by JamesWind 79 Replies latest jw friends
Then I assume you are against ALL organized religion. I can assure you they ALL have blood on their hands. Christianity has a long history of lying, hypocrisy, and murder. Millions of innocent people have been slaughtered in the name of Christ. Though something tells me you are just being overly dramatic. Or do you have many examples of times when the organization has been responsible for murder?
Many people here have lost friends/family/loved ones because of the no blood policy.
JW - you make a very good point and I'm sorry that you nearly had a vomiting episode when you read some of the whines. However, with respect, you have never been through some of the horrendous experiences that some here have - I know that you didn't have any easy time of it growing up - but you imagine having an unbelieving partner who would leave you and take your kids away if you spoke against the organisation, you go through losing all your friends and family and being shunned by everyone you know and treated like you're dead, you see one of your loved ones die of a transfusion, you watch someone you love live their life a broken person because of being abused by someone that was protected by the organisation, you experience your father being disfellowshipped for having a blood transfusion, see him shunned by everyone , then not have him come to your wedding or have a funeral service when he dies, you get chucked out of the house when you're 16 and suicidal and told that your parents don't have a child, the list goes on and on and on -
Maybe then you'd understand that some people here are so damaged, cannot heal in a short time and need to get this of their chest to people who they know will really understand and will love and support them.
Would you blame a woman with a violent husband if she left him and then complained about him or couldn't heal from being thrown down the stairs, having her head smashed against a wall, having her children tortured and abused, set fire to? Unless you've walked a mile in someone's shoes you do not know what they have been through and how they will cope going forward. Give them a break!
This place has literally saved people's lives - if you don't like some of the sentiments here then you are free to go elsewhere - if you don't like blood and guts get out of the hospital!
JW's misinterpretation of not eating blood. How many have lost their lives?
But at the end of the day its still a personal decision. I have known witnesses that took transfusions when push came to shove and there were zero repercussions within the congregation. How many people die from other equally trivial decisions? Can you imagine that some people still refuse to wear seat belts despite all the evidence proving that the risk of fatality and serious injury is dramatically reduced by wearing one? How many children die from head injuries incurred while riding bikes? And yet when I was a kid I never saw one single kid wearing a helmet.
In the grand scheme of things I would be willing to place odds that less than 100 people a year die worldwide from the "no blood" stance. But more than 10,000 people a year in the US alone die from not wearing a seat belt and over 2,700 kids a year die from head related injuries incurred while riding a bike. Why not make your time more valuable and impact more lives by taking up one of those causes?
I love it when someone who managed to make a successful break from the organization for 18 years comes into a discussion forum and dictates to others how to feel.
"I do find it enjoyable when someone on the internet attempts to play amateur behavioral therapist. Unfortunately you are incorrect. What causes the nausea is seeing grown adults act like sniveling children. I have always had a bad reaction to whining. "
And I've always had a bad reaction to arrogant people.
You're out of the organization and you did so on your own terms. What gives you the right to judge those that haven't been able to leave with their lives in as good as condition as yours?
After reading your posts I think you came on the board looking for a fight. When you didn't get one by making assinine comments on other threads you started a thread of your own to provoke one.
Oh yeah, Welcome newbie to JWD.
Sweat Pea, Im sorry but Im going to call BS on your post.
No one would be disfellowshiped for a blood transfusion. The primary ingredient required in all disfellowships is a lack of remorse or extreme severity. Blood transfusion does not fall into the extreme severity category (in terms of breaking the rule) and simply acknowledging that you were scared and gave in to a transfusion would qualify you as remorseful. I am certain that people here grossly overexhaggerate or completely lie in their overzealous attempt to garner sympathy for themselves and make the Witnesses look bad.
I have seen the affects of fellowshipping. Ive seen entire families ripped apart by it. Many of my close friends were disfellowshipped. One of them was the son of our presiding overseer. It tore his mother in half. But dont you see the overall hypocrisy of the situation on these forums? There is an entire section of this community devoted to scandles. The posts in their gawk at how the organization continues to shelter these evil doers. But in other communities people gawk at the fact the organization has disfellowshipped someone. You cant have it both ways, which do you want? An organization that actively polices itself and weeds out those people doing bad things at the risk of breaking up families or an organization that is ultra tolerant and allows people to do terrible things without serious repercussions? Do you see the dilemma?
Maybe then you'd understand that some people here are so damaged, cannot heal in a short time and need to get this of their chest to people who they know will really understand and will love and support them.
Im not a psychologist but I am certain that dwelling on the hate for months and years is not healthy and not an effective way to find healing.
Would you blame a woman with a violent husband if she left him and then complained about him or couldn't heal from being thrown down the stairs, having her head smashed against a wall, having her children tortured and abused, set fire to? Unless you've walked a mile in someone's shoes you do not know what they have been through and how they will cope going forward.
If she spent countless hours dogging him and bad mouthing him to other people instead of moving on with her life, I would say there is a problem.
This place has literally saved people's lives
Not likely. Lets keep it real.
>>[blood issue] But at the end of the day its still a personal decision.
You can't seriously believe that. It's as much a "personal decision" as fornication, smoking, and idolatry is. JW's are told they will displease Jehovah -- put their eternal lives at risk -- over this issue. It is not in any way a "personal decision".
I'm glad you've broken free from cult thinking. For you, everything is a personal decision, as well it should be. But for them, it's absolutely nothing of the sort. For the mindless drones of the bOrg, it is an order from God Almighty, and they ignore it at their eternal peril.
Dave
We only hate the Organization and those who control it. WT is guilty for the loss of many innocent lifes due to the blood policy, organ transpalnts, neautrality, broken families due to shunning policy, just to name the basic...
How would you feel if you had a child or a close relative dead because of the blood or the organ transplants policy?
How would feel if you family has broken appart due to shunning, your kids to be raised in that cult and you can do nothing to get them out of there because your wife/husband is brain washed robot that cannot think?
How would you feel if you cannot get a discent job because WT was against education and you are trying to survive working 15 hours a day, while your classmates enjoy a good life because they have educated themselfs?
How would you feel if you spend 2-3 years in prison due to neutrality, and because the WT did not exept alternative service, and after few years they change their policy. Can you get a discent job when your record says that you have been in prison?
Yes we hate WT, because many on this board their lifes have been destroyed by one of the worst cults called Watchtower. And believe me I will do my best to get out from there as much people I can, and also ti help others not to get involved in the WT
And I've always had a bad reaction to arrogant people.
As I said, I never developed basic social skills. I have this tendency to be very direct and blunt. That is commonly mistaken for arrogance. Especially when the truth hurts.
You're out of the organization and you did so on your own terms. What gives you the right to judge those that haven't been able to leave with their lives in as good as condition as yours?
This is a fair question. I will concede that you have a point. Though my point still remains, why dwell on it to such extremes instead of just moving on?
After reading your posts I think you came on the board looking for a fight. When you didn't get one by making assinine comments on other threads you started a thread of your own to provoke one.
Actually, no. I saw the story and was doing some research. This site came up in a Google search. I read through it for a few hours before saying anything and frankly almost moved along without leaving a trace. But I live in a very large Mormon community and have always been amazed at how fiercly people can hate the Mormon's, especially those that have left the organization (willingly or not). In this regard the two organizations have much in common.
In 18 years this is my first experience with a group of people who's entire focus in developing a community was to slam the Witnesses. It made me genuinely wonder why. I just don't get the hate. Your response is the first to offer any real/legitimate insight into the behavior and thinking of this community. It still doesn't make any sense why grown adults would spend so much time and effort on such a trivial pursuit but at least its more understanding than I had prior.
Welcome JW
I agree that most JW's are good people ( i am married to one and have a 14y JW daughter), the problem is how the wts coerces people.
As an example if my wife understood i posted her would she view me as apostate? What would happen to my Family? See my point
The wts policies are pernicious and caustic.
The wts policy on sex offenders is designed to protect them and not the victims. I have personal experience of this.
Most people here are not whiners, we are here because by definition we come from the same place.
regards llbh
No one would be disfellowshiped for a blood transfusion.
That's right, they are disassociated by their own actions. I find it very hard to believe anyone can have a transfusion and suffer no reprocussions. When my mother was in hospital and the blood issue came up, the elders came down like a tonne of bricks. As soon as the issue passed, they dropped her like a hot potatoe. They said the danger has passed and she wasn't that sick. Of course, she had complete kidney failure, partial liver failure and cancer of the blood, but what mattered is she didn't have blood.
If this is making you sick, it makes me sick too, I lived it.
