Posts by Lee Elder

6

Lord, to whom shall we go?

by Lee Elder in

jw
friends

once someone figures out that the watchtower is not a safe place for their family, they come face to face with the question of where they should be.

i don't have the answer for that, but can speak to my personal experience over the past 20 years.. i ended up taking a 12 year break from organized religion, and then read an article about a new group that had formed locally called aldea spiritual community.

after a few visits, i realized that i had found a home among others who were fed up with organized religion.

Lee Elder

Here is a pretty good example of what a Sunday talk sounds like. This one is on anxiety.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/mfsermons.myflock2.com/church5758/worry.mp3

You can find all of the messages for the past 5 years or so here:

http://www.loveperiod.org/home-3/

For any of you are are now, or in the future, looking for ideas on how to build healthy communities with useful messages, you will find many useful ideas.

The building is modest, in some ways much like a Kingdom Hall. There are no crosses or images or alter. However, there is a room for children, and a nursery, as well as a children's director.

There is a paid part time pastor, and an administrator. The children's director and the music pastor are paid small salaries. Everything else is done by volunteers. The budget for the whole operation is around 100-120 thousand a year.

6

Lord, to whom shall we go?

by Lee Elder in

jw
friends

once someone figures out that the watchtower is not a safe place for their family, they come face to face with the question of where they should be.

i don't have the answer for that, but can speak to my personal experience over the past 20 years.. i ended up taking a 12 year break from organized religion, and then read an article about a new group that had formed locally called aldea spiritual community.

after a few visits, i realized that i had found a home among others who were fed up with organized religion.

Lee Elder

I get the skepticism. Aldea is a spanish word that literally means village. As for the Bible, they take it seriously, not literally. Bible stories are largely viewed as metaphor. Difficult passages are largely viewed as examples of where humans simply got it wrong. God is viewed as a loving presence.

A typical Sunday starts with 15 minutes of music, meditation, candle lighting, and then a message - generally on living the best life possible, and all of the things that entails. Being the best version of ourselves that we can be. There is only one doctrine and requirement for membership - to hold love as your highest value.

There is no looking up of scripture, books or literature. No rules, no judgement. There are community groups that meet in homes 2 times a year for six weeks to share a meal and discuss whatever they choose. There is a men's group, and a women's that meets every Tuesday for happy hour at a local restaurant. There are 1 or 2 parties most months that always include alcohol. There is a social justice activity every month - we do a lot with Habitat for Humanity.

I've been with this group since 2010. The people are amazing. Doctors, lawyers, dentists, psychiatrist, teachers, physical therapist, business owners, several former ministers, a Phd in Marriage and family counseling, a nobel laureate that attends from time to time - you get the picture. Not the kind of folks who would ever put up with the kind of nonsense we experienced in the Watchtower.

Its not right for everyone. If you are looking for answers to life's big questions, or lots of structure - its not the place. However, I think its the kind of model that will appeal to many former JWs.

6

Lord, to whom shall we go?

by Lee Elder in

jw
friends

once someone figures out that the watchtower is not a safe place for their family, they come face to face with the question of where they should be.

i don't have the answer for that, but can speak to my personal experience over the past 20 years.. i ended up taking a 12 year break from organized religion, and then read an article about a new group that had formed locally called aldea spiritual community.

after a few visits, i realized that i had found a home among others who were fed up with organized religion.

Lee Elder

Once someone figures out that the Watchtower is not a safe place for their family, they come face to face with the question of where they should be. I don't have the answer for that, but can speak to my personal experience over the past 20 years.

I ended up taking a 12 year break from organized religion, and then read an article about a new group that had formed locally called Aldea Spiritual Community. After a few visits, I realized that I had found a home among others who were fed up with organized religion. Aldea started with less than 20 people, and just one doctrine. To hold love as their highest value. A place where Christians, atheists, Buddhists, Jews, agnostics, and anyone else would be welcomed without exception or condition.

This is a very special place with people who are welcoming, loving and non-judgemental. Social justice is at the heart of the community, as is the desire to celebrate and enjoy life in all its fullness.

I wish that all of you had access to something like Aldea. It is a model of what a safe place for ex-JWs might look like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HuGQ6xayZU&feature=youtu.be

The sad reality for Jehovah's Witness children who must depend upon the courts to get critical medical care their parents reject for them, even when their lives depend upon it. Why? To support the irrational blood policy of the Watchtower Society.

https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2018-12-05-three-jehovahs-witness-families-taken-to-court-to-save-childrens-lives/

30

Our daughter was free to make her own choice.

by StephaneLaliberte in

when eloise dupuis gave birth to her son in 2016, there were complications where a blood transfusion would have saved her live.

however, she refused and died; to the horror of the medical staff and the entire province of quebec.. two years later, there was a change in politics and the topic came back up in the media.

the parents of eloise dupuis, obviously exhausted by the media coverage, wrote a comment to a well known news paper in quebec.

Lee Elder

Individuals should be free to make their own choices. If that choice happens to be to shun some one - so be it. The problem is when we come to organizationally mandated shunning. That crosses the line into coercive control, and that is - in my view - is evil. That governments choose to give charity status to groups that practice this is highly questionable.

24

Blood Transfusion Permitted

by Nevuela in

i just overheard an anointed acquaintance on the phone with a friend of hers who has just had surgery for cervical cancer.

among the snippets of dialogue i heard on my end of the line, these ones stood out:.

"you lost a lot of blood?

Lee Elder

Her response was correct imo. There is no basis to argue that non JW's should observe the WT's irrational policies on blood, blood components, and blood fractions. Sadly, we have numerous incidents where it works the other way.