Posts by LisaRose

149

why jw's commit suicide?

by notalone in

jw
friends

we all know the rate of suicide is high among jw's.

my question is this- was there some subliminal messages that encourage this.

i was a born in and my entire life i would have these thoughts that could come out of nowhere,"kill yourself.

I am sorry you feel that way NJ501. I was once in that situation, stuck in the religion, I saw no way out. There is life after leaving the JWs. You can make new friends, I have. I highly recommend meditation for depression, check out the guided meditations by The Honest Guys on YouTube.

Whether or not the JWs have a higher rate of suicide, it's a fact that many Jehovah's Witnesses do not find it to be a healthy or happy experience and suffer from depression, and many have taken their lives. It was my experience that as a whole the religion is not kind to those going through mental health issues. My own child attempted suicide twice, I had to think about whether or not I could or should disclose this to the elders. In what other religion could you be shunned for attempting suicide?

I have investigated other religions and found them to be much more welcoming and supportive

39

I need some help

by Akid48 in

well let me start with my age is 13 and i have been thinking about this jw thing and i need help i just dont know if i want to be one any more.. the help i need is some one to send me some links to places i can research i just dont know if i want to study with a jw any more..

LisaRose

You may have to keep things to yourself for now, it depends on your aunt and how hardcore she is. Just keep asking the questions you are asking, get all the knowledge you can. The religion can sometimes suck you in, they have a way of playing on emotions and playing the guilt card. Knowledge is power, learn about cult mind control and gain logical thinking skills, that will help you see through the nonsense.

Keep in mind that when I was your age the Awake magazine said that I had to face the fact that I would never have time for a career in this system of things. I am now 62, the system did not end in 1975 like everyone expected. They still say the same things to young people, don't believe them, go to college.

Howcultswork.com

27

Am I selfish?

by Jules Saturn in

tonight i had an argument with both my parents.

my parents are aware of my feelings towards the organization, and it saddens them because i am their first born son.

they had high expectations of me, my father dreamt of him and i serving together as elders.

LisaRose

I don't always agree with the choices my adult children make, but I love and respect them anyway and I wouldn't want them to live their lives in a way they found unacceptable simply to please me. It's sad that your parents can't love and appreciate you for who you are and respect your choices in life, but their mind has been warped by being in a cult, so it is what it is.

Live your life, you are not being selfish.

48

"You're going to die in Armageddon"

by Jules Saturn in

i'm sure i am not the only one to have heard this come out of the mouths of my loved ones.

it's a very painful thing to hear, especially when it comes from the people like your own parents/family.

even after i've been told that, they would say "we'll just continue life without you.

LisaRose

If someone said I was going to die at Armageddon, I would ask them why they believe an organization that has a 100% failure rate on predictions.

The reality is that I will die of old age (or disease, accident, etc.) just like everyone else since the beginning of time, just like my Jehovah's Witness parent did, even though they believed their whole life that they would live through Armageddon.

Belief does not make things so.

44

A WTF Moment While In the WTS

by Searching in

has anyone else had a moment, while still within the organization (and before learning ttatt) that caused them to stop and go, "this is kind of messed up.".

for instance, back i believe in the early 2000's, i was attending a dc with my family.

it was announced at the beginning of the convention that there was going to be a special announcement at the end, so for everyone to please try to remain until the very end of the meeting.

LisaRose

For me it was at a convention, Cow Palace, late 90's. They were trying to guilt people into doing more in the ministry. They said "are you regular in service? If not, why not? If you are regular in service, could you auxiliary pioneer? If not, why not? If you auxiliary pioneer, could you regular pioneer? If not, why not? If you are a regular pioneer, could you be a special pioneer? If not, why not?

All I could think was, what do they do to make special pioneers feel guilty? I had a BOGO ( Brilliant Glimpse Of the Obvious) that no matter how much you did, you would never, ever feel you had done enough, they didn't want that.

5

2017 San Diego Comic Con!

by HiddlesWife in

fyi (regarding those posters/readers who are interested): 2017 san diego comic con started last thursday, 7/20/17 and is ending today, sunday, 7/23/17.

here are the footage/highlights of it (i'm planning one of these days to attend it ):.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvu6dd59iya&t=93s.

LisaRose

My daughter went last year, she had a blast, scored tickets to the Star Trek movie premier, it was out doors with a full orchestra and fireworks. She was disapointed to not get get tickets this year.

39

Family of Jehovah's Witness who died after refusing blood transfusion can't keep suing doctors

by pale.emperor in

http://www.pennlive.com/news/2017/07/court_nixes_lawsuit_by_family.html.

the family of a jehovah's witness who died after repeatedly refusing blood transfusions can't sue the hospital where doctors begged for a chance to save her life, a state appeals court ruled.. the case, outlined in an opinion by superior court judge jacqueline o. shogan, involves a convergence of religion, medicine and the law.. its focus is on what happened before terri seels-davila, a jehovah's witness missionary, died after giving birth at hahnemann university hospital in philadelphia in november 2010.. seels-davila, who had been serving on mission with her husband in nicaragua, chose hahnemann because of its "bloodless medicine" program for patients who won't agree to having blood transfusions, including jehovah's witnesses, shogan noted.

the treatment plan for seels-davila called for recycling her own blood back into her system.. yet that proved to be inadequate when complications of her delivery required seels-davila to deliver by cesarean section.

LisaRose

Another entirely preventable death because the Watchtower refuses to admit thet were wrong to forbid blood transfusions. Very sad, but not the hospitals fault, they did the best they could given the circumstances.

31

Hello

by Jules Saturn in

hello, i've been lurking for quite some time here on this forum, reading a whole lot and i've finally made the courage to create an account as a form of escape and in hopes to be understood and not feel "mentally diseased".

little background on me, i am a born in but i consider myself a pimo (physically in mentally out).

i feel like i've always had doubts but these doubts would sink with the meetings and the assemblies and every other little thing that drowns any doubts a witness may have.

LisaRose

Welcome to the forum, I wish you well on your journey out of the organization. It will be hard at tines, but in the end you will be glad you chose to question your beliefs, knowledge is power.

50

Jehovah's people are not happy people

by Phoebe in

jw
friends

i finally stopped attending the meetings about 4 months go.

i won't be going back - ever.. but i've decided the best reply to the watchtower is to be happy and i do try to be happy every day even thought i wasted my entire life on this religion.

i cherish every day, practice mindfulness and do my best to be content with the life i have.. it is only now that i see that most jws i know are deeply unhappy people.

LisaRose

A lifetime of never feeling like you are good enough is not really a foundation for a happy life is it? Add in burdensome requirements for service, meetings, study and prayer, with little in the way of social support and it's no wonder people are depressed.

Enjoy your freedom.

149

why jw's commit suicide?

by notalone in

jw
friends

we all know the rate of suicide is high among jw's.

my question is this- was there some subliminal messages that encourage this.

i was a born in and my entire life i would have these thoughts that could come out of nowhere,"kill yourself.

LisaRose

Good points Steve. It makes sense to me that in general more religious people are less prone to suicide, because they usually represent a strong community of people with shared values, who are likely to provide a good support system, plus most religions have rules against suicide, those who do will not go to heaven, which provides motivation not to commit.

It doesn't work as well for Jehovah's Witnesses, because they tend to see anyone with problems as being "weak" in faith. There is a mindset that faithful meeting attendance, service, study and prayer should fix any problem, when it doesn't, that person tends to become isolated. People may express concern at first, but when time goes by and the person doesn't fall into line they tend to get ignored. If they then transgress in some way they will be disfellowshiped and lose all contact not only with the congregation, but any JW family. A disfellowshiped person is then even worse off than someone not in a relgion, as any support system they have is now completely gone.

Then you add the mindset that such people may believe that they are going to die soon at Armageddon anyway and they really have no reason not to kill themselves, if their mental pain is bad enough.

The JWs are often not aware of these suicides because the person has often not been associated for some time, or the true cause of death is not mentioned, but it doesn't mean their death was not a result of the religion, it just means the organization can claim it's very rare, and no one can prove otherwise.

I personally heard of at least ten in the time I was associated, plus a close family member that attempted twice.