Domestic Violence

Training and lessons taught from the primary teaching tool and study journal the Watchtower magazine, brought to light both a very disturbing and very disgusting occurrence in the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses. It specifically came from what Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide were studying and reviewing this past Sunday in their Kingdom Halls.


The February 15, 2012 edition of the Watchtower magazine, page 29, paragraph 12 states the following:

“Selma recalls a lesson she learned from the Witnesses who studied with her. “On one particular day,” says Selma, “I didn’t want to have a Bible study. The night before, Steve had hit me as I tried to prove a point, and I was feeling sad and sorry for myself. After I told the sister what had happened and how I felt, she asked me to read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. As I did, I began to reason, ‘Steve never does any of these loving things for me.’ But the sister made me think differently by asking, ‘How many of those acts of love do you show toward your husband?’ My answer was, ‘None, for he is so difficult to love with.’ The sister softly said, ‘Selma, who is trying to be a Christian here? You or Steve?’ Realizing that I needed to adjust my thinking, I prayed to Jehovah to help me be more loving toward Steve. Slowly, things started to change.” After 17 years, Steve accepted the truth.”

Where to even begin? An abused wife is helped to appreciate through her study with a Jehovah’s Witness that she needs to adjust her thinking and be more Christian towards her husband who hits her. The reason for this is to help also recruit her husband into the organization - which only took 17 years.

See, the problem the Watchtower is helping its members appreciate, is not with the husband hitting his wife, but her need to pray to Jehovah to adjust her thinking and the need to be more loving towards her abusive husband.

From the leaders of Jehovah’s Witnesses, supposedly directed by, and the mouthpiece of, the Almighty himself, feeling sad and sorry for her situation, isn’t the course Selma should be on. She should not be thinking or acting as if her husband didn’t deserve more love. See the whole thing is actually Selma’s fault.

The Watchtower and that counsel from them is sound because look at the fine fruitage and reward - 17 years later her husband, apparently in the right for hitting her, came into the Watchtower Society.  Either that, or at least he accepted their interpretations in which the organization, using loaded language (Common in cults and high level control groups), calls “the truth”.

For the Watchtower Society the safety and wellness of Selma is not the goal or consideration.  Being hit by your husband, even for years is fine – you just make sure you are a loving Christian towards him and get him to accept the teachings, practices, and interpretations that Jehovah’s Witnesses should wholeheartedly embrace, as commissioned by their ‘governing body’ leadership.

The above should come as no surprise, when the organization has such a history of similar directions and guidance.  It's the same religion that teaches these things regarding rape:


October 15, 1980, Watchtower on page 7:

“She told him that if he touched her she would scream as he had never heard anyone scream before. She explained that if she did not she would ruin her relationship with Jehovah God and the Christian congregation….A Christian woman is under obligation to resist, for the issue of obedience to God’s law to ‘flee from fornication’ is involved.”



Additionally, the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses sanctions this:


Awake! February 22, 1984 edition:

"Treat Him Respectfully – The intended victim should remember that the rapist is a human. No doubt there are circumstances in his life that have precipitated his behavior. So although a woman should not cower in fear and permit a rapist to intimidate her, at the same time she should treat him understandingly as a fellow human."


A girl or woman who does not scream while being raped is fornicating and she should treat her rapist with respect.  A women needs to be more loving to her abusive husband and change her thinking on the matter, realizing that she isn't being Christian enough.

Those are the well-documented teachings and directives from the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses.  There are more articles on the aforementioned subjects than just the ones highlighted above - Admonishing and providing the same instructions coming from what the organization claims is the only true Christian religion.  It is indeed shocking and appalling.

Do you have family or friends a part of or looking to study with Jehovah’s Witnesses? Well, this is some of the “spiritual food” they can look forward to receiving from the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society’s literature.

God help the young girls, women, and all who embrace and believe this to be the one true organization and what God wants them to do. If they find themselves in an abusive relationship, they may very well die there, following the teachings and council provided by the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

1914 - Part II: Worst of Times

One of the lines of reasoning Jehovah's Witnesses are taught respecting 1914 being the start of the end times or last days, concerns the notion that starting in 1914 world conditions continue to worsen undisputedly on an unprecedented scale like never before in human history.

Is this true? Has society and people in general as well as world conditions been increasing worse since 1914? Does 1914 and onward prove to be the worst time in human history?

For someone unfamiliar with history, it may appear to be the case. However, let's take one slice of history – The 14th Century -- to see how bad things could be today.

The Black Death (aka Black Plague) struck the world earlier in the 14th century. That one plague alone wiped out between 40-50 percent of the entire population of Europe. For something even just equivalent to strike today, the death toll in Europe would be somewhere between 300-350 million deaths from one disease.

Some years during the 14th century were worse than others. For instance, England had a population of five or six million in 1348. Within a year Black Death killed half of them. Could you imagine in a year, Europe losing half of its population to disease?

Parents would abandon their children once they were ill and showing what was called "God's Tokens" which were red rings on the skin where the blood vessels were leaking into tissue. Imagine parents by the dozen, even hundreds abandoning and leaving their children. If the equivalent was to occur today, it would mean hundreds to thousands upon thousands of parents abandoning their sick children. Again, it wouldn't make these times worse just equal to the 14th century.

Furthermore, during the 14th century if disease didn't strike you, dying on the battlefield could be a likely result for you. The most infamous of these battles was the Hundred Years War; a war which spanned decade, upon decade, upon decade, and still continued, living up to the title it earned. More people died as a proportion of the population as a result of that war than during World War I and World War II.

In other words, the numbers of deaths reported in WW I & WW II are staggering, but compared to how many people were alive on the Earth during that time, it pales in comparison to the number of deaths due to war during the 14th century relative to the amount of people alive on the Earth then.

The 14th century was a time of turmoil, loss of confidence and an overall feeling of helplessness as the everyday person felt for the most part that God had abandoned them. There was also deep economic and social unrest. Additionally, environmentally there were drastic and perceived devastating changes. For example, during this time period in 1303, 1306 and 1307, Alpine glaciers advanced and Norse settlements were cut off, while grain cultivation ceased in Iceland.

Much more can be stated about the 14th century but we will stop here. Physically, morally, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, economically and socially, the majority of people were in a dire, desperate and sad state. In fact, many call that century the worst century of human history.

Such devastation and conditions either does not exist or it does somewhat, but not affecting proportionally the amount of people and land it did back then. Our 'modern era' has not experienced anything equivalent to it.

We hear things, see things and experience things due to personal circumstance and all the technology and information available today. It's not worse, but may at times seem that way in part as a result of our limited life experience as well as other factors such as there are many more people on the planet (Both "good" and "bad") and we have communication and information on a scale unlike any other in history.

Could you imagine half of your neighbors or even a third of your neighbors dying in a year? How about a war lasting a hundred years affecting the lives of hundreds of millions of people? What about social unrest and bleak economic conditions where the majority of people were suffering? Even if it did happen, it would only equal the devastation experience during the 14th Century.

Some people may feel and believe times are truly worse than when they were younger; for them individually, perhaps. Then again, as one gets older the carefree and freedom of youth leaves. Nostalgia may set in longing for a time in their personal life that was simpler and easier - Perhaps even healthier and happier. Their outlook on the world or people in general may become hard, cold or even pessimistic. One needs to look at the larger picture and overall scope of society to understand.

We're constantly learning as humans - still growing and understanding.

Are there changes in lifestyle in our modern era, including areas where doors and windows need to be locked which was not needed decades ago? Yes; it is the result of there being many more "bad" people in those areas today, but proportionately there are many more good individuals as well, when seen from a global perspective. Good people trying to do the right thing. We learn and grow as individuals and as groups of people.

As for the morality of people, for those under the impression that today’s society is the worst in human history, the Bible itself shows differently. Accounts of murder, incest, rape, killing innocent children, slavery, bestiality, and other horrendous acts and lifestyles are clearly stated; especially in the Bible books which are better known as the Old Testament or Hebrew Scriptures, which are documented as events taking place thousands of years ago.

Here is one of the many examples that can be found - Judges 19: 16-29:

“Eventually, look! an old man coming in from his work in the field at evening, and the man was from the mountainous region of E´phra·im, and he was residing for a time in Gib´e·ah; but the men of the place were Ben´ja·mites. When he raised his eyes he got to see the man, the traveler, in the public square of the city. So the old man said: “Where are you going, and where do you come from?” In turn he said to him: “We are passing along from Beth´le·hem in Judah to the remotest parts of the mountainous region of E´phra·im. That is where I am from, but I went to Beth´le·hem in Judah; and it is to my own house that I am going, and there is nobody taking me on into the house. And there are both straw and fodder for our he-asses, and there are both bread and wine for me and your slave girl and for the attendant with your servant. There is no lack of a single thing.” However, the old man said: “May you have peace! Just let any lack of yours be upon me. Only do not stay overnight in the public square.” With that he brought him into his house and threw mash to the he-asses. Then they washed their feet and began to eat and drink.
While they were making their hearts feel good, look! the men of the city, mere good-for-nothing men, surrounded the house, shoving one another against the door; and they kept saying to the old man, the owner of the house: “Bring out the man that came into your house, that we may have intercourse with him.” At that the owner of the house went on out to them and said to them: “No, my brothers, do not do anything wrong, please, since this man has come into my house. Do not commit this disgraceful folly. Here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out, please, and YOU rape them and do to them what is good in YOUR eyes. But to this man YOU must not do this disgraceful, foolish thing.”
And the men did not want to listen to him. Hence the man took hold of his concubine and brought her forth to them outside; and they began to have intercourse with her, and kept on abusing her all night long until the morning, after which they sent her off at the ascending of the dawn. Then the woman came as it was turning to morning, and fell down at the entrance of the man’s house where her master was,—until daylight. Later her master rose up in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to get on his way, and, look! the woman, his concubine, fallen at the entrance of the house with her hands upon the threshold! So he said to her: “Rise up, and let us go.” But there was no one answering. At that the man took her upon the ass and rose up and went to his place. Then he entered his house and took the slaughtering knife and laid hold of his concubine and cut her up according to her bones into twelve pieces and sent her into every territory of Israel.”


The above highlights the morality issue as well as provides the reader a large dose of sex and violence in very graphic terms.

Other scriptures and topics to examine are inclusive of but not exclusive to: Father-daughter incest (Genesis 19: 30-38), burning sacrifice of babies (Jeremiah 7:31), murder of family members (Genesis 4: 3-16), obtaining slaves including children (Leviticus 25:44-46), sex slavery (Exodus 21: 7-11).

There are many, many examples of things the world today sees as horrendous and would be unacceptable by the majority, but was seen as fine, acceptable, and even commonplace respecting morality thousands of years ago. As well as morality issues which some perceive as relatively recent events or changes in some, perhaps even many people they encounter and know about, but actually took place as significantly or to an even greater extent hundreds to thousands of years ago.

Really examine the quality of life today. The luxuries many people share were not even fathomable years ago. Times have not become worse, but better. We are more educated and a more tolerant society than times before. Equality and human rights are put to the forefront in many cases, and while some countries may be worse than others regarding these areas, globally, society has become better not worse.

So where does this grim look on 1914 and onward begin? We won't go into the pyramids, mathematics hopscotch and doctrines the Watchtower Society promoted or promotes at this time. What we will do is encourage the taking in of information, including understanding Dispensationalism. Jehovah's Witnesses are clearly a group engrossed in Dispensationalist theology thanks to the teachings and doctrine of the Watchtower Society.

Nonetheless, perhaps your honest evaluation of human history leads you to believe we are living in the worst of times. We are all entitled to our own opinions on the matter. More importantly, knowledge is truly power; do not be ignorant or just follow the ideas, beliefs and teachings of men because they claim something is the reality or “truth” when evidence points to the contrary. Learn about history, science, and perhaps even psychology. Know people and life better and know yourself better. It could be the best of times for you right now.

The Wizard of Jehovah’s Witnesses

Many have heard of and probably seen the Wizard of Oz. The movie version from 1939 stars Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale. Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow, Bert Lahr was the Cowardly Lion, and the Tin Man was played by Jack Haley. Of course there are a slew of other characters in the movie, from those other characters there are two I want to focus on.

The first is the part played by Frank Morgan. Granted he played Professor Marvel, the Gatekeeper, the Crying Guard, as well as being the Carriage Driver of Emerald City. But most importantly, he was the Wizard.

All of those happy, sincere, kind, and good natured Munchkins believed in the Wizard. The one who could help people and who could provide answers seemed to point right to the Wizard. Even Billie Burke's role as Glinda [The good witch who helps Dorothy] - was convinced of who and what the Wizard of Oz was and what he could do for individuals. Or at least that seemed to be the case.

For me, it used to be hard to pick my favorite character in the story. I did lean towards Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow. Then again, Bert was great as the Lion. Jack's role as the Tin Man really clicked with me too. It was a tough call.

However, after leaving the Watchtower Society, my favorite character has become the part played by Terry. Furthermore, Terry's character is the one that I want to focus on second. Terry does not have a last name, and is the real life name of Toto. Toto played one of the most important roles in the entire movie. Toto revealed what the Wizard really was to Dorothy and her companions. Toto pulled the curtain back to reveal that the Wizard was a ordinary man and not the great, powerful, and magnificent Wizard.

The inhabitants of Oz represent Jehovah's Witnesses as a whole collective group. The Faithful and Discreet Slave Class - specifically, those few men in Brooklyn who set the doctrine and teachings for Jehovah's Witnesses who call themselves the Governing Body - is the Wizard. The Watchtower Society is like the Wizard's Emerald City, a strong and powerful testimony to who and what the Wizard is for the individuals of the Land of Oz. Glinda can be District Overseers, Circuit Overseers and even perhaps Elders and Ministerial Servants. The Munchkins can be played by many of the individual Jehovah’s Witnesses that exist within the organization. Not to leave out the fact there are bad people perhaps even several bad people who can play the role of the Wicked Witch within the organization. There are bad people found within all organizations. Pedophiles, greedy people, and others exist among Jehovah's Witnesses as they do everywhere else. Nevertheless, that is not the focus of this topic.

If the Wizard is the Governing Body, then who is Toto? That's the interesting part. Toto can be many different things even for just one person. Perhaps your Toto is a combination of research you've done and careful investigation of the lies, deceit, and flip-flopping of the "Wizard's" doctrines. Perhaps it's the "Wizard's" blood-guilt over their prior stance on vaccinations and organ transplants or the "Wizard's" decades long stance of a woman not crying out when being rape results in her being guilty of fornication and worthy of everlasting destruction. Maybe your Toto was a concerned family member or friend who showed you the truth respecting the Watchtower Society's history and their false prophecies. Or maybe for you Toto was the fact of the Watchtower's Society approximate decade long stance as a charter member of the United Nations.

Whatever or whomever Toto may be is not as important as the action of Toto pulling the curtain back to reveal to you that the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses are just made up of men who are not special or blessed in any way and most certainly are not as they claim, the sole channel of communication God is using to direct and organize people.

Could you imagine in the movie after Toto pulled back the curtain, Dorothy, Tin Man, Scarecrow, and/or the Lion punishing or shunning Toto and still believing in the Wizard? Can you imagine, Dorothy and her companions ignoring all they saw and witnessed respecting the Wizard and just went along following his next set of orders and or commands for them to obey and follow? That course of action would have been a bit ridiculous, unreasonable and leave Dorothy and her companions in a very sad state of being. Remember, the Wizard wants you to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Even after the revealing of who the Wizard is to Dorothy and her companions, in the closing scenes of leaving Oz, Glinda who may have known what the Wizard was all about, didn't seem upset about it. Perhaps she thought it was the best thing for the congregations of Munchkins. They still were happy and nice people too. After all, the Wizard appeared to have done many wonderful things for the Munchkins, and the Munchkins still loved and cheered for him, even after seeing he was not who he really was suppose to be or perhaps those Munchkins were not in the know of who that man represented. Maybe the Munchkins were still in denial.

Will you be a Dorothy, Tin Man, Scarecrow or Cowardly Lion? Either one of those characters will suffice in the event you react as they did once the curtain was pulled back. And how about being Toto? Maybe you're not Toto today, but maybe you will be for someone. Just be brave enough to pull back the curtain. Toto knew something was wrong, did the right thing and revealed the truth about the Wizard.

Who or what is your Toto?

Just think, the next time you see Jehovah's Witnesses going to a Pubic Talk, Watchtower Study, District Convention, Circuit Assembly or any other Watchtower Society instruction and indoctrination program, remember they are really off...

Off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Rape and the Watchtower Society

What has the Watchtower Society taught regarding the atrocious act of rape?

The Watchtower from January 15, 1964 on page 64 teaches this:

“Thus if a Christian woman does not cry out and does not put forth every effort to flee, she would be viewed as consenting to the violation. The Christian woman who wants to keep clean and obey God’s commandments, then, if faced with this situation today, needs to be courageous and to act on the suggestion made by the Scriptures and scream. Actually this counsel is for her welfare; for, if she should submit to the man’s passionate wishes, she would not only be consenting to fornication or adultery, but be plagued by the shame. There would be shame, not only from the repulsiveness of the experience, but of having been coerced into breaking God’s law by having sex connections with one other than a legal marriage mate.”


From such a viewpoint it would appear that God is so unmerciful and incompetent that He cannot read the victim’s heart and perceive that she is being raped and not participating in fornication. The Watchtower Society holds a position likening God to be someone who cannot see all things, including the circumstances that may inhibit a victim’s screams. Would God be ignorant of perhaps the paralyzing fear, shock, and the perpetrator’s hand over the victim’s mouth or around her throat?

Such bizarre and twisted reasoning does not end there. Additionally, in that same Watchtower article the Watchtower Society states the following:

“A Christian woman is entitled to fight for her virginity or marital fidelity to the death. Just how best she can defend herself against anyone who wants to defile her depends upon her courage and quick wits.”


Furthermore, The Watchtower from June 1, 1968 added:

“Would it be different if the man had a weapon and threatened to kill you if you did not submit? No, the Scriptures plainly state that Christians are under obligation to ‘flee from fornication.’ (1 Cor. 6:18) It is true that you face the possibility of death in this case.”


So rape is being equated with fornication by the Watchtower Society. Also, a woman must scream and fight being raped even if it means her death in order to not be guilty of fornication.

A year later though, it appears that the Watchtower Society had stopped equating rape and fornication through the ‘Aid to Bible Understanding’ publication from 1969:

“RAPE: Rape is defined as unlawful sexual intercourse without the woman’s consent, effected by force, duress, intimidation…” (p. 1374)

“FORNICATION: Sex relations by mutual agreement between two persons not married to each other.” (p. 601)


It seemed as if the Watchtower Society had final gathered some sense respecting their perspective of a woman being raped. Five years later, however, this appears not to be the case:

“If she did not scream she would be as good as dead anyhow…Also, that if she did not scream she would ruin her relationship with Jehovah God and the Christian congregation; that then she would be disfellowshipped or excommunicated from it and that this would be worse than being killed as far as she was concerned.” - From Awake! March 8, 1974, page 14.


Is this the teachings you would want applied towards your wife, daughter, mother or any other girl or woman you know? While a woman has the right to defend herself, should she be made to feel that she is better off dead if, for some reason, she could not or was prevented from screaming or physically overcoming her attacker? Better yet, if she does survive and failed to scream and fight “to the death,” she now faces the further psychological torment of being disfellowshipped.

Six years later, a different stance seems to take place from the Watchtower Society's perspective. Appearing in the July 8, 1980 Awake! magazine on pages 5 & 6:

“I never physically fought him off in anyway…I was overwhelmingly confused and defenseless against the whole suddenness.”

“Profound terror in the face of physical threats simply renders most women helpless.”

“Rape is the fastest growing crime in America.”


Only three months later in the October 15, 1980 Watchtower on page 7, the Watchtower Society flips back to their previous stance:

“She told him that if he touched her she would scream as he had never heard anyone scream before. She explained that if she did not she would ruin her relationship with Jehovah God and the Christian congregation….A Christian woman is under obligation to resist, for the issue of obedience to God’s law to ‘flee from fornication’ is involved.”


Just two and a half years later the Society flips their stance again:

“What do we understand here by ‘fornication’? The Greek word in this text is porneia….A male or female who is forcibly raped would not be guilty of porneia.” - From The Watchtower, March 15, 1983, page 30.


To add insult to injury, the Watchtower Society presented this view in their February 22, 1984 edition of the Awake! magazine:

“But the rapist is asking a person to break God’s law by committing fornication"


Yet, it goes on to state:

"Treat Him Respectfully – The intended victim should remember that the rapist is a human. No doubt there are circumstances in his life that have precipitated his behavior. So although a woman should not cower in fear and permit a rapist to intimidate her, at the same time she should treat him understandingly as a fellow human.”


Now compare that to the Awake! magazine from July 8, 1980 on page 12 which states:

“May she properly inflict damage on her assailant? Indeed she may…she may use any means at her disposal to resist intercourse.”


Confused? Well, it doesn’t stop there; in the same article which counseled women to respect their rapist, the warning was also given:

“But if I gave in and he raped me, I would eventually die and have no hope of a resurrection.” - From Awake!, February 22, 1984, page 25.


Now the victim was deserving of eternal death - no hope of a resurrection. Is intentional fornication deemed such a costly sin? Do not those who have committed fornication received forgiveness if truly repentant? At this point, the Watchtower Society is stating a woman who is raped is worse than a woman who commits fornication and repents.

Four months later, the Watchtower Society printed a letter from an upset reader in the Awake! June 8, 1984 issue, page 28:

“You say to show a rapist respect. These men show no respect for their victim. They don’t care that they are shattering a woman, leaving in her memory horror for the rest of her life.”


The Society responded in the same article:

“For the victim to be considered guilty of fornication, there would need to be proof of willing consent.”


Two years later, more wisdom from a so-called God directed organization in the May 22, 1986 Awake! magazine, page 23:

“Why you should resist an attacker from the first moment...Your conscience will be clear. (Even if you are raped, you will not sacrifice your self-respect or cleanness before God)”


Several months later, the “From Our Readers” article in the September 22, 1986 Awake! included a letter of response to the Watchtower Society’s stance in the May, 22 1986 Awake!:

“Thank you for your article “Now You Are Going to Die!” (May 22, 1986) I might note some concerns about the advice given, however. Some rapists are very angry and sadistic in their approach and come armed with weapons and the intent to use them if there is the least provocation. Our Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault suggests resistance, but if the woman is paralyzed by fear or her instincts tell her not to resist, we recognize that as appropriate. We would rather have someone live through the experience than be killed or seriously mutilated.
-P. R., United States”


The Society responded in the same article...

"The Bible does support the thought that a woman attacked by a rapist should scream and resist. True, the woman has to respond according to her assessment of the danger to her life, and we believe that is covered in the advice given in the box on page 23 (May 22, 1986). It should be kept in mind that submitting to rape gives no guarantee that the victim will not be beaten or killed afterward. See the article “They Resisted Rapists” in our issue of February 22, 1984.—ED."


A few years later, the August 22, 1989 Awake!, page 24 reiterated the Society’s original stance:

“It was then that I remembered the scripture in Deuteronomy chapter 22. It says that if a woman does not cry out when attacked, it indicates she is submitting to the man and is committing a sin against Jehovah.”


If the Scripture in Deuteronomy is to be understood so literally, then women who fail to scream during rape today should be stoned to death as well. The Watchtower Society arbitrarily decides when to apply scriptures whole or in part either literally or symbolically. Thankfully for Jehovah's Witnesses, the Watchtower Society has never written a doctrine of literally stoning to death a woman who did not scream while being raped.

Nonetheless, the subject of rape within the Watchtower Society has been one of inconsistency and confusion. Such information and flip-flopping back and forth of viewpoint shows not Godly guidance or direction, but lack of any God-given direction. It truly is just men guessing and changing their viewpoint haphazardly giving no consideration to the followers of their teachings and interpretations.