Posts by StephaneLaliberte

37

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

by gavindlt in

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

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StephaneLaliberte

"Appeal committee: If a wrongdoer demonstrates that he is repentant by the time he meets the appeal committee, he will not be disfellowshipped"
Is there an objective criterion for demonstration of repentance? Or does everything still revolve around the subjective opinions and biases of the elders, JCs and appeal committees?
Have JCs and appeal committees been ordered to be more lenient?

Well, the first thing that comes to mind is if the "wrongdoers" get married in between the first JC and the appeal JC.

Roughly 20 years ago, one of my friend got disfellowshipped, than got married and thought it would stop the elders from announcing his name the following Thursday night. Boy was he wrong! Well, today, that would no longer happen.

37

Did you suffer from not saluting the flag in school as a kid?

by Sea Breeze in

what happened?.

StephaneLaliberte

There was a kid, a tough and strong kid, who's grandpa died in a war, I don't know which. Anyways, when he saw that I remained seated for the national anthem, he told me to get up or he'd kick my ass. I told him bluntly that even if he'd threaten me with death, it still be seating. I also said that he should be quiet as he was, himself, lacking respect for the national anthem by talking while it played.

Somewhere during class, he told me that his grampa died at war. I told him that his grampa died for freedom, which included my freedom not to stand during the national anthem.

He said he's still beat me up anyways. So, I spent the next two weeks running away from him after classes until he finally let it go.

As for the teachers, they weren't all nice, but they usually didn't push it as word got around that some teachers had been suspended for lacking respect in this regard.

37

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

by gavindlt in

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.

4

Shunning etc. Good Meme

by Phizzy in

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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!

18

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

by BoogerMan in

.........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.".

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.

16

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

by Atlantis in

jw
friends

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

zipped folder.. .

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

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.

16

Murder JW Style (True Crime)

by Tahoe in

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.".

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.

42

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

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

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.

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.

11

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

by sinboi in

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.

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.

42

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

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

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.

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.