Reefton Jack

Joined

• started 1 topics
• posted 368 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by Reefton Jack

• 
  63

  She's Back! With a question about guns & JWs

  by asleif_dufansdottir in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey, guys.... looooooong time no see.

  some of you might remember me but it's been a very long time.

  still in grad school, and have a new (sort of) hobby.. i've always liked guns.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reefton Jack

  Going back to the incident in the bible in which Simon Peter struck somebody with a sword (John 18:10) only Luke's account mentions any question being raised.

  This question was actually raised by the disciples - Luke's account states that they asked Jesus about hitting back with their swords. (Luke 22:49,50)

  In quoting the WTS attempt to explain why Peter was carrying a lethal weapon, the point I was trying to make is this:

  - That the WTS explanation is a likely story! (I'm in full agreement with james_wood's post about that one)

  I apologise if I gave the impression of supporting the WTS view. (Hell will freeze over first, before that ever happens!)

  Jack.
• 
  26

  Did you make life altering decisions because of 1975?

  by restrangled in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i had extended family members, both with families of 7, abandon good jobs and homes in the suburbs of chicago.

  they moved to the wild outskirts of 2 separate states to protect their families from armageddon.

  they both waited for 20 years, wound up financially destitute and finally had to move and depend on other family members to recover.. it would be interesting to read the stories from those of you who went through this time period as a jw.. r.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reefton Jack

  The short answer is "Yes!."

  Firstly, there was the issue of university education . A conversation between an elder and my parents put paid to that when I was in the last year at high school!

  Secondly, after one year into my apprenticeship as an electronics technician, heavy-handed tactics by the same elder finished that, too. (This was late 1972).

  The upshot of that was I managed to resume the apprenticeship six years later. For this, though, I was critisized in some quarters - and actually outright shunned in the congregation.

  That was the start of my slow exit from the JWs.

  Jack.

  PS: Once, I would have added that I am happy that I never was an elder! I now more incline to the view that the elders, also, are largely victims.
• 
  63

  She's Back! With a question about guns & JWs

  by asleif_dufansdottir in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey, guys.... looooooong time no see.

  some of you might remember me but it's been a very long time.

  still in grad school, and have a new (sort of) hobby.. i've always liked guns.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reefton Jack

  VM-44,

  With reference to John 18:10:

  Unfortunately in this instance, I threw all my WTS literature away when I broke with the dubs 12 years ago. So I cannot quote which issue of the Watchtower that this was mentioned in.

  I do, however, remember them trying to explain the incident in the bible that you are referring to.

  Apparently, the official reason given for why Simon Peter was armed in public with a lethal weapon was that "they used to carry weapons for protection against attack from wild animals."

  I suppose if confronted by a lion or a bear, a sword would be marginally more effective than your bare hands -no pun intended!

  (A .375 Magnum would have been a much better idea - but this incident happened 2000 years before those things were invented).
• 
  39

  What Are "Unfair" Things JWs Made You Do?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was thinking how unnatural it is for most people to knock on stranger's doors and tell them that if they don't respond to what they were trying to get across, that they were going to be killed by god.

  .....then there's the obligation to join the theocratic ministry school and go on a platform and give talks---even if you had a phobia!

  .....or you're made to feel that you must answer at the meetings even if you're extremely shy.....are there other things that you can think of that made you totally uncomfortable?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reefton Jack

  After reading the previous comments on the unfair things JWs make people do:

  - I could just about say yes to "All of the Above!"

  (I do tend to identify with the camp that classes door-knocking as unnatural, though!)

  One of their insane requirements, though, stands out as even worse than all the others:

  - Being required to drag small children along to all five weekly meetings, and expecting them to sit quietly for two boring hours. (Even worse than that, being required to drag the same children along to Circuit Assemblies, District Assemblies / Conventions and expect the same).

  - This goes beyond unfair and into the Inhuman!

  The irony of this is that, in the late 1970s, the WTS put out a book entitled "Choosing the Best Way of Life" ; and another one called "Making Your Family Life Happy". (As if those 12 fossilized freaks would know anything about Family Life).

  All I can say is no wonder most JW-reared kids throw the whole thing away as soon as they are able to do so - I know that I would - so fast that my feet would hardly touch the ground!
• 
  37

  Name the good things that Jw's have or believe....

  by AK - Jeff in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  we always seem to get focused on the bad - and there is plenty of it for sure - and anyone who follows my posts knows i am no wt apologist by any stretch.

  but focusing on the postive is a good thing in the 'moving on' process i think too.

  what do you think jw's had right?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reefton Jack

  The only benefit that I took away from my time with the dubs came from the Ministry School. Thanks to the TMS, I overcame my shyness and - although I say this myself - I became a passable enough speaker.

  That skill, at least, has come in handy - like a year ago, when I had to face down a mob of angry striking workers.

  Mind you, I will be the first to admit that it proved to be a very expensive course in public speaking!

  Jack.
• 
  11

  If JWs get reviled at the door

  by greendawn in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  if some jws get reviled at the door by someone who dislikes them how would you feel for them, would you identify with their position, perhaps recalling a similar experience from the past jw days, and pity them or would you say they deserve what they get, because perhaps they shun you as an ex dub.

  i would rather pity them for being naive fools.

  such incidents make them feel like martyrs that have the truth.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reefton Jack

  When I was a D2D JW, it was noted that those who gave us the nastiest response were always ones who considered themselves to be "Christians." In particular, Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterian, and Bretheren stood out as being abusive.

  Could any of them picture Jesus as being abusive?

  It just goes to show that hypocrisy is not limited to the dubs!

  Jack.
• 
  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.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  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!
• 
  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.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  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.
• 
  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?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  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.
• 
  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?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  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?)