Bro. Schroeder dies

by bythesea 77 Replies latest jw friends

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  bythesea

  I just received this news from a bro who has connections in Bethel...

  Bro Albert D Schroeder died at 10:30 am New York time today at Brooklyn Bethel...he was 94 yrs old.

  He was born on April 7, 1911 in Saginaw, Michigan and entered Bethel service in 1932

  He was appointed a member of the Governing Body on December 18, 1974

  Bro Schroeder's life story appeared in the March 1, '88 WT pages 10-17: entitled: "My Life in Jehovah's Spirit-Directed Organization."

  I don't know if the "today" means it was actually TODAY...as I can't be sure when my friend received this news... but anyway, another of the old guys bites the dust.
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  Oroborus21

  Thanks for the news...Ed
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  kid-A
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  Gill

  Another one bites the dust!
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  Neo

  
  
  
  
  

  
  Schroeder was the second oldest GB member alive. (Carey Barber is 100.) With him dies some the last memories of the Rutherford days within Bethel. He knew a lot of the skeleton's in Rutherford's closet and was aware of many of the organization problems.

  Raymond Franz reported that Schroeder was a little independent of the the other GB members because in his talks around the world he would teach things that were not in perfect agreement with official doctrine. He was never reprehended for doing that, since he was a real Society man and toed the party line. In 1979 he was the main proponent of the thesis that the "generation that wouldn't pass" should start in 1957, when Sputink flew for the first time. The GB members never accepted that "new light".

  During decades of his life, he had the chance to stand up for what is right but never openly did that. Like the other GB members, he didn't feel personally responsible for the harmful JW teachings, since "God is directing the organization". Although he was a Gilead instructor for years, it seems like he never got to understand the core of the Biblical message.

  Schroeder is one of the few GB members who had children. His son Judah ben Schroeder used to be a Bethelite, following his father's footsteps. Now he is attending Columbia University. He studies International Law school and plans to be a lawyer. What a wonderful example of a theocratic man!

  Anyone got any interesting stories on Albert Schroeder?

  Neo
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  Gill

  A very old man, who thought he would live forever, was fooled like the rest of us, and in the end trapped in the Watchtower nightmare. Did he ever realise he'd been conned or did he just 'make himself belive' by never looking out of the Brooklyn prison and finding the world, and maybe finding who he himself was? It's always very sad when a fellow human being dies, but it is even sadder when they have never even lived in the first place and may have been instrumental in others never living and also losing their lives. If he is 'somewhere else' now and able to see the WTBTS and if he has learnt the truth, then I feel very sad for him and the sense of loss he may be feeling, but if he has really died, and his 'self/senses/spirit' is completely gone, forever, then I feel even sadder for him. To live 90+ years, and to 'never have smelt the roses' is a tragedy.
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  lilybird

  Well.. you would think that it would make other Dubs question the validity of the society's doctrines, when all the old guys are passing away.. Pretty soon ,,all of the old generation who will by "no means pass away until the end is here" will surely be dead and gone gone gone...Many must privately and quiety wonder...scary to think they let their lives slip by in a life with no purpose.
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  greendawn

  I have no sympathy for any GB member of the WTS a cult that caused a great deal of suffering to hundreds of thousands of members and ex members, they are grossly abusing their religious office to deceive and exploit the R&F. This ex GB member will end up in the grave, end of story, there will never be such a thing as a heavenly life for him or any GB member.
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  fjtoth

  Neo,

  "Bert" was one of my "overseers" at Brooklyn Bethel when I worked in the Gilead Office. Your comments are right on. He pretended to be a man of compassion and understanding, but was treacherously far from it. My basic memory of him is that he was puffed up with his own self-importance. He walked around the place as if he were some sort of army commander or prince among men. Not a very humble posture or bearing. He had a somewhat superstitious view of persons who professed to be of "the anointed." One time we were walking behind such a person, and Bert said to us in a voice a bit louder than a whisper, as if awestruck, "He's one of the anointed!" I was his chauffer at times, and it was obvious that he had something that seemed like a disdain for those of the "other sheep" who had good suggestions to offer. He'd actually pretend to fall asleep while they were talking.

  I feel he was a better speaker than some others on the governing body, but I attribute that to his university education--an education that was hypocritically denied to millions of the rest of us by men such as him in leadership positions within the organization. He told me that he was invited to Bethel while he was attending university, and Rutherford told him to come immediately or forget about the invitation. Bert chose to finish his university course, and the Judge later invited him to Bethel anyway.

  Frank
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  greendawn

  BTW I find that that name of his son "Judah ben Shroeder" very strange since ben is a Hebrew word that means son, was Shroeder someone with recent Jewish ancestry, why call his son by an unusual or non existent, in Christian circles, Hebrew name? Some researchers suggested that Knorr and Franz had such ancestry hence the strong Judaic influence on the JW theology.