alcoholism a clear and present danger for JWs and XJWs?

by quietlyleaving 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Magwitch

  " Elders have NO training for dealing with the problem AND the organization seems generally opposed to psychiatric help and Alcoholics Anonymous. Some elders are more than just generally opposed to these things. Telling an alcoholic to go out in field service more is not going to help his or her problem." This says it all...once the drinking is a problem, there is no place to go but to the closet.
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  Butterflyleia85

  and to answer the question posted... yes I feel it is a present danger for JW and especially exJW but really it is also among everyone else...

  It is not a sin according to JW so alot of newly exJW abuse this thinking well I wont get drunk I'll just get a good buzz...

  As far as it being clear danger... alot of new articles I recall on abusing alcohol and I also recall alot of JW not even drinking alcohol. Hence why I had to get away from my small town to party in a big city where JWs were more excepting of going out and drinking.

  My elders were very evil and mean to my mom and me about drinking... and I think this sturred my rebelion and then later my abuse... I learned that only I have the power not the elders and not the rules they put but for self respect and being responciable. Going from one extreme to the other does not solve a thing... it's the ablity to take control of your actions and not judge others... my fiance drinks, I personally don't drink as much as him. He doesn't show signs of abuse and he doesn't harm himself or others. He does have some form of alcohol a day.

  Is this an alcoholic... I personally don't feel this way... So maybe the question is what does JW consider an alcoholic, what view (JW or none) was this coming from? Then asking this, is it a danger... maybe it is to JWs... is it abused yeah but it's abused also with nonJW too I feel.
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  tjlibre

  I know so many elders, MS, etc....who have drinking problems or are alcoholics. The majority of them kept all priviliges and rarely received anything more than a slap on the wrist.

  It seems almost acceptable to be a heavy drinker in some JW communities. At least in my area, heavy drinking amount male JW is common, popular and some times even encouraged…but in my 10+ years of association, alcohol abuse has never been a problem to be addressed in a “local needs” talk.
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  quietlyleaving

  lots of good stuff here I want to comment on but have to finish an essay. I'll be back...
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  quietlyleaving

  finished the essay, sent it off and feel on top of the world with the freedom I now have.

  I definitey agree that acolohism creeps up on one and it can be that one only recognises that it is problem when it is much harder to climb out of.

  So I use the term alcoholism more loosely to include when one is going into it (for self help purposes). The culture of drinking that Farkel mentioned is a huge factor both within the organisation and outside of it. I know that this was so at Bethel amongst some Bethelites. But of course many at Bethel hardly drank at all.

  I guess I'm particularly concerned about those who are in a no man's land both within the organisation and outside of it. And probably "acoholic" elders would also fit into this category. So how does one avoid destroying oneself?

  Would having a structure that one has created for oneself help? In the organisation (or any strickly scheduled place for that matter) one has a very limiting structure imposed on one. On the other hand the lack of any structure can send one reaching for the bottle more than one wants. So would a flexible structure one makes for oneself be the answer?

  edit: avatar is so me - thanks simon
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  metatron

  It's anecdote time: Somebody rightly concluded that lots of drinking went on at Bethel when they noticed that nearly every window attached to a private room had a wine/liquor bottle setting in it (before they got air conditioners).

  Pretty much everybody drank and even Knorr got happy around Gilead graduation time, along with the rest of the "family". But getting obviously drunk could get you booted out and sent home.

  Knorr once got into a big rant because some guys in the Painting Dept (I think) got wasted. One of their number passed out and the other guys dressed him up in work clothes and hid him in a hopper. Knorr was all angry because this was conspiring to conceal sin.

  Every few years, the Society puts out a push to get people off the bottle. So, there's an assembly part or Wt. article asking if you go without for a couple weeks without withdrawal or some stuff like that.

  There's a cultural difference here, too. Going out with brothers to a bar is a big no-no in most of the US I'm familiar with but if you're a British or Irish Witness, they think nothing of it. Some imported brothers here have complained about this lack of pub life in the US organization.

  metatron
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  homejah

  I remember reading about Sweden where the young JW's have parties after the assembly is over. Is this still true?