In my first Kingdom Hall, the elders were ultra conservative. Our Presiding Overseer used to be a Zone Overseer. The second Hall I was in was moderate. Most people liked that congregation. We had a couple of very conservative men but usually outvoted them if we thought they were too harsh.
Your body of elders - were they liberal, conservative or moderate?
by minimus 28 Replies latest jw friends
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88JM
Moderate, but stupid. -
Oubliette
They were, and still are, Kool-Aid drinkers, every one of them except one: Me.
I saw the cracks in the facade and eventually left. It was difficult because I did believe it at one time. But when you begin to pull on the loose threads of the WT theology, the whole thing unravels rather quickly.
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millie210
Oh you dont want to get me started....
A fairly mild group lead by a man who didint like confrontation, so every 10 years or so a power hungry elder would move in and "take over' until enough damage was done that a C.O. would step in and remove that one elder who would then move away.
After seeing this repeated for the THIRD time and nothing really done to heal the damage these power hungry men leave behind I realized the elder body is a political entity only, without the checks and balances allowed under law in most modern countries.
Who can survive politics under the Taliban? Not me. Not a lot of people apparently as evidenced by the rate at which they lose people.
Acts 20:29 - In the last days treacherous wolves will enter in and will not treat the flock with kindness.
Whether the Bible is inspired or not - this one verse is.
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Finkelstein
I'd say a mix, there was obviously untra Conservatives who lavished in the power and control. brown nose climbers.
Quite the pretentious lot, guys who wore expensive suits and drove Cadillacs or Mercedes
Just before I left one prominent elder got caught shagging young single woman when he went on business trips.
He was in mid 40's, married with 3 kids.
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FayeDunaway
I never had bad elder bodies in the cong's I was in. My friends did. The ones I had were good people, trying to survive their heavy workloads and the society's commands. Of course some were more conservative than others. But Personally, all my problems with this religion come from the top. I love most of the elders I've known and feel empathy for them. I've seen many who are too full of themselves, the big fish in their small ponds...but they were always somehow in neighboring congs. -
Phizzy
Mine were extremely liberal, so much so that we attracted many to move into the Territory, and those who could not afford to do so would travel in from areas normally served by other Congregations.
I think it is partly being in such a Congregation, that was sociable, full of genuinely loving people, and tolerant of a rebel like me that kept me from waking up for so long.
It was difficult to see the big picture of an Organization that was totally wrong, whilst living amongst such basically good people.
I was aware that we were an almost unique Congregation, but that did not wake me up.
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Vidiot
Hard-assed loyalists, more and more, these days.
Won't be long before they're the only ones left, by the looks of things, too.
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cleanideas
My congregation was ultra conservative. They had many insane rules they made up on their own. Sisters were "strongly encouraged" not to wear red as "that is the color a harlot wears". Any sister who wore red was made to feel spiritually weak and would get harassed by the elders. Another thing is they kept a bath towel on the stage so if a sister wore a dress that was too short they should cover their legs up. I'm being totally serious. A FREAKING BATH TOWEL ON THE STAGE!
Another one is no dancing. An elder would walk up to all the young kids in the hall and tell them dancing is "nothing but shaking your sex organs at each other". He was so messed up and gross. I've seen the worst possible examples from dysfunctional JW congregations. So glad to be out!
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FayeDunaway
Wow cleanideas, where was that?? I've heard of the not wearing red but not those other things.