I'm starting this thread because Dedalus made such a good point in his post in the "What
did you do?" thread. I won't quote his whole post here, but here's the link:
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=4063&page=3&site=3
it's the tenth post down.
Dedalus was telling us about the behaviour of himself, and others, now as compared to when he
was still a Witness. He pointed out that he saw plenty of drunkenness, smoking, premarital sex,
etc. etc. in the org.
Of course, I have to agree with him.
One of my sisters is a recovering alchoholic. She started drinking at 14. Now that I think about it,
pretty close to the time when she got baptized!
She and a friend were groped at a wedding reception one time by a brother we didn't recognize
from another hall who was drunk. Imagine our surprise when we saw him on the platform at
our hall the next morning: he was the visiting speaker.
My ex and his father used to love to go to the bar on St. Patricks day and drink green beer,
get up on the stage and sing with the band. Would come home stinking drunk, my ex
would throw up and pass out and then claim the next morning that he had 'food poisoning'.
Remember, now, that my ex's dad was the P.O. while he was doing all of this. I never saw the man
without a drink in his hand, ever. He had a few other elder friends who were his drinking buddies.
They would sit around drinking, and once they were thoroughly tanked, start talking about
judicial committees they'd served on! UGH!
One time we were out at a restaurant for my in laws anniversary and my ex and his dad got so drunk
that I had to take the car keys. They were talking so loud and making such dirty jokes that people were
turning around and staring at us. If I had it to do over, I'd have walked out in the middle of the whole
scene.
Most of my ex's friends have cheated on their wives, many divorced. I know more depressed,
addicted, unfaithful people in the organization than I have met out of it.
As far as morals go, let me tell you, my husband's family is far closer to the standards
that JW's claim to have, and they don't attend a church or practice any specific religion.
Even my JW relatives have made that exact comment, with utter shock at the situation.
I visited his small New England home town last year and it was amazing, his parents, all of his friends
parents...married 25, 30 years and still happy. All their kids grew up to be successful adults,
Justin says that maybe one family in his town had a kid in trouble or divorced parents in the
whole time he was growing up.
So to those in the Borg who say that I must be living an immoral life, or I'd want to go back,
I say that I'd rather be where I am today than go back to where I was.
Dedalus, thanks for your post. Got me all fired up this morning and that's just what I need today :)
*hugs*
Essie
The Four Agreements:
Be Impeccable With Your Word
Don't Take Anything Personally
Don't Make Assumptions
Always Do Your Best