List of family/friends lost to the Watchtower cult? (suicides) (page 6)

brunnhilde

Chris - 25 - hung himself; left behind two little boys, 2 & 3 and a wife, still in the Borg.

Don - fought depression for the last year until he finally gave up. He committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning - sitting alone in his car in the garage. He had been an Elder. He left 5 children and a wife - 2 of his kids had been df'd but the rest of his family remain zealots. sammieswife.

hubert

Brunnhilde and Sammie, Thanks for your input.

There must be more cases that some of you other newbies know about.

I know "new boy" mentioned one in his Bethel Part 14 post.

Any others?

Thanks....Hubert

pratt1

Young baptized woman married to a baptized brother in a mental and physically abuse marriage.

Had a 4 month old baby and just found out that she was pregant again.

2 weeks earlier she had asked her dad to come back home, but her dad a( a prominent Elder in the area) said no, she must stick it out with her husband because Jehovah hates a divorce.

She threw herself off the roof of her apartment building.

She did not have a witless funeral.

Brother Apostate

BA...... my Brother.......20........df-shunned .... 1970's- suicide

sammielee24

Suicide is defined as taking one's life.

Compulsory suicide is defined as giving up one's life out of loyalty to a dead master or spouse. This may be applied to all those who remain inside the organization out of loyalty to their family and friends - living up to an expectation that they cannot meet and no longer believ in. When one compromises their own beliefs, one often destroys the framework that keeps them strong. Often rage, resentment and depression set in when one is forced to endure a lifestyle that is contrary to what they need for a healthy life

Sometimes when you look at some of the elderly one's who have long since given up believing that it is the truth, you see an incredible sadness and the odor of apathy surrounds them. There is an aura of hopelessness that pervades. They look back and grieve for the life they could have had - the children they might have raised. They have no memories of the traditions that families often have. They have no pictures to gaze upon of birthday parties, or halloween costumes or christmas plays. They have no school pictures to remember the faces of the young as they raced through those halls in such a hurry to grow up and go to college. They sit alone and understand that everything they gave up for the Company means nothing now as they wait to die. They gave up their life when they chose to stay in. They began to slowly die with that decision. Withering from the inside out.

I was once told that death was preferable to disfellowshipping. That the family would be better off if I died rather than divorce. That abuse should be suffered silently so that your marriage remains intact. That if you died from that abuse it was still better because Jehovah hates a divorcing.

Sorry Hubert, I'm not hijacking - I fully understand suicide and would never, ever judge anyone who felt that his was their only way out of such a troubled life. I sometimes just look around, or think back on all of those wonderful but lost and lonely souls who by the very act of belonging to this cult, for those conflicted by those beliefs but that still need to belong, have committed to a long, slow and painful death - compulsory suicide out of loyalty in a way............................sammieswife.

AudeSapere

We had a family friend (actually my mom's first Truth Book placement and subsequent Bible Study) who I believe committed suicide in 2003 - at home in New Jersey.

I can't confirm because no one will say how she died. (Unusual to not tell cause or details or even circumstances).

I would really like to get confirmation of this but don't know how to.

I don't want to give names out of respect for her surviving son (a bethelite).

Her husband and son were killed in a car accident in 1975 on their way to a special assembly. She was critically injured in the accident but survived. She re-married and then later on developed a fear of people and isolated herself from everyone. Not leaving the house for months at a time. I believe she was also diagnosed as manic-depressive. Her son and a few friends were happy to report that they had finally gotten her off all medications and she was driving again and even going out in service after 15+ years of self-imposed isolation.

About 6 months later she was dead. And no one will say how or what happened.

If anyone knows who I'm talking about, please pm me.

-Aude.

exwitless

I only personally knew one - young man, early 20's, single, ministerial servant, pioneer (I think). Hung himself from a railroad bridge over a river. I don't believe he left any sort of suicide note. There was a little speculation why he did it, which all made it his problem - 'maybe he was under a lot of stress', or 'he probably had a major problem that he couldn't bring himself to confess to the elders', or other implications that he was simply weak or sinful in some way.

Since this was the first JW suicide I knew of, I didn't know their non-funeral policy yet. So when I casually asked when the funeral would be, I was told "Oh, no, there won't be any funeral for him. He's committed an unforgivable sin - self murder, and he has no chance to repent.' So they shipped his body back to where his family was and that was the end of that.

I was shocked at the heartless, cruel attitude displayed toward his death.

Junction-Guy

My uncle killed himself back in 1999. He was an inactive JW at that time and was going through a divorce. His own son shunned him even though he wasnt disfellowshipped. He left behind a suicide note that supposedly was very scathing. My Dad ripped the note up before my grandma could read it. Something makes me wonder if he discovered the real truth about the so called truth and couldnt handle it? We will never know as Dad tore up that suicide note. He hung himself in his apartment.

choosing life

A nice sister in her forties went through a severe depression back in the 1980's. She was told not to get counseling or take medication to help. She wanted to get help, but was told that only the elders could help her.

Comitted suicide with pills. Had her funeral planned and even her pallbearers named before she died.

List of family/friends lost to the Watchtower cult? (suicides)

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