by TheListener 33 Replies latest jw friends
I remember that there were a lot of inter-racial couples in our district... really a large ratio compared to non-JWs in our area.
But, I have yet to see many mixed couples depicted in mainstream culture either. How many commercials on television to you see that feature mixed race couples? I can't think of any that come to mind.
good point bbdodger....in some countries despite the growing immigrant population they still don't have many commercials representing that population.
I AM MIXED AND I AM FURIOUS AT THAT QFR.
i remember going with my (white) father to an assembly. i must have been one of the only black person there and next to my dad sat an african man and my dad said to him "why don't you ever put mixed couples in your publications?" and the man said he was not a witness but felt the same way so they both hounded some other poor brother during the break and i felt so bad for him.
I can't believe the society's answer. the society wrote that you should forego marrying the love of your life so racist jack@$$e$ in your area could more easily listen to your preaching!!! First you should not love anyone who is not of your faith period. next marrying someone of another race depends if your conscience allows you or something???
I was in france once at the dinner table with a laod of witnesses talkign about how if they weren't witnesses they would vote LePen. I was shocked well they said 'you see what's going on here with the arabs." :O
and then said "don't you have the same problems with blacks in america?"
ALL 4 OF US FROM THE STATES WERE BLACK!!!!
oooooh well one good thing came out of seeing this post--->the ad for 'mixed chicks hair products' at the top of the page.totally checking that out later!
Question From Reader: oh dear governing body. what is the society's position on curly, kinky, afro, frizzy hair?
Answer: any spiritually minded person knows that the only case in which one of jehovah's followers may sport a negro *coughs*....colored *coughs* ....ethnic hairstyle is if you are an elderly sister with a bad perm.*
as we can see in verse 106 through 118 of 5th letter of the corinthians: '......white.........................is.....right'.
*don't mean to disrespect but i felt like elderly sisters could have the craziest haircolor or style and never got taken aside for the little 'we don't want to reflect the world' chat.
My wife told me thatif I ever shaved off the beard (very short), she would leave me. Well I shaved it once many years ago and she phoned her mother and cried on the phone for 15 minutes. (she never saw me without it). So I guess I can never be a Witness. I suppose Jesus could not be one either. Is that a contradiction, and who cares. Sort of like the arguement that Jesus was tied to a pole instead of a cross.
So why is how Jesus was killed more important than why?
The Watchtower is an arch-conservative organization. No thanks to it, apartheid has ended, but now the JWs can benefit from the freedom to marry interracially.
I recall in 1977 it was just not done in the south--among most jws. However, in Illinois, it was quite common..
I knew a woman who gave up the love of her life b/c of the wts reasoning on this. pity, she married a" same race " jws who turned out to be a complete jerk. Bet she still regrets this.
I like what a teacher said once - "if someone asks you what race you are, say 'human.'"
this bit was the corker: "As a factor, then, he may consider whether or not interracial marriage is likely to create a seriously adverse effect on the attitude of the people in his community toward this Kingdom-announcement work." One of the ways the WTBTS makes people truly crazy is by making them believe they are responsible for what other people think. I see the reasoning clearly: "I can't marry the person I love because some asshole bigot that I don't even know might be offended and not listen to the message."
The muslims have a similar viewpoint - women are responsible for men raping them, therefore women should be totally covered at all times so as not to tempt men.
We really aren't responsible for, and can't run our lives by, what other people think.
The wactower society is not very hip and up with the times. Hopefully for that they will be left behind.
One of my saddest experiences with an older "long time in the truth" brother was finding out that he was prejudiced. I was very disappointed in him. Sad.
*** w52 2/1 p. 94 Questions from Readers ***
• If the Watchtower Society is free from racial prejudice,why does it tolerate segregationat its assemblies in certain sections of country? Is this not a course of compromise?—F. C., Wisconsin.
Why do we tolerate the segregation laws and policies of certain governments and organizations of this world? Because Jehovah has not commissioned us to convert the world, which is wicked beyond recovery and hence will be destroyed. Jehovah has commissioned us to preach the gospel. Now what should we do? Drop preaching to fight racial issues? We never have separate meetings and baptisms when we can have them together. But when impossible, shall we have separate meetings and baptisms, or none at all? Shall we serve spiritual food to all, even if separately, or serve it to none? Shall we provide baptism for all, even if separately, or provide it for none? Should we buck Caesar’s segregation laws, when they do not force us to violate God’s laws? God does not forbid separate assembly and baptism, and he commands assembly and baptism. (Matt. 28:19; Heb. 10:25) So should we disobey God to fight a racial issue? To buck the segregation laws would bring on disruption of the witness work, halting of it, mob violence, and possible loss of life. Only laws prohibiting gospel-preaching will we buck at that price.
Some may argue segregation is prohibited by God, citing Galatians 3:28 (NW): "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor freeman, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in union with Christ Jesus." That Paul spoke in a spiritual sense and not in a literal, physical sense is obvious, since actually there were male and female, slave and free, Jew and Greek. Because of the existence of Jew and Greek he specially accommodated himself and his preaching to such classes. (1 Cor. 9:19-22) His recognition of slave and freeman we will consider in more detail, since it bears directly on segregation. How so? Because segregation is rooted in slavery, is the outgrowth and hangover of slavery. Segregation, the stain left by slavery, is a lesser evil than slavery. So if the Bible does not instruct Christians to fight slavery it would not sanction them to battle the lesser evil of segregation, at the expense of gospel-preaching.
Paul also wrote: "In whatever state each one was called, let him remain in it. Were you called a slave? Do not let it worry you; but if you can also become free, rather seize the opportunity." If Paul could say this regarding slavery, how much more so can it be said to those discriminated against by segregation laws: "Do not let it worry you." It is no cause for Christian concern or anxiety. But if the Lord’s people are in locations where they are free of segregation laws or policies, they rejoice in the greater freedom and delight to be together in assembly. All are slaves of Christ, as Paul goes on to show: "Anyone in the Lord that was called a slave is the Lord’s freedman: likewise he that was called a free man is a slave of Christ." (1 Cor. 7:20-24, NW) Surprisingly, some colored brothers have strenuously objected to this, protesting as offensive the use of the word "slave" in the New World Translation. Any who do not wish to be Christ’s slave, whether white or black, can cease such service at any time; but they will be slaves nonetheless, only slaves of Satan and sin. (Rom. 6:16-23, NW) Those who magnify human importance soon hide from their view the really vital issues.
Who is innocent to throw the first stone? Can we not see that all classes of the human race are evil, that if we start reforming we shall be lost in an impossible task, with endless discriminations and many varieties or injustices to beat down, which crusading social and political organizations of this world have hopelessly fought for years? For us to become like them would be to fail with them, consume our time in such reforms, lose out as Jehovah’s witnesses, and please only the Devil. So let us please God by preaching the gospel despite the undesirable conditions the Devil’s world may make for us. Let us not be sidetracked by Satan and caught in a subtle snare camouflaged in lofty motives and ideals. Can we not wait upon Jehovah to avenge the wrongs we suffer now? Really, our colored brothers have great cause for rejoicing. Their race is meek and teachable, and from it comes a high percentage of the theocratic increase.
