The Watchtower — April 15, 1953

Why Professed Christians Lack Zeal

IN THE New York Times, December 22, 1952, appeared the following item: “Roman Catholics who maintain a ‘half-ashamed outward adherence to the church’ are Catholics ‘in name only’ because they lack the knowledge, humility and gratitude necessary for loyalty to the church and Christ, the Rev. Vincent P. McFadden declared yesterday at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

“In the third of a series of Advent sermons, Father McFadden said that groups such as the Communists and the Jehovah’s Witnesses possessed ‘phenomenal zeal’ in making their attacks and that Roman Catholics ‘take these attacks right on the chin, without voicing a single protest’.

“Father McFadden, a missionary of St. Colomba’s Foreign Mission Society, remarked that charges that the church was intolerant and old-fashioned stemmed from ‘a pagan world’ in which ‘right and wrong have given place to expediency’.”

Note first the subtle slur in mentioning Communists and Jehovah’s witnesses in the same breath. The impression left by that upon his listeners is to associate Jehovah’s witnesses with Communists as though they had something in common, when the very opposite is true. Nothing is more Godless than communism, whereas none take God and the Bible more seriously than do Jehovah’s witnesses. Could it be that this lack of intellectual honesty on the part of the Catholic clergy accounts for the fact that Catholics “lack the knowledge, humility and gratitude necessary for loyalty to the church”? Be that as it may, one thing is certain, missionary V. P. McFadden cannot put the entire blame on the Catholics themselves, for these very people, upon becoming Jehovah’s witnesses, evince that “phenomenal zeal” he talks about. Evidently such have now acquired the “knowledge, humility and gratitude necessary for loyalty” to God’s congregation and Christ.

Is it just to blame the Catholic population for their lack of “knowledge, humility and gratitude”? Do they not go to the parochial grade schools and high schools and even Catholic colleges? Do they not learn the Catholic catechism as children, get confirmed in their church, attend communion, confession, mass, and hear Sunday sermons? Is there not an avalanche of Catholic publications, dailies, weeklies and monthlies, all for the purpose of giving Catholics the much-needed knowledge, not to say anything of Catholic radio and TV programs? Certainly if any class of people should be well posted on what to believe and equipped in mind and spirit to refute “attacks” on their religion and organization it should be Roman Catholics; yet here is the admission by a Catholic missionary that Catholics are lacking in these respects. Obviously there is something wrong with what they are taught.

And is it reasonable to expect the Catholic population to make a better showing than their religious leaders? Time and again these have made a lamentable showing in their discussion with Jehovah’s witnesses. They themselves do not have the answers; how can they give them to others? Such as the Catholic priest of a certain Austrian village who called at the home of one of his farmer parishioners who had been studying with one of Jehovah’s witnesses. The priest was asked by the farmer how he could reconcile the teaching of the Catholic Church that the soul is immortal with the statement found at Ezekiel 18:4, “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die.” (Dy) The priest insisted that the Bible was spurious, not genuine, and so the farmer brought out another Bible and read the same text from it. Again the priest insisted that the Bible was spurious, whereupon the farmer revealed that this very Bible had been borrowed from the priest himself by a neighbor. The priest, becoming pale as death, snatched the Bible out of the farmer’s hands and left the house cursing and swearing. Yes, how can the common people be expected to make a confident reply when their religious leaders make such a poor showing? And as far as that goes, how can the clergy help but make a poor showing so long as they have chained to their necks a mass of tradition that finds no support in either reason or Scripture?

Apparently it is because of not having support in reason and Scripture for their beliefs that Catholics so frequently resort to mob action when coming up against the activity of Jehovah’s witnesses; like the Canadian mobs that ran out Jehovah’s witnesses missionaries from Joliette and Edmundston; and like the mob at Shawinigan Falls, Canada, in April, 1950, which wrecked a chapel belonging to the Christian Brethren, destroying everything in it, chairs, furniture, Bibles, and even wrecking a car standing outside. Their reason? They thought it was a meeting place of Jehovah’s witnesses!

Or like the Catholic mobs at Venlo, Netherlands, who harassed Jehovah’s witnesses going from door to door and standing on the streets, tearing their literature from them and ripping it up before their eyes, and who, 1,000 strong, stormed the meeting place of Jehovah’s witnesses, yelling, singing vulgar songs so as to drown out, for a time, a public Bible lecture. Or like the Catholics in Santa Barbara, Iloilo, Philippine Islands, concerning which the Philippine Free Press stated, “It seems incredible that the Catholic population of Santa Barbara should react so violently, in such an almost panic-stricken manner to the attempt by the witnesses of Jehovah to hold a meeting in town.” More examples could be cited.

Obviously Roman Catholics engaging in such mob action are lacking in knowledge as to what constitutes true Christianity, but can they solely be blamed when they are incited to such unchristian conduct by the priests? And are Jehovah’s witnesses to be blamed for trying to bring to such persons true Christian knowledge? Missionary McFadden speaks of a pagan world following expediency instead of being governed by principle, but what do such Catholics’ actions show? Is the use of violence to silence unpopular minorities being actuated by principle or by expediency? And what shall we say about enlisting the efforts of totalitarian rulers such as Franco of Spain, Trujillo of Dominican Republic and Perón of Argentina to ban the work of preaching God’s kingdom as done by Jehovah’s witnesses?

Give the people of good will knowledge and understanding concerning Jehovah God and his purposes and “phenomenal” zeal will follow naturally, and then it will not be necessary to resort to mobs and dictators to defend one’s teachings.

The Language Barrier and the “Pure Language”

EARLY on a Sunday morning in the summer of 1951 two Americans in Paris suddenly found themselves in urgent need of a taxicab. Finally one came along and they signaled the driver to stop. Their French being woefully inadequate and the driver understanding not a word of English, they pointed to their watches to indicate their haste and then pointed down a side street to indicate their destination. The driver was most reluctant, but their insistence overcame his objections and down the side street he drove until they indicated their destination. After paying the fare, after use of the same sign language, they left smiling, while the cab driver, shaking his head and muttering something in French, drove off.

If just two different languages can create such a handicap, what problems can 2,796 different languages raise? Yes, according to one linguist, there are 2,796 different languages spoken in the earth today, not counting minor dialects. There was a time when there was only one language, and that, as God’s Word indicates, was Hebrew. This was the only language spoken until the building of the tower of Babel, or for some 1800 years. Then, to thwart man’s scheme to keep all mankind bound together by means of a superstate in defiance of the purpose of the Creator, Jehovah God confused the tongues of man.

While this confusion of languages did not present much of a problem so long as Jehovah was dealing only with the nation of Israel; with the command of Christ Jesus to “make disciples of people of all the nations”, language differences did present a very definite problem. (Amos 3:2; Matt. 28:19, NW) How has Jehovah helped his servants to cope with it?

First of all, by inspiring his servants to write the Christian Scriptures in koiʹne Greek rather than in Hebrew, the language in which the pre-Christian Scriptures were written, or in Aramaic, the language spoken by the Jews at the time of Christ. In what way did the writing of the Christian Scriptures in Greek help toward overcoming the language barrier? In that koiʹne Greek, as distinguished from classical, Byzantine and modern Greek, was the international language for several centuries before and after the time of Christ. Thus the greatest number were reached in the shortest period of time. Incidentally, even though Rome had superseded Greece as the world power, koiʹne Greek was still the international language, for, as one historian expressed it, ‘while Rome’s military might had conquered Greece, Greek culture conquered the Romans.’

Additionally, at Pentecost Jehovah poured out upon his Christian servants his holy spirit, which gave them, among other miraculous powers, the gift of speaking foreign tongues. As we read: “Indeed, they were astonished and began to wonder and say: ‘See here, all these who are speaking are Galileans, are they not? And yet how is it we are listening each one of us to his own language in which we were born? . . . we hear them speaking in our tongues about the magnificent things of God.’”—Acts 2:7, 8, 11, NW.

However, that gift of tongues was to serve the Christian congregation only in its infancy, so as to give it, together with other gifts, a tangible basis for faith. Had not Christ Jesus established himself as God’s Son by miracles even as Moses had convinced his fellow Israelites by signs that he was sent of God? So, to supplement the miracle of Christ’s resurrection as a basis of faith the apostles were empowered to perform miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, and, for the practical purpose of spreading the good news, the gift of tongues.

However, we should no more expect tongues to continue with us to this day than any of the other gifts. In fact, Paul tells us that, “whether there are tongues, they will cease.” (1 Cor. 13:8, NW) Such gifts came upon believers only at the instance or in the presence of the twelve apostles. (Acts 8:17-23; 19:6) When the apostles died and those upon whom they had bestowed such gifts, the supernatural gifts passed away.

COPING WITH THE LANGUAGE BARRIER TODAY

Does that mean that the prophetic command to preach the good news of the Kingdom in all nations cannot be carried out today? (Matt. 24:14) Not at all. In the first place note that just as at the time of Jesus’ first presence God saw to it that his message would be first produced in the international language of the time, koiʹne Greek, so he has seen to it that in our time the preaching work should get its start in the international language of modern times, namely English.

As for reaching those speaking other tongues, God has put it into the minds of the ones whom he is using to direct the preaching work to translate his message into other languages, and so today we find the good news about Jehovah and his kingdom is being published in some 100 different tongues. Why, The Watchtower is regularly published in 38 languages! And since not only the printed page is needed but also someone to distribute it, as well as personal instruction, the same Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society has provided a school at South Lansing, New York, for the training of missionaries for foreign service.

These missionaries have gone into many lands and opened up new fields for the restoration of true worship. They have had to learn new languages, in addition to whatever foreign language they studied at Gilead school. By studying such languages daily and immediately making use of what they have learned in their missionary work, in a comparatively short time they have mastered such languages as Arabic, Siamese and Indian dialects. This is done not by means of a “gift” of the spirit as in the first century A.D., but by the ‘fruitage of the spirit which is love’.—Gal. 5:22, NW.

Nor is the language barrier met and overcome only in foreign fields. Right at home, in the United States, for instance, many servants of Jehovah have learned a foreign language, such as Spanish, so as to be able to preach to men of good will speaking that particular language in their assignment or local missionary field. On the other hand, many who had neglected to learn the language of the country to which they had immigrated have learned the language of the people where they now reside, so as to be able to preach to their neighbors. Thereby they likewise manifest their love for Jehovah God and for their fellow man.—Matt. 22:37-39.

LEARNING THE “PURE LANGUAGE”

While love thus enables Jehovah’s witnesses to successfully cope with the obstacles the confusion of tongues presents, their ability to speak a “secondary language”, actually their primary language, unites them far more effectively and completely than a language such as English unites all English-speaking peoples. And what is that language? It is the pure lip, tongue or language that Jehovah promised he would turn to his people in this, our day.—Zeph. 3:9, AS.

This pure lip or language is the message or truth of the pure worship of Jehovah God, “with spirit and truth,” and causes Jehovah’s witnesses to serve with “one shoulder”. (John 4:24, NW) It is a message free from the traditions and false teachings of men, free from pagan errors, free from all creature worship. It results in a worship based upon an accurate knowledge and understanding of God’s Word as revealed by the ever-increasing light.—Prov. 4:18; Eph. 4:13, NW.

Yes, knowledge and understanding of the supreme issue of the vindication of Jehovah’s name, the importance of witnessing to it, of keeping separate from the world, of the Kingdom’s being mankind’s only hope—to mention just a few of the outstanding characteristics of this pure language—identify those able to speak it.—Ps. 83:18; Isa. 43:10-12; Dan. 2:44; Matt. 6:9, 10; Jas. 1:27, NW.

Additionally this pure language has its own vocabulary, so much so that one United States judge once observed that Jehovah’s witnesses had their own vernacular. The most important term in this theocratic language is the name Jehovah, occurring 6,823 times in the Hebrew Scriptures and in such literal translations as the American Standard Version and Young’s translation. Other outstanding terms and expressions in this pure language are theocracy, kingdom, vindication, the Word, dedication, faithfulness, witnessing, Bible study, etc.

And as the light increases this pure language keeps expanding. With the release of the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, current among Jehovah’s witnesses have become such expressions as undeserved kindness, accurate knowledge, rock-mass, inhabited earth, the Lord’s evening meal, sacred service, sacred secret, declare(d) righteous, etc.a And as the columns of The Watchtower throw ever more light on God’s Word, Jehovah’s witnesses find their vocabulary being enriched, the pure language growing. Thus we note that for his unfaithfulness the covering cherub who became Satan was “divorced” from God’s organization; compared with Jehovah’s absolute freedom, ours is a “relative” freedom; “vertical rapture” refers to supernatural revelation of heavenly things existing at the time; whereas “horizontal rapture” tells of things far along on the stream of time.—2 Cor. 12:1-4.

For the first some 1800 years of mankind’s existence there was but the one language, Hebrew. With the building of the tower of Babel came the confusion of tongues. At Jesus’ first presence the barrier of many languages was overcome by the miraculous spiritual gift of tongues. In our day it is being overcome by the spirit’s fruitage of love. And with the restoration of pure worship and due to the increased light has come a pure language resulting in still greater unity of service.

[Footnotes]

Preaching the Good News in South Africa

Continuing the account by N. H. Knorr, Watch Tower Society’s president, of service tour by him and his secretary

AS THE readers of The Watchtower already know, it was impossible for me to get into the Gold Coast and Nigeria. So it was planned to fly directly from Monrovia to Johannesburg. I was expected there on Saturday, November 22, but, as previously reported, that plane failed to stop at Monrovia. Practically all of the 260 brothers who had been on hand at that time to welcome me returned to greet me when I finally did arrive four days later. It was not long until we motored away to the Society’s new branch office at Elandsfontein in the Germiston district, a few miles outside the principal city of South Africa, Johannesburg.

Five years ago when Brother Henschel and I were in South Africa we looked over many properties, trying to decide where we should build a Bethel home. We had an office in Cape Town and did printing there also, but the workers were not able to enjoy family life together as at other branches. After selecting property and deciding to move the branch from Cape Town to a site near Johannesburg, it took a lot of negotiating with city officials to finally get all matters cleared up. It was not until about two years ago that building actually started. Now the Society has a fine two-story brick and stucco building on a nice plot of well-situated land.

On the first floor of this new building we have the general office that looks after the work of the South African branch, as well as some of the translating. There is also a shipping department on this floor and a fine printing plant equipped with the latest machinery for printing the Watchtower and Awake! magazines in African languages.

On the second floor we have a spacious dining room, a fine library and lounge, and a good number of bedrooms, sufficient for expansion of the family. Of course, all of the other needs of a home are also incorporated into the building, such as a kitchen, laundry, etc. The building was designed for our needs in South Africa and it certainly is a big step forward in the advancement of the Kingdom interests. Being situated alone on a hill, the building is making its influence felt throughout the countryside.

Arrangements were made for me to visit Durban November 29 and 30. This very modern city, lying on the shores of the Indian ocean, with its 330,000 population, is the largest in the province of Natal. It is one of South Africa’s favorite pleasure resorts and the center of the flourishing sugar industry. Although modern, it has its ricksha boys pulling their two-wheeled conveyances. These boys are Africans decked out in feathers, horns and skins of all sorts, and if one did not know they were civilized he would probably get frightened by them. They are, however, quite harmless.

RACIAL SEGREGATION—APARTHEID

One of the big problems in South Africa is that of racial segregation, known as apartheid. The laws require African, Colored (mixed) and European (white) to meet in separate halls, and every effort is being made now by the government to keep these three segregated, even in the cities and villages. This made it necessary for us to have three separate meetings. On Saturday afternoon two hundred of the European brothers came together in their section of the city. The branch servant, Brother Phillips, spoke first and then I talked to them on making public declaration of our hope. The importance of engaging in the house-to-house work and the need of advancing to maturity in order to have a full share in Kingdom activities was brought out, and that it should be the heart’s desire of everyone dedicated to Jehovah’s service to thus preach from house to house and equip himself to conduct home Bible studies.

The same evening Brother Phillips and I, together with a few other brothers, went to the Cape Colored section. There are many Indians in Natal, and it certainly would be fine if there were a few Tamil-speaking Indian brothers in the full-time ministry. At this meeting 69 Cape Colored and Indians were present and they were very much interested in what was said.

I was very much impressed with the fact that there were 15 Indians in the audience, because it is rather difficult to interest the Indians living in India in God’s kingdom. I had opportunity to speak with some of them after the meeting. All of them were born in South Africa, but of Indian parentage, and gradually they are being weaned away from the Hindu and Moslem beliefs of their ancestors. They are dissatisfied with their religion and its practices. Very likely they have more open minds and it is easier for them to accept the truth here than for those living in India; there they would most likely be ostracized. It takes real courage to forsake the heathen practices of one’s ancestors and engage in the true worship of the Sovereign Ruler of the universe, Jehovah God. It was certainly good to see these Indian brothers standing for the work of Jehovah God.

On Sunday afternoon 337 African brothers assembled in Lamontville, a newly built township on the outskirts of Durban. I was amazed to see the fine brick buildings that were being constructed by the government to house these Africans. It certainly gives them a much finer community to live in than the old round huts with the thatched roofs, which are still very prevalent in many parts of the country. The government is trying to do much to raise their standard of living and yet at the same time keep them segregated.

The brothers were seated in the form of a semicircle on the grass in an open space in the center of town. With the aid of the sound equipment, which we had brought along, all were able to hear easily. Traffic continued to go by all during the discourse. The remarks that I made to the brothers were interpreted into Zulu, but it was apparent that many understood English, for frequently they applauded before the interpreter gave his translation.

The singing was outstanding. They had no instruments to give them the pitch or the tempo. They just started to sing a Kingdom song and all of them seemed to sing parts. Its full harmony sounded like a large choir. After speaking for about an hour and a half the talk had to be hurried to a close because it started to rain. The dark clouds were rolling in fast. It was a little disappointing to me not to be able to hear them sing again at the close of the session.

On Sunday evening the fourth meeting came to order. It was well advertised. While the brothers in Durban had only one week’s notice that I was coming, they did very well. The hall they rented for the occasion was packed out by 435 Europeans.

It was a most enjoyable week end, even though the three groups of brothers had to keep separate. While this limits their fields of witnessing, they will not let it retard the Kingdom work, for they are determined to press on praising Jehovah and preaching the good news in the sections of the territory that are open to them.

VISITING THE ZULUS

The following day, before returning to the branch office by air, we had some time in the morning to drive to one of the beauty spots in the vicinity of Durban, called the Valley of a Thousand Hills. Unfortunately, it was raining again, but we were able to see at least one hill at a time as we rode along. Of principal interest to us was the fact that we were right in the heart of an African reserve on the borders of Zululand. Here we could see how the native African actually lives.

I was very much interested in the construction of their homes. The majority of them are built in a circular shape with roofs made of straw and pointed at the top. We were able to talk to one family in front of their hut by means of a brother with us who spoke Zulu and received permission to enter. I was quite surprised at the highly polished clean floor inside. My first question was, Where did they get the asphalt to put on the floors? The African brothers smiled and then one explained that this fine-looking floor was a mixture of earth and cow dung. This is laid down first and then just cow dung is smoothed out on top as a surface coating. This process makes the surface very hard and smooth and the black surface is highly polished. In this particular house the floor had a unique design worked into it and in the center of the hut the floor came up two or three inches, nicely curved for the fireplace.

The thatched roof overhangs the circular walls but plenty of space is left for ventilation between the wall and the roof. The solid wall does not go right up to the roof, but the roof is set on short supports that extend beyond the wall, thus allowing space for light and air. So they have light, ventilation and yet protection from the rain. These Africans sleep on grass mats that they roll out on the floor every night. An entire family live together in the one-room hut. When the sons marry they usually build another hut for themselves and their wives. The hut is built nearby in the same kraal. A collection of huts always indicates a family unit.

The diet is very simple, consisting of mealie meal (maize, or, “Indian corn”) to which sometimes a little meat is added, and once in a while they have bread and sauce. These Africans seem to be very peaceful and contented, and I must say that the countryside in which they live is beautiful. Many of them have little plots of land for growing maize, and all of them have their cattle or goats. I was told that only when the African comes closer to what is called “civilization” does he sometimes go astray and become discontented.

No matter where we find the Africans, on the reserves, in the towns or on the farms, it is the responsibility of Jehovah’s people to get in touch with them and tell them about the Kingdom message. Right now there are between seven and eight thousand African brothers scattered throughout the Union of South Africa, having a regular part in preaching the good news. While these brothers are well organized for pure worship, there is still much to be done to bring all of them to maturity. There are great problems to be met in preaching the gospel, for the African brothers are certainly scattered throughout the reserves.

TRYING TO LEGALLY ESTABLISH THE GOOD NEWS

On the second day after our return to Johannesburg from Durban we made a call at the office of Her Majesty’s high commissioner for Basutoland, Bechuanaland Protectorate and Swaziland. Since 1941 there has been a ban on the importation of the Society’s literature into these three protectorates. Now there are a number of Jehovah’s witnesses in these lands, because Africans within these territories have gotten in touch with other Africans living outside and have carried the truth into these territories. Since the work has taken a foothold in these three protectorates, and in view of the fact that there are 21 congregations, consisting of more than 400 ministers engaged in preaching the good news, the Society has repeatedly tried to have the ban lifted so that literature might be sent into these territories for our brothers to study. Without literature it is more difficult to reach maturity.

These matters were presented to the commissioner and request was made that the ban be lifted. I was able to present our case for more than an hour and to give a witness concerning the Kingdom and the work that the Society is doing in promoting Bible study. We were able to speak to the chief secretary of the commissioner and to answer all his questions, and we sincerely hope that some action will be taken on the part of Her Majesty’s government. If the restrictions are lifted, a much greater expansion doubtless will show up in these territories in so far as the gathering of the “other sheep” is concerned.

By this time Brother Henschel had arrived from Freetown and Monrovia. Now that both of us were here a meeting was arranged for by the Germiston congregation at the Germiston Town Hall. However, many people on the Reef came, so that a total of 725 Europeans were present. Brother Henschel spoke first on “Declaring His Name” and clearly pointed out the responsibility of Jehovah’s servants today as a people who have been selected to bear his name. He gave interesting reports of his visit to Freetown and some experiences he had heard there concerning the work in Nigeria.

After that I spoke to the brothers and counseled them on the need of growing to full maturity as ministers. Just as parents have real happiness in seeing their own children grow and advance from one stage to another until they are fully grown, so Jehovah takes delight in seeing his people progress in Christian maturity. To this end it is very essential for us to become familiar with the 66 letters that Jehovah has written to us in the Bible and to ponder over these things, as well as to follow the counsel of God’s Word and to make public declaration of our hope.

After this followed days that both Brother Henschel and I devoted to instructing the brothers at the branch office on how to better care for the duties assigned to them.

[Picture on page 232]

Bethel Home—Johannesburg

Gilead’s Tenth Year—Twentieth Graduation

GRADUATIONS at Gilead are attractive in every respect. The 2,256 that were present Sunday, February 8, 1953, were thoroughly convinced that the school had Jehovah’s approval and blessing. To those assembled on Sunday morning the school’s president, N. H. Knorr, said: “Ten years ago there was some doubt as to whether Gilead was the right thing. With faith in God we went ahead with the arrangements. Now there is no doubt . . . The work is better organized, and an increase is manifesting itself everywhere.” Then Brother Knorr introduced Brother Markus, the farm servant, and the instructors.

Brother Markus compared the going away of a class to its foreign assignment to a calf that has been taken away from its mother and placed in a foreign pasture to forage for itself. “It bawls,” he said, “sometimes for days, but it soon learns that it must make an adjustment if it would live.” “Your experience will be very much the same,” he said. “Be patient with yourself, it is all a matter of adjustment. Then you will love your new life and new home.” Brother Dunlap counseled the class to tackle the assignment with the mind of Christ and they will be happy, because He is happy. Spanish instructor Brother Burt advised the class to start speaking the native language the very first day they enter the country. Brother Knorr agreed and said: “When you find yourself praying to God in the new language, that is a sure sign that you are thinking it.” Brother Glass used the crayfish to illustrate his point. “Scientific experiments have proved that a crayfish will eat until a certain nerve, running from the brain to the belly, tells it to stop,” he said. “If this nerve is severed, the fish will eat till it bursts. Now, you have been eating for more than five months. I am not suggesting you stop, no. But that nerve should be telling you there is work to be done. And that is exactly what you will find in your assignment—work!” Brother Friend would have the class to consider the many gifts with which the heavenly Father has surrounded his earthly children—the flowers, trees, the fish and animals. “Muse on these things,” he said, “for they will bring you close to God.” The school’s registrar, Brother Schroeder, climaxed this session by urging the class to do good, for thereby “you will reap merit for yourselves”. “Do bad and you will reap punishment. Persist in wrongdoing and you will harvest destruction. In doing good is your reward.” Now it became time to hear from the school’s president.

For the next hour Brother Knorr spoke to the class on the subject: “Let Your Advancement Be Made Manifest.” “Knowledge brings responsibility,” he started, “for of him to whom much is given, much more is required. You have been given much, therefore much more will be required of you.” The audience hung onto each word as he developed his talk. “You must keep testing yourself to see whether you are in the faith. Sincerely ask yourself: ‘Am I increasing in knowledge?’ ‘Am I staying close to the organization?’” Diplomas were handed out. The twentieth class, numbering 112, had graduated. Now everyone should prepare to attend the twenty-first graduation, at New York’s Yankee Stadium on July 19.

[Picture on page 236]

Main Gilead Building

Religion in Ancient Greece

“THE Greeks look for wisdom,” the apostle Paul tells us. (1 Cor. 1:22, NW) But it is one thing to look for wisdom and quite another thing to come into possession of it. Did those ancient Greeks, who rejected the Word of God, ever gain true wisdom? Worldly-wise men think so. For instance, the highly esteemed English poet, Shelley, once enthusiastically exclaimed: “We all are Greeks! Our laws, our literature, our religion, our arts have roots in Greece. But for Greece,” he goes on to say, “we might still have been savages and idolaters.” (Ency. Amer.) But what are the facts? For our answer let us take a look at their religion; for religion, more than anything else, manifests just how wise a people really are.

The ancient Greeks, even centuries before the time Paul preached to the Athenians, were “more given to the fear of the deities than others” were. (Acts 17:22, NW) According to one of their writers, Hesiod, of the eighth century B.C., they had upward of 30,000 deities. The historian Herodotus tells us that their gods were of Phoenician and Egyptian origin.

THE OLYMPIAN GODS

Lord, in volume 1 of his Beacon Lights of History, gives considerable detail regarding Greek mythology. He tells of the twelve great gods residing on Mount Olympus, six of whom were male and six female. These gods, while vastly superior to humans in size, knowledge, power and beauty, as well as not being subject to death, had the same weaknesses and shortcomings that mankind has. Thus the “father of the gods”, Zeus (Roman Jupiter), was a usurper, a thief, an adulterer, and took part in the quarrels, jealousies and enmities of his associate gods even though he was creator and stronger than all the rest of the gods put together.

Poseidon (Roman Neptune), a brother of Zeus, was the god of the ocean, a rough, boisterous and vindictive deity with the same moral traits as his brother. Apollo, the sun god, as well as the god of wisdom, poetry and music, was more respectable than his father Zeus. Having grace, vigor and ideal physical form, he was the most popular of all the deities, temples being erected to his honor in every part of Greece. He was the actual ruler of the gods, serving as “premier” for King Zeus.

Hephaestus (Roman Vulcan), the god of fire, was a blacksmith who forged the thunderbolts for Zeus. He was the opposite physically of Apollo, being both awkward and lame. Ares (Roman Mars), the god of war, was cruel, lawless, bloodthirsty and greedy. Hermes (Roman Mercury) was the god of business, full of tricks, untruthful and dishonest. He was also the god of eloquence.

The queen of Olympus was Hera (Roman Juno), a sister and one of the wives of Zeus who had power equal to that of her husband. Having a poor opinion of women, the Greeks showed her as proud, vindictive, jealous, unscrupulous and cruel. She scolded her husband so incessantly that he would bitterly complain about it in the assembly of the gods; rather incompatible with his supposed dignity as the chief of all gods!

Athena (Roman Minerva), the goddess of Athens, ranked with Apollo in wisdom. She had a flawless personality but possessed very few attractive feminine qualities. Artemis (Roman Diana), the sister of Apollo, was the goddess of hunting, of which sport the Greeks were very fond. She was the goddess whose silversmiths in Ephesus created such an uproar because the preaching of the apostle Paul interfered with their business of making miniature temples.—Acts 19:23-41, NW.

Aphrodite (Roman Venus) was the goddess of sensual pleasure and mere physical beauty. From her name we get the term “aphrodisaic”, a description of drugs or foods that excite sensual desire. Hestia (Roman Vesta), who was goddess of domestic virtues, presiding over firesides and homesteads, had a rather vague personality.

Demeter represented Mother Earth, being the goddess of agriculture, prosperity and wealth. Since agriculture was the oldest as well as the most important occupation, she is pictured as presiding over civilization and law-giving. The term “cereal” for grain comes from her Roman name, Ceres, with whom the “horn of plenty” is associated. She is also represented as the goddess of the Eleusinian mysteries, which promised a happy hereafter to all those initiated in them.

OTHER DEITIES

In addition to the twelve great gods and goddesses just described there were lesser gods, who, while not attaining the Olympian status, nevertheless occupied prominent places in the religion of the ancient Greeks. Dionysus, the Roman Bacchus, was one of these, who, as the god of wine and drunkenness, presided over the vineyards. Pluto or Hades, who, together with his brothers Zeus and Poseidon, had deposed their father Cronus, received as the result of the casting of lots dominion over the lower, infernal regions, the abode of the dead, where he ruled with his wife Persephone, a queen pictured as severely pure, awful and terrible. No temples were erected to her, the Greeks not taking seriously the future life, even though they all believed in the continued existence of the soul after death.

There were also innumerable minor deities whom the Greeks identified with every separate thing that occupied their thoughts, such as the mountains, rivers, towns, fountains, rocks, animals, sleep and death, night and day, old age and pain. All the qualities of the human mind and disposition; everything they saw, felt or talked about they impersonated, and these impersonations were supposed to preside over the things they represented and were worshiped to a greater or less degree.

The ancient Greeks, while not a very moral people, were a very religious one. They continually called on their gods, on every occasion: the symposium, that intellectual feast which invariably followed their feasts of material food, began and ended with prayer; the political assemblies began with worship; orators prayed before they began to speak; the farmer before he began to plow; the youths before they entered the athletic contests, went hunting or ventured forth to war; the particular god being appealed to depending upon the occupation and sex of the one praying.

The Bible tells us that God made man in his own image, by which is meant that he made man with the attributes of wisdom, justice, love and power. (Gen. 1:26) From the foregoing it is apparent that in ancient Greece man made gods for himself in his own fallen mental, moral and physical image; foremost among such “godmakers” being Homer and Hesiod, who by their choice literary style helped to fasten these gods upon the people. They were aided in this by the efforts of the sculptors, who represented these gods by statues, which are the finest the world has seen in beauty, grace, loveliness and majesty. Ancient Greece abounded in statues, foremost of all being that of Zeus at his temple in Olympia, a human representation sixty feet high, made of ivory, gold and gems by the greatest sculptors.

DIVINATION, SEERS AND ORACLES

The ancient Greeks sought to ascertain the will of the gods by means of divination, seers and oracles. Thunder, lightning, rain, eclipses, the flight of the birds, were all significant. Prometheus, it was claimed, taught men the art of divination: “The animosities, the consortings and attachments of birds; and the smooth surface of the viscera, and what hue the gall must have for the god’s pleasure and the mottled symmetry of the liver lobe; and the thigh bones in fat enwrapped, and the long chine I burned and initiated mortals into the mysteries of an occult art.” (Ency. Amer., Vol. 13, page 413) Which calls to mind the time that the king of Babylon, when endeavoring to ascertain what course to take, among other forms of divination “looked in the liver”.—Ezek. 21:21.

The seer, whose chief task was to interpret signs, dreams and omens, was second only to the general in the armies of ancient Greece. He was held to be inspired by the gods and his gift was supposed to run in families. In later times his office gained added importance because his presence implied sanction by the gods of the war being waged.

In addition to the arts of divination and the interpretations by seers, the Greeks consulted oracles; the term coming from a Latin word meaning “to speak, utter, pray”. The oracle was the “medium by which a god reveals hidden knowledge or makes known the divine purpose”, and represented the most lucrative feature of the ancient Greek religion. The oldest oracular center was that of their chief god Zeus, situated at Dodona, where messages from Zeus were received from the rustling of the leaves of the sacred oak.

The most famous and profitable of all oracular centers was that of Apollo (the Greek god of foreknowledge and wisdom), situated at Delphi, and which was consulted not only by Greeks from every part of the land but also by foreigners; kings and other rulers being among its foremost patrons. At Delphi ‘the oracles were given forth by a priestess, the Pythia, who seated herself on a golden tripod above a chasm whence issued foul and poisonous vapors. Inspired by these, she, while in a state of religious frenzy, uttered words which were then arranged by prophets especially educated for the purpose, and given to the enquirers’.

Many of the answers received were vague and sometimes susceptible to opposite interpretations. Those consulting the oracles paid handsomely for the vague, equivocal and even absolutely wrong information they received, thereby not only filling the temple of Apollo with treasures but necessitating the erection of additional buildings to house the treasures. Delphi, the seat of the oracle of Apollo, has been termed “the Vatican of antiquity”.

A RELIGION WITHOUT CONSCIENCE

In earliest times the Greeks built altars on which they sacrificed in the open fields, in groves and on hills and mountaintops. Later temples were built, either in honor of some deity or in memorial to a dead friend or relative. Usually at the entrance of their temples there was a ‘sprinkling pot’, a container made of stone or copper full of “sanctified water”, serving much the same purpose as does “holy water” in the Roman Catholic churches of today.

On the altars animals were sacrificed, part of which were eaten by those offering them. It is said that at times even humans were sacrificed. There were also the bloodless sacrifices of incense and the offerings of precious metals, vessels, cloths and money, which valuables eventually found their way into the homes of the priests or the eminent ones of the city.

There were no sabbaths, but some fifty festivals were celebrated throughout the year. Some were in honor of the gods, some in honor of the seasons of the year, others to celebrate great national victories, etc., all of which brought great pleasure to the Greeks. Many of these were celebrated with great pomp and show and splendor, and with processions much like those of medieval times and which are still seen in some Roman Catholic lands.

The state directed and controlled religion, encouraged it and paid for sacrifices, rites, processions and scenic dances, as it all served to keep the common people contented with their miserable lot. The preaching of atheism or of new deities or otherwise interfering with established religion was therefore not tolerated.

Since the gods themselves were an immoral lot, it is not surprising that many of the feasts in their honor involved “deeds of loose conduct, lusts, excesses with wine, revelries, drinking matches, and idolatries that are without legal restraint”. That this description by the apostle Peter indeed fits the Greek feasts is borne out by secular historians who tell us that the feasts in honor of Dionysus (Bacchus) were “attended with disgraceful orgies—with wild dances, noisy revels, exciting music, and frenzied demonstrations”. Sensuality ran riot at the ceremonies in honor of Aphrodite; while phallicism, sex worship, marked those to the goddess of agriculture, Demeter.—1 Pet. 4:3, 4, NW.

To what extent the ancient Greeks were steeped in the “low sink of debauchery” can be seen from the fact that “Greek society was disfigured by an attitude to homosexual impulse that often resulted in words and actions at once loose and grotesque”. (Ency. Amer.) Womanhood was so degraded that men looked upon marriage as a distasteful burden to be assumed only so as to have someone to bury them and as a duty to the state, and so was not entered upon until after the age of thirty, at which time they chose very young women.

The priests taught neither moral nor spiritual truths, there being no sacred books teaching their religion. They were merely officials appointed by the state or by lot who took charge of rites and ceremonies and consulted the oracles. There were many distinctions among them, their offices often being sold to the highest bidder.

Yes, the idea of conscience was entirely absent from ancient Greek religion and there was no sense of personal sin. Its purpose was not to acquaint man with his God, nor with what was right and what was wrong, but merely to serve the selfish purposes of a pleasure-seeking and art-loving people who lived in the present and only for themselves. If selfishness complicated matters there was always suicide to end it all.—1 Cor. 15:32.

In view of all the foregoing, can it be said that those ancient Greeks were truly wise, and does mankind owe them a debt of gratitude? Hardly!

[Picture on page 237]

Zeus (Roman Jupiter)

The Exclusive God

“There is none like unto thee, O Jehovah.”—Jer. 10:6, AS.

1. How does Jeremiah acknowledge Jehovah as unequaled?

JEHOVAH is without equal. With majesty and simplicity Jeremiah so acknowledges: “There is none like unto thee, O Jehovah; thou art great, and thy name is great in might. Who should not fear thee, O King of the nations? for to thee doth it appertain; forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is none like unto thee. But Jehovah is the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King: . . . He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding hath he stretched out the heavens. . . . The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.”—Jer. 10:6, 7, 10, 12, 11, AS.

2. (a) Why is an appreciation of Jehovah’s exclusiveness important? (b) What is the searching question?

² This exclusiveness of Jehovah is a vital truth, and appreciation of it is essential to all who would realize their righteous desires. False gods are common. They are on every hand. Yet, Jehovah is none of these. Gods of many kinds are served and worshiped by the peoples of the earth. The practice of such worship in its great variety of forms is a practice of various religions. We have an awareness of these many gods. We know there are varied religions throughout the earth, incorporating the countless gods of both the “Christian” and the non-Christian lands, with idols, images, fetishes, and endless other “holy” material objects, themselves worshiped and also through which worship is given to creatures, human and spirit. To some, the bodies of the universe and forces of the natural creation are gods. Wealth and power are gods to many persons. Gods to many are the exalted religious, military, political, economic, scientific and artistic leaders. Even though some may deny that such truly are gods, it cannot be denied that all of these things mentioned and, yes, even animals and insects, are worshiped as gods. Whom or what do you worship? To whom or to what are you devoted?—Ex. 20:3-5; 1 Thess. 1:9, NW.

3. (a) Is it proper to distinguish between gods? (b) In whom does the true God find loving appreciation?

³ Above and apart from the array of degenerate gods and their devotees there is the one Jehovah, whose exclusiveness elicits our sincere praise. We must distinguish between this true God and the false ones. It is entirely appropriate to differentiate between Him and all other gods. In fact, it is necessary that we do so. The righteous God does not appeal to unrighteous creatures. The just and loving God does not find harmonious response in unjust, hate-filled men. If you respond to his Godship in loving appreciation, happy are you!—Matt. 5:6-9, NW.

4. Christian faith requires what of us respecting Jehovah?

⁴ God’s prophet above quoted speaks of him as “Jehovah”. “Jehovah” is the name of the true God. It is the name by which he designates himself and makes himself known. “God” is a title, as is “Lord”, but “Jehovah” is a name, the name. Jehovah, through his creative works, his mighty acts, and his word of truth, the Bible, manifests his exclusiveness and that he is the true God besides whom there is none. Accordingly, the exercise of Christian faith requires us to distinguish between the only true God and all other gods.—Ps. 145, AS.

5. In what names do people walk, according to Micah 4, and when?

⁵ The prophecy of the fourth chapter of Micah looks forward to our wonderful “latter days” to be marked by the vindication of Jehovah’s name and the establishment of his complete supremacy, and states: “But in the latter days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of Jehovah’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall flow unto it. And many nations shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. . . . For all the peoples walk every one in the name of his god; and we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God for ever and ever.”—Mic. 4:1, 2, 5, AS.

6. (a) Why do many persons now turn to the worship of Jehovah? (b) Why do many not so turn?

⁶ Now in these “latter days” men and women, upon coming to the knowledge of the truths in God’s Word, the Bible, turn to the worship and service of Jehovah. What is the appeal? A very exclusive one indeed; it is the attraction of righteousness. Persons who love righteousness respond to the right doctrines and high principles of the Bible and therefore to the God of the Bible. The worship of sincere hearts is directed to the God named Jehovah. Persons who love unrighteousness, wickedness, and who are selfish do not so respond. “Now this is the basis for judgment, that the light has come into the world but men have loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were wicked. For he that practices vile things hates the light and does not come to the light, in order that his works may not be reproved. But he that does what is true comes to the light, in order that his works may be made manifest as having been worked in harmony with God.”—John 3:19-21, NW.

7, 8. (a) Are all content to see Jehovah’s name obscured? Who are not? (b) What does Jehovah express in this regard?

⁷ Some persons are concerned with worshiping the true God and are not content to see his name obscured. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were thus concerned. Genesis 13:4 (AS) states: “Abram called on the name of Jehovah.” Jacob was named Israel by Jehovah God at the time the Almighty was confirming to Jacob the covenant that he had made with Abraham after “the foreign gods” were “put away” by all the members of Jacob’s extensive household. (Genesis, chapter 35, AS) The descendants of Jacob, now named Israel, became the nation of Israel. In setting the ancient Egyptian stage for his vindication to be there accomplished, God said to Moses: “Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.” (Ex. 3:15, AS) Moses did not worship the gods of Egypt, but he worshiped Jehovah, whom he loved.

⁸ Jehovah himself later said by his servant Moses: “For Jehovah your God, he is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the terrible, who regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward.” (Deut. 10:17, AS) Today other persons worship the true God and have concern with the honor of his name. Their appreciation of Jehovah’s exclusiveness is expressed in words such as these: “I will give thee thanks with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praises unto thee. Jehovah will perfect that which concerneth me: thy lovingkindness, O Jehovah, endureth for ever; forsake not the works of thine own hands.”—Ps. 138:1, 8, AS.

9. What claims our interest in this study?

⁹ It is concerning this true God and those who serve him, and concerning the relationship between God and his worshipers, that we now seek more Scriptural information. First of all, let us see some of the other capacities in which Jehovah the true God through his Word discloses himself to man.

THE MAKER

10. What contributes to the revelation of Jehovah in the capacity of Maker?

¹⁰ Jehovah stands revealed as the great Maker. On every hand is testimony in his inanimate creation, a simple Bible statement being, “Jehovah God made earth and heaven.” (Gen. 2:4, AS) All of mankind are aware of the existence of the wonderful earth and heavens, but so many do not look beyond the creation to the Creator. In contrast is the sane attitude expressed in the Psalm: “O Jehovah, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, who hast set thy glory upon the heavens! When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man?” (Ps. 8:1, 3, 4, AS) The inanimate creation of God never alters its praise of its Maker, and as men gain more information concerning this part of Jehovah’s creation they find that every proved fact of every science verifies and supports the Scriptural truth of Jehovah’s creatorship.

11. Among what creation is the issue of Creator-Godship raised?

¹¹ In the animate creation of Jehovah, man and all animals through their very existence testify to their Maker. Genesis 2:7 (AS) states: “Jehovah God formed man”; and so he did. It is among the intelligent creation including the human creation that the issue of Jehovah’s supremacy is raised. This issue is not found among the lower animals, and certainly not in the inanimate creation of the earth and heavens, but it is found among humankind, because not all praise their great Benefactor. Men operate, not automatically along fixed lines, as does the inanimate creation, nor through instinct, as do the lower animals. Man is higher, as indicated by this prophecy concerning Jesus, who was made a man: “Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O Jehovah, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth.”—Ps. 8:6-9, AS; Heb. 2:6-9.

12. (a) What wonderful choice may we make? (b) What does love of Jehovah require of us?

¹² Each individual has the opportunity of choosing for himself for or against Jehovah God, and it must ever be borne in mind that the love of Jehovah requires of the creature a love of righteousness, because God is completely righteous. In fact, Jehovah repudiates the claimed support of all who love unrighteousness. His own Proverb (Pr 8:13, AS) states: “The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the perverse mouth, do I hate.” As men, we are each faced with the issue on the basis of our heart’s desire. “But each one is tried by being drawn out and enticed by his own desire. Then the desire, when it has become fertile, gives birth to sin; in turn, sin, when it has been accomplished, brings forth death. Hence put away all filthiness and that superfluous thing, moral badness, and accept with mildness the implanting of the word which is able to save your souls. However, become doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves with false reasoning.” (Jas. 1:14, 15, 21, 22, NW) Serve the Maker!

ORGANIZATIONS

13. (a) Additionally, what does Jehovah form? (b) What is an organization?

¹³ Not only has he produced inanimate creation, growing things, and living creatures, but, in addition to all of these, the great Maker forms organizations. An organization is a systematic arrangement of creatures for the accomplishment of a purpose common to all individuals therein. It realizes a combining of effort to carry on a work. We are familiar with organizations of many kinds with many purposes. Families are organizations. So are churches, lodges, clubs, business firms, governments, armies; and they are familiar to us. When several individuals with one objective associate for the carrying out of that purpose, an organization of some kind results. The very existence of intelligent creatures in large numbers presupposes the existence of organizations.

14. In what ways is an organization a single unit?

¹⁴ An organization is in many respects a unit in itself, as is illustrated by the fact that a corporation is a “person”. Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition, points out that under English and American common and statute law a corporation is “a body politic or corporate formed and authorized by law to act as a single person”. There are many individuals in it, but it is one body. A corporation is often referred to in the singular as “it”. The moving spirit of its formation can be called its maker. The governmental authority creating it also is its maker. It might be asked, Is such an organization formed by men ever a “father”, or is it ever a “mother”? Yes; the expression “parent corporation” is fairly common, and its meaning is known generally; such a “parent” causes the formation of related corporate “persons”. We are familiar with such an expression as “the birth of a nation”; and in this phraseology reference is made to a group of persons causing through one means or another the formation of an organization that is said to have been “born”, as a new government or nation.

15. What is essential to an organization?

¹⁵ In respect to an organization, the association together of the individuals involved is one of the main factors. Take away the individuals and there is no organization. Associate individuals together with a common cause or a common moving spirit, and an organization results.

16, 17. Give facts regarding the heavenly, universal organization of Jehovah.

¹⁶ In the organizations of God’s making are righteous heavenly creatures. In both plain and symbolic Biblical language they are shown as moving in order, praising Jehovah to one another, performing service relative to the communication of the truth, battling to victory against evil, devil-organized spirit forces, refusing to receive worship from men for themselves, and ministering to Christians. They had to do with leading the nation of Israel out of the land of Egypt, and in the Bible other organized activity is shown to be their portion. (Ex. 14:19, AS; Isaiah, chapter 6, AS; Heb. 2:14, NW; Revelation, chapters 8, 9, 16) Each of these activities bespeaks an organization in and with which the faithful heavenly sons of God serve to His praise.

¹⁷ Accordingly we see that Jehovah has made a great universal organization. He gives to those therein work to do, and his creatures who are his servants are dedicated and devoted to him and so perform his service. It is an organization of God’s building, and it is all-important to the creatures therein that they be associated with it, participating in its activities, and being devoted to its Maker.

18. How was the early Christian organization formed?

¹⁸ On the earth we find that of the men and women worshiping Jehovah God, organizations have been constituted by him, of which the Christian congregation is one. God-fearing men were drawn together through the teaching of Jesus, and they organized. Very early in the life of the Christian congregation the apostles were a preaching organization. At Mark 3:14, 15 (NW) the account states: “And he [Jesus] formed a group of twelve, whom he also named ‘apostles’, that they might continue with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to expel the demons.” The entire congregation of the followers of Christ Jesus has been constituted by him a ministerial organization and so commissioned, as shown by his words: “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.” That this commission is not restricted to those to whom Jesus directly spoke at the time but continues with the Christian congregation throughout its life, even down to our day, is shown by his concluding words: “And, look! I am with you all the days until the consummation of the system of things.”—Matt. 28:19, 20, NW.

19. (a) How do we know that the Christian congregation is not a man-made organization? (b) How have members been added to it?

¹⁹ To the members of the Christian organization, church, or congregation operating at the time of Jesus’ ascension to heaven, members were added immediately following the outpouring of the holy spirit at Pentecost. “Therefore those who embraced his word heartily were baptized, and on that day about three thousand souls were added.” Added to what? Added to the number of dedicated worshipers of the true God and added to the organization or congregation of Christians. “And they continued devoting themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to association together, to taking of meals and to prayers.” (Acts 2:41, 42, NW) Later during the life of the early Christian congregation the apostle Paul wrote to the sub-congregation in Corinth: “Now there are varieties of gifts, but there is the same spirit; and there are varieties of ministries, and yet there is the same Lord; and there are varieties of operations, and yet it is the same God who performs all the operations in all persons.” (1 Cor. 12:4-6, NW) Here is shown again the truth that it is God who organizes the Christian congregation through the Lord Christ Jesus and through the operation of his spirit, and so the Christian “church” is not a man-made organization. “But now God has set the members in the body, each one of them, just as he pleased.” “And if one member suffers, all the other members suffer with it; or if a member is glorified, all the other members rejoice with it. Now you are Christ’s body, and members individually. And God has set the respective ones in the congregation.”—1 Cor. 12:18, 26-28, NW.

20. (a) Define and describe the Christian congregation. (b) How is it built up today?

²⁰ The Christian congregation is the entire Christian body, or body of Christ, organized by Jehovah God through Christ Jesus, through the ministry of the word of truth that draws men to God through Christ, and through the operation of God’s power or holy spirit. This great Christian congregation began with Jesus, its founder and head, and extends to the present time, being represented in the remaining members upon the earth. In it there have been smaller congregations of Christians in various localities where they are found throughout the earth. Thus there are companies or organizations or congregations within the greater Christian organization or congregation. This is recognized by the words of the apostle Paul to the Philippians, wherein he states: “Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the holy ones in union with Christ Jesus who are in Philippi along with overseers and ministerial servants.” (Phil. 1:1, NW) Is this built up through the enrollment of men and women in general on some membership record of a man-made organization? No; but it is built up by the association together of individuals personally dedicated to God, meeting the requirements of his Word, and who recognize the work given Christians to do by the Maker of the organization and in which work they join faithfully in co-operation with one another and to the praise of Jehovah’s name.

21. From what standpoints is the Christian organization a “person”?

²¹ It is this Christian congregation that the apostle Paul refers to when he speaks of it as a woman, saying: “For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I personally promised you in marriage to one husband that I might present you as a chaste virgin to the Christ.” (2 Cor. 11:2, NW) This language shows an organization as a “person”. The Christian congregation is thus represented as a virgin, a chaste woman. Also, it is a child or an offspring of, from and under the great universal organization of Jehovah God.

22, 23. By reference to the nation of Israel, illustrate (1) how Jehovah does form an organization and uses it for his worship; (2) its relationship to God’s universal organization.

²² Prior to the time of the formation of the Christian congregation, the nation of Israel itself was a God-made organization; in fact, it is referred to as a “church” or congregation. (Acts 7:38, NW) Before its formation Jehovah stated his purpose to his servant Abraham in what is referred to as the covenant with Abraham, set out initially in the first nine verses of the twelfth chapter of Genesis. This covenant was reaffirmed to Abraham himself, to his son Isaac, and to his grandson Jacob. (Gen. 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; 28:13, 14, AS) Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, and the sons of Israel and their children constituted the twelve tribes of Israel. (Genesis, chapter 49) Jehovah God eventually brought the tribes of Israel out of the land of Egypt and made a national covenant with them. They left Egypt in an organized manner, as an encampment. “But God led the people about, by the way of the wilderness by the Red Sea: and the children of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt.” (Ex. 13:18, AS) A step taken later on in the organization of the people of Israel is shown in the eighteenth chapter of Exodus: “Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And they judged the people at all seasons.” (Ex 18 Vss. 21, 26, AS) Subsequently, at Mount Sinai, through Moses, Jehovah God gave to Israel his law, then inaugurating the covenant; and the thrilling account of this is set out in the nineteenth and twentieth chapters of the Bible book of Exodus.

²³ So we see that of the people of Israel Jehovah God made a national organization that embraced also non-Israelites who joined in the worship of Jehovah and met his requirements. This theocratic nation of the kingdom of Israel was a servant of God, because it was organized and brought into existence by Jehovah through his righteous creatures in his universal organization. Angels had to do with its organization. (Gal. 3:19) Jehovah God gave his word to that nation, placed his spirit upon his servants there, and the organization itself operated in behalf of the individuals in the nation. The result was to the good of all and to the praise of Jehovah’s name. The members, the individuals of the nation of Israel, were children of the organization of Israel.—Amos 3:1, AS.

24. What points have been touched upon, and on which one shall we see that which follows?

²⁴ To some extent the foregoing shows Jehovah’s supremacy, his kindly provisions as the Creator, and introduces the matter of his relationship to his creatures as they exist in organizations he has formed. Shall we consider some additional information in his Word concerning this latter point? See that which follows.

Jehovah: Husband, Father and Teacher

“All thy children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.”—Isa. 54:13, AS.

1. Who can best show Jehovah’s relationship to his servants, and how can we grow in appreciation of it?

NONE appreciate the relationship of the true God to his creatures as does Jehovah himself. He can describe it best, and he does so in varied terms that we can understand. By applying ourselves to God’s Word we can grow in appreciation of Jehovah’s relationship to those who serve him.—John 17:15-21, NW.

2. Show the propriety of Jehovah’s terming himself a “husband” to his organization.

² If a man should form an organization, be devoted to its purposes, seek its interests, be faithful to it, look to the welfare of all its members, give it time and attention, rejoice in its productivity, and so be united with it intimately, can it not be properly said that such a person is “married” to that organization? Yes, because, figuratively, “marriage” means just such a close union. It is consistent and in all good taste for Jehovah God to designate himself as a husband to his organization. This may seem strange at first thought; but how would we describe this relationship of close union in a better way? We have in mind the good husbandly arrangement of marriage among Jehovah’s worshipers, as we see God’s own references to himself as a husband, to the nation of natural Israel as an example.

3, 4. In the illustrative case of the nation of Israel, how was Jehovah a husband?

³ How was Jehovah a husband to the nation of Israel? In that he conformed to the illustrative case of the man mentioned in the preceding paragraph. For one thing, toward Israel he was not a husband with many earthly wives. No; to the contrary, he stated to Israel: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” (Amos 3:2, AS) Jehovah was faithful to Israel, but that nation transgressed God’s law and turned away from him, and so we read at Jeremiah 3:14: “Return, O backsliding children, saith Jehovah; for I am a husband unto you.” (AS) Looking ahead prophetically through the years after having cast off the unfaithful “wife”, Israel: “Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith Jehovah.”—Jer. 31:31, 32, AS.

⁴ This relationship and Jehovah’s constancy as a husband and his justification in casting off the nation that became ungodly, turning against him, are shown prophetically by Hosea: “Contend with your mother, contend; for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her whoredoms from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts.” (Hos. 2:2, AS) In verse seven the original husbandship is shown in conjunction with this devastating denunciation of the unfaithful organization Ho 2:7 : “And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.”

5. Give Bible proof that Jehovah is as a husband to his universal organization.

⁵ The relationship of husband is not restricted to the organization of Israel. That nation, long ago cast off, was prophetic of greater, enduring things. “But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.” (Gal. 4:26; Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:11, NW) Surely, Jehovah does hold the universal organization of his creatures as a wife, in loving relationship, and properly designates himself as its husband. Does he identify himself in some further capacity in relationship to his organization and its members? He does.

FATHER

6. What is another capacity in which Jehovah reveals himself?

⁶ A reference to Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition, confirms our general understanding of the meaning of “parent”. It is, as a noun: “one who begets, or brings forth, offspring; a father or a mother; a source; author; also, a cause”; as an adjective: “that constitutes the original source from which something springs or issues; that supports, protects, or controls others as subsidiaries; as, a parent organization.” Could we say that the God who makes the organization and is its husband is also the father of the individuals produced by that organization who become members of it? Yes, and Jehovah reveals himself as the great Father.

7, 8. Who are included as children of Jehovah?

⁷ Those to whom he gives life are his children. An example of this is the Logos. The “Logos”, or the “Word”, is shown to be Jehovah’s direct creation and the active agent of his in the creation of other spirit sons of God as well as of all other things. “Originally the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. This one was originally with God. All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence.”—John 1:1-3, NW.

⁸ Those creatures who are produced through the operation of his organization and are made members of his organization are likewise his children. Examples of such are the spirit sons of God. These angels, cherubim and seraphim, were included in the creations of God through the Logos. Such is true of Adam as well. Luke points this out at chapter 3, verse 38 Lu 3:38 (NW): “ . . . Adam, the son of God.” Not only was the Logos the only-begotten Son, as above mentioned, but being sent to earth as the human babe, Jesus, he is shown to be the “Seed” of God’s organization, which organization was apparently barren of the seed of promise until Jesus was born a man child.—Gal. 3:16, NW.

9. In Israel, who were God’s children?

⁹ The statement of Jeremiah chapter thirty-one, to which previous reference has been made, corroborates the fact that the individual members, individual Jews, in the nation of Israel, were children (in a secondary or typical way) of God, being children of the organization of Israel. “Thus saith Jehovah: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then will I also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith Jehovah.”—Jer 31 Vs. 37, AS.

10. (a) How are members of the body of Christ children of the great Father? (b) What about others who worship Jehovah?

¹⁰ How about Christians? They are children of God in a unique way if they are members of the body of Christ, the anointed Christian congregation: “God sent forth his Son, who was produced out of a woman and who came to be under law, that he might release by purchase those under law, that we in turn might receive the adoption as sons. Now because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into our hearts and it cries out, ‘Abba, Father!’ So, then, you are no longer a slave but a son; and if a son, also an heir through God.” (Gal. 4:4-7, NW) This does not have reference to the fiction of the “universal fatherhood” of God to all the world of mankind, but it is talking about individuals, no longer under the Jewish law covenant that terminated with the death of Jesus as a law covenant arrangement used by God, but who are in the new covenant through Christ Jesus as members of the body of Christ. (Heb. 8:7-13, NW) These are produced by Jehovah’s Word, which leads them to become servants of God, by his spirit, which is God’s power and includes his message as revealed in his Word, and by his righteous organization through Christ Jesus, and they are his children. With all prospects of life resting on God’s provisions, other Christians of good will, associated with those who are in the new covenant, properly address him as their Father, because he is to be their Grandfather through the Everlasting Father, Christ Jesus.—John 10:16, NW; Isa. 9:6, AS.

11. What is here observed relative to barrenness?

¹¹ In the days of the nation of Israel under the law through Moses, it was a cause for sorrow for a wife to have no children. Barrenness brought reproach and distress. This picture embodied in the facts relative to literal wives in Israel also applies to symbolic “wives”, organizations, when they are actually or apparently unfruitful, unproductive of children, without increase and actually or apparently not accomplishing their purpose.

NOW, THE TEACHER!

12, 13. (a) What else is Jehovah toward his people? (b) What are his qualifications, and in whom are they reflected?

¹² In this issue of The Watchtower we have considered Jehovah’s exclusiveness, that he has a name, that there are creatures who uphold his name. We have observed his identification as a great Maker, that, among other things, he creates organizations, and that to his organization he at times represents himself as a Husband and is likewise a great Father of the children of his righteous organization. Now we come to another capacity by which Jehovah shows his relationship to his people: he is the great Teacher.

¹³ Exclusive education belongs to him. He has the qualities of the best teacher. He has all knowledge, knows his purposes, has the interest of his creatures at heart, has complete patience and all ability to teach, and reflects these qualities through the one whom he has appointed as his great representative, the glorified Christ Jesus.—Heb. 1:1-3, NW.

14, 15. To whom has Jehovah given instruction?

¹⁴ He has not withheld proper information from his creatures at any time. To early man God gave his word. He spoke to Adam. (Gen. 1:28, 29; 2:16, 17, AS) “He did not hold back from punishing an ancient world, but kept Noah, a preacher of righteousness, safe with seven others when he brought a deluge upon a world of ungodly people.” (2 Pet. 2:5, NW) It was through Noah that Jehovah accomplished the preaching of righteousness at that time. Jehovah’s word and his spirit and his organization on earth were found in Noah and his family, and Jehovah was the teacher.—Gen. 6:8–9:29, AS.

¹⁵ To his nation of Israel God gave his word and his law, put his spirit upon them, gave them the teaching organization of the priesthood and of the prophets to look to the welfare of the entire organization of the nation. Said Jethro to Moses: “Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God be with thee: be thou for the people to Godward, and bring thou the causes unto God: and thou shalt teach them the statutes and the laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.” (Ex. 18:19, 20, AS) Further: “And God spake all these words, saying.”—Ex. 20:1, AS.

16. How is this shown in the case of Jesus Christ?

¹⁶ His teaching is likewise shown in his dealings with and through Christ Jesus. He gave Christ Jesus his word. Jehovah put his spirit upon him, and in John chapter 12 we read: “However, Jesus cried out and said: ‘He that puts faith in me puts faith, not in me only, but in him also that sent me; and he that beholds me beholds also him that sent me. I have come as a light into the world, in order that everyone putting faith in me may not remain in the darkness. But if anyone hears my sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him, for I came, not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that disregards me and does not receive my sayings has one to judge him. The word which I have spoken is what will judge him in the last day; because I have not spoken out of my own impulse, but the Father himself that sent me has given me a commandment as to what to tell and what to speak. Also I know that his commandment means everlasting life. Therefore the things I speak, just as the Father has told me them, so I speak them.’”—Joh 12 Vss. 44-50, NW.

17. What questions are posed, and what is the sum of their answers?

¹⁷ Here we are in 1953, and the days of Adam, of Noah, the time of the nation of Israel and the earthly ministry of Jesus long years ago are all past. What may be said concerning the teaching of Jehovah, the great Teacher, in this day? Is there anything in the present circumstances respecting God’s instructions for us? In this modern, arrogant, wicked civilization, what can be said concerning the teachings of Jehovah God? Much! And it is summed up in the fact that Jehovah teaches the children of his organization.

18. What corroboration does Isaiah 54:13 give?

¹⁸ The prophet Isaiah expresses it this way: “And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” (Isa. 54:13, AS) A reading of the context surrounding this verse shows that it is spoken to Zion (Jerusalem). Isaiah spoke both of the desolation of Israel and of its restoration. However, it is readily recognized that these words from the 54th chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy find their application and fulfillment, not alone in small-scale doings of old, but more so in the work of Jehovah God at a time long distant from the giving of the prophecy.—Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:11, NW.

19. When and how did Jesus apply Isaiah 54:13?

¹⁹ Jesus himself made an application of Isaiah 54:13, and thereby he takes it out of a Jewish nationalistic setting as far as its fulfillment is concerned. In the sixth chapter of John the account shows Jesus identifying himself as God’s provision for the blessing of those who would serve Jehovah, and the necessity that everyone who would have everlasting life exercise faith in the Son. “Therefore the Jews began to murmur at him because he said: ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven,’ and they began saying: ‘Is this not Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it that now he says, “I have come down from heaven”?’ In answer Jesus said to them: ‘Stop murmuring among yourselves. No man can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him, and I will resurrect him in the last day. It is written in the Prophets, [Isa. 54:13] “And they will all be taught by Jehovah.” Everyone that has heard the Father’s teaching and has learned comes to me. Not that any man has seen the Father, except he who is from God; this one has seen the Father. Most truly I say to you, He that believes has everlasting life.’”—John 6:41-47, NW.

20. Did all accept Jehovah’s teaching through Christ Jesus?

²⁰ This was a shocking message to those Jews who had long made their professed worship of Jehovah God a nationalistic thing. Although natural Jews, if they allowed themselves to be taught of God through Christ Jesus, they would have remained his disciples, or taught ones, even as he stated, at John 8:31, 32 (NW), to the Jews that had believed him: “If you remain in my word, you are really my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” So, in applying Isaiah 54:13, “these things he said as he was teaching in a synagogue at Capernaum. Owing to this many of his disciples went off to the things behind and would no longer walk with him.”—John 6:59, 66, NW.

21. How is exclusive teaching by Jehovah through Christ Jesus and the Christian congregation shown?

²¹ Among other things, this shows a casting off of the unfaithful Jewish organization to whom Jehovah was once a husband, and the exclusive teaching by Jehovah through the Christian congregation of which Christ Jesus was the head. Thus the internal evidence of the 54th chapter of Isaiah itself is conclusively supported by the application that Jesus made showing that the prophecy extends far beyond the bounds of natural Israel alone and that Israel itself was merely representative of things to come. No wonder, then, that the Christian congregation, since earliest beginning, accepted unquestioningly and relied wholeheartedly upon the Hebrew Scriptures, many prophecies of which saw fulfillment in Jesus Christ, in the Christian congregation, and in the dealings of Jehovah God with it.—1 Pet. 1:10-12; 2 Pet. 1:19-21, NW.

22. Does the passing of time weaken the word of prophecy?

²² Isaiah’s prophecy in the 54th chapter was recorded long before the apostle Paul addressed the Christian congregation in Rome, but, instead of weakening the force of the prophecies of old, the passing of the time testified to their preservation by their great Author. Coming out foursquare for God’s revealed word, recognizing Israel as itself prophetic, Paul says gratefully: “For all the things that were written aforetime were written for our instruction, that through our endurance and through the comfort from the Scriptures we might have hope. Now may the God who supplies endurance and comfort grant you to have among yourselves the same mental attitude that Christ Jesus had, that with one accord you may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 15:4-6, NW) We are not left in doubt as to the time and manner of the application and fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 54. The Teacher supplies all needs; his organization produces in his due time!

RULERSHIP IS INVOLVED

23. What great need is recognized in ancient prophecy and Christian hopes?

²³ History and today’s events make obvious the fact that the sanctification of Jehovah’s name, the operation of his righteous Kingdom laws, and the doing of his perfect and holy will, have not been the general order of the day on earth and are not now. No, Jehovah’s worship is not the product of this old system of things, and yet it is no small matter that he has been disregarded by men in general. So paramount in importance is the vindication of Jehovah’s name, with its resultant righteous rule and the blessing of those on the earth who worship him, that it is repeatedly and continually made the subject of Bible prophecy. Not only does Bible prophecy show Jehovah’s purpose to accomplish his will in these matters, but Christians have always made such a subject of prayer, the desire and longing of their hearts being sincerely for the accomplishment of Jehovah’s will. So fundamental are these matters in the life and hopes of a Christian that Christ Jesus embodied them in saying: “You must pray, then, this way: ‘Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will come to pass, as in heaven, also upon earth.’” (Matt. 6:9, 10, NW) When Jesus gave this counsel on prayer more than 630 years had passed since there had been upon the earth even a miniature or small-scale rule of Jehovah God through the theocratic organization of Israel, which was overthrown in 607 B.C. because of unfaithfulness to God.

24. How is rulership involved with Jehovah’s worship?

²⁴ At all times in Jehovah’s dealings with men there is shown the fact that his worship and his rulership are inseparable. That is to say, those who worship God are his subjects; as their God he is their Ruler. Jesus recognized this, and Jesus preached it, doing so upon the foundation of the prophets. Believing what they observed in the law and the prophets concerning the restoration of the Kingdom rule over earth, the personal associates of Jesus looked to him to display kingly power in some way. “While they were listening to these things he spoke in addition an illustration, because he was near Jerusalem and they were imagining that the kingdom of God was going to display itself instantly. Therefore he said: ‘A certain man of noble birth traveled to a distant land to secure kingly power for himself and to return.’”—Luke 19:11, 12, NW.

25. What confidence and what question did the early Christians manifest, and how is this shown?

²⁵ Following his impalement and his being raised from the dead, Jesus for a time had association with his followers: “To these also by many positive proofs he showed himself alive after he had suffered, being seen by them throughout forty days and telling the things about the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:3, NW) There was no question that eventually Jehovah’s worship throughout the earth, and inseparably with this his rule through his Kingdom organization, would be established, but the question was, When? “When, now, they had assembled, they went to asking him: ‘Master, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?’ He said to them: ‘It does not belong to you to get knowledge of the times or seasons which the Father has placed in his own jurisdiction.’” (Acts 1:6, 7, NW) That his associates and followers would come to a clearer understanding of God’s purposes in this regard is assured by his words: “But you will receive power when the holy spirit arrives upon you, and you will be witnesses of me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the most distant part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8, NW) Thereafter Jesus ascended to heaven, and there was left with the early church the promise of his future coming.—Acts 1:11, NW.

26. How did preaching and signs work toward answering the question as to when Jehovah’s worship and rulership would be fully restored?

²⁶ After Jesus’ ascension to heaven God’s spirit of power came upon the members of the early church, and they identified the Christian organization they formed as the instrument that Jehovah was using. This identification was certain through their preaching of the truths of the Kingdom and by means of the signs that they performed by God’s power. The third chapter of Acts gives the account of Peter and John being requested by a lame beggar to give him material help, and Peter’s reply: “Silver and gold I do not possess, but what I do have is what I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk!” (Acts 3:6, NW) The lame man was made well by God’s power, to the surprise and amazement of the people who became aware of the miraculous cure. Then Peter gave a powerful testimony concerning Christ Jesus as God’s agent of life, and the fulfillment of prophecies in him, and said further to those persons: “Repent, therefore, and turn around so as to get your sins blotted out, that seasons of refreshing may come from the person of Jehovah and that he may send forth the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven, indeed, must contain within itself until the times of restoration of all things of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets of old time. In fact, Moses said: ‘Jehovah God will produce for you from among your brothers a prophet like me. You must listen to him according to all the things he speaks to you. Indeed, any soul that does not listen to that Prophet will be completely destroyed from among the people.’ And all the prophets, in fact, from Samuel on and those in succession, just as many as have spoken, have also plainly declared these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God covenanted with your forefathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth will be blessed.’ To you first God, after producing his Servant, sent him forth to bless you by turning each one away from your wicked deeds.” (Acts 3:19-26, NW) Like the seed of the serpent or the children of the Devil, which they were, and, as is their custom at all times, the false religious priests were “annoyed” at the teachings of Peter and John and had them arrested.—Acts 4:1-3, NW.

27. How is time an important factor in connection with the fruitfulness of Jehovah’s “wife”?

²⁷ This powerful entreaty to repentance made by Peter points to Christ Jesus as Jehovah’s appointed one, shows that heaven must contain him until a certain time from then, the time of restoration, and that of these things God spoke through the mouth of his prophets, all the prophets, in fact, including Isaiah. Jesus being a heavenly king, of course, would not and did not establish an earthly kingdom. Time is an important factor, and that is true respecting the fulfillment of Isaiah chapter fifty-four. The time of Jehovah’s rulership is the time for the fruitfulness of his organization and the teaching of Zion’s children; but when? how? by whom? Consider the foregoing, both articles, as a basis for the further pursuit of this subject in our next issue.

Questions From Readers

● Why was it that, according to Leviticus 27:28, 29, no devoted thing, whether man or beast, could be redeemed, but had to be put to death?—G. B., Spain.

Leviticus 27:28, 29 (AS) reads: “Notwithstanding, no devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto Jehovah of all that he hath, whether of man or beast, or of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy unto Jehovah. No one devoted, that shall be devoted from among men, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.” The Hebrew word, hherʹem, that is translated “devoted” in this text, means a thing or person devoted to destruction or sacred use and therefore withheld from any profane use.

For example, a field could be sanctified and later redeemed, but under certain circumstances it became “a field devoted” and no longer redeemable. It became the possession of the priest and was devoted to sacred use. (Lev. 27:20, 21) Animals and men that became devoted in this sense were devoted to destruction and for that reason not redeemable. King Saul was sent to “devote” or “utterly destroy” the Amalekites, but in violation of this “devoting” he spared King Agag, thereby rousing the wrath of Samuel and causing Samuel to fulfill the devoting of Agag by slaying him. (1 Sam. 15:18, 33) At 1 Kings 20:42 it speaks of a man “whom I appointed to utter destruction”, and the margin says a man “of my curse”, but the same Hebrew word elsewhere translated “devote” is used. A similar case is Isaiah 34:5, where it speaks of the people “of my curse”. Sometimes entire cities were to be devoted to destruction, as outlined at Deuteronomy 13:12-17. The destroyers were to take no “cursed” thing from it, or, according to the margin, no “devoted” thing. Jericho was to be such a “cursed” (“devoted,” margin) city, only Rahab and her household being spared. When Achan violated this command by withholding some articles that were devoted to destruction all Israel suffered, until Achan was destroyed. (Josh. 6:17; 7:13) More literal translations, such as Rotherham’s and Young’s, use the word “devoted” in most of the above cases.

There are many other instances where the same Hebrew word is used to mean devoted to destruction, but the foregoing illustrations suffice to show why such devoted things, animals or persons were not redeemable.

● John 9:1-3 (NW) reads: “Now as he was passing along he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him: ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, so that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered: ‘Neither this man sinned nor his parents, but it was in order that the works of God might be made manifest in his case.’” Can these verses be rightly used to indicate either prehuman existence or predestination?—L. A., Alberta, Canada.

Mormons make use of this text in an endeavor to prove prehuman existence, saying that the mere asking of the question by Christ’s disciples shows that they believed it possible for the man to have sinned before birth, in order for him to be punished for those sins by being born blind. These disciples had not been following Jesus very long, and doubtless they had not been completely cleansed of all false religious doctrine by the waters of truth. In this instance, their question undoubtedly reflected their contamination by the pagan teaching of the transmigration of souls, with its view that sins in previous lives determined the kind or condition of the bodies of future reincarnations of a transmigrating, immortal soul.

This pagan teaching of the Greek philosopher Pythagoras could very easily have contaminated these Jewish disciples of Jesus, for a resemblance of it was taught by the Jewish Pharisees. On this point Josephus says: “They also believe that souls have an immortal vigour in them, and that under the earth there will be rewards or punishments, according as they have lived virtuously or viciously in this life; and the latter are to be detained in an everlasting prison, but that the former shall have power to revive and live again.” Also, “They say that all souls are incorruptible, but that the souls of good men only are removed into other bodies, but that the souls of bad men are subject to eternal punishment.”—Antiquities of the Jews, Book XVIII, chapter I, ¶3; Wars of the Jews, Book II, chapter VIII, ¶14.

The premise of the question, that the man might have been able to sin before his birth, is unscriptural. The Bible rules out any possible sinning before birth when it says concerning Esau and Jacob: “When they had not yet been born nor had practiced anything good or vile.” (Rom. 9:11, NW) Jesus corroborated this view in his reply, saying the man had not sinned in any way before birth. For that matter, Jesus also showed that the parents had not sinned in the sense of doing anything wrong that resulted in their babe’s being born blind. All physical imperfections, and certainly blindness from birth is one such, are due to inherited condemnation because of Adamic sin. Imperfect creatures could produce only imperfect offspring. (Ps. 51:5; Matt. 7:16-20; Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:22) Not all calamities befall persons because of some sin they have committed. (Eccl. 9:11; Luke 13:1-5) Yet the Jews of Jesus’ day often thought so. Job was a special target of Satan, but his critics contended his troubles were not due to his integrity but traceable to his sins: “Recall now—who ever perished that was innocent? Or where were the upright cut off? As I have seen, those who plow guilt and sow sorrow reap it.”—Job 1:8-12; 2:3-9; 4:7, 8, AT.

There are some who believe in predestination that use this text to argue that the man’s blindness was ordained by God, in order that through it he would come in contact with Jesus, learn of him, follow him, and thus be brought to the salvation predestined for him before the foundation of the world. They argue thus in view of Jesus’ reply: “It was in order that the works of God might be made manifest in his case.” By these words Jesus was not meaning to set aside or make void the scriptures cited in the previous paragraph that show the cause of such imperfections to be inherited sin from the time of Adam. This case of blindness due to imperfection served as an opportunity to make manifest the works of God, make them manifest to those observing the miraculous cure and also to the man cured. It caused him to become a follower of Christ. (John 9:38) Yet so far as making manifest the works of God, this case was no different from others where the blind saw, the lame walked, the lepers were cleansed, the deaf heard and the dead were raised. All such cases made manifest the works of God, fulfilled prophecy, and were signs that confirmed Jesus as the Christ or Messiah. (Isa. 53:4; Matt. 8:16, 17; 11:2-6) But what real praise would it be to God to make a man blind so that he could heal him later on? Rather than praiseworthy, that would be only the long-delayed righting of a wrong previously committed. It would be as hypocritical as one who sets up a straw man and then in a vain display knocks it down. No, Jehovah God, whose work is perfect, would not intervene to make anything as imperfect as a blind babe.—Deut. 32:4.

Even if he did, it would not be a case of predestination, as that doctrine is defined by its foremost proponents, the Presbyterians. Whether the man could see or not is immaterial to predestination. Predestination strictly relates to final destiny, not to any events or conditions during earthly life. Nor will it do to say the blindness was predestinated in order to bring the man in contact with Jesus, that he might be healed by him and thereafter learn about Christ and follow him and ultimately gain salvation. It cannot be said that the blindness was the means of setting in motion the chain of events that would lead the man to his predestined salvation. This would imply that Jehovah foreknew the chain of events and set the stage for its occurrence by ordaining the man’s birth as a blind babe, all to the end of making the divine predestination work out correctly. But such a view of matters does not mesh with the definition of the doctrine, for its supporters are definite in their contention that the predestination is completely independent of any foreknown or prearranged works or circumstances or conditions or moving causes. So the blindness could not be a condition or cause moving the man toward his destiny, as they say it comes “without any foresight of faith or good works, or perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in the creature, as conditions, or causes moving him thereunto”.—“Confession of Faith,” chapter III, section 5, as found on page 16 of The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.

Hence John 9:1-3 cannot be successfully used to prove either prehuman existence or predestination.

Specialists in Organization

EFFICIENCY! Speed! Results! Those words portray Jehovah’s witnesses in action, especially during convention times. Worldly officials speak in awesome terms when observing the order and smoothness with which the organization operates, and are amazed at the ease with which monumental problems are overcome. It is no simple undertaking to move, house and feed an army of seventy-five to a hundred thousand people, many of these women and little children; but Jehovah’s witnesses have done it, and they are prepared to do it again come July 19-26, 1953, the date set for their next world assembly at Yankee Stadium, in New York city. In fact, the wheels of organization are already being set in motion. Transportation departments are being notified. Railroad, airline, boat, bus and other travel agencies throughout the world are being alerted. Come July, hundreds of information booths with the familiar “JW” stamp will be situated at all key points. Guides will be on hand to direct weary travelers to their rooms. Hundreds more will volunteer to provide the convention with its necessary departments and working facilities. The construction crew alone during the 1950 assembly utilized about 150 workers. The trucking department kept thirty trucks in constant use; in a single night handled 40,000 pounds of groceries three different times. Sanitation department (350 men) moved some fifty truckloads of trash. Over 5,000 attendants managed the largest crowds in Yankee Stadium’s history. The First Aid was staffed with more than twenty doctors of every kind and handled approximately 1,000 patients a day. Carpenters used some 150,000 feet of lumber, while electricians, plumbers, steam-fitters and welders laid sewer, electrical and water lines. A kitchen with twenty-three steam kettles, batteries of ovens, frialators and a number of 15-horsepower meatcutters was installed. This within a minimum of time. No wonder men marveled. Many of these are planning to be at the coming assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses. Are you?

Announcements

GOD’S WAY IS LOVE

Everything Jehovah God does is prompted by love. (1 John 4:16, Knox) Our very existence is an expression of his love. Everything in nature, being made for man’s pleasure, reflects God’s love. In these critical times God is displaying his love toward humankind by giving warning of his coming wrath against wickedness in the earth, so that men who love him may escape. The preaching of the good news concerning God’s provision for salvation increases daily; and those who love God show appreciation for this manifestation of his great love by taking part in preaching the good news to others. To this end, May will be a month for the distribution of booklets: 10 booklets for 15c; 5 booklets for 10c; or 2 booklets for 5c, depending on available supply. A booklet ought to be left in every home where possible. All persons of good will are invited to participate in this booklet distribution. Additionally, if you would like a small tract to prove to others that God’s way is love,’ send for 200 of the tract Hope for the Dead. The cost is only 25c for 200.

A LIBRARY IN MINIATURE

To keep informed on matters of religious worship is the wise course for every person. This is far more important than keeping up with the progress of political affairs, social developments or financial trends, for the matter of worship has a direct bearing on the eternal destiny of every living person today. To aid you in gaining vital information and making right decisions, we invite you to send for the following booklets, which, in fact, compose a miniature library. These are the titles:

Hope

God’s Way Is Love

Religion Reaps the Whirlwind

Evolution versus The New World

Can You Live Forever in Happiness on Earth?

All five booklets will be sent to you, postpaid, for only 10 cents. Should we run short of any particular booklet, a substitution will be made. Simply ask for the packet of five booklets.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

Week of May 24: The Exclusive God.

Week of May 31: Jehovah: Husband, Father and Teacher.