Has Anyone Ever Just Gotten Mad and "Popped" an Elder?

by Cold Steel 33 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  pale.emperor

  So why do the JWs believe the elders are appointed by God? It's a fundamental question for someone who can take away your wife [SNAP!], other family members [SNAP!], friends [SNAP!] and fellow worshippers like that [SNAP!] If GB members really were God's chosen and appointed servants, I could at least understand why they might revere them and their appoints, but the GB has been denying inspiration and revelation for years, right?

  May active JW's dont actually believe that elders are appointed by God. I never did, and others my age in private conversation would openly say that they cant be appointed by God because brother so-and-so has been appointed even though we know he's still doing you-know-what with you-know-who. Many people put up with their bullying nature because it's safer not to rock the boat. In order to disfellowship and ruin your family bond they'd need a Judicial Committee of three elders. But a single elder would have some clout in influencing others to not associate with you. If you had an opinion of a scripture and and elder had another, everyone would go with the elders opinion. The congregation mistakenly think that elders have such a great knowledge of the scriptures, which really isnt the case (in my congregation i was the go-to person for biblical knowledge, even by elders. But i'd still tell them check up on what i tell them.)
  

  My mum, for example, has a reverential fear of elders. She fawns over their wives and goes out of her way to be connected in any way to an elders family.
  
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  UnshackleTheChains

  There was one elder in my old hall I couldn't stand. His lofty, arrogant, ignorant, uncaring attitude toward me and others annoyed me big time. I often imagined the satisfaction I would have felt by kicking this smarmy AH right up the hole with a pair of pointed steel toed shoes on!
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  tiki

  I knew one elder who got riled up and bopped another in the nose at a kh renovation.. The holy spirit appointment was reversed....he had to be a commoner for awhile... They blamed his digression on the fact he had been in the military as a young man pre conversion.....and of course that reinforces military service as a very bad thing.
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  dubstepped

  Okay Cold Steel, yeah the GB say they aren't inspired deep in an article once every 10-15 years, but they also claim to be "spirit directed". They also claim over and over, and talks are given all the time, that elders are appointed by holy spirit. Grieving the holy spirit is a deadly sin. So yeah, as a Mormon visiting this site you get a sound bite here and there, but you have no idea what messages are sent on a daily basis to their followers. It is an authoritarian cult, and elders have authority. That whole GB are not inspired comment is just a get out of jail free card, an an excuse for imperfection, followed by messages of how they're still obviously directed by holy spirit as evidenced by blah blah blah.

  Like any good abuser, they send mixed messages. An occasional cry for sympathy to humanize them followed by relentless bullying. An not all messages are in print.
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  QuestioningEverything

  At my old congregation, a group of brothers played basketball weekly. During one of the games, one brother fouled another pretty hard and it ended up in a fist fight. The brother who threw the first punch was an elder and was demoted briefly. It was a big story in our area for a while.
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  dubstepped

  ^^^^^^^^^^^^Oh man, the basketball games were so full of ego. The elders that I had played with were always the worst too. Heaven forbid you showed one of them up. I had to stop playing at one point because a particular brother tried on several times to hurt me. He would undercut me after I blew by him for a layup and I crashed down hard a few times. There were brothers that broke collarbones, fights that had to be broken up, congregation clashes over games, etc.
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  kpop

  Not personally but I have seen it over an elder who mishandled a case regarding the daughter having a relationship with a worldly boy in school. The mother started yelling at the elder after the meeting and actually physically attacked him and cursed at him. It was like a talk show, Jerry Springer or something like this. Everyone was shocked naturally. In the end, the family all left the JW cult and the elder stepped down. There's obviously a lot more to the story we never found out about.
  
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  blondie

  Cold Steel, no need to worry, his genetic defect had nothing to do with a broken finger. I feel no remorse or responsibility for his death. He was an evil person who hid behind his Christian reputation. It was just coincidental. I had every right to defend myself legally and morally. Even the WTS says that women must resist assaulters.
  
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  Cold Steel

  Yes, you do. But if the elder lied and it came down your word against his, it sounds like many people would go with the elder. That is, of course, until they began trying to figure out why you would break the guys finger.
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  Isambard Crater

  Over the years, I have heard elders snap at each other on occasion, yup. Also, when my Cousin was about 16, she was slapped on the face by a Circuit Overseer's wife due to a mis-understanding.