Alcohol and JW's

sweet pea

It seems like alcohol is a very grey area when it comes to JW's.

When I was a JW I knew many witnesses, particularly brothers, who seriously liked their drink and it appeared that when it came to elders and ministerial servants, the organisation seemed to turn a blind eye to alcohol abuse if those brothers were being faithful and especially if they were looked up to and liked in the congregation.

It reminds me of the Mormons and the fact that Utah is the Prozac capital of the world - when something is not perceived as quite as bad a sin as another (even though all sins are equally bad in the bible/book or Mormon), it becomes the one form of escape for people who have nowhere else to turn.

Was this your experience?

ChelseaScott

My real dad is an alcoholic and he is a JW. My aunt (my dads sister) is one as well. My moms sister is an alcoholic too. And they are all JW's. It is amazing how hypocritical, and depressed they all seem to be.

Qcmbr

Isn't prozac a medicine.

I thought there was evidence that smarter people self medicate. Does that mean that Utah is smarter than average.

bigwilly

Does that mean that Utah is smarter than average.

Speaking as someone who spent alot of time in Utah, the answer is definitely no

4mylove

They seem to go hand in hand.....

jaguarbass

When I was a witness, all the witnesses I knew drank. I still drink even though I have been out of the organization since 83. I hear all the people in Russia are alcoholics. This is making me thirsty. I am going to get a Ice House.

VoidEater

Alcohol to excess is banned by doctrine - but what is to excess? Getting drunk (degree of inebriation)? Drinking every day (instances of drinking)?

Drinking in moderation is specifically ok - but again seems rather subjective.

Alcoholism is sometimes easy to hide, sometimes easy to overlook. And of course those that have a good standing (through power, influence, or popularity) are never called on the carpet for it. That's my experience. In the 60's and 70's, everyone had a drink; few in my family's circle got drunk, though, and it was frowned upon.

I've known individual instances of teetotalers and instances of a glass of wine a day. I've never been in a congregation where it was much discussed openly, though when people talked about it they thought as long as you were not obviously drunk it was fine. Being a little inebriated was thought of as humorous (oh, isn't that silly of them!), and it only happened "by accident" - no heavy duty alcholics in my immediate family or circle.

My grandfather would drink to an extent that I thought of us more than usual - a scotch and soda or a beer each night, though i suspect later when everyone was in bed he would go for another.

Kids always experimented (teenage kids), and I knew a couple of my peers (15-16 at the time) who would get drunk when they could sneak the beer - but they were not baptized, just sons of elders (should I mentinon one of them made a pass at me?? Ah, those sons of preacher men!). This was rare, though, in my age group - we were too "straight and narrow", most of us.

justhuman

Booze Jo was an alcoholic...and he made a booze cult

38 Years

Drinking alcohol was a way of life in my congregation. Everyone indulged. I had my first beer at 14. You could go to anyone's home and at least have a glass or two of wine. I saw quite a few elders overdrink with all types of liquor. Get-togethers were a guaranteed alcohol fest. When my teenage friends saw the elders were over-drinking, it gave them a license to do the same. But the drinking was never spoken about. Once in a while, an elder would give us "young people" a lecture on "moderation", but we ignored them. Worldly people I would talk to or associate with could never understand that Witnesses would alllow drinking when there were such severe restrictions on everything else.

Alcohol and JW's

Share this