JW Lifestyle Encourages Bad Health?? (page 2)

Room 215

Latte,

You may well have a point. Althought the JW lifestyle, in common with most Bible-thumping fundies, rails against such harmful practices as drug and alcohol abuse as it praises moderation, and can cite many instances in which converstion has wrought considerable improvements in the converts' well-being, it's also true that they're loathe to tell the more idealistic members who knock themselves out by taking the incessant ``do more doo more"" rhetoric too seriously, to slow down sensibly or to be more balanced.

rocketman

As XB points out the routine of a jw is certainly a stressful one.

Piph

When I pioneered I would put in 6 hour days (from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.), sometimes 8 hour days (9-6). I was constantly being rushed by other pioneers who either didn't want to take breaks and were irritated by me taking the time to relax when I ate. When I eat, I like to enjoy myself. Nor do I like to stop eating to get up and do a call and go back to finish eating. I was also harrassed in the afternoons by some pioneers who thought it was unnecessary of me to eat lunch.

These weren't growing women, but c'mon...you can't go running around town for 6 hours in the heat or cold without taking a break or eating anything! They all thought I was lazy. I thought they were all insane. I mean, if I don't eat every few hours, I start getting woozy. My brain stops working, and I get really crabby. I have to eat. When I explained that to them, they would just laugh at me and shake their heads. (But I always made sure I got to eat.) I don't know how they did it.

Maverick

I had wondered about this, but for a totally different reason. I have known J-duds that neglected their health and their families health because " God's Kingdom" was right around the corner! They did not have or want to spend the money to fix the problems they had. God would do it for them. So why worry about it. Eat what you want, push yourself, just get by cause God will take care of all those things real soon! Children with crooked teeth or backbones don't need to see a Doctor or Dentist, the great Physican will take care of it for free. So people suffer their whole lives because of some WatchTower BS! And if you did take care of those things you could, it showed a lack of faith! Maverick

GotJesus

And not to mention poor job performance. I work with 4 JWs & we do three 12hr days a week. We start at 5 am & these people are basically just there in body only. I always hear about how late they got home from their meetings & watch them walk around like zombies. They dont do squat all day long but a couple of them find time to break out the yellow highlighter pens & mark up their little magazines for their next meeting or whatever, kinda funny.

Latte

Anglise

Rushing in from work with 15mins to eat, change and be out of the door twice a week, often with the added stress of an item! Then home late due to the encouragement" to not leave straight after the meeting but to stay and chat, so your propoer meal was often a take-away eaten just before bed.

The mental stress of having a "Bible (WTBTS) trained conscience".

Hey! You?ve lived my life! LOL This was so us! I felt throughout this rushed routine that I really can?t keep this up - especially when I had young children?.just couldn?t do it (sigh) However, I did see other mothers (well one actually) do everything - never missed a meeting, possibly coz? hubby was newly appointed elder (SIGH) I was told that this particular wife was DEPRESSED. Was I surprised??? NO

Stillexjwelder

And the WTBTS uses a few scriptures in the proverbs which has been backed up by medical science to show that poor mental health leads often to poor physical health -- so yes the JW lifestyle encourages bad health

LOL Yes the borg. Play on that don?t they?? Yet the speaker was probably seeing a psychologist at the time he was telling everyone how happy that all are!!

Xbhere,

All that you posted made me feel ill! All that you posted is clearly the reality of being an ?active? JW There really is very little time for oneself left is there?

If you have at least 1 kid under the age of say 12 then minus about 8-12 of the hours that you are awake to care for them.

The kiddies pay the price of all this ?activity? I really feel that it takes parents away from their children - they have to ride the backseat. Kingdom interests have to come first.

The W/A show pictures of happy families relaxing on holiday, how often were you able to do that? If we shot off for the day on a Sunday (if the weather was usually nice) we would feel guilty throughout the day and therefore not enjoy it half as much. We would hope not to bump into any witnesses on the way home, as we would have had to tell then that we had a great time missing the meeting!!! LOL

Country girl

I am of the opinion that the mind is very connected with the body, and is a vital part of the health of the body.

Absolutely!

Thanks for everyones comments!

shamus

I joined the dubs to find happiness in serving god.

All's what happened is they told me that we were not good enough 24/7. Remember the scripture that say "Maybe you will get into the kindumb of God"..

Let's harp on that for ages!

Whatever.

Yes, they are not good for one's health. First mental, then physical from the emotional drain.

And how could someone not be tired? Having kids, working full time, etc. etc. etc. I mean come on, give me a break. Then to make your meeting and be told that you are no good?

What a horrid unloving cult.

tinkerbell82

So would you say that you had enough sleep whilst you were an active dub’ ??

i rarely sleep. i'll go for weeks on 2-3 hrs per night max (and i'm a runner so i dont know how i have energy to spare) and i've always been this way. i wonder if being a JW causes chronic insomnia? :P

Dimples

Of course they keep you tired. They keep you so busy and sleep deprived so you wont have time for independent thinking. When I left I knew what rest really felt like.

Dimples

FlyingHighNow

My thoughts on WT org and its affects on health:

My family, especially me, all were plagued with health problems while in the org.

My exjw husband had to have a quadruple bypass at the age of 42. I mention health problems being one of the catlysts that caterpulted us right out of the org. in my profile. You just can't imagine the illnesses we all suffered in addition to the strepthroat I mentioned. I knew several families suffering similar plights. I knew lot of individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome and chemical sensativities. I knew lots of individuals as well as whole families that suffered from debilitating depression and anxiety.Ditto lots of people with obsessive compulsive problems. I saw lots of people with a warped need to control themselves and others to their detriment. I saw people with cancer and hepatitis C, etc. who were bullied into doing more, more, more. Then when they did so, they were held up as examples to beat those of us who couldn't keep, up either in health or ill health, over the head with.

If the org didn't affect your health then you are one of the lucky ones. I noticed only the very tough could do all the org wanted them to without it affecting their emotional or physical well being. I truly believe that the basic beliefs and philosophy of the governing body encourages a survival of the fittest ideology. The ideology causes people to become like the lyrics in the kingdom song: Proud hearts that know no pity for the meek. Only we could change that to: Proud hearts that know no pity for the weak, ill or suffering.

The human psyche and body do not handle stress well. Stress always affects you in some way. It might not show up until you drop dead of a heart attack at a young age: but it's there all the same.

By the way, I noticed my temper was much worse when I was in. I rarely lose my temper now. Only when someone tries to control me or treats me unfairly do I find myself having to calm down. Thank goodness, outside the org. this rarely happens.

My 2 cents or pence for the British friends here.

Love, Heather

JW Lifestyle Encourages Bad Health??

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