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

In the Watchtower’s judicial system, when do the elders reprove a person privately and when is the reproof to be public?

If the reproof is public, who is notified and how much are they told? Continue reading

In the Watchtower system, if the elders form a judicial committee and have a hearing which establishes serious wrongdoing on the part of a Jehovah’s Witness in their congregation, they have to decide what sanction to impose. They have three options: private reproof, public reproof, or disfellowshipping. Continue reading

Not believing that the ordinary Christian is supposed to live in response to the promptings of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the Watchtower controls Jehovah’s Witnesses from the top down by means of rules and enforcement systems.

One of the disciplinary methods it employs is known as “marking.”

What is “marking,” and how is it done? Continue reading

As we consider how to relate to Jehovah’s Witnesses and how to get through to them, it’s important for us to understand the legalistic society that is the Watchtower religion—specifically, the degree to which local elders exercise control over the Witnesses in their congregation. Continue reading