The following are quotes from a Watchtower article about rape:
Quote:
GENERALLY rapists try to get a woman in some isolated place where people are not around. At times they have a weapon and threaten to use it if the victim does not cooperate. Should a Christian quietly submit?
No, the situation is not the same as when a man simply is asking for money or other material possessions. A woman wisely would give him these. But the rapist is asking a person to break God’s law by committing fornication. Under such circumstances a Christian is obligated to resist.—1 Corinthians 6:18.
1 Corinthians 6:18 says: “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.”
In other words, according to the Watchtower, if a person freezes due to fear or threats of violence - even with a weapon, they commit fornication and should feel guilty for being raped.
In an experience of attempted rape in the article, a woman says:
Quote:
The intruder knew he was not going to talk me into letting him rape me, so he started pulling at my clothing. I remembered the scripture at Deuteronomy chapter 22 that says if you are attacked in the city and do not scream it is considered the same as consenting.
She was referring to
Deuteronomy 22:23-24 which says: “If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, 24 you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and
stone them to death—the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you.”
Continuing on, quite possibly a made-up story that never happened:
Quote:
Two young women were in a Laundromat when a man came in and at gunpoint herded them into a room in the rear of the building. He ordered them to undress. They refused, praying aloud to Jehovah God for help. Finally, they told the now-confused gunman that they were Jehovah’s Witnesses and that it was against their religious belief to do what he was demanding; they would not do it even if he shot them. Result? The frustrated gunman fled.
Perhaps the dumbest advice I’ve
ever seen:
Quote:
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.
To be completely fair, the article is from 1984.
However, JWs still read and consult articles like this one in their online library, viewing it as coming directly from Jehovah. When a JW is struggling with some personal issue, they are trained to "research" the topic in the JW online library to get God's supposed view on the matter. They still take the Bible scriptures concerning rape literally, just as they do most others. Well, they don't stone people which is good. Credit where credit is due.
Anyway, articles like this add another layer of guilt and shame that many survivors already contend with. There’s even victim-blaming regarding rape in their children’s book
My Book of Bible Stories. It’s geared towards 5-7 year olds, but most JW parents read it to their toddlers and preschoolers as well. In other words, it’s
very popular among JWs. I read it
many times when I was a child.
One of the chapters in the book deals with the
Old Testament story about Dinah. She makes friends with nonbelievers. Then:
Quote:
One day when Diʹnah came on a visit, Sheʹchem took Diʹnah and forced her to lie down with him. This was wrong, because only married men and women are supposed to lie down together. This bad thing that Sheʹchem did to Diʹnah led to a lot more trouble.
When Diʹnah’s brothers heard about what had happened, they were very angry. Two of them, Simʹe·on and Leʹvi, were so angry that they took swords and went into the city and caught the men by surprise. They and their brothers killed Sheʹchem and all the other men. Jacob was angry because his sons did this bad thing.
How did all this trouble get started? It was because Diʹnah made friends with people who did not obey God’s laws. We will not want to make such friends, will we?
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/110 ... inah&p=parDue to how deep and pervasive the indoctrination is, it’s really not surprising that all exJWs I’ve talked to who experienced sexual violence blamed themselves. Indoctrination from the Watchtower places additional barriers to reporting, seeking adequate treatment, and healing that shouldn’t be there. It’s hard to heal from rape in any meaningful way when you think it’s your fault.
This is just addressing the situation among JWs. Other fundamentalist groups/cults have similar attitudes regarding rape.
26 Dec 2023, 5:49 pm
