Bethel Family Manual

by Wild_Thing 8 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Wild_Thing

  http://www.geocities.com/paulblizard/dwelling.html

  This link was posted by Neon Madman in another thread (http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/76073/1.ashx), but I think it is worthy of its own thread.

  I read part of the manual and it really made me laugh! Here is a quote:

  First of all, we should appreciate that Jehovah God is the Great Theocrat. We recognize him as supreme and we have full faith that he is directing his organization through his Son, Jesus Christ. We should realize that organization instructions come from the head down and not from the bottom up.

  Personally, I think the instructions just come from their head being up their bottom!

  Continuation of quote:

  We who are young and new in these homes certainly want to find our right place in the organization and be contented. We should have confidence in Jehovah's organization and that Jehovah places the members in thebody or organization as it pleases him. We should be delighted to do whatever is required.

  Those poor uneducated kids/slaves!

  It made me feel kinda sick reading it, but it also gave me quite a chuckle!

  Other funnies:

  We believe that everyone in the Bethel home is working to advance the interests of the Kingdom. We will keep on believing that unless someone proves otherwise. "By their fruits you will recognize them."Matt. 7:16.

  Anyone up for the challenge? It's not hard!

  Men are given places of responsibility, and those placed in such positions should be respected by all. The women should always keep their proper place and recognize Jehovah's arrangement as to their position in His organization.

  Okay ... that one is not funny. That one makes me mad!
• 

  stillajwexelder

  not from the bottom up. - this really cracked me up - way too funny - what a load of crap (pun intended)
• 

  William Penwell

  I posted this to the above posting you spoke of but will attach what I wrote here;

  A quick read of the Bethel Manual is enough to make a person Under the heading "Visitors in the Home:

  VISITORS IN THE HOME

  Someone is appointed by the brother in charge to show visitors around the home. If you want to take someone through, you may get permission to do so; but if the one in charge believes it is best to have a regular guide take your party through, it is for him to decide. You cannot just take people around the premises of the Society anytime you want to. Please obtain permission each time. The overseer in charge is the one to decide what should be shown to visitors and he will arrange a regular route to follow during working hours. Before anyone can be invited for a meal or invited to stay overnight, permission must be obtained from the over- seer in charge. Arrangements should be made in advance. Please understand that if they are not, your request may not be granted. Visitors who are calling for just a short time will remain in the visiting room or lobby of the Bethel home until the one they are visiting is called and meets them there. Any person invited for dinner must be registered and he will be given a place to sit in the dining room with his friends in the Bethel family. Always keep in mind that we are limited in the number of guests we can have for meals because of space, cooking arrangements, pur chasing of food, etc. You should not invite visitors to meals on weekends when meals are served cafeteria style. There can be exceptions to this, but permission must be obtained, otherwise it may be necessary to limit your guest privileges for a period of time. After the meals or during the evening it will be permissible for members of the family who invite guests in to see them to take them to their rooms and to entertain them. All such guests must register "in" and "out" of the home, and at all times while in the home they should be accompanied by a member of the Bethel family. Of course, on such oc- casions nothing should occur in the rooms that would disturb other members of the family in the home. If any one is in a room alone with a member of the opposite sex who is not a close relative, they must leave the door wide open. Special arrangements can be made with the overseer in charge for you to have members of your own family who are Jehovah's witnesses stay overnight in the Bethel home.

  They talk to you like you were 6 years old. Do this, do that. Then the thing about leaving your door open if you have a member of the oposite sex in your room!!! What if your name was Leo Greenless and prefered young boys? Oh that would be OK as long as they were of the same sex. Or what if a person was into incest, still they are a close relative and according to the manual it would be OK to close the door.

  Will
• 

  rocketman

  The women should always keep their proper place and recognize Jehovah's arrangement as to their position in His organization.

  Written in true Taliban style.
• 

  Neo

  Wait, this is just the beginning!!

  Dwelling Together in Unity is only one of Bethel's Talmuds. They also have the Branch Office Procedures with additional "1,177 policies and regulations"!

  We serve not only Jehovah God but we are under our 'mother' (the organization). Our 'mother' has the right to make rules and regulations for us... This book, entitled Branch Organization Procedure, contains 28 subjects; and its sub-sections involve regulations and administration. In it there are 1,177 policies and regulations...this is an improved, fine-tuned organization, and we are expected to follow its policies. If there are some who feel that they cannot subject themselves to the rules and regulations now in operation, such ones ought to be leaving and not be involved here in the further progressive work.

  (Albert Schroeder, speaking to elders of the Bethel family on May 29, 1980)

  source: http://www.freeminds.org/history/whathapp.htm

  And you can read a lot about what's inside the book right HERE!

  Neo

  (my introductory thread: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/7/76140/1.ashx)
• 

  frenchbabyface

  Written in true Taliban style.

  ... Rocket !
• 

  frankiespeakin

  I found this quite interesting it is about confidentiality everything is a secret, they even tell married couples working at bethel not to discuss certain details of their work with each other(???). WHat a bunch of paranoid bastards,, I guess jesus word about letting your light shine before men and not to hide it under a basket don't apply to the secretive WT :
  

  CONFIDENCE

  Remember that you are a member of a family and you are expected to keep confidence with the family and the organization. Many things that are said to the family by the one at the head of the Bethel table or by the one in charge of the home are for the family only. No one should communicate with brothers outside the Bethel home con- cerning new publications that may be manufactured or letters that are being printed, or send out reports about matters discussed at the Bethel table that strictly involve our family. These are confidential to the family.Compare Matthew 17:9.
  
  Information that the Society desires to communicate to the brothers outside the Bethel home will be given them in due time through The Watchtower, Awake!, Kingdom Min- utry or by letters mailed by the Society. Letter writing, of course, is a fine thing. Encouraging words and helpful suggestions can be given to relatives, others in the full-time service and publishers on the outside. However, we should never include confidential matters and especially not gossip in our letters; neither should we gossip within the family. Prov. 17:4; 26:2~22.
  
  Remember, your mother and father, especially if they are Jehovah's witnesses, are very much interested in you. There is a natural family bond of love. They would like to hear from you once in a while. Why not write your mother and father once a week. There are many things that you can write them aboutyour experiences in the field service, your congregational meetings, experiences related to the Bethel family by travelling representatives, and personal activities, aside from the details about work that you handle at Bethel. They spent a lot of time with you and cared for you daily before you came to Bethel. They miss you. A letter will help them.
  
  Details about the individual work assigned to you as a member of the family are confidential. What you are given to do is your business. You are requested not to communicate information from your department to another department. If we wanted you to know the details of the other persons' work we would have assigned that work to you. Married couples serving in different departments should not discuss confidential details of their work when at home. If you have problems, take them up with the elder in charge. The same is true concerning roommates. Confidential Society matters received in the mail should be handled confidentially. Information to be announced generally will be presented by the one in charge of the home or the factory. If you are to know what is going on in other departments, you will be told through the proper overseer.
  
  We are interested in the welfare of our brothers, but working hours are not for visiting. That is the time to work. If we find that we haven't enough to do, then we should report to the overseer in charge of where we work. When we waste time talking unnecessarily to other people, it is a waste of their time as well as ours.

  I guess the WT wants to keep everybody in the dark as much as possible. Every Bethelite is to keep his mouth shut. This secret keeping inside the Bethel family sure sounds very puzzling for a group that claims to be the only real followers of Jesus, who told his followers to be honest and truthful in their dealing with all men. They most have a lot to hid is all I can say.

  I had to repeat this because it manifest a contempt of the writter for these new Bethlites that need no introduction,,the way this writter comes across by useing "we" it telling:

  If we find that we haven't enough to do, then we should report to the overseer in charge of where we work. When we waste time talking unnecessarily to other people, it is a waste of their time as well as ours.

  So get back to work "you good for nothing slave".
• 

  Narkissos

  About the BOP, the links to the chapters don't work for me on the above site.

  You may try

  http://watchtower.observer.org/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040321/SECRETBOOKS/9999482
• 

  Neo

  Thank you for pointing that out, Narkissos!

  Actually, the links to the chapters in Branch Office Procedures are incorrectly linked, but they would only point you to the same address further down the page.

  As to Kent's site, the links are kind of messed up: the chapters are out of order and some links point to other articles outside the Manual. I believe he's so busy he gets a bit disorganized. But he is doing an invaluable job.

  Neo