One reason: inducement of fear by a controlling cult.

People who drift away from the teachings of the Jehovah's Witnesses are often shunned: it is called "disfellowship". Shunning as a form of discipline can involve many actions, but the primary function is to separate the individual from the larger collective from which he or she differs. Shunning separates not only the heretical individual from the group, but also protects the group from individuals who may introduce heresies into the collective. Although disfellowship may be part of the Jehovah's Witnesses practices, shunning is used by many religions organizations, both historical and current. It has often been practiced among radical and mainstream reformation sects of Christianity. It is not unique to the Witnesses. The Catholic church is probably the largest religious organization extant that officially practices a form of shunning: excommunication. Individuals, groups, and entire countries have been excommunicated by the Catholic church.. Those who are excommunicated are forbidden to receive the sacraments or take part in any church activities until they repent and correct their behaviour. Denial of the sacraments, the means of individual salvation, is quite a serious issue in the Catholic church. Certain conservative groups among the Old Order Mennonite, Amish, and Hutterite sects practice shunning. Several other minor Christian sects active today also practice shunning. The Witnesses are not even particularly radical in their methods. Some ultra-orthodox Jewish groups, for example, hold funerals for members who have married outside their faith. The affected individual is not only shunned, he or she is considered dead. ________________________________________ Re: "JW shunning ..." So you agree with me that they shun people. Good. Then why did you rate this answer "incorrect"? I remember now, you rate any statements about the Witnesses in the negative if you and your aliases didn't write them yourself. Rather than seeking truth, as you mockingly suggest by your nickname "Findtruth", you work to promulgate intolerance against an identifiable group - such actions may be considered hate crimes by many. ________________________________________ To: "JWilson" Danny Haszard, if such is your real name, are you just going to create more and more phoney user ids to circumvent site guidelines just to spew your hatred? Cheap thrills for the intellectually dishonest.

Some who 'drift' away are not always officially 'disfellowshipped'. They are simply baptised members who no longer attend meetings or engage in the door to door witnessing. Only those who have deliberately broken the rules [ for want of a better term] and are un-repentant, these ones are disfellowshipped. They can re-enter the congregation after a period of repentance decided upon by the body of elders. It is also possible for a baptised member to dis-associate him/her self from the congregation through a notification letter to the body of elders. They will accept the letter. the results are the same as disfellowshipping. It can be a traumatic time for all concerned especially if family membners are involved. If a father is disfellowshipped, his wife and children still have an obligation to treat him as their husband /father. Only spiritual matters cannot be discussed. The original question on this matter is mis-leading. Congregation elders do not enforce what is implied by the question. That a person in authority in the congregation can somehow force the separation of family members.

The comment that to talk to ones disfellowshipped child will result in further personal disfellowshipping is simply not true. The necessary practice is bible based. Christian Congregation. Based on the principles of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Christian Greek Scriptures by command and precedent authorize expulsion, or disfellowshipping, from the Christian congregation. By exercising this God-given authority, the congregation keeps itself clean and in good standing before God. The apostle Paul, with the authority vested in him, ordered the expulsion of an incestuous fornicator who had taken his father’s wife. (1Co 5:5, 11, 13) He also exercised disfellowshipping authority against Hymenaeus and Alexander. (1Ti 1:19, 20) Diotrephes, however, was apparently trying to exercise disfellowshipping action wrongly.—3Jo 9, 10.

JW's "disfellowship" according to scripture?If this is true why does the bible say to goto the offender and if that doesn't correct the problem bring two or three witnesses to establish the matter and if this doesn't work then bring it before the whole congregation. If the disfellowship goes on behind locked doors how is this bringing it before the whole congreagtion?And as a matter of fact most JW's do not even know the reason for the action and what "sin" was commited.So to say the JW's do it according to scripture is simply not close to the truth.

Jehovahs witnesses do not shun those who simply drift away. They shun those who have committed a grave sin and have not felt sorry for doing it, such as fornication, adultery etc. If they did not remove these people from the congregation for there wrongdoing then they would be just like other religions out there that allow that in there churches. Witnesses strive to be "no part of the world" also it would make them hypocritical to have these people in there congreations because they teach (and the bible says) that those things are wrong. If you have 1 rotten apple in a basket and you dont remove it, next thing you know, all of them will be rotten!

To say that JWs that just "drift away" are not disfellowshiped is not true in most cases. JWs have two categories - those who are "disfellowshipped" for some more serious wrong-doing, and those who are "disassociated" because they've lost interest, are no longer active, or have just "drifted away." Disassociated members are often visited, harrassed, or contacted through other family members in an attempt to get them to become active again. Whether they are disfellowshipped is really up to the local congregation oversight committee. For all practical purposes, a clearly disassociated JW is shunned the same way that a DF'd member would be. The main difference is that there is less difficulty in returning to the fold for a DA'd JW.

If you yourself are disfellowshipped, then you must be baptised and have done something wrong AND NOT BE SORRY ABOUT IT. The moment you approach the elders of YOUR congregation and ask to be admitted back, they are obligated to accept what you say. From that moment, it will be necessary for you to "ear humble pie" and accept their direction. You may be required to spend an amount of time attending meetings, sitting at the back, and not associating, and if the elders see a positive change in your attitude, the wait will not be too long. I have set out these facts not so much for yourself but to educate other readers in the procedure. Too much false information is disseminated by very verbal and bitter disfellowshipped members. In response to Richard Hall. The word 'shunned' is never used by J/W's. You may be confused with other religioous groups such as the BRETHREN. J.W's use the term ' disfellowshipped' and this is only applie to baptised members who deliberately break the Bible's rules and are unrepentant. An unbaptised person who is attending meetings is not under any compulsion to obey. It is their choice. ALL MEETINGS HELD IN THE KINGDON HALL ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. If some of the critics would take the time to attend, a lot of the mis-conceptions would be put to rest.

A Jehovah's Witness is disfellowshiped only when he or she is unrepentant or has commited a grave sin. When the Bible says go to the offender or your brother you are talking about when there is a problem between you and that person either real or perceived, you go to the person first and if that does not resolve the issue go with two or three witnesses and if it cannot still be resolved you take before the congregation, older ones or ones with more wisdom, mature individuals and if whatever issue exists btw you two can still not be resolved then you leave it at that, this has nothing to do with disfellowshipping a member. A member who is disfellowshipped is seen or talked to by the elders not just anyone in the congregation and if and when that decision is made, they do not under any circumstances reveal the matter, the person's confidentiality is kept, all that is revealed is this individual has been disfellowshipped the reasons are known only to the elders and those involved directly in the situation. JWs who drift away or disassociate themselves are not disfellowshipped, who has drifted away in a sense for the past five years i can attest to that, do the elders visit you, yes they do from time to time, some may define this as harrassment but we all have our definition of harrassment, to me it is not. I appreciate their concern and calls from time to time but they are not on my doorstep every day they have lives too and live them. Though they give encouragement the final decision or choice is mine they can only do so much and is it easier for a disassociated witness to return? I do not think it is any easier than it is for a disfellowshipped person because first you have to make up your mind that this is what you want to do and if you have stepped back however you did it it is still a big and tough decision to make just as making the decision to be baptized was.

You mean grown children. This is not so much a Jehovah's Witness question as it is a Bible question. Consider first ancient Israel, what God's command to his people then was. Remember that in the Bible, parents under the Mosaic Law were to share in executing a wicked son. How hard it would be to take one's disobedient child to the older men of the city for execution by stoning as they did in the days of Israel, according to Deuteronomy 21:18-21, where we read: "In case a man happens to have a son who is stubborn and rebellious, he not listening to the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and they have corrected him but he will not listen to them, his father and his mother must also take hold of him and bring him out to the older men of his city and to the gate of his place, and they must say to the older men of his city, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he is not listening to our voice, being a glutton and a drunkard". Then all the men of his city must pelt him with stones, and he must die. So you must clear away what is bad from your midst, and all Israel will hear and indeed become afraid". That is what the Bible says. Today, in the Christian congregation, the divine command is that if a wicked one is expelled, Christians must "quit mixing in company with [him] . . . , not even eating with such a man". He thus is cut off from fellowship, including socializing, with loyal ones who respect and want to walk according to God's law. Some of them might be relatives outside the immediate family, not a part of the same household. It may be hard for those relatives to apply this divine directive, Still, God's command is clear; thus we can be sure that disfellowshipping is just. see 1 Corinthians 5:1, 6-8, 11; Titus 3:10, 11; 2 John 9-11 That is why Christians who obey this command do not share in association with disfellowshipped relatives unless absolutely necessary. Most churches that consider themselves "Christian" today, ignore this clear command found in I Corinthians chapter 5. What are the consequences? I will let you answer that yourself. Perhaps in your experience, you have found situations in your church where unrepentant members acted very unchristian in their conduct, perhaps even harming others in your family or church. What was the result on your congregation? Remember, though, that our God is not merely just; he is also "abundant in loving-kindness, pardoning error and transgression". (Numbers 14:18) Or as some say today, he is full of grace. His Word makes clear that a disfellowshipped person may repent, seeking divine forgiveness. Then what are Christians to do? Experienced overseers in the congregation may meet with him to determine prayerfully and carefully whether he is giving evidence of being repentant over the wrongdoing that led to his being disfellowshipped. (Compare Acts 26:20.) If so, he may be reinstated in the congregation, as 2 Corinthians 2:6-11 indicates happened with the man in Corinth.

Grown children.........grown children that have grown up "in the truth" have no choice but to accept what they have been taught for fear of not being accepted by their Father and/or mother and later when you are old enough to wish you had a different life you are in fear of being "Disfellowshiped".

I too am a Df'd child, again I am shunned. My parents feel they are putting God first, honoring him. How is that humane?

I was raised as a JW. My sister was "disfellowshipped" and my parents didn't talk to her for years. My sister would call home and try to talk and my mom would just sit on the phone, listening ot her voice, crying, and say nothing. After several years of this my mom decided that the not talking to her daughter thing is BS and a quasi-normal family life resumed. I think the "disfellowshipping" comes from a scripture somewhere that says you shouldn't associate with non-believers. According the the JWs, someone who has given up "the truth" (as JWs refer to their religion) is worse than someone who just doesn't know about it. Therefore, someone who is disfellowshipped is worse than a nonbeliever because they turned their back on god. It doesn't matter if the person is your child or a stranger.

That's one of the preferred tactics of all those cults. Divide and conquer

This is not done randomly, in any relgion a person can be disfellowshipped and refellowshiped. The reasons for disfellowshiping someone is as diverse as there are people in the world.Usually this is related to a sin or some other negative action on the part of an individual.The families can of course see there family member but it does make a clear point if they choose not to.