by RottenRiley 47 Replies latest jw experiences
To wash away guilt and depression thats being continuingly pushed at JWS.
Alcohol is approved and endorsed by the bible so its the one vice that JWS most usually indulge in.
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We ex-jws sometimes forget the pressure and guilt thats placed onto JWs to do more
and be more for the Watchtower publishing house.
I gotta go with the "cognitive dissonance" answer. The members that drink heavily typically feel that something isn't quite right at Watctower, but a little mind-numbing will make them more at ease about it.
My JW sister is a good example of being a abusing alcoholic, most likley that she's a lonely divorcée who cant find
a loving husband or partner because there not being a suitable JW male of her liking where she lives,
even being quite the looker herself.
Add that to the usual aspirations of guilt place onto most JWS and wallah.
Drinking can be done in secret. Secret sin.
Also they can justify it because wine is mentioned in the Bible....JC Drank snd also 'wine makes heart rejoice'. and we know they need a little rejojcing!
People who lack skills for self management and emotional regulation tend to turn to external props to cope. Your typical JW is externally "managed" turning to the organisation for "food" and to cope with the indigestion, to alcohol for drink. Sure, JWs may not be the biggest and most egregious soaks in their secular communities, but they're "up there".I've observed that New Zealand JWs tend to be binge drinkers; that is, capable of going for days without drinking but having a heavy night or two a week over-indulging to the point of "controlled" intoxication. There is a culture of tolerance for heavy drinking among the local Witnesses - my siblings included )which has always made my JW parents and me look odd because of out tee-total status).
If marijuana was discovered and used in biblical before wine, Jesus would have turned olive trees into
marijuana for the people to enjoy. ..... just a thought
No hangovers and alot more fun.
Now thats what I call a god to love and respect.
Raising people from the dead and getting people drunk.
Finkel- Jesus wore Hemp Huarache sandals...
If marijuana was discovered and used in biblical before wine, Jesus would have turned olive trees into
marijuana for the people to enjoy. ..... just a thought
There's actually an alternative theory that the ingredient "kaneh bosm" in the Holy Oil was cannabis. Jesus used the holy oil for healing. A practice that was forbidden by the Temple as only priests were allowed to administer the holy oil. There are also some ancient scrolls which some interpret to show Jesus puffing on a pipe. So you could say one of the reasons Jesus was given so much hell was he was a drug dealer. lol
http://patients4medicalmarijuana.wordpress.com/marijuana-info/marijuana-in-the-bible/jesus-cannabis/
Are you guys sure you are not using anectdotal evidence to prove a problem that may not be any greater than it is at the population at large? If we are going to use anecdotal evidence I would say that of the couple of hundreds of JW's that I know only one had a serious problem with alcohol, and that knowledge is actually based on rumor (may or may not be true). Sometimes I feel some people attacking JW's want to ascribe them all kinds of problems that are without basis. I don't see much evidence of alcoholism.
Plenty of the rank and file manage life very well without alcohol. Just yesterday I had a conversation with a relatively recent convert who is now a MS. In order to support his belief in God and trust in the Org. he used all kinds of fallacious and emotional arguments. Example, he said "I believe that we will have eternal life because just everyone one I have known doesn't want to die, God put that reluctance to die in our hearts for a reason" (I am not kidding). The man uses his faulty logic, instead of alcohol, to keep himself happy. He is truly a happy man. I believe that's the case of most JW's. I am sure there's few who need alcohol to cope with cognitive disonance, but I don't think they have a greater problem than other outside the confines of JW's world.
never a JW .....
If you were never a JWS how would you know, compared to people who have been associated with this
religion for many years and still have family in this religion ?
It would be intellectually dishonest to say there is rampent alcoholism in the body of JWS
but it is being honest in saying many JWs suffer from psychological problems such as depression
similar the rest of the general population.
