I would like to relate with the first suicide that took place this year, this was more than seven months ago. This person was deeply distraught and was talking about killing themself. The conduct of this person started to escalate (deep depression with morbid thoughts.) they were no longer able to think in a rational manner and had become a danger to themself. The elders and co had spent the evening with this human being, and after asking them "Do you still feel like killing yourself? The mentally distressed person said, "well no, I guess not." One brother close to the situation had recommend a 5150 procedure, which would have involved calling the police. Calling the police would bring reproach on Jehovah's name, so it was decided not to take this route. There is no perfect solution in a situation like this one, so instead of calling the police, or having two elders stay with this person overnight, they decided all was OK. No police meant, no reproach on Jah, no reproach on the WTS, in their mind. This person killed themself that night and the elders and CO could not figure out what went wrong. How could this witness kill themself, they said they would not, even though they had all the signals of checking out of this World. This is story number one, I will share number two in another post on this thread, all the way down to number 4 who recently killed themself. So the moral of the story is, Don't put your life in the Elders Or the COs hands, they are clueless with any type of emotional, family or real life crisis. The other point is, "At least we did not put this man in a twenty four hour lockdown psychological ward, where doctors would find out he was a JW. Praise Jah for these men who hide you from the storms of life!
4 Suicides I Am Aware Of This Year, Why Elders, COs Are Not Competent To Handle These Matters. (Life Or Death, Your Choice!)
by AvocadoJake 36 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
troubled mind
I would also advise anyone still a JW and lurking here reading the forum ,to not trust your life or that of a loved one into the hands of the Elders . They are untrained men not prepared to give advice on medical and/or emotional problems .
Witnesses ,especially older ones start to believe these men are really something special because of the Watchtower propaganda . It just is not true. They don't know anymore than the average joe ,they do not have some closer link to God than anyone else .
The Elders and Co in the case stated above should be held accountable for this man's death .....They protray themselves as Shepards and guides yet did not even have the common sense to allow medical personel evaluate the situation ! I hope they lie awake at night feeling guilty and questioning their position over other human beings .
makes me ill . I also have been close to two people who commited suicide .In my opinion the screwed up beliefs of JWs were partially to blame for the depression these young people felt .Or at the very least exasperated the depression .
-
WTWizard
The hounders and hounder-hounders are not only not qualified to help, but they invariably make problems worse. Doing more in field circus is never the answer, particularly if someone is already doing more than they reasonably should be.
-
fade_away
The only answer the elders can give is "do more". More field service, more praying, more WT reading. This advice leaves the person feeling inadequate and a possible target to God's wrath at Armageddon. So of course, this depresses them even more to the point of suicide sometimes. Way to go elders.
-
Room 215
True, so true WT Wizard; the only thing these guys excel at is making a bad situation worse; in this case with tragic consequences.
-
Gayle
I know of a recent case of a sensitive JW girl went to college, doing quite exceptionally well as student, was well liked at the college and some internship. Her family and congregation were so negative to her, objecting to her going to college. No emotional support for her. I didn't know her, and don't know all circumstance. She jumped, had wrote "DNR." She didn't die immediately, but two days later.
Of course, JWs will deny their fault in any way and state, I'm sure, it was because she went to college, ways of the world, etc..
-
skeeter1
For the distressed followers and the elders that care for them.... All may believe that Jehovah's perfect, Jehovah's Organization is almost near perfect, and the police and worldly people are not perfect. Jehovah's perfection will cure the person, and to call the worldly authoritis is an admission that Jehovah and His Organizaiton are NOT the cure-all. This is a hard thing for the brainwashed elders and distressed follower to admit. So, the distressed follower takes his own life. And, the brainwashed elders wonder, "What happened?"
The truth is that the Watchtower is a pressure cooker of rules and phobias. Not the most mentally fit people join it, and once inside it... they snap. Only a few mentally distressed followers will wake up and realize that perhaps the Watchtower is part of their mental problems. But, the elders don't admit that the Watchtower is a cause. Why? The elders have benefitted, somewhat, from the Organzation, its rules, and its rigid structure. They have status, at least. With that comes self-esteem. Because elders have more invested & benefited, they are much less likely to see the Watchtower as insufficient to help the distressed follower.
Skeeter
-
truth_b_known
Suicidal thoughts are part of clinical depression, which is the number one mental illness in the world. As such, people suffering from this need to seek professional medical attention. If you broke your arm would you go to a janitor or a construction worker to have them treat it? No? Well then what help would elders be?
Witnesses won't call the police on members who are actively molesting children in the congregation. Why would they call the police to help save someone's life? The police have been made out to be villians by Jehovah's Witnesses in spite of the direct opposite being published in the pages of the Watchtower. I wonder if they ever read Romans 13:1-7. You know, the scripture the states that the police are God's ministers.
-
-
lilbluekitty
These stories always piss me off. I was once suicidal myself and didn't actually come out and say that I wanted to do it but my words and actions showed it anyway and NOBODY CARED. The elders just said to pray more and to go out in service. I was told that I was being presumptuous and self-centered for thinking about how much I hated my life. I never got any comfort from anyone and the magazine articles about it only made me feel worse and more guilty. I had cuts on my arms the day I got baptized and no one noticed or cared except my mom who slapped me as I was about to change into my bathing suit. Nice memories...anyway, they don't give a shit about suicidal people except that they "lacked faith" and "turned away from God" and "don't deserve to be resurrected."