YOUR CRAVING WILL BE FOR YOUR....

by tijkmo 9 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  tijkmo

  I [Jehovah] shall greatly increase the pain of your pregnancy; in birth pangs you will bring forth children, and your craving will be for your husband, and he will dominate you." (Gen. 3:16)

  i was thinking about this scripture recently....what does it mean to crave something..these are some of the comments wts have to say on the subject

  The Commentary on the Old Testament, by C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, describes this "craving" as "a desire bordering upon disease." Admittedly, this craving is not that strong in every wife, but when an innocent wife is considering a divorce, she would be wise to take into consideration the emotional needs that women have inherited from Eve.

  Eve, in turn, would have a "craving" for her husband, likely in an excessive or unbalanced way

  This declaration after Adam and Eve had sinned was not a statement of what men should do but of what Jehovah foreknew they would do now that selfishness had become part of human life

  It would be a natural desire for a woman to crave a husband, not just for sexual satisfaction, but because of desiring a home and children, security and companionship. These desires would be very strong in a woman even though the fulfilling of them would mean domination by an imperfect husband.

  so my thinking was this...by far the majority of df-ings, public reproofs or private reproofs are for sexual activity...and yet for the most part it is not for blatant promiscuity...even those that have transgressed numerously or have had same sex relations are usually searching for love affection and a feeling of belonging rather than just selfish sexual gratification...and that is what Jehovah predicted would happen...(and i believe by extension...(hey the wt uses it often enough so why shouldnt I )..that this applies to men as well as to women)...it would be natural

  now if we are to believe the bible then all such 'immoral' people will not be survivors of armageddon...and to me that is in fact god saying...i told you that you would 'crave' affection, being needed, companionship, sex...and i told you that you would have no control over it...and i allowed it to continue...and now i am going to punish you for not being able to fight it...even though i knew you wouldnt be able to..

  that to me is like a chocolate making factory saying to its employees that they know they would not be able to resist eating the chocolate and that in fact would take no action against it....and then when an employee overeats on their first day and is sick the next...sacking them for being sick

  or...the practice of tobacco companies to hike up the nicotine content of cigarettes given free to third world countries to get the smokers hooked and then forcing them to pay for their cravings...a practice roundly condemned as satanic by the wts...and yet to me no different from the promise of punishment meted out to those who have been unable to control a 'craving' that they were fore-ordained to suffer

  tijkmo
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  jayhawk1

  I crave my wife. I love her dearly and cherish the time we spend together. If that is a sin, well guilty as charged.
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  MerryMagdalene

  Interesting thoughts, tij...but I am starting to think that there may be more than one way of viewing a whole host of "original sin" type issues like this.

  From one perspective it may seem that we've been set up to fail, and are being threatened and punished. Viewed another way, the perceived threat and punishment may actually be a caring warning as to the "natural consequences" of certain thoughts, feelings, and actions.

  So, threat of punishment or warning of consequences? Maybe to some there is no difference between the two when it comes to God. To me, there is.

  But I don't have a definitive answer...just more questions and contemplations. It is something I would really like to understand, having felt those cravings, experienced the pain of childbirth, and been unlovingly dominated...

  ~Merry
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  GoingGoingGone

  I think that the WTS has put far too much emphasis on God's punishments and not nearly enough on his love for us and his capacity to forgive.

  When someone is found 'guilty' of immorality in the WTS, they face disfellowshipping, alienation from friends and family and spiritual fellowship for months or years, even. Even if the 2 guilty parties end up marrying, and thus are no longer engaging in 'fornication', they may still remain df'd. These are the rules of an organization, not evidence of God's love.

  God knows that we are sinners. He loves us anyway. He accepts us anyway. Christ told his disciples to forgive up to 77 times. He shared meals with sinners. In telling us how to live, he knew that we would fail. Of course we should try to do what is right. But when we make mistakes, when we sin, Jesus taught us to pray for God to 'forgive us our tresspasses'. Nowhere in the bible does it say to form a JC with 3 elders and pronounce judgement on the sinner, shunning them for months or years or heck, forever...

  GGG
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  Ingenuous

  I've usually thought of descriptions of what Jehovah foreknows people will do to be speaking more to God's knowing how things will end up being/the choices people will end up making, as opposed to a type of predestination to behave a certain way. But it's an interesting perspective you've described, tijkmo.

  Putting all those references together certainly turns me off (even further) to the Org when it perceives women as mentally diseased - especially if they believe women should reconsider divorce because they are so mentally ill they wouldn't be able to control themselves otherwise.
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  Cygnus

  Good thoughts. Men have similar cravings though, I know I do (caty )
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  ballistic

  Tij, I agree with your sentiments. As Tom Jones says, "it's not unusual". It took me a while after leaving the truth to completely rebuild my view of relationships and love, and get it all into perspective. It's a very interesting post.

  Just out of interest, are you posting like I do, almost like devils advocate, or are you still trying to reconcile what the bible says?
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  A Paduan

  Other translations use "desire" - wt literature has language issues
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  tijkmo

  Just out of interest, are you posting like I do, almost like devils advocate, or are you still trying to reconcile what the bible says?

  hey ballistic..i am guilty of doing both on occasions but wasnt really trying to do either in this case..it had been going through my head for a few weeks...the idea of being punished for something we were foreordained to have no control over...and i thought i would see what others felt about it
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  TELBOY

  Would this mean that if your actions would be out of control and beyond your power to resist, that you could be considered to be a "Craving Lunatic".

  Just a thought!!

  Tel