I did the two week stint to see if I liked it. Both Dad and I applied at the same time. They rejected him and accepted me. I didn't like that. I had a nice time there. No problems for me. I even bought Batman Knightfall when I was there. Had a fun part timer roommate too. The only thing I didn't like was running to lunch. On Sunday I got to look around Brooklyn a bit. Found the comic store...They KNEW about me though. They found a brother that I knew of back in Atlanta to take me back to the airport.
What was it about Bethel that woke you up?
by cognisonance 95 Replies latest jw friends
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darth frosty
Damn LeavingWT nailed it.
Also for me looking back I shoulda left after I 1st met the Bethel elder and his belly from the hall I was assigned to.
With-in my 1st day I had all the evidence ti needed to run my ass up outta there.
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clarity
Darth............
With-in my 1st day I had all the evidence ti needed to run my ass up outta there
This is no good without the pictures
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Quendi
bookmarked
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Etude
leavingwt: "There is absolutely no procedure to have your legitimate greivances aknowledged and dealt with by the powers at Bethel." You absolutely, 100%, shit-sure hit the nail on the head (post 14996). At least that was my experience.
Examples? I got the first clue when Knorr gave us the "new boy" talk and told us that Bethel was our home, while in the next sentence told us we couldn't do what we wanted, like putting up a family picture on a wall or bring in some piece of furniture without asking. "OK", I thought. That's fair. Well, I put that to the test by wanting to post a bulletin board on wall in order to keep reminders of dish duty, watchman duties, etc. Shit, what a battle! The reason I was denied was that some brothers post "unchristian" items on those boards, like the comic strip "Love is like..." from the newspaper. When I specifically promised I would not do that, well, the argument only escalated, basically stating that they couldn't acquiesce even though they grandfathered those people who already had an installed bulletin board. In essence, they were saying that they didn't trust me, even though I was willing to abide by their rules.
Now, picture this: I came into Bethel during Knorr's reign. I once heard him over the breakfast broadcast throughout Bethel berate a sister because she didn't show up for text reading. It turns out she was pregnant and had severe morning sickness. He really didn't give a shit. The dude was tyrant.
One of my beefs was about the blue jeans. In Brooklyn, Knorr discouraged bethelites from wearing blue jeans because in Brooklyn Heights it seemed to him that homosexuals wore blue jeans. Consequently, when you sent your laundry to wash they wouldn't press your jeans. However, you could pay (from your meager allowance) to have your jeans pressed at the dry cleaners (a separate department in Bethel). When I moved to the farm I made a similar request to the dry cleaners. They said they wouldn't do it because of the view or opinion in Brooklyn about homosexuals. So, never mind that we lived in a place far removed from Brooklyn. When I pointed out that Brooklyn would allow for jeans to be pressed by the dry cleaning department, their answer was: Well, we're not Brooklyn. The infuriating part was not that I had to go around with unpressed jeans. It was the twisted logic they used to explain not doing it.
That is just one example of the frustrating situations for which there was no support, defense or venue to fight. I remember one time while working on the night shift at the Brooklyn bindery when the "supervisor" told me I could not read the Bible on my tea break (I used to sew signature to make Bibles), because the Society had deemed it proper for me to have a break to enjoy and not read the Bible. I couldn't believe it. But looking back that guy's asshole was more like a black hole. It was so tight, nothing escaped it.
I have so many stories like that it's almost painful to bring them up. Later on, when I heard stories from my "Bethel" nephews about the things they could do, I was so incensed that everything I worked for to realize and made me a "bad attitude" was now the accepted practice.
I was at "the hub of the organization". I really had expected more by way of spirituality and faireness. From the second day at Bethel (I never saw him on the first day), my roommate turned out to be an asshole. He said: "I was here first and you have to adjust to me and not me to you." What that meant is that he could pick anything he wanted in the room to be just so and I had to have sloppy seconds. Well, fuck him. As soon as I found a chance (within days) I moved in to the roach-infested Towers Hotel with another new boy from California. It was the best move I ever made.
As far as policy is concerned, everything went downhill from there. Eventually, my eyes were opened and I realized I could no longer stay there. When I went into Bethel, the contract was for a minimum of 4 years and being single. Somewhere along the line, it was changed to a one-year service promise. I guess the saw the handwriting on the wall. By then Knorr was dead. So, I left after 2 and a half years.
I wrote about this nine years ago (http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/experiences/45819/1/The-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly). Before I ever went to Bethel, way back in the early 70s I asked Ray Franz and Tom Cabeen what Bethel was like. Tom's clever answer after a snicker from both him and Ray was: "It's like no other place on Earth." Man, did I find out what that meant a few years later. Like someone at Bethel once said to me: "I wouldn't take a million dollars in exchange for the experience of Bethel. But I wouldn't give a penny for a second more of it." But for that experience, I'm not sure I'd be where I am today. That was the start of my road out of the Borg.
Eventually I got to describe Bethel as a combination of being in the Army, college and prison all rolled up in one.
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maisha
But my heart was out the moment I left. I remember crying all the way to the airport when I left. I wasn't good enough for God's organization.
This says so much,
thanks to you all for your stories.. eye opening...
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irondork
I recall Bro Couch speaking about homosexuality at bethel once. This would've been around 2000. He said that many of the young brothers were getting involved with it. He said, "First you decide to wrestle around with your roomate in your underwear and then...WAM BAM you're a homo!!!"
Poor Brother Couch. The young brothers didn't decide to wrestle around in their underwear and then become homos. The young brothers wrestled around in their underwear BECAUSE they were homos.
Just trust me on this.
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life is to short
Reading through this thread has brought back so many painful memories.
I thought Bethel was going to be the best place I could be. It had been my goal forever but I was a sister and never thought I would be allowed to go.
I got married to my husband who is older than I am and he was the only elder in small country congregation. It was hell from day one in the hall. People would call and demand my husband's time they treated me like dirt. I was yelled at all the time and talked down to horribly. I told the CO I was loosing it and he told me that I was being selfish because Jehovah needed my husband and I could have him in the new system.
I begged my husband to put in our apps for Bethel hoping to escape where we were. We got accepted for the 90 Sands project. I was so excited that I was going to get away from the hall of hell and I just knew Bethel was going to be great. Boy was I in for a shock.
My first day there I meet my overseer and HE HATED ME he looked me up and down and just hated me. I had asked the CO's wife what I should bring to wear at Bethel and she said that I should NEVER bring any jeans. Sisters did not wear them and that if I brought any I could be looked down on. Now this was the wife of the CO who had told me I was selfish for wanting to spend time with my husband so that should have told me something but I was young and stupid. I was placed in construction working on 90 Sands and that was all the sisters wore were jeans. My overseer was so mad that first day because I did not have a pair of jeans with me. I had to go to the hopper donated cloths to get something to wear.
I remember my first day there sitting in the locker room just crying my eyes out not understanding why I was being treated so horribly by my overseer I remember thinking that Jehovah hated me. I will never forget the real pain I felt in my heart that day. I truly wanted to die.
It felt like I had jumped from the frying pan into the fire. My overseers favorite saying was that 70 to 80 percent of the people at bethel were only there for the free food and shelter. I knew he was meaning me. He was upset if I used any of the Bethel services. I got a tooth ache after I had been there six months and I would not go the the dentist because of my overseer looking down on me, my tooth fell out because of it and still today I have problems with it.
Everyone's story here on this board is spot on to what I remember. It is so sad because I truly loved the religion when I went, I was not there for any free food and it just crushed me that I was told that.
On the plus side I finally had some time with my husband for the first time in our four year marriage. As busy as we were at Bethel we had way more time together then we ever did in the congregation with him being the only elder. Its truly a sad religion that will not even let you have family time without making you feel you are steeling from Jehovah.
LITS
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puffthedragon
Eventually I got to describe Bethel as a combination of being in the Army, college and prison all rolled up in one.
Yup.
-Life is to short
I remember after I left talking to a girl I had just started dating about bethel,(she asked) and how hard it was on the sisters and she reacted like I was a male chauvenist pig. I felt bad, and figured maybe I was out of line, but your comments reminded me of that conversation we had. I know Bethel life had to be pretty hard on the ladies.
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leavingwt
puffthedragon: Your experience alligns with what I observed 100%. I enjoyed reading it.