good comment Elsewhere.
Rutherford used to purge his own men who got too much control also. :-))
Randy
BETHEL NEWS: Bethel Elder Arrangement to be dissolved as of Aug. 31, 2006
by Elsewhere 122 Replies latest jw friends
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Check_Your_Premises
Bottom line: The GB has been gradually loosing control of the "Bethel Family" so now they are getting rid of their visible "Internal Affairs / Gestapo" people and creating an invisible controlling force.
This comment as well as the recent Bethel downsizing is convincing me that there is a purge of sorts going on. I wonder how they decided who to downsize out of Bethel and who to not. Many have speculated financial/medical reasons. Could it also had an ideological component.
The beauty of the totalitarian purge is that it leaves the leadership surrounded by yes-men and toadies, and even further isolated from reality... slower to react... and therefore increasingly paranoid.
I have a feeling the WT is going to start getting really bizarre over the next few years.
CYP
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TheListener
Oh that's just great CYP! :)
More bizarre than now? That should be fun to deal with in the family.
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minimus
I doubt this would be THE reason. EVERYONE knows who would be strict, who's power hungry, who's a nice guy. EVERYTHING in Bethel is about status. And if you have a larger room, you've got more clout. What are they gonna do next? Reassign rooms?? Methinks there's more.
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What-A-Coincidence
I will have to disagree on some points. Bethel Elders have no power what so ever. I worked with them. All they are used to is to correct wrong doers in the departments as was said. They do not have any power within the org. The only ones with cloat besides GB are the Branch Committee.
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minimus
Why dissolve them if they have no clout?
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Axelspeed
Well, people only have power over others to the extent that the others allow it...
Unfortunately, JWs are trained and indoctrinated to give
powerer deference to those with position and titles. Some JWs, esp those outside of NY or newer pubs, have never even heard of Bethel Elders. But among those who do know who and what they are, they are given extra props. They are perceived as having just a little bit more holy spirit and just a bit more blessing...esp since they are elders at J's house...Bethel.Some pubs back at the home congregation fawn more over a returning/visiting bethelite than their own local elder. So imagine...a Bethel elder. True, they arent on the Branch Committee, but its all relative.
Axel
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Nosferatu
It really sounds as if the WTS is trying to distance themselves from the local congregations as much as possible. It almost seems as if their only interest is to keep them around to maintain their tax-exempt status while the WTS focusses on other things such as real estate.
This could explain why there are cutbacks in the printing production (soft covers, monthly Awake) and there is hardly any "new light" coming out. The WT writers are in auto-pilot. Keep recycling the same old crap to keep the existing members brainwashed and have the occasional new one join.
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rebel8
The book "30 Years a WT Slave" talked about the love-hate relationship the WT had with elders and its history of eliminating all elders and then reinstituting them. It reminds me of this situation.
That, or they watched too many movies with undercover detectives and witch hunts.
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ozziepost
Has anyone mentioned this role of Bethel elders (sorry, I may have missed it if you have discussed it already):
At least downunder Bethel elders are used as "Bethel representatives" at SADs. This arrangement was explained as being necessary because Australia is such a vast land that the Branch committee couldn't possibly attend all SADs as the principal speaker, so they gave this 'privilege' to bethel elders to share in. Made for some kudos to turn up at a SAD and being the principal speaker and bethel rep too!
This usually entailed attending two SADs back to back (i.e. Sat/Sun) and then returning on Sunday evening to bethel ready to make a brief report on some local experiences at Monday's morning worship.
I wonder who'll be doing that job now?