Why are JWs scared of death?

NikL

I have been thinking a lot lately about death. This is not surprising considering the turn of events on the 11th.
I have been re-awakened to the transient nature of human life and how it can go in the blink of an eye. As the bible says life is vanity and a striving for the wind.
With all of the talk about world war 3 and how dangerous this world has become, I have been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster this past week.
The fear of dying is a normal and basic emotion. I suppose that if we didn't have it we would have died out as a species long ago. That being said however, we all will die in time either from old age, illness or some other unforseen event.
Most people accept this fact, but not so the witnesses. I mean they give lip service to the concept of the dying of all sinful flesh but there is a part of them that wants to live into the new system and never die at all. They seem to be more afraid of death then most other religous people I have met. Why are they so scared? They don't believe in hell or eternal damnation. They believe that in death you are in a deep dreamless sleep. What's so bad about that? Are they manipulated to feel this way from the teachings of the society?
Has anyone else noticed this or am I mis-reading what I see? If you have noticed it, any thoughts as to why?

blondie

Because for many years they have been told that they are part of a group that will never die but will live right into the new world. Those who are growing old and dying are surprised that the end has not come yet. They thought they would never experience the sting of death.

AGuest

Are JWs scared of death? (Peace to you, NikL...)

In a word... well, two words:

YOU BETCHA!

Why? Because... they do not 'KNOW'... the Life.

John 14:6
John 17:3

For if they KNEW him, they would know LOVE. And love... casts ALL fear... outside.

And it is what THEY are 'scared' of, that they use... to 'scare' others. Hypocrites, indeed. And at one time, I was one of them. Praise JAH, however, I have been set free from such enslavement: from enslaving myself... and enslaving others.

Again, I bid you peace!

A slave of Christ,

SJ

crittersitter

when my mom passed away i noticed that my sisters were almost beyond hysterical. strange behavior for those who claim death is a state of sleep like nothingness, and as mother was faithful, then she would more than likely be ressurected.
as i recall tho, in her memorial speech(given as a "talk", rather than much mention of her life) the elder did say that"IF Jehovah chooses, He can recreate her DNA( is this a form of cloning i wonder?), and she will be able to live once more in the (infamous) new system."
seems to me that there is no sure thing about what the jw's teach about life beyond this present world we live in. so yes, they are very afraid to die, because apart from what the Bible really says , they have been spoon fed the poison of "IF".
IF you please Jah
IF you stay in the org
IF you go to meetings
IF you don't get df'd
but alot of things seem to have changed since i was in...so maybe it's easier now to stay in the borg..
i dunno, but I 'm glad to be out either way
critter

joelbear

My parents are Jehovah's Witnesses and they don't fear death. They mourn the loss of their dear friends who, like them, are up in age and dying off.

My parents, unlike me, have total faith in Jehovah to resurrect them.
I have never heard them talk once of being afraid to die.

hugs

Joel

Winston

NikL,

You got it pretty much right on track.

When my father who only studied with the JW said to me:
"The only reason your a JW is because your afraid of death. I'm not afraid of death"
When my father said those words, and every word is true, I started to wake up.
From then on, I was on my way out of the JW's, even though it took four years.

Shelby, good post so far.:)

How long have you LIVED and how long has God LIVED?
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 to .000000000000000000000000000000001
Who is like God?

outnfree

NikL,

As a JW I was never afraid to die.

In fact, one of the reasons I could stop studying when I met my non-JW, divorced, lapsed Roman Catholic husband-to-be was that I accepted that if I chose him over "Jehovah" (read "the JW religion"), I would merely sleep in death -- there was no hellfire and I was willing to sacrifice my earthy hope for him.

When I resumed studying after my first child was born (not wanting to be responsible for condemning HER to death) I STILL wasn't afraid to die. Of course, I never thought I WOULD die.... I would tell everyone that although the human condition included death, I would never see it, because I would (if I did everything 'right') live right through the great tribulation on into the new system. If not, I had (still do, I think) complete confidence in the resurrection!

I really didn't probe other JW's on how they felt about it, though.
But I sure did hate JW funerals -- cold, distant affairs, aren't they?

outnfree

Par dessus toutes choses, soyez bons. La bonte est ce qui ressemble le plus a Dieu et ce qui desarme le plus les hommes -- Lacordaire

patio34

Hi NikL,

I can only relate my own experience. 2.5 years ago I had cancer and it upset me greatly the prospect of possible death.

Now, i feel a recurrence and possible life-threatening is scary, but not so frightening.

One reason is that I'm more experienced with the feeling. Another reason may be I'm no longer a JW.

It seems the belief that we weren't supposed to die in 'this old system' yanked us up short when it appeared it we might die.

Now, it just is. I feel much more peaceful as an atheist.

Pat

NameWithheld

I think most JWs don't give it much thought. I think the younger ones really think that they will a) never get old, and b) never die in this 'system' (which means they think they'll never die at all). I think that when their minds do cross the thought of death they are afraid of missing out on the new system. I don't know about everyone, but I never thought I was 'good enough' to make it. We were raised/taught to dwell on our sins, how miserable humans are, etc. "Probably you may be concealed" as a way to guilt us into more service, more meetings, more study. So many JWs are deathly afraid of screwing up, cause they think if the big A shows up w/out them having confessed to the elders lately they'll get zapped.

All in all a very warped way of life, having your spirit tromped into the ground daily by guilt.

AvailableLight

Don't forget the fear too of being resurrected and not being able to marry - a teaching most current JWs will usually admit they have a hard time coming to grips with, though literature from the society leaves very little to question regarding the official doctrine.

Why are JWs scared of death?

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