Posts by Bungi Bill

18

Did you feel nervous before/while giving talks?

by likeabird in

jw
friends

the subject of feeling nervous came up in sfpw recent thread http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/268270/2/im-curious-when-you-were-asked-to-do-a-demo-for-a-service-meeting-part-how-did-the-request-make-you-feel#.uqgz_0nd13b.

it reminded me of a sister i knew.

you always knew when you got to the meeting if she had a talk that night.

Bungi Bill

When I first enrolled on the TMS, I had a serious problem with shyness:

-so yes, I was very nervous!

In the end, though, not at all - a situation that has continued to this day, over 19 years since I bade that lot goodbye.

i.e. speaking in front of hundreds of people (like I sometimes have to do) fazes me not at all.

Reluctant as I am to give my time with the JWs any credit at all, I would have to admit that the TMS played a major part in me overcoming that awful shyness that once plagued me - in fact almost crippled me.

Bill

52

I gave up my job to pioneer, did you? Matt 6.33 did Jehovah provide?

by KateWild in

i was a chemical analyst.

i loved my job, and love chemistry.

i worked in a variety of fields such a pharmaceutical and industrial.

Bungi Bill

Legacy,

Interesting, and you do have a point.

Also, good that we can engage in acivil conversation about such matters!

Bill.

52

I gave up my job to pioneer, did you? Matt 6.33 did Jehovah provide?

by KateWild in

i was a chemical analyst.

i loved my job, and love chemistry.

i worked in a variety of fields such a pharmaceutical and industrial.

Bungi Bill

So, if you know some who want to pioneer advise them to count the cost first...that would be good advice, & they will thank you.

Legacy

I 'd be more inclined to just tell them not to be a bloody fool by selling your life to some publishing business, that's hiding behind a religious facade!

Bill.

17

Flips and Flops: Higher Education

by Iamallcool in

jw
friends

i would like to show my friend that the watchtower change their mind all the time about higher education over the years.

they usually discourage higher education as we all know that.

i would like to show him the wt quotes.

Bungi Bill

Bizzybee,

I have known a few - make that a very select few - cases similar to the one you cited:

- and frankly, I don't know how they got away with it.

It seems that a lot has got to do with who you are in the congregation, as to whether they will let you send your sons and daiughters to college - without copping serious "consequences"!

As a member of the often cited "Class of '69", I am only now in the process of acquiring a "Higher Education", so as to retain the job I currently have:

- because I "excercised faith that the end was near" and neither went to university back then, nor planned for a retirement (having been assured that all like me would "never grow old in this system").

Bill.

52

I gave up my job to pioneer, did you? Matt 6.33 did Jehovah provide?

by KateWild in

i was a chemical analyst.

i loved my job, and love chemistry.

i worked in a variety of fields such a pharmaceutical and industrial.

Bungi Bill

Kate,

Acting on the instructions of the elders, I threw in my apprenticeship (Telecommunications technician) so that I could enter the "full time service."

Admittedly, this did not immediately lead to be "pioneering", but well before that year was out, that is what I was doing.

Did Jehovah provide for me? No.

Rather, I would pioneer (either regular or auxliary) until I ran out of funds, go back to full time work for a time, then re-enter the pioneer service:

- and so on, almost ad finitum.

But not quite - by the time I was 23 I had woken up to myself. Through contacts my father had in the industry, I was able to get taken on as an adult electrical apprentice (Not quite the same thing I started out with, but close enough!)

Matt. 6:33 - tell that one to the Marines!

Bill.

34

1973 "Divine Victory" International Assemblies

by Bungi Bill in

jw
friends

how many here attended the "divine victory" international assembly that was held 12- 16 december in christchurch, new zealand?.

the venue was lancaster park.

if the truth be known, that stadium was probably a casualty of the february 2011 earthquake?.

Bungi Bill

Karter,

I never had the dubious priviledge of ever hearing either Nathan Knorr or Crazy Fred speak in person.

Each year after 1975, what was called a "Special Talk" was held (like the one you describe in the Auckland Town Hall) . In reality, these were just an old-fashioned Pep Talk / Sales Talk / general kick up the @$$ talk by the sales manager! It went on for at least ten years afterwards, too - the last one I remember attending would have been in 1985.

One thing that never featured in this series of "Special Talks" was any admission of responsibility (certain not of guilt) on the part of the WTS / GB for what had happened. It was all about us having become "slack." All they seemed concerned about was numbers - concern that nationally, 5% of the publishers (so they calculated) had "walked out the door of the Kingdom Hall for the last time."

No concerns whatsoever for the harm that had happened to many of the Rank & File from following the Watchtower Madness!

Bill.

27

24 hour field service marathon ??

by gingerbread in

jw
friends

field service for up to twenty-four hours non-stop.... it's a bit of a fad in our area with pioneers - the twenty somethings especially.

we've heard from other family members and a jw friend that it's a thing in their part of the country as well.. it sounds like a group decides on a day and then piles into a van or suv to 'work' the territory - 12, 18 and even 24 hours.. anyone else hearing of this?.

ginger.

Bungi Bill

Religious fanaticism if ever I heard it!

Bill

35

Have you put on the "New Personality" ?

by Phizzy in

when we were in we were often read that scripture and told we should work hard at putting on the new personality, which in wt speak meant their cult personality, nothing like the person of christ.. since leaving it has become necessary for us to make deep internal changes, to our worldview, to our emotions, and to our actions.. we have had to change from being controlled in all these areas by the wt cult, to forming our own new personality.. for born-ins like me this is really quite a task, we do not have a "pre-cult" personality to "recover".

but even for converts, there is stilll this work to do, before you joined you may have been racist, homophobic, or perhaps a thief, or immoral in some other way, surely you do not wish to "recover" those aspects of your original personality ?so you too have to "put on" a new one.. how are we all doing with this ?

i know that for me i feel it is still a work in progress, i need to work on certain things that are the result of my being in the jw/wt scam for all those decades, and some things that are a part of my natural personality which are not desireable as traits, laziness for example, and i am the arch-procrastinator, not good.. how do you guys feel you are doing since leaving ?.

Bungi Bill

nonjwspouse,

Unfortunately, your experience sounds all too typical:

i.e. the JWs get hold of somebody who is essentially a decent sort of person, then comences to screw them up.

This brings back so many unpleasant memories for me, that I decline to go into details. Suffice to say I still cringe everytime I think about it! (Even 19 years after breaking with that abomination of a cult).

Bill.

34

1973 "Divine Victory" International Assemblies

by Bungi Bill in

jw
friends

how many here attended the "divine victory" international assembly that was held 12- 16 december in christchurch, new zealand?.

the venue was lancaster park.

if the truth be known, that stadium was probably a casualty of the february 2011 earthquake?.

Bungi Bill

dropoffyourkeylee,

Thanks for pasting that convention program.

As you say, the baptism numbers (by today's standards, at least) were impressive. During the years leading up to 1975, the JWs certainly were on a roll. While I cannot recall the exact number, the baptism numbers at the Christchurch assembly were of a similar proportion.

Also, unlike today, the majority of these were not born ins. For example, the "star of the show" of those baptised at the Christchurch assembly was a former Methodist minister. He had some scathing things to say about his former church, and these remarks made up a considerable amount of the media coverage that the assembly attracted.

One can only guess how quickly the disillusionment would have set in, and what ultimately became of this individual. (i.e. the very things he lambasted his former church for were some of the same things the JWs are just as guilty of - he had yet to find that out!)

Bill.

139

Ever consider joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

by rawe in

has anyone here left jehovah's witnesses to join the churuch of jesus christ of latter-day saints?

what was your motivation for doing so and how has it worked out?.

if you haven't joined the lds or considered it, as an ex-jw, what is your general view of the lds faith?.

Bungi Bill

Presented with the choice of having to choose between the LDS and the JWs, I probably would opt for the LDS:

- if I didn't shoot myself first!

Bill.