Another ex-JW Suicide

[Jack Ryan]

 

[Shirley Lowery]

This is just my personal opinion, but why would you post something that shows she's definitely is an apostate! You can see even the see the T-shirt she wearing you can see jw.org and the letters  KULT on there! She is talking about us, Jehovah's Witnesses, and his loving World Wide organization, shunning certain things,  and just because Ash, her friend didn't go back to serving Jehovah like his parents did, she's blaming Jehovah, for him committing suicide!  Ash, made that personal choice to stop serving Jehovah! His parents wanted him to go back to Jehovah! I, myself raised all three of my grown children in the truth! They made their own choices not to serve Jehovah! I pray that they decide to return to Jehovah before it's too late! She wants everyone to feel sorry for Ash, that's why she posted this apostate video! Ash, committed suicide because he had his personal reasons, and I'm sure it wasn't being pressured by his parents to return to Jehovah! I didn't even finish watching this video, and her mocking Jehovah, and our World Wide Brotherhood,  because Jehovah wouldn't even want us to watch this apostate video! I admit, I was curious and wanted to see what she had to say!  Satan, wants us to be tempted to watch videos like these, because he hates Jehovah, and hates us! Were over 8 million and growing ever stronger everyday! Satan's old system of things is passing away, and he knows he has only a short time left, we are deep in the last days, as the Governing Body tells us! I would like to know what everybody who reads my reply to this apostate video, what do you personally think about my personal reply!

[JW Insider]

I didn't watch the video. I might have but for some reason the sound wasn't very loud and I was in a noisy place. I just wanted to say that I thought that it was good that you expressed your opinion about it. Jack Ryan is not a JW and I assume he put it here for JWs to discuss. It might have been to try to embarrass JWs and/or it might have been to get JWs to think about policies that might be dangerous. I am getting a sense (after hearing about a recent rally of ex-JWs) that perhaps the suicide rate for ex-JWs really is much higher than the normal population, and it doesn't really surprise me that much. It also doesn't surprise me that the suicide rate for ex-soldiers is very high, but for different reasons.

[Evacuated]

2 hours ago, JW Insider said:

the suicide rate for ex-JWs

Higher than for ex-apostles? 

[JW Insider]

3 hours ago, Gone Away said:

Higher than for ex-apostles? 

touché

[Shirley Lowery]

Yes, every other day in the news, we hear about famous people, and not so famous people,  committing  suicide, there's a reason why people who don't serve Jehovah resort to doing away with their lives! In my family, my Uncle Henry owned a small refrigeration business in Sinton, Texas! Something happened, he had gotten himself into lots of debt,  and he asked his children for help, but they ignored him, so they found him dead in his shop! He didn't feel life was worth living and being in so much debt, he probably felt there was no other way out, so he hung himself,  this happened  in 1988,  My Aunt Marie died from a broken heart, a year later, in 1989,  she passed away! I also had another Uncle hang himself, I really never knew the reasons why! One of my former high school classmates, a few years ago, committed suicide! Only Jehovah knows why everyone gives up on their life, we don't! In regards to Ash, why he committed suicide, we may never know, only Jehovah knows! I've also heard that Jack Ryan is an apostate, I don't know personally if it's true or not! But, he shouldn't be posting subjects like this on here in my opinion! My hope is to see my Aunt and Uncle and all my loved ones when they're resurrected as Jehovah has promised us in Revelation 21: 4- And  he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more,  neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be any more. The former things have passed away! Thank you for replying to this subject! Agape love, Shirley

[TrueTomHarley]

6 hours ago, Shirley Ann Lowery said:

I've also heard that Jack Ryan is an apostate, I don't know personally if it's true or not!

If he is posting the material that he does, and a lot of it at that, then he is an apostate 

[JW Insider]

18 hours ago, Shirley Ann Lowery said:

Yes, every other day in the news, we hear about famous people, and not so famous people,  committing  suicide,

This is so true. It shouldn't, but it still surprises me to hear about famous people like Mike Wallace (CBS:"60 Minutes") attempting suicide, Anthony Bourdain (CNN:"Places Unknown") committing suicide, among others.. Most of the cases of suicide appear to be related to long-term clinical depression, which famous personalities will naturally hide for as long as possible.

Even when a person appears to have committed suicide over a specific incident it is often true that they have battled depression for a long time and considered suicide more often than people know. A specific incident such as a financial loss, scandal, or loss of a loved one might just be the "final straw." Reports from psychiatrists have sometimes confirmed that even the old "romantic" notion of an elderly man or woman who dies within weeks or months of the death of an elderly spouse is often merely a form of depression where the surviving spouse stops caring for themselves, stops medications, etc. 

18 hours ago, Shirley Ann Lowery said:

there's a reason why people who don't serve Jehovah resort to doing away with their lives!

This is no doubt true, but it can be misleading. While I was at Bethel for just 4 years, there were two suicides and one attempted suicide. All were persons who appeared to be serving Jehovah whole-heartedly. Not long after I left Bethel, a well-known brother who had served at Bethel at very high levels of responsibility for decades jumped to his death. He had threatened suicide over an incident concerning Brother Knorr some 50 years earlier. A Gilead graduate (a sister) committed suicide during Knorr's time.

I don't know anything about the truth of the claim, but psychiatrists have reported on their general findings about treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses. From what I can tell, there is no evidence that Witnesses suffer depression any less than any other group of people.  The highest groups are often reported as ex-soldiers, dentists, doctors.

I think we also need to remember that those who leave Jehovah's Witnesses over scandal or moral failings, in my experience, are very often anxious to return to the organization as soon as possible. But those who leave over doctrinal differences or "conscientious objectors" to the Witnesses are not allowed to come back because they reject one or more doctrines. Because they are therefore "apostates" they are usually treated much more harshly by their families and have therefore suffered the loss of ALL their loved ones, not just a spouse or child.

I notice that @Jack Ryan has often pointed out the problem of the Witnesses' treatment of such ex-JWs: grandparents who reject their grandchildren, parents who reject their children, grandchildren who reject their grandparents, etc.

I do believe that Jack Ryan is an "apostate" but I think he also does us a favor in bringing these things up. It's less likely, but even an average person at the door who is not an apostate could bring them up, too, and we would not be prepared to defend our position on shunning. Sometimes when the media have brought up this question to responsible persons in the organization, their answers have even misled the press by claiming that we don't shun. This is a false statement, and shows that they were not prepared to defend the Biblical position.

Watchtowers in the 1980's made it clear that we should shun our loved ones even if they still [claim to] love Jehovah and believe the Bible. But when Jack Ryan brings it up, I think he makes us think about what it means to be "having no natural affection" (2 Timothy 3:3).

So yes, there is always a danger that we are "associating" with "apostates" on forums like this. I think it's a matter of one's own conscience whether we treat this as association in the sense of joining and supporting the sinful conduct of a person. I personally appreciate the opportunity it gives us to ask our own questions more honestly and follow the Biblical instruction:

• (1 Peter 3:15) . . .always ready to make a defense before everyone who demands of you a reason. . .

"Everyone" could include apostates, media, posers, even Satan himself. Michael disputed with Satan long after he had become apostate, and was still very "civil" with him. (Just as the remainder of the verse above in 1 Peter reminds us for "everyone . . . doing so with a mild temper and deep respect.")

• (Jude 9) . . .But when Miʹcha·el the archangel had a difference with the Devil and was disputing about Moses’ body, he did not dare to bring a judgment against him in abusive terms. . .

 

[Guest Nicole]

[Guest Nicole]