The Watchtower, “Happiness Is Possible in a Divided Household”
“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.’
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Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, Happiness Is Possible in a Divided Household
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