Were You "Afraid" Of The Elders?

minimus

Did you view them as men who truly cared about you?

Did your heart sink in fear when an elder came to talk to you?

Were the elders nothing special to you?

Great question! I think there were a few in my JW life (left at 21) that genuinely cared about people in the congregation. Of course most just got a high off of being in charge, being naive that they were part of a cult. And then there were the the douche bags . . . . I think the only time I was afraid of the elders was when my mom would threaten to take me to them. It was always over weird things like forgetting to study (highlight) my Watchtower, or for questioning silly things like "Why are we leaving so early after the meeting today." Interestingly enough, during that phase of my mom making all the threats, she was a pioneer cheating on her best friend's (also pioneer) husband who also happened to be a pioneer and MS. One of these days I'll have to post my "life story". It's pretty unbelievable.

RosePetal

Hi minimus RebeccaChi Brought back memories of my childhood. My dad had left home when I was about seven and there were awful problems before he left as he was unpredictable had violent moods as my brother and I were young we didn't understand what was going on we tended to play up and misbehave. My mum had elders round to tell us to behave. I remember being really frightened of them. There is a lot more to my story as my mum had him back some years later.

RosePetal

undercover

I kinda go along with Rebecca...

There were a few elders who were family friends and always there as support. But to be honest, they were few. Most of the time growing up, I was scared of elders. As a teenager, I distrusted them...maybe teen angst as much as anything, but there was something that there that put me off from them.

As an adult, I figured out who I could trust and I couldn't. I became friends with some cool elders but others I avoided. I wasn't scared of them, I just didn't like em.

Of course I would have never said that back when I was in. There was a cognitive dissonance about the whole thing. I had to respect them, obey them and pretend to get along with them but there were many I wanted no part of. It wasn't until I was out that I could figure out the feelings and admit that I didn't like some elders and why.

Quirky1

I think they were actually afraid of me...lol

cantleave

Even when I was one, I used to dread elders meetings. Our PO / COBE always found something to criticise me about.

undercover

I think they were actually afraid of me

Ohh....wise guy, eh?

Quirky1

LOL

dandingus

We need that Shamus monkey, methinks.

He is one unpredictable monkey!

As for the topic, I was never really afraid of the elders. At first it was kind of reverence, until I could tell that many of them were materialistic jerks who were only concerned with their own image and position. Then I just kind of told myself to respect the position rather than the man. There were a couple of elders though, that I actually thought had my best interests at heart. At least for a while.

Were You "Afraid" Of The Elders?

Share this