Same to me, I hated it from the very first moment till the day we left.
By the way the afternoon was 1:00-5:00 PM.
Bethel Life
by Holden Caufield 15 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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snakeface
I heard nothing but horror stories.
I was baptized in 1981 at age 25, came in from "the world". Single. Aux pio'd for a year then was a reg pio (and worked full time and had my own place). I was considered an example. So the elders and CO handed me a Bethel application and said they would sign off on it if I would fill it out. I had not given any thought to going. But I decided to go and visit, get a tour etc. I was impressed with Bethel but definitely did not want to apply. The dormitory life didn't bother me; I had previously been in the military and lived in the barracks. But Bethel was just too structured for me, like being in the military, and I had had enough of that. I don't want to be told what time to get up, what time to eat and so on. I want to choose what kind of job I will have. When I returned home and told the elders I was not interested in going, they acted like I was disowning the faith and throwing my life away. I remember asking them, "Wouldn't you rather have me here, as a pioneer?"
I am so glad I didn't let them talk me into going.
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LongHairGal
KANON:
If Bethel seemed a ‘dream’ compared to the rat race the rest of the world is in, what happens when the rug is pulled out from under somebody in middle age and they’re kicked out of the ivory tower?
SNAKEFACE:
Be very glad you weren’t talked into going. You might be in the predicament other ex-Bethelites now find themselves in.
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snakeface
LongHairGal, I guess what happens to Bethelites is, when they get too old and frail to work they return home and relatives have to take them in since they have no money. And those who leave when young have nothing to put on a job resume.
Technology is available now so that the Writing Committee can send their compositions directly to printers and binding machines. That's what the secular workforce does. An accountant or bookkeeper prepares an Income Statement or other such document, prints it and hands it to the recipients. Or he sends them electronically. The recipients review them and make their decisions.
So "Bethel" is no longer needed.
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snakeface
If Bethel life is so horrible, why do so many young people want go to there? Because of the brainwashing. They are taught that the outside world is so wicked and so dangerous, and that the only safe and spiritually clean place is inside a kingdom hall or bethel home. So perhaps they then feel so inadequate, that they could never survive in the outside world. Which in turn fosters the belief that they need the wt society to protect them and to make decisions for them. All this is designed to keep the flock in spiritual, emotional, and mental slavery.
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dozy
Bethel works well for people who enjoy a very structured , institutional type of life and who are thoroughly assimilated into thinking they are doing "God's work" ( rather than what they are actually doing , which is free work for a religious publishing & media company ).
In that respect ,it is very similar to working for the Mormons apart from the fact that they actually get paid for their work , whereas JWs in Bethel are unpaid ( other than a tiny allowance )