You Don't Have to Tell the Elders Anything! (page 3)

Phizzy

There comes a point in your life after you have left when you say to yourself "They have no authority over me".

Of course some of us were forced to tread a careful path because we simply wished to "fade" , but even so, it is possible to recognize that, yes, they do have power, any wrong step and they can DF you, but that is not the same as having Authority.

Very early on in my fade I determined I would never attend a J.C. To do so would be to give recognition to an Authority they do not have. Now I would simply laugh at them if they tried to set up a J.C. I would also go Public, explaining how vindictive and nasty the J.W "Judicial Committee" system is.

minimus

You have to recognize the elders only care about rules. They don’t care about you. They have a formula to follow and if the Organization says be merciful, they will be merciful. That was in the late 1970s. After that , you were fuc*ed.

FedUpJW

...ask you to confess as a test of repentance.

My personal experience in the past was that confessing got one DF'd for the "sin", while refusing to confess got one DF'd for not "repenting". Damned if you do, damned if you don't!

Doubting Bro

Remember the two witness rule and use it to your favor. Never admit to anything, deny, deny and deny.

stuckinarut2

GREAT thread!

The ONLY power they have over you, is that which you allow

So DO NOT allow them anything.

Be polite, be nice, But clearly show that there is something called "Appropriate boundaries" that they need to respect

eyeuse2badub

I know a former jw elder, who just happens to a friend of mine, who was accused of a serious sin. The local elders invited him to a jc. He showed up for the jc meeting with his lawyer (or at least someone he said was his lawyer). Well of course the jc committee told him they could not proceed under those circumstances.

He and his "lawyer" explained that if they proceeded with a trial/hearing that would result in some sort of "sentence" that they would file a law suite against them individually and against the borg.

Nothing ever happened that I know of and no announcement was made in the congregation!

That was about 4 years ago!

(He never did tell me if that was a genuine attorney) lol

just saying!

You Don't Have to Tell the Elders Anything!