Serious Problems Between Elders

by ZindagiNaMilegiDobaara 19 Replies latest jw experiences

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  ZindagiNaMilegiDobaara

  Ever encountered or eyewitnessed problems escalating, arguements and rows between elders right at the KH anyone?

  One such experience was just before the meeting was about to start,we heard raised voices from the second room between two elders. A minute later two other elders went into the room and we could all hear that they were trying to cool the situation down with whatever was going on in there. A few minutes later one of the elders storms out the KH with his wife saying I will not stand for this humiliation.,there was hush in the hall then .quite a disturbed ,sensitive meeting night that was.

  This was like my first time seeing an elder losing it big time at the Hall itself.Made me think of the scripture where it says to imitate those who are elders or shepherding us and also that the elders deserve double the honor. The tension in the hall that night just shook me and i was treading on eggshells around that elder for weeks. Never knew what had led to that but I suppose many were disturbed by that behavior.
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  stillin

  Not like that, but I've certainly seen elders talk behind each other's backs. Subterfuge. Pushing some agenda. Conduct unbecoming a Christian.
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  DesirousOfChange

  If a R&F publisher had acted in such a manner towards and Elder, he's be DFd for his anger.
  
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  JW GoneBad

  With approximately 120,000 congregations worldwide...I would say that many a body of elders is rather dysfunctional! That explains why God's spirit has gone south...Kingdom Hall sell-offs, merging of congregations, low meeting attendance, low baptismal rates, etc!
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  jp1692

  Hey, they’re just people.

  All JWs are under intense pressure to conform to unrealistic behaviors and impossibly high standards. This is by design. It’s part of how cults work. They control their members by setting impossible tasks so that the cult member feels shitty about themselves when they “fall short” (Romans 3:23).

  This is Codependent Relationships 101.

  And the elders have even more responsibilities for which they are completely untrained, but are nevertheless expected to somehow perform nearly perfectly, often while working full-time, being a husband and a father of a “perfect little model JW family,” handling endless meeting parts, “shepherd the flock,” and of course: “Make sure you spend at least 10 hours a month out in the Field Ministry, Brother!”

  It’s overwhelming. I know. I tried to do all this for over 20 years.

  Additionally, elders are supposed to be unanimous in agreeing with the rest of the elder body about pretty much everything. Granted, many elders are reasonably intelligent, but even given that—the vast majority have only a high school diploma or less. Generally speaking, they’re mostly an uneducated lot. And many are quite simply fools. It’s frustrating.

  Honestly, it’s surprising blowouts like the one described in the OP don’t happen more often.

  But it does prove that “Holy Spirit” ain’t got nothin’ to do with this religion.

  Let’s review: It’s a cult!
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  vienne

  When I was very young and attending with my mother, then a new Witness, an elder in the neighboring congregation that shared the hall walked over to another elder just before the meeting started and socked him in the jaw, landing him on his back. It was quite a topic of conversation. As you can imagine.

  While the 'smiter' lost his eldership, I heard several comments to the effect that the elder he hit 'more than deserved it.' Oh well ...
  
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  Finkelstein

  There are many JW men who's ego drove them to be elders, you know men of privilege, power, stature and distinction .

  Being that so I'm surprised there aren't more flare ups.
  
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  careful

  Such loud disagreements in elder meetings is not at all rare, unless you're in a cong with a BOE that really gets along (itself pretty rare). I know one bro who used to just start praying out loud, right in the boiling elder meetings to calm the others down.

  jp1692's comment above that they are just people too is spot on. The accounts at Acts 15:37-39 and Gal. 2:11-14 show that it went on in the first century among the leaders there too.
  
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  Tameria2001

  I don't think I ever witnessed any of the elders having issues with each other, but I do remember my father in law was an elder. He even moved into this one small congregation because they needed some qualified men to fill the spot. Later on, he stepped down (or was removed, don't know the details), and moved to another congregation. I don't know the details, but I do remember how royally pissed off he was about the whole situation.
  
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  Wasanelder Once

  There had been a flood in our area and the local Ass Hall was the staging location for new carpet etc for the repairs being done on the brother's homes. Two elders were working against each other because they disagreed on how to accomplish something. They came to blows, fists were flying till the CO broke them up. Yep, a wet noodle thrashing is all they got.