by miseryloveselders 21 Replies latest jw friends
Billy -
Yes, but the excitement of having a real live Bethelite in one's presence and hearing their actual voice is almost like being with God Almighty Himself. It's about as close as any of them will ever get to God. They have flown in, direct from the Mother Organization. It doesn't get any better than that!
Whatever they say will be deep, and a profound spiritual feast.
As an UBM and someone who now only attends memorials and funerals and avoids meetings like the plague, my experiences of speakers is probably a bit limited but when a brother from the bethel comes to talk it gets the MIL VERY excited and come hell or high water she is going to be there! In doing this she usually drags along the wife and I get an invite too, with how very interesting and uplifting its going to be which i refuse politely.
As I have found none of the speakers particularly engaging, infact some of the local elders could probably make stones bleed if it would help them escape. I certainly wouldn't say that any of them made me desire for a "free bible study"! Uplifting, wasn't something i would describe it as either!
but 2 inparticular stand out to me:
1) Memorial 2010 - Definietely a closet gay! The gaydar was going off the chart! Nothin particularly memorable about what he said, put jw before everything, the number partaking in memorial is dropping so these are the last days blah blah blah but what really caught me were his manorisms! Even the wife agreed and I did have to smile when the MIL commented on what a nice man he was and how good his speech was!
2) Memorial 2007? - This old boy was obviously a bit of a heavy hitter but there was a lot of hot air. His speech wasn't so much memorable but more offensive. He made some statement that the kids in the audience would never go to college or become adults and time drawing to an end. I guess for a dub this is all good as they get to pet lions, but so much for dreams, hopes and innocence......
I guess then the only purpose is to get the R&F fired up to bring more people to memorial so they can fudge the numbers a bit more
I was fortunate to have heard several good Bethelite speakers. At the time I heard the talk, I was motivated. But like all talks, I forgot them when I exited out the doors of the meeting.
No never inspired or motivated me. They mostly annoyed me. I hated how everyone fawned over them....I was like they are just a freaking person. They were usually geeky ones at that.
I remember being excited when one would come. I remember hating all the extra people that would show up and make it hard to find seats.
NLW's wife
Having a bethelite visit the congregation is treated like celebrity.
when the kh I once attended was finally constructed Bro. Glass came out and gave the dedication talk.
He was really nice, and seemed humble.
But it was like attending a concert when he gave the talk. They had to rent the local HS auditorium to handle all of the people.
This was 1981 or 82.
Guy named Abrahamson came out and gave a public talk on how divine intervention thoughout history helped shaped historical events and lead the world to the place it's in now. Example: God sent the storm to sink the Spanish Armada, ending Spain's world domination, elevating the Brits to a World Power and thus ensuring the U.S. would be established with Magna Carta freedoms that in time assured a safe harbor for the WTBTS in Brooklyn.
I know, it's far out, but his memory for historical events was fascinating and he used so many established facts (names, places, countries) that it sounded totally convincing.
Now when I watch a TV documentary claiming flying saucers brought aliens to propagate the earth, I get the same thrill.
For the congregation I attended, it was all about him. The congregation was depressed, because everybody felt that they needed to do more...
That they sucked...!
Actually it was somewhat exciting because I felt the bethel speaker would be more spiritual and deep and would have special knowledge!
We had an old bethel brother give our MT - my brother and I went to pick him up at Brooklyn Bethel. I was so dissapointed. I had questions about Bethel he would not answer- he just kept talking about baseball on the ride. He did partake so it was interesting watching him do so on the platform!
I don't remember if any talks by bethel speakers were particularly motivating- it was just the novelty of having a speaker from bethel.
