Patiently waiting for Truth

We have had a very detailed policy and rule book, organizationally, since 2010, if memory serves, ."Shepharding the Flock of God"
Unfortunately it is only "Elder Eyes Only", and Sisters are not supposed to read it.
Most JWs do not even know this book exists.

It would be nice to see any written 'rules' made by the GB or others in regard to shunning a person that has left the JW Org. Maybe JW congregants should be issued with a GB rule book of do's and don'ts. That way every one would know exactly what procedure is right when serving the GB and it's Org.  
My feeling is that in the first century, all those that became true Christians, serving God through Christ, were of the Anointed, heavenly calling. Therefore it was more important for them to be 'without spot from the world'.  So stricter discipline would be more acceptable to those of the Anointed class. 'To whom more is given, more will be demanded'.  Hence IMO, the scriptures are written for the Anointed, and then the Anointed should teach the earthly class. (The GB are not of the anointed. By their works you will know them).  So then @Srecko Sostar the questions would be more complicated. Should stricter rules apply to the Anointed than to the earthly class ?  The Anointed should be inspired of holy spirit and capable of more self control........ All those scriptures were written by Anointed ones for Anointed ones at that time.  
 

I find jw's foolish because they follow the ideas of men, which changes to suit those in the power tower. 
 
again, you have NO evidence of anything those people, who were there with their signs, did anything you think they did. You also don't have any evidence of what anyone who is df'd has done. What is said from the platform doesn't make it true. 
 
You are playing judge, jury and executioner based on what the octo-pope says to the DO/CO/BOE. .
none of us have, it is the nature of humans. We are only to treat others the way Jesus did. Sometimes our human nature gets in the way, that is why we have forgiveness in the sacrifice and acceptance of what Jesus did for us, all of us.  

unsubstantiated and pure speculation. 
 
I did not commission them, nor did I even know their agenda. After seeing what they were actually speaking out against, I do support them and agree that the jw practice of shunning is very un-christian. Those jw's who do shun, do so based on assumption of what they think the person has done. This is evident by the posts here by yourself and Arauna.

From time to time there is some TV program here, where some young Catholic are proud to say how they respect marriage as Bible talking about. I don't know is it good to talk about people of any religious belongings as more or less "moral" than in some other religious group. 
Compare this two practices: JW dfd members who are sexually immoral. In some other religion they kill them. Does second religious group show more zeal for "purity" inside their religion? Do they act as "god's servant who carry sword and punishing all who brake the law according to authority god gave them"?
When whole World will be coming JW congregation, would/will sinners be dfd or killed? And, who will execute the judgment?  

That's only about 17% of the Governing Body being homosexual or homosexual child molesters.
I remember a survey the Catholic Church did about 35 years ago, (about the same time period ...) and  among catholic clergy, 20%  were homosexuals (no age preference was stated), 20% were sexually active heterosexuals (no age preference was stated), and 60% were celibate.  My memory may be faulty, as my brain is made mostly of old fat, and I fear the sound of frying bacon.
This proves we are FAR superior to them, and can exult in our smugness.
Of course, that does not count any clergy (which we have repeatedly claimed to be in numerous court cases, demanding clergy-penitent privilege ...) that WE have, below the level of GB.
But then again, since we are all considered Ordained Ministers, that makes our pool over 8 million clergy, even the baptized six year olds.
See?
It all depends on, like President Bill Clinton said during the "Monica Lewinsky" years, "It all depends on what your definition of "is", is."

IF holy spirit reached anyone in the JW Org it would be a great surprise to me.  
IF holy spirit reached the congregants then would they carry on serving the GB and the Org ?
IF holy spirit reached the congregants then would they still go into the 'ministry work' teaching the LIES to other people ?
Would congregants take on Bible Studies and teach LIES of men from books, by not using the Bible properly ? 
Would congregants encourage families into the K H knowing that there may be a paedophile in there ?
Well the congregants would know about the paedophile situation, if  the congregants were blessed with holy spirit. 
No, there is no holy spirit in the JW Org. If ever there was, which I cannot now believe, it has vanished. Almighty God has turned the 'tap' off. And you, Mr Rook, will know this more than I. Because you see the faults and lies, the injustice and lack of love, the lack of mercy, the man made rules as a heavy burden (as you mentioned). 
 
 
 

It would be nice to see any written 'rules' made by the GB or others in regard to shunning a person that has left the JW Org. Maybe JW congregants should be issued with a GB rule book of do's and don'ts. That way every one would know exactly what procedure is right when serving the GB and it's Org.  
My feeling is that in the first century, all those that became true Christians, serving God through Christ, were of the Anointed, heavenly calling. Therefore it was more important for them to be 'without spot from the world'.  So stricter discipline would be more acceptable to those of the Anointed class. 'To whom more is given, more will be demanded'.  Hence IMO, the scriptures are written for the Anointed, and then the Anointed should teach the earthly class. (The GB are not of the anointed. By their works you will know them).  So then @Srecko Sostar the questions would be more complicated. Should stricter rules apply to the Anointed than to the earthly class ?  The Anointed should be inspired of holy spirit and capable of more self control........ All those scriptures were written by Anointed ones for Anointed ones at that time.  
 

IF holy spirit reached anyone in the JW Org it would be a great surprise to me.  
IF holy spirit reached the congregants then would they carry on serving the GB and the Org ?
IF holy spirit reached the congregants then would they still go into the 'ministry work' teaching the LIES to other people ?
Would congregants take on Bible Studies and teach LIES of men from books, by not using the Bible properly ? 
Would congregants encourage families into the K H knowing that there may be a paedophile in there ?
Well the congregants would know about the paedophile situation, if  the congregants were blessed with holy spirit. 
No, there is no holy spirit in the JW Org. If ever there was, which I cannot now believe, it has vanished. Almighty God has turned the 'tap' off. And you, Mr Rook, will know this more than I. Because you see the faults and lies, the injustice and lack of love, the lack of mercy, the man made rules as a heavy burden (as you mentioned). 
 
 
 

Simply stating an opinion that some people have a hateful agenda doesn't mean they are "brainwashed." It's simply an observation/opinion borne out by what we see and experience. I could just as well say that you are "brainwashed" because you disagree with me. You can either agree or disagree according to your observations - you are entitled to your opinion. Brainwashed has become a derogatory term used too loosely these days and especially apparently, by you when someone disagrees with you. 
Once again, you are welcome to your opinion. And while I agree that mindless unquestioning obedience to whatever is said by imperfect, uninspired men won't always reach God's standards, by the same token, you too are an imperfect, uninspired individual - as is every other human alive. But I'd put far more weight toward what I have learned through JW's than I would with you. So feel free to believe what you want. 
Thank-you for the compliment of being "in line" with TTH and Arauna and thank-you for noticing. Once again, you are going beyond the scope of your reference after that. While it may be true that we compare JW's standards with those of this wicked world (a fair thing to do by the way, as long as you don't leave it at that), we also try to align our standards with what we read in God's Word. That is why JW's are known for being honest, truthful, law-abiding, loving, loyal, peaceful... But you already know that. It seems that for you, it's like coughing up a fur ball for you to acknowledge anything good about JW's.
Yes, I get the picture...that you don't know what you are talking about and that the cute comparison in the context of our discussion only shows you drive cheap and nasty cars. Nothing more. There is nothing cheap and nasty about JWs as a whole (even though there are some bad apples). And JWs for the most part have already made the appropriate comparisons by either being raised in one of thousands of different religions or exposed to the different ideas of those same ideas in the field ministry. 
One thing should be obvious to you by now. Most JWs have heard your negative rants and character assassinations before. In fact, they may have even entertained those same views prior to becoming JW's. So they aren't going to change because some anonymous loudmouth spews vitriolic diatribe over the internet. (I'm not specifically accusing you of that)
Yes, that's all. "Just humans, trying to live our daily lives." So why are you spending your daily life on websites such as this singling out Jehovah's Witnesses? Aren't there bigger fish to fry out there? What about all those religions that go to war killing millions of their fellow worshipers; celebrating pagan holidays; teaching people they will burn for all eternity in hell for some imagined infractions; terrorism and suicide bombers and a myriad other greater infractions? I could go on and on but apparently you seem conspicuously silent on the big issues and big fish.
I wasn't planning on wasting more of my time with people who have an agenda. 

How can you say such a stupid thing? It is a ridiculous misrepresentation of what has been said.

I believe it does, on an individual and as a group.
Nevertheless, being a Barbarian at heart, I appreciate MANY things I could not have learned elsewhere, even though it was accompanied by heavy unnecessary burdens based solely on the opinions of pontificators.
One of those MAJOR things is that I did not go to Vietnam, and kill people for a national political agenda.
I wanted to go there as a photojournalist, which was probably a bad idea, as I am so large that my nickname might have been "Bullet Catcher", as it was for 63 photojournalists that died there.

Is it Holy Spirit or the result of living by the basic Bible teachings at the level you describe? There are many who are not JWs that fit that category -  either as individuals or part of an independent “Christian” congregation, that may not be under the authority of an organization or a ruling class of leaders.  But, they appear to live by the basic Bible teachings and are seemingly “good” people.    Does Holy Spirit fall like rain on the righteous and the unrighteous?  Matt 5:45
 

In the OT, there is a direct command, “Thou shalt not kill (murder)!” This command should contain God's view of human life, which emphasizes that life is holy, sacred before God, but also that people must have the same feeling about the lives of other people around them.
By reading the Bible, which describes the events before and after the occurrence of this commandment, we can see that this commandment has no absolute power. Within the same set of legal provisions, there are other commandments that were binding on the Israelites, too. For example, commands like; "Don't steal, don't lie, don't commit fornication ...". These commandments should never have been ignored or mitigated by some extraordinary circumstances.
The specificity of this commandment, "You shall not kill," is evident in the fact that it was not of valid, obligation for all men and for all circumstances. Powerful individuals in Israel sometimes making their own decisions to go on military campaigns against others (Israelis and non-Israelis) The law also justified killing for revenge.
In some other places, God commands the death penalty against an individual. Also, the Bible describes that God instituted great actions that justified killing of other people. These were most often military actions aimed at killing soldiers of the enemy army, but also their families. The killings of these other tribes and people were justified on the basis of several facts: 1) they were not Israelis  2) they lived in territory that the Israel nation were to conquer for themselves, 3) they belonged to other religions.
The execution of the death penalty for a crime still exists today in some societies and legal systems. Obviously, the death penalty decision is based on balance. The one who killed must be killed. But from some other biblical examples we have seen that murder is not the only crime punishable by death. The disobedient child was also sentenced to death. Different religious affiliations or different religious beliefs also led to the death penalty. Adultery was punished by death.
From what we have described so far, we can see how the command, "shall not kill," had a stretched meaning. It is therefore necessary to look at religious practices that are not new but may draw some parallels in symbolism and meaning. As you may already guessed, it is about an act of symbolic "killing" that is carried out in such a way to exclude (disfellowship) another person from a particular social (religious) group in a specific way - by ignoring aka shunning. Shunning (this is about JW organization in particular) can be made because of two conclusions.
The first conclusion is reached by an individual JW member who believes that another member of the congregation has wronged/sinned against the Bible and its principles to the extent that he / she personally presents a spiritual anomaly (in the form of a spiritual illness or threat) and decides to "label" particular person as inappropriate for him to have socializing contacts. He seeks to avoid contact and minimize any literal and spiritual communion.
In second conclusion, the conviction of the inappropriateness of a member is made by the body of the elders. The judgment may be based on the morally inappropriate behavior of an individual member, or it may be that an individual no longer agrees with the ideological and organizational structure or with the theological solutions of the organization what made him/her as "hostile element".
This is when a person is removed from congregational members aka "spiritually killed" in such a way to excommunicate (dfd) them (he,she) from the community and impose a ban on almost every contact with the dfd person. The ban has few variations and interpretations of how the shunning should be carried out. But the very core of such a demand not to contact the excluded person is evident from the widespread practice that JW members have consistently implemented - the excluded (dfd) is not even greeted with the simplest “Good afternoon” greeting (hallo) on the street.
JW's want to be peaceful people who go to jail in some countries because not want even to carry weapon in mandatory military service. They don't want take self-defense courses even for protect themselves when attacked. But they are motivated to be active in using spiritual weapons and warfare against ex members who are in a disagreement with doctrinal issues. And "killing" them with shunning.  
What are your thoughts? 
 
 
 

People are imperfect. I survived my tests..... and my expectations are not too high. People are people - everywhere on earth.... and they do not change overnight.  Neither did I change overnight. I know I am pretty outspoken for a JW.... but people do not see their own faults...... it is always the other's fault..

That would explain the jehovahs witnesses having the highest rate of mental illness out of all Christian religions.

Jehovah's Witnesses experience the highest form of happiness, it differs from the satisfaction the German soldiers felt as they did the will of their racist power hungry leader. Jehovah's Witnesses have a spiritual happiness that cannot be duplicated by Satan or his 1000's of religions.They have a personal relationship with the Highest personage in the universe. Jehovah blesses them with the fruitage of His Holy Spirit as seen at Galations 5:22 On the other hand, the fruitage of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,23 mildness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Like Jesus, the witnesses have a satisfaction from doing God's will, which increases their happiness, he in turn directs them, they hear a word behind them as stated at Isaiah 30:19 When the people dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem, you will by no means weep. He will surely show you favor at the sound of your cry for help; he will answer you as soon as he hears it.20 Though Jehovah will give you bread in the form of distress and water in the form of oppression, your Grand Instructor will no longer hide himself, and you will see your Grand Instructor with your own eyes.21 And your own ears will hear a word behind you saying, “This is the way. Walk in it,” in case you should go to the right or in case you should go to the left.
Their happiness was promised at Matthew 5:3   “Happy are those conscious of their spiritual need, since the Kingdom of the heavens belongs to them." There knowledge of spiritual truths bring them closer to Jehovah Himself, He listens to their prayers, that He finds pleasing because of their spiritual understanding, whereas the world and their many false beliefs are distasteful to God, He ignores their prayers because they have not sought out spiritual truths, but they repeat the same apostate beliefs that billions of others have mouthed for centuries.
“Let not the wise man brag about himself because of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man brag about himself because of his mightiness. Let not the rich man brag about himself because of his riches. But let the one bragging about himself brag about himself because of this very thing, the having of insight and the having of knowledge of me, that I am Jehovah, the One exercising loving-kindness, justice and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I do take delight. Jeremiah 9:23,24
Jehovah's Witnesses have a deep desire for others to experience spiritual satisfaction and happiness, this drives them from house to house to share the truth that leads to everlasting life and the greatest happiness humans can experience as foretold many times in the Bible "“There is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving.” Acts 20:35. “Jehovah himself will guard him and preserve him alive. He will be pronounced happy in the earth.Psalm 41:1,2.
For 6000 years,some 25 billion people have tried to find happiness through many fleshly pursuits, the only lasting happiness can come when a person seeks to understand Jehovah's principles and His desire for mankind, then applies that knowledge to his thoughts and acts. Soon He will remove everything that leads to sadness. He will sustain happiness for all eternity for all those who are loyally enjoying a personal relationship with Him. Revelation 21:3-5 With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: “Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them.4 And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”5 And the One seated on the throne said: “Look! I am making all things new.” Also he says: “Write, for these words are faithful and true.
Along with His equality, justice and righteousness, Jehovah's Happiness is what brings satisfaction to Jesus, the Apostles and all of His Witnesses today!
 
 

Apparently you didn't read the label on jw.org.

Come, come. Tell the truth. Shame the devil. 
What are you hiding? What are you misrepresenting? What are you sifting through with your mighty “logic,” and in so doing, dropping everything of value, making yourself look ridiculous, and qualifying anything else you say?
They are NOT going to say: “If the GB says the moon is cheddar cheese, than IT IS!”
Most likely they demur because the question is so stupid, and then you crow your typical “victory!”
I thought you said that you knew how to think. 
It will not fly with those who truly understand logic. Vicious leaders will produce vicious people. If, instead, the rank and file JW “tend to be exactly that”—“loving people who sincerely want to do the right thing,” then the leadership cannot be TOO vicious. 
No. Anyone of sense will tell you what ones of sense here do tell you. The leaders also are loving and try to do the right thing. They are imperfect, they can err, they are not scared of applying the discipline that any decent parent must. They are NOT “vicious”—otherwise those who look to them for headship would also be that way.
Now THAT is logic.

I am not in the U.S. and so cannot confirm or deny your comments. I can say that reporting is mandatory in my country.
I agree with that. After all the GB themselves have appointed men who were not whom they appeared to be (as have other levels of authority within the organization.) As for the rest, I assume you are referring to Deut. 18:20 which JW haters are so fond of parroting. You are going beyond the scope of your reference in your suggestion especially as to how JWs use the term as applying to themselves. The GB put out a video explanation of that for clarification as it seems some JWs needed to be clear on that issue as well. 
I was willing and planning to write a point-by-point response to the things you have written - including those I may agree with. But frankly, now I think it's just a waste of time. You clearly have an agenda that won't be swayed by what I consider "facts" and your hateful diatribe (from someone who apparently doesn't even believe in God in the first place) is to me, counterproductive. I am happy having a purpose in life, a wonderful hope for the future and a warm loving relationship with my creator and many friends. I wish the same for you, but of course, you may already be happy and content with what you have. We will have to agree to disagree - on some points at least. 
Umm...it's called being honest in case you don't recognize it. You noted correctly that I was willing to acknowledge negative things that may happen, but when I wrote what I considered to be reasonable explanations/positive points, you dismissively wrote it off as "excuses." Truly, there is no pleasing people who appear to have a hateful agenda and only see the bad. You are of course welcome to your opinion. It's just that on some points I don't share your opinion. Is that OK? 
I have been willing to honestly acknowledge both positive and negative things about us, but I've only heard negative, hateful diatribe from the naysayers here with not one positive thing to say in all these missives. There are millions of JWs who are good people by any standard, but if anyone bought into your nonsense they would all be viewed as bad or negatively. I may not agree with Muslims, Catholics, Pentecostals... but I can always find points of agreement when engaging them in conversation and things I like about them - even when it isn't a religious discussion.
So as far as I am concerned, you are not only unfair in your blanket characterizations, I simply don't find your association either enlightening, helpful or even fair-minded.

Needless to say.
I like how the JW video “Protect Your Children” pushes just this course. “If anyone” touches you in a way that “makes you uncomfortable” “even if it is someone you know and trust” then “right away come tell mommy or daddy”, who respond pretty much like Anna’s mom did. 
I like the way how that solves the problem. Will reporting Uncle Hands to the police solve the problem? I have my doubts. Especially since reporting outright rape does not necessarily solve the problem—all the time we hear of CSA crimes from rapists who had already done time and were already on the Predator List. That’s not to say it’s not worth blowing these people in—of course it is. But if our goal is to solve the problem, then Anna’s mom and the WT video gets higher priority.
The WT video builds on the bedrock that only godly people will have—that Jehovah gave us a conscience. I squabbled with Ann O'Maly (one of the Three Apostates) a while back about dueling videos. Her video featured circled areas of a child’s body, as though the child of critical thinking should bring that chart to mind in order to determine whether he should feel bad about how he has been touched. Our video featured “a conscience” that God gave us.
O’Maly resisted for the longest time, but the knockout punch came when I pointed out that our video said “if ANYONE touches you” and hers specifically said that it was okay if a doctor touched children in those circled areas. “Ask the young women of the US Olympics Gymnastics Team which video they think would have protected them more,” I told her.

They are so united that any jingoistic national leader can talk them into blowing each other’s head off in the latest inter-national skirmish, something that cannot be done with Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The “Truth” that Jehovah’s Witnesses cling to is the pearl of great price which the merchant, upon finding it, gladly sells all that he has to secure it. (Matthew 13:46)
If he later came to regard that pearl no more highly that a common pebble found on any dirt road, then he will naturally reverse course and holler about the price he and others paid to secure it
That’s all that is going on here with Alan. He has negated the upside, so of course all that remains is to moan about the cost. He has “disproven” even the central tenet of that “pearl.” He has “disproven” God.
For the most part, he does not outright lie. But he overstates to such a degree that nothing from him can be taken verbatim. It all has to be carefully checked. Much of it is embellished with sweeping assumptions. Minor, but typical, case in point is his recent insistence that his enemy stated the end would come specifically in 2000. Under relentless pressure, he walked it back to some generic statements about “within the century.”

@AlanF 
While I do try to defend "the organization" as much as possible as a JW, I'm not one of those who feels that mindless unquestioning obedience is a mark of "loyalty." Yes, at times we don't second guess the direction we receive and progress has been made, but it is also true to say that organizationally we haven't always been that forthcoming. The fact is, that at times what has masqueraded as "discipline from Jehovah" has been nothing more than some men in authority silencing whistleblowers who have exposed the wrongdoing of those self-same men in authority - removing or even disfellowshipping those who they perceive as a threat to their position and reputation. (While I have seen that happen, it's important not to paint with too wide a brush here.) Saying one "doesn't have all the facts" in some cases is just utter nonsense. It at times can serve to protect those who should have been on trial while vilifying/diminishing the whistleblower. Yes, I have seen that happen and that's why I don't buy into the idea that Jesus controls everything that goes on in the congregation - especially when God's Word warns us of "wicked men and imposters," "wolves in sheep's clothing," "rock hidden below the surface..." I don't understand why people after reading these clear warnings in God's Word appear to think they can't actually happen. True it doesn't characterize the organization which is full of loving people who sincerely want to do the right thing, but it does happen and to categorically dismiss these things by implying Jesus controls everything is tantamount to blaming him.  
It appears to me that hiding behind the umbrella of "not bringing reproach on Jehovah's name," - which we should totally try not to do anyway, has at times been used by imperfect and sometimes wicked men to protect themselves. I ask: When has Jehovah ever withheld needed discipline because he was afraid of what the neighbours think? Did he forgo discipline to the nation of Israel knowing full well that the nations would attribute the victory to their false gods? No. Jehovah has always been true to himself and his standards - regardless of what puny imperfect humans think, do or say. He wasn't straightjacketed into non-action. fearing "reproach" from others. Still it would be unfair, as stated, to paint with too wide a brush. There are millions of kind, loving, sincere people who are actively trying to serve Jehovah the best way they can. And it can't be denied that despite the bad actions/choices of some relatively few individuals (some of whom may be in positions of authority) this is the best place to be. We recall that all of us are accountable - from members of the Governing Body to the newest publisher. We may not always be in a position to do much about it, but we can have faith in the promises found in God's Word that there will be accountability. Our policies, like our beliefs/expectations on certain things have and are changing - more in some areas than others. 

Quote @TrueTomHarley Today Witness parents are encouraged to take an active role in their offspring's future plans so that they will be able to support themselves decently. 
Yes, so was that actually true about 'not letting them have a driving licence if they don't get baptised' ?