by shamus100 27 Replies latest jw friends
How many here have had JW friends that can only have a good time when they drink? I've known plenty - ones with obvious drinking problems. Not necessarialy alcoholics, but ones that equate good times with drinking, and drinking alone. I'm wondering if I was the only one that witnessed this behavior.
Strange how when I left 'da truth' I pretty much quit drinking. It's a pity I'm so miserable. (sarcasm)
I know of NUMEROUS elders and m/s that were drinkers. Hell after working on construction sites, elders would crack a few bottles. Even after working on kingdom halls and other building projects they would hang out and get plenty plastared. My dad ( a secretary of the congo FOREVER) drove,showed up, and participated in meetings drunk.
There are many many drinkers in the org. Similar to you, my drinking dropped significantly after I left the borg. I no longer needed the crutch of alcohol to get through the day.
I've witnessed many binge drinkers - usually every weekend or every second weekend getting plastered, or close to it. I was usually one of them.
NewYork, it's nice not to have to drink to get through a weekend - I would not say that I had a drinking problem, because I don't ever crave alcohol now, and never want to get drunk. It's amazing how many dubs need that release on Friday night - nothing else to look forward to, really. Pathetic.
I rarely drink since leaving, like 2-3 times a year I get in the mood to have more than one drink. I drank very often when I was in...
I was shocked when I first learned just how much the witnesses drank...It really kinda rattled me...most of them seemed obsessed with it.
Newly baptized I was invited to a sister's house and there by her 'frig was bottle after bottle of different kinds of alcohol. I told her she could open up he own liquor store. At this time I had no idea they drank at all.
Later the sisters and I started going out every Friday night, and we always ended up having a "few" margaritas....
One time we all went to a huge event that takes place once a year in our area...a section was roped off just for witnesses... didn't want to mix with the worldlys too much, ya know.
Some of us walked to a liquor store and got the items to make "Rattle Snakes", went back and set up our own makeshift bar... we had them lined up waiting their turn for one....
The PO came up to us, and I thought, we're "busted" now... all he did was hand us a cup and said..."Make mine with a little less rattle and alot more snake...!!
What the rest of the community must have thought...!!! Since they knew who we were and could plainly see us.
I never drank so much in my life until I became a witness, I also have cut down to just a few times a year since leaving.
Cas
many of the witnesses I knew were "closet alcoholics" and whenever there was a get-together at their house, the booze flowed pretty freely !
Since they all had children, it is kind of ironic that all the kids are alcoholics themselves ( really big time binge drinkers)
Sometimes I wonder how the parents can look at themselves in the mirror, with drunk, no-moral kids and then still consider themselves
Gods people ??
if you really want to see for yourself, just go to myspace and type in amy sterne, or jonathan sterne, after looking at their picture you feel like you need to take a shower !!
Oh, and realize that the majority of people you see in the pics are the children of once upstanding JW's,
what a wonderful legacy these kids are leaving.
It's really thier only allowed vice. So go figure.
I went to the Saturday of the assembly last year. There was one part about booze where it was frowned upon if you drank frequently. They even gave an example of a party where the guests WANTED to get... BUZZED. Oh noes! They even went as far as bringing a breathalyzer to see who was drunk.
Personally, that sounds pretty responsible to me. Better than driving home in the cups. I was sitting in the back so I could see several nodding bobbleheads and tsk-tsk's over that comment.
I know a few. They drink and act like assholes then pretend they don't.
I remember drinking a lot as a witness. And most of the elders and ministerial servants I knew drank.
It wasnt a good weekend if I didnt drink a lot with the friends. We went to a lot of parties and there was always alcohol. Also if there was no parties, we would like to get together with small groups of friends and play cards or scrabble or some game and drink. It was fun back in the day.
I have fond memories of that aspect. But I could never go back. There was to much bullshxt to go through to get to the party.
I think it was something to grow out of, just for health reasons. If you drink every weekend all your life your going to get big and fat and have health problems.
Also if your drunk all weekend your going to end up getting a dui.
I pretty much gave up playing cards, scrabble, monopoly, sharades.
Drinking is not just a jw problem. There are AA's in every city in more than one location.
Many humans are naturally misserable and alchol is a way to self medicate.
When I was a witness I drank a 6 pack of beer a day. Plus I drank whiskey and wine.
It took me a while to figure out why I always caught the flu on the weekend. But the flu did help me miss some boring meetings and field circus, from time to time.
I remember building a bar in the basement and having all kinds of whiskey and a refrigerator full of beer.
Most of the witnesses I knew had bars in the basement.
Those were the good old days at least that part of it. But I had to grow up.
The alcohol probaly kept me trapped in the tower till I was 31 and escaped in 1983.
I should have quit in 76, when I was 24.
I'm Irish and 2 of my grandparents on each side died of alcohol related illnesses in their 50's.
I had to quit the troof just to stop drinking so I could live to be an old man. Especially since the Wac Tower proved to us their is no paradise and this life is all there is.
