Would Your Family Stone You to Death?

by cofty 54 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Twitch

  I have no idea what other people would do in a hypothetical situation.
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  3rdgen

  Cofty, I think your S. Weinberg quote is spot on. My parents would have been selfish narcissits whether or not they belonged to a religion. However, being JWs gave them implied permission to be abusive to "further Kingdom interests". OTOH, I shudder to remember the time I prayed to "have the strength to refuse blood" for my little boy when we were in the ambulance. I am pretty sure I would have been "faithful". Remember that the JW belief is that to give your child blood would cost him (and me) everlasting life but to refuse blood would assure him a chance to live forever . It was always stressed that he could die despite receiving blood whereas he might live without it now and forever. FEAR drives the religious and causes it's adhearents (often good, sincere people) to do things that otherwise would NEVER come to mind.
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  sparrowdown

  I know a couple who proudly claimed they would be the ones to stone their disfellowshipped daughter in law.

  I think there are also many would join in the stoning once it got under way. Mob mentality is a scary thing in action, and even normally peaceable people are capable of violence when egged on by an angry mob.

  When they disfellowship it's like they have said "I leave you to the mercy of the angels of destruction" so the sentiment is the same as stoning.IMO.
• 

  sarahsmile

  Wew,I remember how awful the JWs turned against me! They gave me horrible looks when I was trying to get reinstated. They gowled at me like a dogs.

  Anyhow, yes they would have stoned me!

  I feel so sad reading everyone replies!
• 

  talesin

  I believe that some of my family may, if past experience is a predictor of future behaviour. ;)

  t
• 

  sparrowdown

  @sarahsmile- Yes it's quite frightening when their mask slips and you see the seething animosity underneath.

  When they are in the "love, love, love- happy-happy-joy-joy" mode it's hard to believe they could ever act like that.

  Like catching sight of what "Dorian Grey" really looks like.
• 

  villagegirl

  Cofty: You don't have to look in the Bible at all, or even in history to

  find families stoning their own children to death, It happened yesterday

  in Pakistan. 20 devout Muslims stoned their own child to death in public,

  right in front of the so called Supreme Court of Pakistan, where oddly,

  noone stopped them.

  http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/pakistani-woman-stoned-death-family-article-1.1806700
• 

  LisaRose

  I believe they would have, both my parents are deceased now. My mom struggled with shunning her children, but she did shun them. She once said it was a shame her grandson had another baby because "it will just die at Armageddon anyway". Most JWs have learned to override their own sense of right and wrong in favor of that of the Watchtower society. This is why cults are dangerous.
• 

  exwhyzee

  I'd have to say no, when it comes to the question of whether or not my family would stone me to death. But the question did make me think about the "Societies" track record for making directives and then changing them years later and how that pattern would play out with a directive regarding the "stoning" of disobedient ones.

  Back in the day when the old diehards were making up the doctrine, they'd probably have a convoluded explaination of what was and wasn't a stoning offense and who would be in charge of said stones. They'd research the stones of the bible lands and determine what they were made up of and what their typical size and weight would be. As a shrewd investment, they'd immediately locate and purchase a failing rock quarry in upstate New York ($$$). There would be an increase in gorey stoning illustrations in the literature and of experiences given on the assemby programs outling heartwarming stoning experiences.

  Decades later when their quarry was almost mined out, they'd decide that that stoning was a conscience matter and that stone fragments (also called gravel) could be substituted for real stones.
• 

  Oubliette

  villagegirl: Cofty: You don't have to look in the Bible at all, or even in history to find families stoning their own children to death, It happened yesterday in Pakistan.

  He knows. See this other thread he started 4 hours BEFORE this one:

  • "Honour" Killing in Pakistan

  I'm going to go out on a limb and hazard a guess that it was THAT topic that prompted him to start THIS one!