by badboy 27 Replies latest jw friends
OOps.........can't understand why I typed November in my reply........it was October that I had my accident!
And I agree with the comment on the 12 step program about a 90% failure rate. If you relapse...you are told by some of the diehards that "you weren't working the program"
HappyDad
OOps.........can't understand why I typed November in my reply........it was October that I had my accident!
And I agree with the comment on the 12 step program about a 90% failure rate. If you relapse...you are told by some of the diehards that "you weren't working the program"
HappyDad
Alcohol abuse was RAMPANT in one cong I was in. People got trashed at pretty much every "gathering". One time I arrived without any booze, and I ended up having to drive home with one eye closed as I was seeing too many roads. Nobody ever mentioned anything. This one elder's wife had a habit of getting wasted and then grabbing the bodies of us younger men. She liked to kiss too. We always had a blast in that cong. Too bad the religion was JWs.
Big problem in the congregations I've been, and even the one I attend now. BIG, BIG, BIG. Hispanics sure like their booze!
I have another story from the Hispanic congs. There was a bethelite that had just left bethel. He went to his friend's bachelor party. He got extremely drunk even around other brothers. He seemed like it something normal. In other words, he was doing it bethel. Now he's and elder and still drinks heavily.
well in vanderbuilt tanya a black girl that married a bethelite and moved home to north michigan where thair are 00000.1% black population. was an alcohalic, she wreaked several new cars that zac bought her, and car pool buddies would not ride with her as she reiked of booze in the morning. she some times passes me on the 30 mile drive to work as I sometimes work in the same town as her, she passes me at 80 plus mph. she usually wreaks her cars in the winter when the roads are bad.she surely has a lead foot and a ball bearing heel.
I informed the elder that I worked with several years ago, I had left the dubs but still worked with this elder. I was informed by a couple of car pool buddies of hers that they would not ride with her as she reaked of booze in the mornings, the elder went to zac and was told that there was no problem.Imagin that, A husband that over looked his wifes problem. Who would have known?
Yep, elders wives alcoholics. One would get grabby with the GIRLS when she tied one on. Hmmm, I wonder if she drinks so much cause she's gay in an organization that doesn't tolerate them... thought just occured to me. I wonder why I never thought of it before?
Other elders' wives who drink to excess and all the time. The 19 - 25 age group can't have a gathering without a platoon of booze. Funny, that. I've been to plenty of "worldly" parties, and though the booze was free-flowing, there didn't seem to be this undercurrent of having to get as drunk as humanly possible right now. Mostly we just get a little buzz on and that's good enough.
I would say that mostly there is just alcohol abuse in the congregation. I suspect that alcoholism occurs at a similar rate as in the rest of society. But JWs have a particular compulsion to go way overboard with alcohol given the opportunity. I suspect it's a result of rules vs. ethics/morals. JWs have so many rules, they never have to develop their own values and commonsense. So because alcohol is an "acceptable" vice, meaning no rules against it, they don't have the normal controls that normal people develop.
If they do get drunk, they tend to be of this variety. "I think I just drank too fast and had an empty stomach or something, one minute I was fine and the next I was intoxicated, I don't know what happened, it was an accident... blah blah." Speaking from experience... I never intended to get drunk at a witness party when I was in, and after I had a taste of the "world" I don't think I ever did again (get drunk at JW party that is,) cause I'd developed some controls by socializing with normal people. But when I was in, it was like this race to get a few down before it was all gone, or before everyone in the room was more intoxicated than I was... I'm not sure exactly. It was kind of a feeling of desperation and loneliness, and a desire to "fit in." Whatever it was, it didn't work.
I went to a party at one of my husband's co-workers a couple of weeks ago. Great party, not a dub in sight. Wine, beer, liquor, great food, cigars, friendly people. Actually I had only ever met a couple of these people, but it was a great party. No one got wasted, although no one was particularly restrained, and certainly no one looking over their shoulder to see if they would get caught for something. Great conversation, everything a party should be. And it struck me as we were leaving how normal everyone was. No one acted like they were getting away with something, or escaping something, because they were just normal people having a good time at a regular party.
I've missed out on a lot, but I'm making up for it...
O
My father was an elder for decades. On non-meeting nights he would drink a minimun of three Vodka and Coke. On meeting nights he waited until we returned home to booze it up. He had a small briefcase which was actually a small bar. It had spots for bottles, shakers, gasses, etc. He always took to the assemblies for the hotel as well as any traveling. I never saw him sloppy drunk until I was in my mid-twenties. My step-mother was just as bad. I remember when I was a kid, she complained because I drank too much milk. Though they always had a gallon of Vadka at the bar.
Bryan
I iis amazing now to me since I am no longer a JW that what really goes on in the WTS and JW's. I grew up feeling so guilty all the time and feeling that I was not serving Jehovah 100% because of the elders "guilt trip" on the congregation. I felt that I just did not measure up and that I would be destroyed by Jehovah at Armaggeddon. I look at the organization as well as other churches and religion(because I think that there is a common link with "all" religions) and now just shake my head in disbelief that I was so controlled by religion at all. Now I realize that many of the elders in my KH drank or were closet drunks. One elder in particular I remember I saw him at Sav Ons with 2 hugh Vodka bottles. I was shocked because his family ran that hall. Then it was announced that "Brother so and so has been reproved for conduct unbecoming of a Christian" and he was also "deleted" as an elder then I remembered just seeing him with those vodka bottles. I don't know if this was why he was "reproved" but he later died from liver damage. I truly believe he was a closet alcoholic. The org puts so much pressure on JW's it is no wonder some drink too-much. Fortunately I never used drugs or alcohol to self medicate myself just used knowlege (I love to read) to become more powerful. I am now "DA'ed" and feel free as a bird now. I am getting my college degree now at 38 years of age. But I feel so free now.
