LDS vs JW

Here I am again. Haven't written in a while.
As a precursor to this post, I have on thing to ask of you who read this.
Please don't judge my marriage. I recognize that I married fast, and probably jumped in head first.. blindfolded.. with ear plugs...
I'm putting this out here as my own, personal, (totally biased), view.
Thanks :)

I seem to have hit an unexpected yet totally foreseen obstacle in my marriage. Happily this won't be an awkward blog, because I'm pretty sure that this is an issue for just about every single person on this entire planet.

RELIGION.

Yes, the "R" word. Sadly it's not four letters, cuz then it could really fit well under "List of Words to Avoid Ever Saying".
Anyway.

The above acronyms in my title should have given away the players in this debate. Latter-Day Saints, and Jehovah's Witnesses.
As some of you may know, my husband is a Jehovah's Witness, which I will now refer to as JW, because typing that out is way too annoying.
His family is devout as well. Well his parents are, specifically, along with one of his brothers. The other family has fallen out of the loop.. not the point here.

Basic beliefs. (And don't you dare quote me on any of this, because I know next to shit about this religion).
The Bible is the only word of God. The JW have the most direct, correct translation of the Bible, as the King James version has been messed with and incorrectly interpreted enough over the years to be considered unreliable.
JW do not celebrate holidays due to the pagan backgrounds said holidays continue to endorse and represent. That's right, no holidays. None.
Examples - Easter is an old form of worship to an ancient fertility god. Eggs and such.. (I think I heard that, on Easter, virgins would run into the woods and men would run after them to find them and take them in a desperately physical fashion.)
Christmas is a lie (Santa, etc.) and I can't remember the background for that one.
Thanksgiving is a national holiday, and JW cannot endorse the government.
Ah yes, the government. JW cannot have any government jobs or involvement. They cannot salute the flag, say the pledge, put their hands over their hearts, or vote. Why? The government is corrupt and evil, and will fall at the end of days.
JW cannot give blood. Why? Because blood is sacred to God, and cannot be used for any purpose once removed from the body.
Chemicals mixed with YOUR OWN blood and re-injected into your body? That's ok.
Your own blood recirculated through a machine while undergoing operations? That's ok.
Donating blood or receiving blood that is not your own through any procedure whatsoever? Not okay.
Yes, this does prevent them from performing many different kinds of life saving procedures. If you find a JW bleeding out on the road, all you can do is hold their hand as they die.
I'm being serious.
JW don't believe in the Second Coming. They think that, if Christ were to sacrifice his own life and then just 'poof' "I'm back!" it would entirely devalue his original suffering and death for our sins.
JW don't believe we are all going to some level of heaven. They believe that a select 144 thousand people will ascend to heaven to help God in eternity with his work (or something). They are the Anointed. They have all been born between the beginning of humanity and the end of said humanity. The rest of us, assuming we have lead decent lives, will be resurrected on the New Earth. Those who are not worthy will simply cease to exist, forever.
JW believe that, when you die, you die. That's it. Your soul does not go elsewhere, they actually think that your body is your soul. So, when you die, God keeps you in his mind as a perfect memory, and you will be brought back from his memory as a being on the New Earth (again, according to your worthiness).

Now, swing the focus.
All of you on here were raised LDS, so you know what they believe, despite whatever you think about religion now.
Do you have problems with anything written above? If not, I'll give you Rob's father's number, and he can immediately begin a bible study to see if you will convert to "The Truth".
IF, however, some of you find the aforementioned statements less than desirable, please allow me to touch on some, that while a few may be petty, really bother me.
Holidays.
Okay, I get that putting all your relatives in the same room, adding a bunch of screaming, finicky, hyperactive kids, and trying to eat turkey in a civilized fashion may not always turn out as the fluffy 'family togetherness' event you had imagined.
I understand that it is a unnecessary rush and panic around the holidays. The stress of buying presents, wrapping them, keeping them hidden from glassy-eyed kids who still believe Santa slides down that chimney you don't have.. it takes effort.
Oh, and about three months worth of paychecks in this economy.
BUT. There is a flip-side.
Who doesn't remember being totally stoked that Santa ate the cookies you left out for him, and seeing the carrots for his reindeer gone? Who didn't freak out when you got a bunch of shitty little presents and then SANTA got you a fetching bike, all shiny and gleaming on the front porch?
And who honestly doesn't give a shit about pagan backgrounds, because you, in no way, shape or form, consider giving people presents on a random day in December a worship or disrespect of any God?
Don't most LDS consider it a day to remember Jesus's birth? Or did my mom just put out all those babies in mangers with shepherds to screw with me..
(And yes, I know it wasn't ACTUALLY the day Jesus was born..)

On the subject of blood.. say your child gets in a bike accident, like I did when I was a kid. Without forty blood transfusions, I would have died. Plain and simple, Jenessa would have ceased to exist at the bottom of that hill.
Guess what the parents of a JW kid would have to do?
"Ma'am, we need to get your child blood immediately, or he/she is going to die."
"I'm sorry, you can't. It's against our beliefs."

HEADS UP KIDS: I am in no way making light of any persons beliefs. What you think, what you feel in your heart of hearts to be right, true and correct defines who and what you are for your entire life, start to finish.
But, as a parent, who wants to watch their child die in their arms? Who wants to lose their baby, knowing it is entirely within their power to save them?
I don't.
But I'm going to have to anyway.

Now, let's get to the bashing part of this blog.
You respect other people's beliefs, right? Unless you are some sort of asshole, you don't generally run around saying atheists are fuck heads who know nothing, and campaign against Buddhists cuz they worship some fat guy.
This goes for life decisions as well. You, again generally, don't see a homosexual couple, run up, throw your Sonic Route 44 Dr. Pepper in their faces, and scream "FUCKING FAGGOTS!!" Do you?
(I should hope not, since those of you reading this are considered my friends and I don't really want my friends to be those kinds of people..
Point being.. )
Now that I am in a family of JW, I am in the minority. My religion is constantly in question, mocked, ridiculed, and disclaimed as a religion borne of possible satanic influence. (No shit on that, JW are big on demon and satanic influence.)
(Let me quickly insert that I do not entirely follow the tenets of my faith. Actually, I don't follow them, period. But I was raised in a certain belief system, and after nineteen years of being taught the things I have, giving these things up is not easy. If the LDS Church is wrong, I have to scrap years of belief, toss out the basis of what I was raised on. Imagine how hard it would be to be told that all you have ever heard or thought was a total lie. Yeah, doesn't feel to great.)

So add personal conviction with personal confusion, then add in outside persecution and it comes to a cumulative head that explodes right about when someone says "Joseph Smith was a lying bastard. He made up the BoM, fooled approximately fourteen MILLION people into the same falsehood, and is now somewhere up above, cackling and slapping his knee over it. This has got to be the greatest hoodwink ever pulled in history. Oh, and, by the way, you are a total moron for being sucked in. Why don't you grown a brain and find out the truth for yourself? Better hope your truth coincides with mine, or we are gonna have real problems here..."
(No one has actually said that last part, by the way. May have been implied, but it was meant as an example.. although everything before 'Better hope your truth coincides with mine' I've heard.)

I'd LOVE to hear opinions, but please, can they be.. thought out? I'd really like to see where my friends stand. Not sure how many people actually read this..
Well, if you have the time, I'd love to hear it.

Yours truly
-Nessa-