[Watchtower study for the week of May 12, 2014 – w14 3/15 p. 12]
Another positive and encouraging Watchtower study, though in part this is damage control. To illustrate, paragraph 2 states: “…some faithful servants of God struggle with negative thoughts about themselves. They may feel that neither they nor their service to Jehovah has much value to him.”
Why would that be? Why do so many Jehovah’s Witnesses feel they aren’t doing enough? Why do we measure our worth to God by the number of hours we devote to the preaching work? How often have different ones expressed a sense of discouragement following a district convention? Could it be that the over-emphasis put on those who pioneer makes others feel unworthy? Pioneers are put on a pedestal, given special meetings, special instruction, and are always featured on assembly and convention platforms. Sisters who manage to raise children, care for a household, provide for a husband and still pioneer are praised as examples to all.
Is there a report in the Bible of anyone ever feeling discouraged after instruction from Jesus? Now there is a model no one can duplicate, yet his followers were always motivated and encouraged, because “his yoke was kindly and his load was light.” How could anyone feel burdened under such a yoke? How could anyone feel unworthy when such love was being expressed to each one? Those who feel depressed, indeed, oppressed had another yoke on their shoulders, a yoke put there by those who would not bear it themselves.
(Matthew 23:4) . . .They bind up heavy loads and put them on the shoulders of men, but they themselves are not willing to budge them with their finger.
As we mentioned last week, some articles seem to be written by another element in Bethel, as if there are two forces at work. Even among the Pharisees of Jesus day, there were sincere individuals were closer to the truth than others. (Mark 12:34; John 3:1-15; 19:38; Acts 5:34) In this vein we have the following statement from paragraph 5:
“He urged the congregation in Corinth: “Keep testing whether you are in the faith”…”The faith” is the body of Christian beliefs revealed in the Bible.”
Paragraph 6 adds:
“When you use God’s Word to test yourself to see “whether you are in the faith,” you will be seeing yourself more as God sees you.”
What is noteworthy about this and indeed the entire article is that no mention is made of the publications, nor the Governing Body, nor the “faithful slave”. Only God’s Word is spoken of and we are told to “test ourselves to see if we are in the faith” by using his Word. Whoever wrote this seems to be walking a fine line drawn by the conscience.
In discussing the example of the Widow’s Mite , paragraph 9 asks the question: “Would she be embarrassed at seeing the large donations made by those ahead of her, perhaps wondering whether her offering was really worthwhile?” Yes, in all likelihood, given the attention that the Jews heaped upon the wealthy donators. Again we have the contrast between the Jewish leaders and our Leader, the Christ. We are comparing the widow’s tiny donation with the tiny “donation” in service time that some can contribute. The example is a good one, but if we extend it to fit the context, who would play the part of the Jewish leaders over emphasizing the donation of the wealthy ones so as to make the widow feel unworthy?
In paragraph 11, the writer is kindly trying to show that it isn’t the amount of time we donate, but the quality of that and its measure against our particular circumstances. To be fair to him, he can only work with the cards he’s been dealt. Given this, we can understand the use of a mere hours in the example as still being worthy. But where in the Bible are hours—or any unit of time—used to measure one’s service to God? Jehovah is not a God of punch clocks. Our value to him is measure in intangible ways, ways only he has of measuring. Really, it is high time that we abandon this statistical approach to worship.
Again, perhaps walking that fine line and working with the cards dealt, we have this from paragraph 18:
“…you still share the greatest privilege that any of us can now have—that of preaching the good news and bearing God’s name. Remain faithful. Then, in a sense, the words in one of Jesus’ parables can be said to you: ‘Enter into the joy of your master.’”—Matt. 25:23.” [italics added]
A nod to our teaching that only a select few really enter into the master’s joy in heaven.
All in all, a positive article; one that makes valid points without overtly contradicting our official dogma.
Free Piano
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Thank you, Free Piano, and welcome!
🙂
I am at circuit meeting. WT. Study. Probably less dogmatic study but still the emphasis is on WORKS and ON JEHOVAH to validate us. Nowhere faith in Jesus nor the fact that Jesus is judges is even mentioned. Could that be the reason why some JWs feel disappointed, have a negative view…..
I hear you on that one, “Imacountrygirl”, Hopefully, it won’t be too long. I do know that the WTBTS disfellowships people for reason that are not Biblical, they are going beyond the things written.
“Perhaps it is as you’ve said several times; and what I sincerely want to believe: Jehovah is “cleaning house”
I am curious, as it means a lot to me personally, if Jehovah is cleaning house, how long do you think it will be before disfellowshipped ones are allowed to talk with their beloved families? Even a general idea…like will it be before me or my family passes away?
This is a sincere question because I don’t want to give up on a realistic hope.
This sounds very encouraging, I might start going to meetings again. Perhaps it is as you’ve said several times; and what I sincerely want to believe: Jehovah is “cleaning house”, maybe there are two very distinct factions working at Bethel. This is telling me to be patient and not give up. It has also taught me to trust ONLY God’s precious word of truth, and to follow the teachings of Christ. On another note brothers, my husband is a bit of a research-hound, which is a good thing, but I’ve always cautioned him to be careful, because for every positive… Read more »
Hi Silvertop,
That sounds like an excellent topic of discussion for you to open up on discussthetruth.com
The question starts off with the observation that the Hebrew word hovah means “disaster, Since hovah means “disaster” or “calamity”, the question goes, doesn’t this mean that Yehovah also means “disaster” or “calamity”. I guess this makes sense to those innocent of basic Hebrew grammar but in the Hebrew language this makes no sense. This would be like saying that the word “assume” comes from the English words “ass,” “you,” and “me.” I call this “Hovah-logic,” which is defined as “knowing just enough Hebrew to be a disaster to yourself and others.” Of course, an examination of any historical English… Read more »
This is a appropriate discussion to take up at Discussthetruth.com which I will do.
In the meantime, there is a Wikipedia discussion of the name that has much information pro and con on the use of that form as a latinization of the divine name:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah#Proponents_of_pre-Christian_origin
Thats interesting peter thanks for that i looked at a bit of research on this before and someone claimed the meaning of the name itself has something to do with god being the one who was is and is coming not sure though kev
Thank you for reminding us just how kindly Jesus yoke is on us today, “his followers were always motivated and encouraged, because “his yoke was kindly and his load was light.”
Meleti said . “Our value to him is measure in intangible ways, ways only he has of measuring. Really, it is high time that we abandon this statistical approach to worship.” Very true in contrast to Isaiah 28:10 For it is “command after command ,command after command, Line by line, line by line, A little here, a little there. and it is very true after some meetings b/s have commented that they are not doing enough, its never enough, and are discouraged. when doing research on the WT CD rom, I have noticed that most articles are not new but… Read more »
I desperately hope there is a non governing body worshipping faction still alive inside bethel. I just talked to a friend who’s discouraged about possibly giving up pioneering because of working full time. This is sad that people can’t live their own lives or make their own decisions without guilt. I shared romans chapters 4 and 5 and Ephesians chapter 2 with her. She told me the next day it eased her mind.