Help me learn - please

akelly

Hello, I am a nursing student studying religions. Would you please help me by answering a few questions?

(1) What is your spiritual perspective on healing?

(2) What are the critical components of healing, such as prayer, meditation, belief, etc?

(3) What is important to people of your particular faith when cared for by health care providers whose spiritual beliefs differ from their own?

(4) How do you, as a patient view health care providers who are able to let go of their own beliefs in the interest of the beliefs and practices of the patient?

I am in desperate need of information. Would you please take a few minutes and help me?

Thank you so much for your time, Alicia

lisaBObeesa

Alicia, I'm not sure if you were looking for typical Jehovah's Witness answers to these questions, but be aware that this message board is populated by EX-Jehovah's Witnesses, so the answers you get might not reflect the answers a JW might give you...

akelly

Thank you, I was not aware of that. I am not studying a specific religion rather the variety of different religions. Thank you so much for the information.

Alicia

garyneal

Official website: http://www.watchtower.org/

I'm married to a JW so take what I say with a grain of salt. However, from what I have learned from them:

(1) What is your spiritual perspective on healing?

They believe in medicine and treatments. The only thing they will not consider are transfusions of whole blood or the four major components of it. They have a blood book that describes this in more detail and you can get this on their official website.

(2) What are the critical components of healing, such as prayer, meditation, belief, etc?

The believe in prayer but they do not believe prayer would help the healing. In other words, they do not believe in praying for healing though an elder told me that he prayed for his doctors who treat him.

(3) What is important to people of your particular faith when cared for by health care providers whose spiritual beliefs differ from their own?

Just tolerance and a willingness to help the sick get well.

(4) How do you, as a patient view health care providers who are able to let go of their own beliefs in the interest of the beliefs and practices of the patient?

In regards to the blood thing, most doctors are understanding of a patient's right to choose and refuse blood. It becomes an issue with minor children, however.

asilentone

Akelly, you are always welcome to come back here to learn what we have been through. If you want to talk to current JWs, you can find them at facebook, Good Luck!

akelly

Thank you.

Alicia

Nathan Natas

Hi Alicia,

As LisaBObeesa explained above, most of us here are EX-Jehovah's Witnesses. so, we can tell you both what we believed when we were JWs and what we believe now. There is a vast diversity in our religious and non-religious ideas now that we are no longer JWs.

You asked:

(1) What is your spiritual perspective on healing?

As a JW, I believed that sickness and death were part of our "inheritance" from the sin of our original father and mother, Adam and Eve. Unlike some Adventist groups, JWs do not shun medical treatment entirely (AS A GROUP - some individuals might), but they also show a preference for some of the more "fringy" medical treatments. This comes from the influence of one of the leaders in the WATCHTOWER organization who was the editor of the WATCHTOWR publication titled "The GOLDEN AGE," a fellow named Clayton J. Woodworth, who hated medical doctors and embraced such devices as the electronic radio biola, the curative value of radium water, a fear of vaccination, etc. It was out of Woodworth's doctrine against vaccination that the WATCHTOWER's opposition to blood transfusion was born, but the person directly responsible for the WATCHTOWER medical doctrine opposing blood transfusion is a fellow named Gene Smalley. The most notorious and harmful anti-medical teaching of the Jehovah's Witnesses (the WATCHTOWER) is their opposition to blood transfusions. For a few years at the end of the 20th century they also opposed organ transplants, but that position has been reversed.

Today as a EX-JW I am an atheist and seek the best, most appropriate and most rational medical treatment for any condition that I may be confronted with, and I rule out NOTHING because of so-called "bible-based" reasons. I also do not believe in the "healing value" of prayer or other religious gesticulations. I do believe in the placebo effect, however.

(2) What are the critical components of healing, such as prayer, meditation, belief, etc?

As a JW, the only really important thing about medical treatment was that it had no blood in it. JWs do not organize formal prayer groups for sick people because they feel that is an inappropriate use of prayer. JWs do not practice meditation because they believe that opens the mind up to influence by demons.

As an EX-JW, my greatest considerations are the skill and knowledge of my medical providers along with a positive expectation and a sense of humor. Also important is medical insurance. Personally I know that we all die sooner or later and that although I might prefer it to be later, I have little say in the matter. I do not fear death, which I know is simple non-existence.

(3) What is important to people of your particular faith when cared for by health care providers whose spiritual beliefs differ from their own?

>>If<< a JW was a medical provider - which is unlikely because it requires higher education and the WATCHTOWER in generally opposed to higher education - the "medical treatment" would likely be quakery or fringey. If a real MD became a JW, they would face conflicts over the use of blood products and blood derived treatments.

I am sure that any atheist medical practitioner would be concerned only with what worked best for the patient and not be concerned with third-party superstitions.

(4) How do you, as a patient view health care providers who are able to let go of their own beliefs in the interest of the beliefs and practices of the patient?

A JW would appreciate any doctor who was willing to entertain their fantasies in leiu of providing the best medical treatment.

As an atheist, I appreciate doctors who are willing to set aside their persanal convictions to provide the best medical treatment available.

Titus

Akelly!

I am still active Jehovah's Witness.

Posters on this forum are "enemies" of Jehovah's Witnesses, or anti-JWs.

For the official answers you can look here: www.jw-media.org or visit the congregation in your town. They will gladly answer your question. Or you can write them. Addresses of Branch Offices are on www.watchtower.org

Sincerely,

TITUS

Titus

But I can tell you that generally, we don't view the doctors, hospitals, medical care different than other people view it. The only thing that is different is using of blood.

My personal doctor is a Muslim, my dentist is Roman Catholic, and one ophthalmolog in my state is a Jehovah's Witness. But I don't trust him more than other two doctors.

More about that HERE: http://www.jw-media.org/aboutjw/medical.htm

That's the official website of Jehovah's Witnesses.

TITUS

Nathan Natas

People like TITUS above will tell you that the "enemies" of Jehovah's Witnesses are unreliable sources of information.

This is not unlike saying that for the TRUTH about NAZIS, one should only consult with NAZIS and disregard the opinions of the allied powers that defeated the NAZIS, or for the truth about FLYING SAUCER CULTS one should only speak to abductees. Certainly one would not rely on a schizophrenic for a definition of objective reality.

Like the NAZIS, FLYING SAUCER CULTS and schizophrenics, the WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY is not what it wants you to think it is.

The WATCHTOWER is directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people each year because of its "medical theology" regarding blood transfusions. As former JWs, we OPPOSE this unnecessarily harmful doctrine as EVIL. It is a perversion of anything the Bible actually teaches.

For much more discussion of this subject, consult the website at http://www.ajwrb.org/.

Help me learn - please

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