Did You Know Many Dumb Elders?

by minimus 22 Replies latest jw friends

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  minimus

  I did.

  There were some pretty sharp guys but there were a lot of not so bright ones.

  The worst elders were the ones that THOUGHT they were very intelligent but really were stupid.

  One elder that fits that description was a man that loved to speculate on prophecies, Watchtower wording, someone's facial expressions or mannerisms. He truly believed he was more enlightened than anyone else. His only real problem, though, was that he was a liar. He'd talk about someone behind their backs and when it would come to light, he's deny it. He had a history of doing this and finally the lying elder got caught. He was deleted. To this day, 5 years later, he still thinks he was unfairly removed and believes he's always right.....but he can't help it. He's dumb.
• 

  Blueblades

  Dumb and dumber, if that's possible.

  When the CO. and I were working together he mentioned that there were no more smart brothers around the circuit to appoint as elders. He said they were scraping the bottom of the barrel because someone had to do the work. This was in the mid 90's soon after "This Generation" doctrine fell by the way-side.

  As for the elders in my congregation, we had a smart bunch of elders both bethelites and locals.

  Blueblades
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  ShirleyW

  "DUMB ELDER" hhmmmm, in the full perspective, isn't that a redundant statement ? ? ?

  (As in, "she just had two twins", when the word twins was all that had to be said?)
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  minimus

  I knew of an Englishman who simply was weird. As an elder, he always was on a different wave length than the rest. He was peculiar. While his wife was in the hospital, dying, he decided to aux. pioneer. He was more interested in getting his time than being with his dying wife. He got deleted too.
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  daniel-p

  I found that most elders and ministerial servants were either "dumb" (most of the time just less educated, or sheltered through life - emotionally dumb) or that the smart ones were so highly indoctrinated as to be a little scary. It's the smart but deluded ones you have to watch out for. Because they're better at rationalizing why they're doing something incredibly stupid or unethical - which means they're more likely to do something incredibly stupid and/or unethical. The dumb ones, while frustrating, are easy to lead along with whatever image you may allow them to believe. They'll find comfort in their glorified position as shephards of the flock, and bask in the patriarchal glow of greeting the good-ol-boys at the hall and being welcomed into homes.

  I found very occasionally ones who were both smart and ethical - they never seemed to last long. I think one major reason is because a smart and truly devout person is going to have their own spirituality - not some sham of a spiritual relationship with God that is forced onto them by the personal doctrines of others. And you can't have your own personal relationship with God in the truth - not really. Because then that would mean you come to your own conclusions about what's right and wrong and what God wants you to do.
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  minimus

  Well put, Daniel.
• 

  compound complex

  Hey, Minimus!

  DUMB: a) naturally incapable of speech; b) having no means of self-propulsion; c) markedly lacking in intelligence; d) exasperatingly obtuse. (Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 1977 [some liberty taken in formatting definitions])

  Sadly, point "a" does not apply. "Mute" would be a real plus in many instances of elder-talk.

  CoCo
• 

  WTWizard

  I don't think the hounders were very well integrated in their thinking. They tell me that we should "widen out", meaning that I should get to know everyone and not become attached to any one person. Then, they tell me that it means ONLY other men, which integrates poorly with the Watchtower position on homosexuality. And of course they expect me to exude with joy and happiness from this. That is pretty stupid.

  The whole body is like this. Each time I seem to be getting "too attached" to anyone, they would either move that person out of the congregation, start something that will wrench me away, or counsel (=hound) me to back down. And, then when it gets down to the space fillers only, they wonder why I start missing every single meeting and blowing off field service totally. And I am sure they are going to wonder why I set the Christmas tree up, why I blow off any judicial hearing (after making it extra hard for them to set one up), and why I don't want to go back to that crap.
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  mrsjones5

  DUMB: a) naturally incapable of speech; b) having no means of self-propulsion; c) markedly lacking in intelligence; d) exasperatingly obtuse. (Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 1977 [some liberty taken in formatting definitions])

  Sadly, point "a" does not apply. "Mute" would be a real plus in many instances of elder-talk.

  How 'bout "stupid"?

  adj., -er , -est .

  1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse.
  2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes.
  3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake.
  4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.
  5. Pointless; worthless: a stupid job.

  n.

  A stupid or foolish person.

  It seems a better word to use.
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  changeling

  Quite a few.

  One that comes to mind would not let his children in neighborhood pools for fear they would get AIDS.

  He was also afraid of Disney World because "they are run by gays".

  Another would not eat at Cracker Barrel because he said their servers were lesbians.

  These guys were dumb and homophobic.