Drinking

by peggy 20 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  fairchild

  I wanted to see and hear how the watchtower on alcohol was handled.

  Yes, I went to the WT study as well this morning. In the KH where I go, I thought it was handled very well. However, I know for a fact that some people in the KH drink too much. (More than the average person I know). I used to run a restaurant, and many people from the KH were regulars there, so I know about their (ab)use of alcohol.

  The article brought up the scripture in 2Cor. 7:1 which is usually used in regards to smoking. Although I hate myself for it, I am a smoker, but I don't think it is fair that people would use that scripture on me, while they go out on the weekends and drink too much.

  As for alcohol, it destroyed my whole family to the point where my siblings and myself spent half of our youth in orphanages. Later, my fiancee was killed in a car accident, he was too drunk to drive when his car hit that tree. My best friend is going through an ugly divorce, his wife has been an alcoholic for about 10 years, destroying his life and preventing their two beautiful children from having a normal childhood.

  I truly believe that alcohol has destroyed many more lives than smoking has. Let's not only consider drunk related fatal accidents, or drunk related fatal illnesses, but we should also consider the millions of innocent children of alcoholics, who see their childhood destroyed by the unfortunate drinking habits of their parents. And let us not forget the close family and friends of alcoholics, who often suffer tremendoulsy.

  If anything should be forbidden for a true Christian, it should be alcohol. Everyone hides behind the fact that Jesus had an alcoholic beverage now and then, so it should be okay. Fact is, that it is obviously NOT okay.

  Needless to say, I don't drink. Never have and never will.
• 

  mkr32208

  My dad is constantly trying to get me to go back to the hall yet today when I stopped by his house before the meeting my dad wasn't dressed to go! My mom was all dressed and then my dad started asking me to go play golf?... I was helping a friend wire his kitchen so I couldn't go but my dad certainly wasnt' "sick" so what was his excuse?

  My wife called me during the day and ask if my dad had gone to the meeting I said "I don't think so why" and she said "the watchtower was about drinking"... hmmm... So we (the "brother" that I was helping work on his house and I) had to run up to Lowe's which is right across from the hall and there was about HALF as many cars as there are normaly... I guess that WT hit a nerve!

  The brother that I'm helping used to be a ministerial servent... Well he was raised in the "truth" df'ed as a teenager out for 17-18 years came back and got all the way to MS then started fading and hasn't been to a meeting in probrably 6 or 7 years but goes to all the assemblies and memorial... He won't admit it might not be the truth... but he publicly hangs out with an apostate (not me I'm a closet apostate) but he won't even consider the option... makes me want to smack him!
• 

  GetBusyLiving27

  Hi Peggy,

  After reading your post I really felt I had to reply. Most of the time I just lurk around here and read other experiences, but I feel I can really relate to the situation you are in. I had some real problems with alcohol over the past few years. I don't think my doubts about the org. over that time was a coincidence either. I couldnt make what they were saying work in my mind and all of the guilty feelings for not 'doing enough' was driving me insane. The only escape I had and way to deal with it was alcohol. The religion was turning me into something that I wasn't. I disassociated myself a few months ago after doing a bunch of research on the society and reading 'Crisis of Conscience' by Ray Franz. I feel a lot better and I haven't been overdrinking at all. I don't know if it will be the same for you but I just thought I'd relate that and let you know that you arent alone.
• 

  peggy

  Thanks for sharing all of your own personal experiences.
• 

  blondie

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/83503/1.ashx

  Peggy, thanks for your comments. I did a review on this article above. Your comments confirm my own experiences and my family's in the WTS.

  Love, Blondie
• 

  peggy

  Blondie,

  I read with great interest your WT review. It is obvious you have your eyes WIDE open. You have a sharp mind, and a kind heart!

  Thank you,
• 

  Odrade

  Blondie, your url opens to a reply window.

  Excellent subject, btw. One that really hits home. I had a discussion with one of the "upperlings," about 6 years ago. He wanted to know why it was that so many kids were crashing and burning out of the org. I told him: alcohol. It was like he couldn't even hear it. He kept asking me what the "problem" was, as if I hadn't even answered the question. I know of far more alcoholic behavior among the JWs I knew than among my friends now (all "worldly.")

  Of course, to be perfectly fair, I don't tend to be friends with people anymore whose sole purpose for living is having a drink.

  O
• 

  Mary

  I went yesterday too...........it's one of the few WT articles I happen to agree with: too much drinking can ruin your health, your marriage and your life. There were some good Dubs sitting there who never raised their hands to answer at all, because they all are a bunch of borderline alcoholics very big "social drinkers". They seem to think that because they have social prominence in the congregation that there's a difference between their "social" drinking and having a serious drinking problem. My sister and her husband are perfect examples. He's an elder, she absolutely loves being socially prominent in the congregation yet they both drink A LOT. I figure on average, she has at least 4-6 drinks PER DAY and probably more on the weekends when they have all their friends over.

  The scary thing is, there's ones in their Hall that are even worse. Another elder just got told by his doctor that his liver isn't doing too good and that he HAS to cut the booze out or he's going to be dead within 5 years (by the way, this guy was the reader at the WT study yesterday). Another friend of theirs brought a 40 oz. of rye or scotch over to their place the other week, and between him and the other guy there, they drank the whole damn thing!! And then they drove home!!
• 

  blondie

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/83503/1.ashx

  Thanks (WT Review 1-16-05)
• 

  BrendaCloutier

  I could use a drink, well at least I fight it everyday.

  Peggy, sis, you can put the whip away. I want to drink often, even after 14+ years! Mostly when I'm in either extreme physical pain (I have a chronic pain syndrome, but sometimes it's just unbearable) or when I'm in mental or emotional pain. Afterall, alcohol works so well as a pain reliever/killer, doesn't it?

  First, once I say out loud to Kev, my spousal unit (who drinks) that I want to drink, or I want to get drunk (he responds very, very well and helpfully) the immediate need goes away. I suggest a phone list, and using that 10-ton phone. It gets easier to lift every time you use it. Don't have someone to call? Call the AA hotline. I'm serious here.

  One of the wisest things I heard in an AA meeting was:

  I don't have to drink if I don't want to.
  I don't even have to drink if I want to.Bottom line: I don't drink.

  Hugs

  Brenda
  Alcoholic and recoverying JW