Is the Patterson Elder School Info. Public Knowledge?

by neverendingjourney 18 Replies latest jw experiences

  • Octarine Prince
    Octarine Prince

    I thought today that if they tried to ask for me to come in, I would send them the message that I am not interested in coming to speak with them.

    They would say something like "What? You aren't interested in Jehovah?" I would answer that I am not interested in speaking with them.

    I will let them scrape together whatever they want to from that statement. I am admitting NOTHING.

  • garybuss
    garybuss

    Any question an elder asks, just say "I agree with the Watchtower on that.". If they ask which Watchtower, just ask: "What, don't you read the Watchtower?".

    That usually stops them cold.

    If they push, just ask them why they are pushing you about reading the Watchtower. I go this way because I know they don't read the Watchtower and I push them till they admit it. I've had elders confess to me that they don't keep up with publications and beg for MY forgiveness. Talk about flipping a meeting:-)

    I go into any meeting prepared and aggressive. I try to stay away from Batman and Robin teams. One on one is better. I can do a team but it takes forever . . . like 3 hours. One on one only takes about one hour. Debating a Witness is like going into a duel against an unarmed man. They have no defenses, just tricks. I hand them their tricks back in pieces.

    I love to do the slow burn when I know they have women sitting out in the car. I start out with the goody goody stuff and they think they are working magic. They don't know my goal is to get their wives to pee their pants. Once I had a circuit servant's wife and an elder's wife sitting in the car out in my driveway for 3 hours.

    How could anyone not like dealing with the Witnesses? So much fun:-)

  • uninformed
    uninformed

    Gary,

    That was a good one!

    You wrote: " He asked me how I had found out. . . "

    I'da told him, Your wife told me while I was screwin' her back teeth out.

    Brant

  • Ima Apostate
    Ima Apostate

    Do they teach elders how to be bonafide judmental assholes at elder school? I hope they haven't let the standards drop while I've been out of the WS playing and having fun. Because you know, since I've been out it's been nonstop drunken orgies and Satan worshipping, just like they told me would happen.

  • Ima Apostate
    Ima Apostate

    Gary,

    You're hysterical. It's a good thing you don't live down here though. Here in Florida you could kill a wife doing that, since it gets over 120 degrees in a car in about 15 minutes.

    Ima

  • BluesBrother
    BluesBrother

    I dont know if it a U. S thing, but the elders around here do not seem at all keen to chase potential apostates. I have been quite open with my objections to the teachings and they just give me up as a lost cause. I gave someone a copy of a B O E letter that I took from this board. They were silly enough to wave it in front of the elders..who said that it was wrong to have it , but took no action about it

  • yknot
    yknot
    Any question an elder asks, just say "I agree with the Watchtower on that.". If they ask which Watchtower, just ask: "What, don't you read the Watchtower?".

    Oh Gary you are Brilliant!

    That is the JW version of John Malkovich's "It is beyond by control" quote in Dangerous Liaison.

  • james_woods
    james_woods
    I dont know if it a U. S thing, but the elders around here do not seem at all keen to chase potential apostates. I have been quite open with my objections to the teachings and they just give me up as a lost cause. I gave someone a copy of a B O E letter that I took from this board. They were silly enough to wave it in front of the elders..who said that it was wrong to have it , but took no action about it

    I found the same thing. When the big Franz 1975 - 1980 apostacy happened, there were at least 40 to 50 people in Oklahoma City area who either quit outright, faded, or resigned. I think that out of them all only three or four of us were actually officially disfellowshipped or read off as "no longer a JW". In my own case they waited at least a year and a half, as if they did not know what to do. Then they completely let my sister and her husband, my mom and my dad, and my ex-wife go scott free. Marion Dunlap was also disfellowshipped, but again they waited for months - even longer than they took to get around to me. Other extended witness families - the Rooses, some of the Silvers, many of the Dawsons, and others were simply ignored. I have always believed that the local elders feared that they would only accentuate the large number of people who left - actually about half to three-quarters of one of the small congregations of the day - if they had gone through the act of reading all the names aloud.

  • neverendingjourney
    neverendingjourney
    the elders around here do not seem at all keen to chase potential apostates

    I think it depends on the elder body. This particular body pretty much follows lockstep with whatever the P.O. wants to do. I got to know him pretty well over the years and I know his philosophy on this kind of thing. His basic understanding is that as long as the inactive JW does not attend meetings or otherwise socialize with the congregation, the elder body does not have the responsibility of going after the inactive JW, even if they are aware of specific instances of "wrongdoing."

    However, if the inactive JW returns to meetings or beings to socialize with the congregation, then, in order to "protect" the congregation, the elder body must investigate and take disciplinary action. In other words, if you leave the congregation alone, the congregation will leave you alone. So, yes, I think I will be left alone, in fact, I'm certain I will now that it's clear that the Patterson info. is public knowledge.

    One of the neighboring congregations, however, has an entirely different take on it. The domineering elder in that congregation thinks it's his personal duty to investigate every baptized member living within their territory, regardless of how long they've been inactive. He'll go to the ends of the Earth to dig up info. about people, if that's what's required. Like most disciplinary matters, the philosphy of the particular elder body plays a huge role.

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit