J. W. Wedding
May. 17th, 2008 09:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marydellI went to a Jehovah's Witness Wedding yesterday. It was very nice, and we had a lot of fun at the party afterwards--drinking & dancing are fine at a JW party, apparently, as long as you "keep in mind that this is a Christian celebration" and don't get hammered.
Anyway, the service itself was interesting - the minister talked a lot about the husband and wife's roles in a marriage, and it was all straight out of the bible, literally. He would flip to the relevant scripture, and the bride and groom would flip to the same place in their bible, and he would read it and explain it, and then on to the next part. So of course it was about the husband being the head of the family, and the wife being subject to him and following his decisions etc. Which didn't bother me all that much because the whole thing seemed like something out of the 19th century, and the minister spent a lot of time lecturing the groom on how he can't be a tyrant, and how valuable the bride is, and how man isn't complete without woman, and how they need to be true partners. I come from the tradition that says wives are independent and don't have to obey their husbands, but women are spiritually inferior and inherently sinful, and that our primary function is baby making, which is done by being sinful.* So by comparison this particular form of blatant sexism seemed kind of sweet.
Anyway, the minister--who was young, nice-looking, and extremely earnest--got a laugh from everyone when was trying to make the point that the husband needs to treat the bride as being more valuable than himself, and that he's lucky to have her:
"[Groom], Jehovah God made man from dust. But he made woman from Adam's prime rib. So you have to remember that while you are dust, [Bride] is prime rib." [awkward silence from congregation**] "That sounded better when I was rehearsing it."
*I'm paraphrasing, of course
**Or whatever we're called in a Kingdom Hall--they don't use a lot of the traditional church terms because it's more about bible study. I think.
Anyway, the service itself was interesting - the minister talked a lot about the husband and wife's roles in a marriage, and it was all straight out of the bible, literally. He would flip to the relevant scripture, and the bride and groom would flip to the same place in their bible, and he would read it and explain it, and then on to the next part. So of course it was about the husband being the head of the family, and the wife being subject to him and following his decisions etc. Which didn't bother me all that much because the whole thing seemed like something out of the 19th century, and the minister spent a lot of time lecturing the groom on how he can't be a tyrant, and how valuable the bride is, and how man isn't complete without woman, and how they need to be true partners. I come from the tradition that says wives are independent and don't have to obey their husbands, but women are spiritually inferior and inherently sinful, and that our primary function is baby making, which is done by being sinful.* So by comparison this particular form of blatant sexism seemed kind of sweet.
Anyway, the minister--who was young, nice-looking, and extremely earnest--got a laugh from everyone when was trying to make the point that the husband needs to treat the bride as being more valuable than himself, and that he's lucky to have her:
"[Groom], Jehovah God made man from dust. But he made woman from Adam's prime rib. So you have to remember that while you are dust, [Bride] is prime rib." [awkward silence from congregation**] "That sounded better when I was rehearsing it."
*I'm paraphrasing, of course
**Or whatever we're called in a Kingdom Hall--they don't use a lot of the traditional church terms because it's more about bible study. I think.
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Date: 2008-05-17 09:43 pm (UTC)different yet the same...
Date: 2008-05-21 11:43 pm (UTC)