Posts by StephaneLaliberte

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.

41

Geoffrey Jackson goatiegate Part 2

by Tahoe in

from ske graduation this past weekend.

(sent from a pimi).

from ske on zoom: .

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!

41

Geoffrey Jackson goatiegate Part 2

by Tahoe in

from ske graduation this past weekend.

(sent from a pimi).

from ske on zoom: .

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.

5

JEHOVAH'S WITNESS IS TAKING SPAIN TO COURT OVER A BLOOD TRANSFUSION THAT SAVED HER LIFE

by Tahoe in

this article is behind a paywall: .

https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2024/01/10/jehovahs-witness-is-taking-spain-to-court-over-a-blood-transfusion-that-saved-her-life/ .

tahoe .

StephaneLaliberte

Even if I don't agree with the no-blood doctrine, I do respect people's whish not to get any. Admittedly, its easier to respect them the older they get. For instance, a 60 year old vs a young mother giving birth.

Still, no matter what, I believe the state should not be given the right to impose medical treatments. Blood, vaccine, what ever it is. The more power a government gets, the more likely it is for the majority to oppress the minority.

22

Join JW's or DIE - soon!!!

by BoogerMan in

w72 10/1 p. 607 - "they (jw's) know that soon now all who are not true worshipers of jehovah (jw's) will be destroyed.".

how quickly half a century passes by!

2 peter 3:8 - "...one day is with jehovah jw.borg as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.

StephaneLaliberte

That is something that fascinates me, how a cult that has made such false predictions still believe they are in a position to judge people and uphold the disfellowshipping arrangement. Its nuts.

18

Hand Grenade Time

by MissDaSilva in

jw
friends

decided i’m going to go out with a bang.

just posted a merry christmas meme on my watsapp status.

in portuguese but it’s very clear what it means with the baubles etc…... i will keep you posted on people’s reactions.

StephaneLaliberte

Stay strong!

68

Are Atheists Hypocritical in Celebrating Christmas?

by Sea Breeze in

jw
friends

richard dawkins revealed that he celebrates christmas on radio four's today programme.. here is is quoted as saying: .

'i am perfectly happy on christmas day to say merry christmas to everybody,' dawkins said.

'i might sing christmas carols - once i was privileged to be invited to kings college, cambridge, for their christmas carols and loved it.

StephaneLaliberte

Considering that the celebration itself is a mix of cultures and religions, I don't see a problem at all. Case in point, I can decorate my house, give gifts, invite people for a feast, and everyone sees it as Christmas.

If you switch things around, would Christmas be fun if you removed non-Christian elements from it? Such as the tree, Santa Claus, and the elves?

In the end, why do people celebrate it? Some believe that, at least, in its origin, it really was to celebrate the birth of Jesus. But if that was the case, there wouldn't have been a need to add all the other elements from existing "pagan" celebrations such as: yule logs, evergreen trees and winter solstice celebration. We may also consider St Nicolas, who what added centuries later! Sure he was a generous Christian father, but that was not enough. They had to give him non-Christian magical powers, elfs, and flying reindeers!

Still, all these additions were accepted by the majority until the celebration itself became something else.

In the end, what people really care about is not really the event that they are supposed to commemorate, but the reason why the celebration existed even before Jesus came along: It is to spend time together, to celebrate at a time where there is less light than any other time in the year, to have a reason to travel and see friends, family and perhaps, spend several days together.

And this is exactly how atheists see it: It's a holiday for fun, family, and friends.

10

Study WT - January 2024: Basic TRUTHS dispel the LIE

by BoogerMan in

study watchtower, p. 10 par.

6 - "a ransom is a price that is paid to buy something back.

(true!

StephaneLaliberte

That's just another place where the bible doesn't make sense. God decided to create things in such a way that Adam's sins would be passed on to his children. That's not fair.

What is fair is what's written in Ezekiel 18:20: "The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them."

And then, we blame religions when they talk out of both side of their mouth, but that's exactly what the bible does. In one verse, don't blame the kids for the parents actions and then, you have the ransom which is exactly that! God's design that holds blame from one generation to the next for thousands of years.