Posts by Bungi Bill

16

Name A Problem That Nationalism Has Solved

by Fred Franztone in

jw
friends

are there any?.

Bungi Bill

"Us" and "them" preceded nationalism by several thousand years.

I have heard this explained as being the result of how the human species originally evolved in small groups, which (to me, at least!) seems feasible. The "Us" and "Them" attitude is still very much alive and well; one only has to look at sports teams - and, perhaps even more significantly - their supporters to see evidence of this.

One achievement of nationalism was to at least lift this "Us" and "Them" tendency from out of the parochial level.

(Others here have correctly also identified what has sometimes been termed "ultra-nationalism", and which is one of the building blocks of Fascism).

2

Rupert Murdoch

by Alfred in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nfkz_g79eo.

Bungi Bill

This is one of the reasons I don't bother anymore to read newspapers - unless I happen to be very bored, and someone else has paid for the thing!

Also, I rather run out of unpleasant adjectives regarding the way this man lowered the standards of almost every newspaper he ever took over, just so he could increase its circulation. The word "scary" would hardly even begin to describe the situation we have where one person controls so much of the world's media. (Whether printed or electronic).

27

Encounter with a long time elder. (Jehovah's happy people)

by freddo in

jw
friends

so i'm at work and go to my vehicle parked outside the empty property i'm working at and an elderly man comes out of next door and we recognise each other from when we were elders in the same circuit.

he is early 80's in age, a jw since the 1960's and so the next generation in age up from me.. he's an outwardly jolly sort and asks how i am etc.

(knows i'm not an elder but thinks i'm pimi) and asks if i want a cup of tea so i go in and sit in his kitchen for my lunchbreak and have a chat.. i have a little fish around and ask about how jw's in his hall are.

Bungi Bill

pale.emperor,

In 1990, it was calculated that 5% of the publishers in our circuit were suffering from M.E. (or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - CFS - as it is now most commonly known as). I recall its victims including Special Pioneers and the like. It even seemed that the more "active" you were in "Jehovahs Organisation", the more likely you were to be afflicted by M.E. / CFS. Youth offered no protection, either. In our congregation, even some children were suffering from M.E. / CFS.

However, in the 23 years that have gone by since I broke with that lot, I have known only one person who was diagnosed as having that complaint. It would seem that it does indeed afflict JWs more than the population in general.

19

Aliens

by Jayk in

i thought i was weird that i believe in aliens.

until i remembered that people believe there is a god..

Bungi Bill

After what came to be known in New Zealand as the "Kaikoura lights", I always figured that you cannot deny the existence of UFOs. During the months of December 1978 and January 1979, UFOs were repeatedly sighted from the Wellington-Christchurch cargo flight, then operated by Safe Air.

Not only were these "objects" observed by the flight crew, but were also detected by both the aircaft's onboard radar, as well as that at Wellington Airport's Air Traffic Control Centre. Furthermore, on the night of the 30th December, these objects were also filmed by an Australian TV crew who were aboard the aircraft.

When these objects were observed by up to five different people while at the same time being detected by two different sets of radar - AND recorded on movie film - it is very hard to deny their existence! (People can perhaps suffer from hallucinations, but radars and movie cameras?). Of course, UFOs don't necessarily mean aliens.

93

Higher Education

by Brian J in

just spent 8 hours in a 1 day elders school last weekend.

clarification given: "moving forward any elder, ms, or pioneer who themselves or someone under their roof enrolls in higher education, may no longer qualify for privileges in the congregation.

their qualifications will have to be reviewed by their boe.".

Bungi Bill

I have seen many people saddled with student debt and no marketable skills.

A lot to do with what university course a person . I know of persons who have taken a degree in Fine Arts, and wonder why they cannot get a job.

63

Hell Exists

by Poppy520 in

many people of all denominations are beginning to believe that hell does not exist - but the bible supports the claim that it does.

examine this verse, one under nkjv and the other nwt:.

nkjv - matthew 25:46, "and these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.".

Bungi Bill

I guess I know where I am heading for, then!

93

Higher Education

by Brian J in

just spent 8 hours in a 1 day elders school last weekend.

clarification given: "moving forward any elder, ms, or pioneer who themselves or someone under their roof enrolls in higher education, may no longer qualify for privileges in the congregation.

their qualifications will have to be reviewed by their boe.".

Bungi Bill

the higher education ban screwed the Jws growing up in the eighties and nineties mostly.

And those growing up in the sixties and seventies, too. ( #%^ the lot of them! )

9

Do we need spirituality or religion to be good socially responsible people ?

by Finkelstein in

religion is declining in many countries around the world and hardly exists in some countries.. it would fair to say that scientifically acquired knowledge has taken a bite of religious practice over the years.

the premising suggestion that there is a god looking at everything mankind does or should do is vanishing out the human consciousness.. should we emulate the social directives written in ancient manuscripts established by those ancients for their civilization ?

is it possible that mankind can control and guide itself now with all the acquired knowledge we have attained, toward the ending betterment of humanity ?

Bungi Bill

Ethics and religion are two quite separate matters.

There are plenty of religious people around whose knowledge of ethics could be written on the back of a single postage stamp! Conversely, I know of a number of ethical people who will not have a bar of religion.

28

The end of this system is so very near.....NOT

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

world headquarters of jehovah's witnesses - warwick, new york.

“yes, the end of this system is so very near!

is that no reason to increase our activity?… reports are heard of brothers selling their homes and property and planning to finish out the rest of their days in this old system in the pioneer service.

Bungi Bill

Alfred

"There's no money for these poor Haitian brothers walking to the Kingdom Hall"

In other words, "I'm all-right Jack, ^#*k you!"

36

"Armageddon is already here"; "the preaching work is done" -- rogue teachings in your congregation?

by FatFreek 2005 in

one of my jw sons seems to be putting pressure on his non-jw brother apparently to scare him into accepting the troof and start coming to meetings.

wild statements like our topic title, which i know are not supported at jw dot org, have been made to my non-jw son several times over the past year or so.

while i haven't been privy to the actual phone conversations i tend to believe that the jw son is being pressured by the local elders to cut ties with the non-jw since their conversations seem to degrade into arguments -- therefore tending to weaken the jws faith in wt teachings.. either my jw son is lying about what i would call rogue teachings (and this would disappoint me greatly) or he is in some close knit clique in his congregation which has secretly chosen to go rogue on certain wt issues.. based on many of the recent posts here about drastic money and wt organization problems this could be a sign of pending splits of certain congregation members.. what do you think?

Bungi Bill

smiddy3 and steve2,

After all, the series of International Assemblies that were held during that year (1973) weren't entitled "Divine Victory" for nothing, were they ? (Well, actually, as it turned out, they were!)