ARE ELDERS TAKING A CHANCE?

by Dansk 15 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Dansk

  I ask this in all seriousness because we all know that each of us has a different boiling point. I've spoken to quite a number of exJWs (and even JWs when I was a borgite) who've said something like "I'd really like to smash (put elder's name here)'s face in!"

  Well, what if someone had his or her loved one separated from them through shunning, for example? We all know how excrutiatingly painful this is - but what if that someone really snapped? What if that person literally went gunning for an elder? Believe me, I can see it happening one day and I wonder just whose side the court will come down on.

  I feel I'm in control of my own situation, but if two elders in particular got hit by a truck tomorrow I don't believe I'd feel sorry for them - and I consider myself a very compassionate person. So, are elders taking a chance?

  Ian
• 

  Nathan Natas

  What if that person literally went gunning for an elder? Believe me, I can see it happening one day and I wonder just whose side the court will come down on.

  I'm sure the court would give the murderer a pass in a situation like that. They would say, "You killed him? In cold blood? Because he was a JW elder? ...OK, go home now."

  Sure, that's exactly how that would play out. The courts have declared open season on JWs, as the JWs them selves have long expected, and the higher the rank, the more justifiable the homicide.

  Ouch! It's hard to talk with your tongue in your cheek for so long!
• 

  Dansk

  OK, Nathan, all tongue in cheek aside - and I kind of expected something like this - but sometimes you and I know that there are occasions when we cannot believe a decision made by a court. When a person has been treated intolerably - and JW elders have a reputation for dishing out such treatment - there are SOME people who will snap quicker than others.

  To give an example, when I was living in Wales I was informed that at my new local congregation a certain aggrieved member of the congregation was waiting outside for the person who'd upset him. When that person came out he suddenly found himself drenched in petrol and the person with the petrol can threatened to light the match. An elder tried to intervene and BOP he caught one on the chin. Thankfully, nothing else transpired and I heard the story even made the newspaper (much to the consternation of the elders).

  All I'm saying is I can see a tragedy waiting to happen, because the pain caused can make one feel so utterly worthless they take their own life. Others can just brush it aside. One day, however, still others may well take matters differently.

  Ian
• 

  metatron

  I agree wholeheartedly. I can't say very much about this subject because I understand that talking about it can

  cause legal trouble.

  I have known of a couple of examples of arson/bomb threats triggered by df'ings. There are a lot of emotionally

  unbalanced Witnesses in the organization and the Society keeps ignoring the implications of this.

  metatron
• 

  AlanF

  Well sure such things can happen, just like in any other situation where someone is aggrieved. The aggravagtion may not technically justify the reaction, but sometimes juries do take into account why a person did something nasty to his aggressor.

  AlanF
• 

  jgnat

  Since the Watchtower Society is notoriously careful about reducing their own culpability - even to the point of hanging their own elders out to dry - I was wondering if elders are advised to obtain their own liability insurance?

  http://insource.nils.com/gloss/GlossaryTerm.asp?tid=1276

  Doesn't this leave elders in a very risky position, if they follow (unwritten) company policy today, resulting in undue pain and suffering for congregation members, only to have it denied by HQ later?
• 

  rocketman

  After having been an elder for awhile, I found out that I, like any elder could possibly be named in a lawsuit. I never was told that going in nor was it discussed at any elders school I attended. It was only rather casually mentioned in a letter (I think) or at an elder's meeting. I was very surprised to hear such a thing, and I figured at that time that Mother Org was likely not going to stand up for me.
• 

  JT

  WHAT I find most interesting about this poster comments is that i fully understand what he is saying, THAT having been said, his comments reveal exactly what the wt has worked very hard at accomplishing over the years-

  a while back we had a very heated debate about the role that elders play in the COG IN THE WHEEL of wt and while it is an important role, the fact is-- that the vast majority of elders around the world are just as much DUPED AS SISTER OLD WITH the walker-

  to keep telling some guy with a flunky job, no education, no real career, that God has chosen him IS ENOUGH TO ACTUALLY MAKE HIM BELIEVE IT

  i was an elder and while i didn't feel no anointing oil on my head, i felt that god was using me to help folks and most important to keep gods org clean-

  the fact of the matter is --in my exp-- the avg jw CAN'T GET HIS ANGER ANY HIGHER THAN perhaps the CO-

  think about it, it is easy to find a jw who complains about the elders ----about what they do or don't do

  and then there are some jw who are brave enough to even comment about the CO, but rarely will you find a car group talking about the DO and certainly not the Society

  and that is BY DESIGN MY FRIENDS- THE wt has been able to DISTANCE ITSELF successfuly from the anger and frustration that the avg jw has and even times former jw-

  i constantly read of the stories of how the elders did this or did that, yet many folks stop to think WHY, WHY DO THE ELERS DO WHAT THEY DO

  yea you have some folks who are just born JackA$$, but for so many it is merely a matter of doing what they believe is right-

  that is the reason why when elders like myself and others come to fully understand how the wt has duped and used us as well as the way they used publisher- we too are just as Pissed off AS THE NEXT JW

  as long as the wt can keep jw and former jw pissed at the dumb local elders - they are able to stay above the noise-

  so don't get mad at joe blow elder,- who upon learning the same thing that you know, would be more than glad to take out a can of "Whip A$$" on the society along with you- smile

  just my 2
• 

  Dansk

  just my 2

  And as always, JT, A GOOD 2 at that!

  Best wishes,

  Dansk
• 

  Gordy

  As JT says the Elders are just as much "duped,controlled" as any other JW in a congregation.

  Even if an Elder was given a thump by someone. If it came out that the person had just reason to do it and/or it came to the attention of the media, which the WT would consider worse than the Elder getting a thumping. All the WT would so is say that te Elder had not followed the "correct procedure" as laid down by the organisation. Probably some "procedure" that the Elder had never heard of. The Elder would be removed as a show that something was being done. All the other JW's will think what a wonderful organisation it is that it was all sorted out