I was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness AMA

[ElloElloElloWhatsAllThisThen]

Fire away! I’m not the most knowledgeable but will try and answer all questions to the best of my ability

I haven't got a question as you seem to be pretty indoctrinated to me sorry @ElloElloElloWhatsAllThisThen
If you aren't willing to admit that JW's harass people on their doorstep - your GM may be the exception - then there's not much more to say.

Edited to say: Your GM presumably doesn't go alone either. Whenever JW's have knocked at my door, there's always one friendly, super pushy, persistent one, while the other just stands there and stares.

As I was never baptised, there are no ‘consequences’ for leaving. The colleague you mentioned seems like he was baptised, left and then was disfellowshipped because of it.

People do still get disfellowshipped. When you choose to get baptised, you agree to follow the Bible. So let’s say I got baptised and I had sex with someone who I’m not married too. You either get reproved or disfellowshipped.

If you’re truly remorseful for your actions, prayed for forgiveness and have told the elders yourself of the sin that’s been carried out. You’ll be reproved which means some responsibilities will be taken away from you temporarily. It may or may not be announced to the congregation that you’ve been reproved depending on what sin is committed however everyone can still speak with you like normal. Your responsibilities usually get reinstated within a short amount of time.

If you’re not remorseful for your actions then you’ll be disfellowshipped. This always gets announced to the congregation and it means that people can no longer speak to you. You also lose all responsibilities. You can still come to the meetings but it means that you can’t speak with anyone and you have to sit at the back of the congregation. Those that are disfellowshipped can always come back at any time and usually work with the elders to repair any damage that has been done.

I have a friend that left the religion and was disfellowshipped for 2/3 years (he eventually came back as most people do). During that time, he still spoke with his family here and there but they weren’t able to speak about any spiritual activities with him. Some families do this whereas some families don’t talk to the disfellowshipped member at all

Absolutely. I don’t see any reason not too, I just didn’t want to carry on with the religion. As I wasn’t baptised and left, I wasn’t disfellowshipped so there’s no consequences in place (see my previous response as that explains it a bit more)

I’m not indoctrinated at all. We clearly have a different understanding of what it means to be harassed as I’ve never been harassed when a JW comes to my door.

Last month, a JW knocked on my door and invited me to the memorial which is a yearly event to speak about Jesus’ death. I said, ‘no thank you,’ she said ‘no problem, have a good day,’ I said, ‘you too’ and that was it. I genuinely cannot see where the harassment is in that scenario. I feel more harassed by the same man that knocks on my door once every three months who asks me to dontate to GOSH. At least if I ask a JW to not knock on my door again, they don’t come back.

Two witnesses have to go on the ministry together as a safety measure. The reason why one person talks and the other stands back is because it can be quite overwhelming when two people are speaking to you at the same time. They may alternate who speaks everytime they knock on a different door. One person may be a new study and it’s their first experience on the ministry so they wouldn’t be the one to talk. There’s quite a few reasons actually.

You can always say, ‘Please don’t knock on my door again’ if you feel harassed. They’ll put a ‘no call’ on their ministry list so they know not to come to you again. If people still knock on your door which I doubt, you can write to the local Kingdom Hall and they’ll ensure that it’s been clearly communicated to not knock on your door

@ElloElloElloWhatsAllThisThen WTF??? I WISH I'd never met a member of your cult. How do you think I know so much about their modus operandi? I've been groomed by them under false pretences, and while I ended up blocking the couple concerned, another lady, who has dementia, was taken in by them and they basically run her life. I've had a JW repeatedly approach me and follow me down the street. I had one (although I think she was more persistent than most) rapping on my window and glaring at me THROUGH MY SITTING ROOM WINDOW when I didn't instantly answer the door. (Maybe she was being sponsored by a net curtain company, lol.) And it's deluded to pretend that JWs never return to an address where they have previously been given short shrift; if they never went were they weren't welcome, they would never crawl out from under their rocks at all.

I don't believe for one moment that you have really left the cult.

I can tell you categorically that when a blood transfusion is really needed, nothing else will do. it is false to say there are other viable options which are anywhere near as effective if someone is properly bleeding out or has already suffered significant blood loss.
cell salvage is not the best option and if the patient has already lost blood when they arrive, it is not an option at all.

also if the patient is a child/unable to consent due to not being conscious, doctors can apply for an emergency court order to give blood. in some cases, we will give blood against the parents wishes as it is in the best interests of the child/unconscious person.

"You can always say, ‘Please don’t knock on my door again’ if you feel harassed."

HAHAHAHA You really think that pretty much everybody in the world hasn't already done that??? It's like saying to a mugger " Oh please don't take my purse kind Sir, through no fault of yours I'm feeling a bit harassed".

Unbelievable.

@ElloElloElloWhatsAllThisThen since you are no longer practising, do you still believe in the rule about blood transfusions? do you feel in the community there is a move against this as it clearly puts individuals at risk and especially women giving birth?

What are JW views on other religions and indeed other schools of thought within Christianity? Specifically, can followers of other Christian doctrines or followers of other religions enter heaven?

You seemed to state upthread that heaven and paradise are different places, unless I've misunderstood? If they are different, how? What is each place in your religion and where does the distinction between the two come from?

Are JW ' allowed' to marry outside of the faith?

Is abortion 'allowed'?

What about contraception?

JW are not Christians though so your point makes no sense.

‘A member of my cult.’ What a strange thing to say. If you have personal negative experiences of JWs then what do you want from me? Do you expect me to apologise on behalf of a whole religion which has millions of believers? I don’t think so.

Every single person has free will. That means that their are some good JWs and some that aren’t so good. Just like everything else in this world. I’m sorry to hear you were groomed, that shouldn’t happen to anyone.

This will be my last response to you because I really didn’t post to fight with anyone. I was RAISED as a Jehovah’s Witnesses. I do not speak for nor represent ALL witnesses

I am a paediatrician who has over the years given a lot of blood products to children, including children of Jehovah’s Witnesses for whom we have received emergency court orders to do so. If I was a Jehovah’s Witness would I be allowed to give blood transfusions to non Jehovah’s witnesses? And am I viewed as bad/evil/sinful/whatever for giving blood to children who I am basically now no longer entitled to eternal life?

Why did you decide not to be baptised? Which were the practices and belief systems that you disagreed with?
What was your family's reaction when you decided not to be baptised and have they friend tried to persuade you to be baptised?
Do you have any siblings and if so are they JW

I don’t see a question anywhere in this post but I’ll respond anyway. There are obviously situations (especially emergencies) where someone has lost a considerable amount of blood and will either need a blood transfusion or nothing else. There are some situations (non emergencies) where a blood transfusion is the recommended thing to do but there are other ways around this.

It may not have a higher chance of success but there are usually other options that health care professionals may not recommend. It’s not always blood transfusion or die. I also know that a court order can give permission to health services for children to receive blood

Hi. I'd like to know about other acts of 'duty' like disrupting businesses. Are these sanctioned centrally or are there regional leadership groups who instruct or permit such missions? I'm thinking of a New Age/Wiccan/Pagan shop that repeatedly gets visits from protesting JWs. I was shocked when I heard of this; it seems miles away from the doorstepping/letter writing actions. Thanks.

This makes you practically the opposite of a JW. Most raised in 'the truth' would have been baptised by 15/16 at the latest. You aren't answering the questions like either a JW or ex-JW (I drifted, am baptised but not disfellowshipped). You do realise the way any congregation would view you? It's similar to me doing an AMA on being a teacher because I went to school.

This might be an odd one but here it goes!

I was also raised as a Jehovah’s Witness - I was told dinosaurs were sent by god to flatten the ground for humans to live on, and then killed by God once they'd served their purpose.

I kind of accepted that as Jehovah’s Witness teachings but recently thought about it and wondered if it was just my mum own personal thing that she came up with when I asked about dinosaurs.

So my question is were you told that too? Or anything about JWs and Dinos?!

This is one of the things that I understood the reasoning for, but never quite agreed with. I understood what the Bible says about blood and I can understand why some people take it so literally.

If I needed a blood transfusion right now to safe my life, I would 100% take it. Especially now that I have children. Even though I don’t go to any meetings and don’t consider myself religious, I still have a lot of friends who I grew up with who are JW.

One friend actually had a blood transfusion and didn’t tell her family. I remember when I was getting ready for the birth of my daughter, I said that I’ll take cell salvage but I didn’t want a transfusion. My midwife told me that loads of JWs do have transfusions and if I needed my mum to step out of the room so I could have one, they’d do it discreetly.

If definitely seems like something that is being challenged by witnesses whether they make it known or not

Wow this is the second AMA this week where some one has braved coming on to discuss aspects of the life they were raised in as a child to, possibly with the hope of dispelling myths and breaking down some barriers, for them to receive hostility.

Thank you @ElloElloElloWhatsAllThisThen for starting this thread and responding with such dignity.

To add when we have had JW knock on our door, they have been nothing but polite and respectful, same as when I have interacted with JW's in public.

My DD has a little boy in her class who is JW, but wanted to send him a Christmas card and was worried he felt left out. We reached out to mum who was delighted we wanted to send a "Winter" themed card to her son and he was touched to be included.

As OP said, maybe talk to a JW. All are human with many varying views and opinions.

My aunt is a JW. Her father in law, also a JW, and my grandfather, who wasn't one, had a row about dinosaurs once when I was a kid at a family party. JW FIL asserted that God planted the fossils there to trick us and "test our faith". This is (apparently) the JW standard line. Grandad lost his shit at this and was trying to explain how science worked.

JW’s (like most religions) believe that their religion is the only true religion. So there isn’t a belief that other people could make it to heaven if that makes sense.

I’ll give an example to try and answer your question. Many Christians believe that when they die, they go to heaven or hell. However, JW’s don’t believe in hell and the goal isn’t to get to heaven. Only some (144,000 which have been chosen) will make it to heaven. Heaven is where you’ll sit with Jesus Christ and the angels once if you’ve made it there.

The goal for most ordinary people is that you’ll make it to paradise. Paradise is what happens after armageddon. It’s when all unbelievers will die and the world will be perfect (like when Adam & Eve lived in a perfect world). I hope that makes sense.

JWs can marry outside of their religion however it is discouraged. I have 3 friends who are all siblings. There mum is baptised and married to a non JW (their dad). 2 of my friends are baptised but the third friend isn’t. The reason why marrying outside of the religion is discouraged is because there’s a belief that it can bring some conflict. I remember a girl in the congregation who had an abusive dad (non beliver). Her dad would always verbally abuse her and her mum if they left to go to a meeting. No one can stop a JW marrying someone who isn’t though. It’s the individuals choice.

Abortion isn’t something that is ‘accepted.’ That’s another thing I never agreed with. It’s considered a sin to have an abortion.

Good question regarding contraception. Anyone can use contraception but it depends on the reasoning. Say you’re married then you can use contraception. Say you’re unmarried and wanting to use contraception to practice safe sex. That wouldn’t be allowed because sex outside of marriage isn’t allowed. Say you’re using contraception because you have painful periods or something like that, that would be fine.

Really and truly, no one knows what anyone is doing. Someone can be baptised, using contraception and having sex outside of marriage. No one would know unless they spoke to an elder to inform them of their ‘sin.’ Otherwise it’s really just between them and God. Hope that all makes sense

yes I have experienced this multiple times in especially the context of expectant mums. where the patient wants life saving care but doesn't want family to know. I have also seen family members coming along to try to make sure that no blood transfusions are agreed to.

I’m not sure where you got that from but JWs are 100% Christian. There’s a few differences as they don’t believe in Hell don’t believe in The Holy Trinity. You’ll be able to find that information out on Google but they certainly are Christian hence why I made the comparison

Thanks OP, really interesting. I've never known anyone who is/was a JW, at least nobody close to me.

What is the view on homosexuality?

And gender reassignment?

Do JW celebrate any traditions/celebrations at all? As I think you said no to birthdays and even no to Christmas?

I used to have a lady working for me years ago who was a Jehovah's Witness. You would never have known unless it just came up in conversation. She never pushed her religion or tried to convert anyone but was always happy to talk about it or answer questions.
We had many conversations and the one that really struck me was the refusal blood transfusions. So we went through all of the different things that they could do instead.
I said the bottom line is, if your child will die without a blood transfusion, would you refuse it?she said yes. So I said you would let your child die? Her answer was it would never happen because social services and the courts would step in. We almost fell out over that one because I said that was the biggest hypocritical copout I've ever heard!
Do you think this is a common idea amongst Jehovah's Witnesses with children?