Posts by Bungi Bill

41

What Was Your Attitude When A Householder Slammed The Door In Your Face?

by minimus in

jw
friends

did you get angry?

feel pity?

not care?.

Bungi Bill

Having the door slammed in ones face was a frequent occurrence in our territory.

There were so many JWs living in the area, that it was being covered several times a month:

- and guess what; people were well and truly / heartily / passionately fed up to the eye brows with us!

(This flew in the face of the WTS's claims that you "did not work territory to death - rather, you worked it to life." Like Hell you do!)

In many ways, too, this was exacerbated by being in a hot climate - with everyones doors and windows being left open at all times:

- so that when one person "blew a gasket" at you, everyone in the whole street could hear them go off.

Then , the process was repeated at the next door, and the next one, and the next one and so on.

(Sometimes I wondered if they were each holding a contest, to see who could shout and scream the loudest!)

Still at that point believing the nonsense we were trying to talk to the public about, I remember being philosophic - if not a little cynical in response:

- thinking to myself each time " Fella, it's your funeral, not mine! The day will come when you wished you had listened, but by then it will be too late."

Incidentally, that so many JWs lived in this area had NOTHING to do with the territory being exceedingly productive:

- it had everything to do with it being a low cost housing area, and the low socio-economic status of most JWs.

- we were nearly ALL of us imports, who could not afford to live anywhere else.

Bill.

4

Was You A Carpark Attendant ? At The Kingdom Hell?

by Hairyhegoat in

jw
friends

it was shit!

we had to stand outside in all weathers like we were the elite police for the kingdum hell.

when all the cars were in we had to lock the gates but a few years ago when we had all finisied the brain washing meeting the gates had been super glued shut by some smack heads!!

Bungi Bill

I did that for several years.

This kingdom hall was in a (very!) high crime area, and surrounded by an 8 foot high security fence:

- so we had to keep the gate locked at all times.

It actually wasn't too bad - the hall was uphill from the carpark, and the carpark was intensely lit by security lights.

The carpark attendant could sit just inside the doorway, and observe not only the carpark, but also the entrance from the street.

It did have the benefit of stopping me from going to sleep during the meetings!

Bill.

27

What was the worst part of the conventions for YOU?

by mochamint22 in

i thought it'd be fun to talk about what part of the conventions just made you cringe or be annoyed with.

i can remember a couple things:.

i remember after the tms when they put the list in the back on the announcement board, there were people that would get up while the last song was being sung to write down the info.

Remember the GLOBAL FOOD SHORTAGES of 35 years ago?

by Nathan Natas in

jw
friends

.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/12/027844.php.

ha ha ha ha ha!.

Bungi Bill

The Paddock brothers in Famine 1975 did hold some credence when their book was first published:

- simply because, for two years in a row during the mid-1960s, the monsoon failed on the Indian Subcontinent.

As a result, the world's food production decreased (remembering that India, as well as being a very populous country, is also the location of some of the world's richest agricultural land).

The predicted disaster, of course, did not happen:

- for one thing, the monsoon resumed its normal pattern from 1967 onward (who says climate change is a new phenomena!)

- and most importantly came what was termed the "Green Revolution", in which Asia's food production was significantly increased by the introduction of high yielding strains of wheat and rice.

Ever the experts in depressing people, the WTS sought to downplay the achievements of the Green Revolution.

A 1972 article in Awake made it sound like the Green Revolution had delayed famine for, at best, only a year or two - and that the Paddock brothers predictions were largely still valid.

(From memory, that Awake article listed over half a dozen reasons why the Green Revolution was going to fall flat at any moment!).

Further on the matter of food shortages, I can recall another Awake article on hunger during those years (sometime in 1969).

This article contained a map of the world, showing which countries received adequate nutrition, and which countries did not:

- the criterion being 2400 calories per day, which is considered the minimum necessary daily intake of food for an adult human being.

According to that article, only the peoples of Northern Europe, North America, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand were receiving an adequate daily intake of food.

Since that time, the situation has much improved;

- by the first decade of the 21st Century, the area of the world in which the population receives less than 2400 calories per day had been reduced to parts of sub-Saharan Africa, some of the smaller South American countries, and certain Pacific Islands.

Interestingly, in the late 1960s, the south of Italy, Sicily and Greece were included in the area affected by lack of adequate nutrition. Today, those countries have some of the highest per capita calorie consumptions in the world.

Despite the calamity howling by the Paddocks, the Erlichs and the WTS, something has worked right!.

Bill.

92

GLOBAL WARMING - "Snowfalls are a thing of the past"

by Nathan Natas in

jw
friends

cetainly in great britani they are, right?.

see: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/snowfalls-are-now-just-a-thing-of-the-past-724017.html.

.. .. .. oh, that's from ten years ago!.

Bungi Bill

From what I have observed as to how surface air temperatures are now measured at many weather stations, I will admit to being more than a little sceptical.

As a result of the economic and political changes that occured 15 - 20 years ago, many weather stations were shut down and much of the skills base was lost. Some new weather stations were established, but often by people who had little idea of what they were doing.

So that today's temperature reading can be compared with that taken tomorrow and on all subsequent days, thermometers are supposed to be housed in a ventilated, white painted wooden box - known as a "Stevenson Screen."

This box should be mounted four feet off the ground, away from all buldings, and over a grass lawn:

- direct sunlight on the thermometer, and also heat reflected off the ground or radiated off buildings will greatly affect the thermometer reading.

Yet in all too many instances in recent times, this knowledge seems to have been lost when new weather stations have been established :

- partly to blame, I feel, are the full "Weather Station" kits that are readlily obtainable from any electronic store.

- invariably, the instructions come with no reference made to the need to shade the thermometer.

(Yet none of this is rocket science - I recall these things being covered in detail during Grade 9 geography at high school).

I saw a classic back in 2006:

- A Platinum Resistance Thermometer (PRT) was mounted directly above a long run iron roof, totally exposed to the full heat of the tropical sun.

- Then, to further add to the heating effect, this thermometer was in the direct path of the exhaust gases of eight 10 500 hp gas turbine engines.

As a result, the climate statistics for the Tari Valley area of Papua New Guinea WILL be showing a marked "warming trend" since 2006!

(The most disappointing thing of the lot about the establishment of this "weather station" was that nobody was at all interested when I attempted to explain to them about the use of a Stevenson Screen - and about mounting it over the grass lawn on the other side of the building.)

My thoughts, anyway!

Bill.

61

JW Whips 12 year old daughter to death !! This is very graphic be warned!!

by Hairyhegoat in

this is a old case but just shows what goes on behind closed doors if you are a jw family.

this arsehole needs to go to the chair!!.

more news:.

Bungi Bill

The whole time that I had dealings with the JWs (i.e. the mid-1960s though to the mid-1990s), it was spelled out that "The Rod" referred to corporal punishment;

- AND I saw it used plenty of times in that role, too!

Bill.

8

Low SocioEconomic Stature of Most Jehovah's Witnesses

by Band on the Run in

jw
friends

i am wary to post this.

slaves can be extraordinary christians.

a large part of my problem was being exposed to abject poverty through the witnesses.

Bungi Bill

I remember once a study being carried out on the socio-economic status of the various Christian denominations.

Not surprisingly, the Witnesses were at the bottom of the pile:

- i.e. as regards education, per capita annual income, and just about everything else as well.

Increasingly over the years, I felt myself becoming offended whenever a new kingdom hall / assembly hall was to be built, and the WTS seemed to expect the money just to appear out of nowhere:

- We were forbidden to have an education.

- We were forbidden to have money (that was being "materialistic").

- Yet when funding for a new hall was required, we were still expected to be able to "cough up the dough."

This was particularly bad during the recession of the early 1990s. At that stage, I was living in a low-cost housing area (read bloody poor!). This district was spilling over with JWs, simply because they could not afford to live anywhere else.

All of us were struggling, and many did not even have a regular job.

YET - from the platform, we were repeatedly being accused of sitting on top of large stashes of money, which we should be giving to the Kingdom Hall Fund.

I tell you, I was not the only one to have been offended by such talk!

Bill.

61

JW Whips 12 year old daughter to death !! This is very graphic be warned!!

by Hairyhegoat in

this is a old case but just shows what goes on behind closed doors if you are a jw family.

this arsehole needs to go to the chair!!.

more news:.

Bungi Bill

I concur with those who apportion a large degree of responsibility for this outrage on religion - particularly the Old Testament's ideas of discipline.

Granted, this instance is an extreme case. However, Bible verses like the one about "using the rod" make child abuse all too likely to occur.

In the 28 years I was with the JWs, I observed child abuse to be the rule rather than the exception.

Bill.

17

Pyramidologists: the Great Pyramid of Gizeh

by Spade in

http://jehovahswitnesses21.blogspot.com/2010/12/pyramidologists-great-pyramid-of-gizeh.html.

the great pyramid of gizeh (one of the oldest of the seven wonders of the ancient world) had special meaning to charles taze russell and the bible students in 19th century.. .

they attempted to corroborate biblical time periods with the great pyramid for two reasons:.

Bungi Bill

Incredible as this may now seem, Pyramidolgy was once taken quite seriously by science.

A Professor Charles Smyth published a book in 1864, entitled "The Great Pyramid - Its Secrets and Mysteries Revealed." For decades after that, there was condiderable excitement generated by this subject.

Amongst other things, the interior of the Pyramid of Gizeh seemingly contained "Chronological Marks."

If a little imagination were used, together with special units of measurement known as "Pyramid Inches" (which were to linear measurement what 360 day long years were to Freddy Franz's prophetic measurements!), such dates as AD 1874 and AD 1914 can be identified.

However, during the late 19th Century, the whole idea was well an truly debunked, and seen for what it really is;

- i.e. Pseudo-Science, pure and simple!

C.T. Russell was evidently an avid reader of the study of Pyramidology. And although he did not get the date of 1914 from the Great Pyramid, he would have no doubt been convinced that it confirmed this date (which had its orgins in a breakaway group from the Second Advent Church, and led by N.H. Barbour).

The moral of the story would appear to be, if two prophetic dates happen to coincide, it means absolutely nothing at all!

Bill.

11

The Man who changed YOUR LIFE (part 2)

by Terry in

william miller began his preaching reluctantly.

he had no formal training and he was self-educated.

but, having suffered a crisis of faith and having experienced the restoration of belief in a hand's-on god; this only gave his messege conviction.. the shortness of time until the end was the core of the witness work begun in the pulpit of local churches he'd been invited to preach in.. the messege was urgent, but, why would people listen?

Bungi Bill

The JWs account of the history of "pure worship", from its supression in the post - apostolic era until its supposed "restoration" in the late 19th Century, makes no mention of the role William Miller played;

- little wonder!

Out of the wreckage from The Great Disappointment came the likes of the Seventh Day Adventists, the Christedelphians, and the Second Advent Church.

One Nelson H. Barbour was for a time with the Second Advent Church, before doing his own thing with a prediction about the year 1873;

- which was subsequently amended to 1874.

C.T. Russell got involved with N.H. Barbour around about 1876, by which time Barbour had decided that he was still correct:

- only that Christ had in fact made an "Invisible Return" in 1874!

Also, it was Barbour who gave Russell the idea that 1914 was to be a significant date (later seemingly backed up by Pyramidology).

As to the rest of this story, most of us here are only too well aware!

So forget your Waldenses, Tyndales, Wycliffes etc.

- Terry is quite correct, the JWs owe their existence to The Millerites, and to what came after them.

Bill.