Posts by Bungi Bill

A little off topic, but thanks for that piece of insight, PokerPlayerPhil. At last, I am now starting to get an understanding about something that has puzzled me for several decades:

- i.e. how it was that this particular bloody cult managed to ensnare me!

Otherwise, yes, their door to door activity is still operating. A pair of them were at my door last week, but turned around and walked straight back out again upon noticing the "Unsolicited Sales Callers Not Welcome" sticker.

Bill

16

Article in The Guardian - Faith no more: how the British are losing their religion. Mentions JWs

by AndersonsInfo in

jw
friends

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2015/apr/14/british-christianity-trouble-religion-comeback .

the british have lost faith in religion much faster and more completely than they have lost faith in god.

the most recent survey to show this comes from win/gallup, which found that britain appeared one of the most irreligious countries on earth, with only 30% calling themselves religious.

Bungi Bill

Secularism need not stifle economic growth, as witness the case of China, whose economy is outperforming both those of Europe and America - and yet (according to that Win-Gallup poll) whose population is at least 60% atheist.

Not, too, that the percentage of China's population that identified themselves as atheist (60%) far exceeds that of Britain's (13%). That would strongly suggest that the British population has retained a belief in God, but has had a complete fill of religion (I wonder why!)

Bill.

30

Tear down the whole of South Africa

by Louise in

jw
friends

there was a statue outside the rhodes university.

a 30 year old black student then threw his pooh on the statue and that got the ball rolling to pull the statue down.

the board of this university built also gives out burseries and grants to previously disadvantaged black south africans and not disadvantaged black south africans.. there has been a huge debate in the country and now the statue has been removed.

Bungi Bill

Barrold - because I mention the race of someone makes it a bad thing? No! I'm not afraid to say a black person threw pooh on a statue. I'm not afraid to say a white cop shot and killed a black man. You know why, because those are the facts. In South Africa we are not afraid to mention race - you should 't have to be. Hell, I come from a mixed family myself - so race does not bother me. Go bury your head in the sand somewhere.

14

Where did the Buzz go?

by snugglebunny in

jw
friends

i recently came across the very first kingdom song i ever heard.

twickenham, 1955. i was just a kid then of course, but i do recall the "buzz" that seemed to permeate everything, not dis-similar to that of an international rugby match.

people were smiling while singing their hearts out, the lunch-time queues for the cafeteria full of old friends getting re-aquainted, young lads and lasses eyeing one another and blushing furiously, sessions 2 untl 4 then 7 until 9.30 giving folk plenty of time to socialise.. where did it all go wrong?.

Bungi Bill

Witnesses back then seemed to have been made of better stuff. They seemed smarter, bolder, stronger, more knowledgeable. The information seemed more scholarly and more intellectual, not so dumbed down as it seems to be now.

That, I think, was very true. The JWs used to pride themselves in having no difficulties with explaining what they believed to be "The Truth" about the bible ( even if , in reality, that "Truth" was nothing other than the Watchtower's own brand of theology!) There was, too, always a certain feeling of disdain for the "Churches of Christendom", whose members never seemed to have much idea what it was they actually believed - and cared even less.

when 75 ended something kind of died and it was never the same.

I agree. After the tremendous build up there was in the years leading up to 1975, something simply had to give when nothing in fact eventuated. To expect otherwise is rather like throwing a lighted match at a pool of petrol (gasoline) and then expecting it not to explode!

Bill.

45

Being in a cult - what good did it do?

by Garrett in

jw
friends

so, here's a bit of a different point of view.

while most of us will agree that our time within the jw cult was rather terrible, however, i'd like to look at another aspect.

did anything good come out of being in a cult and then waking up from it?.

Bungi Bill

I have yet to find any possible benefit that I may have gained from the JW religion - and it is now 21 years since I gave that lot away. Furthermore, after all this time, I don't expect to ever find one, either!

Bill.

15

Japanese torture of American prisoners in WW2 revealed

by fulltimestudent in

this is not a new story.

the japanese military in ww2 were barbaric in the way they treated captured servicemen.

i was about ten when my father's best friend came home from a japanese prison camp.

Bungi Bill

unreasonable cruelty is not confined to one particular race or military.

So very true!

In the suppressing the Indian Mutiny, Britain carried out numerous atrocities, and not only against the mutineers, either:

- indiscriminate slaughter of the civilian population also featured prominently in the punitive measures that were handed out.

All this occurred in the year 1857, well after the "Age of Enlightenment" had taken place, and we of the West had taken to thinking we were a cut above everybody else when it came to humanity and civilisation.

Bill.

15

Japanese torture of American prisoners in WW2 revealed

by fulltimestudent in

this is not a new story.

the japanese military in ww2 were barbaric in the way they treated captured servicemen.

i was about ten when my father's best friend came home from a japanese prison camp.

Bungi Bill

Your experiences may be different from mine, but I have seen very little in the way of forgiveness. My father in law certainly never did!

Bill.

15

Japanese torture of American prisoners in WW2 revealed

by fulltimestudent in

this is not a new story.

the japanese military in ww2 were barbaric in the way they treated captured servicemen.

i was about ten when my father's best friend came home from a japanese prison camp.

Bungi Bill

With a grandfather who was a prisoner of the Japanese in Singapore's Changi Prison, and a father in law who (somehow) survived the Burma Railway, none of this comes as any surprise. Yet again more evidence that the human species is a cruel, violent creature!

Bill.

76

Active posters: What education have you had, what degrees do you possess?

by EndofMysteries in

jw
friends

from so many posts and conversations on here, you'd think over 1/2 the posters here possess doctorates in theology, physics, biology, etc.

i'm curious aside from the books and research people have done here, what degrees they have.

to start, i just got an aa and going straight through full time to an mba.

Bungi Bill

Though I think credentials are important and add weight to a person's argument, I also think a well read person with life experience is just as qualified

The problem I see more and more of is the insistence on formal qualifications ahead of outright practical experience and ability. As an example, in my field, just about every position now stipulates that applicants must have dual qualifications - Electrical and Instrumentation; whereas previously most such positions were filled by persons like myself, i.e. licensed electricians with extensive instrument experience.

Despite having decades of experience in instrument work (including having managed a NATA registered Calibration Laboratory), someone like myself is now ruled out through not having that magic "Certificate IV" in instrumentation.

So........ having just completed the Advanced Diploma course in Electrical, the next one is going to have to be (at least) Cert. IV in Instrumentation!

Bill.