The Watchtower — February 1, 1961

Why Do You Believe the Bible?

DO YOU believe the Bible? To that question no doubt the average reader of these lines will answer, “Yes.” In addition to this, the true Bible believer must be able to give a reason for such faith. Can you?—1 Pet. 3:15.

Of course, the chief reason for believing the Bible is that it is the inspired Word of God. This is not merely something that its friends have attributed to it but is what it claims for itself. “All Scripture is inspired of God,” said the apostle Paul. The apostle Peter wrote that “men spoke from God as they were borne along by holy spirit.” And in particular are Jesus’ words to the point: “Your word is truth.”—2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:21; John 17:17.

The Bible’s very preservation, particularly in the face of all the efforts of its enemies to destroy it, supports its claim to be God’s Word: “The word spoken by Jehovah endures forever.” It has survived the countless public burnings of it since printing was invented, particularly from the burning of many thousands of Tyndale’s New Testament in London between 1525 and 1530, to the Bible burnings that took place in May, 1960, in Coello, Colombia, and Cayey, Puerto Rico. There was a time when to translate or even own a Bible meant death at the stake, as was the fate of Tyndale and his friends. The Bible has also survived all the malicious attacks made upon it ostensibly in the name of reason and science. And not only has it endured, but today it is distributed over a wider area, to a far greater extent and in more languages—1,151—than any other book. All this is just what we should expect from a Book provided by the Creator for all mankind.—1 Pet. 1:25.

A third reason for believing the Bible is that it contains a reliable history of the human race. Higher critics under the leadership of Wellhausen have attacked its historicity from beginning to end, but America’s leading archaeologist speaks of “the total breakdown of Wellhausianism under the impact of our new knowledge of antiquity.” Archaeology has vindicated the Bible in regard to “the record of the Patriarchs, the early poetry of Israel, the contrast of Israelite faith with the Canaanite religion, the Exile and Restoration, and the Gospel of John.” Yes, “archaeological data have . . . demonstrated the substantial originality of the Books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, of Ezra and Nehemiah beyond doubt, they have confirmed the traditional picture of events as well as their order.”—The Bible After Twenty Years of Archaeology, W. F. Albright.

But long before archaeology was thought of, men of faith accepted the Bible’s claims because of the obvious candor of its writers. Only one unduly suspicious, or with a theory to prove, would fail to be impressed by the straightforwardness of the testimony of Bible writers. The mistakes of such faithful men of God as Noah, Moses, David and Peter are there for all to see. As J. Palmer says in his book: “Facts are related with the utmost simplicity. The personality of the writer never appears. There is no sign of passion; no expression of admiration for the Master, or resentment towards His opponents. . . . There is no striving after effect; no attempt at embellishment. Adjectives are rare; adverbs and adverbial phrases are almost absent. There is nought but a bare statement of facts, plain and unvarnished like the evidence of an honest witness in a court of justice.”

Another, a fifth reason, for believing the Bible is found in the prophecies it contains, the fulfillment of which gives the strongest kind of proof that God inspired it and is its Author. It foretold the tragic history of the nation of Israel, its prosperity, its apostasy and adversity. The Bible accurately foretold the rise and fall of one world power after another—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. It foretold the exact year of the Messiah’s coming, where he would be born, the works he would do, his persecution, death and resurrection. It correctly foretold world conditions since 1914. Man cannot foretell even tomorrow’s weather with dependability, but God can and does foretell events thousands of years in advance.—Deut. 28:15-68; Daniel, chaps. 7 to 9; Mic. 5:2; Isaiah, chap. 53; Ps. 16:10; Matthew, chap. 24; 2 Tim. 3:1-5.

Further, is it not reasonable to conclude that the Creator would provide a Guide for men? He has given the lower animals infallible instincts that guide them from birth until death. Does God love his human creatures less than the lower animals? Man cannot go by instincts. Neither can he guide himself, as seen by the degradation of man without a divine Guide. Man is at a loss to know where he came from, why he is here, what his destiny is. Would a loving Creator give man the capacity for asking such questions and then not answer them? Certainly not. Answer them he does, in his Word, the Bible. It tells us about the Creator, Jehovah God, and His Son, Jesus Christ. Its God is revealed as the Maker of all things seen and unseen, the Most High, the One eternal, the Source of life, and perfect in wisdom, justice, love and power. The fact that the Bible thus recommends itself to our reason, our sense of justice, our noblest aspirations, is another, a sixth, reason for believing it.

Space permits mentioning only one more of the many other reasons that might be given for believing the Bible, namely, its high standards and its power for righteousness. Look where we will, without the Bible men engage in animism, worship the sun, animals, sex or ancestors, or have their mythological gods, none of which is a power for righteousness. Pagan religion has been the bane of the Chinese, the Japanese, the Indians and the native Africans. While the Western lands have not faithfully followed the Bible, yet to the extent that they have adopted its principles they have excelled in their jurisprudence, their morality and in their liberty.

The Bible set the nation of Israel far above its contemporaries in times of old, did the same for early Christians and is doing the same for Christians today. Its principles work—a most practical reason for believing the Bible! And by following them we give proof, not only of why and what we believe, but how.

Narrow Gate to Life

Why did the Son of God say: “Few are the ones finding it”? How can you find it?

JESUS CHRIST marked out the way to everlasting life. Declared the Son of God: “Go in through the narrow gate; because broad and spacious is the road leading off into destruction, and many are the ones going in through it; whereas narrow is the gate and cramped the road leading off into life, and few are the ones finding it.”—Matt. 7:13, 14.

It is surprising how often this declaration of the Son of God is overlooked by people professing to be Christians and how many pains have been taken to explain away its meaning. But its meaning stands as a warning today for all who would gain everlasting life in God’s new world, since it was spoken by One who could say: “I am the way and the truth and the life.”—John 14:6.

Why is it that “few are the ones finding” the narrow gate to life? Three reasons explain: (1) It takes diligent effort to find it; (2) Christendom, despite its many religions, has not entered the narrow gate, and (3) the narrow gate leads to the Way of Holiness.

EFFORT AND THOUGHT VITAL

But why should it require diligent effort to go in through the narrow gate? Because everyone is born on the spacious “road leading off into destruction.” We are naturally travelers on the broad highway leading off into destruction, as Paul the apostle of Jesus Christ explained in writing to the Ephesian Christians: “You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you at one time walked according to the system of things of this world . . . Yes, among them we all at one time conducted ourselves in harmony with the desires of our flesh, doing the things the flesh and the thoughts willed, and we were naturally children of wrath even as the rest.”—Eph. 2:1-3.

Note that the apostle says “we all,” before entering the narrow gate, were naturally traveling the road out of harmony with the will of God. Throngs of people make progress on the broad and spacious road with little effort, even while they are spending their time in the pursuit of pleasures or in sleep. So we have to do something to get off the spacious road leading to destruction. If we wish to leave the road we are already on, it must certainly require thought and effort.

Most of the persons traveling the broad road give little thought as to which road they are on, but there are only two roads: One to life and the other to destruction. Since the broad road is fashionable, being thronged by the noble, the rich, the men wise in this world’s wisdom, the travelers on the spacious road have little or no suspicion as to where it leads; and they are often highly incensed at those who warn them of its destination.

Effort is needed if one is to leave the ‘broad road,’ because searching is required to find the narrow gate to life. The narrow gate is somewhat inconspicuous. Advertise the narrow gate? Not this world! Its magazines and newspapers play up the self-seeking, pleasure-pursuing way, advertising the enjoyment and popularity of the spacious road. The narrow gate, then, is not an illuminated gate, brilliantly lit up in multicolored neon signs as at the pleasure resorts and entertainment centers of this world. Searching requires effort, real effort. The Son of God declared: “Exert yourselves vigorously to get in through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will seek to get in but will not be strong enough.”—Luke 13:24.

CHRISTENDOM TAKES THE BROAD ROAD

By joining one of Christendom’s popular religions a person could easily believe he had entered the narrow gate and was on the road to life. But has Christendom entered the narrow gate? Have its popular religions carefully followed the way marked out by Jesus Christ? Have its worldly religions really warned men of the broad road and guided them to the narrow gate? Or have the churches themselves become part of this world, despite Jesus’ declaration, at John 15:19, to his true followers: “You are no part of the world”?

In the book The New Shape of American Religion, Martin E. Marty points out the easy road the churches have taken: “With the erosion of particularity and the blurring of the line between the church and world, the ‘People of God’ has come to be a relatively meaningless conception. Everyone ‘belongs’ with minimal commitment at minimal expense. Success-minded congregations make it all too clear in their solicitation that admission to the church is by handshake with the smiling pastor. . . . Few are asked to take the form of a servant, but all are frequently asked to take a packet of envelopes for financial contributions. No one is religious because everyone is ‘religious.”’

Little wonder that cleric John O. Mellon, minister of the First Presbyterian Church, New York city, recently stated: “Someone has said that the church is the only organization in the world which has a lower entrance requirement than those for getting onto a bus.”—Worcester (Massachusetts) Evening Gazette, January 9, 1959.

The buslike entrance requirements of this world’s popular religions emphasize the fact that those who enter on that road are not the ones of whom Jesus said: “Few are the ones finding it.” Many of the teeming masses that are on the broad road “leading off into destruction” profess to be on the “road leading off into life,” but they fail to do the will of the Father in heaven. (Matt. 7:21-23) Christendom, instead of being an aid to finding the narrow gate, has heightened the difficulty in locating it.

WAY OF HOLINESS

The gate to life is narrow and few there be that find it, because all who enter that gate must travel the highway of holiness. No one can enter the narrow gate and stay on the cramped road to life who does not conform to the standard of holiness set by God. Telling of the “Way of Holiness,” the prophet Isaiah wrote: “There will certainly come to be a highway there, even a way; and the Way of Holiness it will be called. The unclean one will not pass over it. And it will be for the one walking on the way, and the foolish themselves will not wander about in it. No lion will prove to be there, and the rapacious sort of wild beasts will not come up on it. None will be found there.”—Isa. 35:8, 9.

No wonder it is a narrow gate! The unholy practices belonging to this world are not allowed on the road to life, practices such as “fornication, uncleanness, loose conduct, idolatry, practice of spiritism, hatreds, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, contentions, divisions, sects, envies, drunken bouts, revelries.” (Gal. 5:19-21) All who enter the narrow gate must obey the apostolic commandment: “As obedient children, quit being fashioned according to the desires you formerly had in your ignorance, but, in accord with the holy one who called you, do you also become holy yourselves in all your conduct, because it is written: ‘You must be holy, because I am holy.’”—1 Pet. 1:14-16.

Holy conduct is required on the road to life because Jehovah God is holy and he requires life seekers to imitate him in holiness. Being the Originator of the “Way of Holiness,” he does not allow unclean ones to travel this blessed highway. Persons of vicious disposition, of animalistic and beastlike traits “will not pass over it.” They must clean up before they can travel it. The immoral practices of this world cannot be carried on by those who travel the holy way to life.

The holy God Jehovah and his holy will must take first place in the life of those entering the narrow gate. Yes, the holy will of God must guide all the travelers on the highway called the “Way of Holiness,” the road leading off to everlasting life. How clear that this world does not walk in this holy way! Christendom itself has been responsible for the two most bloody wars in all history! Explaining how Christendom’s religions have not pursued the “Way of Holiness,” Stanley J. Rowland writes in his book Land in Search of God:

“God may still be worshiped, but He is no longer the God of Moses and Jeremiah and Christ. He is subtly turned into the god who is always ‘on our side,’ a justifier of the nation and ‘our way of life’ instead of its Judge. The followers of god the justifier believe their nation is always right or believe in ‘my country, right or wrong.’

“Once a people believe this, then anything is justified in the name of the nation. The logical result is Nazi Germany, Buchenwald, the slaughter of anyone who might weaken the nation because he isn’t of the right group or doesn’t think the right thoughts. The gassing of the Jews was justified in the name of national security and policy. There was no judging God, no external standard of morality that compelled a loyalty greater than loyalty to the nation. . . .

“When religion is reduced to a prop for the system or nation it may become exactly what communism calls it—the ‘opiate of the people,’ comforting them but challenging nothing. Stalin’s efficient terrorism was foreshadowed by the wobbly tyranny of the Czars. No prophetic judgment was called down, no social awakening was stimulated by the churches through centuries of Western enlightenment. . . . The rise of nazism and totalitarian communism exposed the true loyalties of the people. . . . There were protests . . . but the people still went along, even though it meant their subjection. But they had no other God, they possessed no higher morality that commanded their loyalty unto death. They had no way out. Whether we have is one question in America today.”

This world is not on the “Way of Holiness,” and none can travel the way to life unless they ‘become holy in all their conduct.’ To do that they must dedicate their lives to the holy God Jehovah, putting his will above their own and above the will of other men, when such will conflicts with the will of God. Said Peter and the other apostles: “We must obey God as ruler rather than men.” Said Jesus: “If anyone wants to come after me, let him disown himself and pick up his torture stake and follow me continually.”—Acts 5:29; Mark 8:34.

The narrow gate leading to the “Way of Holiness” thus is not a way that is inviting to independent-minded people, those who want to do their own will. Being governed by human wisdom rather than divine wisdom, such persons are foolish in God’s eyes, and “the foolish themselves will not wander” on this “Way of Holiness.” It is not inviting to those who want to practice the desires of the flesh. But some men may try to wander about the “Way of Holiness” for the very purpose of unholy conduct, as the Bible foretold: “Certain men have slipped in who have long ago been appointed by the Scriptures to the judgment . . . , ungodly men, turning the undeserved kindness of our God into an excuse for loose conduct.” (Jude 4) Men who put on an appearance of holiness for ulterior reasons do not deceive the guardians of the “Way of Holiness,” for they are angels; and as Jesus said: “The Son of man will send forth his angels, and they will collect out from his kingdom all things that cause stumbling and persons who are doing lawlessness, and they will pitch them into the fiery furnace.”—Matt. 13:41, 42.

AIDING OTHERS TO FIND THE NARROW GATE

Though the world is not illuminating the narrow gate, this gate is being advertised so that life seekers may find the “road leading off into life.” This journal, widely distributed throughout the world by the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses, is an aid to finding the narrow gate. Bible-study aids such as the Watchtower magazine and the book From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained are aiding thousands of persons to find the narrow gate. To help life seekers further, Jehovah’s witnesses spend millions of hours each year in giving free home Bible instruction.

Thus there is an organization of people today that is advertising the narrow gate, helping people of all races, nationalities and religious beliefs to find the narrow gate to life. The organization travels the “Way of Holiness” and aids all who go in through the narrow gate to stay on it. The New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses requires that all those who associate with this organization of Christian witnesses must conform to the standard of holiness set by God. All who will eventually gain everlasting life on earth under God’s kingdom must go over the highway of holiness. Since “the unclean one will not pass over it,” those who make a practice of sin are disfellowshiped. Yet all who sincerely desire to serve God are given every kind of assistance, that they may conform to the holy conduct required by God and that they may stay on the “road leading off into life.”

Take advantage of the helps for locating the narrow gate to life and for pursuing the road that comparatively few of earth’s billions of inhabitants find. It will require time and effort, but the blessedness of traveling the “Way of Holiness” and of reaching its destination is worth it, yes, worth the most strenuous efforts. “Exert yourselves vigorously,” said Jesus, “to get in through the narrow door.”

Christendom Not Salt of the Earth

● “From my standpoint of view I see communism as a phenomenon of consequence caused by the fact that the Christian churches have not been as the salt of the earth according to their great calling,” wrote clergyman Voitto Viro. Jesus said that when salt has lost its strength “it is suitable neither for soil nor for manure. People throw it outside.” Should not this Scriptural principle be applied to Christendom, which it is evident has not been as the salt of the earth?—Luke 14:35.

The Ten Commandments—of God, Not Men

THE Ten Commandments are without doubt the best-known part of the Bible. Jew, Catholic and Protestant are familiar with them. The righteousness and wisdom they manifest testify to their being of superhuman origin. Eloquently they add their testimony to the Bible’s being the Divine Revelation.

“The brevity, comprehensiveness, forcefulness . . . of the Ten Commandments has caused them to stand out from all other teaching.”⁠¹ “No religious document has ever exercised a greater influence on the moral and social life of man than the . . . Decalogue.”⁠² “The commandments . . . in themselves appeal to us as coming from a superhuman divine source, and no conscientious or reasonable man has yet been able to find a flaw in them. Absolutely flawless, negative in terms, but positive in meaning, they easily stand at the head of our whole moral system, and no nation or people can long continue a happy existence in open violation of them.”⁠³ “All the massive bulk of our English and American law may be reduced to a few very grand principles underlying the whole and which were enunciated by Moses.” The Ten Commandments have also been called “the greatest short moral code ever formulated,” and “the idealized model of all law.”⁠⁴

Interestingly, the expression “Ten Commandments” is not found in the Bible. Instead, it speaks of them as the “Ten Words.” (Ex. 34:28; Deut. 4:13; 10:4) In the Septuagint version they are termed the déka, meaning “ten,” and lógoi, meaning “words,” from which we get the name Decalogue for the Ten Commandments. Fittingly there are ten of them, a symbol of completeness. And from the rest of the Scriptures we learn that Jehovah God used angels to transmit them through Moses to the sons of Israel and that it was “God’s finger” that wrote these ten commandments on two tablets of stone.—Acts 7:53; Gal. 3:19; Ex. 31:18.

The Ten Commandments have been the target of Bible critics for many years. J. H. Breasted would have us believe that “the Egyptians possessed a standard of morals far superior to that of the Decalogue, over a thousand years before the Decalogue was written.”⁠⁵ Yet the fact is that the Egyptians “were never able to renounce animal worship or to purge it of its grossness or to cease groveling before their kings or to despise the terrors of death or to think of having done in the grave with the delights of the flesh or to cast off magic.” And all this continued down to the last century before the Common Era.⁠⁶

Particularly since January, 1902, when French archaeologists completed their discovery of the code of Hammurabi, critics of the Bible have endeavored to belittle the Decalogue by claiming that the Israelites borrowed it from this earlier Code, which consists of close to three hundred laws and covers practically every phase of human endeavor. But not so. Even though it may have antedated the Decalogue from 150 to 250 years, there is no basis for concluding that the Decalogue was borrowed from Hammurabi’s Code.⁠⁷ The emphasis of the Decalogue is on the religious, that of the Code on the secular. Says a leading archaeologist: “A comparison of the code of Hammurabi as a whole with the Pentateuchal laws as a whole, while it reveals certain similarities, convinces the student that the laws of the Old Testament are in no essential way dependent upon the Babylonian laws. Such resemblances as there are arose, it seems clear, from a similarity of antecedents and of general intellectual outlook; the striking differences show that there was no direct borrowing.”⁠⁸

JEHOVAH GOD FIRST

The “Ten Words” are stated in incisive, terse language, consisting of but 120 words in the Hebrew text.⁠⁹ They reveal a wisdom and morality far above what fallen man would be able to achieve unaided. Logically, Jehovah God comes first. Yet that is just the opposite of the way worldly-wise men would have written it. University students in listing the commandments in order of importance put first man’s duty to man.⁠¹⁰ But the first is the most important: “You must never have any other gods against my face.” Jehovah God, the One who brought Israel out of Egypt proved himself to be the Almighty God, the Most High, the Supreme Sovereign. He was therefore to have no rivals. The first commandment involved his office, his unique position.—Ex. 20:3.

The second commandment forbade idolatry; it involved Jehovah’s person, his Being; making an idol or representation of him was an affront to the glory of his Personage: “You must not make for yourself a carved image or a form like anything that is in the heavens above or that is on the earth underneath or that is in the waters under the earth. You must not bow down to them nor be induced to serve them, because I Jehovah your God am a God exacting exclusive devotion, bringing punishment for the iniquity of fathers upon sons down to the great-grandsons and great-great-grandsons in the case of those who hate me, but exercising loving-kindness toward thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”—Ex. 20:4-6.

In view of the creature worship in Egypt and the idolatry rampant in Canaan, this law was most vital. The human tendency is to make representations to aid in worship, with the result that the representation rather than God gets the worship. Divine wisdom foresaw that tendency. It is of interest that archaeologists have never found any representation of Jehovah in their diggings. When the Israelites fell from true worship, they made idols of pagan deities and worshiped them.⁠¹¹—Deut. 4:15-20.

Not to be overlooked is the positive element in the second commandment: Jehovah’s loving-kindness is toward those that love him and obey his commandments. The sins of the fathers being visited on their descendants is no injustice but merely the outworking of the inexorable laws of retribution and heredity. Nor is Jehovah a “jealous” (AV) God as humans are jealous, because of selfishness or weakness. No, he requires the “exclusive devotion” of his creatures because that is his due and because rendering it is a safeguard to his creatures. If he failed to require it he would be denying himself as well as manifesting indifference to his creatures’ welfare.

The third commandment reads: “You must not take up the name of Jehovah your God in a worthless way, for Jehovah will not leave the one unpunished who takes up his name in a worthless way.” (Ex 20:7) No doubt the primary purpose of this commandment was to prohibit the name of Jehovah being used in a disrespectful, profane or blasphemous manner. Some who fail to notice the prominence that Jehovah gives to his name throughout his Word question why this should be one of the Ten Commandments. By extension this commandment would also be directed against giving Jehovah lip service, claiming to be one of Jehovah’s people and yet not living up to what is required of such a one. When the nation of Israel became apostate they were in effect taking Jehovah’s name in vain.—Isa. 43:10.

Without parallel in any other ancient code of laws is the fourth commandment: “Remembering the sabbath day to hold it sacred, you are to render service and you must do all your work six days. But the seventh day is a sabbath to Jehovah your God. You must not do any work, you nor your son nor your daughter, your slave man nor your slave girl nor your domestic animal nor your temporary resident who is inside your gates. For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them and he proceeded to rest on the seventh day. That is why Jehovah blessed the sabbath day and proceeded to make it sacred.”—Ex. 20:8-11.

This law, while it reminded the Israelites of the propriety of working, acted primarily as a deterrent to their becoming materialistic. Implicit in it was love of God, love of oneself in a wholesome, proper way, and love of one’s neighbor. The seventh day belonged to God; by not working on it they paid their due, a token, as it were, to Jehovah for everything they were able to procure by working the six days. In a tangible way they thereby acknowledged their Creator, and not only by not working, but by worshiping him on that day: “If in view of the sabbath you will turn back your foot as regards doing your own delights on my holy day, and will actually call the sabbath an exquisite delight as belonging to the Holy One, Jehovah, who is being glorified, and will actually glorify it rather than doing your own ways,” then Jehovah God will bless you.—Isa. 58:13.

Additionally this law looked to the welfare of all living creatures in Israel. One could not even drive himself incessantly, but had to rest one day in seven; also, one’s family, one’s slaves, the foreigner; and not overlooked were the beasts of burden. One and all were to have surcease from wearisome, arduous toil one day in seven. The ancient Romans ridiculed the wastefulness of one day’s rest in seven; the godless French revolutionists tried to introduce the decimal system, one day’s rest in ten, but it did not work. Its value is appreciated by all today, even though few use it to honor God.

HUMAN RELATIONS

The first commandment involved Jehovah God’s position and office, the second his Being or Person, the third his name, the fourth his right, due or tax, as it were. These four are generally listed as relating to God and the remaining six as relating to man, to human relations. The fifth commandment, however, may be said to involve both, in that the parents served as God’s representatives, and in honoring and obeying them one was honoring and obeying Jehovah. It required: “Honor your father and your mother in order that your days may prove long upon the ground that Jehovah your God is giving you.” (Ex. 20:12) This commandment, the only one with a promise, got at the root of matters, thereby preventing juvenile delinquency. The implication, of course, is that the parents were obeying God’s law themselves. Other parts of the law of Moses showed that this law had sanctions, teeth, as it might be said. Flagrant violators of this law were stoned to death. (Deut. 21:18-21) Children who honored and respected their parents would be inclined to be respectful to all their elders and thereby follow the course that would prove most wholesome to themselves.

Coming to the next five commandments, we find that in the Hebrew these are stated most bluntly, as, for example, “You must not murder!” It is only in respect to these that a comparison can be drawn between the Decalogue and the codes of other peoples. But that should not prove surprising. Even Cain recognized that his murdering his brother Abel deserved death. Thus in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, written centuries before the Decalogue, we read of one’s pleading one’s virtue in that one had not murdered, stolen, committed adultery or borne false witness.⁠¹²

The arrangement of these last five commandments is most meaningful, being in order from the greatest to the least harm done to one’s neighbor. Thus the sixth commandment forbids taking the life of one’s neighbor; the seventh, his wife; the eighth, his property. Going from deeds to words, the ninth forbids speaking falsely against him, and the tenth prohibits selfish thoughts against one’s neighbor. This last law is also unique to the Ten Commandments. No man or body of lawmakers ever dreamed of passing a law against coveting. Why not? Because there is no human way of enforcing it. Yet Jehovah made it part of the Decalogue. Why? Because thereby he got at the source or cause of breaking the other commandments involving one’s neighbor, namely, selfishness. And while men could not enforce such a law, Jehovah God in giving it made each one of his people his own spiritual or moral policeman, as it were; made each one accountable to God that he did not desire anything belonging to his neighbor.

Since the Ten Commandments, from beginning to end, both in what they proscribe as well as in their arrangement, clearly demonstrate that Jehovah God alone could be their Author, does this mean that Christians are still bound by them? No, that does not necessarily follow. God can both make and abrogate his laws. The Decalogue, together with about 600 other laws of the Mosaic Law Code, as well as their sanctions such as stoning, was nailed to Jesus’ torture stake by Jehovah God, thereby freeing Christians from the Decalogue. Christians “are not under law but under undeserved kindness.” And in the place of the Decalogue Christians have God’s spirit and love as forces for righteousness. However, the basic principles of the Ten Commandments have not been canceled; they will ever apply. Just how these appear in God’s commandments for Christians we leave for a future issue of this journal to tell.—Rom. 6:14; 13:8-10; Eph. 2:14-16; Col. 2:16, 17.

REFERENCES

¹ Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics.

² The Pentateuch and Haftorahs, Exodus.

³ Moore v. Strickliny (1899).

⁴ Clark’s Biblical Law.

⁵ Ancient Records of Egypt—Breasted.

⁶ The Book of Books: An Introduction—S. Goldman.

⁷ Archaeology and Bible History—Free.

⁸ Archaeology and the Bible—Barton.

⁹ The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia.

¹⁰ Foundations for Reconstruction—E. Trueblood.

¹¹ Journal of Near Eastern Studies—G. E. Wright.

¹² Light from the Ancient Past—Finnegan.

Keep on the Watch as Sons of Light

“For, look! darkness itself will cover the earth, and thick gloom the national groups; but upon you Jehovah will shine forth, and upon you his own glory will be seen.”—Isa. 60:2.

1, 2. Why is there much spiritual darkness in the earth?

MEN today are enthralled by the scientific conquest of the skies. The nations have been alerted to the prospects ahead for the nation that moves the fastest in the technology of the space age. Millions are being spent to put a man in space and bring him back alive. And this is only the start, according to the scientists.

² Yet while scientific vistas are thus opening up, darkness covers the earth concerning God’s purposes. Like an eclipse this dense darkness has moved over the surface of the earth during the past generation, obscuring the vision of many to the real future for the universe. In Communist countries church buildings are not permitted repairs, religious instruction is discouraged and the darkness upon the people gets blacker and blacker; while in noncommunist lands the religious systems permit their people to grope along in the same doctrinal and prophetic obscurity that prevailed during the Dark Ages. It is as though the sun, moon and stars were no longer giving light to the earth.

3. What assurance do those who love the light have?

³ In contrast to this, Jehovah God is letting the light of truth shine brighter and brighter as he reveals his purposes to sincere men and women who look to his Word for enlightenment. To his organization he cries out: “Arise, O woman, shed forth light, for your light has come and upon you the very glory of Jehovah has shone forth. For, look! darkness itself will cover the earth, and thick gloom the national groups; but upon you Jehovah will shine forth, and upon you his own glory will be seen.” Just as the sun seems brighter after an eclipse, so the truth is radiant and clear to those who come out of the darkness now covering the earth.—Isa. 60:1, 2; 2 Cor. 4:4.

SIGN OF CHRIST’S PRESENCE

4. What circumstances make it important to do Jehovah’s will now?

⁴ Yes, it is high time to awake from the gloomy darkness that envelops the old world system, including its religious organizations, and to enjoy the refreshing light of truth. It is already over forty years since the manifold sign of Jesus’ second coming began to be observed with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. The fulfillment of Bible prophecy is now reaching its zenith. This is a day that even the angels looked forward to seeing—Jehovah’s day, when his name will be made known as the eternal God of the universe, and when his will will be done on earth as fully as in heaven. It is no longer the time to be working out the will of the nations, but rather to learn of and do Jehovah’s will.—1 Pet. 4:3.

5. What facts make clear that we are living in the time of the end?

⁵ This is the most important period of man’s history. The limited time God has set for this present world system is rapidly running out, in fact, we are in the time of the end. When a sleeping man hears the ring of the alarm clock he knows that it is time to awake to a new day. This is true today in a spiritual way. The warning alarm that Jesus gave in his prophetic words at Mark 13:29, 30 rings out loud and clear for us now: “Likewise also you, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, at the doors. Truly I say to you that this generation will by no means pass away until all these things happen. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” What things had Jesus so vividly described? “For nation will rise against nation,” he said—an event that has proved true not once but twice as two world wars have ravaged the earth since 1914. “There will be earthquakes”—another evidence, and something over which man has no control, but which Jesus foresaw—and scientists have noted a marked rise in the number of earthquakes as well as in their destructiveness during this generation. “There will be food shortages”; this has already been true, with terrible famines in Asiatic countries in recent decades, and now there is a growing threat from this source with the sharp rise in population of certain countries. But this is not all. As Jesus warned, “These are a beginning of pangs of distress.” Even the close family circle would be divided, “and children will rise in revolt against parents and have them put to death,” an appalling phenomenon of our times as children have turned informer for the state and testified against their freedom-loving parents.—Mark 13:8-12.

6. To what extent is the good news being preached?

⁶ However, there is a good feature of the sign that must not be overlooked: “Also in all the nations the good news has to be preached first.” This is the good news regarding Jesus’ enthronement in the heavens in 1914 and the rapidly approaching end of the space-age troubles as the new heavens and new earth of God’s making take over. In 1960 over 900,000 of Jehovah’s witnesses devoted over 131 million hours in 179 countries to preaching this good news and conducting Bible studies with interested people in unmistakable fulfillment of Jesus’ words.

7. How does Jehovah’s day come?

⁷ In view of the detailed prophecy given in the Bible concerning these times, there is no need for any sincere person to wonder what God is going to do or what the future holds. As Paul wrote: “Now as for the times and the seasons, brothers, you need nothing to be written to you. For you yourselves know quite well that Jehovah’s day is coming exactly as a thief in the night. Whenever it is that they are saying ‘Peace and security!’ then sudden destruction is to be instantly upon them . . . So, then, let us not sleep on as the rest do, but let us stay awake and keep our senses.” (1 Thess. 5:1-6) While no one on earth knows when Christ is going to strike with destructive force against the present system of things, there can be no question about the fact that we are living in the generation of which he spoke. The nations are putting on a powerful campaign for peace. The Russians have proposed disarmament on the one side while Mr. Dwight Eisenhower, when he was president, was hailed by others as the “Prince of Peace.” This should alert us to the imminence of the destruction now coming and show us the wisdom of serving Christ Jesus, the true “Prince of Peace.” Since no one knows just when the fury of Armageddon will strike, now is the time to prepare.

8. Why is it needful to be on the watch?

⁸ As Jesus said: “Keep looking, keep awake, for you do not know when the appointed time is. It is like a man traveling abroad that left his house and gave the authority to his slaves, to each one his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to keep on the watch. Therefore keep on the watch, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether late in the day or at midnight or at cock-crowing or early in the morning, in order that when he arrives suddenly he does not find you sleeping. But what I say to you I say to all, Keep on the watch.” (Mark 13:33-37) In those days the people did not have trains or planes and split-second schedules so the man on a journey could tell his servants he would arrive on the evening train at 5:35. If all went well he might be home sometime in the evening, or it might be the next day or next week. The servants had to keep on the watch. So it should be with the Master’s servants in these days. It is time to be on the watch, ready for the Master’s arrival for the final inspection of this old world at Armageddon.

MAKING A CHOICE FOR LIFE

9. What choice is before each person?

⁹ Sincere students of the Bible looked for centuries for these times. The current unfolding of Bible prophecies is better than any stage or television drama because each one can play a part in it. And the part we play will mean life to ourselves, to our families and to men of good will. It is up to each person to determine his own course in life and the part he will share by keeping awake now and active in the service of the King, Christ Jesus. Our lives are not forced by predestination to follow a set pattern or to end on a day set by fate. As Joshua told the Israelites, it was up to them to choose whom they would serve and to decide on the course of action they would follow. “But as for me and my household, we shall serve Jehovah,” he declared.—Josh. 24:15.

10. What prophetic work is being done?

¹⁰ What way will you choose to follow? Will it be the unpopular narrow way that men of faith have followed? or the broad way of darkness of the old-world majority? Do not say, “There is nothing I can do about it; so what if we are living in the time of the end?” There is something that can be done, and those who are sons of light are not left in ignorance as to what it is; for Amos 3:7, 8 (AS) says: “Surely the Lord Jehovah will do nothing, except he reveal his secret unto his servants the prophets . . . The Lord Jehovah hath spoken; who can but prophesy?” To prophesy is to speak of the future. Even when we say the Lord’s Prayer, “Let your kingdom come. Let your will come to pass, as in heaven, also upon earth,” we are repeating a prophetic prayer. This is the good news that Jesus said his servants would be prophesying about at this time in all the inhabited earth.

11, 12. Should we depend on someone else for religious guidance?

¹¹ Will you have a share in the work Jesus foretold? Each individual has the responsibility to make a choice. He cannot shrug it off by saying, “I let my clergyman care for religious matters.” In Jesus’ time the clergy knew more about the weather than they did about the signs that identified him as the Messiah. They refused to believe the miracles he performed. Likewise today Jesus could well say to the same class of men: “You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but the signs of the times you cannot interpret.” (Matt. 16:3) Therefore, it is well for each person to be alert to follow the right course instead of depending on someone else. Life is at stake.—John 3:9-15.

¹² Some contend that because they were not educated in religious matters they must depend on those who have studied to guide them, just as they depend on a doctor for medical advice. However, this does not hold true with regard to a study of God’s Word. The Scriptures were written so they could be read and understood by all men. Jesus said: “This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.” (John 17:3) He did not say that it would give you life to have someone else take in the knowledge for you; but it is up to each one to learn for himself what God requires of him. Jehovah is teaching his people through his organization. He says: “Listen intently to me . . . Incline your ear and come to me. Listen, and your soul will keep alive.” (Isa. 55:2, 3) The very fact that the limited time for the old system of things is rapidly expiring prevents us from postponing indefinitely taking in this life-giving knowledge. Now is the time to learn God’s purposes for the earth and what he requires of us.

13. Why is new-world education so important?

¹³ Each individual should work hard to gain a personal knowledge of Jehovah God. We have a choice with regard to the education we put first in our lives, whether old-world or new-world education. But if we put Kingdom interests first, as Jesus advised, then we will study the Scriptures and keep up with the advancing understanding of the truth as its light gets brighter and brighter. Today the nations are stressing old-world education to insure the survival of the political systems and to keep the present balance of power, but it is new-world education alone that makes possible the survival of men of faith for everlasting life.

14. How can a person progress to Christian maturity?

¹⁴ At first we may be like little children with regard to understanding the deep things of God’s Word, even though intellectually wise by the standards of old-world education. Like a child, we need to associate with those who can talk the pure language of truth to us, who can answer our Bible questions and show us how to study and find the answers for ourselves. Jehovah’s witnesses render this service for people of all faiths, last year conducting over 646,108 free Bible studies throughout the world for an hour a week. But the study of the Bible is not an end in itself, any more than sending a child to school is its goal in life. The time comes for a child to apply its education and become a productive member of society, supporting itself and its family. So with a student of the Bible who gains faith in God: he takes up the ministry as one of the New World society, teaching the things he has learned to others. He acknowledges Jehovah as his father and Jehovah’s organization as his mother. He becomes awake to the light of God’s law and finds himself on the way of life. (Prov. 6:20) He knows that a student would not advance in school if he did not attend classes regularly and study his assignments well; so if he is going to advance rapidly in Bible knowledge, he finds he must study the material to be considered in the free Bible classes of Jehovah’s witnesses and attend the meetings regularly. In this way he shows he is striving for Christian maturity. He could not do it on his own, as it would be like groping through a dark maze of religious tradition and confusion to find the light; but Jehovah shows us the way and provides those who want to be sons of light with the enlightening course of study they need through the New World society. As one grows to Christian maturity he becomes alert to use the information that he obtains to help others and to advance in his service to God. For with knowledge comes responsibility, and with responsibility comes accountability.

15. What course will give us favorable standing before Jehovah?

¹⁵ It is before Jehovah that each person stands or falls. If we are awake to our responsibilities and show keen interest in the instructions he has given us in his Word, then we will continue standing in his favor. (Rom. 14:4) Many people recognize the truth when it is presented to them but do not want to take on the responsibility that comes with it. They feel they could never do the work of talking to their neighbors about the Bible or teaching others by means of a home Bible study. Actually they show lack of faith in Jehovah as teacher and do not give themselves an opportunity. Even the ant, according to the proverb, though it has no commander, is busy preparing food in the summer. So the proverb writer asks: “How long, you lazy one, will you keep lying down? When will you rise up from your sleep?” (Prov. 6:9) Are you asleep to your privileges when you could be sharing the truth with others, lying down on the job instead of gathering the spiritual food for use in the ministry? We cannot just wait indefinitely to see what will happen. Some tried that course of action in the days before the Flood, but they lost their lives because of their lack of response to the warning and because of not sharing in the work God had given for that time.

16. How can one show himself to be a ‘son of light’?

¹⁶ After coming to an accurate knowledge of the truth, we find there is a work for us to do. Of course, we cannot do the work unless we are alert to the situation and know what is to be done. “But you, brothers, you are not in darkness . . . for you are all sons of light and sons of day.” (1 Thess. 5:4) Thus Paul showed that while men generally may be in the darkness that comes toward the close of the day for this old system, God’s servants would be reflecting the light of the new day of Christ’s kingdom rule. They would not be in darkness with regard to God’s purposes or an understanding of his Word. They would be awake and keep their senses with proper balance by putting the ministry first in their lives. Such ones recognize that their knowledge of the truth gives them a responsibility to aid others; it makes them answerable or accountable to God, under obligation to render to him an accounting for the knowledge they have received. Everyone must answer to God for the way he uses his life, whether to God’s praise, with blessings and happiness for himself and those he ministers to, or foolishly without direction, goal or purpose.

Awake to Our Responsibility

“The son acting with insight is gathering during the summertime; the son acting shamefully is fast asleep during the harvest.”—Prov. 10:5.

1. What purpose in life does every Christian have?

HAVE you ever thought seriously about your purpose in life with relation to God and your responsibility toward your Creator? Many people fall into the routine of earning a living, raising their family and planning for old age, never considering what they might do in God’s service. However, Jesus was awake to do God’s will. He was not content just to settle down and lead a good life as a carpenter and raise a family, for he knew that God required more of him. For his followers he said that they should love God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength and their neighbor as themselves. He did not consider this requirement to serve God wholeheartedly a heavy one, but he called it a light load because it would be done out of intense love that comes from a knowledge of the Creator.

2. How has Christendom failed to help many achieve this goal?

² Many sincere people have a desire to serve God, but they wonder what they can do and how to go about it. Recently a young man expressed the desire to enter the ministry. When his parents talked the matter over with their clergyman they found the educational costs more than they could afford, and so the young man gave up the idea of using his life to serve God. On another occasion a woman well along in life spoke to one of Jehovah’s witnesses saying that she was looking forward to retiring in a few years so that she could spend some time in God’s service. But what about all the years when she might be showing the love she has for God and for her neighbor, years that have been lost because Christendom has taught the people to be hearers rather than doers of the word? Jesus did not go to a religious training school for many years before he took up the service of his heavenly Father, nor is it required of those who follow him today. There is no question that he was a keen student of the Bible, for at the age of twelve he amazed the religious elders at Jerusalem, but he did not find it necessary to follow the traditional course of study of the scribes or Pharisees in order to serve Jehovah.

3. What work that Jesus started can we share in now?

³ What did Christ do that we can do today in God’s service? According to his own words at Luke 4:18, 19, he declared good news to the poor, he preached a release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. By his active preaching work he showed his love both for God and for his neighbor. Should we do less? If a person prays the prayer Jesus taught his disciples, ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,’ he indicates he is looking forward to seeing God’s will done on earth under Christ’s millennial rule. And since you pray for this you should be glad to act on Jesus’ words to his followers: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations.” This is good news that we can declare to spiritually hungry people of every country. By our Kingdom ministry we can release religious captives from the yoke of bondage they have been under, and open the eyes of their understanding to the truth. (Gal. 5:1; Eph. 1:18) Yes, you too can have a share in the preaching work with Jehovah’s witnesses whether you are young or old, man or woman, rich or poor and without regard to racial distinction. Jehovah gives the same work to men of all kinds.

RESPONSIBILITY OF THE MINISTRY

4. How did Paul feel about the ministry?

⁴ Actually, we have a responsibility to share in the ministry. That is the way the apostle Paul felt about it when he said: “If, now, I am declaring the good news, it is no reason for me to boast, for necessity is laid upon me. Really, woe is me if I did not declare the good news! If I perform this willingly, I have a reward; but if I do it against my will, all the same I have a stewardship entrusted to me.” (1 Cor. 9:16, 17) It may be that Paul had in mind how Jesus had applied the words of Isaiah 61:1, 2 to himself and his ministry. Isaiah prophetically said: “The spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me, for the reason that Jehovah has anointed me to tell good news to the meek ones.” Now Paul had also received God’s spirit for the same purpose. He knew that if he was to be a real Christian he had to follow Jesus’ footsteps and do the same work as Christ did. Or he may have been thinking of Jesus’ last instructions to his disciples and how he said: “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.” (Matt. 28:19, 20) There is no doubt Paul recognized that he had a work to do, and this should be especially true of Christians now in the time of the end.

5. What shows that all should share in the ministry?

⁵ But some people object, ‘After all, he was one of the apostles. Today our clergyman does that work, not we!’ They forget that Paul was also a tentmaker. He was a working man just like anyone else. Some of the disciples were fishermen, one a tax collector, one a physician, but that did not keep them from sharing in the ministry and doing preaching at least part time. In fact, all the early Christians shared actively in the ministry, as seen from the account at Acts 8:1-4. It was the time of Stephen’s being stoned to death. “Great persecution arose against the congregation which was in Jerusalem; all except the apostles were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.” Then what did these early Christian men and women do? “However, those who had been scattered went through the land declaring the good news of the word.” They did not say that since the apostles were still in Jerusalem there was nothing they could do but wait until someone could come out and preach to them. Rather, everyone in the congregation was awake to the wonderful opportunity before him in God’s service and so he talked about what he believed to all he met. That was the way Christianity spread, because every believer was using the time to make disciples of people of all nations, teaching them and then baptizing them. Today you may be employed as a clerk or a carpenter or a taxi driver, but the question is, Are you a Christian? If so, you have a work to do to show yourself a Christian in deed and not in name only.

SHOWING CHRISTIAN LOVE

6. What are some requirements for an awake minister?

⁶ There is no question that a person who wants to be found in good standing before God must bring honor to God by his personal conduct. Paul emphasized that at Romans 13:8-14. He stressed love to our fellow man, showing that this was fulfillment of the Law, because one would not commit adultery, murder, steal, covet or work evil to one’s neighbor if he had proper love for his neighbor. One who does such things is asleep to what God requires of him. Paul wrote: “It is already the hour for you to awake from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than at the time when we became believers. The night is well along; the day has drawn near. Let us therefore put off the works belonging to darkness and let us put on the weapons of the light. As in the daytime let us walk in good behavior, not in revelries and drunken bouts, not in illicit intercourse and loose conduct, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not be planning ahead for the desires of the flesh.” If we always conduct ourselves with love and as if in broad daylight in the view of all men, then we will never have cause for regret. The spiritual darkness that covers the old world and its shady deals and loose conduct has encouraged a rising tide of delinquency. A Christian must shun such things by equipping himself with the weapons of the light. Paul referred to some of these: “But as for us who belong to the day, let us keep our senses and have on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet the hope of salvation; because God assigned us, not to wrath, but to the acquiring of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”—1 Thess. 5:8, 9.

7. How can a person weak in faith be strengthened?

⁷ This breastplate of faith and the hope we have of salvation are acquired over a period of time. At first our faith and hope may be weak. But by study of the Bible and by association with mature Christian brothers they are built up and reinforced; we come to understand that God does not have many ways for salvation, but one, through Jesus Christ, and that we can help others realize this by using the spiritual weapons of light. Our responsibility to God is greater than just leading a good life, living and letting live, doing no harm. Many people who have no faith in Jehovah God or Christ Jesus see the wisdom in a high code of morality and ethics, but they are not awake to God’s service. We should be interested in what God requires of us, learning what he wants us to learn, doing what he wants us to do, and thus living up to our responsibility to serve the One who has given us life. The more we study the Bible the greater appreciation we come to have of the fact that we can do something to serve Jehovah and thus show our love for him with exclusive devotion.—Eph. 5:3-14.

8. Why and how should neighbor love be shown?

⁸ Showing love for our neighbor is part of our service to God. It comes naturally for most men if they see someone in danger to want to warn him of the danger or do what can be done to save him. This is actually what we are doing when we share in the Kingdom ministry. Since we recognize the sign of the Master’s presence in the distressing world calamities of recent years and as we share in the preaching of the good news world-wide before the complete end comes upon this old system at Armageddon, we are helping others escape on the road to safety. Having a knowledge of these truths and a love for God, do you still hold back from sharing your knowledge with others? The person who eagerly shares the truth and who is moved by God’s spirit in active preaching is a happy, spiritually awake person. He lives Paul’s words: “Always be rejoicing. Pray incessantly. In connection with everything give thanks. For this is the will of God in union with Christ Jesus respecting you. Do not put out the fire of the spirit.”—1 Thess. 5:16-19.

9. What keeps some from obtaining spiritual treasures?

⁹ Achan is an example of a man who did not show love for neighbor but, instead, put his own interests first. Because he went contrary to what he knew God required of him by stealing “the silver and the garment and the bar of gold” for personal use, Jehovah’s favor was withdrawn from the army of Israel and it was defeated in battle by the men of Ai. (Josh. 7:1-23) Some follow a similar course today, trying to hoard the riches of the present world and thus becoming slaves to materialism. They begin planning ahead for the desires of the flesh instead of putting their heart into the spiritual warfare and working to maintain Jehovah’s favor. They devote more and more time and energy to secular work to get more grain in their barns and gold in their bank vaults. As a result they cannot share regularly in the ministry; they miss meetings and cannot find time to study and qualify thus as servants in the congregation; and finally they find they have lost out in the spiritual warfare and perhaps caused loss of life for their families as well. They forget that the treasures they are saving will one day be thrown into the streets. The real treasure, which they ignore, is found in serving Jehovah and helping people of good will understand the truth.

10. Why ought we to be teachers?

¹⁰ That is why Paul said: “Indeed, although you ought to be teachers in view of the time, you again need someone to teach you from the beginning.” (Heb. 5:12) This is the teaching work that Jesus stressed for making disciples of people of all nations. If you feel as though Paul is speaking to you because you know the Bible truths but have not been teaching someone else, then try starting a study of the Bible with your own family or with your friends. Select one of the Society’s many helpful aids to study with, such as “This Good News of the Kingdom,” “Let God Be True” or From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained. Consider the questions on each paragraph and read and discuss the scriptures mentioned. You will find that this is the best way to learn yourself, by trying to explain to another person and teach him. You will have to study well to be prepared, but you can do it if you are willing. Accept the responsibility to help those of good will who also have a love for truth. Remember that the harvest is great and the workers are few. You can help too, and in this way you will be living up to your responsibility both to God and to your neighbor.—Matt. 9:37, 38.

11. Who let their light shine?

¹¹ Jesus stressed the need to keep awake to pure worship and to let the light of truth shine, in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. (Matt. 25:1-12) He foresaw the faithful slave class who would be letting the light of truth shine and who would be alert to the time of the bridegroom’s coming to the temple for judgment in 1918. Their lamps were full of the oil of happiness that comes in Jehovah’s service. On another occasion Jesus said that his servants would be the light of the world. It is this light of truth that now helps thousands of people of good will every year to get free from the darkness that shrouds the teachings of false religion. But speaking of the religious leaders of his day, Jesus referred to their bedarkened condition as blindness, saying: “Blind guides is what they are. If, then, a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”—Matt. 15:14.

12. Is any kind of faith all right, or what is necessary for salvation?

¹² Even so, many people believe that it is not important whether they follow one belief or another as long as they have faith in something. That is like saying that when a person is dying of an incurable disease it does not matter what remedy he tries or what doctor he goes to, just as long as he does something. Even though he dies, they imply that the important thing is that he tried and that he had faith in his doctor. But what counts is, Did he recover? The same is true with religion. The important thing is not that you have some kind of faith, but, Will you gain life? Romans 10:2 says: “For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God; but not according to accurate knowledge.” Isaiah spoke strongly against false worship, referring to the false guides as sleeping dogs, “shepherds that cannot understand.” (Isa. 56:10, 11, AS) In this time of the end they still do not sound the warning. They try to patch up the ills of the world by praying for political efforts like the United Nations instead of telling their flocks that God’s kingdom is the only hope. Instead of being asleep ourselves, let us be on the watch and give the warning. You can do as Paul said: “For if you publicly declare that ‘word in your mouth’, that Jesus is Lord, and exercise faith in your heart that God raised him up from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one exercises faith for righteousness, but with the mouth one makes public declaration for salvation . . . For ‘everyone that calls upon the name of Jehovah will be saved’.”—Rom. 10:9, 10, 13.

DEDICATION BRINGS RESPONSIBILITY

13. What should dedication mean to a Christian?

¹³ If we exercise faith in our heart, then we will be moved to action to demonstrate our faith. We will take the same step that Jesus did in dedicating our lives to Jehovah God and become active in the ministry, making public declaration of the Word. This should not be an emotional decision, but one based on accurate knowledge. It should be because of our love for God and our desire to serve our Creator. When we dedicate our lives to Jehovah God we are making a vow to serve him for life; so dedication brings responsibility just as knowledge does. It is true that not everyone is able to respond to the same extent to the privilege of serving God. Some have family responsibilities, others are not in good health, age slows some, but everyone who enjoys the gift of life can do something. (Ps. 115:17, 18) Having this in mind, Jesus gave the illustration of the talents. The master gave his belongings to his servants to care for during his absence: one was given five talents, one was given two and the third slave was given one talent. They used what was entrusted to them wisely, except the third slave, who buried his talent so as not to lose it. Because of his negligence it was taken away from him and given to one of those who used his wisely.—Matt. 25:14-30.

14. How can one increase his Kingdom interests?

¹⁴ Today each dedicated Christian has certain Kingdom interests that he can care for. While the Kingdom talents or belongings of the Master have been committed to the spiritual remnant, all servants of God have the opportunity of using the knowledge and service prospects they receive wisely. What do you do with your talents? Are you burying them, or are you using them and thereby receiving the joy that comes with Jehovah’s blessing? Jesus summarized this by showing that the really happy ones are the alert ones, the active ones, those who keep awake to their responsibilities. “For to everyone that has, more will be given and he will have abundance; but as for him that does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” (Matt. 25:29) So let us use, increase and treasure our privileges of Kingdom service.

15. What illustration shows the need for wakefulness?

¹⁵ Since our Kingdom ministry is a trust from God, we must be alert to safeguard it. If you were given a large sum of money to take to the bank for your employer, you certainly would not feel like sleeping on the park bench on the way. You would be alert, on guard, to make sure nothing went wrong for which you would be held accountable. That is just how we should feel about the trust of our Christian ministry. It involves the loss, not just of a sum of money, but of life. Jesus gave an illustration on the need for alertness at Revelation 16:15, when he said: “Look! I am coming as a thief. Happy is the one that stays awake and keeps his outer garments, that he may not walk naked and people look upon his parts of shame.” It was the custom in the days of Israel for the priests and Levites to keep watch at the temple at night to guard against robbery or intruders. Any who were caught asleep when the Officer of the Temple Mount made the rounds to see that all was well were stripped and beaten. Those priests and Levites pictured the priestly class, the 144,000, of whom a remnant serve as watchmen for the spiritual temple today. So the warning is well taken, not only by them but also by those who serve as companions with them in the ministry, not to be found in neglect of duty or sleeping on the job lest they be stripped of the privilege of service they enjoy as Jehovah’s witnesses by the temple inspector, Christ Jesus.

16. What experience did the disciples have?

¹⁶ Do not say it would never happen to you. Something similar happened even to the disciples, not once, but three times! It was the evening before Jesus’ death when he went to the spot called Gethsemane to pray. As he continued praying the disciples went to sleep. Then Jesus said to Peter: “Could you men not so much as watch one hour with me? Keep on the watch and praying, that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit, of course, is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Jesus was not making excuses for the disciples, but he knew they were tired. No doubt if they had fully understood the events about to take place, the account would not show that the second time he “found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.” But even the third time when he returned from praying Jesus had to tell them: “At such a time as this you are sleeping and taking your rest! Look! the hour has drawn near for the Son of man to be betrayed into the hands of sinners.” (Matt. 26:40-45) Peter must have learned his lesson well, because later he gave similar counsel to keep awake, saying: “Keep your senses, be watchful. Your adversary, the Devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking to devour someone.”—1 Pet. 5:8.

17. How can this experience help us?

¹⁷ While the disciples were not stripped of their privileges of service on this occasion, they must have afterward keenly regretted that they were not alert with Jesus during his last hours. It serves as a good warning to us to be doubly alert in this time of the end not to be similarly rebuked or even lose our service privileges. So do not be found asleep at home when the brothers are meeting together at the Kingdom Hall for prayer or study. Perhaps someone will have to counsel you just as Jesus did the disciples. (Ps. 13:3) Instead let us safeguard the wonderful trust we have from Jehovah by continuing to study and meet together and to share in the service to which we have been assigned.—1 Thess. 5:21, 22.

FAMILY AND CONGREGATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

18. What can parents do to aid their children spiritually?

¹⁸ A part of every Christian parent’s responsibility is to look well to the spiritual interests of his family. All loving parents feel a deep responsibility toward their children. Day and night they are alert to their needs. They care for them patiently through their early years, feed them, clothe them, teach them and help them grow to maturity until they can fend for themselves. In addition to supplying the material things necessary for life, the wise parents will also give much thought to the spiritual interests of their children to help them learn of their Creator and the privilege of serving him. (Eph. 6:4) If the parents take the lead in this by reading the Bible to the children, studying with them, taking them along to meetings and out in Kingdom service, then the children delight to follow. (Prov. 22:6) This Bible training is so important for the child’s spiritual well-being that the parents should never leave the responsibility of instructing the youth to someone else. Just as a servant in the congregation of the New World society has a responsibility to the congregation to lead it and assist it spiritually, so parents have with their families. Parents are the overseers or servants of the family unit. A wise father will take the lead in his family’s religious instruction. Are you awake to this responsibility?

19. How can parents teach their children, and why is it so important?

¹⁹ Teaching the children the purposes of Jehovah God should not be postponed until the weekly sabbath, but it should be a morning, noon and night responsibility every day of the week. The Bible counsel on this is recorded at Deuteronomy 6:5-7: “And you must love Jehovah your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your vital force. And these words that I am commanding you today must prove to be on your heart, and you must inculcate them in your son and speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up.” If God’s commands are in your heart, then you will be able to teach them to your children. But you cannot teach them something you do not know yourself, or tell them to do something that you will not do and hope to get good results. Remember how Noah took the lead in the work of building the ark. He got right to work on the job with his sons helping him. You can do the same for your family by seeing that they get a good, solid foundation knowledge of the truth by personal instruction, by your taking the lead in service and by encouraging them to enter the pioneer ministry. Remember that your family will have to be ready for final inspection of the Chief Temple Inspector; so follow Jesus’ instruction and “keep on the watch” by keeping your family alert to the truth and advancing in the service.

20. What are some of the responsibilities of a Christian servant?

²⁰ The family head who shows appreciation of his responsibility toward his family by taking the lead and exercising proper Christian headship shows he is ready for privileges of service as a servant in the Christian congregation. In such a case, not only the welfare of a little family is involved, but the interests of a congregation. So servants particularly have a responsibility to keep spiritually awake. Their appointment by holy spirit makes them accountable to Jehovah. The servants are not left without help in guiding the flock and protecting it. They have Jehovah’s Word to direct the theocratic handling of matters and his organization to counsel and assist them. (Isa. 50:4) Servants should be found to be blameless and without reason for reproach by people on the outside. Like the kings of Israel who read from the law of God daily, so those appointed as overseers or servants among God’s people today should really know the Bible. They should share the truth freely with others, letting the light shine forth for all to see, like a star giving out light. Like a good shepherd who is alert to seek out strays, a servant observes not just those present at meetings but also those missing so that they can be visited and helped. A good servant knows the flock is God’s heritage and he treats it as a trust from Jehovah.—1 Thess. 5:14, 15.

21. What events make us alert, and what counsel is given?

²¹ As the spiritual cloud that envelops the earth gets darker and darker, now is the time to come out to the light enjoyed by the New World society. This light of truth has been getting brighter and brighter since Christ’s heavenly enthronement in 1914. Jehovah God and Christ Jesus, “the kings from the rising of the sun,” are preparing to gather the nations to the great battle of Armageddon. There will be no neutral position in that battle, no place to hide. All the Scriptural evidence from Jesus’ detailed sign of the times is just like a divine alarm ringing loud and clear for our warning and protection. (Joel 3:12-17) Now is no time to get wearied from years of well-doing or slowed down by the burdens of life. Remember, instead, Jesus’ warning at Luke 21:34, 35: “Pay attention to yourselves that your hearts never become weighed down with overeating and heavy drinking and anxieties of life, and suddenly that day be instantly upon you as a snare. For it will come in upon all those dwelling upon the face of the earth.”

22. What can spiritually awake persons look forward to?

²² Do not let anything keep you from entering the open door to service of Jehovah God. Show Jehovah you appreciate the urgency of the times, that you have love for him and the truth you have learned. Share it with your neighbors by working whole-souled in the Kingdom ministry. This is a work that will end; so enjoy it now. (Jer. 31:34) Keep spiritually awake to avoid going down with the nations into destruction at Armageddon. Be among the happy ones, awake to the times, alert to the opportunity to serve with your family and with the congregation as a part of Jehovah’s organization. Then you too will gain Jehovah’s approval and life in the new world after Christ makes his Armageddon inspection. This is the happy future for men of faith.

Not for the Churches

● Writing in The Christian Century of April 30, 1958, Simeon Stylites tells of a speech once given by Methodist bishop Francis J. McConnell: “His subject was what would happen if the prophet Amos came up for appointment at a Methodist annual conference. . . . He staged . . . a conference cabinet meeting with the district superintendents. . . . One by one they shed bitter tears, vowing undying admiration for the prophet Amos, and explaining why they could not give him a church in their districts.

● “The superintendent of the North district said in a faltering voice . . . : ‘You all know how I love and admire Brother Amos. . . . But he doesn’t have enough tact for Grace Church. He just blurts out his ideas with no suavity at all, and Grace Church folks need a lot of suavity. They are in a building campaign. If only Brother Amos would raise fewer controversial issues and more money he would get on better. . . . ’

● “Then the superintendent of the West district opened up. ‘I too have loved Brother Amos,’ he said. ‘I have been deeply moved by many of his sermons. I would love to put him at Trinity Church. But he is just not eloquent enough. It has been a great preaching place. . . . Brother Amos is a plain blunt man who speaks straight on. He doesn’t have the literary touch or the oratorical lift the people of Trinity are used to. I’m sorry.”’

“Greet One Another”

HOW different the New World society is from the cold and loveless old world! Each worldling looks out for his own interests and cares not how his neighbor fares. Each distrusts and envies his neighbor even though the two may belong to the same family, church, lodge or labor union. But is not that just what we should expect with men “having no natural affection” and being “lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God”?

No wonder there is no unity in the world! In striking contrast thereto stands the New World society, which has unity and the things that make for unity. In fact, time and again men of good will toward God are drawn to the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses because of the warmth and love displayed by its members. That is the way it should be, for they are Christians and Jesus said regarding his followers: “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.”—John 13:34, 35.

There are many ways of showing love, and especially in times of stress and adversity do we show it. But are we equally as thoughtful and concerned about expressing love in all our weekly associations at the congregation meetings and our various assemblies; or could it be that here we might “keep on doing it more fully”?—1 Thess. 4:1.

For example, the matter of greeting one another. The Christian Greek Scripture writers must have thought it important, for greetings are mentioned upward of fifty times and in over half of the books. In the last chapter of Romans alone some thirty-five persons are either sent greetings or send them, in addition to several households and congregations.

A cheery greeting is a simple thing and yet it makes for happiness because it is an expression of thoughtfulness and love. It may merely be: “Glad to see you! How are you?” or something can be added such as, “Had any interesting experiences recently?” or something of a more personal nature, depending upon our familiarity with the brother. Or perhaps we have had or heard an interesting experience that we can relate. A greeting can also be coupled with an upbuilding comment on the spiritual food that has been enjoyed.

No doubt all in the New World society do extend greetings—but to whom? Are we prone to get into a thoughtless habit of greeting the same ones at each meeting, perhaps those with whom we have a little more in common, such as being of the same age, race, nationality? Or it may be that similarity in spiritual maturity or in service positions causes us always to greet certain ones and to overlook others.

Most likely we have learned to take an interest in the stranger, or those of good will who are beginning to associate with us, and in particular if they should happen to be the ones with whom we are studying the Bible. But what about the rest? Some of these may be helped by a friendly greeting even more than a stranger.

BEING THOUGHTFUL

In this matter of extending greetings of welcome the principle Jesus enunciated relative to feasts would apply: “When you spread a dinner or evening meal, do not call your friends” and relatives. “But when you spread a feast, invite poor people, crippled, lame, blind.” Yes, we should show loving consideration for all. “If you greet your brothers only,” that is, if you follow the line of least resistance or natural inclination, “what extraordinary thing are you doing?”—Luke 14:12, 13; Matt. 5:47.

So let us come to our congregational meetings with the resolve to take notice of all our brothers. This would certainly include those poor in this world’s goods. Let us exercise care that we do not come under the censure that James directed toward certain ones in his day because they slighted the poor while being attentive to the rich!—Jas. 2:1-9.

Therefore, instead of greeting only certain ones at each meeting, let us seek out the weak: “We, though, who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those not strong, and not to be pleasing ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor in what is good for his upbuilding.” Since each Christian congregation is like the human body, ‘where each member is indebted to all the rest,’ all “the members should have the same care for one another,” remembering that “if one member suffers, all the other members suffer with it.”—Rom. 15:1, 2; 1 Cor. 12:12-26.

Do we see an older brother or sister sitting alone? Instead of waiting for him to come to us, let us go to him, greet him and show that we appreciate having him in our midst.—Prov. 16:31.

Nor may we overlook the young folks. By taking note of a young child we encourage it in the way of righteousness. As Jesus himself said: “Let the young children come to me and do not try to stop them. For the kingdom of God belongs to such kind of persons.” Jesus’ apostles thought that their Master could not be bothered with children, but how mistaken they were!—Luke 18:16.

Especially if we sense that a brother or sister is lonely or depressed should we make it a point to speak to that one. He may be bearing a burden that we can lighten; our very interest will make him feel better. Yes, “go on carrying the burdens of one another, and thus fulfill the law of the Christ.” “Speak comfortingly to the depressed souls, support the weak.”—Gal. 6:2; 1 Thess. 5:14.

THE REWARDS

Rich will be the rewards if we heed the Scriptural advice as to our greeting one another. Certainly thereby we cause “many expressions of thanks to God” to arise on the part of those in whom we take interest. They will be made stronger and happier, for the two go together: “The joy of Jehovah is your stronghold.” Further, thereby the unity of the New World society is strengthened, the unity that is so essential now in this divisive world. We will be “harmoniously joined together” as each one “gives what is needed.”—2 Cor. 9:12; Neh. 8:10; Eph. 4:16.

Our own personal reward will be great also, even now. If we ‘do not just look out for our own interests,’ if ‘we keep seeking, not our own advantage, but that of the other person,’ if ‘we keep an eye, not in personal interest on just our own matters, but also in personal interest upon those of others,’ then we will appreciate to the full such promises as these: “The generous soul will itself be made fat, and the one freely watering others will himself also be freely watered.” “There is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving.” So make it a point to “greet one another.”—1 Cor. 13:5; 10:24; Phil. 2:4; Prov. 11:25; Acts 20:35.

Attend One of the 1961 Assemblies!

ATTENDANCE at one of the 1961 assemblies is indeed a must for all dedicated Christian witnesses of Jehovah. At present twelve of these have been scheduled for the United States, Canada and Europe. Without doubt every Witness attending one of these assemblies will come away saying: “This certainly was the best assembly ever! I wouldn’t have believed that it could be that good!” Yes, Jehovah through his organization has in store marvelous blessings for all who will be present at the 1961 assemblies!

At these assemblies we shall enjoy “a banquet of well-oiled dishes, a banquet of wine kept on the dregs, of well-oiled dishes filled with marrow, of wine kept on the dregs, filtered,” and that for six days! Apart from the world, in our new system of things, we shall work together joyfully, harmoniously, zealously and unselfishly—a foretaste of Kingdom blessings we shall enjoy in the post-Armageddon paradisaic new world.—Isa. 25:6.

The first of these assemblies will be held at Yankee Stadium, New York city, June 20 to 25. No doubt brothers will be present from all parts of the United States and Canada—there will be room for them!—and on the program will be the zone and branch servants from all the rest of the Americas, making this assembly a Western Hemispheric one.

The following week a similar six-day assembly will be held from June 27 to July 2 at Houston, Texas, where sessions will also be held in Spanish. And the week after that, July 4 to 9, the assembly program will be repeated at Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Would any brother or sister want to stay away? Absolutely not!

During the following four weeks assemblies will be held in Europe, six of them; the first being in Copenhagen, Denmark, July 11 to 16. There we should like to see as many as possible so as to make the Danes, who so studiously have been ignoring the Kingdom message for some time now, sit up and take notice! At this assembly talks will be given simultaneously in five languages: Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Danish and English.

Two European assemblies will take place the following week, July 18 to 23. One of these will be in northern Germany, at Hamburg, and the other in Turin (Torino), Italy, in the country’s northwestern part. Those attending the Hamburg assembly can look forward to meeting brothers from all Germany as well as from Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg.

London, England, will be the location of the next assembly, from July 25 to 30. Present and on the program here will be the zone and branch servants from Europe and the Mediterranean area. Certainly all those coming to this assembly will look forward with joy also to seeing the beautiful new branch building in its paradisaic “Green Belt” setting.

The fourth and final week of European assemblies will see two held, one in Paris, France, and one in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, August 1-6. At Paris talks will also be given in Spanish, as well as in English and French, for the benefit of the many brothers that are expected to be present from Spain. This will furnish a marvelous opportunity for many brothers from Belgium and French-speaking Switzerland and other lands to meet these hard-working soldiers of Christ who are maintaining integrity under such adverse conditions as they find themselves. The Amsterdam assembly will also include the Flemish-speaking folk from Belgium.

Arrangements are being made to hold three post-European assemblies in the United States: on August 8-13 at Oklahoma City, Okla.; August 29—September 3 at San Francisco, Calif.; and, tentatively, August 22-27, at Milwaukee, Wis. So assembly cities are conveniently located for everyone.

While every day sees the old world more confused, distressed and impoverished, joy, peace and prosperity pervade the New World society. Among our choicest blessings certainly are those received at our assemblies. Let us begin right now, if we have not already done so, to think, plan, work and save for these assemblies. Also, let us make the persons of good will with whom we are conducting Bible studies assembly-conscious and arrange, if we can, to help them to attend. The more effort we put forth to attend, the keener our anticipation is and the greater will be our blessings, the realization. In this troubled world, tottering so near the brink of another total war, and Armageddon, who knows when we shall be able to enjoy further such assemblies? So, by all means attend one of the 1961 assemblies!

Safeguard Thinking Ability for the Ministry

WHAT is the greatest privilege a human can receive? That of the Christian ministry. To discharge this sacred trust wisely and faithfully, to be able to work out its details in our daily lives, we need practical wisdom and thinking ability. Hence the wise king’s command that we safeguard these.—Prov. 3:21.a

Thinking ability consists of five basic mental processes: (1) taking in knowledge of certain facts and principles; (2) analyzing, comparing and associating the various facets of this knowledge with one another; (3) drawing conclusions from such discerning study; (4) storing them up in the memory for future use; (5) drawing on such knowledge for practical application to the work at hand.

The first essential for developing our thinking ability is to take in knowledge from God’s Word. “When wisdom enters into your heart and knowledge itself becomes pleasant to your very soul, thinking ability itself will keep guard over you, discernment itself will safeguard you, to deliver you from the bad way.” (Prov. 2:10-12; 1:7) The world, in its independent thinking, ignores God and his purposes for man as though he were not the Creator. That is as unrealistic as for an aviator to ignore the law of gravity. It simply “does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step.”—Jer. 10:23.

For us to have the knowledge needed for our ministry we must be eager to learn. “Keep seeking for it as for silver.” Analyze what you learn; be sure you understand it.—Prov. 2:4.

Correct thinking also requires us to get the sense of knowledge, drawing conclusions as to its application in our own life. So be awake, alert and “pay attention to how you listen.”—Luke 8:18.

Particularly is it imperative that we retain what we take in. Observe accurately and vividly events and illustrations; make them live. Impress principles and abstract ideas upon your mind by means of association. By meditation and by talking to others, at home, at meetings and in the field ministry, we will be arousing our “clear thinking faculties by way of a reminder.”—2 Pet. 3:1, 2.

When you take in knowledge do not fail to put it to practical use. If we want to be able to do that we may not wait until faced with a problem. We must make it a habit to think soundly and decisively beforehand. As we read of the faithful course taken by one, we should weigh the principles involved and determine then and there to take the same course under such circumstances.—Jas. 5:11.

In the light of fulfilled Bible prophecy our ministry assumes an ever greater importance and urgency. The increasing of lawlessness makes integrity-keeping ever more difficult. Jehovah God has given us both the ministry and our thinking ability. Let us show appreciation of these by safeguarding our thinking ability for the ministry.

[Footnotes]

Questions From Readers

● A man divorces his wife on unscriptural grounds. After the divorce is granted it becomes known to the wife and the congregation that just before the divorce the man was guilty of adultery. Would such an act of adultery free either the man or the woman Scripturally to remarry?

In this case the crucial question, according to the Holy Scriptures, is, Who divorces whom, and on what grounds? Who has the right to divorce? According to the Scriptures the moral status of the husband does not serve as the determining factor that grants him the right to divorce his wife. To the contrary, the moral status of the one divorced is what determines the right of the divorcer to bring about the dissolution of the marriage ties. According to the inspired Scriptures it is the unclean marriage mate that is given the bill of divorce by the clean, unadulterous, innocent marriage mate. The language of Deuteronomy 24:1-4 is unmistakable in this regard.

This Deuteronomic law was the one submitted to discussion by the Pharisees in Matthew 19:3-9. Jesus told the Pharisees that God had not given the first man Adam the right to divorce his wife Eve on any grounds. In reply the Pharisees referred to this Deuteronomic law by asking: “Why, then, did Moses prescribe giving a certificate of dismissal and divorcing her?” This Mosaic law specifically cites the uncleanness of the wife who was divorced, not any uncleanness of her husband, the divorcer. Jesus showed the proper respect for restrictions on the right to divorce the marriage mate when he said: “Moses, out of regard for your hardheartedness, made the concession to you of divorcing your wives, but such has not been the case from the beginning. I say to you that whoever divorces his wife except on the grounds of fornication and marries another commits adultery.” Since Jesus was here following up his reference to the Mosaic law, he was talking about a wife’s being divorced on grounds other than her fornication, her adultery, her uncleanness, not that of her husband. It was for this reason that Joseph of Nazareth thought of privately divorcing his fiancée, Mary, because he thought there was uncleanness in her; and only divine intervention prevented this divorce. So it is the guilty one that must be divorced. The guilty one is not the one who should do the divorcing.

The guilty one is not expected to incriminate himself and then on the basis of his own self-incrimination divorce the innocent marriage mate. The innocent marriage mate who incriminates the guilty one must do the divorcing. Hence, if the one divorced proves to be the innocent mate, then that innocent, unadulterous, divorced one is exposed to immorality. As Jesus said in Matthew 5:32: “Everyone divorcing his wife except on account of fornication makes her a subject for adultery, seeing that whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” So the right of the clean, innocent, unadulterous marriage mate deserves protection, for which reason an unscriptural divorce of her is out of order. For very personal reasons a wife may choose to overlook the immorality of her husband, and may continue to give him the marriage due and receive the marriage due from him. Why? For the very reason that the marriage has not been dissolved by any adultery on the part of her husband. She has a legal and Scriptural right to keep living with him. She does not automatically become unclean by having further sex relations with him after his committing of adultery.

If an adulterous husband does not disclose his adultery to his innocent wife, but notifies her of his purpose to seek a divorce, then if she consents to this divorce without knowing of his adultery, but merely with the idea of being legally separated from him by mutual consent under law, then she enters into the divorce action with him on this basis. He procures the divorce with her consent and without her contesting. Thus they both agree to this divorce on an unscriptural basis, which does not free them for remarriage. All they want is to be free from each other, and that is what they get by the unscriptural but legal divorce. Both of them must take the consequences of this type of unscriptural divorce. This, of course, deprives her of the Scriptural authorization to remarry. However, the hypocritical, adulterous husband has tied himself up too, and whereas he has exposed her to adultery he may find it even harder for himself to resist post-divorce adultery than she does, inasmuch as he practiced adultery unknown to her before procuring the divorce. Just because of the ignorance of the wife the Christian congregation is not warranted in setting aside Jesus’ rule that a husband, if he really wishes to rid himself of his wife on a Scriptural basis, must do so by taking a divorce from her because of her uncleanness, her adultery. Otherwise, the husband, even if himself adulterous before the divorce, is not thereafter free to remarry; and she, even if she did legally remarry, enters thereby into adultery.

The divorcer, regardless of his own personal morality before the divorce, determines the grounds or terms of the divorce. If now the court grants the divorce on those terms, then the divorce applies on those terms and it carries to the divorcer the corresponding consequences.

What now if the innocent wife finds out after the divorce to which she consented, or in which she acquiesced, that her husband had committed adultery one or more times before the divorce, but had not informed her? This does not alter the situation. It does not entitle her to appeal for a reversal of the divorce decree, or to appeal for a change of the grounds of divorce so as to make those grounds Scriptural instead of unscriptural ones. It is true that since the divorce she now comes into possession of new knowledge regarding immorality on the part of her former legal husband before the divorce. However, she cannot bring this new knowledge to bear. It must be borne in mind that in the courts of the land when an appeal is made for the reversal of a decision by a lower court no new evidence or features may be introduced to the appeal court to bring such new evidence or features to bear upon the appeal court. Only the evidence already submitted and ruled upon by the lower court can be and is considered by the appeal court in arriving at its own decision. No reversal or cancellation of the decision of the lower court is allowed on the basis of any new evidence. This same limitation as to new evidence after a divorce applies also to the official representatives of a congregation when an innocent, divorced woman, a member of the congregation, brings to light before them the evidence of the adultery of her former legal husband, prior to the divorce.

Only immorality after the divorce by either, or both of the divorced parties, would give force and effect to the legal divorce so as to bring about real dissolution of the marriage ties according to the Scriptures. Immoral sex relations after a divorce on unscriptural grounds adds something, not toward reversing the divorce decision on unscriptural grounds, but to confirm the divorce and to make it more far-reaching. By post-divorce adultery something new has been introduced that did not appear at the time of the suit for divorce when the terms for the divorce action were set by the divorcer with the consent or acquiescence of the divorcee. Thus a new factor has been added since the divorce to validate, not cancel, the divorce decision. This is true even if it is the divorcer himself that commits the adultery after the divorce.

Adultery before divorce does not dissolve the marriage tie of itself. Sex relations may continue between the legally married even after such pre-divorce adultery. Up until the step is decided upon and taken in suing for divorce all sex relations between the legally married couple after the unfaithful husband had committed adultery would offset the adultery as being a ground for divorce action to be taken against the adulterous mate.

However, the divorcer by his post-divorce adultery introduces an effective element into the situation, an element that he himself had not relied upon beforehand when he applied for the divorce against his innocent wife. He now brings adultery to bear upon the matter even though this adultery is on his own part. By his post-divorce adultery he now puts into the hands of the innocent, divorced wife something Scripturally valid that she may hold and apply against the divorcer. Under the circumstances she does not now need to file for a divorce suit inasmuch as there is already a legal divorce in effect that has separated them according to the law. But now the adultery element does make the separation Scriptural and really effects the dissolution of all marriage bonds, and this before God and his Christian congregation as well as before the law of the land. In regard to the unscriptural divorce this effect was not the case previous to such divorce forasmuch as the woman was still the adulterous mate’s wife by reason of the then still-existing legal marriage.

In this case where the Christian congregation was not privately advised beforehand of any other basic ground for the divorce, any really Scriptural ground underlying the divorce suit, a divorce must be held to the terms of the divorce upon which the divorcer sued. A divorce sticks, on its own grounds, not on some imaginary possibility of what might have been done on the basis of fuller knowledge. Hence no retroactive action may be allowed beyond what the divorce grounds actually are by stipulation, for the purpose of adjusting the scope and effect of the divorce to agree with additional knowledge or discovery of incriminating evidence. This strict holding to the divorce terms prevents any collusion being carried on by the divorced couple who might agree to trump up something valid that might free them or rid them of the tight restrictions upon them due to the unscripturalness of their divorce.

The hard consequences of the unscriptural divorce bear just as heavily upon the divorcer as upon the divorcee. Therefore the hard consequences of an unscriptural divorce should stand as a warning to any prospective divorcer so that he will consider first the limitations and restrictions and dangers that would result from his unscriptural course to his own self as well as to his innocent marriage mate. It is not the prerogative or obligation of the Christian congregation to relieve the divorced couple of the hard consequences of their unscriptural divorce. In its tendency toward mercy the Christian congregation must not go beyond what is written in God’s Word and attempt a reversal of the situation by doing something that it is not authorized to do. A man that forces an unscriptural divorce through becomes very responsible toward the innocent, undeserving mate inasmuch as he makes the post-divorce life and course of her very hard with respect to morality. If the innocent divorcee goes bad, the Christian congregation is not primarily responsible for not sanctioning her remarriage before the death or post-divorce adultery of her ex-husband. The self-seeking divorcer is the responsible one, according to the Scriptures. All that the Christian congregation can do legitimately is to help her to grow straight morally as a Christian by extending to her all the spiritual help possible.

Because of his adultery, unrepented of before the divorce, the unfaithful husband could be disfellowshiped by the Christian congregation of which he may be a baptized member. By concealing his adultery from wife and congregation he may postpone his disfellowshipment for a time. If in addition to his concealed adultery he undertakes to divorce his innocent wife, then he shows that he has not repented of his adultery. Neither does he have his wife’s forgiveness for it. Hence he must be disfellowshiped by the congregation when the facts of the matter become known. To the wrong that he has committed against his wife by the adultery that he has concealed from her he hardheartedly adds injury by suing for divorce from her in her innocence. For his moral uncleanness, of which his hypocritical, unloving course shows he has not repented, he must be disfellowshiped from the Christian congregation on the basis of the evidence laid before the congregation’s judicial committee.

● What is the meaning of Job 19:26? In the King James Version it reads the opposite of the way it does in the American Standard Version; the one saying, “Yet in my flesh shall I see God,” and the other, “Then without my flesh shall I see God.”—J.G., U.S.A.

The New World Translation of Job 19:26 reads: “Yet reduced in my flesh I shall behold God.” Under footnote b it gives two alternate renderings: “Yet out of my flesh,” and, “Yet apart from my flesh.” The American Standard Version, which reads “without my flesh,” has a footnote reading, “Yet from my flesh shall I see God.”

Why these differences in translations and the presence of the footnotes? These are no doubt due to the ambiguity of the Hebrew text. However, the thought seems to be that Job, when so wasted away as to be merely skin and bones, and thus practically “without flesh,” or “reduced in my flesh,” would “see” God. Job cannot be accused of here speaking ill-advisedly, as some would have it, but rather prophetically. He himself did later “see” God by seeing the manifestation of his power, by hearing his voice by means of the Word or Logos, and by having the eyes of his understanding opened to see the truth about God. Because of this he could say: “In hearsay I have heard about you, but now my own eye does see you.”—Job 42:5.

Not that faithful Job himself literally saw Jehovah God, for God plainly told Moses: “You are not able to see my face, because no man may see me and yet live.” The apostle John testified to the same effect, saying: “No man has seen God at any time.” “At no time has anyone beheld God.”—Ex. 33:20; John 1:18; 1 John 4:12.

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“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

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