Could someone explain what MTS is? I am assuming it is Ministerial Training School, but I don't really know the significance of it. I keep hearing reference to it, but I guess I don't understand who attended, and what sort of prestige it provided. (My family had no "male" witnesses in it, so I didn't have any direct experience with the various "privileges" available to men. And, I left so long ago, it seems like I forgot quite a bit!) Thanks!
MTS School???
by LearningMore 14 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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darth frosty
MTS was the WT idea of a training school for up and coming dub men who were 'reaching out' to be CO's. It was really a disaster. Everyone at bethel either looked down on the MTS grads or felt threatened by them.
Here's a good post about them.
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LearningMore
Thanks darth frosty!
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lancelink
I recently met this young, pompous a** who wants to go to this training school.
He is dating this wonderful, young girl and everyone in her family hates this guy,
they ALL state that he seems to have a rather large corn cob shoved up his rear-end.
Anyway, he wants to marry her, and his local BOE approved his going to this school,
is that normal, screwed up,
or what ? -
WTWizard
This "school" is a total waste of time. One poster I have seen for sure that has been through this waste is Snakes In the Tower. He went thinking it would build him up, when it in fact caused him to turn apostate.
To qualify, you have to be a hounder or assistant hounder, and single. (I wonder where in the Bible it says that people have to be single to participate in this total waste). You are taught for 8 1/2 weeks, and then you are sent to areas where they are having problems. There was a time when this was not common, and usually you would be sent back home. However, with the congregations falling apart, it is very common to be sent out immediately, and it could become normal to get multiple assignments simultaneously. Of course, it is in bad form to turn down an assignment for any reason.
Once you are in an assignment, you act to assist the hounders in the congregation. Usually, the lead hounder there will fight you, since he is usually satisfied with the way things are going. And you will be required to do things the way that got them in a pickle in the first place. There is no independent thinking or acting allowed. And success means building up that congregation so it's once again making solid gains, and the "spiritual" condition of the congregation is stable and strong.
This is a dreadful assignment. First, the course is a complete waste of time. Then there is a growing risk of getting a Mission Impossible, or even more than one Mission Impossible simultaneously. Fail, and you are looked down on. Refuse an assignment (even if you refuse one to accept another), and you are even worse. And it is incentive for the hounders to keep you from ever finding a mate, because they do not want to lose the delusion that you will fix the whole Washtowel Slaveholdery (remember, these people are expected to do things the way the Filthful and Disgraceful Slavebugger wants them done, usually the way that got them in trouble in the first place).
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Eyes Open
Sounds wonderful. So the Society intensively trains someone to fix things, and them sends them to congregations which need fixing for them to be resented by the elders trying to keep their little authority fantasy going who don't want things fixed by an outsider?
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drew sagan
WTWizard, your comments are on target with the experiences of a few people I have known that went through the MTS system.
An amazing thing about MTS, they don't even provide a place for these guys to stay on the Watchtower facilities. He had to stay at one of the 'friends' home and had to make a commute every day to get to were his classes were. He worked part time at a low paying job and never had any money. During his time in MTS his car broke down and had all kinds of trouble.
After he came back from MTS his assignment was to go to a congregation that was about an hours drive from were he currently was. I remember seeing him go through all that work of MTS just so he could get sent to another congregation in the area. I had no idea what the point of it all was. One of the guys he went to MTS with who lived on the other side of the state was shipped to the same congregation. It has a good number of years now (at least 6) since these guys went to MTS. One has been moved to a congregation that is really close. That's it. So one guy goes to two congregations in close proximity, another goes to the same one an hour away from were he used to live.
For such an exclusive program they sure dish out some pretty mundane work. Both guys have since gotten married. One couple hopes one day they can get into Gilled. I remember that MTS grad telling me how Gilead is all about creating people who work in administrative positions and isn't about missionary work anymore. He seemed really excited about hopefully getting that job one day. I wondered what made him any different from people in 'the world' who worked their whole life for careers that brought the presage. This MTS 'spiritual champion' that everybody looked up to was totally focused on getting a job, it had little to do with 'spiritual things'.
Ditto on the idea of turning down an assignment. He specifically told me stories of people who turned down assignments and were never asked to do anything again. -
Octarine Prince
Indoctrination center.
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lancelink
I remember that MTS grad telling me how Gilead is all about creating people who work in administrative positions and isn't about missionary work anymore. He seemed really excited about hopefully getting that job one day. I wondered what made him any different from people in 'the world' who worked their whole life for careers that brought the presage. This MTS 'spiritual champion' that everybody looked up to was totally focused on getting a job, it had little to do with 'spiritual things'.
helping people get a job under the guise of "spiritual learning"
sounds like a WT college to me -
drew sagan
sounds like a WT college to me
Yeah, but with much lower placement percentages ;)