Question for ex or current :) bethelites (page 2)

Jomavrick

ronwashington

Ratted you out for owning Lord of the Rings? What the living Hell is wrong with that??? Sorry but the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy is far more interesting reading (and more believalbe) than the bible ever will be,,,

RayPublisher

@RonWashington

were you there when Brother Couch gave a lecture during morning worship about bethelites 'wrestling around in their underwear and then the next you know he's a homo'

I WAS THERE IT WHEN HE SAID THAT! WAS SO FUNNY WE LAUGHED OUR BUTTS OFF about it, and we even backed up the tape and listened to him say it again.

I wish I had saved a copy of that it would be worth something on Ebay. I was on the waiter's crew and we taped morning worship since we ate after the rest of the family, then some chieftan would play it as we ate. He said outrageous stuff- he also reamed everyone for eating too much pizza remember that?

puffthedragon

Damn I miss CBGB, it was great, never turned me gay. Yeah I remember him saying that.

When Couch was home overseer he did not allow bean bag chairs because someone might masturbate in it. Ewww. Can't make this stuff up.

ronwashington

i never heard the CBGB stuff, bean bag stuff, or pizza thing. Then again, I may have been half asleep during it.

As for the Lord of the Rings thing, it was weird. I know for a fact it was my room-mate because no one else at that point knew I had it. It was strange because he also gave me a heads up that 'I probably shouldn't have that'

I should probably make a catch-all 'wacky stories from bethel' thread for people to contribute to

blondie

Based on the lack of privacy, did or do Bethelites have mail sent to a friend, a mailing service, or a personal mailbox (expensive)?

ronwashington

not that i know of. i can't imagine the typical bethelite spending money from their stipend for that. i personally never had my mail opened

RayPublisher

@Blondie - Never had my mail molested either. And one girl (who I accidentally married) sent me a love letter that was practically dripping in perfume.

@RonW - I heard about the LOTR thing. A bethelite friend of mine, Brian F. from New Hampshire, said he knew a guy that got in trouble for having one of Tolkien's books on his shelf.

TheListener

Remember the great Rap purge of the late '80s? I remember a Family Study (bethel family WT on Monday night) where the conductor went off on Slayer and other demon bands.

matt2414

Puffthedragon and ronwashington, I wish I had known you two when I was in Bethel. It would have been more of a blast! I was at Brooklyn and the farm from 1988-89, back and forth from training, then I came and went on assignment until about 1994. I worked in computers/MEPS and even factory electric for awhile.

I have a question though: Did you ever have doubts about the organization when you would hear crackpot comments from Couch and others? I think I did, but just ignored them. I don't know why.

I remember -- at breakfast, mind you -- Couch saying that brothers should pee sitting down so they don't miss the toilet and hit the floor. I, too, heard his comments about gays. I would cringe everytime he said "homo," or for that matter, disparaging words he called other groups of people. It just seemed to hypocritical to privately ridicule people, and then go door to door pretending that you're interested in saving them.

I also recall Sydlik encouraging the young guys to look for Italian women with big boobs as wives. The sex is so much better. Women and boobs seemed to be a favorite topic of his. But he always seemed to be a loose cannon. Once the talk coordinator in Sydlik's cong. told me that Sydlik was complaining about having to give a talk in the congregation of another, stricter (Jaracz or Schroeder?), member of the GB. The talk coordinator told him, "What do you have to worry about as long as you stick to the outline?" Sydlik responded, "That's the problem!"

Another time, during morning worship, George Gangas went on and on about how wonderful it would be to live in the new world. He sounded so effusive and enamored with the idea of living forever on earth, that one missionary leaned over and asked me, "Isn't he supposed to go to heaven?" Gangas then mentioned that it would be so awesome to live on earth, that even the animals would be able to talk and praise God. We all just sat there staring at each other with puzzled looks on our faces. Then he gave the morning prayer where he rattled off at least a half dozen or more adjectives each time he referred to God.

I had so much respect for the organization before bethel, but once I got there, I realized there was absolutely nothing special about those men and that they were just as flawed, imperfect and damaged as anyone else, perhaps even moreso. There was absolutely no evidence that God had chosen them, was working through them or even knew them. Why I didn't bolt then I'll never know. :)

Quendi

I never set foot on any WTS property in New York or elsewhere so I’m intrigued by these stories. I had heard that Tolkien’s works were on the unofficial “banned books” list in Bethel and that any who owned them were pressured to get rid of them. I know of one case where the Bethelite refused, but did put the books in a discreet location—if there is such a thing in Bethel private quarters. I wonder what the reaction would have been to having the works of C.S. Lewis. Perhaps confiscation of the literature and the Bethelite being disfellowshipped and dismissed.

Quendi

Question for ex or current :) bethelites

Share this