Why do WOMEN remain Believers???

by JT 37 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  JanH

  ballistic,

  Secondly the reason was that there seems to be a small concensus that in the process of leaving the org, our standards drop.

  I don't see it as "dropping" standards. I see it as rejecting silly rules there are no rational basis for. I see, for example, no reason to assume morality has any bearing on sex between consenting adults, but this is a big thing for fundamentalist groups, and the dubs.

  Of course, there are exceptions. Many exJWs tend to go overboard with e.g. restricted substances, or mindlessly trying "everything.".

  - Jan
• 

  JT

  Syn says:

  Sadly, the Bible has a different view. The ideal woman in the Bible is a humiliated, spineless shadow of a real woman. There is nothing more beautiful than a smart woman with a great personality to me - above and beyond looks

  @@@@@@@@@@

  could not agree more-- I have never bought into the Women are Equal line cause we are not, but that has nothing to do with treating folks fairly - sometime the extremes folks on an issue push it so hard that they push it out the door till they sound foolish

  case in point --you often here folks say that a person who is disabled is equal to someone who is not and can do ANY JOB AS WELL OR BETTER - I got into a discussion with a protester on the streets of Wash DC one day during lunch and i told him i agreed that a disable person should not be held back or not given a job, but there are SOMETHINGS he CANNOT DO like be a Fireman while in a wheel chair and this guy went off and he missed the whole point- are there jobs that the person could do within the fire dept -- sure, but to have a guy in a wheel chair have to be called to the WTC and make it up 96 flights of steps I THINK NOT-

  NOT THAT MEN ARE BETTER THAN WOMEN- BUT WE ARE DIFFERENT

  IN FACT I KINDA LIKE IT THAT WAY TOO SMILE
• 

  ballistic

  JanH, I was one of those slightly immature on leaving the org having grown up 'in it' as I believe many are. I had to learn some wrongs from rights for myself. But as I did so and found some balance, I discovered to my suprise that the organisation is backwards in so many ways. I have been on a real journey and, of course, it's so easy looking back in hind sight!
• 

  William Penwell

  I think that Jesus believed in equality for all. As a matter of fact scrolls have come to light to indicate that Mary Magdalene had a big part in the early Christian movement. It was the Apostle Paul's concept of Christianity that has put women down for the last 2 thousand years.

  Will
• 

  Flip

  JT, very educational thread!

  Speaking of priorities, ever noticed that the only non-gender specific, Biblical teaching task female Jehovahs Witnesses have complete autonomy, or at least given a level playing field as the leaders (males) of the congregation, is donating personal cash for the Watchtower and Awake! then dispersing publications in Laundromats and Hospital waiting rooms, etc. as often as possible for the Societies Board of Directors.
• 

  JanH

  Will,

  So do you think some of my points are valid? Is this a left over from our primeval ancestors religious belief system?

  Undoubtedly. I think oppression of women is as ancient as humanity. Of course we have no sources to the earliest times, so anything I say can be brushed aside as 'speculation'....

  First, men are on the whole physically stronger than women. We know that the strong oppressing the weaker is a common element in all of human history. The concept of human rights and equalty is, alas, a pretty recent development.

  Second, biologically all species have an incentive to bring on their genes. We are not slaves to our genes, but they do influence us. Women and men both invest enormous resources in bringing up, feeding and protecting their offspring. Women would know that the child they are bringing up carries their genes. Men would have to ensure that women were 'protected' against other men to achieve this. There is certainly an incentive for oppression of females here.

  Religion serves to justify those in power. In the case of genders, we see the OT laws treat women as the property of first their fathers, and then their husbands. Adultery was a crime against the property rights of the husband (literally, the "owner of the woman" in the OT). It is not hard to see how such primitive ideas were developed into a sophisticated legal system, justified by claiming these rules came from divine sources.

  - Jan
• 

  minimus

  So JT, what do YOU think?
• 

  chester

  Yea JT,

  What do you think?

  (smile)
• 

  JT

  Sad to say from my angle most belief systems esp the major ones pretty much dog women
• 

  jgnat

  I have a Christian belief system, and I am a woman. Am I therefore an oppressed idiot?

  My Christian congregation gave me the confidence to leave an abusive husband, supported me as I learned to stand on my own, showed me respect, and accorded me responsiblity in line with my maturity. I read the bible, and found plenty of evidence that God is for me, as a woman. Do other manuscripts outside the Bible as old as Judges record the history of great leaders like Deborah?