Nietsche. GA was modeled after German secret societies.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "WELS GA Personality":
Went to MLS in the days of zexing...I LOVED my years at MLS...Went to NWC during the years of initiation...GREAT memories...Went to WLS during the days of GA...overall, these were some of the best 12 years of my life! And...I feel my experiences during these 12 years have helped my throughout my 15 years of ministry so far...you need a pretty tough skin to put up with some of the things that come your way in the ministry. I am sad to see these traditions lost. As the old saying goes, "What doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger!"
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That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
Friedrich Nietzsche
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GJ - Don't worry. GA continues in WELS. Some day the piper will be paid when a lawsuit is filed against Mequon, the synod, the various professors, the participants, and the officers of the synod and seminary. Keep that professional liability insurance paid up, Revs. You will need it.
4 comments:
"Went to MLS in the days of zexing...I LOVED my years at MLS...Went to NWC during the years of initiation...GREAT memories...Went to WLS during the days of GA...overall, these were some of the best 12 years of my life!"
Hmmmm.....
Two thoughts:
I wonder if this is Stockholm Syndrome or just plain sadomasochism?
If those were the BEST years of your life, what kind of HELL are you suffering through now?
I was "zexed" but a lot of it taught me the character of the older boys and my classmates.
Two of the more egregious "zexers" and now a couple of good friends of mine. My worst year was my junior year when the class who once zexed me--now mostly made up of friends who would do anything for me--left.
Getting someone else's books from a dorm room or getting them food in the cafeteria isn't torture and nothing that would entail sadomasochism--although, whatever floats your boat.
Certainly there are those who do it out of spite...thankfully, there are also upperclassmen who stick up for the younger kids.
Also, of note...at least at MLS, it is over. My class was not allowed to do it and we spent senior year making sure the juniors didn't either.
I was WELS, now LCMS and when I tell LCMS pastors about the culture in the WELS prepatory schools on all levels, they are shocked.
It's so hard to explain to them how twisted it all was.
Hopefully it's all over as they claim.
Personally, I think a Christian school should utilize Jesus' model for training future leaders in the church. Can you imagine Him tormenting his disciples to get them to "bond" and "get to know one another?" No...indeed not. Nothing about GA or any of the initiation was Biblical in the least. In fact, I would go as far as to say that some of it was outright sinful.
In a hurry, excuse my typos if there are any. I have no time to proofread.
To Anon at 6:00 PM:
"it is hard to explain to them how twisted it all was"
I agree....for decades now I have desperately tried to avoid telling people I went to a boarding school with those hazing traditions.
When I have tried to explain it, I get questions like: "Why in the world would you PAY to have an experience like that?" or assertions that " I wouldn't have put up with that s*** !" Yeah, whatever pal, you weren't there...
Often, they would assume that the school was filled with juvenile delinquents. Well, ah, err....
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