That is terribly sad. Sorry about your friend. It really irks me that people's lives and their serious problems are put into the hands of men who often don't have a clue.
Ridiculous Analogy by a Simpleton Elder (CHOCOLATE CAKE/ALCOHOLISM)
by GetBusyLiving 15 Replies latest jw friends
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foreword
addiction to chocolate....funny...I wonder if he seeked help from other elders or he just kept it secret and managed on his own to rid himself of such an awful addiction......through prayer of course.
Actually the man should sit in the back of the KH and shut up, he hasn't got a clue.
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rebel8
I've heard several (non-jw) people say that to chemically addicted people. It was always in the vain of "just stop it"....as in, "I like cake a lot too but I can control myself, you can control yourself too."
This is one example of a time when a person should refrain from giving advice on a topic they know nothing about. In the case of the elder, he should have known his boundaries and referred this person to a professional rather than playing doctor.
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Elsewhere
"I have an addiction too you know - chocolate cake. I just can't get enough of that stuff!"
<---- Thats all I got to say about that.
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Mary
EvilForce said: I'm betting the elder had good intentions....but this is what happens when you have untrained people doing jobs that should have TRAINED PROFESSIONALS. You don't call in an unlicensed plumber to fix a toilet. You don't have your friend Ted do brain surgery. You don't have your cousin Bill represent you in court.
Bingo. The elders aren't trained for anything outside of what the Borg teaches them and that is a tragedy. If you're obsessive/compulsive, or if you have severe postpartum depression or any other kind of serious depression or addicition, then clearly, professional help/therapy is needed, not more "you need to go to all the meetings and out in Service" therapy which does nothing but make you feel worse. Unfortunately, the Governing Body does not like it's members seeking out professional help, because almost inevitably, the religion will be brought up in the topic of conversation and Witnesses have ended up leaving the Organization as a result which of course denies the GB the power and control it once had over you. It's like an abused wife seeking professional help----her abusive husband doesn't like that idea because he knows that he'll be brought up in the conversation and more than likely, the wife will be encouraged to leave him thus denying him the right to control her.
GBL, your story is tragic but unfortunately, it's not uncommon.
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GetBusyLiving
Thanks for the replies. What was even more disturbing was that he was directly DISCOURAGED from attending an AA group by another elder because it would lead him "out of the truth". F*cking idiots.
GBL