Posts by bemused

so last night i was talking to my sister about how i admired president obama's speech to the u.n that happened earlier that day.. i then compared the extremism of isis to how much of a fanatic my jw bil is.. at the end of the statement , my mom walked in to the kitchen.

she was standing in the living room and she heard everything i said.. she called the elders that night to tell them what i said so they can counsel me.. i'm going to meet with them after the meeting on sunday!.

what do i do?!!!!!.

bemused

Don't go. If any of the elders approaches you, just say it's a private family matter and none of their business.

39

Powerful photo

by zakharijah in

jw
friends

hi,.

i just stumbled upon this photo on facebook (pic by david j. m. coleman), and as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.... .

.

bemused

jam - I'm pretty sure that's a Royal Mail van in the background, so it must be in the UK somewhere.

The guy on his phone looks like he's positioned himself to make it look like he's reading the book on the top of the placard!

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.