Public Discourse - "Jehovah's Table"

GMahler

Hello Everyone, I confess that I'm more a lurker than a poster. My mother, who is still very much an active JW, was recently given this talk delivered by a travelling overseer (a DO, I think) Bro. Mack. I'm not sure what his whole name is. If anyone recognizes his voice, please feel free to post his name. The talk was delivered somtime within the past year somewhere in Florida. It's clear from his comments that he spent a great deal of time at Bethel in the company of GB members. Two things about this talk that stood out to me. First, his comments about the GB. He says that they feel personally responsible for each and every member of the WTS and how they are even deeply troubled when a member goes astray. Anyone whose had the opportunity to learn about how GB meetings are conducted will take issue with these comments. Second, I was intrigued by his comments about Dan Sydlik. I've read lots of things about Sydlik, both good and not so good. On my way out of the Society, I befriended someone who was very close to Sydlik during his time at Bethel. From what I learned, Sydlik was deeply troubled by some of the things going on in the organization and really wanted to reform it. Unfortunately, he would never see the changes he wanted to see take place come about. Perhaps some of the experiences discussed by Bro. Mack in this discourse highlight some of Sydlik's concerns about what was taking place in the organization. Enjoy! http://www.sendspace.com/file/cb28sn

Gopher

Here's the clickable link to that talk: http://www.sendspace.com/file/cb28sn

Thanks for sharing, GMahler.

I too don't believe that the Governing Body cares about "each member of the flock". They care about numbers and about keeping each member in line.

Bro. Sydlik came to my area in 1983 to give talks at the DC, and in 1984 for a special talk regarding the Witnesses in Poland. He seemed like a warm and caring person, and I believe he wanted the organization to do better for its people than they were doing.

cabasilas

Thanks for posting this! I'm listening to it now.

About 15 minutes in there's some interesting stuff about JWs not wanting to accept the current anti-college stance of the GB.

OnTheWayOut

He says that they (GB) feel personally responsible for each and every member of the WTS and how they are even deeply troubled when a member goes astray.

If they feel personally responsible for each and every member, they did really good to
lay off the Bethelite "family" members to watch profits instead of souls.

I could tell how they were concerned when I went astray. They spent about ZERO hours on
ZERO shepherding calls on me.

drew sagan

He says that they feel personally responsible for each and every member of the WTS and how they are even deeply troubled when a member goes astray

Then why don't they actually start openly discussing issues that are causing to people to walk away instead of pretending they are not there?

What a joke. They have repressed intellectual debate and discussion for decades. People are starting to realize that all the answers can't be found in generic 192 page books.

Their actions show they care all right, care about keeping a hold on the status quo.

WTWizard

They care about as much about each individual as I care about the company I work for. I only care about one thing from that company: MY paycheck. And that's what they care about: THEIR paychecks.