Appearing Now at Bethel! (page 2)

poppers

Wow - what a mind-numbing existence. They certainly have a fine-tuned drone factory.

Nathan Natas

I have taken your rebuke to heart. I recant my previous misleading post.

At Bethel, people learn to levitate. They are very very very very happy and draw closer to Jah with every breath.

How's that?

daniel-p

Say Daniel, your bio and posts are interesting, you've come a long way. how is your wife doing w. the situation now? do you have any kids?

We have come to a sort of understanding that I am going to fade... she doesn't hassle me about anything, although she does apreciate it when I come to the meetings with her, which I do often. However, I don't go out in service anymore and this month marks my crossover as an "inactive" witness. We don't have any children, but will likely have some within a few years. I am just finishing up a degree and want to have a stable career going before any of that happens. Of course, it will open up a whole bunch of new issues about how our children will be raised. I've been thinking of making some kind of deal, like she can raise them in the "truth" but they will go to college regardless of their "spiritual goals." Something like that.... we'll see.

Phil: Are there any people out there that can give an unbios description of what goes on. Blondie where are you? You seem to be the one of the most informative people on this thread. I am desperate for some solid info on what goes on in the world of the Bethelites at Paterson,NY.

There are plenty of people on this board who have spent time at Bethel (I believe Blondie is not one of them, but has known Bethelites over the years) and there is a wealth of information you can read about in their post and topic history. What-A-Coincidence was there for several years, I was there for 1.5 years - we are the only ones I can recall right now who were at Bethel most recently. Many others were there during the 70's, 80's, and 90's. I'm not sure what you mean by wanting to hear an "unbiased description" of what goes on at Bethel... everyone is baised since it is our own experience that shapes our opinions and beliefs.

I was at Wallkill, not Patterson. Patterson is primarily the facility for Gilead, the school training future missionaries. There are a lot of support facilities for them, but other than that there are the audio/video departments which prepare the videos and tapes which you can order at your local KH. They are currently doing more filming for their Young People Ask series, but not all the filming is done there. There was a large building just outside of Wallkill they used for some of the larger sets. Besides this, Patterson is a place where they put a lot of the old-time Bethelites who can't do much any more, but might work in some of the administrative departments with Writing or Service.

If you want to know what goes on at Bethel it is basically this: you work, typically 6 days a week (5 for women), attend meetings in a congregation which you have been assigned that may be over an hour away, attend Monday night WT study (and sometimes Bethel Lectures afterwards which are local needs for Bethelites), and attend morning worship at 7AM 6 days a week. If you are new at Bethel you have a "Bethel Entrant's" training course that lasts a few months - this is basically a low-intensity pioneer school. Just more repetition of JW doctrine, talks, demonstrations, etc. It is supposed to help you aclimatize to life at Bethel, which of course, means conforming. Make no mistake about it - life at Bethel is about conforming. This is not a biased opinion, this is fact. Life at Bethel is very busy and exhausting. It is a rewarding life if you have full faith in the "faithful and discreet slave," but if you don't, you won't last long. Some young ones go to Bethel full of faith and come back dissillusioned. It is a common process. You see and hear things at Bethel that expose the organization for what it is: a man-made organization run as a corporate monestary, if there can be such a thing.

looking_glass

Actually, Barbara Anderson would be excellent to answer this question. In particular, as to what women are allowed to do. I believe that women are treated differently at bethel.

daniel-p

I believe that women are treated differently at bethel.

You can say that again. The patriarchal structure of the organization can be seen blatantly at Bethel. For a while, women wern't even able to participate in giving comments during Morning Worship (out of the panel chosen for the morning) under the pretext of the Bethel family getting to know their Bethel Elders better. Women are given 3 out of 4 Saturdays off each month and with a little seniority given all of them off. They can call in sick about 4 times as often as men and not be hounded by their overseer as a slacker, since everyone knows Bethel life sucks especially for women. They have historically been assigned the most menial jobs, such as laundry service and room cleaning. The entire room cleaning staff is made of women, where each one gets a section of a floor or a certain amount of rooms to clean every day. Crews of women are assigned to take care of outlying buildings and offices. The heavier cleaning and furniture moving is handled by crews of young men.
Half the Bethel family are married, making 25% of the family women. There are a few (literally only a few) women who arn't married who fill vital positions as nurses, dental hygeinists, chiropractors, and radiologists. These women seem to be dating someone constantly, with revolving suitors. Imagine it, they have their pick of thousands of men who would love to acquire a nice, demur wife as their Bethel companion! Laughably enough, there are many male casualties in this process.

katiekitten

Bethel (which means "house of God") is the name the WTB&TS has given their dormitory for factory workers.

This is not a biased explanation. I used to think it was something like a convent or a monastry where people devoted their lives to worship and prayer.

Then my sister in law and husband moved there, and I found out its just a printing factory. Everyone has a job that either produces books or supports the people who produce books. The working hours are VERY long, and what little time is left is supposed to be devoted to meetings and ministry. Everything is regimented. It really is just free labour for the book and magazine printing.

The hours are so long that there are people devoted to individual tasks like house cleaning, laundry etc because the workers dont have time to do their own cleaning or laundry. They are too busy doing whatever their alloted task is. Theres nothing spiritual or prayerful about it. Its drone central.

Phil

Thank you to all who offered the descriptions of conditions at Paterson. Before entering into this organization my daughter was a quick learner and a go getter in everything she did. She would actually yawn when she was "forced" into a situation that was going too slow and did not keep her attention. I can imagine her going nuts at the thought of doing mundane things that did not keep her thinking. Goes to show. Thanks again.

AuntieJane

Phil, what KH in California lured your daughter....my JW family is in California, just curious.

blondie

There are plenty of people on this board who have spent time at Bethel (I believe Blondie is not one of them, but has known Bethelites over the years)

I worked at Bethel, but did not live there but nearby. It is true that sisters for the most part do cleaning, laundry, sewing/upholstery, etc. Women are not assigned in the kitchens (considered too physical) or as waiters in the dining rooms. After being there for awhile, sisters have been selected for special training to be in professional positions. Some sisters are lawyers, nurses, etc.

I will confirm that sisters start out working only 3 Saturdays a month (Saturdays are 1/2 days for both sisters and brothers). By the time they are 40, sisters do not work any Saturdays. Brothers have to be 50 before they work only 2 Saturdays. You can see that this means that most married couples have the dilemma of the wives being off but the husbands having to work.

Just like at the KH, a sister's status is tied to her husband's status at Bethel. Except, rooms are assigned by length of full-time service and the wives usually have the seniority in this case. So many a brother at Bethel can thank his wife for the nice digs they have.

Blondie

Phil

antie Jane

It was in West Covina CA where she was indoctrinated to the cult. THe elder that was responsible was a Black guy and I so not remember his name. He also married them

Appearing Now at Bethel!

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