Can elders be dangerous people?

by avengers 15 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  metatron

  What amazes me about the context of the 2 Tim 'last days'
  scripture is the way Paul shifts into the present tense
  and no Witness ever notices!

  He was talking about his own time, the Roman empire!

  metatron
• 

  singsongboi

  amazings comment is balanced..... and is correct in stating, that many problems arise because appointed (funny how the holy spirit can make so many mistakes) elders lack training.

  of course, the various training courses that the the WTS has introduced are supposed to remedy that, but, should not the training come before the appointment and not after.... if a man lacks the skills that training is supposed to remedy, how can the holy spirit appoint him?

  further you can look at what happened in australia 60 years ago, where the whole branch became corrupt.. (the 'sins' ranged from society started and owned businesses --- to stupidity on the part of announcers at the WTS owned radio station 2HD making statements that could be construed as assisting the enemy - this was during WW2)

  nathan knorr came out in 1945, and told everybody off, but why did not the holy spirit prevent this corruption.

  individuals can become corrupt, yes!! a group (therefore a congregation) could concievably become corrupt --- but a whole branch???????

  i should point out, that some did not.. one such - a man by the name of bill schneider, refused to go and build a bridge when told to by the bethel office, and kept on at his pioneering assignment. for this he was punished by being stripped of all other "privileges". bill pioneered for many years later... whatever, is "truth" in this world, bill was a man of integrity.

  there were others like him....

  but the majority went along with what they were told, like good little sheep!!!!!

  that, of course, is exactly what many german soldiers did during WW2, and later used 'obedience' as a defense when charged with war crimes..

  and i believe, some of the 'servants' (as elders would have been called then) were dangerous psychopaths.. years later you could still meet people, who had been badly damaged in mind and spirit by so-called 'servants' who had been running some of the society owned enterprises. these men were not just dangerous, they were evil.

  and what do you think of this? -

  at the so-called "white house" **, in sydney, in those days.. when ever 'brother' mcgillvray, the branch servant,came to dinner, brothers and sisters were made to stnd behind the diners with napkins over there arms to tend to all their wants...!!! (James 1:1-4)

  blind obedience, the same requirement, that is causing present problems, led to the problems in australia in those days... ted jarasz, became branch overseer a few years later, charged by nathan knorr with cleaning up the difficulties caused in australia, by the cult of blind obedience...

  jarasz of all people alive today, should know the result of asking for blind obedience.

  blind obedience will turn elders into "dangerous" people".

  ** a facility used to house spillover staff from the strathfield bethel home - btw, the strathfield bethel had military police posted as guards during this period, because of accusations that the WTS were nazi sympathisers. the guards were to monitor activities and ensure that no treasonous acts occurred. mcgillivray was shot one night by one of the guards, the story behind this shooting was still obscure to me years later.. that is, when i became a witness, it was had to find out what really happened that night.
• 

  Imbue

  Well..give a man who has low self esteem a some power over others..and yes he can be dangerous to others. It depends on the individual.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  "The only good elite are dead elite!!"-Naeblis
  (Ok! He borrowed it)
• 

  metatron

  Was there an understanding at high levels in the Australian
  branch (in the 70's or 80's) that a brother could be forgiven
  from committing fornication if he "was put under a spell??"

  I heard this years ago and thought it sounded funny.

  I guess some women were just hypnotic.

  metatron
• 

  singsongboi

  metatron..

  i have never heard of that -- but it is not so illogical.

  if you believe in demons, and that they can have power over people, then such a ruling could make perfect sense..

  the tricky Q is....how do you decide if the person claiming such is telling the truth??????
• 

  LizardSnot

  Oh my! Once again a scriptural prophecy has been fulfilled!
  And people say that JW's arent spoken of in the bible.
  I always wondered who 2 Tim. 3:6 referred to.

  Lizard