A video has emerged showing a three-year-old reading bible verses dealing with rape and hanging
A video has emerged showing a three-year-old reading bible verses dealing with alleged rape and hanging

Last Tuesday a video was posted on Facebook with the caption: “We must praise Jehovah and this child did it.”

The child in question was aged only three-and-a-half when he was filmed giving a bible reading back in March 2011. The assigned reading was Esther 7:1-10.

The video begins with the microphone being adjusted as the boy, perched precariously on a stool and apparently unsupported, prepares to speak.

The boy then goes on to deliver an impassioned and well-rehearsed reading in which Jewish enslavement and genocide is casually mentioned (verse 4), a king alleges that an attempted rape has been made on his queen (verse 8), and the alleged rapist is hung on a 22-meter-high stake (verses 9 and 10).

The video ends with the boy climbing down from the stool to the rapturous applause of his audience before scampering to the side of his parents on the front row.

With the stool removed a beaming School Overseer takes the stage – the same man who will doubtless have assigned the boy this portion of scripture without finding it in any way inappropriate for a small child to examine and repeatedly rehearse.

The elder then commends the boy for his accurate reading and “sense stress” to the delight of the chuckling audience, before telling him that he looks forward to his next assignment.

If you are not seriously repulsed at the thought of a child of pre-school age being coaxed into reading material describing an alleged rape attempt and the killing of the suspected rapist by hanging, then likely you will be heartened by some of the comments left on the video by Witness Facebook users.

facebook-commentsWhen I was first told of this Facebook post I watched a few minutes of the video without it immediately registering what grizzly bible passage the boy was reading.

Even so, I was still repulsed by the idea that a child so small was being trotted out like a show pony by its Witness parents as an apparent attempt to score brownie points over other parents in their congregation. It occurred to me – if the boy was being goaded onto the stage at such a young age, how much longer before he would be baptized?

Eager to bring some balance to the discussion, I made the following comment…

cedars-commentYou can imagine my horror when I later looked up the passage in my own bible and followed along more closely – seeing the references to rape and hanging being casually enunciated from the mouth of a toddler.

My blood boiled at the stupidity of the School Overseer who had assigned the child this reading without thinking for a moment that it was completely improper – not to mention the parents who would have spent hours helping their boy master these passages in rehearsals.

But I soon found my comment had been deleted by the thread owner, along with others that attempted to highlight the gross impropriety of what was being shown.

censor-commentClearly thrilled that any dissenting voices were now being crushed, one Facebook user had this to say…

noah-commentAnd so for registering my disapproval at the way in which a boy of three was being exploited and cajoled into behaving like an adult minister (without even getting started on the desensitization to rape and hanging as well as the casual references to enslavement and genocide), I along with others found myself censored and denounced as “harsh” and even exploitative. The fact that the boy made a good job of the reading and was “praising his creator” was apparently the only thing I should have been concerning myself with.

No reason for pride

Any Witness parents reading this article or watching this video must take a long hard look at themselves and ask whether they would behave similarly towards their own children.

I have already discussed at some length the increasing problem of child baptism among Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the Governing Body’s seeming preoccupation with getting children dunked at the earliest available opportunity regardless of the far-reaching consequences.

Children are born neither religious nor political. For parents to successfully coerce their young into mindlessly mimicking their own indoctrination like some kind of crude ventriloquist act is nothing for them to be proud of, just as it was no great effort for the leaders of the Hitler Youth movement to make young mouths parrot their twisted ideology.

This video was apparently filmed nearly three years ago, so the boy in question should be six by now. At this rate, you have to wonder whether he is already among the youngest to have been processed through Watchtower’s vulgar cattle dip of child baptism and branded for life.

Sadly the only thing we can be sure of is that, if he was, he won’t be the last.

 

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Further reading…

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89 thoughts on “Video shows three-year-old reading bible verse describing rape allegations and hanging

  • February 9, 2014 at 12:53 pm
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    I am afraid the next reading came to be:

    Samuel said: “Just as your sword has bereaved women of children, in that way your mother will be most bereaved of children among women.” With that Samuel went hacking A′gag to pieces before Jehovah in Gil′gal

    OR

    (1 Samuel 15:3) . . .Now go, and you must strike down Am′a·lek and devote him to destruction with all that he has, and you must not have compassion upon him, and you must put them to death, man as well as woman, child as well as suckling, bull as well as sheep, camel as well as ass.’. . .

    OR

    (2 Kings 2:24) . . .Finally he turned behind him and saw them and called down evil upon them in the name of Jehovah. Then two she-bears came out from the woods and went tearing to pieces forty-two children of their number. . .

  • February 9, 2014 at 2:06 pm
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    When I was on the school I had to put up with jealously from both the brothers and sisters.
    I would memorize my complete talk, because I was able to, and yet, that was somehow bad, I don’t know, I was basically told I was showing off. I was incredibly shy and once I was sitting up on the stage in front of everyone I could not follow my own notes. Memorizing the entire thing instead of relying on key notes helped me get through the whole thing.
    In the end, before I left, the last few talks I did, I would end them with the householder rejecting my magazines :) Had to keep it real.

  • February 9, 2014 at 2:38 pm
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    Cedars, your honest, humble apology makes
    you a giant in my eyes. And EJB, please, keep writing. Your opinions are important to us.

  • February 9, 2014 at 9:06 pm
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    The Facebook page has been taken down….interesting.
    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1456101311280547

    When Mikey was a MS assigning talks, if he had a young person, he would have to read over the material to make sure it was appropriate. That is why in our video we accuse the TMS overseer for failing in his job.

  • February 10, 2014 at 12:23 am
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    I hope children have not read today’s “DAILY TEXT”:

    Monday, February 10

    A prostitute is a deep pit.—Prov. 23:27.

    An improper romantic relationship could develop at your place of employment. In fact, a secular study revealed that more than half of adulterous women and nearly 3 out of 4 adulterous men had illicit relations with a workmate. Does your secular work require that you associate with members of the opposite sex? If so, what is the nature of your relationship with them? Do you have boundaries in place that keep it professional and that do not allow it to become something more? For example, a Christian sister might make a male coworker her confidant, even telling him about her marital problems. In another situation, after becoming friendly with a female coworker, a Christian man might reason: “She values my opinion and really listens when I talk to her. And she appreciates me. I wish I got more of this kind of treatment at home!” Can you see how Christians in such situations could be vulnerable to committing adultery? w12 8/15 4:11, 12

    What is this for? Has Jehovah started to use statistics to let us better understand that his creatures except REHAB who was blessed to be Jesus’ grand mother are a “PIT”?

    Children will surely fail to make a logical link between today’s “daily text” and Jesus’ words: (Matthew 21:31) . . .“Truly I say to YOU that […] the harlots are going ahead of YOU into the kingdom of God. . .

  • February 10, 2014 at 12:38 am
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    alexjamesisnotmyrealname,
    And when you want to protect your children from those mind destroying stupidities of ancient world before the era of PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY, they call an “apostate” to silence you, backed by the BIBLE!
    It seems the Bible has become a weapon to use and do all sort of evil. Jesus (Matthew 15:14) . . .Blind guides is what they are. . .

  • February 10, 2014 at 3:12 am
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    Sabalom Glitz, love the Doctor Who inspired name! I hope you won’t be out to steal the matrix this time?!

    Cedars, well done for apologising to EJB. It shows that you are a real man.

    The challenge is how to focus our fury into something positive. I know that you are furious with the WTBTS, and that fury is a righteous fury.

    Your point of waiting to respond is a good one. I laid into poor old JB the other day, so I know how it is. But it is even harder for you, Cedars. You have your family used as a weapon against you, and you work so hard on this site.

    EJB, please forgive Cedars. He is understandably furious with a religion that has taken so much from all of us.

    I hope that we will be able to benefit from your posts in the future.

    Peace be with you

    Excelsior!

  • February 10, 2014 at 3:56 am
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    Excelsior, not a single moment did I feel unease in my conversations with you. Never felt intimidated from sharing comments either.

    I’m sure the fact-based focus of many people commenting here is something attractive for open-minded active JW’s too.

  • February 10, 2014 at 4:58 am
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    Seriously what is the difference between this child reading horrific scriptural passages and playing GTA??
    Certain parts of the bible should have an over 18 warning on them!
    The sad thing is I was once in that crowd and completely blind to all the atrocities committed by the org. I am so glad to be finally free!

    • February 10, 2014 at 6:05 am
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      I presume by GTA you mean violent video games. It would be just as wrong for parents to let there 3 year old play those as to stand up and read violent or sexual stories.
      I too was part of that crowd and like you so glad to be finally free

  • February 10, 2014 at 5:20 am
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    I remember when I was about 7-8 reading the passage at the kingdom hall where the big angry mob came to get the men inside the house and they pushed the daughter of the household outside for the mob to rape. It was back in the days when the bible reading had to have an intro and outro and I had a cute little talk prepared and I did really well at it. Remember getting a “Good” on my record sheet. Lol.
    Needless to say if I were to look that scripture up now and read it, I’d be crying my eyes out by the end of it because it is horrific.
    I also remember when my brother was of similar age he had to read the passage at Kingdom Hall where Egglong (?) got run through by the sword, but it described it in the bible that he was so fat the mans arm disappeared into the guys stomach while he stabbed him.
    And this is before you consider the graphic content of the old Bible Stories book, the staple of my upbringing.
    Then there was the token “don’t masturbate” talk I had to give when I was about 12 and newly baptised. At the time you just go with the flow, jump through the hoops etc and think nothing of it. In hindsight you actually realise “oh wow, that explains a lot about my current mental well being”!!

  • February 10, 2014 at 12:54 pm
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    Hi John!

    It reminds me my very first assignement at TMS. I was almost 9… (some 35 years ago). My reading was Genesis 39… another alleged rape story…

    Have a good night

  • February 10, 2014 at 2:03 pm
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    JB/ formerly known as George
    I would agree that fact based debates without the unnecessary personal insults are a very healthy way of enabling individuals to make an informed choice.It is sad therefore that this accomplished reading for an infant is being overshadowed by the subject matter.Having been a TMS elder the first priority when assigning talks was to check the suitability of the material for the student male and female.Hopefully someone will have a quiet word in the ear of this particular TMS elder.Also the parents have been negligent in there responsibility in protecting there child from innapropriate material whatever its source.
    On a more often referred to point, if JW’S are being misled it won’t be the first time. If you are someone who believes in God then maybe the words of Acts 5:28,29 could resonate.

  • February 10, 2014 at 2:04 pm
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    Woops v 38,39 sorry!!!

  • February 10, 2014 at 2:23 pm
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    Thanks free thinker, actually 28,28 too, are interesting.

  • February 10, 2014 at 10:48 pm
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    alain,
    You are lucky! What if you read this:
    (2 Samuel 12:11, 12) . . .This is what Jehovah has said, ‘Here I am raising up against you calamity out of your own house; and I will take your wives under your own eyes and give them to your fellowman, and he will certainly lie down with your wives under the eyes of this sun. 12 Whereas you yourself acted in secret, I, for my part, shall do this thing in front of all Israel and in front of the sun.’”

    (2 Samuel 16:21, 22) . . .Then A·hith′o·phel said to Ab′sa·lom: “Have relations with the concubines of your father, whom he left behind to take care of the house. And all Israel will certainly hear that you have made yourself foul-smelling to your father, and the hands of all those who are with you will certainly become strong.” 22 Accordingly they pitched a tent for Ab′sa·lom upon the roof, and Ab′sa·lom began to have relations with the concubines of his father under the eyes of all Israel.

  • February 11, 2014 at 2:35 am
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    What a treat!

    A little boy reading about rape and death at 3. Don’t worry folks, the G.B. has changed their minds before on what is bad for us without notice, perhaps this is a sign. 6 years ago I was on an assembly part about ipads, smartphones and other tablets and smart devices. In it they featured a salesman (me) who tries to pressure an unsuspecting witness into buying. However by means of a soliloquy he decides not to. The speaker at the convention reminds everyone what a time waister these devices can be and how they can be a trap that can cool off our spiritual pursuits. Now less than 6 years later they have given approval for their use on the stage. Say what? and no one even remembers!

    So TMS overseer, since you have opened Pandora’s box, it looks like the little tikes in your hall will be playing Halo and rated Mature killing games at four and five, especially since you have sanctified it by giving this little guy that talk. Don’t worry, when they are practicing killing someone in a virtual world, we will make sure to tell them they need to dress up and look cute. Hey, when he makes his first kill, we will play back the audiences applause so he will know you and everyone else mindlessly approves.

  • February 11, 2014 at 5:27 am
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    The GB are hypocrites. Read the following you will see to what extend they are hypocrites.

    “My 11-year-old daughter doesn’t like watching the news. She often has nightmares about what she has seen. One time, she watched a report about a person who decapitated a family member. That night she dreamed that she too was being decapitated.”—Quinn.
    “My six-year-old niece saw reports of tornadoes from elsewhere in the country. For weeks afterward, she was terrified. She would call me on the phone, convinced that a tornado was coming her way and that she was going to die.”—Paige. (http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/l/r1/lp-e?q=g+10%2F12+p.+19)

    Protection of our children belongs to us, not the Watchtower!!

    • February 11, 2014 at 10:24 am
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      Thanks for the link. The gov body seem to feel there is no problem in presenting totally different views on any subject. It suits their purpose to say the news can frighten little kids because the world is in such a terrible state. But then apparently it is ok for a 3 year old to read and learn about rape and murder etc in the bible.
      Indeed total hypocrites

  • February 11, 2014 at 10:36 am
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    Reminded me of my first talk “4” when I was 13 on premarital sex from the YPA book….I was lucky because I missed the masturbation talk by a week if I remember correctly.
    Great site, keep up the good work!

  • February 11, 2014 at 9:35 pm
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    My initial reaction to this survey blog was that this was “over the top” and “petty”, but I think Cedars shows more of the JW culture that reflects a deep-seated arrogance and disregard for the emotional impact on individuals be they adult or children. That exact attitude contributing to the issue of child abuse physical, sexual and psychological being brushed under an ever bigger growing lump under the carpet.

    We also gain insight into the competitive nature and ambitious avarice inside the Watchtower community as individuals jockey–competition–for most-favored and “most exemplary” status as Witnesses to the detriment of their children–making them pass through the fire before the Priest (Molech) of the Watchtower, as it were, by forcing them into stultifying door presentations and reading Scripture assignments that even adults can’t comprehend as they drone over tasks week after week never integrating what they are reading into logical analysis. Having the child who is youngest with the most privileges or exercise of JW obligations boots those parents into “most exemplary” status in ignorance of the child’s natural talents–be it a songwriter, a gifted musician, a prodigy of other arts, science or mechanics. Because, it’s a natural thing that parents would push their child to excel, but this act is parents living vicariously through their child’s achievements as the parents could not be 3 year olds doing bible readings.

    I would also think that this item struck a chord with Cedars since he is an expecting parent who will need to make similar choices regarding the avenues he will select for his child to pursue–a matter of choosing the approach to parenting a child. A wonderful thing not to have decisions made automatically at a distant HQ, and to exercise the grey cells.

  • February 14, 2014 at 7:22 am
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    Dear Lord above forgive these cretins for surely they cannot know what they are doing to this child.

    To me this is just another form of child abuse!

  • February 14, 2014 at 7:26 am
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    Excactly the same procedure as Cedars practises himself. When I tried to comment on his site I was cencured away and shunned. My “crime” was to disagree him. Poor man!

  • February 16, 2014 at 1:59 pm
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    The double standards the ‘Society’ displays are enormous.
    During my early studies, as the discussion of baptism was encountered, I was told infant baptism was absurd due to the inability of the child to make up his/her own mind. Only later did I recognize the pressure through indoctrination,fear, and reproach ‘we’ put on our children who were still too young to ‘make up their own minds’.
    I still regret the wasted years I spent with this org.

  • February 20, 2014 at 9:05 pm
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    Jehovah’s Witnesses are completely desensitized to the horrors and nightmarish stories contained in the Bible as displayed by this video. They believe it to be God’s word and have no problem unleashing any and every story on small children no matter how frightening or what nightmares result from them. Unfortunately, I too was once exactly like that, being brought up in this callous cult. Thank goodness my husband made me realize how terrifying this could be to a child, and made me stop reading these types of bible stories to our little boy.

  • February 24, 2014 at 6:06 pm
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    I’ll admit attempting to crack through the permafrost mind of any loyal witness to allow a sliver of light to shine in and illuminate all the inconsistencies (in this case children being programmed to believe that what you read is not as important as how good you look and how
    cute you sound reading it).Trying to point this out no matter how gently can be a thankless task after all no good deed as they say goes unpunished. But like the proverbial bread tossed on the water you never know where it will have success one day.When the penny might drop for someone.With me it was many red flag observations over years that built up until the dam finally burst.So you can never say for sure if or when someone will “get it “.
    So keep up the gentle pressure Cedars, rocks can be worn down over time by a steady stream of water.
    Resistance is NEVER futile.

    • March 4, 2014 at 1:36 pm
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      I agree with you, pearls. The tower is crumbling. The evidence is becoming so overwhelming against the society, that they are lashing out like a caged beast. Even when it seems hopeless, we can’t give up the fight!

  • March 2, 2014 at 5:59 pm
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    I served as the School overseer for a decade, i would never had allowed this, maybe second or third school, my children have both benefited from the program as have my wife & i, at 51 years of age i pulled the pin on the school, they didnt like my goatee any way. A family in the congo, Dad’s an elder have 3 kids at home, all home schooled & very dumb, baptized very young to, his oldest at 32 is a drone, the next to have left home & left the Truth as its called, one was a Ms Pioneer, these kids don’t stand a chance, when the time comes for them to leave home & stand on their own 2 feet, oh thats right the end is here, they won’t be leaving home will they.

    • March 3, 2014 at 3:50 am
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      Warren good day. I have read this before but not encountered it What and why does the JW have to dislike about beards? I ask because all those pictures in the watch tower and revered persons…all have beards!

      Thanks Carol

  • March 2, 2014 at 6:35 pm
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    Warren,

    Welcome to the real world! It is terrifying and beautiful and mad, and it is ours.

    Second or third school? Wow! Venues do not change the content!

    I am genuinely sorry for your family. They have been deceived into a life of servitude and drudgery. I hope that they find their way out too.

    I wish you good fortune in your freedom.

    Peace be with you

    Excelsior!

  • March 3, 2014 at 6:07 pm
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    By the way i am still in, hostage due to many great freinds that would shun me, i still beleive in some things as well. Beards, nothing in writting, when i turned up with it i was told that i would not be getting any privs, i didnt care because i didnt want any, i had just stepped down as a servent, i had served for 20 years as an elder & servent, the beard thing went to the CO, who wrote back to the brothers, & said as long as its neat, then yes you can give talks on the school, answer up & go preaching, these are fundamentle rights, any thing else would be at their descretion, but they keep saying just because its my right, doesnt mean that it is right, Quote Paul from i cor, they also talk about stumbling, its a load of BS, the only thing i have found was a clip on youtube, a guy talking about when rutherford took over from russell, he wanted to be different.

    • March 4, 2014 at 12:21 am
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      Deuteronomy 1:16, 17
      16 “At that time I instructed your judges, ‘When you hear a case between your brothers, you are to judge with righteousness+ between a man and his brother or a foreign resident.+ 17 You must not be partial in judgment.+ You should hear the small one the same as the great one.+ You must not become intimidated by men,+ for the judgment belongs to God;+ and if a case is too difficult for you, you should present it to me, and I will hear it.’+

  • March 4, 2014 at 12:53 am
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    Warren, try this one. Why would a JW not get a tattoo? Likely a scripture like Lev 19:28 would be used- under the Mosaic Law, it was forbidden. Then you get the ‘this applies as a principle to christians, even though not under the Mosaic Law. Ok fine, but to be consistent, then look at the previous verse, verse 27 which orders ‘you must not destroy the extremity of your beard.’ Does this not apply also “in principle’?

    It’s easy to cherry pick scriptures to suit silly rules.

    • March 4, 2014 at 7:06 am
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      Just goes to show how “clean off” the GB is.

      Beats me why so many people listen to them, its obvious that they are nuts!

    • March 4, 2014 at 7:32 am
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      I’m actually quite confused about the Mosaic Law : In Matthew 5:17,18 Jesus seems to say that the Law wouldn’t be “obsolete”, yet Paul seems to claim the contrary (except when he claims that women should be silent in churches, there he makes an exception and refers to the Law :-) ).

      This is one of the aspects hard to understand about the Bible.

  • March 4, 2014 at 7:14 am
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    Rutherford now there is a bigger conman, if it is possible than Russell with his Holy Wheat.

    1000s in soup kitchen Qs, and himself like a lord riding around in two V12 Caddies and living in the house he built for the prophets, or was it for the profits.

    Beats the hell out of me how people can continually swallow this garbage and sleep at night. Russell was one, Rutherford was one person too, they were bad enough, but now there are 7 of them in the GB and up to all sorts of tricks yet the “sheople” still support them…did I miss something or what?

  • March 4, 2014 at 5:51 pm
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    JB: In context, Matt 5:17,18 Jesus was saying he would fulfil the Law during his time on earth as a Jew, as he was without sin. It wasn’t until his death that the Law became obsolete. That’s how I understand it anyway.

    Carol and JB. Here’s a classic Rutherford quote- I guess he took the OT view of women:

    “In the Kingdom, the “great multitude” will look to the Lord to guide as to selecting each a mate for himself. Why, then, should a man who has the prospect before him of being of the great multitude now tie himself up to a stack of bones and a hank of hair? (Applause).”

    This was one of Rutherford’s gems of advice for men not to marry women (whom he considered to be no more than ‘stacks of bones and hanks of hair’) because Armageddon was only months away. This is a direct quote from w41 9/15 p287. He said it in one of his speeches at the 1941 Missouri convention.

    • March 4, 2014 at 11:13 pm
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      Thank you JimmyG, I was wondering indeed if it wasn’t the way you described, regarding the Law.

      Rutherford’s words about women are simply scandalous.

    • March 5, 2014 at 1:56 am
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      Just goes to show what happens when a person’s bloated ego goes to his head……it leaves no room for anything else in there!

  • March 9, 2014 at 8:08 am
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    MAYBE BECAUSE THEY DO?

  • March 9, 2014 at 9:55 pm
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    I like the comment about the mosaic law, re: Tats & Beards, heard a good one the other day from a CO’s wife, regarding Tats, she spoke to a guy who was a builder studying & wanted to get a tat, she said to him, after you complete a house, how would you feel if someone taged it!, he said he wouldnt like it, so neither would god would he, good reasoning, i don’t like tats anyway but love my beard, beards are natural.

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