Reefton Jack

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Posts by Reefton Jack

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  30

  How many people have you SAVED from the JWs?

  by kid-A in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ok, maybe the word "saved" is inappropriate.... in my case, i would have to count three.

  two of my best friends from when i was growing up who initially resisted my questions and apostate leanings but are now free of the borg and have confided it was our conversations that led to their de-programming.

  and, my sister, through pretty much the same circumstances.

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  Reefton Jack

  The same number that I "brought into the truth" - a big fat zero.

  That is why I would never do any good as a salesman!
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  22

  Love is eroding away in the Congo, why?

  by thecarpenter in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when i first started studying with the jehovah witnesses, although i am a technical, matter of fact type of guy, the thing that got my attention was the genuine love i saw in the congregation (this was in the early 80's).

  it made such a impression on me that i ignored some of the serious questions i had about the organization and went ahead and got baptized (i figured things would get sorted out over time and decided to give the society the benefit of the doubt) .

  the congregation i went to was a fireball, full of activity and good works and growing fast.

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  Reefton Jack

  I always figure that this situation is inevitable - given what the WTS emphasises:

  i.e. Numerical growth at all costs, regardless of people's welfare.

  According to the WTS, the "kindest" thing that you can do for a neighbour is sell him / her some WTS literature"preach the good news to him / her." As others on this post have already pointed out, most JWs are extremely sqeezed for time just trying to meet all the WTS demands on them. There is little or nothing to left over for anything else - certainly not for anything you can't "count time" for!

  If the sole measure of a person's worth is the number of "hours" they enter on the monthly Field Service Report, it is not surprising that this is all that hard-pressed publishers are going to do.

  It does tend to remind you of Christ's observations regarding what the Jewish leaders were doing to the R&Fin his time:

  - Did he not say that the people were being "skinned and thrown about like sheep without a shepherd"?

  The more things change, the more they stay the same.
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  37

  Re: What do you do for a living?

  by MARTINLEYSHON in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as many of you are aware being brought up in the organisation, there was a general directive from the wt that secular education was good, but not encouraged as far as university and further education was concerned.

  many witnesses left school in the 70s with no formal qualifications.

  my question therefore is 2 fold.. 1. what would you have liked to become as far as your career is concerned?.

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  Reefton Jack

  I am supposed to be managing a Power Station for a Mining Site in a Third World Country - though at times I feel more like I am trying to teach kindergarten!

  I would liked to have done the same thing as Alan F:

  i.e. a university degree in Electrical Engineering. That way, you don't have to go somewhere the other side of the proverbial "Black Stump" (or the Torres Strait) in order to get a decent job.

  Given my time over again, back in 1971 I would have told the BOE to go stand in the "Far Queue" when they tried to stop me from going to university - instead of capitulating to them, like happened.

  The observations of a raggedy-arsed electrician,

  Jack from Reefton.
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  31

  WHAT DO YOU BASE YOUR PERSONAL OPINION ON?

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  everybody seems to have opinions.

  often they are strong emotionally based opinions.. what do you base your opinions on?

  do you expect people to respect your opinion?.

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  Reefton Jack

  I can nit pick with the best (or the worst) of them when I get into s#it-stirring mode!

  For most of the 28 years that I was under the spell of the borg, my opinions / observations / experiences were NOT my own - but those of 12 or so old farts in Brooklyn. Okay - I thought such opinions / observations / experiences were my own - but then, we all know what thought did, too!

  Sorry, Nicolaou, I guess what I am trying to say is that for all too long, my "personal" opinion was not mine at all - but rather the one based on the observations and experiences of others.

  (Maybe just as well we live in the 21st Century, where such differences are not settled by swords or pistols at daybreak?)
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  41

  Could You Forgive the Watchtower?

  by Ms. Whip in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  did that question make you feel anger?

  did you automatically say "no way, never?

  i've been reading a little bit about what anger, resentment & bitterness does to our health.

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  Reefton Jack

  This is one question I don't have to think about:

  - Sure I'll forgive them; but subject to one condition

  i.e. when Hell freezes over first!
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  31

  WHAT DO YOU BASE YOUR PERSONAL OPINION ON?

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  everybody seems to have opinions.

  often they are strong emotionally based opinions.. what do you base your opinions on?

  do you expect people to respect your opinion?.

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  Reefton Jack

  Probably like the majority here, I learned the hard way to " believe nothing you hear - and only about half of what you see!

  I form my opinions on personal observation and personal experience:

  - personal experience that has been largely learned at the University of Hard Knocks - after having first gained a Diploma in Idiocy at the Botchtower University's Damnfool Campus.

  Jack.
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  10

  On the Death of a Petty Hitler:

  by SixofNine in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a petty hitler

  by wesley k. clark .

  march 13, 2006; page a18 .

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  Reefton Jack

  Petty Hitlers - yeah, I know the type well!

  I hav eto work with one such bar steward.
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  6

  Eric the Drunk opens a bottle of beer using a Jehovah's witness pamphlet

  by lisavegas420 in

  1. social
  2. humour

  my son just showed me this sitehttp://www.youtube.com/ i found ton of funny videos.

  check this one out.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou9mmndnghs .

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  Reefton Jack

  101 uses for a JW pamphlet.
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  33

  Apart from JW's, do others still feel 1914 was a turning point in history?

  by jwfacts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the watchtower claims that hisorians say 1914 was when the world changed forever.

  as a jw the year 1914 is repeated so endlessly that it seems it must have been the turning point in history and hence the beginning of the last days.

  but i have never really heard anyone else ever mention that year, apart from the odd history lesson on ww1.. do people in general ever think of or discuss 1914 as being a year of any significance?.

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  Reefton Jack

  As seen from a purely European point of view, the First World War could be considered a turning point in history - but only one of many, many other events over the millenia. The way the JWs tell the story, of course, 1914 was THE ONLY turning point in history!

  As seen from a soldiers' point of view of any war - the war they fought in would be the pivotal event of their lives (I remember that from high school, where many of the teachers were returned servicemen from WWII).

  As to quoting others who seem to agree with the WTS:

  - No matter what idea you express (crackpot or otherwise), you can usually find somebody who will agree with you.

  - Also, you have to ask yourself when it was that such persons made that remark - and under what circumstances. For example, the infamous "Truth that Leads to Eternal Life" book of 1968 quoted ontime West German Chancellor Konrad Ardenauer as saying that his country "has never known peace since 1914." When Ardenauer made that comment (if indeed he ever did!) - was that before or after seeing the 61 years of stability that Europe has enjoyed since the end of WWII (Bosnia excepted)? Did he say that before or after seeing the prosperity his country has achieved since that time? - or before or after the collapse of the old Soviet Union? ect. ect. ect.

  - One thing is certain, the WTS is rather selective in whom they quote.

  The observations of a raggedy-arsed electrician, anyway!

  Jack.
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  16

  Assembly/Convention Likes and Dislikes

  by KW13 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i really hated the long sessions without breaks and how the brothers would say things, i think well aware that they'd get applause.

  "so bro's and sisters....don't you...bla bla bla?

  " **insert lots of clapping**

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  Reefton Jack

  Assembly / Convention dislikes - just the whole bloody thing!

  I went along with it for so long only because I thought that there must be something wrong with me:

  -like there was a point I (and only I) was somehow missing.

  After all, everybody else was forever prattling on about how "upbuilding" the assembly was. To my everlasting disgust, it took along while to wake up to what a charade the whole thing really was (similarities to the old story about the "Emperor's New Clothes").

  Jack. Diploma in Idiocy, Awake University, Blockhead Campus.