Homosexuality Among Jehovahs Witnesses

Homosexuality among Jehovah's Witnesses to pay as is generally the homosexuality in Christianity.

Attaching great importance to the Bible , both the Old Testament as the New Testament , the Jehovah's Witnesses consider its original precepts as divine , and therefore indisputable. Yet some passages in the Bible mention the homosexuality unfavorably, as do all forms of sex outside of marriage tradition.

Disapproval of homosexuality

The Jehovah's Witnesses base their disapproval of certain passages of the Bible, translated from their point of view, condemning homosexual practices such as verses of the Epistle to the Romans , and the most famous passage from Leviticus as their translation:

"When a man lies with a male as one lies with a woman, both have done a detestable thing. They should definitely be put to death. Their blood is upon them. "

- Leviticus 8:13 p.m.

For the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses , the homosexuality is part of what the Bible calls the porneia, often made by " fornication "is to say, a sexual practice outside of marriage and thus involving the presence of impure a partner.

Believing in the surrounding society homosexuality seems to be increasingly practiced freely, the Watchtower Society has reaffirmed on many occasions its position on homosexuality in its publications. She says for example:

"The Witnesses have never been any doubt as to how to regard homosexuality. Why? Because they do not treat the biblical requirements as mere human opinions from another time (1 Thess. 2:13). They are happy to lead Bible studies with homosexuals to acquaint them with the requirements of Jehovah, and they may attend meetings of the Witnesses in listeners. However, if someone continues to practice homosexuality, he can not become a Jehovah's Witness. - 1 Cor. 6:9-11, Jude 7 "

According to Jehovah's Witnesses , the homosexuality , both male and female, is a practice frowned upon by God and considered a perversion, morally wrong and against nature.

The Jehovah's Witnesses reject the idea that the homosexuality could be innate in humans experiencing an attraction for people of the same sex. However, the movement recognizes that "it is possible that genes and hormones come into account, "and that" maybe the scientists will not they ever set the exact proportions of the innate and acquired the homosexual tendencies. "

To justify homosexual tendencies in an individual, the Jehovah's Witnesses put forward several arguments : the ambient levels found lax morals , an abnormal family environment, particularly for boys or sexual abuse in childhood , causing a distortion of sexual identity.

They believe however that while some factors may influence the sexual orientation of someone, the inclination of the heart resulting from bad sin original and imperfection inherited from Adam is the main cause. On this point, members of the movement to adopt a position similar to evangelical churches, Orthodox and Catholics.

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that homosexuality can only harm the physical, emotional and spiritual.

Proposals of the movement to abandon homosexuality

Publications of Jehovah's Witnesses recognize that it is difficult for young people with homosexual tendencies to refrain from them: they say they have to "lead a real fight" and that "it may be terribly difficult their. However, anyone wishing to meet them after the Bible must absolutely reject the homosexuality , both in thought and deed. Someone who continues to practice the homosexuality can not be baptized as a Jehovah's Witness.

To help the faithful to reject homosexual tendencies, the Watchtower Society believes that it takes time and determination and gives the following advice :

• Learn to identify the exact reasons for these tendencies (the feeling of inadequacy, fear of the other sex, mistaken notions of love, etc.), including praying and talking with an old of the congregation who can help the individual to explore his feelings and thoughts;
• Analyze the example of manhood .

  Against gay marriage

  

  

  Only heterosexual marriage is acceptable to Jehovah's Witnesses.

  The Jehovah's Witnesses believe that it is God alone, they recognize as the creator of humans, belongs the right to define the rules governing marriage. According to them, Jehovah hates the gay and instituted the marriage only between people of opposite sexes, as he originally created man and woman. As a result, they say, gay marriage does no good repute in a practice they feel condemned in the Bible.

  One of their periodic states in effect:

  "The" marriage "can not provide a respectable front to homosexuality. In requiring that "marriage is honorable among all," God excludes homosexual unions, which he found abhorrent. - Hebrews 13:4 . "

  However, because of their apolitical nature, the Jehovah's Witnesses do not participate in any campaign policy or any event aimed at changing the laws government (such as legalizing marriage gay ), even though they are in conflict with their understanding of the Bible.

  Attitude towards gays and lesbians

  The Jehovah's Witnesses certify that, to be a good Christian , it is necessary to hate the homosexuality . However, they must not hate gays and lesbians, but respect them just like everyone else, because Jesus gave his life for all. Nevertheless, they say, it is hoped that these people are moving away from lifestyle and embrace the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses to find favor with God and avoid being destroyed by it . A Wake up! says about this:

  "The Bible does not make homosexuals a separate category that Christians should hate or quarantine. (...) Even if some people have a behavior that inspires them with a particular dislike, they do not seek to harm them or n'entretiennent feelings of hostility towards them. (...) In harmony with this attitude, the Christians reject any aggressive or mocking homosexuals as to any person. They consider their peers as disciples of Christ in power, they treat them with respect and dignity . "

  Reviews

  Comments from academics and critics

  Several authors outside the movement, including James Penton and Tony Wills, recounted in their works the prohibition of homosexuality among Jehovah's Witnesses ^, . One of them, the sociologist Andrew Holden, who has conducted several studies on the religious movement discussed the controversy that this issue raises. He said :

  "I attended several meetings at the Kingdom Hall in which the homosexuality was presented as a perversion abnormal. (...) I listened to a 45-minute speech on the question of whether homosexuals are 'born that way' or if their sexual behavior is learned. (...) References were given on the widespread nature of homosexuality , but used only for the purpose of strengthening the organization's own teachings, that the world has become shamelessly bad. (...) It would be very difficult for someone with an orientation gay Witness to stay without feeling deeply wounded in his personal identity, not least because the Company . Then he recounts the example of a former faithful excommunicated for this reason, it tried unsuccessfully to resolve their homosexual tendencies by marrying a true movement, which has caused difficulty in the couple mainly because he could not fulfill his marital duty. After his excommunication , he attempted suicide and spent time in psychiatric hospital .

  Support Groups

  The faithful Jehovah's Witness is faced with an alternative that can be painful. On the one hand, if he decides to remain a Jehovah's Witness, he must lead a celibate life required to comply with the tenets of his faith , or to marry someone of the opposite sex while stifling his true sexuality or living a "double life", that is to say a life of faithful Jehovah's Witness while having covertly sexually active. On the other hand, if he decides to disassociate from his church or he is excommunicated by a committee of religious discipline, he will lose his belief system, its environment, and probably his family and friends.

  This situation may be poorly lived, support sites have been created on the Internet to help gays , lesbians , bisexuals and transsexuals , ex-faithful followers of the movement (see external links ).

  Opponents believe that the perspective of Jehovah's Witnesses goes beyond what most denominations Christian conservative on this issue require .

  Sites support for Jehovah's Witnesses do not advocate gay necessarily break with the religious group, but intend to provide food for thought and then leave everyone to decide what he will do. However, they recognize that it is unrealistic to expect to feel good about an organization that condemns them blatantly. Gathering of ex-Witnesses gay sometimes including a few faithful gays are frequently held, the anonymity of each being preserved.

  According to a summary made by one of these sites , the experiences gathered from Jehovah's Witnesses or former Jehovah's Witnesses gays tend to prove the following results:

  • A married heterosexual in order to change sexual orientation is not only ineffective but can create serious marital difficulties, other complications may arise if children are involved.
  • The coming out of Jehovah's Witnesses in their congregation has often led to disastrous results, proving many times that the majority of believers do not understand the nature of homosexuality. In fact, according to this site support, many faithful probably confuse the mind with gay sexual activity itself, and can therefore react with disbelief and skepticism, if not condemnation. Individuals considered gay, although still part of the congregation, may often be regarded with suspicion and be deliberately excluded from recreational activities among Witnesses, because of prejudices that most Witnesses feed cons homosexuals and lesbians. Thus, the Witness who publicly reveals his homosexual inclinations can often expect a life of loneliness and ostracism by the meeting.
  • The coming out of Jehovah's Witnesses with their family can cause various reactions: it can be supported in some rare cases, but also the indifference or even outright rejection more frequently, and that while the faithful gay is not excommunicated movement.
  • Treatment with medication and psychotherapy to change sexual orientation is unnecessary and may even cause psychological scars on the individual, leaving him in a state of confusion then require several years of psychotherapy . In this regard, a support site refers to the study by the American Psychiatric Association .

  Moreover, these sites lie to the idea that the Bible condemn the homosexuality and offer other explanations for the verses related .

  Social isolation of the homosexual excommunicated

  Main article: Excommunication among Jehovah's Witnesses.

  The first criticism concerns the accusation of deliberate practice 'social death' by putting pressure on gay people that come to be excommunicated. In this movement, it is true that we asked members not to attend, in the absence of immediate need (work, school or preaching ) non-Jehovah's Witnesses, the excommunication of a Christian involves for its loss of all his social ties with the rest of Jehovah's Witnesses. Excommunication can be particularly painful for those born within a family already adhering to the Church, and who know nothing of what does not belong, which may be the case of a (e) young believer who experiences a homosexual inclination. Some testimonies of homosexuals who have been excommunicated are reporting this situation they found difficult .

  The practice of excommunication is certainly not restricted only to homosexuals. However, while heterosexuals are somehow out of this religion a society that is roughly similar enough to the world they have left (heterocentrism), it is not the case for homosexuals. Not at all prepared to face a world like that of the gay scene, which they know absolutely nothing and they often have a distorted vision and based on prejudices , the situation of these persons excommunicated worse by the fact that they often feel a strong sense of guilt that prevent them from fully integrating into the community, gay , by which they are misunderstood and moreover with which they are not in phase . Where should the listening, patience, help rebuild a personality over time destroyed by a sense of guilt and the inability to conceive the idea of a love between two people the same sex, we find the reverse rejection.

  The person homosexual and excommunicated from the Jehovah's Witnesses may thus find themselves caught between two opposite positions marginal, rejected by both worlds for reasons diametrically opposed.

  In France , during the last parliamentary inquiry on the influence of cults on minors, one of the audition, Nicolas jacket, a member of the National Union of Associations of defending the family and the individual (UNADFI) and the National Coordination of victims of the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses (CNOVTJ), explained that it was his homosexuality which led him to leave the movement. He said he lived during his years in the Jehovah's Witnesses in schizophrenic with a split personality, to live his sexuality on the one hand and religion on the other, to protect themselves heard speeches on the podium, explaining that what it was deeply hated by God and doomed to destruction. He added that he considered suicide several times. ^{, ,} .

  A young lesbian testified in the press Canada have been rejected by her family and the Jehovah's Witnesses. Torn between his sexual orientation and the precepts of her community, she had tried to seek help from relatives. "But instead of bringing me support, I was summoned before a committee that I was deemed unfit to continue to be a Jehovah's Witness. Overnight, I found myself all alone, when I just need the most help. " She says he thought about suicide several times .

  Prosecution of homophobia

  Another criticism concerns the prosecution to present a message sometimes very severe in relation to the theme of homosexuality , which can be perceived, especially by the gay community , as of homophobia. For example, one of the publications of Jehovah's Witnesses compared homosexuals to dogs , as the symbolism Bible :

  "People are qualified morally unclean dogs. Thus we read in the law that God gave to Israel : "You must not bring into the house of Jehovah your God for any vow, the wages of a prostitute or the price of a dog . "

  About the homophobia , a woman won in 2007 for a trial have been brutalized and insulted by a fellow Jehovah's Witness who reproached him for his homosexuality. The damages amounted to 120 000 pounds sterling or 187 800 .

  Using questionable scientific sources

  According to opponents of the movement , the Watchtower Society uses dubious sources in scientific publications, to validate his theories on the causes of homosexuality. They cite as examples two Awake! that refer to the work of ^Dr. Charles Socarides. However, as the sociologist Baptist Coulmont , Charles Socarides has repeatedly been publicly disavowed by the American Psychological Association to have breached the ethical professional. Socarides he said is a member of an association seeking to 'fix' gay people by transforming them into heterosexuals .

  Rejection of modern science

  According to critics, Jehovah's Witnesses refuse to confront the science today. From the perspective of the movement Gay , consider the homosexual as a result of a deliberate choice, not as a consequence of a real trend, simply means encouraging the practice of homosexual experiences in secret, behind the layout of external conformism, otherwise of marriage.

  Indeed, some scientific studies have brought new elements of answers about the reasons for homosexuality, such as how the design of the hypothalamus of the individuals concerned would be different . Moreover, the animal homosexuality , widespread in some species , is ignored in the publications of Jehovah's Witnesses.

  Bibliography

  • Jacquette Nicolas, Nicolas 25-year survivor of Jehovah's Witnesses , Editions Balland, 2007 ISBN 978-2-3531-5018-2

  Internal Links

  • Sect
  • MIVILUDES
  • Monotheism
  • Sodom
  • Gomorrah
  • Homosexuality
  • Homosexuality and Religion
  • Christian view of homosexuality
  • Jehovah's Witnesses

  External Links

  • "Who is in charge: you or your genes?" (official site of the Watchtower Society)
  • "According to the Bible ... God he approves gay marriage?" (official site of the Watchtower Society)

  References and notes

  • (It) This article is partially or entirely from the article in Italian entitled " Omosessualit e di Testimoni GeoVIS "(see the list of authors )

  1. "Therefore God gave them up, according to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonor their bodies are at home, so those who have traded God's truth against falsehood and who venerated the creation - offering him a sacred service - rather than the One who created, who is blessed forever. Amen. That's why God gave them over to shameful sexual desires, because their females changed the natural use of their bodies than against nature: and likewise also the males have left the natural use of the female and were inflamed their passion for one another, males with males, doing what is obscene and receiving in themselves that recompence of their full error. "

     - Romans 1:24-27

  2. "Similarly Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them, after they had committed, in the same manner as these, fornication excessively and were gone after the flesh for use against nature, are placed before us as a is a warning example by undergoing the judicial punishment of eternal fire. "

     - Jude 7

  3. "While The 1960 Reforms Regarding Homosexuality, obscenity, family planning and theater censorship Were arguably little more Than a year Attempt to Regulate Behaviour That HAD Previously Been Subjected to unworkable Laws, The Appeal Of The Watch Tower movement in Britain Owes Much To The Witnesses' persistent condemnation of a world THEY Believe Is On the Brink of chaos. "

     - Andrew Holden in Peering Through the Watchtower: Jehovah's Witnesses How Learn to Worship and evangelizing, Department of Sociology at Lancaster, Lancaster LA1 4YN, December 29, 2003.

     That can result in:

     While the 60s was a period of reform on homosexuality, obscenity, family planning ... Witnesses Watchtower owned continued to condemn the world, what they believed to be the source of chaos.

  4. Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, 1993 175
  5. The journals published by the Jehovah's Witnesses believe that scientific studies advancing arguments that the brain structure, exposure to too much or too little of male hormones before birth, or the genetic code would influence on the sexual preferences of an individual would only been performed on animals see Awake!, February 8, 1995, p.15:

     "Many scientists believe that the abnormal behavior of rats is nothing but a reflex, it is not really of" homosexuality ". Moreover, humans are not rats. "It is extremely unlikely that prenatal hormones influence (...) human sexuality as they directly organize the reflexes of the mating behavior of rats," we read in a medical bulletin (The Harvard Medical School Mental Health Letter ). "

  6. "Where are these tendencies?" Awake!, February 8, 1995, pp. 15-17
  7. "How to reject these desires?" Awake!, March 22, 1995, pp. 21-23
  8. For example, The Watchtower, June ^1, p. 11; The Watchtower, February ^1, 1993, p. 6, 1993 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, p. 48
  9. According to the Bible ... God approves Does gay marriage?, Published in the Awake! Of April 8, 2005
  10. The Watchtower, November 15, 1971, p. 681:

      "It is good to hate any criminal action, violence, adultery, drunkenness and homosexuality, for what they really are. For his crime, the thief appropriates what rightfully belongs to his victim. We must abhor. Adultery breaks the family ties and deprive children of loving care. It is a sin against God and man, that deserves our deepest hatred. Drunkenness puts people in danger and ruin lives. We should abhor. Homosexuality is one of the vilest forms of perversion. God hates it (Rom. 1:24-27). If you hate these evil things, great! So make sure your protection. "

  11. See for example the Report of the parliamentary committee on children in cults, hearing of N. Jaquette, P. 207 :

      "Having had since the age of eight years realize that I liked boys and heard again at the desk that I was deeply hated by God and doomed to destruction"

  12. "A Christian should hate homosexuals?" in Awake!, December 8, 1997, p. 13-15
  13. Apocalypse delayed, James Penton, Toronto Press, p. 152
  14. A People for His Name, second edition, Tony Wills, P. 255, www.lulu.com
  15. (en) page listing the studies by Andrew Holden on Jehovah's Witnesses
  16. Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement, Andrew Holden, 2002 27:

      "I Attended SEVERAL Kingdom Hall meetings at Which Homosexuality WAS Referred to as unnatural perversion year. At a public talk That Was Delivered by a Highly Enthusiastic Young Man Who Aspired to Become a pioneer for The Society, I listened to a forty-five minute sermon about whether Homosexuals are 'born That Way golden yew Their Sexual Behaviour IS Learned. Was this, as did MOST Watchtower sermons reference WAS Given To The Widespread Nature of Homosexuality, Purpose Used In A Way That only reinforced The organization's Own Teaching - That Is, Thats the world has Become unashamedly wicked. There Can Be Little Doubt That It Would Be Very Difficult For Someone With A Gay Orientation to Remain Without a Witness experiencing a great deal of injury to his or her personal identity, not least Because The Society Fail to Distinguish Between the homosexual condition and homosexual practice. (Endnote: One Couple with Whom I spoke Told Me optometrist HAD SEVERAL Known Men Who Were homosexual goal HAD Given Up On Becoming Witnesses Their practices. Believed That This couple, homosexual ounce made a personal vow of celibacy and Converted To The Society his or her homosexual orientation Would disappear. To date, this outcome Appears to Be a source of confusion Among Witnesses. "

  17. Out of a cult, Tobie Nathan & Jean-Luc Swertvaegher, Editions du Seuil, 2003, ( ISBN 2-84671-047-3 ), p. 206. Publications which are cited is an excerpt: Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 1, "Divorce", The Watchtower, February 15, 1989, p. 21; The Watchtower, March ^1, 1989, p. 4, The Watchtower, October 15, 1990, p. 21; The Watchtower, April 15, 1996, p. 12.
  18. Out of a cult, Tobie Nathan & Jean-Luc Swertvaegher, Editions du Seuil, 2003, ( ISBN 2-84671-047-3 ), p. 203-210. Extract pages 203.204:

      "[John] knew that Jehovah was watching him struggle with his problem, saw him take his fight against the disease that kept him in the guts: her sexuality. The bodies of men (...) troubled, more than that excited him. (...) And it happened what had to happen ... It is now two years, he was banished from God's people by his brothers, not only expelled from the congregation and organization Jehovist but also his own family. Accused of unethical conduct by the former and his father ... "

  19. (en) "Jehovah's Witnesses and Homosexuality" on a site criticizing TJ

      "The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York (WTS) conservative Christian denomination Is A Whose theology Differs Greatly From That of Fundamentalist and Other Evangelical denominations. Their Attitudes towards Homosexuality What Goes Beyond Other conservative groups require. The WTS That Requires Both homosexual feelings and Behavior Must Be suppressed. That is: THEY Must Remain celibate, [and] Jesus' Stated That Another person to lust after Is To Commit Adultery With Them In Your Heart. Malthus was gay or lesbian must Attempt to suppress Their desire, longing, feelings of Attractiveness, love, sexual fantasies, etc. Towards Other. "

  20. (en) "I am an active Jehovah's Witness - What now?" on gayxjw.org
  21. (en) "Therapy for Change - Cure or Snake Oil? on Witness.plus.com
  22. (en) "Just the Facts About - Sexual Orientation & Youth: A Primer for Principals, Educators and School Personnel", the American Psychological Association
  23. (en) "A different view to Homosexuality ... According To the Bible"
  24. (it) "come un trattato Isolato e dai miei vecchi appestato Compagni di fede," Grazia Longo, La Stampa, June 21, 2005
  25. Out of a cult, Tobie Nathan & Jean-Luc Swertvaegher, Editions du Seuil, 2003, ( ISBN 2-84671-047-3 ), p. 209:

      "Since he had been expelled by his brothers, John had tried to solve the famous" gender identity problem. " He attended the gay community, he does not feel it was comfortable ... "But then not at all! ""

  26. Hearings of ex-Jehovah's Witnesses before the parliamentary committee of inquiry: Cults and Children, September 2006
  27. Report of the parliamentary committee on children in cults, hearing of N. Jaquette, P. 207:

      "I've always lived in hiding a split personality, because I'm gay and that homosexuality is repressed in the sect.

      Having had since the age of eight years realize that I liked boys and heard again at the desk that I was deeply hated by God and doomed to destruction, it took me to protect me, live on two tables throughout my childhood, my adolescence and my adulthood.

      This shift, this apprehension of what I was standing, of what had refused, with the perception that what was being imposed not only suited me, that have always been conscious of what I finally was happening and I studied it somehow without noticing.

      When I left, everything fell apart and I could see more clearly what I had sensed for years. Anyway, I lived in schizophrenic until my twenty-two years with a split personality, to live my sexuality on the one hand and my religion to another, very wrong, of course: the suicide has been repeatedly planned to end my suffering, as it is unbearable to see compete within itself two conceptions of life deeply antagonistic. "

  28. Hearing Nicolas jacket on LCP National Assembly
  29. "Lesbian: it is rejected by his family and the Jehovah's Witnesses", The Citizen, February 20, 2005 by Patrick Rodrigue
  30. failed with homosexuals
  31. Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 1, 1998, p.442
  32. (en) "Shopworker in line for 120,000 after Suffering homophobic bullying on thisislondon.co.uk, March 5, 2007
  33. Homosexuality and the Jehovah's Witnesses on TJ-Encyclopedia
  34. Baptist Coulmont is a sociologist and lecturer at the University Paris 8. Coulmont Baptist work related religions and sexualities
  35. Tony Anatrella
  36. "Are you born gay?", Valerie Borde, The News, ¹ August 2006:

      "In 2004, Charles Roselli, University of Medicine and Science in Oregon, has analyzed the brains of homosexual rams eight, in collaboration with researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Still in their hypothalamus, he found a pack of neurons particularly sparse and less rich in aromatase (an enzyme related to testosterone) than in heterosexual rams. The researcher sees the explanation of the sexual orientation of his sheep, and possibly humans. He will try soon with some prenatal hormonal manipulations, to bring to its fold the Rams lost. "

  37. (en) "Homosexual Activity Among animals stirs debate", James Owen, London, National Geographic News, June 23, 2004

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