Jehovah's Witnesses and their Elders

by AllTimeJeff 33 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  blondie

  Actually, we saw that trend over 7 years ago when we still attended. No MS coming up the ranks, no MS who wanted to be elders, elders stepping down, and ex-elders not wanting to get back into the insanity, added to that the ones who are still in are getting older.

  The WTS and other elders are pretty cruel to their fellow members..............

  Only 7 more years down the road they were already on.

  We have seen more elders imported from other areas because the elders there were not considered "company men."
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  BluesBrother

  Certainly it can differ greatly, from one side of town to the other, if the P O has been established a long time.

  I was in larger, more down-to Earth congs down South (UK) but it was a culture shock coming to a smaller town in the Midlands. I did not last too long on the B of E !

  It was ostensibly the same religion, the same Organization, we used the same magazines, but things were interpreted differently.... I came home from an elders meeting one night and told my wife that "I hope we never get on the wrong side of them up here, they never forget !"

  So much is down to the P O and his cronies. If they are cheerful, decent people it is a lot different to a cong with an anal retentive introvert in charge. I liked the original concept of the BOE with a rotating chairmanship. It stopped one man having his kingdom.

  Are other churches the same? I dont know...
• 

  leavingwt

  I respect that, but seriously, its another example of the hypocrisy, and the "slotting" of certain sins as more serious then others.

  Cults are big on having a list of "Special Sins" that change a member's status with the cult leadership.

  The cults claim they are blameless of the Special Sins and that this makes them different, it makes them special, superior to "false" religion.

  Absurd.
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  truthsetsonefree

  "It's these elders who are more liberal that cause the GB its greatest grief. It is also these same liberal elders who are most likely to resign their eldership due to the stress, strains, and outright contradictory standards they are asked to promote. Thus, since 1994, their is 1/3 less elders worldwide today. Much of the attrition is due to these men burning themselves out playing the GB's version of theological whack-a-mole.

  Thus, when you study what JW's believe and do, remember that much depends on the elders of each congregation. They serve as the nerve center, the filter, for what the GB teaches. And while the GB generally controls elders pretty well, there will always be liberal and conservative congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses, as a result of the individual body of elders that inhabit these congregations."

  I was one of these elders. And our congregation tended to be liberal with some exceptions. This is one reason why many JWs don't leave. They don't see the same extremism others see.

  Isaac
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  SnakesInTheTower

  edited to add...had to move this to the private section.. when I posted I failed to see it was on the public forum..hope the google bots didnt catch it yet

  Snakes ()
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  JimmyPage

  I had no desire to be an elder because of my dad. Being an elder himself he spent more time preparing meeting parts and working than taking time to enjoy his family. Even before I learned the real truth about the WT I said to myself, "No way do I want to become like this."
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  SnakesInTheTower

  jimmyPage:

  Even before I learned the real truth about the WT I said to myself, "No way do I want to become like this."

  That's what one of the young MS's from my story said..his dad is a secretary in another congo for the last 25 years I think. His father-in-law is the a## elder..his brother-in-law is the aforementioned young PO.. no wonder he wants nothing to do with elders.

  Snakes ()
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  bonnzo

  im not a former elder but a former ministerial servant who had many privileges usually given to elders, such as book study conductor, second school overseer, as well as many public talks, parts on service meeting, etc. i was deleted about 7 years ago, still am "active", but do as little as possible. the pressure has been on to "reach out" for the past two years. our body has 3 elders in 70-80's, 2 in 60's, 4 in 50's, 2 in 30-40's and one servant in 70's, one in 60's, and one in 80's, and 2 young bucks. our congregation is 75 percent over 55 years, about half of those over 65. its dying fast, sometimes literally(unfortunately). most of the young leave when they get old enough, if they dont fall out of the truth first. the last 2 co visits have really stressed the need for new servants and elders and the brothers really bring it up with me a lot. they dont seem to understand that i have NO DESIRE AT ALL TO DO IT. snakes explained my reasons, along with the fact that i dont really believe it anymore.
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  Awakened at Gilead

  Good point, ATJ... Maybe this will be the tipping point, when they don't have enough elders to run their local circuses... or maybe this was the factor causing them to close up the bookstudies...

  You mean you can't watch 2 boobs and still be an elder? Oops, I better go run and confess I've been watching discovery channel...
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  AllTimeJeff

  By two boobs, I of course meant the CO and DO....