Soon, Beth and her husband would be in Jehovah’s Witness Hell. If she ever had any desire to join this church, it would soon be gone forever, after what would happen next.
Beth called me a few months later, crying; I could barely understand her. I really didn’t know what she needed or wanted. Maybe she needed a shoulder to cry on. I told her we could meet for a cup of coffee. I had no words for what she would reveal to me.
We met a few hours later at a busy restaurant. I wish you could have seen the look of bewilderment on this poor woman’s face. With tears in her eyes, she sat there. She told me about what had transpired over the last few months since we first talked on the phone.
She said her husband was baptized as he promised. Being re-baptized, he became a zealot once again in his old faith. He didn’t seem to be as interested in her now that he had rejoined his old family and friends. He was now spending less and less time with her, his pregnant wife.
Finally, the baby came. However, there were major complications at birth. It was life or death for the child unless the baby received a blood transfusion. Beth was, of course, in favor of this life-saving option. Her husband was definitely opposed to it.
There were many heated arguments about this. The Elders and his parents got involved. His family informed her husband that he could not waver. There was no way he could give in on this matter. It was more than just a matter of life and death; it was a matter of faith and service to god and obeying His rules about no blood transfusions.
Beth and her family fought her husband to the bitter end. She said he hated her and her stance against him and his faith. This drove a wedge between them even further.
There was no time left and a decision had to be made. For whatever reason, he hung his head in shame and told the doctors to go ahead and give the child a blood transfusion. The Elders found out he gave the order for the blood transfusion and were furious. They told him there would be grave repercussions because of his decision.
Two days later, the child died.
The Elders actually told her husband they were not surprised about the child’s death. In a sense, they implied this was a punishment directly from god Himself. This was because he had actually disobeyed god’s commandments on the issue of blood.
Her husband told the Elders he was wrong and blamed his worldly wife for the pressure she had put on him. He begged for Jehovah’s and the Elders for forgiveness.
There was nothing I could say to comfort Beth after that story.
Are they still together? I would doubt it.
If you are a Jehovah’s Witness reading this, there are two things I would wonder. First, did god kill the baby because it received a blood transfusion to drive home His point to the disobedient husband? No? Even though the Elders implied that?
Second, Beth will obviously never become a Jehovah’s Witness. Can you really blame her?
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