Are JWs the Ultimate Modern Suicide Cult?

by Gill 28 Replies latest watchtower medical

• 

  Gill

  JWs lives are regularly put on the line by their religious beliefs or by the rules made by the WTBTS.

  If they become sick or injured they cannot accept for themselves or their loved one a blood transfusion that may save their lives.

  If they live in an intolerant society, they may not purchase simple papers that could prevent them being tortured or murdered.

  They go regularly to the homes of strangers and speak to total strangers and risk life and limb. Some have died because of this very practice.

  So, are JWs the Ultimate Modern Suicide Cult?

  I can't think of any religion, other than the suicide bombers of Islam, that believe strongly in martyrdom, as the JWs do.

  How many JWs could be dying every day because of the WTBTS instructions?

  If you added them up in the year, it could be more than several large plane crashes. Seen singly, they go unnoticed and uncommented on by the world at large.

  I
• 

  AlmostAtheist

  Individuals could argue that they are unlikely to be affected by the blood policy, and that's probably true. They are even less likely to get killed in field service, or oppressed by their government. It happens, but a JW could blow it off with statistics.

  But if you consider a life unlived to be a kind of suicide (and I do) then they are certainly a suicide cult. 6 million people slaving away, taking only "necessary" recreation, crippling their futures with an insane education policy, limiting their ability to interact with fellow humans.

  Add to that those driven to suicide and/or murder by their shunning and doomsday policies.

  Lots of blood and wasted potential on the hands of the GB.

  Dave
• 

  Why Georgia

  What about Christian Scientists, Amish, and Mennonites? Couldn't you say the same about them? They often refuse life saving medical treatments because they wait on God.

  Aren't they suicide cults too?

  Chrystal
• 

  AlmostAtheist

  What about Christian Scientists, Amish, and Mennonites? Couldn't you say the same about them?

  You betcha! Anybody that seriously curtails their members ability to live this life gets the Associated Suicide Sects seal of approval.

  Dave
• 

  blondie

  I always thought of suicide cults as being a group of perfectly or fairly physically healthy people who decided death was better than life at any time in this world. Or like the heaven's gate people who thought death was a stepping-stone to a better existence.

  I have always wondered how many of Jim Jones group drank the "koolaid" willingly or at gunpoint or were physically forced.

  Even those here who believe in going to heaven after death, are in no big hurry to get there (unless in physical agony).

  Blondie
• 

  Gill

  Aren't JWs told that 'falling asleep in death is just nothing' as when they wake in the New System it will be as if they had just had a short sleep.

  If death, really is death, then they are fooled into accepting something that is avoidable in some circumstances ie, medical emergencys etc. They are PROMISED a resurrection by the WTBTS if they stay true to the WATCHTOWER LIES.
• 

  diamondblue1974

  If death, really is death, then they are fooled into accepting something that is avoidable in some circumstances ie, medical emergencys etc. They are PROMISED a resurrection by the WTBTS if they stay true to the WATCHTOWER LIES.

  Almost like suicide bombers are taught to believe their passing over to the next world will be instantaneous...how ironic!

  DB74
• 

  sammielee24

  They are PROMISED a resurrection by the WTBTS if they stay true to the WATCHTOWER LIES

  I believe that beyond blood, this sect is absolutely more inclined to follow orders from the top - even if those orders directed them to die - quite simply because of their fear not surviving at Armageddon. This society makes no apology for forcing termination of relationships between family/society and friends and it's members - even if this termination is equal to death in all of those ways be it medical or shunning etc. Many people here would have followed without question, the societies stance on blood even if it meant the death of themselves or their family members and many still in the organization will ignore the factual data now present - simply because the GB has brainwashed them into believing that they themselves are God. Who dare speak against God? Who dare disobey him? For this reason, I truly believe, that should the GB give orders to all of it's members to meet at a 'special' assembly with the direct purpose of death by reason of imminent world destruction, many would obey. The fear of disobeying God, of dying at Armeggedon would overtake the fear of suicide and in their minds they would simply be surviving not dying. Imagine if only 10% or 25% actually went through with it - the numbers of dead would be astronomical.
• 

  Gill

  That is a truly shocking thought, Sammielee24! It really makes me wonder how many people are dying around the world each day, never mind each year from the WTBTS blood policy.
• 

  Scully

  But if you consider a life unlived to be a kind of suicide (and I do) then they are certainly a suicide cult. 6 million people slaving away, taking only "necessary" recreation, crippling their futures with an insane education policy, limiting their ability to interact with fellow humans.

  I tend to agree with Dave here. I meant to respond to this earlier, but wanted to find a specific quote that came to mind when this was posted. It is from the book People of the Lie by M. Scott Peck, MD, with regard to defining evil:

  Evil is in opposition to life. It is that which opposes the life force. It has, in short, to do with killing. Specifically, it has to do with murder - namely, unnecessary killing, killing that is not required for biologic survival.

  Further on he continues:

  When I say that evil has to do with killing, I do not mean to restrict myself to corporeal murder. Evil is also that which kills spirit. There are various essential attributes of life - particularly human life - such as sentience, mobility, awareness, growth, autonomy, will. It is possible to kill or attempt to kill one of these attributes without actually destroying the body. Thus we may "break" a horse or even a child without harming a hair on its head. Erich Fromm was acutely sensitive to this fact when he broadened the definition of necrophilia to include the desire of certain people to control others - to make them controllable, to foster their dependency, to discourage their capacity to think for themselves, to diminish their unpredictability and originality, to keep them in line. Distinguishing it from a "biophilic" person, one who appreciates and fosters the variety of life forms and the uniqueness of the individual, he demonstrated a "necrophilic character type," whose aim it is to avoid the inconvenience of life by transforming others into obedient automatons, robbing them of their humanity. [Erich Fromm, The Heart of Man: Its Genius for Good and Evil (Harper & Row, 1964).]

  Evil, then, for the moment, is that force, residing either inside or outside human beings, that seeks to kill life or liveliness. And goodness is its opposite. Goodness is that which promotes life and liveliness.

  • Does the WTS desire to control others? (check)
  • Does the WTS wish to keep its followers controllable? (check)
  • Does the WTS foster dependency in its followers? (check)
  • Does the WTS discourage the individual's capacity to think for themselves? (check)
  • Does the WTS diminish individuals' unpredictability and originality? (check)
  • Does the WTS desire to keep its followers in line? (check)

  How many times have we heard experiences related here that depict individual JWs as obedient automatons, who lack common empathy and humanity and natural affection for others?

  When you consider the essentials of life - in terms of personal growth, autonomy and free will - that one must relinquish in order to remain a JW, then yes, absolutely, they are a suicide cult. They kill a person's potential, making them believe that what awaits them in the New System™ will more than compensate them for the sacrifices they make in the here and now while they give over their time and resources to the WTS.

  I believe this is just as heinous a loss of life as the thousands of JWs who have died prematurely due to lack of blood.