StephaneLaliberte

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Posts by StephaneLaliberte

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  37

  s-395 Adjustments-to-handling-serious-wrongdoing-in-the-congregation

  by gavindlt in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  this was posted on jw leaks.. my truth's | dad seeking truth.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  Can someone post bullet points or the cliff notes version of the new changes? There is no way my eyes can read all that small print, plus it's a long document.

  • Sisters can wear dress pants at the hall if not going on stage

  • Brothers don’t need to ware jacket and tie if not going on stage

    • In some areas, this might not even be needed depending on local culture

  • Disfellowshipped ones

    • Family and friends can reach out to disfellowshipped close ones to invite them back to the meetings

    • When attending a meeting, members of the congregation may great disfellowshipped folks without engaging lengthy conversation

    • After many years, if they come back, they will be offered a bible study to come to repentance

    • Disfellowshipped individuals can be reinstated as early as within 3 months. However, this would not apply to sins that puts the congregation at risks, such as pedophiles, apostates and those who break marriages.

  • Judicial

    • Judicial committee are no longer just one meeting. They can be more than one meeting

    • Appeal committee: If a wrongdoer demonstrates that he is repentant by the time he meets the appeal committee, he will not be disfellowshipped.

      • Appeal committee meets only once. (as before)

    • Kids under 18 do not have to undergo judicial committee if parents deem them repentant and have things under control.

  
  
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  4

  Shunning etc. Good Meme

  by Phizzy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

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  StephaneLaliberte

  I'd like to point out that you can talk to your loved ones that are disfellowshipped ONLY to encourage them to get back to Jehovah. Otherwise, you should proceed as before.
  - No sharing of meals
  - not doing any activities (sports, outings, events)
  - No phone call just talk about anything and everything

  They call it a loving provision, I still call it shunning.
  
  Oh, you can get re-instated real fast IF you are repentant. So, if you want to leave the religion and got disfellowshipped for it, its forever!
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  18

  The ORG'S "foundation" name............

  by BoogerMan in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  .........jehovah.. the bible's foundation name - (1 corinthians 3:11) "for no one can lay any other foundation than what is laid, which is jesus christ.".

  the org's chosen name for christians - "jehovah's witnesses.".

  jehovah's chosen name for christians - acts 11:26 - "...the disciples were by divine providence called christians.".

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  StephaneLaliberte

  (Mark 7:7, 8) "...they teach commands of men as doctrines.’ (no beards/yes beards) You let go of the commandment of God and cling to the tradition of men.”

  While I agree that JWs teach commands of men, so do all other religions. They are, after all, lead by humans. Unless you'd like to suggest a specific religion, I'm sure this forum will be pleased to show its human flaws.

  
  
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  16

  2024 Addendum to Shepherd The Flock Book-and February S-147-Announcements And Reminders!

  by Atlantis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  2024-01 addendum to shepherd book.. 2024-02-s-147-february announcements and reminders.. .

  zipped folder.. .

  https://www.filemail.com/d/mcrweztlglnoheb .

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  StephaneLaliberte

  So now they can whine about persecution even more when an irate person tell them to GFY or to get the Hell off my porch and whimper about how hated they are.

  When I was young, I lived in a small town in Quebec (Canada) where people would yell and insult us ALL the time at the door. Then, when I moved in one of the major cities in Ontario, this happened to me exactly once in 20 years. Honestly, in Ontario, I ended up having much more meaningful exchanges where people told me things that made me question my faith and ultimately contributed to me leaving.

  Hate is never a good response. It simply leads to people doubling down in their respective positions and no body wins.
  
  
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  16

  Murder JW Style (True Crime)

  by Tahoe in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  a home remodeling job in england that went wildly wrong:.

  a builder who bludgeoned his client to death with a hammer in a row over her new extension has been jailed for at least 15 years for murder.. peter norgrove killed sharon gordon at her home on 20 july last year.. her daughter rhian brown said norgrove acted like a "wolf in sheep's clothing" after earning her trust at the church they attended in dudley.. wolverhampton crown court heard he led the jehovah's witness service the same night he killed mrs gordon.. he repeatedly lied to her about the work he was doing, which took 15 months instead of six weeks.. .

  "he didn't have the experience to be doing the work he was doing," miss brown said.. "he took full payment for the extension in advance, which we believe to be more than £30,000.".

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  StephaneLaliberte

  Murderers in the JWs are a rare thing. Still, like in any social group, it can and does happen.
  
  But that the murderer is also someone leading service at a meeting?? That means he's, for the very least, a ministerial servant! Honestly, I think its a first. I don't think I've ever heard of that before. Wow!

  As for an elder/contractor ripping off an elderly women? Happens so often, I lost count.
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  42

  The Jehovah's Witness religion has ''Jumped the Shark''

  by RULES & REGULATIONS in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what does jump the shark mean?.

  the phrase “jump the shark” is a term in pop culture that originated from the tv show “happy days” and is used to describe a decline in quality.

  it refers to the moment when a tv show or other product has reached its peak and starts to decline in quality.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  Becoming more mainstream may allow them to keep more people from leaving, but at the cost of their unique identity (which is not a bad thing).

  This is interesting indeed. They always sold themselves so separate from every other religions and they always claimed to be so special and this is slowly fading away.
  

  • Saying no to the military even to alternative service
  • Being the biggest religious publishing house in the world.
  • Active house to house preaching
  • Strong meeting attendance
  • The theocratic school

  Now, in practice, what really sets them apart?
  

  • not celebrating Christmas, and most holidays
  • Disfellowshiping
  • no smoking, no blood
  • teaching that Jesus died on a stake

  As for some of their redeeming qualities, a lot of religions also have that

  • Strong community, sense of brotherhood
  • dress well when they go to church
  • people who attend generally try to do good and encourage each other to do good

  So, yeah, they are loosing their uniqueness and that might not help them in getting new converts as this was one of their biggest selling points.
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  11

  My parents did not really shun me when I left but I am now breaking their hearts…

  by sinboi in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  if they have shunned me and chase me out of the house when i leave the cult, i would not give a damn.

  i can still feel their love and concern for me even now.. though i have moved out voluntarily when i joined the army, i am afraid that the life i am living now will break their hearts.

  i am now a bartender in a bar and am cohabiting with a woman.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  Parents give advises and guard rails for their kids hoping things will turn out fine for them.

  For instance, sex before marriage comes with the risks of STDs and undesired pregnancies. Smoking causes cancer. In the army, you might follow morally questionable orders. Hanging out late at night in questionable cases might result in bar fights/death/rape, etc.

  Now, there are parents that go crazy when you take risks as simply assume that you will suffer the consequences. This tends to be even worst with religious parents. And so, they start their grieving process, bracing for what they see as inevitable.

  Sure there are ways to mitigate the risks and lower them to the same level as other activities perfectly acceptable to religious people, such as driving, swimming in a lac/river, having cosmetic surgery, etc.

  I honestly don't have much advise on how to deal with your parents, but at least, I tried to explain WHY they are impacted by your choices. Its not rational or logical. But its there anyways.
  
  Should you keep lying to your parents? Well, if it doesn't interfere with your life, why not? Its not the best, but some relationship might be better then none at all.

  Then again, you might also ask yourself: Is an untruthful relationship still better than none at all?

  Only you can decide for yourself.
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  42

  The Jehovah's Witness religion has ''Jumped the Shark''

  by RULES & REGULATIONS in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what does jump the shark mean?.

  the phrase “jump the shark” is a term in pop culture that originated from the tv show “happy days” and is used to describe a decline in quality.

  it refers to the moment when a tv show or other product has reached its peak and starts to decline in quality.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  If "Jump the shark" is supposed to describe a change for the worst, personally, I'd say that most of their changes in the last 20 years have been largely positive. They are making theses changes to adapt to the changing world and are slowly becoming a streamlined religion:

  • Don't count hours for regular folks
  • Now produce a fraction of magazines compared to before
  • Beards
  • improved policy to address pedophilia (its not perfect, but it is better then before)
  • Accepting fractions of blood (before it was none at all)
  • Accepting military service if it is in none military settings (hospital, etc)
  • They don't bother parents who talk to their disfellowshipped kids as they did before
  • Vasectomies aren't a big deal anymore

  Sure, there is room for significant improvement, in particular, they should:

  • Get rid of disfellowshipping
  • Let the blood doctrine to the conscience of their folks.

  As for real "Jump the shark" changes, I can think of these two major ones:

  1) Reducing the Ministry school to a shadow of what it was. It was basically a free "Toast Master Club" that everyone could take a part of.

  2) The quality of the text used when writing articles. Now, its written for a 6 grade level and simply feels dumb.

  These last two were hugely beneficial to me and I'm grateful that the cult gave me at least that. And now its gone.
  
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  41

  Geoffrey Jackson goatiegate Part 2

  by Tahoe in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  from ske graduation this past weekend.

  (sent from a pimi).

  from ske on zoom: .

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  StephaneLaliberte

  they could have retained a larger number of members who would be glad to support an HONEST and TRUTHFUL religion and would not now have to dream up ways to keep members from defecting.

  Honesty would certainly keep more people in. In hindsight, perhaps they could have managed to keep me in with honesty. And yet, honesty doesn't equate truthful. You can honestly be wrong about things. That's where the expression "Honest mistake" comes from!
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  41

  Geoffrey Jackson goatiegate Part 2

  by Tahoe in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  from ske graduation this past weekend.

  (sent from a pimi).

  from ske on zoom: .

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  StephaneLaliberte

  Complain when we couldn't have facial hair, complain and make fun when it is allowed. This group is not reformable apparently.

  The issue isn't that they now allow it, which is a positive thing! The problem lies in their failure to apologize for the past. Ideally, a statement that would acknowledge the mistake, expressing regret for imposing such a ridiculous teaching for so long.

  It could read something like this: "In hindsight, the faithful slave deeply regrets enforcing such a ridiculous teaching for such an extended period. We acknowledge that it took us too long to rectify this situation, and the delay became increasingly shameful over time, making it harder to change our stance. Today, we muster the courage to say: Sorry. We extend our heartfelt apologies to all the brothers who possess facial traits more suitable for beards. We understand the difficulty, especially since some of our own members share these traits. This entire situation was a mess, and we genuinely apologize."

  Such a statement would be more respectable, unlike the current approach of changing the rule without expressing any remorse. This behavior is far from the humility expected of Christians, and it sparks a fire on this board when significant changes are made without a hint of repentance.