Hey you slacker elders...get off yer duffs!

by sir82 14 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  sir82

  Probably the last "Gilead update" from the infamous "friend of a friend", as the class graduates this upcoming weekend.

  Here is one of the topics discussed recently in class:

  Sometimes the elders feel overwhelmed with taking care of a large
  congregation. If we talk averages, an elder may have to look after 15 to
  20 publishers. The elder may have difficulty trying to get around to
  everyone to shepherd them regularly stating that his family, secular and
  other responsibilities prevent him from doing so. Well, if we look at
  Abraham's example we can see he could have been overwhelmed with
  everything but wasn't. When he had to rescue his nephew Lot he got his
  318 slaves together to do the rescue. (Gen 14:14) The scripture calls
  them "trained men". Where did they get their training? If they were
  Abraham's slaves then he obviously he trained them personally. As an
  elder can you imagine training 318 brothers to reach out besides helping
  their wives and children? 15 to 20 doesn't sound so bad now does it?

  So, to you slacker elders out there: What the #$&!% is your problem? How dare you think a weekly schedule of 5 hours of mind-numbing meetings, 3 hours of transportation to/from meetings, hours of pointless elders meetings, 4 hours of field service, 5 hours of meeting preparation, plus personal study, "upbuilding association" with the brothers, 40-60 hours of secular work, and, um, what else, oh yeah, occasionally spending time with your family, is burdensome!

  Why look at Abraham! Did he complain about shepherding his 318 slaves? Of course not! He gladly helped train his "ministerial servant" slaves to come with him on shepherding calls to Brother & Sister Goat-Milker and their 14 children. If Abraham could personally spend hours and hours each month with each and every one of his 318 slaves, giving them all the attention they needed, and still had time to engage in personal study and witnessing to those godless Canaanites all around him, why can't you handle those piddling 15-20 in your book study?

  More! More! More! You elders sure are a lazy, shiftless lot, aren't you!
• 

  kwintestal

  If the message, and saving people's lives was really that important to them, they would make the effort. But I think that they've lost that sence of urgency and have become "lazy". Not lazy in the general usage of the term, but in Dub Speak, they are lazy.

  Kwin
• 

  luna2

  LMAO....guilt, guilt, guilt, do more, be more organized, train more slaves helpers in your spare time. Sheesh.
• 

  upside/down

  While serving where the great are needed...I saw numerous congregations with 5-8 elders "shepherding" only about 30-40 pubs...

  I've yet to meet a person that was "shepherded"...it's non-existant. Unless some voyeurs want to dig into somoenes dirt for cheap thrills...

  The entire "shepherding" arrangement is a farce...always has been always will be...

  Give me a break...Almost no Dubs do the "Dub routine"...most by far...fake it.

  Daily text, Daily Bible reading, meeting prep...look up all ref's and hi-lite answers, read weekly mags, support weekend FS, do one day of evening FS, attend all meetings, be 15 minutes EARLY to greet and "incite", dress as an example, donate to everything, prepare meeting parts, volunteer for "quick builds", visit the shut-ins, shepherding calls, Family study (Monday nite), study with each child, study with mate, render marital due (but not orally for gawds sake), pray before each meal, read a portion of the yearbook, help "weaker" ones (whatever that entails), be allergic to everything, avoid education while trying every get rich scheme known...so you can pioneer. etc. etc....

  Come on people...no HUMAN can do all that....

  u/d(of the really tried and always failed class)
• 

  tijkmo

  The entire "shepherding" arrangement is a farce...always has been always will be...

  it wasnt a farce when i did it
• 

  upside/down

  it wasnt a farce when i did it

  
  

  
  The fact that you, like me, were sincere and did it....does NOT mean the "arrangement" as a whole isn't a farce...IT IS!

  However...you, me and no doubt other sincere Dubs...were good humans...and tried. We were good shepherds as individuals...and we were and are a RARE commodity.

  The fact that we (I'm) here on JWD and such...proves there was no real "shepherding"...since I appealed verabally and with certified letters to 2 elder bodies...2 CO's, and the Society...all with NO RESPONSE. And now I'm shunned...merely for asking to "shepherded"? Whatever...

  After 20 years in the cult...I recieved ONE "shepherding" call...which it wasn't...only a interrogation to see if I was having oral sex with my wife..., which I wasn't. Can you believe that?

  They lost a good one, when they dropped me...

  u/d(of the sheep amongst wolves class)
• 

  lawrence

  Let us not forget building projects, JC meetings, correspondence to the WTS, hall cleaning, and evening phone calls. I tell the WTS - wear out the shepherds, and let the sheep go free. I think of 2 former elders (both out) who were friends, and how brain dead they were when they folded. Totally worn out and still being asked for more. Yeah, keep up the good work Brooklyn, beat em up until they crack.

  Abraham was "hanging out" when the angels visited him. Because the servants were trained doesn't mean he trained them. He wasn't running a Kingdumb School. BTW, what the hell does the WTS believe Abraham was training them? They were trained by others. Abraham was a seer, not a construction foreman teaching Bruce Lee's JKD. Where do they invent these fables?
• 

  upside/down

  Yeah... the Society "assumes" an awful lot...

  But hey, when you're the mouthpiece of gawd...you can do that kinda shit.

  u/d
• 

  lawrence

  U/D-

  Right on! A theology based on "assumptions" and "conjectures" - and at the same time immitating as "God's mouthpiece" and the "Recorder's Inkhorn." They quote to others "don't go beyond the things written." And then they teach pure crap out of the other side of their forked-tongued mouths.
• 

  XBEHERE

  it wasnt a farce when i did it

  I am not a trained therapist and neither are probably 99% of other elders so IMHO the shepherding program is a sham. Unless you judge it against how well WT propaganda is dished out then it is a success. If your aim as an elder was to help with "real" problems then you should be referring them to qualified therapists for most of their issues. If the aim was to keep them in a cult then keep up the good work and yes some of you are indeed slacking!