What was your most DISTURBING event as an elder ? (Per T.O.S. no full names please).

by Balaamsass 83 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  Balaamsass

  Glueman;

  Disturbing; "Another case was from a neighboring hall that a close elder friend confided in me on, since his conscience was justifiably stricken. There was a baptized boy 16 years old who confessed to "immorality" with an unbaptized, "interested" person who was active at the meetings. She was 22! A judicial committee being formed on what is legally statuatory rape is unthinkable, but he was disfellowshipped. Not a thing happened with the woman."

  A similar situation occured in a west coast Kingdom Hall involving an Elder and a 16 year old boy he had studied with. For years, a number of boys had complained about a popular affluent (Married) Elder who owned a sporting goods store "Touching them" and "leering". The local Elders warned these boys to "not speak injurously of Glorious ones" and "Older Men". The teenaged boys were labled as "rebellious" for gossiping about "a spirit annointed elder". EVENTUALLY it came out this "Spirit annointed Elder" was a Pedophile. However one of his last victims was disfellowshipped as well! A 16 year old for "Homosexuality". The reason given by that body..????? "He should of Known better"..he was 16.!!!!! What about that body knowing better and ignoring complaints for years???
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  Ding

  Unlearn,

  For all the anti-Roman Catholic rhetoric by the WTS, your experience made me think how much the WT is like the Catholic church where people have to go to some authority figure (RCC: priest / WT: elders) to confess sins and then perform some prescribed works (RCC: Saying so many "Our Fathers" or "Hail Marys"/ WT: extra meeting attendance/field service) in order to feel worthy and forgiven again.
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  ziddina

  Bump - for me...

  moves this thread to the top of my "topics posted on"...
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  Londo111

  Ding,

  Catholics are more tolerant though in this respect...how many times has a person confessed their sins, and they were excommunicated for them? And even if a person if excomminicated, how many Catholics practice shunning, at least to the degree Witnesses are forced to?
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  Balaamsass

  Ding, & Londo 111; Penance...and self-punishment.......THAT is a new thread all by itself!! Had some interesting conversations with elders about that over the years.

  One of my grandparents walked on her knees to the Catholic Church till they bled...after baptisim as a JW she replaced it with 60 hrs of service every month.
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  AvocadoJake

  Balaam, did you ever get to watch elders yelling at each other in the Meetings behind closed doors? How about a fist fight or wrestling with another brother, allowing a physical confrontation to decide who was correct. Did elders ever use profanity or talk in a manner that is not Christ-like?
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  Balaamsass

  Hi AJ, No fistfights. Fits of rage though. Lots of politics amoung sub-groups.
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  Londo111

  I was never an elder, but some in my family was, and one who let some "confidential" things slip. I was amazed by the politics. The elders could behave like children sometimes. Instead of being "spiritually" mature, they were some of the least mature. Some elders used their position to carry out vendettas against fellow elders.

  If a publisher said something about a fellow publisher...we had no venue to address this. We had to forgive and forget the best we could. But if an elder said something about another elder, say a presiding overseer, than the presiding overseer could have 5-hour meeting after 5-hour meeting in an effort to have an inquisition against fellow elder in an effort to remove him. Evidently there was never a thought that it was a conflict of interest, being the offended party, to conduct such meetings.

  Oftentimes there seemed to be a waiting on a new CO to address old grievances. When the new CO came to town, it seemed to be "off to the races"--in an effort to get there first and present their side.
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  Balaamsass

  Yes Londo,

  It is not unusual for two-three Elders to form a semi-secret "Pact" to protect family members or push an agenda. Confessions from family members of the pact are made to members of the pact, "Council" is given and the matter "Forgotten". If the matter ever comes "Out" in a divorce or another way, the members of the pact tell the rest of the body of elders the matter had "been handled by 2 brothers" since the person was repentant, and it was an "isolated incident" they felt no need to notify the body.

  Technically almost correct, and rarely does it get pushed by other elders. However this arrangement is not extending to those outside this "old boys" club. It has been used to cover-up ALL kinds of SERIOUS problems by Elders families. I heard rumors of a local hall covered up a rape by an elders son this way. I could not verify enough info nor get the victim to go to the police.
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  wha happened?

  What I hate about this thread is that this is just scratching the surface