by Steady As She Goes 31 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Steady:
I have written to the Society a number of times and, to my knowledge, they have never contacted the local elders. In each letter, I tried to remain tactful and couretous - usually by saying "I don't understand.." or, "I was hoping you could provide further references on this point..."
I have written to the Society a number of times and, to my knowledge, they have never contacted the local elders.
If you say that this has happened, I believe you. You may have framed the situation well enough
for them to see no reason to contact the local elders. I have been on elder bodies, and we have
received copies of letters along with literature requests from citizens in the territory. It was
understood that this was standard procedure.
The saddest yet funniest situation is when the rank & file publisher thinks they will go around the
BOE by writing the C.O. or the WTS, some even addressing letters to members of the Governing
Body. The first thing done after they read it is to send a copy to the local BOE.
To be clear, the literature requests were one type of thing we received and the
letters with questions were another thing we received. It wasn't necessarily a question
and request. To be fair, most letters passed on from people gave some hope that
they would be interested in discussion of some kind. No letters ever said, "Don't
call on me."
I have written to the Society a number of times and, to my knowledge, they have never contacted the local elders. In each letter, I tried to remain tactful
SB - The amount of correspondence a congregation secretary gets from the WT Society is quite large. If the secretary got a copy of your letters to the Society and saw no red flag, he may have just filed it away in a box with 500 other things.
Your best bet in getting a reply would be to call the service desk, and use a fictitious name.
All of my letters were sent back to the congo with mandates on how to do deal with me. Just remember one thing-
Everything you say WILL be held against you.
Is a name required when phoning then?
Try sending your letter/questions marked "Confidential" to the WTS with a stipulation in your inquiry saying that the local BOE are NOT to be contacted.
Simply note that you implicitly trust the letter desk/service department/writing department in this regard and to address your concerns directly without involving your local BOE. State clearly in your letter that if they were to copy a letter to your local BOE, then the WTS at its highest level cannot be trusted with confidential matters. State that all matters in your letter are addressed to the department only and it is confidential while quoting Proverbs 25:9,10.
Attach to that a copy of the Questions from Readers W71 4/1 "Christians keeping certain matters confidential ~ Proverbs 20:19"
You will then truly find out if the WTS is truly trustworthy and respectful for your request. If they are reluctant to do as you suggested, then they should reply back to you directly stating such without copying in the BOE.
However, if they do send a copy of the letter to your local BOE and these elders approach you with it, then you can gasp for air, perhaps cry out in anquish while in distraught terror that your trust was betrayed by Jehovah's annointed one while pointing out your copy of the letter in their hands with your instructions and with the big "Confidential" lettering on the top. Let them know that you now feel depressed and need time to pray to Jehovah for strength to recover from the betrayal.
After that......presume your fade.
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)
OTWO-
Yes, "framed" is a great word to use in my situation. I was careful in every case to choose words that would not make me sound rebellious or hateful in any way. I was never an elder, so I stand corrected about the elders not receiving my letters; perhaps they did. I never did hear about it, though.
The first two letters I wrote were while I was a member of a congregation where 3 of the elders were relatives (Dad, uncle and grandfather) and neither time did any of them say: "so, you wrote a letter to Bethel, eh?" When I wrote the third letter, I was a regular pioneer, and still no elder (not even my uncle) said anything to me.
Gopher-
Hey, good to hear from you. Hope all is well in your new dwelling. You're probably right, the secretary must have just read my letter, seen I was just asking questions about WTower literature I was researching and figured it was no big deal. My most recent two letters were a bit more pointed, though, but evidently the elders didn't care about them, either. That's why I was under the assumption they never received copies of my letters. This is especially funny when you consider that the only two Witnesses with whom I ever shared the information in my letters both left the Organization in short order.
the only two Witnesses with whom I ever shared the information in my letters both left the Organization in short order.
Good job, Shepherd Book!
