Eldership; Unintended Consequences

Before actually talking about some of the consequences, I need to say that the elders didn't encourage or require anything that they didn't enter into themselves. The article by Larry Clark from my last post sets forth the attitude that all of the elders had. I will talk more about my decision to leave the Navy in my last post on this subject, but I can tell you that I would not have left the Navy if this decision had not been confirmed by the eldership.

There are several unintended consequences. I will list them in no particular order. The list is also not exhaustive; there may be more.

• Undermining personal responsibility -- People were freed from making their own decision.
• Giving opportunity to place the blame -- This is related to the one above. Since I didn't make the decision, if anything goes wrong, blame the person or persons who made the decision.
• Setting oneself up for disappointment with God -- When things didn't work out, not only could the eldership be blamed, but, since they were hearing God, it was God who let me down.
• Elders taking too much authority -- there was a tendency for the elders to "believe their own press". Since they heard the Lord and gave council, they could easily fall into the trap of feeling infallible.

I was asked in response to my last post, "what would I have done differently?" If I had it to do over again (knowing what I know now), I wouldn't make decisions for people. I would work with them to help them to make their decision. It would be theirs, not mine. This builds up their own sense of personal responsibility. The problem is that no matter how mature and wise a person is, no matter how well they hear God, they are not infallible. We all see only a part of every issue.

In my next post, I will address a specific unintended consequence that I found in my premarital counseling.