[From ws9/16 p. 3 November 21-27]
The point of this study is to help parents to build their children's faith. To that end, paragraph two provides four things to assist parents in this task:
(1) Get to know them well.
(2) Put your heart into your teaching.
(3) Use good illustrations.
(4) Be patient and prayerful.
Think carefully on these four techniques. Would these not serve a person of any religion, even a pagan one, to build faith in their teachings? Indeed, for centuries, parents and teachers have used these techniques to build up faith in false gods; faith in men; faith in religious myths.
Any Christian parent wants to build faith in God and His Christ. However, to do that, the faith has to be based on something. It needs a firm foundation. Otherwise, like a house built on sand, it will be washed away at the first passing storm. (Mt 7:24-27)
We can all agree that for the Christian, there can be no other foundation than God's Word, the Bible. This might seem to be the view of the writer of this article.
A 15-year-old brother in Australia wrote: “Dad often talks with me about my faith and helps me to reason. He asks: ‘What does the Bible say?’ ‘Do you believe what it says?’ ‘Why do you believe it?’ He wants me to answer in my own words and not simply repeat his or Mum’s words. As I got older, I had to expand on my answers.” – par. 3
My parents studied the Bible with me. They taught me about Jehovah and Jesus and the hope of the resurrection. I learned how to prove there is no Trinity, no immortal soul, and no Hell, all using only the Scriptures. My confidence in them and in the source of their learning—the Organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses—was high. Given that I could disprove these and other false doctrines taught in Christendom’s churches, I came to believe that what I heard week after week at the Kingdom hall must be true: We were the only religion that had the truth.
As a consequence, when I also learned that Jesus was enthroned in heaven in 1914, and that I had an earthly hope as part of the other sheep of John 10:16, I accepted the basis for what I thought were Scriptural teachings. For instance, belief in the 1914 invisible presence of Christ requires one to accept the interpretation of men that the gentile times began in 607 B.C.E. (Luke 21:24) Yet, I later came to learn that there is no Scriptural basis for that conclusion. Moreover, there is no secular basis to accept that the Jews were exiled to Babylon in 607 B.C.E.
My problem was misplaced trust. I didn't dig deep in those days. I put faith in the teachings of men. I believed my salvation was assured. (Ps 146:3)
So using the Bible, as paragraph 3 says, is not enough. One must use only the Bible. Therefore, if you are to really build your children's faith in God and Christ, disregard the instruction given in paragraph 6.
So parents, be good students of the Bible and of our study aids. – par. 6
I thought I was a good Bible Student, but as it turned out, I was a better Bible Aids Student. I was a student of the publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Just as a Catholic is trained to be a student of the Catechism and a Mormon is trained to be a student of the Book of Mormon, Jehovah's Witnesses are trained on a weekly basis to be good students of all the publications and videos of the Organization.
This is not to say that we cannot use Bible aids to help us understand things, but we should never—never!—use them to interpret the Bible. The Bible should always interpret itself.
As an example of this, take John 10:16.
“And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; those too I must bring in, and they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock, one shepherd.” (Joh 10:16)
Ask your child who “the other sheep” are and what “this fold” represents. If he or she answers that “this fold” represents anointed Christians with a heavenly hope, and that the other sheep are non-anointed Christians with an earthly hope, ask him (or her) to prove it using only the Bible. If your children are a good students of the publications, they will be able to find ample proof for both statements in the magazines and books published by the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society. However, these will turn out to be categorical statements made by men who provide no Scriptural backing for their interpretation.
On the other hand, if your children are a good students of the Bible, they hit a wall trying to find proof.
This may surprise you to read, if you are a first-time visitor to this site. You may disagree. If so, I urge you to please be a champion of truth as Gerrit Losch instructed you to do in this month’s broadcast. (See Point 1 – Witnesses are required to defend the truth.) Use the commenting feature of this article so share your findings. There are thousands of visitors to the Beroean Pickets sites every month and a third are first-timers. If you believe what we say is false, think of the thousands you will save from trickery and artfully contrived stories by providing Bible proof for the JW "other sheep" doctrine.
It is not fair to ask someone to defend their belief is one is not willing to do the same. Therefore, by way of example, here is how we feel the Bible should be studied.
First, read the context.
John 10:1 opens with “Most truly I say to you…” Who is the “you”? Let us allow the Bible to speak. The previous two verses (remember, the Bible was not written with chapter and verse divisions) say:
Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and they said to him: “We are not blind also, are we?” 41 Jesus said to them: “If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say, ‘We see.’ Your sin remains.” – John 9:40-41
So the “you” he is speaking to when he speaks of other sheep are the Pharisees and the Jews accompanying them. This is further evidenced by what John 10:19 says:
“19 A division again resulted among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them were saying: “He has a demon and is out of his mind. Why do you listen to him?” 21 Others said: “These are not the sayings of a demonized man. A demon cannot open blind people’s eyes, can it?”” (Joh 10:19-21)
So when he refers to “this fold” (or “this flock”) he is referring to sheep already present. He makes no clarification, so what are his Jewish listeners going to assume? What would his disciples understand “this fold” to refer to?
Again, let us allow the Bible to speak. How did Jesus use the term “sheep” in his ministry?
“. . .And Jesus set out on a tour of all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the good news of the kingdom and curing every sort of disease and every sort of infirmity. 36 On seeing the crowds he felt pity for them, because they were skinned and thrown about like sheep without a shepherd.” (Mt 9:35, 36)
“. . .Then Jesus said to them: “All of YOU will be stumbled in connection with me on this night, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered about.’” (Mt 26:31)
“These 12 Jesus sent out, giving them these instructions: “Do not go off into the road of the nations, and do not enter any Sa·marʹi·tan city; 6 but instead, go continually to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Mt 10:5, 6)
The Bible shows that sometimes the sheep referred to his disciples, such as in Matthew 26:31, and sometimes they referred to the Jews in general. The only consistent usage was that they always referred to the Jews, whether believers or not. He never used the term without a modifier to refer to any other group. This fact is clear from the context of Matthew 15:24 where Jesus is speaking to a Phoenician women (non-Jew) when he says:
“I was not sent to anyone except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”” (Mt 15:24)
So when Jesus modifies the term by saying “other sheep” at John 10:16, one could conclude he was referring to a group of non-Jews. However, it is best to find corroboration in Scripture before accepting a conclusion based solely on deductive reasoning. We find such corroboration in the letter Paul sent to the Romans.
“For I am not ashamed of the good news; it is, in fact, God’s power for salvation to everyone having faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Ro 1:16)
“There will be tribulation and distress on every person who works what is harmful, on the Jew first and also on the Greek; 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who works what is good, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” (Ro 2:9, 10)
Jew first, then the Greek.[i] “This fold” first, then “other sheep” join in.
“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. There is the same Lord over all, who is rich toward all those calling on him.” (Ro 10:12)
““And I have other sheep [Greeks or gentiles], which are not of this fold [Jews]; those too I must bring in [3 1/2 years later], and they will listen to my voice [become Christians], and they will become one flock [all are Christian], one shepherd [under Jesus].” (Joh 10:16)
True, we do not have a Scripture that provides a single declarative statement linking the “other sheep” with the entry of gentiles into the congregation of God, but what we do have is a series of Scriptures that leave no reasonable option for another conclusion. Admittedly, we could say that “this fold” refers to the “little flock” referred to at Luke 12:32 and that the “other sheep” refers to a group that would not come on the scene for 2,000 years, but based on what? Speculation? Types and antitypes?[ii] Certainly nothing in the Bible supports such a conclusion.
In Summary
By all means, follow the teaching techniques explained in this week’s Watchtower study, but do so in a way that builds faith in God and Christ. Use the Bible. Be a good student of the Bible. Use the publications where appropriate and do not be afraid of using non-JW sources for Bible research. However, never use the written words of any man (including yours truly) as the basis for any Bible interpretation. Let the Bible interpret itself. Remember Joseph’s words: “Do not interpretations belong to God?” (Ge 40:8)
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[i] Greek is used by the apostle as a catch-all term for people of the nations, or non-Jews.
[ii] The fact is, the JW doctrine of the other sheep is based wholly on an series of antitypical interpretations made in 1934 in The Watchtower, which have since been disavowed by the Governing Body. (See “Going Beyond What Is Written”.)
Archived Comments
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Comment by Search-truth on 2016-11-20 21:48:58
Thanks Meleti for another great write up.. I appreciate all the time and research you
put forth into this site week after week. I don't know what I would do with out it.
Keep up the fantastic work.
SearchReply by Meleti Vivlon on 2016-11-21 07:19:15
Thanks, Search. I appreciate reading this.
Comment by lazarus on 2016-11-20 23:48:22
Thanks Meleti, I appreciate your experience and the reasoning on John 10. ??
Comment by MarthaMartha on 2016-11-21 04:24:05
Well, I just endured the CA day and am exhausted mentally, emotionally and physically. I woke up in the night feeling very down and poorly. Made a cup of tea and switched on my iPad for distraction. And like an airdrop of survival supplies, there was my email pointing me to this article. Thanks.
I don't know if you have the program Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! In USA. 'Celebrities' are dropped into the Oz jungle and made to live in uncomfortable conditions with a group of people they would not normally associate with, while living on basic rations of rice and beans, supplemented by proper food they manage to win by performing tasks on behalf of their team mates. At first a sense of camaraderie is generated by the new surroundings and the shared excitement. However the program makers cleverly manipulate the group to expose their individual strengths and foibles. As well as that, the general lack of food causes stress and occasional personality clashes. Of course, rewards are dangled constantly in front of the contestants. If you can do this.... If you can do that... You'll get this wonderful treat/privelege/delicious meal.
Does it sound strangely familiar? ?
It struck me while sitting in the assembly, that I had put in a moderate amount of effort ( nothing like the effort it used to be when we had young children and all their accoutrements but still... I'm old now!), to be taken out of my comfort zone and sit with a crowd of people that although nice enough, cause me stress as a life long introvert. The promise was that for this effort and discomfort I would be rewarded with a great spiritual feast. Instead I found myself eating the same rice and beans I have at weekly meetings. It might keep me alive but my word it's boring, bland and a real let down. I wished I'd stayed home and done some real cooking, so to speak.
After trundling home dejected it was a lovely treat to get this article to savour. I know it must be a lot of effort Meleti and all of you that contribute here but I want to add my thanks and appreciation. This non celebrity really enjoys your airdrops of tasty seasoning and meat to supplement my enforced rations.
Sorry for the long ramble here.... It's therapy for me after yesterday ??
Comment by Justin Michesloff on 2016-11-26 09:09:34
I also grew up being taught "if you can't prove it from the Bible then it's not true". My oh my was my father surprised when this simple and basic rule was used to refute some of the "foundation" organizational teachings. Truth be told, this made him more uncomfortable than I had ever seen him before, especially as he was at that time ascending into the higher levels of "service". Since then, he finally had to acknowledge that the reason that he continues on with this course, in the face of actual Bible truth, is that he feels that he needs the "box". He has, as encouraged by the organization, never attempted to achieve anything other than mediocrity in life outside the organization which has left him without any self esteem without his box and titles. Truly sad.....
Just imagine what may have been if he were to have stuck to his own advice all those years ago. The really sad part is that it took me decades to figure this out myself, and now as a grandfather, I can clearly see the damage I inflicted on my own children by raising them the same way that I was raised.
Thank you for championing real Bible truth on this forum. Please know that your efforts are very valuable and encouraging to ones like me, disillusioned and lost.Reply by Meleti Vivlon on 2016-11-26 10:43:28
So very sad, Justin. We have a good friend who takes very much the same position as your father. She feels that without the "box" she would be lost. "For there are many invited, but few chosen." (Mt 22:14)
Comment by Leonardo Josephus on 2016-11-26 16:57:43
Justin, good to hear your comments. You are not alone in how you feel. For the sake of family members whom we have raised in "The Truth", we are still in, trying our best to serve Jehovah and Jesus in our own way. It is possible (I hope) to come to terms with this position. You just have to know that you are fighting for real truth, while brothers and sisters are just unaware, at this stage, of what real truth is. And yet there is no doubt that we should all be applying 1 John 4 vs 1 (and many similar verses) "Test every inspired statement.. to see whether they originate with God". I also to look back at how Jesus taught his early followers truths, but he did not, at that early stage, tell them not to go to the synagogue. So it may be we have to be very patient.
A good friend, who cannot see any of the incorrect teachings, like so many, simply pointed me to the awe inspiring job of preaching the Good News, that I should have more complete trust in the F & DS. Trust comes from being taught the truth, from candour, from answers to questions about how we arrive at our conclusions, to facing real truths that some (you might say many) of our more unique teachings have foundations of sand. An we know what will happen to them.
Watch out for the February 2017 Watchtower article - "Who is leading God's people today". That could be fun, Meliti.Reply by Meleti Vivlon on 2016-11-27 10:58:58
Yes, that is going to be a special one, for sure.
Comment by Smoldering Wick on 2016-11-27 02:16:12
Dear Martha Martha and Meleti, how good it was to read your humble posts. I for one ran the gauntlet from family and friends 'into the truth' only to discover that the truth was a two edged sword when raising my own family. I would have made it had 1975 brought Armageddon as promised by most at the time, but not my yet to be born family, as would so many more had the end arrived as far back as first century Christianity.
How clearly do I recall a brother standing next to me during one such assembly saying about those x-JWs carrying around their protest placards, "A pity their religion is is built soley on protesting ours," until I reminded him ours wasn't much different.
Looking back almost 50 years I swore never to raise my own children to be in such judgment of others and now nothing has changed. How could it? We are nothing but an organization in judgment of others while blessing ourselves more worthy. We are Pharisees of a covenant without covenant with God while beating the flock we disowned of Christ.
In fact we are worse than those raised in ignorance by persisting in making all whom we teach believe they are loved by God more for being collectively gathered in the name of Jehovah yet not the character of God and Christ. Will it be any different for us as it was when he said in Luke 22:31 "Simon, Simon, look! Satan has demanded to have you men to sift you as wheat?"
Comment by Leonardo Josephus on 2016-11-27 04:16:25
Dear SW1. That really is very observant and summarises things frighteningly well. I needed to say more than just vote up your comments. Good food for thought. Well worth something very constructive in addition. Excellent
Comment by Dajo on 2016-11-27 06:11:30
Thanks for all of these views. been travelling around and so refreshing to read this article.Very quickly, one post here said this: (I copied pasted it.) typing on a small device..
"We are nothing but an organization in judgment of others while blessing ourselves more worthy."
The person who said that comment, to me, hit the nail on the head.
Thank you Meleti for your KINDNESS in helping us to share these precious thoughts, ideas and feelings.
Comment by Christismyleadernotjw.org on 2016-11-27 09:19:38
JW mind frame "I study the bible weekly" really means, "I prepare for the meetings on a weekly".
Ive always wondered why the MTS school or pioneer school or any of the other classes by the "slave class" was always exhausting. You had a couple of hours each night to study 3 or 4 chapters with much more watchtower references than bible scriptures. Was this intentional So you really dont study the Bible as it is especially the New Testament?
Thank you Meleti for showing us a true valid way to study the Scriptures with your example of John 10. This allows the Word of our Father interpret itself. i will never forget how you put it before, do we need some other group of men, tell us what our father is saying to us?
Comment by Leonardo Josephus on 2016-11-27 13:41:40
Hi SW1 (again) . I have done a rare thing. I have actually printed off your comment, because there are two outstanding quotes. One has already been mentioned "We are nothing but an organisation in judgement of others while blessing ourselves more worthy" but also there is that we "persist in making all whom we teach believe they are loved by God more for being collectively gathered together in the name of Jehovah yet not the character of God and Christ". I do not know how long it took you to find those words but,my oh my, are they thought provoking.
Comment by Smoldering Wick on 2016-11-27 21:26:59
Hello again Leonardo and yes it takes a long time to put my thoughts to words .... kind of like the last paragraph of the study was too short for the many comments the conductor had no time left to hear. How sad. So I always try to make a comment that's small enough to stick in the mind for later meditation if nothing else, knowing that the spirit might make it grow into something useful.
Which is why I find it frustrating that so many flounder over Paul's inspired words of 1 Corinthians 3:6. "I planted, Apollos watered, but God kept making it grow." Never mind that Paul spent so much of his life as a Pharisee and the better part of three chapters defining the spiritual man over the physical man (see the end of chapter 2). This is of course what no physical organization can teach because they are physically bound to unite the physical while neglecting the "little children" of the spirit, Jesus so adamantly taught us to imitate. Which is why he appeared to men like Paul to reverse his physically Pharisaic attitude to begin his contrary journey as a spiritual man.
So we have this colossal blunder right here in front of us, insisting Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 1:10, "through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you should all speak in agreement and that there should be no divisions among you, but that you may be completely united in the same mind and in the same line of thought." We are indoctrinated to construe these words organizationally while Paul was saying the opposite. Don't worry. I made the same mistake. I raised my children as little Pharisees by directing them with physical fear while imagining myself it to be spiritual.
It's all kind of silly when you think of it-maybe more sad when you think they replaced holy spirit in the second question for baptism with an organizational directorate stamp, depriving all the spirit of conscience. Yes we have uniformity but without unity in Christ. That part is significantly sad since as parents we have actually become stumbling blocks to our own children by planting and watering seeds of conflict into their hearts. What did Jesus say about that? Matthew 18:6