Hello all again! Sorry for the delay in replying! You guys all have me thinking really hard! Again, this is a good thing.
In no way didi ever intend to offend anyone, specifically Maralyn, I apologize for that. When I mentioned the whole disfellowshipping and being guilty, I was more referring to specific cases I know about, my own cousin was Dfed for drug use, she has since cleaned up and is back, thing is, during all that time, she had the support of her family, she lived at home, and her dad was an elder, she was an adult, but her family helped her get her life back together. Another more distant relative of mine was Dfed because he cheated on his wife, (his wife was a real bitch from what I know) and we in our family arenot unsympathetic, we still talk to him, we still regard him as family, we offer our help to himin his hard time.
Now, I cant comment on people who leave for differences of belief, you guys are my first experience ofit, here, if someone just drifts off, it is commonly understood that they just found different priorities in their lives. Now obviously some friends will have their friendship drift off along with them, because you cant really have contact with someone who isn’t seeing you as often. But their families would still bein contact.
In our cong, the secretary I mentioned before has a son and two grandchildren who aren’t witnesses, he left when he was about 20 or 21,and got married and raised a family, I have seen these family members all together happily, they carry on normal family relations where religious tension is simply put aside, they realize they don’t agree on whatever points, they realize they are all responsible before god, so, they can say “well, you have made your decision as an adult, so you must live with it all” whoever ends up being right will be right, whoever has ended up offending god will be responsible. Simple as that.
Again, this may be just the liberal attitude prevailing here, but I have heard from the platform many times about how to treat a Dfed family member, my feel of what was said is that you must treat them as family, love them as family, only if they try to bring others with them must you separate yourselves. Now I do sympathize with what you guys say about how you left because you couldn’t agree with someof the doctrine or practices, that isof course your right to do so. Why doi sympathize? Because you have lost (dueto whatever reasons) friends and family, I cant say who was wrong, them or you, as idont know either side.
Back to the Blood issue, it certainly is a heavy job to have to decide where to draw the line. My personal concience tells me that I could take the fractions, I could use blood recycling technology and the like, again, perhaps I am being liberal on this case, I also can see a day when this will be a moot point, I think blood transfusins as a practise isbecoming obsolete, with all the new techniques and all.
To the point of parents allowing their children to die, I muist say I agree, it is unthinkable. To me, a parent should sacrifice ANYTHING for their child, even if that includes living forever. If the CHILD makes the decision, assuming they are responsible age and all, then they are responsible.. yes, I agree that it is a terrible thing that children die. The blood thing is difficult, as I haven’t done much research into it, rest assured I WOULD if a family member needed it, or if I needed it, I wouldn’t just trust ANYONES word on either side, I would need to determine it all for myself.
To 6 of 9, I say this, I will obey the command to abstain from blood, I would not take a full blood transfusion to save my life. Why am i deicding this? Because I THINK about it, I decide for myself this course, not because someone write it in a magazine or syas it from a platform, I will take what they tell me, think about it, use itas a guide, but iwill not let them decide ANYTHING for me.
I have no intention of running away, I respect all of you for whatever stance you take, however, I think that you should respect me and other witnesses for our stance. Granted, not all witnesses deserve this respect, maybe even the majority of them, but don’t group the badin with the good.
To Red Horse Woman, believe it! I am aJW! So is our cong! Personally, I believe we are more theocratic than those who would allow the letter of law detract from the spirit. I was recently talking to a worldly friend of mine (yes I have those too!) he was telling me how when he wished a lady happy birthday she went on a rant how Bdays were wrong and blah blah blah she was a witness, obviously a hardliner. THAT kinda rigidity from conservative witnesses only causes to make us look like fanatical freaks, it serves nothing, so yes, I will thank someone for wishing me happy bday, I don’t like the “in your face” attitude of some witnesses “oh I cant go to that party, its immoral ya know?” well, to the worldly person, they don’t think its immoral, I definitely disagree with any witness who will push whatever conscience decision on other witnesses or others. If I decide to go sit in the hot tub with my gf, wheres the harm? Are we having sex? No. are we engaging in “loose conduct”? no. what business is it of anyone elses, they should look after themselves, unless I break a command, by watching certain TV shows or movies, or going on unchaperoned dates, or whatever, they have no place telling me what to do, I dont care who they are, they could be some puffed up pioneer, or an elder, unless I do something wrong, I am good.
So yes, if someone came up to me and said “you shouldn’t do that” or “a real Christian wouldn’t do that” I will say, show me what im doing wrong, the society’s publications are there to help us avoid problems. So yes, if any other cong was to tell me what I was doing is wrong, in fact I know that some would, a friend of mine who lives in Australia was saying that he got in trouble for going on an unchaperoned date. I would never stand for that. So yes, if they gave me any crap for doing nothing wrong, I would certainly question if I wanted to continue in that community.
Maybe i am being a narrow minded kid. Maybe I am not seeing beyond my view. I would change my view if some of the stories you guys talk about were true, if my experience with the org was as closed minded and ridiculous as your guys was, I would prolly not be as involved as I am, if at all. I would not be part of any org that limits my freedom because of something I MIGHT do.
That’s my rant… hope you all enjoy it!