Another Suicide (page 3)

Very sad. The WTS doesn't help people at all, just makes people feel worse. We feel heavy in heart for their plight because we know the negativity and how incompassionate the leadership are as the heart of the leadership is short-circuited. Many are crying but they don't know how to sort it, as the WTS has taken too much away from them.

Billy, my sympathies.

frogonmytoe

So sorry to hear that Billy, and keeping count shows you care.

LisaRose

I am so sorry about your friend, it's never easy news to hear. It hurts to know they died over the teachings of a manipulative and evil organization.

I knew many dubs over the years who killed themselves, and I have come to believe that just being a Jehovah's Witness is, in itself, a risk factor for suicide. The crazy black and white thinking and extreme views are not mentally healthy. And I believe the WTBTS is invested in manipulating people so they will feel guilty, as it helps them maintain control.

My own child attempted twice while a teen. Fortunately, I was inactive at that point and I did not tell the elders and I made sure she got therapy. She is fine now, but I am pretty sure that if I had been a good dub and told the elders and not gotten the help she needed, she would not have made it. I heard from some old friends that a young man my daughter's age that we used to know, threw himself in front of a train at sixteen. I had lost touch with the family and didn't know what had happened to him, but I was told that the father was an uber strict dub, and they had no warning signs that he was going to do it. I was determined to do whatever it took to make sure it didn't happen with my child.

Apparently the God of the Jehovah's Witnesses requires human sacrifices.

gma-tired2

So Sorry Billy. My heart hurts for you. When someone feels desperate enough to take their own life it breaks all those around him hearts.

LongHairGal

Billytheex-B:

You have my condolences on the death of your friend. You mention that you know 8 JW men who have committed suicide. Wow.

This scares me to hear this. How could anyone say this group is not over-represented with such tragedies?

Oubliette

Wow, Billy! I'm sorry to hear about this. Please accept my condolences.

Certainly what this cult does to all of us is very traumatic, for some it is just too much.

There should be some way to hold the WT leaders criminally responsible.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Thanks for all the comments. This news has just reopened a tightly closed boxed with many different emotions flooding out.

BluePill2 really nailed some points.

"it reminds anyone of us that there are people who will feel sorry and pain for this. "

Every time I hear of a suicide, it reminds me of the first JW suicide I personally knew. I was in bethel attending a congregation of a very different culture than how I was raised. As sad and upset as I was by AJ's suicide, the funeral was beyond what I'd expected or ever seen before... or since. These people really knew how to express their grief. Tears poured from every eye in the place. In addition to the local congregation were a few from other congregations and many family and neighbors. The place was packed with mourners weeping, sobbing, clinging to one another, crying out his name and asking "why?". His mother fainted. The sight of his big, tough father crying like a child and hugging his other children so tightly... it's a sight that will never leave me. Tears are rolling from my own eyes as I recall the events. And we all know how the JW funeral talk is just a WT infomercial, but nobody was really paying much attention to the brother trying to follow that script. This was all very different than my culture and my JW training. It was all very real and honestly expressed at least some of the pain that all of us felt about this tragedy.

Attending AJ's funeral left a permanent mark on my brain. Forever after whenever I got deeply depressed and contemplated suicide, the memories of his funeral came flooding back. And then I'd cry. And then I'd get on with life because despite whatever emotional pain I was feeling, I couldn't endure the thought of causing others so much pain. Although I know that my family and friends would have stuck to the rather stoic script that goes with being JWs, I saw a vivid demonstration of how my friends and family would really feel.

Gayle: "The WTS doesn't help people at all, just makes people feel worse."
LisaRose: "just being a Jehovah's Witness is, in itself, a risk factor for suicide. The crazy black and white thinking and extreme views are not mentally healthy. And I believe the WTBTS is invested in manipulating people so they will feel guilty, as it helps them maintain control."

WT puts so much emphasis on perfection that it's unhealthy. For someone like AJ, he decided to end his life because he was convinced that he'd committed the "unforgivable sin". If he wasn't a JW, the incident would have just been embarrassing, certainly not criminal or anything serious. But all the crap that goes with being a JW convinced him that this was worth dying over, since he'd fallen from "perfection". And for me, the striving after perfection made for a life I didn't find worth living. I was supposedly doing everything right but I was exhausted and dissatisfied. Life was bland and everything I said or did was subject to scrutiny. "Perfection" came to mean a torturous, dull pain for me.

Watchtower-Free

This cult damages so many people .

Another Suicide

TotallyADD

Justnowout

Gayle