i was wondering if there were any other ex-bethelites on here.
i personally regularly went for temporary work at brooklyn then was assigned to the farm for a year and a half.
it was... one of the most bizaare experiences of my life.. so i wrote it all down (finally, after some 15 years) so i won't bore anyone on here with the details of the story - because bethel doesn't show up until chapter 15... and for you straight folks, it gets a bit gay in two places... but nothing gross.
@ Gayle "Someone on this thread commented about the drinking at the Farm. There was a gin maker somewhere on the Farm back then, was suppose to be a secret."
That got the biggest laugh out of me. Thank you for sharing this. I actually met quite a few brothers and sisters that were in the 4-year program... and it was back when they were taking sister too.
But oh my goodness... a gin maker. love it.
geez.
i've given away tons of information about who i am, yet the wt gestapo has never confronted me?.
you're picking up prescriptions from CVS? Good for you.
" Shamus, you're sounding just like George Couch! Tell me about the dangers of giving your roommate a backrub or wrestling in your underwear or visiting nightclubs in Greenwich Village."
I was in New York when the Limelight was still open, Runway 69, Tunnel, and the Palodium. That's all I'm going to say about that.
what is the difference between working a math problem and, say...playing a piano piece?.
the math problem has a correct answer.
getting close to the correct answer is simply called being wrong.. music, on the other hand, can have a wide range of expression not easily judged to be "wrong".
Would you believe that I actually wrote the answer to this out in a book I wrote about helping my best friend through hospice. Mamy of his friends were strong Christians and I was trying to explain how he viewed religion. And it's more like math because it has finite answers in it's infinity, and less like a piano because it's not artistic expression. THAT is a generalization. Yes, there are exceptions. But anyway, this is what I wrote:
It seems to be the tendency with us humans to complicate things, all things. It sometimes comes across as variations of typical “comfort mechanism” humans normally default to. In theoretical pattern form, it seems that throughout our entire evolutionary journey we had to be able to work in the day and sleep at night without complete knowledge of the major life staples we depend on. Cavemen had to wake up, and through consistency, developed a complacency so they didn’t fear the big yellow ball and the resulting heat from its extended presence or the cold from its absence. They didn’t wonder if it was going to fall from the sky at any moment or not come up in the morning.
Religion, at its core, is a group of people who come up with an agreed upon answer about the unknown elements of our life. Of course, as humans it is then complicated with rote rituals or devout immobile beliefs that do not grow with general knowledge as these unknown elements of life are given measurable explanations. Instead we are given a perpetual treadmill of constantly catching up to the GREATER PLAN that is always JUST beyond our understanding. We are stupid, sinful humans… and such knowledge is not for us. The resulting ‘ignorance is bliss’ gives us comfort in the unknown and thus we are then able to work during the day and sleep at night. Yes, the unknown can be disruptive and a phobia, but the familiar unknown can be a life-long comfort. Consistent familiar unknowns are the grains of wheat that eventually lead to a tale of Jesus performing a miracle with the loaves and fishes. The other half, of course, would be having a successful hook to the story.
i was wondering if there were any other ex-bethelites on here.
i personally regularly went for temporary work at brooklyn then was assigned to the farm for a year and a half.
it was... one of the most bizaare experiences of my life.. so i wrote it all down (finally, after some 15 years) so i won't bore anyone on here with the details of the story - because bethel doesn't show up until chapter 15... and for you straight folks, it gets a bit gay in two places... but nothing gross.
@Julia Orwell That's actually a very good question. I had to think on it. LOL.
Growing up a "golden boy" of sorts, I gained an arrogance that, to this day i feel shameful for. I was brash, would say some of the most awful things to people just to shock them because I thought I was untouchable. And I was. I considered sexuality something... fun, a past time, a minor blip on the screen of my life, and for a long time I thought I would be married, have kids, and then never have sex with my wife, and on occasion fuck around with some guy. That's how I reconciled it. And I made peace with that. That was going to be my life.
Being raised in the "truth" everything regarding function in the congregation was automatic. I would comment without thinking, I could do field service in my sleep - read who the person was by the time they said "hi", give impromptu talks talks flawlessly, I was never nervous during assembly parts (Although the talk I gave at the Astrodome one time was a little overshelming), but even drafting was a no-brainer. My sexuality was the only time i had to THINK and I thought something was wrong with me... I was a deviant, but come to find out for a normal guy that age sexuality is ALWAYS on the brain... lol.
Ollie (in the story) really f'ed me over because I was moved in a way I never knew I could be, I didn't know that even existed. But by the time that happened, I already had the Bethel mechanism in play. To think about sex AND the be overpowered with emotion is (as any guy will tell you) somewhat frightening lol. I can say honestly that with bethel, it wasn't reconciled at all. I honestly did not know what I was going to do.
i was wondering if there were any other ex-bethelites on here.
i personally regularly went for temporary work at brooklyn then was assigned to the farm for a year and a half.
it was... one of the most bizaare experiences of my life.. so i wrote it all down (finally, after some 15 years) so i won't bore anyone on here with the details of the story - because bethel doesn't show up until chapter 15... and for you straight folks, it gets a bit gay in two places... but nothing gross.
@Watchtower-Free you would of been a total hit during the McCarthy trials. LOL!!
I'm just kidding. Thanks so much. :-)
i was wondering if there were any other ex-bethelites on here.
i personally regularly went for temporary work at brooklyn then was assigned to the farm for a year and a half.
it was... one of the most bizaare experiences of my life.. so i wrote it all down (finally, after some 15 years) so i won't bore anyone on here with the details of the story - because bethel doesn't show up until chapter 15... and for you straight folks, it gets a bit gay in two places... but nothing gross.
@Julia Orwell there really aren't 1000 rules. You're given a handbook with a list of rules, some guidlines, and the rest you have to figure out as you go. Using the sociology that darth frosty explains (and to some extent exwhyzee's story as well) over time, one would create their own rules over time. collectively, many people have many of the same "rules" for many of the same reason. It's actually a very interesting lesson in herd adaptation in a suppressinve setting.
The Bethel handbook (which I tried to steal) was taken back, but it onle contained about one page of specific rules regarding behavior (no massaging in the underwear for example) and the room upkeep. That's it really.
i was wondering if there were any other ex-bethelites on here.
i personally regularly went for temporary work at brooklyn then was assigned to the farm for a year and a half.
it was... one of the most bizaare experiences of my life.. so i wrote it all down (finally, after some 15 years) so i won't bore anyone on here with the details of the story - because bethel doesn't show up until chapter 15... and for you straight folks, it gets a bit gay in two places... but nothing gross.
Was drinking as bad in Brooklyn as it was the Farm? I mean... we're at the f'n FARM... there's really not much else to do on your off time. lol.
now gays can have the joy of divorce, alimony and child support in all the states that allow such joy!!!
enjoy, you deserve the right to these things and selfish straight people have been holding on to such wonderful rights for far too long.
now get those lawyers ready, let the real battles rage and see what comes from all those marriages you fought to hard and strong for.
ALTHOUGH... let me add... today's ruling on Voter Rights has brought the race issue back to the spotlight. Here is Texas I know the "picture ID" law is already in effect. That is a comparable example of a law being against a minority group, although indirectly.
now gays can have the joy of divorce, alimony and child support in all the states that allow such joy!!!
enjoy, you deserve the right to these things and selfish straight people have been holding on to such wonderful rights for far too long.
now get those lawyers ready, let the real battles rage and see what comes from all those marriages you fought to hard and strong for.
I am barely going to touch on this argument because I'm in a good mood today.
From a gay (and mexican) here is this:
Many things that are race-related/gender related are regulated by the law. But sociologically, there may be a long way to go... Paula Deen is proving that with the charges against her. Also, women still do not get equal pay for equal work, but legally they are still protected. We homos are kind of the last on the block to get invited to the party. And we didn't even WANT to come to the party until in 1969 when we were drug out into the streets and beaten by police because at the time it was illegal to have two men dance together. A law created especially for us.
Unlike many other minorities, we do not have the long history of evolution to equality. In other cultures we do, but not in the States. We are young, we have a lot of growing to do. But also unlike other minorites, we have laws specifically placed against us as a group, laws that have no other point in society but to work against who we are as human beings. And that's the difference. Things like DOMA is a completely unnecessary act... specifically written to stop the gay marriage conversation. The law I menioned above, the sodomy law from 10 ears ago, etc. etc. etc.
We can't stand on the same shoulders as women's sufferage or the underground railroad. We aren't looking to even have a comparison.
We just want to stop having laws made that make who we are illegal. And that is how we are different than other minority groups.
now gays can have the joy of divorce, alimony and child support in all the states that allow such joy!!!
enjoy, you deserve the right to these things and selfish straight people have been holding on to such wonderful rights for far too long.
now get those lawyers ready, let the real battles rage and see what comes from all those marriages you fought to hard and strong for.
" Now get those lawyers ready, let the real battles rage and see what comes from all those marriages you fought to hard and strong for."
All your straight divorces are so drab and boring... all talk and no drama. Trust me, we're going to take mediation to a whole new level of production. You haven't seen sh*t on Real Housewives until you see two queens fighting over a Reflections of Joan Crawford Portrait collection.
