Suicide - How many do you know within the JWs (page 5)

bigmouth

just re-read my post. gutsful of her endometriosis.

That wasn't intended to be black humour. I know how distressing it is.

ziddina

Good grief, Scully...

Those elders were vicious pits full of unloving arrogance - ad to think that the morons at Watchtower Corporation can't figure out why they're bleeding members!!!

Zid

dropoffyourkeylee

There was another thread a few months ago that I contributed to. I am going to repeat the same post, as I don't have the heart to add anything just now:

This subject has concerned me greatly, as I have lost 3 friends, 2 of them dear friends who I miss greatly, to suicide in the past few years. I have come to believe that the ridiculous policies and characteristics of the religion itself were largely responsible. This has occurred in two adjoining congregations located about 40 miles apart in rural midwest US, each with about 100-120 publishers.

The first was in 2007-2008. Elder and wife, mid 50's, children at the age of moving out, wanted to go into the Spanish speaking work. The Society and Witness culture - you know what I am talking about- influenced them to sell their house and serve temporarily in the Dominican Republic, with the idea of immersing themselves in the language to learn it better. After 6 months they returned broke and he was literally burned out, as they had him giving virtually every meeting part, in Spanish yet. Also he had been taking an anti-depressant, and without health insurance he decided he could do without it. He had returned to the home congregation for a few months before they were going to serve in a Spanish speaking congregation in the US southeast. He killed himself on a cold weekday afternoon in March. I think about him virtually every day, as he was at my house in the weeks before they went to the DR, and I got the feeling he wanted to talk about it, but I didn't take the time to sit down with him. It haunts me to this day and I have since resolved to never again let such an opportunity pass. He was an active elder in good standing at the time of his death.

The second was in 2009. A sister with a great deal of intelligence and drive, was unhappy with being a 'Stepford' witness wife... she liked to work and was of the type who should have gone to college and find a measure of fulfilment in a career. Her teenage son was disfellowshipped. She wanted desperately to move out of the area and start something different. She got an appartment 80 miles away and separated from her husband. She overdosed in the spring of '09. She was not actively associating at the time, but was not disfellowshipped. She was a dear friend and I thought the world of her.

The third was in 2010. An active ministerial servant, married with young children, took his own life. Depression over losing his job, starting a different job with lower pay, prospect of losing his house, perhaps other reasons I do not know about, as I did not know him really well.

I have not given any names or exact locations because, in agreement with the previous poster, we need to think about the surviving family and children, who would be pained to see their loved one's name pop up on a google search in this context.

Aussie Oz

I am sure they won't have counted the one i knew who felt he was not good enough to join the JWs and hung himself either.

Oz

exwhyzee

Many of us here have been spared from the utter aloneness and isolation one suffers when leaving the Organization for whatever reason.(I faded) By visiting this site we managed to bolster our fragile psyche and gained strength from the experieces of others here that mirrored our own. One can only imagine what it would have been like to loose your entire support system without the help of anyone as thousands before us did. No one in the world understands what our experience was like better than another former JW. How many of those visiting this site were spared from going the route of suicide? Hard to say but you know there were more than a few.

The only JW I knew who chose suicide was also the only actual "new" person I knew who was baptized in our hall in the 25 years I was there. The rest were young people who grew up in JW families. This guy married a former JW girl who had been DF'd and when she returned, he followed. Try as he may, he just couldn't live the JW life long term. He became a MS and tried very hard but left after a few years. His buisness failed after that, he suffered a few setbacks in his health. He felt like a failure on all counts and took a lethal dose of pain medication. I can't say for sure, but knowing him, I'm sure part of the guilt from dropping out of the TRUTH, played a part in his downward spiral.

I often think back and cringe about those who I was supposed to shun over the years. Thankfully I never felt the need to punish anyone like that but I went along with the practice just the same.

Fernando

Dear Lady Lee

Thank you for sharing your story of gross WBT$ bungling, incompetence and abuse. I am certain it is all too common due to the (supremacist, self-righteous, unrepentant and apostate) way the WBT$ is structured and operates - sorry you had to go through it too.

My brother succeeded in committing suicide whilst DF'd.

My mother tried, likely a few times, in the early years of her marriage.

I had persistent suicide thoughts probably around this time too (pre-teen years).

Now that I am out, after 4 decades and 3 generations, I see and understand virtually the whole picture, where this is all by detailed design of the "god of religion" with whom the GB lustfully fornicate spiritually every opportunity they get, so as to keep us from the "God of Abraham" and his powerful healing message known as the Abrahamic Promise or the full unabridged gospel.

The idea is that when we discover we have been spiritually raped (and often physically too) we would run from God whereas we've never come to know him in the first place, since we never knew we had to or could look for him and have a real personal relationship with him (apart from the apostate pseudo-mediator ruling religious clergy class or Pharisees/FDS/GB/Sanhedrin).

The "cognitive dissonance" we all had to live with for decades is a known and powerful tool (of the "god of religion") for creating mental distress and illness, along with all manner of dysfunction and abuse repeatedly described by all on this forum.

It is no mere accident that the WBT$ ruling religious clergy class (Pharisees and Sanhedrin/GB) have become carbon copies of Jesus' religious enemies as described in Matt 23 with their supremacist self-righteousness attained by means of apostate legalism, moralism, ethnocentrism and Gnosticism.

It is no mere accident that Watchtower followers who claim to be "publishers of the good news" are ignorant of the "good news according to Paul". More than half the Bible's 152-odd references to the "good news" are by Paul!!!

wannabefree

4 ... well actually 3, but one seemed very suspicious which was ruled an accident ... left convention early, parked in garage, closed garage door, left door to house open and car running.

cedars

Lady Lee, I just thought I would mention that we address the issue of suicide among Witnesses in our latest 2012 Survey.

The question is asked across all 6 voter categories "Have you ever known or heard of one of Jehovah's Witnesses committing or attempting suicide?"

Here are the results out of 54 responses so far (bearing in mind the survey has only been online for 24 hours):

Active witnesses, 8 voters, 100% said "yes"

Serving elders, 3 voters, 67% said "yes"

Anointed, no voters yet

Inactive (faders), 22 voters, 77% said "yes"

DF/DA, 15 voters, 100% said "yes"

Never baptized, 6 voters, 83% said "yes"

I'm sure you'll agree that if this trend continues, it won't bode well for the Society's claims that the organization represents a "happy people".

Cedars

exwhyzee

Good comment Fernando...you nailed it !

Bonnie_Clyde

I personally knew 5 people who committed suicide and one attempted suicide. The attempted suicide person slashed her throat, but later told people she had throat surgery and that's why she has to wear turtle necks even in the summer time. We found out the real reason through her brother.

Also know of 6 people who were murdered by JW's. One killed his wife and three children. Didn't know the killer personally, but my son did.

Suicide - How many do you know within the JWs

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