Uncaring Attitude of the Society

by donny 24 Replies latest jw experiences

  • donny
    donny

    I just read the account of a an elderly lady who passed out in a Distict Convention in Canada today (06/20/08). It seems that as some of the attendees were trying to help by doing CPR, the "brother" on the platform a few feet away speaking did not even pause. When his talk ended a few minutes later and the lady was still being tended too, the platform folks just announced the next speaker as if nothing was happening. This account reminded me of similar acts I encountered while in the J.W.'s that showed they had no compassion. Back in the late 80's, I was at a Circuit Assembly that was held in an old movie theatre that the Witnesses had bought and converted into an Assembly Hall. In the afternoon program part of a light fixture near the front fell and struck a man sitting two rows from the front and while you heard some gasps from the audience and some of the "security" detail went to render aid, the brother speaking did not miss a beat and even spoke a little louder as if to direct the attention to him. I was really chapped about that situation.

    Later that year because I had to work a lot more hours to support my mother-in-law and her two daughters (my wifes much younger sisters) eho had moved into our home, I had to step down as a Ministerial Servant because I did not feel like I was living up to the requirements. Even though the elders tried to talk me out of it because I was always available to work wherever I was needed, I insisted that I had to step down as my conscience would not let me continue. Two weeks later when they read my steeping down notice, I expected them to say I was stepping down by choice so it would not infer I did it because of wrongdoing. Instead the presiding overseer got up and said "This notice is to inform the Farmers Branch congregation that Donny Reed has been deleted as a ministerial servant". It sounded so cold and uncaring that I did not attend meetings for several weeks. Unfortunately it would be another 4 years before I gained the sense to leave for good.

  • SixofNine
    SixofNine

    Welcome Donny. Any chance your wife's two sisters are around and single. :-D

    Lol, sorry for the bizarre welcome, but I know who you are so you know why I ask. But kidding aside... I'll send you a pm.

    On topic, your comment, and the other topic about the woman who fell ill at the DC, made me think of all the people fainting at political rallies around the country. This was happening a lot, at all the candidate's rallies, because people had been standing for a very long time. I noticed at one event how Obama handled it, he simply quieted down, told everyone what was going on, and stood in silence until the medics could get the person taken care of. I'm sure the other candidates handled it similarly.

    Quite a contrast with Jehovahs loving organization.

  • Gopher
    Gopher

    If I had 10 cents for every time they quoted the Scripture "By this, all will know you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves."

    Your examples illustrate that organizational efficiency ("keep the program on time!") is the important thing to those leading this organization.

    As for their announcement of your 'deletion' as servant, that's pretty much standard operating procedure. Since you didn't "obey" their instruction to stay on in spite of all your added personal burdens, it sounds they didn't like your attitude -- so they got an attitude with you.

    How good to be away from that petty uncaring atmosphere!

  • flipper
    flipper

    Welcome Donny- It truly is pathetic what happened at that convention ! One would think a little bit of human dignity would prevail in acknowledging what happened to this lady ! One can only hope that witnesses attending start questioning the lack of love among them, and come to see the real lack of caring in the organization ! Peace out, Mr. Flipper

  • Tired of the Hypocrisy
    Tired of the Hypocrisy

    I hope someone has it on video. I am sure if anything happened to her, it would be of good use to prove in court any negligence or unneccesary delay in getting her some treatment.

  • WTWizard
    WTWizard

    All they would have needed was to cut the remainder of the part, or cut another part, and it would have still been on time. And they could have tended to the crisis.

    Hopefully, this becomes widely known. It will embarrass the Washtowel Slaveholdery, and hopefully people will have a harder time getting people in. (Along with the pedophile embarrassment they had last fall.) That will hopefully cut down on the number of people that get in the cult in the first place, and get people discouraged and ready to walk out while they still have life ahead.

  • Casper
    Casper

    Welcome Donny....

    "This notice is to inform the Farmers Branch congregation that Donny Reed has been deleted as a ministerial servant". It sounded so cold and uncaring that I did not attend meetings for several weeks. Unfortunately it would be another 4 years before I gained the sense to leave for good.

    Do they not have any "Sense" at all....!!! They have to know that such a statement without explanation... is just fodder for the rumor mill........... Is it revenge...??

    So sorry they did that to you... I understand it took 4 years, But... YOU made it...

    Cas

  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat

    Well we all know how Lloyd Barry made his exit.* At least the governing body are treated in the same dispassionate manner as the rank and file when they meet their demise.

    There is something truly rotten about Jehovah's Witnesses when they act like this. I guess the reasoning is that the preaching of the good news is most important and must go and and these people will get resurrected. But it still feels mightily wrong on a human level. Another problem is that Witnesses are trained to follow instructions down to such minor details as whether to wear a T-shirt after the Convention and when you are aloud to clap in the Kingdom Hall. This does not serve Witnesses well for when they have to act impromptu. I don't think it is so much malice or cold-heartedness when brothers keep delivering talks in such circumstances. It's just that they don't know what else to do. There hasn't been a Kingdom Ministry question box on the subject. (At least I think - maybe there has and I don't know it!) They are stumped, or fearful they might be seen to do the wrong thing, so they just carry on. It is still pretty pathetic though whatever kind of excuse you make for it. We remain human beings after all, and some responses to such extreme circumstances should transcend training and ideology.

    *Just in case - Lloyd Barry died of a heart attack while delivering a talk, and a stand-in speaker delivered the rest of the talk as normal when he was taken away.

  • tfjw
    tfjw

    Sick sick sick! Just sick!

  • OnTheWayOut
    OnTheWayOut

    My JW training is trying to tell me that keeping the talk going is okay. It is used to
    try to keep the people from focusing on the situation at hand. But my heart knows
    better than to excuse it.

    Doing CPR in front of the whole crowd- impossible to ignore. The person on the platform
    could easily have asked everyone to stay at their seats and offer their own silent prayer
    for the victim. These are supposed to be God's people. Act like God hears your prayers
    and can help.

    For a fact, we don't know if they will include an announcement concerning that event and
    the victim's outcome- confidentiality would limit what they could say, but they could say
    something to show compassion. Odds are that they won't.

    The "announcement" of deletion is one of necessity to minimize lawsuits. They cannot
    differentiate a good reason from a bad one, even in your case. Listing good reasons for
    stepping aside or even just putting a positive spin on it, anytime there is no positive spin
    will mean that the person must have been involved in wrongdoing.

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