Tech49 visits Bethel: Part 1-Patterson

by Tech49 17 Replies latest jw experiences

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  Tech49

  I thought that it was a good time to post my experience about visiting New York last spring. Enough time has passed that no one can put my experiences together with any kind of timeline....

  So our family discussed the trip to the Holy Land (NY Bethel), as none of us had ever been. Anyone who is anyone knows that you aren't really a good JW Christian until you visit Bethel! I was at a crossroads in my thinking, and waking, and learning the "real" truth, so I thought it would be a good reason to make the trip. Perhaps my conscience would be comforted, and all these horrible "apostate" thoughts and feelings would go away..after all, I would be in the presence of GREATNESS, and the HOLY 8 !!!......At the same time, my oldest child would accompany me, and we could have a good "bonding" experience. So we saved our money, and chunked down the moola for plane tickets and hotels and a rental car. Ok, I travel alot, so it was an uneventful journey from the West Coast. We spent the night near JFK, to get a good start for the next morning.

  Day 1: PATTERSON here we come! This is where it all happens, we can't wait!! So we get there, pull up to the little "guard shack", where the nice lady asks us what our business is. Now mind you, we had a friend-of-a-friend that we were able to connect with to get an "invitation" to lunch and a private tour. So the buildings and grounds look nice, gratuitous photos at the main entrance sign, the usual. Here is where I will change my perspective a bit, moreso to general observations, and things that struck me in one way or another.

  Lobby is large, cold.... and stuck in the 90's. What's with all the purple and blue? Large staircases on either side, leading to more "sacred" areas... you have to have a security card to get thru the doors. We meet up with our pre-arranged tour guide, typical Bethelite, young guy, neatly groomed, pasty white. We walk around for a bit looking at the lobby exhibit stuff, etc, then head up the stairs for a tour of the facilities. I wont give you a boring play-by-play. All in all, unimpressive. Offices, lots of offices. A few paintings that are used to photograph in the literature (DONT TOUCH THEM!), art department. Really very few people around. Got to take a peek inside the Service Department, into the little cubicles where your calls go, and the mail sort room/area where your letters and questions are opened and forwarded to the appropriate SD desk. Again, very quiet, hardly anyone around. So many areas we COULDNT see or go into, off limits and such.

  Time for lunch, thank goodness! Can you say MILITARY STYLE! Sit down, table head (ok??) tells you which way you will pass plates of food. Pray, eat as fast as you can, then STOP! Time to stand and pray again, then GO! OHMYGOD, I have never seen anything like it. Think of a bunch of college kids bombarding the cafeteria. Everyone whips out their bags, tupperware, and dishes and start scooping and shoveling extra food into them like the APOCALYPSE is coming TOMORROW! Then BAM! Everyone bolts out the door and is gone! So lunch ends with a whimper, with a few die-harders, and those poor souls delegated to tourist-duty, waiting patiently for their "charges" to finish their lettuce and rice.

  MORE LATER.
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  Tech49

  After lunch, we head out with our tour guide, really not much else to see. Make a trip downstairs, see young folks dutifully pounding out their day in the laundry area. A few ladies in the barber/beauty shop, and then the commissary/store. In the store, no candy bars or pop allowed. One bethelite litterally jumped with glee when he saw ICE CREAM in the freezer! You purchase items on an honor system, punching in your "code" and the amount of your purchase into the computer next to the door, which is ultimately taken out of your monthly allowance. Was a nice little "store", but prices on the items were about the same as the grocery store. Would have thought things would be cheap or almost free...

  Oh, and our tour guide pointed to the field across the street. Now that's where all the young folks play soccer, football, baseball in the spring and summer. Why, they even have TEAMS! and it gets quite competitive! WHAT !!??? Say it isnt so!! Competition???? The questions are just spinning in my head, but I am polite and continue my tour.... i dont need to pester this guy and make his day any more miserable. We end up in the CLOCK TOWER. Anyone who has been there knows what it is and where it is. OK..... so its a tower at the top of the stairwell, with windows all around, with room for about 20 people standing shoulder to shoulder.... its got a good view of the complex. For our guide, this is like a crowning achievement of the day! "This is where we JUST LOVE to gather and sing Kingdom Songs, because the accoustics are sooooo COOOOL !!!" Oh brother.

  The residence buildings are off in the distance, but are off limits to visitors. Bummer. The buildings up the hill are where they make the videos and do alot of scene-photography, again off limits. Double Bummer.

  Well, time to go then, we have seen about all we can at this point. Really kind of dissappointed at how much you ARENT allowed to see. We part ways with our gracious tour guide; I can tell he is anxious to get back to better things.

  At this point, it is still the lunch hour/time/break, so people are milling about, or heading to their dorms, or out into the "world" for whatever. On the way out, we walk towards the lobby, and there is a large common area where a piano resides. When we entered earlier in the day, the piano was quiet, and the room was empty and silent. Now however, there is a group of about 10 people gathered around the piano, and someone is plunking out KH songs. They are all singing LISTEN OBEY AND BE BLESSED. They sounded HORRIBLE !

  I literally stopped and stared, I think my mouth was open. Mind you, I am not easily disturbed at oddities and funkiness. However, at this I was struck, frozen. Time stood still. Everything else suddenly became unimportant and ceased to exist. I was mesmerized by the CULTISH feel of it all. It was the most odd, weird feeling I have had in a long time. It was like watching a movie. Like something you would read about in the wierdest of the wierd. And then I knew why.......... it was worship. Worship that was not normal. Freaky, cultish, worship. Like zombies on autopilot. Crazy wierd is all I can say. I shook off the shiver that ran up my spine, and we were out of there....
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  Gayle

  Such a boring place, comfortable if you're comfortable with 'robotism' and 'parrotism.' Relaxed dinner conversation is almost non-existent.

  Filling tupperware for left-overs was okay, at least in your room it's more comfortable and quiet to eat, unless you have to rush off for Monday eve. WT.; or meetings, field service.

  I was there (in Brooklyn tho) five years. One year doesn't stand out too much different than the next. Maybe that's why the long-timers, hardly get a reflection of the years & decades passing.
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  factfinder

  marked!
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  greenhornet

  Wow what a trip. Its sounds like a trip to North Korea.
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  FatFreek 2005

  Tell us a little about the museum. Anything there that can be misconstrued as idolism -- photographs of principals of old -- Russell, Rutherford, Father Miller (yes, he was referred to as Father as late as 1926 or so), Knorr, Franz, etc.

  Len
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  Lied2NoMore

  Never been there...never will...but I wonder...what if you just bolted and went in somewhere you weren't allowed? Would you be tackled? Arrested? If you asked why you aren't allowed somewhere what is their response? I would ask what is it they are hiding that you can't see? Would it stumble someone to see what it is that they are not allowing many to see?

  I think if I had ever gone even when brainwashed, I would be livid that they live in such plush surroundings and so many of the followers live in poverty volunteering for them to live like lords and kings....
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  Comatose

  Thanks for the info. Reminds me of my trip. The food eating/worship was creepy.
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  factfinder

  Did you visit the Wallkill Printery Tech49? i'd like to hear about that-thanks!
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  Julia Orwell

  Freaky-deaky. Would love to see photos.