StephaneLaliberte

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Posts by StephaneLaliberte

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  16

  Two Bible Beliefs of Jehovah`s Witnesses ,Do They Align with each other ?

  by smiddy3 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  1.the first is 2 cor.4:4 that satan is "the god of this system of things" to blind the minds of the unbelievers etc.. so logically this "system of things" would mean the governments ,politicians, armed forces and law enforcement agency`s such as the police would it not?

  so satan is in control of all of these under the banner of being the god of this system of things.?.

  2. rom.13: 1-7 " let every soul be in subjection to the superior authorities for their is no authority except by god".

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  StephaneLaliberte

  From what I can see here, the problem lies in that the JWs believe in a book that contradict itself. That's why there are so many flavors of christiens, some choose one verse and twist the meening of the other verses that contradict.
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  25

  What to do when you're PIMO and dont want to date a jw?

  by nowawake14 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what are your thoughts on that?.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  Well, nothing prevents you from dating someone who is not a JW. Sure, you won't have previledges and JW will not approve, you will also likely loose some friends and they might even do a marking talk about it. But you will not be disfellowshipped.

  Considering that you are a PIMO, you will obviously not confess to anything, so, the only thing that can get you in trouble is if they catch you spending the night together somewhere.
  

  If you want to move in together, nothing prevents you from lying and telling them that you actually got married.

  If you're gay, its even easier: Its just a friend and you can move in together and say he/she is only a roomate.

  its not that complicated if you are willing to lie.
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  44

  Money! How much did you "Contribute" To The WTB@TS When You Were A Member

  by The Bethelite in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was in full time service for six years including bethel.

  once i got out of bethel, i figured i had already given them six of the best years of my life (ages 18-24) working as a slave/drone in their factory, so i rationalized that i had given them enough... so over the next 27 years i would say maybe $200 bucks is it.

  i think their whole "voluntary contributions" idea is biting them in the ass, because over all jehovah's witnesses are a cheap group people with a few exceptions.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  I started giving financially when I started working. Hence, within 17 years span:

  ~ 4,080$ to the congregations I attended.

  ~ 600$ to the World Wide Work

  ~ 1,000$ for the conventions.

  If I try to ball park my volonteer time since baptized at age 13 (span of 22 years):
  

  ~ 4,000 hours of field service

  ~ 400 hours of vonlonteer work (Security, maintenance work, construction work)

  ~ 1,300 hours congregation activities (managing territories, magazines, small app to manage time, etc) *outside meeting hours.

  ~ 5,000 hours in meeting attendance
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  16

  Who else provides all this spiritual food?

  by StephaneLaliberte in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  two days ago, i experienced a spiritual epiphany while visiting the library of a catholic university: i was shocked to find thousands of religious literatures produced by the catholics and protestants in the last few hundred years.

  someone could easily spend a secluded lifetime trying to read them all.

  for years, i was told by my religious leaders (jws) that the catholics and other religions did not provide spiritual food to their members.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  Alex Williams: The scriptures are clear the preachers provide food but its JUNK food from teaching of Demons:

  The argument to which I was referring to was the QUANTITY of the food, not the quality.

  Much of your response focuses on the quality of the food and the history of the church. While this would be enough for another thread of its own, I wanted to focus on the fact that I was told that the people did not have access to any spiritual food, which, clearly, is not the case today.

  You may also ponder on the fact that while JWs consider the teachings of other religions as “junk” and “teachings of demons”, this is also how other religions feel concerning the teachings of JWs; especially when it comes to the practice of shunning and refusal of life saving blood transfusions.
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  16

  Who else provides all this spiritual food?

  by StephaneLaliberte in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  two days ago, i experienced a spiritual epiphany while visiting the library of a catholic university: i was shocked to find thousands of religious literatures produced by the catholics and protestants in the last few hundred years.

  someone could easily spend a secluded lifetime trying to read them all.

  for years, i was told by my religious leaders (jws) that the catholics and other religions did not provide spiritual food to their members.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  Two days ago, I experienced a spiritual epiphany while visiting the library of a catholic university: I was shocked to find thousands of religious literatures produced by the Catholics and Protestants in the last few hundred years. Someone could easily spend a secluded lifetime trying to read them all.

  For years, I was told by my religious leaders (JWs) that the Catholics and other religions did not provide spiritual food to their members. In contrast, the JWs had produced thousands of articles and about a hundred books! The size of the JWs library available to the public has always been an argument used by the JWs as proving that they were chosen by God to feed the Christian community.

  Well, now I realized that this argument is false. The Catholics easily out do the JWs library by thousands of books!! And yes, such libraries are open to the public! And while this might not have always been the case, it is safe to assume such information was available by the time the JWs started their own activity.

  It is certainly a strange feeling realizing that I grew up in a religion that hid this from me. Had I known this type of thing existed where Christianity is studied through so many different angles, I could have gone into religious studies. I even remember this being the first option presented by my guidance counsellor when I was a kid. Obviously, as a JW, this was not an option. And now, or should I say, two days ago, I finally fully understand what I have missed; I’m 40. What a waist.
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  9

  14 kids from the same old congregation

  by StephaneLaliberte in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  this week, while talking with some old friends, i realized that there were at least 14 kids from a congregation in which i grew up that all left the jws.

  that is, 30 to 35 years ago, there were at least 14 kids going to the hall that were of the same “generation” (5 to 13 years old).

  in the last 30 years, they have all left “the truth”.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  DesireousOfChange: I'm curious if there are any of the kids that you think might have been better off in life if they'd had stayed with The Troof?

  Great question. You are correct in stating that many who leave tend to go to a debauched life and some never make it. In those I have mentioned, many experienced severe depressions and some fell into dependency for drugs/alcohol for several years. In fact, one of the 14 even died in a car accident due to reckless driving. Despite this, most of them now lead normal lives; even if this meant several years, if not, decades for many! And yet, some are still struggling with their spiritual identity to this day.

  This often brings the comment from JWs: “All this is because they left the truth!” “See what happens when you leave Jehovah!” What they fail to understand is that for many, if not, all of those who struggled in their lives, the primal cause was, in fact, being raised in the truth in the first place.

  Those who leaves the JWs will come from severely broken families. They will generally loose all proper contact with their family and friends. This, in and of itself, is already very difficult, and yet, there is more! They will also experience a sense of absolute loss, not knowing who to trust anymore.

  Throughout their childhood and young adult lives, they were told time and again not to trust anyone but their religion. This trust is severely broken the day they find out that they were in fact lied to. That the history of their religion has been whitewashed, that they are in fact permissive towards pedophiles, that historical facts supporting their prophesies have been deliberately selected/manipulated to fit their narratives, that biblical passages have been taken out of context to support their believes, etc.

  Deserters have to re-evaluate their view of the world and everything that surrounds them. As they struggle to build all this, severely isolated through the practice of shunning, those who cause the most harm than blame these victims: “It wouldn’t be so had they remained faithful to God (aka: Watchtower).”
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  9

  14 kids from the same old congregation

  by StephaneLaliberte in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  this week, while talking with some old friends, i realized that there were at least 14 kids from a congregation in which i grew up that all left the jws.

  that is, 30 to 35 years ago, there were at least 14 kids going to the hall that were of the same “generation” (5 to 13 years old).

  in the last 30 years, they have all left “the truth”.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  This week, while talking with some old friends, I realized that there were at least 14 kids from a congregation in which I grew up that all left the JWs. That is, 30 to 35 years ago, there were at least 14 kids going to the hall that were of the same “generation” (5 to 13 years old). In the last 30 years, they have all left “the truth”.

  Many of us have suffered greatly: some were beaten, many have lost contact with their parents, some have suffered depression and I know of at least one who was molested by a known pedophile. And yet, ultimately, all of them have left and made new lives for themselves.

  While we can be sorry for the pain we experienced and the impact this religion still has over our lives, we can rejoice in the fact that we have survived and are doing fairly well with our lives. We have since become Mail man, Inspectors, Doctors, Engineers, Account Managers, Investment counsellors, etc. And as we encounter various degree of success in our lives, we can’t help but observe how those who have stayed inside are still suffering greatly from such a choice. Some have died refusing blood transfusion, some have remained in the cleaning business with little aside, others have denied higher education to their own kids, etc.

  Can you imagine? Looking at a congregation today and tell them that most of their kids will not stay in? That the majority of the parents in that hall raising their children will ultimately be told to shun them? How can they claim to be a “happy people” with good “fruits”?
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  40

  How did Adam and Eve survive when kicked out of the Garden of Eden?

  by I believe in overlapping in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it’s funny how a simple question like this is something that the dubs never even consider.

  my dad asked this question to a couple of witnesses and they wondered for a minute and said; .

  “i never thought about it, i’ll have to ask the elders”.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  Alex, we exist because of air. Air does not exists because of us.
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  26

  The Utterly most appalling terrible JW music video you will ever see

  by Diogenesister in

  1. social
  2. humour

  ........so far to date.

  you've been warned....https://youtu.be/jjjnt5l5ts0.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  Magnum: I agree with you that most JWs are in fact self-righteous and condescending with people who do not share their views. However, I can assure you that a great deal of them actually LOVE doing construction work, I know as I was one of them. Where you see hard labor, I used to see an oportunity to learn construction, hang out with my friends, have beautifull sisters serve me refreshments: heck, I felt like joshua in the 10 commandments! To top it all, I had a sense of pride as if I was a stone cutter for the temple of solomon himself, I know, it sounds crazy, but its true.

  My point is that even if that wasn't your experience and isn't the experience of many half-awaken JWs, its is an absolute delight for many more.

  Where I have deep sympathy for some brothers/sisters, is that they invest a LARGE amount of time/life into construction projects and don't realize that they are taken advantage of. But for the majority of JWs, its a few weekends of fun and lots of pictures and videos to brag about later.
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  26

  The Utterly most appalling terrible JW music video you will ever see

  by Diogenesister in

  1. social
  2. humour

  ........so far to date.

  you've been warned....https://youtu.be/jjjnt5l5ts0.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  You know, the main purpose of my presence online is to do my part in exposing the bad things JWs do. As there are plenty of such bad things, I sincerely don't see the point in criticizing them when they do things that makes them happy like that.

  In all fairness, some of the best times I had in my youth was on construction projects and I would have delighted in participating in such a video modifying the lyrics of an awesome song. So why not let them be happy for that moment? Yes, later on, they will face moments where there religion will cause them severe hardship, but for now, that project made them happy. Let them have that moment, for a moment it is.