This has not changed, I know a recent case where the wife couldn’t be present at her husband’s meeting. Over the years I’ve seen many cases of women being disrespected by the organization and then being labelled as rebellious. The way they treat women just shows who they are, even if in your country you had the legal right to take advantage of a group of people for example, if you were half decent you would not even consider doing so. They take Paul’s words literally, and apply them to everything. The Bible can have many lectures, unfortunately for them they don‘t seem to get that women are also made in God‘s image and what this means. A lot of women in the organization would not make nice elders though, some of them admit themselves that they would find very difficult to be impartial and that it‘s better that only the men are elders, not sure if this is brainwashing at its best, or just self-awareness. I am glad to be free from all that.
Do JWs treat women like second-class citizens, like their husbands' property?
by matt2414 28 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Paralipomenon
JW doctrine definately reinforces a male-dominated doctrine, but my own experience is that it isn't universal. There were some elder's wives who were weilding congregation power through their husbands
Definately some elders who would cut off sister's comments if they thought they were getting too "preachy", but many of the couples I knew had a fairly good balance and respect. I definately credit those to a changing world opinion towards women's rights, not a shred of it to the Watchtower.
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InquiryMan
I guess it is also influenced by cultural factors. In USA, fundamentalism is far stronger than e.g. Scandinavia.
Here female pioneers are written to in their own names. Also quite a few couples I knew were pretty equal and quite a women jokely states that such guidance goes into on ear and out of the other... Here I think it was more noticable if a sister was acting submissive.. most would then think that the husband was too dominating etc...
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blondie
* ** w95 7/15 p. 12 par. 12 The Dignified Role of Women Among God’s Early Servants *** Husbands as “owners”: An incident in the life of Abraham and Sarah about 1918 B.C.E. indicates that by their time it had evidently become customary to view a married man as the “owner” (Hebrew, ba ′?al) and a married woman as the ‘owned one’ (Hebrew, be?u·lah′). (Genesis 20:3) These expressions are thereafter at times used in the Scriptures, and there is no indication that pre-Christian women found them offensive. (Deuteronomy 22:22) Wives were not to be treated as pieces of property, though. Property or wealth could be bought, sold, and even inherited, but this was not so of a wife. “The inheritance from fathers is a house and wealth,” says a Bible proverb, “but a discreet wife is from Jehovah.”—Proverbs 19:14; Deuteronomy 21:14.
1. Could women be sold
*** it-2 p. 1183 Wife ***
If an Israelite daughter was sold by her father as a servant and the master took her as a concubine, her owner could allow her to be redeemed if she did not please him, but he could not sell her to a foreign people. (Ex 21:7, 8)
2. Could women be inherited
*** it-2 p. 157 King ***
Wives and property. The marriage and family customs of the Judean kings included the practice of having a plurality of wives and concubines, although the Law stipulated that the king was not to multiply wives to himself. (De 17:17) The concubines were considered to be crown property and were passed on to the successor to the throne along with the rights and property of the king. To marry or take possession of one of the deceased king’s concubines was tantamount to publishing a claim to the throne. Hence, Absalom’s having relations with the concubines of his father, King David, and Adonijah’s requesting as wife Abishag, David’s nurse and companion in his old age, were equivalent to claims on the throne. (2Sa 16:21, 22; 1Ki 2:15-17, 22) These were treasonable acts.
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Chemical Emotions
Wow, those WT qoutations are sickening. I almost forgot them.
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wha happened?
* ** w95 7/15 p. 12 par. 12 The Dignified Role of Women Among God’s Early Servants *** Husbands as “owners”: An incident in the life of Abraham and Sarah about 1918 B.C.E. indicates that by their time it had evidently become customary to view a married man as the “owner” (Hebrew, ba ′?al) and a married woman as the ‘owned one’ (Hebrew, be?u·lah′). (Genesis 20:3) These expressions are thereafter at times used in the Scriptures, and there is no indication that pre-Christian women found them offensive.
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wha happened?
But then again, Prisoners usually don't complain of their conditions either
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PaintedToeNail
Regarding Absalom's rape of his father's concubines, the result for the concubines was being shut up in a house by themselves for the rest of their lives, never to see the light of day again. A prison for the victims....nice, NOT!
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Morbidzbaby
The short answer is yes.
I've had 3 JC's. One was a joint JC with my ex and I being "judged" for "sins" we commited with each other. A second was one that was only me, but the elders had him sit in on it, which sucked because I really couldn't say all that I needed or wanted to say about how he treated me. The third was after we separated, so he wasn't present for that one...although he did give his input to the elders and "bear testimony" against me that way.
When my ex had his own JC, I was not present, I was not invited to be present...even though I witnessed what he had done. I have no idea what was said, why they came to the conclusion they did to just give a private reproof, or what crazy-ass story he told them in order to get that slap on the wrist. Chances are, he blamed me.
As a JW wife, I had zero say in the goings on in my relationship, my family life, and my own personal life. The choices of entertainment and association were not mine to make. I had no say as to whether I would put in pioneer hours or not. No say in whether we would have the Book Study at our home or the meeting for Field Service. No say in where the money went... Sure, I was asked as a COURTESY, but my feelings were never taken into consideration for a second. He did what he wanted, no matter how it screwed us in the end. He sold and gave away vehicles that were mine without consulting me, he threw away my belongings, he controlled our sex life, he controlled what I talked about with friends and family by putting me through a gauntlet of questions every time I spent any amount of time talking to someone.
So yeah, I was a second-class citizen in a sense, but in my own opinion I was treated more like a child than a wife.