Posts by StephaneLaliberte

19

Arrangements for Electronic Donations to Local Congregations

by wifibandit in

april 17, 2016 to selected bodies of elders in the united states branch territory re: arrangements for electronic donations to local congregations.

(attachment 1) 2016 04-18-e scong--arrangements for electronic donations to local congregations.

(attachment 2) credit card donation arrangement instructions.

StephaneLaliberte

Yesterday, I went to a funeral held in a church. For the first time, I gave a donation: their building and personnel were at our disposition. Buildings need maintenance, people need food and I’m not a free loader.

While I did this, my JW mother in law complained: "Pfff... JW don't charge a thing... Catholics beg even at funerals. Shame on them." I didn't have the right one-liner to rebuke her, so I simply kept silent.

Still, I was thinking of this: Over the years, I attended at least 15 Catholic funerals where I never gave a penny. Never felt forced to do so; it’s just a method of collecting funds. Not my personal favorite, but still, no one is forced to give anything. On the other hand, JWs take recurrent payments on credit cards and are instructed to vote on a minimum donation. They focus so much on the "collection plate" that they forget all the talks, articles and admonitions to make regular payments, to give loans and set up wills in their favor. If they reply: Yeah, but no one is forced to, they still can give cash in the donation boxes. Than the same can be said of the Catholics. You may refuse to give in the "collection plate" and then, walk to the back and give donations in a donation box!

17

exposed 3 jw's in front of my jw dad

by JunkYardDog in

jw
friends

on a road trip with my jw dad and stopped at the rest stop.

this jw lady walked up to me with a craptower.

big mistake.

StephaneLaliberte

To be honest with you, I could not imagine doing this in front of my father (also still a JW) and even brag to him about it. He would feel humiliated and that would be the last thing I would want.

I try to keep a good level of respect between us. For instance, I don't even bring up JW stuff to my kids as they are to young to understand things like that... they see black and white and would end up thinking less of their grand parents. I don't want that.

On the other hand, if I was alone, where I am unknown, I would dream about something like you did. Some day, over the rainbow... :)

9

A sister I knew has passed away: I may go to the funeral

by StephaneLaliberte in

a sister that i knew has passed away recently.

we weren't friends, but back in the days, she, and her family, were among the people i would always talk to at the hall and assemblies.

she was the type of sister that was kind and probably had more love to share than most people i know.

StephaneLaliberte

UPDATE: So I went to the funeral home and meet many friendly faces. All was nice and well I have to say. In fact I felt so welcomed by everyone there that I ended up going to the Kingdom Hall. Well, there, I saw a whole lot more people... some I hadn't even seen in 20 years! And then, after 50 solid handshakes, hugs and kisses, I realized just how much all of that love is shallow and empty. They all asked the same questions, barely listening to the answers. All that matters was basically giving a worm welcome and ... move on.

Than the talk. I actually went to the Kingdom Hall hoping I would learn a few things about the deceased. Honestly, I have heard other JW talks where the brothers would tell stories and show pictures, etc. But no. Not that talk. You see, this time around, the brother followed the new outline, where he would go back and forth about spiritual matters and say something about the deceased. The drawback of this is that he ended up repeating the same things a few times. And also, say things like: "Sister x believed this, or that". So, in all, I'd say that we had about a full minute worth of information about the deceased.

This was even more insulting in light of the fact that ever versed he referred to and every examples he used... just about every witnesses in the hall know it by heart. Why? Because they go over that stuff at least twice a week. This means that the large majority learned NOTHING from that talk. How can you be encouraged when you learn nothing. Nothing at all. If at least you are shown a different angle to something you know...perhaps. But that was not the case here.

I ended up regretting going to the hall as everyone I saw there were largely phonies and I learned nothing at all.

Well, I still have to admit that I did have some level of pleasure. Some people there knew I was inactive and I'd take delight in saying that my family and I were happy and doing well. There was one elder in particular who tried to making me feel bad about being inactive and I dodged his questions right and left, never addressing the issue at all.

Anyways... I just hope I won't have to go back to often... only time will tell.

9

A sister I knew has passed away: I may go to the funeral

by StephaneLaliberte in

a sister that i knew has passed away recently.

we weren't friends, but back in the days, she, and her family, were among the people i would always talk to at the hall and assemblies.

she was the type of sister that was kind and probably had more love to share than most people i know.

StephaneLaliberte

Witnesses? A bunch... at least 50! They would all be there to support my Dad, a very active member of their community. Since I am "inactive" it would make it all ok.

9

A sister I knew has passed away: I may go to the funeral

by StephaneLaliberte in

a sister that i knew has passed away recently.

we weren't friends, but back in the days, she, and her family, were among the people i would always talk to at the hall and assemblies.

she was the type of sister that was kind and probably had more love to share than most people i know.

StephaneLaliberte

You know what Daryl, if she is exposed somewhere, I will go to that, and it will be enough. Otherwise, I will go to the funeral. However, in my area, it seems like JWs don't get exposed or buried. Its directly to the incinerator and into the box. Not that the society has any opinion on the matter... its just the way most people do it around here (Quebec, Canada).

75

JWs anti gay video reaches over 1,000,000 views on youtube

by alanv in

the anti gay video that watchtower recently produced has now had over 1,000,000 views.

of those who selected to like or dislike the video, over 92% disliked it.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnk52bu92oe.

StephaneLaliberte

I believe that the most important thing we can show our kids is the ability to talk about anything, any topic, as long as it is kept in the bounds of respect. Thus, to tell them not to talk about religion at school, to me, is telling them that there are ideas out there that they should not be able to reject, analyze, discuss or accept.

Sophia: God hates gays.
Other girl: Why?
Sophia: Well, its written in the bible.
Other girl: Yeah, that says God hates gays but doesn't explain why. So, why?
Sophia: Cause they can't make babies?
Other girl: Does it make sense to sentence them to death for it?

The idea here is that little JW are thought how to defend ideas that don't make sense. I believe every kid of all background and religion should also learn how to defend their beliefs what ever they are. It is through the exchange of these believes that they will make up their minds. Otherwise, you end up with parents who never asked themselves "why".

9

A sister I knew has passed away: I may go to the funeral

by StephaneLaliberte in

a sister that i knew has passed away recently.

we weren't friends, but back in the days, she, and her family, were among the people i would always talk to at the hall and assemblies.

she was the type of sister that was kind and probably had more love to share than most people i know.

StephaneLaliberte

A sister that I knew has passed away recently. We weren't friends, but back in the days, she, and her family, were among the people I would always talk to at the hall and assemblies. She was the type of sister that was kind and probably had more love to share than most people I know. Anyways... I know I will at least make a card, the thing is... I feel that I should go to the funeral out of respect, yet, I haven't been to the meetings in years (since I faded out).

In reality, I think I'll go, its just that I never realized how much pain going back there for 30 minutes will cause me. To have to sit there and hear them use such occasion as an infomercial. I already feel pain about knowing that I won't see this sitter again (in this life at least), funerals are supposed to be a time where you meet with old time friends and family and I feel this will be anything but that. I'll probably get the cold shoulder and all.

But on the other hand, I want to be stronger than this group. I have values and a moral code that I am not about to break for them. I believe that Funerals are sacred, regardless of the religion. That woman has been kind to me over the years and I know I will regret it even more if I don't go there.

Well, seems like I made up my mind while pouring my heart out on this forum.

Anyways, thanks for being there you all.

38

JWs destroy archaelogical artifacts

by John Doe in

jw
friends

thousands of years old.

this makes my blood boil.. http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/jehovahs-witnesses-destroy-ancient-indigenous-temple-in-mexico-20160628-0009.html.

StephaneLaliberte

When I was a kid (9 year old), I went to my school during the summer and sacked the class room of a teacher that persecuted me for being a JW. I thought I was real smart until later down in life, I realized that it was the janitor that had been impacted the most by my actions.

57

Mark Sanderson Talk re Belgium visit

by Listener in

the degradation of the governing body members continues on.

mark sanderson gives a talk regarding his visit to belgium for the memorial this year and was travelling from korea to munich to brussels, belgium on the day of the belgium terrorist attacks.he cannot wipe the smirk on his face as he relates his experience, with no regard whatsoever of all those unfortunately affected by the attacks.

in fact, he personally found god's hand affecting him personally, allowing him to attend the memorial as planned and a kh dedication.he is that privileged during his flight travels that internet was available to him, enabling him to catch up on current news and to contact branch's.

StephaneLaliberte

This makes me think of the last assembly I attended with my wife. It was towards the end of the very first talk. We were so shocked that we looked at each other wondering if we should simply pack or stuff and leave.... but that would have thrown off our fade, so we stayed and suffered.

In his talk, the brother related the following story: Back in July 6, 2013, at 1:15 am in the morning, there was a train full of crud oil that went out of control and crashed in a small village named "Lac Megantic" in Quebec. There were 47 victims, many of them in a small local bar named : "Le Musi-Café". There was a brother and his son who had just finished cleaning an office (or some place) and felt like taking a beer at the local pub. However, as they had field service the following morning, they decided to be reasonable and went straight home instead. Well, Jehovah blessed them, for just an hour later the train crashed and killed a lot of people that day!

They will take anything and turn it their way if they can. It is truly sickening.

You can read more about this tragedy over here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lac-M%C3%A9gantic_rail_disaster

31

I Just had a CLOSE ENCOUNTER of the Dub kind

by TerryWalstrom in

i just frightened a jehovah’s witness lady half out of her wits!.

i just frightened a sweet jehovah’s witness lady half out of her wits.... .

she took off like a sprinter at the sound of a starter pistol!.

StephaneLaliberte

I'm even surprised that she stayed around when you told her that you were a baptized JW before. I remember, back in the days, I encountered 2 or three people like that in the door to door ministry and I would politely answer:

"Well then, you already know about our message. Would you like the visit of the local elders? No? Than have a good day!" .. and I'd leave. Never would I have stayed.