StephaneLaliberte

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Posts by StephaneLaliberte

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  37

  Avoiding Temptation As a Young Elder

  by TMS in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  it was the summer of '72.

  i was 24 but had been the presiding overseer or congregation servant of a small congregation in the county seat of an arkansas county for about 3 years.. my regular pioneer wife of nearly four years was big and pregnant, with our attempts at birth control unsuccessful.. one of my wife's several bible studies was with a young woman named brenda whom my wife had encountered in door to door work.. brenda had two young children she could barely handle and was married to a very countryfied arkie named henry who worked as a chicken catcher, one of the most difficult jobs at the local chicken plant.. brenda eventually revealed that she'd been raised as a jw, but was never baptized, having left home to marry henry at age 14. she spoke of her family in texas, mentioning her mother and two older sisters, all jws she said.. one morning, just before the meeting for field service, we noticed a small car in kingdom hall parking lot.

  my wife and i were parked to one side of the hall in our aluminum nashua house trailer.. two young women got out of the car and soon joined us for the meeting for service, identifying themselves as brenda's sisters from texas.. the two girls, ages 17 and 20, were distractingly beautiful, with the eldest decked out like a magnificent southern belle including hat and heels, her high-end clothing accentuating her very obvious curves.. with no one else showing up for field service, it ended up just the four of us in the car group with the two texas girls in the back seat.. starting our time at a not-at-home, the 20 year old asked if she could accompany me to "hear my presentation.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  When I first got married, twenty years ago, there was a girl at work who wasn't subtle about her feelings for me. She told me my wife was lucky, that she'd give anything to find a man like me. Sometimes, just like TMS said in the OP, she even moved uncomfortably close. She was undeniably attractive—absolutely! But what made it easy for me to resist was imagining the aftermath. I have a vivid imagination, and I could see every detail of how my life would turn into a living nightmare: the guilt, the tension between my wife and me, the uncomfortable conversations until I revealed what happened, and then my wife crying. That's where my imagination always stopped—my wife crying about something like that. An absolute, unbearable nightmare.

  And so, the more I saw that office girl as a threat, the more unpleasant I became with her, until she finally "snapped out of it" and got a boyfriend.
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  35

  Re-activate me?

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  there was a knock at my door and i thought it was my take-away being delivered.. long story short, it was 2 elders calling to see me.

  i guess to re-activate me.

  once they said who they were i recognised them.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  FragrantAddendum: Did you, at one time, even long ago, had an episode where you got thrown out of a hall for troubling the peace? Something like get up during a meeting and call them all liars or something similar?

  There has to be a reason on why some elders threaten to call the police on you.

  If there isn't, your husband should stand up for you, reach out to Circuit Overseers etc. And if it's been years, well, I guess that's debatable.
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  22

  August issue is now up on JW.com

  by ozziepost in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  just a heads up that the english version with the changed cover is now up on jw.com.. i haven’t yet read it but if any you have the time i’m looking forward to people’s insights.. in the meantime i must find a red 🍷.

  cheers,.

  ozzie (of the ‘is he still here?’ class ).

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  StephaneLaliberte

  if we notice a fellow Christian who shows such a disobedient spirit, we will make a personal decision not to associate with him for social occasions or recreation

  I think the point here is that it won't be enforced by the elders. But you're right, the statement doesn't make sense. A better version would be:

  we will make a personal decision on whether or not we'll associate with him for social occasions or recreation
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  35

  Re-activate me?

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  there was a knock at my door and i thought it was my take-away being delivered.. long story short, it was 2 elders calling to see me.

  i guess to re-activate me.

  once they said who they were i recognised them.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  If I get a visit from them, I'll say this:

  "I know I told you, 12 years ago, that I needed time, and, would you believe it? I still need more time!".
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  22

  August issue is now up on JW.com

  by ozziepost in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  just a heads up that the english version with the changed cover is now up on jw.com.. i haven’t yet read it but if any you have the time i’m looking forward to people’s insights.. in the meantime i must find a red 🍷.

  cheers,.

  ozzie (of the ‘is he still here?’ class ).

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  StephaneLaliberte

  -- removed: copy of previous comment
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  22

  August issue is now up on JW.com

  by ozziepost in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  just a heads up that the english version with the changed cover is now up on jw.com.. i haven’t yet read it but if any you have the time i’m looking forward to people’s insights.. in the meantime i must find a red 🍷.

  cheers,.

  ozzie (of the ‘is he still here?’ class ).

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  StephaneLaliberte

  To me, the most interesting article was the last one.

  From what I see, they won't disfellowship as much as before, and when they do, it will be for shorter periods, provided the sinner stops sinning and expresses the desire to return.

  However, people wanting to leave the religion will be completely shunned, as has been the case since the 1980s—no changes there. It’s still very much a cult.

  Notice that when they mention apostates, they write: "apostates and others who actively promote false teachings and wrong conduct." The definition of an apostate is not "those actively promoting..." It is merely what any dictionary will tell you: "a person who renounces a religious or political belief or principle." In other words, people who no longer want to be considered Jehovah’s Witnesses.

  According to that article, apostates are comparable to child molesters/abusers and those who scheme to end a marriage—in other words, the scum of the earth. So, there you have it: you can't leave. They will shun you.

  I don't see how this is supposed to soften their position with governments that condemn them for this. All they did is soften their position on sinners.
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  36

  Big News: August English Watchtower released on servers

  by ukpimo in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  big news.

  just in from a friend who is fading.. disfellowshipping will no longer be a term used by jws.

  study article 35, paragraph 4 footnote says this:.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  The way I see it, they are trying to confuse outsiders about disfellowshipping. However, in the process, they are also confusing their own members. Zero contact is easy to understand. But saying you can greet someone at the hall or encourage them to return to being a Jehovah's Witness is not exactly clear. This doesn't make the rule easier to enforce either. So, I expect a lot of people will start breaking that rule.
  

  "I saw you eating at the restaurant with your kid."

  "But we talked about how he could come back to Jehovah!"

  It's not black and white anymore. They're trying to confuse the governments and lawmakers, and are confusing themselves in the process.
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  17

  JWs obtaining fake degrees from a US institution to teach English as a foreign language

  by truthseeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  teaching english as a foreign language in asian countries is quite popular for those looking to travel and explore and make some money.

  if you have the tefl qualification you're pretty much good to go and don't need a degree.i don't know how lucrative these overseas jobs are but i do know one jw from my congregation in england who decided to move to the caribbean and teach english as a foreign language.

  i'm not knocking this individual.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  Most of the education industry is pure garbage, even the official ones.

  I often have "educated" individuals working for me on various IT projects, and what I've learned is that higher education simply helps you get started on a particular job somewhere. Earning that diploma means you've reached the starting line, not the finish line. It doesn't guarantee success; it merely provides the basic qualifications needed to begin.

  Sure, co-op programs can help, but sometimes, these programs set expectations so low, they hardly provide real work experience.

  Western countries boast that they have free basic education. But do they? Most jobs worth having today need more than high school. That's why college and university should be considered basic: you learn the basics needed to start at a job. Come to think of it, the only thing I'd truly considered "higher" education are PhDs and people working in Research and Development fields.
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  12

  Donald Sutherland RIP. THE Donald

  by Slidin Fast in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  certainly amongst the best actors ever.

  probably the best.

  kelly's heroes and don't look now a couple of my favourites.

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  StephaneLaliberte

  Never thought I'd see all these great heroes from my childhood grow old and die like this.

  ...

  ...

  ...

  I was expecting them to burn at Armageddon.
  
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  15

  JWs Tortured in Russia

  by blondie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://www.upi.com/top_news/world-news/2024/06/16/russia-tortures-jehovahs-witness/3971718239875/ .

  russia is amping up to severe torture for jws.

  i don't think this is appropriate behaviour for anyone..

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  StephaneLaliberte

  That's one thing I liked about the movie Silence (2016) with Andrew Garfield. It shows Christians being tortured in Japan. It is horrible what happened to them, and I hope that JWs watching a movie like that would realize that people's ability to remain steadfast, even under torture, doesn't make their belief truth.