Posted by Passing by [Guest] on November 14, 1999 at 22:30:16 {fiuUEQ5dxUYYzWxZf/Loni6QXcPL8M}:
In Reply to: Liberty and Ros posted by Lion on November 01, 1999 at 14:02:18:
Lion
This is my first time to visit this site.
I read with interest what you said about elders stepping aside because of deep problems they see in the organization. I too stepped aside because of this, I wasn't aware that many others have done so until I read it here.
Some problems are how 'worldly' things are - brothers getting positions in the congregation by telling selective things that might mislead co's in making recommendations, elders slandering other elders and even out and out lying. Then when this is pointed out it is covered up by co's and do's. When I pointed out some problems like these the d.o. came in, I have never heard such twisted/warped reasoning in my life. According to the d.o. I was the problem for daring to question him, the c.o. and the Society.
There were also differences in the instructions that elders get through the co's, do's, and the service desk concerning judicial matters, articles in the Watchtower would say something different (usually more merciful). Evidently there are opposing views in the Society headquarters on how to handle judicial matters (to be hard line or to allow mercy).
These are by no means the only problems I have seen, one big one concerns always writing about the end of the system of things coming soon, even suggesting dates (ex. 1914, 1975, end coming by end of century)and then when the brothers and sisters are disappointed they are told that THEY misunderstood. The truth was that the Watchtower writers so strongly suggested these times that it would lead readers to take it to be fact. They need to stand up and accept responsibility for misleading the bros and sis over the years.
The fact that the end is close cannot be denied, but we, and the Society, do not know when it will be.
Ex Elder