SOJ
First of thank you for the humane reply. Thank you also for your PM to Nina.
I would like to apologize for my reaction in that particular thread. I do not like losing my temper; whether I feel I am right or not is irrelevent. That's not the person I am trying to become. In all candor I was embarassed that I allowed myself to express that level of anger and so I stayed off the boards for a few days to get some perspective.
I'm still trying to figure you out. I don't mean that in a mean or threatening way, it's just that I'm not surprised very often by people, but you've caught me now a couple of times, so I am intrigued.
Now then, as far as your post in this thread. I didn't say every elder was evil. Actually I've known many really good guy elders. I've even posted about some of them. But your logic works in reverse as well. Just because there are a few good elders, does that make the entire organization good?
I did say "Jehovah's Witnesses". In saying that I was referring to the organization as a whole. When I was a Witness, I believed with my whole heart. I fought with elders in 6 congregations, 2 COs, 1 DO, and Brooklyn itself. This went on over a period of 4 years. Finally a third CO sat in my living room and told me two things. 1) I needed 2 baptized Jehovah's Witnesses (preferably in good standing) who stood and literally watched as a child was raped. They could not interfere since that would nullify the event. They could clean the child up afterward if they chose. However these 2 baptized Jehovah's Witnesses were not allowed to go to the elders, since that would be slander. They needed to wait on Jehovah's holy spirit to move the elders to contact them. Now how the elders would know to find them, I don't know. Then, and only then, could these 2 baptized Jehovah's Witnesses say what they saw. IF the elders found their story credible, then they would consider taking action up to and including reproof. 2) If I did not shut up and quit talking about what my parents did to me, he would see to it personally I was disfellowshipped.
That was enough for me. At that point I did not care if these rules came from Jehovah God himself. It was wrong. It was wrong then. It is wrong now. It is eternally wrong. I submit that any organization with such an attitude toward innocents, is evil.
I hear you when you say there are good elders, but I would counter that there were also good Nazis, Oskar Schindler being the first to come to mind. Whether an individual is a good, upstanding and moral being, is between that person and their God. I do not believe whether an individual is moral or not has anything to do with the organization as a whole.
Finally, if this elder was "a jerk" (and I agree), and the Society is God's spirit directed organization, then surely something should have been done to correct the situation. It wasn't.
Peace,
Chris
