It's funny getting copied on all the elder emails still

gubberningbody

I haven't been going for a while and I'm still getting them.

In a way it was oddly encouraging to see all the crap I used to have to deal with that I don't have to deal with any more.

Robdar

Maybe they are trying to keep you in the loop?

How long has it been since you quit going?

I just quit cold turkey. Gave my letter, the standard acceptable excuses, turned in my flock book/keys to the files/key to the hall. Sat with the group and gave them the acceptable remarks. They tried to get me to stay, I gave the acceptable responses in return. Went to about two more meetings and that was it. Stopped anwering the phone, the door.

I have contact with only one person. I don't think I could trust anyone else.

I really am happy I'm missing out now. I mean the chronic whiney lazy-bones pits of despair in the hall that wanted you to wipe their noses for you would NEVER go away, though you wished they would are STILL causing problems. Then there was the "someone couldn't keep their fly zipped/her pants on" sort of thing and you'd have to sit down with these idiots who'd be all blinky-blinky-eyed about how they did what they did. Or there would be the neurotic sister who'd send you emails and you'd have to ignore them. Then you'd have "we have to feed the speaker/clean the hall/mow the lawn/change the sign-woo-hoo we've got a booga boo language group that's become a congregation/clean the assembly hall/have another quarterly meeting/get-to-gether at brother blah-blah's place/can you work w/the CO?/Brother X we need to talk about Y..."

That boring crap never ended. The hall was one pit of disturbed neurosis with one damn chore after the next. Then you'd get some jerk-off letter from the society about "What are you bros gonna do about your meeting attendance?" Of course my answer "The same useless stuff you told us to do last time that didn't work." just wouldn't do.

Oh, bro X could you do the audit?

I feel like I quit a lousy paying job.

sir82

So true.

But when you consider that most of those guys are window-washers, or Costco clerks, or UPS drivers, then you can understand why "Congregational responsibilities" are so important to them. It gives them a sense of importance lacking from other aspects of their lives.

Our current COTBOE is a retiree, with a bipolar wife who refuses to take medication. He has no hobbies and little money. His whole life is running the congregation. He micromanages everything. He drove the last accounts servant to another congregation, and is halfway to doing the same with the current one.

I have no doubt he spends 40-50 hours per week on "congregational matters". Not field service mind you (8-12 hours per month, virtually no placements or RVs), but making out schedules, writing & answering letters, calling the branch, reviewing the accounts, making phone calls, etc.

And then he complains about how "stressed out" he is.

straightshooter

gubberningbody

gubberningbody you certainly described it well. I remember the WTS saying elder meetings are not to be longer than one or two hours, yet some of our meetings went 6 hours. My wife hated those elder meetings. Then the constant battles between the elders either trying to remove an elder from being the po or trying to remove an elder from being an elder. I loved how they decided on how to promote brothers they liked and what excuses to give brothers they did not like on why they are not being used in the congregation.

I don't miss the JC meetings in judging others. The fishing for intimate information and deciding if they should be df or not. I remember where a sister received public reproof because of her tears of repentance, yet the brother that was with her was df because he did not show tears of repentance. Also they arrived that he enjoyed and encouraged the relationship more than her. The congregation was puzzled how one can be df and another not in this mutual relationship.

Though the WTS continually says how the elders are appreciated and how the congregation should appreciate their hard work, it still was a thankless job.

Doubting Bro

I just broke out in a cold sweat thinking about time as an elder. You guys accurately described the mundane torture! Funny, 2 elders met with me not long ago to attempt to guilt me into coming back on the BOE. Mind you, I miss tons of meetings, rarely in service, no commenting, just a bump on a log who looks like he's in a bad mood all the time because I am at the meetings.

The meeting lasted for over an hour. I kept them at bay until they finally asked "don't you miss it?" I laughed, reminded them of some of the things you guys listed and said, "not really". They just shook their heads in agreement and ended the meeting. I think they both secretly are jealous that I'm not stuck working so hard for the publishing company.

chickpea

g/b: your description of the life
of an elder epitomizes what i
can only imagine to be a
deep morass of despair, spoken
or unspoken, acknowledged or not......

like my now departed friend,
who was a viet nam veteran,
two purple hearts (ordnance disposal)
used to say: no sympathy for
self-inflicted wounds on the
ortho ward...
(miss you, jim)

i guess i DO have a smattering
of empathy for these "gifts in men"
if they believe fervently their service
is to jah... and not just a jockeying
for position in the b0rg

besty

The congregation was puzzled how one can be df and another not in this mutual relationship.

helps perpetuate the concept of 'elders know all the facts' so don't question their judgement

Quirky1

You could start posting them here....

It's funny getting copied on all the elder emails still

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