Have you met anyone on the Governing Body?

by Christ Alone 68 Replies latest jw friends

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  Christ Alone

  I posted on another thread about a couple of my experiences of meeting the Governing Body while I was in Brooklyn. I wanted to see if anyone else had any experiences along these same lines. I met most of the ones that were current during the 2001-2003 years. I met Jack Barr, Carey Barber, Dan Sydlik, Loshe, and Stephen Lett.

  Barr was a nice old guy. Very friendly. Barber was a crazy old fart that most of the other GB were embarassed of. The biggest thing I remember about Barber was after 9/11. He spent about 30-45 mins telling everyone at lunch that it was going to lead into the Great Tribulation. It wasn't maybe. It was this is it. He told everyone how he watched the planes fly over the east river and crash into the buildings. He said that sentence over and over and over again. Dan Sydlik was my favorite. He was old, but he still acted like a young guy. Very kind. Lett was just...creepy weird to me. If anyone has watched any talks by him or watched him during morning worship, the stuff he did with his eyes was strange. I'll try and find a video on youtube and post it.

  Here was my original post on the other thread:

  When I was in Brooklyn I thought that Losches morning worships were very dry. However, he would sometimes come out with some interesting points. My feeling about him is that he was willing to go beyond basic JW understanding and enter the realm of intense speculation. He would talk about things that were not written, could not be known. were not discussed previously, ect... Many bethelites loved him for this, and many hated him for it.

  I talked to him a few times. Personally I thought he was very standoffish and mentally distant. The only one that I really felt comfortable with was Dan Sydlik. Dan was awesome. Dan was an interesting character. He ALWAYS went against the grain. He would occasionaly talk about things that he didn't like in the organization during morning worship. In private conversation he would go into more detail. He loved the young guys at bethel.

  While I hate the current and former leadership at bethel, those feelings don't bleed over into my feelings about Dan. I really think he was disturbed by what he saw in many situations at bethel and in the organization. I think he was brainwashed like the rest of us were. It had been his whole life. Where else was he to go off to? I EASILY could have seen Dan being a Ray Franz type if only he grew a pair. Personally I don't think he had the guts to do what Ray did. So he just stayed in and died with it.
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  Christ Alone

  Here's Steve Lett. Notice his creepy eye movements around :40 or so:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdaZ8CB0UCk
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  Christ Alone

  Here's Letts view of....US!!!!

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKbARrjEYko
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  Christ Alone

  Notice how condescending he is in that first video?

  Here's another Lett talk about not believing ANYTHING that the media says that is negative about the Watchtower:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=7HOuNs8I8gY
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  perfect1

  Christ alone: not to hijack your thread at all but I am also curious if those whove met them think the GB really believe they are in communication with God.
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  breakfast of champions

  Met the new guy about 9 months ago. Had no idea who he would become!
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  SophieG

  I remember that talk in the 2 nd video. I almost want to say I think I heard him give that. My mother LOVES Lett!!!
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  SophieG

  Met the new guy about 9 months ago. Had no idea who he would become!

  BofC!!! How in the world did that happen?
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  Christ Alone

  I don't think that's a hijack, perfect1. Personally, I believe that they believe it 100%. They all have delusions of grandeur. And because of this I think they truly believe that they are the Faithful and Discreet Slave. I think they hide their minds from the true history and chalk it up to belief that the light got brighter. They believe that they are Jehovahs chosen people and that he deals with them directly. They don't have to feel guilty about any policy or decision that they make because it was not them that made it, it was Jehovah. If a mistake is made, well it was Jehovah that allowed it for a specific reason.

  That's how I feel about it. I know alot think that they are secular and KNOW that they are cult leaders and that they are merely a publishing company. But in my experience, I just didn't see that myself. There is too much that goes into being a GB member. They are constantly working/teaching. Every Monday - Wednesday a GB member does morning worship at bethel. They go and teach all over the world. They are not JUST involved in business practices, real estate, etc. When they teach you can hear that they believe it. When you talk to them, you hear that they believe it. They did seem to have a love of the other witnesses.

  Of course I could be wrong. You have to understand that while I was with them I believed it 100% myself. So maybe I read into it and believed what I wanted to believe. That's definitely a possibility. But I just can't see them pulling all of this off while knowing that it was a crock.
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  Christ Alone

  That 2nd talk was given in Sydney during the international convention. Of course it could've been a manuscript that he read at multiple conventions.