I spent 3 & half years at the Jehovah's Whiteness Headquarters in South Africa, it was a very depressing and disheartening experience. As a result of my stay there I have struggled with health problems for the last 17 years. I am destitute and have nothing to fall back on as education was portrayed as spiritual suicide by the organization. Being associated with Jehovah's Witnesses has ruined my life.   

I was raised a Jehovah's witness. Baptized at twelve, then kicked out
of my house at sixteen for wanting to be friends with kids from school.
None of my family talks to me as of a few months ago, since I was
officially disfellowshiped just a few days after my 20th birthday. I
have suffered emotionally for many years due to this religion but not
enough to watch people just make up lies " the Cult Awareness And Information Center" article is complete bull shit. Committing suicide is the worst sin a Jehovah's witness can make. Hands down.
Why? cause our lives are a special gift from god bla bla bla bla and so
on. People in this religion know that if they take there own lives they
wont ever be waking up. So if your gunna trash talk JW'S be my guest, take a hit at
one of there many many many flaws. Don't just pull facts out of your
ass...it makes you all easily dis-credible.

I was agreeing with everything you said, until you lied about how they feel about suicide.  The facts as you put it are that they think the only unforgiveable sin is Blasphemy!  They regard suicide as they do any other sin which would be foregiveable.  There are too many other things wrong with the doctrines to have to make up something that's not true!

This group is a cult.
Ok any religion could be called this,
but this one fills a person’s head with 99% fear.
 Fear regarding everyday life.

A witness has to get through and find- day after day, the strength to live in this
devil control wicked system as a human and as a Jehovah’s  witness. Post poisonous indoctrination.

On their deadly agenda, top of the bill is-Fear of the
world. Fear of every human who isn’t a witness and therefore satanic.
Just
think about this. Imagine how damaging this is to a person’s psychological
health.
But it’s not accidental this recipe of fear. No it’s the most vital ingredient.
The watchtower created it, it's central and its warfare alright.

 Its warfare unleashed on
their own followers. It is very purposeful.

 Purpose being I bash
you up so bad and fill u with fear upon fear and tell you the only place you will
ever find safety is right back here. See abusive relationships. Its an exact
mirror but executed on mass.

Paradise earth is the far off but imminent release. One they
invented, but meanwhile you wait and wait and sit  through the many fake phoney idiotic dates for
the glorious end to arrive.

Keep awake they say. Ironically, as the wait entails v dull meetings, knocking on doors like an eternal pre teen paper boy. Long
meetings, multiple times a week, repetitive subject matter based mainly on fear. Fear is being rammed down throats.
  It’s appalling.
This
organisation  has so much blood on its hands.
Damage and hurt that it so psychopathically hands over to and accuses the world
of.
 The world is the fall guy.The word- Fall guy is Pertinent in this particular
suicide.

But the real perpetrator is the watchtower. It’s a killer. Watch
out for it. Its mankind’s total irresponsibility, greed and manipulation at its
best.

 It had everything to do with him being a witness.  These uneducated people blindly follow ridiculous "teachings" and mind control others.  They are the masters of taking ambiguous and vague scriptures and turning them into definitive policies.  Having been raised a Witness for 16 years, there was nothing that impacted my life more negatively than being brought up in this cult.  Unfortunately for this individual, he wasn't able to see the light and heighten his consciousness from the proverbial cesspool that the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses really is. It's no wonder this religion has been plagued by sexual abuse cases and higher rates of suicide, as their deepest followers have been so far removed from the reality that life actually is.

No matter what religion a person is when one has suicidal thoughts for whatever reason that is serious.  He is ill and needs help.  If such a person reaches out for help in the congregation, the elders do what they can with God's Word, the Bible, but if more help is needed, the person is encouraged to seek medical help.  The WT and Awake has had many articles on depression, in fact the most recent edition in January has an outstanding article on recognizing the signs of depression. 

It could be a chemical imbalance, anixieties of life, mental instability that causes one to committ suicide.  It is against the norm to inflict harm to ourselves so one would have to be ill.

Jehovah's Witnesses are not oblivious to the world around us and are and can be affected. That's why we following our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and Jehovah God and pray for his spirit for strength.  Without it, we simply would not endure.

If you are truly following Jesus, you would not follow the rules of men, like all the man-made rules of the Jehovah's Witnesses. You would believe that there is a hell which Jesus taught the reality of. You would know that God calls all to believe on Him and will give eternal life to all those who repent and believe in Jesus, and will give them life forever in heaven, billions of them, not only 144,000. The 144,000 are male, Jewish virgins who are chosen to be evangelists during the Tribulation period.  Yes, that is in the Bible. God will destroy this earth with fire, and then all who are born-again of God's Holy Spirit, true Christians, will come back with Jesus to rule and reign with Him and to cover the earth with their cities after the earth is burned up, and all the wicked destroyed. The Jehovah's Witnesses do not interpret the Bible correctly and are full of falsehoods. So many, after they die, will be so surprised to find themselves in the hell they did not believe existed, because they failed to believe all the Bible, and believed in men's interpretation instead of the Holy Spirit's true interpretation.  "Except a man be born again of God's Spirit he cannot see the Kingdom of God.  I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father except through Me, Jesus said. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved."

I meant a HS dropout...my bad.

It always amazes me that when a person is one of Jehovah's Witnesses, their "religion" is always brought up. How many times have you seen "A Baptist, a Protestant, a Catholic, etc" as the opening line on a report of their action? Look at the news again, and look at the child killers, wife beaters, or other suicides and where are THEIR religion mentioned, except where the services will be held? 

Isn't it interesting that you can have a family that has a Catholic, a Buddhist, a Penticostal Christian, a Baptist and any other of the thousands of religions that exist; and everyone will be ok with it, even accepting eachothers different beliefs.  But as soon as a Jehovahs Witness comes into the picture, it becomes a problem.  Jesus prophesied that his true followers would be persecuted, as he was.  Jesus also said that his true disciples would be identified by things such as love and a worldwide preaching work.  Look around with an honest heart, put away pride and the propaganda that has been strategically spread.....who fits that bill brought out at John 13:35, Matthew 28:19,20, and Matthew 24:14 (Also, 1 Corinthians 9:16)? Who sanctifies God's names, per the instruction in the Lord's Prayer at Matthew 6:9?  Sadly, many saw Jesus and his miracles in person and still didn't follow the model he left for us, but yet mocked him and persecuted him. (1 Peter 2:21)  This still proves true today.  Many will mock and spread lies about Christ's true followers.  2 Thessalonians 2:2 told us though that faith is not a possession of all people, and how true that is. 

Regarding the incident mentioned in this news article, how sad it is that someone took their own life.  To think of the trauma, the hurt, and pain they must have been going through to feel they must take their own life, its truly sad.  Our dear father Jehovah hurts when his creation feels in such a way.  He cares for us as 1 Peter 5:7 says.  That is why he provides the comfort and the help we need in order to endure and a find a way out of any problem we may be dealing with as 1 Corinthians 10:13 brings out. Many in their posts have said Jehovahs Witness' are not educated in such a way to help ones with mental illness, or other particular problems.  Ones have said we do not value education, but shun it.  How sad such lies are spread; we highly value secular education but what better education is there than divine education?  Wouldn't you value the wisdom from above, than the so called wisdom from any man made organization or institution?  Doesn't 2 Timothy 3:16 say that God's Word is beneficial for all things? Jehovah's people value education with a certainty, just the best education mankind can receive, divine education from our Creator. 

Lastly, for those that claim they were associated with Jehovahs Witness' and had a bad experience, I truly feel for you.  I had a colleague who is a very successful financial advisor, and related that growing up, he could not understand why his parents pressured him to stay in school and go to college to get a degree.  While he didn't like the way they tried to motivate him to benefit himself, he says he fortunately stayed in school and end up being very successful in business.  Can you imagine what his life would be like today if understandably could not take the pressure his parents gave him and not stayed "on track" academically?  He probably would not be as successful as he is currently.  The point is parents love their children; they want whats best for them, and sometimes they don't motivate them the right way, but I have never heard someone on a blog, in person, or anywhere else, say "How dare parents try to make their kids go to college?!" So why do we essentially say "How dare parents try to raise children and instill in them Bible principles and a love for our Almighty God, who offers the best way of life now and in the future?"  Jehovahs Witness' follow the Bible, including the admonition to teach their children the best way of life; sadly though, some well meaning parents at times can be overwhelming and present the refreshing truths in the Bible in a irritating manner.  Look at Ephesian 6:4. 

I encourage all to talk to Jehovahs Witness' next time you find them at your door, and ask how you can learn from the Bible how you can live the best life now, receive the best possible education there is, and how you can live forever with a personal relationship with our heavenly father Jehovah.  John 17:3.   

I too would go to great lengths to explain away and justify the teachings of a religion that I cared deeply for.  However the truth about the "truth" is that those in authority never explain there actions, there doctrinal changes, the misues of authority by elders and are allowed to let you proffer up suggestions as to why so many ex-Jehovahs Wintnesses are embittered toward their former faith. Your sincerity doesn't answer the troubling actions and statements of the Governing Body.  Dare you ever demand an answer from the spirit appointed brothers then a series of well thought out actions will render you mute then finally shunned.  Your statements show you know little of how the organization works.  Ignorance is bliss. Knowledge is hell.

Very well stated, Brother. This was a tragedy, but nobody has the right to judge because nobody knows all the details about this man, his life, or his apparent standing as a Witness even. It's a shame religion is even brought to question but that's just how it is.
It's a sad world we live in, desperate, wicked times and there is an enemy out there who wants nothing more than to see everyone turn away from the true God. This wicked apostate Satan is devouring people left and right and it's so subtle. But the world always leaves him out of the picture. And that's just the way he wants it.  These uninformed and faithless comments here are just the tip of what's yet to come during the Tribulation. And if it happened to Jesus, it will happen to God's people today. So we need to just keep focusing on the True God Jehovah and His word the bible.

Dismissing the comments of former Witnesses provides a strange predicament for you since not too long ago these were your brothers and sisters. Yet for a variety of reasons they either left or more accurately were thrown out.  Some perhaps even for conduct they would admit is inexusable.  Yet in scripture we see only 1 instance of shunning taking place and Paul is quick to admit the man back into the fold and states he doesn't want to make him "overly sad".   Using shunning to enforce total lock-step agreement on all matters determined by the Governing Body to be within their jurisdiction is a cruel misuse of what essentially was only done once and as Paul said "to assure him of our love".   Where's the LOVE?   You're right about how it happened to Jesus.  The religious authority condemned him as an apostate-blasphemer then hung him outside the city as someone unfit and contemptable, totally shunned and discredited.  Yet Christians venerate an apostate hung on a stake. If you werer a loyal Jew in 33CE whose side would you be on?

Jehovah's Witnesses Suicide

Did anyone else hear the information that this poor man committed suicide because his witness wife
deserted him by means of a Unscriptural Divorce .
The elders were no help at all , they just told him to wait on Jehovah .Mean while he beleives his wife is going to die at armegeddon because the
Watchtower says

"Just how binding does Jehovah consider the contract entered into by a person, particularly by one who considers himself a Christian? His Word says that those “false to agreements . . . are deserving of death.” If such a person does not repent, change his thinking and ways and seek forgiveness, he is in a very dangerous position.—Rom. 1:31, 32."

Watchtower 5/15/71

So he kills himself to free her from the unscriptural divorce. Beleiving he will be resurrected per Romans 6:7 "For he who has died has been acquitted from [his] sin"

Internet atheists tend to crusade and wage
their own form of "spiritual warfare" through
various deceptions like multiple identities
on the internet.  There are a few angry
aspergers atheists obsessively posting
anti-religious comments on the internet
using numerous "nyms" or identities to
pretend they are more numerous
than they really are.
 
Aspergers is extremely common on the
internet, as is atheism.  Use a search engine
to search on aspergers and religion.  People
with Aspergers are by definition sociopaths.
It's easy to see why the internet is like a
magnet for them.
 
Jehovah's Witnesses are prohibited from posting
responses to attacks on them like this article
and thread and the anti-JW HATERS know this.
 
What are these brave angry aspergers atheists
going to do for an encore, post attacks and
criticism of the AMISH on the internet?
 
Most are idiot/savants lacking common sense,
and are very practiced at deception.
 
Some people with aspergers are good productive
members of society, but parts of the internet
have become a veritable clubhouse for the bad ones.
 
Disabled, many have endless amounts of time
to make themselves over-represented on the internet.
 

Unfortunately members of this group are also less likely to seek help due to the belief that those who would be providing it are members of Satan's world.

"Police say Fagan, who was said to be a devout Jehovah's Witness, had
warned a family member he was planning to hurt himself in a series of
texts messages before his death."  
Yeah, they were probably glad he is dead. Sickos.

So very sad. It's hard to say with 100% certainty why he killed himself. However, if you are one of Jehovah's Witnesses then it is your whole, complete, and entire way of life. I've only seen a few other religions intrude on person's identity and everyday living like the JW. 

When you are told what you can say, what is appropriate to think about, what information you're allowed to take in, what you can not wear, what you can not eat, who can be your friends, the only type of person acceptable to marry, that you must study ahead of time for and attend 2 indoctrination sessions a week and door-to-door work at least once a week or be marked as "spiritually weak",  that any personal goals must be suspended until after "Armageddon that is so close" (and has been close for over 100 years), how you can have sex, that you must not offend any of "your 7 million brothers and sisters" which can be done for simply having a beard or wearing  "flashy" clothes, you must avoid spending "too much time" with family that aren't JW, that suffering and being persecuted is a sign that you're doing it right, what music, TV, music and other recreation you can enjoy (even if you're an adult), that when you are in "the world" (Satan's world that is) at school or work how you must behave so as to give Jehovah and the organization a good name and use as much time as you can to preach to them or be bloodguilty for not telling them the world is ending (that's right, JW think Jehovah will kill them if they don't preach), that you can not understand the bible or Jehovah's will for you by yourself but must be read with Watchtower literature, that any doubts you have about doctrine or the 9-13 men in NY making this sh*t up you must suppress, that any friends or even family that leaves the religion you must ex-communicate or be ex-communicated yourself, AND SO MUCH MORE

And, if you follow all of these and the millions of other rules then you still don't deserve to live, but Jehovah is patronizing enough to give it to you anyways. He's our Father after all...

I have to laugh at the title of the article. Will they post the same when a Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran or any other religious person commits suicide? Why does his being a Jehovah's Witness matter? Given the comments here, it seems this site wants to run off of clicks and sad replies about a persons passing. Using ones death to spread hate and vileness is disgusting and any that have done it here need to check themselves. Looks like most are ex-JW's who haven't let go. They remind me of the guy standing outside their ex-girlfriend's window refusing to move on with their life. They spew about it being a mind control organization yet seem to be controlled by it more now. Must be a pitiful life trolling the internet for anything about Witnesses to spam it with the same old rhetoric, cut and paste comments on every comment board.

While I bristle at the lack of satisfying statistics, the comment board seems to perculate with the sad experiences of ex-Jehovah's Witnesses. The real fact here is that so many former members of this group who were admittedly dedicated to the cause and to Jehovah God have been embittered with the hypocrisy and double-talk of the the Organization. Those who leave do so at the peril of loss of friends, family and the security of a very closed loop belief system. Regaining a balanced perspective towards the "World" and God without the Organization is a life-long struggle.