StephaneLaliberte

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Posts by StephaneLaliberte

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  26

  Watchtower Study: How Strong Will Your Faith Be?

  by RULES & REGULATIONS in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the watchtower—study edition | november 2021. study article 47. how strong will your faith be?.

  16 note the example of geydi, a sister from guatemala.

  her husband, edi, was murdered as they were returning home from a congregation meeting.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  I see a lot of negative speculation in this thread , not based on facts. In the example given , the bereaved widow finds support and comfort in her faith. This could be said of any Christian Church and has been widely attested by many people. She also found support from her friends and social network, again a common experience

  When my sister passed away, I kept attending meetings and found lots of encouragements with many of my friends there. It was my friends that were a source of encouragement. Conversely, the religion itself was anything but encouraging.

  1. A ministerial servant at the Kingdom Hall, told me that being "far from Jehovah results only in death". He passed that remark as he knew that my sister was disfellowshipped at the time of her death. Until that day, I didn’t know I could actually be hurt by words.
  2. Many brothers and sisters believed that my sister would not be resurrected and shared this with me.
  3. Two elders came to my house for a shepherding call and told me not to use my sister's death as an excuse to talk to my mother who was also disfellowshipped at the time.
  4. I had to conduct the funeral service as none of my JWs friends felt comfortable to do it.

  This shows that in the end, I found comfort in my friends - not the religion. As my friends were Jehovah’s Witnesses, the religion claimed glory for their good deeds. Still, religion had nothing to do with it, it was friendship. This can easily be demonstrated by the fact that my non-jws friends have provided plenty of comfort in various difficult situations once I had left the religion.

  
  
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  11530

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

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  StephaneLaliberte

  4 pages of comments...seriously ???, And one more self righteous than the next....the mob mentality taking place here is textbook...Geeez...let go of your pearls ladies and give it a rest.

  The reality is that we are all hurt by this. First and foremost, we all very deeply care about activism against the leaders of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They inflict harm through their teachings and they show a phony morality that alters based on what’s in it for them. And now, one of our most popular, well mannered, well articulated online activists has shown to be as phony as they are. He was chastising the Jehovah’s Witnesses for their permissiveness towards sexual abuse while providing funds (by paying for prostitution) to criminal organizations that directly abuse many more children and women.

  We are all hurt by this. I spend the entire day yesterday thinking about it and I’m still on this page this morning. It hurts. Lloyd’s actions have hurt his family, his friends and the entire EX-JW community which I’ve been a part of for the last 15 years.

  And we’re not supposed to talk about it???

  All this talking, this expression of our feelings, emotions, trying to understand what the hell just happened, this isn’t us being “hatters”. We’ve been betrayed by a guy who claimed that one of the most important things in his life was to help this community.

  Believe it or not, if I happened to see Lloyd in a restaurant, I wouldn’t mind having a beer with him and talk about the “good times” when he was doing so well. I don’t harbor hate towards this guy. Shunning is something the JWs do and to which I am very much opposed. But there is NO WAY he can keep representing any of us with what he did. Anything he tries to do to help the EX-JW community will fall back on how phony he’s been for several years and will result in discrediting him and the cause he’s trying to push forward.

  That doesn’t mean there is no redemption for Lloyd. There are men who did very bad things to their first wives, learned from their mistakes, and became good husbands to their second wives. Lets hope he’s learn from his mistakes and do better with his next marriage and social causes. Regardless, he can no longer represent our community.
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  11530

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

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  StephaneLaliberte

  There are hundreds, if not thousands of people sending him supportive messages on YouTube and Reddit.

  One of the things that added credibility to Lloyd was collaboration with other very intelligent and capable people. I doubt these people will want to continue such collaboration after this. This will certainly have a significant impact on the quality of his content. The people still giving him support are likely in denial. Perhaps he will gain new subscribers who stumble across his own content without knowing the story. But I doubt it will be anything as close to the heights he reached in the last years.
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  11530

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

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  StephaneLaliberte

  I would think that [...] we could all agree that the worst thing that could happen here is if he killed himself.

  While I certainly don't wish this outcome for him, from my perspective, I no longer care about him. He was a guy from Croatia that delivered good content online. And now, he has basically blown his legacy to pieces. So, yeah... I can leave the love and the caring to people close to him, like friends and family. 8 billion humans on earth, each with their own struggles in life. Why would I care about him more than anyone else? It was fun while it lasted. So long Lloyd! Enjoy your new life, where ever and what ever it is, I don't care.
  
  
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  11530

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

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  StephaneLaliberte

  Unlike the organisation he doesn't pretend to be a beacon of all that's holy so he doesn't need to live up to that standard. I don't care a jot about what he does in his personal life - we are all making our way and learning as we go...

  That argument works for small things such as being a heavy smoker, an alcoholic that curses and makes jokes in bad tastes, or even a porn addict! People tend to overcome those things with the rational you provided. But then, cheating your wife with prostitutes and going to Thailand which is known for child prostitution? Don't expect to sound credible in doing videos denouncing the watchtower for its immorality.
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  11530

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

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  StephaneLaliberte

  Well, what a shame. I watched his videos and it was fun while it lasted. But, yeah... he's done here. You can't criticize an organization for its immorality and in the same breath, cheat on your wife with prostitutes using funds given to you by your supporters. Its just ridiculously immoral.

  And than, he makes this video where he obviously doesn't understand how low he's actually sunk and how out of whack his moral compass is. I guess his emotions are overcoming his reasoning even now. I mean, he's intelligent and can't see that its already over. All he can do with a video like this is make it worst.

  What a shame. A dam shame.
  
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  22

  Does anything about your religion trouble you as a Jehovah’s Witness or is it all good?

  by Vanderhoven7 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  can you add to this:.

  "does anything about your religion trouble you as a jehovah’s witness or is it all good?

  some of the things that would trouble me if i were a jehovah’s witness would include:.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  Well, I would assume that for this to count, it has to be something someone thinks while he's in. So, in my case, one thing I found difficult was not believing everything my religion thought and not being allowed to express these disagreement with anyone.

  And it wasn't just the fact that the WT didn't want me to say anything, it was also the fact that people inside didn't want to hear it at all. Anything, ANYTHING, that made them question their beliefs, whether from me or someone at the door in field service, they would terminate the conversation and attack the messenger, never considering the argument at face value.

  I felt I was surrounded by people who pretended they lived in a spiritual fortress all the while being afraid of someone with a slingshot. It didn't make sense to me.

  The thing that finally had me leave however was having kids... I was simply not able to raise them up in so much lies.
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  24

  Snakes walked on legs till the Eden curse Watchtower belief till 1974!!

  by Witness 007 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  watchtower 1964 page 352 "....before god cursed it the snake had legs that elevated it off the ground.

  god transformed its body so that it ceased to have legs and could move on its belly.".

  book "gods eternal purpose"1974 - "god did not put a curse on the whole serpent family...it had only been victimised by satan...".

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  StephaneLaliberte

  To even have an opinion on something so stupid shows how delusional that cult really is.
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  13

  Watchtower talking bad about other religions

  by asp59 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  do you remember the time when every watchtower article seemed like a boasting session?

  how great watchtower was.

  they we're the only one with holy spirit.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  I still hear my mom and my mother in law criticize the catholic church as if they're full of demons. I usually don't interject until they personally attack a specific priest. Then the conversation often becomes: Well, even if he is a good person, he's victim of his religion.
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  10

  Well what do you know gb finally understanding social isolation or shunning.

  by Yomama in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  update some upstanding jw are experiencing social isolation isnt that what df and da people feel?reap sow karma..

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  StephaneLaliberte

  Proverbs 18:1 "Whoever isolates himself pursues his own selfish desires, he rejects all practical wisdom"

  I found this quote interesting as it can be both a good and a bad thing. Under the influence of a group, individuals will forfeit personal beliefs, logics and desires to please those of the group they belongs to. In some cases, this is a good thing. For instance, some people would live in filth if they were alone; however, due to their friends who visit from time to time, they'll clean up. And then, there's the JWs where under pressure from their group, parents will shun their children for the rest of their lives if they dare to smoke a cigarette, express disbelief in the GB, play the lottery or put up Christmas lights.