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WT Study: Jehovah Our Provider and Protector

[Watchtower study for the week of April 21, 2014 – w14 2/15 p. 16] Yet another beautiful Psalm is called upon to furnish us with the theme for this week’s Watchtower study article. The entire 91st Psalm sings Jehovah’s praise as the grand protector and provider for...

WT Study: Rejoice Over the Marriage of the Lamb

[Watchtower study for the week of April 14, 2014 – w14 2/15 p.8] This week’s Watchtower study continues the discussion on the 45th Psalm, focusing on the marriage of the King. We used to have a penchant for attributing some prophetic significance to every element in...

WT Study: Hail Christ, the Glorious King

[Watchtower study for the week of April 7, 2014 – w14 2/15 p.3] This week’s Watchtower study covers the 45th Psalm. It is a beautiful prophetic allegory of our Lord Jesus becoming King. I hope you haven’t studied the Watchtower yet. Ideally, you should read the entire...

WT Study: “Let Your Kingdom Come” But When?

[Watchtower study for the week of March 31, 2014 – w14 1/15 p.27] The title of this week’s study highlights one of the key problems affecting Jehovah’s Witnesses as a religion from the days of Russell when we were known simply as Bible students. It is our obsession...

WT Study: Serving Jehovah Before the Days of Distress Come

[Watchtower study for the week of March 24, 2014 – w14 1/15 p.22] This is a good Watchtower study which encourages all to reach out in any way they can and to use the gift God has given each one to help others. — 1 Peter 4:10 It speaks of those older ones who have...

Do Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in Jesus?

The May 1, 2014 public edition of the Watchtower asks this question as the title of its third article. A secondary question in the table of contents asks, “If they do, why don’t they call themselves Jesus’ witnesses?”  The second question is never really answered in...

WT Study: Making Wise Choices During Youth

[Watchtower study for the week of March 17, 2014 – w14 1/15 p.17] Par. 1 – “WE LIVE in momentous times.  As never before in history, millions from all nations are turning to true worship.”  This paints our work as of historic importance; as something which has never...

WT Study: 100 Years of Kingdom Rule – How Does It Affect You?

[Watchtower study for the week of March 10, 2014 – w14 1/15 p.12] Par. 2 – “Jehovah has already become King in our day!...And yet, Jehovah’s becoming King is not the same as the coming of God’s Kingdom for which Jesus taught us to pray.” Before going further, a little...

WT Study: Worship Jehovah, the King of Eternity

[Watchtower Summary for w14 01/15 p. 7] Par. 8 - "God...commissioned Noah to be "a preacher of righteousness."  There is no evidence that Noah was commissioned by God for this role.  All we can state with any assurance was that Noah preached righteousness.  We make...

WT Study: ‘Do This in Remembrance of Me’

The final Watchtower Study Edition of 2013 includes articles leading up to the commemoration of the Lord's Evening Meal.  Included is this sidebar on setting the date: w13 12/15 p. 23 ‘Do This in Remembrance of Me’ MEMORIAL 2014 The moon circles our earth each month....

WT Study: ‘This Is to Be a Memorial for You’

[This week’s review of the Watchtower study (w13 12/15 p.17) has been provided by one of the forum members following a good deal of research.] It would appear that some feel the calculation the Organization has been using for decades to establish the date each year in...

WT Study: Will You Make Sacrifices for the Kingdom?

[This is a review of highlights from this week’s Watchtower study (w13 12/15 p.11).  Please feel free to share your own insights using the Comments feature of the Beroean Pickets Forum.]   Rather than a paragraph-by-paragraph analysis of the article as we have...

Avoid Being “Quickly Shaken From Your Reason”! (w13 12/15)

[This is a review of highlights from this week’s Watchtower study. Please feel free to share your own insights using the Comments feature of the Beroean Pickets Forum.]   As I read this week’s study article, I couldn’t shake a growing sense of irony.  Perhaps you will...

Shepherds, Imitate the Greatest Shepherds (w13 11/15)

[This is a review of highlights from this week’s Watchtower study. Please feel free to share your own insights using the comments feature.] Par. 4-10 – Oh, that the counsel expressed here were the norm in our congregations.  I particularly liked this from par. 9 –...

Obey Jehovah’s Shepherds (w13 11/15 p. 21)

Par. 7 – “In giving direction to fellow believers, elders provide encouragement and counsel based either on the Scriptures themselves or on Scriptural principles.”  What is the difference between counsel based on the “Scriptures themselves” and “Scriptural...

How Can We Maintain “A Waiting Attitude”? (w13 11/15 p. 10)

Thirty years ago this week, an 81-year-old manicurist named Clara Peller became famous for uttering what was to become one of the top ten advertising catchphrases of the 20th Century: “Where’s the beef?” The phrase was used everywhere after that, even working its way...

“Be Vigilant With a View to Prayers" (w13 11/15)

First of all, it is refreshing to have a Watchtower study article where I have nothing with which to find fault. (Please feel free to share your comments on the subject of this week’s study.) As my contribution, something came to mind that ties in with my last post on...

Midweek Meeting Comments – Dec. 30, 2013

Congregation Book Study This is our final study in JW 101.  Our next book will provide a little more substance thankfully.  We conclude with a review of what is rapidly becoming our brand name, jw.org. The brochure leaves the reader with the firm conviction that the...

Act in Harmony With Jesus’ Loving Prayer (w13 10-15 p. 26)

[This is the second installment in our provision of a placeholder post for forum members to comment on the current Watchtower Study.] ______________________________________ Par. 2 – Question: Can anyone out there prove that there were only 11 disciples present when...

Lessons from a Well-Prepared Prayer (w13 10/15)

Last week we made no comment on the Watchtower Study which left some forum members no option but to use the Contact Us area to leave their comments.  My apologies.  I am going to try to do a brief post on all future WT studies so that commenters will have a...

Growing Dismay – Feb. 15, 2014 WT

“Do you think you know more than the Governing Body?” Try raising an objection to something taught in the magazines using scriptures to support your position and you will inevitably be met with this counterpunch.  Those who would use this argument against you truly...

Rutherford Takes the Lead…

Did anyone notice today the line in paragraph 14 of the study (w13 9/15 p. 14) that said, "Hence, in 1922, J. F. Rutherford, who took the lead in the preaching work..." One of our objectives with this site to unmask falsehood and present truth.  This may not seem like...

State of Fear

With presumptuousness the prophet spoke it. You must not get frightened at him. (Deut. 18:22) It is a time honored truth that one of the best ways for a human ruler to control a population is to keep them in fear.  In totalitarian regimes, people are afraid of the...

This Week's Bible Reading

From this week's Bible reading, we have these insightful words from Paul. (1 Timothy 1:3-7) . . .Just as I encouraged you to stay in Eph′e·sus when I was about to go my way into Mac·e·do′ni·a, so I do now, that you might command certain ones not to teach different...

When Evidence Isn't…

Some have commented that we need to be more positive in this forum.  We quite agree.  We would like nothing better than to speak only of positive and upbuilding truth from God’s word.  However, to build upon ground where a structure already exists, one must first tear...

Never Become "Enraged Against Jehovah"

If you would like to see a practical example of an "informal false analogy fallacy", please refer to this week's Watchtower study. (w13 8/15 p. 13 par. 15) "When the Israelites questioned Aaron's appointment and position, Jehovah viewed that action as murmuring...

The Annual Meeting and the NWT Edition 2013

Well, the annual meeting is behind us. Many of the brothers and sisters are very excited with the new Bible. It is a beautiful piece of printing, no doubt. We have not had much time to review it, but what we have seen so far seems positive for the most part. It is a...

Declared Righteous as God's Friends

This week in the Bible Study we were told who the anointed are, and who the Great Crowd is, and that the other sheep are God's friends.  I say "told", because to say "taught" would imply that we were given some proof, a scriptural foundation upon which to build our...

Feeding Many Through the Hands of a Few

[First appearing on April 28 of this year, I've republished (with updates) this post because this is the week we actually study this particular Watchtower article. - MV] It appears that the sole purpose of this, the third study article in the July 15, 2013 The...

“Look! I Am With You All the Days”

[Originally published on April 22 of this year, this is a re-posting (with some additions) of a review of the second study article in the July 15 issue of The Watchtower which explains our new understanding of Jesus’ parable of the wheat and weeds.] Before continuing,...

Tell Us, When Will These Things Be?

[This post was originally published on April 12, 2013, but given that this weekend we will be studying this first article of a series comprising one of our most controversial issues in some time, it seems appropriate to re-release it now. - Meleti Vivlon] The...

Seven Shepherds, Eight Dukes—What They Mean for Us Today

The November Study Edition of The Watchtower just came out.  One of our alert readers drew our attention to page 20, paragraph 17 which reads in part, “When “the Assyrian” attacks…the life-saving direction that we receive from Jehovah’s organization may not appear...

Day Text – August 8, 2013

I hate playing the grinch, but sometimes I just can't help myself. Today's Daily Text is a prime example of the ridiculous places a false doctrine can take us.  It says, "If we want to 'prove ourselves sons of our Father who is in the heavens,' we must be different." ...

Fighting Depression

A number of our readers have commented that they have been fighting depression. This is quite understandable.  We are continually faced of the conflict that results from holding to opposing positions.  On the one hand we want to serve Jehovah God together with fellow...

Ambassadors or Envoys

This week’s The Watchtower study opens with thought that it is a great honor to be sent by God as an ambassador or envoy to help people establish peaceful relations with Him.  (w14 5/15 p. 8 par. 1,2) It’s been over ten years since we’ve had an article explaining how...

Organization vs. Congregation

Make Sure of the More Important Things (w13 4/15 p. 22) Do Not Tire Out (w13 4/15 p. 27) These two articles seem to be published with the goal of encouraging continued support and obedience to those leading us today.  Consider this statement from paragraph 11: “How do...

Do You Have "a Heart to Know" Jehovah?

(Proverbs 26:5) . . .Answer someone stupid according to his foolishness, that he may not become someone wise in his own eyes. Isn’t this a great Scripture?  It provides such an effective technique in reasoning with someone who is perpetrating a silly notion. Take the...

For Those Loving Jehovah, "There Is No Stumbling Block"

One of the reasons we believe that the Bible is the Word of God is the candor of its writers.  They do not try to hide their faults, but freely confess them.  David is a prime example of this, as he sinned greatly and shamefully, but he did not hide his sin from God,...

Look! I Am With You All the Days – Addendum

This is a follow up to the post Look! I Am With You All the Days. In that post we made reference to the fact that memorial attendance declined dramatically from 1925 to 1928--something on the astonishing order of 80%.  This was due to the failure of Judge Rutherford's...

“Look! I Am With You All the Days”

This post is a review of the second study article in the July 15 issue of The Watchtower which explains our new understanding of Jesus’ parable of the wheat and weeds. Before continuing, please open the article to page 10 and take a good look at the illustration at...

Stay in Jehovah’s Valley of Protection – Recap

We’re taking a break from our four-part review of the July 15, 2013 issue of The Watchtower to recap the study article for this week.  We already dealt with this article in depth in a November post. However, one of the key points of this new understanding is so...

Fun with Numbers

I have a pet peeve.  Don't we all, you say!  Sure, but I have a website, so there!  My pet peeve—actually, I have a number of them, but you're only getting one tonight—has to do with the penchant we have for extreme (and meaningless) precision in numbers reporting. ...

A Disturbing Trend

A number of you have been writing in of late to discuss what you perceive as a disturbing trend.  It appears to some that there is undue attention being focussed on the Governing Body. We are a free people.  We avoid creature worship and disdain men who seek...

Redefining Terms

This was contributed by one of the forum members by email, and I just had to share it with everyone. "In the preface of his Bible, Webster wrote: “Whenever words are understood in a sense different from that which they had when introduced, and different from that of...

Isaiah's Foreigners

[This post is by way of an essay, and I would very much appreciate getting feedback from regular readers of this forum to help in better understanding what Isaiah is referring to.] In last week’s Watchtower study (w12 12/15 p. 24) titled “Temporary Residents United in...

Misappropriating Scripture

It astonishes me how easily we can take an idea we have and misappropriate the citing of scriptures to support it.  For instance, in this week’s Watchtower in paragraph 18 we have this statement [notice the bible citations]. “With God’s help, we can be like courageous...

"You Are a Trusted Steward"

This past week’s Watchtower study went to great lengths to show from Scripture that we, men and women both, are steward for the Lord. Par. 3 “…the Scriptures show that all who serve God have a stewardship.” Par. 6 “…the apostle Paul wrote that Christian overseers were...

Circuit Assembly Part – Oneness of Mind – Addendum

This week's bible reading caused me to think of a recent post.  From the outline for this circuit assembly part on maintaining "oneness of mind", we had this line of reasoning: “Meditate on the fact that all the truths that we have learned and that have united God’s...

Infallible Elders?

This week's Watchtower study from the November 15, 2012 issue is "Forgive One Another Freely".  The final sentence in paragraph 16 reads:  “Hence, what [the judicial committee] decide in such matters after seeking Jehovah’s help in prayer will reflect his point of...

Our Spiritual Mother

I don’t know how I missed this at our 2012 district convention, but a friend in Latin America—where they are now having their district conventions for the year—brought it to my attention.  The first part of the Saturday morning sessions showed us how to use the new...

Circuit Assembly Part – Oneness of Mind

The circuit assembly for this service year includes a four-part symposium. The third part is entitled “Keep This Mental Attitude—Oneness of Mind”.  It explains what oneness of mind is in the Christian Congregation.  Under that second heading, “How Christ Displayed...

Stay in Jehovah’s Valley of Protection

The February 15, 2013 Watchtower  has just been released.  The third study article introduces a new understanding of Zechariah’s prophecy found in chapter 14 of his book.  Before you read the Watchtower article, read Zechariah chapter 14 in its entirety.  After you’re...

How Speculation Becomes Fact – Part 2

There is an interesting story-like account of the life of Abel in the January 1, 2013 Watchtower.  Many fine points are made.  However, marring the article is yet another example of a growing tendency to turn conjecture into fact.  Consider please the following...

Admitting Our Mistakes, Kinda…

In the January 1, 2013 Watchtower, on page 8, there is a box entitled "Have Jehovah's Witnesses Given Incorrect Dates for the End?"  In excusing our wrong predictions we state: "We agree with the sentiment of longtime Witness A. H. Macmillan, who said: "I learned that...

Are We Nearing a Tipping Point?

There has been an interesting series of events recently which, taken separately, might not mean much, but which collectively are pointing to a disturbing trend. Last service year’s circuit assembly program contained a part with a demonstration in which an elder helped...

Jehovah’s Day and the Cry of Peace and Security

1 Thessalonians 5:2, 3 tells us that there will be a cry of peace and security as a final sign before the arrival of Jehovah’s day. So what is Jehovah’s day?  According to this past week’s Watchtower study “As used here, “Jehovah’s day” refers to the period that will...

Gender Bias Among God's People

I’ve been reading the September 1, 2012 Watchtower under “Does God Care About Women?”  It’s an excellent article.  The article explains the many protections that women enjoyed under the mosaic law. It also shows how corruption to that understanding entered in as early...

How Speculation Becomes Fact

I recently got an e-mail from one of the forum members about a problem we've all observed.  Here is an extract from it: --------------------- Here's an observation of what I believe is an endemic syndrome in the organization. It is not limited by any means just to us,...

Carry On As Kingdom Citizens

Granted, this is a very minor point, but in the interests of accuracy, in next week’s Watchtower (w12 8/15) the following statement is made on page 14, par. 10: “Web sites that promote pornography pose an obvious threat to the spiritual health of Kingdom citizens. ...

Who are the Children of God?

I wasn’t going to write about this, but sometimes it is just too hard to let something go. It concerns this sentence from yesterday’s Watchtower study: (w12 7/15 p. 28 par. 7) Although Jehovah has declared his anointed ones righteous as sons and the other sheep...

From the October, 1907 Watch Tower

One of our forum contributors stumbled across this.  I thought it was an interesting insight into our position on the holding of contrary opinions on matters of a speculative or interpretive nature.  It would be wonderful if we continued to hold this position, but I...

Anecdotal Evidence – An Oxymoron

Admittedly, this is a pet peeve of mine. For decades the Watchtower has used anecdotes to prove a point. We do it a lot less than we used to, but we still do it. I remember many years ago an anecdote in which a householder rejected the kingdom message because the...

Bible Candor and Us

In paragraph 13 of today's Watchtower study,  we are told that one of the proofs of the Bible's inspiration is its unusual candor. (w12 6/15 p. 28)  This brings to mind the incident involving the apostle Paul when he publicly rebuked of the apostle Peter. (Gal. 2:11)...

Why Put Jehovah's Service First?

Twice I started to write a post about this week's Watchtower study (w12 6/15 p. 20 “Why Put Jehovah's Service First?") and twice I decided to trash what I wrote.  The problem with writing a commentator piece on an article like this is that it is difficult to do...

Drawing the Line

Something happened to me recently that, from discussions with various ones, is happening a lot more than I would have thought.  It started some time ago and has been progressing slowly—a growing disenchantment with baseless speculation being passed off as Bible...

Jehovah Reveals What “Must Shortly Take Place”

Starting in paragraph 6 of this week’s Watchtower study article we can see examples of the blurriness that has crept into our teaching of late. (w12 06/15 p. 14-18) For example, “The Anglo-American World Power waged war with those holy ones. (Rev. 13:3, 7)” If you...

Unity vs. Truth

A little while ago at the elders school there was a part on unity.  Unity is very big right now.  The instructor asked what would be the effect on a congregation where one elder with a strong personality dominated the body.  The expected answer was that it would...

Nixing Arranged Marriages

We've always given tacit approval to the idea of arranged marriages where these are culturally acceptable today. We weren't so much saying that they are a good thing nor a bad thing.  It was more a hands-off approach.  After all, there were arranged marriages in the...

Avoid Testing Jehovah in Your Heart

Something extremely troubling happened yesterday in the Friday sessions of this year’s district convention. Now, I have been going to district conventions for over 60 years. Most of my better, life-altering decisions—pioneering, serving where the need is greater—have...

Seventy Years of Holding On to the Skirt of a Jew

My wife has a Bible study with a young woman who used to associate with the congregation about 15 years ago when she was a teenager. She made an offhand remark regarding what appeared to her to be a lot more emphasis on obedience to the faithful slave than she...

Loyalty—To Whom?

I’m jumping the gun a bit and commenting on next week’s Watchtower.  The article in question is “Betrayal An Ominous Sign of the Times!”.  Within the context of an article on betrayal and disloyalty, we have this oddly disturbing passage: 10 The other good example we...

What Our Salvation Depends On?

There is a statement in this week’s study article that I cannot recall having ever seen before: “The other sheep should never forget that their salvation depends on their active support of Christ’s anointed “brothers” still on earth.”  (w12 3/15 p. 20, par. 2)...

w12 3/15 p.19, par. 20 – Foolish Christians

This paragraph describes a family that owned "three homes, land, luxury cars, a boat, and a motor home".  The brother's concern is described thus: "Feeling that we must have looked like foolish Christians, we decided to make the full-time ministry our goal."  While...

W12 3/15 p. 12, par. 9 – Does perfection imply superior discernment?

The article stated: “Being perfect, he [Jesus] could discern the unspoken indignation of a Pharisee, the sincere repentance of a sinful woman, and the self-sacrificing attitude of a widow….  However, a servant of God does not have to be perfect to be a good observer.”...

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