simon17

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Posts by simon17

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  40

  70 JWs in horrific crash on way to a Convention

  by Nambo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  entire family, 20 others die in fatal accidenttragedy struck weekend in akwa ibom state as a man, his wife and all their children, as well as more than 20 others, all members of the jehovahs witness church, perished in a fatal road accident which occurred, friday, along the utu etim ekpo road in etim ekpo local government area of the state.. forty other members of the church sustained varying degrees of injuries following in the crash which occurred on their way to the jehovahs witness annual convention ground in ikot ekpene local government area of the state.. thisdays gathered that more than 70 members of the church had hired a lorry to convey them from ukanafun local government area to ikot ekpene for the annual district convention which began on friday and billed to end today (sunday) but the journey ended half way with many members of the church dying on the road in the accident.. eyewitnesses alleged that the driver of the lorry conveying the church members to the venue of the convention lost control of the vehicle when he got to utu etim ekpo, the junction opposite the local government secretariat, and hit the stone used to construct the roundabout, thus resulting in the lorry somersaulting, leaving many of its passengers and others wounded.. the corpses and those injured in the accident were said to have been taken to neighbouring hospitals and mortuaries.. one of the eyewitnesses, mr. friday john, said the people who died may have been more than what was seen because a whole family including parents and their children were all trapped in the accident.. we were all here discussing when suddenly the lorry appeared and was looking like the driver had lost control of it.

  then the lorry drove straight and hit the stone and somersaulted into the gutter.. many people died, more than 18. in fact, we couldnt count the number because there were many corpses, including husband, wife and children and they were all taken to the mortuary in various hospitals near etim ekpo here, john explained.. in another narration, a secondary school teacher in eka uruk eshiet etim ekpo, mr. ndipmo nkanta, said the lorry boarded by the deceased and the injured passengers was not meant for passengers but goods only.. he blamed the accident on poverty , arguing that if there was a better alternative, such casualties wouldnt have been recorded, especially as they were going to worship god.. the public relations officer of the federal road safety corps, frsc, in the state, mr. godsgift uwen, blamed the incident on over-speeding and overloading by the driver of the lorry.. he said the lorry was not supposed to carry any passenger as it was a meant for goods only but the driver stubbornly used it as a passengers vehicle, which led to the sad incident.. he advised against rush and drunken driving, especially in the yuletide, noting that these are some of the major causes of accidents on the roads..

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  simon17

  Thats a sad story. I mean, nearly as many people died in this crash as were killed by the Hurricane in the entire United States.
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  79

  Have you given up on humanity?

  by d in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was thinking to myself today,people suck humans suck.i know that when i was younger i used to see myself helpng people.but now i could care less.the reason is because in reality things will never get better.i am not saying god is going to help us.i do not believe in god.i feel that no mattr what charity you give to an organization in the end it is all futile and pointless.this life we live is hard and can seem pointless.does anybody else feel that way..

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  simon17

  I used to see myself helpng people.But now I could care less.The reason is because in reality things will never get better

  Maybe not. But things will get better for the people you specifically help. In the end, it may not matter in the cosmic sense. But for that moment, you can be assured it mattered to them.
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  94

  Its sad how Americans think they are the center of the world regarding Sandy...

  by mP in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the storm was much more intense and killed many more in the caribbean and yet i see practically nothing mentioned about them here or in the media.. .

  pathetic..

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  simon17

  When did i make a personal statement about what i am or what i dont do ? I m not looking for the media spotlight to show what good i do or dont do.

  Yet you are calling out others asking them specifically what they are doing for the Carribbean in this incident. You're railing against a government that gives as much or more foreign aid than any nation on the planet. You're not looking for the media spotlight but trashing the media for reporting on other things. So how about you take your own advice and stop worrying about what other people and nations do or don't do and concentrate on doing the best that YOU can do.
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  94

  Its sad how Americans think they are the center of the world regarding Sandy...

  by mP in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the storm was much more intense and killed many more in the caribbean and yet i see practically nothing mentioned about them here or in the media.. .

  pathetic..

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  simon17

  This is the same bullshit we hear all the time about 9/11 like it was the worst most tragic evil event in history. 3000+ people die everyday in Africa, and they dont cry as often. In WW2 millions died, and yet we dont hear about it as often. How many times do we hear about the thousnads that die in Iq and Af every single day in the past because of Americas war ? At best once.

  Well I'm sure sitting around and being a bitch about it is helping those dying in Africa. Why don't you pack up, go over there and do something about it if you feel that strongly. Right now, Americans are helping their own get through a pretty terrible disaster.
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  94

  Its sad how Americans think they are the center of the world regarding Sandy...

  by mP in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the storm was much more intense and killed many more in the caribbean and yet i see practically nothing mentioned about them here or in the media.. .

  pathetic..

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  simon17

  The storm was much more intense and killed many more in the Caribbean

  Isn't it funny that you're first and only statement is absolutely false. 100+ dead in US; about 60 in Carribbean. Doesn't that make you wonder about the rest of your BS opinions?
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  9

  WT at its most clever?

  by simon17 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  [if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:targetscreensize>800x600</o:targetscreensize> </o:officedocumentsettings> </xml><![endif].

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  [endif][if gte mso 10]> <style> /* style definitions */ table.msonormaltable {mso-style-name:"table normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"times new roman","serif";} </style> <![endif].

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  simon17

  The WT prints a lot of absurd nonsense. But sometimes they are extremely crafty. I can forgive stupidity and ignorance, even if I don't want to be a part of it. I cannot forgive intentional manipulation, though I can at least be impressed by its cleverness. Here's 4 of my favorite clever examples:

  4: Fixing the zero year. Such a bone-headed error but claiming that the error was discovered just as research necessitated a change in the Jerusalem destruction date was a stroke of genius. It turned something stupid into something "providential!"

  Providentially , those Bible Students had not realized that there is no zero year between “B.C.” and “A.D.” Later, when research made it necessary to adjust B.C. 606 to 607 B.C.E., the zero year was also eliminated, so that the prediction held good at “A.D. 1914.”—See “The Truth Shall Make You Free,” published by Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1943, page 239. (*** re chap. 18 p. 105 Earthquakes in the Lord’s Day ***)

  3: The picture in the recent Awake of the internet cable making the shadow of the Serpent. That was a really clever picture to subtly make people suspicious of the deceptive 'powers' of the Internet.

  2: In the recent WT regarding the proof of Jerusalem in 607 BCE, they had this clever piece of manipulation. Besides the scholarly dishonesty of the calculation, to the ignorant lay person, the fact that they make it seem on first glance like Simanu is equivalent to July, so that there is a close match (4th instead of 15th) in the year the scholars say it happened but an exact match (15th day exactly) in the year they say it happened. To someone reading this without thinking or knowledge this was very clever IMO. Quote below

  "The tablet mentions a lunar eclipse that was calculated as occurring on the 15th day of the third Babylonian month, Simanu. It is a fact that a lunar eclipse occurred on July 4 (Julian calendar) of this month during 568B.C.E. However,there was also an eclipse 20 years earlier, on July 15,588 B.C.E."

  1: 11/22/98 Awake on United Nations. This is of course the most famous of the articles "supporting" the United Nations which would be submitted to the Disgusting Thing and featured on their website as support from their NGO's. But the clever part was that they had to lambast the UN too. So what they did was very clever: they made a conclusion saying that Bible students know that the United Nations will soon be at the center of events that shortly are prophesied to take place which will eventually result in a peaceful new world. (I don't have the exact quote with me here). But I thought that was really clever. Any Witness reading it would know these future events were its being the Satanic organization that helps direct an attack on God's people while disgustingly taking the place of God's Kingdom. Any UN employee reading it thinks that the UN will be helping to bring about world peace. That was brilliant!
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  28

  Everyone in BC ok?!?

  by Christ Alone in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just heard about the quake and possible tsunami warning.

  i hope all you guys in bc are ok!!!

  check in and let us know!.

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  simon17

  There aren't even any reports of any big damage now 12 hours later so I'm going to go ahead and say everyone is likely just fine :)
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  14

  What if you could just walk away? No DF'ing or Shunning?

  by QuestioningEverything in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if i could tell my mom and other family jw's that i wasn't going back, didn't believe it and wanted to move on with my life without worrying about being df'd or shunned, i'd do it in a heartbeat.. but, that is not the case.

  wonder how many the wtbs would lose if they changed their policy on this?

  how many of you would have left sooner if there were 'no strings attached' to the wt?.

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  simon17

  But even if you aren't df'd or da'd, individual jws can and do decide you are a spiritual leper and think they will catch something from you.

  Agreed but there's two facets to that. Since shunning exists, people do it as a sign of piousness almost. If shunning didn't exist (or wasn't continually incduced by guilt) many of these people would see no benefit towards their spiritual resume in doing it.

  Two: Lots of time the people who would do this type of shunning don't like you really anyway and are looking for an excuse. So, I don't mind losing them. THe people who love you wouldn't do it if WT didn't say so.
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  34

  Did you ever shun people when you were a dub? How did it feel?

  by oldlightnewshite in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  okay, i don't know lots of people that were df'd, but of all the times i've encountered df people when i was a dub, they actually blanked me!

  it was always something that i had fixed in my mind that the jws had dead wrong, even when i was an uber dub.

  i remember several times when i used to arrive late at meetings, and i'd make a point of getting eye contact with the poor dub at the back sitting on the naughty step.

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  simon17

  Okay, I don't know lots of people that were DF'd, but of all the times I've encountered DF people when I was a Dub, THEY actually blanked ME! It was always something that I had fixed in my mind that the JWs had dead wrong, even when I was an uber Dub. I remember several times when I used to arrive late at meetings, and I'd make a point of getting eye contact with the poor dub at the back sitting on the naughty step. Every single time I got the poker face with no acknowledgement at all. Even this one time in a shop, I passed a sister I knew well, she saw me and put her eyes to the floor and walked away quickly. (WTF? Not even at the KH?) I have always been dead set against bullying of any kind, always getting into fights protecting vulnerable people. I used to physically feel sick when I saw the way DF'd were treated at the KH, and wanted to hurt the ones doing it.

  Interestingly, this was my same experience. I would make obvious eye contact or smile warmly at DF'd ones. I don't recall ever talking to them, so in a sense I guess I did, but it was more that they were shunning themselves. I always felt a little bad that I didn't go the extra mile and make them feel a little better.

  However, about the time I was preparing to leave one of these DF'd people got reinstated and they were telling me later in a social occassion how much it meant to them that I was so warm to them while they were DF'd. She actually started crying saying that me and one other person are how they kept their sanity through that terrible time and that she just wanted to run away from everyone trying to hug her after the announcement and just talk to me and that one other person.

  So what I learned is that shunning is in the attitude and intention. And even doing seemingly nothing may actually be very impactful on the person. In some sense they are almost protecting themselves from being shunned by not pursuing any contact, probably because it is so painful to be shut out by everyone.
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  19

  When you were a JW, Did you think Prayers did any good?

  by tresdecu in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the missing 21 year old woman in oregon got me thinking...so many jws comment on her fb page 'praying for you'...'constant daily prayers' etc.

  what is the point?

  i know it is a natural human emotion, to want to contribute in some small way when something bad happens.

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  simon17

  I believed prayers worked while in.

  I didn't really understand why they didn't seem to work for me.

  Then I realized they don't really work.