My Bethel Experience final chapter (page 3)

jgnat

A right treat, new boy. Thank you for sharing. Has it helped move past the past, just a little bit, by exposing it to the light of "day" (the www)?

Metatron has really hit the nail on the head. The military draft was a godsend for the Society. Draft boards only granted a 4-D deferrment (minister of religion) for those who were pioneers, members of the bethel family or congregation servants (the precursor of elder). Now how many 18 year old boys were congregation servants? That meant to get the coveted deferrment you needed to either pioneer or be a member of the bethel family. If you couldn't earn a 4-D deferrment, you had to settle for a 1-0 (conscientious objector). However your draft board would require a conscientious objector to perform non-combatant service, such as working in a VA hospital emptying bed pans. Interestingly at the time the Watchtower forbade its members from non-combatant service on pain of disfellowshipping. So the bottom line was this for a young American male dub: either pioneer or bethel or jail. No wonder bethelites didn't want to leave. If the society wouldn't "let them pioneer for six months," than the draft board could grab them. The first step toward dismantling the policy of Watchtower slavery came in the late 60's when the American government instituted a draft lottery. If you had a high lottery number than you couldn't get called up so then you didn't need a deferrment and the Watchtower couldn't count on your slave labor to earn that deferrment. The draft finally ended in 1973 and as you might have noticed this marked the end of the 4 year rule at Bethel. The fact of the matter is that the Watchtower Printing Company skillfully played American military draft laws to enslave generations of young males as unpaid factory workers or book salesmen. r51785 -- holder of a 4-D draft card, and former pioneer

mann377

New boy and Dog Patch: Do you remember Norman Dignard, make ready crew? How about V. Stutts, he was a Hoe operator. You mentioned Tom Plank, was he a Cottrel operator? I remember I worked on press 8 not far from Hoe row. The operator was E. Alcorn (he called himself "nigger charlie") and called me "whitey". We actually became friends. Do you remember David Newmen? I worked with him on press one next to Wheels office. He died of aids about 10 years ago (he was very gay). Do you remember Jay Kozenskie? He was Wheels assistant when I was there, nice guy. Wheels was a tough man and nobody liked him (man of few words). I worked mostly on MAN presses in building three, 7th floor. I will try to PM you with my cell phone #.

loosie

Nooooooooooooo!!!!!!

Don't quit

I read them all. But I can't help but feel like my favorite soap opera is on it's final episode.

juni

Thanks newboy for sharing your memories with us. I for one am glad it has come to an end. This had to be very emotionally draining on you to re-visit the abuse. I had a hard time reading a lot of your experiences - how fooled we all were. It was viewed as a blessing and a privilege to be accepted to Bethel.

Peace to you,

Juni

new boy

To Metatron and R 51785

Your so right.......I found out years latter that was the ONLY reason my pioneer partner and bethel room mate, did both of those things was becuse he did want to go to jail.

I did have a 4-D.......I was serving 1-4 for impersonating a minister.

new boy

I really should proof read my post.........LOL

I quit!

Thanks for posting this Newboy. If you remember more about your experience there I hope you will post it. Also I would like to know a little more about what happens once a person leaves Bethel. What I am really interested in is why so many that have been there have similar bad experiences yet it never seems to become widely known. When I first got involved with the witnesses I remember a Bethelite returning home. I don't remember if it was for good or he was just visiting his parents. Anyway he was viewed like he was returning from the Watchtower equivalent of Oxford or Yale. Not a factory full of unhappy slave.

bernadette

New boy, thanks for sharing your bethel experiences. really glad that its all coming out into the open on the internet.

bernadette

jayhawk1

It can't end here! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Get back into Bethel and make more memories!

My Bethel Experience final chapter

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