Posts by Reefton Jack

77

What I remember from 1975

by Big Dog in

since i am sort of late to the party this has probably been beaten to death and if it has just kick this thread to the curb.

i was 11 years old in 1975 and i remember being scared silly the whole year.

i mean there was so much hype about it and the tension in the air was so thick it was unreal.

Reefton Jack

David2002, you obviously were not there in the lead up to 1975 - otherwise you would have no need to raise that question!

I was an avid reader of all their literature from 1966 until 1994.I know what they said, what they emphasised - and what they later tried to deny that they meant!

While the WTS may not have written it in so many words, it is obvious that they wanted their readers to believe that the end was coming in 1975 - by the way that they left that thought hanging there.

AlanF is correct: anyone who thought otherwise at the time was branded 'spiritaully weak'.

And it is not what was wriiten that condemns them - it was also the Assembly programs. I can recall a Circuit Assembly late in 1974 - in which the District Overseer proclaimed "We still stand by our date of 1975".

(On hearing this, I can recall the audience wildly applauding).

AFTER 1975, I met some JWs who reckoned that they never believed all about 1975. But I tell you what, I never heard any speak up before 1975. What does that tell you!

No, as we say in Australia & NZ - by not saying so in so many words, but in still leaving the thought hanging there - the WTS was being "as cunning as a Shithouse Rat."

50

Bethel wants lawyers!

by zack in

jw
friends

at this week's service meeting it a letter was read to all congregations in usa:

bethel wants lawyers, lawyers specializing in tax law, and cpa's.

if you are in any of these professions you were supposed to talk to the po that evening.

Reefton Jack

Zack,

That is typical WTS wanting (and expecting!) to have it both ways.

They have run into similar difficulties with their "quickbuild" Kingdom Halls i.e. the skills they needed were in short supply - and for only one reason. In our part of the world, we were warned off ever even learning a trade ("Tying up five years of your life in an apprenticeship") - and unlike in the USA & Canada, the "trade" training in our High Schools is more of a liability than an asset.

12

The sort of person that gets to be an Elder?????

by chuckyy in

.

do you think that the better the job that you have or the higher the social standing you have, makes it more likely that you will be an elder in comparison to those that are less fortunate???

quite a few elders in my old kh even had their own private car plates.. chukky

Reefton Jack

Being a "Pioneer" is the fastest way to get yourself appointed firstly a Ministerial Servant, and then an Elder.

It is so fast, in fact, that it is almost a certain way!

In my experience, an impressive number of "hours" on ones Field Service Report counts for far more than an impressive amount of dollars in ones Bank Account. In fact - as some have commented here already - material wealth could be viewed as a mark against you in some congregations that I have known.

I only ever knew personally one Elder who was wealthy.

On the other hand, I knew many Servants or Elders who were either Pioneers - or who at least were pioneering at the time of their appointment. (Come to think of it, that once described me, back in the bad old days of 1976!)

I did know one particularly obnoxious, but wealthy Ministerial Servant Wannabe. He went to great lengths to both flaunt his money, and to grovel to the Elders. If being an a*#$%hole is a useful quality - as some hear have claimed - well, he sure had that in abundance! However, I never heard if he ever succeeded.

8

Buying houses, building houses - where's the URGENCY of the times?

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

recently while at a witness gathering, i noticed that many "young ones" in their twenties and thirties are talking about buying or building a home.

buying or building a home is one of the most expensive commitments you could ever make.

in the usa, an average mortgage lasts 30 years.

Reefton Jack

Why would any knowing person treat the times as "urgent".

After crapping on for generations about the "Last Days" - and being wrong every time about everything - the whole WTS Last Days Theme has worn thin. (And no wonder!)

As others have commented, for those that remain, it would have to be no more than a Social Club.

2

English Rugby jersey explained

by funkyderek in

Reefton Jack

Knew that one already, but good on ya anyway!

48

congregational cliques

by chuckyy in

it was my experience during my 13 yrs as a jw that congregations usually had a social clique.

in other words, there would be a group of people in a congregation that would only associate (and sometimes only go out on field service too) with people within that social clique.

if you were in the clique, fine.

Reefton Jack

Cyber-sista, from experience, the bitterness can last for decades.

Yes, don't the JWs like to kick you when you are down! My family went down that road.From one moment when I was in line for becoming a Ministerial Servant, and we were very popular. Then my wife's health rapidly deteriorated, to the point that on one occassion she almost died. The brickbats came out then! "Weak' was an epithet bandied around by some of the conregation's self-appointed "elite."

These self-appointed spiritual hotshots resented having to come around to the house to prepare meals ect. These were the same ones who always boasted about how much time they put into the "Field Service." Showing some acts of Christian Kindness, though, was another matter.

We can't count time for that, can we?

Yes, their whole emphasis is arse-about-face!

I am still resentful after 22 years.

15

were you more 'materialistic' when you were a witness???

by chuckyy in

it was my experience when a jw that many focussed their lives around...having good holidays...having nice cars (some with private plates)...having perfect houses etc etc.

it all seemed very materialistic to me.

totally the opposite to what was being preached from the platform.

Reefton Jack

In my experience, I would not have described most JWs that I knew as being materialistic.

This term "materialistic', though, seemed to me to be a bit of a JW swearword: - Rather like the way they use the word "selfish." Both terms get bandied round to make people feel guilty, and thus easier to manipulate. i.e. "If you don't do what I want you to do, then you are selfish." I have seen this word materialism used in a similar manner - eg. If , as a young person you don't "Pioneer", then you are being "materialistic."

Typical JW black or white thinking!

40

1975 and all that

by helios in

i well recall the husband of my sister-law telling us the most earth shattering news.

this was around 1973 and 1975 fever was starting to take over many individuals.

with breathless excitement he told us the follow story.

Reefton Jack

I also remember stories like that floating around about 1975.

One variation had it that, when a ouja board was asked about the prospects for the year 1975, the thing promptly disintegrated. Talk about wild and sensational rumours!

Having been an avid reader of all Watch Tower Society publications from 1966 until 1994, I know what they said.

They are to blame for the 1975 fiasco, however much they have tried to deny it ever since. Just one example out of ever so many was the Awake article in October 1968. I forget whether it was October 8 or October 22, but I certainly remember the article well : - "Are You Loooking Ahead to 1975?". It made the point that if any faithful "Christian' wasn't looking ahead to 1975, then it was high time that they were!

18

How many people did you bring to the troof?

by JH in

jw
friends

.

i guess i wasn't that good with my preaching, cause i didn't convert a soul.. how many people did you bring to the org?.

Reefton Jack

My sum total is zero.

I would be happy about that, but for one thing:

- In my attempts at proselysing, I do know that I did succeed in screwing up the lives of three or four younger family members.

Happily for them, they saw through it before I did (20 years earlier, to be exact) - and consequently dropped it like a hot potato.

30

An Apostate Myth

by nicolaou in

having read both of ray franz' books and more recently 'the gentile times reconsidered' by c. o jonsson you'd be forgiven for believing that losing the 607 b.c.e date for the destruction of jerusalem would end in disaster for the society.

sorry but i just don't think so.. i'm sure many of the long-time witnesses who know the history of the society would truly have problems but most of the dubs just don't care!

think about it, remember all those dubs you used to hang out with.

Reefton Jack

For all those that remain, that is all it could possibly be - a social club.

1) It is not as if the WTS teaches the truth about the bible - that is obvious to every onlooker. (It was this mistaken belief that originally attracted me to the Witnesses).

- They can never make up their minds about so many issues.

- Doctrine expounded in older WTS publications bears no resemblance to that in their current ones.

2) Their warnings about an "Armeggeddon being just around the corner" - and therefore the need to act as if a major catastrophe were indeed about to fall on us - have worn rather thin after all this time.(This, too, fascinated me at the time during the bad old days of the late 1960s - early 1970s).

3) Even their claim to measure up to Christ's description of true believers - that "they have love among themselves" - is a hollow one. There are just as many nasty individuals amongst them as anyone else.

Anyone who did remain could only be totally unconcerned about matters of theology and doctrine - or the Watch Tower Society's record as a false prophet.

There is an interesting parallel here with (of all things) the Nazi era. Hitlers Minister of War Production, Albert Speer, in his autobiography admitted that he, too, did not believe what they were doing was right. He went along with Hitler, though - because of the power and prestige that holding such a position commanded.