[From ws 15/01 p. 8 for March 2-8]
“Give thanks to Jehovah for he is good.”-Ps. 106:1
This article is telling us how and why to show appreciation to Jehovah, and how he blesses us for doing so.
“How Many Things Have You Done, O Jehovah”
Under this subtitle, we are made mindful of some of the things that Jehovah and his son Jesus have done for us which give us cause to be appreciative. Paragraph 6 requires us to read 1 Timothy 1:12-14 which explains why Paul was so thankful for the mercy that was shown to him by the Lord Jesus. Before we move on we should consider the principle governing appreciation that Jesus outlined to one of the Pharisees:
“A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed him five hundred silver coins, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.” Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44 Then, turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss of greeting, but from the time I entered she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfumed oil. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which were many, are forgiven, thus she loved much; but the one who is forgiven little loves little.” (Lu 7:41-47 NET Bible)
The appreciation that this fallen woman showed was motivated by an intense love. Forgiveness means reconciliation. Jehovah does not simply forgive and stand off from us like some humans will who say, “I can forgive but I cannot forget.” Human forgiveness is often conditional. This is many times a matter of self-protection because we humans cannot read the heart condition of the apparently repentant one. Not so God, so his forgiveness, when given, is unconditional.[i]
He does not call our sins to mind but wipes them clean. With moving imagery he compares our sins to the color of deep scarlet which he promises to bleach to the whiteness of snow if we only return to him. (Is 1:18)
In the Christian system of things, God’s forgiveness means total reconciliation with him. Adam had lost his place in the family of God. It seemed that there was no hope for us to ever again be reconciled with our Father, to regain what our forefather had thoughtlessly thrown away. Yet, total reconciliation was made possible by the ransom Jesus paid.
The fallen woman that washed Jesus feet with her tears and anointed them with perfumed oil demonstrated deep love and appreciation. Imagine how she must have felt to hear and believe Jesus’ words that one shunned and despised, as she was, could now hope to be called a child of God. What heartfelt appreciation such undeserved kindness engendered in her.
“But those who did welcome him, those who believed in his name, he authorized to become God’s children,” (Joh 1:12 CEB)
Meditation and Prayer – Keys to Maintaining Thankfulness
And so now we come to the article’s great shortcoming. While striving to help us show greater appreciation for all that God has done for us, it strips from us the most important reason to feel appreciative.
“Surrounded by an unthankful world, we too could begin to lose sight of all that Jehovah has done for us. We could begin to take our friendship with him for granted.” – Par. 8
“Our friendship with him”? Not once are Christians called God’s friends. That is because we are given something far greater than friendship. We are given the inheritance accorded sons!
Jesus said that he who is forgiven little, loves little. The fallen women loved much for she experienced the full extent of God’s underserved kindness in forgiving much. Thus her appreciation was so manifest that her story lives to this day. Shall we compare ourselves with her, we who are told by the Governing Body that we are other sheep?
Reconciliation Deferred
That woman, assuming she remained faithful to death, will be granted the gift of everlasting life in perfection as one of the children of God. Even while alive on earth in her sinful state, she was reconciled with God; even in the fallen flesh, she was called one of God’s children. (Ro 5:10,11; Col 1:21-23; Ro 8:21)
This is the true extent of God’s love, that he calls us to be his children.
“See what sort of love the Father has given us, so that we should be called children of God; and such we are.” (1Jo 3:1)
This sort of love is not for the other sheep according to JW theology. No, there is no reconciliation for them in this life. Their sins are not forgiven so that Jehovah can grant them everlasting life upon their resurrection, even if they die faithful, having passed all the same tests their anointed counterparts have faced. Should they not die prior to Armageddon, they will see their faithful anointed brothers raptured away to their reward, while they are merely granted survivor status but continue as sinners who must gradually be moved toward sinlessness (or perfection as JWs understand it) at the end of the thousand years.
From w85 12/15 p. 30 Do You Remember?
Those chosen by God for heavenly life must, even now, be declared righteous; perfect human life is imputed to them. (Romans 8:1) This is not necessary now for those who may live forever on earth. But such ones can now be declared righteous as friends of God, as was faithful Abraham. (James 2:21-23; Romans 4:1-4) After such ones achieve actual human perfection at the end of the Millennium and then pass the final test, they will be in position to be declared righteous for everlasting human life.—12/1, pages 10, 11, 17, 18.
w99 11/1 p. 7 Prepare for the Millennium That Matters!
Unhindered in their spiritual progress by Satan and his demons, these Armageddon survivors will gradually be helped to overcome their sinful tendencies until finally they reach perfection!
w86 1/1 p. 15 par. 20 Days Like “the Days of Noah”
All who accept the privilege of becoming Jesus’ “other sheep” will be restored to perfection, and on surviving the final test after Christ hands over the Kingdom to his Father, these will be declared righteous for life eternal.
In this, the other sheep do not differ from those who did not know God and who return in the resurrection of the unrighteous.
re chap. 40 p. 290 par. 15 Crushing the Serpent’s Head
However, they [faithful pre-Christian servants] and all others [the unrighteous] who are resurrected, as well as the great crowd of faithful other sheep who survive Armageddon and any children that may be born to these in the new world, must yet be raised to human perfection.
So a faithful Christian who works side by side with one of the anointed and passes all the trials and tribulations that the latter faces and who remains faithful until death will be resurrected with exactly the same status as Genghis Khan and Korah. The only difference is that the Christian will have ‘a good head start’ to hopefully attain to perfection and be granted everlasting life at the end of the thousand years.
Now a thousand years of friendship with God with the hope of reaching the adoption as sons and the inheritance of everlasting life isn’t anything to be sniffed at, but it isn’t what Jesus was offering.
What the Governing Body teaches denies us the full scope—the height and breadth and depth of God’s undeserved kindness. Under JW theology, we are not forgiven as God forgives. This forgiveness is conditional. All the tests we go through in this system of things count for little, as we will still have to prove ourselves for another thousand years along with the resurrected unrighteous before we can even hope to achieve the blessed state that was offered to that fallen woman in Jesus’ day. Our situation is more akin to that of another woman, a Greek of Syrophoenician nationality. She wanted a miracle to be performed so that her daughter could be freed of demonic influence. Jesus held off at first because his commission was to preach only to the children of Israel. However, her faith won him over. She said, “Yes, sir, and yet even the little dogs underneath the table eat of the crumbs of the little children.” (Mr 7:28)
We do not know if this woman became one of the children of God when the opportunity to receive the Holy Spirit was extended to the Gentiles. That door was opened when Peter used the third key of the Kingdom given him by Jesus and baptized Cornelius. Jehovah’s Witnesses tried to close that door in 1935, though in reality no one can close a door that God has opened. (Re 3:8)
In effect, Judge Rutherford was converting us back to the status of that Syrophoenician woman. The other sheep became the little dogs eating the crumbs of the little children. This illustration of Jesus had a temporary fulfillment, because he knew—though he could not reveal it at that time—that this woman would soon have the same opportunity afforded then only to the children of Israel. The Governing Body is attempting to make the illustration applicable again in our day.
I appreciated what God had done for me when I believed my only hope was to survive Armageddon and live another 1,000 years in my sinful state. However, once I learned the true hope, my love and appreciation grew exponentially, for the ‘one forgiven much, loves much.’
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[i] By “unconditional forgiveness”, I do not mean to imply that our status before God is assured. If we repent, and he forgives us, there are no conditions. If we sin again, we will again have to repent and he will have to forgive the new offenses for our sins to be blotted out. However, when Jehovah forgives us for what we’ve done in the past, there are no conditions attached. He does not revoke his forgiveness if we commit the same sin again. Any past sins are not kept on the books. His forgiveness wipes them clean.
Archived Comments
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Comment by kev on 2015-03-02 14:16:47
I didnt have a major problem with what the article said after all its right to give thanks to god . Perhaps its more with what it doesnt say . It seems to me that the religion does not encourage much of a relationship with jesus his son . Why shouldnt we thank jesus for what he did for us as well . It seems we are not even encouraged to talk to jesus unless we are using him like some sort of media device . I think the bibles message is different ..it shows we have a sharing with jesus 1 john 1 v3 we should have faith in jesus .john 14 v 1 and verse 12 that we should love him v 15 ,21,23. Kev c theres alot more on this i have to say as well .
Comment by on 2015-03-02 15:54:08
Great post, Meleti. Very often, when I read these WT articles, I somehow always feel like I'm shopping in a spiritual second-hand store.
Comment by anderestimme on 2015-03-03 00:21:41
Your footnote brings up an interesting question: In parable of the slave who is forgiven and enormous sum and then has his fellow slave thrown in jail for not paying back a small sum, doesn't the king retract his forgiveness?
Reply by Meleti Vivlon on 2015-03-03 07:25:29
An excellent point, Andere. In the parable, the slave is forgiven a debt of ten thousand talents. The debt represents what we owe God for sinning.
I remember researching this once. 10,000 talents = 60,000,000 denarii. Since the average worker was paid a denarius for a day's work, it would take him 165,000 years to pay back a debt of that size, assuming that he took no money for food, clothing and shelter. Jesus was therefore using this sum to represent an unpayable debt. What we owe God to buy back the life we've lost for sinning is a debt we can never pay.
My point was that past sins, once forgiven stay forgiven, but when we sin again, we re-incur the debt and again must seek forgiveness. Jehovah then doesn't dredge up the past sins. Each sin doesn't add to the debt. The amount is fixed and unredeemable. But it can be forgiven, and oncr forgiven we don't have to continue beating ourselves up with guilt for past sins. The present sins are more than enough to condemn us and re-incur the debt.
The rest of the parable is interesting when one looks at the financial aspect. Jesus specified the exact amount of the second slave's debt: 100 denarii, over three month's wages. Not an insubstantial sum, but still, payable given enough time; likely years for the average agricultural worker in those days.
If someone has committed a grave sin against us and we don't forgive him when he repents, then we are sinning, and the debt we owe to our Father comes back on our shoulders. So we must pray daily for God to "forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." (Mt 6:12) The past perfect tense of the second phrase shows that his forgiveness is conditional to our already having imitated his forgiving attitude by forgiving the sins others have committed against us—even serious sins that equate to a hundred days of wages.
However, once he forgives us, the debt is never re-incurred because of past sins. But future sins will bring the bailiff knocking.Reply by on 2015-03-03 08:45:51
Yes he that practices judgement without mercy will get his judgement without mercy .
Comment by yobec on 2015-03-03 22:10:51
Thanks for mentioning Jesus' words" He that is forgiven little loves little". It is my very favorite scripture that is incidentally hardly ever mentioned in the publications or in talks and yet, carries a most powerful message.
I remember a few years ago, a brother was complaining about the hardships he was suffering and thought that it was unfair because he had never done anything seriously wrong and therefore did not deserve his lot. Unlike brother so and so and sister so and so, he felt that they deserved what was happening to them because they were guilty of some serious sin committed some 20 years earlier.
Comment by anonymous on 2015-03-04 09:09:49
I would love to hear what anyone has to say on the "Bible Students" beliefs. I am not "one" of them, but also will not go to a KH meeting ever again. However, their belief in the ransom for all, that Armageddon is a war only between governments and Christ and not a slaughter of the non-JWs, personal Christian freedom, etc. intrigues me. Any JWs/exJWs on here have any experience with them?
I must say, this website is a LOT better than jwtalk. Whew! Those peeps are straight crazy...especially the moderators. I think that is where all the uber conservative JWs go to talk.
Great site here.
Thanks
Comment by menrov on 2015-03-04 15:38:28
Thanks Meleti, I read the article. Like I believe Kev mentioned, it is not s much what is said but more what is not being said or mentioned. Although what is being said is also a bit strange in certain instances:
Par. 2: Like the ancient Israelites, we could become ungrateful and lose appreciation for our precious relationship with Jehovah and for the blessings that we have received from him.—Ps. 106:7, 11-13.
What is our so-called precious relationship? I believe we can only be FRIENDS. Jesus died for HIs friends. So, if we are friend of the Father, are we also friends of Jesus and if so, can I conclude Jesus did die for me too?
Par. 3: At such times, we could easily become overwhelmed and lose sight of our blessings. (Ps. 116:3)
Bit strange verse to mention this verse as it has nothing to do with losing sight of our blessings..Also, why presume the negative? Are JW's losing sight of their blessings so easily?
Par 4 and 5 do not mention what these blessings are. David is mentioned but he was appointed king. Paul is mentioned but he was directly approached by Jesus. Peculiar that par 5 mentions God and Christ whereas the verse mentioned there only talks about Jesus.
Par 6 mentions a few things that one can be happy with, and in certain cases grateful. Again the "special relationship with the Father" is mentioned. But when I read this, I was thinking: what if one of your family members was DF'd or DA'd or one of your friends in the congregation? Can we still be grateful for them?
Par 7 is assuming one does not give thanks normally. I doubt that but ok. Anyway, it is good to give thanks but all items mentioned are relatively non-spiritual nor does it contain blessings for others. Not any mention of gratitude for having a real loving King, a loving head of the congregation.
Par 8: the essence: We could begin to take our friendship with him for granted. We might lose appreciation for the privilege that we have to be part of our worldwide brotherhood.
FRIENDSHIP with the Father and MEMBER of the organisation.
Adam and Eve, IMO, did not sin out of greed but to satisfy the desire to be more like God their Father. We all like to be more like Him. But in longing for that, we must respect His boundaries and commands. Eve was seduced and dismissed these boundaries. Nowhere can we read they were greedy. Eve was weak towards Satan and Adam towards Eve.
Par 9 is scary as the blessings mentioned in the article and the doctrines regarding the future of a "non-anointed JW" will most likely not offset the sadness and grief of the disasters mentioned.
There is a program in my country in which believing people, Christian belief, are shown and how they coped when confronted with personal tragedy. None of them mentioned the things in this article. They all say that they experience Christ (God) in their lives, that He is with them and that His support helped them to become better people and even more capable to help others. They see their blessings that they have been given the strength to cope, to help others and to have confidence in their future.
I also noticed that very often they have close friends, who do not share the same belief but are there to support each other.
These people are not pioneers or working at branch offices (see par 10-12). Just ordinary people.
Par. 13: James said that God is pleased to see if we help the widows and orphans. What has the organisation done to help this orphan?
It seems she has to help herself
Par. 14: the "promise" is that JW's will be delivered. No, not to be with the KIng.But that delivery is still far away as only after armageddon and after the 1000 years, actual deliverance will happen. According to the official doctrine, that is.
I can imagine some might become depressed. Unfortunately.
Par 15 We look forward to receiving countless spiritual blessings from Jehovah during 2015
Does this sound modest, show humility, show love for our neighbours? What about all those who suffer from hunger, life threatening illnesses, sexual abuse, wars, orphans, widows etc, what is there for them?
And as mentioned above, where is our saviour in all this, the head of the congregation, the head of the body, the King, the one who said I will be with you until the end?
Comment by bruh2012 on 2015-03-08 09:38:56
The only person YHWH called friend was Abraham and he reached out to Abraham! Jesus never instructed people to be GODS friends only friends to him. The word friend is mentioned in NWT 22 times. 1 time the word friendship. 28 times the word friends. Jesus said we address GOD as father! None of the apostles taught to be friends with GOD. Sure there may be a verse or two in Psalms that says if one does what GOD says he looks as them as friends, I think that is a point of view more than than the true respectful manner by which we should view and think on our heavenly father.