Sadly I was raised by a father that believed in "god" but never once attended any
church service, nor cracked open a Bible.
Even MORE sad is the fact that I was raised by a J.W. mother.
Now that I'm much, much, older I realize the poor woman was nutty as a fruit cake!
Dad was an alcoholic. Mother was a closet alcoholic that hid her disease behind dads and
behind the J.W. congregation who at that time chose to ignore alcoholism and pronounced
the disease as a "sin" unworthy of a J.W.
Eventually mothers hidden conduct was found out and instead of the "brothers"
offering her help and loving counseling they booted her out publicly.
Were you privy to her judicial hearing? Do you know if she was offered counsel? You post a lot of assumptions it seems to me...very lop sided ones.
Your family's alcohol abuse was a tragedy and sadly it seems you have inherited the family's drinking problem exacerbated by an unfortunate choice of career.
Yet for a Christian, drunkenness is still a sin...regardless of the cause. Treatments are available but they don't work until you know how to go back and heal the child or the adult who was scarred by the abuse. Strategies can then be implemented to help overcome the urge to drink.
We know what the "stinkin' thinkin'" is and how to avoid it. Did your mother ever get any professional help? The elders are not drug counselors. They are not qualified to treat mental health issues either. They leave that for the experts.
These days there is more understanding about the causes behind alcohol or drug abuse.
Jehovah has helped so many to clean up their lives. They rely on his spirit now instead of the one in the bottle.
Mother's drinking killed her.
It sounds more like your mother's mental illness was the main contributing factor in her demise.
Alcohol was merely the vehicle. From what you have described of her, she did not exactly have a Christian personality....and likely the victim of abuse herself. Jehovah knows what has made us who we are.
Its easy to call yourself whatever you like, but harder to live up to it. Religious labels are meaningless unless they help to alter bad personality traits and habits. That is when you see the difference between a relationship to an organization or church and a personal relationship with God.
Never mind that a J.W. man molested my sister when she was but 12 years old.
Actually no genuine Witness of Jehovah could molest a child or do harm to a fellow human in any way. We know that Jehovah is always watching, so nothing is hidden from his sight. (Hebrews 4:13)
The moment a person acts on an evil impulse, they have already come to Jehovah's attention.
We are all sinful by nature, but some have hidden inclinations that are not obvious to others. Pedophiles do not exactly have their inclinations tattooed across their forehead.
If they confess the wrong and own up, accepting discipline and repenting of the action, they will be forgiven.
God has empowered the Elders to act in a judicial capacity within the congregations. He will judge those outside. (1 Corinthians 5:9-13)
If no repentance is demonstrated, after many attempts to counsel the individual, then the wrongdoer will be disfellowshipped.
Once at a Sunday meeting the "elders" spotted a pack of smokes in a female
J.W. purse. Those fine men had a private meeting and booted her out publicly.
Smoking is drug abuse. Do you know for a fact that she was not counseled? No one can be disfellowshipped without a fair hearing.
No one who abuses drugs recreationally can be a Witness of Jehovah.
Again, I see your version of events and they sound very suspect to me....very devoid of any detail that might explain our reaction to them. And they obviously happened a very long time ago, yet you tell them as if they happened yesterday. It was a different world yesterday.
It seems like the stories you tell are purposely very one sided. I find them extremely biased in the telling. I don't believe them as you tell them. Half truths are worse than outright lies.
There are two sides to every story, but we never get to hear the other side.
I was raised in the country where us boys grew up hunting and fishing.
I had a Bible study with a J.W. when I was a young man.
The J.W. saw a hunting gun and was upset saying I should toss the thing in
the river or die with the rest of the world at Armageddon.
Really?
Yes, I have to say "really?" too. I know many of my brothers who live in country areas who hunt with rifles.
They shoot predators who threaten their flocks and herds.
They shoot feral animals to feed their dogs and have no intent to shoot any human....so I believe that this is just another distorted story from you.
Extremist views result in extremist actions.
Then there was uncle Mike (r.i.p.) who might have been the finest example
of a father, husband, AND spiritual adviser who I've ever known
and he was a J.W. and a darned fine hero to me.
His son, Mike Jr. is a J.W. and twice disfellowshiped but reinstated and now
a fine example of a true Christian.
So your family weren't a dead loss to Jehovah then......that is nice to know.
I know many like your uncle and his son....who have never been disfellowshipped.
But twice reinstated means that he 'produced the fruits that befit repentance'. Good on him!
Its really not about the sin, but rather what you do about sinning.
Oh, and I don't feel the Governing Body is any more "inspired" of "god"
than any other living human.
The GB have never claimed to be "inspired".....that is for scripture and the writings of the GB are not scripture. That is why we smile when people dig up old publications that are no longer relevant to our current understanding. That is like digging up old newspapers. Interesting to see where we were and how far we have progressed.
Jesus appointed the "faithful and discreet slave" to feed us our "food at the proper time". (Matthew 24:45)
They have done an awesome job and we love them. If Jesus didn't love them, he would not have appointed them.
Don't worry, if you are looking for excuses to stay out of the congregation, and not be told what to do by the GB, then God will let you find as many as you need.
