More Suicides

by JWD 12 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  JWD

  Within the past week a couple was found dead in their home here in
  Southern Osaka Japan.The couple was in their 50`s and the husband was
  the elder in a congregation in a city named Kishiwada.The husband
  was found laying in his `futon` and his wife had hung herself next to
  him. They had both commited suicide. This is the most recent suicide
  among JW elders here in Japan. I personally know of two other cases
  of elders commiting suicide and have heard from reliable sources of
  an additional two cases.A sister who knew this particular elder says
  that he was a fairly soft-spoken gentle person. The possible reason
  for their chosing suicide isn`t yet apparent. But, it could be do to
  extreme stress or the possibility of him be removed in order to be
  replaced by a younger man. That`s merely speculation, but the trend
  here is to train young `Storm Troupers` at the MTC and then send them
  out to help prop up sagging numbers in non-productive congregations.

  Another elder who jumped to his death in northen Osaka a few years
  ago had just had his elder privaledges taken away. He ran his own
  company and had for many years hired almost exclusively JWs much to
  his financial detriment. The shock and shame of being made to step
  down was probably quite a powerful blow.

  Are elders commiting suicide a common occurance in other countries?
  JWD
• 

  bboyneko

  JWD you live in Japan? Interesting, I took 1 year of japanese in college, I can read katakana and speak some simple sentences..umm..lesse..watasi no namea wa pimp daddy dessu.

  But isn't it much much more common in Japan to commit 'honorable' suicides when faced with some sort of financial or embarassing mishap? In western cultures suicide is usually seen as unhonarble and cowardly.

  -Dan
• 

  JWD

  There is less stigma associated with suicide in Japan. Yet, it is
  viewed as a last resort. As far as I know there are not many other
  religious `leaders` in other religions commiting suicide. And since
  the JWs portray themselves as `the happiest people in the world`,it
  doesn`t seem consistent with that image.

  JWD
• 

  Moxy

  hey jwd - hows it goin?

  can you tell us what kind of funeral arrangements are made in these cases? are JWs discouraged from attending them? also, would you happen to know which congregation the double suicide was in?

  mox
• 

  JWD

  Funerals are not held at the KH. JWs are not to attend the funeral
  (some may not strictly adhere to that). It`s likely that in this case
  either non-JW relatives will handle the funeral or they will simply
  go to the crematorium and dispose of the ashes afterwards.
  I don`t yet know the name of the congregation, but I can get it and
  will let you know.
  In one other case I refered to where an elder jumped to his death,
  the fact that it was a suicide was kept under wraps by his JW wife
  and the funeral was held in regular JW fashion. However, the elder`s
  brother is a non-JW and wrote a book which included a referance to
  the fact that his JW brother commited suicide. Shortly after the book
  came out, the dead brother was DFed !!! That`s gotta be a first!
  The elder`s name was Mr. Okamoto and he was in Ikeda City in northern Osaka.
  JWD
• 

  Moxy

  thx jwd. i have difficulty believing the post-humous DF. how firm are your sources on that?

  mox
• 

  JWD

  I agree that the idea of df-ing someone after he died is pretty crazy. The man`s brother,who is not a JW, talked to the wife and was
  told he died in an `accident`. She continued with that lie until the
  proper JW funeral was done. The brother then went to the police who
  found the body and was told that there was no doubt that it was suicide. Naturally the wife knew that as well. The brother happened to be writing a book at the time about his experiences returning to Japan after living abroad for over 10 years. He included a chapter telling about the shock he experienced after coming back to Japan and having his younger brother commit suicide. He went into a little detail about the religion his JW brother was involved in and how it was somewhat different from JWs in the US. That was 2 or 3 years ago. This past Fall I met an elder who knew former elder `Okamoto` fairly well.When I related the incident he immediately knew about it and said
  that after his death, it was announced that he was df-ed.The elder
  thought it very odd and couldn`t figure out the reasoning behind
  such a step. I suggested that it might be due to the fact that the
  book written by his older brother exposed that it had been suicide
  not an accident. Thus I consider it to be credible info. JWD
• 

  R.Crusoe

  One sure way to ensure you never get a WT send off!
• 

  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Hey JWD,

  Perhaps it was a case where the brother had a judicial committee meeting and was told he would be DFd. Then he committed suicide in the few days before it was announced to the congregation that he was disfellowshipped. Since he wasn't officially DFd, he still had a JW funeral. Sources inside the elder body may have disclosed later that he was disfellowshipped although it wasn't actually announced.

  Anyway, when a DFd person dies, the service dept of the branch is to be notified by the local congregation to remove the record from their file. So, it's not possible to disfellowship someone posthumously according to bOrg procedure.

  I do know of JWs that have committed suicide, MS, and pioneer, but no elders.

  B the X
• 

  hotchocolate

  Okay, now That would make more sense, thanks Billy. :-)
  
  As far as not being able to attend the funeral, a baptised friend of mine commited suicide and a few hundred witnesses attended. It wasn't at the hall though.
  
  x