Underage drinking was common in every congregation I associated with as a teenager, and over drinking was common when I was an adult. Bethel is notorious for its drinkers.
S4
UNDER AGE DRINKING IN JWS?
by badboy 24 Replies latest jw friends
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Gill
'Judge' Rutherford's spiritual influence lives on in the young JWs then!
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JWdaughter
The first drink I had was with JWs at a gathering, but it was just wine and not much of it. I was 14 or so. I was unaware of any rampant drinking problems at the time, but later found out that one family in particular had sons that had serious drinking issues from a young age. The youngest married a girl from the cong. and was horribly abusive. I was young when I was in and I didn't know of any big congregational issues with alcohol. But I was always a dork, even among JWs. They probably had wild parties and never invited me:)
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Mysterious
I know of someone that was both given beer at a JW party and snuck a bunch of rum. He threw up in their hot tub. Personally I didn't start drinking until I was with my worldly friends and by then I was 18 which is legal in parts of canada and 19 is legal in the rest.
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Reefton Jack
It gives me no satisfaction to recall that I knew of numerous instances in which this was actually encouraged - so that a young person would / could "develop a taste for the stuff."
I "developed a taste" for the booze all-right; well before my 18th birthday.
Jack.
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Mysterious
You know there was a lot of open liquor at grad parties even with adults in attendance. I guess they figured out of school you were old enough :-p mind you that's not that far removed from liquor laws in canada.
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looking_glass
I grew up in an Irish home and as kids we were allowed to have a small glass of wine or beer w/ our dinner. That being the case, alcohol was NEVER a big deal to me. However, I notice that for the families of the JW kids I grew up with alcohol was a huge no-no. It seemed to me that those kids all had problems w/ drinking to excess. It was like they were making up for lost time.
The other thing I noticed was that at those same parties where alcohol was flowing heavily, there was a LOT of oral sex going on. The two seemed to go hand in hand. It was generally the girls providing "services" to the guys but never the other way around and then it was always that the girls were the "sluts". To me it always proved the coyote ugly or beer goggles theory.
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skeeter1
I can verify that underage drinking was really BIG. It was our only outlet.
A group of us liked to go to professional football games. (yep, sports too....we were BAD). With coolers pre-packed in the pick-up beds, we left the KH (sometimes early) to drive into town. We drank all the way there, which was about a 45 minute, plus, drive - especially given the bad traffic. We continued our drinking at the stadium. An older "brother" of 19 bought the booz at the stadium. We stopped drinking at the last call, then sobered up enough to go home. There was about 8 of us "youths." Later, after high school graduation, one of the crazier of us was out drinking & driving. He was in a terrible car accident & was paralyzed.
I also had a female friend. She was 18 & dating an older JW (maybe 24). He took her to the hotel room, and got her drunk all the time. She finally felt so guilty that she went to the elders & fesse up. Alot of guts, I thought. She turned her life around. She ditche the older JW, for a much older JW elder (15+ years her senior). Married now, and the pillar of the JW community. She shuns me now.
Skeeter
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gwyneth
No. Never did it, and didn't know anyone who did it, either. Seriously. I must have been in an extra-prude hall.
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troubled mind
From what I 've heard lately there are quite a few in the local hall that got busted ( by the elders ) for under- age drinking . It is a generation thing in my area , meaning the parents have handed it down to the kids by example .