So...

[Sammip]

My question is this how do you know if a person on the board is disfellowshippped? Do you think they will just tell you? Could we be having association with df ones here and not realize it? 

[Tortuga]

I'm not a moderator but I can give you my opinion.

A person is disfellowshipped because of their lack of repentance and that attitude will usually show up in the actions and speech. If someone here was disfellowshipped and they still actively participated, it probably wouldn't take long to figure out there is something wrong. With that said, its good to remember that unless you personally know the person that you are talking to on the forum, you should always be cautious.

 

Personally I wouldn't care if a disfellowshipped person was on the forum for encouragement as long as they followed the rules and didn't participate. I think there are seats in the back...

Edited January 9, 2019 by Tortuga

[Vinnie]

A number of years ago,  we had a visiting brother to our congregation. Many of us introduced ourselves and spoke to him for a few weeks when he came to the meetings.  It may have been by the 3rd or 4th week, I forget exactly when that the brothers found out that he was  DF'ed. After that we stopped our association with him at the meetings. 

 

Jehovah's people are a loving people but we can't do something that we don't about.  In time things get revealed and we make the needed changes as necessary.

 

 

[Shawnster]

2 hours ago, Sammip said:

My question is this how do you know if a person on the board is disfellowshippped? Do you think they will just tell you? Could we be having association with df ones here and not realize it? 

This is a good and valid question.  Thank you for asking.

 

We have had members let us know they have been disfellowshipped.  These ones are moved to "former member" status and we tell them that they can reactivate their account when they are reinstated.

 

It's just like real life.  A person could come up and talk to you.  Unless you know the individual, you have no idea if the person is an elder or pioneer or baptized or a publisher or an interested person or disfellowshipped.  You rely on the honesty of the individual you are talking to.  

 

Our membership policy states:  https://jwtalk.net/forums/topic/1450-forum-membership-policy/

 

Quote

 

If an extenuating circumstance causes you to go temporarily inactive, this does not mean you have to abstain from participating in our community. However, should you become “no longer one of Jehovah’s Witnesses” via disassociation or disfellowshipping, it would be appropriate for you to privately contact the staff informing us that this is the case. Your account will be disabled, but not deleted. It can be reactivated at a later time when your circumstances have turned around and you have been reinstated.

 

 

[On the huh]

This is a forum.  I also use a forum for computers/tech, and one for my trade/work.  I don't know the others who use these forums personally, they could be former/disfellowshipped witnesses, and I wouldn't know. 

 

The mods do a great job keeping this forum clean, and removing any who seek to cause arguments, or who try to undermine our faith or discredit Jehovah and his organisation.

Edited January 9, 2019 by Jonathan77

[Ahuvah]

4 hours ago, Sammip said:

My question is this how do you know if a person on the board is disfellowshippped? Do you think they will just tell you? Could we be having association with df ones here and not realize it? 

You could also be sitting at the carts and talking to a disfellowshipped person without realizing it.

 

The thing is there are three types of disfellowshipped ones:

 

Those who are trying to come back - these will abide by the restrictions put on them by the elders. They are very unlikely to come on here, unless they were here already prior to being disfellowshipped. Then as Shawn said they are honest with us and we activate our processes for the protection of the members and out of love for the individual.

 

Those disfellowshipped ones who aren't repentant. They may try to come onto the site ... and may even hide themselves for a bit, but that's where the moderated posts will catch most of those and why we allow time to pass before we make new members full members. They usually can't help themselves but reveal what is in their hearts. 

 

Then you have those who actively oppose Jehovah ... and sometimes they slip through too, but remain silent in the background until they cannot remain silent anymore - then whoooosh they are gone.

 

We can't guarantee that none of the above aren't on the site just as you can't guarantee that new person or that visitor in your kingdom hall is truly a witness until they start to display spiritual qualities or the opposite.  But we can guarantee that members will report anyone they are suspicious about and with the vast array of mderators from most of the time zones ... we are vigilant and have minimized the risk as much as we are able to do.

Anyone who ventures online are aware of these risks ... but can also discern for themselves who are spiritual people by their posts ... especially over an extended period of time.

 

We had a guy coming to our meetings feigning interest - turned out that he confessed he was planted there by another religion to see what we really teach. - while that can actually have a good result my point here is we don't know who strangers are at the meeting or in the witnessing work.

 

Hope that helps. 

 

 

[Sheep]

11 hours ago, Sammip said:

My question is this how do you know if a person on the board is disfellowshippped? Do you think they will just tell you? Could we be having association with df ones here and not realize it? 

Most here have already answered your question, but if I may add a couple of things...?

 

The moderators do their best to keep this site free of unsavoury creatures like apostates. But just like you and I, they do not personally know everyone who signs up as a member. Because of that, they cannot control who becomes a member here. But they can control content. If they spot a post that looks questionable, they can take the appropriate action. But what if no moderators see the suspicious post? This is where you and I come in. At the top right of every post, there is a "report" link that you can click on if you think the post should be checked out. That will immediately alert any moderators who are online at the time, and they will look into it. They will not necessarily delete the post in question, for maybe that person is a little depressed at the time and their post could be simply "wild talk."(Job 6:3) They will simply "keep an eye" on that person's future posts to see their behaviour over a period of time, and act accordingly. However, if both you and I catch sight of a questionable post, and we both "report" it, from what I understand that post will immediately be hidden until such time that a moderator can look it over. (Please let me know if I'm wrong on that, mods.)

 

We're well protected here, and that can be seen in another way too. The following is a true story. A few years ago, one of the moderators here sent me a private message. As a moderator, he was able to see the name of my congregation in my profile. He said that someone had applied for membership, and had written that her congregation was the same one that I happened to be in! However there was something about her application that didn't add up (I don't know what it was), and he wanted to verify something. He gave me the applicant's name , and asked if she was really in my congregation. I had never heard of her! I think you can easily figure out what the moderators did with that application! (Some time later I happened to see this "sister's" Facebook page. There was nothing overtly suspicious about it, but her "Freind" list was filled with known apostates!) I was happy that I had contributed in a small way to the safety of our haven.

[Newtonian]

When I applied I was asked what congregation I attended I think.   Obviously, the elders of that congregation could be contacted.

 

Of course, we follow Jesus.   

 

Was Satan disfellowshipped?

 

Did Jesus speak to him/answer him?

 

However, Jesus did not say a greeting to him nor associate with him.

 

Jesus did not have conversation - he quoted Scripture.

 

Anyway, a repentant disfellowshipped brother would not post, but might read other's posts for encouragement - even as they might attend the meetings.

 

Good news!   One of our sisters in our congregation was reinstated Tuesday night!

[Newtonian]

On ‎1‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 8:03 PM, Sheep said:

Most here have already answered your question, but if I may add a couple of things...?

 

The moderators do their best to keep this site free of unsavoury creatures like apostates. But just like you and I, they do not personally know everyone who signs up as a member. Because of that, they cannot control who becomes a member here. But they can control content. If they spot a post that looks questionable, they can take the appropriate action. But what if no moderators see the suspicious post? This is where you and I come in. At the top right of every post, there is a "report" link that you can click on if you think the post should be checked out. That will immediately alert any moderators who are online at the time, and they will look into it. They will not necessarily delete the post in question, for maybe that person is a little depressed at the time and their post could be simply "wild talk."(Job 6:3) They will simply "keep an eye" on that person's future posts to see their behaviour over a period of time, and act accordingly. However, if both you and I catch sight of a questionable post, and we both "report" it, from what I understand that post will immediately be hidden until such time that a moderator can look it over. (Please let me know if I'm wrong on that, mods.)

 

We're well protected here, and that can be seen in another way too. The following is a true story. A few years ago, one of the moderators here sent me a private message. As a moderator, he was able to see the name of my congregation in my profile. He said that someone had applied for membership, and had written that her congregation was the same one that I happened to be in! However there was something about her application that didn't add up (I don't know what it was), and he wanted to verify something. He gave me the applicant's name , and asked if she was really in my congregation. I had never heard of her! I think you can easily figure out what the moderators did with that application! (Some time later I happened to see this "sister's" Facebook page. There was nothing overtly suspicious about it, but her "Freind" list was filled with known apostates!) I was happy that I had contributed in a small way to the safety of our haven.

Encouraging!

 

And thank you for confirming that the moderators can check with the congregation we specify we are in when joining this forum.

[Shawnster]

57 minutes ago, Newtonian said:

, the elders of that congregation could be contacted.

And we have done so, on the rare occasion. 

[Tortuga]

58 minutes ago, Newtonian said:

Good news!   One of our sisters in our congregation was reinstated Tuesday night!

[carlos]

On 1/10/2019 at 3:03 AM, Sheep said:

However, if both you and I catch sight of a questionable post, and we both "report" it, from what I understand that post will immediately be hidden until such time that a moderator can look it over. (Please let me know if I'm wrong on that, mods.)

This is correct. I am not sure if it's with two reports or with three, but after a number of reports a post is automatically hidden until the mods check it. So we all have a part in keeping the forums clean.

 

On 1/10/2019 at 3:03 AM, Sheep said:

However there was something about her application that didn't add up (I don't know what it was), and he wanted to verify something. He gave me the applicant's name , and asked if she was really in my congregation. I had never heard of her!

I remember that. Thanks! Call it holy spirit or call it coincidence, but most of the times a rat tries to sneak in here we find some member from the same congregation or a close one, or we happen to know someone in that congregation, or they even give as their congregation one we know well.

 

Many times there is no way to know someone's status, but that's the same in daily life. A brother visits your congregation or even goes out in service with the local friends, and we don't know if he's in good standing or not. We attend a convention, and greet the family sitting next to us, and maybe share our food with them or have some nice chat with them, and we don't know if those people are disfellowshipped. Since they are in a theocratic environment, we assume they are our brothers. If we notice someone weird, we simply withdraw. It's exactly the same here.

 

On 1/9/2019 at 5:08 PM, Tortuga said:

I'm not a moderator but I can give you my opinion.

Edited January 21, 2019 by carlos

[Tortuga]

On 1/21/2019 at 4:35 AM, carlos said:

.

On 1/9/2019 at 8:08 AM, Tortuga said:

I'm not a moderator but I can give you my opinion.



Well, I wasn't a moderator 

I got the call two days later...

[Musky]

Well, I wasn't a moderator 
I got the call two days later...

Yes, but you haven't received your final sealing yet

[Tortuga]

Just now, Musky said:

Yes, but you haven't received your final sealing yet

No, not yet. I assume all the moderators will receive that at the same time..

[Sheep]

1 hour ago, Musky said:

Yes, but you haven't received your final sealing yet

How do you seal a turtle?

[Tortuga]

8 minutes ago, Sheep said:

How do you seal a turtle?

Sheepishly....

[Musky]

How do you seal a turtle?

Duct tape, superglue, silicone caulk, there are countless ways.

[minister159]

10 minutes ago, Sheep said:

How do you seal a turtle?

Turtle wax works best! 

 

 

 

[Tortuga]

2 minutes ago, minister159 said:

Turtle wax works best! 

 

 

 

[rocket]

2 hours ago, Musky said:

2 hours ago, Sheep said:

How do you seal a turtle?

Duct tape, superglue, silicone caulk, there are countless ways.

[dove]

Which emoji is closest to ‘cute’...

[Tortuga]

1 hour ago, rocket said:

Mmmmm....mmmmmm....mmmmm

[dove]

Is that the white version of Tape Face?

[Sheep]

20 hours ago, Tortuga said:

Mmmmm....mmmmmm....mmmmm

Excellent comment! Keep up the good work.