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Race, women and health · Claim record

A February 2012 study article told wives that 'a wife may be able to win her husband over to true worship by being in subjection and showing deep respect for him, even if he treats her harshly', and illustrated the point with a woman whose husband had hit her the night before a Bible study and who concluded, after her teacher asked how many acts of love she showed him, that she 'needed to adjust my thinking'. The account ends with the husband becoming a Witness seventeen years later.

Claim ID claim-attitudes-2012-even-if-he-treats-her-harshlyConcerns 15 February 2012Explicit statement
Explicit statement · 15 February 2012 Verified

A February 2012 study article told wives that 'a wife may be able to win her husband over to true worship by being in subjection and showing deep respect for him, even if he treats her harshly', and illustrated the point with a woman whose husband had hit her the night before a Bible study and who concluded, after her teacher asked how many acts of love she showed him, that she 'needed to adjust my thinking'. The account ends with the husband becoming a Witness seventeen years later. The Watchtower, 15 February 2012Awake!, 8 November 2001"Keep Yourselves in God's Love" (book), 2008

The organisation’s position or later explanation: A footnote to paragraph 8 of the same article states that ‘Paul’s counsel does not rule out legal separation in extreme situations’, calls it ‘a serious personal decision’ and refers the reader to the separation appendix of Keep Yourselves in God’s Love. The organisation’s fuller counsel, in Awake! of 8 November 2001, states that a battered wife is not obliged to stay with a man who jeopardises her health or life, and that no one should pressure her to stay.

Show the evidence (3 sources)
Primary JW publication Verified

The Watchtower, “Happiness Is Possible in a Divided Household”

15 February 2012 · pp.26-30 · pars. 10-12 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“A wife may be able to win her husband over to true worship by being in subjection and showing deep respect for him, even if he treats her harshly.”

A study article on households where only one partner is a Witness. The sentence applies 1 Peter 3:1, 2, and the sentence immediately after it applies the same counsel the other way: ‘Likewise, a believing husband should conduct himself in a godly way and be a loving head of the household despite any opposition he may encounter from his unbelieving wife.’ Paragraphs 11 and 12 then give the account of a woman named Selma who says that the night before a Bible study ‘Steve had hit me as I had tried to prove a point’; the Witness studying with her asked ‘How many of those acts of love do you show toward your husband?’, and Selma concluded that she ‘needed to adjust my thinking’. The magazine closes the account: ‘After 17 years, Steve accepted the truth.’

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. The full article was fetched from the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read. Paragraph 10, which carries the quoted sentence, falls after the library’s page marker for page 29, as do paragraphs 11 and 12, which carry the account. Paragraph 8, which carries the separation footnote, falls after the marker for page 28. The citation line inside the document reads ‘w12 2/15 pp. 26-30’.

Notes. A footnote to paragraph 8, printed on p. 28, reads: ‘Paul’s counsel does not rule out legal separation in extreme situations. That is a serious personal decision. See “Keep Yourselves in God’s Love,” pages 220-221.’ That is the article’s only reference to separation, and it is attached to a paragraph about unbelieving mates generally, not to the account of Selma. Apart from that footnote the article gives no counsel on safety or on seeking help outside the congregation.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-wom-w-2012-0215-divided-household

Primary JW publication Verified

Awake!, “Help for Battered Women”

8 November 2001 · pp.8-12 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“Should the battered wife leave her husband? The Bible does not treat marital separation lightly. At the same time, it does not oblige a battered wife to stay with a man who jeopardizes her health and perhaps her very life. The Christian apostle Paul wrote: “If she should actually depart, let her remain unmarried or else make up again with her husband.” (1 Corinthians 7:10-16) Since the Bible does not forbid separation in extreme circumstances, what a woman does in this matter is a personal decision. (Galatians 6:5) No one should coax a wife to leave her husband, but neither should anyone pressure a battered woman to stay with an abusive man when her health, life, and spirituality are threatened.”

The article is one of a series on violence against women. It describes coercive control and financial control, tells readers to listen with compassion, says on p. 9 that some battered women ‘may need to seek assistance from the authorities’, and states that a man who mistreats his wife ‘does not qualify for special privileges in the Christian congregation’ and may be disfellowshipped. The paragraph is quoted whole, including the sentence restricting remarriage, because that restriction is the material point for a reader deciding what to do.

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. The full article was fetched from the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read; the quoted paragraph falls after the library’s page marker for page 12, and the ‘assistance from the authorities’ sentence after the marker for page 9. The citation code inside the document reads ‘g01 11/8 pp. 8-12’.

Notes. A boxed section headed 'Correcting Misconceptions' rebuts the ideas that a battered wife is responsible for her husband's actions, that alcohol causes battering, and that women do not object to being mistreated, quoting outside works on domestic violence.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-wom-g-2001-1108-help-battered-women

Primary JW publication Verified

"Keep Yourselves in God's Love" (book), “Appendix: The Bible's View on Divorce and Separation”

2008 · pp.219-221 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania

“Extreme physical abuse. An abusive spouse may act so violently that the abused mate's health and even life are in danger. If the abusive spouse is a Christian, congregation elders should investigate the charges. Fits of anger and a practice of violent behavior are grounds for disfellowshipping.”

The appendix states that sexual immorality is the only ground on which a divorce frees a person to remarry, and then lists three 'exceptional situations that some have viewed as a basis for separation': willful non-support, extreme physical abuse, and absolute endangerment of spiritual life. It adds that in such a separation the departing one must 'remain unmarried or else be reconciled with' the mate, that no one should put pressure on the person either way, and that 'if an extremely dangerous situation persists, no one should criticize a Christian who, as a last resort, chooses to separate.'

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. The full appendix was fetched from the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read. The three headed situations fall under the library's page markers for pages 220 and 221; the 'Extreme physical abuse' heading is on p. 221. The citation line inside the document reads 'lv pp. 219-221'.

Corroborated by. src-wom-w-2018-1200-honor-yoked

Notes. The appendix also warns against a wife who 'exaggerated the seriousness of her domestic problems just to live separately from her husband'. Later Watchtower articles (for example August 2016 and April 2017) refer readers back to this appendix, so it remains the published statement of the grounds.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-wom-lv-2008-divorce-separation

Claim page Correct or update

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