[From ws1/17 p. 12 March 6-12]
“Where the spirit of Jehovah is, there is freedom.”—2Co 3:17
The study this week opens with this thought:
WHEN faced with making a personal choice, one woman told a friend: “Do not make me think; just tell me what to do. That is easier.” The woman preferred being told what to do instead of using a precious gift from her Creator, the gift of free will. What about you? Do you like making your own decisions, or do you prefer that others decide for you? How do you view the matter of free will? – par. 1 [boldface added]
Do we even have to comment on the irony of this paragraph? There are few Christian religions on earth at the present time that require greater submission to the will of men than that of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
While it might seem easier to have someone else make decisions for us, doing so would rob us of one of the great blessings of free will. That blessing is revealed at Deuteronomy 30:19, 20. (Read.) Verse 19 describes the choice that God gave to the Israelites. In verse 20 we learn that Jehovah gave them the precious opportunity to show him what was in their hearts. We too can choose to worship Jehovah. We could have no greater motive than to use God’s gift of free will to express our love for him and to bring him honor and glory! – par. 11
Let’s apply this paragraph’s counsel within the framework of the congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Say you feel that putting in 80 hours a month in the field ministry is the best way to serve God. This is your free will at work. However, you do not wish to be a pioneer because you do not want to answer to men and you don’t want to go to pioneer school, or receive the praise of men. Would you be allowed to exercise your free will without any pressure from the elders?
Now let’s say you’re a good publisher, putting in 15 to 20 hours a month, but you decide that reporting your time means that men will become aware of your gift of mercy. Remembering the admonition of our Lord Jesus found at Matthew 6:1-4, you decide to keep your gifts of mercy a secret. Will the elders respect your decision arrived at because of your god given gift of free will, or will they harass you for a report?
May we never fall into the trap of choosing to rely on our own understanding, as did Adam and the rebellious Israelites. Instead, may we “trust in Jehovah with all [our] heart.”—Prov. 3:5. – par. 14
This is excellent counsel. However, it will be misapplied. It will enter the ear of all Jehovah’s Witnesses and be processed by a subroutine in the brain implanted long ago by repeated doctrinal programming through meeting parts and the publications. This subroutine will replace “Jehovah” with “Organization” in the collective JW consciousness.
It is easy to put this to the test. I’ve done it many times. For example, provide a Witness with proof that the Governing Body compromised their neutral standing with Jesus Christ as their husbandly owner by—to use their own reasoning—committing adultery with the wild beast through membership in its image, the United Nations. (For detailed proof, click here.) Invariably, the response will be to ignore the dire implication of this scandal, and instead embark on a kill-the-messenger course of action that starts with the affirmation, “I love Jehovah…”
Jehovah, of course, has nothing to do with this egregious sin, but in saying this, the Witness demonstrates that he equates the Organization with Jehovah. The two are synonymous. Jesus said, “I and the father are one.” (John 10:30) But to Witnesses, a truer phrase is, “The Organization and Jehovah are one.”
One of the limitations on our freedom is that we must respect the right that others have to make their own decisions in life. Why? Since we all have the gift of free will, no two Christians will always make exactly the same decision. This is true even in matters that involve our conduct and worship. Remember the principle found at Galatians 6:5. (Read.) When we recognize that each Christian must “carry his own load,” we will respect the right that others have to use their own gift of free will. – par. 15
This particular ‘limitation on our freedom’ is not one which Witnesses accept readily. This paragraph pays lip service to it, but in practice, the Organization will impose its will on the individual. Ask yourself, is a brother truly able to exercise his free will in the minor decision of whether or not to grow a beard? Is a young person able to exercise his or her free will in their choice of higher education? Both of these decisions, and countless more, are matters of conscience as the next paragraph goes on to say, yet a JW making the ‘wrong’ choice is sure to be pressured and even ostracized.
Therefore, should we not also respect our brother’s right to make personal decisions in matters of lesser importance?—1 Cor. 10:32, 33. – par. 17
What a strange little sentence. What is the implication here? Are we free to disrespect a “brother’s right to make personal decisions” when the matters are not of “lesser importance”? Is the exercise of free will limited to minor matters? If so, then who gets to decide on the major ones? The Organization?
The theme text is, “Where the spirit of Jehovah is, there is freedom.” (2Co 3:17) However, one of the expressions we hear from everyone who has awakened to a greater knowledge of the Christ is that they feel free for the first time. Perhaps if the Witnesses realized that what Paul wrote to the Corinthians refers to the Lord Jesus, they would begin to understand the freedom they are missing.
But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. 15Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. – 2Co 3:14-18
Sadly, the veil continues to lie over the hearts of my JW brethren when they read from God’s word. It is removed only when one turns to the Lord; but even in their translation, they turn away from the Lord and mistakenly attribute these verses to Jehovah.
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Comment by Deo_ac_veritati on 2017-03-11 13:02:57
Looks like another Watchtower Study I won't be attending....
Seriously, the title of the Study alone, in the context of the JW organization, was enough to make me literally feel nauseous. "Free Will?" In this organization? Sure, we have free will, as long as that "free will" leads us to the exact same conclusion as the organization, on every single doctrinal manner, no matter how small, and no matter what scriptures we may read that contradict said conclusion. One thing Paragraph 14 noted:
"Another way to guard our gift of free will is to put our trust in Jehovah and let him guide us within the protective boundaries that he has set for us."
There's nothing wrong with that sentence at all - in fact, I think it's beautifully written, and totally true. However, to properly translate this sentence into what it really means, to the average Witness anyway, it would be written like this:
"Another way to guard our gift of free will is to put our trust in God's organization and let the Governing Body guide us within the protective boundaries that they have set for us."
At least, that's the way a majority of Witnesses will read the paragraph, or understand it to mean (subconsciously in many cases).
Tim Keller, in his book "The Reason for God" stated: "“If you center your life and identity on religion and morality, you will, if you are living up to your moral standards, be proud, self-righteous, and cruel. If you don't live up to your moral standards, your guilt will be utterly devastating."
Does this sound familiar to anybody? Sound like anyone we know? It is the essence of idolatry - centering one's life around anyone or anything else but God (even if those things are good things). I would submit that the bulk of JW members have centered their life around the wrong thing - the "Organization" - and that this behavior is nothing more than idolatry. True, they think that they have submitted to God, but in reality the GB/Organization has become equal to God (though I know most, if not all, will deny that). As such, they unwittingly center their lives on idols.
This all ties in very nicely with the other point Meleti brought out - how they have changed instances of referring to Jesus to referring to Jehovah, even when it was patently obvious that the original writers were referring to the Son. In so doing, the Organization slowly and relentlessly, litle by little, draws their members away from the incredible gift God gave us - the Gift of the Christ.
If you want to be truly free, you don't trust in idols - you trust in the blood of the Lamb - you trust in Jesus. Galations 1:10-12 brings this out so well:
"Is it, in fact, men I am now trying to persuade or God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still pleasing men, I would not be Christ’s slave. 11 For I want you to know, brothers, that the good news I declared to you is not of human origin; 12 for neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it was through a revelation by Jesus Christ."
Slave is an unpopular word in today’s society and not surprising because of the overtones this word has. And yet this concept of being a slave of God or slave of Christ occurs more than 40 times in the New Testament. It should be remembered the word Christian does not occur at all in the new Testament.
It is a paradox but becoming a Christian is being made free to serve the Christ, and in the process, his Father. Here in Galatians the reason Paul no longer sought to please men is because he viewed himself in a new status – he was no longer a pleaser of men but a servant of Christ.
I long for the day when more Witnesses will see this point of view and the Organization for what it truly is.Reply by Dajo on 2017-03-11 16:18:14
Hello Deo,
I get how you are feeling. I went along yesterday and yes the comments were very sterile and in line with the paragraphs.
You might want to change your view of the word Christian after reading Acts 11:26
with love
David.
Comment by yobec on 2017-03-05 20:08:09
" they turn away from the Lord and mistakenly attribute these verses to Jehovah." They have also mistakenly attributed Paul's words at Romans 10;13. I do have difficulty believing that it was not done intentionally in view of the clear context.
Reply by Yehorakam on 2017-03-07 15:28:07
Very good Yobec. Glad to see you saw that one too. There are many. Nice to be on the same page with so many. True knowledge is becoming more abundant!
Comment by Leonardo Josephus on 2017-03-06 05:35:54
JWs are meant to be united (1 Cor 1:10), which, as Meliti has pointed out before means conformity, all wearing the same garb. We are meant to serve "shoulder to shoulder" (Zeph 3:9), but this has become a shoulder to shoulder so tightly packed that the individual Christian has to step out of line in order to move (I realise this might be a slight exaggeration.. but it is how I feel when we read a study article like this).
Free will ? If we ask a sincere question we get a reply (from the Society) which encourages you to "direct your questions to your local congregation elders". If we are obedient and do this, the elders will take an age to even consider your question and then will treat you as if you are one step away from dropping out altogether, and of course they are unable to answer the question anyway, especially if we have really thought about it properly.
But I guess you all know that.
From the Organisation's view free will is only free will over matters that they have not written about or where they have clearly shown we can apply a personal choice. But there is very little free will where we do not agree with their interpretation of scripture and used our conscience and powers of reasoning. That is not the right sort of free will.
Fortunately we have this website where there is a a proper sort of freedom.
But that is what Meliti means about substituting the "Organisation" for Jehovah all over the place in our brothers' minds
Comment by Tadua on 2017-03-06 15:52:37
Dear Meleti
Your comments on paragraph 15 are very true. Sadly this principle of freedom doe not extend to being able to disagree on a matter of interpretation, as opposed to a clear Bible teaching. What about the freedom of others to make the decision to leave the organisation without being subjected to shunning as a 'disassociated one' or even being disfellowshipped, because they may happen to disagree with the organisations current official teachings. Even more so in the sad cases where a witness has been stumbled by the wicked actions of a so-called 'brother' or wishes to escape having to continue being in company with their ex-abuser who has escape censure.
Yes, sadly it seems the organisation chooses to decide what is of 'lesser importance', rather than Jehovah.
Comment by Yehorakam on 2017-03-07 15:24:22
Meleti, how heart warming to see you have also seen that 2 Cor 3 is about our Lord Jesus. They wrongly inserted Jehovah half a dozen times in such a small space. It's almost like their "paste" key got stuck when they were inserting Jehovah. :) I suppose for that reason it has always been one of my favorite mistakes in the NWT. Jesus is the Spirit, his spirit gives us freedom when we turn to him. He is the Spirit even as so mentioned in Rev 22:17.
Reply by mailman on 2017-03-12 01:39:11
I have read 2 Cor. 3 using the RNWT, Kingdom Interlinear with Greek, as well as the KJV. My personal conclusion: the context would point to "Lord" as Jesus Christ and not Jehovah. Thanks Meleti for seeing through the translation again.
Comment by Bobcat on 2017-03-12 11:35:41
Some of my thoughts on this subject (your mileage may vary):
Jehovah does not have "absolute free will." The reason I say this is that, generally speaking, the more intelligent creatures there are, the less "free will" each one has. For example, When a man marries, he agrees to limit his free will so as to accommodate his wife. Similarly, when the couple have children, the couple's free will is further limited so as to accommodate the needs of the children.
In the case of God, as soon as He started creating intelligent persons, He limited His own free will so as to accommodate the needs of His children. God limits His own will so as to provide His children a universe that has laws that they can rely on.
Humans have less free will than angels do. Why do I say that? Because humans are limited to the boundaries imposed on them as physical creatures (eating, sleeping, using the b/r, et al). These things impose on what me might otherwise want to do. On the bright side, Jehovah made those limitations more or less enjoyable (so as to possibly compensate for those limitations?). (This is why I don't think the angels that sinned prior to the flood gave up their spirit nature. They may (or may not) have materialized to fulfill their 'desires,' but that doesn't necessarily mean they gave up the advantages they had as creatures of spirit.)
Imperfect humans have less free will than Adam and Eve had. A look at Romans 7:13-25 will explain why I say that. Sin imposes on us in ways that we wish it wouldn't. And death, the end result of sin, is the ultimate loss of free will.
One might say that our particular language, whatever it is, imposes some limitations on our free will since it is a factor that can limit (or enhance) our thinking processes, and thus, has an effect on our real or imagined limitations.
Which leads me to one of the WT article's missing points: Others can limit our free will by imposing their thinking processes on ours. Thus, as Meleti pointed out, religious leaders (or others, govt, friends, etc) can put us into a mental prison that restricts out use of free will.
I enjoyed the article, Meleti, and my sincerest condolences on your loss, and my admiration that you continue on!
BobcatReply by Meleti Vivlon on 2017-03-30 21:34:11
Thank you, Bobcat. And thank you also for your thoughtful comment.