Did You Ever Have a GOOD Body of Elders?

by Warlock 16 Replies latest jw friends

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  Warlock

  When I came into the Org. in the early 1980's, we had a good body of elders. They took the lead and cared for the sheep.

  The oldest was in his mid- 70's, had a sharp mind, great sense of humor and was just plain cool.

  The second oldest was in his late 60's and he tended to give the benefit of the doubt to those who would go to him with their problems. He once told me that if someone had committed fornication for the first time, forgivness should be extended to that one, but the second time showed lack of repentance. He even brought us groceries once when I was out of a job.

  As time went along, some elders were added, some moved away, but basically the size of the body was 4-7. Most of those that came and went were also good men. You could go to them, and not hear your problem being whispered about in the Cong. the next week.

  They cared and I remember the Cong. as a happy place.

  This lasted for about 6-7 years and slowly everything started to deteriorate.

  If those early BOE's were still around, I probably wouldn't be posting here.

  Did anyone else experience what it was like to have good, caring, competent men taking the lead?

  Warlock
• 

  AuldSoul

  Yeah. In the Worthington, Ohio congregation. Those guys really seemed to care about every single person in the congregation. They seemed to get along well with each other, too. And you didn't hear about the reasons why anyone was disfellowshipped or reproved (amazingly).

  There were a couple of dim bulbs on the body, but even they cared a lot about other people. A missed book study meant several calls, a prolonged illness prompted a home visit by several of the elders and friends.

  But that was definitely the exception as congregations went. I have been in many and NEVER had that experience before or since. And still, those elders were pinched between the Pay Attention book and their own consciences.

  Respectfully,
  AuldSoul
• 

  Emma

  Yes, most of mine were sincere men who tried to do good. The big exception is Lock Haven Pa back in the 70s. That's when the body of elders came into exhistance. He had been a bethelite but decided to get married. He ran the cong until the boe arrangement; didn't take it too well that he had to share the power.
• 

  under_believer

  Never had a BOE that was completely 100% good, but I did have one, in the late 80's/early 90's where 7 out of 9 guys were good. That's a pretty good ratio (better than any body since).
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  minimus

  I'll put it this way, we were sincere men, totally misguided and authoritarian. But we did what we did because we honestly believed we were fulfilling Jehovah's will.
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  asleif_dufansdottir

  When we started there were 3 elders in our hall and I think for a long time all we had was that and 1 ms! Then we went down to 2 elders! The PO was a bully and a jerk but the others were nice, compassionate, caring men, as individuals. The PO ran roughshod over them and everybody else, which negated anything the other 2 tried to do as loving men.
• 

  undercover

  I've seen good bodies of elders, at least where the good elders outnumbered the bad ones. Every body of elders that I can think of that I've known personally has had at least one asshole on it. But each one also had at least one really good guy on it.

  Like red dot said, most elders are sincere, just misguided. What's bad is when you throw in a power hungry guy in the mix and he soon starts throwing his weight around and the good, sincere elders usually just bend to his will.

  More than once, I've seen good bodies go bad when one or two jerk elders made a power play to take over control. It can get pretty ugly.
• 

  Warlock

  These men were not so much the authoritarian type, even though they had authority in the Cong.

  They were more the "Fatherly" type.

  They didn't rule the Cong. with an "iron fist", they lead it by example. If you had, or knew of someone who had a father that was firm, by the rules, but fair, or maybe sometimes, more than fair, that was pretty much the way they were.

  We never had special needs talks about something stupid, like sisters not wearing panty hose. We even skipped field service on Jan. 1st. one year, so we wouldn't disturb the neighborhood. Of course that only happened one year, but it happened.

  Warlock
• 

  rassillon

  My current congregation had a good body until one of the elder's son was "appointed" he is an asshole. I have had several run-ins with him. He no longer bothers me since he has learned that I would stand up to him and press the issue if he wanted to bully me. He suffers from short man sysnrome. On the other hand there was one particular elder who took me in when I was young and is like a father to me. Nicest most reasonable person I have ever met. Big reason I didn't tell all the other brothers they were number one and leave when I was in my early 20's. Well I got off topic, sorta, sorry.
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  Irreverent

  No matter what the short term appearance is, they all turn out being bad!!!