Bungi Bill

Joined

• started 21 topics
• posted 1,560 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by Bungi Bill

• 
  12

  Paradise Lost

  by galaxy7 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does anyone remember the book paradise lost to paradise regained?

  i was made to study the scary parts evertime i misbehaved which must have been all the time as the book imprinted into my brain.all i wanted in life as a child was to join the girl guides go hang out at the ywca with my friends and take part in sports day at school.so my mother asked the then congregation servant if i was demonized,they decided i would be fertalizer for my mothers pear tree.

  anyway i grew up fairly normal,took me ages not to be afraid of lightning.had children who never entered a kingdom hall.most of my family served in some capacity at bethel so they dont talk to me.since then i have been a searcher looking for somthing to fill the void.has anyone found anything??

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Bungi Bill

  Was that the one they had to "correct" so many times between its first and second editions - and there was only months between each printing?
• 
  39

  These days it not really that hard being a witness.

  by I believe in overlapping in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  if you are a true believer, then you are toast.

  because you will be a slave to everything the watchtower, circuit overseers, elders, pioneers, imply.

  believe me, there are not many true believers anymore, and the majority of them are old.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Bungi Bill

  For the record, and don't all come down on me for this, I thought the OP was quite arrogant and also very disrespectful to Finkelstein.

  No argument from me on that statement!

  I will say, though, that things had already got easier being a JW between when I began "associating" with the JWs in the late 1960s and the time of my baptism in the early 1970s.

  For example, the infamous eight-day long assemblies were no more, and the requirements for being a "regular" publisher were much more relaxed. By the time I got baptised, you didn't fall into the "irregular" category if you failed to make 10 hours of service and conduct at least one bible study during the month. Also, if you failed to "place" at least 12 magazines a month, you were no longer made to do keep your rifle held above your head whilst doing ten laps of the parade ground at double-time (so to speak!). For an excellent description of what things were once like as a JW, W.C . Stevenson's The Inside Story of Jehovahs Witnesses ( published in 1968) is an informative read.

  As to the present situation, I have been out too long to be able to comment. I do notice, however, that those long-time JWs who have remained with it (some of them for 70+ years) seem to pay lip service to everything the hallowed Governing Body says, while quietly ignoring the more extreme demands of the religion. I suspect, though, that the "It's not for bastards like you" mentality is very much at work there - e.g. Brother big-shot Gilead graduate ex-missionary elder sends his son to university, but ordinary Joe-Publisher better not even think about doing the same (I have seen it happen! )

  PS: I didn't intend to sound like some disgruntled old veteran complaining that the "The new guys aren't as good as we was"!
• 
  20

  What are your favourite Christmas songs?

  by LoveUniHateExams in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here's one of mine .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyotvgpn0ru .

  how about you?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Bungi Bill

  Kevin Bloody Wilson's Hey Santa

  
  

  
  
• 
  41

  Any Good 1975 Stories?

  by Think About It in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  despite denial by the wts of any 1975 armageddon predictions zealous jw's did believe it, openly talked about it, and some even sold houses & belongings in anticipation of it.

  do you have or know of any good 1975 stories?.

  here's mine.........i was a freshman in college and had quit attending the kh back in hs.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Bungi Bill

  I continue to be amazed how every man and his (or her) dog now claims to never have fallen for the 1975 Bull$h#t story - yet back in the day, I never recall anybody (not even one) express any doubts about this at all. Just like there is a collective case of amnesia at work somehow!
• 
  20

  Connections between Christadelphians and Russell´s Biblestudents

  by oppostate in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the bible students and the christadelphians have a lot in common.. i searched on facebook... .

  and look what i found:https://www.facebook.com/christadelphianbiblestudents/.

  there´s even a group named like that..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Bungi Bill

  Back in the late 1970s, I can recall a local Christadelphian making approaches to the local JW elders about some sort of merger. He was an avid reader of everything printed by the WTS, and felt that the JWs were, to quote "almost there" - so similar were the two respective beliefs.
• 
  70

  The Reasons for Cart Witnessing

  by Simon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  whatever we think of it, you have to admit that it's quite "genius".. the door to door ministry as done in western developed countries where the jw quirky religion has probably reached their saturation level was a complete and utter waste of time in terms of the effort expended to recruit people.. at the same time, it was rarely something that anyone enjoyed which led to people being labelled as inactive, being pressured to doing more and maybe ultimately deciding jwism wasn't for them and leaving.. there was also the issue that many jws are actually pretty bad at knowing and articulating their beliefs so were pretty incapable of getting any meaningful message across.. they solved all this with the cart witnessing.

  the real point isn't to recruit, it's to make life easier for jws.

  now they can stand and chat with their friend, have a coffee, not talk to anyone or make eye contact and still act as a walking billboard for jw.org.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Bungi Bill

  The organization doesn't give a damn about making life easier for JW's.

  For sure!

  In his Crisis of Conscience, Raymond Franz quotes the late N.H. Knorr as volunteering exactly that - even going as far as to say that "the Mormons treat their people better."

  Whatever it was that led the GB to introduce the literature carts, it wasn't the welfare of their Rank and File that they had in mind.
• 
  30

  Do you have any assembly memories/stories?

  by RisingEagle in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  on an earlier thread about ice cream i remembered a snack that was sold at assemblies and that started me thinking about some of my memories of childhood at conventions/assemblies.

  i guess it was the taste/smell association because even today when i go to various convention halls for home improvement expos, car shows and the like it takes me right back to the past.

  i have many memories wrapped around the conventions and experienced different things because i have lots of elders in the family that were used, literally, for food service, the accounting office, security and dramas.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Bungi Bill

  I remember them being about as interesting as watching paint dry!
• 
  22

  Service experiences

  by former2free in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i know what you may be thinking by the title but bear with me.

  have you ever reflected on past service experiences and think wow if only i had listened to a householder?

  two things come to my mind of personal experience.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Bungi Bill

  To be fair, W. Schnell's 30 Years a Watchtower Slave hardly ranks amongst the great works of literature!

  Its style comes over more as that of some wild-eyed fanatic letting forth his pent up feelings. Moreover, those I met "at the doors" who recommended this book seemed to be cast in exactly the same mould (i.e. to use the vernacular of the time, "a screw loose in the head"). As to the those reviewers who described it as a "well written book", I would sure as hell hate to ever see their idea of a badly written one!

  Schnell's main fault was to make all sorts of allegations, but offer no evidence to back it up. This is something all of us ought to take note of in our condemnation of the JWs.

  (While there might be a certain therapeutic benefit in letting fly with ones emotions, if you are trying to get a point across, it is often a different matter).
• 
  70

  The Reasons for Cart Witnessing

  by Simon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  whatever we think of it, you have to admit that it's quite "genius".. the door to door ministry as done in western developed countries where the jw quirky religion has probably reached their saturation level was a complete and utter waste of time in terms of the effort expended to recruit people.. at the same time, it was rarely something that anyone enjoyed which led to people being labelled as inactive, being pressured to doing more and maybe ultimately deciding jwism wasn't for them and leaving.. there was also the issue that many jws are actually pretty bad at knowing and articulating their beliefs so were pretty incapable of getting any meaningful message across.. they solved all this with the cart witnessing.

  the real point isn't to recruit, it's to make life easier for jws.

  now they can stand and chat with their friend, have a coffee, not talk to anyone or make eye contact and still act as a walking billboard for jw.org.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Bungi Bill

  After relocating to another city in March of this year, I have yet to see an apathy cart anywhere. They must indeed be targeting inconspicuous locations!
• 
  13

  Are Jehovah’s Witnesses as “Ministers” Teachers?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  all jws are supposed to be “ ministers”.

  i would think that anyone that is considered a minister should have immense knowledge of their religion and should be able to teach anyone who inquires of the teachings.

  my understanding is that most witnesses cannot explain even basic teachings without difficulty.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Bungi Bill

  For a short time during the mid-1970s, that description was discarded for JW publishers. Only elders retained the title "Ministers." They even re-labelled the "Kingdom Ministry" the "Kingdom Service", and the "Ministry School" became the "Service School".

  However, that did not last too long - a few years at the most.

  As Zeb has already mentioned, there was much cherry-picking carried out both before changing the name from "Ministry" to "Service", and then when it was restored to "Ministry."

  (I seem to remember Ray Franz's input having something to do with the temporary name change).