Jehovah`s Witnesses Do Not Have a Clergy Class.

smiddy3

No , They have the Governing Body { some would say the popes of the religion }

And you do not under any circumstance go against what they say./

They also have Branch Overseers , District Overseers .Circuit Overseers , and Elders in a Congregation .

They are all up and above the rank and file of the average ordinary Jehovah`s Witness and they are looked upon as such by the rank and file member as equivalent to a clergy class.

Oh and lets not forget the Legal Department that has a lot to say in how the Jehovah`s Witness organization responds to allegations of Child Sexual Abuse around the World.

And when an allegation arises about Child Sexual Abuse the W.T. Organization pleads the Clergy Penitent Clause ?

To withhold information crucial to a trial that may incriminate themselves .

So do Jehovah`s Witnesses have a Clergy Class ?

Of course they do they just might not class it as such in their vernacular .

AverageJoe1

If that was true, then you wouldn't have elders or servants. Everyone would be just called a publisher and have equal decision making rights.

That will never happen. They love the prominence too much.

ToesUp

The WT has more titles than any other cult or organization.

I always thought that, as an example, the COs were scroungers and didn't do proper work like the rest of us. They leeched off the money from the cult sheeple. If that doesn't scream 'clergy' then I'm a Dutch mother's uncle.

venus

In form, they are not clergy; but

in function they are clergy.

People can see something not in order when others are doing it. For example, JWs and Pentacostals accuse of Cathoics having Mother Mary as the Mediatrix, yet they have Elders offering prayers on behalf of their members.

sir82

Not only a clergy, but a paid clergy.

Consider the value of what the WTS pays for COs & wives. Ask how many $$$ per month it would cost you for:

-- Free accomodations (the vast majority of US circuits have a "CO apartment")

-- 100% of grocery expenses

-- Full medical insurance: $0 deductible health, dental, and vision coverage

-- Lease of a late-model auto, gas and maintenance 100% free

-- 100% of utility expenses, including cable & internet

-- Clothing stipend

Not to mention the (depending on the wealth of the circuit) hundreds of dollars of weekly tax-free income via "green handshakes"

COs & wives live a lifestyle that would put them squarely in the middle of the "middle class", at least in the US. Maintaining such a lifestyle would cost the average non-special-full-time-servant (again, depending on location) $60,000 - $120,000 per year. That health insurance alone may cost $30,000 or more per year.

ttdtt

As a prominent Elder - I felt like I was part of a clergy class.

I got perks - I got tons of adulation - I got treated very different.

Just no money:)

DwainBowman

No PAID clergy class.

Even as a lowly so called servant, it's very easy to see the endless system of classes in the borg.

So many classes, and sub classes!!!

I had stopped saying they had no Clergy class a long time ago!!!!!

LongHairGal

SMIDDY:

It’s a plainclothes clergy. They have even claimed ecclesiastical privilege to get out of having to divulge what a wrongdoing JW has told them.

Vidiot

A good rule of thumb to remember...

...if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and - for all intents and purposes - looks like a duck...

...odds are it's not a fucking sparrow.