I still remeber my late 70's wedding while a Jw. It was my responsibility to buy the alcohol for the Wedding reception. We had about three hundred guests and with a discount from a whiskey wholesaler my mother knew it still cost me $1100 for beer and whiskey. There was none of it left to take home. After we established ourselves in the local congo we were invited to the wine and cheese parties-woo hoo! Another occasion for the Jw's to drink till they were very happy. I always got the feeling we were always about ten minutes away from everyone dropping theri keys in a big bowl and the party really getting started. How glad i am to have escaped!
Did You See A Lot Of Drinking Among JW's???
by minimus 46 Replies latest jw friends
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TimeBandit
One day I was over at an elder's house and we were having lunch. He had some elder freinds over and they were drinking whiskey early in the day. I was his employee at the time. I worked in the basement of the building he owned repairing vacuum cleaners for him. I took out some trash and found an empty case of beer with a receipt dated for that day. Later I went upstairs to his kitchen (he ran a buisness and lived in the same building) to get a soft drink from the refridgerator. There was no beer in there. I think they drank an entire case of beer during my work day. I thought it was strange for them to be heavy drinkers since he was an elder. He also used to play video games on his computer that were full of magic and witchcraft. I remember him being the one to give a talk at the hall about how bad video games like that were. He is a hypocrite to be sure...
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ShirleyW
When my parents celebrated their 25th anniversay they had it at a catered hall. My father wasn't even studying at that time, but was friendly towards the Dubs. At the end of the evening he asked for an empty box to take home the leftover bottles of booze, needless to say, there wasn't anything to take home.
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notjustyet
I have heard that may have stopped drinking over the last few years, they bought some of those funnels!!
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ohiocowboy
I have personally seen some JW's drink a lot more than normal. Of course, just like anyone else, there are those who don't drink either. When my parents would go out with others, they would often come home quite tipsy. I also have seen several sisters who have prescriptions of Valium and Xanax, which they "Share" with others. I can't say that I blame them one bit. The stress of being a JW is great, and sometimes the only way they can cope is to either drink, take benzo's, or both. Antidepressants are a big thing too.
It is so sad that they are being pushed so hard, and that they are still being told that they aren't doing enough.
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lilbluekitty
My father's side of the family are pretty much all alcoholics. I mean totally. My grandfather (former elder) would get so drunk he'd walk around naked (pretty scary to accidently see as a 9 year old girl!) and my dad would have empty wine bottles and glasses on his bedside table and a half-empty bottle of rum next to the closet. Everytime I'd go to his house as an adult he'd fix me a drink, even if I didn't ask for one. We spent Christmas in Myrtle Beach two years ago with his side of the family and one woman who's not actually family but my aunt's best friend was pretty shocked at how much everyone drank. I mean my grandmother, dad, aunt, everyone all got totally drunk and then posted the photos all over Facebook for everyone to see, even their non-JW friends were shocked at the pics. My sister (when she still talked to me) was always talking about needing a drink.
I too, as a JW, and even sometimes now struggle with desperately wanting to drink and get a buzz on but now I feel the need much less than I did then. Back then it was one of the few things that made life worth living.
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JW GoneBad
Do I (currently) see alot of drinking among JWs? You bet, alot, wine and hard liquor alike!
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minimus
Well, this thread tells me that Witnesses do love their booze!
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jws
My dad, an elder through my early years, drank a beer or two every now and then. I don't think he ever drank enough to get drunk - especially with the watered-down American beer he typically drank.
Aside from my dad, I don't know much about adult JW drinking. From 16-18, I snuck a little alcohol now and then with school friends, as is probably common for many kids. At a new hall, my brother and I were the new kids, the outsiders. All that changed when I was 18 and we went to an amusement park with another JW who was an alcoholic. We drank at the amusement park, left to go get beer, came back. Ended up pretty drunk that night. Suddenly word spread and we were "cool" in the hall and welcomed by the JW clique who was also drinking.
I think that attitude sort of drove my brother and I to be wilder. If alcohol makes us cool, more makes us cooler. Then, something would happen and one of the clique would feel guilty, confess their sins, and blame the new guys. We managed to stay away from being DF'ed or reproved, but we had a bad reputation in the congregation.
Currently, I'm a Hash House Harrier. They nickname themselves the "drinking club with a running problem". So far, in a total group in the area of maybe 300, I've met 2 other ex-JWs and another girl who studied with JWs. I think JWs are maybe 0.6% of the US population? So, 3-4 (including me) out of 300 is a about double the number of JWs in normal population. And I wouldn't be surprised to find other ex-JWs in the group too. This is a group that goes on a run, then follows it by drinking/slamming beers.
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JRK
I didn't see a lot of drinking as a JW. I was too busy drinking.
JK