Reefton Jack

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Posts by Reefton Jack

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  24

  Going back to the Watchtower Society right now would be like....?

  by journey-on in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  "the dog returning to his vomit".

  "sticking a needle in my eye".

  "spiritual suicide".

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  Reefton Jack

  Like a nightmare come true ........ similar to the ones I sometimes have, in which I am still with the borg.
  
  
  
  
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  21

  Were you harmed by WTS policy?

  by Fisherman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what is your story?.

  should you have gone to a psychiatrist for helo?.

  perhaps you regret not getting a college ed or pursuing a career?.

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  Reefton Jack

  Definitely, YES!
  
  A common theme here is the number who were harmed by the WTS's hangups about education.
  This applied not always just to College Education, either:
  - In the early 1970s, (our part of the world, anyway) they were down on young persons even beginning an apprenticeship.
  After all, that was "tying up five years of your life", and we all knew when The End was coming !!!
  Those of us who had already entered an apprenticeship were leaned on to get out of it - which I did.
  
  Fortunately, I did manage to pick that up again six years later, although it was extremely difficult:
  - certainlty not the recommended way of going about things!
  
  However, the biggest gripe I have against WTS policy is how it prevented me from having any sort of a family life.
  (This is in addition to the stress caused on everyone by trying to restart an apprenticeship when you have small children around).
  The whole JW routine of:
  - dragging small children out to five meetings a week,
  - expecting them to sit still and be quiet for two hours at a time.
  - also being expected to drag them around with you while you do your mandatory bit as an unpaid door-to-door salesman for the WTS.
  - And, to say nothing of having to repeat the process at the Assemblies; only for longer!
  
  - None of this is exactly Family Friendly ; more like inhuman.
  
  No wonder most JW youths hand the WTS the good old Two-Fingered Salute just a soon as they are able to!
  
  
  
  
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  38

  What did you think of "new light"?

  by reneeisorym in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  you kind of get to a point where you know all the answers when you are a jw.

  you don't really have to research much more because its the same stuff they present over and over again.

  "jehovah's reminders" but i kind of looked forward to new light.

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  Reefton Jack

  This business of "New Light" was one of the final things that made me wake up to myself in the end:
  
  - It always seemed to me that the so-called "New Light" most often revealed itself after (but only after) something the WTS insisted would happen didn't happen!
  
  Then, they had to concoct some story to bull@%#t their way out of (yet another) failure.
  This story would be dressed up, of course, as "New Light."
  
  (The example that comes imediately to mind is the matter of "The Generation!"
  How that one got modified over the years - and then practically discarded altogether - as the the passage of events showed consistently that the WTS was talking through a hole in its hat!)
  
  As an aside, Gregor's observations are revealing
  - i.e. about how each revelation of some "New Light' is often accompanied by much reference to Hebrew or Greek "Root Words".
  This, when the WTS's scholarship in the Biblical Languages (or anything else, for that matter!)is about zero.
  
  So, going back to the subject of this thread "what did you think of New Light?"
  - for me, it was about the final straw
  (the first straw being the matter of 1975, and how the WTS handled its aftermath).
  
  
  
  
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  299

  Are JW's generally better than average people?

  by JH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i for one, would blindly trust just about anyone on this forum, just the fact of knowing that you already were a jw.. does this mean that jw's in general are better people or are we a very close bunch of people?.

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  Reefton Jack

  They certainly think that they are!
  Also, during the "Lovebombing" phase of ones introduction to the cult, a person could perhaps get that idea - particularly if up until then, you had had little to do with other religious groups.
  
  For sure, there are some good people among them:
  - What the dubs fail to either realize or acknowledge is that there are a lot of other good people around who are not JWs.
  
  AND - speaking from the experience learned at the University of Hard Knocks here - the Dubs have more than their fair share of nasty @^&**"#ds amongst them, too!
  
  
  Jack.
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  17

  Is there a JWD mindset?

  by beginnersmind in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  not sure if this is the correct place to post this but i thought it would be better in here out of the choices.

  the title was to hopefully make you at least be interested in this post whereas the politically correct non generalised question might be "is there a mindset of some on jwd?.

  a while back i was browsing the forums and 2 posts stood out.

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  Reefton Jack

  I don't know that "being more willing to accept negative publicity about the JWs" is entirely accurate.
  Speaking (admittedly!) for myself, it is more a case of nothing would surprise me anymore about the JWs.
  
  As for believing everything written about the JWs, the Japanese proverb comes to mind:
  "If you believe everything that you read, then it is about time you gave up reading altogether!"
  
  Jack.
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  12

  Why couldn't I have been a Mormon?!

  by Amber Rose in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i watched the first part of the frontline special on mormons last night and i just visited the website.

  mormons are so much cooler than jws.

  they have a bloody history, pride in their ancestory and their temples are beautiful!

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  Reefton Jack

  One thing that I notice about the LDS versus the JWs is that they are more family friendly
  (mainly because the JWs are plainly just family unfriendly!)
  
  However, I think that Gerard has a point:
  - i.e. it is like making the choice of whether you wanted to be poisoned by a strong acid or a strong alkali.
  
  Then again, since I broke with the dubs (13 years ago),I have yet to see anything or experience anything that would make me want to get involved with any religion.
  
  
  Jack.
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  37

  Gas prices soon to pass $4.00 mark

  by free2beme in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i remember last year, a lot of blame against the republican congress for doing nothing to stop big oil companies from raising prices.

  democrats are in office now, and no one seems to be saying anything.

  why are the democrats not being the night and shinning armor about gas prices?.

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  Reefton Jack

  In this discussion about gasoline / petrol prices per "gallon", posters from the USA will no doubt be talking about US gallons (i.e. 3.78 litres).
  What about those making a comparison from the UK and Europe?
  
  Are the "gallons" mentioned there US gallons, or Imperial gallons (i.e. 4.54 litres)?
  
  Just curious.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Trust someone who has worked 11 out the last 18 years in Industrial Measurements to come up with a question like that!
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  47

  Why does being right = being arrogant?

  by AlmostAtheist in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what is it about a person's believing they are "right" that leads them to being arrogant?

  you've surely noticed that the more sure a person is that he's right, the more likely he is to treat those that disagree with him with disrespect.

  it's hard to see how a person can disagree with something that you know is right.

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  Reefton Jack

  My experience (learned at the University of Hard Knocks!) is that arrogance can indeed be a respose to insecurity.
  
  Two different Electrical Engineers come to mind:
  
  - One was extremely capable (very close to being brilliant), yet he still related well to everybody else in what was a multi-disciplined crew.
  
  - The other,however, was very ordinary to say the least!
  Yet, he appeared to try to cover for his mediocrity by being arrogant.
  His mediocrity did little enough to help the project along
  (I actually had to do most of his work - assisted by the Electrician in charge).
  However, added to that; his arrogance did little to build up the teamwork that was so necessary in that kind of a project.
  
  It could well be that most don't exactly enjoy being wrong (although that may have a lot to do with how much emotional investment they have made in being right!).
  Whatever, though, the distress caused by being proven wrong:
  - arrogant behaviour is ALWAYS resented, only adds to that distress.
  
  
  Jack.
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  31

  Book: The Inside Story of Jehovah's Witnesses, Stevenson, 1968

  by betterdaze in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the inside story of jehovah's witnesses .

  stevenson, william charles, 1936- .

  publisher: hart pub.

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  Reefton Jack

  The years of the mid-1980s were one of the few times when the increase in publishers per year equalled (or even exceeded) the number baptised.
  
  This was no accident:
  - during those years (starting 1982)there was a concerted effort made to re-establish contact with people who had either gone "inactive";or who had even once "studied" with the JWs.
  (In other words, "Lovebombing Revisited.").
  
  This approach did bring success for a few years.
  However, with many (maybe even most) re-activated "publishers," their interest didn't last much longer then the Lovebombing phase.
  
  At least, that is how it appeared to go in our part of the world!
  
  
  Jack.
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  7

  Banning Guns

  by Descender in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was wondering about this article that i was reading.

  http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/shared/readmore.asp?snav=nr&id=570 is it real?

  does it come from a reliable source.

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  Reefton Jack

  If I may clarify a point here:
  
  Australia has not "Banned" guns.
  Rather, in 1996, Australia introduced strict Gun Control Laws throughout all its States and Territories)
  (just like, at a similar time in this country, the existing Gun Control legislation was made more stringent).
  
  Such controls in Australia have not, though, at any time, gone as far as totally outlawing all firearms:
  - Practically outlawing certain types of firearms, yes.
  - Severely restricting access to all types of firearms, definitely!
  - But outright prohibiting anything that goes "Bang", and sends a projectile from the muzzle - NO!
  
  
  Jack.