Two types of elder????? (page 3)

Euphemism

Outoftheorg... I was already practically out of the org by the time I moved to Boise, so I never really picked up much on the gossip here.

outoftheorg

I thought you may be a newbie to Boise. That bunch over in Meridian are like a pack of wolves, they look for someone to attack and have a very attorney like personality.

Outoftheorg

I agree that there are the two basic types of elders. Once I had dealings with a few type two elders I quit trusting all elders. A type two elder can appear to be a type one and then use what you tell him to betray you.

FairMind

XBEHERE

Good assesment of the elder situation in most congregations.

Blondie "BTW, the elders are mean and abusive with each other too but you are supposed to take it for the same of unity on the body"

Too painfully true Blondie..many in the congregation dont even realize this is the case. In many congs. one elder controls the tone of the body. Its a throwback to the "company servant" days. They instituted bodys of elders back in the 70's but the old mentality is still alive and thriving in many areas. These type 2's usually become PO's or give the PO's a hard time and always seek to remove elders who dont "see things their way" Very sad and un-christlike.

NeonMadman

In my experience the type 1 elders don't last long. They either become hardened by their environment and morph into type 2's, or they incur the wrath of the type 2's by sticking up for the brothers who are getting the shaft, and they end up removed (or else stepping down because they just don't want to be part of treating the brothers this way). That has a lot to do with why I never, at least the last 20 years or so that I was in the org, wanted to become an elder.

googlemagoogle

i found that some of the born and bred type are even worse than type2. especially when they come from a "split household"(TM) background.

and they need some type1 elders to play the good cop/bad cop game.

seesthesky

my bro was an elder and used to smoke crack with the sheep - joke

BLISSISIGNORANCE

Oh yeh.........................there are several types of elders. Unfortunately the ones who have the most impact and are used the most are the harsh, mongral ones.

I knew only one elder who was soft and caring. He wept with us as we told him of our pain and harsh treatment. But the ones who the WTS like and promote are the heartless, common variety.

Power hungry, proud men are the ones who climb the WTS ladder.

LittleToe

Whilst I have severe problems categorising any human being into simply two camps (I hate black and white thinking), I do agree that Elders generally leaned towards one extreme or the other.

The hardliners often won out in any arguments because they had "the law" behind them, instead of airy-fairy ideas of being kind to the brothers.
As one who prefered fighting for the underdog, I made it my mission to know the rulebook better than them and use it to confound. I succeeded in stopping at least three cases from going to JC that way
(albeit in one case they eventually DF'ed the individual anyway, after I left ).

zeroday

We had a type 2 to the extreme. Every time he had a part you would cringe. He would beat every one over the head. Never an upbuilding talk always negative and berating. I would have to agree with everyone here. We had a PO that was actually a Cong Servant from the 50's and had the attitude to match. We had a very nice type 1 elder, someone you could approach on any subject and he was very caring. Then one night out of the blue it was announced he had stepped down as elder. Never did know the reason why. Our body of elders for the most part were very arrogant. You just couldn't hardly approach them or talk to them.

Two types of elder?????

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