Comments You Will Not Hear at the 3-14-04 WT Study

by blondie 12 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  blondie

  Comments You Will Not Hear at the 3-14-04 WT Study

  Review comments will be in black and parentheses ()

  WT quotes

  will be in red and quotes ""

  Quotes from other sources

  will be in blue
  

  ***Due to time constraints, all of the WT article will not appear this week. Work and health concerns prevail."**

  JEHOVAH PROVIDES OUR DAILY NEEDS

  "Quit being in anxious suspense; for?your Father knows you need these things."?LUKE 12:29,30

  "What I'm trying to do here is get you to relax, not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God's giving. 30 People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works.?Luke 12,29,30

  www.biblegateway.com /cgi-bin/bible

  Opening Comments

  I always wonder why the WTS leaves out parts to scriptures.

  Luke

  12:29-30

  So quit seeking what YOU might eat and what YOU might drink,

  and quit being in anxious suspense; 30 for all these are the things the nations of the world are eagerly pursuing, but YOUR Father knows YOU need these things .

  Why leave it out? Is the WTS afraid that the average JW does not have the intelligence to zoom in on the pertinent phrase?

  When you pray, let the words of Jesus guide you. The WTS makes it the framework of saying that you need them alone. Jesus = WTS.

  START OF ARTICLE

  Paragraphs 1-3

  The WTS has a trick of telling its members, yes, God loves you but?..

  In marvelous ways, Jehovah provides food for all his creatures.
  

  What we eat and drink is a gift from God.

  And now the closer

  Of course, such a request does not relieve us of the responsibillity to work if we are able to do so.
  

  The prayer for "bread for this day" sets the pattern for leading simple lives of "godly devotion along with contentment."?1 Timothy 6:6-8, footnote.

  So does God give it to us free or do we have to work for it? And certainly don?t expect anything free from the congregation, especially the elders. The money given to the congregation must be spent on the preaching work and can only be sent to the WTS headquarters. Do you see this in your congregation?

  James 2:15-16

  If a brother or a sister is in a naked state and lacking the food sufficient for the day, 16 yet a certain one of YOU says to them: "Go in peace, keep warm and well fed," but YOU do not give them the necessities for [their] body, of what benefit is it?

  Spiritual Food Day by Day (Paragraphs 4 and 5)

  Our prayer for daily bread should also remind us of our need for daily spiritual food.

  Food from whom, God?

  So the manna impressed upon their minds that they had to be obedient and that their lives depended not just on bread but on "every expression of Jehovah?s mouth."

  And now the closer

  We likewise need to feed daily on spiritual provided by Jehovah through his Son. To this end, Jesus has appointed a "faithful and discreet slave" to provide "food at the proper time" for the household of faith. (Matthew 24:45) That faithful slave class (all 8,000 plus including sisters?) not only supplies an abundance of spiritual food in the form of Bible study aids but also encourages us to do daily Bible reading.

  So what Bible study aids did David have, or Isaiah, or Malachi, or John the Baptist? All they had were the scriptures, wasn?t that enough? Wasn?t manna enough? So are the WTS publications "every expression of Jehovah?s mouth" or is the Bible? Should be obedient to God or the FDS (WTS)?

  Forgiveness of Sins (Paragraphs 6-8)

  Thus, when we sin, it is as if we incur a debt to Jehovah (not the elders). But our loving God is prepared to ?blot out,? or cancel, that debt if we sincerely repent, "turn around," and ask him (not the elders) for forgiveness on the basis of faith in Christ?s ransom sacrifice.
  

  From another standpoint, we sin when we miss the mark of Jehovah?s standards of righteousness.

  And who interprets these standards? You by reading the Bible? Or by reading WTS publications?
  

  Where does it say that beards are wrong? Jesus had a beard. Charles Taze Russell had a beard.

  Prayer for forgiveness should follow honest self-examination, repentance, and confession (to God not the elders), based on faith in the redemptive power of Christ?s shed blood (not the blood of the FDS).

  And based on whose judgment that we are repentant, does God forgive us?

  w99 1/15 p. 19 Lift Up Loyal Hands in Prayer

  To receive God?s forgiveness, confession to him must be coupled with contrition and "fruits that befit repentance." (Luke 3:8; Job 42:1-6; Isaiah 66:2) In Ezra?s day, a repentant attitude was accompanied by an effort to right the wrong by dismissing the foreign wives. (Ezra 10:44; compare 2 Corinthians 7:8-13.) If we are seeking God?s forgiveness for serious wrongdoing, let us make confession in humble prayer and produce fruits befitting repentance. A repentant spirit and a desire to right the wrong would also move us to seek the spiritual help of Christian elders.?James 5:13-15.

  w92 9/15 p. 12 Jehovah Forgives in a Large Way

  To be forgiven and reinstated, however, he must humbly obey God?s laws, produce fruits befitting repentance, and apply to the elders for reinstatement.

  . To Be Forgiven, We Must Forgive (Paragraphs 9-11)

  Jesus made it very clear that our being forgiven by Jehovah is contingent on our being willing to forgive others.

  Notice above in w99 1/15 what is required for God?s forgiveness. Confession, contrition, and "fruits that befit repentance." Thus should we forgive where this is no admission of guilt, sorrow or attempt to right the wrong?

  The debt of sin that Jehovah has forgiven each of us (through the elders/FDS) is immeasurably greater than any transgression anyone may have committed against us.
  

  Surely, then, we can forgive the occasional offense others commit against us.

  Don?t think that wife battering, child sexual abuse, malicious gossiping is an occasional offense that you must forgive. Unless the person has confessed to you, expressed sorrow, and taken steps to right the wrong, it is emotionally dangerous, and physically to forgive them or be forced by the elders to do so. If your husband/wife has been unfaithful, you are under no obligation to take them back, especially if they have not confessed to you, asked your forgiveness, and taken every step to right the wrong. The decision is still yours.
  

  So while the WTS says

  Mutual forgiveness makes for peace among Christians.

  It is not someone saying, "I?m sorry you feel that way. I apologize if you feel I need to."

  Protection When Under Temptation (Paragraphs 12-14)

  Jehovah does not watch for our every mistake, and he certainly does not try to trip us up.

  One elder told me how he was trained to play good cop/bad cop. They would like to the brother or sister to get them to admit their own wrongdoing or the wrongdoing of someone else. They would tell the person that if he/she fingered someone else it would go easier on them. This elder would not play the game. But what about the other elders who had been playing this "game" for years.
  

  I can remember a sister who was approached by the elders. It seems that an unknown car had been seen in the driveway when her husband was away. A strange man was seen going into the house with her. The came out with suitcases and drove away. The elders jumped to the conclusion that immorality was afoot. It turned out that the sister?s husband had had a heart attack and her fleshly brother had come to take her to the hospital.
  

  So who is looking for our every mistake? God or ?..?

  "Deliver Us From the Wicked One"

  According to the most reliable manuscripts of the Christian Greek Scriptures, Jesus? model prayer ends with the words: "Deliver us from the wicked one."

  Why does the WTS say that? What do other translations say?

  Matthew 6:13 (Contemporary English Version)
  Keep us from being tempted
  and protect us from evil. [1 ]
  

  Footnotes
• 6.13 evil: Or "the evil one," that is, the devil. Some manuscripts add, "The kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours forever. Amen."
w64 4/15 What Will "God?s Kingdom Come" Mean to You?

On the conclusion added to the Lord?s Prayer The Goodspeed Parallel New Testament, by Dr. Edgar J. Goodspeed (1943), makes the following comment, on page 76, paragraph 4:

"6:13 The doxology at the end of the Lord?s Prayer does not appear in the best ancient Greek manuscripts (Aleph, B, D, Z), the Old Latin version, and the Latin Vulgate, but it was added to the Prayer very early, when it was used in public worship. A form of it was well known by the time of Chrysostom, at the end of the fourth century. It is a liturgical addition, evidently based on 1 Chron. 29:11."
Said Zion?s Watch Tower as of January 15, 1898, page 31, paragraph 2: "?For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever, Amen.? These words altho found in our Common Version and in some of the Greek manuscripts, are not found in the oldest Greek MSS., the Sinaitic and the Vatican. These would therefore seem to have been human words added to the words of our Lord. So far as this earth is concerned, these words have not been true throughout the Gospel age; the dominion of the earth has not been the Lord?s; the power of earth has not been the Lord?s; and the glory of the earth has not been the Lord?s. . . . "Protection from the Devil is all the more necessary in this time of the end. (Proofs?)
Satan and his demons are waging war with the anointed remnant (8,000 plus)?.and with their companions of the "great crowd."
Satan would like to stop our witnessing work, and by means of his agents on earth?whether religious (Babylon the Great), commercial (Big Business), or political (United Nations)?he tries to intimidate us.
Jehovah uses his angels to help us if we pray with faith and make him our refuge. (Psalm 34:7; 91:9-11).

Is this physical protection?

w75 6/15 p. 377 Looking to the Future with Confidence
Should we expect, moreover, that because Jehovah is on our side he will miraculously intervene to protect each one of us personally from death or injury during the "great tribulation"? Both Psalm 91:7-12 and Proverbs 3:25, 26 have been mistakenly cited by some as supporting this view. The psalm says: "A thousand will fall at your very side and ten thousand at your right hand; to you it will not come near." Lest we read into this text more than it states, we must ask ourselves if Moses is here talking about the coming "great tribulation" and is declaring a blanket protection for individual servants of God then. This would hardly be so when we remember that centuries later Paul showed that up to his time the devoted followers of Jehovah had undergone mockings, scourgings, prisons, tribulations and many other persecutions, even violent death. However, we can be assured that, as a group, Jehovah will protect them from being exterminated by their enemies during the "great tribulation," and He, himself, will not touch them during his executing of adverse judgments.?Heb. 11:36-38.

Full Deliverance is Near (Paragraphs 17-19)

Our prime concern should be the sanctification of Jehovah?s great and holy name.

We pray for the Kingdom to come to destroy all imperfect human kingdoms (including all 6 billion plus subjects, including small children), or governments.

This is the real concern of most JWs, the proverbial carrot:

Our hope of everlasting life on a paradise earth depends on the sanctification of Jehovah?s name and the recognition throughout the universe of his righteous sovereignty.

Our complete deliverance from the wicked one and his corrupt system of things is getting near.
Satain is well aware that he has only "a short period of time" left.
The composite sign of "the conclusion of the system of things," Jesus foretold exciting events, some of which are still ahead of us. (Matthew 24:3, 29-31)
http://www.geocities.com/osarsif/index2.htm

Notice that in the last few articles the "proof" of 607 to 1914, 2520 years, 7 times is conveniently avoided. Can you explain it?

http://www.607v587.com/
As the end draws near
Right up to the end
"firm to the end"
Concluding Comments

So once again we end with the note,

The end is near.

Yes, your hope of life in paradise depends on sanctifying the name of God the WTS has chosen. Is it more valid than Yahweh? Start using Yahweh instead of Jehovah in your answers at the meetings and find out.

Blondie