Greenlees & Chitty -- Some Sources (page 2)

SanFranciscoJim

Slightly off-topic, but I was wondering if anyone else heard this anecdote:
Some years ago, Leo Greenlees, while still on the Governing Body, was visiting the home of a faithful Witness woman. The "sister", as a means of entertaining Bro. Greenlees, started hammering away Kingdom Songs on her piano. After several songs, Bro. Greenlees asked her if she knew how to play Ave Maria. Aghast, the "sister" asked him why he would want to hear a song from a church of Babylon the Great. His reply: "Because it's such a lovely melody."

thinkers wife

Thanks guys,
I am glad my post was duly noted and agreed with.
Jim,
Just wanted you to know that in my mind the line of demarcation between pedophilia and homosexuality is very clear. I have no problem with gay people whatsoever. It is not my life-style choice, but to each his own. As long as it is done responsibly. I feel that caring and commited relationships exist in both areas of life, as you yourself have attested to.
Pedophiles on the other hand are in a very seperate disgusting category!
TW

reagan_oconnor

Additionally off-topic...

When I was growing up, there was a young married couple in my hall who were the envy of all the wannabe cool kids. This couple had it together; he was always in sharp clothing, perfect hair/goatee, she in expensive, chic dresses and perfect hair as well. They moved to Palm Springs and several years later, word came that he was DF'ed for being "a homo" as so many in my Midwestern congregation were fond of saying. (His wife was remarried soon after to some 20 year old kid, and I lost track of her.) I recall overhearing adults commenting that they "weren't surprised" and it was "too bad he's gonna die at Armageddon."

Hatred for homosexuals was so "normal" amongst the JWs where I lived. It was just about the only acceptable group of people to hate (next to the Catholics, of course!) so you hated with all your righteous might. How damaging. How horrible.

<sigh> I hope he's doing well and living life to the fullest.

Tina

Hi Jim,
Thanks for bringing that point up about pedophiles.
Absolutely correct! I was looking at offender stats recently,and the majority are hetero.......
Another great point,pedophilia is a disorder........these distictions need to be made . regards,Tina

Carl Sagan on balancing openness to new ideas with skeptical scrutiny...."if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense,you cannot distinguish useful ideas from worthless ones."

bj

up again as I would like to come back to this topic in the coming days.

Room 215

Alan F and fellow posters:
Greetings. This topic is well-trodden ground here, it is not? None of this stikes me as new or revelatory.
It's no surprise that cloistered environment of Bethel would foster problems common to institutional life: prison, the military, monateries, etc.
I recall one particularly amusing, candid, if somewhat troubling remark made on the subject when I was a ``new boy'' at Bethel by my table head Howard Zenke, a long-timer Bethelite and senior staffer in the service department.
Commenting on some disclosure of minor hanky-panky at the breakfast table by Knorr, Zenke turned to me and said: ''No suprise to me. A lot of guys here are `light on their feet,' if you know what I mean.''
By the way Alan, you covered the allegations of homosexuality and child molestation rather thoroughly; what about that third hot topic: wife swapping?

nytelecom1

When I was growing up, there was a young married couple in my hall who were the envy of all the wannabe cool kids. This couple had it together; he was always in sharp clothing, perfect hair/goatee, she in expensive, chic dresses and perfect hair as well.

goatee------something is not kosher

Dino

Hey Alan! Who loves you baby! I mean that in the most Telly Savalas way! (Im hetero) Just wanted to say thanks for all the efforts on our behalf. Some here dont know of your hard work behind the scenes to bring down the evil empire. May you have peace my friend. Dino

joelbear

Room 215 says:

It's no surprise that cloistered environment of Bethel would foster problems common to institutional life: prison, the military, monateries, etc.
I recall one particularly amusing, candid, if somewhat troubling remark made on the subject when I was a ``new boy'' at Bethel by my table head Howard Zenke, a long-timer Bethelite and senior staffer in the service department.
Commenting on some disclosure of minor hanky-panky at the breakfast table by Knorr, Zenke turned to me and said: ''No suprise to me. A lot of guys here are `light on their feet,' if you know what I mean.''

Joelbear says:

Institutional life may foster institutional homosexual behavior but not innate homosexuality, but that is usually because the men have no other outlet available on a daily basis. That is not true of Bethelites who can leave bethel on a daily basis to fulfill their urges if need be. This is not the case for prisoners, military personnel restricted to base on a ship or monks who are forbidden to leave their monasteries. The great majority of these men may engage in homosexual behavior while cloistered but immediately return to their natural sexual proclivities whenever females become available. For them homosexual behavior may be physically stimulating enough to calm their libidos temporarily but they do not receive the psychological and emotional satisfaction they receive from relations with the opposite sex.

On the other hand, I would not be surprised to find that the bethel and pioneer ranks hold a higher than average percentage of innately homosexual men since many homosexual men choose a religious life in order to cope with the guilt they feel from being homosexual or to try to gain the good grace of god through hard work and thus be rewarded by being changed.

The "light on the feet" comment is simply an example of how the rank and file brother sometimes reacts to the issue of homosexuality. It is simply something to be ridiculed. Some brothers however are very empathetic to the spiritual needs of a homosexual man who is trying to remain celebate and please his god. I ran into both types both at Bethel and in my home congregations.

If Chitty was kept on the Governing body and/or at Bethel after is was discovered he was homosexual, it is just another example of how PR is the top priority of the Watchtower society, not justice, cause I can assure you, the typist or press operator or farm worker who is discovered or confesses is not treated the same way.

peace

Joel

metatron

Doesn't anybody find it interesting that Greenlees ended up
in New Orleans?

If you belonged to an 'alternative lifestyle' in the 80's,
where would you go in the US to live, without getting hassled?
Three places come to mind:

Greenwich Village (too close to Bethel)
San Francisco (too obvious)
New Orleans (just right!)

metatron

Greenlees & Chitty -- Some Sources

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