Posts by cantleave

51

Everything About Being An Elder is Weird (my misc rambling memories of being an elder)

by AllTimeJeff in

for any brother who is a jehovah's witness, the goal is put before them to reach out for the privilege of being an elder.

i can only speak for myself, but being born into the religion, i wanted to be an elder since i was 5. i would have much rather wanted to be a doctor or engineer, but those are the breaks..... i'll skip the part about what it takes to reach out, all the crap you have to put up with as a ministerial servant to get appointed, and go straight to the reality.. i know many elders who sincerely just wanted to be shepherds.

i did want the spotlight.

cantleave

Nice post. I never had ambitions to be an Elder but was flattered when I was appointed and thought it would give me an opportunity to help the sheep. My first Elders meeting was an eye opener, I was appointed the SO role, after the previous one decided he didn't want to it because it was putting too many miles on his car. The reasons the body felt I would be appropriate was because I had Auxillary Pioneered quite regularly and my wife and I enjoyed the service. I say "enjoyed" the service, the truth is we enjoyed walking in the countryside and we had loads of "calls" who were never going to progress but they would invite us in and provide tea and cakes.

Also at that meeting there was a heated debate about an ongoing JC involving an extremely charming character who had obviously been able to divide the body straight down the middle about a very serious allegation. There didn't seem to be any spirit of cooperation and the stronger personalities always seemed to run out. My feeling was that board meetings were better run and less confrontational. I saw nothing that indicated the operation of Holy spirit.

I will say that since then there have been some very constructive meetings, and some good decisions have been made, but these have been overshadowed by power struggles, campaigning among fellow elders and blatent displays of nepotism, (completely against the direction of unit 4a of the "Pay Attention" book).

2

Does anyone here remember a guy................

by cantleave in

jw
friends

just been the the thread about co'd and do's i started thinking about people who seemed to have vanished off the scene.

i recall a guy, i think he was originally from canada and then move to the uk, called lawton york, does anyone remember him or what happened to him?

i was friendly with his son graham, would love to get back in touch..

cantleave

Just been the the thread about CO'd and DO's I started thinking about people who seemed to have vanished off the scene. I recall a guy, I think he was originally from Canada and then move to the UK, called Lawton York, does anyone remember him or what happened to him? I was friendly with his son Graham, would love to get back in touch.

87

Circuit & District Overseers That Made An Impact

by minimus in

jw
friends

we have a lot of new ones on this site as well as some who have been here for years----i know this subject has been brought up before, but were there any memorable cos or dos that you can recall?.

co arnie scneider was my last co when i was an elder.

he was a very sweet man..

cantleave

John Blaney in the UK. He was the best!!!!

81

An Elder wrote anomously...

by Butterflyleia85 in

jw
friends

i realize as an elder that i am speaking out against the very organization i try to faithfully represent, but i personally think that the governing body is wrong by teaching that only what they teach us, as printed in the watchtower publications, should be considered to be the truth.

theyve made the expression of any personal opinions or group debates over their official versions of biblical truths subject to disciplinary action often leading to someone being disfellowshipped.. .

that is why i feel that i must keep my own identity somewhat anonymous.

cantleave

Just a note on spelling and grammar. Whenever I post, I am doing so secretly. I don't want my wife to know what I am doing or the people I work with (who are primarily witneses). I have take write quickly and furtively. This means I do not have time to check for spelling mistakes and ommissions. My responses to other posts are usually very reactive and quickly formulated.

This doesn't not mean I am an ""8 year old hillibille". I have 2 degrees and I am managing director of my own company. I would therefore, consider myself quite well educated. I will admit my typing skills are appalling but, I have never needed to learn how to type, afterall that is what personal assistants are for.

I often read my posts retrospectively and cringe at the mistakes, but I hope that people look beyond the grammatical errors and try to make sense of what I am trying to convey.

I will however, apologise if my spelling, syntax or sentence structure has resulted in anyone being put off from reading my posts.

121

November 15 Watchtower (Study Edition) - discourages showing affection to your spouse

by CrazyBlonde in

jw
friends

another gem from the same edition - article to be studied december 28 - january 3 (which most will miss lol coz of summer vacation) entitled "what do your prayers say about you?

" page 6 para 19 reads:.

19 when we are being represented in public prayer, we need to display reverential "fear of god.

cantleave

Showed this article to my wife. "You're reading too much into It" she said. "They are not saying you can hold hands but refering to the custom found in evengelical type churches where everyone links hold hands as a symbol of unity. It is saying marriage mates may discreetly hold hands."

61

If you pray, do you say 'Jehovah'...?

by wantstoleave in

just wondering of those that pray and who have left the organisation, do you still address god as jehovah?.

i think i'm currently in that awkward stage where i'm neither in or out, yet don't feel i should even address, or have the right, to talk to god (jehovah) until i decide where i sit.

so i'm wondering if it's hypocritical to pray and use his name.

cantleave

Only my parents and sister are JW's but I am at their house everyday, spend alot of time with them. They watch my kids while I work. We go out together. We are all each other have.

It is alway going to be a long a painful process in this situation, unless you lose everything and everyone around you. At least we now know we are not alone, so many others on here have been through this.

As for me I have stopped praying altogether. I don't know if there is a God, the one I used to call Jehovah and I built a "relationship" with was a false god, a man made construct, used as a weapon to create guilt in order to scare me into living lie.

48

Did being JW help you cope with death?

by KDubbz in

jw
friends

i was thinking about this today.

i remember when i attended meetings and conventions with my parents when i was growing up, i would run into some jws who said they were able to cope with death of their loved ones better due to the fact that they will be resurrected in the "new world" which gave them hope.

i find this partially true because they were given a false hope of being in the "new world" and seeing their loved ones again.