Were Most Of The Elders Dumb--- That You Knew???

by minimus 55 Replies latest jw friends

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  minimus

  I'd say out of 10 elders, the average "sharp" ones are 2 or 3.
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  lonelysheep

  Well, the ones I've ever known seemed shy, and to stick around people they've known for longer periods of time. I couldn't tell if they were dumb or not.
  
  I've got a feeling there will be future replies to this that I'll be laughing at.
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  Confession

  I'd say you're right on, Minimus. Twenty to thirty percent. It always cracks me up when someone here attempts to suggest that ALL of them were stupid. It strikes me as a gratuitous assertion. There were sharp elders. That's one of the things that still gets me: there are perfectly intelligent people in that organization who still don't get it!
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  BizzyBee

  Short answer: YES.

  But the bOrg truly "dumbs" people down. Many have the potential to regain intellectual capacity once they leave the bOrg.
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  Effervescent

  
  It's funny you bring this up... I was just having a conversation with my husband about this.

  My Dads been an Elder for years and years and is one of the smartest people I know. He has a great job as a Satellite Technician and is generally friendly, helpful and sociable. Yet, he's probably one of the Societies biggest advocates and fervently buys into the whole deal lock, stock and barrel. He hasn't seen fit to have his daughter, his son-in-law (whom he's never met or even taken an intrest in talking to) or his grandbabies in his life... all because of his rediculous beliefs.

  I can't even wrap my brain around it anymore...

  This religion doesn't even make sense... the theology is so full of holes you can see through it. And yet he buys into it enough to turn his back on the people he always claimed/claims to love. I guess smart doesn't mean possessing common sense and decency.
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  TheListener

  No. I've known plenty of intelligent elders and ministerial servants.
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  AuldSoul

  There are many intelligent elders and ministerial servants. However, they make every thought captive to their god. They prove it by reciting what their god says on every occasion. By "god", I mean "the Governing Body". In this way, very intelligent people say and do very stupid things out of a sense of obligation to behave stupidly in order to appease their god.
• 

  sir82

  Current body of elders, 7 others (excluding myself ):

  One extremely intelligent & interesting--I am quite befuddled by his lack of reasoning ability with regard to things that are obviously true but contradict "the truth" (evolution, archaeology, etc.)

  2 others moderately competent - not particularly bright, but more or less reasonable

  1 old-school guy, a real fire & brimstone kind--used to beat his kids, very conservative, his whole life is wrapped up in JW-dom - no reasoning ability at all, just emotions & "here's what the Watchtower says"

  1 kind of wacky dude - may have some sort of mental/emotional issues - constantly on the edge of being dismissed from the BOE due to anger issues, inappropriate comments, etc.

  2 nice old grandpa types - nobody really trusts them to take on anything really "serious" - In an ideal world, they should be spending their days playing with their grandkids on the back porch

  This is probably a pretty typical mix
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  Clam

  I can only speak for my own Congo, but all the elders there were very average and obtuse people, save one. The guy who took me under his wing was someone I genuinely liked and looked up to. He was an Oxford Graduate going places at one stage but somehow he got caught by the Cult and ended up a pioneering painter and decorator. Hopefully the poor buger got his life back. He was a very smart guy.
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  minimus

  Sir, were we in the same Hall?