Reefton Jack

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Posts by Reefton Jack

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  20

  What Makes a Person "Worldly"?

  by cameo-d in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what makes a person worldly?.

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  Reefton Jack

  A flexible term, this one!
  In most instances, it is used pretty much as a general JW swear word.
  
  
  Jack.
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  22

  Are you still considered an outcast because of your JW past?

  by Quirky1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  even though i no longer proclaim being a jw it seems to have tarnished my relationship with others, including family and even co-workers.

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  i feel as tho i am still treated differently than others..

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  Reefton Jack

  Actually, the friends I had before the WT Madness took hold have amazed me.
  At the time, they must have (with bloody good reason!) thought that I had taken complete leave of my senses.
  However,these days, they continue to be happy to have me back again as a friend.
  (In other words, they have been forgiving - something the JWs are supposed to be, but all too often aren't.)
  
  Some of my more petty minded non-JW relatives would throw my JW background at me in an attempt to make me feel uncomfortable.
  They, however, would dredge up anything - no matter how petty - in order to achieve that same result.
  (I can recall them trying to use the fact that my daughter could not drive a car with a manual transmission as a means to vilify her!).
  
  My wife's family know of my JW past - but, if anything, their attitude is one of sympathy rather than condemnation.
  
  
  
  
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  34

  Did you ever really have true blue friends being a Witness?

  by Cheetos in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  looking back i don't think i really ever had any good friends being witness, cause if i would have some out of all those people and so called friends i thought i had, you would think one of them would have looked me up over the years.

  what a farce.

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  Reefton Jack

  I had two or three that I would class as good friends.
  One in particular was very supportive during a difficult time in the early-1980s, when my wife's health collapsed, my children were pre-schoolers, and most in the congregation were happy to kick me while I was down.
  He was also supportive when my father died suddenly (by then I had been disfellowshipped).
  Together with one other person, he has kept in contact over the 28 years I have known him, and the 14 years since I broke with the JWs.
  
  
  Jack.
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  34

  JWs say its impossible for "worldly people" to be happy

  by shopaholic in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've had 3 different jws tell me this over the past few weeks.

  basically their thinking is non-jws are not happy and when they appear to be its not real, its not a true happiness.

  according to them, non-jws use drugs, alcohol and wild sex to make themselves happy.

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  Reefton Jack

  It is interesting to note how others see them:
  - JWs might think that they are the only ones who are happy.
  - However, to people in the community (i.e. in JW-speak, "The World"), the Witnesses always look sad.
  (I have heard a number of people independently make that same observation).
  
  This is just another JW fable; the same as it is "impossible to feel spiritual anywhere else but in a kingdom hall", or "the holy spirit is present only in a kingdom hall", JW assemblies are "upbuilding and refreshing", field service is a fulfilling activity, and so on.
  
  
  Jack.
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  32

  Elders....what sort of training do they get...how are they selected

  by insearchoftruth in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my wife who is studying with a jw, whenever i ask her a question she will respond, i don't know, i am still learning, you need to ask the elders about that..... she raises these gentlemen up on a pedestal....are there any special qualifications, what sort of training do they recieve, any background checks required??

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  Reefton Jack

  How are they selected?
  
  (i) that all-important column on the monthly report slip entitled "Hours".
  
  AND
  
  (ii) being a member of the congregation's Inner Clique.
  
  Been there, done that!
  
  
  Jack.
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  32

  JWs and Domestic Violence

  by Amha·’aret in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i remember when i was in my early teens finding out about a jw brother who was hitting his jw wife.

  her parents were also witnesses and were disgusted with his behaviour (and rightly so).

  i was completely shocked at the time, thinking those kinds of things just didn't happen among a loving brotherhood.

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  Reefton Jack

  While I didn't exactly grow up in a peaceful home (i.e. my parents were not always in agreement!), my first introduction to domestic violence was when I started associating with the Witnesses.
  Hillbilly's comments accurately sum up the JW couple whom I lived with for a time:
  - she very definitely had a mind of her own.
  - the husband had been told that, as the "head" of the household, he was supposed to control her.
  - but, of course, the WTS could provide no meaningful guidance on how to do that.
  
  To say the least, things got rather lively!
  
  To cap it off, one of the elders remarked that the husband involved "needed to clobber her" in order to establish his authority over his wife.
  
  In retrospect, that should have sent out warning bells
  i.e. domestic violence occurring amongst "True Christians" when I had not observed it in "The World."
  
  Jack
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  23

  are jws qualified to teach the bible?

  by badboy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in the tract delivered saturday, it said that a neighbour qualified to teach the bible would come around if you wanted.. are they actually qualfiied?.

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  Reefton Jack

  The majority of JWs have never read the whole bible.
  - The closest they have come to doing so is the receiving of the conducted tour of the scriptures, as provided by the WTS.
  
  That, in turn, is the most that they are qualified to do
  i.e. taking someone else on a similar conducted tour of the bible.
  
  
  Jack.
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  63

  SICK JWS

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  were the majority of witnesses in your hall somehow sick?

  either physically, emotionally or mentally?.

  most jws i knew had some unexplainable ailment or 2. and a number suffered from depression!!

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  Reefton Jack

  It was estimated that 5% of those in the circuit I was in were suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Interestingly, in the 14 years since I broke with the JWs, I have not encountered a single person suffering from CFS. Jack.
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  35

  WT: Dumbing down the message; no intellectuals allowed

  by Hiddenwindow in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  have you noticed that the most recent publications by the watch tower, and particularly the study articles of the watchtower magazine, contain less and less references to secular sources?

  there is not doubt that the society was always making efforts to provide us with a historical and quasi-intellectual perspective of the world.

  i am sure all of you can think of books by the watch tower that contained extensive information on history, biology, and even philosophy (insight, creation book, the bible -god's word or man's?

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  Reefton Jack

  We would not want to assume that just because a person is from a "Third World" country that they are automatically ignorant
  - and are therefore, by extension, guaranteed to flee the field at the first sight of any deep reading material.
  
  I lived and worked in a Third World Country off and on over a 17 year period.
  During that time, I worked with various electricians, fitters, instrument technicians and process control engineers who could at least hold their own up with anyone from anywhere else.
  Versatility was their trade mark; and because of that, they were often actually better than the average, run-of-the-mill
  "Sledgehammer Fitter" or "Cable-Puller" type electrician that you can encounter in countries that consider themselves to be "smarter."
  (In fact, I am in the process right now of poaching one of them to come and work for me in my present location!)
  
  
  Given the complete lack of scholarship in the WTS - a direct result of their downer on education - it should be of no surprise that their literature is superficial in style.
  
  
  
  
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  13

  did the "the end will likely happen" in 1975 teaching start in 1966???

  by oompa in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  is the book mentioned below where it all started?....released in 1966 at dc......i don't think there was any mention of 1975 before this because no 6000 years timeline ending in 1975 had come out before to my knowledge......anybody?

  ?............oompa *** w66 10/15 pp.

  628-629 rejoicing over gods sons of liberty spiritual feast *** .

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  Reefton Jack

  I seem to recall that the 1963 "All Scriptures Inspired" book did throw in a caution about reading too much into 1975 being the 6000th anniversary of Adam's creation.
  (Sorry I cannot quote the exact words, or cite the correct page reference
  - all my WTS stuff went long ago, courtesy of a box of matches and several litres of kerosine!)
  
  The 1966 book, though, is the one that kicked off the 1975 fever/craziness or whatever.
  
  
  Jack.