Disfellowshipping & Jehovah's Witnesses: A Timeline to Pain & Tragedy 

I was a victim of disfellowshiping twice...once as a young teenager and once as a young adult...both times repentant and both times with crippling depression and suicidal...and was committed into a mental hospital for treatment!! I can relate to everything you said about the treatment of disfellowshiping... luckily I had parents that NEVER !! Shunned me and that's the only reason why I didn't end my life!!

I WAS disfellowshipped! (For living with my husband for a month before we were married. He has never been a JW but I was at the time.) I was DF for 3 years before I was reinstated and if you think they take you back with "love" you are out of your MIND! They judged EVERYTHING I did after that. I was literally on egg shells. I was left out of car groups, I was chosen last, sisters groaned when I was their house holder on the Ministry school, and when I went to the elders about these things I was told "You hurt a lot of people with what you did, it is going to take time for them to heal." ARE YOU KIDDING ME! How was living with my fiancé hurting anyone!??? The JW cult is evil, mentally cruel and spiritually dead. My heart breaks for all those brainwashed and still indoctrinated that have yet to and may never escape. Turning in my DA letter was the BEST thing I have EVER done.

*Shunning is not loving* *I found in my area the disfellowshiping was extremely unfair. Men got away with huge sins and told they were forgiven with no judicial meetings and the women were hunted and spied on like wild animals. Women don’t have representation.*

This horrible cult is coming apart at the seams. They are losing so many people as more and more of them wake up. Your work here is much appreciated.

You’re right most of us never really read the literature. It wasn’t until I sat down and began reading watchtowers earliest publications that I saw how evil and preposterous religion is. There is nothing godly or inspired in it.

Disfellowshipping is pure evil , there’s no HOLY SPIRIT involved at all and true repentance doesn’t matter ! I remember when I was D’d , I was truly sorry when I spoke to the elders and confessed my sin ...it didn’t matter, I was D’d ! After waiting almost a year to get back I started doing again what got me D’d ....guess what ! Jehovahs Holy Spirit thru the elders said I was now repentant and ready to comeback ! That made me question this organization at that time but my indoctrination was still strong at that time ! Great work as usual Sir , truly appreciate you exposing the hypocrisy of this org the evilness that they implement with this practice ! Looking forward to part 2

This describes JW’s perfectly. “People who believe false things can’t be around honest people. If you believe things that are false, you can’t have freethinking people who are skeptical and curious and who care about you enough to tell you the truth and free you from the foggy, narcissistic death grip of error and falsehood and delusion. Who is content to let you live in a delusion?? …..People who share those delusions and who don’t care about you. Delusion, fantasy, falsehoods and propaganda are solitary confinement. The reason propaganda is so dangerous is because it isolates people. And through isolation people go crazy. If you are isolated and you know it you experience a peculiar type of agony that will motivate you to do whatever it takes to get contact with people. If you are isolated and you don’t know it because you’re only surrounded by people who share your same delusions (cults) …..you are isolated because the only thing you have in common with the people around you is shared delusion. Collective madness is not emotional intimacy. The isolation that separates us from each other when we get wrapped in falsehoods is the worst thing of all because it is without obvious symptom…. Yes, you become unstable, defensive, inoculated against any truth teller and will attack anybody that tells the truth in your environment, but you can’t love, you can’t be loved, you can’t relax. You are always on guard for whatever might puncture your delusions which provokes rage which drives good people away and anybody might rescue you from delusion will be driven away and you are left alone in the foggy devil ribbed cage bosom of falsehood… That which is not real, that which is not true, that which is not proven, that which is the opposite of truth. You are full of peculiar hatreds, instability, vanity… because anybody who just repeats lies and only listens to lies is vain because they won’t submit themselves to reason and evidence. So, the vanity, the narcissism, the isolation the peculiar hatreds…. to be falling without even knowing that you’re falling, to be ill with no symptoms….. is the most dangerous thing of all. And to be lonely in a crowd of thousands of people cheering all the same falsehoods, to be certain, pompous, to be vain, to be full of rage at anybody who threatens these delusions…. to be told that the pursuit of truth is the acceptance of evil… to be isolated and thereby easily manipulated. People who pursue delusion and end up wrapped in delusion are saying… I can’t be loved, all I can do is pretend to merge. I can’t be loved for who I am so I will hide in a room full of photocopied people with photocopied opinions and pretend that I’m part of something. I will dissolve my individuality, I will shred and eviscerate any original thought I might possibly have, any curiosity, any skepticism I might possibly have so that I can dissolve into the nothing of the photocopies around me. I can’t have love, but I can self abase and self erase into proximity. I can nod, smile, agree, and praise who everyone praises and hate who everyone hates… I can be a shadow cast by the tombstone of my mind. I can’t exist, I can’t excite, I can’t be unique, but I can blend. I can submit I can conform and then I will have physical proximity combined with unbelievable isolation. I can’t approach the truth so I will just burrow into empty people. We can only ever meet in reality itself. We cannot meet in fantasy we cannot meet in lies we cannot meet in propaganda. We can only meet in the truth. When you are with the truth, you can do without people because you are with yourself and with the facts and reality. When you don’t have the truth you have a bottomless desperate need for people that you could never connect with. If all you have in common with others, with those around you is a mutual agreement to slash your mind into ribbons and accept whatever lies come rolling down the conveyor belt, you’re not with anyone, and you will never feel loved. The price of conformity is the absence of love. The price of conformity is terror of solitude. Truth tellers can handle the journey from the town of the dead to the outposts of the living and the thinking. It’s a long journey across that desert. The ghosts can’t make it. You can’t love a character in a video game because they are programmed. You can’t love people who don’t think for themselves because there is no one to love, thought is the only individuating characteristic that we have. The only thing that we have that is uniquely our own is our capacity to think for ourselves, and that is the only passageway through which the light of love can reach. They suffer in the worst possible way which is to not even know what they are missing… Avoid it if you can at all possible costs.”

I saw another defunct kingdom hall yesterday with a, "FOR SALE" sign in the yard. A sight that is becoming more common. When I was a member back in the 80's and 90's, a kingdom hall up for sale was unheard of. Clearly, Watchtower days are numbered. The writing is on the wall.

Can’t wait for next weeks episode. My heart goes out to all of those disfellowshipped ones.

I have been thinking about this lately. If anything a elder would offer Spiritual help in the form of spending time, being a friend, reasoning, reading scriptures. Instead they are Judge, Jury and executioner. I can't believe they believe disfellowshipping is loving. It Humiliates and causes so much pain...Another thing they lie when they say they only disfellowship un repentant

Great video, didn’t feel so long. I got DF 6 years ago and I used some of these references you used and all they said was “do we owe you something?” I said hell no I’m just showing you guys how wrong you are and you follow men and not Jesus. They just gave a stupid smirk 😏 and said “whenever your ready Jehovah will forgive” and I said “he already has thank you” and left. Can’t wait for your next video.

Great information. Thank you for your research. Looking forward to the next one. I am POMO since last November. Was baptized at the age of 11 in 1961. Certainly not the same organization that it was, but history shows they were never what they claimed.

I was disfellowshipped when I was 16. Even though that’s young at 14 I started questioning it all. It took me 1 year to plan it all out. I’m 26 now, and it took me until I was 23 to truly let go of the guilt and fear I felt. There’s not enough time to explain the roller coaster of emotions that you go though. You grieve and that was the hardest part for me. Looking back im happy I left so young and didn’t wait until I was establishing my life as a young adult. Stay strong everyone! It takes time to heal.

This is my first time listening to your podcast, and it is AMAZING. Thank you for this. I have it bookmarked to show to others who have no clue what being a JW is like.

I saw the title and had to comment. Just yesterday while sitting in my car at the park, was approached by a jw. He initiated the conversation, but I did overwhelm him with facts. So much so, when backed into a corner, he decided to cheat and hit below the belt. I happened to mention somewhere in our conversation my daughter was still in. When he couldn't handle the facts, he said, "When was the last time you talked to your daughter? Tell her hello, for me." They are all evil bastards just like their leaders, using shunning as a tool.

Just to add to the list of things you can be DFd for: If you disagree with their recent health advice and continue to talk about it, you can be DFd for causing divisions. Yet everyone who is pro-jab can go on at length encouraging such! Gross hypocrisy, manipulation and control.

Now they say: "no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses", same thing. Heard it's to call oneself back to their senses.

Disfellowshipped once in the late 80s. Had to return because my beloved friends and Family literally cut ALL ties as if I were dead. Had to return as I loved them all too much. Completely PIMI until the mid-90s, when in a Watchtower study they began floating the "Overlapping Generation" craziness. My critical thinking kicked in and PIMO life began for me until now... Already been witness to two (2) suicides due to the prospect of disfellowshipping, have heard of a few more in neighboring Congregations. Ohhh..., what a most loving arrangement...😔

One Governing Body member in giving a talk about 3 years ago had this to say: we should recall that in the past persons used to be stoned to death for their sins; therefore disfellowshipping is a “loving” arrangement because it gives sinners a second chance.

We were told, the term they used is, "we do not think you are repentant enough" so when they say, only ones that are unrepentant are disfellowshiped, they fail to say depending on how much or at what level three bullies think how much you are repentant. So, if your in their clique, you only get reproved, but if your not you are disfellowshiped before you ever walk into the judicial committee. As an example!!! A death sentence! 💀 we are now dead to all those we ever loved. By those who told us many years, how much they loved us!

Your a extremely talented speaker, love your work!

Any man still serving as an elder in the jw org needs to stop and ask himself this question. Where is the scriptural precedent for the entire judicial process I enforce upon the sheep of Jesus Christ? Is it found in scripture, or only in the org's printed material?

I can’t seem to express to you that I shared your podcast on another website without being censored. Hope you get more support because you do great work!

I could listen to your "rambling" all day long, so don't apologize for the long one 😀. It's a MUST SEE documentary, I love all the quotes most of which I had never heard of, except the Awake 1947 Jan, 8th edition, of course. It's always best to let the culprits expose themselves, 😂😇. I can't wait til next week. Although, from 1952 on dark, bleak times began for the witnesses; I'll have my trusty WT-barf-bucket on my lap, 😀

My dad who was a Ministerial Servant was cheating on my mom, my mom went to the elders & they ignored her pleas and not even reprimanded or counseled my dad for his sins. It caused a divorce & my dad is still viewed as a brother in good standing even though he still has his promiscuous perverted ways ....I still hold resentment towards my dad for contributing on destroying our family ....this happened back in the late 90s

One of the biggest lies that I was led to believe is that you disfellowship yourself. the elders do all they can to help you. That's My friends Is a total lie!!! A lot of time elder use it as a weapon to hurt people that they personally don't like!!!

Good stuff man I need to relisten and write down some of those references

That 1930s quote seems like it is directly pointing at the GB of today, radical, judgemental and authoritative and unable to be questioned as satanic. Where can I get a copy of that quote? Great video. 👍

I enjoy watching the Watchtower History channel. From what I can remember Charles Russell tended to be receptive towards those with different views and would invite them to be published in the wt. That wasn't so much the case with Rutherford. He pretty much had control over the editorial committee and if anyone got out of line with him he'd simply oust them from the committee. He went as far as initiating, what I can only refer to as, smear campaigns, against those who disagreed with him, and he would print his slanderous, defamatory outbursts about them in the pages of the wt magazine!! Shocking! So purile and petty. There were some "Ray Franz types " who opposed Rutherford's bullying ways and these either ceased their association with Rutherford and the WT Society or they were forced out. A few splinter groups resulted. So, no. Rutherford was not tolerant of other opinions.

When i bring up the fact of how Jesus treated sinners compared to how they are treated now in the congregation, i am told, "but those people werent baptized so its different. Always a reply that i never have a comeback to. I feel so defeated.😢

I was just like you! I got baptized in 1996, and in 1997, my cousin disassociated herself, and I shunned her, because I thought that it was a loving arrangement from Jehovah to shun! Oh, and at that same time, I was a regular pioneer!

Sorry this is probably going to be a long comment! Excellent discussion Stacey. I’m going back through ones I’ve not listened to yet. I stayed with my ex the first time he was disfellowshipped and up to that point we’d both bought into it being a loving response and the fault of the person who’s wronged and the rules of the club. In his judicial, biased pensioners who disliked my ex shouted at him and repeatedly asked the same questions over and over and at one point said ‘aha we’ve caught you out now’. He wanted to be forgiven. My ex didn’t hide what he’d done, he went to them with it. It broke my ex mentally and physically, we both ended up in therapy. I was encouraged to divorce him because ‘I had grounds’. I may as well have been D’fd myself the way I was treated. I even wrote to the Borg to say ‘where are any of these processes explained’ especially the whole writing a letter and to keep repeating that doing so until they say yes to reinstate. I also asked how can an elder know if someone’s sorry if they won’t even speak to them at all. After he was reinstated (over 3 years later) we were still treated as bad associates for years. And we put up with it - that’s the level of control the cult has, they were some of the hardest years of my life. My ex is now d’fd for a second time, the difference this time? is I’ve moved on and as part of that woke up and faded. He is still in and I still keep in contact with him, the impact of being d’fd is breaking him all over again. This is not loving, it doesn’t matter what happened between us personally, him not being able to see or speak to his elderly parents it’s cruel.

Thank you Stacy. Looking forward to Part 2.

Yes. Let's talk about it. I cant wait to hear your perspective.

Hi I enjoy these long discussions it’s , great to listen to while I’m Ironing.

GrrrrRRRRR! This was a rough one. Conjured up a lot of feelings. It's good information though. This has been tackled by many ex-JW content creators but you went through the history in a manner that really describes the time line very well. Much appreciated! I guess I'll go dig up part 2 now. Ugh. 😕

I love the way you "ramble"..You have such a nice expressive voice and style of speaking. A while back I did some research on the df doctrine. It's introduction seems to have been primarily connected to an increase in "sexual immorality". Basically, the brothers "couldn't keep it in their pants" and this wasnt a good look for Jehovah's morally clean and pure organisation. This is after all one of the ways in which they differentiate their organisation from the whorish churches of Babylon the Great. So they better dam well be different, ie. morally clean. Lol! ( BTW, they blamed the lapse in morality on lax attitudes resulting from WW2!! ) There were also more converts being made in lands where polygamy was still a thing. There were even elders who lived with women outside of marriage. Remember, these were baptised JWs!!! I remember reading a quote in the Proclaimers book that there would be no brothers to take the lead if they had to be married to one wife (referring to a particular African country I think) So, the threat of being df'd would quickly bring these ones in line. I find it funny that the GB always talks about the "bibles power to change lives", but it took the introduction of a "stick" (df) to force the members to live morally clean lives. Seems the bible isn't that powerful after all.

You rock Stace!

If you are a brother and get disfellowshiped once you get reinstated it could be years before you get back appointed as a ministerial servant. That is something they don't tell you. And it's all base in man-made rules.

I don't know whether to cry or scream 38 minutes in. Evil, Evil, Evil!

Disfellowshipping Doctrine goes to another level far outweighing the Catholic Church's practice of excommunication! You know what the cross hairs on a rifle scope looks like? You are for sure in the sights of the 8 men, "one being an alchoholic" in their sights accused of being a liar and a divider and an apostate. But I will treat you with love! I am aware of many of the articles you listed, and thanks for the new publications I was not aware of. Thanks

Fascinating story, thank you for your honesty.

Yes they destroyed my Son years ago took everything that was important him his children he passed away on july 4 of this year .

This is going to be a long xomment but...Before I wad disfellowshipped I was at my low point. I was in a short and unhappy marriage where some apparent mistakes with social media caused her family to shun me before the marriage even happened and even refused to attend. I wasn't allowed at their house 4 minutes away. Her mother called me perverse. Her father said that "I knew what I did" and basically the time to apologize was to late. I reached out a few times to zero avail. The marriage became mentally abusive. She called me a sex addict even though we we never had sex. And I didn't dare try to initiate it. After a call with a marriage counselor she (a beloved pioneer sister) called me a piece of s*it and walked because I was evil...I'm sure she would have her side of things but...yeah. While at work she went through my stuff to bring to the elders attention. There was a shepherding call. Which started with them calling me brother and friend with smiles and what not. I expected they were there to give counsel about my failing marriage. Nope. Instead it was questions about webcams. About makeup that was clearly clown makeup but was perceived as crossdressing. And ultimately about pedophilia because I had toys and a novel in my possession with a character of let's say Ill repute. A novel I never read. I was already feeling beaten and it felt like that was the hill they were going to crucify me on. LIKE HELL. I could tell from their demeanor, especially the one that they were aiming to discipline so I gave them some of what I had done. I wasn't perfect. I had plenty on my conscious. But I kept it to myself. Until I was accused of being a potential pedo. (By the by, I saw RED when I learned about all the CSA coverups a few years later. Because THAT was the thing that had me thinking of suicide. That almost caused me to drive my car off a cliff. Several times. Not what I did do. What I was accused of.) Judicial meeting I was in tears. Full on bawling. Not because I felt I upset Jehovah. I know that now. But because of the weight and mental strain. In a way being DFd was the best thing that happened. Funny enough she divorced me not because I cheated not long after the counciling fiasco but because I was DF'd. But it set me free. Yes I miss my family a some others but I'm not sure I would have learned the truth about The Truth otherwise.

Great job!

Such a good podcast sir

I faded away 25 years ago bcs of illness but woke up during it 😮 I am shunned by some with no action by me or BoE. Small-minded folks.

From what I have heard and read about disfellowshipping by Watchtower Society, it has led to so much pain, anxiety, and even suicide among Jehovah:s Witnesses. It is not Biblical or "loving". Instead, it is cold, denigrating, and just plain bad. Worse, to say that disfellowshipping is an act of "love" is not only blatantly false, but it is also crass and ridiculously reprehensible. It leaves an ugly stigma on the ones who were treated that way, causing other to shun that person "like a plague". Therefore, I would never join that cult calling itself Watchtower Society.

I have seen 3 personal friends commit suicide after they were shunned. ! I was a MS . My wife was df for drinking she went for help. The same week a brother committed arson for money insurance. Tam was announced and the arsonist was forgiven!! Tam had 12 years of sadness and I was given pittied but shunned from activities.! I was so called" innocent " yet shunned .Tam found sobriety and love of Jesus at Unity and now I serve as a chaplain helping others. But my grief is compounded by the losses 20 months I lost my love of my life and they the cult .tells me she is dead forever ! What evil true evil . We were known as the loving supportive couple They showed their fruitage!I thank God for the truth now but hiw do wevrepair the damage ? How do we regain our losses ? Iam spiraling in heartache

Simply put: ...avoid all of the thousands of religions that man has conjured up. They are to snare you into believing nonsense!

I thought that when you fall short, Your Pastor suppose to comfort and pray for you.Not throw you out in the cold. They deserve the Cloning, Nothing but Clones

The quote at 55:35, isn’t this a quote from the JWFacts article writer, not necessarily the exact words in that WT of 1944, 5/15 pages 151-152…? Yes, that WT article does state exactly what is implied in the words you read, I double checked, but I believe here that you technically read the words of the writer of the JW Facts article “Disfellowshipping and Shunning” as if they were the Watchtower’s words.

1Ti 1: v15. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. v16. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

Jehovah is just bad association and I don't want him playing anywhere near my imagination. Justin porter ex jw

I’m 45yrs. Old now, but way back in high school, I knew a kid, who was DFed for smoking! He was kicked out the moment he turned 18…..long story short, he got depressed so severely by being shunned, he finally committed suicide! He hung himself!

Did anyone ever questioned JW elders if they had sex before marriage? Some will say they were not JWs prior to marriage! Just an excuse! No one bothers to questioned married JWs if they messed around prior to marriage! Yet everyone judges the innocent lovers one who gets caught or confesses their sins! Then they are marked for life!

And the first part, my mom and I spied on him, seeing him Samoa cigarette after School school! His mom immediately contacted the body is elders, as they immediately DFed him

Again Luke 17:4 does not say at the end of the text it's up to us 3 lol !!

Jesus Christ did not shun the two sinners next to him on the cross

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Luke 17:4 And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you 7 X saying, I repent forgive him ? CLEAR AS DAY !! but the JWs will make up their own rules and add to that, every elder has his own opinion b/c they are very worried about the congregation, I respect that but you can't cross the scriptures you must forgive and reinstate sorry but you 3 do not have that right !! respect the scriptures and don't over step just b/c your an Elder does not give you the right to put people to Death.

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1 Corinthians 5:11? Great video!! Big fan!! However, I know the watchtower uses this scripture as a base for disfellowshipping. Couple you please explain the meaning of this scripture and does it truly condone shunning? Thank you