It’s good to see your insightful comments on the Watchtower Study again, which certainly does help put things into a more logical and objective perspective for us all.
I gave the comment in paragraph 15 of that Watchtower Study this morning. (Our congregation recently voted to try switching the Sunday meeting to Saturday morning instead, supposedly to facilitate better field service success on Sunday morning.) The question on paragraph 15 was “How did Paul express appreciation for his brothers?,” and I related my answer to where the paragraph stated: “In Romans chapter 16, Paul gave recognition to more than 20 fellow believers for qualities that made them dear to his heart.”
I went on to highlight in my comment the following verses of Romans chapter 16:
Vs. 1: “Phoebe, our sister, who is a minister of the congregation . . .”
Vs. 6: “Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you.”
Vs. 12: “Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, women who are working hard in the Lord. Greet Persis, our beloved one, for she has worked hard in the Lord.”
I then concluded my comment with the following: “This shows that at that time women had a respectable and dignified role as workers and ‘ministers’ in the Christian congregation.”
Romans chapter 16 seems to indicate that even the apostle Paul himself gave women more confidence and consideration of their roles in working, or ‘ministering,’ in behalf of the Christian congregation. I was thinking that this could imply that women in the first century could work at various tasks which today the WTS would require a “ministerial servant” – i.e., a male – to perform. Although, I’m sure that this logical deduction would have effectively been completely lost on the audience, as would be most such logical thoughts daring to venture outside of the silly and confining “box” of the WTS mindset.