JW marriages: happy/unhappy

by starfish422 21 Replies latest jw experiences

  • shotgun
    shotgun

    Its funny how your taught to do more, do more, do more for the org and your marriage will survive....I have had more dub friends split then non-dub and everyone always says its because they did not rely on Jehovah.

    It's been a rollercoaster ride in my home since I expressed my doubts....right now I don't know what the final outcome will be...

    I do believe many dubs get married before they're ready or simply to get free of JW rules and regs put on them by thier parents....

    So right now I'd have to say it's an unhappy marriage. Things can change quickly though when the blinders come off..if they come off.

  • ClassAvenger
    ClassAvenger

    Well, I know a happy JW marriage. They are not devout JWs, or not from what I know, but they are pretty happy. It's like a perfect couple. Maybe what makes them happy is that they really don't live by the guidelines of the JW life. Lets just say that some rules are bent, and others are broken.

  • Beans
  • freedom96
    freedom96

    I believe there is greater unhappiness among JW's and their marriages than elsewhere. You have two people who likely married too young, don't have dating experience, and are stuck in a horrible religion. Plus, if you are unhappy, you are told you cannot leave, where most would at some point.

    Sure, there are some good marriages, but a lot of very unhappy ones.

  • JT
    JT

    I notice that many speak of no dating exp or the lack of sex before marriage as reasons for bad marriges

    but i wonder how many folks dating at 14yrs old really know what to look for in a mate or the fact that you can have hot sex makes one a good husband or wife

    - personally i see something beyond that as perhaps more of a reason for jw-

    for the fact of the matter is 50% of marriges fail and many , many of these folks were dating at 13 and having sex at 14 and it didn't help them to be good husband or wives or what to look for in a mate

    think about this:

    first off what do most folks consider a good husband or wife-

    a person with a good job, trying to get some education, basically trying to move up in THE WORLD

    so that in 10 years they are better off than they were the day they got married, etc

    now what does a jw consider a good mate

    Double digit publisher, a title in the org, a pioneer, give good comment, reg at the meetings, give good talks

    notice none of the things that have to do with the day to day care of married life, a house, decent job, insurance, reliable transportation, on some type of career path, etc

    so now we throw in the lack of sex, lack of exp in dating (((( i take that back , not dating_ but just being in the company of someone of the opposite sex, as jw we had a warped view of what happens ANYTIME a man and woman get together, - as was mentioned awhile back with the SISTERS HAVING TO SIT in the back seat

    it is as if jw minds are always in the gutter, they never believed or taught that men and woman could have healthy relationship, without it always having to be sexually in nature, they always assumed if a man and woman are together they will have sex and it matters not the age-

    so here we have a couple that gets married young and their closest friends and advisors will never tell them to try and improve their standard of living

    case in point there are so many young couples where the wife is pioneering and the husband is trying to KEEP HER ON THE LIST and over and over, when she has discussed coming off someone be it an elder, co or sister old will tell her TRUST IN JAH and stay on the list -

    we are talking about being a damn book sellsperson for wt for christ sake and instead of telling them to drop that pioneer routine and get a fulltime job and the both of you get in night colllege and get a degree such advice will never come from the jw as a group

    ever now and then you will have a jw who may advise them to do this but most likely not and why

    well for them both to start college as a couple will mean they will both miss meeting and field service on sat, will not have time to study and prepare for meeting,

    so here we have a struggling young couple who will not get the correct advice needed to pulled up thier lives and keep thier marriage together, and then here comes baby 1 and 2 and now there is noway in hell they can improve their lot, so they struggle to attend the meeting, prepare and the frustration level just increases

    and after awhile she sees a guy on the job WHOSE is so happy, he seee a woman on the job whose life is so happy and they both look at the lot they are in and it is DRUDGGERY

    and the next thing you know they are seeking a release-

    where in fact they could have perhaps weathered the storm of marrigae, but everything was againsst them

    and this is what is personally see, i see jw couples who if they could live A REAL LIFE they would be happy

    think about this he tells her she needs to go to more meeting and out in service, she tells him he needs to take the LEAD IN FAMILY STUDY

    imagine HOW much happier this couple would be if you could just elimantate this issue of meetings, study and "taking the lead" in preparing to seel books on sat

    instead they can spend sat morning bike riding instead of selling books

    they could spend tuesday night takiing a class at the community college getting some training for their REAL JOBS AT WORK that result in a real raise thereby relieving some of the financial strain on the family.

    but more important it will give them a real purpose,

    to get married , having a little sex and then find out you will have the same family routine of meetings, field service, studing for the next 30yrs-- IS DEPRESSING -

    their unrealistic view of what marrige and sex was going to be like-- is a dissappointment,

    personally i atttribute the unhappiness that i see in the org is due to how the demands of the org on a marrige do very little to make it strong

    instead of telling ones wife how strong she is , she instead hears how she needs to be mORE SUBMISSIVE

    AND After awhile that trash gets old

    for sisters it is worst cause now they are married to Fred the MS, Pioneer, Literature Servant, bookstudy conductor

    and they soon realise that none of those title have a DAMN THING TO DO WITH BEING A GOOD HUSBAND

    reality kicks the sister A$$

    and instead of being able to get the Hell out she feels compelled to stay in a loveless and unhappy marrige and why

    BECAUSE JEHOVAH HATES A DIVOROCING

    SMILE

  • Sunnygal41
    Sunnygal41

    Starfish, me and my former husband are two that bought into that "marry before you commit fornication" group. As you see, we are "former" marriage mates. I hate to sound cliche, and now, in my new spiritual awareness I know it's not cliche, it's part of the energy web. I had NO idea who I was, never mind who he was! Hindsight, being twenty-twenty, tells us that this would result most often, in lose/lose situation. Four years, plus from the Borg, I am doing very very well. I have an SO. We are more committed to each other and emotionally aware than I ever was with my former husband. That in itself, should prove, that the Borg has no clue as to what natural bodily reactions are, especially since they are a bunch of wizened, raisiny Old Men!

    Terri

  • FlyingHighNow
    FlyingHighNow

    I saw a some good marriages in the org. I saw more bad ones. I had a bad one.

    Once I asked my bible teacher: Why do some JWs get divorces?? She told me that her and her ministerial servant husband were of the opinion that most JWs marry in a hurry and don't truly love the mate. I'll add to that that the dating pool offers slim pickens among JWs. You don't have the opportunity to meet lots of people and choose from lots of people to find the right one for you. Most of the time you settle for someone not right for you because: "When am I ever going to meet someone else since there are so few single JWs?"

    I offer this that I have thought much about: The headship pecking order causes untold grief. This is not just for the poor sisters victimized by it. It causes great discontent for the brothers as well. Their wives cannot live up to this perfect ideal of the JW wife. The husbands feel they are being cheated because their wives don't behave like those perfect sisters at the KH.Their wives don't measure up to the wives mentioned in the talk on Sunday. Their wives are not at all like the ones in the Family book. Their wives fail miserably to live up to the ones in the WT lesson. Actually, those wives at the KH are really just excellent actresses masquerading as perfect JW wives.

    I have come to see the headship pecking order as a manmade idea with control as its goal. Far easier to scare women into submission than to beat them or force them into submission, right? The robot technology of biblical times had not advanced far enough to replace unruly wives with robot copies like in the movie the Stepford Wives.What to do then? "Let's tell the women that God wants them to submit to us or else he will kill them forever or burn them in "hell". Yeah, that's the ticket.It will work!!"

    I saw a lot of discontent either way among wives and husbands because the GB held up perfect ideals of marriage mates to us and no one could possibly live up those ideals. So you had a lot of disappointed men and women as a result. I speak from experience having been married for 20 years to a brother. The last two were spent in separation.

    Heather S.

  • kyria
    kyria

    I remember all the times I heard that ridiculous scripture quoted: "God hates a divorcing". ARGH!! It usually followed some horrific anecdote about how a wife was being beaten by her husband, but finally the husband gave in and came to see the light of the truth because the wife stayed with him. Horrible!!

    Why are JW's so vehemently anti-divorce? It's so ridiculous. So many lives have been ruined by this rule alone.

    When I was married, I never understood why Jehovah could forgive a person for murder or rape, but couldn't forgive a 16 year old for making a mistake by getting engaged! Was I that much worse than a murderer? I was just a dumb 16 year old who wanted to play house. But God was going to hold me to my one decision for all eternity? It was nonsensical.

    It's like God is some kind of crooked lawyer who just wants to catch you in red-tape. "Ha! You signed the papers! Now the old farm belongs to me!"

    Then there's the blatant hypocracy that wedding bands are known as pagan! Somehow we decided that the "protection" of wearing a wedding band made it okay to use this pagan symbol. But birthdays, which aren't even as patently pagan as a wedding ring, were still a big no-no.

  • jayhawk1
    jayhawk1

    JT, sounds like you have the perfect answer to the unhappy marriages and why.

    What I love is if a young couple admits to being engaged and later break up, the Elders get involved, because to them and engagement is like a "trial marriage." I know this is true of a couple of Publishers who got engaged, and later before any definite marriage plans were made broke up. The Elders got decided to have a "shepherding call" to try to make sure they broke up for good reasons. Hey Elders, my answer to that would have been, "None of your damn business."

    "Hand me that whiskey, I need to consult the spirit."--J.F. Rutherford.

  • ClassAvenger
    ClassAvenger

    Interesting points JT,

    Like I said, the happy JW marriage that I talked about is happy because they do not abide by the Watchtower rules. They don't frequent that much on their field service, Bible study, and all that stuff. The husband has a great job (mainly because he was not a Witness, and I don't think he is fully one yet, and wanted to be something in life). The couple understands each other pretty well and they don't feel pressure from going to the meetings because I think if they just decide not to go sometimes. Lol.

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit