this is something i have just remembered , you know when the court official says "all rise" when the judge walks into crown court , i remember the elders rising along with perps wife and supporters , and victims familys , i did not think a jw would be able to show this sign of respect for a judge , considering other rules and regulations ,anyone know the explanation for that? also it mentioned in court that the perps brothers and sisters (jws) were supporting the perp who is disfellowshipped but were never in court in person do you think the elders would have told them not to go as it would be a "bad witness " considering he was pleading guilty to some charges of child sex abuse and if so why was his jw wife allowed to show support ? any elders out there who may know , i didnt get answers from the local elders .
the elders stood up in the public gallery when the judge walked in
by looloo 6 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
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Sparkplug
I think it has something to do with paying ceasars things to ceasars. sort of like when I was a kid, we could stand when they raised the flag if we wanted but we had better not salute it. see?
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FlipThis
same thing with the National Anthem if I remember correctly. We just couldn't put our hand on our heart or some such crap...
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Hope4Others
I think it has something to do with just showing respect for the office they hold. ie judge, queen etc...
Hope4Others
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Gopher
It's Romans 13:1:
Let every soul be in subjection to the superior authorities, for there is no authority except by God; the existing authorities stand placed in their relative positions by God.
The Watchtower has said respect is to be shown to the public officials -- for their position, not necessarily for the person themself.
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bigmouth
"I think it has something to do with paying ceasars things to ceasars. sort of like when I was a kid, we could stand when they raised the flag if we wanted but we had better not salute it."
"same thing with the National Anthem if I remember correctly. We just couldn't put our hand on our heart or some such crap..."
Re. the above comments, my understanding was that even performing these things would be compromising our Christian neutrality.
Although we don't have flag salute in NZ, standing for the National Anthem was tantamount to the same thing.
In a court of secular law though I think this shows proper respect for the judge's position. In the same way you might stand for a schoolteacher or a lady etc.. -
Gopher
we could stand when they raised the flag if we wanted but we had better not salute it."
"same thing with the National Anthem if I remember correctly. We just couldn't put our hand on our heart or some such crap..."The Pharisees, I mean JW's, had rules for every situation.
If you were in a place where the flag is being saluted, you can sit or stand. But you just can't put your hand over your heart or recite the pledge of allegiance.
If you were in a place where the National Anthem started -- if you were sitting down you had to stay sitting. If you were standing up, you didn't need to take the special action of sitting down. But you could never sing it or show you "went along" with it.
This was particularly awkward at sporting events where they play the anthem before the contest starts. The easiest thing to do was to go out in the concourse for some refreshments before the anthem ever started, so you'd already be standing when it started and you could just blend in.