Isn't nepotism and bias the main reason men are recommended for Eldership?

by RULES & REGULATIONS 16 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  RULES & REGULATIONS

  To be recommended for Eldership you must first show yourself worthy through works, such as meeting attendance and participation, field service hours and having the "right attitude" (meaning they are organization men). Many MS will become elder's shadows, in hopes to be recommended by them for Eldership.

  Nepotism and bias runs in my congregation.We have 4 Elders who are all related. The oldest Elder recommended his son and son-in-law for Eldership years ago and all were chosen. Now his granddaughter's husband has just been chosen.( So much for the holy sprit doing the choosing!)

  Were Elders in your congregation biased as to who would be recommended for Eldership? Were you or anyone in your family passed up because of nepotism or bias?
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  JK666

  You forgot A$$ kissing.

  JK
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  OnTheWayOut

  Were Elders in your congregation biased as to who would be recommended for Eldership? Were you or anyone in your family passed up because of nepotism or bias?

  The elders in one hall I was first appointed at, they were biased. I didn't have any relatives there, but
  anyone who studied with Brother Overrighteous (like me) had an easy shot at MS, and if he kept his
  nose close enough to the BOE's a$$'s he could make elder. It happened to two of us while I was there.

  There were some other elders' boys who easily made MS, but got into trouble and could not make elder.
  I even remember one judicial matter where 2 committees were formed to handle 2 different people. The
  senior elders bullied their way onto the 2nd committee, but stayed off the first as it was the P.O.'s son.
  I and a couple of junior elders took that case. We met right away with the guy and realized the two cases
  were intertwined. We figured that was the reason the senior elders got onto the other committee, so they
  could make sure of the outcome. We seized the bull by the horns and asked our C.O. if it was proper for
  us to take over the 2nd case since testimony we already heard was needed in that case. He said it was
  imperitive that the same committee handle both cases.

  Brother Overrighteous was outraged. He wanted to help his buddy (the P.O.) and make sure his son's
  girlfriend stayed out of trouble, and he wanted to get all the juicy gossip on what happened. We adamently
  refused to allow him to get on the committee, as the first one already started it's procedures and would finish
  all cases involved. The P.O. had to allow us to do that.

  Anyway, nobody was DF'ed. They were all reproved and privileges were lifted. We never shared the details
  with the other elders, just the results. We really stuck it to our BOE, and I was surprised that I was
  recommended as an elder when I moved. I didn't mean to ramble off the subject, but you reminded me of that.
  The boy never really did anything for the JW's after that. He was never DF'ed that I know of, but just drifted away
  after that. I could imagine that he would have been DF'ed if he weren't the P.O.'s son, but he knew all the
  right stuff to tell us at the time.
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  sspo

  Not where i came from, we try to stick to the scriptures no matter who was being discussed.
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  Inquisitor

  Not really. Well, not always.

  The congregation that I grew up in initially had a shortage of penises. So they appointed any "decent" brother they could get. "Decent" meant sexual prudishness, vanilla fashion sense and little teaching/thinking ability. It was difficult to respect them even then, as a believer.

  So in that congregation and in those years, there wasn't yet a problem with cliques of men doing favours for their buddies. Male publishers climb the ranks quickly if there is little membership in the patriarchy. As my congregation grew and split, some power-hungry young brothers moved to small congregations with little male competition. They understood the system. They were playing with the formula. And it worked.

  INQ
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  momzcrazy

  I know of one example of this. I knew a man in Utah who was very qualified and was reaching out. When we moved to TN, he came to visit and zap! fell for one of the golden women in the hall. From the prominent family, pioneer despite her PO husband leaving her for his secretary. Very sweet woman, BTW. They married and within a year he was a servant, and en elder very soon after. They are now pioneering together and go to international conventions.

  momz
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  AK - Jeff

  Most of the elders that I know had to purchase "Acme Industrial Strength Nose Cleaner" after appointment, in order to clean the brown residue left by having a nose too close to an ass all the time. Some of them had broken noses due to the CO or PO making a fast turn while the nose was still in residence in the ass-crack.

  All freshly appointed elders get this simple award for in the study:

  

  Those that persist for years, can achieve the Brown Nose Trophy of Excellence for the mantle:

  

  And there there is the Lifetime Achievement Award for long-in-the-tooth kiss-ups:

  

  This can be added to any tombstone for a small fee, so that you can be eternally recognised for your talents in this area.

  Jeff
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  wifekeepsmeinit

  Seems to be with our congregation that all of our Elders have money. They have nice houses, cars and material things.

  I think they put the idea out there; "if you say your prayers and be a good boy, you gonna have money and be an Elder." That seems to be the case with just about every congregation I have been in.

  Of course sometimes there is one truely zealous Elder, with no money, but that's rare.
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  wha happened?

  Nepotism absolutely. I seen young brothers over the years move up the ladder much quicker than a well qualified brother who is not related to anyone on the body. I was commenting about this to a friend of mine when I heard that a young brother in his mid 20's was appointed an elder. One particular case that comes to mind was the son-in-law of a elder who was appointed and became the school overseer. This newly appointed brother could hardly give a talk and now he's counseling others. I remember staring in disbelief as it took him several tried to barely spit out a sentence while counseling a sister on her speech qualities. Speaking clearly etc etc. Not only was he unable to complete a sentence, his verbiage was awful. "When you, uh talk, you must uh, er, talk good"
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  willyloman

  The "quality" of its elders is one of the JW's dirty little secrets. They dont like to talk about it, and criticism is not only discouraged - it is portrayed as immature or unspiritual.

  Privately, however, the "quality" factor is an issue in most of the congos I have been in (which was five but I was a dub for 30 years, very active in the circuit and familiar with many more congos and their BOE makeup). Stories are being posted here now, and I go on an on about the human pond scum that floats to the top in some congos.

  To your question: Elders are supposed to be recommended based upon the "scriptural qualifications" found in 1 Timothy, and these are normally reviewed line by line. In practice, it comes down to biased men expressing their opinion on whether so-and-so is "qualified to teach," for example, or whatever other point is being discussed. What looks like "qualified to teach" to me may look like a really poor choice to you, and vice versa.

  Often the body is split on the decision, so for harmony's sake a compromise is hammered out. The group starts out to find a guy who meets "all" of the qualifications listed, and often settles for "most." If the guy under consideration is well-liked and connected to the right in-crowd, "most" is good enough... and "most" is also flexible. If he's not well liked, he's gotta have "all" or there's no way he'll be recommended. At least not "this time," which is an "out" often exercised by elder bodies. As in, "Well, he's probably not ready this time, but let's keep an eye on him for six more months and see." The CO visit is every six months, so this means he won't be recommended now but "may" be recommended in six months. Or a year. Or never.

  Many "good" potential elders have been frustrated by this process. Others smell the coffee and attached themselves to the in-crowd to improve their chances on the next go-around, often after being counseled/invited to do by a self-appointed "sponsor" (unofficial title) on the body.

  So, yes, there is a lot of behind the scenes maneuvering that goes into the process. Nepotism plays a very big role, particularly in small congos (it's much easier to waive or soften up the "qualifications" if the congo doesn't have many elders and "needs" more). Friendships are key. And fitting in is highly critical; some congos are "run" by two or three charismatic elders who wield all the power, and they often set standards for eldership that are above and beyond, or beside, the so-called scriptural qualifications. If you don't measure up to what they want in a co-elder, you won't be appointed. Many elder-wanna-be's change congos because of it.