spider

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Posts by spider

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  2

  two witnesses released in philippines

  by spider in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i heard on bbc world service that two of the female jehovah's witnesses that had been taken hostage in the philippines had been released.

  they said that two others were still being held.

  i can't find any other information on it at this stage.

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  spider

  http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=2591624

  Philippine Muslim Rebels
  Sat April 19, 2003 05:42 AM ET
  MANILA (Reuters) - Two out of four Filipina women held by Muslim rebels for nearly eight months escaped on Saturday as the guerrillas slept, worn down by relentless army pursuit, President Glorial Macapagal Arroyo said.

  The four women evangelists from the Jehovah's Witnesses were seized by Abu Sayyaf guerrillas along with two male preachers in August 2002. The two men were beheaded and the two other female evangelists remain in the hands of the rebels.

  "The confusion in the enemy camp enabled the two women to abscond," Arroyo told a news conference in northern Baguio city.

  "Day by day we are nearing the dawn of stability and peace in Sulu. There's no turning back. The terrorists are nearing the end of the road and the hopes of the people of the Sulu will soon be redeemed," Arroyo said in the news conference, carried live on local radio.

  The women were being held in the interior of the rugged Jolo island, the biggest among the Sulu group of islands which stretch between the Philippines and Borneo.

  The two hostages made their dash for freedom around midnight when the rebels, exhausted after fleeing government troops, fell asleep near villages close to the town of Patikul on Jolo.

  They reached a highway by Saturday morning, hitched a ride on a passenger jeep and were taken given shelter by a professor from Mindanao State University who lives in Jolo city.

  "The victims are all right now, but they have to be re-examined and undergo a thorough medical check up," Brigadier General Romeo Tolentino told reporters.

  The Philippines is due to hold a second round of joint military exercise with the United States this year in the Sulu islands to help local soldiers fight terrorism. Last year, U.S. and Philippine soldiers trained together on nearby Basilan island, another Abu Sayyaf stronghold.

  The evangelists' escape comes about a week after an Indonesian sailor fled the Abu Sayyaf. He was the third to escape out of four Indonesians seized by the rebels from a tugboat in June 2002. The fourth died in captivity.

  The Abu Sayyaf, the most violent of several rebel groups fighting for an Islamic homeland in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines, is blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist organization with links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
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  2

  two witnesses released in philippines

  by spider in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i heard on bbc world service that two of the female jehovah's witnesses that had been taken hostage in the philippines had been released.

  they said that two others were still being held.

  i can't find any other information on it at this stage.

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  2. 
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  spider

  I heard on BBC world service that two of the female Jehovah's witnesses that had been taken hostage in the Philippines had been released. They said that two others were still being held. I can't find any other information on it at this stage.
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  5

  Persecution

  by spider in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  witnesses are taught to expect persecution.

  the governement would turn against us, the media would turn against us.

  we were god's people after all so it was bound to happen right?.

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  spider

  A child has been involved in an accident. The mother and father say, "no blood" and the child dies. This is a decision that they defend. If the media get hold of the story and there is public outcry then this is persecution and the witness community can deal with it. The scriptures clearly state that blood is wrong and they feel that they have acted righteously.

  A man is disfellowshipped and instantly loses his relationship with his family circle and all the friendships he has enjoyed his entire life. He later commits suicide. A story is put in the local paper speaking negetively about the JW policy on disfellowipping. This is persecution but the witnesses can accept this becasue the bible obviously states 'not to even say a greeting with such a one'. They therefore accept the persecution as they feel they have acted righteously.

  A brother repeatedly rapes a young girl from the age of 5 till she is 15. When she finally goes to the elders, she is told that due to their having been no witnesses to the molestation, she should keep her mouth shut. She refuses, goes to the police and her story is included in a show exposing the JW peadophile policy. The scripture states in the old testament that there should be two witnesses to crime - it is therefore surely an acceptable policy - it must follow then that this is persecution and witnesses ought to feel that have acted rightously in this matter.

  Somehow though, in this one instance, witneses can no longer feel very righteous. Somehow they can defend the other policies based on scripture but they cannot defend this one. As awful and similar as the other examples are, somehow they can be justified. Child abuse though touches people deeper than any other and maybe this is the reason that it is unsettling so many in the congregation. They believe that it is based on scripture, yet how can this policy possibly be defended?
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  5

  Persecution

  by spider in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  witnesses are taught to expect persecution.

  the governement would turn against us, the media would turn against us.

  we were god's people after all so it was bound to happen right?.

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  spider

  Witnesses are taught to expect persecution. The governement would turn against us, the media would turn against us. We were God's people after all so it was bound to happen right?

  So why is it that witnesses appear so shocked that it appears to be happening now? Is it just the nature of the stories that are being shown in the media that have them so upset or is it the negetive publicity per se. As much as the average witness has been warned, somehow I doubt that they are ready to be jailed and tortured. If the Watchtower bible and Tract society were to be banned in America and Australia and Britain, I think most JW's would be pretty freaked out and would wonder "Just what the hell is going on!!!"

  Of course persecution was fine in theory but how would you have coped really?
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  21

  New Functionality on site?

  by Elsewhere in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i just noticed a new button on the site:.

  it lets me show/hide a user's posts.

  is this something new, or did i miss its announcement when it happened?

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  spider

  The question is will anybody use it? Personally I think curiousity will win out every time.
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  38

  CO's and DO's meeting in the UK

  by Jim Dee in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  at the risk of being called a "troll" again , i will share just one of the items discussed at the co's and do's emergency meeting.

  so as not to be doubted, this is to be covered at most/all of the co's and do's visits over the next 6 months in the uk.

  the society is concerned about the level of waste and expense caused by excess wt and awakes being ordered by the brothers and sisters which are then not put into the hands of the public.

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  spider

  I think there was a pressure to order a certain number of mags. I lowered my order to 2 and 2 close to when I was making an exit becasue I never got through placing them. But I was made to feel guilty for ordering so little.If I knew then what I know now I would have bloody well ordered 20 and 20, made myself look amazingly spiritual and then chucked them all away.
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  Misrepresentation of disabled poeple in the media

  by Celtic in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in the past, disabled people were thought incapable of looking after themselves.

  we were rarely consulted about our needs, our wants or our preferences.

  our parents or our 'carers' were asked what we wanted to eat, when we should go to bed, and people talked over our heads as if we were not there.

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  spider

  Very true Celtic

  I think we are all a victim of social conditioning in this matter. The prescence of disabled people in the media today is much like the prescence of women or ethnic minorities decades ago. Very rarely were women given primary roles within film and television and, even then, these were limited roles which would follow typical stereotypes. It is only relatively recently, with actors like Will Smith, that black characters were viewed as just human beings, and not playing out a black stereotype - gangster, drug dealer etc.

  The last bastian is the disabled. I remember when I saw "The Theory of Flight" with Helena Bonham Carter playing a woman with a very debilitating disease. This was unusual of course but not unheard of. There have been other roles for disabled characters. Famously, "the rainman", or perhaps, "of mice and men". What made "The Theory of Flight" more shocking than these roles though, was the fact that this disabled person wanted to have sex. Shock horror. I had to question my own reaction to this as I was actually uncomfortable with the idea of a disabled person having sexual feelings. Why should this be? Because the typical representation of the disabled are passive victims who one must feel sorry for. They are not portrayed as just people, human beings with desires and thoughts just like us.

  There is a very long way to go with this. I did think it was a hopeful however that the BBC at the moment have an introductory 10 second motif which comes before most programmes. It is an upbeat sequence in bright colour with people in wheelchairs moving in a coriagraphed dance. That is a move in the right direction and is hopefully a sign that the BBC have some commitment to seeing a more positive and varied portrayals of the disabled, at least on their channels.

  Actually it occurs to me now that both the "rainman" and "of mice and men" were films with mental disabled characters whereas "the theory of flight" was not. I can't think of any films off the top of my head about physical disabled characters apart from this - oh there was "my left foot" but thats it. And of course if they ever do make such films they always make the disability itself the issue. They are never just ordinary people.

  Edited by - spider on 23 September 2002 13:35:55
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  5

  Jehovah's Witness abuse trial nears end

  by plmkrzy in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  http://www.torontostar.com/nasapp/cs/contentserver

  copy and paste entire link(url)above .

  jehovah's witness abuse trial nears end

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  spider

  It is good to see that this is getting coverage in Europe. Where exactly did the article about the Slovenian show come from and who translated it?

  Its okey - I found it

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=37154&site=3

  Edited by - spider on 23 September 2002 11:31:50
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  22

  Assembly picketing

  by freedom96 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  when i went to the assemblies, i would see people picketing, holding signs up, etc.

  you would have "security" to look out for green bibles, and keep opostates out.. i never looked at them with hatred, never really gave it much thought at all.. i am curious if anyone here has participated in protesting the assemblies, and what were the reactions?

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  spider

  It makes me realize how closed minded and controlled I was when I think back to how I felt about protesters at assemblies. I would think it a victory to show that they made no impact on me whatsoever. Although there might be some impact if they have big signs, their weakness is that a witness would never converse with them. I remember being given a leaflet by an apostate in the park of Crystal Palace assembly grounds in London. Of course, there were loads of witnesses about and even if I had been slightly curious, I felt that it was necessary to make a show of not being interested. I screwed it up into a ball and threw it in the garbage.

  That's the difference with the internet. There is complete anonimity and its always there, waiting for a weak moment.
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  31

  BIZARRO ARTICLE...LOONEY!!

  by nakedmvistar in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  found this article on the net....i thought it to be the weirdest thing i have ever read.. by diana huston.

  i was a member of a mind control cult religion for 20 years.

  the religion is known as the watchtower bible and tract society, otherwise known as jehovah's witnesses.

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  spider

  More from David Icke and the witnesses

  http://www.davidicke.com/icke/articles/russell.html