by Casper 13 Replies latest jw friends
During my 13 year stint as a witness,
I noticed, that not one time, that I can remember were any of "Our" Brother's used to give talks at the DC.
They were used at the Circuit Assemblies tho.
I also never personally knew anyone in the Dramas...
Is it normal for some congregations to be left out of such things, while others seem to be used over and over again ??
Cas
Of course....with the Witnesses isnt it always one Brother or one Cong. that is "special" and always gets picked.
I figured as much....
Of course, one is taught...that such things doesnt exist....
Just wondered how they went about choosing who to do what... thought maybe our Brothers were lacking in some respect.
Guess its same ole, same ole...
Cas
CASPER- From what I observed being raised in it for 44 years - certain elders who had influence over others in towns and cities got picked more abundantly for parts on assemblies. It was a brown nosing thing that elders did towards the circuit overseers and district overseers that would visit ! The old expression- "The squeaky wheel gets the oil " is so true. Those elders that were more outspoken and rubbed shoulders when circuit and district overseers came visiting heir local congregations - tended to get chosen for the bulk of the assembly parts. If they took the circuit overseer out to lunch more, for dinner, or golfing, any benefits - that elder would tend to get used more. Saw it all the time where I lived. So it was more an " elder greasing the hand " thing than any particular congregation- from what I noticed
Elite....You Bet.... For a number of years in Vancouver B.C. the District Assembly was almost taken over by a city overseer, his brother and a few elders from his congregation.
I seem to recall their name was Barton. A lot of other congregations were never used for any parts while these bozos were getting two and three parts each.
One of the Bartons (city overseer) was then DF'ed for a time. The scuttlebutt was immorality A few years later he was back as....city overseer but I don't think they had as much control after that at the DA
Most definitely I think if your out there your flamboyant upbeat that's what they want and use those people.
The more fire and zeal you have the better to convince and light that fire under someone else. Our cong. was freqently used
in such parts.
I remember the circuit overseer always hand picked those who would give talks on
the shortened ministry school at the assembly. Some were pretty excited to be in it, I was terrifyed.
h4o
Our rather "Poor" congregation couldn't afford to "Brown Nose" very much...must be why we didn't get the Privilege...
It sickens me tho... for a religion that prides itself to be above such things...and then runs rampant with it....
Cas
Oh yes there are congregational differences and yet many R&F bottom tier Witnesses think it is impossible and utterly untrue.
There are classes in our society that reflect most other societies.
1 lower class-
average R&F who spend their lives in blind faith toiling for converts in their territories, living for the utterances of the WT. This group perplexes me the most even though I have lived among them for 28 of my 34 years. With other levels it is simple motivation to climb a ladder & understanding the "game". But these, these seem to check their brains at the door and give much for little to nothing in return. A few go-getters climb up the ladder to become small time power trippers or ExJWs. Thankfully due to the information age many are 'waking' up from this WT induced trance.
2. middle class-
Better educated, donating high enough amounts to receive special attention. All children are expected to both attend college & do some time at Bethel, MTS, Gilead...etc. Then to go off into the world as esteemed members who ulimately trade their time/trade skill for status and 'privileges'. Most of these congregations are extremely liberal & DFing is rare since everybody is morally guilty of something. Free Speech is what I miss the most. I was never taught the WTS was infalliable nor the words of the WT liken to Jah himself speaking. Most of the WT topics were considered as 'suggestion' if they went beyond the Bible. They aren't taught to be 100% so falling short of WT literature standards are not a blip on their radar. You learn to be model JWs at the Hall or JW events much like you learn to dress to impress for a job interview.......Their FS times are often fudged & treated as mini excursions. Knock on 2 streets then off too the (insert recreational location). These have higher numbers of born/raised JWs then converts. On another interesting note...many have/had live music in the KH or have some sort of JW bands on the side.......The R&F will insist a person is 'crazy' to say such KHs exist but of course they do but are less in number then the lower class.
3 upper class -
These are those who choose to stay in the WT Corporation mainframe as a "career" & acheive a level of 'authority & influence'.
4 Stockholders-
I personally don't know how many there are but I know they hold a meeting privately every October. "The secret society" of the Watchtower. Like all secret societies their deeds are only limited to our imagination.
Just my observation.......
Thank You Yknot,
That was very well written and informative...
Cas
A lot of CO's used to kiss Harley Miller's butt to get assigned to the more generous congregations where the more affluent Brothers lived, and if you got on the wrong side of him for some reason, you were shipped to Siberia, so-to-speak, where life was tough.
Some congregations like the Dunwoody GA one, had many influential brothers with lots of money who could entertain on a minutes notice. These seemed to do well. At least that is the way it was years ago. Now? I don't know, as it has been many years since I was involved with any congregations.
Outaservice
