JW Father Kills Self and 12-year-old Son (page 2)

shotgun

Why the F**K do people kill their kids when they take their own lives?

Lady Lee

I have to wonder how many times the wife went to the elders to ask for help and was told to be a better wife.

Or maybe she was too scared to go.

Shelters and counseling are not recommended options for JWs.

And we all know the pressures of the JWs life-style

Look good to the world and hide your dirty laundry.

I've been thinking for a while that hidden wife abuse will be the next big scandal to hit the JWs. How many of these murder-suicides will there have to be before someone recognizes this is a BIG problem?

Victorian sky

I live down the street from these people! I didn't know them, they must of been going to one of the 3 nearby KHs in the area. This is too sad for words. It had to be premeditated, how many JW's own guns? None I know of. There had to be signs before that lead to this. I wonder if his poor wife spoke up about his issues to him or the elders or if she was in typical JW denial mode. And to kill his boy, it pisses me off when people do that , if he wanted to die - fine but leave the kid alone. How will that poor woman survive this? - V Sky

LeslieV

I was responsible for running a domestic violence shelter for 10 years. In that time many JW's wives came forward to tell me of the abuse they were suffering from their believing and non-believing partners. Other then one woman, all returned to their abusers.

My heart goes out to this family...usually when there is police involvement it is not the first time abuse is happening. Unfortunately, most fundamental religions the victim does not come forward for help. With the JW religion they are told to stay in the relationship to win over the abuser, putting them in harms way. They are made to feel responsible for the abusers behavior, not only from the abuser who tells the victim it is their fault, but also from the "elders" that tell them to be a better wife etc.

This will continue to happen in our society until domestic violence is treated as what it is...which is a CRIME!!!!! "Sisters" are told not to bring reproach on God's name by calling the police, or leaving the abuser. Also "brothers" need not to be doing counseling when they have absolutely no training on domestic violence or sexual assault. This unfortunately is some of the aftermath of either not turning to a professional for help, or turning to untrained "elders" for counsel.

Leslie

suzi_creamcheez

I wonder if the man killed his son to get back at his wife -- taking the one thing she loves most.

I'm always glad to see JWs get bad publicity. Shocking news reports are always a wake up call. maybe this is what it takes for people to question their faith, or for the authorities to investigate.

If there is a god, he must be a sadist and total prick to allow things like this to happen. -suz

amac

This is a horrible incident and I can't imagine what goes through someone's head to take their child's life in addition to their own.

However, I've noticed a couple comments that JWs tell abused wives to go back to their husbands. I've no doubt this has happened many times, but I would attribute this to the upbringing and current culture of those elders that said it, not as a directive from the WT. As long as I can remember, physical abuse was the only thing outside of adultery that the WT ok'ed as a reason to leave your mate. Knowing the elders where I grew up, they would support a sister leaving her husband due to physical abuse. It seems to me this problem should be attributed to the world society in general and it's only recent acknowledgement of the serious dangers of domestic violence. There's still a lot of backwoods folks who have some catching up to do.

I'm always glad to see JWs get bad publicity. Shocking news reports are always a wake up call. maybe this is what it takes for people to question their faith, or for the authorities to investigate.

Again, I don't see how this reflects bad on JWs anymore than all the other murder-suicides reflects bad on the other religions involved. Perhaps all of them got bad advise from their religous leaders (not a small probability.) This does not mean the religion is responsible for the murder-suicide. And I'm not sure what the authorities could investigate. You certainly can't legislate that everyone should recommend are be required to get therapy, not in a free society at least. So there will always be some quacks who think wrong, or what the majority perceive as wrong. But that's one of the down sides to living in a free country, people are free to make bad decisions.

SixofNine

This is unbelievably sad.

Anyone lurking who read the post above:

I've no doubt this has happened many times, but I would attribute this to the upbringing and current culture of those elders that said it, not as a directive from the WT. As long as I can remember, physical abuse was the only thing outside of adultery that the WT ok'ed as a reason to leave your mate.

I was in the organization for 37 years, and I can tell you that this is not the attitude or directive I saw and heard as a witness. Women have long been encouraged to stay with men who get physical with them. What the WT has done is make it ok to leave under horrible conditions, but of course, no one really knows when "horrible" starts.

If I was slapped a couple of times by someone much bigger than me, I'd call it horrible, and knowing what I know now, I'd know that the person could be in danger of escalating.

I didn't learn "what I know now" from the WT. The WT minimizes and minimized physical and especially mental and verbal abuse.

So yeah, it's the culture in individual congregations, but it is ubiquitous, and it is from the top down. Amac's comments are not reflective of the reality.

(((tinkerbell))) I'm so sorry, I didn't know of that.

Joker10

What does these murders have to do with Jehovah's WItnesses? The man was an ass. And if I were to do a search on people who are a member of a chruch and who has killed others, i can guarantee I will find hundreds and even thousands before of newspaper and magazine articles before I find a murder-sucicide committed by a JW or at least an inactive W.

amac

Amac's comments are not reflective of the reality.

Maybe not reflective of the reality of where you are from, but it is reflective of the reality where I am from. Otherwise, how do you explain that I have been a JW for 29 years and have always understood that if a husband was abusive, the wife could (and should) leave him.

So yeah, it is in the individual culture of the congregation, and NOT necessarily ubiquitous. Unless of course I'm lying.

Besides this fact, domestic violence has been minimized by society as whole up through the 70's, so the JWs would have hardly had a stronghold on this way of thinking.

Stan Conroy

What does these murders have to do with Jehovah's WItnesses?

He was one. This is a JW related site. See the connection?

Stan

JW Father Kills Self and 12-year-old Son

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