Farewell to a friend.

dshields1

Dear Friends,

I wanted to take a moment to remember a friend. He was a Jehovah's Witness and was raised in the same insane environment that I was. He drifted out into the "world" after he got out of school. His name was Jonathan Smith. He had a wife, a daughter, and two stepchildren. No doubt he was toting around the same sack of guilt and self condemnation from the Watchtower that I did for so many years.

I wish that I had known what was going on with him. Perhaps I could have phoned him or sent him a letter or something. I found Jesus Christ on the first of this year and living in a different part of the country made me lose track of Jonathan and his family. I really wish I could have helped him to find Christ, but I didn't.

Jonathan Smith committed suicide on May 9, 2001 at home. He was twenty-six years old.

There are many more like Jonathan out there living lives of utter desperation just "waiting to die" because they still believe the error that they were taught as children. What they don't realize is that they and their loved ones have been the victims of a self-serving group of men who exercise mind control over their prey. Once the victims are able to see how they have been manipulated then they can usually get on with a positive lifestyle.

When I first started my ministry here in Arizona I wondered if there would be a need for an outreach ministry for victims of the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society. I have come to the realization that there is huge segment of hurting ex-Jehovah's Witnesses out there who really want and need our help.

May Jesus Christ bless each and every one of us in our goals to help those who have been traumatized emotionally, victimized needlessly, manipulated completely, and then, once they burn out, are tossed aside by the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society.

Doug Shields

Francois

And the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society isn't evil?

teejay

Doug,

My condolences to you for the loss of your friend, and to his wife and
family. Suicide is such a mystery to me. I've reached some pretty low
times in my own life when I came to better understand why it is that
people take their own life, but I still wonder how desperate one has
to feel to end it all.

Hope you can do something to help the survivors of the loss.

peace
todd

think41self

dshields1,

So sorry about your friend. Such a tragedy, such a waste. Yes, many are living lives of quiet desperation, and it is sad that they saw no escape. I hope you can take this tragedy and use it as something positive in your own life...your friend would want that.

think41self

Had Enough

Dear dshields1:

What depths of despair this young man must have felt to have wanted so desparately to end his pain.

I can only imagine how low he must have sunk to not see the effect this would have on his loved ones. We don't know the circumstances in his life so we can only put it in the perspective of what we feel.

I've felt that desparate at times to end the pain in my mind and my heart wanting to make it stop. The pictures of the faces of my children, my beautiful grandchild, my husband, and the rest of my family and my closest friends flash into my head. Knowing that they would be tormented with "why?" and "if only I'd done or said..." snap me out of it and make me give myself a lecture.

My heart goes out to his family in their desparate need for answers. I hope that they will find comfort for the torment their minds must be going through.

Had Enough

somebody

Doug,

My thoughts and prayers are for Jonathan and his family, and the friends such as yourself that he had, and left behind wondering why this had to happen. There are MILLIONS of people carring guilt put on them by the WBTS and you are right calling them victims. That is exactly what JWs are. That is why I can understand all the anger and frustration people feel once they see the truth. Unfortunately, Jonathan is among many who take their own lives out of desparation, because they see no other way out of the torment that goes along with guilt.

peace and God bless,
somebody

TR

dshields1,

I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. I wonder how many ex JW's kill themselves because they think they'll escape armageddon in a state of opposition to God, ala WTS.

TR

"cults suck"

Tallyman

Doug,

My condolences.

.

RedhorseWoman

So many of "the happiest people on Earth" are deeply depressed. They feel that they can never live up to "God's" standards, when, in reality, they just have trouble meeting the sales quotas imposed by a multi-billion-dollar corporation.

So many of "the happiest people on Earth" are driven to suicide, not only because they feel that they are failures, but also because their "shepherds" do not care about anything other than the bottom line....literature sales and statistics.

This is such a sad thing. ****HUGS**** I am so sorry for the loss of your friend.

bonnie38

Doug,
I am so sorry. You are right. Many exJWs need support. Sometimes it takes a long time to see that there is life outside that organization. I hope it helps to know that many are thinking of you and your friend.
Bonnie

Farewell to a friend.

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