Reefton Jack

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Posts by Reefton Jack

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  14

  Letting the JWs Hold You Back

  by FreudianSlip in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have seen several people make comments that insinuated that their being a jw is the reason for all that is wrong in their lives.

  i find this simply unacceptable.

  even if you could reasonably blame your religious experience on the past.. what is stopping you from growing as a person now?.

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  Reefton Jack

  Certainly, you can only work with what you have got, and try and do the best with that.
  
  The best time for learning, though, is when you are straight out of high school.
  
  I know this from first hand experience:
  - going into a trade apprenticeship eight years after leaving school.
  (In those years, the JWs in this part of the world were so fanatical that they were even jumping on
  young people for entering an apprenticeship).
  - having to turn down the opportunity of doing the diploma course after that, because of family
  commitments.
  - this year, battling my way through the course to obtain an electrical contractor's licence
  (just one more exam to go, on the 22nd of this month).
  
  People can say what they like, it is hard trying to squeeze in academic studies of an evening, after having just worked a 12 hour shift!
  
  
  Jack.
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  65

  The year the end finally came: the YEAR OF THE BIG LIE

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  you have to understand three things to comprehend the significance of 1975.. 1975 was the end of the watchtower society as we who lived in the 50's and 60's once knew it.

  it would forever change because it was exposed for all the world to see as a group of liars and deceived dupes.. it all began with a baptist farmer named william miller who sat down with only his bible and a concordance and a crackpot idea that a .

  a "day for a year" and the gentile times meant something profound which would effect his own day and time.

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  Reefton Jack

  A particular lot of hype about 1975 was printed in the Awake during 1968.
  - from memory, it may have been the October 8 issue that year
  (all my WT publications are long gone, courtesy of a box of matches and some kerosene!).
  In this article, the WTS actually went as far as to caution us about "hiding behind" those scriptures
  - such as Matthew 24:44 - that state no one knows "the day or the hour."
  
  In the years since, there are those who have come forward and stated that they never at any time believed 1975 to be a significant date.
  However, I do not recall ever hearing anybody say that in the years leading up to 1975!
  To do so would have got one branded as "immature" - a JW swearword in those times.
  
  
  
  
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  65

  The year the end finally came: the YEAR OF THE BIG LIE

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  you have to understand three things to comprehend the significance of 1975.. 1975 was the end of the watchtower society as we who lived in the 50's and 60's once knew it.

  it would forever change because it was exposed for all the world to see as a group of liars and deceived dupes.. it all began with a baptist farmer named william miller who sat down with only his bible and a concordance and a crackpot idea that a .

  a "day for a year" and the gentile times meant something profound which would effect his own day and time.

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  Reefton Jack

  1975 was a turning point in the world history. In 1975 began an epoch of shortage of crude oil (peak oil 2010?) and inexorably rising state indebtedness. There is no way out, as you can see. This situation leads into a new war for oil and other raw materials. Read the works of important economy scientists, please.
  fly
  
  I would have to go with the school of thought that "absolutely #%^*ing nothing"happened in 1975.
  The first Oil Crisis actually hit in late 1973 - early 1974, in the wake of the 1973 Middle East war
  (Called at the time the "Yom Kippur War")
  
  By 1975, there was actually a glut of oil around.
  This had come about for a number of reasons:
  - Amongst them being that oil importing countries had learned to make do with less oil,and new oil fields (such as the North Sea) came into production.
  
  By the way, Terry - an excellent post!
  
  Jack.
• 
  48

  Do you hate elders and ex-elders?

  by nvrgnbk in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  do you think they all ended up being elders because they were ambitious and loved to exercise authority over others?.

  or do you realize that each elder has his own story and that some became elders under great pressure?.

  do you really think that all of the elders enjoyed participating in judicial committees?.

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  Reefton Jack

  I can't say that I have any particular grudge against elders / ex elders as such.
  
  Certainly, some were egotistical types (I recall a brother who affected a noticeable peacock-strut following his appointment), but there were also many who were not.
  Of all the ones I had dealings with, the ratio of egotists to others probably matched that of the population in general.
  
  These days, I am most inclined to view the elders as I do JWs in general
  i.e. more as victims than anything else.
  
  
  Jack.
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  50

  Do You Still Believe In Anything JWs Taught You?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  are there any beliefs that you learned from the witnesses that you still believe in?

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  Reefton Jack

  I would be deeply suspicious of anything that I learned from the JWs.
  
  The only things that I still am in agreement with them about are ones that I actually learned elsewhere
  - i.e. the basic, so-called "Christian" principles (that are in fact common to most of the world's major religions).
  
  The JWs don't have the monopoly on these - anymore than other religions don't have the monopoly on failing to practice what they preach!
  
  
  Jack.
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  9

  How many people did you bring into the j.ws & how many to jwd?

  by karter in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  cant remember how many i brought in , so far 1 to jwd.

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  Reefton Jack

  My tally is zero to both.
  
  I reckon, though, I probably repelled a few from any interest in the "Truth" by some of the things I told them early on.
  - mind you, I was only repeating what the WTS was saying in those years leading up to 1975.
  
  
  Jack.
• 
  41

  Did you enjoy being a JW meetings,field service ect??

  by karter in

  1. jw
  2. experiences
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  Reefton Jack

  There was a time when I thought that there must be something wrong with me:
  
  After all:
  - everyone said that meetings; and particularly assemblies; were "upbuilding."
  - everyone said that the only worthwhile activity on this whole planet was hawking WT literature door to door(and that nothing else could remotely approach it in giving a person such a sense of satisfaction
  and so forth and so forth and so forth!!!)
  
  For a long time, I thought that there must have been a point somewhere that I was missing - as I felt none of those things.
  (There was, in fact, a point I was missing all-right; just not the one I imagined, and it took me 28 years to catch onto that one!)
  
  
  So, no - I enjoyed none of it.
  
  Jack
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  47

  embarrassed about having been a witness?

  by purplesofa in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  last weekend witnesses came to where i work....i work at a barbque restuarant (hey it's fun!

  ) i recognized two elders before they came in and freaked!!!!!.

  the elder obnoxious was at the register and i was sure he did not recognize me.

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  Reefton Jack

  I agree with those who have observed that "having been a JW makes them what they are now."
  - However, this is the very thing that bothers me!
  
  Particularly during my formative years, I was an avid reader of everything the WTS printed.
  Not surprisingly - given the complete lack of scholarship amongst the JWs - this hardly gives a person a balanced outlook on matters
  (The term "skewed" readily comes to mind here.)
  
  It has now been 14 years since I broke with them - and I have spent much of that time in the process of de-programming myself.
  (I actually made little headway with that; until I got back in touch with the person I was before the Watchtower Madness took hold).
  
  So, yes, I am not proud of having once been a JW:
  - and in particular, I am extremely embarrassed about how easily I fell for it!
  
  Jack.
• 
  61

  Does Someone Have to be Religious to Be a Good Person?

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this is something my wife and i were discussing the other day .

  in a general view of religious people - most religious people feel it makes them holier, better, or on a higher moral plane claiming to worship god in an organized religion.

  in the jehovah's witnesses view - the outside world is evil, and they claim that if you get away from their religion , and " fall away" a person is doomed to go astray, doing various sundry things like murder, adultery, stealing, orgies, because " they claim " that they have fallen " out of " god's favor.

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  Reefton Jack

  Being rather wrung out on this particular Friday evening, I m not inclined to be verbose about this matter!
  
  I will just repeat what I have said on several previous occasions:
  
  i.e religion and ethics are two totally things.
  
  You can name some religious people whom you would not want to know (I certainly can, anyway!)
  - then you could name some non-believers who are entirely harmless.
  
  As to what constitutes ethics, I regard Stephen Covey's description in "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" to be close to the mark:
  - namely, just imagine what the opposite would be - then figure it out for yourself.
  (You don't 12 old f%^&ts in Brooklyn, some bloke on the Papal Throne in Rome - or his equivalent in Canterbury - to define that for you)
  
  
  My approach to this matter, anyway.
  
  
  Jack.
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  59

  All Scientists Believe Global Warming is a Fact

  by Farkel in

  1. social
  2. current

  about 32,000 of them (and counting) have apparently slipped through the crackpot cracks:.

  http://www.petitionproject.org/.

  farkel.

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  Reefton Jack

  www.surfacestations.org;
  
  - I reckon know exactly where they are coming from with that one.
  
  It is scarcely rocket science (one would think!) that a thermometer is going to read higher when set out in direct sunlight, than if it was positioned in the shade.
  Having been involved with industrial measurements for over 20 years, I can state with some authority that standards are laid down for the taking of measurements - so that one lot of results can be compared with another lot of results, and still mean something.
  
  Regarding air temperature, the standard is supposed to be that the thermometer is located in an enclosure known as a "Stevenson Screen", painted white, mounted four feet above the ground, and located in an open area.
  
  Yet, these requirements seem to be all too often lost:
  
  - I myself have seen a thermometer placed above the iron roof of a building, exposed to the full force of the tropical sun - and in the direct line of the exhaust gas from a 10 000 hp Gas Turbine Engine.
  (Exhaust temperatures in the vicinity of 745 degrees Celsius).
  
  - The output from that "Weather Station" fed directly back into the computer database of a large mine, operated by the biggest gold mining company in the world.
  
  I would not at all be surprised if the data collected from that site is finding its way into the stats. that "prove" Global Warming / Climate Change or whatever.
  (Incidentally, the instigator of the location of this particular thermometer was completely unconcerned when we tried to point out these facts).
  
  
  From what I have seen, this particular website may well have a point.
  
  
  Jack.