Attended Memorial Service, disgusted...

by Wasanelder Once 30 Replies latest jw experiences

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  Wasanelder Once

  Out of loyalty to a friend that died I went to his memorial service today. Get this, in 30 minutes of service his name was said 3 times. THREE TIMES. Sick jackasses. I couldn't believe it. It was astounding. I know he was a true believer and a hardnosed JW, but this was unreal. I have resolved not to go to any more memorial services held by JW's. It was the usual blather from the outline about core beliefs and not a damned word about the person. I wanted to vomit. The opening words were, "We're not here to eulogize _______." Well, he accomplished that goal alright. I could have just looked at any of the publications and stayed home. Better yet, just watched the animal planet, at least I knew the guy liked those shows and I would have thought more about him than I did in the Kingdom Hole.

  Hope you don't have the misfortune of attending one of these shams anytime soon.

  Put me on a boat and light it on fire when the time comes.

  W.Once
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  LeslieV

  I feel for you...all my family that have passed away lately have been JW's. My grandparents, uncle etc. I was so mad at all of them I could have spit. They never even talked about their lives, just the same old JW BS.

  Leslie
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  blondie

  It explains why so little is said about Jesus as a person at the "memorial" and instead they concentrate on why humans don't partake.
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  Gayle

  I & my brother went with our long time friend whose mother (JW) had died. Our friend's 6 daughters were not in JWdom except in their very young years.. they all cried & were angry that their grandmother was hardly mentioned! What an un-Christian, unloving event!
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  purplesofa

  I felt so bad last year at my brothers funeral. We did....well I tried to make as many people comfortable with the funeral arrangements as I could. An elder gave the memorial talk at the funeral home. My brother was not a witness but my mother is. All the rest of the family is Catholic and I dont know what his friends were.....but most IMO were Catholic.

  So I talked to the brother and asked him to keep all this in consideration. Fought a bit with my non JW sister with some things we were to leave out.

  I wish there was a count of how many scriptures this goon was asking everyone to look up. There were a few JW's there in support of my mom and you could hear them turning page after page. My mom was trying to keep up, my dead brother in front of us in a coffin. I put my hand over hers in such a way to say stop trying..........and just be. She did, holding her bible in her hand. I was busy with hugs and holding and handkerchiefs.

  Not much that is said or taught at this time will anyone be able to keep. It is a time to feel and mourn. I would never trust again a JW to keep their word. It's impossible.

  JW's don't mourn, they sweep the feelings under the carpet and live for a time waaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy in the future. Its not healthy.

  purps

  edited to add.........wasa.........Im sorry for your loss and terrible experiance with the funeral. I think from now on I will mourn in my own silent way, where ever I choose.
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  RULES & REGULATIONS

  Wasanelder Once

  I refuse to go to Memorial Sevices. The last one I attended was an Elders wife who died of cancer. THEY HAD NO WAKE FOR HER. She was cremated and only the immediate family attended. I went to the Memorial Service out of respect for the family.

  I drove over an hour to get to the Kingdom Hall. They had a picture of her by the front entrance.( Why couldn't they put her picture on the stage?) The talk was not about where she was born,what she did for a living,what she enjoyed doing,when she had kids and how she suffered in her last days. The talk was about how she was a pioneer and that we should learn from her. The thing that disgusted me was how the Elder looked out into the audience and started talking about how he sees faces that no longer attend the meetings. He went on and on about how they should all come back to the meetings. Well,after that,I will no longer attend the sales meetings.
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  Bonnie_Clyde

  I've been to many funerals that said little about the deceased, and I agree it's disgusting. In all fairness, I've been to a few lately that were much better. My mother died four years ago--I gave the speaker a four-page biography of her life and was pleased that he used so much of it in the first part of his discourse. Yes, he did go on to tell about her hope, but I was OK with that. Later heard a complaint that the speaker eulogized her too much. That upset me!
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  Bonnie_Clyde

  I've been to many funerals that said little about the deceased, and I agree it's disgusting. In all fairness, I've been to a few lately that were much better. My mother died four years ago--I gave the speaker a four-page biography of her life and was pleased that he used so much of it in the first part of his discourse. Yes, he did go on to tell about her hope, but I was OK with that. Later heard a complaint that the speaker eulogized her too much. That upset me!
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  Honesty

  The last one I went to was almost 10 years ago.

  They mentioned my father-in-law's name twice.

  I should have realised then that the Watchtower Society and its cult of JW's was a sham.
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  yaddayadda

  Strange. The two JW funeral services I went to in the last couple of years were quite balanced. They had a range of people getting up and giving experiences about the persons life, including one or two non-JW relatives, but there was also some preachy stuff. The focus was on the person with some stuff about the resurrection, etc, thrown it, because that was what the person believed and would have wanted everyone to hear. The preachy stuff certainly wasn't the main part of it. Seemed fair enough.
  
  Maybe it varies from region to region.
  
  Sorry to hear about your bad experience.