Did you Have One " Power Controlling " Elder in your Congregations ?

by flipper 21 Replies latest jw friends

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  flipper

  I believe many congregations had one, if not 90 % of the congregations I attended. There seemed to ALWAYS be one elder that dominated over the other elders and incredibly - in spite of the arrangement being called a " body of elders " many times it seemed that one elder would arise and take control over the other elders. The other elders would roll over and bow essentially to these power elders. Granted there were " presiding overseers " true- but when the body of elders arrangement first came into play in 1972 - for a few years the presiding overseer would rotate with each year giving other brothers the chance to share the load of the P.O. responsibilities. This, in my opinion, kept one man from dominating and seizing ultimate power and control over the other elders. I'm not sure what year they STOPPED the rotating P.O. position, but after they stopped it - it created a situation where one man would be the presiding overseer and he STAYED presiding overseer . I think this led some to look to this one man as " the leader " to run things. And it led to an abuse of power.

  At least it appeared that way in the congregations I was in. I saw a lot of abuse of power by not only P.O.'s but other prominent elders committing injustice by appointing only their friends to elders or MS positions. In doing this they really were emulating the example of the WT society . If you read " Crisis of Conscience " Ray Franz mentions that not only C.T. Russell, but Rutherford and Knorr both had dominant control over what was done for years in the organization. And it WAS NOT a govrning body in ANY sense of the word for many years. Not until 1975 did the governing body finally take a vote to share some of the power and you know which men were the only 2 GB members to vote against the share of power ? Nathan Knorr and Fred Franz - the then president and vice president of the WT society. Go figure.

  So the point I'm making is the elders who dominate others in congrgations, whether wittingly, or unknowingly are really just imitating what they've learned from the topdogs in the WT society. The abuse of power permeates from the top of the WT organization down to and through the congregation levels to the elders. Then JW men abuse their power towards wives who frustrated take it out on JW children. Just a theory I have. So what experiences did you notice with " top dog " elders dominating other elders or even publishers in the congregations ? I look forward to your comments ! Peace out to all, Mr. Flipper
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  Balsam

  I know the one congregation I was in a very controlling JW Elder came and in took over. The others tried to discreetly resist this A-hole but the man run all over everyone. I recall when the Elder moved to Virginia there was a huge sigh of relieve by all of the congregation. He would listen to no one at all and he was the only one right. Good lord I would love to give out this A-Hole's name and will if anyone wants to know because he is a real peace of work and lives in Quakertown, PA now. I feel for anyone who must deal with this man, he is one of the arrogant men I've ever known next to my ex-husband.

  Ruth
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  Gayle

  When I graduated high school ('64) and started reg. pioneering, one older brother said we could not take coffee breaks in service. We, previously, had lived in S.D. and we always took breaks there (still counting time). My dad who was normally very strict said to me if your wicked employer gives you breaks and you still get paid for that time, then certainly Jehovah, a loving God, would be okay with you taking a break and still counting your time. We younger ones avoided working with the poor older brother as much as possible. My pioneer buddy, a young fun-loving married sister, would pick me up at 8 am & surprisingly state she would already need a "coke" break, she would always make me laugh. She helped me survive and have some fun a couple years of pioneering.

  Then, after a couple years, another young pioneer girl and I went to where the need was greater in northern California, a very small cong for a couple years. After a while, there were a few young families moving in or started studying. My pioneer partner & I started talking to everyone to have a cong. picnic and maybe a baseball game. They never had those there. The congregation servant (called that then) called us and sternly stated he needed to have a meeting with us after the book study that evening. At the beginning of the study, he re-states ultra-seriously to the whole group that he was having a meeting with Sister Mi.... and Sister Mo..... after the book study. After, he went on how the Society says we cannot have such gatherings as ball games can get so competitive and some congs. have gone so far the develop competitive teams, etc. and teenagers can get together and get into fornication, etc. He brought a Kingdom Ministry for some reference. I tried defending our idea that the cong. was mostly old or of very young families w/young children. And the two teenagers hated each other. He restated he would not allow the picnic, etc. He emphasized he didn't care how it was from where we came from. My pioneer partner cried for hours after but I was so insulted that he had that kind of control. I was amazed that I had been in so many other congs. with gatherings of sorts and there was never a problem.

  Then, my brother got called to Bethel, a couple years later I went also in '69. I didn't think that could ever happen as I was just a single sister. It was clear there that Knorr totally dominated there. Nobody knew who was on the Governing Body, other than for sure Knorr and Franz and maybe/possibly Suiter and maybe Swingle. When I asked who else, I just got shrugs, and looks like maybe wasn't suppose to be any of our business. My brother finished his 4 yrs. in '71 and I married in Oct '73 (Knorr officiated) and we left Bethel June '74 to start a family.

  It all is a lifetime ago now.
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  lancelink

  "At least it appeared that way in the congregations I was in. I saw a lot of abuse of power by not only P.O.'s but other prominent elders committing injustice by appointing only their friends to elders or MS positions ."

  Ah yes,,, the ever popular "good old boys club" It is very much alive and prospering in crystal lake, illinois.

  How else could jeff renfrow be an elder ? For years he tried to move ahead at his old hall and they kept looking past him.

  He moves into cl, become business partners with the po and bam! he becomes an elder almost overnight. And boy did he use the power given to him !

  Support and nurture all the teenage girls, slam down all the teenage males. He had (or is it has) a reputation as a complete pedophile. And he is

  married to a girl who is just about as clueless about reality as he is !
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  BabaYaga

  My family called him "the Godfather" as a very quiet inside joke.

  He carried himself much higher than any of the other poor sods, and he owned a business where many of the other "brothers" worked.
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  EmptyInside

  Well, I don't want to get into too much detail here. But, in one congregation I attended, the presiding overseer pretty much called the shots. He and another brother were always at odds. It caused a lot of problems in the elder body so much that they had to call in brothers from other halls to handle the matter. It resulted in the removal of 4 elders,including the presiding overseer. But, it seems like there has always been problems with the elder body in that congregation, because of a couple of strong personalities. But, before my time, I heard of an occasion where one elder went to punch another one in the face. I don't know how far that went though.
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  Athanasius

  I served on a BOE that had a controlling elder. His brother-in-law was a CO and he had friends back at the Vatican and was always calling the service desk to back him up if an issue arose in which he didn't get his way. All the other elders would give in to him so he got his way most of the time. One time he tried to interfere with a JC on which he didn't serve. I had served on that JC and we had been compassionate in our decision regarding a young couple that had got into trouble with JW rules. He complained that we had been too lenient in our decision and tried to overturn it for a harsh sentence. We stood firm and let the couple off lightly. He complained to the CO but still wasn't able to get his way.

  The last two years I served as an elder our BOE became polarized with him as the reactionary and myself and two other elders as the liberals. The rest of the BOE tended to be moderates who could go either way. Later one of the liberal elders was forced off the BOE. However, after reading Crisis of Conscience, I realized the JW religion was hopeless and resigned from the BOE and faded away.
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  crapola

  Oh yeah, I've posted this story on other threads but it's worth repeating. When my daughter was in a "back room" meeting with the elders this one arrogant ******* told her to show respect to him because when she was talking to him it was like she was talking to Jehovah. I wanted to slap his ugly face. I think that was the beginning of the end of my association with the KH.
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  Gayle

  My roommate at Bethel would speak to me about Knorr, and would call him "the Pope." I would so laugh because he sure was the Boss. She is still there at Bethel 40 years later to my knowledge. She was a funny roommate.
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  finallysomepride

  In the cong i have been most of them were a pain in the ars but i really can't say any were that controlling but then again I might have been blind to it as I didn't really care.