I was always taught ( as a witness ) that the fruit spoken of in Matthew 13:8 "But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold." was speaking of the amount of people you turn to the truth "the disciples" you make.
Matthew 13:23 "But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it, which also beareth fruit and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty"
After reading on a little and contemplating verses further on in chapter 13 alone i have concluded this passage cannot be speaking of "disciples" as "fruit" because if we revert back to Matthew 13:22 we find the following "He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
Considering Matthew 13:22 we find that the "cares of the world" and "riches" have choked out his fruitfulnes , It must be admitted many witnesses and people of other religions carry on their ungodly habits in private but push forth with pretense on the ministry. Hence they bring forth "fruit" ( disciples ) into their so called truth/religion. therefore still as regards the JW's theory they are producing fruit, this however stands firmly against the scripture, for the scripture states that because of these things ( their worldy lusts and workings ) they are NOT being fruitful.
All i personally see this scripture stating is that the "fruit" are the works we perform as Christians in our everyday lives, our very mode of thinking, the product of the seed that has been planted then fruiting in our actions and thoughts. This still however doesnt make us correct, righteous or acceptable in Gods eyes, only Jesus's sacrifice performs such an action.
All the best
God bless you all
Ade
The meaning of fruitfulness
by Ade 1 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Ade
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greendawn
You have made some excellent points in the congo I used to attend and the surrounding ones the JWs were a very materialistic lot and in this respect they didn't differ at all from the non JWs, those infamous worldly people. Even worse the WTS doesn't give the good exemple since they absolutely refuse to carry out any charity work even among their own number.