So another week goes by with another brain mushing meeting. I had not been to a meeting in two weeks. First I was out in Vegas for a business trip. The week after that, wife and I choose to stay home and have a talk with one of our kids who is having bully issues at school (not WT related, thankfully).
I continue using the meeting to read the bible and get more and more informed on the things JWs conveniently ignore. This may not be new to many here, but in the couple of years that I have been hanging out in this forum, I never read about it. I know some mentioned that the bible never says that two witnesses are required for everything and that the legal courts should avoided, but I have never seen biblical proof until now.
While most passages that speak of the need for witnesses seem to claim witnesses are required on every matter, Deut 17 makes it clear that some legal matters are too complex to be dealt with by the parties alone relying on witnesses.
Deut 17:2 begins by exemplifying a case in which someone is caught worshipping an idol. The first part of the passage goes into detail about the false worshipping, citing adoration of celestial bodies. Immediately it moves down to the action. The people of the town where this happened were supposed to take the man outside the city and stone him or her to death. Before the end, it clarifies that such matter should be established by the means of two or three witnesses. If only one witness was to raise against the man or woman, then no guilt was considered.
However, as you move down to Deut 17:8, things take a different tone. It now goes over a judicial case that is too extraordinary for you to judge. It gives a few examples which include murder, lawsuits and assault. In this case, the bible commands to go to either the priest or the judge. I believe that reading the paragraph carefully, one can see it makes a clear differentiation between the two. It also makes it clear the you should obey whatever decision the judge makes and warns against not following the judicial decision.
Read it for yourself and tell me what you understand. In my case, I clearly understand that the bible here makes a clear differentiation between matters that can resolved between the parties involved with the assistance of witnesses and matters who need a lawful outcome, including the intervention of a judge with experience on legal matters.