gymbob

Joined

• started 8 topics
• posted 573 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by gymbob

• 
  26

  My Bethel Experience part 4

  by new boy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  black thursday september 1972. knorr gathered all the bethel "heavies" and gb to the kh in the 119 building.

  the three freds (circuit overseers).............and about 50 brothers.....thats right only 50. the other guys chickened out, they knew it was going to be a blood bath.

  i was there with 7 others from the launrdy............... it started out with dan smoally (not even 30 years old and partaking) telling about what max larson (head of the whole factory) told him "there was no way he was one of the anointed!

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  gymbob

  Blueblades~

  I knew Harold Dies, he was in my cong., Kings County in Brooklyn. Nice guy...
• 
  26

  My Bethel Experience part 4

  by new boy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  black thursday september 1972. knorr gathered all the bethel "heavies" and gb to the kh in the 119 building.

  the three freds (circuit overseers).............and about 50 brothers.....thats right only 50. the other guys chickened out, they knew it was going to be a blood bath.

  i was there with 7 others from the launrdy............... it started out with dan smoally (not even 30 years old and partaking) telling about what max larson (head of the whole factory) told him "there was no way he was one of the anointed!

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  gymbob

  Great stories Keith! I worked the Smyth book sewing machines for the first year I was there, god what a job.

  For those of you who are interested...

  Production (what they demand you do each day) was 8,000 books for each machine. Most books back then were 192 pages and had 6 signatures or sections to sew together. So each day you would sit at this machine covered with string and glue, flipping signatures on a apron in front of you, one about every second, about 50,000 times a day. Your right foot started and stopped the clutch that kept the machine moving, and your left foot hit a peddle every 5th signature that you threw down and that put glue on the backbone of the signature to glue it to the last signature. Then your left foot would hit a different peddle that would cut the strings and start sewing the next book. If you messed up along the way, the book was stripped of the string and given back to you to sew again....

  If that wasn't enough, every 3 signatures had a lip on the edge that changed every third one, so your fingers had to remember where you were at in the stack of books in front of you.

  Some of us would compete against each other to relieve the boredom. There was a guy named Dave Straud from Tennessee who was a absolute freak about his machine. He had been sewing books for around 3 years when I got there. Nobody could come close to his machine, don't even think about touching it. What a basket case he was, but he was a great book stitcher! Unfortunately, because he was such a freak he was stuck way back in the corner so the tours couldn't see him.

  I was on the other end of the line, right in front of where the tours go by, that was where I met the Jackson family when they took a tour of the factory back in 77'. We got counsel from the breakfast table the next morning because some guys got up from their machines and went over to say hi. Oh yea, good times.... GYMBOB

  Keith, I remembered my Floor Overseers name...Mike Ersland!
• 
  24

  I feel bad about being a part of this...

  by sibboleth in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  several years ago, approx 1995, i was a newbie elder - age 29 and was just doing the "yes man" duties around the hall.

  there was the overbearing po who was the "king" of the congo and whatever he said was gospel... if he didn't like you - you were history... needless to say - i kissed his butt and moved up the ladder quite easily.

  we had another newbie elder - in his late 40's - and he was a smart man.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  gymbob

  Wow...can you feel the love?

  Your story reminds me of what happened in my family a few years back.

  My sister's son, (newly reinstated), falls in love with the PO's daughter who is not baptized but raised a witless all her life.

  So they decide to get married after she gets baptized. They set a date for the wedding and she goes over the questions for baptism and is ready to be dunked at the next assembly, that happens to be the week after the wedding.

  They get married, the next week she gets dunked at the circuit assembly and all is wonderful.

  The next service meeting comes around and the newlyweds are sitting in the front row of the hall and the PO (her dad) announces that the C.O. has made it clear that he and the rest of the elder body in the cong. need to make a public apology to the rest of the cong. for attending a wedding of a NON-BELIEVER.

  The newlyweds storm out of the hall, the marriage gets anulled (sp?), my nephew never goes to another meeting.

  It gets better....My dad (who has been a elder for 35+ years) flew out from California to attend and perform the wedding, gets removed from being a elder because he performed a wedding of a non-believer! So my dad and his C.O. back in California write a 8 page letter to Brooklyn explaining the whole situation. 2 months go by, they get a letter from Brooklyn upholding my dad's removal.

  NOW can you feel the love?
• 
  99

  The Artist formally known as Prince

  by Sasha in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  did any of you floridians see the article in the palm beach post.?

  it seems they were giving a party for prince the other night (he's performing at the super bowl in miami toinght) and he would not show up because there were designs of dragons on the walls.

  the article went on to say that prince is a "devoted jehovah's witness" and therefore believes that you can't look upon dragons because it is a symbol of the devil...now, my question is: have any of you current, or former witnesses ever heard of that?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  gymbob

  I wonder if "Brother" Prince went to the Talk & Watchtower Study this morning before heading over to the Super bowl. Can't miss those meetings ya' know, even if you're performing at the suer bowl.
• 
  32

  My Bethel Experince Part V

  by new boy in

  1. social
  2. current

  bindery...........5th floor building 3 bindery line 5.............. the machines conquer all.. standing in the same spot, doing the same motion thousands of times a day........you would get the 1000 yard stare (seen in the war movies)..........the first week, you would think about everyone you ever meet........the next week you would think about every movie you ever saw...........the next week, about every place you would like to travel to.............................the next week think about every mistake you made...............the next week, someone would walk up and ask you "what are you thinking about?".

  "nothing".......you would say........you were brain dead.. there is eternality!......................some hours felt like it.

  a good friend of mine, jim pipkorn (also from the lanudry) who was also shafted to the "end sheet gluer" in the bindery, got so depressed that for months, he would come back to his room make himself some dinner and go to bed, at about 7:00 p.m...................i asked him why he was doing that, he said "it makes the days go by quicker" .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  gymbob

  Great stories Keith!

  I spent 3 1/2 long, long, wonderful, boring years in the Ink Room with "Stormin' Norman" Breaky as floor Overseer. Also there....Peter Coconis (Ca), John Parham, and Gilbert Ceriacs (Ks.). GYMBOB
• 
  58

  My Bethel experience

  by new boy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  because of the length of this, it will be done in two parts.

  part 1. i when to bethel march 21,1970. at the time you had to be a pioneer for two years to apply, by the time i left in 1974 they were calling people in who had never pioneered..........average stay was 5 months ( they had signed up for 4 years)..........the reason they left was......well, it was hell.. one of the reasons was, knorr hated bethelites, but he loved the gilead students and why?

  because when they screwed up they were thousands of miles away!........just before i got there, they had kicked out over 60!

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  gymbob

  New boy (Keith)~

  Nice post! It was great talking to you the other day and sharing some bethel stories.

  As I told you on the phone, my experience at the "Big House" was different from yours....I always thought I kinda' liked it. It's been so long since i've really thought about bethel that it's made me re-think my whole experience (I left bethel in 79' and the borg in 2000).

  Now, as I look back, I see Brooklyn for what it really is...just....SAD. So many wasted years.

  Just a consolidated version of the organization as a whole....a bunch of people who for the most part really think they're part of something great....but totally and completely mislead. I met some really cool people there.

  I wonder how many of them now know the truth about "The Truth"?It's just...Sad.

  Yea, it's late and I miss my family, F**king cult.
• 
  10

  When did DF'ing & DA'ing start?

  by gymbob in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does anyone know exactly when the first mention of disfellowshipping and disassociating appeared in the publications?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  gymbob

  Does anyone know exactly when the first mention of disfellowshipping and disassociating appeared in the publications?
• 
  57

  Met anyone Famous? What were they Like?

  by Clam in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  have you ever met and had chance to talk to someone "famous"?

  maybe an actor, politician, musician?

  if you have were they different from their public persona?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  gymbob

  I met the Jackson 5 back at bethel back around 76'-77'. They were on tour of the factory and I just turned around and they were all standing there watching me sew books together. That was when Michael was black of course.... :) I also met George Benson at Bethel.

  Oh, and I met another celebrity there too....Bill Bowen!
• 
  94

  Looks Like the Andersons Lost in Court

  by Beep,Beep in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  came across this a few minutes ago.

  http://www.wmcstations.com/global/story.asp?s=5973793

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  gymbob

  Timetochange~

  The first ammendment is about freedom to worship the way you want, not about protecting people who commit a crime.

  All the WT did was hide behind the law. The constitution and it's ammendments are not perfect, but they're pretty fair, and work damn well for finding justice. The society has used the law in the past, sometimes they win and sometimes they lose, this time they won. And chances are, they probably tried to settle out of court from the very beginning!
• 
  23

  Assistance needed on issue of birthdays

  by Peacekeeper in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am currently reviewing various doctrines of the wt.. would it be possible for this thread to focus completely on the issue of birthdays and avoid other subjects & also any digs at the wt over their current policy.. personally, i believe that birthdays are acceptable but i need concrete reasons / facts to counteract the arguments provided by the wt for their refusal to celebrate birthdays.. thanks .

  peacekeeper.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  gymbob

  Job 1:4...."And his sons went and held a banquet at the house of each one on his own day...".

  Dubs will say, "that doesn't mean it was their birthday".

  Job 3:1,2...."1. It was after this that Job opened his mouth and began to call down evil upon his day. 2. Job now answered and said: "Let the day perish on which I was born".