by purrpurr 32 Replies latest jw experiences
I've personally never met any of those who claim to be anointed but the other jw's who have are always unanimous in their praise of how lovely and what wonderful people they are. And I don't mean the GB I mean common or garden anointed. I was told that when they speak about being in heaven that they almost "seem to glow".
Is this right? What was your experience of the anointed?
Knew a few when inside. All women. Just elderly women like any other randomly picked group of elderly women. Some nice, some a lot less so. The only common factor was that for some reason they thought they were going to heaven and ate crunchy bread and drank wine once a year while everyone else looked on.
One of them was a wee bit kooky and had her own personal guardian angel who went on the ministry with her. If I'd been old enough I'd have asked what his name was.
But then that's not considered kooky at all at some congregations I guess.
One was much younger who woke up one day to discover she was anointed. For her it seemed like it was a power trip thing. At the time I wasn't impressed. Perhaps a little more understanding of why it would appeal looking back with hindsight. Although even allowing for that she was still an utter ass who thought it gave her free license to be rude to people.
So no, no 'glow'. People tended to defer a bit, but that wasn't from anything they were doing other than claiming to be anointed.
I've known three. Two genuine Christian men. One a complete front loop who ended up getting the book thrown at him during a custody hearing. The judge was not happy with his brand of raving lunacy. He represented himself. He was thought to have been a replacement for one of the annointed who fell away.
The oldest of the three was a colporter back in the day. He treated his non-anointed wife with great love and respect, even stating that the society needed to show more respect toward women. I regularly sat in on a study he conducted with a woman in his later life-- not the norm, I know. She did get baptized, but was later disfellowshipped for wickedness. It seems she had over 12 (I think 13) lifesaving blood transfusions and was not repentant. She would not sign a letter stating it was a moment of weakness and that she wouldn't do it again. One day the crows were particularly loud and annoying and disrupted their study. He believed Satan sent them to interfere. He died with late-stage dementia. He was well-loved.
I didn't now the third well, but worked with him in the ministry. He was a true believer and a company man through and through.
I've known 3. One (would be in his 80s now) was a reasonably intelligent guy, but really self righteous. The next (would be late 60s) was really self centered, and was considered by the rest of the elders to be an idiot. He thought a lot of himself, but definitely wasn't all there.
The third is a kid that'd be maybe 26 now. Total moron, one of those people that would have no value without the cult. He pioneered and started partaking at like 19. Complete buffoon, this kid. Again, he thought an awful lot of himself. I think that's the common theme.
I knew an elderly sister. She was nice enough but she cursed like a sailor. Didn't attend many meetings either. It was attested to her age.
Close relative. 60 something. In the early stages of alzheimers. Quite judgmental and somewhat negative.
It was mentioned that they did not see themselves on a paradise earth but we're observing it otherworldly (from heaven?). That's how they knew they were annointed.
I've known several through the years. ALL were on some kind of psychotropic meds for some kind of mental illness. A couple of them would make Steven Lett look "normal".
Doc
