I cannot but feel that this is just one more case of "Much Ado About Nothing"!
Bill.
Bungi Bill
JoinedPosts by Bungi Bill
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33
"Why would everyone be included this time...unless something special is about to happen?"
by Separation of Powers inso, i am talking to a long time friend, you know, the non-judgmental type that doesn't really mind that i don't go to many meetings and am never out in service.
he tells me that the annual meeting is coming up and that the whole congregation is invited...well, at least the active "approved" whole congregation.
he speaks with an excitement that puzzles me, like he just got invited to the locker room of his favorite football team when they won the superbowl.
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Did your parents force spiritual goals on you?
by Comatose ini was thinking today about my childhood.
i knew from a young age that the proper response to a question about what i wanted to be when i grew up was pioneering, missionary, bethel, or c.o.
i was taught from childhood not to want to be a fireman or astronaut.
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Bungi Bill
Julia,
"rednecks and JWs" - sum sit up perfectly!
Bill.
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For lurkers and newbies who think Jehovah`s Witnesses are better people than most
by smiddy inwhy dont you look up on the internet crimes comitted by jehovah`s witnesses , i think you will be very surprised.the majority of cases are comitted by dedicated baptised witnesses , not newly interested ones that you can excuse away.and the crimes range from anything minor to outright murder .. and remember ,jehovahs witnesses are only a minority religion and yet crimes comitted by them far outstrip the national average.. i`m sorry i cant put up the links .i`d appreciate it if someone can .thanks heaps.. smiddy.
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Bungi Bill
When I remember my time from before the Watchtower madness took hold, I actually knew a lot of better people who were not JWs. There are, of course, some very good people amongst the witnesses, but no more so than amongst the population in general. They certainly don't have the monopoly on this, like they seem to think they do!
Bill.
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Anyone here, have you had enough religion for the rest of your life?
by restrangled inthats how i feel,..... no disrespect for those who find another way or place to worship.
i for one cannot stand any religion on any level.
how do you feel?.
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Bungi Bill
That would describe me perfectly!
Bill
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Do JW still hold to their 1984 Doomsday deadline?
by bytheirworks indid jw's predict the world would end in 1984?.
the september 21, 1984 issue of chrisitanity today on pages 66-67, ran an article entitled: "do jehovah's witnesses still hold to their 1984 doomsday deadline?".
that's as far as my search has gotten me and it isn't on chrisitanity today's web-site.. can anyone find this article for me?.
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Bungi Bill
If anything much was ever made about 1984, then it must have been strictly a local matter. Certainly where I was during those years of the early to mid 1980s, nobody suggested 1984 as seeing in Armegeddon - but then again that could well have been because memories of 1975 were still fresh in most people's minds!
There was indeed a surge of growth in JW numbers during the 1980s, but this had little or nothing to do with the date 1984:
- starting in 1982, a concerted effort was made to contact persons who had either formerly "studied" with the JWs, or who were publishers who had become "inactive."
As a result, for a number of years during the 1980s, the total annual increase in publishers actually exceeded the number of those baptised each year:
- something that is easily confirmed from the Annual Report, as listed in the Jehovahs Witness Yearbooks for those years. (Also something that has never happened either before or since).
Also, unlike the post-1975 crash, this situation continued for several years after 1988:
- thus strongly suggesting that 1984 had very little to do with it!
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Wanabee Elders & Ministerial Servants
by minimus inthere were a lot of wannabee elders and ministerial servants in the congregations.
if you were a male and baptized, it was expected that you "reach out".
everyone wanted to have a position.. wives and mothers of men wanted representation too.
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Bungi Bill
Minimus,
Things seem to have changed since yours and my time in "The Truth."
These days, the universal complaint appears to be that they cannot get enough "brothers" interested in "reaching out" for these "privileges."
Anyway, the feedback we are receiving in more recent times is that the JW congregations are suffering from an almost dire shortage of elders and servants.
Bill.
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Is the Watchtower a Communist front?
by bytheirworks inin the chinese language you have 2 versions: traditional & simplified.. ever since the watchtower opened a field office in hong kong, they have made the watchtower study magazines into two versions: traditional & simplified.. the watchtower's communist roots go back further than that.
charles taze russel in his early watch tower (notice there is a difference between watch tower aka guard tower.... & watchtower aka enochian magic, aka justice league, aka league of the just men 1834, aka communist league 1847) predicted some 36 years in advance that there would be a communist revolution in russia.
it was called many things but in 1918 it was officially called a communist revolution, exactly around the time when the government began arresting rutherford.. when you do the research you find that the last communist meeting was held in allegheny pennsylvania, exactly where & when russel began his watch tower.. don't you find it strange that the watchtower is able to produce so many worker bee jw's, who operate like mindless robots???.
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Bungi Bill
I for one am not given to replying to provocative statements!
Bill.
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Is the Watchtower a Communist front?
by bytheirworks inin the chinese language you have 2 versions: traditional & simplified.. ever since the watchtower opened a field office in hong kong, they have made the watchtower study magazines into two versions: traditional & simplified.. the watchtower's communist roots go back further than that.
charles taze russel in his early watch tower (notice there is a difference between watch tower aka guard tower.... & watchtower aka enochian magic, aka justice league, aka league of the just men 1834, aka communist league 1847) predicted some 36 years in advance that there would be a communist revolution in russia.
it was called many things but in 1918 it was officially called a communist revolution, exactly around the time when the government began arresting rutherford.. when you do the research you find that the last communist meeting was held in allegheny pennsylvania, exactly where & when russel began his watch tower.. don't you find it strange that the watchtower is able to produce so many worker bee jw's, who operate like mindless robots???.
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Bungi Bill
I very much doubt that Rutherford's one and only attempt to ingratiate himself with Hitler had anything to do with Socialism.
While the term "NAZI" is an acronym derived from the words "National Socialist Party", that is where the resemblance ended between Nazism and Socialism! (As others have noted already, the Nazis were a Fascist group. As such, they were every bit enemies of Communists and Socialists as they were of the Western Democracies).
Hitler's response to Rutherford's overtures was to declare war on the JWs; and he, too, from that point onwards never had a kind word to say about Hitler. Der Fuhrer actually loved the Witnesses so much that they even had to wear their own special identity badge - a purple triangle - on their prison uniforms!
Bill.
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27
Is the Watchtower a Communist front?
by bytheirworks inin the chinese language you have 2 versions: traditional & simplified.. ever since the watchtower opened a field office in hong kong, they have made the watchtower study magazines into two versions: traditional & simplified.. the watchtower's communist roots go back further than that.
charles taze russel in his early watch tower (notice there is a difference between watch tower aka guard tower.... & watchtower aka enochian magic, aka justice league, aka league of the just men 1834, aka communist league 1847) predicted some 36 years in advance that there would be a communist revolution in russia.
it was called many things but in 1918 it was officially called a communist revolution, exactly around the time when the government began arresting rutherford.. when you do the research you find that the last communist meeting was held in allegheny pennsylvania, exactly where & when russel began his watch tower.. don't you find it strange that the watchtower is able to produce so many worker bee jw's, who operate like mindless robots???.
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Bungi Bill
There is a lot in common between the domination / mind control techniques of religious cults, such as the JWs, and that used by the more extreme political groups, such as the communists. (But these techniques are not just limited to communism. In their time, the Nazis used similar - if less effective - thought control methods).
Whether or not the JWs are a communist front, though, is another matter.
During the years of the cold war (when I was a JW), you used to get that charge flung at you.
The classic rebuttal to that accusation was:
"If we are communists, how come we are outlawed in the Soviet Union - together with in all the other communist block countries?"
bytheirworks:
You obviously have very strong feelings about this matter. However, you did ask for others to comment on this thought, so I have given you mine!
Bill.
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40 years on - and still in Damage Control mode!
by Bungi Bill inearlier this morning, i posted off to the the institute of engineers an application for membership as an "engineering associate":.
- today being just over 40 years since the congregation's retards elders made me abandon my apprenticeship.. (in this part of the world, the pre-1975 hype was taken to that level.
not being content to prevent young persons attending university, they went one step further and treated with hostility any youngster who would "tie up five years of their lives" by entering into an apprenticeship.
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Bungi Bill
This is an update on how it has all progressed to so far.
In fact, the Institute of Engineers was short and to the point, virtually telling me in just so many words to "come back and see us when you have an Advanced Diploma."
So .................. I decided there and then to do just that! The Advanced Diploma course that I have enrolled on begins this coming Monday, and is carried out on-line, in what is often described as a "Virtual Classroom" situation. It is geared specifically for persons like me, who are working full time, who already have extensive industry experience, but need to obtain some formal academic qualification. (Recognition is granted for prior learning, thus reducing the course duration to 18 months - albeit though a very intense 18 months).
I have no doubt that this is going to present a challenge!
- working, as I do, an average of eleven hours per day.
- and it being over 30 years since I have done any serious academic studies (i.e. the Certificate of Engineering course, back in 1982).
However, I am still looking forward to the next year-and-a-half.
(There is, too, the "Hobson's Choice" factor to it - i.e. if I don't gain higher formal qualifications than I already have, then I possibly won't be able to retain the job I currently have).
Wish me luck, please!
Bill.