Is it ethical to have children?

by joey jojo 18 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  joey jojo

  This was a news article recently in an Australian newspaper that caught my eye.

  The premise was that to have a child is to inflict an extra human being onto the world and also, to inflict the world (with all its problems) onto the child.

  There is a lot to say about this but from JW point of view, I have always believed it to be incredibly hypocritical that JW's have children in 'this system'.

  All my life at the meeting I heard how little time we have left, how sick the world is, how I was probably going to be persecuted and end up in a jail cell for being a JW. Why would anyone want to become parents in this situation, particularly if they are confident there is only 'a short time left'?

  All JW's talk about is how bad everything is- 'the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one. They are taught to be 'no part of the world'. Surely bringing children into a world like this is being completely and utterly irresponsible if you are a JW that TRULY believes the things you are saying to householders.

  To me, this is another reason to wonder if the average JW even knows what they believe. As has been said numerous times, most are asleep and are merely going through the motions set in place by their parents. They walk around on weekends saying things to 'worldly people' that clearly, they don't believe themselves. Having children in this world is a joy to Witnesses and that, to me is baffling.
  
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  venus

  You can compare this to loading into a cargo ship. There is nothing wrong in loading goods to a cargo ship. But when it has crossed all the limits and ship is about to sink--at this point it is wise to think whether one should continue to load.
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  pale.emperor

  I wish they would stop having kids. That way the JWs would die out within 100 years.
  
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  Drearyweather

  The premise was that to have a child is to inflict an extra human being onto the world and also, to inflict the world (with all its problems) onto the child.

  Strange. People on this board have been telling that the world is getting better. So I say that this is the right time in history to have kids.

  Why would anyone want to become parents in this situation, particularly if they are confident there is only 'a short time left'?

  Because, JW's believe that "a short time is left" for Satan and his wicked world, not JW's. Hence, if they have kids, they would go in the new world with them.

  Surely bringing children into a world like this is being completely and utterly irresponsible if you are a JW

  Telling someone that they should stop having kids because they believe that the world is bad is like telling me to stop eating food because I believe that obesity in the world is increasing. Or telling people to stop going out of their homes altogether because road accident deaths are increasing.
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  neat blue dog

  pale.emperor
  

  I wish they would stop having kids. That way the JWs would die out within 100 years.

  Exactly! That's where any "growth" is coming from. Our CO even admitted it at an assembly, 'Did you know that most people getting baptized are children?' Without them, it would screech to a halt, save for a few older and/or mentally ill people. Even most adults I know that 'came in to the truth' were exposed to JWs as a child, so not true converts.
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  neat blue dog

  As for the OP, yes, having kids is hypocritical, and JWs used to be harder on it. They have to allow these things to keep members, they can't completely sap the joy from life. Actually, ANYTHING 'normal' that JWs do can be hypocritical, like buying a house, insurance, a 401k, going to the movies/concert, it all belies that the end isn't literally 'just around the corner'. Even many die-hards must know this subconsciously.
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  OneEyedJoe

  Sam Harris did a podcast with David Benatar not too long ago where they talked a good bit on the topic of anti-natalism. I'm not particularly sure which way I swing, but I don't plan to have kids anyhow so I guess it doesn't matter much in my case.
  
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  Finkelstein

  I have always believed it to be incredibly hypocritical that JW's have children in 'this system'

  Yes but JWS are also delusional sociopaths, which makes JWS not good candidates to have children in the first place.

  At worse they indoctrinate their children with fear, anxiety, hate and ignorance.
  
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  blankspace

  Some of them have kids just to prove their "manliness" so that people don't think they're impotent. For others, getting kids let's them off the hook from pioneering...they can now live a marginally more "normal" life than childless couples who are constantly bombarded about doing more and more and more and more.
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  Finkelstein

  Most JWS today dont even know about how their once spiritual leader J Rutherford (1930's) admonished adult JWS to even having children since the end was so near, instead a better and more purposeful time would be pioneering and distributing the WTS literature to the public.