Greater Knowledge Begets Greater Responsibility

by IslandWoman 16 Replies latest jw friends

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  IslandWoman

  I know this subject has been covered before but at the time it was I felt differently than I do now. I used to feel that all of us are responsible for our actions and I should not place greater blame on elders, circuit and district overseers and governing body members. I no longer feel that way. I am not an eloquent writer but will try to explain myself as best I can.

  Some of us are repulsed when reading about the many abuses and injustices in the Org., when we first hear about them we are shocked. The higher the position in the Org. the greater the knowledge of improprieties, yet so many xJWs who were in high positions remained, they saw the wrongs and remained. They saw their brothers being trampled and remained, they saw the hypocrisy and remained. They remained through it all until it hit home either personally or philosophically then they left.

  In my opinion if those of us who were not of the "shepherding" class in the Org. had seen half of what many of them had seen we would have left much sooner than they eventually did. They were a part of the system and they wanted that system to work, they wanted it to work more than they wanted truth to prevail and more it seems than they really loved their brothers who they knew full well were suffering.

  Could they even have loved the Organization more than they loved God? I don't know but what I do know is that to turn a blind eye to sins committed against your brother in the name of God is to trample on God's name. Jesus did not turn a blind eye to what the religious leaders of his day were doing yet there are some prominant xJWs who for many years turned a blind eye to what the Watchtower was doing to the brothers in the name of God. They remained publicly silent and continued to support the Watchtower as if nothing was wrong. They may have secretly, like Nicodemus, sat on the side of truth but publicly they supported the hypocritical religious leaders of their own day rather than do what Jesus did and break ranks early on.

  It was as if God was saying: "And I kept seeing, and there was not a man; and out of these there was also no one that was giving counsel. And I kept asking them, that they might make a reply. Look! All of them are something nonexistent. Their works are nothing. Their molten images are wind and unreality."

  Some prominant xJWs kept breathing life into the Watchtower, their molten image, long after they realized that something was very wrong. While others died for their faith they rode the beast until the ride got too rough for them then they jumped off.

  I don't mean to be hard just stating my recently changed view on the matter.

  IW
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  cookie

  Islandwoman,you wrote:

  " I am not an eloquent writer but will try to explain myself as best I can."

  I must disagree with you on this one point (only) I believe you were very eloquent!

  Well said.

  Cookie
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  IslandWoman

  Hi Cookie,

  Thank you!

  IW
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  onacruse

  I think it's more a matter of everybody takes their best shot. In perspective, our so so soooo limiting finiteness almost totally prevents us from seeing the whole picture of life except, imho, for perhaps the very briefest flash of a glimpse. By far the majority of our life energies are expended in simple action/reaction mode.

  In any case, that's how I feel about myself...so how in this world could I evaluate anyone else's behavior by a different standard?

  "I am responsible for everything . . . except for my very responsibility, for I am not the foundation of my being. Therefore everything takes place as if I were compelled to be responsible. I am abandoned in the world . . . in the sense that I find myself suddenly alone and without help, engaged in a world for which I bear the whole responsibility without being able, whatever I do, to tear myself away from this responsibility for an instant."
  Jean-paul Sartre

  Perhaps, then, it could be said: "Greater knowledge begets the need for greater knowledge."

  Craig
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  Iwasyoungonce

  IW,

  Thank you. I agree.

  "When one man says No I won't. Rome begins to fear." Spartacus
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  Pathofthorns

  IW, this is a subject that is so difficult. I feel very much like you on the matter and yet the arguments that inevitably get presented from those with a different perspective are very good too.

  I do know that if I come down to strongly on elders that remained elders in spite of things that should have made them resign, I should also condemn myself as a publisher that never left as soon as I should have.

  It is funny too, sometimes it seems former elders are not so different in xjw circles than when they were active elders with JWs and this sometimes leaves me smiling because now the playingfield is level. I see them as greater victims than I was. Everyone that climbed the JW ladder higher than I, was simply a greater victim imo.

  And when we talk of greater knowledge bringing greater accountability, I don't believe those that rose higher in the organization really had substancially more knowledge in a significant way than the rest. I can say that while elders may have seen more, they had to be more blind than most to have risen to that position in the first place. And from where we sit now, whatever knowledge they thought they had is nothing to what we now understand and appreciate.

  Path
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  joannadandy

  In my opinion if those of us who were not of the "shepherding" class in the Org. had seen half of what many of them had seen we would have left much sooner than they eventually did.

  It's hard for me to take a stance like this. It's easy to say "oh my god, I would never have stood for that" but I can't know that. And neither can anyone else. We are talking about FAITH here, it's a hard thing to shake when you are told your entire life to put your trust into an unseen being who knows best for all of us. Eventually some of us shake this fairytale, with or without inside information. I'm not sure any of us can say for certain how we would have reacted to "new or inside information" about the org. We can take the moral highground now because we are on the outside looking in, but would we then, while we were so emmersed in the culture? I'm not so sure.
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  IslandWoman

  Hi Path,

  I agree, it is funny to see some former elders still playing the role and yes it's great to now be on a level playing field.

  And when we talk of greater knowledge bringing greater accountability, I don't believe those that rose higher in the organization really had substancially more knowledge in a significant way than the rest. I can say that while elders may have seen more, they had to be more blind than most to have risen to that position in the first place. And from where we sit now, whatever knowledge they thought they had is nothing to what we now understand and appreciate.

  The "knowledge" I was speaking about was for the most part knowledge of mistreatment of brothers and sisters. This I have come to feel is far worse than any doctrinal problems or organizational misdeeds a brother in a responsible position may become aware of. I have come to feel that when someone sees a rather helpless and trusting disciple of Jesus and therefore of the Org., being treated in a despicable manner and God's name being trampled, and yet do nothing then what in God's name are they there for?! Better for them to have remained blind and not see because to see and then do nothing makes them at best impotent shepherds or worse cowards.

  Joannadandy,

  I know it sounds like a hard position and I realize that the argument of: "who knows what we would have done in their position" sounds reasonable and is a loving attempt to not place blame. I though am not trying to place blame so much as to just state what I believe is true.

  Jesus did not excuse the religious leaders of his day by saying to the lowly people they trampled on or allowed to be trampled, "who knows what we would have done in their position." No, he stood up for God's name and for the lowly people. He paid a heavy price for it for sure but many brothers who stand on the platform at Circuit and District Conventions and encourage others to sacrifice for God and to love their brother as Jesus taught and yet have looked the other way when someone has been torn to pieces by a judicial committee or a cruel ruling by the GB, will I believe pay a heavier price.

  Thanks for your input.

  IW
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  Pathofthorns

  The "knowledge" I was speaking about was for the most part knowledge of mistreatment of brothers and sisters. This I have come to feel is far worse than any doctrinal problems or organizational misdeeds a brother in a responsible position may become aware of. I have come to feel that when someone sees a rather helpless and trusting disciple of Jesus and therefore of the Org., being treated in a despicable manner and God's name being trampled, and yet do nothing then what in God's name are they there for?! Better for them to have remained blind and not see because to see and then do nothing makes them at best impotent shepherds or worse cowards.

  IW, I can honestly say I think we see eye to eye on this subject. I really do think it is better when we can admit our past mistakes, however blind we were than it is to try to justify why we screwed up.

  I really can't defend or excuse the behavior of elders, but I find it helps me to try to understand why good men might have ended up selling out the way so many did.

  The environment inside the WT is so messed up that such an environment where sheep are continually trampled on for the sake of the organization is actually quite "normal" to them. The whole concept of "loyalty" is screwed up to the point that an elder sticking his neck out for someone is actually considered being "disloyal". The WT breeds cowards and men that cannot even reason on what is right and honorable behavior.

  Path
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  IslandWoman

  Path,

  Thank you so much for the last comment! I feel we are reaching a good place, a very good place where placing blame is not the primary object but rather, understanding where we've been and how we got there.

  You wrote:

  The environment inside the WT is so messed up that such an environment where sheep are continually trampled on for the sake of the organization is actually quite "normal" to them. The whole concept of "loyalty" is screwed up to the point that an elder sticking his neck out for someone is actually considered being "disloyal". The WT breeds cowards and men that cannot even reason on what is right and honorable behavior.

  So very true!

  Loyalty to God not men should have been the primary lesson taught in the Watchtower but like many other religions they got caught up in rule making, ironically they have become exactly what they wanted to be: modern day Spiritual Israel. They have managed to imitate all of Israels sins (including the sacrificing of children) and also have put in place the very thing Jesus despised, the rule of law above love for God and neighbor.

  This is a little off topic but have you seen the Patterson complex? In the center courtyard is a large fountain in the shape of the Watchtower and water flows over the top of this Watchtower. The symbolism of that is inescapable. If God prevented Moses from entering the Promised Land because Moses did not give credit to God when striking a rock for water, what does God think about the Watchtower's idol symbol being portrayed as it itself providing life giving water?

  But just like the Jewish religious leaders of Jesus' day the Watchtower leaders remain blind to the truth because their eyes are so full of their own light.

  Thanks again,

  IW