Posts by Bungi Bill

88

Anyone here, have you had enough religion for the rest of your life?

by restrangled in

jw
friends

thats how i feel,..... no disrespect for those who find another way or place to worship.

i for one cannot stand any religion on any level.

how do you feel?.

Do JW still hold to their 1984 Doomsday deadline?

by bytheirworks in

jw
friends

did jw's predict the world would end in 1984?.

the september 21, 1984 issue of chrisitanity today on pages 66-67, ran an article entitled: "do jehovah's witnesses still hold to their 1984 doomsday deadline?".

that's as far as my search has gotten me and it isn't on chrisitanity today's web-site.. can anyone find this article for me?.

If anything much was ever made about 1984, then it must have been strictly a local matter. Certainly where I was during those years of the early to mid 1980s, nobody suggested 1984 as seeing in Armegeddon - but then again that could well have been because memories of 1975 were still fresh in most people's minds!

There was indeed a surge of growth in JW numbers during the 1980s, but this had little or nothing to do with the date 1984:

- starting in 1982, a concerted effort was made to contact persons who had either formerly "studied" with the JWs, or who were publishers who had become "inactive."

As a result, for a number of years during the 1980s, the total annual increase in publishers actually exceeded the number of those baptised each year:

- something that is easily confirmed from the Annual Report, as listed in the Jehovahs Witness Yearbooks for those years. (Also something that has never happened either before or since).

Also, unlike the post-1975 crash, this situation continued for several years after 1988:

- thus strongly suggesting that 1984 had very little to do with it!

12

Wanabee Elders & Ministerial Servants

by minimus in

jw
friends

there were a lot of wannabee elders and ministerial servants in the congregations.

if you were a male and baptized, it was expected that you "reach out".

everyone wanted to have a position.. wives and mothers of men wanted representation too.

Bungi Bill

Minimus,

Things seem to have changed since yours and my time in "The Truth."

These days, the universal complaint appears to be that they cannot get enough "brothers" interested in "reaching out" for these "privileges."

Anyway, the feedback we are receiving in more recent times is that the JW congregations are suffering from an almost dire shortage of elders and servants.

Bill.

27

Is the Watchtower a Communist front?

by bytheirworks in

in the chinese language you have 2 versions: traditional & simplified.. ever since the watchtower opened a field office in hong kong, they have made the watchtower study magazines into two versions: traditional & simplified.. the watchtower's communist roots go back further than that.

charles taze russel in his early watch tower (notice there is a difference between watch tower aka guard tower.... & watchtower aka enochian magic, aka justice league, aka league of the just men 1834, aka communist league 1847) predicted some 36 years in advance that there would be a communist revolution in russia.

it was called many things but in 1918 it was officially called a communist revolution, exactly around the time when the government began arresting rutherford.. when you do the research you find that the last communist meeting was held in allegheny pennsylvania, exactly where & when russel began his watch tower.. don't you find it strange that the watchtower is able to produce so many worker bee jw's, who operate like mindless robots???.

Bungi Bill

I for one am not given to replying to provocative statements!

Bill.

27

Is the Watchtower a Communist front?

by bytheirworks in

in the chinese language you have 2 versions: traditional & simplified.. ever since the watchtower opened a field office in hong kong, they have made the watchtower study magazines into two versions: traditional & simplified.. the watchtower's communist roots go back further than that.

charles taze russel in his early watch tower (notice there is a difference between watch tower aka guard tower.... & watchtower aka enochian magic, aka justice league, aka league of the just men 1834, aka communist league 1847) predicted some 36 years in advance that there would be a communist revolution in russia.

it was called many things but in 1918 it was officially called a communist revolution, exactly around the time when the government began arresting rutherford.. when you do the research you find that the last communist meeting was held in allegheny pennsylvania, exactly where & when russel began his watch tower.. don't you find it strange that the watchtower is able to produce so many worker bee jw's, who operate like mindless robots???.

Bungi Bill

I very much doubt that Rutherford's one and only attempt to ingratiate himself with Hitler had anything to do with Socialism.

While the term "NAZI" is an acronym derived from the words "National Socialist Party", that is where the resemblance ended between Nazism and Socialism! (As others have noted already, the Nazis were a Fascist group. As such, they were every bit enemies of Communists and Socialists as they were of the Western Democracies).

Hitler's response to Rutherford's overtures was to declare war on the JWs; and he, too, from that point onwards never had a kind word to say about Hitler. Der Fuhrer actually loved the Witnesses so much that they even had to wear their own special identity badge - a purple triangle - on their prison uniforms!

Bill.

27

Is the Watchtower a Communist front?

by bytheirworks in

in the chinese language you have 2 versions: traditional & simplified.. ever since the watchtower opened a field office in hong kong, they have made the watchtower study magazines into two versions: traditional & simplified.. the watchtower's communist roots go back further than that.

charles taze russel in his early watch tower (notice there is a difference between watch tower aka guard tower.... & watchtower aka enochian magic, aka justice league, aka league of the just men 1834, aka communist league 1847) predicted some 36 years in advance that there would be a communist revolution in russia.

it was called many things but in 1918 it was officially called a communist revolution, exactly around the time when the government began arresting rutherford.. when you do the research you find that the last communist meeting was held in allegheny pennsylvania, exactly where & when russel began his watch tower.. don't you find it strange that the watchtower is able to produce so many worker bee jw's, who operate like mindless robots???.

Bungi Bill

There is a lot in common between the domination / mind control techniques of religious cults, such as the JWs, and that used by the more extreme political groups, such as the communists. (But these techniques are not just limited to communism. In their time, the Nazis used similar - if less effective - thought control methods).

Whether or not the JWs are a communist front, though, is another matter.

During the years of the cold war (when I was a JW), you used to get that charge flung at you.

The classic rebuttal to that accusation was:

"If we are communists, how come we are outlawed in the Soviet Union - together with in all the other communist block countries?"

bytheirworks:

You obviously have very strong feelings about this matter. However, you did ask for others to comment on this thought, so I have given you mine!

Bill.

57

40 years on - and still in Damage Control mode!

by Bungi Bill in

earlier this morning, i posted off to the the institute of engineers an application for membership as an "engineering associate":.

- today being just over 40 years since the congregation's retards elders made me abandon my apprenticeship.. (in this part of the world, the pre-1975 hype was taken to that level.

not being content to prevent young persons attending university, they went one step further and treated with hostility any youngster who would "tie up five years of their lives" by entering into an apprenticeship.

Bungi Bill

This is an update on how it has all progressed to so far.

In fact, the Institute of Engineers was short and to the point, virtually telling me in just so many words to "come back and see us when you have an Advanced Diploma."

So .................. I decided there and then to do just that! The Advanced Diploma course that I have enrolled on begins this coming Monday, and is carried out on-line, in what is often described as a "Virtual Classroom" situation. It is geared specifically for persons like me, who are working full time, who already have extensive industry experience, but need to obtain some formal academic qualification. (Recognition is granted for prior learning, thus reducing the course duration to 18 months - albeit though a very intense 18 months).

I have no doubt that this is going to present a challenge!

- working, as I do, an average of eleven hours per day.

- and it being over 30 years since I have done any serious academic studies (i.e. the Certificate of Engineering course, back in 1982).

However, I am still looking forward to the next year-and-a-half.

(There is, too, the "Hobson's Choice" factor to it - i.e. if I don't gain higher formal qualifications than I already have, then I possibly won't be able to retain the job I currently have).

Wish me luck, please!

Bill.

28

My daughter got her A Levels yesterday and is off to university in September

by Xanthippe in

jw
friends

she took english, maths and physics and acheived a* a* and a. .

it is the best thing possible for me, even better than seeing her opening birthday presents or the day she won the halloween fancy dress prize at school.. her dad died five years ago but she has coped and done so well at school.

it has shown me that despite what happens in life you can still do well and reach your goals, especially if you take a cult upbringing out of the equation!

Bungi Bill

I speak as someone who, as a teenager, was stopped by the JW elders from attending university:

- but who is about to resume tertiary studies some 40+ years later (the Advanced Diploma course actually begins this Monday).

All I can say to your daughter is "Go for your bloody life!"

It is possible to pick it up later on, but (as I am finding out) much harder to do than when you are fresh out of high school.

Bill

54

Premarital sex--how prevalent?

by wafflesandpancakes in

in my old congregation, everyone seems clean.

mostly chaste courtship, kingdom hall wedding, blah blah.. well there are lots of cases of fondling but they were soon forgotton.

when my husband and i confessed to sex before marriage, the elders were disgusted.

Bungi Bill

wafflesandpancakes,

After reading some of the accounts on this board, I often get the feeling that the JWs I knew must have been a straight-laced lot!

But, yes, over a 28 year period and around a dozen different congregations, my observation was that their "puritanical standards" on this matter were adhered to. Hard, yes (and in my own case, bloody hard!), but conformed to they were.

My experience, anyway, with this vexatious matter!

Bill.

165

Board of bitterness

by 1009 in

i always was a critical jw, now df and agnost.

but still this religion fascinates me.

in my eyes most jw are very sincere, but dumb sheep.. this board is filled with ex-jw.

Bungi Bill

I don't know that "what is moral is fluid". I tend to agree with the observations of Stephen Covey in his Seven Habits of Highly Effective People , that there are basic moral principles which are common to all the world's major and enduring religions.

Moreover, you don't need anybody (a religion or whatever) to tell you what these are:

- rather just imagine for yourself what the world would be like if the opposite were to prevail.

By the way, 1009, thanks for starting this thread. While some have reacted angrily (and initially, you pressed a few of my buttons, too!), I think that you have demonstrated that we can discuss such matters without hurting each other!

Bill.