I remember being shocked as a teen or early 20-something to hear some elders I really respected saying how they didn't want any Bethelites moving into their congregation, too much of a pain in the ass.
An ex-Bethelite and special pioneer moved into my congregation a short while later. He was the most hard nosed company man I've probably ever met. He was being recommended to serve as a CO at age 23! Fortunately one of the local elders absolutely refused to agree with the recommendation.
That brother has done infinite damage to a lot of the friends in lots of congregations.
S4
"Never Trust a Bethelite"
by drew sagan 12 Replies latest jw friends
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Seeker4
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tall penguin
In my area, Bethel brothers had the reputation of being players, stringing sisters along just to get "close" to them and then dump them because of course they had to focus on "Kingdom interests".
I remember hearing one joke go around that shows the common view of Bethelites...
A sister had a new baby and the CO came to visit. He said to her, "If you want to know what type of person your son will be when he grows up, just do this test. Put a Bible, a beer bottle and a doll out in front of him and see what he chooses to play with. If he chooses the Bible, he'll be a spiritual man. If he chooses the beer bottle, he'll be an Alcoholic. If he chooses the doll, he'll be a womanizer. If he chooses all three, he'll be a Bethelite!" :)
tall penguin -
freetosee
The HQ Bethelites had a particular bad name as they came across as very boastful because of being close to the GB and calling them by first names. I remember one telling me, he would only serve at Brooklyn since that’s where the GB is and the ‘food’ for the congregations is prepared. It’s the closest you can get to Jehovah’s presents!
Ones in a while we’d have prominent brother giving talks (including GB members) at our congregation and some of them were extremely arrogant as they entered the hall during the song and left the same way not speaking to any of the locals. In their speeches they spent half the time speaking of themselves the other half about the expansion and massive real-estate plus luxury buildings owned by the WTS.
There was always much talk after these visits, since the displayed attitude was not encouraging but made people think. Gene Smalley was the worst one I remember. Brothers were shaking their heads as he was speaking -so much in love with himself- asking: “Do you know horse racing here in Germany? Do you have buildings like the Empire State Building? Do you know pizza? Etc.” as he was relating personal experiences. It happened to be, the week before on the service meeting the KM emphasised that visiting speakers should not use time of the 45 min. public talk for personal introduction of wife and self, and visiting speakers should arrange to stay for and participate in the WT study. So Br. Smalley left us with a very bad impression like some of the other Bethel speakers we had.
Freetosee