Watchtower judicial committees hold their hearings behind closed doors. According to the elders’ manual’s rules, significant information can even be withheld from persons who are vitally concerned with the facts. Continue reading

The previous blog series gave an overview of the Watchtower’s judicial system.

In this series, I will highlight a number of problems with the way this judicial process operates.

The Watchtower has stated: “Jehovah’s Witnesses are in no sense a secret society. Their Bible-based beliefs are fully explained in publications that are available to anyone. Additionally, they put forth special effort to invite the public to attend meetings to see and hear for themselves what takes place.”[1]

Despite these claims, there are a number of secret aspects to the Watchtower religion. In this post, I’ll discuss two of them. Continue reading

How can we help ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses, people who once were baptized Witnesses but who have now voluntarily disassociated themselves or who have been disfellowshipped by the congregation’s elders? Continue reading

The Watchtower elders’ manual, Shepherd the Flock of God, 2019 edition, Section 12, contains a long list of “offenses that may require review by a judicial committee. Of course, this list is not comprehensive. There may be other matters that would also merit the attention of a judicial committee.” (12:2)

I will list them for you, along with the subparagraphs within Section 12 where they can be found. Then I’ll make specific comments regarding a few of them. Continue reading

Disfellowshipping is the ultimate penalty Watchtower elders can impose. The person is no longer a Jehovah’s Witness. He or she has been removed from peaceful relations with Jehovah God. It is considered the equivalent of a spiritual death sentence because “outside of God’s moral organization there is no everlasting life.” Continue reading