Forgive me for the formatting. I can never tell how it’s going to look in advance. The call went like this: Caller: My family is not talking to me now, because I didn’t attend their Christmas parties. What should I do? Dr. Laura: And why didn’t you attend the parties? Caller: Because I’m one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Dr. Laura: Ah, well, they’re feeling left out. You won’t be celebrating birthdays or any other holidays with them. It’s obviously important to them and you need to understand that. It went on from there, with Dr. Laura being remarkably patient and understanding (NOT usually qualities I associate with her), and finally saying that when someone changes their religion, it causes great upheaval in the family and everyone just needs to cut each side some slack. I was very surprised that the caller seemed totally mystified as to why she would be “shunned” from her family, she said that she’s very grateful for her beliefs and didn’t know why they couldn’t see how much happier she was. I’m also surprised that she felt the need to call Dr. Laura, you would think her congregation would have given her props for the “persecution”. Maybe she’s new and thought she could have it both ways. Most of all, I’m struck by how offended she was at the “shunning” , since that’s what she’ll have to do with people who call themselves her brothers at some point. Sad.
JW calls Dr. Laura's radio show yesterday
by mac n cheese 12 Replies latest jw friends
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Gopher
Mac -- you might try checking the automatic CR/LF box below to help the formatting, or else if you're copying this from elsewhere - first put it into Notepad to preserve the paragraphs you want and then copy it over to here.
Here's a more formatted version of your post:
The call went like this:
Caller: My family is not talking to me now, because I didn’t attend their Christmas parties. What should I do?
Dr. Laura: And why didn’t you attend the parties?
Caller: Because I’m one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Dr. Laura: Ah, well, they’re feeling left out. You won’t be celebrating birthdays or any other holidays with them. It’s obviously important to them and you need to understand that.
It went on from there, with Dr. Laura being remarkably patient and understanding (NOT usually qualities I associate with her), and finally saying that when someone changes their religion, it causes great upheaval in the family and everyone just needs to cut each side some slack.
I was very surprised that the caller seemed totally mystified as to why she would be “shunned” from her family, she said that she’s very grateful for her beliefs and didn’t know why they couldn’t see how much happier she was. I’m also surprised that she felt the need to call Dr. Laura, you would think her congregation would have given her props for the “persecution”. Maybe she’s new and thought she could have it both ways.
Most of all, I’m struck by how offended she was at the “shunning” , since that’s what she’ll have to do with people who call themselves her brothers at some point. Sad.
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Gopher
I think some JW's like the strict authoritarian approach Laura Schlessinger brings to the issues her callers have. They like the safe feeling of rigid boundaries like those erected by Dr. Laura.
Maybe this JW called because she thought Laura would see her side and scold her family for being stand-offish. Of course Dr. Laura didn't see her side, what normal non-JW would?
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Honesty
By the time she has to start shunning one of her friends who was either kicked out to the curb or walked out the door never to return this poor woman will be so vaccinated against the love of Christ that everything the JW's do will seem an occurence orchestrated by the 'active force' that permeates the organization.
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changeling
That was good advice, especially coming from Dr. Laura. I can't stand her!
changeling
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mac n cheese
Gopher - thanks for the advice. I'm on a Mac so I think I'll go check out the technical section to see what I can do.
Changeling - I can't stand Dr. Laura either, but I turn there for a laugh when I can't find anything on NPR to listen to. -
steve2
What this illustrates is that shunning is hard to handle regardless of which "side" you're on.
There's probably less sympathy for a witness being shunned by her family than the other way around because the witnesses themselves have become so well known for their own practice of shunning.
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moshe
For a JW, it's really bad to be shunned by your unbelieving family! She will find out real soon how much help her new JW family is at the KH when she needs, $$ help, car repair help, a free place to live, 'cause I lost my job, free nursing help ' cause I had a serious operation and I can't take care of myself for a month, etc. Yes, she will miss having family to talk to and someone to care about her - not just how many hours did she turn in for the month.
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dogisgod
I wonder if there are any statistics on how many people off themselves after talking to Dr. Laura?
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mac n cheese
dogisgod - LOL! I spewed tea all over my keyboard. Thanks for the laugh! (but i have wondered that as well)