"it's against my religion"
As some of you may know, this week I started a job at the American Red Cross Blood Services as a Telerecruiter. The position is really great. I start out at $9.27/hour [as opposed to the $8.15/hour I get at the library after almost five years?], get time and a half+holiday on holidays, paid time off, and I get to meet really great people at the organization. What initially compelled me to apply was not these benefits- it was the chance to be a step in the process of saving a life. I am not just saying this because I have to convince people I call that by donating blood they save three lives. I am saying this out of experience.
Well, the downside of this job is that I have to meet quotas of appointments at the 13 sites across our region to actually stay employed. Three per hour doesn't sound like a bad minimum, but you have all been there. When a telmarketer or bill collecter calls your house, you get mad and hang up or yell. To avoid getting fired right away, I have decided to call people I know that want to donate and haven't before, or haven't in awhile. I am allowed to do this- ARC doesn't care, they just want donations.
So I texted a bunch of my buddies to warn them that in the coming weeks I might be nagging them. All of them were really good about it- my friends are amazing, and want to help people. My sister, on the otherhand, doesn't.
Okay, I can't put words in her mouth. She didn't say she doesn't want to save lives. She said something along the lines of "I'll faint. And it is against my religion". Now, I can totally understand the fainting thing. I recall about an incident about a year and a half ago when I donated blood at school, and then that night passed out and got pretty shaken up at a sold out show at The Icon. Or a year before that, my first time donating, when I passed out on the bus. Many of you reading this also might know about my last year, passing out everywhere [unrelated to blood donations- it's actually a medical condition]. Still, with all this fainting, I donated just a month ago, before I even planned on working at ARC. Why? Because I remember my mom going through chemo, and needing platelets. I think about my uncle who is now going through chemo, and of people who get into accidents, and premature babies who are born and need O+ blood right away.
Instead of ignoring my sister as I usually do when somebody says something extremely rude or naive to me, I sent her a text back that said my job is against her religion and so is my time and money. She responded with "fuck off". I was at work, and didn't receive her following texts that tried to justify her extremely inappropriate response. She dropped the religion explanation, and instead went on to tell me that ARC wastes the blood, it doesn't get used, blah blah blah.
I have not yet talked to her since this text conversation.
A 22 year old woman dies after giving birth to twins because her faith restricted her from receiving a blood transfusion
My sister claims she is a Jehovah's Witness. I have been kind over the years and held my tongue. I can be outspoken and sometimes irrational when it comes to religion, a trait I have acquired [actually quite gratefully] from my father. I am an Atheist. However, unless very agitated or in a group where the people are open/Atheist, I try my hardest not to offend others. I know I am an American, and I have a right to be Atheist. Others have a right to be Catholic, Muslim, Buddhist, Protestant... Scientologist. Although sometimes I wonder when my right is being oppressed due to others nagging me about their own beliefs, I let it go. I cannot let this incident go.
Tell me, friends, especially those who do follow a religion faithfully, how would you go about obeying the rules of your faith? Let's pretend you are a Jehovah's Witness.
I apologize in advance for using Wikipedia as a main source. I did not rely primarily on this site, though. I also visited the official JW site.
I also have a lot of information and experience from working with JWs [who actually are not as pushy as everyone makes them out to be], and being "related" to a few.
This is my sister's situation. My sister is actually my half-sister: same mother, different father. Well, her dad, nice guy and everything, Jehovah's Witness. Her father has a very nice wife, who also is a JW. His wife has told me on numerous occasions that she used to hate JWs, and loves the religion now. This is also the same woman who, not 2 hours after my mother died last July, preached to me that I will not be saved and neither will my mother, but I still have a chance. I don't hold this conversation against her though, especially because I was in a state of shock and didn't listen much anyway. I was not able to brainwashed, though. Well my sister, Danielle, has a lesson with her father every week [when she doesn't cancel], and he attempts to teach her about the faith. She doesn't go to any meetings or anything to the best of my knowledge. Her husband, Ben, is not a JW. He may be an Atheist, but I am not sure.
1. If there is one thing everybody knows about the JW religion, it is that the followers do not observe holidays. My sister's explanation is that they all have pagan origins. Many do [I have studied mythology for years]. However, is that bad? I wonder if my sister is under the same misconception that pagans were evil, and witches.. as opposed to the reality that they merely believed in more natural deities. By the way, Danielle does not object to gatherings with the family for Christmas, birthdays, Thanksgiving, Halloween, wow!- even Easter. Her father does not observe these holidays [he follows it more strictly].
2. 144,000 anointed people will receive immortal life in heaven as co-rulers with Christ, according to Jehovah's Witnesses. Look at that number again- not very large, right? Check out this site with statistics of where and how many JWs are in the world. If it looks like not all the JWs are getting salvation to you, you're right.
3. According to Wiki, JWs do not believe in higher education. The citation checks out. " Watchtower 8/15/97 p. 21 par. 13 "The main purpose of education should be to equip a youth to be an effective minister of Jehovah. And the most important education of all is a spiritual education. ... Parents are also concerned about the ability of their children to support themselves financially. So give your children guidance, help them to choose appropriate school subjects, and discuss with them whether it is wise to pursue any supplementary education or not. Such decisions are a family responsibility, and others should not criticize the course taken." I am pretty sure Danielle does not like the idea of Natalie and Violet not going to college and leading successful lives. Danielle herself wanted to go to school for nursing, and her husband has his Associate's Degree.
4. BLOOD. The big thing. "For the life of the flesh is in the blood ... No soul of you shall eat blood," and of Genesis 9:3, 4, which they understand to be the first instance of "the Bible’s clear prohibition against taking blood into the body." [from Wiki]. What. the. fuck. Now there are some pretty messed up ideas floating around in the many religions of the world, but this one- SUICIDE? WHAT? Why?? I love how my sister criticizes Radical Muslims for suicide missions, yet isn't this the same thing? There have been instances where Courts have overruled parental decisions to not let their babies receive blood, so I am hopeful for my nieces. There are so many things I could say to Danielle. SHE WANTS TO BE A NURSE. How does that add up? And what about when our Mother was sick? Does she object to the idea of Mommy having received a blood transfusion? Also, if Danielle was to refuse a transfusion for herself, and died as a result, she'd be leaving her husband and children in a horrible situation. Quite simply, idiotic.
I came across a few sites claiming that many JWs donate blood, but do not receive it. Still... what the heck???
Anyway, that's enough ranting. I was going to go on and list all of the immoral things my sister has done which probably go against JW, and if they don't, that makes the religion even more fucked up. I do not want to list her bad qualities on the internet, because being downright mean to people is AGAINST MY MORALS. Apparently, JWs are allowed to be assholes to their families.
p.s. If you haven't looked into the Scientology thing, check that out. That is one messed up religion, more so than JW. Scientology is technically a cult. Expect a rant about that soon... anyway, my sister complains that the Scientologists always leave pamphlets on her stairs. Um, so what do the JWs do?? Go door to door? Yeahhhhh.
Well, the downside of this job is that I have to meet quotas of appointments at the 13 sites across our region to actually stay employed. Three per hour doesn't sound like a bad minimum, but you have all been there. When a telmarketer or bill collecter calls your house, you get mad and hang up or yell. To avoid getting fired right away, I have decided to call people I know that want to donate and haven't before, or haven't in awhile. I am allowed to do this- ARC doesn't care, they just want donations.
So I texted a bunch of my buddies to warn them that in the coming weeks I might be nagging them. All of them were really good about it- my friends are amazing, and want to help people. My sister, on the otherhand, doesn't.
Okay, I can't put words in her mouth. She didn't say she doesn't want to save lives. She said something along the lines of "I'll faint. And it is against my religion". Now, I can totally understand the fainting thing. I recall about an incident about a year and a half ago when I donated blood at school, and then that night passed out and got pretty shaken up at a sold out show at The Icon. Or a year before that, my first time donating, when I passed out on the bus. Many of you reading this also might know about my last year, passing out everywhere [unrelated to blood donations- it's actually a medical condition]. Still, with all this fainting, I donated just a month ago, before I even planned on working at ARC. Why? Because I remember my mom going through chemo, and needing platelets. I think about my uncle who is now going through chemo, and of people who get into accidents, and premature babies who are born and need O+ blood right away.
Instead of ignoring my sister as I usually do when somebody says something extremely rude or naive to me, I sent her a text back that said my job is against her religion and so is my time and money. She responded with "fuck off". I was at work, and didn't receive her following texts that tried to justify her extremely inappropriate response. She dropped the religion explanation, and instead went on to tell me that ARC wastes the blood, it doesn't get used, blah blah blah.
I have not yet talked to her since this text conversation.
A 22 year old woman dies after giving birth to twins because her faith restricted her from receiving a blood transfusion
My sister claims she is a Jehovah's Witness. I have been kind over the years and held my tongue. I can be outspoken and sometimes irrational when it comes to religion, a trait I have acquired [actually quite gratefully] from my father. I am an Atheist. However, unless very agitated or in a group where the people are open/Atheist, I try my hardest not to offend others. I know I am an American, and I have a right to be Atheist. Others have a right to be Catholic, Muslim, Buddhist, Protestant... Scientologist. Although sometimes I wonder when my right is being oppressed due to others nagging me about their own beliefs, I let it go. I cannot let this incident go.
Tell me, friends, especially those who do follow a religion faithfully, how would you go about obeying the rules of your faith? Let's pretend you are a Jehovah's Witness.
I apologize in advance for using Wikipedia as a main source. I did not rely primarily on this site, though. I also visited the official JW site.
I also have a lot of information and experience from working with JWs [who actually are not as pushy as everyone makes them out to be], and being "related" to a few.
This is my sister's situation. My sister is actually my half-sister: same mother, different father. Well, her dad, nice guy and everything, Jehovah's Witness. Her father has a very nice wife, who also is a JW. His wife has told me on numerous occasions that she used to hate JWs, and loves the religion now. This is also the same woman who, not 2 hours after my mother died last July, preached to me that I will not be saved and neither will my mother, but I still have a chance. I don't hold this conversation against her though, especially because I was in a state of shock and didn't listen much anyway. I was not able to brainwashed, though. Well my sister, Danielle, has a lesson with her father every week [when she doesn't cancel], and he attempts to teach her about the faith. She doesn't go to any meetings or anything to the best of my knowledge. Her husband, Ben, is not a JW. He may be an Atheist, but I am not sure.
1. If there is one thing everybody knows about the JW religion, it is that the followers do not observe holidays. My sister's explanation is that they all have pagan origins. Many do [I have studied mythology for years]. However, is that bad? I wonder if my sister is under the same misconception that pagans were evil, and witches.. as opposed to the reality that they merely believed in more natural deities. By the way, Danielle does not object to gatherings with the family for Christmas, birthdays, Thanksgiving, Halloween, wow!- even Easter. Her father does not observe these holidays [he follows it more strictly].
2. 144,000 anointed people will receive immortal life in heaven as co-rulers with Christ, according to Jehovah's Witnesses. Look at that number again- not very large, right? Check out this site with statistics of where and how many JWs are in the world. If it looks like not all the JWs are getting salvation to you, you're right.
3. According to Wiki, JWs do not believe in higher education. The citation checks out. " Watchtower 8/15/97 p. 21 par. 13 "The main purpose of education should be to equip a youth to be an effective minister of Jehovah. And the most important education of all is a spiritual education. ... Parents are also concerned about the ability of their children to support themselves financially. So give your children guidance, help them to choose appropriate school subjects, and discuss with them whether it is wise to pursue any supplementary education or not. Such decisions are a family responsibility, and others should not criticize the course taken." I am pretty sure Danielle does not like the idea of Natalie and Violet not going to college and leading successful lives. Danielle herself wanted to go to school for nursing, and her husband has his Associate's Degree.
4. BLOOD. The big thing. "For the life of the flesh is in the blood ... No soul of you shall eat blood," and of Genesis 9:3, 4, which they understand to be the first instance of "the Bible’s clear prohibition against taking blood into the body." [from Wiki]. What. the. fuck. Now there are some pretty messed up ideas floating around in the many religions of the world, but this one- SUICIDE? WHAT? Why?? I love how my sister criticizes Radical Muslims for suicide missions, yet isn't this the same thing? There have been instances where Courts have overruled parental decisions to not let their babies receive blood, so I am hopeful for my nieces. There are so many things I could say to Danielle. SHE WANTS TO BE A NURSE. How does that add up? And what about when our Mother was sick? Does she object to the idea of Mommy having received a blood transfusion? Also, if Danielle was to refuse a transfusion for herself, and died as a result, she'd be leaving her husband and children in a horrible situation. Quite simply, idiotic.
I came across a few sites claiming that many JWs donate blood, but do not receive it. Still... what the heck???
Anyway, that's enough ranting. I was going to go on and list all of the immoral things my sister has done which probably go against JW, and if they don't, that makes the religion even more fucked up. I do not want to list her bad qualities on the internet, because being downright mean to people is AGAINST MY MORALS. Apparently, JWs are allowed to be assholes to their families.
p.s. If you haven't looked into the Scientology thing, check that out. That is one messed up religion, more so than JW. Scientology is technically a cult. Expect a rant about that soon... anyway, my sister complains that the Scientologists always leave pamphlets on her stairs. Um, so what do the JWs do?? Go door to door? Yeahhhhh.