JWs and 9-11. What was your reaction when it happened?

by kairos 40 Replies latest jw friends

  • AverageJoe1
    AverageJoe1

    I was shocked obviously and saddened but to me it was just another act of terrorism. In the UK we had been suffering terrorist attacks for decades from the IRA (supported by many Americans of Irish descent I might add) so it wasn’t as much a shock as it was to Americans.

    I remember thinking when I saw all the people being interviewed that finally they can now understand what we in the UK have been suffering for years.

    As for the JW aspect, there were a few pointing to it as if we may be near the end.

  • resolute Bandicoot
    resolute Bandicoot

    I learned everything that I needed to know about islam on that day.

  • redvip2000
    redvip2000
    Does anybody remember hearing that the watch Tower in Brooklyn lock the doors so that people could not get help on 911

    What does locking the doors have to do with calling 911? And yes I recall that they locked the doors. I think the intention was for protection.

    I'm pretty sure many hardcore JWs were salivating at the thought that the BIG - A was coming soon. How silly they look now.

    At that time i was still a JW, and I admit that the thought of the BIG-A really happening did cross my mind.

  • Sail Away
    Sail Away

    I was volunteering in the Special Education Resource Room at my son's high school. One poor teen with Autism was desperate to reach his mother in NY by cell phone. I did my best to reassure him. It took hours for him to get through, and she was fine, but it was a heartbreaking experience.

    When I got home I talked with my neighbors. I knew they worked in a law firm in Manhattan. The offices were destroyed, but no lives lost, as their firm was on a lower floor. They were quite shaken.

    I couldn't reconcile the glee of local JWs anticipating the outbreak of Armageddon when so many people were suffering. I watched only one news report with all the horrific scenes. It still took me 10 more years to wake up and leave the organization, but this was one of the many straws that broke the camel's back.

  • Mickey mouse
    Mickey mouse

    Disbelief. I was at work in the UK and didn't see a TV until I got home. But I had been to New York 18 months before and stood at the top of the trade centre. I didn't see how it was possible for the buildings to collapse.

    I went back a couple of years later and went to ground zero. I plan to go back up the new tower next year.

  • minimus
    minimus

    locking the doors in Bethel was supposed to be about protecting the Bethelites but as I recall, just like the ark door was shut so it was with those on that fateful September day. Witnesses were saying that in case this was the END no one was going to be allowed in Jehovah’s House

  • minimus
    minimus

    I remember that week at the meeting hearing some witnesses rejoice over the catastrophe. And I rebuked them for their joy right from the platform. There was nothing to be happy about.

    The worst thing is when you would hear that the only ones reportedly that had issues after the fact were Witnesses who were afraid to go to meetings and if something bad happened to them it was their fault because they weren’t receiving Jehovah’s protection with the confines of the congregation.

  • Beth Sarim
    Beth Sarim

    When 9-11 happened, I was very, very much PIMI. I regret the way I was back then. I thought the big A was 'any day' now. That was more important than anything. I really feel bad about that now.

  • truth_b_known
    truth_b_known

    It was a Tuesday if I recall. My wife and I had gotten up to go out in field service. I was between jobs and pioneering until my new job started in a month. We received a phone call from my mother-in-law who lives closer to the east coast ( we were on the west coast). She said we need to turn on the tv.

    I remember the meeting for field service was rather surreal. Our Presiding Overseer led the meeting for field service. He recommended we not make any presentations of literature, but rather we offer a scripture of comfort.

    Later that night he had our Book Study. It was held in the conductor's home. He had the news on which was following the attack. We watched the news right up until it was time to start the meeting.

    I don't recall ever thinking the attack was some sort of beginning of the great tribulation. I think part of the reason was a decade earlier we saw the first Gulf War start and my dad told our family that may have been a sign of the beginning of the great tribulation. It was not. It was just another war.

    The only things that have changed since then are 1) Presiding Overseers are now called Coordinator of the Body of Elders, 2) Book Studies are no longer on their own night or held in private homes, and 3) I learned 9 years later the truth about the Truth.

  • sparrowdown
    sparrowdown

    Shock horror deep pain for the victims as their plight unfolded, mesmerized, couldn't take my eyes off the telly.

    Then became fascinated with the crime itself how it happened, the logisics, jet fuel, steel melting, freefalling buildings etc etc and have remained intrigued by it ever since.

    I think the arnchair forensic research stuff was my way of coping with the unthinkable that if it could happen in the middle of NY it could happen anywhere.

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