Posts by Reefton Jack

58

UK "shoot to kill" - mixed up justice

by Simon in

how stupid is this .... the police execute an innocent man going about his lawful business ... no charges.

someone exposes the information showing the police lied and covered up facts about the killing ... arrest her !!.

what a pathetic excuse for a justice system we have.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4280238.stm.

Reefton Jack

Hillbilly brings out an interesting point regarding the police and the carrying of firearms:

-In the USA, where all police officers carry guns, 90% of them will never ever have to even draw the weapon from its holster.

- In New Zealand (and I suspect in the UK as well), where police do not as a matter of routine carry guns; most will at some time in their career have to use one.

I can't speak for the UK, but the skills of the NZ cops with guns is close to abysmal (that from a relative, who used to be a firearms instructor at the Police Training Academy).

Most police having to at some point in their career use a firearm, yet most having little or no skills in their use - sounds like a certainty that screw-ups will occur!

Jack.

34

Being raised a witness has it's benefits...

by Princess in

jw
friends

i actually have several reasons why i don't resent my witness upbringing, but it sure came in handy today.. last year i posted about helping 50 kids run in the seattle kids marathon at my daughter's school.

the event was a blast and while it was a ton of work, seeing the joy on the kids' faces when they crossed the finish line made it all worth it.. this morning i spoke to the entire student body at my daughter's school at their monthly spirit assembly.

if i hadn't been raised a witness, giving talks from the time i was five, i never would have attempted such a thing.

Reefton Jack

I was not raised as a JW.

However, I, too agree that the only benefit that I gained from having once been a JW was learning public speaking:

- I am naturally a shy person. It was the Ministry School that enabled me to overcome this shyness when speaking to a group.

(not at the doors, though - I always was, and still am, a bloody hopeless salesman!)

Still, it would be fair to say that this was a terribly expensive course in Public Speaking.

64

Do Must Dubs Have Pre-Marital Sex?

by tall penguin in

it's not often talked about but in my experience a lot of witnesses have sex (or something like it) during their courtship.

and most of them never go to the elders about it.

recent case in point: my dear friend got married this past summer.

Reefton Jack

I must have known only straight-laced (boring?) types or something - because I had never heard of it until reading some of the posts on this board.

In my own case, the first time was not until the morning after the wedding (I readily volunteer though, that it was hard holding out for that long!)

Still, after reading the comments of many on this board (about this and a lot of other matters), I would no longer be surprised by anything.

Jack.

13

I've just been told Satan has control of my mind

by jwfacts in

jw
friends

an old jw woman just called me for my sisters phone number.

in the usual chit chat she asked how the meeting were etc.

i said i dont go and that i dont believe it anymore.

Reefton Jack

According to the likes of this 80 year old lady, if the WTS hasn't got control of your mind, then Satan automatically has - like these are the only two alternatives!

Jack.

19

DID YOU MEET ANY STRANGE PEOPLE ON THE DOORS?

by badboy in

jw
friends

?

Reefton Jack

All the time!

In fact, of all the benefits that have resulted from giving the JWs the heave-ho, the one I like the most is no longer having to tolerate all the strange people (both at the doors, and at the hall!)

I would have to admit, though, that in the first congregation I was with, the major employer in the district was a huge psychiatric hospital - that could have had something to do with it!

239

Watchtower Gives Up Explaining 607 BCE Date!

by VM44 in

this is a very important observation, that the watchtower has not tried to explain in print why 607 bce is the year for the destruction of jerusalem for the last 17 years!!!.

all that the watchtower has done over most of the last two decades is to repeat over and over the year "607bce" in its publications as if it is an unquestioned fact!.

the last time an explaination for the year was attempted by the watchtower was in 1988 when the "insight" volumes were published, but since then, no explaination for the validity of the year has appeared in print.. this must mean something, but what?

Reefton Jack

In a way, 607/ 537 B.C. is like the New World Translation's rendering of John 1:1 - i.e. no matter how controversial (or utterly ridiculous!) the idea; you can usually find somebody to agree with you:

- even perhaps someone with pretentions to scholarship.

HOWEVER ....... it is a long way from finding some scholar who will agree with your controversial theory, to being able to state with justification that " Secular and Bible Chronology agree on this (cardinal) date, as the WTS does about 607/ 537 B.C.

In the book "Crisis of Concsience", Raymond Franz stated that he, when preparing the WTS "Aid to Bible Understanding", had to go out of his way to stretch the facts to "support" the claim that both Biblical (read WTS) and Secular history agreeing to particularly the date 537 B.C.

That is WTS "Scholarship" at its finest - come up with an idea; then twist the facts to "support" it.

I was an avid reader of the results of WTS pseudo-scholarship for over 30 years, beginning during my formative years. I now understand why I have been so F###ed up for much of my life!

Jack.

53

If you hung a sign on your door for the witnesses.....................

by ButtLight in

what would it say?

Reefton Jack

Mine would vary from:

"Spirit Medium's Residence - ring doorbell for an appointment" if I had had a good day, to:

"F<#> Off - Rude Letter Following" if I had had a not so good day!

Jack

51

Husbands! Smack your wife across the mouth!

by PopeOfEruke in

great advice received from a close jw relative who we visited last week.

she said that husbands are the head of the family, and if the wife doesn't support him in serving jehovah then he should give her a good smack across the mouth, thats what she deserves.

if only adam had given eve a good smack across the mouth when she proposed eating the fruit, we wouldn't be in the mess we are in now!

Reefton Jack

My first introduction to Domestic Violence was when I got involved with the JWs - quite an experience for a seventeen year old!

In this particular case, an elder's advice to the husband was, to quote "That he should clobber her."

Unfortunately, I believed the BS that this same elder offered i.e. that the wife in this case was "new in the truth" and that she "got her hours in" - so this couple were all-right to "associate" with:

- Whereas my own parents, who did not "go to meetings" were not!

That the problem is widespread in JW land was borne out by a physcho-therapist friend a few years ago. She said that many of her clients were JWs - and that the abuse of women was very common amongst these.

When I think that the WTS brought out a book in the late 1970s called "Making your Family Life Happy" - as if they would know the first thing about that!

58

UK "shoot to kill" - mixed up justice

by Simon in

how stupid is this .... the police execute an innocent man going about his lawful business ... no charges.

someone exposes the information showing the police lied and covered up facts about the killing ... arrest her !!.

what a pathetic excuse for a justice system we have.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4280238.stm.

Reefton Jack

The law is an ass - whatever the animal that runs the country.

Where I come from, one of the severest penalties on the statute books is the one you cop if you have the effrontery to mill a native tree into timber.

Yet you can bash another person over the head with a baseball bat - half kill them - and get off with a $300 fine and told not to be naughty next time! (Actually happened to someone I used to work with).

Yet look out if you saw a native tree up into timber - whether you own it or not.

99

Scholar, please don't post and run...

by in a new york bethel minute in

now, could you do us all a favour and read the replies to your post in the 607 thread?

there were a lot of questions raised by your comment and i think it would be a good witness if you would at least attempt to answer them.

two very important ones are:.

Reefton Jack

Seymour Butts:

Scholar would have to be as you say - i.e with his tongue driven deeply into the side of his cheek as he writes his claims about WTS "celebrated scholars."

Surely!