Many years ago (1970's), there was a small rebellion in Bethel,caused by the indifference
and heartlessness of Bethel overseers. One item that came up back then was the immediate
reaction by overseers to a brother getting his hand caught in a bindery machine or a few
fingers severed:
"Are we still in production? Is the machine still running?"
Now, the brother would be taken to the infirmary quickly - but the quick verbal reaction
in favor of the machine galled a lot of us.
In this light, I'm not surprized that when Brother Brown is confronted with a disaster by
elders, he quickly refers to them as untrained volunteers - as if to distance them from
the Society.
Nice try - but I think that if they are seen as agents of the Ever-Glorious Watchtower
Society, CALLING THEM UNTRAINED might make things worse, in the long run. ( "You mean that
these volunteers act as your agents in delicate and dangerous issues AND YOU DON'T
TRAIN THEM??!!")
So, who is an employee or agent of the Watchtower Society?
Young naive Bethelites, who drive cars?
Itinerant field inspectors ( C.O's) ?
Local elders - who are appointed or deleted by the Governing Body/Headquarters?
Just imagine, for a second, the ENORMOUS POTENTIAL LIABILITY that exists here!
ANYTHING these people do could end up in court - JUST LIKE A fast food franchise
whose minimum wage employee hands hot coffee to an older lady ( McDonalds - a 85K
loss, as I remember).
Add on the unpopularity and EXPOSED CHILD ENDANGERMENT of this cult and I think disaster
looms on the horizon. Add, ALSO, the continuing "brain drain" in this religion, as they
find life difficult running things with uneducated bone-heads ( as shown by many private
conversations and internal memos).
The KEY PROBLEM IS CENTRALIZATION! I've said this many times before -
as long as the Governing Body/Branch Committee INSISTS ON GREEDY DOMINATION AND
CONTROL OF PEOPLE'S LIVES, they are in big trouble!
Can they let go of Circuit Overseers? Can they declare local congregations as
"autonomous"? Can they break the chain of "deep pockets"? Can they "simplify"
to fend off the errors of simple-minded elders?
I say no - they are too proud, too arrogant, to release the grip of bony, gnarled,
greedy fingers around other people's lives and LET GO!
And that is their dilemma.....
metatron ( and our cause for rejoicing)