by asilentone 38 Replies latest jw friends
Nope not once.
Knew about other kids drinking, a middle aged sister buying and smoking pot, Other couples that were doing the naughty deed, and some elders that were storing and using chemicals that they were not suppose to use in their janitorial businesses.
I knew I wasn't perfect and didn't want to be a hypocrite by judging others.
I never ran to the elders with things I saw...and I saw quite a bit. But I wasn't exactly blameless myself. So I guess it was a case of don't tattle and hope no one tattles on you.
The one time that I did share something I knew with the elders was when I was called into a judicial committee meeting as a material witness. I didn't like the person they were after and this person had done a friend of mine wrong so I was more than happy to torpedo them. It wasn't a case of doing what was right by WT standards...it was revenge on my part so even though I technically reported on them, the motivation was selfish, so I don't count it as squealing.
I was a squealer when I was a teenager. I thought it was the right thing to do. So I contacted the elders of a nearby congregation with info that a teenage sister was having sex. They asked me to meet with them and her. I did so. She denied it. They asked why I would spread such a false charge. I, with bound volume photocopies in hand, told them I only was doing what the Society said to do. They said they were going to contact my elders and recommend a JC to examine the potential of charging me with slander/gossip. I was pretty upset so I went and told my elders the story. They said that there would be no JC against me but sternly told me the next time to come to them first before going to another congregations elders. I was naive and didn't know how the system worked and thought all elders were on the same page and had the same standards of conduct.
Well of course I was. Every time the Watchtower Study Conductor picked his nose on stage, I pointed it out to the Congregation Servant. (I'm not making this up.) It did absolutely no good -- probably because the Congregation Servant was the Watchtower Study Conductor. I tried to be a good ministerial servant and pointed out the Nehru Jacket on the young man giving talk two. That didn't work either, and I was cured. [Point 1: Yes I am old. I'm old enough to remember Company Servants and Servants to the Brethren. Point 2: Both true stories of Watchtower silliness.]
Aside from being cured, I manage to go through life oblivious. I never saw anyone smoking. I was never there to see fornication. I'm sure that's a good thing, maybe. And I didn't see Sister James kissing Brother Rolf in the cloak room, but I surely heard about it. (That one i made up.) My experience as a Congregation Servant and later as an elder was that people would report anything and everything, even if it did not amount to anything beyond bad manners. There was the great baby shower scandal brought to us by Sister Nose-outa-joint. They played a "naughty" game. The game was naughty in name only, a bit like Theocratic Truth or Dare. Every baby or wedding shower upset this sister. Upset didn't keep her from going. My God the woman had issues. She finally got so mad at everyone she just left. Now she's out there terrorizing some rather largish city by calling 911 and reporting jay-walking. [Made the jay-walking thing up, but it's entirely possible, knowing her.]
There was the great 'she plays with herself' scandal. Gossip is awful. It was like a teacher's report gone wrong. You know the one? Teacher writes: "She plays well with others." Ten tells later it becomes, "She plays with others [insert favorite euphemism here.] Then there was the hugely upsetting Birthday Cake scandal. Brother I'm Clueless ate a piece of day old birthday cake at work. Sister I'm-new-and-everything-offends-me saw him. Yes! YES! The man is a hypocrite. Let's remove him as an elder! [Actually, I just called him on the phone and told him to cough up the cake and give it back.]
I found it interesting that proportionately more serious problems came to the congregation's "judicial notice" from the servant body than from anyone else. I don't know if one can extrapolate that experience organizationally, but it is my experience. Probably we just managed to recommend a long string of unstable and unsuitable Watchtowerites. You want the dirty list, don't you! I knew you did.
1. Circuit Servant 1. A drunk.
2. Circuit Servant 2. Ditto, and there was that matter of the very unusual sex.
3. Congregation Servant. Embezzlement.
4. Assistant Congregation Servant. Theft, wife abuse, incest.
5. Assistant Congregation Servant. Drunk as a skunk and twice as smelly ... And we're just up to 1967. Dang it! I'm not typing all of this out. I'm just not.
Probably you’re all tired as heck of me telling you to buy this book, but you SHOULD. It's scholarly. It's important. Give it thought and you will see where many of the icky stuff Watchtowerites still practices originates:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/nelson-barbour-the-millenniums-forgotten-prophet/7645313
No never............but some sqweeeeeled on me.
Probably you’re all tired as heck of me telling you to buy this book, but you SHOULD. It's scholarly. It's important. Give it thought and you will see where many of the icky stuff Watchtowerites still practices originates:
Did you write it?
If you did I might get it..............you're a good writer.
Did I write it? No, but I wish I had. You should get it anyway.
Preview bits on the authors' blog: Truthhistory.blogspot.com
Best bit of Watchtower history I've seen.
Yes, I guess I did. Told my parents Id heard a witness girl talking about how she'd been smoking. My dad rang her dad. Dont suppose anything was done, she wasnt baptised. She left the organisation as soon as she left home.
When I was unbaptised, I tried a cigarette, felt SO guilty, told my dad and he had the elders come over immediately. Ive never been so embarrassed in my life. They read me a whole heap of scriptures, got me to read some, cracked some joke saying that I wouldnt have even been able to 'inhale'. I said, 'actually I did and I didnt cough'. He sat there blank.
Kids do silly things. Kids experiment. My dad was just overly zealous and feared 'for my life' *shrugs*
Here is one time I wasn't a squealer ...
We out in service with an elderly sister. Me and my buddy were sitting the backseat of her car when we noticed something of interest poking out from under her seat. When she went to the door with the other sister in the group we took a look and discovered some books on growing marijauna as well as a bag of pot. Needless to say we were shocked but we thought it was more funny than anything else and didn't rat her out.
