I remember years ago at my KH there was a brother that was "very" heavy. He was a very nice guy Brother Grover(not his real name) was very helpful to all of the elders and Ministerial Servants but he never became an elder. I always wondered why and I think it was because he was "heavy". I even remember him telling me that he would love to be an elder so I know he was interested in it. I was just wondering if the other elders in my KH discouraged him from becoming an elder. I saw brother Grover about a year ago at the supermarket and he is even heavier then he was when I knew him 20 years ago. I guessing he weighs close to 400 pounds. He is still nice and pleasant even talked to me telling me to come back to JW's and still talked to me after I told him that I would not come back to JW's. All in All Brother Grover would be a very good elder because he is a people person. What do you think posters do JW's discriminate against overweight brothers from becoming elders. I take this topic very seriously because I am heavy. I am losing weight right now but I remember a MS making fun of my weight in field service years ago and I was only 15 yrs old so I can imagine what Brother Grover must have went through as an adult.
Can an extremely "overweight" JW's man become a JW elder?
by booker-t 26 Replies latest jw friends
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KW13
well i dunno, but other things like a long beard or other things might stop it...so maybe being overweight might do the same.
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sir82
Apparently, you never had Terry Angelacos as a CO. When I had him in the 80's he was well over 300 pounds, maybe approaching 400.
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averyniceguy
I know one brother who was elder, he weighed like 500 lbs, He died of heart attack, No wonder!
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looking_glass
Yeah, we had a lot of overweight people in our hall and 1/2 of 'em were elders. Of course they felt fine about it because they were putting spiritual things first (I guess by not going to the gym).
My old hall had a CO that was a jerk and one time he told a pioneer chick who was a known runner that her time would be better spent in spiritual pursuits rather then running. He said some other choice things before then as well but that is another matter ... However, the Large family members were all high-fiving eachother because they felt if a CO is saying it is bad to exercise then it must be true.
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Finally-Free
A CO once advised me to move to a different hall where there was a need because the elders, in spite of all the work I was doing, would not make me a MS. The CO said it was because I was overweight - I weighed about 240 at the time. I was constantly harassed by people in the hall about my weight. I couldn't go to a meeting without someone getting on my ass about it. It got to the point where I waited until the meetings had started before I entered the kingdom hall - and I left before it ended, and I did that for several years. Yeah, just like being DF'd, but I was sick of hearing their shit.
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Scully
You would think that they would love to have overweight brothers as Elders™. Some of those poor guys lost sight of their balls years ago, and you know how the WTS just thrives when Elders™ have no balls.
Finally-Free, I think that was the real problem - you had 'em, you knew it, and you let them know it too. They have deep resentment toward people who have something they don't have, including balls.
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RubaDub
Some of those poor guys lost sight of their balls years ago, and you know how the WTS just thrives when Elders™ have no balls.
Scully .... now that was good ...really good!
It's not just the lack of balls however ... it's just that sometimes they shrink up in the sack like when a guy gets in really cold water.
Rub a Dub
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undercover
I've never heard of anyone being passed over for a "privilege" because of weight.
But, to be fair, overweight and gluttony are two different things. I know some people who don't over eat, but because they have a low metabolism and they don't exercise much, they are over weight. Some people are gentically predisposed to being heavy.
OTOH, I know some JW gluttons. I know one fat, slob elder who eats like a pig and all his clothes are way too small. I've seen him come close to putting someone's eye out when his collar button on his shirt popped off. One time, this fat blob got up to give the instruction talk and he was stuck in the chair. The chair came up with him. He had to pry it off before he could walk up to the stage. At the picnics, he was always the first in line and he always went back for seconds and thirds, heaping plates too. And desserts. And soda. The other elders picked on him about his weight, but never said anything seriously about it to him.
And this brother has sat in on JC meetings counseling people about over drinking. Pull the steak out of your own eye before extracting the drink straw from your brother's eye, brother.
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Good Girl or Bad Girl?
There's a really heavy elder in my congregation who can barely walk, doesn't fit in the chairs, and gives his talks sitting down because it's too difficult for him to stand. I would be more sympathetic of him if he weren't the most self-righteous person I've ever met, doling out counsel to passersby every chance he gets. He counsels his own son from the platform on a regular basis. His son is quite a nice kid, age 17, in spite of his crazy parents. I'm pretty sure this guy, who must be nearly 500 pounds, has even counseled people on their weight! His excuse is he has severe health issues, and I don't doubt that, and I do feel badly for him, embarrassed even because he is constantly sweating and grunting and clearly very uncomfortable. I just would think he'd be a little humbler than he is. But he seems to think he's better than everybody else.
At one point I introduced my Bible student to him, and she expressed that she wanted to be a missionary. He started counseling her that she would never be accepted as such because she was a single female. I mean, she wasn't even an unbaptized publisher yet! She felt a little discouraged, to say the least. Then he told her she was unbalanced because she was reading her Bible too much, and should spend more time studying her WT and less time reading her Bible. I'm not kidding, I heard it with my own ears.