when i was an elder, most of the elders were pretty independent 40 to 80 year olds.
they had no issue speaking up to the circuit overseer.
i wonder what the average elder is like now.
"I see few young (sub 50) elders these days"
I guess it depends on where you are. In my cong there are 10 and all but 3 are in 50+ many congs in the curcuit are like that. I would imagine most of the congs in Florida are in the 65+ elders category.
Elders today vary. Some are company (yes) men through and through and some do still mouth off to the CO.
let's pause a moment and consider the actual history of the watchtower society.. until his death, pastor c.t.russell was the driving force behind the publication of the watchtower.
russell controlled it and made provisions in his will for what would happen to the watchtower in the event of his death.
russell's writings, theology, teachings, predictions and intentions were attractive to those who joined his bible students movement.. fred franz signed on as a baptised adherent of russellism in 1913 because he was strongly attracted and persuaded by russell's message.. franz knew russell for three years until the pastor's death in 1916.. franz was ambitious to become a presbyterian minister.
Interesting post. You seem to be correct and since 1992 (when Franz died) the remaining GB have been scrambling to deal with all his theological b/s. The new GB aka F&D Slave have been making so many drastic changes lately. Something has to crack eventually. I really wish there would be a mass exodus of JWs. I'd join them
based on your experience of judicial committees, how would you advise someone who is due to meet with the elders and has asked for the best way to avoid being disfellowshipped?
is denying everything ever a successful strategy?
does addressing a letter to the elders threatening legal action if they disfellowship ever work?
exactly what everyone said, repentance. and don't ever say that you feel bad you got caught, or for yourself. Always say that you let Jehovah down and you feel so guilty about it.
it's a well known phenomenon i've observed from jwn, my own cos. a new co we had once who was fresh from being a normal elder and after a couple of visits he said, "well i've finally become a true co...i now have food intolerances.".
i mean, only once did my husband and i ever have a co around for dinner and they couldn't eat this, he couldn't eat that, she couldn't eat this...it was so hard to cook something with none of the zillions of things they were 'allergic' to.. and then after all that the wife couldn't come anyway because she had a naturopath appointment or something.. why do all co's seem to have weird dietary problems?.
.
Its all bullshit, they act like diva's because they can because the brothers want to be servants or elders and if you're already an elder then they want assembly or convention parts. The CO's know that they can ask for this, not eat that, etc. because they know that these brothers want to rim their asses
a recent thread about this week's study of the watch tower society's god's word for us through jeremiah led me to decide to review how much of the bible book of jeremiah is actually considered in that publication.. unlike other watch tower society verse-by-verse considerations of some bible books, their jeremiah book instead purports to impart lessons 'for us'.
key scriptures in jeremiah contradict jw doctrine, so a verse-by-verse approach was out of the question, probably having learned from their daniel and isaiah efforts that expose problems with jw interpretations.. one good feature of the watchtower library on cd-rom is you can search for a scripture, then find all the search occurences for where that scripture has been cited in jw publications, which made the process much easier.. in god's word for us through jeremiah, much of the bible book of jeremiah is ignored altogether.
in fact, less than half of the bible book is mentioned at all, and only 16% of jeremiah is actually quoted (including portions with the instruction to "read" the cited verses.
nice chart. that book is really one of their worst pieces of sh*t that they've published. I mean WTF does not going to college have to do with Jeremiah??!
i believe most witnesses believe that there is nothing new in their religion....would you agree with them?.
Yes in many ways. No urgency anymore, people generally do think more for themselves. Less respect for elders, CO's, etc. Of course there are and always will be zealots but generally people really don't give a shit as much as they used to. However if you become apostate they will turn on you in a second. There is still fear of shunning and loss of family. I guess more and more JW's like to live on the edge but ultimately will shun.
the whole jeremiah book is an abomination, but a point in this week's study exceeded even its usual standards of inanity.. from page 144, paragraph 10:.
in our day, god continues to show loving-kindness in ways that directly benefit his worshippers.
consider the matter of prayer.
I agree the Jeremiah book is a complete abomination. Its full of opinions not backed by scripture, its one of the worst publications they've ever put out.
i don't get it.
(and i don't care about america's "royalty" either)..
nope
just curious as to who on here still regularly attends meetings and goes out in service?
as i sit at the district convention i can't help but think who else out in the crowd is just like me.
doesn't believe what they hear, but are still here..
I do both and am currently serving as an elder. I pretty much go to meetings and just look at the speaker, pretend that I am listening. I comment once during each meeting so as not to cause suspicion. I also take every chance I get not to go, fake illnesses or working late but that has to be limited.
As for ministry I also try to "fake it" as much as possible. Fortunately my wife is on board because she doesn't like the ministry so we tend to work as a family, do a couple calls, go to Dunkin Donuts and go home.
The most difficult part for me is to sit in elders meetings... OMG they are so power hungry, egotistical, and controlling. I have to drift off to a different place so I dont freak out and blurt something "apostate" out.
I have not chosen an easy path, I am slowly working on my wife for an exit in the hopefully near future.
the meetings are getting more boring to me.
some of the elders during their parts just talk and talk and talk about uninteresting things.
boring, boring.
Weird in many of the congregations in my area the elder bodies are pretty young. Many ranging in age from late 20's-80's. I see not too many MS's compared to back in the 80's and 90's. I guess it all depends on where you live.
