QFR: "Never has a woman given Jehovah perfect obedience"

by Inquisitor 27 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Inquisitor

  Questions From Readers w07 Jan 15 p.30

  In what sense did the congregator find only "one man out of a thousand" but not "a woman among all these"? - Ecclesiastes 7:28

  The answer is written out in 3 paragraphs.

  Paragraph 1: Placatory remarks to show that Jehovah God is not Chief Misogynist.

  Paragraph 2 & 3:

  "The context shows that low moral standards must have prevailed among women in Solomon's day. (Eccle 7:26) This may have been largely the result of the influence of foreign women who practiced Baal worship. Even King Solomon succumbed to pressure from his many foreign wives. "He came to have seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines," saya the Bible," and his wives gradually inclined his heart to worship false gods. (1 Kings 11:1-4) The moral standards of men too were not good - one righteous man in a thousand was a rarity, almost negligible. "This only I have found," concludes Solomon,"that the true God made mankind upright, but they themselves have sought out many plans." (Ecclesiastes 7:29) This is a conclusion about mankind - man as the human race, not man as compared with woman. Hence, the words foudn at Ecclesiastes 7:28 should be viewd as a comment on the general moral condition of the people of Solomon's day.

  However, there is another possible meaning to this verse. It may also be prophetic, for never has a woman given Jehovah perfect obedience. But there has been one such man - Jesus Christ. - Romans 5:15-17."
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  Inquisitor

  I can't believe that the Society has the nerve to say in this day and age "never has a woman given Jehovah perfect obedience. But there has been one such man - Jesus Christ".

  In what way could Jesus Christ be used to represent every man who've ever popped out into this world??

  This human Jesus, if he ever existed, was more than just a man if the myth is true.

  If the myth had been tampered with, at best Jesus could never have given complete obedience to jehovah, like any other guy who ever walked this earth.

  INQ
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  truthsetsonefree

  Chauvinistic bastards.

  tsof
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  PaulJ

  Amazing. Awful, but amazing they can say that.
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  Gill

  Irritating, mysogynistic bastards, aren't they?

  As Inquisitor said, Jesus, supposedly wasn't really even a human so neither has any man ever given their imaginary friend perfect obedience!

  A good Watchtower for going on the barbecue, I suggest! However, I don't like my food smelling of BullShit!
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  BluesBrother

  "The context shows that low moral standards must have prevailed among women in Solomon's day.

  ?? if low moral standards prevailed among women, surely they were the same among men who slept with them?

  The context.

  (Ecclesiastes 7:19-29) 19 Wisdom itself is stronger for the wise one than ten men in power who happened to be in a city. 20 For there is no man righteous in the earth that keeps doing good and does not sin. 21 Also, do not give your heart to all the words that people may speak, that you may not hear your servant calling down evil upon you. 22 For your own heart well knows even many times that you, even you, have called down evil upon others. 23 All this I have tested with wisdom. I said: "I will become wise." But it was far from me. 24 What has come to be is far off and exceedingly deep. Who can find it out? 25 I myself turned around, even my heart did, to know and to explore and to search for wisdom and the reason of things, and to know about the wickedness of stupidity and the foolishness of madness; 26 and I was finding out: More bitter than death [I found] the woman who is herself nets for hunting and whose heart is dragnets [and] whose hands are fetters. One is good before the [true] God if one escapes from her, but one is sinning if one is captured by her. 27 "See! This I have found," said the congregator, "one thing [taken] after another, to find out the sum-up, 28 which my soul has continuously sought, but I have not found. One man out of a thousand I have found, but a woman among all these I have not found. 29 See! This only I have found, that the [true] God made mankind upright, but they themselves have sought out many plans."

  Does not verse 20 contradict their argument? I guess this is a desperation answer . Once upon a time an Elders School instructor told us a little story about how he used to reply to written questions when he was in Bethel "Well, you have to say something" he commented.
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  jschwehm

  In the Catholic Tradition, Mary, the Blessed Mother of Jesus, is believed to have been conceived without original sin. She is the greatest of all the Saints and a model for all believers to follow. I just cannot understand why certain religious sects that claim to be Christian have such a low view of women. The first person that Jesus appeared to after His resurrection was a woman. And, the person to whom he was most connected to both physically and spiritually was His own mother, Mary.

  Jeff Schwehm

  www.catholicxjw.com
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  Inquisitor

  Here's a non-JW commentary on the same scripture:

  Eccles 7.27-28 “Behold, this have I found,” says the preacher, “putting one thing to another to find out the reason of things, which in myself I am still trying to understand, but have not found, I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all those.”

  He concludes this section by admitting that he has still not found the reason behind things, something which he is still striving for. But one thing he has discovered in his striving is the rarity of a good man. Such a man is ‘one among a thousand’. But all the women he had come across, he adds, could not be included as such. This was in fact not really surprising. He met his harem, who were all scheming against each other, and striving to be his favourite. He met the wives of courtiers, who were all doing the same with their men, and scheming for their advancement. He saw the prostitutes on the streets. But when the godly woman went out she would avoid drawing attention to herself, and would usually be safely at home out of men’s gaze . The last thing that such women would want was contact with the court. So he was judging only on the basis of those women that he had come across, which had given him a bad opinion of women. It did not refer to all women.

  This commentary does not make the baseless assumption that THE MAJORITY of women in Solomon's day were necessarily worse than their male counterparts; a serious flaw with the WTS interpretation. This commentary endeavored to understand how Solomon came to the conclusion that he made at the end of that chapter, even reasoning on how Solomon might have made a misjudgement about women in his day.

  The WTS writer(s) on the other hand, did not bother to make their commentary more insightful. In fact they did the exact opposite. Not only had they allowed a misogynistic view of women to pass unchallenged. They added their own at the end, making the childish remark that no woman has ever given Jehovah perfect obedience. That comment carries as much maturity as a schoolyard "we're-better-than-you" taunt.

  Frightful and Dumb Slave scooping up their usual brain mush to feed sheep.

  INQ
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  stillajwexelder

  Yet another reason for JW men to keep women in their place -disgusting
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  Scully

  Sisters™ it's time to put on your burkahs!