Why Does The Watchtower Dis-fellowshiping For Smoking and Not Gluttony and Alcoholism?

by ÁrbolesdeArabia 33 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  ÁrbolesdeArabia

  Health care studies are showing obese body weight index is worse than smoking "death sticks", so how is the Tower going to address their growing problem of overweight elders and elderettes? If a Organization is able to disfellowship a member for smoking, why not do the same with other vices and crutches their people use to hide stress, emotional disorders and depression? Employers are asking for a BMI test a their potential employees to create a diet to get healthy.

  My thread is to point out the inconsist nature of the Tower, not to harp on people or their weight! We told the World we were the "happiest people on Earth" but our physical appearances as a whole, tell a troubling story or inconvenient truth about our psyche! The same goes with over drinking, I know we all complained about wine, beer and hard liqour brothers and sisters indulged in without conscience or consideration. How many parties or gatherings did you attending where you witnessed drunkeness?

  The following scripture was used by a caller to Christian Satelllite Radio asking "how come the Christian Church does not address the problem of gluttons and drunkards?"

  Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. - (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
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  leaving_quietly

  They DO disfellowship for drunkenness. I know a couple of people who were DF'd for this offense. Not, however, for alcoholism. There's a difference. Alcoholism is a dependency, but does not necessarily mean the person is drunk. At last year's District Convention, they defined drunkenness as being 4 or 5 drinks within an hour, and where one is stumbling about. Something along those lines.

  It would be a very rare thing to see gluttony enforced. Any larger person could simply say they had some medical condition that makes them larger. Unless someone witnesses the overeating, it's a really, really hard thing to enforce.
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  Stubborn Disbeliever

  I've wondered the same thing, mainly about the alcohol abuse. My parents are HEAVY drinkers. Their way of getting around it?? SAY they are not drunk. There were countless incidences (seriously, at least once per week my entire childhood) where they'd stumble or just get more giggly than sober. (Now that I've been drinking alcohol for 11 years, I know the difference between having a drink and being wasted...so looking back, I was right!) I didn't want to get my driver's license when I was 15, but they forced me to take the classes. The day I had my permit, I had to drive everywhere. Within that week, we would go to a family friends' house about 45 minutes away. We'd go 2-3 times per month at least. Mind you, we lived in the middle of the woods, and drove country highways through the woods with many wildlife encounters. I would have to drive home at 3am, my brother and sister were passed out from exhuastion, and my parents were passed out drooling from being so drunk. I kid you not, they would just say they weren't drunk, and that was good enough, even for the C.O. or D.O. (they all stayed with us when visiting, for as long as I could remember, so they saw this as well.) My dad was a VERY influential elder, my grandpa was the P.O. Funny how things work. So many people saw my parents for what they were, yet no one has the gall to confront them or anyone else. It's just sick. There are so many double standards in that cult!
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  JWOP

  According to the Elders' manual "Shepherd the Flock of God", members CAN be disfellowshipped for gluttony and alcoholism. The catch? If you eat a bit of food or drink a sip of beer, that is considered "moderation". HOWEVER, if you take a single suck of smoke, that'll damn you.

  In other words, general intake of food or alcohol is acceptable. According to the Elders's manual, gluttony is NOT to be judged by a person's size, so mere observation of weight means nothing. And intake of alcohol is okay if it isn't to excess.

  There are no such parameters for tobacco: If you have ONE single "dose" of tobacco, you are ruined..

  That is the difference.
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  Bungi Bill

  Tobacco became a disfellowshipping offence only in the early 1970s. Prior to that, more than a few JWs used to smoke a cigarette or two on the sly! Likewise,too, with the chewing of betel nut in certain S.E. Asian countries, and in Papua New Guinea.

  The rationale for this (if you could call it that!) was the use of both these and similar substances in spiritism:

  - American Indians used to light up a pipe of tobacco to send a signal to the "spirit world" that they wished to enter into communication.

  - In other regions of the world, the chewing of betel nut was carried out to serve a similar function.

  Interesting now that the JWs have quantified what they consider to be "drunkeness":

  - i.e. The consumption of more than 4 to 5 standard drinks in a one hour period, together with the wearing of ones "Wobbly Boots."

  During my time with the JWs, capacious drinking of alcohol (principally apple wine) was commonplace. By "capacious", I mean demolishing a whole 2.25 litre flagon of the stuff in one night. All the culprit had to do afterwards was claim that they "had not been drunk." Then, as long as the said booze-artist was not completely legless, or they were not doing it "too often", no action was ever taken against them. This culture of heavy drinking was so heavily steeped in to the congregations that one of the most capacious of all the capacious drinkers was also a very prominent elder.

  I do not in any way claim to be squeaky-clean here. Intorduced to drinking by the brother who "brought me into the lie into the truth", I was a very good student!

  Bill.
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  Perry

  Because there wouldn't hardly be any elders left.
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  LisaRose

  Excess alcohol use is not usually punished because it is hard to prove, and because many elders also drink, so they are not usually inclined to make it an issue. Same with gluttony, how do you prove it? You really cannot be obese without over eating, but it's not like they are around when you polish off that cake at 3:00 am. Smoking is easy, if you smoke, you are a smoker, end of story. It's very arbitrary.
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  return of parakeet

  " According to the Elders's manual, gluttony is NOT to be judged by a person's size, so mere observation of weight means nothing. "

  Then how do they judge it?

  If I'm seen taking one bite of my tiramisu in a restaurant, I'm still in Jehovah's good graces? But if I polish it off, I'm damned?
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  JWOP

  Parakeet --

  According to the Shepherd the Flock book (p.67, para.19), Gluttony is defined in this way:

  "A glutton routinely shows a lack of restraint, even gorging himself on food to the point of feeling very uncomfortable or becoming sick. Gluttony is determined, not by size, but by his attitude towards food."
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  ballistic

  Food - you need to eat to live.

  Alcohol is a form of food and has been consumed since the dawn of time.

  Smoking - it is just totally alien to life and kills you.

  Hell, even cows get drunk if you keep them in a field of falling apples.