Bride Price-Getting a Reasonable Price

by teenyuck 24 Replies latest jw friends

  • teenyuck
    teenyuck

    I am posting this per Lydia's request....I found it on the WTBTS web site. It is from the September 15, 1998 Watchtower.

    Rather than post the whole thing, which is pages long, here is the URL;

    http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/1998/9/15/article_01.htm

    All I can say is Yuck!

    As in the case of the God-fearing patriarch Abraham, what if a Christian father does not directly take part in the marriage negotiations of one of his children? (Genesis 24:2-4) If someone else is appointed to do this, the Christian father should make sure that the negotiator follows instructions that are in harmony with the reasonable principles of the Bible. Moreover, before any moves are made to negotiate a bride-price, Christian parents should carefully think matters over and not allow themselves to be carried away by unreasonable customs or demands.—Proverbs 22:3.
    This was written in 1998, not 1898!
  • Sky
    Sky

    how sickening!!!
    I cant believe it...ugh
    Sky

  • HenryP
    HenryP

    The article begins: "TODAY, as in Bible times, some cultures require that a bride-price be paid before a man can marry a woman."

    The counsel given in the article is given for the benefit of those that live in those cultures.

  • teenyuck
    teenyuck

    Henry, Henry, Henry....you do realise that by association you are now a "Bad Association."

    The WTBTS is approving an ancient, ridiculous practice. By putting a price on a woman's head, she becomes less than human....

  • HenryP
    HenryP

    Yes, I realize it.

    If you belive it is a ridiculous practice that's fine, but those cultures don't view it that way. As Americans our personal opinions don't count in those cultures, so the counsel is for their benefit and shows respect for their views.

  • JanH
    JanH

    I remember an earlier article saying essentially the same thing, and remember I thought "yikes" even as a dub.

    It's interesting that many cultures have the opposite view. A family has to pay to get rid of a girl.

    - Jan
    --
    - "How do you write women so well?" - "I think of a man and I take away reason and accountability." (Jack Nicholson in "As Good as it Gets")

  • jayhawk1
    jayhawk1

    Ah yes, I remember that article. That was one year before I made my exodus from the cult. The reason for the article is in many African cultures among other places do request a dowery for the woman. However, I still wonder why it made it into a watchtower or awake publication. The reason I wonder that is because why would a christian JW sell his children? Even for the purpose of marriage, I would think the society would tell JWs in Africa to drop the dowery process. I think the old men were short on their medicine when this was approved for publishing.

    Is this a light saber in my pocket or am I just happy to see you?

    "Hand me that whiskey, I need to consult the spirit."-J.F. Rutherford

  • voltaire
    voltaire

    Puffsrule,

    Nice picture. How much does a unit like you go for?(This is not a serious inquiry, just a little tire kickin'!)

  • teenyuck
    teenyuck

    lol@voltaire

  • SYN
    SYN

    Well Mr. HenryP, (I assume it's Mister, otherwise I doubt that there is any way in hell you'd have posted that), if you can justify the SALE AND PURCHASING of women, then I think a lot of other hopelessly chauvinistic behaviour (such as being an Elder for instance) can't be very far behind.

    Man, you need help, in a big way. I wish you could be one of those women being sold like a slave to their husband who they've probably never met and will hate, but be forced into marriage with for the rest of their lives. I wish you could be an oppressed pioneer woman in a strict JW Congregation, having to wear a dishcloth on your head in order to say a prayer in the presence of a 2 year old male child, even though you've been serving longer than most of the Elders in the Congregation. I wish you could be in the position of a woman abused by her Dub husband, forced to stay quiet and not go to the cops, while every day your face gets pounded in for the slightest transgression. I wish you could be a woman who would have to sit in a puddle of mud in the rain if your husband ordered you to do it, in order to show "wifely submission". I wish you could be a female Dub who gets raped by a newly converted male Dub and gets AIDS, and then gets disfellowshipped because she "didn't cry out", even though a gun was being held against her head as she was forced to have sex with a man she knew had AIDS, and after the disfellowshipping is not even allowed to speak to her own mother or sisters to help her out in her time of intense emotional distress and depression. I wish you could be that same Dub woman's child, who gets born nine months later only to die at age 7 from the same disease, while the mother receives no support from the Society or even her own Congregation because she is "marked". I wish you could stand in front of that Judicial Committee and be that same woman, and be judged to have "excited the man and made him sin" by wearing a dress that was about four inches above your ankles. I wish you could be a Dub woman forced to "render her wifely due" even though she was having serious menstrual cramps, in order to be "submissive to her husband". I wish you could be a Dub woman of nearly 80 years of age, sitting on the stage and telling the vast crowd at a Convention about your experiences as a Witness of God for nearly 70 years, when you are being asked questions by an Elder who is only 23 years old, and know that you are never ever allowed to stand up in his presence on stage unless you are coming or going.

    Our personal opinions don't count in the face of slavery either, HenryP. Sorry about the lack of formatting, but you have just truly TICKED ME OFF!!!

    The earlier in the forenoon you take the sun bath, the greater will be the beneficial effect, because you get more of the ultra-violet rays, which are healing. - The Golden Age

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