Dan Sydlik dies, the last of the moderating forces.

by SadElder 126 Replies latest jw friends

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  roybatty

  They are all much of a muchness Sydlik hasn't changed anything and could have left like Franz did.

  Amen to that. Not really sure how ANY member of the GB can look themselves in the mirror.
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  roybatty

  I have yet to see someone forcibly immersed at a JW baptism.

  Checkout the recent thread entitled something like "at what age were you baptized." Kids - little kids - shi* might as while force them.
• 

  Makena1

  Thanks Sphere - that's it. The story I was referring to was in seven's 2nd installment of his Bethel trip series. http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/58061/1.ashx
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  VM44

  Daniel Sydlik was about 87, from the 1999 Bethel telephone book, we find that his wife's name is Marina Sydlik.

  From "My Two Week Consulting Trip To Bethel (the beginning of the end) Part 2"

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/58061/1.ashx

  I then went down to the art department with the elder who was in charge of it. He was a nice old guy and treated me like I was someone special. He gathered all the people in the art department together and introduced me to them all. They all had big smiles on their faces so I thought this would be some fun. A couple of them told they enjoy the articles I write in the art magazines and they were really happy to meet me. For the first time, I started to feel a bit comfortable. Then I noticed one older sister who didn't smile or look like she was the least bit interested in me being there. I told everyone what I was going to teach them and proceeded into a room where I set up to teach the class. When it came time to bring everyone in, that one older sister walked in, looked around and said, I don't need this, I'm leaving.

  I looked at her and smiled and said "I flew back five thousand miles to teach you guys some things about art and you don't want to learn it, colleges pay big bucks for me to teach this stuff and you guys are getting it for free". She gave me a dirty look and just said again, "I don't need this, I have better things to do," and she walked out. Everyone in the room looked to the ground out of embarrassment. I was a little shocked but since I had taught works shops all over the country for the past few years I knew there was always one in the group that ended up being a pain in my butt. I just didn't expect this kind of attitude from a loving sister from Bethel.

  I looked around the room and asked, "What's up with her?" nobody said a word. As people were taking their seats and unwrapping the free airbrushes I gave them at $150.00 bucks a pop one younger shy looking brother asked me to step out side with him. He than said something that not only was a surprise to me, but started out with words that I would hear several times while on my visit there at Bethel. He leaned over an in a whispered voice said, You can't tell anyone I said this, but, she is a real problem. She is married to someone high up in the organization so she can pretty much do as she pleases. For the first time there I was shocked. I never in my wildest dreams thought that there was some kind of cast system at Bethel and that some were more privileged than others. I soon found out that this lady had a license to be a bitch because of the man she was married to. I also found out that she just found out she and her husband were going to Europe with several other higher up's in the organization and they were all going "first class."

  I thought about the last hundred dollars I slipped into the contribution box back at my kingdom hall. I though that some of that money was going to help pay for this pompous bitch to fly her sorry butt to Europe on a three thousand dollar first class airline ticket and she was too damn important to listen to a thing I had to say. For the first time in my short visit to Bethel I wasn't confused, I wasn't shocked, I was just pissed off.

  --VM44
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  free2beme

  I did not even know who this person was, I have lost track of the JW's so much. At least we know he is heaven now and not on earth. He is prepared to take control of this planet in the new system that is soon to come. Wait!!!! He is just crossed over to the spirit realm and trying to tell all the rest of us, "The Witnesses are wrong!" but none are able to listen as they are blind to anything spiritual!
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  VM44

  From the comments posted in this thread, I am sorry that Dan Sydlik had died. He is someone I would have liked to have met. --VM44
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  jwfacts

  Dan was great speaker and worthy of respect.
  Geoff Jackson is also a great person and down to earth, I would like to see him become the moderator in future years once he has learnt the ropes.
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  Confession

  [Crisis of Conscience, p. 105] (With reference to Knorr's and Fred Franz's resistance to changing the Society's monarchical structure...)

  "Dan Sydlik, a square-built, deep-voiced man of Slavic descent, said he would have been "happy to see Brother Knorr or Brother Franz turn to the Scriptures or even to the Watchtower publications to support their position but that was not the case.""

  [Crisis of Conscience, p. 118] (In comparing two members of the Governing Body who were of Slavic descent, Jaracz and Sydlik...)

  "...Jaracz was different both in build and in temperament. Whereas Sydlik often was moved by a "gut" feeling as to the rightness or wrongness of an issue, Jaracz was of a more dispassionate nature."

  [Crisis of Conscience, p. 135] (With reference to a Governing Body vote as to whether "alternative military service" should be left to the conscience of the individual...)

  "According to my records, those voting in favor of a change were: John Booth, Ewart Chitty, Ray Franz, George Gangas, Leo Greenlees, Albert Schroeder, Grant Suiter, Lyman Swingle and Dan Sydlik."

  [Crisis of Conscience, p. 388] (With reference to Governing Body power brokers, Milton Henschel, Ted Jaracz and Lloyd Barry...)

  "During my nine years on the Body it was unusual if anything these three members combined in favoring were not supported by sufficient members to control the result of a vote... Dan Sydlik at times showed a willingness to favor a position other than the traditional one, but his voice did not carry the same weight as that of the three mentioned, or, for that matter, of Lyman Swingle."
• 

  Rabbit

  They are all much of a muchness Sydlik hasn't changed anything and could have left like Franz did.

  Roybatty Amen to that. Not really sure how ANY member of the GB can look themselves in the mirror.

  Amen.

  Followers do have their responsibility -- leaders have always been held to a higher level of responsibility, because of the power they have. It may be sheer force of will or charisma, but it is power. Just like on a ship, if people die, because of decisions by the commanders they share fault and blame.

  I could be wrong, so many people are apologizing and making excuses for the poor dead man -- cause he 'was a nice guy'. Sure --- he was a Governing Body member of one of the most totalitarian, dangerous Christian based cult in the world, but, some would say I am being unfair. Some want to believe 'he' didn't necessarily really, really believe all the rot the rest of the GB does.

  Sorry, (not really it's just a figure of speech) letting him off the hook is bullshit. Guilt by association is a real thing. When some 5th ranked El Qaeda guy is caught...should anyone doubt his guilt ? I think not.

  The only thing that would change my mind would be, if he left behind a stash of evidence, showing he was working against the grain of WT dogma, trying to moderate the other dictators. Trying to save peoples lives.

  Otherwise, my mother and the other thousands of victims of the WT's blood, organ transplants, shunning (and the suicides that resulted), family break-ups should be the ones being venerated and remembered here -- NOT the f****** leaders.

  For shame...

  Rabbit (of the ' victims' are more important than the ones who led them to their deaths...class)
• 

  Confession

  I noticed the above story describes the person in question as an "older woman." Are we certain this refers to Sydlik's wife?

  Being from Michigan, from whence Sydlik comes, and even for a time going to a congregation where some of his relatives attended, I got to see Dan quite a bit. I recall, in the early nineties, that his new wife was quite young. In fact her relative youth was quite the topic of conversation among the friends.

  I also remember his booming voice--both in the talks he gave and as part of many a drama's voicetrack. Once he half-jokingly referred to prayers he apparently felt were wimpy. He described certain Bible accounts as containing "manly prayers." He was definitely more passionate than the average JW speaker, often pouring his heart out onstage.

  The last time I heard him was just the Summer before last at the Pontiac Silverdome near Detroit. He gave a concluding prayer, and in the middle of it, his voice broke and he began to weep openly, saying, "Oh, Jehovah help us...." It generated a flood of tears in the huge audience. I'm sure many thought he was just concerned about all those in the organization who were troubled or sick, physically or spiritually. But after reading that he may not have been in favor of many of the WTS' policies, I wonder...