I'll never forget the time the Circuit and District Overseers told the elders that from now on the ELDERS would be solely responsible for all judicial matters and that if anyone was going to get sued, it was not going to be the Society. At that point, the 2 Overseers laughed outloud. I knew we were going to get screwed for sure because the Watchtower Society was already setting us up. The discussion afterward made more than a few intelligent elders say on the QT that maybe being an elder wasn't so good after all.
While You Were A JW, What Things Struck You To Raise Your Eyebrows?
by minimus 28 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
hillbilly
in general, the double -double standards and thin veneer of good behaviour made me raise my eyebrows on occasion.
~Hill (straight shooter class)
-
Finally-Free
Minimus, do you know if there were many who resigned from being elders after that? I certainly would have.
How loving of the "Faithful and Discreet Slave" to make rules that affect people's lives, and then shift the responsibility for enforcing those rules upon people who had no voice in the making of them.
W
-
minimus
That, I don't know. But I know that a few of us were very concerned when making decisions because we knew we were on our own.
-
Confession
1) As a child, I had difficulty understanding why Jehovah would really destroy all of the kids I went to school with. Just because they didn't agree with what we told them at their doors?
2) Also pretty young, this idea that we should not even listen to what those who opposed the WTS had to say. If we're confident in our position, shouldn't we be able to listen to whatever anyone else has to say? This did not have what the WTS itself used to call "the ring of truth" to me.
3) Discovering that WT article on oral and anal sex in my early 20s. It had been many years since it was first published, but I couldn't believe the reasoning used. It suggested that these types of sex were "obviously" unclean and deviant. Later, toward the end of my stay with the org, a C.O. (2004) stated from the platform that these practices were wrong, that any elder or MS known to be engaging in them would lose his privileges, and (with great gusto) that, "That is a homosexual act!!!" How could anything done between a man and woman be "homosexual???" It seemed so clear to me that their position was not "Christian," but instead "Puritanical."
4) In my mid to late 20s, really beginning to wonder why people were DFd when they decided that they no longer recognized the WTS as the "sole channel." Again no "ring of truth" for me. To me: if I am confident in my correctness, I am NOT going to become angry with those who disagree with me. And I'm certainly not going to make their families cut them off. It only displays a sort of emotional fragility. Very childish. "If you don't agree with me, then you don't get to play with us. (Sticks tongue out.)"
5) The biggie. The final straw. Confession. As the chairman of a Judicial Committee, doing research that ended in my finding that the Bible did not require confession to men in order to receive God's forgiveness. Further finding evidence that the WTS recognized this. Then being faced with the full knowledge that they demanded it anyway, even going so far as to (again) cut them off from their very families and only community of friends they ever knew, if they did not confess to congregation elders. This was not an issue of how the "light" had not yet shone. It had shone. They recognized the Biblical position on this, always blasting away at the Catholic practice of confession. But their desire for control over people caused them to create a "law" that was in opposition to what they knew the Bible's stand was.
So was I building these issues up over time, fuming about them? No. I never allowed myself to spend a lot of time worrying about them. I was good at flicking these thoughts away like pesky flies. Organization man to the hilt--always the one to help smooth things out with others who found fault in the WTS. It took me to the age of 38 to finally figure it out. Guess I should be glad it wasn't longer. Yeah... I am glad.
-
lonelysheep
The
facttheory that they had the upper hand on armageddon. -
Effervescent
The things that I remember specifically striking me had to do with the Society pointing fingers at other churches as being materialistic, when I found evidence of it in their own buildings.I can remember being about 13? and walking into an Assembly Hall in Oregon for the first time and staring at the huge chandelier and plush carpets. It made me very uncomfortable every time I went in that place.
Then, before that I think, I remember seeing the conceptual drawings for one of the society's big new complexes. I think there was going to be living quarters there and such? I don't remember what it was... later 80's I think, maybe someone can narrow that down. I remember looking at the pictures of the landscaping and fountains and wondering how much preaching work oversees could be financed by all the foo-foo stuff they put into this building. It really bothered me, while everyone else ooohed and aaaahed.
-
troubled mind
not only did I raise my eye brows , but the little hairs on the back of my neck : My son had be friended aworldly girl and she was attending KH meetings she asked me to study with her .Her living arrangements were precarious and she really needed some help .After sunday meeting two elders asked to speak with all of us in the back room .They told me I should not be the one to study with her because My son is friends with her and rather the elders daughter would be a better choice ......(excuse me now elders tell you who you can and can not study the Bible with ,Mind you my son was not dating this girl ...) This was right in front of the bible student and she was hot because she didn't even know the other sister, and she was not given a choice .....Then they asked is there anything we can do to assist ...So I told them her living arrangements were precarious and she had already spent one night in freezing winter temps ..so yes it would be wonderful to extend some christian love and help her maybe give her a place to stay until she got on her feet , I thought they might go in to convulsions...Then one elder kindly tells this impressionable young woman that right now because she is so new she is like an icyyy wind that blows a shiver up the congergations back ...but he is sure that given time after she has proven herself the cogregation will rally to her side ! I said excuse me I'm not asking the congregation I'm asking you ! Boy don't you think she thought we were a bunch of jerks. The story gets long but this is when my eyes were opened to what hypocrisy is all about ....the love Jesus taught was not this kind of love
-
hillbilly
I can remember being about 13? and walking into an Assembly Hall in Oregon for the first time and staring at the huge chandelier and plush carpets. ; It made me very uncomfortable every time I went in that place. ;
That bothered me too. Holt MI is a steel building..very effective. The Hall near Tampa Fla is pretty spartan. The Crosstown Theater Hall in Memphis is very utilitarian.
Then there is the Palace in Ft Lauderdale.... this thing came it at over $7million (about $4 million over budget)... What a foo-foo palace that was.
Sorta looks like a high class bordello inside.
~Hill
-
troubled mind
Another eyebrow raised with voice to match.............According to another meeting in the back room my son was told he could not carry on exclusive conversations with a certain young woman in the hall , what would people think , she was only a bible student obviously still worldly . My husband had to hold me back ...........I said this is Jehovah's house my son can talk to whom ever he wishes ,they talk in the open in the midst of everyone .If some one has a problem with that then it is their problem not his .Don't ever tell my son again who he can and can not talk to!! Poor guy, his eyes kind of bugged out and he started apologizing profously, I didn't think my yelling would have such an effect But boy did it feel good.