Posts by StephaneLaliberte

31

Ideas to discreetly identify the awoken among us

by Truthexplorer in

jw
friends

ok. i know this has been brought up in the past, but i have often wondered who in our halls are awake (for those of us who attend).

there are some i would consider a 'maybe', but no way of ever really knowing.. so here is my idea.

i hope it doesn't sound too masonic,.

StephaneLaliberte

I also remember a friend of mine who, though not being awaken, didn't believe in 1914 and many of the prophesies. He didn't believe in the faithful slave either! While he told me about this, I understood that he was still under the spell of : "Yeah, but look at all the good fruits the organization is bearing!"

On my end, I simply acknowledged that it was difficult to believe in everything and that we could choose to wait on Jehovah. That day, I didn't know if he was indeed fully awaken and fishing for my feedback, and I didn't want to risk anything. In addition, at that time in his life, he had various issues and becoming awaken at the same time could have proved to be "too much". Leaving the org is very difficult: losing friends and family, time to research and study and undo all the ideas that have been forced into you mind. etc. Some loose their marriage and other fall physically sick under the stress. I didn't want to add this burden on him in a time I knew he could not carry it.

Since I have become inactive, I have had a few conversations with him, however, we never talk about JW stuff. The day he will be ready, we'll have that conversation. In the meantime, I feel he is captive of his own mind and of his family.

Anyways... my point is this: Back then, when we had this conversation, I could easily have assumed he was awaken and this would have opened a whole world of trouble if I had done so.

This is why forums like these are perfect. We can reach out anonymously to people living the same things we are without the risk of causing additional difficulties to our own lives or of those that we care for.

31

Ideas to discreetly identify the awoken among us

by Truthexplorer in

jw
friends

ok. i know this has been brought up in the past, but i have often wondered who in our halls are awake (for those of us who attend).

there are some i would consider a 'maybe', but no way of ever really knowing.. so here is my idea.

i hope it doesn't sound too masonic,.

StephaneLaliberte

I had this fantasy also, when I was in, where we could produce this type of secret society. The issue however is that very few awaken members stay in longer then 2 years. And during that 2 years, they tend to become increasingly irregular (in service and meetings) hence, taking away the fun of being with someone who knows its all BS.

17

Britain Branch Relocation Project - 7 BOE's

by wifibandit in

2016-08-16 branch relocation project - key events.

2016-08-17 branch relocation project - personnel needs.

2016 key events programme.

StephaneLaliberte

From some comments that I read, I have the feeling that brother's with desired construction skills would be placed under passive/aggressive pressure to assist with the construction projects even if it meant foregoing vacations that they would normally take with their family.

Am I right? Do anyone here know of stories related to that?

10

Judicial Committees should have an option to be public

by EndofMysteries in

thinking back to how they went from votes by the congregation under russels time to private closed doors in rutherfords time so as to not waste time, etc, of other members.

if it really wasn't to hide things from the org, it would have an option for the person it's against to have it open to the public.

a time announced for any members or the person to bring any they want to attend.

StephaneLaliberte

They brag so often about the concept that their elder's book has nothing that is not already written in a watchtower somewhere, I would act surprised, puzzled, and ask how come they are imposing rules that I had never heard of before.

Not once, even before I was baptized, have I heard of such procedures. I'd ask for them to point to some publication that would explained how JCs are entirely closed with absolutely no observers or recordings allowed.

57

Got my JC cancelled... (at least for now)

by Sanchy in

jw
friends

so my wife and i have been in the process of fading for a few months now as per my original post here.

about a week ago, i was browsing some ex-jw facebook groups when i saw a post that linked to the crisis of conscience book.

i said "f@(k it" and hit share on it.. a few hours later, i get a long text letter from my mom (who was a fb friend of mine) telling me the typical "good luck finding friends in the world" and how we have "nothing in common anymore"; basically, it was a 'farewell' text.

StephaneLaliberte

Before you go at that meeting, remove the link from facebook.

At the meeting...

Say you hadn't realized that you had shared that with everyone, that you thought that you had shared it only with your wife, as part of a conversation you had with her and you did not intend to make that share "public".
Say you hadn't even noticed you lost all these friends on facebook because of it.
Say that the call you got from them was a horrible shock as it was the first time you ever heard from anyone on that particular link.
As for the letter(email) from your mom...you never received it. If you had, you would have removed that link from your facebook!

If you do not show any remorse or regret over posting this thing, you will have a JC.

49

Warning: Watchtower computer dept. registers accounts on Ex-JW sites, coerces people to divulge their personal details

by WTS Archive in

jw
friends

we had a bad experience with watchtower trying to infiltrate our forums.

let this story be a warning for all you guys here.

if you value your privacy do not ever send your real contact details to anyone, even if you trust them (because their accounts could be hacked or accessed by their relatives - and yes, this happened to people i know several times already).

StephaneLaliberte

I'm a guru in IT and at one point in my life, I thought about hacking angry, rambling apostates who threw unfounded accusations. However, for every apostate of the sort, there'd be 20 other apostates who'd correct the lies, stand for the facts, and write something similar to: "There is enough condemning evidence against the society, we don't need to make up new ones".

Understanding that apostates were largely made up of people seeking facts, my desire to hack them faded away. In the end, years later, I became inactive myself.

For the Bethel to have a hacking policy against us would utterly senseless. I believe in the lone wolf theory.

80

Keep the meeting going! (even if somebody's dying)

by TimeBandit in

jw
friends

this is a true story.

it's about a sister named henriette venema.

she was a very loyal jw.

StephaneLaliberte

I remember a sister who had a stroke in our congregation, they cleared the hall right there and then. Brother's outside instructed people to go as most seamed lost an unable to understand that the congregation meeting could not go on.

I also remember a brother who fell back, but in his case, they brought him behind and the meeting went on.

Thanks for your story TimeBandit

38

Trolley cart "witnessing" is getting ridiculous

by oppostate in

i really fail to see how much actual "witnessing" is occurring with the trolley carts.publishers, usually pioneers, just stand or sit there not engaging anyone and count their time.. the only thing i notice that it's accomplishing is brand exposure for jw.0rg so the public is exposed to the logo and literature/poster card headlines.. take for example this "evening" witnessing by a pioneer elder while on summer holiday/vacation.. .

is this not a wth kinda moment when you consider the years of slaving, knocking on doors, business territory and bible studies we had to keep performing so we weren't branded a "weak" publisher?.

StephaneLaliberte

Any higher resolution of that pic?

75

I came here three years ago for support and to make friends

by KateWild in

jw
friends

this site is such a great and valuable resource and simon is to be commended for running it for so long.

when i first came i was in such a bad state and really needed support and friendship.

so many posters commented on my threads and showed genuine care some are real life friends, some are facebook friends, some i talk to on the phone and some are forum friends.. i have just realised though that everyone online is not your friend.

StephaneLaliberte

Hey Kate,

In order to be friends, I believe you need to meet people in real life, invite them over for supper and do some things together. For me, at least, at this time, it is impossible to do with anyone on this forum for the simple reason that I try to remain anonymous.

What I do find here and that I cherish, is support with ideas and comments that come from all types of angles on a subject that is very specific.

When i speak about my the JWs with my friends, most have no idea what to say; they don't understand the JW mentality. As for my friends who are still in, I can't talk about that subject at all!

I get this here. Here, I am reassured that I am not alone. Here, I have people sharing my joy and frustration. I have "colleagues" I would say. But to use the word friends? I can count my friends on one hand. I don't have many.

14

"Personal Decisions" (Study Article of July 11-17, 2016)

by bats in the belfry in

concise thoughts from the wtbts.

par.2) however, there are numerous situations for which the bible provides no specific command.. par.3) in the absence of specific laws, how can we know what choices will please jehovah?.

par.16) many matters could be decided one way or another, and jehovah would still be pleased.. .

StephaneLaliberte

There is no such thing as a personal decision. Especially when you have privileges in the congregation. Sure, they produce articles telling people not to judge and then, they produce other articles where anyone with privileges should do everything they can not to even drop a feather on the conscience of others. Though the actual solution lies somewhere in the middle, what happens in the congregations tend to lean of the far left where even the color of you tie matters. In the real world, there is very little space for personal decision.

The reason behind this is simple, there is no real consequences for gossiping. However, if someone with privileges hurts the conscience of others, he may lose his privileges. End result: Gossip country. Just to give an example, we used to say that the highway of information in a congregation was the pioneers, not the Internet.