Reefton Jack

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Posts by Reefton Jack

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  42

  good in jehovah's witnesses

  by John Doe in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i thought it might be nice to see some positive things mentioned about jw's.

  now, i know mentioning these things may be hard given the experiences here, but i've yet to find a group of people who don't have something positive about them.

  if there weren't something positive, no one would ever join.

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  Reefton Jack

  For sure - not everyone of the planet's 6 billion-odd people are prepared to accept you unconditionally.
  However, they are about; contrary to the propganda we were fed while under the influence of the borg.
  
  But with the JWs - not ONE of them is prepared to accept a person unconditionally.
  
  That could be all-right by some, I guess; but it sure as anything you like not all-right by me!
  
  Jack.
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  42

  good in jehovah's witnesses

  by John Doe in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i thought it might be nice to see some positive things mentioned about jw's.

  now, i know mentioning these things may be hard given the experiences here, but i've yet to find a group of people who don't have something positive about them.

  if there weren't something positive, no one would ever join.

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  Reefton Jack

  I tend to agree more with Ozziepost than neverendingjourney on this one:
  - Even the very best of them (JWs) would still shun all of us here like we were the proverbial country lavatory!
  (An example of this that I am unlikely to either forget or forgive is my son's funeral the other year).
  
  By contrast, recently I spent some time in renewing old acquaintances from over 35 years ago - which for me was just before the Watchtower Madness took hold completely.
  While someone did mention that a few had wondered "how I could have got sucked in with that lot" (and well they might ask!), all were still happy enough to have me as a friend.
  
  As for in "The Organisation"
  - well, there I met some of the nastiest types imaginable.
  (My first introduction to domestic violence was "In the Truth" - I will never forget that, either).
  
  - as regards the others, their goodness is strictly conditional; and it is rather scary that they can turn that on and off like a light switch.
  
  
  Jack.
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  24

  Is Swearing Allowed???

  by mtsgrad in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as a good witness i only swore once (aloud) in my 30 year theocratic career (at work).

  have any members here started $&^%ing since leaving the borg?.

  a fairly new publisher once said in a talk "when a householder tells you to f%$ off".

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  Reefton Jack

  I have to reply to this one!
  (I am presently getting ready to fly out at 5:15 this afternoon, for another 16 day roster at work).
  - Only moments ago, I was just telling my wife how, while on site, a cetain expletive becomes an essential part of ones vocabulary.
  This feeling is so strong, that I almost slipped one into the email I was writing to some people at work.
  
  Contrary to what the Borg used to say, having a good swear when things go wrong DOES release tension.
  A corollary to this is that when working in Papua New Guinea, things frequently do go wrong
  - therefore, a certain four letter word that rhymes with "truck" is frequently heard!
  
  
  
  
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  10

  Getting biblically educated while going door to door.

  by R.F. in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i now recall that i've had an unusual amount of run ins with pastors, preachers, etc, when going door to door.

  when talking to others in the congregation they said they hadn't encountered the volume of these these guys as i had.

  the interesting thing is that i ran into them while working alone.

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  Reefton Jack

  Interesting - in my time with the Borg, ministers of religion were generally reluctant to speak to the JWs at all.
  (One Baptist minister, in fact, could never wait to get rid of us fast enough).
  
  This was explained to me as being the result of their previously having (to quote) "tried arguing with the brothers, but usually coming off second best." (end of quote).
  
  It would seem that at one point, at least, the dubs were better at arguing than most they encountered?
  
  (Or maybe it was a legacy of Rutherford's "Tearing Down of False Religion", as he called it:
  - delivered by someone whose approach closely resembled that of "Screaming Skull";
  - who usually gave the impression at least of being slightly deranged!
  - and whom you would no more want to carry out a conversation with, than you would with a wild animal locked in a cage!)
  
  
  Whatever, I can only ever recall one minister of religion who was in any way interested in having much of a conversation with me.
  
  
  
  
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  26

  Which of these Dinosaurs is dying the fastest

  by free2beme in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  which of the following companies do you think will die first.

  the phone company.

  the paper news paper.

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  Reefton Jack

  We are not likely to see the demise of the telephone companys:
  - if only because the telephone circuits are also used for data transmission
  (As I am currently connected to the Internet via a telephone dialler).
  
  In fact,for at least the last fifteen years, telephone companys have been making most of their revenue from data transmission - rather than from the transmission of speech.
  
  
  I am not even sure that newspapers will necessarily disappear:
  - Newspapers have already adapted to the threat posed by TV by moving away from being a source of information, to being more like a source of entertainment.
  (I know that ours have, anyway!)
  
  In saying that though, I would have to volunteer that this is the reason why I seldom ever waste my time in reading a newspaper anymore.
  
  
  Jack.
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  74

  WHAT "WERE" YOU IN HIGH SCHOOL? AND DID YOU GO ON TO HIGHER EDUCATION?

  by juni in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just a fluffy question ~~~.

  were you a freak?

  jock?

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  Reefton Jack

  During my high school years, I would have hardly won any popularity contests!
  Then, as for much of my adult life too, I was plagued by feelings of shyness and low self esteem
  (As an aside, my time in the Borg scarcely helped that situation by one iota!)
  
  I was never much of an athlete - the only thing that I was any good at was long distance running, where I was usually amongst the first two or three over the finish line.
  
  With academic studies, I was more sucessful; being always either Top of the Class, or "Second General Excellence."
  In the external School Certificate examinations that year (equivalent of Grade 10), I achieved the highest marks in the school.
  
  At the end of the following year,a large company offered to sponsor me through university, to study for a Bachelor of Engineering degree.
  However, the elders got to work on my father - and the net result was that I did not even begin
  (let alone complete!) the final year of high school.
  
  No mistaking it:
  - The End was coming in 1975,and that was only four years away!
  ("Food at the Proper Time" for sure.)
  
  
  Jack.
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  17

  Children Do Not Get Enough Sleep in Watchtower

  by WTWizard in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this past memorial was an exercise in waste for most people.

  drive to the hall, fight for a parking space, get booted out of your seat, and then listen to a stale talk for 45 minutes.

  then the big event: passing the plate of crackers and glass of spoiled grape juice.

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  Reefton Jack

  When my two sisters and I were young children (i.e. under the age of ten), my JW grandmother was leaning on my father to enter us all into the JW Indoctrination Process.
  Of course, she didn't exactly call it that - but the intent was still obvious!
  i.e. "Free" Home Bible Study, attending a Public Talk at the Circuit Assembly,
  attending the weekly Public Talk and Watchtower Study at the Kingdom Hall,
  - then generally sinking further and further into that quagmire that all of us on this Discussion Board are so familar with!
  
  My father did attend the Public Talk at one Circuit Assembly.
  Whether or not that was meant to be a real eye-opener, he didn't seem to think so afterwards!
  In fact, his only observation was, to quote, that "it went right over the heads of many who were there."
  By the "many", he was referring to the children.
  
  Because of this, my Dad dug his toes in and refused to countenance bringing us children along to any JW meetings - at the Kingdom Hall or otherwise.
  
  All I can say is that I had a more stimulating - and definitely more interesting - childhood and adolescence than those who "grew up in the truth".
  (Everytime I hear any childhood recollections from those who were raised as JWs, I cringe.
  But then again, as a dutiful Dub parent myself, I raised my childeren in the same mind numbing, soul destroying way as that, too. Whenever I remind myself of this, I cringe even more!)
  
  The WTS is not family friendly. In fact, it is not interested in any way about the welfare of its members.
  (This did come out somewhere in "Crisis of Conscience", where Raymond Franz quoted a conversation between several members of the Governing Body about this very thing).
  All the WTS is concerned about is numerical increase - whether or not to the detriment of individual persons.
  
  Ironically, (or maybe it is poetic justice!) that this Numerical Increase at All Costs approach has come back to bite the WTS on the a#$%:
  -When most who were raised as JWs, turn around and give it the proverbial "Two Fingered Salute" just as soon as they are able to!
  
  
  
  
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  26

  How many people did you bring into the "troof"?

  by Bob Loblaw in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i left when i was in my teenage years, thank god, so i didn't really have the chance to bring anyone under the wts mind control.

  how about you?

  did you bring anyone in?...and if so, where are they now?

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  Reefton Jack

  I can identify with those that have no great pretences at being an effective salesman!
  
  I never managed to actually start a bible study with anyone:
  
  - I did, however, take over a number of "Studies" (to quote the JW vernacular).
  - These all eventually fizzled out.
  
  However, years later, two of those persons did "come into the truth."
  In the cold sober light of day, I would like to think that I played no part in that:
  - but; one cannot rule it out entirely!
  
  
  Jack
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  25

  How did the 144,000 know they had "the feeling?"

  by themonster123 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what was the deal w. the 144,000?

  what feeling is it that they had??

  i mean, seriously-it baffles me.

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  Reefton Jack

  One of the things I don't miss since breaking with the JWs is the no longer having to deal with a lot of strange people!
  In my experience, though, this was much more likely to be "In the Territory" rather than at the Kingdom Hall - although there was sometimes the odd one there, too.
  (Of all the mentally ill persons I encountered while with the JWs, few ever got past the "Bible Student" phase).
  
  
  The illness that I remember all too many suffering from in the congregations was Chronic Fatigue Syndrome(CFS).
  It was estimated that 5% of the "Publishers" in our circuit were afflicted with CFS at any given time.
  Significantly, since leaving the Witnesses 13 years ago, I have yet to meet ONE person who has CFS!
  
  (Although some argued otherwise, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is recognised as being more of a physchosomatic disorder, rather than a form of mental illness).
  
  When I first started work 35 years ago, you often used to see a wall poster around the place that said
  "YOU DON"T HAVE TO BE MAD TO WORK HERE - BUT IT CERTAINLY HELPS!"
  Maybe that sums up being a JW!
  
  
  
  
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  8

  JW's and Domestic Violence

  by Mum in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it has been a long time since i left the jw organization.

  it seems that families may be more fractured now than back then (1979).. recently i was reviewing some materials about domestic violence.

  some of the traits of the abuser are traits also exhibited by the watchtower authorities -- specifically, never admitting a mistake, blaming the victim for her/his own abuse, limiting the victim's association with others, particularly family members or supportive resources.. it follows that jw males in particular are almost programmed to become abusive.

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  Reefton Jack

  I have often wondered about this one:
  - My first introduction to Domestic Violence was after I got involved with the JWs.
  
  My non-witness parents never got on particularly well, and neither did an uncle and aunt who lived nearby.
  Also, during the four years that I was at high school, I was boarded with another family.
  None of that, though, prepared me for what I encountered after I had left home; and was accommodated with a JW family.
  I still sometimes have nightmares about that even now!
  
  Talk about "Making Your Family Life Happy."