by kwr 10 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I have never understood why is it ok for JW's to marry unbelievers although Paul clearly warns against it in 2 Corinthians 6:14. It is not that I am against it at all, but want to understand why the WTS allows it. TIA
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
In reality, in context, that scripture means that a Christian is not to marry a non-Christian, not that one denomination should not marry another. The jws, just like many other denominations/sects, (if indeed jws are "Christian", that is a different subject)misapply that scripture to mean belief in their sects dogma. BA
Now, that is a very good question. From the way the scripture reads, it would appear to be a bible PRINCIPLE. Therefore, if you were to break that principle, you may be liable to some sort of reproof, would you not? I have seen so many do it in my life and it's been a 50/50 deal as to whether the unbelieving mate ever became a dub. Maybe they tolerate it in the hopes of the new mate becoming a dub?
On the other hand, perhaps they might soon make it a df'ing offense? Does anyone have any spin on this thought??
NMG
They do discourage it and council against it, but it is not a disfellowshipping offense.
I recall an elder in my old hall mentioning to me that he wouldn't be surprised if that became a df'ing offense.
Dave
A few short remarks:
- 6:14--7:1 is widely considered as an early non-Pauline addition to this passage of 2 Corinthians (the whole "epistle" is apparently a combination of several texts of different origins, but those verses interrupt the flow of the argument which reads better when you skip it and jump directly from 6:13 to 7:2).
- It is strongly reminiscent in its ideas, structure and wording (dualistic presentation of the faithful and unfaithful as the sides of light and darkness, Beliar for Satan, etc.) of the type of sectarian Judaism (Essenism) reflected in the Qumran scrolls.
- It doesn't explicitly refer to marriage.
- Otoh the WT does condemn JW/non-JW marriages (even though it doesn't make it a disfellowshipping offence) and has often used this text to support this condemnation.
This is the deal on marrying outside the organization. As of the 11/1/1989 Puketower, you cannot get disfellowshipped for marrying outside the congregation. However, you can lose certain privileges for a time. You cannot use the Kingdumb Hell for said marriages, and the hounders will not solemnize it (whatever that means). And you can be "marked" as walking disorderly.
That could change in the future. They could be working on making it a judicial offense, or not recognizing the marriage at all (hence anyone that marries outside the witless congregations would be viewed as unmarried and hence committing fornication). They could even make it a judicial offense and not recognize it if the potential mate has not been baptized long enough (again, whatever that means--usually a means of taking it out from under someone's feet that they had the Value Destroyer Training School in mind for). That could come out in a future Kool-Aid Puketower or a Kingdumb Misery down the road.
Why? If someone marries a non-witless, that person could easily do things to undermine the witless's faith. The unbelieving mate could, for instance, hook up a computer and browse apostate sites without the hounders being able to do a damn thing about it. The non-believer could also point out scriptures taken out of context. The non-believer might go to the Kingdumb Hell one day and take notes of every time the speaker takes a scripture out of context or uses specious or fallacious logic. When this gets discussed, the children and/or the witless spouse could be knocked right out of the illusion. And, the non-witless is more likely to see the pedophile problems and other scandals within the Watchtower Society and do something about it (like putting up extra Christmas lights in the yard).
And, they want another way for all the "brothers" they can corral into the Value Destroyer Training School. This means they have to stay single as long as possible for them to be eligible. Of course, single "sisters" are worth less to them, but they can pioneer longer as their biological clock runs out and they grow old and destitute.
I see no legitimate reason why two people of different religions cannot marry. This is no different than different age groups or cultures marrying. It can create areas of disagreement, but not insurmountable ones. Only when one or both are so stubborn that they will not look at the other's viewpoints can marriage outside one's religion be looked at as causing serious problems.
At the risk of losing some of my popularity on this board , I am coming out in agreement of the Watchtower and/or Bible on this principle. People in cults think differently (or perhaps don't think at all) than people who are free to make their own choices without the duress of pleasing God, or congragation elders, or even "not stumbling" anyone. They play by different rules, rules that don't make sense to people who don't spend every waking moment thinking about how to kiss God's @ss. I don't think that kind of union is fair to either party. While most people agree that compromise is necessary in a marriage, for a JW compromising on anything having to do with their faith (i.e., almost everything) can lead to serious guilt issues and a belief that they are losing the approval of the god they so desperately want to please.
There is danger there for anyone of one faith to marry anyone who is outside of that faith- ask anyone whose partner is Catholic or Jewish and they're Protestant. It's difficult to agree which faith principals to follow in regards to raising children, and will always be an issue unless one partner starts to believe as the other does. I'm surprised this could even happen, as I thought JW's weren't even supposed to hang out with anyone who isn't one of theirs...I'm told that converts don't have to worry about their partners not being JW's. Why is that? Because marriage is sacred and no matter what you shouldn't break that up? Or is it just a line that they feed the potential converts so as not to scare them off????????
The WTS frequently quotes Deut. 7:3,4 and applies it to all non-Israelites when it meant only Canaanites.
Israelites were allowed to marry other non-Israelites.
(Deuteronomy 21:10-13) 10 "In case you go out to the battle against your enemies and Jehovah your God has given them into your hand and you have carried them away captive; 11 and you have seen among the captives a woman beautiful in form, and you have got attached to her and taken her for your wife, 12 you must then bring her into the midst of your house. She must now shave her head and attend to her nails, 13 and remove the mantle of her captivity from off her and dwell in your house and weep for her father and her mother a whole lunar month; and after that you should have relations with her, and you must take possession of her as your bride, and she must become your wife.
Ask yourself why Esther was allowed to marry a non-Israelite?
