Elders Can Hide their Own Sins from the Past-Yet Continue as Elders? Read (page 2)

moshe

if holy spirit is appointing these elders

Well, that is not the case, nore doer the WT actually claim it to be the case with individual elders. The WT has admitted (in small print) that only the process used to select elders is Bible based/spirt directed- and since the Bible was written under the direction of the Holy Spirit, then they call the process spirrt-directed, too. - the brothers should know that many rotten eggs make it through the process and become elders.

If they thought about it long enough, they would realize that since Jehovah can't stop or remove sinful elders, then Jehovah can't do anything else- like direct the F&DS class.

Mad Sweeney

But if the immorality or other serious wrongdoing occurred more than a few years ago and the individual is genuinely repentant and recognizes that he should have come forward immediately when he sinned, good counsel by elders may be sufficient

Another thing that bugs me about this is that while vocally distancing themselves from all things "Christendom" the Borg requires confession just like the Catholic Church, but are much more harsh about it.

What, forgiveness of sins by God and Christ isn't enough? Apparently not!

sir82

Yeah the bit about the elders is nearly 40 years old.

But I find this rather amazing:

But if the immorality or other serious wrongdoing occurred more than a few years ago and the individual is genuinely repentant and recognizes that he should have come forward immediately when he sinned, good counsel by elders may be sufficient."

Now we know why they don't want publishers to see the book!

Can you imagine the reaction if this became widespread?

"Hey if you just hide your sin for for a few years, you won't even get DF'ed!"

The "code of silence" among young JW troublemakers would get that much stronger. Elders' headaches would increase 10-fold, as kids would cover for one another even more so than they do now, waiting for the "magic window" of "a few years" to pass.

minimus

2 faced!

What's a "few years ago"?

Some BIGWIGS must have done something and you can't lose them, hence a new rule. You gotta love holy spirit!

stuckinamovement

Sir 82 - That is exactly right. Commit the sin, keep it quiet for a couple of years, come forward with sorrow and you are golden! Jesus wrote a blank check. This is exactly why the book is top secret.

In practice though, if you are a publisher and come forward you will get a committee meeting. I have seen a number of instances where a young couple does the deed before marriage, hides it for 7-10 years and still gets a JC.

asilentone

Doubting Bro

OM - Thanks for pointing that out. I missed that point. So, they dropped the double standard which is reasonable. Sir82 - exactly! Frankly, the code is pretty strong now because most of the kids don't really believe. Not sure if the elder's headaches would increase though. Seems to me that it's a whole lot easier to have them just not rat on each other than to deal with all the JCs that pop up around the under 25 group. Also, the counsel by 2 elders is much less time consuming than putting a JC together. Don't ask, don't tell!!!

ValiantBoy

I know that this thinking was in place in 1997 when was I removed as a ministerial servant. I had confessed something that occurred about six years previously when I was fifteen. A judicial committee was formed and it recommended that I be removed as a servant and privately reproved. The CO and another elder encouraged me to appeal the decision based on the fact that the sin had occurred so long before and was unknown to the congregation. They reasoned that Jehovah had continued to bless me as evidenced by the fact that I had been appointed first as a pioneer and then as a ministerial after the time of the sin.

While I was appreciative of their advice and support, I chose not to appeal the decision as I was already battling doubts and had committed other "sins" I had not confessed. The whole procedure really highlighted to me that the organization was not spirit directed. Why would Jehovah allow sins to remain hidden for some but not others?

asilentone

I have a very good question, what if an elder and his wife did the deed before they got married, will his wife get off the hook too?

thetrueone

Its seems that a code of secrecy within the elder arrangement is operational.

I'm not familiar with the DFing policies to date and I don't want to come off as supporting the WTS but

if memory serves me, a baptized JW would not get DF or DA if the behavioral act was a few years ago but the individual came forward

to an elder and confessed with willing repentance. I think what has to be of question is how long this individual was

acting within the congregation as a MS, elder, pioneer ......whatever.

I can remember many instances of JWS drunk, acting lewdly, dirty business tactics and a long list of things that I knew if they were

caught or if someone mentioned these actions to the elders they would be in hot trouble.

It does appear though that the WTS is trying to show preferable treatment to the elders than the regular R & F members.

Social pretentiousness is the axiom of JWS, its there purposefully to create a pure and righteous image for the congregation as a whole

and for each individual.

Elders Can Hide their Own Sins from the Past-Yet Continue as Elders? Read

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