HoChiMin, Thanks for sharing that experience. Those elders probably never knew what hit them ,huh?.....I see that MOST elders feel VALIDATION because they are elders. If they worked in a factory or delivered pizza as a pizza boy, at NIGHT they were THE men. Pretty powerful stuff for janitors!
What Was Your General Impression of Elders?
by minimus 40 Replies latest jw friends
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Fleur
When I was young I was terrified of them, Of course they were men. I was terrified of all men thanks to my dad then. All men except my grandfather, who ironically was an elder but never inspired fear of any kind, oh, well except that of disappointing him. I would rather have died than see disappointment in that mans eyes.
The general elder population? I just realized that they were clueless as to what it was like to be a woman in the organization. Just totally clueless.
Some were superior in attitude. Super-fine some used to say. But mostly, I realized when I left that there were two sorts: the sort that are pompous and company men; and those who are tortured, lose sleep over what they see, and a lot of them I know now, eventually end up here.
Some are just good guys trying desperately to justify what they see. They have a long way to fall and a rough landing when they get there :(
essie
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Incense_and_Peppermints
if you post a link to the actual, entire "Kingdom Ministry School Textbook", is that copyright infringement? it says "No copies are to be made of any part of this publication.", but it doesn't say anything about posting a link to it. i just happened to stumble across it in my travels...
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minimus
Incense, I don't think you can do that.
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Badger
My Impression of the Elders: I'd do a really bad combover and scowl at anything that wasn't my own voice.
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minimus
That was a 70's elder. Today's elder is completely bald.
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Incense_and_Peppermints
Incense, I don't think you can do that.
rats. thanks, though.
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kwintestal
Most seemed very selfish.
Kwin
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eyeslice
My experience is that as individuals, most are kindly family men. However, the dogmatic rule enforcers always rise to the top positions, e.g. PO, SO, etc. Also, with elders meetings there is a sort of herd mentality, allowing unquestioning obedience to the rules to override feelings of compassion for fellow imperfect humans.
Eyeslice
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minimus
When an elder was not a dogmatic enforcer, congregration members felt they were in a "liberal" Hall.