How Many JWs Have You known Who Have Commited Suicide? (page 6)

saltyoldlady

I haven't kept count over the years but it has been way too many - even one is too many - but I mean there have been several. One case I remember that was especially horrible was the brother that killed his wife and two children - and then after leaving a suicide note killed himself also. He explained that he knew they would all be resurrected to paradise and the current system was just too difficult for all of them. It was "just better this way." And the hideous thing is one can easily see why he reasoned like that considering our belief systems we were taught. Scary results for what we considered "beautiful" material to present to the public. Mental illness was of course involved but the concept of the Paradise earth can be misconstrued by the mentally ill as a legitimate excuse for such heinous crimes.

Igot2bme

In a neighboring town, an older sister shot herself, a year later her best friend another sister in the same congregation shot herself, then a year later to the day her husband shot himself. Also in another congregation in the same district two young men who were raised JW killed themselves. This all happened within the span of about 4 years.

jwfacts

I personally know about 10. That is an extremely high number when compared with what average suicide rates are in Australia.

strymeckirules

every memorial there is a large number who commit spiritual suicide.....

including kjw53

i wouldn't be rejecting jesus if i we you.

"no thanks lord, i'll pass. i don't have that special feeling." You sir are a moron.

but on the subject of reallife jdub suicides, i know of 1 attempt and 1 success.

Nice_Dream

I know a sister who was an elder's wife or MS wife (can't remember), and she was struggling with depression. The elders encouraged her to stop seeing her therapist, and she committed suicide shortly after. She was such a wonderful lady, and had 2 beautiful teenage daughters. They were nice enough to give her a funeral at the hall though.

Low-Key Lysmith

I knew of a few. The most awful, though, was the case of my Aunt-my Dad's sister. She and her husband went to Gilead and then on to do missionary work in Paraguay. Her husband was quite possibly the most pious, sanctimonious, self-righteous elder that ever was. (A bold claim, I know).

My Aunt suffered from a variety of ailments, including Lupus. She spent most of her days dealing with chronic pain. She also suffered from severe depression.

To make a long story short, one afternoon, she drove up into the Utah Rockies, doused herself in gasoline, and set herself on fire.

Quendi

This is a very sad thread to read for me personally, and I know it has been for others. Perhaps there is a cartharsis that comes from sharing these stories and experiences. I hope that is so for all who have suffered losses this way and also for those who have been driven to the brink of suicide.

My story about this happened this way. My very best friend, whom I loved more than anybody I ever have, killed himself 25 years ago. He left behind a wife and two young sons. Tom suffered from bipolar disorder, so his life as a Witness wasn't the happiest. Few people understood him or knew how to deal with him. Our friendship was very close and I got to know him better than anyone, including his poor wife. He had once been a ministerial servant, but that didn't work out well and he was subsequently deleted. He finally ended his life by blowing his head off with a 44 Magnum. Tom was only 32 years old.

I've never fully recovered. A year or so after Tom's death, I decided to end my own life. Fortunately, I was talked out of it by my boss, a woman who said what I needed to hear most. "Please don't kill yourself. I love you. Don't hurt me this way." Those words made me think of Tom's funeral and the intense pain I witnessed on the faces of others that day. I realized how selfish it would be on my part to put my friends and family through that.

I am no longer suicidal and have discovered the truth of Solomon's words at Ecclesiastes 9:4, "For as respects whoever is joined to all the living there exists confidence, because a live dog is better off than a dead lion." I am glad to be alive and have much to live for, especially now that I have put the WTS out of my life. Nevertheless, I miss my best friend and I always will. At least he is no longer suffering and is at rest, and for that I am grateful.

Quendi

Caligula1

Great thread.

Thanks for sharing.

1. What year did the organization switch the rule on suicide?

2. What is the new rule?

I'm remember clearly, that a suicide person would not get a resurrection. That has changed?

unshackled

Thanks for sharing that Quendi. Walk tall, friend.

lovelylil

I came very close to it myself. My marriage was on the rocks because I wanted to leave the WT but my husband didn't. I had two young kids and no way to support them if my husband left. Even if he paid child support, for I didn't make much money at the time.

Spiritually I was almost shipwrecked. I felt alone, had no friends. My Catholic family had turned their back on me for the most part when I became a JW. And I knew soon I would be shunned by all the people who were now in my life and had been for 12 years.

Anyway, one day I decided to take a bottle of pills. The only thing that stopped me at the time was my kids were home and I didn't want THEM to find me. At that moment, an elders wife who lived literally across the street called. I forgot why, I think she wanted me to do something for her or the kh. But she said I didn't sound right and I told her I thought I was going to hurt myself because I was so depressed. This was my cry for help.

During our phone call, she got a beep, put me on hold and then came back and said she had to go because that call was important. Thats when I knew she called with her own agenda and had not listened to anything I had just told her. She never came over, or called me back.

I think that is the moment everything came to a head. All the doubts I had been having over the past year came bubbling to the surface all at once. I knew the Witnesses were not followers of Christ becuase there was NO LOVE among them. They may have seemed friendly or loving but it was not the AGAPE love the bible speaks about. I got down on my knees and prayed to Jesus at that moment. I don't really know why but it felt right. I have been born again since then.

My entire outlook literally changed overnight. I stood up to my husband, (he never left me), threw out my old WT books, stopped sending my kids to the kh, and started my new life in Christ.

When I think about it, I came very close to being one of the suicide stories we are reading about here. I'm glad I am not. I've had 7 years of freedom in Christ, and counting. And my entire family, including my husband is out of the WT.

I wish to God that those poor people who commit suicide could somehow look into the future and get a glimpse of how glorious their lives could be without the Tower, and then maybe they would not be a story on the thread either.

How Many JWs Have You known Who Have Commited Suicide?

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