Did Jesus send the prostitute into a back room with 3 apostles?

Fear

1.If you’re reading this page with your heart pounding, if you checked that no one was watching before opening it, if a part of you is saying “I shouldn’t be reading this” — we understand. Perfectly. Maybe you’re afraid that reading these words will cost you. That someone will find out. That it will become grounds for a committee. This fear is real, and we respect it.

2.But pause for a moment. No one knows you’re here. This site does not collect personal data, does not require registration, does not use trackers. We don’t know who you are. You can close this page at any time. And when you reopen it, we’ll still be here.

3. The fact that you are afraid even to read an article should already tell you something. In what healthy relationship is seeking the truth frightening? In what loving relationship are you punished for asking questions? Jesus said:

“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

4. Free. Not afraid. Not controlled. Free. We are not attacking anyone. We have nothing against the elders, against the brothers, against the sisters. We are simply opening the Bible. And if the Bible scares you... the problem is not the Bible.

5.In the previous reflection we opened the Scriptures and found a Father who walks in the garden to be with his children, who runs to meet the prodigal son before he even finishes confessing, who holds your right hand and says: “Do not be afraid. I will help you” (Isaiah 41:13, NWT). We discovered a God who loves, who forgives, who comes down to deliver. Yet the system in which we live works differently. Today we ask: if God is like this — if this is His way of treating those who err — why is the system that judges us so different?

The scene

6.Imagine this scene. It is not made up — it is familiar to anyone who has lived through it. A small room in the Kingdom Hall. A chair. On the other side, three elders seated behind a table. They have the Scriptures and a notepad. The door is closed. No relatives. No friends. No lawyer. No witness for the defense. No recording.

7.You are asked to recount what happened. And then come the questions. When the sin concerns the sexual sphere — and often it does — the questions become intimate. Detailed. Three men, often middle-aged, ask a person — sometimes a young woman, sometimes a teenager — details about her sexual life that she would not even tell her doctor. The details of the act. The frequency. The circumstances. Things no stranger has the right to ask, and that no human being should be forced to recount in those conditions.

8.The outcome is decided by them. Three men, in that room, determine if you are “truly repentant.” If they decide yes: reproof. If they decide no: disfellowshipping.That is the loss of everything. Family, friends, identity, social network — in a single day.

9.You can’t bring a lawyer. You can’t record the hearing. You can’t have an observer. You can’t even know all the details of the accusation in advance. You can appeal — but before another committee, made up of other men of the same system, who follow the same rules.

10.In 2024, the organization changed the terminology: “judicial committee” became “committee of elders.” “Disfellowshipping” became “removal from the congregation.” Minors can now have parents present. But the substance — who decides, how they decide, the consequences of the decision — has not changed. The words change. The system remains.

11. Does this scene seem like something Jesus would have done?

Scriptural basis?

12.The organization mainly uses three scriptural passages to justify judicial committees. Let’s open them together. Not to contradict — to read what they actually say.

13. The first is Matthew 18:15-17:

“Moreover, if your brother commits a sin, go and reveal his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take along with you one or two more, so that on the testimony of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. If he does not listen to them, speak to the congregation.”

14. Read it slowly. The stated purpose — the purpose Jesus himself states — is “to gain your brother.” Not to punish him. Not to disfellowship him. To gain him.The path involves three gradual steps: first you talk to him alone. If that doesn’t work, you bring one or two witnesses. If that still doesn’t work, you speak to the congregation. It’s a path of reconciliation, not a tribunal. Notice also: Jesus says “speak to the congregation” — not “convene a secret committee of three men in a closed room.”

15.And there’s a detail that changes everything. Immediately afterwards, in the same chapter, Peter asks: “Lord, how many times is my brother to sin against me and am I to forgive him? Up to seven times?” And Jesus answers:

“I say to you, not up to seven times, but up to 77 times.”

16. 77 times.Not once after two years of observation. Not once after a request letter and another committee. 77 times. The number is not literal — it means “without limit.” And Jesus says it right after speaking about congregational discipline. As if to say: even when you discipline, forgiveness has no ceiling.

17. The second passage is 1 Corinthians 5:11-13, where Paul writes:

“But now I am writing you to stop keeping company with anyone called a brother who is sexually immoral or a greedy person or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner, not even eating with such a man.”

18.This verse is often cited as the basis for disfellowshipping. But what is the context? Paul is speaking about an extreme and specific case: a man living with his father’s wife. Incest. The Corinthian congregation not only tolerated the matter — they were proud of it. Paul intervenes urgently. It is an emergency intervention for an extreme situation, not a permanent judicial system with codified procedures and a manual of hundreds of pages.

19.And the purpose? Read it: “you must hand such a man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 5:5, NWT). The purpose is salvation, not punishment. And the confirmation comes in the second letter to the Corinthians. The same Paul, speaking of the same person, writes:

“This rebuke given by the majority is sufficient for such a man, so now you should instead kindly forgive and comfort him, so that he may not be overwhelmed by excessive sadness. Therefore, I urge you to confirm your love for him.”

20.Kindly forgive him. Comfort him. Confirm your love for him. So that he may not be overwhelmed by excessive sadness. Paul — the same man who had requested discipline — now asks them to welcome back and love. Biblical discipline has one purpose: to restore. Not to destroy.

21. The third passage is 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15:

“But if anyone is not obedient to our word in this letter, keep this one marked and stop associating with him, so that he may become ashamed. And yet do not consider him an enemy, but continue admonishing him as a brother.”

22.Read it again. “Do not consider him an enemy.” “Continue admonishing him as a brother.” This verse — used by the organization in support of disfellowshipping — actually says the opposite. Do not treat him as a stranger. Do not cut him off. Do not stop talking to him. Continue admonishing him as a brother. As family. Because he is family.

23.Now let’s pause for a moment. Here is a list of things that do not exist in the Bible:

• The word “disfellowshipping”
• The concept of a “judicial committee” — three men judging in secret
• The obligation to completely avoid a person, including relatives
• An observation period before forgiveness
• A reinstatement request letter
• The ban on recording or having observers during a hearing
• A secret manual with the rules of the process

24. And one last fact. The judicial committee system does not date back to the first century. It was not introduced by Jesus, by the apostles, or by the primitive congregation. It was introduced by Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1952— almost two thousand years after Christ and sixty-eight years after the religion was founded. In Israel, judgments were pronounced at the city gates, before everyone. The trial of Jesus — conducted at night, in secret, by a small group — is presented by the Bible itself as an injustice. Judicial committees resemble the secret trial of Jesus more than the biblical judicial system.

How Jesus treated those who erred

25.We have seen what the Bible says — and what it doesn’t say. Now let’s look at what Jesus did. Not in theory. In fact. Five episodes. Five people with a sin. Five times when Jesus could have convened a committee. Let’s see what he did.

26. The Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:1-42).A woman with five husbands behind her and a current live-in partner. By any standard — ancient or modern — a serious situation. Jesus stops at the well. He asks her for a drink. He starts a conversation. He doesn’t judge her. He doesn’t interrogate her. He doesn’t ask her “how many times?” or “with whom?” He offers her “living water” — that is, eternal life. And he reveals to her that he is the Messiah. One of the first people to whom he declares it. The woman — this woman with five husbands and a live-in partner — runs into the village and brings everyone to meet Jesus. She becomes an evangelizer. No committee. No conditions. No observation period.

27. Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10).A tax collector for Rome — a collaborator, an extortioner, a man despised by all. Jesus sees him on a tree and says: “Hurry and come down, for today I must stay in your house.” He doesn’t ask him to repent first. He doesn’t set conditions. He goes to his house. He eats with him. He treats him with dignity. And Zacchaeus, without anyone imposing it on him, stands up and says: “I will give half of my belongings to the poor, and whatever I extorted from anyone, I am restoring four times over.” The welcome produces the change. Not the tribunal.

28. Peter after the denial (John 21:15-19).Peter denies Jesus three times. In public. With an oath. During the trial that would lead to Christ’s death. It is the most serious betrayal imaginable — not a private weakness, but an explicit denial before witnesses. After the resurrection, Jesus seeks him out. He doesn’t summon him. He doesn’t send him a message through others. He seeks him out in person. He prepares breakfast for him on the shore of the lake. And then, sitting together, he asks him three times: “Do you love me?” One question for each denial. Three times Peter answers: “Yes, Lord, you know I have affection for you.” And Jesus restores him. He doesn’t just forgive him — he entrusts him with the leadership of the entire congregation. “Feed my sheep.” Forgiveness not only restores. It promotes.

29. The sinner woman at Jesus’ feet (Luke 7:36-50). A woman — defined by the text as “a woman who was known in the city to be a sinner” — enters the house of a Pharisee where Jesus is a guest. She kneels at his feet, weeps, wets them with her tears, dries them with her hair, kisses them, anoints them with perfumed oil. The Pharisee is scandalized: “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him.” Jesus tells a parable about two debtors and then says to the Pharisee: “Her many sins are forgiven, because she loved much.” And to the woman: “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

30. The thief on the torture stake (Luke 23:39-43).A criminal sentenced to death. Hanging next to Jesus. He has no time to follow a path of repentance. He has no committee to face. He has no letter to write. He has only one request: “Remember me when you get into your Kingdom.” And Jesus answers:

“Truly I tell you today, you will be with me in Paradise.”

31. Instant grace. Zero committee. Zero formal repentance. Zero observation period.

32.Let’s put them together:

33. In no case — not one — did Jesus convene a committee, ask intimate details, impose an observation period, or exclude anyone from the community. His method was always the same: welcome first, then exhortation. The embrace first, then the word. Never the opposite. And the result? The change was born from within, spontaneous, because love produces what fear will never produce.

John 8

34.There’s an episode that tells all of this in the clearest way. A woman caught in adultery. Dragged before Jesus by the scribes and Pharisees. They throw her at his feet and ask him: “In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What do you say?” Jesus stoops down, writes in the dust. Then he stands up and says:

35.One after another, they leave. Beginning with the oldest. Only Jesus remains with the woman. He asks her: “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She answers: “No one, Lord.” And Jesus:

36. Forgiveness first. Exhortation after.No committee. No intimate questions. No observation period. No disfellowshipping. This is John 7:53-8:11 — a passage known as the “pericope of the adulteress.”

37.Now we must be honest with you, as we have been in every reflection. This passage has a complex textual history. It does not appear in the most ancient manuscripts of the New Testament. Many scholars believe it is a later addition from oral tradition. Practically all modern Bibles — the NIV, ESV, KJV, RSV — include it in the text, with a note explaining the matter. We don’t ask you to take it as definitive proof. We ask you to notice one fact.

38.The New World Translation, 1984 edition, included this passage. It was reported at the bottom of the page with a note, but it was there. The 2013 revision — released in Italian in 2017 — has completely removed it. On wol.jw.org, John chapter 8 begins at verse 12. Verses 1-11 do not exist. No note. No reference. No explanation.

39. Textual criticism has not changed between 1984 and 2013. The manuscripts are the same. The reasons for doubting the passage were identical then as now. Yet in 1984 the passage was there, and in 2013 it disappeared. What changed?

40.We don’t want to make accusations. We just want to ask a question. And we want the reader to answer. The most explicit passage in the entire New Testament against religious judgment — “he who is without sin, let him cast the first stone” — was removed from the Bible of an organization that bases its discipline on judicial committees.Maybe it’s a coincidence. Maybe not.

41.But here’s the important thing. Even if we set aside John 8 — even if we ignore it entirely — the principle it expresses is confirmed by every episode we just read. Peter denies Jesus three times: no committee, he’s restored as leader. The sinner woman washes Jesus’ feet: no committee, “your faith has saved you.” The thief on the stake: no committee, “you will be with me in Paradise.” The Samaritan woman with five husbands: no committee, she becomes an evangelizer. Zacchaeus the extortioner: no committee, Jesus goes to his house.

42. The adulteress of John 8 is not the only evidence. She is the most explicit. And the organization has removed her.

The secret book

44.There is a book called “Shepherd the Flock of God.” It is the operational manual with which judicial committees are conducted. It contains the detailed procedures, the instructions on how to conduct hearings, the criteria for deciding whether a person should be disfellowshipped or not.

45.This book is reserved exclusively for elders. Members of the congregation — including the people being judged on the basis of that book — cannot read it. The instructions specify: the information is designed for the exclusive use of the elders, and other individuals should not have any opportunity to read this information. The book has been revised several times — in 2010, 2012, 2019, 2021, 2024, 2025. The rules change with every edition. But members do not know what has changed nor why.

46. In what just system is the accused not allowed to know the rules by which they are judged?

47.Jesus said: “I have said nothing in secret” (John 18:20, NWT). Paul’s letters were addressed “to the congregation” — not “to the elders alone.” In Israel, judgments took place at the gates of the city, in plain sight and hearing of any passerby. The rules that determine your life — whether you stay with your family or lose them, whether your friends will speak to you again or not — are in a book you cannot read. And the book changes, without you knowing.

If you are an elder...

Your rights

Grace

48.We have seen what the Bible doesn’t say. We have seen how Jesus treated those who erred. Now let’s look at what the Bible says about forgiveness — the true forgiveness, that of God.

49. The apostle John wrote:

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous so as to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

50.Read it carefully. “If we confess.” Not “if we appear before a committee.” Not “if three men decide we are repentant enough.” Not “if we wait months or years under observation.” If we confess. To God.And He is “faithful and righteous so as to forgive us” — the very words indicate certainty, not discretion. God’s forgiveness is immediate. Direct. Without human intermediaries.

51. Paul wrote to the Romans:

“Therefore, those in union with Christ Jesus have no condemnation.”

52.No condemnation. Not “less condemnation.” Not “condemnation reduced after a period of observation.” None. And again:

“By this undeserved kindness you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing; rather, it is God’s gift. No, it is not a result of works, so that no one should have grounds for boasting.”

53.Notice one thing about this verse. Where virtually all Bibles — in English or any other language — render “grace,” the NWT writes “undeserved kindness.” The original Greek word is charis, and it appears over 150 times in the New Testament. All major translations render it as “grace”: a gratuitous, free, unconditional gift. Only the NWT adds the adjective “undeserved” — shifting the emphasis from the gift to your inadequacy. Not the gift, but the fact that you do not deserve it. It’s a nuance. But it’s a nuance that changes everything. Because a God who offers you grace makes you feel loved. A God who offers you “undeserved kindness” makes you feel unworthy.

54.And then Jesus, in Matthew 18:21-22 — in the same chapter the organization uses to justify committees — says to forgive 77 times. Not once after two years. Not once after a committee has verified your repentance. 77 times. Without limit. Without conditions.

55. Biblical forgiveness is this: immediate, direct, unconditional, without intermediaries. The committee system is this: three men in a room, intimate questions, a human judgment, an observation period, a request letter, and a public announcement that erases you from the lives of all those you love.

“Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be made as white as snow.”

Questions for reflection

56. Before we close, three questions. Not for us. For you. For your conscience.

57.If Jesus never convened a committee, never asked intimate details, never disfellowshipped anyone — and his method with sinners was always welcome first, exhortation after — on what scriptural basis is the system that judges our lives founded?

58.If God’s forgiveness is immediate (1 John 1:9), direct (Romans 8:1), without limit (Matthew 18:22), and if biblical discipline has as its purpose restoration and not destruction (2 Corinthians 2:6-8) — why does the system involve months or years of isolation before re-welcoming someone who has fallen?

59.And if a mother has to stop talking with her son because three men in a room have decided so — while the Bible says “do not consider him an enemy, but continue admonishing him as a brother” (2 Thessalonians 3:15) — who is following the Bible? The mother who obeys, or the son who only wishes to talk with her?

What happens now

60.If you’re afraid of what you have read, if a voice inside you tells you that you are doing something wrong, pause for a moment. Reread John 8:32: “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Who taught you to be afraid of the truth? It was not God. God commended the Beroeans because they verified everything — even the words of an apostle — and called them “more noble-minded” (Acts 17:11, NWT). What you are doing is exactly what God asks of you.

61.Today we have seen how a judicial committee works — and how Jesus treated those who erred. The contrast is not subtle. It is abysmal.On one side, three men in a closed room, intimate questions, a human judgment, a secret manual. On the other, a Master who sits with the sinner, who goes to the extortioner’s house, who prepares breakfast for the betrayer, who tells the dying criminal “you will be with me in Paradise.”

62.But a judicial committee does not end when the door of the room closes. It ends when a mother has to stop speaking to her son. When a father cannot answer his daughter’s phone call. When a young man of twenty loses every friend, every point of reference, every support network — in a single day.

63. The Bible says:

“Do not consider him an enemy, but continue admonishing him as a brother.”

64. The organization says: do not greet him, do not eat with him, do not answer his calls. Even if he is your son. Even if she is your mother.

65.In the next reflection we’ll examine what really happens after disfellowshipping — and what the Bible says about shunning. Because behind every announcement “such-and-such is no longer one of Jehovah’s Witnesses” there is a person. And that person has a family, a heart, and a Father who has never stopped running to meet them.

66.Verify for yourselves. Open the Bible. Read Matthew 18:15-22, 2 Corinthians 2:6-8, 2 Thessalonians 3:15, John 21:15-19. Read them with your own eyes. Don’t trust us — trust the Scriptures and your own conscience. The truth is not afraid of questions.

“Make sure of all things; hold fast to what is fine.”

“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”