“Above all the things that you guard, safeguard your heart.”—Proverbs 4:23
[From ws 01/19 p.14 Study Article 3: March 18-24]
After highlighting how a good physical diet helps us keep healthy, paragraph 5 states: “Likewise, to keep ourselves in good spiritual condition, we must choose a healthy diet of spiritual food and regularly exercise our faith in Jehovah. That form of exercise involves applying what we learn and speaking about our faith. (Rom. 10:8-10; Jas. 2:26)”
Clearly, Romans 10:8-10 is cited to promote the preaching work according to the teachings of the Organization. However, while perhaps they intend James 2:26 as a backup to their requirement to preach, preach, preach, the context of James 2:26 shows that this is a misapplication. The verse says “Indeed, as the body without spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” So, what kind of works are we talking about? The context helps us. James 2:25 discusses how Rahab was declared righteous by works. What were they? “She had received the messengers hospitably and sent them out by another way”. Note, it was hospitality and assistance to the Israelite spies to escape with their lives.
What about Romans 10:8-10? Does it really support preaching as taught by the Organization? First, let us consider the backdrop to the Apostle Paul writing to the Romans in circa 56 AD from Corinth. Insight on the Scriptures Volume 2, p862 correctly states, “It is obvious that his purpose was to settle the differences in viewpoint between Jewish and Gentile Christians and to bring them toward complete unity as one man in Christ Jesus.”
Secondly, Paul in Romans is quoting from Deuteronomy 30:11-14 where it reads, “For this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far away. It is not in the heavens, so as to result in saying, ‘Who will ascend for us into the heavens and get it for us, that he may let us hear it that we may do it?’ Neither is it on the other side of the sea, so as to result in saying, ‘Who will pass over for us to the other side of the sea and get it for us, that he may let us hear it that we may do it?’ 14 For the word is very near you, in your own mouth and in your own heart, that you may do it.”
These points will help us to understand if the NWT has translated the passage in Romans correctly.
Romans 10:6-8 says “But the righteousness resulting from faith speaks in this manner: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ that is, to bring Christ down; or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.” But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your own mouth and in your own heart”; that is, the “word” of faith, which we are preaching.”
The Greek word translated as preaching by the NWT means “to herald or proclaim” as a message that is authoritative, rather than “preaching” which is “announcing”. Therefore, the message being conveyed here in Romans is, do not worry about things that will not happen, and are not important, but rather about what we know for certain. Rather be concerned about the message you have right there in your mouth, on your lips and are proclaiming when you speak to people. A similar expression today would be “the words were on his lips, or on the tip of his tongue” meaning at the forefront of his mind, ready to speak out loud. This conveys a similar thought to Moses’ words in Deuteronomy where he had instructed the Israelites to practice what they were already familiar with.
In Romans 10:9 the Kingdom Interlinear reads “That if ever you should confess the saying in the mouth of you that Lord Jesus (is), and you should believe in the heart of you that the God him raised up out of dead (ones), you will be saved;” Have you spotted the difference. Yes, the Greek Interlinear says “confess”. The word “homologeses”- to confess, carries the meaning of “to speak the same, to voice the same conclusion”. Today, we have homologous (similar structure) and homogenise (make uniform or similar).
We noted earlier the whole purpose of the Apostle Paul writing the book of Romans was to unite the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians in thought and purpose. Therefore “to confess”, rather than “publicly declare” is a translation far more in keeping with the context.
In verse 10, the Kingdom Interlinear reads: “to heart for it is being believed into righteousness, to mouth but it is being confessed into salvation;” This verse is repeating the same thought as verse 9 when it says the heart has the belief which gives righteousness and the mouth speaks in agreement with others of the truth about Christ in accordance with the message of good news they had received.
Paragraph 8 mentions a point in passing, talking about household rules based on Bible standards, it says: “Tell your young children what they can and cannot watch and help them to understand the reasons for your decisions. (Matt. 5:37) As your children get older, train them to discern for themselves what is right and what is wrong according to Jehovah’s standards”.
In the author’s experience most Witness parents do “tell the children what they can and cannot watch”, but the majority fail with the rest of the suggestion i.e. “help them to understand the reasons for your decisions” and “train them to discern for themselves what is right and what is wrong”. The only reasons given seem to be, “because I said so” or, “because Jehovah says so”, neither of which will convince any child of the wisdom in following the rules. Reaching the heart, while admittedly difficult, which is the best long-term solution for both parents and children usually seems to be rarely attempted. As for parents setting the example to follow, as children will learn “even more from what you do” this also is rarely found, following the world’s trend of “do what I say, ignore what I do”.
Paragraph 15 gives really good advice, a few highlights are as follows: “get the most from our Bible reading”, ”Prayer is vital”, “We need to meditate on what we read”. This is spoilt by the indoctrination plug in paragraph 16 which claims: “Another way we allow God’s thinking to influence us is by watching the material available on JW Broadcasting”, along with a gushing statement of appreciation from a Witness couple. The only thinking that appears to be portrayed on the vast majority of JW Broadcasting is that of the Governing Body, not Jehovah. Such as, “we will not ask or beg for money” and then go on to remind and request donations for unspecific projects that are not verifiable as to the need or even whether the money is used for that purpose. Jehovah does not need money, furthermore as Acts 17:24 states “Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in handmade temples” or assembly Halls, or kingdom halls, or bethels. Neither is there any scriptural direction to provide such meeting places.
However, the concluding paragraph (18) is worthy of mention.
“Will we make mistakes? Yes, we are imperfect.” Hezekiah made mistakes “but he repented and kept on serving Jehovah ‘with a complete heart’.” “Let us pray that we develop ‘an obedient heart’” to Jehovah and Jesus Christ, rather than men such as the Governing Body. “We can remain faithful to Jehovah, “and Jesus Christ, “if, above all else we safeguard our heart.” (Psalm 139:23-24).
Archived Comments
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Comment by Bernardbooks on 2019-03-18 22:16:12
Thank you Tadua for your time and sharing your research in all of your articles and reviews.
The first sentence in paragraph 9 stood out to me and made me think of my experience of waking up.
“Satan also tries to infect our heart by getting us to trust human wisdom rather than Jehovah’s thinking.”
Once recovering from the infection of fully trusting in the self proclaimed “faithful and discreet slave or governing body” I looked around and felt like I had gotten up from a bed in a hospital ward with all of my family and friends still in beds around me.
It was difficult because my first reaction was to help those close to me but in the end I couldn’t get them up until they had allowed the medicine of truth from God to aid them to fight the infection with the help from the power beyond what is normal.
I’m constantly praying for all those still infected with this same type of plague and also that I don’t fall under the sickness again because it’s definitely not a case of being immune once recovered.Reply by kyaecker on 2019-03-24 12:15:56
Absolutely a true statement. We’re never immune to their clever words and mis direction. Great point to remember.
Comment by Truth-Seeker on 2019-03-19 10:41:45
Paragraph 9 was the usual drive for poverty. Watchtower seems to demonize working a job that gets you comfortably to the end of the month and forcing austerity for the purpose of contributing to the Society what little one has at the end of the month. Money isn't everything, but materially is the most versatile tool we can possess and is well known to not grow on trees.
Comment by leaving_quietly on 2019-03-19 19:20:25
I haven't read the whole thing, yet, but noted the first paragraph where it quotes paragraph 5: "...regularly exercise our faith in Jehovah."
While that's not wrong, WHERE IS CHRIST?
"For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life." John 3:16
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Exercise faith in God; exercise faith also in me." John 14:1
Sadly, the study article only mentions Jesus once, and it's, in typical fashion, all about imitating his teaching method.Reply by mailman on 2019-03-22 22:03:19
Thanks for sharing. Marking John 14:1 for future reference. :)
Reply by kyaecker on 2019-03-24 12:07:34
And there’s this gem, John 14:6 “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”” John 14:6-7 NIV
Comment by Psalmbee on 2019-03-19 22:49:44
In paragraph 15 WT uses the word "meditate"! I can remember when they deemed it demonic and satanic to meditate.
Stay awake my friends!
Psalmbee (Jude 1:4)
Comment by Sharon on 2019-03-20 11:55:46
The Watchtower has always bothered me when they quote the scriptures Roman 10:8-10. They don't read further in the same chapter: Roman 10:17, 18: "So faith follows the thing heard. In turn, what is heard is through the word about Christ. But I ask, They did not fail to hear, did they? Why, in fact, "into all the earth their sound went out, and to the ends of the inhabited earth their message." We have the Bible so we are not ignorant of it's message. The leading character here is Jesus Christ. He is the one we are to look to for salvation. Our Father, has sent Jesus to bring us back to be in grace with Him. Jesus can be seen by mankind but not Our Father, Jehovah, ( if that is how his name is to be pronounced). No man can see Jehovah and live. Exodus 33:20; John 1:18; 1 Timothy 6:16; 1 John 4:12
Comment by quibusdam on 2019-03-20 23:18:06
The WT's twisting of scriptures to substantiate the field-service doctrine brings back memories. About 30 years ago I wrote letters to Bethel complaining about misapplication of scriptures. Some of the verses I complained about were similar to the ones you use. I predict that if you yourself write a letter to Bethel explaining what is wrong with their use of scriptures, it won't do any good. They will be doing the same thing 30 years from now. I really wonder what goes on in the minds of the people that write those articles.
Comment by jamesbrown on 2019-03-21 01:11:37
Hi all
I had a talk to one of the elders after the meeting about certain explanations that GB is coming up with in line with book study.
I remember GB said apostle Peter had only 2 keys of the kingdom.
At Pentecost and the other when Cornelius got baptised " Gentiles".
So my question to him was how come we have now 3 keys? So jokingly I said is it because years ago we could not afford making the extra key, but now we are financial we can afford to make an extra key?
He said it was interesting that I picked up the same thought that he did, he took me aside and asked what have I picked up from my bible reading in general.
Robert-6512 made a point about Prov 4:18 But the path of the
righteous is like the bright morning light That grows brighter and brighter until full daylight.
So I raised the question according to 1John 1:5 This is the message that we heard from him and are announcing to you: God is light, and there is no darkness at all in him.
If God is light and their is no variation of light in him, how come GB who claims as being directed by Jehovah has a variation of light?
So I said either you are directed by God or not, just as Jesus was.
He came up with a statement, who do you think writes the articles in WT and also shapes the thinking of the 8 members of GB?
Eric once said its the CO's, elders and mature brothers that write the articles, and I remembered that, so I replied accordingly, he agreed and, and I thought let me go for the finale punch.
Then why does the ORG preach from the platform the 2nd best teaching tool aside from the bible is WT? He surprised me by saying he disagrees with the statement, the WT could never come close with the bible.
Eric mentioned, we are all given the same map and the tools to read the map, so I used this example to reason with him, and asked does it seem logical to you that ONLY 8 members in this whole world should be given a different tool to read the bible? of course not was his answer.
He said he never agrees with all the teaching of the GB, he only goes through the motions.
As we where leaving he said he truly enjoyed our conversation and he is looking forward for some more spiritual enlightenment as I made him think from the bibles point of view.
Fellow picketers, you never know how much your comments mean to fellow "JW's" who want to wake up spiritually and are starving for bible teaching.
Love to allReply by samisaac on 2019-03-21 04:18:16
Thanks JamesBrown for sharing your experience. I’m having similar experiences, and it seems to me that, if you’re careful and discuss such things with people in Jw congs who don’t worship the GB, it can be very interesting. I have even heard friends say ”of course they (the gb) aren’t chosen by god, they just happened to work at bethel for a long time and got the job. They’re no demigods.”
Reply by Psalmbee on 2019-03-21 10:40:05
Keep up the good work JB! Take notice of this site's logo.
"Walking the path to Christian freedom"
True Christianity is knowing that Christ's door is always open and our path is free to walk.
Psalmbee, (Gal 4:26)
Reply by mailman on 2019-03-22 21:59:49
Thanks for sharing that interesting experience.
The WT has admitted that the GB is neither perfect nor inspired. With this admission, wouldn't that contradict other WT articles that claims otherwise?
"That faithful slave is the channel through which Jesus is feeding his true followers in this time of the end. It is vital that we recognize the faithful slave. Our spiritual health and our relationship with God depend on this channel." Watchtower 2013 Jul 15 p.20
Isn't it not Jesus (not the FDS) is our perfect way to have this relationship with the Father?
"We need to obey the faithful and discreet slave to have Jehovah’s approval." Watchtower 2011 Jul 15 p.24 Simplified English Edition
What if what the FDS, being uninspired and imperfect, is teaching conflicts with God's true message? JW's would just obey without conditions?
So how can they persecute let alone dismiss the brothers who may have other views about the truth?
Reply by Astoriaboy on 2019-03-23 17:49:16
And according to the March Broadcast, there's a new feature called, "Lessons from the Watchtowet". Made me somewhat sick to listen to the brothers and sisters raving about the featured article, as if it came from heaven itself.
Comment by Leonardo Josephus on 2019-03-22 13:53:00
Absolutely nothing to do with what we are discussing, but Ray Franz'S " In search of Christain Freedom" has come up as available on PDF. Just thought I would let you know, as I believe it has not previously been downloadable.
Comment by mailman on 2019-03-22 21:42:13
Hi Bro. Tadua
Sorry if this is kind of off topic. We received an announcement to start the distribution of Memorial invitations this weekend. I don't know but instead of being excited, it dampens my spirit to participate because of major issues behind the celebration. We are inviting outsiders to come to an event when we do reject Christ's body and blood by not partaking of them.
Thinking of how to remain motivated to join in the preaching activity while having these literature in our bags. Perhaps, I would just let my partner hand in to the householder while sharing more the real good news about Christ's death and its meaning for us.