Appointed by Holy Spirit? lol...i'm sure a lot of people who became elders were in actual fact, idiots.
Elders appointed by Holy Spirit???
by wozadummy 17 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
fullofdoubtnow
A guy in my old hall was appointed an elder, and a few weeks later he was arrested by the police for sexually abusing his 4 daughters, which he had been doing for several years and which his wife and kids had been to the elders about several times. He is now in prison, doing 7.5 years.
Nothing very "holy" about his appontment, I don't think.
-
Undecided
I was appointed an elder and the only spirit I felt came from a bottle.
Ken P.
-
enlightenedcynic
One really shrewd elder once told me that, "The initial appointment is not through holy spirit, it is the fruitage the brother displays afterwards that shows whether the appointment was truly from Jehovah or not".
Hows that for slick talk, certainly not the "official" WTS viewpoint.
ec
-
tijkmo
Each congregation had until then, been run by members who had been voted in to the position of elder
yeah a big thing is made that this worldly arrangement was got rid of...(at the holy spirits direction of course...why did it implement it in the first place then)...but the fact is....elders are still voted in...they are voted in by the existing body of elders and it doesnt have to be ..in fact it rarely is a unanimous vote....and you wouldnt believe the pedantic hypocritical reasons other elders will use to refuse someone that 'privelege' if they simply dont want then on the team
and while a number in the congregation may be aware of the positive things a bro reaching out is doing ..other elders seldom are..except for his group study conductor...because elders dont do that much stuff together unless it is elders stuff...so the ones who are in the best position to tell if a bro is worthy of being an elder..or not.. are never consulted...and lets face it the cong are not necessarily idiots which is why sometimes an elder is appointed and the cong simply cany believe it...
holy spirit my behooky....cant believe i was fooled for so long..tijkmo
-
HappyDad
Years ago I really believed this. But I slowly changed my mind after I was appointed in 1986.
I thought I was a good elder and so did many others in the cong. A bit to lenient and "familiar" according to the rest of the body.
After I was appointed ( a time when the older members of the cong. were dying off.......including the "older men" and other "pillars" of the cong.).....several bros. were being considered for appointment. Some were "somehow" appointed and then my doubts began.
My regular conversation with my wife always had reference to the a..hole fellow elders I had to deal with. Who knows? Maybe these yoyo's thought the same of me because I was not a tyrant !
Anyhow.........because of a lot of personal stuff...........I resigned in 1991 and never misse it at all. So many adverse problems took place in the cong. afterward (no...not just because I resigned) that I just sat back and chuckled.
Too many wasted years wanting to be someone who made a difference! Oh well. So no..........elders are NOT appointed by Holy Spirit......only by other elders who have been fooled by the 10 hour a month boot licker.
HappyDad
-
wozadummy
Thanks Blondie for refreshing my memory on those Acts scriptures, the first century Elders and Apostles I believe were motivated by holy spirit THEN, but they were annointed ones and as another poster put it things changed in 1935 and again later . The society by this fact shows that TODAYS appointments are man made for I can't see that the Holy Spirit back in the first century would be used to appoint molesters ,drunks and thieves and liars like TODAY. I've known an Elder who had molested his daughter while he was a Congregation Overseer before the Elder arrangement was brought back and then later after a break of a few years was re appointed as an Elder in my congregation - his appontment was helped by him donating land for the new Kingdom Hall! Also last year our book study conductor was reproved and put down from being an Elder after it was found out he had commited adultery with one of his wifes best freinds 14 YEARS before ,he had 3 more children with his wife after this adultery - never told her and was appointed to be an Elder not long after the adultery - i suspect it was the other woman who exposed him after I had spoken to him about it. How can a person live with that kind of lie and look into his wifes and the brothers eyes for all those years?
If I've seen these things we could multiply that by many times worldwide ,so how could they be like the first century appontments , it is just presumptousness.
I've tried to ask Elders about this and they avoid me.
-
XBEHERE
Well according to the so-called "OD" book that replaced the OM it states on page 29, par. 1 "only if they qualify can it be said that they are appointed by holy spirit.." So I think the WTS is washing its hands so to speak of the elder arrangement in case of any legal reprecusions.
To answer your question though its been my experience being an elder the past almost 10 yrs that holy spirit in the WT sense has nothing to do with it. To be honest, many bodies of elders are genuine and try to determine if someone qualifies or not but realistically much of their decisions are based on what that particular person shows outwardly to them, not who they really are as people. Its almost assumed that if the brother is a pioneer and older than 25 he is automatically considered and reccomended, particularly if he is a minsterial training school grad. Does this mean he is qualified to help people...no it doesnt. Brothers may also qualify if they are "nice" to the more prominent elders in the cong and the CO. Is this person qualified to encourage and help others..no. I think you get the idea.