Referring the WT writers' ffequent recourse to their collection of Christendom's commentaries and reference works, Karl Klein once deplored it as ``sucking at the teats of Babylon the Great." I think Ray Franz makes that point in one of his books.
My trip to the Bethel library....
by logansrun 19 Replies latest jw friends
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seattleniceguy
Logansrun,
Your experience in wanting to go to Bethel to save your faith was eerily similar to mine. The night that I broke down and realized it was all a lie, a matter of an hour or two before that critical moment, feeling the tension frothing below the surface, I also almost bought plane tickets, in a last-ditch bid to salvage my faith.
Glad I didn't waste the money! Your experience sounds like exactly what so many people have talked about. Even when talking to the Witnesses that come back from Bethel after years of service, you can sometimes detect that they're covering over a deeper unhappiness. But since they're not allowed to say something as shocking as that life was not idyllic, they can only say things like, "Well, I enjoyed it for a while, but it really wasn't for me."
SNG
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logansrun
Leolaia,
I had heard that the books at the Bethel library were censored, portions of pages cut out with razor blades. This was even the case with books quoted in the Watchtower. I heard this either from a brother who had been to Bethel or from the "apostate" literature. Any truth to this?
Not that I know of. I do know around 1980 -- during the "great apostasy" at Bethel -- there were some commentaries as well as a book called "The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings" which were taken from the shelves because too many bethelites were reading them and finding out disturbing lines of truth which conflicted with the "official line." (The latter book was all about chronology -- and of course that was a big topic) But, from what I saw, most of the books were all in good shape and no ostentious ommissions. Bradley
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Leolaia
Bradley.....okay, maybe that was an urban legend circulating at my cong -- like the many whispered about Ray Franz.
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orangefatcat
The apostacy of the 1980's, I almost forgot about that. you know when you mentioned it here I couldn't help but wonder if the Society wasn't prevoking the situation. If the GB had felt strongly about some of that literature they had and as I believe rm215 or randy waters told that there was a library under lock and key. I wonder now what kind of books exist in there. Are there books of demonizm, occult, astrology and the like??. Making an open invitation for persons to really see if the witnesses are like they profess the true faith. Maybe many a Bethelites came to see the lies as Randy has said on occasions. I mean he was in Bethel and Rm 215 you to, gee how many ex bethelites are here in the JWD.
There are times I feel so glad that I had my suspions founded about the org. when I here stories of Bethel. Why didn't the apostacy occur along time ago, why in the 80's. What was the one thing that started it all? And I just wonder how many witnesses really know the truth about the things that go on in Bethel. I know now this minute this second that I made no mistake in leaving the Organization. The coverup of homosexuality, the stowing away of Leo Greenlees. and whom ever else. I bet the walls could speaks more volumes, never mind their massive libraries, about the unclean occurances behind closed doors. Are these the things hidden behind lock and key the real truth, the truth the Society doesn't want witnesses to see and know?
Just thinking to myself and wondering what some of you think. Do the witnesses behind those doors are they the things Ezikiel saw as the unclean things in the temple. Is it really the Bethel that has the unclean things. Have all 6million witnesses been fooled and not known it all along? What will cause a massive explosion within the Organization? Is it the truth behind the doors of that library. Or am I just fooling myself. HMMMMMMM.
Orangefatcat.
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garybuss
I remember visiting Bethel and the Farm and thinking the workers there looked at us like inmates in a prison look at us when we tour or visit. Very eery. I did NOT get a warm and fuzzy feeling from visiting Bethel. It was an early look at the secular side of the publishing corporation. Before that, all I saw was our nepotistic congregation with the stinky vinyl seat cushions and the visiting paid workers who came like mystics who had prostrated themselves at the Wizard's feet. The reality of it was a letdown from my expectations. Now it all fits. -
Lonestar13
Wow, my visit to the Brooklyn bethel library was very similar as well. Its just the circumstances that landed me there which are different. Belive it or not i had to go all the way to bethel for my first judicial meeting before getting d'fd. the chairman of the committe was not able to make the 25 minute trip out to the local hall. So while the deliberations were made, i was made to sit in the library. and yes THAT IS WHAT I FOUND, books on science, all types of religion, point of view etc. There were also WT publications, but i gravitated to a book on world religions and started reading about the budhist religion. i joked to myself that if the decision made is to df then i have picked my new faith! I thought to myself however, how the rank and file are encouraged to only read WT publications and the NWT, just recently are other translations of the bible being referenced. They are even told the scripture in ecclesiates i think which says that the devotion to many books is wearisome to the flesh. well what about the many books in the bethel library? hmmmmm.... it has always been my opinion that that rank and file are not well read for the most part becuase of only reading wt publications. any scientific knowledge they get is from the awake magazine and they like to think they are experts for being able to spew out something they read from that. meanwhile they would NEVER pick up a book on their own about weather patterns, exotic plant or animal life, disease etc. they know only what WT tells them to know, and becuase of that, they are socially inept, and can't relate to the "outside world".
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blondie
My first trip to the Bethel library was to prove whether a certain publication had been ordered completely destroyed. I heard it on a TV show that specializes in debunking other religious groups. So I used the card catalog (it was some time ago) found when it would be on the shelf and there it was, The Way to Paradise by the Society?s secretary-treasurer, W. E. Van Amburgh. It was used to teach Sunday School. But it also contained material identifying 1925 as the time when the end would come just like the Millions booklet did.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/55743/814524/post.ashx
Blondie
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got my forty homey?
In my year at Brooklyn Bethel I enjoyed the libarary very much in doing prep work for my talks.
I always likened Bethel to the movie 1984 with John Hurt. Mindless people running around in halls, information spewing out of monitors telling of the increase in publishers, magazines printed, baptized ones and chocolate rations increasing! Then their was the fight for leftovers a milisecond after the word Amen was uttered by the wives on tupperware patrol.
I use to love going to the hoppers and check out the crap donated by the brothers! Polyster pants and wooly pants ruled the clothing hopper! Could get better stuff at a fire sale.
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herk
Here's my two-cents-worth that I hope provides some clarification here.
No joke -- there are HUNDREDS of books by servants of Satan at Bethel.
The headquarters staff of many other religious organizations have access to the writings of other religions and of persons and organizations that oppose what they stand for. I've been to the largest 7th Day Adventist library, for example, and I saw more books about JWs than I ever saw during the 40 years that I had access to the library at Brooklyn Bethel. The libraries at Bethel and Gilead are barren and drab by comparison. I can say the same thing about my visits to Union Theological Seminary. Though not a religious library, the New York Times library has practically every book you will find at Bethel. The Times keeps such books on hand simply for reference. And in fairness, I have to say that I believe that is the main purpose of having "books by servants of Satan at Bethel."
I was shocked to see some of the titles available to the casual reader.
I think it would be an extremely rare event to see a "Bethelite" or "Gileadite" perusing a book in the headquarters libraries that was taboo in JW congregations. For one thing, the headquarters staff is kept so busy and is expected to be ahead of everybody else in what the Society's publications have to say that they lack the time and energy to spend with other literature. More importantly, most persons at Bethel wouldn't want to be caught dead with "apostate" literature in their hands, even in the Society's libraries, due to the watchful eyes of others who might turn them in or give them critical "counsel" on the spot. A career at Bethel hinges on daily keeping up the pretense that you're completely loyal and would never do anything to jeopardize your "privileged position" within the organization. That is not to say, however, that such books were not consulted by members of the writing and legal staffs and some others with "special" assignments.
Referring the WT writers' ffequent recourse to their collection of Christendom's commentaries and reference works, Karl Klein once deplored it as ``sucking at the teats of Babylon the Great."
"Deplored" isn't the right word since it suggests regret, and Karl made as much use of such commentaries as any other WT writers. Knowing him as I did, I'm sure he made the statement only to convey the false impression that he himself used such works to a lesser degree than others on the writing staff.
there was a library under lock and key. I wonder now what kind of books exist in there. Are there books of demonizm, occult, astrology and the like??.
The "library under lock and key" is available only to certain persons because, for the most part, the items could become unusable by frequent handling. Some of the paper has become brownish with exposure to time, and the pages crack easily. Most of it is stuff from Russell's day, including publications of others in the Adventist movement of the time.
Why didn't the apostacy occur along time ago, why in the 80's. What was the one thing that started it all?
In a nutshell, "the apostacy" began when Bethelites were assigned to contribute articles for a Bible dictionary the Society was planning to release. They were encouraged to consult reference works in the Bethel library and elsewhere that would support what they wrote. The "dictionary" eventually became the Aid to Bible Understanding volume. Much of what they prepared was actually not used since most Bethelites have little experience as writers (or they really didn't have the time to do justice to such an assignment.) But the research opened the eyes of some Bethelites to the fact that there is far more in the Bible than the Society had ever dealt with.
Do the witnesses behind those doors are they the things Ezikiel saw as the unclean things in the temple.
My opinion is that the people at Bethel, including the members of the governing body, are blind but not deliberately evil. They daily live under the same delusions, misconceptions and hallucinations that afflict the rank and file. In some cases, they possess more authority than the average JW, but most members of Bethel and Gilead sincerely, though blindly, believe they're doing the will of God.
I remember visiting Bethel and the Farm and thinking the workers there looked at us like inmates in a prison look at us when we tour or visit. Very eery. I did NOT get a warm and fuzzy feeling from visiting Bethel.
Many (most?) Bethelites have a feeling of superiority over others in the organization. Most JWs can only dream of "the wonderful privilege" of having a friendship with leading members of the Society or at least being in their company day-after-day. If they "qualify," male Bethelites are often given first choice in many rare "privileges" such as speaking at conventions, etc. That kind of life can and often does inflate a Bethelite's ego. But the institutional life at Bethel is not normal living, and many a Bethelite really wishes he or she could have some of the warm relationships that seem to exist among JWs on the outside. Some (perhaps most) Bethel women suffer from the frustration of wanting both "full-time service" AND a normal family life with children.
I always likened Bethel to the movie 1984 with John Hurt. Mindless people running around in halls, information spewing out of monitors telling of the increase in publishers, magazines printed, baptized ones and chocolate rations increasing! Then their was the fight for leftovers a milisecond after the word Amen was uttered by the wives on tupperware patrol.
GMFH, you know how to tell it like it is. I also have "fond memories" of the following:
I use to love going to the hoppers and check out the crap donated by the brothers! Polyster pants and wooly pants ruled the clothing hopper! Could get better stuff at a fire sale.
Herk