Elders Can't Simply Go Back to Being Ministerial Servants...

by TTATTelder 14 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  TTATTelder

  As a currently serving "awake" elder caught in the web of family, spouse, employer, etc. etc....

  I have often wondered why an elder cannot simply drop back to Ministerial Servant if he so desired (because of stress, circumstances, health).

  On paper a currently serving elder in good standing more than qualifies to be a MS. That is obviously the case by their own hierarchy structure and definitions of qualification.

  But...under their current arrangement....theoretically a man could give a District Convention talk one week to 10,000 people, step down as an elder the following day due to stress, and not "qualify" to give a 5 min part on the next week's service meeting in front of 50 people. Doesn't make a lot of sense.

  So my question is this.....why do you think the WT forces a man to drop all the way "down" to publisher if he no longer wants to serve as an elder?

  -TE
• 

  Vidiot

  Two reasons.

  a) If his whole identity is intertwined with his "eldership", he has more to lose, so may feel less inclined to do it.

  b) Elders are a part of the heirarchy in ways that MSs are not; if you won't be an elder (and thusly a component that perpetuates the system), they would rather you not be anything.
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  NAVYTOWN

  All the more reason for elders to quit. Then they will just be regular publishers without all the hassles of being a MS. Much easier to fade afterwards without attracting as much attention.
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  Mum

  It places them lower in the pecking order:

  1. GB

  2. Regional overseers (DO & CO, or whatever they still have)

  3. Elders

  4. MS

  5. Male pioneers

  6. Children

  7. Female pioneers

  8. Pond scum

  9. Female publishers

  If they really wanted to punish you, they'd make you transgender.
• 

  AndDontCallMeShirley

  Because WT must get its pound of flesh, and humiliation of the individual is of utmost importance to WT's methodology. Allowing an elder to simply step down to MS wouldn't serve WT's purpose of completely eviscerating a man, so it knocks him down to the rank of publisher/also-ran/has been/loser to teach him a lesson.
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  nugget

  To make them easier to control. If it is an all or nothing option then stepping down doesn't look like a positive choice rather a punnishment.
• 

  sir82

  if he no longer wants to serve as an elder?

  That's the key.

  If an elder no longer "wants to", evidently he is spiritually weak, and thus unqualified for anything except donating money and cutting the grass.

  In la-la-land Watchtower-world, it is inconceivable that a male would not "want to" be an elder, or accept any "privilege" that is forcibly rammed down his throat.
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  LostGeneration

  My guess is that lots of elders would start asking to move down if that was an option. It would tell the rest of the JWs that he did nothing wrong, which is what they want JWs to think (if even subconsciously) if an elder is deleted right now.
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  EndofMysteries

  Exactly what "anddontcaremyshirelysaid". In the Sept 2014 STUDY WT, they say that you should "LOVE all your assignments, including sweeping the floor!" They want it's members to LOVE sweeping the floor, washing windows, scrubbing toilets, as they work their way up so they know if they can make them LOVE doing those things then they have full control. If they won't give all of their life as an elder then they won't let them just step down or downgrade a level.
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  Ding

  Being an elder is probably considered an honor a man is not supposed to refuse...