Is Shunning Pagan?
The greatest irony regarding Jehovah’s Witnesses’s practice of shunning is that they once preached that it was a pagan practice. In the January 8, 1947 Awake magazine, pages 27 & 28, under the title, Are You Also Excommunicated? the Watchtower Society wrote the following (See images depicted below to read text full size):

Page 27 Awake! 1947 January 8
Awake! Jan 8 1947. Page 27
Page 28 Awake! 1947 January 8
Awake! Jan 8 1947. Page 28

As you can see, the first 2 paragraphs depict exactly what the Watchtower Society currently does to former members and to those who they deem have committed serious sins: they are demonized and said to be influenced by Satan. The article says that Catholics will even excommunicate “born-in’s”. If you are one of Jehovah’s Witnesses or a former member, this will all sound very familiar.

It goes on to say that this “pretext” of excommunication is pagan. They state that there is no support for it in scripture and that it is altogether foreign to bible teachings. They call it a weapon used by the clergy to gain ecclesiastical power and secular tyranny. They say it finds no parallel in history.

• It is Pagan
• It has no Support in Scripture
• It is Foreign to Bible Teachings

This contradicts EVERYTHING they use to justify shunning: the scriptures they use here to refute the teaching of shunning are the very same scriptures they use to justify shunning!

Would you eat a piece of candy picked up from the gutter?

Even if Jehovah’s Witnesses were to attempt to dismiss this article based on the fact that it is an old teaching, it doesn’t change the fact that it is a pagan practice. The Watchtower publication, What Does the Bible Really Teach, pages 157-160, paragraphs 9 & 10, states clearly that it is important to know where things come from. Therefore, if the Watchtower Society discovered in 1947 that excommunication was a pagan belief with no support in scripture, then how could it now no longer be a pagan belief and have support in scripture? Consider this image below of a dirty lollipop. Would you eat if if you knew it came from a gutter? Would you eat it if someone washed it and put it in a wrapper? Of course not. That’s exactly what Jehovah’s Witnesses have done with shunning: they found it in the gutter of paganism, washed it free of its origins and wrapped it up in scriptures that do not support it.

OLAADEGBU:


https://avoidjw.org/en/avoiding-witnesses/disfellowshipping-biblical-teaching/

OLAADEGBU:
Biblical Basis for Shunning?

If anyone was deserving of being shunned, according to bible principles upon which Jehovah’s Witnesses base their beliefs on, it would have been Judas Iscariot. He betrayed Jesus Christ for the price of a slave: 30 pieces of silver. Yet, the bible says that Jesus called him a friend. Yes, Jesus referred to Judas as a friend, or comrade, even when he knew Judas gave him the kiss of death. He never shunned Judas even though he knew that Judas was going to betray him. – Matthew 26:49-50, John 13:18-30

Another person who may have been deserving of shunning, according to the edicts of Jehovah’s witnesses, was the Apostle Peter. He vehemently denied Jesus three times. Yet, what did Jesus do a few days later? Jesus had a meal with Peter and the other disciples where Jesus urged Peter to continually follow him (John 21:12-19). Before his death and before Peter’s denial, Jesus promised Peter the keys of the kingdom of the heavens (Matthew 16:19). Clearly, Jesus did not shun Peter nor did he take away any of his privileges. Yet, these are the things that happen all too often for Jehovah’s Witnesses when they confess sins, even if they are repentant. Truly, if one of Jehovah’s Witnesses was to deny their Governing Body’s self-appointed position as God’s mouthpiece on earth, they will be stripped off their privileges, disfellowshipped and shunned. Really, if the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses imitate Jesus Christ as their mediator and Head of the Christian Congregation, surely they should be following his example. Instead, they quickly move to remove any sort of dissent amongst the ranks using scriptures that do not support such actions.

Jesus ate and drank with sinners. He was known for that. The Pharisees even pointed to this when they tried to condemn Jesus. Yet, he shunned no one. What if Jesus was confronted with someone who was caught in the act of sin, 100% guilty? And let’s just say, for instance, this sin was deserving of the death penalty in those times. What would Jesus do? No need to wonder. Just read John 8:2-11. You cannot read these verses in the 2013 edition of the New World Translation but they are available to read in the 1984 edition. Compare Luke 19:1-9, John 4:1-26.

https://avoidjw.org/en/avoiding-witnesses/disfellowshipping-biblical-teaching/

OLAADEGBU:


Biblical Basis for Shunning?

If anyone was deserving of being shunned, according to bible principles upon which Jehovah’s Witnesses base their beliefs on, it would have been Judas Iscariot. He betrayed Jesus Christ for the price of a slave: 30 pieces of silver. Yet, the bible says that Jesus called him a friend. Yes, Jesus referred to Judas as a friend, or comrade, even when he knew Judas gave him the kiss of death. He never shunned Judas even though he knew that Judas was going to betray him. – Matthew 26:49-50, John 13:18-30

Another person who may have been deserving of shunning, according to the edicts of Jehovah’s witnesses, was the Apostle Peter. He vehemently denied Jesus three times. Yet, what did Jesus do a few days later? Jesus had a meal with Peter and the other disciples where Jesus urged Peter to continually follow him (John 21:12-19). Before his death and before Peter’s denial, Jesus promised Peter the keys of the kingdom of the heavens (Matthew 16:19). Clearly, Jesus did not shun Peter nor did he take away any of his privileges. Yet, these are the things that happen all too often for Jehovah’s Witnesses when they confess sins, even if they are repentant. Truly, if one of Jehovah’s Witnesses was to deny their Governing Body’s self-appointed position as God’s mouthpiece on earth, they will be stripped off their privileges, disfellowshipped and shunned. Really, if the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses imitate Jesus Christ as their mediator and Head of the Christian Congregation, surely they should be following his example. Instead, they quickly move to remove any sort of dissent amongst the ranks using scriptures that do not support such actions.

Jesus ate and drank with sinners. He was known for that. The Pharisees even pointed to this when they tried to condemn Jesus. Yet, he shunned no one. What if Jesus was confronted with someone who was caught in the act of sin, 100% guilty? And let’s just say, for instance, this sin was deserving of the death penalty in those times. What would Jesus do? No need to wonder. Just read John 8:2-11. You cannot read these verses in the 2013 edition of the New World Translation but they are available to read in the 1984 edition. Compare Luke 19:1-9, John 4:1-26.

https://avoidjw.org/en/avoiding-witnesses/disfellowshipping-biblical-teaching/