Four years ago, Mickey Hudson published her story about love and sex growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness. It’s a story that continues to capture reader’s interest and so we want to share her story again in 2018.
In her inimitable way, Mickey told us, “Growing up as a JW can warp and twist a young person’s mind about many activities, sex in particular. At least that’s how it was for me.
“Sitting in the Kingdom Hall as a young child, I would hear talks about sex, but they were, for the most part, warnings about what not to do—what was moral and what was not— but mostly not. Masturbation was wrong, mutual masturbation was wrong, and both oral and anal sex were wrong. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!
“I would think: Okay, those things are wrong, but I don’t even know what those wrong things are. So I promised myself that as soon I found out what the heck they were, I would never do them.”
You can read the full story by clicking on the following link at: https://www.aawa.co/blog/love-sex-what-ive-learned-since-leaving-watchtower/
Yes, I remember back when I was 17 being told at the meetings “The Watchtower’s statistics showed that our young people have a problem with immorality”. We were also ridiculed at school by our fellow classmates for not dating!
I can only imagine which 25 things that Mickey desired in a man . I hope that a good sense of humor was one of them . Maybe I’m an exception to the rule . But I always treated my JW wife as an equal & assigned her honor , even if she didn’t seem to deserve it . Since leaving “the flock” I did research on this word “pornea , formication” . I found that it did not mean premarital sex . It wasn’t until the time of the Council of Nicea that it was used with that meaning . The base word of pornea meant literally clay bricks . The fire kilns under city buildings in the earlier centuries were little harlot quarters where they would prostitute themselves . So it meant in Bible times that prostitution was wrong . Later the churches got that word all “screwed up” . The JWs’ Insight book lists 5 or 6 things that they say it means . And so does most of the rest of Christendom . I would have thought that the society did their homework better . But then again , they are a controlling cult .
Actually the word pornea doesn’t mean masterbation nor oral sex nor anal sex . The Bible doesn’t address those things . Once in the Hebrew Scriptures it refers to ,. If a man has sex with another man’s daughter , that if she becomes pregnant , he needed to marry her and pay a price to her father . There was nothing about stoning him/them to death . So disfellowshipping one on this basis is biblically wrong .As so often has happened the Watchtower goes “beyond the things that are written” .
James Penton said it very well in an 8-page letter he wrote in 1979, “Witnesses fail to realize that much of Watchtower’s teaching has no direct biblical support. And yet, Watchtower is dogmatic on issues where scripture does not clearly speak.”
You’re right Richard . And their prophecy has always failed . That’s why they no longer focus on prophecy . But further on this sex discussion : according to what I read , in the Bible , Solomon had many concubines of women who were not allowed by their law . And Solomon died in God’s favor . So was the man’s merit of greater value than even Law ?
The Bible seems to approve of plural wives concubines, women and not judge unfavorably. ” Do no harm” applied law with justice, peace etc. Sad that peoples’ protectors, religious leaders, stoop to control to the harm of humanity.