From a Jehovah's Witness perspective, why don't we have the option to choose whether or not to come to this world? I was one of Jehovah's witnesses and would still be one of them, but a question always disturbs me.

Sometimes I think about how life and all the pain and suffering we pass through from childbirth down the time of death, and the question I ask myself is: Why is it that when we are about to be conceived we do not have the option to choose to come into this world or not? If I were given that option I would not choose to come into this world that is filled with all of these problems, even with Jehovah's promise of a new world to come.

(Note: I would love a strong brother in the Jehovah's Witness faith to answer this question.)
Jehovah’s Witnesses, like most Christians, teach that we come into existence some time around conception. (I’m not sure that they ever pin it down exactly, and while they oppose abortion, I don’t think I’ve heard them complain about methods which prevent implantation. Let’s just say that, by Witness teaching, you become a human some time between conception and birth.)

Given that, by Witness teaching, you didn’t exist before your conception, you weren’t around to be asked. Once you did exist, it was too late to ask you: you’re already here. As such, the question does not arise.

The Witnesses do not teach ensoulment, the belief that the soul is “infused” into the body at some point during pregnancy. In fact, for most purposes, they make no distinction between soul, body, and spirit.* You are your soul. And that soul is mortal. It exists here because it does exist here: you weren’t brought into this world, as if you’d come from elsewhere — you came into existence right here: you are of this world.



* They do, actually, distinguish these terms, but none of the distinctions seem relevant for this answer; they would be very relevant if you’d asked for a Catholic perspective.