xjw_b12...thanks for your comments. I always did love that "religion is a snare and a racket" quote. Maybe that's why after over 4 decades as a JW I'm not too keen on religion anymore.
XBEHERE...I appreciate your comments too. Sounds like you may have had experience in the elder area yourself. I guess my feelings about elders stems from the very abusive and self-righteous attitude of, I would say, 95% of the elders in the congregation my husband and I attended. The lack of love for the sheep was overwhelming to me and there was not one elder that I would have ever chosen to approach for counsel. In fact...it was this unloving, self-righteous, dogmatic group that directly led to our leaving the org.
The few "good" elders didn't last too long in many congregations that I could see. They were bullied into "conforming" to the ways of the elders that held the power. In fact, in our congregation, we had a small "dynasty" of elders all from the same family. Over the many years we attended the KH in our small town, they became more and more like Pharisees and less and less like Christ.
I can see that perhaps I have overlooked some of the elders that do try to help the "sheep". But I still believe they are far and few between. My husband, who spent many years as a MS...was always asked to become an elder at one time or another. He was smart enough to know that he didn't want the responsibility of other's lives in his hands. He did not want to sit in judgement of other people. He did not want to become like the "Pharisees" in our congregation. He was able to maintain his personal integrity and love for people. He retained his clean conscience.
If an elder is a person of integrity and love and a caring person, as you said, he soon realizes that he must obey the governing body and go along with the majority. That sometimes means going against his own conscience. Soon he is "assimilated" along with the rest of the elders who bow and scrape before the men who control the org.
Don't pre-judge all of the elders... some are trapped due to circumstance and may not be strong enough mentally or emotionally to escape right away. Rest assured that these do care but are too wrapped up in their own situation in dealing with thier view of "the truth" to be of much help to the sheep. It is truly a complex and stressful situation that you have to experience to fully understand.
Men who are not "strong mentally or emotionally to escape right away" and "are too wrapped up in their own situation" have no business being elders and controlling the lives of others. I have even seen cases close to my heart where, because of the unloving and dogmatic abuse of power by the elders, a couple of people have taken their own lives. Maybe that is why I do not have much "love" for elders. If there are any loving elders out there they won't last. The unbending rules and regulations of the Watchtower society will eat them alive and take away their very soul.
Cathy L.
