Justice #20 – Getting Run Over
Jesus said, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith: but these you ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone." - Matt. 23:23
There was an Elder J who served as PO in a congregation where he had also been the Congregation Servant before the Elder arrangement. When the Elder arrangement was put into place, he managed to maneuver himself to be the PO. At the time the PO was supposed to rotate to allow another Elder to take the PO position. (This was long before the current system where the PO is once again a permanent position). During his years as de-facto permanent PO he engaged in some business that was not in the interest of the congregation. Along with that the congregation was not doing well, and service was down.
Brother D, an Elder who moved into the same congregation saw what was going. Elder D was very experienced, and had many good connections with the Watch Tower Society in New York. He documented the many problems, and after a few months finally called the Society, and followed this up by writing to the Society, fully describing the situation. Before long, a Special Committee was formed by the Society, and these Elders showed up to investigate the congregation.
The Special Committee agreed with Elder D that the problems were serious, and took action to remove Elder J, the PO. In fact Elder J was disfellowshipped. In saying this, I have to agree with the Society in removing Elder J as PO. I am not so sure about the DF action, but in light of all that allegations, I suppose that phase of it is a judgment call. But, the real problem is what followed.
Elder D was then notified that the entire Body of Elders (BOE) was being removed, including all the MS and several Reg. Pioneers. Elder D asked if this meant that he too was being removed, to which the Special Committee stated that he was. He asked why he would be removed as an Elder, since he did nothing wrong. And in fact were it not for his reporting the problems, the Society would not have had a clue. The Special Committee stated that it was necessary to make a clean sweep, and leave nothing for anyone to question. They felt that by removing all the Elders, the congregation would see that no favoritism would be shown. Fascinating!
I do take exception with the final aspect of this. If an Elder is doing his job in the interest of the Congregation, and makes this known to the Society, then I would think that he would be rewarded by being left in position to assist with the formation of a new BOE and this example would show that the Society is fair, and that those who are not guilty of any reproach will be judged with kindness.
But, all to often in my 25 years as a Jehovah’s Witness and Elder, I have seen all forms of unfairness and injustice resulting from strange logic that goes beyond reason. The above case is not among the more serious abuses. And Elder D did not let it get to him or discourage his faith in God. But all this is one of many examples where the legalistic and political thinking of men is far removed from the Christian faith they ostensibly profess. Such men claim to embrace the only brand of “True” Christianity, when in fact it is anything but true or Christian. - Amazing