Posts by Reefton Jack

30

What is now the most accurate Bible to buy??

by WingCommander in

jw
friends

now that i've read ray franz's part about how his uncle and others with little actual greek or hebrew training translated the bible into the nwt, i've been interested in finding the best bible out there is correctly translated by people who know what the hell they are talking about.

niv?

i've also been looking at other religions lately, ones that are "somewhat" close to the jw's teachings to an extent, and have been interested in seventh day adventists.

Reefton Jack

You would not want to get the idea that the King James Version of the bible is without error.

(As an eighteen year old "pioneer", I remember getting drawn into debates with some who were quite rabid in their belief that the "James" translation was the only one to use).

For example, the KJV makes reference to a mythological animal, the unicorn.

See Isaiah 34:8, Psalm 92:10 and Psalm 22:21 - amongst many others.

(Incidentally, the King James Version translated the scriptures into what is now referred to as "Archaic English" of 400 years ago - not the "Olde English" of Geoffrey Chaucer's time, some 250 years before that).

As for King James 1st himself, he was referred to as the "Most Learned Fool in Christendom." Dearth of scholarship in the biblical languages may not necessarily be confined to the WTS!

Some of my observations anyway,

Jack.

19

Did your reading skills suffer from your JW experience?

by Maryjane in

jw
friends

i was a staunch jw and rarely read anything other than the wt/awake and newspapers (reading level - 6th grade maybe?

) prior to becoming a jw i could easily read a book a week...now it takes me forever just to get through one novel.

has anyone else lost their reading attention span?

Reefton Jack

If anything, I think that my reading skills were enhanced by being a JW.

They certainly did not suffer in any way: - I was an avid reader before ever meeting up with the JWs, and I remained an avid reader afterwards (That was actually my undoing, I had to read anything I could get my hands on, including the stuff put out by the WTS).

I agree with others here who note that ones writings skills tend to suffer from reading a diet of largely WTS written material. Particularly during the time of FW Franz, these were badly written.

As my work (nearly said "Secular Work" - old habits die hard!) involves much report writing, I have had to de-train myself into a clear but concise writing style.

My thoughts anyway,

Jack.

129

What are your most hated JW words and phrases?

by Low-Key Lysmith in

jw
friends

mine are, in no particular order:.

"the friends".

"glean".

Reefton Jack

"Immature" - that term used to be bandied around liberally when I first started attending their meetings.

"The Work" - enough already said about that one!

Jack

40

How many here put "wrong information" on their profile?

by JH in

jw
friends

i just decided that i was a 36 year old female from kenya

Reefton Jack

Mine is entirely correct - even my alias is a close (within 80km) geographical pointer.

Jack.

62

Do you have a good job, a crappy job or are you self-employed (happily?)

by seesthesky in

hi - just curious about how you all are making it - you working some shitty job?

- a pretty nice job?

- a damn rocking job?

Reefton Jack

I, too, have a BS:

- only trouble is, in my case that means "Bachelor of Stupidity"; and I gained it from 28 years of reading every word in every Awake magazine I could get hold of!

My present job is crappy - at times in the most literal sense - as in last week when I had to pump out the septic tank in the power station.

(Although being employed as the Power Station Foreman; in the remote Southern Highlands region of Papua New Guinea, you have to be ready to do just about anything.)

On the plus side, for someone without any university qualifications (the BS excluded!), the job pays well.

We also get flown out to Australia for continuous 12 day break every month - whereas I have had other just as crappy jobs where you virtually had to work 24 / 7.

So, if you can handle the usual Third World countries' threats to your health - not to mention the dangerous law and order problems of this part of Papua New Guinea - the job is almost tolerable.

This comes, though, from trying to find a decent job when you haven't got a university degree.

In my case, as with all too many others who correspond with this discussion board - that situation came about courtesy of our beloved WTS:

- All I can say to them for that is "Thanks a b____dy lot!

Jack.

22

"Neutrality" is Nonsense

by metatron in

jw
friends

i have observed some people drifting away from the watchtower who will acknowledge that most witness beliefs are false.. however, they may still cling to "neutrality" as a means of assuring themselves that "it's still the truth".

the witness idea of neutrality is naive.

as entire nations now mobilize for wars, the idea that you are somehow 'not part of it'.

Reefton Jack

Some good points, Metatron:

If you belived the WTS, the JWs were the only religious group that defied Hitler.

According to them, ALL the others in Germany (without exception) collaborated with the Nazis.

In fact, that was not necessarily the case.

(This is aside from the fact that Rutherford initially tried to suck-up to Hitler).

Jack.

20

self-defense

by SPAZnik in

what comes to mind when you hear those words?

Reefton Jack

The "Society's Way" on this matter is about as meaningful as the Society's Way on anything else!

Bullies only bully because they don't intend to get hurt.

- Likewise for people who fight as part of a gang.

The flipside of this is: injure one of them - particularly if he is either the ringleader and/or the biggest one of the group - and the others lose interest very suddenly.

No, WTS - you are wrong about this one, the same as you are about everything else.Everyone needs to know how to defend themselves - because a time is very likely to happen that you are the only one who will!

Jack.

22

Higher Education

by XBEHERE in

jw
friends

hello all...just cant stay away from you...hehe .

at our recent co visit, at the elder/ms meeting where co goes over a branch approved outline with us he spent 10 min on the subheading "avoid snares of pursuing higher education"...something like that, my notes are at home but you get the gist.

he essentially spent the time bashing university education citing among other things that a full 30% that go to college dont find employment in the field that they studied in.

Reefton Jack

The scariest thing about these such utterances is this:

- like me as an impressionable 6th Form (i.e Grade 11) student back in 1971, some people will actually believe that crap!

I presently work on a remote mining site, in an environment that is unsafe from a law and order point of view - and where your health also suffers.

People frequently ask just why I do this. The answer is actually obvious - try getting a decent job anywhere else, if you haven't a University Degree.

I feel for my grandaughter, who will be bombarded with this "spirit inspired guidance." (Yeah, I know, I reared my two daughters too well!)

Jack.

PS: If any of these Know-all about F##k-all Pompous WT Morons tried to tell me to my face that Higher Education is "no good", I do believe that I might be tempted to do something drastic!

54

Did anyone actually enjoy field service?

by Check_Your_Premises in

.

did anyone ever actually admit it if they hated it?.

cyp

Reefton Jack

No more than I enjoyed the two-hour long, boring meetings - or the four day long boring assemblies.

Further to that, I honestly believed that I was not enjoying the "Field Service" because there was a point that I was missing somewhere along the line! I did believe that this was "Jehovah's Service" - just that there must be something wrong with me, if I did not like what I was doing.

Jack.

52

What did you take with you when you left the organization?

by coffee_black in

leaving the organization, it is like packing for a journey you can choose what you take with you, and what you leave behind (other than people).

there are things i chose to take with me.

for example, i have used the sales training to my advantage over the years.

Reefton Jack

Regarding those that never became good speakers, despite the Ministry School, there are a number of possible explanations:

- One factor could be personal application i.e. as with all learning, you only get out of it what you put into it. (Were all Ministry School students necessarily interested in actually becoming good speakers? )

- Others may have needed more advanced training in Public Speaking than that offered by the Ministry School.

- Still others would have never made good public speakers, no matter what the standard of training offered (One poster has used the term "knotheads"!)

By virtue of my upbringing and geographical location, I was not by nature any sort of a speaker - whether public or otherwise.. (Ones who were present when I gave my first ever No.2 Talk were happy to remind me about that decades after the event!) Well before I finally broke with the borg, the consensus by everyone was that I was by then a good speaker ( OK - I know that I am not being modest in making that statement. I am, however, being accurate.)

Since breaking with them 11 years ago, I have continued to have no difficulty in speaking to an audience. That has included some tense scenes, as in last July;when I had to face down a crowd of angry, striking workers.

I have never had any other training in Public Speaking other than the Ministry School - so I can only conclude that I gained my skills from that source.

Mind you - that is the one and only benefit that I took away from the JWs:

- and I would be quick to add that it was a bloody expensive course in Public Speaking!

Jack