12 Outrageous Facts about Jehovah’s Witnesses you need to Know
Jehovah’s Witnesses organization like just about any other cult believes that they are the only people who have God’s backing, and like any other cult out there have created outrageous rules for themselves that can only make sense to them and them alone.
Here are 12 most outrageous facts about Jehovah’s Witnesses. I’ve classified them from the most trivial one to the most damaging one.
#12 A male and a female can’t even be in the same room alone
A man and a woman can’t be in a house, an apartment or even a room alone unless they are related or married. In some extreme cases, a man won’t even sit next to a woman he’s not related to in a car. If the woman drives the man may sit on the back seat of the car.
#11 Single men often play with single women’s feelings
Single men in the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses know that there are outnumbered by single women, so they like to take advantage of that fact by playing with women feelings at times.
Some guys can be quite arrogant towards young women since they know that they can only marry in the church having little choice to find a husband. Most men are already engaged or married leaving lots of women single by default, and at times desperate to find a mate.
#10 Wives are in submission to their husbands
The wife is considered only a complement to her husband. She is not supposed to make any big decision in the marriage. Even her own wedding planning should be handled mostly by the groom and she’s only allowed to have inputs here and there.
#9 Women are to be submissive to men in general
Women are basically students all throughout their Jehovah’s Witness’s life while men are allowed to teach. A woman could never give counsel to a man in the church.
#8 Women are not allowed to teach in the church
The only way a woman can talk from the platform of Jehovah’s Witnesses kingdom halls is by speaking to another woman facing her, not the audience. If she did face the audience it would mean that she’s teaching such audience and that’s a no-no among Jehovah’s Witnesses.
#7 A woman can’t pray in the presence of a man
A woman cannot pray for a group where even a single man is present. And if she needs to pray for a group of women she needs to cover her head, even if it’s with a ridiculous handkerchief that would make you laugh. It’s a sign of her lesser being-ness.
#6 Women are considered a lesser being, not quite at the level of men
One of the governing body members, Samuel Herd, went as far as saying during a public talk that the brain of the woman is 10% smaller than that of the man, which shows that she’s just not equipped for the role of headship. This goes along the fact that the woman is simply a sub-citizen compared to the man.
#5 Teenagers are not allowed to date unless it’s with the intention of marriage
Dating without the intention of marriage simply doesn’t exist among Jehovah’s Witnesses. Dating is only for people who have the intention to marry. Even though some witnesses have dated and broke off their engagement at times, they could never openly say that they’re just dating, for the fun of it.
#4 You are married or you are a virgin forever
If you are born in the cult and never marry you are supposed to stay a virgin for the rest of your life.
There is no such thing as your first sexual adventure in the religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Either you marry and have sex with your spouse, or you’re single and stay a virgin for as long as you live. This rule creates many loveless marriages for sex.
#3 Women are not even used where they are badly needed in the organization
Because there is so little regards for women in the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses, they wouldn’t even be allowed to be present to support a female child or teenager who is reporting sexual abuse during a church judicial committee hearing. At times the child could even be facing her own aggressor/abuser with no other female being present. She would have to give details of her rape by a man in front of a men panel only.
#2 Extreme shunning
Anyone who leaves the cult is shunned by all the members of the church of Jehovah’s Witnesses. That includes children, parents, and siblings. The shunning can be as severe as total abandonment for the rest of the life of the one who leaves. If someone dies on either side chances are the other party won’t even know about it.
While extreme shunning may be tempered by some individuals, for the most part, it’s the way of life in the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
#1 Known pedophiles are not reported to police
This cult is notorious for protecting pedophiles and putting people inside and outside of the church at risk. Supposedly because of some twisted rule called “the two witness rule” which means that two people need to be present if someone accuses someone else of a sin.
The real truth, though, it’s that it would bring a bad name on Jehovah’s Witnesses organization.
Obviously, a child reporting rape by an adult does not have a witness to back them up, thus they are not taken into account and for the most part not believed.
The perpetrator is free to keep living his life as if nothing happened and free to rape again. The child feels cheated twice; once by their abuser and once by their church elders who don’t believe them and don’t support them in any way.
Because of this despicable rule, a documentary exposing pedophiles among Jehovah’s Witnesses exposed a man who was able to rape his older daughter and 3 years later his younger daughter. The Elders of the church knew everything that happened to the older child but said nothing. Not even to the family of the pedophile, leaving the youngest child of the pedophile as prey.
Some of those people knock on your doors on Saturday mornings.
Like most cults, the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses is a dangerous one which can affect people’s lives in a very negative way. Beware.
