Great work again, Blondie.
My brain aches when I read the weekly harangue; how did I ever sit through it?
The WT will never acknowledge that marriage is a PARTNERSHIP of equals.
(There is the OT model, and the NT model, closely following the OT model; logical, since the early christians were only briefly removed from the stifling worldview of the Law. Where is there ever any nod to the reality of marriage? Men are not stronger than women; they are strong in different areas. Weaker vessel? You mean that women, who bear and raise children, are somehow weaker than men? The men who write this detached and antique essay on marriage don't understand or appreciate the strength of women, and continue to describe them as weaker than men. Amazing.)
Where to begin?
1. So marriage is like a road trip? Does that mean that it has a beginning and an end? Can we take different roads and still get there? Can we take our OWN route there? Can we take along mad money and decide to get to the destination by ourself? ONE MORE BAD ANALOGY FROM THE WTS, who routinely use analogies to buttress an unsupportable position.
2. "At 1 Corinthians 7:28, the Bible candidly states that husbands and wives would have "tribulation in their flesh." Ah, the wonderful attitude of Paul, a Pharisee with a thin christian veneer. Paul was a woman hater; he would not let them talk in the congregation; he talked of their sexual impulses, talked of them gadding about the houses. (I wonder what he would make of the elders gossipping? I have a brother who lives in another state, and he knows before I do who will get df'd in my hall!!)
3. I agree with Moggy; the WT has dissected the body of marriage without understanding its dynamic nature; to hear the same phrases again and again has put marriage related issues into the realm of the theoretical. You have the spiritual ones, the physical ones, and the (gulp) sexual ones, described as "needs". (God almighty; is that what the union of two people who love each other deeply is to them? A physical need, that's it? They are so squeamish it is comical. Every time they discuss marriage I feel like I am in junior high again, with the teacher squirming as sex is discussed.)
This is disturbing to me:
"In the modern world, when some couples encounter problems, their first reaction is to end the marriage. In many lands, divorce rates are spiraling out of control. However, true Christians handle problems rather than run from them. Why? Because they view marriage as a sacred gift from Jehovah. Jesus said regarding married couples: "What God has yoked together let no man put apart." (Matthew 19:6) Granted, living by that standard is not always easy. For instance, relatives and others--including some marriage counselors--who do not recognize Bible principles often encourage couples to separate or divorce on unscriptural grounds.*"
Others; would that include concerned friends who see that one or the other partner is close to suicide because they are NOT compatible with their marriage mate and are being made to feel they are deficient christians because they want to end the marriage?
Can the WT EVER come to grips with the fact that most members would rather work through their marriage problems but sometimes they CANNOT? The WT seems obsessed with the very small fraction that might just bail on a marriage for less than stellar reasons, and can't understand how to deal with it. So, the iron hand descendds on the entire fellowship.
4. The WT is so very adept at demeaning those who make it their life work to help others: ". Or they may, like others, be lost somewhere in that maze of marriage theorists and atheistic professionals."
With just the use of loaded language, their favorite smear tactic, they dismiss people who have between 4 and 8 years of education and sit through countless hours of interviews with married people in crisis. The WT's answer? Follow the rules of a small group of desert dwellers who viewed women as property.
5. So are they experts or not? "At times, you may need to ask for help from an experienced married Christian elder." OK; if I ask them for help, I assume they have some training or experience, some reason for me to trust them, right? Yet the WT states that the elders act on their own, and are untrained volunteers.
6. "A man who cherishes his wife is a source of refreshment to her " What does this stilted sentence mean? It is as if they are so detached from the reality of relationships they view it all as an intellectual exercise. "If a man loves a woman, what would the result look like?" I don't understand how they can be so removed from reality.
7."In imitation of Jesus, a Christian husband treats his wife in the same way that Jesus treated the congregation." Is this flawed comparison of a marriage to the congregation the reason the WT is so squeamish about the sexual dynamic in marriage? I know that some will object to this, but Jesus and the congregation are NOTHING like the marriage between man and wife. Men and women fall in love and marry for reasons that are often not understood; is that the model for Jesus and his brothers, er, wife? STOP using this analogy, WT; it does NOT work they way you are using it.
8. That QFR about sex is the most abominable article they have written about sex in their history. They are OBSESSED with biological functions as being evil. In their view, a male or female who satisfies a biological urge in the privacy of their own home, with the aid of pictures or video, commits a sin. Of course, in the Bible view (also obsessed with sexual matters, at least the OT) it takes another REAL LIVE PERSON to commit "fornication". They take the statements from Paul about the nature of some in the congregation, and turn them into mandates to shun any who they think are not living up.
This is evil:
"To determine whether judicial action is warranted, they must carefully look at what happened and the extent to which it was done...
Elders should carefully and prayerfully weigh each situation and find out what occurred and how often, the nature and extent of the misconduct, and the intent and motive of the wrongdoer."
So now the elders are told to inquire deeply into the sexual history of a member, and are told that it is possible for them to determine MOTIVE, AND INTENT.
&*(&^(&!!...SOMEONE HAD SEX, GET OVER IT! The motive and intent was to have sex, you morons!! It comes with being human. SEX is not evil. It can have consequences, talk about that instead.
How about discussing the truly evil side of your obesssion with sex, like the requirement of having 2 witnesses to child sexual abuse? Oh yeah, never mind; that is not your responsibility now, is it, Ted J and the governing body??
By the way, how are the payoffs going?
PISTOFF