Did elders have more?

by freedom96 8 Replies latest jw friends

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  freedom96

  The question here is a general one, and I am sure that there are exceptions.

  Did elders have more than others in terms of material possesions?

  My experience was that they did. The majority of elders I knew had money, or at least good jobs, and were in the top income brackets at least in the hall if not compared to most.

  I am not saying they were rich, but better off than most. Another way to think about it is: How many elders of power were dirt poor?

  The big bad ass elder in our hall, was very affluent. The other elders in our hall had respectable good paying jobs. One older elder, quite a nice man actually, did not have a lot in comparison, but did ok for being retired.

  It just seemed that those people who had money were more popular, had more power in the hall.

  But, could this just be a sign of the way civilization is? Do the more affluent usually have the more power positions? Seems to be so. And just the same in the halls I attended.

  I just don't remember any dirt poor elders. Now, I knew a couple that were janitors, but they still did ok, and just were not as plentiful as the other elders, but really never seemed to quite have the same power as the others.

  I just don't remember any elders that ever really struggled. But that is my experience. How about you?
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  Lady Lee

  Must be where you live. In all my 22 years in the borg I only knew 3 elders who had money. One was very nice and well liked. The other two were rather benign.

  Of all the other elders I knew they all were eking out a living, trying to raise a family and do all the work expected of them. Few were not liked or respected
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  gitasatsangha

  in all three congregations I went to, the elders always were owned the most money. one, in fact, travelled most of the time on international business assignments so he wasn't able to perform his elderly duties very often. Still since he practically bankrolled the whole congregation, that meant little. It was always intereting to hear the hypocrite give the talk about not striving after riches.

  "That hypocrite smokes two packs a day!"-Beastie Boys
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  run dont walk

  Alot of elders in my congregation had high-paying factory jobs,

  But it was okay for them to miss meetings because they were on shift work,

  I used to throw this in their face all the time,

  I moved up to the top ten of not to talk to.
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  caligirl

  That was not the case in the hall I grew up in - most had nothing much to speak of, my family included. However, in the congregation I moved to after getting married, the PO was very well off, owning a vacation home in Scotland , and even flying the Scottish flag over a doorway in his home ( must have been ok for him because of the amount of scotch the man consumes on a daily basis, but then again I think anyone married to his wife would have to do something to make it through the day!). Another owned a summer home on a lake. The remaining few were certainly not poor, but they worked very hard for what they had and never flaunted it to anyone either.
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  Francois

  Too right the elders were the ones with the money. After all, they were in many cases educated. And to get money, one must either be criminal or have an ordered mind, the kind of mind that also has leadership qualities.

  It's not a blanket truth, but I'd estimate that, say, 75% of elders have got "money" in that they do not perform menial work to get by; also I don't mean that many of them "come from money," nor that they have inherited money.

  You'd think, however, that anyone smart enough to make money would be smart enough to see straight through the witnesses, supporting my other argument that religion is an emotional phenomena, not intellectual.

  francois
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  Mecurious?

  Yep, all the one's I knew either owned their own business or had good paying jobs. Quite a few were computer programmers. That is what convinced me to become a computer engineer.

  B'
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  BadJerry

  I think it is just a matter of how much money you have, (the more you have the more your spend) or it may be how you were brought up. I've known those who have their own construction business, nice houses, cars and treat the brothers they hire like dung. Then there are the ones who don't have a lot but have to make a buck by buying something to turn around and sell it at a higher price. What money they did make, they didn't invest in any retirement because the WTS says the "end is near".

  from IMANALIENTO logging on to hubbys ID
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  little witch

  In the congregation I attended (by force), we had four elders. The first was well off, funny cause he didnt work,

  The next two were his sons, nuff said

  the third was an attorney, big fish in a small town. But he was at the bottom of the totem pole.

  I suspect that in our small and uneducated community, that the top three were paid to come where ''the need was great'', given most congregants could barely read!