Things You Wished You Told the Elders (OR DID TELL THEM)!!! (page 5)

Mr. Falcon

CB, jr. delivering the goods, as usual.

nicely down Found Sheep.

00DAD

wha happened?: Would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for THAT conversation!

blondie

So the WT is God's Word!.................I've heard that before.....just like the Pharisees that put their rules above the Law.

charlie brown jr.

.....just like the Pharisees that put their rules above the Law.

I remember the looks of DISBELIEF when I said ....

"I've never been to Bethel."

YOU MUST GO! Like a Command!

Go WEST MY BOY...... TO BETHEL...SEE IT.... BREATHE IT..... BECOME... BETHEL!

I was hauled into the backroom to meet with the whole body of elders to address a situation that had occurred over me and another elder. I had, apparently, caused him to storm out of the hall at previous meeting but I knew I was on safe ground!

They wanted to know what it was all about so I told them to ask him, the vanishing elder ... I had done nothing.

He was forced to apologise to me - and everything was going well until they said, "Do you accept his apology Hotspur?" I said, "I can't, as I don't really know what he's apologising for". (I knew there was lots this guy was hiding but nobody could nail him). It took around 10 minutes of obfuscation before it came about that he told the body he thought I was going to hit him after he wouldn't answer a question I had. Now, I have to say that was I felt like doing but knew that wouldn't go well!

Eventually, he called me a slanderer. You'd think that would be the end of it until another elder said,

"Just accept his apology Hotspur. After all, Jesus was called a slanderer and blasphemer".

I took great delight in replying, "Not by his believers and Apostles though".

There was stunned silence until the, then, PO said (trying to address the whole 2 year problem), "Hotspur, do you ever consider you're running ahead of Jehovah?" My reply was, "Yes, I did think that, then I concluded it's not me. Have you ever considered you're lagging behind him?"

The pleasure was immense - the consquence of this simple truth was dire!

Black Sheep

"Have you ever considered you're lagging behind him?"

LOL

*****Files it for future use*****

Black Sheep

Me???

It was 1976

I couldn't be bothered any more.

They couldn't be bothered chasing me.

sizemik

@hotspur . . . I know the pleasure.

I had a personal visit from our CO (recently replaced as DO) in response to some very dodgy behaviour by our then current COBE. I had previously provided the names of two other witnesses, one of whom (an MS) was speaking to me on the phone when he himself phoned again the next day.

He told me he had spoken at length with all involved and decided nothing untoward had taken place. I asked him if he had spoken to brother X (still on the other line) to which he replied; "Yes, of course." I checked with the brother himself who said he hadn't heard from him AT ALL. So I asked him again to which he assured me he had spoken to both witnesses at length.

I told him plainly that I was also speaking to brother X who assures me that is not the case. There was a stoney silence. I then asked "Why are you lying to me?" More silence. "You are telling me a bare-faced lie . . . why would you do that?" He simply re-iterated that the matter had been resolved and that all that was required of me was to leave it in his hands. I said "I will leave it in your hands . . . and on your head."

He never spoke to me again ever . . . nor looked me in the eye. Needless to say my recent invitation to serve on the body was revoked . . . much to my relief.

OnTheWayOut

sooner7nc, I think you needed to get that out. Thanks.

clearpoison, while the mags and the book with the questions pointed out that those questions would be asked at the baptism, I had only attended one circuit assembly before my baptism and was unaware that they would ask a couple of questions. Nobody had every asked if I had made a personal dedication. I think I said YES to go along. I might have just stayed silent because I wasn't clear on the question.

Mr. Falcon, except for Alice.

slimboyfat, so true.

wha happened?, I will call you if I ever have to confront them. You are a good person to have as a wingman.

Londo111, not too much breaks through.

just Ron, yes. Sometimes their worst frees us.

charlie brown, jr., LOL @ "It's Jah's Word Charlie" So he admits that the magazine is Jah's Word. That's what Mother wants to hear.

found sheep, good job. Feel free to let it out.

hotspur, at least you got to say it.

Black Sheep, I am in that camp. Just don't bother me.

sizemilk, thanks for that story. In the long run, they really did you a favor.

Robert7

There were two occasions where my wife and I spoke to the elders about our doubts. In both cases they were the same 2 elders who knew us pretty well, and seemed on the fence themselves considering we didn't get DF'd or even talked to after my wife told them the following:

FIRST SHEPARDING CALL

When I told my wife I was no longer a JW, she very much still believed. So she asked 2 elders to stop by and address my concerns. I said the following, in a mild manner since I still was afraid of being DF'd at that time. Note at this time I was still on the fence and was genuinely hoping for some good answers, but I knew they wouldn't have any.

I researched and printed out articles on some WT flip-flopped doctrines. I said how can I put 100% faith without question with new things coming out, if they changed in the past. I am forced to have to analyze everything since they don't have a great track record and cannot be trusted 100%.
I brought up 1975.
I brought up the UN scandal.

I had a few other things too... So their response "You need to research on your own why we need an organization". That's it! They pretty much avoided me since then. This did a LOT to open up my wife's mind... She had hoped these elders would open up my eyes, but they did nothing and had no answers!

SECOND SHEPARDING CALL

About 4 months after the previous visit, my wife herself was mentally out. So one evening the same two elders stopped by my house when I was out of town. She was very blunt and said exactly what was on her mind:

She does not believe in the JW faith anymore
She does not believe in any authority of the "Faithful and Discreet Slave" and doesn't believe they are spirit directed
She said the JWs are a cult, that the JWs match 99% of the definition of a cult. (Their response was 'cults have ONE leader' therefore we're not a cult)
The JWs being selected in 1919 was crap, and back then they believe Jesus already arrived in 1874
There is no graceful exit from the JWw, that if they are going to DF her, she'll DA instead!
There are many more other religions who preach, and do it MUCH more effectively, so JWs cannot say they are so special that they are the only ones doing the preaching work
It's crap that you cannot investigate your own religion even though they tell others to do the same
The book study change was BS since they always have said how IMPORTANT it is to meet in homes, to prepare for the tribulation, etc.

All this, and they again had no real answers. All the standard responses like "we need an organization", "look at the motives of anyone who has something negative", but not a single good answer.

So we were lucky. We easily could have been DF'd, and are glad we didn't only to keep association with the few family members still in.

Things You Wished You Told the Elders (OR DID TELL THEM)!!!

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