Styxx immediately damns Jeff for his "shallow motivations" in wanting to serve as an elder and for his abuses of power in that position. Styxx also sites his own "pure motives" for becoming a JW and his suffering at the hands of the evil power hungry elders.
It just ain't that black and white Styxx.
Some elders are good, well meaning men who sacrificed much to do the best job they could for the congregation, spending many hours trying to turn silk purses out of sow's ears with the material they were given to present to the congregation, did their utmost to treat people with kindness and understanding and to act as a buffer between those elders who tended to be bullies and the publishers. My husband was one of those. You will never understand the sacrifices made and calories spent unselfishly serving the congregation by those who were sincere.
There are also those elders who are the type that when they get a badge, they want to "clean up dodge" and cause much damage with their judgmental, unmerciful and pharisaical attitude toward the "flock". They are usually the ones who are not very bright, are not good teachers and tend to resort to "hellfire and damnation" in their talks, because that is their view of the greater unwashed and of God.
The former elders who post here well understand the mistakes they made as elders. They understand that many of the decisions they made were detrimental to individuals involved and they are sorry. That is why they left.
They were following a rule book written by nine old men in Brooklyn. My guess is that some of these men are just uncaring about the rank and file and their main motivation is the protection of their corporation. Others on the GB just don't have a clue about life in the real world, they may want to change things but cower in fear of the more dominant personalities on the GB.
But hey Styxx, since you are the only one with "pure motives", please feel free to throw the first stone.
Btw, where is Styxx?