Old committee notes.

by Gregor 17 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Confession

  The only thing I turned in when I stepped aside as an elder was my "Pay Attention" elders' book. No one asked for anything else.

  Notes were placed inside the manila and kept in congregation files. But during a particularly long, drawn-out judicial committee, the Society had us answer lots of questions about it in writing. I used my computer to type it all up. The final version went in the manila, but the rough draft remained in my meeting bag for a long time.

  By the time I came across it, I was no longer an elder--and for some reason just kept it with all of my Public Talk outlines.
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  Sparkplug

  This post has truly made me sit and think for a bit. Step outside my shoes and see through the help of the posters that there is another side. I am kind of mixed in my feelings over it. It is making my stomach lunge due to all of the sick stuff that I am sure is lying around elders offices over me. Times that I was not at my best, or being written through a condemming eye. It also makes my heart ache for the people who sat in on all these commitees. Perhaps seeing it a million times more clear than I ever did and hating what was happening. So many lives torn and twisted. gives me an insite to the humiliation you that have left that held post and a little bit of empathyfor your mindset with all the demons you may have to wrestle in order to feel peace. May you all find that peace.
• 

  Gregor

  Sparkplug, et al

  You are very insightful. Yes, I can still feel a knot in my stomach when I recall some of those "judicial" matters. We had to 'enforce' things we didn't even understand or agree with. Later, of course, I realized these rulings came from a bunch of institutionalized, oddball, old men, many of whom were jerk-jolly themselves if not outright queer as a three dollar bill. The one that haunts me the most was the young sister with the domineering husband who was vulerable to anyone who could offer her comfort. I KNOW that her overwhelming guilt led to her early death. I have tears again in recollecting it for this post over 25 years later.

  Notes? We never turned in no stinking notes. Most of the elders I served with were semi-illiterate hicks (you know, janitorial service company executives) that didn't take notes. I made my notes right after the meetings. Sometimes we had two or three matters going at once.

  Of course, this experience ultimately led to my rebellion. But it also gave me a lot of empathy for those who are still blindly following the org.

  Thanks for all your understanding.
• 

  xjwms

  Gregor

  WOW

  I felt some of your same hurt... you did the right thing...burning those notes in the grill

  I knew alot of good people, .. familys gone, .. kids messed up ... oh the list goes on and on.
• 

  willyloman

  Why did you still have old committee notes a year after you were disfellowshipped? Aren't they supposed to be collected, one copy put into the packet to Brooklyn if the person is disfellowshipped, and the other copies destroyed?

  The WTS edict on collecting all the notes and putting them in a sealed envelope was a later development that came down from Brooklyn sometime in the 80's. Prior to that, there was no direction on what to do with the notes. I kept mine in a locked file drawer.

  Since that time they are collected by the chairman of the JC after each hearing and returned to each elder if the JC has to meet a second time on the specific case. If not, they are put in a sealed envelope and kept in the congo file. This file is rarely opened, unless a person is DF'd and later comes back and wants in. In that case, the committee that reinstates can look at the file if they feel they need to (but, unless it's the same three buys, good luck deciphering the notes... I know they'd never be able to read mine). The notes are not mailed to Brooklyn.

  Just thought I'd clarify the process for you.
• 

  Bryan

  Nice to have you here Gregor and thanks for your post. Though I was only a servant, I wrote a bit in a journal when I was trying come back after DFing. To read it is so wierd. Very embarrasing and I can't believe I thought that way

  My best,

  Bryan

  Have You Seen My Mother
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  Dune

  She was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and was confiding her problems to an older sister whom she trusted. One day after a couple of glasses of wine, the older sister seduced her into some lesbian acts.

  WOW!!
• 

  RodentBoy

  It's a very great pity that people can allow themselves to be so cowed as to actually think that they have to vet their private sexual practices (particularly between married couples) with any man. You can't really blame the average Elder, however, who is pretty much in the same boat as these people, but the Society has surely been controlled by some fairly and severely perverted individuals, so far as I can tell. A ban on oral sex? What kind of people would ban any intimate act between a married couple? It boggles the mind at times to think of the minutia that occupies the minds of the boys at the top.
  
  My gut instinct is that the real exercise here is simply control. If you can control people's conduct, even private conduct, in small things, then you can demand of them insane sacrifices such as depriving themselves and their loved ones of life-saving medical treatments, or have them shun close friends and family who wander away. I don't think the WTS really gives a damn about whether a married couple partake of oral sex or whether a fourteen year old boy does what every fourteen year old boy since the beginning of time has done. The point here is that they exert control over these private acts, and once they have individuals in that position, then they do indeed have control.