From Kingdom Hall to Kingdom Call by Johnson Bishop Raymond

Author:Johnson, Bishop Raymond [Johnson, Bishop Raymond]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: GlobalDestiny
Published: 2014-02-21T16:00:00+00:00

Ultimately, the congregation would probably say that “Brother Franz” – and his associate – was guilty of fueling dissension in the congregation by calling the Society’s teachings into question. Furthermore, they would probably say that Franz’ attempts to reason from the scriptures, with the congregation elders – rather than accepting their attempts to “readjust” his thinking – demonstrated that his attitude was unrepentant.

Any Jehovah’s Witness who takes issue with any statement, teaching, ordinance, doctrine, or other precept set forth by the Watchtower Society risks being charged with apostasy. Peter Gregerson – Franz’ benefactor – had disagreed on a minor point from an article in the August 15, 1980 issue of the Watchtower magazine. When the judicial process began to take on the appearance of a “witch hunt,” Gregerson decided to disassociate himself from his congregation – hoping to spare his family the unhappy consequences that would follow if his congregation disfellowshipped him. 42

Up to this time a person could “disassociate” from the congregation and still expect civil treatment from other Jehovah’s Witnesses. If a Witness is Disfellowshipped by the judicial committee the other Witnesses in the congregation are required to shun him. So no doubt Gregerson thought the path of least resistance would be to voluntarily disassociate himself. 43 Little did he know that instead his would become the case believed to have set the precedent for the Society's new policy regarding individuals who choose to resign from the Watchtowerr. I will talk more about shunning, momentarily. First, let me talk about the difference between disassociating and being disfellowshipped.

Dee-Effing

Disfellowshipping is a form of excommunication. It is practiced by many denominations, but its most widespread use in how it is used among Jehovah’s Witnesses – especially after 1980 – is remarkable. To illustrate the significance of the Society’s disfellowshipping policy, consider that in a single two-year period more than 75,000 Witnesses were disfellowshipped. 44 While it is difficult to obtain actual numbers as to how many Witnesses are disfellowshipped each year, former Governing Body member Raymond V. Franz states that over the thirty year period prior to 1999 about 14% of the Society’s members either left or ceased activity. 45

The Society first published a clear discussion of its new disfellowshipping policy in a pair of articles that appeared in the March 1, 1952 edition of the Watchtower magazine. In the first article, “Keeping the Organization Clean,” the reason for disfellowshipping was given as follows: The reason for disfellowshiping people is that of their wrongdoing.” The article continues that “ … there are spiritual grounds and moral grounds for disfellowshipping, some of these things are adultery, fornication, stealing, drunkenness … backbiting, bringing forth false doctrines, [and] causing divisions. 46 ”

In the previous chapter I listed a much longer list of “disfellowshipping offenses.” (Note: Any offense that might cause a person to be brought before a “judicial committee” is a “disfellowshipping offense”) In this chapter, I set aside discussing the Society’s policy of disfellowshipping people on moral grounds. This would include any of the offenses mentioned in the previous paragraph.

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