A Crag in the desert ????

by KAYTEE 4 Replies latest jw experiences

  • KAYTEE
    KAYTEE

    In a Watchtower question and answer session a few years ago. Isaiah 32 v 1-3 came up. At that time there was 8 elders in the congregation, this was roughly my answer -

    You have been travelling in the desert for days, you are at death's door, you look down from a high point to see 8 crags in the valley below, you muster up your last ounce of strength to get to these crags and places of refuge, only to find that these crags were just mirages !

    This is what the elders were - mirages, they looked good from a distance but when you got closer they had no substance at all. How easily we can be deceived.

    How many of you found that your "crags in the desert" turned out to be "mirages" ?

    KT

  • fullofdoubtnow
    fullofdoubtnow

    Hi KAYTEE,

    I remember the last public talk Trev gave, and he remembers it as well. At the time, he had made the decision to step down, but decided to fulfil his obligation first. The talk was about the fruitage of the spirit, and he quoted a verse from a poem by T S Eliot, "The Hollow Men", which is his favourite :

    We are the hollow men, we are the stuffed men, Leaning together. Headpieces filled wiith straw. Our dried voices. When we whisper together are quiet and meaningless as wind in dry grass

    The way he applied it was people can seem to be filled with spirituality at the hall, but are really empty vessels, and while they have plenty to say, their actions don't match their words. He asked the question - which are we, hollow, or empty of spirituality or stuffed, filled with the fruitage of the spirit. Years later, he admitted to me that he was really directing his question at the elders, who "looked good", spiritually speaking from a distance, but were nothing much when you really got to know what they were like, just overly - judgemental men who displayed very few of the real fruitages of the spirit. He actually referred to that in his letter of resignation as an ms, so it's not surprising they were on his back afterwards, though he didn't stay long anyway, he'd left the org within a few months of resigning,

    I guess your elders were very much like ours in that respect.

    Linda

  • tijkmo
    tijkmo

    i remember the last assembly i was at...and the c.o. giving a talk that likened everyone to shipwreck victims who are picked out of a raging sea by a boat that welcomes them aboard and wraps them up..and he said that it was foolish and selfish of people not to take help when it was offered.

    well my experience was i was drowning i used up the last of my strength to reach a boat that wasn't looking for me and when i grabbed a trailing rope and pulled myself aboard they threw me back into the water...like an idiot i tried a couple of times more...until i just gave up.

    most days i don't care anymore...but somewhere deep inside me i can't help thinking that jah is gonna want an explanation from them

  • NanaR
    NanaR
    most days i don't care anymore...but somewhere deep inside me i can't help thinking that jah is gonna want an explanation from them

    I don't know what to believe about an afterlife anymore (working on that one), but I do believe in Universal Justice.

    They'll get theirs -- the law of natural consequences will see to it.

    And you are a survivor who is now encouraging others who are struggling.

    Good for you!!

    (Love the avatar :-)

    In response to the original question, the only elder I ever found the least bit comforting was an old gentleman who is now an apostate. Guess he couldn't stand hanging out with the other hypocrites.

    *smiles*

    NanaR

  • LongHairGal
    LongHairGal

    In my experience it seems that the elders aren't really all they are cracked up to be. Maybe one or two here and there have some wisdom (which they probably would have whether they were a JW or not). I always wondered if too much was expected of them. I guess with their responsibilities at the hall and making their time and doing talks and other "business" there isn't much left for anybody else, unless you are in the right clique. I guess then you would have to wait for a "shepherding call" unless it is an emergency.

    I guess the best you could hope for is that they do no harm.


    LHG

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