Elders = Pharisees?

ex-witness

Riddle me this Batman:

Why, in all the accounts of disfellowshipping (including my own ((got reinstated then quit))) do the elders seem more like the hypocritical, overly self-righteous Pharisees than the cool refreshing temperament of Jesus of Nazareth? Rather than discuss, logically, at length any issues with the "accused", they badger them with points of "divine law" that I'm sure they don't adhere to as much as they demand of the congregation. And any questions brought up are referred to as the "spirit of Satan/the world/rebelliousness". The last time I tried to talk to someone about religion (now as an atheist) and brought out logical scientific facts that disprove any god's existence, rather than accept the data, they called me an "infidel" and "anti-christ". (Let it be known, I'm not anti-christ. I'm anti-god. I'm against anything that divides families, creates turmoil within communities and allows a permeation within it's ranks of xenophobic hatred. This is what your god does.)

Broken Promises

When we were studying the Greatest Man book for umpteenth time, that’s what went through my mind, even though I was still a full-on JW at that time. The similarities between the elders and the Pharisees were there. It was one of the things that started to get my mind thinking.

baltar447

Unfortunately they too often resemble pharisees rather than a hiding place from the wind. Often youu are inclined to hide FROM them not run TO them.

donuthole

Yes most do resemble Pharisees in every way imaginable - this includes their creation of laws far beyond what is written even in the Bible, their self-serving nature, their lack of care for the "least of these", and their lack of mercy. Any outside appearance of "spirituality" or "piety" is simply their cleaning the outside of the cup and being white-washed graves.

Pistoff

I think the Pharisees get a bad rap, and they were certainly not as damaging as the elders in a JC.

The Saducees believed that the Torah had to be taken as is, no interpretation. The Pharisees saw the TNK as a living document, one that needed ongoing interpretation to make it relevant to existing times.

Of course, to read their interpretations now they seem silly, and overreaching.

But the WT/elders DENY that they regard the bible as a living document that needs intepretation, but do it anyway, and by whose standards anyway?

darth frosty

I thought the saducees didn't believe in the resurrection and that is why they were so sad-u-see.

leavingwt

Why, in all the accounts of disfellowshipping (including my own ((got reinstated then quit))) do the elders seem more like the hypocritical, overly self-righteous Pharisees than the cool refreshing temperament of Jesus of Nazareth?

The simple answer: It's a destructive, authoritarian, high-control group, run by an American publishing corporation struggling to survive.

TD

The caracature of the Pharisees as taught by JW's doesn't quite conform to history.

At the time of the Gospels, there were two rival factions within the Pharisees; the hardline Beit Shammai and the liberal Beit Hillel. Jesus, time after time expresses the position associated with the latter of the two.

Lozhasleft

Ex witness - Welcome to the forum...and yep you're dead right they are more Pharasaical than the Pharisees...

Loz x

Elders = Pharisees?

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