Recognizable questions
- Is every former Jehovah’s Witness automatically an apostate?
- Is leaving the organization the same as leaving Jehovah?
- Is someone who no longer believes automatically a wrongdoer?
- What if someone once behaved seriously wrongfully, but has since changed?
- How do you know whether someone has changed when you hardly have any contact anymore?
- According to Jehovah’s Witnesses, does 2 John 9-11 apply to everyone who has been removed from the congregation?
- How did Jesus treat doubters, sinners, and repentant people?
- And how much can we actually know about another person’s heart?
When a congregation is informed that someone is no longer one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, other congregation members do not automatically know the whole story behind that announcement.
According to the current official information of Jehovah’s Witnesses, someone who has committed a serious sin is not immediately removed from the congregation. Elders first try to help him change his conduct. If, according to that explanation, someone continues despite repeated efforts to act contrary to Biblical moral standards and shows no repentance, he can be removed from the congregation. The announcement to the congregation then simply states that the person is no longer one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The current official explanation also says that Witnesses do not have social contact with such a person. Since 2024, it has explicitly been said that someone who has been removed does not have to be completely ignored: a Witness may, based on his conscience, decide to invite him to a meeting or briefly greet him there.
But that raises another question:
What do the other congregation members actually know about the person behind that announcement?
Was he removed because of seriously wrong conduct? Did he himself decide no longer to be one of Jehovah’s Witnesses? Has his belief changed? Does he still believe in Jehovah? Has he become an atheist? Does he regret conduct from his past? Or do most congregation members know none of that at all?
Those are different situations.
This article does not want to conclude in advance that every form of congregational removal is wrong. 1 Corinthians 5 does indeed contain instructions about serious wrongdoing within the Christian congregation.
But the Bible contains more passages. And Jehovah’s Witness publications also make certain distinctions.
What is a wrongdoer according to 1 Corinthians 5?
In 1 Corinthians 5:11-13, Paul speaks about someone who calls himself a brother and is, among other things, sexually immoral, greedy, an idolater, someone who insults others, a drunkard, or an extortioner.
Paul then says that such a person must be removed from among them.
So there is a clear Biblical argument for the idea:
Serious wrongdoing within a Christian congregation can have consequences.
Jehovah’s Witnesses’ current official explanation also bases the arrangement for removal partly on this text. It speaks of someone who continues practicing serious sin and shows no repentance.
But look carefully at what Paul is describing here: behavior.
That raises a question:
Is leaving a religious organization in itself the same as the kind of wrongdoing Paul describes in this list?
1 Corinthians 5 does not list leaving a modern religious organization as a separate category in this list.
That does not prove that every reason for leaving a religion is correct according to the Bible. It only means that different issues must be carefully distinguished from one another.
What does “apostasy” mean according to JW literature itself?
Insight on the Scriptures explains that the Greek word apostasia has, among other meanings, the sense of desertion, abandonment, and rebellion. In a Christian context, it is applied there to religious apostasy and to turning away from what the publication considers the true cause and worship of God.
But the same source makes an important distinction:
“Falling” is not necessarily the same as “falling away.”
According to Insight on the Scriptures, someone may fall because of weakness, whereas apostasy is described as a definitive and deliberate turning away from the path considered righteous.
That is important for this topic.
When someone is no longer one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, do outsiders then automatically know what has happened internally with that person?
Was there rebellion? Unbelief? A different interpretation of the Bible? A crisis of conscience? Disappointment? Grief? Or did someone simply, after examining matters, arrive at a different conviction?
The term ex-JW does not say.
You can also leave the organization on your own
The current public FAQ of Jehovah’s Witnesses explicitly says that someone can leave the organization. According to JW.org, this can be done by saying verbally or in writing that he no longer wishes to be known as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, or by actions that make that clear, for example by joining another religion.
The same FAQ also distinguishes between leaving and someone who has simply become less active or no longer attends meetings. According to JW.org, inactivity does not automatically mean that someone has given up his faith.
That distinction matters, because:
being inactive, leaving the organization yourself, and being removed for unrepentant serious wrongdoing are not automatically the same situation.
Is a wrongdoer automatically an apostate?
Not necessarily.
Take someone with a serious alcohol problem. That person may, according to Jehovah’s Witness standards, be acting seriously wrong while at the same time remaining fully convinced that Jehovah exists and that Jehovah’s Witnesses are the true religion.
His behavior and his beliefs are then two separate questions.
Conversely, someone may say:
“I don’t drink to excess, I don’t cheat on my partner, I don’t steal, and I try to be good to other people. But I no longer believe that the Governing Body is guided by God.”
Then there is at least a change in conviction.
That is why it helps to keep three questions separate:
What does someone do?
What does someone believe?
Why has his conviction changed?
Those are not the same questions.
Is every ex-JW automatically an apostate?
You cannot tell from the term ex-JW alone.
One former Jehovah’s Witness has become an atheist. Another has remained Christian. Yet another still believes in Jehovah and Jesus, but no longer believes that Jehovah’s Witnesses are God’s exclusive organization.
Someone else may not yet know what he believes anymore.
And someone may have been removed from the congregation because of serious wrongdoing while still being fully convinced of Jehovah’s Witness teachings.
That is why the fact that someone no longer belongs to the organization does not tell the whole story about what he currently believes about God, Jesus, or the Bible.
Is leaving the organization the same as leaving Jehovah?
Suppose someone says:
“I still believe in Jehovah. I believe in Jesus. I still read the Bible. But I no longer believe that Jehovah’s Witnesses are God’s only true organization.”
Has that person left Jehovah?
Or has his conviction about a religious organization changed?
A Jehovah’s Witness may, based on his religious convictions, feel that these matters are closely linked. After all, JW literature connects apostasy with turning away from what it considers true worship of God.
But for the Bible student, a theological question remains:
How does one determine from the Bible which modern religious organization is God’s visible organization?
Only when someone accepts that first conviction can he draw further conclusions from it.
So in the end, that is a theological conclusion, not a neutral established fact.
Is someone who no longer believes a wrongdoer?
Suppose someone says:
“For years I prayed and tried to hold on to my faith. In the end I can no longer believe that God exists.”
A believer may think that person’s conclusion about God is wrong. The Bible also contains warnings about unbelief.
But that is not automatically the same as saying:
“Therefore, this person is morally bad.”
Someone who does not believe in God can still be honest, faithful to his partner, loving toward his children, helpful to others, and sincerely try to live according to his conscience.
Here too it helps to distinguish between two questions:
What does someone believe?
How does someone live?
Job shows that we do not always know the whole story
Job lost his children, possessions, and health. His grief became so great that in Job 3 he cursed the day of his birth.
He asked profound and at times painful questions.
That does not mean that every former Jehovah’s Witness can be compared to Job.
But Job does illustrate something important:
An outsider does not automatically know everything that came before someone’s spiritual struggle.
We may be able to see: ‘He no longer believes.’
But do we know how much he prayed? How long he tried to hold on to his faith? What events led up to it? What questions he researched?
We can reject someone’s conclusion without automatically knowing his entire inner history.
Thomas doubted — and Jesus addressed his doubt
After Jesus’ resurrection, Thomas did not believe the other disciples. He wanted proof.
In John 20, we see that Jesus does not simply write him off. Thomas is given the opportunity to examine his doubt and then comes to faith.
That does not prove that every doubt is justified.
But it does show:
Doubt can be approached with conversation, patience, and evidence.
What if someone really did seriously wrong?
Take another situation.
Someone is removed from the congregation because of serious wrongdoing. Years later, he has stopped that behavior and says:
‘What I did back then was wrong. I am sincerely sorry for it.’
But in the meantime, his religious beliefs have also changed. He no longer believes that Jehovah’s Witnesses are God’s organization and therefore does not want to return.
Then two questions arise:
Is he sorry for his former behavior?
Does he want to become one of Jehovah’s Witnesses again?
In theory, the answer to the first question can be yes and to the second no.
Conceptually, those are two different questions.
‘And that is what some of you were’
This is exactly where 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 is interesting.
Paul mentions various forms of serious wrongdoing. Then he tells the Christians in Corinth that some of them used to be like that.
Their past is not denied.
But their past is also not presented as something that must necessarily define them forever.
So put 1 Corinthians 5 and 6 side by side:
1 Corinthians 5: serious wrongdoing is taken seriously.
1 Corinthians 6: people can change.
That raises an honest question:
If someone has truly stopped his former wrongdoing and is repentant, how should we view him years later?
The Bible text does not directly give a procedure for every modern situation. So I would not attach an absolute conclusion to it in this article either.
But how does his family know he has changed?
Here a practical dilemma arises.
Suppose someone was removed ten years ago because of drunkenness. His former friends and family may mainly remember that old story.
But by now he has not been drinking heavily for years.
Or someone was removed because of sexual immorality and later completely changed her life and became repentant.
When there is little contact, those who keep their distance may have only a limited view of the development that took place afterward.
Their most recent, in-depth picture of that person may therefore come from a completely different period of his life.
Perhaps someone went to therapy. Overcame an addiction. Acknowledged his mistakes. Built a family. Made different choices.
And perhaps he thinks:
‘For you, I am still the person I was back then.’
That is an important human dilemma:
How do you know who someone is today when you hardly speak to him anymore?
2 John 9-11: this was the part that needed to be sharpened
This is the section I would update most clearly after checking the source.
The August 2024 Watchtower now explicitly makes a distinction between different situations.
In the case of someone who has been removed from the congregation, an individual Witness may, according to his Bible-trained conscience, decide to invite him to a meeting and briefly greet him there. Socializing remains excluded according to the same publication.
The same Watchtower then discusses 2 John 9-11 separately. The publication says that John and Paul were not talking about the same situation. According to the current JW explanation, 2 John refers to individuals who actively promote apostate teaching or wrongdoing. For such persons, the explanation says they should not be greeted or invited to a meeting.
The current FAQ on JW.org also makes that exception explicit: in what it calls “extreme cases,” someone may actively try to undermine the congregation or actively promote wrongdoing; the organization refers to 2 John 9-11 in that connection.
That means it would not be accurate enough for this article to write as if Jehovah’s Witnesses apply 2 John 9-11 indiscriminately to every former or removed Witness.
The current public sources do not do that.
So not every ex-JW is in the same category
The current JW sources themselves make a distinction here.
There is a difference between:
someone who has been removed from the congregation because of unrepentant serious wrongdoing;
someone who has become less active or has stopped participating altogether;
someone who has chosen to leave the organization;
someone whom, according to JW teaching, promotes active apostate doctrine or wrongdoing.
The precise religious assessment of such situations remains, of course, that of Jehovah’s Witnesses themselves.
But as a practical matter, based on their current public sources, we can say:
their own publications do not treat every former Jehovah’s Witness as exactly the same case.
What about forgiveness?
In Matthew 18:21-22, Peter asks how often he must forgive his brother.
Jesus’ answer emphasizes that forgiveness should not stop at some small fixed number.
That raises a practical question:
How do you forgive someone who is repentant when you hardly speak to him anymore?
Suppose a former Witness wanted to say to his brother:
‘What I did back then was wrong. I regret it. I have changed. But I no longer share your religious beliefs.’
Can his brother forgive him for that past conduct without adopting his current belief?
Forgiving is not the same as agreeing with someone.
That distinction is relevant from a biblical perspective.
Forgiveness and contact
In Luke 17:3-4, repentance and forgiveness are likewise linked.
For that reason, a Bible reader who is examining the matter may ask:
How does personal reconciliation happen when two people hardly communicate?
That question does not by itself prove that the disfellowshipping arrangement is unbiblical.
But it is a legitimate question when different Bible passages are considered side by side.
The lost son
In Luke 15:11-32, the son really did do wrong. Eventually he returns and acknowledges that he has sinned.
His father sees him from a distance, feels compassion, and:
runs to him.
He embraces him and welcomes him.
But we must be careful here:
This parable does not present a technical procedure for congregation removal or reinstatement.
So you cannot use Luke 15 as direct proof that every religious removal procedure is wrong.
What the parable does show is how Jesus portrays repentance, mercy, love, and restoration.
1 Corinthians 5 and Luke 15
You cannot use Luke 15 to erase 1 Corinthians 5.
But neither do you have to read 1 Corinthians 5 without taking into account the other Bible passages about mercy, repentance, and restoration.
One passage deals with serious wrongdoing within the congregation.
The other depicts a father running to meet a repentant son.
Both passages are in the same Bible.
How did Jesus treat people?
Jesus spoke with people who had a bad reputation. He ate with tax collectors and sinners. He spoke with the Samaritan woman. He visited Zacchaeus. He addressed Thomas’ doubt.
Peter denied Jesus three times, was deeply repentant, and later received responsibility again.
That does not mean Jesus regarded wrongdoing as unimportant.
But the Gospels do show different things existing alongside one another:
Talking to someone is not the same as approving of his conduct.
Loving someone does not mean you must hold the same beliefs.
Forgiving someone does not mean denying what happened.
And recognizing that someone has changed does not mean you must adopt his current beliefs.
What do you actually know after an announcement?
Suppose you hear in the Kingdom Hall:
‘[Name] is no longer one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.’
Current JW sources confirm that this brief wording is used when someone is removed from the congregation because of unrepentant serious wrongdoing.
But that announcement does not tell the audience all the background details.
Do you then know exactly what the person did? What he said? What he now believes? Whether he regrets something from the past? How he lives five years later? Whether he still prays? Whether his beliefs have changed in the meantime?
You cannot infer that from that one announcement alone.
So the question remains:
How much do we really know about that person’s present heart and life?
Apostate, wrongdoer, unbeliever, or doubter?
The Bible describes different situations.
A wrongdoer in 1 Corinthians 5 is discussed in connection with serious wrongdoing.
Someone can become unbelieving without automatically displaying all the wrong conduct mentioned there.
Someone can struggle with God like Job.
Someone can doubt like Thomas.
Someone can fail badly, feel remorse, and change like Peter.
And Paul could write about people with a wrong past:
‘And yet some of you were like that.’
Not every person and not every situation is the same.
Who can ultimately see the heart?
That brings us to 1 Samuel 16:7.
The Bible’s principle is that people look at what is visible, while Jehovah sees the heart.
That does not mean Christians should never judge conduct. On the contrary, 1 Corinthians 5 shows that conduct can be evaluated within a congregation.
But there is a difference between:
‘Based on the Bible, I think this conduct is wrong.’
and:
‘I know fully what is in your heart and what God’s final judgment of you will be.’
That second statement goes much further.
A question for the active Jehovah’s Witness
Suppose someone you have known for years is no longer a Jehovah’s Witness.
Maybe he was removed because of serious wrongdoing. Maybe he left the organization on his own. Maybe he lost his faith. Maybe he still believes in Jehovah but thinks differently about the organization. Or maybe you barely know what happened.
Then ask yourself:
Do I know what this person has really been through?
Do I know what he believes today?
Do I know how he lives today?
Do I know whether he regrets mistakes from the past?
Do I know whether he has changed?
Do I know why he does not return?
And perhaps the hardest question:
If I have hardly had any contact with him for years, how do I really know who he is today?
That does not mean you have to excuse wrongdoing.
You do not have to adopt his current beliefs.
You also do not have to conclude in advance that every congregation removal was wrong.
But there may be reason to distinguish between conduct and belief, past and present, doubt and apostasy, leaving an organization and the question of what someone still believes about God.
Perhaps the first question should not be:
‘What label fits him?’
but rather:
‘What is his story?’
People can change. People can doubt. People can regret. People can, after research, come to believe differently.
And even Jehovah’s Witnesses’ own literature distinguishes between someone who falls because of weakness and someone who, by its definition, truly apostasizes.
In the end, the principle from 1 Samuel 16:7 remains relevant:
Jehovah sees what we cannot fully see: the heart.
Sources
JW.org - How do Jehovah’s Witnesses treat former fellow believers?
The Watchtower - August 2024 - Help for those removed from the congregation
JW.org - Can someone leave the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses?
Watchtower Online Library - Insight on the Scriptures - Apostasy, apostate
New World Translation - 1 Corinthians 5:11-13
New World Translation - 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
New World Translation - 1 Samuel 16:7
New World Translation - Job 3
New World Translation - John 20
New World Translation - Matthew 18:21-22
New World Translation - Luke 15:11-32
New World Translation - Luke 17:3-4
New World Translation - 2 John 9-11
