Defy human nature, do the work yourself
Former Bethelite from Service Department blogs about his experiences
by krismalone 12 Replies latest jw experiences
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He sent me an e mail yesterday. He writes and does editing for a living. I hope he is willing to take on my book. I spent $5000 between two other editors and it still needs some work.
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GrreatTeacher
Ah ha! I know the name! He was a notorious apostate in the 1970s.
I grew up in the Westminster, Maryland congregation, but after John Bechtal's demise as a Witness. The very name put fear of his treachery in the minds of all local JWs. He was felt to be particularly evil since he had been to Bethel, the cradle of the organization, and yet still left. Anyway, this was what I heard as a small child.
As a sad side note, his sister Joan was the best friend of a wonderful lady in the congregation. It was a rarity to have another JW in the area, let alone one who went to the same school, so they were inseparable. This sister was thwarted in a marriage proposal and never married. She was able to start a semi- successful business and lived alone. She loved children and went out of her way to be friendly to them. She organized congregation picnics. This was gradually shut down by the local elders who put the kibosh on just about all socializing. She got breast cancer at the age of 40 and died. My family helped her and visited her and told her we loved her.
Later I found out that she had said that the only reason she stayed in the truth was because she wanted to see her father again in paradise. He had died when she was young, and though not a Witnesss, was always considered good enough in her and, as she believed, her God's eyes to be resurrected. A wonderful person who led a sad and unnecessarily restricted life which was cut tragically short.
Anyhow, those are my memories of the John Bechtal affair. I have not read his blog, but will now do so to see if my memories mesh with his story, and, of course, to hear the other side of the story. How difficult it must have been to leave the organization before the internet!