In order for you to decide, you will need to read the following link to a USA Today news report. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/02/20/did-shunning-jehovahs-witnesses-drive-mom-murder-suicide/355626002/ After reading it, what do you think happened? Your comments should be insightful to other readers
I think there is a lot more going on in that situation than is known at the moment, and a lot of unanswered questions. (Like, why did she kill her adult children – where they shunning her? Was she raised a JW?, etc.) A lot about the story, at this point, doesn’t make a lot of sense.
This is a very sad story, with much more to tell. But I would like to see people weigh in on this before sharing more.
To say that what Lauren did was directly connected to her being shunned is a little simplistic.There are many things that may have got her to that point. Yes, being shunned was probably a huge contributing factor and all that was necessary was for some other circumstance/s to come into play and behave like the straw that broke the camel’s back, Whatever the reason, shunning needs to stop!
Hi Richard, I just got off the phone with Tresa Baldas from the Detroit Freee Press. She is getting a lot of negative feedback from current jw’s on this article. We spent about 45 mins talking about my oldest daughter and my youngest girl and their experience with the Watchtower. I recommended that she contact you for additional information.
Awful tragedy. As above comments have stated, there may have also been other issues at work in this case, but a major factor is this disgusting religions policies. My heart breaks for them and those they leave behind. So,so sad.
Ok, let’s be practical not emotional. I’m an ex JW of around 2 months. My reason for leaving the Org is because of the Child Abuse / pedophilia problem earthwide in the Org……… When i was a JW one of our daughters, who was a baptised sister in our congregation, decided she wanted to be in a same sex relationship, which is against God’s rules. Yes against God’s written word the bible, not just against JW rules. The elders from the congregation went to visit her and she must have told them she wanted to leave the Org. (The time period was too short for her to have been disfellowshipped ) So, she left the Org and was therefore no longer one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Remember I was still ‘in the truth’ as they call it. I told my wife, my other children and some brothers and sisters that I would not stop visiting or talking to her. My wife and I visited her whilst her girlfriend was there. We even had dinner there and had long conversations. I made a point of not discussing either the elders visit to her, or, her relationship with her girlfriend. It was none of my business. God Himself would do the judging not me… As it happens she has split from her girlfriend but once again none of my business. My wife and I still contact her and will visit when time allows. (we are all so busy and she works full time)…. Now move forward to present day concerning my position. I left the Org of my own free will. My physical brother is an Elder in a congregation in our hometown (near London). He has phoned me at least twice, he tells me i can go and visit and stay at his home with him and his family. Well, he wants me to help him sort his sheds more as he has cancer and wants all his ‘rubbish’ sorted and moved on before he dies. Sad but true…. So here are two cases, us still being in contact with our daughter, and my brother still being in contact with me. That is proof enough to me that the ‘shunning thing’ is personal choice…. A JW should serve God through Jesus Christ. They should not serve the organisation. The JW Org is like a Taxi, it takes a person in the right direction, to a chosen destination. If an Elder tells you to do something or to stop doing something, you simply ask for at least two scriptures to prove their point. if they can’t or won’t give you two scriptures then simply tell them to sod off. I’ve had one Elder threaten to disfellowship me (long before I left). I simply told him that if he thought he had the authority to do it, then he should do it… He didn’t have the authority so it didn’t happen……………. One other point. Higher education. It is not forbidden. It is advised against. Why? Well there are obvious reasons such as, the drugs problems, the immorality, much less time to give to God…. So, if a person has dedicated themself to doing God’s will, and if they have made ‘public declaration’ of that by ‘water baptism’, then it is expected that they will want to spend their time in the ministry, doing God’s will, rather than following the ‘way of the world’ by seeking higher education to promote a worldly way of life for themselves…. So, this lady seemed to want the best of both worlds. She had given up ‘the truth’ and was making it good in the world. So why would she be so worried about JW friends ? As others have said it seems much deeper that the shunning problem.
Any of you who are free of sin…throw the first stone? Something to always keep in mind…yet we are so often quick to judge…
Yeah, the elders have no problem throwing stones and destroying families. If your a Christian, pretty sure “Jesus died for our sins”, any church i’ve gone to.. you repent, they pray with you, they comfort you, and try helping you move forward. Not throw you in a dark hole to rot in isolation.
I know I just posted this on one of your other posts, I would have posted here if I saw this first…. THE TRUTH MUST BE SHARED!
On Feb 4th 2018, my wonderful brother took his own life. He strugged with depression and loneliness. They refused to let him find companionship and disfellowed him. The loneliness and isolation he felt from having to isolate from witnesses and “worldly” people drove him into such a deep hole he couldn’t handle it. His note directly specified the shunning and unjust cause for it and lack of compassion while he repented. They told him he was out for 2 years, it affected his strong religious beliefs and affected him in and out of their cult church. Half my family are JW and they are so brainwashed they can’t see it for the truth and have been shunning the other half for years. This cult either needs to change their ways or be stopped. These RUSSELITES are out of control. You know kids can be prosecuted for bullying another kid to the point they commit suicide but speaking to a detective they said there is no one in the organization that can be gone after, not the watchtower, not the kindomhall, not the elders directly responsible for the inhumane torture they put him through.
I feel we need to stand together, start a nonprofit organization, gather as a collective, share resources and power, and we need to get BILLBOARDS, ONLINE ADS, FLIERS, and get the word out.
WE NEED MORE AWARENESS!!!!
I remember a conversation with my younger brother that if we really loved our grandmother we would kill her so that she would be assured a resurrection into the paradise new world, and not be executed at Armageddon and suffer a final judgement and not be entitled to a resurrection. She was a Catholic.
That may have been a factor in the Longo and Bryant family murders here in Oregon as has been reported.