by FrankWTower 29 Replies latest watchtower bible
I can almost guarantee that 3 to 4 of them are nearly useless. You have guys who never really should have been appointed but it would be too upsetting to remove them. You have guys who are elders but don't want any real responsibility. You have guys who are too old and sick to accomplish much of anything.
AMEN! Brother!
The current qualifications for MS are (beyond the biblical):Can you fog a mirror?
At what point will people start confusing JW elders with Mormon elders?
Inquiring minds want to know.
After all the years of sacrifice and putting up with crap, one becomes an "Elder."
Translation: "Elder=Watchtower toady and yes-man."
Translation: "sucker: you will be worked into your grave and forgotten faster than the last 80 year-old dub pioneer of 60 years "failthful service" we buried last week, fool."
I mean this.
Farkel
@ farkel: LOL so true
You have guys who never really should have been appointed but it would be too upsetting to remove them. You have guys who are elders but don't want any real responsibility. You have guys who are too old and sick to accomplish much of anything.
Say, since when have you been attending our congregation?
No Sir82 - he's describing my congregation!
"Can you fog a mirror?" ROFLMAO!
As some of the other posters have said , the issue isn't just quantity - it is quality.
Just as 12 year old children can now get baptised , so COs (following direction from the WTBTS) are leaning on BOE to appoint brothers as ms or elders who would never have been appointed years ago.
I know a 19 year old kid who was recently appointed as a MS - he is essentially just a layabout who plays computer games all the time but because he goes out in the ministry mid-week he is perceived as a "spiritual man". Another was a 50 year old guy who has been brain damaged from a life of drink & drugs before becoming a JW. 10 years ago there is no way these would have been appointed - they wouldn't even have been considered. I know that some of the elders in these congregations were against these appointments but were outvoted.
The statistic that worldwide the number of elders has for the first time overtaken the number of MS may be plausible when you consider that in developing countries where JWs are still growing the MS to elder ratio is more likely to be weighted toward MS.
Good point, Slim. I only know the USA, where I have never seen a congregation with more MS than elders. Ever. In over 40 years.
But in some other lands where the ONLY elder might be the Gilead missionary that was sent there, there could be a 3 or 4 to 1 ratio in the other direction.
My apologies for being US-centric.
Most congregations have more former elders and ms than serving ones. Why? They are burned out, some are unqualified, smarter and won't play the game. That is all it is - a game - look at me I am a big shot. Many of the former servants and elders are more loving, helpful and more qualified than the serving ones. The job is a thankless, political brown nosing system. Interesting that Jesus never mentioned elders, servants or any titles. It was only when Paul entered the scene and the Pharisee methods began to be applied to true Christianity. Do research on "gifts in men" - it is really "gifts of men" taken from Psalms. Even the Interliner shows this and the NW makes it seem that positions are the gifts. A total mis-representation. We are all equal disciples of Christ - nothing more and nothing less.
