by WinstonSmith 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
slimboyfat: “Confirm no action but no more chances” — love it!
"You touch that thing again and you're OFF the team!"
slimboyfat: ”Status of schooling” — does that mean to ensure that no higher education is going on, or what?
I can't recall what this one was about, this guy had two young kids and I think one of them might have been in trouble at school
jp962: I wonder if I have any of my notes. I was an elder for 20 years. Most are mundane, but some might be "informative." I'll take a look.
It's so weird for me looking back on these now. We were cleaning out a cupboard and there was the notebook, right at the bottom!
Esse quam videri: "Single incident. Honest. Told wife."
I wonder what hell the culprit had to pay when the wife tore into him.
"But sweetheart, it was a total accident that I typed dirtyfilthysluts dot com into my browser, I was meant to type jw dot org!"
@SBF I don't know the exact answer. I think it isn't impossible. But attempts to compel it will raise First Amendment issues, and courts are pretty reluctant to investigate into church decision-making process. Time will show.
Could this be a pandoras box if more ex-elders made these notes more public ? Or would it be opening up ex-Elders for liability in disclosing this information or even incriminating them in some way ?
Just asking.
Well, this looks terribly efficient and business like. My recollection of elders meetings were much more rambling and verbal. Individuals never kept notes , people would raise matters as the thought came to them and the P/ O or Coordinator usually had no idea of how to keep control.
Later the Secretary was obliged to take minutes , but that was it.
NB , did you really get through that agenda in one hour? We used to have meetings that lasted hours on end. That I included a break for tea and biscuits half way . Meetings were held in an elders house ...much more comfy than the K Hall.
Could this be a pandoras box if more ex-elders made these notes more public? Or would it be opening up ex-Elders for liability in disclosing this information or even incriminating them in some way?
I'm redacting any identifying info and won't be posting any that have anything toooo bad in them. I thankfully never had to deal with a sexual abuse case, so there's none of that.
I'm guessing anyone who has never been an elder might not know the kinda stuff that goes on in the back room. Hopefully these will give people a glimpse into that secret world.
Well, this looks terribly efficient and business like. My recollection of elders meetings were much more rambling and verbal. Individuals never kept notes , people would raise matters as the thought came to them and the P/ O or Coordinator usually had no idea of how to keep control.
Later the Secretary was obliged to take minutes , but that was it.
Our body were quite organised and I've always been a notes nerd! I think that rather than minutes, just action points were taken down for ours.
NB , did you really get through that agenda in one hour? We used to have meetings that lasted hours on end. That I included a break for tea and biscuits half way .
I think we did with this one as there were only a handful of agenda points. There were plenty of others that went onnnn and onnnnnnnnnn however. Never had biscuits though!
Thanks to OP for posting.
I was an elder for 10 years or so but always found elders meetings really boring and unproductive , to be honest. A lot of time was taken up with reading out letters from the branch on matters like child abuse and data protection.
There were usually a few elders who enjoyed the power and the gossip and one or two who you knew would always come looking for trouble and started verbal fights but to me it was usually a pointless waste of an evening. I laugh when I see how the elders meetings are portrayed on jw dot org - it is so far removed from reality.
Here's a couple of pages from the notes I took during a meeting that the CO had with elders during one of his visits. This section was on what to do if a young unbaptised publisher got involved in wrongdoing.
LOL "wrongdoing"
The second page is one of those classic cheesy CO illustrations....
