I was never an elder but I was a pioneer™ and I handled a microphone, which made it easy to check out all the cleavage in the congregation.
I liked to keep my eye simple™ and concentrate on the more important things™.
W
Former Elders and Everybody- You Are Appreciated On JWD !
by flipper 20 Replies latest jw friends
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tsar_robles
All I can say is that most ex-elders where badly influenced and self righteous, evil, etc while serving as such...
Despite my young age and early exit i had the chance to 'serve' in various foreign and english congregation and this gave me quite a perspective in seeing a pattern among those leading....
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Hortensia
I don't think all elders are evil. The elders in the congregation in which I grew up were sincere men, tried very hard to be good shepherds. With hindsight I can see that of course they were pushing the corporate agenda, but they genuinely thought they were serving Jehovah. Some were ineffective, some were nepotistic, but mostly they were OK. However, disfellowshipping is a terrible thing, very damaging to the victim, and participating in that is something to regret, I think.
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TooBad TooSad
When I was appointed as an elder I was not old enough to be an elder. That was the year that
the Watchtower smoking ban took effect. I was the Presiding Overseer and had the job of cleaning out of the
congregation all of the smokers. We had about 6 brothers and sisters that were disfellowshipped for
smoking. There was not much mercy shown since they had a year of advance notice that it was
going to go into effect the first of the year. I and the two other elders caused a lot of pain and suffering
to 6 families. I deeply regret the pain and anguish that I caused the the ones disfellowshipped and their family members.
At the time I felt that I was doing Jehovah's will. I will never stand in judgement of a person again in the
name of religion. I wish that I could go back in time and undo all the harm and injury that I did.
That is why I have my name TooBad TooSad.
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R.Crusoe
With communication comes understanding and a channel for compassion. It is why shunning is such a destructive ruling for human nature - period!
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flipper
WASAN EXELDERONCE- Seems like you had a balanced view of your eldership. You are right the society gives more leeway to elders to question the governing body than the rank and file publishers.
OTWO- I agree with you. I hope we get more elders or newly made ex-elders on this site too ( with good motives of course ) to help us here at JWD to see the changes going on in the organization , especially so we can know how to deal with family members still in !
DOGISGOD- No telling what the average income is for the elders. Depends how much time and effort they put into their careers , or if they devote more time to being a good time consumed j-dub elder. A flip of the coin, in my opinion.
MINIMUS- I agree with you. Knowledge is power. So it is good some elders come on this site and explain what is happening on the inside and keep us up to date with current things ! I second that commendation you made, thanks all you lurking elders for your help and info, we need it !
STILLA - I like your threads you have good ideas and your avatar !
FINALLY FREE- LOL! Yeah, it gave a new meaning to spiritual enlightenment carrying the mikes, eh? Oh! the cleavage !
TSARROBLES- I think that most elders had good motives for what they were doing in serving the congregation. And that's coming from me, who got royally screwed over by some . But a few dickheads in there didn't mean they ALL had bad motives. I think most truly wanted to help the congregations. That being said, I too was in it long enogh (44 years ) to see some who were prideful and selfishly wanted to be looked up to and acted like they were superior to the rank and file members. Thus comes the warning expression, " Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely . " So, most were good, some weren't , hard to put a percentage on it.
HORTENSIA- I agree. I think most elders wanted to do what was right, but were controlled in how they could do it by the cultish governing body ! Can you imagine how hard it was for a good hearted elder to go against his natural disposition of kindness and disfellowship someone ? It must have been hell, and aged them much quicker than they normally would have aged ! I think that's why I stopped reaching out after serving 6 years as a MS and 3 years as a regular pioneer, because I did not want the stress of seeing somebody disfellowshipped and me doing it to them! Scared the $hit out of me ! No thanks !
TOO BAD TOO SAD- Don't blame yourself my friend for what you did in dfing people ! It wasn't your fault ! We all were mindless drones of the governing body doing what we were told to do . I'm sure you had a good effect on others while you served in that capacity ! It's good we have you here now at JWD ! Now you can really help people get out of the witness cult and work for a really honorable purpose ! Peace out to you friend, and all you others
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TooBad TooSad
Flipper,
Thank you for your encouraging comments!!!!!!!!!
TBTS
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BluesBrother
I was soooo glad to get off the treadmill and take all the secretary files over to the hapless elder who was reluctantly taking it on.
If we can share any personal experiences and insights with our fellow posters..that is great !
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flipper
TOO BAD Too SAD- Anytime my friend ! We are all benefitting each other here in this support group as we were all told lies and decieved by the governing body. That is who I place a lot of the blame . It starts at the top. Peace to you !
BLUES BROTHER- I have appreciated your help in the past too, especially when I had that appeal committee thing, which I eventually won , last spring ! So continue posting my friend, lots of newbies and us oldies who need good info on things ! Peace bro!, Mr. Flipper Peace out, Mr. Flipper
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OnTheWayOut
Just wanted to say to all you guys who were/are DOLPHINS and everybody, at least for myself thanks for the help and assistance you have provided me since joining JWD ! I know when in the witnesses DOLPHINS and all of the humans probably did not get the commendation we deserved for our efforts , and it was a thankless job for DLPHINS..
When I was a sailor, I know I had good dealings with DOLPHINS, but I might have forgotten them when I was a witness because of all the crap I was getting brainwashed with. I want you guys here to know, I look at you as friends on a level basis now ! I care about all my JWD friends the same and if I've personally ever said something to offend any of the DOLPHINS here or anybody, my apologies.
I respect all my fellow posters advice , and consideration. And I appreciate everybody here who posts on JWD , it makes it a unique experience sharing our " battlefield " experiences, so to speak from being in that cult.
I am actually not making light of this thread. I just wanted to remove the pedestal you may have provided for elders. I am actually ashamed of some of what I did to promote the Borg. Elders are just those that used their minds a little less than "weak" publishers. They slung the bull better than MS's or publishers. Because they woke up and got to this forum, their knowledge can be valuable.
Peace out to you, Mr. Flipper