Parents ripped apart by religious interpretation

by Ianone 23 Replies latest jw friends

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  MungoBaobab

  People have a right to believe what they want to believe. "Old men's ideas that have evolved over time to keep pace with governments" pretty much sums up the entirety of all religion everywhere, doesn't it? The girl was 17 years-old, well old enough to think for herself and make an informed decision. How old were you when you realized the JWs didn't have "the one true religion?" If the WTS's take on the use of blood is legalistic and impractical, so is the idea that maturity is magically bestowed upon a person at his or her 18th birthday. Consider this:

  He says his victory means he can bring forth more evidence about the crucial treatment decisions made in Bethany's case, her final days, and expose the fact that his daughter did not really accept she must not have transfusions.

  Basically, that's like saying she did have the right to decide on the transfusions, but only if she agreed to take them. Either her opinion has weight in the matter or it does not. Either she is a minor with no legal say in the matter or a mature human being with a right to her own body and beliefs. Is a 17 year-old's opinion only pertinent because the parents disagreed? If the parents were both against the transfusion, and the daughter wanted one, would the situation be different? If the parents both wanted her to have it done, and the child was against it, what then?

  I only vaguely remember hearing about the case as it was happening, so all I can really comment on is what is presented in this article. But a young girl lying on a bed having tubes filled with bodily fluids inserted inside of her body against her will evokes strong rape imagery. Of course the father wanted what was best for his daughter, but look what he put her through! And for what? She still died! If she had lived, if she was a few years younger, everything would be different.
• 

  AlanF

  You have no idea what you're talking about, MungoBaobab. You haven't even acknowledged that other posters pointed out factual errors in what you said.

  The fact is that Bethany, like almost all JW kids, was brainwashed. Brainwashed by a destructive cult and by a mother bent on enforcing the cult's death-dealing practices. It was the government that ordered the transfusions, and they knew perfectly well that the kid was brainwashed. Why do you think governments take over from stupid, cult-ridden parents in cases like this? Bethany went along quietly with the court-ordered proceedings until her ridiculous mother came in and ripped out the transfusion tubes and convinced her to fight. So who, really, is at fault for the problems? Lawrence, who did the right thing by opposing the Society's unscriptural and death-dealing policy, and did everything he could to keep her alive? Bethany, who was entirely brainwashed, first by the Society and then by her mother? Arliss, who committed an illegal act because she was brainwashed, and did what she could to let her daughter die? Or the Watchtower Society and its lawyers, who instigated and orchestrated the entire sordid affair? Or maybe the JW God, who is as insane as JW leaders are?

  AlanF
• 

  Mary

  What a sick, selfish man. He is the one that robbed his daughter of her dignity. Robbed her of a peaceful death. Violated her body with a medical treatment she didn't want. Shame on him........Maybe he thought he could bite the spiritual bullet by incuring God's wrath on himself, meanwhile sparing his daughter's life now and into the New System.

  Get lost you maggot, Mungo.....you haven't a CLUE what you're talking about. This girl did not make this "conscientious decision" on her own---she was brainwashed into believing that if she accepted a blood transfusion, Jehovah would condemn her to "the second death", meaning she'd never get a resurrection. People like you make me sick. You're a self-righteous, pious, judgemental moron who believe whatever crap Crooklyn dishes out.........get your head out of your ass and quit being such a Pharisee.
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  jgnat

  Can an adult be called informed, if they utterly believe every word that comes out of the Watchtower, and they have been told that IF THEY FOLLOW WATCHTOWER DIRECTIVES and refuse blood, not only will they remain spiritually pure, BUT THEY WILL LIVE due to the miracles of bloodless medicine?

  Is an adult decieved making an informed decision?
• 

  Simon

  Excuse me, MungoBaobab, but what a sad pathetic little asshole you are !
• 

  stillajwexelder

  Glad you said that and not me Simon - otherwise I would have had my account suspended - you said what I was thinking
• 

  Honesty

  The evil Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses legally can not literally slit the throats of people to offer them up to the Watch Tower god but they sure can instill enough fear and terror in their followers to cause them to offer themselves and their offspring up to this evil demonic god they worship by refusing an organ transplant (that's right blood is an organ, the WTBTS even acknowledges this medical certainty) in order to keep the sanctity of human life. Such a group of sick and demented men the world has not seen since the self righteous Pharisees of Jesus' day.
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  MungoBaobab

  Well, bottom line, I stand by what I said. The one at the center of this tragedy is Bethany, and if I'm a sad pathetic maggot of an asshole for thinking her wishes should have been respected, then anyone of you can judge me as harshly as you want.
• 

  Mary

  and if I'm a sad pathetic maggot of an asshole for thinking her wishes should have been respected, then anyone of you can judge me as harshly as you want.

  We just did, but there's plenty more where that came from if you again decide to bash a father for trying to save his daughter's life.......
• 

  jgnat

  Mungobaobob. I don't think anybody considered you a maggot for wanting Bethany's wishes respected. I think theses statement set people off:

  He is the one that robbed his daughter of her dignity. Robbed her of a peaceful death.

  How? She was surrounded by her mother and HLC members when she died. After her condition was deemed terminal, she was allowed to have any treatment she wanted. The treatment she chose did not include blood.

  Violated her body with a medical treatment she didn't want.

  And for the last time, Bethany's father did not order the blood transfusions, the Alberta Government as guardian did, at the very early stages of this disease. Also, Bethany did not feel violated until her mother made her feel so.

  What a sick, selfish man.

  Judgement call, based on what? A whole whack of assumptions not based on fact. Have you ever met the man? I have. He is a loving father sick with the pain of what he has lost.