Vanderhoven7...He, and his lovely wife who passed away a few years ago, came to my old congregation in Montreal to learn French and my family became friends with them. Then they moved to La Pocatière where the need was great. For a time he was in my brother's congregation when he moved back and that's how I get news about him.
Posts by NVR2L8
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36Has Cart preaching over taken door to door?
by blownaway ini have not had a jw at my door [don't get me wrong this is great] for a few years.
is cart preaching the why its all done today?
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36
Has Cart preaching over taken door to door?
by blownaway ini have not had a jw at my door [don't get me wrong this is great] for a few years.
is cart preaching the why its all done today?
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NVR2L8
Vanderhoven7...Do you live in the Dollard / Pierresfond area? If so I know elder Anton. Mid to late sixties, tall and slim with a happy demeanor.
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66
Overlapping Generations
by JRK ini remember when that came out, my mother didn't catch it in the original article in the wt.
it was in one of the review "do you remember" thingies that she caught it.
she asked me if it means what she thought it meant.
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NVR2L8
The overlapping generation was the tipping point for me too. The WT review at our summer district assembly was the study article "explaining" the new meaning of generation, followed by the talk where the brother struggled to explain the overlap. That was the last meeting I attended after 52 years of faithful service.
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15
How did ancients know entire Earth was covered by water?
by Bad_Wolf inentire world used to be covered by water.
i am not talking about the 'great flood', but on earth's formation itself.
the bible talks about earth being only water and then god making dry land appear.
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NVR2L8
They may have believed the earth is flat...so it made sense that the whole surface of the earth would be covered by water...
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20
Need some encouragemant
by LogansRun inits been awhile since i've commented but i come by and read your posts about once a week.
so why do i need a pep talk ?
after almost 2 years into my fade these bastards won't give it a rest constant hang ups on my answering machine and today for the first time in about 6 months they come to my apartment complex but thankfully couldn't get in they did keep buzzing me so they were here looking for me.
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NVR2L8
From the time I stopped accompanying my wife to the meetings it took one year for my "best friend" elder to contact me. I told him I knew where the hall was and had his phone number...I never heard from the elders since.
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24
Are you better off as a worldly person or a JW?
by Jules Saturn ini was having a conversation with a relative who has been inactive for several decades (part of the ‘75 generation) and he argued that a person that is a born in is better off staying in the organization rather than someone like him who lived as a “worldly” person but then became a witness later in life.
he argues that when you’re born in, all you know nothing outside of the organization, so you’re better off in than out, that’s why when born ins leave the org, they always come back.
i agree that as a born in, your social circle is composed of witnesses but i do feel that even born ins would be happier outside of the org than being in.
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NVR2L8
The key word in the OP question is "person". As a JW I was a brainwashed robot...now I am my own person.
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33
Why do so many that leave wind up coming back?!
by nowwhat? ini have seen so many that have left.
and their life turned into a dumpster fire.
most do not live the average life of living in suburbs, raising a family.
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NVR2L8
When you left someone else drive your car your whole life, there's a good chance you may crash when you take the wheel for the first time...Living life outside of the cult is not easy for a brainwashed and gullible person. For others their new freedom is just too much to handle. It's like someone extremely dehydrated that drinks too fast despite knowing that it may kill him.
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133
What Is The Most Ridiculous Thing You Have Heard From A Witness?
by minimus ini remember an elder questioning a woman who had admitted to giving and receiving oral sex from her unbelieving mate.
he asked her the most intimate questions which clearly flustered her.
interestingly, she “confessed “ to the elders because her conscience bothered her.
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NVR2L8
My dad... they're building this huge stadium for nothing because Armageddon will come long before (1976 Olympic Game). Ironically there were several international conventions in that stadium.
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20
How is life better?
by Freedom rocks ini know this thread has probably been covered in the past but i thought it would be nice for newbies and lurkers and just a reminder to those that left a while ago.. how has your life improved since leaving the cult?
are you happy?
have you made some amazing friends or maybe met an amazing partner in the world?.
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NVR2L8
I am free to use MY time the way I want. I just took early retirement and I can only imagine the pressure to evangelize and to reach out for service privileges I would have been under if I hadn't left the cult.
I am free to think and reason to reach my OWN conclusions. I can freely speak out when something doesn't add up and I don't have to go along just to please others.
I have a much more positive outlook on life. I no longer focus on what's wrong in the world or expect that it's all going to blow up. Instead I focus on the positive things and I look for the good in people. I no longer condemn or criticize others for not being like me.
I have come to terms with the fact that I have only this life, that I will grow old and die. It's much easier than living in hope that I have done enough to make it in the new system. There's no stick and carrot enticing me to exist to please others. Because life is short, I spend each day doing what makes me happy...and it works.
I no longer have faith or a need to believe. Gravity, wind and electricity have been proven - you need zero faith or need to believe - they're facts that can't be questioned. God, his kingdom, the bible can only make sense if you have faith. Often faith trumps facts and truth. In this day and age a growing number of people believe that the earth is flat...
I am free to help others in the way I see fit. The WT mags I handed to the homeless may have only served as toilet paper. The food and small change I give fulfill a real need and gets immediate results. My donations no longer support a rich printing corporation that just built their paradise on earth headquarters.
My friends love me for who I am, not for religious affiliation. Many times my closest JW friends moved to the neighboring congregation and I would no longer hear from them unless I initiated the contact. Now that I am inactive none of these friends ever call. They tell my wife to say Hi to NVR2L8. On the other hand the only reason they would befriend me again would be to lure me back in their cult.
Leaving the cult comes with a price. My wife is still a believer. When I was a devout JW ministerial servant she followed me, but now she's had to do things on her own which emboldened her in the cult. We no longer have discussions on religion and the simplest comments on the WT triggers threats to our marriage from her part. At this time I have no hope that she will ever wake up. It's all not bad since my younger brother who is a long time elder and my sister know where I stand and they both said that it would never change our relationship. My sister just retired and said that we were not supposed to grow old in this system...maybe there's a crack in the dam.
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9
"Do not hold back good if it is in the power of your hand" Prov 3:27
by stuckinarut2 ini was musing over this scripture at proverbs 3:27.
"do not hold back good from those to whom it is due , if it is in the power of your hand to do so".
this passage has often been used to show that if we have the means, or opportunity to do good, or to assist others in need, we should act.
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NVR2L8
I was thinking of using this reasoning with my JW family: would a loving parent watch his child drown in a lake just to prove he believes in the resurrection? I know god is going to resurrect little Dany...what's the big deal? Likewise, god's power to resurrect does not excuse him from letting people suffer and die.
I find it much easier to believe there's no god than trying to justify how such a loving god can watch all this suffering from the sidelines.