Become Jehovah's Friend Video Series for Kids

Comment by saskawoo on 2014-09-02 01:23:29

I still dont get the "friend" concept. Doesn't "friend" imply some sort of equal status? I can't be "friends" with Jehovah. We are certainly not peers. How can I live in fear of my "friend"? Parent/child makes much more sense. I will give my opinion: these videos are creepy and probably stifle normal development, vilify a normal child imagination, and will make children afraid to even make even the most mundane decisions. i just realized something... I can't be jehovahs friend, but I COULD be a governing body friend since they are human, like me. Is that what is really being taught here? Yes, this post is rambling, but i cant help it - the friend concept and these videos confuse me. :(

• Reply by InNeedOfGrace on 2014-09-02 14:05:47

  We have to be careful not to start to put our own philosophy in front of scripture.
  There is at least one man who is called God's friend: Abraham. Secondly, the Devine Jesus, who is fully like his father, says to his disciples you are my friends if you do what I ask you to do. We can apply the same pattern to the Father since they are one in thought.

  • Reply by saskawoo on 2014-09-03 00:31:05

    But Jesus used "father", and they are not the same, so I dont understand. Is Jesus Jehovahs friend?

Comment by kev c on 2014-09-02 08:02:08

Ive only seen one of these videos for the kids a while back and at first i honestly thought i was a video done by someone trying to present the organisation in a bad light . It was just so full of black and white reasoning. I was shocked to find it was published by the brothers . Kev

Comment by Samaritan Woman on 2014-09-02 13:21:01

As much as I would like to disagree on some level I think the concept of a " friend" is easier for a really young child to grasp. I think it might be a source of confusion, at least in the beginning, for a kid to understand having two " fathers". I agree that Bethel and Governing Body are mentioned too much and Jesus not nearly enough. That being said, though I am not a parent yet, if used with discerment and properly explained that can be overcome and these are good introductory teaching tools.

Comment by Meleti Vivlon on 2014-09-02 13:41:01

A child can grasp the concept of a grandfather easily enough, so I don't see a problem with training our children to view Jehovah as a father in the sense that he is both the child's and his dad's Father. After all, a friend doesn't tell you how to live your life, but a father does and should. Some of the videos give good messages about manners and duty and honor. Some are insidious. The latest one on Bethel seems little more than a recruitment video.

• Reply by Samaritan Woman on 2014-09-02 14:19:23

  True.. I was attempting to give them the benefit of the doubt. :) I have't seen the Bethel one though.

Comment by on 2014-09-02 17:55:40

.....and beware of SPARLOCK, kids!

Comment by smolderingwick1 on 2014-09-02 19:13:15

Sorry but I have nothing good to say about the videos. In fact, ever since the statement was made, “Look at the Artwork!” (w13 7/15 p. 32) I deliberately avoid it. To me, it's all just fluff and drama meant to distract the unwary from a slyly developed psychology to salvage by fear and threat whatever credibility the governing body thought it once had.
True wisdom runs silent and deep and that's where I see most of us veterans while the present governance maneuvers our children. To me it's like watching the mafioso Godfather offering a deal that cannot be refused for the consequences that lie in wait.
To be friends of Jehovah you must know Him, and you cannot know Him apart from Christ.
"No man can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him, and I will resurrect him on the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by Jehovah.’ Everyone who has listened to the Father and has learned comes to me." (John 6:44, 45)
It's really that simple. We don't need animators. Neither do we need staged pictures and drawings, and we certainly do not need to know why the kettle calling all other pots black is now saying black is white!
sw

• Reply by J.D. on 2014-09-03 04:57:54

  agree 100 %

Comment by kev c on 2014-09-03 04:21:24

Of course we can have a friendship with god and christ ........ but i think the christian message is much more than that its about attaining sonship according to the NT .2 corinthians 6v 18 i will be a father to you and you will be my sons and daughters says the lord almighty .. The watchtower is telling most of the brothers that they cant be gods sons and daughters just friends with god . Yet every day they use the lords prayer as a model when speaking to him . Every day every meeting we address god as OUR FATHER JEHOVAH yet on the other hand they are also saying that he isnt our father at all. And we are not allowed to be his sons . As for sparlock the wizard is he magic for goodness sake its a plastic toy . Or would be . They cant ban everything . Mankind has to make a choice Genesis 3 v 22 kev

• Reply by kev c on 2014-09-03 04:45:54

  Its crazy when they make these rules years ago the C O told me that i couldnt allow my son to have the internet in his bedroom . He was a computer programmer in his early twenties . Its his job . Wheres the common sense gone .we all have to make our own choices in life not have them made for us by some men at the helm of the organisation . Dueteronomy 28

Comment by Katrina on 2014-09-03 09:21:39

And Caleb wants to go to bethel when HE GROWS UP! but wait isn't the end so very very close this is why all the downsizing.

Comment by apollos0fAlexandria on 2014-09-03 09:24:55

Hi Meleti
I have not seen them all. I watched the recently released “Visit to Bethel” video, and found it more than a little disturbing. In my view it's most certainly a form of recruitment video. Especially considering that the kids tend to watch these things ad nauseam (in my case that just took one viewing).
But returning to the primary point you are making, this same thought struck me when I watched the one about Jehovah creating all things. What a fine opportunity to explain the role of the Son in all things being created through him and for him (Col 1:16). What a great way to start showing the Son in his glorious role so that he might become the way to the Father for all the young ones.
But no. A “blink and you'll miss it” mention that Jesus was created first, and then not another word.
They are clearly teaching the little guys and girls to depend on an organization, and showing the true way to the Father would just be a distraction from that.
So sad.
Apollos

• Reply by Meleti Vivlon on 2014-09-03 10:05:05

  You were the one who first brought the "Visit Bethel" video to my attention which in turn piqued my curiosity about the rest. Good point about the tendency for kids to view videos ad nauseum. Providers of children's TV learned long ago how cost effective it is, because a single production can be re-released over and over since young kids will watch it over and over without tiring of it.
  This is obviously a "teaching" method that Jehovah intended.
  As for the almost total omission of Jesus from the creation video, that proves the marginalization of Jesus better than anything so far.

• Reply by anderestimme on 2014-09-04 11:36:43

  There's an element of the usual double-think here. On the one hand, 'this may be our last memorial', and on the other, a recruitment plan looking 15 years into the future.

  • Reply by anderestimme on 2014-09-04 12:03:49

    Just realized Katrina said the same thing, above.

Comment by apollos0fAlexandria on 2014-09-03 09:31:42

On the general conversation on friendship vs sonship, I've said it before but there is only a conflict when one is taught to the exclusion of the other in my view.
A good father is always going to be a friend. There is nothing wrong with teaching friendship with God, just so long as we don't shut another door when doing so.
The point that Meleti makes which I think is valid is when we teach friendship instead of sonship. It is much more difficult to move a person from viewing a long term friend to suddenly also becoming a Father, than it is the other way around. And when minds are young and vulnerable we should teach how the two ideas work together for Christians and not apart from one another as is being promoted.
Apollos

• Reply by Meleti Vivlon on 2014-09-03 10:13:37

  Well put!

• Reply by saskawoo on 2014-09-04 00:41:14

  A very good way of saying it!!

Comment by anderestimme on 2014-09-04 11:31:36

At least three of the four references to the GB are in the video of Anthony Morris discussing the series, and is directed to the parents. Presumably, the kids won't be watching that one over and over.
On the other hand, in this video (as in at least one letter from the GB in the yearbook) Morris says "we love you". This whole, 'we the GB are one entity, and you the brothers are another' attitude really irks me. It seems elitist, condescending and eerily evocative of "Big Brother loves you".

• Reply by Christian on 2014-09-04 13:47:01

  A Papacy of 7 methinks they dost become!