Do your elders care at all? (page 2)

Lozhasleft

I found that the odd one really did care but usually had his hands tied or was worn out. As for the rest they just enjoy the status and to be honest I felt the only time they really got interested was when they put on their 'policeman' hats.

Loz x

aSphereisnotaCircle

Technically, yes, I think that most elders do care.

Unfortunatley they are not even remotely qualified to shepard and they are completely and utterly clueless how to help people.

Like the above posters says, all they have in their toolbox to help you with is "DO MORE"

Husband beating the crap out of you? solution, do more!

so miserable you want to kill yourself? solution, do more!

To sick to get out of bed and go to meetings? solution, do more!

Youve done your homework and found out that Jeruselum did not fall in 607? solution, do more!

got sexually asaulted by a baptised member in good standing in the congregation? solution, do more! Oh yeah, we also must ask you very explicit questions and decide if it was rape or fornication, but in the mean time, do more!

Mr. Falcon

Sweeney -

Being an elder sucks, and being a MS may suck even worse because you don't feel you can ever say "no" when asked to do something the elders should be doing themselves.

Can't say it any better than that.

Outlaw - I was just thinking how ironic those pictures are of the policemen with clubs. Didn't Rutherford roll around with a crew of cane-weilding, jack-booted thu-- ahem, I mean elders?

tenyearsafter -

why anyone would view this as a privelege to "reach out for" is beyond me. I guess the perception of power is a powerful "drug" to those needing that type of "fix".

Sadly, this is very true. As mentioned in other threads, these cats ususaly scrub toilets at their jobs or are somebody's beeyotch. The power they get at night when they put on their JC Penny suit is enticing.

Picard - That's another thing my BOE does very well. Pass the buck. I've seen guys weasel their way out of just about anything (ususally dumping it on their resident MS door mat, Mr. Falcon.)

Scooby-Doo & Punkofnice - I've spoken with ex-elders who have felt the same way. They would do all the work, shepherding, counseling, actually giving a damn while everyone else was too busy blowing the CO for a convention assignment.

Lost Generation - you are absolutely correct. These guys have no training at all besides being labeled as "spiritual" by other men just as unqualified. Pastors and priest are waaaaaayyyy more educated on how to help people.

sir82 - I have elder who come to me to vent/gossip about some other elder. There are so many "brothers" who are nice to each other formally in public, but who actually hate (and I do mean hate) their fellow appointed associates. (And in their defense, some of the hate is justified.) The gossiping is out of control. Worse than the elderettes, at times.

Viola & Lozhasleft - There have been so many guys who were caring or at least cared at one time (ususally when they first get handed thier superman capes, as Loz brought out) and now are either "retired" or at least retired "mentally" from the sucky job of being an elder.

Sphere - That is genius. "Do more". I'm putting that on my tombstone.

OUTLAW

I was just thinking how ironic those pictures are of the policemen with clubs.

Didn't Rutherford roll around with a crew of cane-weilding, jack-booted thu-- ahem, I mean elders?.....MrFalcon

Your right..Rutherford did have bodyguards with canes..

Al Capone had bodyguards too..

Rutherford and Capone also owned 2 Cadillac Coupes..

Capone threatened you with death if you didn`t by his liquor..

Ruthurford threatened you with death if you didn`t buy his religion..

There were a lot of Gangsters back then..

..................... ...OUTLAW

miseryloveselders

What everybody said above It's a huge combination of things including everything from lack of training, having too much on your plate as it is with family, work, and other responsibilities, shortage of willing brothers, organizational responsibilities including talks, field service, personal study, endless meetings, meetings about meetings, etc., its too much at times. It's overwhelming and it doesn't have to be that way. The organization as a whole is simply too big for its britches right now. Excuse my language, but as JWs we do a bunch of shit for no other reason than to say that we do it. Its a classic example of following the traditions of men.- Matt 15:1-16 Not to mention, those traditions can be emphasized as important one meeting, and then within a matter of weeks that tradition is done away with and the reasoning given is often confusing. That plays on your resentment at times. I look at my own life at times and say to myself I gave up a lot of things in order to immerse myself within the traditions of the WT. Armageddon doesn't look anywhere closer in sight than it did 50 years ago.

Something else I believe warrents a mention is, the friends don't exactly make it easy for you to shephard them. I always think about the old saying, "Familiarity breeds contempt." It's true, which is something else I fault with this organization because of the constant contact and association with others in your congregation. To be quite blunt, sometimes you simply get sick of hearing the same old broken record that people play. There's a sister in my field service group who transferred from another congregation that is closer to where she lives. When that happens, immediately my Spidey senses are going haywire. Why would a person not attend a congregation that is a matter of minutes from their home? She attends our congregation and its a good 1/2 hour out of her way. Once you get to know her though, it all makes perfect sense. She's one of those people where if you have a cold, well she has breast cancer. Your car had a flat tire, well her car's transmission went. You forgot your id badge at work, well she got fired and on her way to the Unemployment Office, she got mugged and raped. People like that drag you down. There's been times that I've been on my way to meet the group for field service, and when I spot her car, I do a U-turn and head right back home. There's other brothers at this group, so I don't feel so bad about doing that. I imagine she probably irritated the people in her home congregation and overstayed her welcome as a result, but I don't entirely blame her. Its difficult to "put up with one another" when you're constantly forced to deal with one another. You never get a break.

As far as elder bodies and how they work together, there's some things I'm dying to share with you, but the timing isn't good right now. If I'm still alive and still posting here several months from now, I've god SOME THANGS to relate to you.

DesirousOfChange

I don't know of anyone who has had a shepherding call unless they were dying or dead. I really thought that maybe the WTS was not pushing this so much anymore, but then I hear it mentioned by the CO or at the CirAssm. Remember when the CO and elders spent an evening making Shep call during the CO visit. Not any more. I think that was about the only time it got done.

Violia

I have known several elders and you'd lol if you knew what some of the meetings were about. I can't say more b/c at least one of them I suspect is watching the board and would recognize the stories. But just so you know, they are lol stupid.

Mr. Falcon

Misery, I sent you a PM.

Mr. Falcon

Desirousofchange - That sounds pretty accurate. They do very little, if ANY, shepherding until the CO comes around and suddenly they are calling up everyone scheduling shepherding calls. Incidently, this scares alot of people. Think about it, if the elders don't so much as say hello to you for 8 months and then suddenly call you up and want to have a meeting with YOU, that can unnerve some people. I've gone along on some calls where the people get all scared thinking that they were in trouble. So when the CO asks if they are shepherding, they look at him and smile and say "Oh Yes!!!" and the CO commends them. I've seen this with my own eyes.

Violia -

I have known several elders and you'd lol if you knew what some of the meetings were about. I can't say more b/c at least one of them I suspect is watching the board and would recognize the stories. But just so you know, they are lol stupid.

Oh dear lord, you ain't kidding!! And it's at ALL levels of the organization whether it's the local elders, sound department, attendant department, Circuit Assembly meetings, District convetion department meetings, regional building meetings, you name it and these guys will put to shame even the most long-winded and useless beauracrat in Washington.

stillin

other than occasional kindnesses shown by one or two, the general drift is benign neglect.

Worse than that to me, since I had come to expect this from the local BOE, is the same complacence coming from the "Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses," that is, the ones who "handle" problems from the ivory tower at Patterson. My extremely unpleasant situation has been swept under the carpet for several years now, regardless of my personal history, or the actual facts in my life. I was under the delusion that the Organization cared about actual people and dissappointment has become the dominant feeling now. How can I invite people to "Come and take life's waters free" when those claiming responsibility are such lazy leaders? And these say that they are in a position to become "princes for justice" in the new world?

Do your elders care at all?

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