I was appointed in 2004 at the age of 26. Not that unusual - I knew some other "under 30" guys that were elders in the Boston, MA area. DF'ed now and never been happier - I wouldn't give a bucket of piss for their future!
Are they going to keep lowering the bar to be appointed an MS or Elder???
by karter 36 Replies latest jw friends
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Ryan the Shaman
Right On LittleMac! Honesty will definitely get you shit canned with the Elders. I was kind of the "last man standing" among the teens in my congo, hadn't been reproved or DFed. The elders were constantly at me to get baptized etc. Then I went to them to tell them I had tried pot, smoked it twice over a weekend, then waited 2 weeks to tell them (purely because it took 2 weeks for me to feel ANY remorse, and I didn't want to lie about it) ALL they could focus on was that it took so long to feel remorse - Lost all "priveledges", publically reproved, had to have a weekly study with a dickhead elder who just wanted to know the dirt on all the other teens. I'm pretty sure if I had put on the crocodile tears and lied about feeling terrible about it right after - would've been a different story. Know a baptised girl who wound up in about 5 different judicial committees for the SAME THING - Adultery, cries her ass off, gets away with it EVERY TIME I'm completely off topic now - sorry guys. Felt great to tell someone though
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dozy
There certainly is a big reduction in standards - an 18 & a 19 year old were recently appointed as MS in my circuit - both are essentially unemployed & basically do nothing but bum around all day playing computer games & do minimum service , other than a mid-week arrangement where their mothers kick them out of bed and drive them to the field service meeting for them to spend an hour offering magazines. There is absolutely no way they would have been appointed even 5 years ago and I know one elder in particular was furious that he was out voted in the appointment of one of the brothers because he felt that it sent out a signal to all the young ones that they basically didn't need to do anything to qualify.
I think it is symptomatic of 2 trends:
(1) An almost desperate need to appoint anyone due to a huge shortage of elder & ms. Pressure has been put on COs to try to get appointments in every congregation at least once a year.
(2) An overall diminishing of "spirituality"(as defined by the WTBTS) amongst JWs in general , so what would have been sub-standard in the past becomes the norm.
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blondie
In this area it is evident that they are desperate, an alcoholic and a wife beater were appointed.........
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sizemik
A shrinking pool will lower standards overall. As far as individual cases go . . . it's more a case of the personalities involved in my opinion. Appointments normally involve a fair degree of brown tongue activity (conscious or otherwise). I'm sorry if that upsets some ex's here, but I'm one myself. That's the way it always worked from my observations . . . I never saw an exception, myself included.
When sychophantic behaviour is the true clinching qualification . . . then anybody can qualify at any age (within reason).
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LittleMac
Thanks Ryan the Shaman. Yes. Doesn't that suck? And for being honest. It must happen over and over again. Punitive studying, reproof, to fix you only in that fantasy world called the Jehovahs Witnesses.
As if trying "the marijuana" is one of the worst things you could do. It's absolutely amazing to me now how programmed my or anyone elses responses were to anything that smacked of "the world" i.e. actual real life.
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punkofnice
magwitch =
some little pimple face weirdo that does not even shave yet.
That is just SO funny!
