Congregation Book Study:
Chapter 4, par. 19-23, box on p. 45
From paragraph 21: “Jehovah simply has no interest in service performed out of coercion or out of morbid fear of his awesome power. He seeks those who will serve him willingly, out of love.” Would that our publications follow Jehovah’s example of motivating through love. Alas, a frequent complaint we hear from the rank and file, particularly after district conventions, is that many come away burdened with feelings of guilt; like no one is doing quite enough to gain God’s full favor. I have often heard similar sentiments expressed by elders following the visit of the circuit overseer. ‘We could be doing more. We should be doing more.’ Our methods for getting brothers and sisters to engage in the house to house ministry have little to do with love, but much to do with coercion. For this year’s August tract campaign to promote the new jw.org web site, the elders are being pressured to submit auxiliary pioneer applications so as to “set the example” for the rank and file.
How can we truly be faithful to Jehovah’s sovereignty when we disregard its very foundation: Love?
Paragraph 22 states: “He delegates considerable authority to others, such as his Son. (Matthew 28:18)” Considerable? Does Matthew 28:18 read: ‘Jesus approached and spoke to them, saying: “Considerable authority has been given me in heaven and on the earth”’? Why can we not take Jesus at his word? Why do we misquote him?
The fact is we are uncomfortable with the true role Jesus has. To give him the honor he is due would mean sounding too much like the other Christian denominations, and above all else, that is to be avoided. Better to deny our Lord and King some of his honor and status than to sound like some fundamentalist Christian group. Jesus will understand, won’t he?
Actually, the statement made in paragraph 22 is wrong on two counts. 1) Jehovah grants all , not considerable, authority to his son, and 2) it is Jesus, not Jehovah, who then grants authority to others.
So Jehovah isn’t running things. This is the point we miss as Jehovah’s Witnesses. He has such complete trust in his Son, and He knows that he will never go off on his own; that he has no personal agenda, but only wishes to do his Father’s will, which he understands fully. (John 8:28) Therefore, Jehovah can and has given him all authority, and it is Jesus who now rules. When he has accomplished all that his Father set for him to do with regards to the earth and the heavens, then he will hand back this authority so that God can be all things to everyone, just as 1 Corinthians 15:28 prophecies will happen. That is Jehovah’s timetable, but we Jehovah’s Witnesses seem to be running ahead of it. We want Jehovah to be “all things to everyone” right now.
Theocratic Ministry School
Bible Reading: Genesis 47-50
Genesis 47:24 shows how income tax first came upon the Egyptians. It may sound like a lot, their having to part with one-fifth of their produce to pay the tax to Pharaoh. However, we should not grieve for them. Rather, we should envy them. When you add up all the tax you pay, federal, state, sales, etc. a mere 20% will start to look pretty good.
No. 1 Genesis 48:17-49:7
No. 2 The Events Associated With Christ’s Presence Take Place Over a Period of Years—rs p. 341 par. 1,2
Rather than argue this point anew, please refer to Apollos’ article, “Parousia” and the Days of Noah, and if you want even more information proving from Scripture and history that we are not currently living in the presence of Christ, please examine the various articles found under this link.
No. 3 Abimelech—Presumptuousness Ends in Personal Disaster—it-1 p. 24, Abimelech No. 4
“Abimelech with presumptuous impudence sought to make himself king.” (No. 4, par. 1) Hmm…a valuable lesson, what? If we presume to make ourselves king, or ruler, or leader, or governor, supplanting the king or leader that Jehovah has appointed, we could end up like Abimelech.
Service Meeting
10 min: Imitate the Example of Nehemiah
10 min: Use Questions to Teach Effectively—Part 1
10 min: Jehovah’s ears Listen to the Supplication of the Righteous
There is really no reason to doubt the veracity of these accounts, nor think that Jehovah doesn’t answer such prayers and help hungry ones to a fuller understanding of truth. We have to remember that the path of the righteous ones is like a light that gets brighter. (Pr 4:18) Often misapplied to explain the frequent changes to the Organization’s prophetic interpretations, this verse really explains who each individual—the righteous one—grows in understanding and spiritual maturity. A religious entity cannot pray to God. Only humans can pray to God. And it is the prayers of individuals, both faithful servants and sincere truth seekers, that he answers.
When stating false Christs, basically means false anointed. Matt 24:24
Katriana
That is correct. In Matthew 24:24 the Greek is pseudochristoi ψευδόχριστοι Strong’s G5580 this is false christs. Christos or the conjugation here christoi is anointed.
Christos is Strong’s G5547
Pseudomai is Strong’s G5571 untrue, deceitful, wicked, false, liar.
To this day the prefix pseudo can be found in English.
Most often used in Pseudoscience; something presented as science but is not, pseudointellectual, pseudomeat, pseudoleather, and so forth. In 21st century English these are called junk science, frauds or intellectual frauds, soy or textured vegtable protein, pleather respectively.
Just a few more points as well charisma is used at 1 john 2 27 twice in connection with jesus followers and chrio is used at 2 corinthians 1 v21 .Christianos is used at acts 26 v28 .1peter 4 v 16 and of :course acts 11 v26 and lets not forget our savoir christos jesus just to many times To count but its well over 500 times kev
Hey thanks RH Esse your reply is very much appreciated ive got strongs concordance and will look a bit deeper at these words .I remember doing some research a while back on why youngs and nwt imply in the context it was divinely inspired to call the disciples christians . There is apparently a good reason for saying that .It seems we have four words here and they seem to be related Starting at G5548 chrio to aniont G5547 christos is from it .Then we have G5546 christianos which is from christos . Also we have charisma which is based… Read more »
Acts was scribed by Luke the physician. The writing is precise in use of the then current Koine Greek. There has been a blending or redaction of Luke’s work from the inception of the penning. Marcion of Sinope was the first to really gain followers and revisionism has continued to this very day. The same type of editing happens so that The simplicity of Christ Jesus words are obfuscated. The early events of the the apostles and the events in early Christianity are deprecated. Through these efforts certain connections are made so what happened appears fantastical, such as indwelling of… Read more »
Thanks for your reply R H Esse point taken Especially the one about the anionting at james 5 . Thanks again for your help . Kev
“Actually, the statement made in paragraph 22 is wrong on two counts. 1) Jehovah grants all , not considerable, authority to his son, and 2) it is Jesus, not Jehovah, who then grants authority to others.”
Very true, it makes me want to cry.
And just to add a thought, the GB believe and teach that Christ has already become king in 1914, then why don’t they treat his as their king, instead they contradict on every point.
Its very disturbing that the WT has gone the way of starting to look like an anti Christ.
Hi Katrina, The WT’s Governing Body has claimed to be anointed. IN Greek Christ is CHRISTOS. This is correctly translated as anointed. Translation, unbiased tranlation, is often difficult because there is not a simple one or even two word direct rendering of Greek words. There is translations of words and verses that are closer than given in the early versions such as KJV and closer than given in the latest ongoing translations such as NET and WEB. For example the prefix anti as in antiChrist should be understood as meaning instead of rather than against. anti being translated or understood… Read more »
Thank you Anonymous for you help here, I guess I just threw the saying out without thinking, and you response will help those viewing the site, thank you, as well as myself.
Thanks Katrina. I got bounced before completing, correcting, and being able to sign up/in Here is the rest of the comment There is a verse that states many will come saying I am christ. The Governing Body of the WT comes saying I am anointed by saying this they are saying I am christ. Same word in Greek translated differently into English and more accurate. The past and current leaders in New York have been calling themselves antiChrists (instead of Christ) all along. They insert themselves between a person and God taking the place of Christ Jesus by saying that… Read more »
I hadnt really thought about christos being anointed .so we could say that to be a christian and be anointed are one and the same thing . So if we are not anionted then we cannot rightly claim to be a christian .And if that is so where does that place the so called great crowd of other sheep . Or does it simply mean a follower of christ . Kev
Trply to Kev Acts 11 25 Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul: 26 and when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. KJV What can be gleaned is that disciples of Jesus’ teaching through Paul and Barnabas were called Christians. Is this being anointed or is this being a follower/believer of the Son of God? It is interesting that the YLT has an added word. 26 and… Read more »
It is interesting when you put it like that. I didn’t link the word anointed to Christ in that way in Mark 13:6. One thing I would like to understand though is why the variation in translation. “I am he” is used in some translations and in others “I am the Messiah” and “I am Christ”.
The rendering in the NET bible for example is “I am he”, not I am Christ/anointed? Do you have any sources on this translation?
And by the way, I know that it doesn’t invalidate your point that when saying “I am anointed” it is really the same word “christos”, but I am just trying to understand if I can link the phrase rendered in exactly that way to this or similar scriptures, since in some translations the word christos is apparently not there.
Hi Joel Mark 13.6 is conflicting in various translations. The manuscript I have before does not have either he or Christ in the Greek. As has been stated elsewhere it is difficult to drop bias. Most translations have some sort of theological or doctrinal base and this often leads to a pasteurization of translation by committees so as to retain the verse but not to offend any particular doctrinal teaching with which the committee members are associated. There are other reasons that verses are homogenized. Christ and he are added to the verse where as Green’s Literal Translation capitalizes the… Read more »
Well I wish I could have some sensible discussion with my wife. She is well trained to sense ” apostate agenda” and she cease conversation every time I try to introduce some idea that differs from our official teaching. I showed her the list of striptures proving that we should be witnesses of Christ rather then Jehova and she accused my of dishonoring Jehova. Her reasoning ? Some hateful apostate compiled this list to prove Jehovah Witnesess wrong.
It’s normal for people to be defensive to things they firmly believe. You should try a different approach. Rather then trying to proof your point, make it a point to have weekly biblestudy with her, using just the bible. Or even daily. Tell her you really would enjoy studying some scriptures with her and ask her how she feels about them. I can tell you many JW don’t know what the real doctrine about things is..If you read key passages with her, she might gradually for her own discover things and start to ask questions. At that point you can… Read more »
Dear InNeedOFGrace, I tried that approach with a lady who was determined to “get me back on track”. She offered to help me study the weekly watchtower in preparation for the Sunday meetings. I agreed on the condition that I be allowed to answer all questions within the watchtower, using only the scriptures cited from the bible. It was so difficult for her to do this for her as she kept reading the paragraph from the magazine, whilst I started flipping through the actual source within the scriptures. I won’t go into the details as they may bore you. Needless… Read more »
by the way InNeedOFGrace, I realized after I wrote about this experience of mine, that you were thinking in terms of only studying the bible. However, are we allowed to do that, really do that with one another? Without the assistance of publications to guide us? Whenever I reassure a fellow witness that I have not abandoned the bible and read it with great interest. They invariably take note of this fact, but continue on with urging me to read the “abundance of material, lovingly provided by the society….in order to grasp it’s meaning better”. I have read so many… Read more »
In todays meeting,after the brother who did the 3rd part of the TS, it was mentioned that it is only good that ONLY material from the SLAVE. In other words, do not use other material when perparing for your lectures…..imagine you would read better explanations …..
Today’s text is a case in point. Our imprisoned brothers “only” had one Bible, and when they got some WTs they committed parts of them to memory.
I understand that this may be a massaged version of the facts, but the point they’re making seems to be that the Bible is not enough, and that the publications are necessary to our spiritual health and perhaps even more important than the Bible itself. Shades of Russell?
Thanks for your kind advice. I’m working on different approach and attitude. This site is really helping me to have balanced view on things. I was angry and have felt deceived. It’s very frustrating sometimes, but now I know that the love overcomes all thing.
You are not alone in that struggle Search4Truth 🙂
1. I had to walk out during the #2 talk. 2. I had a discussion with a loved one. During the conversation she mentioned that she believes she needs to follow the lead of the GB. I told her I follow Jesus. She went silent and tried to change the subject. I should have quoted Mark 10:21. Jesus tells us to follow him. She said when she talks to me it doesn’t even seem like she’s talking to a JW. That’s how bad we’ve removed Jesus. We aren’t even allowed to say we follow him. She has doubts but refuses… Read more »
Well I wish I could have some sensible discussion with my wife. She is well trained to sense “apostate agenda” and she stop conversation every time I try to introduce idea that differs from our official teaching. I showed her the list of sriptures proving that we should be Christ witnesses rather then Jehova witnesses and she accused me of dishonoring Jehova. Her reasoning? Some hateful apostate compiled list of scriptures to prove Jehovah Witnesses wrong.
Para 4 god has no interest in service performed out of fear of his power .yet time and time again the emphasis in the publications is armageddon and how close we are and how god is going to use his power to destroy most people on the planet if they dont do exactly as the witnesses say .what emotions do constant bombardment of these points bring to a persons mind .while the bible does discuss these points the great emphasis in our studies should be about gods dominant quality of love .then just as john said love throws fear outside… Read more »
I can only agree with you regarding the way the GB approaches Jesus. My wife now knows that my position regarding the organisation and the GB has definitely changed. You can imagine that our discussions are quite intense but fortunately still respectful as I only use the bible to support my arguments and I feel somewhere she does realize that. The difficult thing is that she is sincere with respect to her devotion to Jehovah and she is only a “product’ from the teachings from the organisation over the last 17 years. I think that she somewhere agrees with my… Read more »
Menrov You mentioned that: “The difficult thing is that she is sincere with respect to her devotion to Jehovah and she is only a ‘product’ from the teachings from the organisation over the last 17 years.” My wife also has in the past said things which were somewhat frustrating, since they were based on organizational rhetoric rather than scripture. One thing is realizing that we are all ‘products’ of those teachings to some extent or another, and not all of those teachings are wrong either (IMO). This personal outlook has helped to keep us on the same page through more… Read more »
Thank you, apollos0falexandrias, for you thoughts. Much appreciated. If not shown in my message, I do try to remain balanced and supportive, but it is challenging 🙂
Your balance and support is very much shown in your message. I wish you well in your endeavors. It is not at all easy.
Apollos, I really appreciate your comments . I needed to hear that today . I commented months ago that I was having the same struggle with my husband. It was really rough in the beginning and although we do not agree on everything, we are still united in worship. I am so glad that he no longer feels that he has to “save me” from “apostatizing “. I am seeing flashes through his comments and our discussions that he now recognizes that JW’S have diminished the role of Jesus. The other day his comment at the meeting made me do… Read more »
Apollos
This is a sincere question.
Is it possible that there may be many; in other religions, who are going to be deemed worthy by Christ, (under complete authority of our Father)
to be chosen for….I can’t think of a better word……..salvation? I know this is a very christendomy way of asking, but it’s the only way I can think of posing the question.
Smolderingwick, I don’t think you sould judgemental at all. Your sound honest and sincere to me, Is it really being judgemental if it is the truth and you are stating fact? Is not everything you said the truth? “So Jehovah isn’t running things. This is the point we miss as Jehovah’s Witnesses.” So true Meleti. I am finding this challenging, I’ve been so conditioned to think only in terms of Jehovah God, I have to keep reminding myself daily that Jesus is our one and only Savior. I used to cringe evey time I heard Jesus this and Jesus that… Read more »
>>How is it that it took so long to realize this, blind or not, when it was in front of me the whole time?
It’s a big club. Welcome aboard. Now if we could just get more of our brothers and sisters to come to this realization.
Dear Meleti, yes I to feel the indignation of Christ over paragraph 22: “He delegates considerable authority to others, such as his Son.” The audacity of them! esp. citing Matthew 28:18! I don’t know how many others notice but perhaps our mental conditioning has been so ‘considerable’ we cannot even check context! Perhaps you’ve noticed that in all their writings the GB relegates Jesus to an employee in training, never quite trusted to be given full command without further guidance. It’s as though he’s on a short leash in tandem with his Father like a son who hasn’t quite grown… Read more »