Can You Imagine Jesus Losing One Of His Disciples?

by MadApostate 8 Replies latest jw friends

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  MadApostate

  
  CANTERBURY
  THURSDAY, 20 DECEMBER 2001

  Search goes on for Elon

  12 DECEMBER 2001
  By SETH ROBSON

  Jehovah's Witnesses from throughout New Zealand are flocking to the Lewis Pass to join the search for missing Christchurch teenager Elon Oved.

  The 14-year-old went missing 11 days ago after going into the bush behind a hut to change out of wet clothing.

  Last night about 30 searchers finished another hard day in the bush. They had not found Elon or an abandoned mine shaft near the hut into which he may have fallen.

  Dennis O'Brien, an elder at the Halswell church where the Oved family worship, said Jehovah's Witnesses were devastated by the incident and keen to help find Elon.

  The 56-year-old experienced deer stalker was one of two elders leading a tramp involving 11 Jehovah's Witnesses to Lake Daniells, near Lewis Pass.

  "The particular congregation concerned is devastated and the others are close to it," Mr O'Brien said.

  Jehovah's Witnesses were a close-knit community.

  "We are close-knit worldwide ? so much so that we call each other brothers and sisters.

  "That's why there are so many up there and there is so much feeling, because it's like one of your own is lost," he said.

  Most volunteers who have joined Elon's father Rami in the search are Jehovah's Witnesses. They have travelled to the Lewis Pass from throughout the country.

  "Searchers have come from all around the country and they are going to continue to search as long as Rami needs it. Even though Elon is not my son I feel like he is and we all feel the same," Mr O'Brien said.

  There are more than 1000 members of the Church in Christchurch, worshipping in eight congregations.

  Mr O'Brien, who spent most of the past 11 days helping with the search before returning to Christchurch yesterday, plans to head back to Lewis Pass today.
  He described Elon's disappearance as "mysterious".

  The tramp to Lake Daniells had involved a group of 11, mostly inexperienced trampers, supervised by two elders with outdoors experience.

  "The greatest worry I had was someone straying off the track," Mr O'Brien said.
  "If he had gone missing on the track on the way in you might understand it.

  "When you get to the hut you relax a bit because you don't expect people to go buzzing off and doing their own thing.

  "I just wasn't suspicious at all that something untoward would happen.

  "It was just an accident and there was absolutely nothing you could do."
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  zerubberballs

  that sounds about right .. New Zealanders dumb enough to leave a mine shaft uncovered and a JW lad dumb enough to fall into it. Kiwis really are very slack when it comes to safety. Hippikon don't lick that steak knife! ooo too late .. i gus thet'll teech ya

  uncle mine owner.
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  MadApostate

  FRIDAY, 21 DECEMBER 2001

  Family vows to continue hunt for missing boy

  07 DECEMBER 2001
  By KELLY ANDREW

  The official search for a missing Christchurch teenager is likely to be called off this afternoon, but his family have vowed to continue the hunt alone.

  Elon Oved, 14, disappeared on Saturday night while on a tramping trip with a Jehovah's Witness church group.

  Elon was last seen going to change his clothes behind the Manson-Nicholls Memorial Hut, on the southern edge of Lake Daniells.
  He is said to be fit, strong, and skilled in survival, but there are growing fears he may have fallen into a waterway south of the lake.
  At a meeting last night management decided the operation would be reviewed early this afternoon and scaled down unless a clue to the teenager's whereabouts is found.
  Senior Constable Gary Southon, of Westport, said all the likely areas had been relentlessly searched for five days with no result, and optimism was dwindling fast.

  "With the length of the search and the poor weather conditions, we'd like to stay positive but we now hold grave fears for the youth's safety."

  An earlier find, which was thought to be the remains of a bivouac, has been dismissed.

  Torrential rain, colder temperatures, and swollen, dirty rivers have hampered the search effort, threatening to strand army trucks, and making the ground search even more miserable.
  The missing boy's family – his father Rami, brother Ray, and mother Kunlaya, are still at the search base, and have told police they will arrange their own searches for Elon throughout next week.

  Air Force Iroquois pilot Flight Lieutenant Shaun Sexton, who has been transporting searchers from a base set up at the Lewis Pass Motel, said it was difficult to stay positive when the search had found no sign of the boy.

  "You know the kid's up there and you're throwing everything at it. It's hard not to feel a bit despondent."

  Massive resources have been put into the effort to find the teenager.

  The area on the south east side of the lake has been scoured relentlessly by 70 police and Land Search and Rescue volunteers, dog teams, kayakers, air force personnel, and 25 soldiers from Burnham Army Camp who arrived yesterday.
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  Utopian Reformist

  Uncle Bruce:

  Your remarks are calloused, cold, uncaring, thoughtless, vicious, cruel, immature and evil. Even JW's are human beings and bleed like the rest of us. Thx for your tirade! Great contribution!

  "PARLARE SINE CURA EST STULTO ET INUTIL"
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  funkyderek

  This is a story about a missing boy. I find it very disturbing that someone would use it to take a shot at JWs.

  --
  "The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion." - Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, 1794.
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  MadApostate

  FukyDee:

  I'm unable to gauge the sensitivities of every possible reader. Gee, you must really sweat when you read stories about JW children molested by JWs, JWs who die due to the blood policy, families torn apart due to shunning, etc.

  I suggest looking at this story from such angles as how Elders are supposedly guided by the HS, how JWs are protected by angels, etc. when "things go right", but when "things go wrong", the spiel is that Elders and JWs are treated no differently than anyone else.

  Hope you survive!
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  mommy

  I hope they find him. How sad
  wendy

  When I leave, you will know I have been here
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  RR

  MA

  I'm unable to gauge the sensitivities of every possible reader. Gee, you must really sweat when you read stories about JW children molested by JWs, ...

  Well, if its the children you're upset about, why don't you picket the Catholic Church and all their pedophile priest!

  ____________________________
  "Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional."
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  funkyderek

  I'm unable to gauge the sensitivities of every possible reader. Gee, you must really sweat when you read stories about JW children molested by JWs, JWs who die due to the blood policy, families torn apart due to shunning, etc.

  Do you not see the difference between posting stories about how people have been adversely affected by Watchtower teachings and posting stories about people who just happen to be JWs? Twisting a tragic event to badmouth someone's religion is in poor taste and can only be counter-productive.

  --
  "The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion." - Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, 1794.