I have received a very kind invitation from JJ to contribute to this wonderful website, and it occurred to me that I would be remiss if I were to neglect making some kind of introduction. I then realised that introductions are considerably difficult, if not impossible, when done so anonymously. Like many who frequent this website, and like JJ himself, I am a free-thinking “inactive” publisher. I live in fear of being unmasked as somebody who disagrees with a significant percentage of the teachings of the organization I grew up in and once loved.
We have written a number of times on the site about disfellowshipping and shunning of a fellow brother or sister. We know that even Jesus himself was “disfellowshipped” by the Jewish Sanhedrin. As currently practiced, this Witness doctrine goes far “beyond the things that are written” (1 Corinthians 4:6) by enforcing a list of over a hundred different things a person could be expelled for [1]. How much needless pain and suffering has this doctrine caused you or someone you love? 60,000 are added to this list by elders that are “just following orders” every year. Thousands of brothers have stepped down and resigned their position over the last several decades due to this and other aspects of the harshness and judging that they are pressed into service to do to their “fellow slaves”. (Matthew 18:28)
The following poem has been and continues to be inspirational to many that have been affected by this un-Christian practice:
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