Posts by Bungi Bill

51

In 25 Years Will The WT.Organization Still Be Around?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i think so.

and i doubt it'll grow much, if at all, but i think it will still be around.. what do you think?.

Bungi Bill

As a general rule of thumb, it would seem that the more unpleasant something is, the less likely it is to disappear:

- just like the rats and cockroaches that survive a nuclear explosion, when everything else has been exterminated.

Unfortunately, there is a certain percentage of the population that automatically gravitates towards the cults. As long as that minority is around for them to draw on, the likes of the JWs will remain.

Their membership may well turn over:

- that certainly happened in the wake of past upheavals

eg. The death of CT Russell, and JF Rutherford's seizure of power. Then, the failure of prophecy in 1925 , and the subsequent loss of 75% of their membership. Not to mention failure of prophecy regarding 1975, and the upheaval that followed! Also, more recently, the revision(s) of "The Generation" thing.

Membership comes, membership goes - but the WTS always manages a Houdini act each time, and seems to somehow escape.

Then, like that proverbial old penny, "keeps turning up."

Bill.

48

Elder said people "rarely" die from refusing a blood transfusion

by InterestedOne in

i sat in on the "know your options" reading tonight, and the elder said a couple things i was wondering about:.

1. he said if a doctor says you have a high risk of dying if you refuse a blood transfusion, he is misleading you.

he said people "rarely" die from refusing a blood transfusion.

Bungi Bill

During my time with the JWs, I can recall a general attitude amongst them whereby a lot of non-medical people (and generally,poorly educated ones as well) thought they knew more about medicine than any doctor did.

Did anyone else notice this?

Throughout its history, the Watchtower Society has regularly denigrated medical science:

- in Joseph Rutherford's time, they were dead set against vaccinations.

He is on record as being of the opinion that the "increase in sexual immorality" was due to these filthy particules being let loose in a person's bloodstream. Furthermore, that attitude continued on for many decades after his death. I personally knew more than a few in the congregations who refused to allow their children to be immunised. (I was assured by one brother that the risks of contracting tetanus from the vaccine were greater than the risks of catching the disease if you weren't immunised!)

Also during Rutherford's time the WTS endorsed a number of what could only be described as "Quack's Cures." One was some sort of radio transmitter that you grabbed by two handles, and had a radio frequency electric current fed through your body - said to be extemely beneficial by its inventor, and recommended by The Editor of the Awake magazine. Sunbathing was also recommended - i.e. giving your skin a good, healthy dose of Ultra Violet radiation (the ideal time for sunbathing was said to be while the UV rays were at their maximum - best time to get skin cancer!). Another highly recommended, WTS endorsed medical therapy of those years was to regularly reverse-flush yourself with the garden hose.

Then there was the Dr. Linus Pauling thing of 1971.

He claimed, and the WTS reported it, that daily mega-doses of Vitamin C would prevent a person from ever catching the common cold. Because this was reported in that scientific journal, Awake, many in the congregations interpreted it that the "Society" endorsed these claims about Vitamin C. (As it turned out, Linus Pauling may have been a Nobel Prize winner, but he was off the mark with his claims about this particular vitamin).

The Watchtower Society's continual bashing of Higher Education makes it easier to slip such nonsense in - including the those remarks about blood transfusion mortality (as quoted in the title of this thread):

- after all, it has been well established that reading of the Watchtower and Awake magazines gives one at least the equivalent of a medical degree!

Bill.

48

Elder said people "rarely" die from refusing a blood transfusion

by InterestedOne in

i sat in on the "know your options" reading tonight, and the elder said a couple things i was wondering about:.

1. he said if a doctor says you have a high risk of dying if you refuse a blood transfusion, he is misleading you.

he said people "rarely" die from refusing a blood transfusion.

Bungi Bill

He would be making claim No.1 without any statistical evidence to back it up;

- just repeating the WTS official line about his matter.

I read everything that they printed / listened to everything that they uttered for 28 years, and never once saw any creditable statistics presented to back up that statement.

Maintaining that a blood transfusion is "unlikely to save your life" is just one more example of a long line of JW psuedo-science.

Bill.

8

JWs and Education

by Liberty93 in

so this isn't one of the normal zomg teh witnesses h8 educashun!!!

!1 threads, because we all know that -.

rather, i'd just like to note that i was reading about paul today, and remembered that not only did he have an extremely good education for his time and speak, write, and read multiple languages, he was also aware of, and educated about, all of those horrible, worldly, ungodly philosophies that the jws are so scared of.. of course, when they're harping on the "you don't need college" bs, they never note that or take the more plausible line that education would help people defend their faith rationally (because it's not about beliefs anymore) because they know that taking an introductory logic course and two semesters of world history would sink any and all belief in what they say.... just a few thoughts..

Bungi Bill

How recent are "recent times"?

- I can recall 40 years ago the complaint being voiced that graduate engineers had little understanding about how their education related to the real world.

There is only one way to learn a practical skill - and that is by getting your hands dirty!

(Like mine are today, after finishing a shift working on the #*%*ing bloody control system of No.3 Boiler)

Bill.

8

JWs and Education

by Liberty93 in

so this isn't one of the normal zomg teh witnesses h8 educashun!!!

!1 threads, because we all know that -.

rather, i'd just like to note that i was reading about paul today, and remembered that not only did he have an extremely good education for his time and speak, write, and read multiple languages, he was also aware of, and educated about, all of those horrible, worldly, ungodly philosophies that the jws are so scared of.. of course, when they're harping on the "you don't need college" bs, they never note that or take the more plausible line that education would help people defend their faith rationally (because it's not about beliefs anymore) because they know that taking an introductory logic course and two semesters of world history would sink any and all belief in what they say.... just a few thoughts..

Bungi Bill

I seem to remember it being explained how Paul had learnt the tent making trade, in addition to receiving his (what was for for those times) excellent academic education.

Apparently, the Jewish sect of the Pharisees made a particular point that all their young people learned a practical skill;

- this, in addition to their intensive academic training.

In other words, their education was well balanced.

That contrasts with the often overly-academic education provided today.

As an example, graduate engineers come out of university full of theory; but unable to even hold a screwdriver straight:

- yet they are telling the likes of me what to do!

DESIGN ENGINEER'S KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs)

1) To make things very difficult for the builder (20%)

2) To make things totally impossible for the service technician (80%)

(Spoken by a service technician, who would have liked to have done the degree course in engineering, but was stopped by you know who!)

At least Saul of Tarsus (and those like him) did not have that problem - they would have at least known how their academic learning related to the real world.

Bill.

16

Witness came to my house

by d in

the witness came to my house on jan 8 2011 it was completely unannounced.i just wush they would leave us alone.

by the way happy new year everyone i hope you had a goof christmas..

Bungi Bill

It should not be hard to get rid of them. Most JWs these days appear to be just going through the motions of doing the door to door work - their heart certainly does not seem to be in what they are doing anymore.

All the ones that have called at my house in recent years were only too happy to have an excuse to beat a hasty retreat:

- I think that even giving them a sideways look is enough to give them that excuse!

Bill.

14

1975, Freddie Franz and Eve's Menstrual Cycle

by Band on the Run in

jw
friends

i was active back then and terrorized by armageddon.

my basic temperament is introspective.

i never felt worthy enough.

Bungi Bill

It gets worse and worse, doesn't it?

- Eve's menstrual cycle.

- Train timetables between Pittsburg and New York.

- Russell's calculations, based on the dimensions of the Pyramid of Gizeh.(When events did not quite work out to plan, he had to re-calculate things From that, he concluded that the structure had somehow settled down on its foundations, and was now actually wider than it had once been!).

The question raises itself once more:

Who was actually the maddest - these guys for teaching such wierd and wonderful psuedo science, or us for believing it?

Bill.

36

Seven Reasons Why Jehovah's Witnesses Are Leaving Their Religion.

by Hairyhegoat in

these are good comments to consider enjoy!.

jehovah's witnesses who leave their religion, do so for many different reasons.

here are seven.. watchtower prophecies and dates for armageddon have failed repeatedly.

Bungi Bill

I came into "The Truth" because to me, all religion seemed to be just a lot of hocus-pocus (to put it in polite language!):

- However, the JWs appealed, because they appeared to be different; at least as compared with the mainstream churches.

28 years down the track, the penny finally dropped that the JWs were just another religion - and that these are all the bloody same, no matter who they are!

The disappointment was all the more intense in that I had actually expected far more from the Witlesses - having once swallowed their propaganda totally.

And yes, I did hit the bottle rather hard for a time after leaving; until discovering other, non-harmful ways of coping with the distress (not that alcohol abuse is restricted to non-JWs; far from it!).

I am well aware of the official WTs line, that all who give "The Truth" away do so only so they can get drunk, do drugs, womanize etc. etc. etc. Like so much else of the official WTs line, that, too, is total nonsense (Expletive Deleted!).

Bill.

55

Worldwide Service Report for 2010 / Yearbook 2011

by Designer Stubble in

wonder if anyone had a scan available of the 2010 annual report, which can normally be found in the 2011 yearbook.. .

thanks in advance!.

Bungi Bill

What difference does it make whether someone who abandons the religion was "born in", or introduced to it later in childhood or youth?

A lost person is a lost person - period!

That two out of every three persons raised in the cult ultimately abandon it indicates that something is seriously wrong:

- and furthermore, will remain seriously wrong, as long as the powers that be continue to keep their heads buried deep in the sand.

The serious loss of young persons from this cult is not a new phenomenon. During the mid-1970s, I can recall it being the focus of much of the program at one Circuit Assembly. At that stage, 50% of those raised "In The Truth" abandoned it. Now the figure is 67% - so whatever was done 35 years ago to counter this trend has failed spectacularly!

Bill.

13

1/1/11 WT Using One Myth to Support Another

by WalkTall in

i thought this was pretty hysterical and something that i would have never noticed before i woke up.

in the jan 1 wt under the heading 'was the garden of eden a real place?

part of the reasoning they use as to why no one could find the garden of eden even though there are specifics in genesis identifying it's location is because "the flood of noah's day may have altered the topography in ways that we simply cannot know today".

Bungi Bill

This reminds me of observations by people who have travelled through that part of the world where the Garden of Eden was supposed to have been:

i.e. around where the borders of Turkey, Iraq and Armenia meet.

Their feelings were unanimous, and to the effect of:

"If this is supposed to be the Garden of Eden, then I would hate to see what Hell looks like!"

Prodigal Son,

Two good points!

1) The JWs would have us believe that the ark as not boat-shaped, but was rather a rectangular wooden box.

My father was from a family of marine engineers, and had himself worked in the shipbuilding industry. I remember him trying to point out to the JWs exactly the same fact that you have brought out - that a box shaped craft of those dimensions would be broken apart very quickly by the forces of waves.

2) And the other one!

- who was the silliest; religion for teaching such an unlikely story, or us for believing it?

Bill.