Posts by Open mind

One year an elderly pioneer roped two of her elderly Bible Studies into attending the Memorial. One of them was Catholic and a little bit hearing impaired. She decided she would come see how JWs do "communion".

In spite of all the boring blather from the platform, when the crackers came around she grabbed one and started to nosh on it. The pioneer flipped out and gave her a whispering earful for a couple minutes. But due to the Bible student's hearing issues, the "whispering" was somewhere around 75 decibels.

Anyway, when the wine came around the Catholic lady very begrudgingly passed the glass on without drinking it. But as she passed it she couldn't help but "whisper" (at about 85 decibels), "THIS IS STUPID!!"

People were holding back snickers for several rows around and the pioneer was mortified.

Best memorial I ever attended.

om

47

Memorial Bragging Rights: We Had a "Bethel Speaker"...Ooooooo..

by Open mind in

jw
friends

so was your congo affluent & connected enough to have a "bethel speaker"?.

at least one congo in our area had one.

om.

Open mind

Thanks again Barbara for your very funny/painful account. It sounds like the speaking trips made by car on the East Coast could be a real crap shoot. And, even if you were treated very well, given the Bethel schedule, it's still exhausting. I think a lot of times it would depend on just how much of a pressure cooker your Bethel job was. I knew a few Bethelites who kind of treated it like "JW Club Med". They traveled the globe, got treated great and had jobs they actually liked. But I think they were probably more the exception than the rule.

The bragging rights and "idolizing" are done among the local JWs. I can guarantee you that if Joe and Barbara were still Bethelites and came to our area, the usual handfull of name-dropping status seekers would be casually mentioning to members of surrounding congos: "So did you hear? Brother Anderson from Bethel is giving our Memorial Talk. How about your hall?" Knowing full well that the person they're talking to is just having Joe Local give their talk.

Very petty. Very sad.

One last thing, most Bethel couples I've seen have been very corporate and professional. They actually do a pretty good job of PR for Bethel, IMO. It's a strange mix of friendliness, polish and careful discretion.

om

47

Memorial Bragging Rights: We Had a "Bethel Speaker"...Ooooooo..

by Open mind in

jw
friends

so was your congo affluent & connected enough to have a "bethel speaker"?.

at least one congo in our area had one.

om.

Open mind

Just saw Barbara's post. Thanks for your perspective. Gotta go just now.

om

47

Memorial Bragging Rights: We Had a "Bethel Speaker"...Ooooooo..

by Open mind in

jw
friends

so was your congo affluent & connected enough to have a "bethel speaker"?.

at least one congo in our area had one.

om.

Open mind

Room 215: "... more often then not, a massive letdown..."

Absolutely. What's really sad is that I think it's that way by design. A few years back we had a very talented Bethel speaker come out and the only redeeming bit about his whole visit was that he also gave the Sunday talk. He followed the outline pretty well, but had enough latitude to make it fairly interesting. But the Memorial talk was STRICTLY by the outline and boring as hell. You could tell that the Branch had sent him out with a straight jacket for the Memorial.

usualusername: "I think some Bethel speakers clean toilets for a living."

I've never known one. Have you? Most approved Bethel speakers have been there quite a while and have moved up the ranks by then. Actually a new boy toilet scrubber would probably be more interesting than those who have had most of life's spark removed by years at the Big House.

OTWO: "Free trip, pocket money. Great deal for a starving couple and they credit the people who overwork them and underpay them for sending them out."

Agreed. From the Bethelite's perspective, it's a nice little perk to look forward to. I was thinking though that these days with the economy in the toilet, I'm surprised the Borg hasn't eliminated outgoing Bethel speakers, particularly to the West Coast. Round trip airfare alone for the speaker and his wife runs around $1000 - $1200. For a congo of 100 that's $10-12 per person. Fairly spendy by JW standards. Most of the time I've seen the elders twist the congo's arm into paying for it. It would be different if a deep pocket elder or two wanted to foot the bill themselves.

(Hope to reply to others later on break, but I'm at work now.)

om

47

Memorial Bragging Rights: We Had a "Bethel Speaker"...Ooooooo..

by Open mind in

jw
friends

so was your congo affluent & connected enough to have a "bethel speaker"?.

at least one congo in our area had one.

om.

Open mind

So was your congo affluent & connected enough to have a "Bethel Speaker"?

At least one congo in our area had one.

om

42

Are You Ready for The Memorial?

by OnTheWayOut in

it's this week, folks.

i thought i might give you a new thread to vent on.

many on our forum still go to the memorial or have to answer to family about not going.

Open mind

My unbaptized teenage son is thinking about partaking.

I'm not encouraging it but I'm also not going to jump over and try to grab the glass out of his hands either.

The Memorial will probably be the only meeting that my wife attends this year.

Since I need to set a good example and take the lead spiritually, I will probably attend 2 or 3 times this year.

om

40

CoCo hope you are well miss those Belles-lettres

by nancy drew in

please write us all again you keep our literary sensations tuned .

Open mind

Thanks for stopping in CoCo.

I always look forward to your posts.

(You guys getting any snow out of this last batch of storms?)

om

72

Why Elders leave the Organization and why their Wives stay.

by stuckinamovement in

jw
friends

i have talked to quite a few brothers who have served as elders and servants and left the organization.

in most cases their wives have remained in despite the husbands best efforts to persuade his wife that the organization is wrong.

even though the wife can see problems within they continue to press on in service to the society.

Open mind

Great post SIAM, and excellent reparte' to follow.

So glad my wife was a Jezebel at heart.

Neither of us ever really bought into the "headship principle" (tm), so there was a good bit of self-will there to work with when I began planting seeds.

om

47

Latest AWAKE claims most College students consider Prostitution/Stripping to pay for education!!! What the?

by Witness 007 in

"watching the world" in awake has always been used as a tool to promote certain doctrines like blood, the u.n etc.

in the new "step-parents" awake magazine, it has an article claiming how 1 in 3 college students would consider stripping or sex work to pay for it!!!

anti college propaganda????

Open mind

"1 in 3 College students would consider Stripping or sex work"

1/3 = "most"?

WT is wacky but don't overstate it.

om