Posts by bemused

83

Blown away-- where to go from here

by All for show in

jw
friends

i stumbled upon this website a few weeks ago due to the jw.org ridiculousness, since then i haven't been able to pull myself away.

the thoughts, feelings, and concerns i have had the past few years aren't just mine.

it's global.

bemused

Hi AFS and thanks for sharing your story.

I was never a witness but am concerned about relatives who are, hence my visits here. All individual circumstances are different but, from what I've read here, fading from the org generally seems to be the easiest way out. Confrontations, judicial hearings etc seem to cause a lot of heartache and I've never really understood why anyone would want to go through that, even if there is an element of catharsis in 'having your say'.

Others on here are much better informed than I am about flaws in WT doctrine but if you're looking to read wider than that then I strongly recommend 'The Magic of Reality' by Richard Dawkins. It's quite short and very readable and even if you retain a belief in a creator at least you'll understand where many atheists are coming from.

Best wishes

Bemused

41

ISIS Recruits Children To Perform Beheadings, Shoot Rifles, Carry Out Terrorist Attacks

by Bangalore in

isis recruits children to perform beheadings, shoot rifles, carry out terrorist attacks.. .

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/isis-training-children-behead-launch-terrorist-attacks-article-1.1921995.

bangalore.

bemused

Don't call me Shirley - thanks for the response. I probably shouldn't have bothered commenting initially and I certainly won't comment again on this thread, but I'll have one final go at explaining my point.

You may well be right that it was inappropriate for Sammie to use that figure in her argument. I don't know and I don't care. I had no interest in bolstering her argument or otherwise. The one and only point that I was trying to make is that, regardless of the appropriateness of using that statistic in her argument, 100,000 is not a ridiculous over-estimate of the number of Americans who are injured or killed by a gunshot in a typical year.

41

ISIS Recruits Children To Perform Beheadings, Shoot Rifles, Carry Out Terrorist Attacks

by Bangalore in

isis recruits children to perform beheadings, shoot rifles, carry out terrorist attacks.. .

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/isis-training-children-behead-launch-terrorist-attacks-article-1.1921995.

bangalore.

bemused

Don't Call Me Shirley - thanks, yes I do know what 'non-fatal' means. The original phrase used was victims of guns I think, which can reasonably include aggressive non-fatal injuries although perhaps accidental injuries are slightly more questionable to categorise in this way.

I got the figures from this web-site http://www.factcheck.org/2012/12/gun-rhetoric-vs-gun-facts/.

Not sure why they use different years (perhaps most recent figures?) but in the spirit of honesty I pointed out that they were not all the same year. I shouldn't think it makes much difference though as I wouldn't imagine that the figures would vary hugely year on year, so it seems that there are typically of the order of 85,000 people a year injured or killed by guns in the US.

That's it really - I'm not commenting on gun control or how these statistics should or should not be used in an argument.

41

ISIS Recruits Children To Perform Beheadings, Shoot Rifles, Carry Out Terrorist Attacks

by Bangalore in

isis recruits children to perform beheadings, shoot rifles, carry out terrorist attacks.. .

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/isis-training-children-behead-launch-terrorist-attacks-article-1.1921995.

bangalore.

bemused

Throwing knives?! .... now that is dangerous ;)

30

Introductions

by Onager in

i've made a few posts here already so i thought i'd introduce myself.

i'm an ex-jw from cheltenham pittville (uk) congregation.

i've been free and clear for a few years now so i'm through the anger phase and in the happily getting on with my life phase.

bemused

Yes they work. Your pup looks a bit serious in that first photo!

41

ISIS Recruits Children To Perform Beheadings, Shoot Rifles, Carry Out Terrorist Attacks

by Bangalore in

isis recruits children to perform beheadings, shoot rifles, carry out terrorist attacks.. .

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/isis-training-children-behead-launch-terrorist-attacks-article-1.1921995.

bangalore.

bemused

AlphaMan - not sure if your comment was aimed at me but I was simply pointing out that Shirley's claim that Sammie's figure of 100,000 gun victims per annum in the US was fr from the 'wild overstatement' that he claimed it was.

I fully agree with you that what ISIS is doing is completely different to learning to shoot.

41

ISIS Recruits Children To Perform Beheadings, Shoot Rifles, Carry Out Terrorist Attacks

by Bangalore in

isis recruits children to perform beheadings, shoot rifles, carry out terrorist attacks.. .

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/isis-training-children-behead-launch-terrorist-attacks-article-1.1921995.

bangalore.

bemused

Is Sammie's number really that far out? US statistics from Factcheck.org:

Gun Murders in 2010 - 11,078

Gun Suicides in 2010 - 19,392

Non-fatal gun injuries in 2011 - 55,544

So about 86,000 gun victims in the US per year.

14

JW Stained Glass Windows!

by Atlantis in

found this over on one of the jw sites.. .. stained glass.

jehovahs witnesses assembly hall, montreal,.... .. .. petra.

bemused

Perhaps they think that people may have been prepared to meet in a glorified warehouse when they believed the end was near, but when your prophecies keep failing and it looks like you're in for the long haul you'd better make the place of worship a bit more pleasant.

67

Child with brain tumour taken from UK hospital by JW parents

by Fe2O3Girl in

jw
friends

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-28978655.

a five-year-old boy with a brain tumour has been taken without consent from hospital by his parents, sparking a major police hunt for the family.. ashya king was taken from southampton general hospital and is now believed to be in france with his parents and six siblings.. police said he needs constant medical care and there are "serious concerns" for his life if he is not found today.. brett king, 51, and naghemeh king, 45 removed him from the ward on thursday.. ashya's father was pictured taking him from the hospital"everyone is sending their love now.

we love you so much and we want to see you very soon and i love you so much and can't wait to see you.".

bemused

It's being reported today that the family are looking to sell a house in Spain to fund treatment in the Czech Republic. That's fine but what I can't understand is why the father couldn't go off and do that himself - why on earth would you subject a desperately ill child to a gruelling journey with no access to skilled medical care?

7

The org should stump up for Ashya King's treatment

by Mickey mouse in

all the jws on my facebook news feed are defending the family vigorously and rightly so imo.

if the watchtower had any sense they would step up and offer to pay for ashya's treatment.

that would do far more for their profile than their website publicity campaign.

bemused

Can't see any way they would do this. It would be implicitly approving the science, research and eduction that goes into developing new treatments.

Furthermore, if the treatment doesn't make any difference, they can be painted as anti-medical establishment because the doctors have already said the treatment will not help in this case.