by Christ Alone 36 Replies latest jw friends
"I left bethel as a serious doubter"
Your description is why I used the term (at some stage of development).
You saw what you needed to see to later connect the dots. At a gut level, you saw things that were WRONG, there. I surely did.
If assholes could fly, Brooklyn Bethel would be an international airport. (Not trying to say everyone was like this, but the ratio was pretty high.)
Sorry for going off-topic.
My names on that list up there, just checking in. 5 years in brooklyn, majority of that somewhere in the bowels of 360 Furman street.
You saw what you needed to see to later connect the dots. At a gut level, you saw things that were WRONG, there. I surely did.
If assholes could fly, Brooklyn Bethel would be an international airport. (Not trying to say everyone was like this, but the ratio was pretty high.)
No truer statement. While not ALL of bethel was a horrible experience, most of it was. The other night I was sitting in the car going over my whole bethel experience in my head. I'm not sure you can even describe living there to someone who hasn't. At one point it is easy because so many of your physical needs are covered. There really isn't much in the way of bills (besides paying for your commisary bill and phone bill each month...mine was always HUGE). But you're kept off balance the entire time. It's a fantasy world. I expected to be at bethel when the GT broke out.
At the same time, I never felt like I fit in. I knew a ton of my friends that felt the same. I remember talking to someone on my crew about it and he loved it. The tight schedule. The endless rules. The feeling of being in the middle of something powerful. But I never did. I think I was there for 6 months when someone told me that I didn't fit in very well. They told me I was on the edge. I was a rebel. I tried to get away with things all the time. No sleepover guests? I'd sneak em in. Not even because i wanted to, but because I needed to do something that made me feel human.
Anyway! Sorry to bring my own thread off topic again.
leavingWT is right, most ex-bethelites I know end up hardcore or totally gone within 3 years. A CO I spoke with after I left Bethel and was still in the org told me plainly that I had to work even harder to stay spiritual because it was pretty common for ex-bethelites to fall out of the truth shortly after leaving. I laughed inside, because mentally, I had already checked out.
/edited cause i used the wrong word...
The first few weeks of Bethel are designed for one thing: Break. You. Down.
Total submission, reinforced by 24/7 (thinly) veiled threats. Fear/guilt, fear/guilt, wash and repeat.
Total submission, reinforced by 24/7 (thinly) veiled threats. Fear/guilt, fear/guilt, wash and repeat.
My second day in bethel, we had to sign a AUTHORIZATION FOR BODY DISPOSAL form. Right away they make sure you know they own you.
Both my brothers were in the Australian Bethel at overlapping times in the late 80s/early90s. One of them was on international construction all through the 90s and into 00s. They're both hardcore JWs, then and still, being elders and prominent was all they ever wanted.
I don't know many Bethelites, only 3 from my home country. All 3 are now out. One I heard suffered a depression as he didn't fit in there, came home after about a year or two service, then fell in love with a non-JW got married and left...no other updates seen my Mom won't discuss "negative" stories . The other two I also heard have escaped the WT but no idea where they are or what they up to.
70s here. Since I am a "fader" with friends and family still at Bethel I can't share specifics.
The weird part is that you SEE some weird stuff, and simply repeating what you saw could result in being disfellowshipped..no acusations against "an older man without 2 or more witnesses".
Bethel WAS an asshole airport. Some neat people, but the percentage of pompous and weird was off the charts.
Blindersoff, amazing list, I did not expect it to be so long.
LeavingWT - I tend to agree. Bethel fits what most people think of when using the word cult. The intensity of the indoctrination is overwhelming. Thankfully, the intensity wakes many up.
I was in Australia Bethel from Jan 1992-July 1995
