As a JW: major personal blunders

by Hecce 10 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Hecce
    Hecce

    To make mistakes is human, to make mistakes dictated by faith is also human but foolish. I am pretty sure that as JWs we all have made decisions that later on we regretted, in some cases they have been minor and in others they had profound effect in our life; major items were like blood and education related. I am going to post one decision that was a major disaster for the person involved and if you know of something similar please contribute.

    In a Spanish speaking country where "machismo" was the norm and it was common for a man to have several mistresses, there was a sister married to a wealthy man and they had four children. They lived according to his wealthy status and he didn't opposed her spiritual activities, his only blemish was his "womanizing".

    A few of the busybody sister in the congregation started harping on the wife about his infidelity and the need to keep the marriage clean. The pressure was so much that they started to influence the sister way of thinking and her domestic situation was now very bad.

    It got to the point where she asked for a divorce and her husband agreed, it was completed and they decided to keep living in the same house under separate conditions. As was easy to foresee this arrangement didn't work too well and in no time she was in front of the elders confessing that she had relations with her ex. To make a long story short, she was DF and her husband refused to remarry; so they went back to living their prior normal life with the detail that now, she was no longer a wife but a concubine.

    After that experience she didn't pursue reinstatement, she got away from the "truth" and became just a DF person "living in sin". The woman was an excellent person but naive, the sisters that influenced her were some of the most prominent in the congregation but in reality they were "snakes".

    A true experience without a happy ending.

    Thanks for reading

  • freddo
    freddo
    Not sure there could have been any happy ending in that situation.
  • Hecce
    Hecce
    freddo

    Yes and the "snakes" went about their business like "nothing to see here".
  • Bardamu
    Bardamu
    well at least she got out
  • steve2
    steve2
    Well, it led to her getting out of the religion - and, let's face it, if "sisters" could talk her into making a stand, she's got to learn some self-assertion.
  • SafeAtHome
    SafeAtHome
    At least the congregation probably lost the generous contributions this woman would have given.
  • Hecce
    Hecce
    SafeAtHome

    Very truth, she was the wealthiest person in the congregation.
    The time period in question predates 1975 and that time this was a major disaster for her, in reality it was a blessing for herself and the children that were able to escape from the "truth".

  • Hecce
    Hecce

    For me: my biggest blunder was related to my children education, I was not against higher education but since there was so little time it was a waste; so I made no efforts for them to improve themselves.

    Luckily enough they were not drinking the "kool aid" and pursued careers on their own. They have been very successful and we have a very good relationship.

  • bafh
    bafh

    That is one of the biggest problems with the insular nature of the congregations - no personal boundaries. The most "spiritual" people think it well within their rights to provide all sorts of unsolicited and uneducated advice under the guise of "keeping the congregation clean" or "helping" someone who is otherwise viewed as "weak".

    I am sure that if I ever lost my mind and went back, I'd get into all sorts of trouble for ignoring the advice or otherwise telling people to mind their own business.

    Glad I don't have to worry about it.

  • Hecce
    Hecce
    bafh
    Quite right, if I remember correctly this sad affair was triggered by some Watchtower article that some people took to the extreme; as usual they were making decisions for others, they were not affected personally by the results.

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