Jehovah's Witness'

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

I just remember watching a TV show once (a baby story) where the woman was a JW and after the birth of her baby, she was bleeding out and the docs said she needed blood. She left it for a good while saying about her faith, but in the end decided to take it. It would be a very hard decision I guess. She was sat there in the bed with a brand spanking new baby!

What happens if you do 'sin'.....do you have to repent and that makes it all better again?

Do you mean sin in terms of taking blood? Or just in general? If we do the wrong thing and are genuinely repentant, then Jehovah will forgive us. But we don't do an official 'confession' like some religions do, as it can lead to a wrong attitude - as in, I can do what I want because I'm confessing on Sunday anyway.

With more serious sin, something that the Bible specifically says NOT to do, things have to be taken more seriously, as the rest of the congregation needs to be protected as well. Again, if you are genuinely sorry for what you've done, everything's fine, but if you're not, then the rest of the congregation has to be protected. This is a part of our beliefs that many mock, and most outsiders don't agree with. I'm happy to explain further on this point over PM's, but there are a few members that I believe are in this situation, and I don't want to offend or embarrass them, so I would like to keep it off the boards

On a side note MM, was this show a documentary or a tv show? JW's not accepting blood has been portrayed on many medical soap operas, and sadly the only one I ever saw happen the right way was All Saints! The rest were all wrong - JW goes in for surgery, surgeon decides to give them blood despite their clear wishes, JW goes off their nut when they find out, cut to shower scene with JW trying to 'get the tainted blood out'. It's amazing how wrong tv shows can get it, when we're so willing to answer questions!

[YoYo]

Yeah I guess I meant in general.....but maybe relating to the blood thingo.

The TV show was a documentary, and the woman was very adamant about not receiving any blood (or blood products?). The doctors knew her wishes and respected them, but their job was to save her, so I guess it was hard for the both of them. Like I said, she did decide to take the blood because she was hemmoraging I think.

When it comes to confessions, in other religions....I don't quite get it. To me it just means, like you say, people can do what they want and then just say 'sorry' at church on the weekend!

Thanks so much for sharing, and thanks lilias for starting this thread. It's good to learn things like this. It keeps your mind open and makes you more accepting of people in general, regardless of what religion we are talking about

[MrsFabuloso]

Thankyou everyone, sunflowa girlie in particular. You have opened my eyes to new concepts
I did think of ome more q's to ask as I was reading (which I should have written down...) but I'm not in much of a posting mood so I will come back another time to ask
Thanks again!!

[Traveller]

Thank you so much Sunflowa_girlie, I really enjoyed reading your posts.

I have a friend who is a Jehovah's Witness and she had a serious PPH after the birth of her first baby. The doctor's reccomended a blood transfusion but she asked for a 2nd opinion and upon establishing that she would feel terribly ill without it, but would not be in any actual danger, she refused.

For her 2nd baby she had an elective cesarean and again had a major PPH. However this time she had made sure she was in a hospital will a cell saver machine which reused her own blood. She was very well after this birth.

However I was very sad for her that there were something like 14 people in the room for her caesarean, according to her husband most of them were there to see it all go wrong so they could say "we told you so". I felt so sad my beautiful friend was viewed as a disaster waiting to happen for her beliefs.

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

However I was very sad for her that there were something like 14 people in the room for her caesarean, according to her husband most of them were there to see it all go wrong so they could say "we told you so". I felt so sad my beautiful friend was viewed as a disaster waiting to happen for her beliefs.

Thank you for sharing your story

Sadly this is often the case when dealing with doctors/surgeons - blood transfusions have been given 'just in case' for so long that it can be viewed as a safety net. I'm sure parents who choose not to vaccinate will understand the ridicule they face from certain medical professionals, and it doesn't matter how much research they have done into the subject.

On a happy note though, more often than not the JW pulls through without a blood transfusion, which has turned some of our most vocal opposers into great allies when it comes to blood transfusions!

I wanted to say thankyou to everyone who's posted in this thread - I feel that everyone has been very respectful, which is not always the case, so it's very refreshing! By the same token, I have attempted to be sensitive to others beliefs as I realise they most likely won't be the same as ours, particularly in regards to Christmas - however if I have offended anyone, please let me know

Nettie - not sure about Christadelphians TBH! I've heard of them, but only rarely, so I don't actually know anything about their beliefs. I would be interested to learn however!

[Nettie]

No Christadelphians out there?

[Peg]

No Christadelphians out there?

I used to work with a Christadelphian. he was a lovely boss, a really nice person. We used to have bible discussions and i learnt that their beliefs are quite different to mainstream christianity...even moreso then JW's

it was quite a few years ago now so my memory is hazy, but i do remember one of their main teachings is that they dont believe in the Devil...who is a fairly prominent bible character. They believe that 'satan' is actually the evil inside each of us.

they do view themselves as christians, they dont know much of the bible, they dont have bishops or priests specifically but similarly to JW's all members are teachers (except for females). they have a 'creed' which are their fundamental teachings which are used as the basis for their meetings. At their meetings individuals will be assigned to give a talk and it can be about anything so long as the talk abides by the creed and does not introduce new ideas or change the existing creed in any way.

they are also a very small community and tight knit... similar to a bretheren type community. There are only 5,000 in either the whole of australia (or possibly just victoria, my memory is a little fuzzy on that)

[Dansta]

i have two questions - after seeing Berenice post about how she doesn't vote - did a quick google search and it says that jehovahs witness are discouraged to vote how come? (i dont mean to offend i just wondered why)

the other is all the jehovahs witness churchs/places of worship i have seen seem to be very fenced in - more then other Christian places of worship and was wondering why that is - or if its just the ones i've seen?

[shellbell3]

Thanks for sharing, I always find it so interesting to learn about other religions.

Lilias, I had 2 woman at work that were Jehovah's Witness' and they were always more than happy to answer questions, I always had many!

Best thing too was they would work xmas day cause they didn't celebrate it, meant others could have it off!

[Nettie]

Thank you for this thread. I work with JW colleagues and it has given me some more understanding into their beliefs.

I don't want to hijack the thread, but does anyone know about Christadelphian beliefs? They seem similar to JW (don't celebrate Christmas, will not gamble, etc) so I thought it might be a good spot to ask!