Miscarriage myths amongst JW

Anony Mous

So I am having these discussions about children etc and there are Witness ties and family history in these discussions. I got the feeling having this discussion that they seemed to imply somehow it was ‘the parent’s fault’ for having a miscarriage. Whether it was domestic violence, or the mother did something wrong themselves.

I knew my grandmother would express that and back in the day, that was kind of implied as well, but I thought that was mostly in the past. We never got the support we needed from the ‘elders’ but I always kind of put it on - well, they’re not experienced or trained to do grief counseling. But then now I’m hearing the same arguments still from a ‘younger’ generation, implications that it was something we must have done wrong.

I am just disgusted by the idea that in this day and age, somehow your kids die before they are born, it is because you sin and not some unknown or medical condition.

Anyone else grow up with that idea or stories you know in the same vein?

road to nowhere

Don't discount the treatment often involves a d&c-choosing to sacrifice a non viable fetus or lose both

Anony Mous

Children, enemies (video on jw.org) from 25:00-25:30 you can see the governing body address children as enemies of God

Think about it - we're not born as friends of God.

Because we're born as sinful offsprings of Adam.

Actually if you think about it, we are born as enemies of god.

Sometimes you hear people say of a little baby, " look at that little angel".

But more accurate would be to say - "look at that little enemy of god."

KerryKing

But now science has realised that most spontaneous miscarriages are due to defective sperm, as sperm is made by the man's body on an ongoing basis and directly related to his health, stress levels, diet, exercise habits etc, whereas a woman's eggs are fully formed before her own birth.

Society and the religions that I know just survive purely on misogyny and brainwashing.

jhine

Kerry , that seems a very sweeping statement. I think that society in general now understands that there are medical reasons for miscarriages. Also my religious friends, male and female , are not misogynistic. I feel sad that your experience with religion has given you such a negative impression.

Jan from Tam

hoser

Years ago I’ve heard people say they lost their baby because of punishment for sins.

That’s what the bible teaches.

David and bath Sheba lost their child because they sinned against Jehovah.

I grew up in a backwoods, ignorant congregation so that’s how they rolled

Anony Mous

Forgot all about the Bathsheba story, or the story where the priest gives basically an abortion (magic potion) to people that are under suspicion of adultery and if you are an adulterer, you have a miscarriage, if not the child survives. These weren’t backwater witnesses though, this is educated, relatively middle class in the city.

But looking through some of the articles, I can see where people may get the impression:

Divorce, unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, loss of trust or respect—all of these may be the sad, unavoidable consequences of sin. Recall that even after forgiving David for his sins in connection with Bath-sheba and Uriah, Jehovah did not protect David from the disastrous consequences that followed - 2 Samuel 12:9-12

Note here that the extended story then basically says God killed the baby

And Jehovah struck the child whom U·riʹah’s wife had borne to David, and he became sick …
On the seventh day the child died

Or how about this gem:

In this particular case of David and Bath-sheba neither of them had a right to the child and so there was no injustice in their being deprived of it. Besides, as an uncircumcised, unnamed infant it had not as yet developed any personality pattern or consciousness so as to appreciate life.

hoser

Jehovah….the baby killer

I guess that’s why rubberface Lett hates babies

Diogenesister

n this particular case of David and Bath-sheba neither of them had a right to the child and so there was no injustice in their being deprived of it. Besides, as an uncircumcised, unnamed infant it had not as yet developed any personality pattern or consciousness so as to appreciate life.
Bloody hell! That is absolutely appalling. So it would follow that they clearly shouldn't have any issue with abortion at any stage of a baby's developement right up until birth since its not properly human yet, according to watchtower*. I just cant with these guy's on the GB and the writing commitee.....would that mean an unwanted child that had not even been given a name is worthless in God's eyes,too? What an utterly heartless thing to write I could cry

TonusOH

I think that this kind of view was based on providing an answer to the concern that a loving god would allow awful things to happen. But JWs already have an explanation for that, because they believe that Jehovah allows the world to go about its business in an imperfect state. Thus, bad things will happen because the world is in a state of independence from god, which Adam and Eve decided for us.

But I do recall some witnesses who would say that people who suffered bad experiences may have somehow 'asked for it.' It's a short-sighted view. If we heard about something like a fire at a kingdom hall, we'd just blame Satan for it. It was his world, after all.

Miscarriage myths amongst JW

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