Jehovah's Witness Jumps To Death In Brooklyn

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.

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.

"Those who leave do so at the peril of loss of friends, family and the security of a very closed loop belief system."Spare me the dramatics. Anyone who does join knows the rules and agrees to live by them. They understand all that is involved with the disfellowshipping arrangement.  There are many who have been and returned. Just by going board to board posting the same comments shows they are "controlled" more than ever, don't you think?

Do you know any Jehovah's Witness who has ever lieft without some repurcussions?  Why are all Judicial meetings secret with no witnesses allowed, not even a pen or pencil? Why do elders have a secret judicial book not available to the congregation?  Why is the reason for disfellowshipping never known to the congregation?  Why do many DF'd J.W.'s have no choice but to return if they want to ever speak with their loved ones again?  Why are you posting when JW"s have received specific instructions from the Governing Body not to post on websites?  What don't you see about this that everyone else recoils in disgust from? The Governing Body is losing their wretched control over their members, apparently even devotees like you.

This is not good that someone would take their own life. Whatever the reason may be.

"Jehovah's Witness Jumps To Death In Brooklyn"

Santa DID make my wish come true!

shutterstock makes me want to kill myself.

Ha, I love how people are calling Jehovah's Witness a cult.  Like a cult is anything different from a religion.

I think you ought to check your sources a bit better, Gothamist! The claim of the "5-10 times" suicide number is unsubstantiated. The source, the "Cult Awareness and Information Center"  provides pure guesswork and amateur mental health speculation with no citations. The "other reports" link leading to seanet cites a single source for it's claim that "suicide and crime rates are ... high" (not 5 to 10 times the average). 

It's quite important to note that the single source the author at seanet cites is... himself. He further discloses he is now an ex-Witness, and was in the organization for 20 years. He is a creationist and participants in absurd videos like one that discusses how "mutations prove creationism": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Unfortunately I can't quickly get a copy of the cited article "The Evaluation of an Experimental Program Designed to Reduce Recidivism Among Second Felony Offenders" because it's a dissertation published in 1976. 1976 was the year after the Jehovah Witness debacle of the failed armageddon prophecy, and they saw a mass exodus of membership. Perhaps not the best time to be gauging the mental health of a population. Any information about Witnesses was incidental to his study. The study was a comparison of recidivism rates in 3 conditions: probation, probation with extended services of some sort, and jail time. It used a sample of 104 2nd-time offenders. Not exactly an epidemiological study, and it's unclear if the sample even included Witnesses from the abstract. I also took a quick look at the few papers that cite the study, and none of them mention anything about Jehova's Witnesses.

I suggest you revise the article, as there is no basis for the claim.

How sad that so many use a man's death to spew hatred and spread their anti-religuous views. That this on-line production allows this also speaks volumes to its lack of human decency.

here' another fact i just made up ...JWs who don't like to hear something they don't like are 98.954% likely to say something stupid because most don't have a education beyond high school

This is so true. I actually watched this video where some kid was told why it was bad to go to college and be "influenced." I believe that they want their members to be uneducated because if they were then they would think for themselves. Ooh what a concept! I do know a lady who practices it and to be honest, she is barely literate, a has dropout and it's just sad. She also acts like she is the biggest know it all. Just plain annoying. Can't stand their religion.

we like you.

are you a witness?? that was a pretty stupid comment...

But sadly, our nation's donuts are in decline - with only 68.3% deliciousness.

Here is another fact I just made up: JWs are 5-10 percent less unlikely to commit suicide than other people. Source Http://somewebsite.authored.by.a.guy.with.a.phd, it must be true.

The jws are most certainly a mind controlling CULT. They fit just about every criteria for being one...

http://www.howcultswork.com/

mind control is just one of the many top secret projects the witnesses are working on. there is also the lunar base, cloning elvis, and a fantastic new bacon flavored sorbet!
get a life.

Interestingly, the study from 5 to 10 times was performed in people who were in prison for not doing military service. Declared paranoia, misfits, etc. esquisofrenicos.
I wonder how many Jews in concentration camps were happy.
Even so these samples do not indicate how many committed suicide, just say trends.
I would say that 100% of Catholics would tend asecinas if you rape a relative, but would not release that makes you be Catholic asecina trend.

The estucios not show any number of suicides.

In self-inflicted deaths Chile occur 10.8 per hundred thousand inhabitants and a lack of strategies that address the problem comprehensively. The issue was addressed by the president of the International Academy of Suicide Research, Danuta Wasserman, who gave a lecture at the School of Public Health of our university.

Suicides are the cause of nearly half of all violent deaths in the world and reach a figure of about one million cases a year. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the planet is a death by suicide every 40 seconds and an attempted suicide every 3 seconds, on average. It is estimated that the number of cases could rise to 1.5 million by 2020.

In Chile there are 20 million people a year bone say that there are 2160 suicides a year.
If witnesses commit suicide 10 times more than the rest say that there would be 108 suicides per 100000 people (witnesses). With 74,000 we would have witnessed 80 suicides a year. That would be great news.
But I do not find that news anywhere. Which studios poorer.

Globally
7.5 billion, 1 million suicides a year. or 14.29 suicides per 100000 inhabitants.
in the case would be 143 per 100,000 destigos witnesses.
daria 105 witnesses in Chile (143/100.000 * 74000)

I still can not find a similar story.

Witnesses in the world 7659019 (2011), population 7,000,000,000 gives a rate of 14.28 people per 100000 population
witnesses in the case would be 143 per 100,000 or with that many witnesses in the world would commit suicide (7659019/100000) * 143 = 10952 witnesses a year.

That would be big news.

As always play with the numbers served with a conclusion pre-defined.

Having had my childhood stolen from me at the hands of this sick &
evil cult I felt like taking my life many times as a child - I was very
depressed & lonely & my mother didn't notice, she only had eyes
& ears to the Watchtower dictators. I remember all the kiddies being
taking outside for a 'good hiding' by their parents because they
couldn't sit still for 2 long boring hours at the Kingdom Hall. I am now
46 and I hate the Watchtower society with a passion for their crimes
against children & indeed adults, as this poor man had clearly
suffered enough.

Hmmm would you have called him a Jew? or a Catholic?

No because a Catholic or Jew who leaves doesn't have the fear of losing everything in some cases children, jobs, mothers, fathers...everything...

I would call him a poor soul who got caught up in a mind controlled cult and it took his life.....

Having had my childhood stolen from me at the hands of this sick &
evil cult I felt like taking my life many times as a child - I was very
depressed & lonely & my mother didn't notice, she only had eyes
& ears to the Watchtower dictators. I remember all the kiddies being
taking outside for a 'good hiding' by their parents because they
couldn't sit still for 2 long boring hours at the Kingdom Hall. I am now
46 and I hate the Watchtower society with a passion for their crimes
against children & indeed adults, as this poor man had clearly
suffered enough.

Having had my childhood stolen from me at the hands of this sick &
evil cult I felt like taking my life many times as a child - I was very
depressed & lonely & my mother didn't notice, she only had eyes
& ears to the Watchtower dictators. I remember all the kiddies being
taking outside for a 'good hiding' by their parents because they
couldn't sit still for 2 long boring hours at the Kingdom Hall. I am now
46 and I hate the Watchtower society with a passion for their crimes
against children & indeed adults, as this poor man had clearly
suffered enough.

Having had my childhood stolen from me at the hands of this sick & evil cult I felt like taking my life many times as a child - I was very depressed & lonely & my mother didn't notice, she only had eyes & ears to the Watchtower dictators. I remember all the kiddies being taking outside for a 'good hiding' by their parents because they couldn't sit still for 2 long boring hours at the Kingdom Hall. I am now 46 and I hate the Watchtower society with a passion for their crimes against children & indeed adults, as this poor man had clearly suffered enough.

so did he do it because he's a JW or because he was depressed?

I have personal experience with this cult.... it was probably from the pressures of being a JW.... it is a high pressured mind controlled cult... and suicide in this group along with pedophilia is rampant....

He was probably tired of waking people up on Sunday morning and making them listen to his bullshit.

I just noticed Ben wrote this article, no wonder it felt more like something out of the bottom of the barrel than usual.

So every time a Catholic, Jew or Atheist person commits suicide, you're going to include that in the title too right? Are you pointing out his religion because of some evidence that it was the reason he committed suicide? This kind of 'journalism' and some other special articles on here, is probably why you can't get a press pass.

I think the pertinent comment was the high rate of suicide among Jehovah's Witnesses as opposed to other religions.  And also the extremely high rate of mental illnesses and murders.

not true. if the suicide rate was that high for witnesses, the guys religion wouldnt have been mentioned in the title of the article. there wouldnt have been an article, he'd be just another guy in brooklyn that had mental problems.

Have a copy of The Watchtower I can look at?

I think the evidence was presented when Ben cited twice that JW's are 5-10 times more likely to commit suicide. Quit harping.

Where is the actual evidence? That is just a statement. Is that what his suicide note said? Some of us don't take statements without proof as fact. Statistics are constantly proven to be very inaccurate.

Hi Plum; are you familiar with something called the power of suggestion? Watchtower encourages their members to end it all:

http://www.watchtower.org/e/20...

Just a few statements without proof:

The anointed and their other sheep companions recognize that by following the lead of the modern-day Governing Body, they are in fact following their Leader, Christ. (w9/15/10 pg.23 par.8)

Only Jehovah’s Witnesses, those of the anointed remnant and the “great crowd,” as a united organization under the protection of the Supreme Organizer, have any Scriptural hope of surviving the impending end of this doomed system dominated by Satan the Devil. (w89 9/1 p. 19 par. 7)

"If you are a young person, you also need to face the fact that you will never grow old in this present system of things.
Why not? Because all the evidence in fulfillment of Bible prophecy indicates that this corrupt system is due to end in a few years. Of the generation that observed the beginning of the "last days" in 1914, Jesus foretold: "This generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur."-Matt. 24:34. Therefore, as a young person, you will never fulfill any career that this system offers. If you are in high school and thinking about a college education, it means at least four, perhaps even six or eight more years to graduate into a specialized career. But where will this system of things be by that time? It will be well on the way toward its finish, if not actually gone!" Awake! 1969 May 22 p.15

I was thinking the same thing.  "Liberal" journalism at its finest.  I remember when the word liberal was synonymous with tolerance instead of hate.

I think my favorite article on this site was when a police officer did something good and they managed to actually try to twist that into something negative.

Spin doctors ain't just a horrible band from the 90's.

I'd imagine religion is the cause for the most deaths world wide.

and murders ...

Wow, 5-10 times more likely to commit suicide? 

Isn't faith and religion supposed to give people hope and a more optimistic view of the world?  How did JW get this so damn backwards?

It is guided by fear and mind control. If you leave like I did you pretty much leave everything you ever known you are basically dead to them. If they see you on the street they walk with their heads up like their shit don't stink.

It is a mind controlled cult...and they frown on education..... that is why they are backward...the cult likes it's members uneducated...it is easier to control them....

Man your 2 funny girl! LMBO!

They are a works-based religion.  For hours every week, they tell their followers "Do all this and maybe you might be saved."  "Keep struggling to get into the kingdom."  "If you are standing, beware you do not fall."  An entire book of instruction on how you might get to be God's friend.

Nary a word of love.  No relationship with our Savior.  No idea of unconditional love.  No support network.

Yeah, and I can only imagine that if you fall behind in the rituals that there would be immense guilt/depression that you're not going to be saved.  And at that point, might as well kill yourself - you'd be doomed to hell anyway. 
 
The Weight Watchers of religion - complete with a 'points' system.    Missing the good in life because you're too focused on death and what comes after.

I dated a JW in my 20's and her family was cuh-razy!  She, fortunately, had a good head on her shoulders and got out of it, but not before I attended a service with her.  They claim they are not hateful of other denominations or sects of Christianity and yet during that service, all they did was bad mouth Catholicism and everything else.  It was as bad as attending a Southern Baptist church.

I'd think that the preaching of hate would make them more zealous in the 'We're right you're wrong' kind of way, but not why they like to off themselves. 

It may have something to do with the insane standards the church holds it's people to, but that's speculation.

Recently they are getting more open on their hate of ex-members they recently wrote two very offensive articles and in the UK are being investigated for hate crimes because they called ex-JWs mentally diseased and then wrote a article saying that elders need to be like Jehu who killed apostates was their wording but in truth he killed those who mocked God. They like to use the word apostates for Ex-Members because it put fear into members of the sect

I don't know what's wrong with them really.  I just know when I left that service, I felt violated and itchy.  Any religion that doesn't also preach everything in moderation is bound to experience craziness like this.

I shudder to think what poor lad was going through and that I could not help him.
I was born raised Jehovah's Witness year 1957 and there are now 4 generations of my Haszard clan in this highly stressful cult,I had suicidal ideation all during my teenage years.
Please google:Danny Haszard 1975
Cult defenders can personal attack me all they want Jesus knows all about it.

Are there suicide prevention counselors in the Kingdom Hall? What if a member was being shunned (disfellowshipped) they could not talk to their own family if desperate?

Good question..short answer no..Most Elders in congregation would probably try to help but most if not all are not qualified to help in areas such as that. Because most if not all Jehovah's Witnesses are not allowed to go to college no one can really learn how to deal with issues like that effective as they should. Most time Elders say go out in their field ministry more you are probably lacking something spiritually bacause that what the society tells them to say..

Since when have they not been able to attend college? Some of you guys have some serious pipe dreams about JW's. I was one as a child, and was given the option to stop attending. The people in the kingdom hall were good people, it was the people outside that constantly judged and teased me for my choice, which in the end, I stopped going because of such. Calling it a cult is ignorant. Just because you cannot handle life on life's terms, does not mean you have the right to judge a gathering of people as a whole.

No... the elders in this cult are not trained to handle suicide..they have no education in physiology at all...and a lot  of them only have high school education if that.... because this cult frowns on education...

There is nothing.  If you are shunned, you are already dead to them, so they don't care.  They watched me in their Kingdom Hall when I couldn't even make it from the front to the back of the Hall and not a single person cared.

Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

"Cult Awareness & Information Center"?! If that's not BIGOTRY I don't know what it is!

How in the hell is cult awareness "bigotry"? JWs organization meets every definition known as qualifying as a cult. I should know, I was brainwashed by them for nearly 25 years! It is what it is.

Yeah I hear you SeanB..I was one for 20 years & know how bad it was dealing with the mental abuse I had to endure. As for "apostate" those who like to judge others better a long hard look in the mirror educate themselves about what apostate means before they accuse. This is a fact a organization that takes away a person especially a child's right to choose is in fact taking away their spirit. Normal people don't just leave and abandon family members because they left what you consider a truth. can 
Here's is a truth JW's can take to the banky. The bible spells it out as plain as day. If a person/ organization makes a claim to be representatives/ speaking for/ in any form or capacity it will come to pass. If one makes a claim and claims it is from God and it does not come to pass that person/ organization is a false prophet. Because when a prophecy comes from God it always comes to pass without fail. False prophets were stoned to death. Since the organization starting with Charles Taze Russell who was 17 years old when he founded the Watchtower Society in the 1879 claimed to be the personal voice of God and in 1887 the end of the world was to come. Again in 1914. A man who had no education only up to 7th grade. Then Rutherford a drunk and very abusive person who claimed to be a judge claims that the end was coming in 1925, 1927. Then claims were made in 1950s, then in 1975...To go along with that Rutherford in 1929 used society money to build Beth Sarim for when the prophets were to come but when they didnt he took the place for himself while members were suffering from the depression he lived the good life..Now the society in July 2011 and November 2011 Watchtower study edition calls those that left "mentally diseased" and also say they need to be like Jehu who killed apostates.

It would be a shock if the Organization ever had to admit to a mistake, the entire illusion would evaporate and members would have to deal with the unpleasant fallout of knowing they were lied to.  It is really sad that organization procedures and dogma have led to the abuse of so many well intenitioned folks who are the pitiable victims of the Watchtower mindset that says we have the absolute truth and it is everybody else who is misguided.

And now look at what a success you have become...good thing you got out so you could be an apostate and drag others with you...HA!

the only ones dragging anything down are those blindly defending the watchtower.

Um, while being a Jehovah's witness may or may not be a symptom of a severe mental health disorder, I think the original article's first sentence describing him as a "troubled man" may better serve to describe the situation.

It has to do with the massive  amount of rejection they suffer while trying  to give away issues of The Watchtower.

I agree; unless we're going to start seeing articles about Lutherans and Hindus jumping off buildings too, then the religion may not be all that relevant as to be the headline. Like, think of how many times the media mentions that a criminal is a Muslim when the religion isn't that relevant?

suicide in this mind controlled cult is the highest among all people... I am sure that this jump had everything to do with him being a Jehovah's Witness.....

I send my condolence's cause that happend right across the street from me ,  outside my window yesterday.

All people? Is this according to your crystal ball?

It might have, but to be "sure" is somewhat ignorant.  It's not the highest among 'all people'- the suicide rate was cited as 5-10x higher than the general population.

If you had taken a subset of 'troubled men' you'd have a higher suicide rate, I can assure you.

He's a devout Jehova's Witness. He commits a "sin" that essentially strips him of the faith he's committed his  life to. Hard not to think religion was somehow related. 

It's speculation alright, but devout irrationalism can sometimes cause side effects.

I am a former JW, and I, too, am willing to bet that the religion itself was at LEAST a significant PART in his reasons for committing suicide.

That cult uses GUILT GALORE to keep everyone under VERY strict control, and perhaps he couldn't take it anymore.

I personally knew a couple of JWs who attempted suicide: one succeeded, the other was found in time. BOTH were very close friends of mine who were struggling with wanting to live NORMAL lives and feeling guilt-ridden for their thoughts of wanting to "leave Jehovah".

While I'm sure that there may have been other issues that led this poor man to his death, I've no doubt that had he been truly happy with the JWs, he would have pulled through it all.

Poor guy. I hope he's found peace.  :-(