this, but in your comment you ran the words elders and talking together and it looked like elders-stalking. I had to wonder if there was something Freudian in that because they do seem to stalk anyone who has any sense of independence.
WS
Well said OneEyedJoe!
Their talks both at conventions and at the KH are rarely, if ever, about developing Christian qualities. It’s always about obedience (preferably blind) to the organization. That’s all it’s ever really about, even when it is disguised in some other topic.
WS
I arrived home in England to find a printed invitation to the memorial on the mat. Some tacky picture of a pretty girl looking up at (God?) with an elephant charging at a white horse about to run over some kid with a wicker tennis racket. Lots of happy foreign people with flowers in their hair (a sure sign of being happy I assume). The usual 46 million colour ‘oil painting’ of a Hollywood-Handsome Jesus with his handsome Apostles. I barfed.
I was tempted to go (until I realised I was too late) just to pretend I was interested so they would flock around and secretly fight to get a bible study with me. Long hair and a beard will get them salivating because I look like Jesus (unfortunately not the Hollywood/Brooklyn version) and as I ‘progressed’ and the hair got trimmed and the beard went the whole congregation would rejoice as step by step I looked less like Jesus and more like a Governing Body nerd. Then when they are all ‘hooked’ and arranging interviews at the Circuit Assembly with me, I could drop the practiced script and say to a thousand JWs “I thought you all read JW Survey each week”. I’d also like to ask them how they figured 607BCE instead of 587BCE. Play real innocent and dumb. Could be good fun eh?
Oh, and I would ask about the ‘drying up of the river in Babylon’ as it applied to the loss of interest/income in ‘Christendom’. “But aren’t you facing the same drying up?” Maybe next year….
LOL! You’re too funny.
What amazes me is how these people have managed to transform all peoples around the world into “animals lacking reasining capacity”: “sheeplike” and “goatlike” people.
w13 7/15 pp. 6-7 par. 13: “To be sure, people may now display a sheeplike or a goatlike disposition. Nevertheless, we should remember that the final judgment of who are sheep and who are goats is during the great tribulation.”!
No race should boast of being superior to others thinking they have high I.Q. All we, as humans can be, depends LARGELY on what people are exposed to sharpen their thinking capacity. A couple of “Theocratic school” and “Theocracy” is an irrefutable proof of that.
When I first saw part of the program come by on twitter, I thought it was a hoax. The organization would never be so direct with demanding loyalty, and use the word “Shun”. However when I checked JW.ORG, I saw that it indeed was the real thing.
I wonder how many active JWs saw it come by online, Reddit or social media and immediately concluded it was an apostate stirring things up, before finding it was real on JW.ORG.
The whole program shows desperation to keep people and their wallets in.
I will bet that they will start shunning those who do not donate money to the Worldwide work due to Watchtower’s complete incompetence involving their actions, or lack thereof. They will say that loyalty involves giving them money when the GB wants it. You watch.
Ive never thought of that.i stoped donating last year .i wondered if the branch notify the local elders .
I can totally see what you say happening soon Doc O.
The Watchtower is so predictable these days. If it happens letters should be written to the IRS and your respective legislative branch in the country which you live.
I noticed that there is a section where it states that they have a lost and found area. They say to bring any lost children there. I hope there won’t be any child molesters in there. I also noticed that there is a warning of sorts for parents to make sure their children are with them at all times, and so forth. Given that with their policies regarding molesters, it is a good bet that there will be many there. It would be best to keep your children with you at all times and in your direct line of sight. The guy next to you or in the restroom waiting for your child could be an active child molester.
Shunning? In our congregation is practice in another way. You see, an ex-elder’s daughter got disfellowshipped not too long ago. When the ex-elder’s family go out to dinner with another elder’s family, they take the disfellowshipped daughter along with them and sit her on another table and the kids are able to talk to her. No one says anything about it. Everything is cool with that.
I cant Imagine any circumstance in which i would force my daughter sit at another table. And Lets face it, This is in direct violation of organisational rules and if any person of authority such as the circuit overseer would know about it would be swiftly dealt with!! What concerns me is that someone would consider banning your daughter to the kiddie table as somehow open minded and liberal?? It’s still a very cruel thing to do!!!!
At one time, I recal that an elder’s wife had cheated on him and he forgave her; they were trying to make the marriage work. But the rest of the elders DF’d her anyway.
Well there was a little diner near the KH and after Sunday meeting, many of congregation members would grab lunch there. The elder, his DF’d wife, and his grown son would sit at a table a bit off from the rest of the group and nobody would talk to the wife. Well some of the elders still had a problem with them going out to the diner because it was as if she was still part of the social aspect of the congregation. I was an elder on the body at the time and I recall all the discussions about it. What a bunch of Nazis!
WS
“Remain loyal to Jehovah” is JW.ORG-lingo/JW-speak and means translated “Remain in abject subservience to the JW.ORG/to its governing central committee”, bec. “Jehovah” = the JW.ORG / its “GB”. Cf. 2 Thess. 2:4. It’s as simple as that.
Synonyms for “loyal”, all used often in JW.ORG-writ to euphemistically paraphrase “abject subservience to the JW.ORG:
– Obedient
– Compliant
– Subject
– Submissive
– Faithful
Bye,
Free Thinker
I am in my seventies. Got baptized back in 1969. They appointed me as elder in 1972. I asked to be removed from elder in 1982. I knew then the games they play by giving “privileges”. I have relatives who are Jehovah’s Witnesses. I don’t want to cause them problems and loose communicating with them. I love them and feel sorry for them. I also love the brothers and sisters in my local congregation. I believe they are victims. This is what I am doing for years now. I make sure I miss many meetings. Don’t go to assemblies or events organized by the watchtower. Never contribute any money. Never make comments at the kingdom hall. Never put a service report. Never attend meetings when the circuit overseer is visiting. I try to be nice to everyone including the local elders. There is a sister in her eighties in our congregation.
Her only relatives (her son and grand daughter) are disfellowshipped. I encourage her to continue communicating with them. Recently two elders visited me and asked me if I love Jehovah and if I remember my baptism. I wonder if there are more people like me.
Yes brother i also in my 70s baptised in 64 .i know how it is with wife and most family in. Will follow your idea of fading. Altho i often get so angry with it i wana speak out..
Everyone has their own way. I personally cannot stomach sitting in a Kingdom Hall in the midst of a bunch of so-called friends who only value you for your membership in the cult. I am generalizing but I know this doesn’t apply to everyone there. I do/did have some really good genuine friends in the congregation but there were many there who out of feigned concern would ask how you were doing or tell you about how ‘concerned’ they are about you just so they have something to gossip about. To be honest, I feel I have sacrificed too much of my life already to a fantasy and a lost cause to be willing to give up even more of it listening to things I know are not true. How people in the congregation choose to treat me is their problem regardless of the reason why, the way I treat them is unchanged (other than refusing to respond to calls and texts from elders trying to ‘encourage’ me).
More money going out than coming in” said Lett .
It follows then, that more members are going out than
there are coming in. The exodus is underway and there’s
no stopping it.
I seem to remember an illustration in in the WT, “That the
nations trying to stop God’s will, was like an ant trying to
stop a locomotive”.
Well it seems the situation is now reversed. Their boring
and repetitive articles demanding loyalty ( Without any valid
reasons for doing so,) are now being mercilessly demolished
by the Internet juggernaut.
I left this cult a few years ago after being brainwashed for almost 40 years. Just looking at their convention program has me very bitter all over again. I’m still working on just letting the whole experience go…. I hope I live long enough to see their false teaching exposed once and for all!
Basically the game is up ! 100 plus years of lies/no show. Pull the other one Watchtower. What’s left is a pack of lemmings ready to follow you over the cliff ??. Let the loyal “publishers” waste the rest of their lives remaining loyal to a corporate greedy American publishing real estate company. You have a brain duh?
Thankyou for this info Covert…makes a person kinda creep out to see the extent they will go to keep people under their control…all in “Remain Loyal to Jehovah”idea…They care nothing about truth and justice…only about “living in shameless luxury”..controlling peoples lives and wallets. Jehovah and His ways are farthest from their minds…May He render to them soon their due….too many innocent lives have been lost, ruined and harmed by these evil, selfish men.
Just a thought – we should NOT make a distinction by calling ourselves BAPTISED, ex-JWs, Faders, DF’d or Dissaociated – this gives the GB 7 the AMMO and TARGET that they NEED to SHUN, how about just letting your status / title go?
If you are negatively labelled as DISFELLOWSHIPPED or LABEL YOURSELF as DISFELLOWSHIPPED after a Judicial Case or stop attending meetings and are seen or SEE YOURSELF as a FADER it plays into the GB 7’s hand. When asked about your current status a good response can be that you are not concerned about any title or status as this is a personal preference and you are not too sure or worried of your current STATUS that the WBTS has on file. ( BTW – sorry for the legalize – but by common law most contracts require terms and conditions, two signatures and witness on a document – both these documents were both NON EXISTENT or WITNESSED when baptized at 16 and after a judicial hearing 24 years later – so YES I have not idea of my current STATUS)
I totally agree with this. To use their jargon is to play by their rules and you are not truly free. If pressed the best I’ll offer up is ‘I used to be a JW’. To identify oneself using any of their descriptive and derogatory terms is to play into their hands and gives them power over you, at least to the extent that it carries negative connotations to anyone who hears it.
This is so creepy and reminiscent of Jim Jones ordering his people to drink the Kool-Aid. They cannot get more blatant than what this program is clearly indicating – stay in the organization and chant the party line or else.