Hey zeroday,
I had an Elder Cousin that got divorced from his JW wife of 32 years...very mentally abusive marriage...she divorced him and he immediately stepped down as elder...his whold world crashed around him...no more lofty Elder lording it over the congo no more controlling husband and father (2 adult children 1 juvenile awarded to the mother) to boss around...he fell into a deep depression and then SUDDENLY found himself in the bed with a divorced sister and lets just say they were not studing the latest Watchtower...they then went running and crying to the BOE "WE'RE SORRY WE'RE SORRY" and low and behold were not DISFELLOWSHIPPED but merely put on public reprove and 'GO AHEAD AND GET MARRIED'" wink wink nod nod...love the "Good ole boys network"...4 months later I DA'ed myself...
I was told many times by the elders that men have a stronger sex drive and can't keep it in their pants. I wonder what scripture that is: Hezekiah 9:3,4?
Thanks, stilla. Do what you can. It ends up being pearls before swine too often.
Hey gopher, the elders are trained in administrative policies at those schools, how to better obey the WTS. No training in how to help anyone with a real problem. My husband said the junior elders were given the fine "privilege" because the older elders said they had done their time.
Hi meta, it's a popularity contest. They say she sinned because of your being a bad husband, eh? You can screw someone on the side but don't screw with the WTS.
OTWO, actually I was taught that the angels, Jesus, and God in heaven have no gender; that assigning them gender is a matter of power or authority. As to women being made in God's image, the WTS has always qualified that in recent years, saying that women are not in God's image when it comes to headship. But back in Rutherford's day, women were not held to have been made in God's image but in man's. Not surprising coming from a man who lived separately from his own wife and considered them a hank of hair and bone.
As far as studying or going in field service with their wives, it was not a spiritual issue it was not spending any time with their wives. I knew one that went with everyone but his wife, studied with non-jws but never his wife, as she sat home alone night after night. She finally found someone who would spend time with her.
Hello, WTWizard, jws are taught not to be honest about themselves; it is no surprise that they deceive future and current mates. It is hard to be honest with yourself without the pressure of living up to the perfectionistic, unrealistic model the WTS insists on.
Hi, NY44, surprisingly jws make application to others rather than themselves, the only person they have any control over. If you want a change in your marriage mate, it is best to be setting a good example. But marriage is a challenge, even Irreverent and I have our problems, we just try to ignore them and do what we can not to be part of the problem.
OTWO, when a jw woman says she is looking for a "spiritual" man she tends to mean "I'm looking for a man that will rise in the organization and have status, thus I'll have status." Women can't be elders but they can be "elders wives." Single women without husbands have no status in the WTS.
Can't overdo it, H4O. I guess being "holy" is not the same as being "loving" in the WTS lexicon. When men are trying to be "spiritual" it is not their wives they are concerned about, but their congregation image.
You are too sensitive and have a good heart, pistoff. The WTS has been beating the sheep with "obedience" for some time now even saying they must obey when the WTS is wrong.
R&R, good points. I heard about 2 more contemporaries that are getting divorces; racing to marriage thinking that there would be no marriage in the new system after 1975. About 50 marriages among my age group between 1973 and 1975. About 10 are still hanging in there.
Yes, DaCheech, jws survive by ignoring reality. 2 people died this year so far that could not have jw funerals because they had separated from their spouses and were living in "questionable" but not "provable situations. Everyone had put it out of their mind...not at the KH, makes you invisible or nonexistent.
Hey, HB, the WTS tries to have it both ways, telling jws to model their live after jews but then pulling in the Pauline counsel. Another way to speak out of both sides of your mouth.
Wow, bronzefist. Good for you sticking up for your son. So many elders think they have the right to live people's lives for them. I guess they missed the prodigal son part of the Bible.
Welcome, jehovahsheep, no one has to come to this board. It is their choice. Some do get what they need, heal, and move on to other things. Others stay to help the new people that are always coming here. The WTS is a dangerous organization and has hurt and is hurting people. It is not wrong to warn people and provide support.
Billy, marriage can be good under the right circumstances, for the right reasons. But it takes knowledge of ourself first before we can know another well enough to know whether marriage to them will be a good idea.
Thanks Bluesbrother for the insight into complement.
fokyc, thanks for answer the question about "bachelor" in Hebrew. I'm sure that was "wisdom" from Fred Franz, a self-taught Hebrew "scholar." I wonder what he would have said to your source?
FFM, yes, it is wrong for a jw woman to be happy with a non-jw man. It will make the other jw women regret their situation. I married a non-jw man and the women in the congregation were just waiting for bad things to happen to me; never did. It was as if God was rewarding me for being "bad."
Good comments, everyone; definitely more than what will be heard today at the 100,000 plus KHs.
Love, Blondie
