Long Call With Elder: Doesn't Know About "Generations/Overlapping"

by daringhart13 42 Replies latest jw friends

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  daringhart13

  Thanks folks....I'm just still completely floored. He had NO CLUE what I was talking about.....I was reeling off scripture after scripture and he would sit there....he clearly had no grasp of his own Bible.

  I agree with the posts above..... I'm trying to wrap my mind and heart around how much I cared, how much studying I did....only to find out the mass majority do NOTHING.....including fellow elders....which I witnessed all the time. They literally couldn't quote 5 scriptures.

  Its like handing your child or wife over to a doctor that has never read a medical manual and saying ......"...sure, feel free to operate on her"

  He also went on to say that JW's have "never said we are the only ones that will be saved"

  I just started laughing. I couldn't help it..........I just busted out full on laughing at him. I said "why are you going in field service then??"

  For those that put their heart and soul into this religion.....that were passionately loyal........ is it not even more difficult to realize that all of your efforts were wasted on completely ignorant, mind numbing people who could give a rat's ass????????
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  TD

  Interesting phenomenon.

  Ten years after the 1995 change there were still Elders giving the pre '95 explanation and on the opposite end of the spectrum, there were JW's who couldn't even explain the 'New light' saying how appreciative they were and how it was what they had personally thought all along
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  daringhart13

  TD,

  I had to give a Local Needs talk on apostasy after a DFing of a couple in our congregation in 1995 who KNEW it was all wrong. They never returned. They were smart.....

  I asked this same elder on the phone how the Society was planning their rescue efforts. He said "huh?" ....I said ".....well I'm sure they are leaving the 99 sheep to chase the one.......you know, the one who KNEW this "light" was wrong a decade ago and left......now that they have proven they were right.....you're going to go get them all back, right??"

  He says ".......I have to let Jehovah take care of that."

  Then I said "....well even worldly publications print retractions when in error........is the WT planning that?"

  Stone silence.
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  Gayle

  Amazing when the so-called apostates have to inform elders, CO, and all JWs about their "new light" stuff. Sad and funny too.
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  Band on the Run

  Why go deep when it marks you as a troublemaker? During my time with the Witnesses, my father always found buddies who were having politcal problems with the overseer or district overseer. It does not pay to think -- even read WT lit. Does the content truly matter or is it the blind allegiance that is appreciated.

  JWs polyannas are preferred over someone who puts any effort to thiking about it. They don't like thinking at any level.
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  The dumbing down of the organization also includes the dumbing down of elders as WELL as rank & file publishers.

  Of course the elders are dumbed down..............the smarter ones (who could read and think on their own) couldn't take it any longer. DUH?

  Amazing when the so-called apostates have to inform elders, CO, and all JWs about their "new light" stuff.

  Gayle, it's because there are VERY FEW JWs who read the literature as thorough as members here read it. If the GB/bOrg could get the Rank & File to study and read like apostates do................well...........they'd...........well.........they'd probably have more fading and DA than they do now. Come to think of it, that's probably NOT a good idea for them to encourage.
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  willyloman

  They don't like thinking at any level.

  Band said it best. That's so true. Two examples of many I could share:

  Working with a guy in FS in about 1998. Between doors, he complained about how few were out in FS on Saturdays lately, that they seemed to have lost their zeal. I told him others had noticed it too, and attributed it to the "generation change" that appeared in the WT. He gave me a blank look. I explained that with the change in interpretation, the generation was no longer tied to the year 1914 and that the WT explained it refers to any group of people living in the last days. Since that came out, I said, it seems a lot of publishers have lost their sense of urgency and appear to be pacing themselves. He was quiet for a while as we walked. Then he asked when that information came out. He was shocked when I told him it had been 3 years. He said he had never heard this before! This was a fourth generation dub and ministerial servant, whose father and older brothers are all elders.

  Second example: There was a part on blood transfusions on the service meeting and the PO assigned it to a guy who was a poor speaker who never did any research. The PO in my congo knew I was up to date on the WTS' current stance on this topic (because of my secular job at a local hospital), so I was surprised not be be assigned the part. When the speaker delivered it, I sat furious for the entire 20 minutes. All of his information was 15 years old. He didn't mention any of the recent exceptions or developments that had been approved for use by the Society. He gave the wrong impression by 180 degrees on what the latest Watchtower instructions were with regard to blood loss and medical treatment. His theme was along these lines: "No blood. Period. Take blood and Jehovah will kill you." Afterwards, I approached the PO and asked him what we should do about the misinformation that had just been delivered. He just looked at me and said, "I thought he did okay." I said, "Everything he said from the minute he opened his mouth was wrong, according to what the WTS now teaches. His ignorance could cost someone's life." He said, "Well, I didn't see it that way and, besides, it was good information for the friends to hear."
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  shopaholic

  A Circuit Overseer said it best when he told us during a pioneer meeting, "The organization doesn't need clever people, what they need are obedient people."

  I've also had conversations with people that hold positions within the congregation that have no clue about the latest generation change. A few even told me that if I got my spiritual food from the meeting than online then I would know its not true because overlapping generations makes no sense. When I told them it was in their magazines and was covered in a study article and convention talk, they told me I must be mistaken because they would have remembered that.

  One MS told me he quickly googled it and only found reference to it on apostate sites and did not want to discuss it any further. A pioneer told me that she had no need to research it. If it was from the GB, then she trusts that the change was needed.

  Can you say...zombie?

  This is what typically happens...they call or want to meet to "encourage" me but in the end they "don't want to talk about it."
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  factfinder

  Their ignorance both amazes me, and makes me wonder if the elders in the congs I was in were aware of the current WT teachings. It seems it is all politics regarding elders in the cong.

  @daringheart13- I can understand how you feel. The only witness I have contact with, a sister in a cong I was in a while back, did not know anything about last year's overlapping generation teaching. She said she can't keep up with the magazines. But she went to the DC and even gave me copies of the releases. I'm sure when she attends the DC next month she will not notice any change in the generation teaching - the adjustment about the annointed ones- I guess most witnesses are not paying enough attention. As long as the "slave" says it, just accept it- no need to think about it or understand it.

  @willyloman- thank you for those two experiences. Isn't it amazing how a witness can go to the meetings, go out in service and yet not even know about a major teaching that was changed 3 years ago? Your experience about the unprepared brother giving the talk about blood using outdated wrong information and then the PO telling you he did a good job and not caring that it was innacurate and outdated info- sounds like something that would and probably did happen in the congs I was in. It just seems like too much. I don't understand how it is allowed.

  @Band On The Run- You mention "blind obedience." It seems that is what the GB wants. My brother will accept without question anything the "slave" publishes or says in talks at assemblies and conventions. He feels "obedience to Jehovah (that is ,the slave) is what counts, that is the most important thing and people are imperfect" , so he will excuse the fact that wrong information was presented in a talk- we show our obedience to Jehovah by unquestioningly respecting and obeying the "slave" in everything.

  @Gayle- it is true: so called "apostates" are more up to date on what the GB teaches then the active cong publishers and elders. It's a shame. Funny too, yes, but it is wrong, and yet they go door to door to teach the truth and they don't even know what the their new "truth" is!
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  factfinder

  @shopaholic- your experience proves it too, yes, they are like zombies.