by EndofMysteries 31 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
As seen in recent posts, beginning later this year appointments and deletions of elders and MS will only happen through the circuit overseer.
This means that individual congregations and elders have no say anymore. If the GB want only certain people in or out, they tell the CO and he makes it happen. It's more power grab and also they are probably concerned about how many rogue elders and MS there are out there.
The empire is squeezing tighter.
The real reason?
Is this the inside scoop?
Are you saying that you know that elders will no longer make recommendations to the CO? I didn't see that part of the letter. Did I miss that?
I disagree. It's to create legal separation between WTBTS assets and their regional representatives (e.g C.O) if a poor decision is made in a regional office (e.g elders/KH) where by they could be held both legally and monetarily responsible.
Exactly what joe134cd said.
This decision was made because of one thing: Candice Conti (and cases like it).
If the GB and WT HQ don't appoint these men, they're not responsable for what they do, and can't be sued.. That responsibility is now on the CO. And you can bet your butt, they won't get any legal help from Brooklin Warwick.
Yes. What JOE134CD said.
When the court says "Who appointed this child molester as elder?" the WT now will be able to say "Oh, it was that guy who's 70 years old and completely broke living in a trailer in the desert in New Mexico. That was HIS decision, not ours. "
ALSO
It will come in real handy with the new "donation" arrangement.
CO: "Brothers X, Y, and Z. . . . You don't want to turn over the hundreds of thousands of $$$$ in your cong. accts to the society?"
BROTHERS XYZ: "No."
CO: "Delete, delete, delete. Brothers, you are dismissed. .... Now, what do the rest of you have to say about turning over your cong. acct. to the society?"
I proposed all of the above in a casual conversation with an Elder the other day...
He said (of course): "no, its nothing to do with all of that...its just that this is now following the bibles directives more closely"
To which I said: "so does that mean that all appointed before were not in line with the bibles directives?"
silence followed....
IMO, it would be short sighted or naive for WT to believe it can avoid culpability by assigning blame on the C/O.
The C/O has someone to report to at Bethel and his responsibilities, agenda and schedule are set by those at a higher level. He is not an independent contractor who can set his own agenda, schedule or policies and procedures. As long as the C/O has followed the directives that he is required to follow, the court should look at the structure that controls the C/O's actions including any 'secret' elders manuals which dictate procedures elders are to adhere to. I suspect there is a similar manual for C/O's.
To further avoid culpability, W/T do not print all policies in the elders manuals but instead have the C/O or D/O verbally 'revise' and add to the manual during circuit elders meetings whereby elders are to each make his own notes in the manual's margins. This way, W/T can then claim during a law suit, the elder misunderstood comments from the C/O - D/O and that W/T is not liable. It would be fairly simple for a lawyer to discredit such a claim by subpoenaing the elders manuals from 6 other elders to compare their margin notes. If they all are fairly consistent, this would help establish there was no misunderstanding which also leads to the question, why weren't the revisions provided to elders in written format to ensure consistency?
"so does that mean that all appointed before were not in line with the bibles directives?"
.
"evidently"
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It's no more absurd than the Governing Body not being able to identify itself for 130 years.... until 2013.
I made this comment on a parallel thread:
This just adds another layer of insulation between the WT leadership and any potential liability caused by legal screw-ups on the part of the local elders.
I'm sure Holy Spirit inspired this change as a result of the many lawsuits brought against the WTBTS. One just wonders why HS didn't see it coming and make these changes pre-emptively.
