Bungi Bill

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Posts by Bungi Bill

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  85

  I was HAPPY as a JW, how did I get here?

  by MC RubberMallet in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  some have figured out, but i am a poster that previously used another name.

  but even then i did not give many details about myself.

  i barely cracked 100 posts.. but i have never done a thread to explain why i am here.

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  Bungi Bill

  MCRubberMallet,

  I have never seen an actual recruitment poster for the JWs - but your story would have to come the closest to it!

  Like many others here, I am very interested in hearing more.

  The closest that I ever came to what you are describing was when I was "New in the Truth", and everybody had been constantly telling me what happy people Jehovahs Witnesses were. I figured that there must be a point that I was missing somewhere, so I just went along with the flow and made out that I, too, was just as happy as they said that they were. This charade continued until the novelty wore off - which didn't take too long!

  Bill.
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  32

  Stories you've heard from what makes one believe they are 'anointed'.

  by EndofMysteries in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  it's funny, how the bible describes it is far different from those i had spoken with or heard about.

  let's all start listing the many different stories.

  i'll start.

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  Bungi Bill

  I can only ever knew of JW who believed that they had "become annointed".

  However, in reality this person had developed a severe case of schizophrenia.

  After being placed under psychiatric care and given a course of medication, all these "signs" (voices, visions and other supernatural phenomena) disappeared.

  Much to everyones' relief, I might add!

  Bill.
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  9

  the level of disapointment

  by lastchance in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as i look at the members in my area, i see alot of fustration and disapointment.

  those who still beleive 100%, are sending there kids off to college( to live on campus),there is no rush to send there kids off to bethel and others are just going through the motions just so they wont be questioned.

  in the last 7 years i've been in 2 congregations, in 2 different states, and the level of tension and in fighting in both, has made the isreali/ palistani conflict look mild.

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  Bungi Bill

  Is there perhaps a parallel developing here between the R & F Catholics' attitude to contraception and the R & F JWs' attitude to education?

  Generations ago, the typical Catholic family discovered that it could (after all) quietly flout the church's prohibition of contraception, without anything unpleasant happening to them. Is the typical JW family starting to wake up to the same thing about education?

  Certainly, the ones that seem to remain long-term "In the Truth" appear to quietly ignore the more extreme requirements of their religion - without suffering any dire consequences. (I could name at least on every prominent elder who sent his son to university, without anybody even considering the removal of his privileges. The fact that this same elder would still have to publicly parrot the party line about "Higher Education" is another matter entirely!)

  Bill.
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  144

  Does God Command Christians To Go From Door To Door Preaching The Gospel?

  by Bangalore in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does god command christians to go from door to door preaching the gospel?.

  source:http://www.thercg.org/questions/p070.a.html.

  based on a quick reading and misinterpretation of acts 20:20, many believe that the apostle paul preached the gospel of the kingdom from house to house, to those who were unconverted.

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  Bungi Bill

  The laying on of hands and the "testing" of people in public are phenomena that I have never even heard of before, let alone observed!

  What I was referring to as street witnessing was the genuine attempt to talk to passers by about Jesus Christ (a subject that JWs generally don't try to talk about).

  However, all this is getting away from the point:

  - Which was that you did ask how often somebody has approached me in a public place to discuss, to quote, "the good news about Jesus."

  The answer is quite often:

  - aside from the examples I have quoted from when I used to live in Christchurch, in recent times I have received a number of such approaches from Mormon / LDS missionaries, while walking along my own street.

  I am no fan of the LDS. However, it is noteworthy that they will make the effort to speak with everybody that they can - including passers by in the street. (And they are specific, too, that it is a "message about Jesus Christ").

  This contrasts with the typical JW:

  - who is prone to walking straight past people out in the street without saying a word to them, yet then proceed to go in and knock on the door of a house where nobody is at home (often obviously so).

  Bill.
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  144

  Does God Command Christians To Go From Door To Door Preaching The Gospel?

  by Bangalore in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does god command christians to go from door to door preaching the gospel?.

  source:http://www.thercg.org/questions/p070.a.html.

  based on a quick reading and misinterpretation of acts 20:20, many believe that the apostle paul preached the gospel of the kingdom from house to house, to those who were unconverted.

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  Bungi Bill

  "I wonder why they did it on Friday nights Bungi Bill."

  I would have thought that was obvious:

  - during those years, in Christchurch at least, they still had late night shopping in the CBD on Friday nights.

  The shoppers were the people being targeted, and those doing the street witnessing themselves moved on once the shops closed at 9pm.

  So much for "targeting drunks"!

  Bill.

  PS: You may have been home when the JWs called, but then again you are not everybody, as you ought to be able to realise.
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  144

  Does God Command Christians To Go From Door To Door Preaching The Gospel?

  by Bangalore in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does god command christians to go from door to door preaching the gospel?.

  source:http://www.thercg.org/questions/p070.a.html.

  based on a quick reading and misinterpretation of acts 20:20, many believe that the apostle paul preached the gospel of the kingdom from house to house, to those who were unconverted.

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  Bungi Bill

  "I wonder why they did it on Friday nights Bungi Bill."

  I would have thought that was obvious:

  - during those years, in Christchurch at least, they still had late night shopping in the CBD on Friday nights.

  The shoppers were the people being targeted, and those doing the street witnessing themselves moved on once the shops closed at 9pm.

  So much for "targeting drunks"!

  Bill.

  PS: You may have been home when the JWs called, but then again you are not everybody, as you ought to be able to realise.
• 
  144

  Does God Command Christians To Go From Door To Door Preaching The Gospel?

  by Bangalore in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does god command christians to go from door to door preaching the gospel?.

  source:http://www.thercg.org/questions/p070.a.html.

  based on a quick reading and misinterpretation of acts 20:20, many believe that the apostle paul preached the gospel of the kingdom from house to house, to those who were unconverted.

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  Bungi Bill

  stillthinking,

  I am going to go ahead and answer what you posed as a rhetorical question - i.e. "How many times have you had a face to face conversation with someone telling you the good news about Jesus in a public place?"

  That used to be a common occurrence in Central Christchurch during the mid-1970s, and it was by no means unknown there during the decades after that, either. (When I lived in Christchurch between 1997 - 2001, they were still active about the CBD most Friday evenings). Also, these ones actually talked about Jesus, rather than merely attempting to offer literature (and little JW literature has much to say about Jesus, let it be noted!) Furthermore, unlike those ones mentioned by NewChapter, none that I recall ever sported the "Thousand Yard Stare."

  As for calling "when they are at home"; very much in the industrialised countries, the only time people are at home is at night. Call then, and you only succeed in frightening them (I had several such bad experiences like that, thinking - like you were suggesting - that I was doing the right thing by calling when they were home, only to have people think that I was a home invader).

  Mine was not the only experience like that, either.

  Bill.

  PS: Like you, I no longer believe in a god of any sort, either.
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  144

  Does God Command Christians To Go From Door To Door Preaching The Gospel?

  by Bangalore in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does god command christians to go from door to door preaching the gospel?.

  source:http://www.thercg.org/questions/p070.a.html.

  based on a quick reading and misinterpretation of acts 20:20, many believe that the apostle paul preached the gospel of the kingdom from house to house, to those who were unconverted.

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  Bungi Bill

  still thinking,

  With over 5000 publisher-hours spent for every baptism (many of whom, anyway, are young persons who were raised as JWs), the "personal touch" of door knocking is something of a blunt instrument.

  Also, the benefits of talking to people "face to face" are not applicable when nobody is at home;

  - and usually never at home at the times that JWs call.

  Anyway, do you not think it possible to have "face to face" contact with people while in public? I saw it done often enough in Third World countries.

  Bill.
• 
  144

  Does God Command Christians To Go From Door To Door Preaching The Gospel?

  by Bangalore in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does god command christians to go from door to door preaching the gospel?.

  source:http://www.thercg.org/questions/p070.a.html.

  based on a quick reading and misinterpretation of acts 20:20, many believe that the apostle paul preached the gospel of the kingdom from house to house, to those who were unconverted.

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  Bungi Bill

  The last two posts carry the impression that the ONLY way to reach people with a message is door to door.

  All I can say is that where I live, whenever we get a bushfire emergency, the authorities use much more effective methods than that to order an evacuation:

  - otherwise we would have all been cremated long ago!

  A lot of effort has been expended, all-right:

  - by the WTS trying to twist scripture around, in order to bulldoze the R&F into hauling their bookbags door to door.

  Bill.
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  21

  What did you do with all your old publications?

  by Dark Fader in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so we had spent years building our "theocratic library" of bound volumes, books and other materials.

  personally, i boxed everything, taped the boxes closed and threw them in a dumpster at a construction site.. i did actually feel bad though.

  that was a lot of paper which could have been recycled!.

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  Bungi Bill

  It gave me a feeling of great satisfaction to load them all into an incinerator, pour several liters of kerosene over everything:

  - then put a match to the bloody lot!

  (My only regret is that I left it for 20 years after I should have consigned them to the flames).

  Bill.