The Wedding Talk-A Humiliation to Women

WalkTall

It is so strange how you look at things so differently when your eyes are open. I recently went to a Witness wedding and listening to the talk with the constant emphasis on the bride having a 'head' and being submissive to her head was painful to listen to. And how the bride has to say 'deeply respect' while the groom does not, is the epitome of misogyny. It made me think about all the 'worldly' relatives that came to my own wedding many years ago. What they must have thought about me that I would submit to such a blatant degradation of my gender. I am embarassed now just thinking about it.

leavingwt

We need a good Bible apologist to explain to us, in detail, how the Bible is not sexist. Quick!

undercover

I remember going to a family member's wedding and some of their worldly workmates attended. They, especially the women, commented later on how sexist the talk was and how behind the times this religion was. One lady was quite insulted by it and said she would never step foot in a hall again, if that was their attitude toward women. I was still in at the time and thought she was your typical headstrong, out-of-control worldly woman but since then I've come to accept that she was right and I was fooled by the cult into thinking this is how you treat women.

No matter how hard they try to modernize the talk to make it seem that the husband and wife are a team, they can't hide the core belief that the husband is the head and the wife is submissive and should respect him. All he's told to do is treat her as a weaker vessel. So the key points: Husband = strong, in charge, the head, to be respected. Wife = weak and submissive. No wonder non dubs are taken aback by JW wedding talks.

donuthole

My dad once gave a wedding talk and accidently referred to the bride as a heffer instead of a helper. It was quite memorable.

snowbird

The Bible, written by sexist men, is very sexist.

It was foretold:

Genesis 3:16 " ... You'll want to please your husband,
but he'll lord it over you." MSG

The Message or Word is not sexist.

Galatians 3:28-29 In Christ's family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, since you are Christ's family, then you are Abraham's famous "descendant," heirs according to the covenant promises. MSG

Sylvia

LongHairGal

I also felt this way about the wedding talk. They are so in love with the old testament and its crude attitudes towards women (which are exactly like how women are treated in certain third-world countries today). This is so opposite of the attitude Jesus would have had.

I always felt the men at the head of this religion have SERIOUS issues about women and this is why the religion's teachings are slanted in such a hateful biased way and these attitudes permeate the whole thing. I wouldn't give these bastards the time of day.

wannabefree

I think it depends on the speaker. The Bible does in fact have an arrangement for headship. Depending on how it is presented makes a difference. My "worldly" Catholic family came to my daughter's wedding at the KH and thought it was one of the nicest weddings they had ever been to.

dgp

I bet those Catholics didn't have a clue what was going on. They just noticed there were no ornaments, no nothing, and focused on how happy people looked and other stuff. And I'm sure they would sort of assume that things would sort of be the same as they are out, sort of... or not?

wannabefree

dgp: ... no, they specifically liked the talk and how nicely it was done by the brother, he is my closest friend, the only non-family witness I fear losing, he is probably more liberal in his thinking but able to be realigned now and then by the pharisees.

sherah

I have to agree with DGP. The outside is impressed with the "surface" impression given by dubs - the plastered smiles. They really don't know about the harmful stuff unless they join.

Also, even the nicest wedding talks place emphasis on submission, headship and the wife being the weaker vessel.

The Wedding Talk-A Humiliation to Women

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