Treasures from God’s Word and Digging for Spiritual Gems – “Imitate Mary’s Humility” (Luke 1)
Luke 1:3
“I resolved also, because I have traced all things from the start with accuracy, to write them in logical order to you, most excellent The·ophʹi·lus,”(NWT)
Luke was an excellent writer. Undoubtedly, his thoroughness contributed to this as he traced all things with accuracy. From where? From the start. As the lyrics of a famous song from a famous musical film say, “Let’s start from the very beginning. A very good place to start.”[i]
In our own efforts to find out the truth from God’s word, this is the best principle to follow. When making research on any Bible topic or teaching, do not start with a premise or take any shortcuts, however tempting that may be. Most readers were or are Witnesses and in being such we built up a structure of scriptural knowledge. The problem is that, unknown to us at the time, some of the most important bricks had serious hidden flaws that are becoming evident to us. Nevertheless, many bricks are perfectly fine or need only a little refurbishment or repair. Still, we need to test each and every brick. That is a long process. We also need to get the foundations right this time round. Of most importance, we need God’s Holy Spirit to help us. To do this we need to “start at the very beginning”.
So, for example, while we may wonder whether the resurrection of the chosen ones started around or after 1914 or is yet to start, we first need an unbiased look at the Bible's teaching on the resurrection alone. Then other more detailed questions we may have are often answered in the process. If we attempt to rebuild from halfway we could unwittingly leave flawed bricks in our building which will affect us later as other Bible teachings will not fit into the new framework we construct for ourselves. We also need to “carry our own load” and not blindly accept the views of others. Instead, we need to be like the Beroeans who carefully checked everything Paul taught them. (Galatians 6:5, Acts 17:11)
Luke 1:46-55 (ia 150-151 para 15-16)
“Clearly, Mary thought deeply about God’s Word. Still, she remained humble, preferring to let the Scriptures do the talking rather than speaking of her own originality.”
“What I teach is not mine, but belongs to him that sent me.” (John 7:16) We do well to ask ourselves: ‘Do I show such respect and reverence for God’s Word? Or do I prefer my own ideas and teachings?’ Mary’s position is clear.”
Sadly the words “Healer, Heal thyself” comes to mind. If only the Organization showed such respect and reverence for God’s Word instead of their own understanding. While some may think it is God’s word surely a thinking person who truly loves God would not intentionally teach such a convoluted, strange and illogical teaching as that of the ‘overlapping generations’. It defies the context of the very verses they claim support their teaching. A generation has always been a group born in the same period of years or alive during a particular event. People either have to be alive during the event or born within 10-15 years either side of a particular person who is being talked about so they are contemporaneous, living at pretty much the identical time.
Demonstrations for presentations in the field ministry almost always feature pointing people to JW.Org, not the Bible. As has been said before, can we really expect that the two most powerful and intelligent beings in the universe, Jehovah and Jesus Christ were so unable to ensure a clear message was written to all mankind, such that we need interpreters in the form of the Governing Body?
Organizational Accomplishments June 2018 - Video
“So providing for places for worship is very important” says the speaker in his 3rd sentence.
Is the speaker familiar with John 4:21,24 or James 1:26,27? Jesus said “true worshipers will worship the Father with spirit and truth”, not in a temple or a Kingdom Hall. Rather he said, “The hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem [in the Temple] will you people worship the Father”.
The speaker then goes on to say “Jehovah’s refinements to the arrangements for providing Kingdom Halls have allowed him to express his love for dear brothers and sisters.” So when did Jehovah give inspiration to members of the Governing Body? Did Jehovah send an angel with a scroll containing new instructions for the revised arrangements for providing Kingdom Halls? Quite exactly how did this happen? This is not explained and in fact the mechanism is never explained.
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[i] Do-Re-Mi from the ‘Sound of Music’
Archived Comments
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Comment by Bernardbooks on 2018-06-11 14:04:13
Thanks Tadua, very nice point about starting from the beginning as Luke did.
One “faulty” brick that I’ve been thinking about lately is the way the org defines the expression “passed away” in Matthew 24:34. I feel like they make what Jesus said synonymous with the way many in society today would say ‘someone has passed away or died’.
But I can’t find any scripture that shows the expression “pass away” or “perish” being used to describe people dying of disease, accident or just natural causes.
James 1:9-11
But let the lowly brother rejoice over his exaltation, and the rich one over his humiliation, because like a flower of the field he will pass away. For just as the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the plant, and its flower falls off and its outward beauty perishes, so too the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
Revelation 21:1
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea is no more.
It seems to me that the words used by Jesus, and the other Bible writers often translated “passed away” or “perish” didn’t carry the same meaning that the English expression carries today.
I also found it ironic that the expression used today may have originally come from the idea and belief of passing on to some other type of existence after death, something Jehovah’s Witnesses obviously don’t believe, but the way they interpret Jesus words are more closely linked with the expression most often used today than the way it is often used in the scriptures.
Comment by Leonardo Josephus on 2018-06-11 17:28:11
Very bold on WT’s part this week, to actually highlight Luke 1:76 and attempt to justify the use of Jehovah’s name.
The scriptures cited quite easily allow an application in which John goes ahead to prepare a way before the Lord Jesus Christ, who of course is Jehovah’s representative. Nevertheless WT has gone to great lengths to justify their position, giving so much information it looks like they are trying to blind your average Witness with extra words.
The links look good, but it is not rocket science to work out who John was to prepare a road for. All very simple, if the they had not tampered with the translation.Reply by Robert-6512 on 2018-06-14 16:39:13
Evidently the "two in one" idea is called Binitarianism. For WT to support that concept would be crazy, and they would never do it, but the problem is that corrupting the bible text and claiming Lord = Jehovah everywhere is just as crazy and wrong-headed.
WT wants us to think they are smarter than every other bible translator that kept this as "Lord" - seeing that "Lord" is what the Greek text contains - but their rationale lacks justification. It is ironic, too. When other Bible scholars do something WT agrees with, they gleefully cite that to show how scholarly WT itself is. But when they make a choice like deleting Lord without justification, they will say that the other scholars are "worldly" or "unduly influenced by their sectarian biases from their ("false") religious backgrounds". So, 'other' scholars are "good" when they agree with WT, and "bad" when they disagree. Either way, WT paints itself as all-knowing and wise, one that never makes mistakes. Most people would call that being a "know it all". Whatever you call it, it's intellectually dishonest.
The fundamental problem with WT is that they are promoting a lie in doing this. It takes only the merest reading of the first chapter of John to see that John the Baptist went forth ahead of Jesus, bore witness about him, etc.
There is no way to reconcile the account in John with a claim that Luke 1:76 refers to Jehovah. It's a case of "never the twain shall meet".
When the reading of Luke 1:76 is kept as "Lord" to signify Jesus, then everything makes sense.
Rule of thumb: When somebody tells you something that sounds crazy, doesn't make any sense and can't be reconciled to other things you know to be true, that someone is lying to you.
Comment by mark on 2018-06-12 15:08:32
Keep up the great work Tadua.
I had an interesting experience last year with regards to Elders and the org not directing people to the Bible but to JW.org or other publications.
I told an elder that I listened to the audio version of the Bible while driving back and forth to work and that I got so much info as I got to hear the story as it should be heard. I can't remember his reply but he wasn't that impressed with me.
Fast forward 2 months, that same elder had a part at the KH and low and behold he said and I quote "that we should not be listening to the audio version of the bible because we can't meditate on what is being said. He said we should be reading the bible and then pull up the ORG books to get the understanding of what the bible is saying."
I thought to my self "Is this guy kidding me?"
So to sum it up, I can't understand the Bible by reading it or in case listening to it, but I need their literature to interpret it.
I first found out that the ORG and Elders were lying to us after listening to the Bible.
I figured out that they were cherry picking scriptures to prove their point which didn't make sense to me any more..Reply by Search-truth on 2018-06-13 20:02:12
You didn't follow the directions of the elder & ffds? Lol lol Obviously this elder had a personal agenda and didn't like your modern way of thinking..I take it he's old school..Some old school elders or publishers in my hall don't even use a tablet or smart phone it's all paper I
guess in their minds the Bible should be traditional..I'm surprised you didn't say something to the Cobe because the org is encouraging all to go electronic.. The solution to this dilemma is to stop attending meetings.
Good luck
Search
Comment by mark on 2018-06-12 15:12:47
Very good point brain