The 2024 greeting change did not end shunning

Don't use

The Witness answer holds up. Do not lead with this one.

The overclaim

Since March 2024 people have said that Jehovah's Witnesses abolished shunning. They did not.

What actually changed

Governing Body Update #2 of March 2024, given by Mark Sanderson, and the August 2024 Watchtower set it out. Members may now offer a simple greeting to a removed person, and invite them to meetings.

Elders may make shepherding visits and study the Bible with them. Judicial steps and reinstatement were streamlined.

Minors are handled with a parent present. And "disfellowshipping" became "removal from the congregation."

What did not change

Expulsion itself. The announcement.

The direction against normal social contact. Treating a formal resignation the same as being thrown out.

And the loss of normal family life with relatives outside the household. Ex-member groups and mainstream coverage agree the core stands.

Why the overclaim costs you

It lets a Witness correct you truthfully. It also concedes, without meaning to, that the softer version is good enough.

How strong is this argument?

Do not use this one. Use the accurate version, which is stronger.

What was compulsory cruelty in 2023, refusing even a hello, became optional kindness in 2024. No new verse was discovered in between.

That tells you the old severity was policy, not divine law.

What to say

"In 2023 you could not say hello. In 2024 you can.

Which Bible verse changed?"

An international convention at Katowice, Poland; Governing Body updates are broadcast to congregations

Witnesses at a public literature stand; a removed person may now be offered a greeting

How they answer this — at its strongest

There is nothing to defend: the 2024 change was real, but small.

Not applicable. This entry exists to prevent an overclaim. The change of March 2024 is real. A greeting is now allowed, and a removed person may be invited to meetings. But expulsion, the announcement and the family cost all stand. The accurate version of the criticism lives in the shunning-mechanics-family case.

The verdict

Do not use this one. The softening itself is the stronger argument.

The change is real, but it is limited. It has been checked against both Witness accounts and ex-Witness analysis.

The stronger and truer argument is the softening itself. What was required cruelty in 2023 became optional kindness in 2024. No new verse was found in between. So the old severity was policy, not divine law.

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