I have the May 1 and it is not in it. I checked May 15 and the question reads this way:
How can we grieve God's holy spirit since it is not a person?
The response only nominally addresses the issue of the HS being a person and refers the reader to the Trinity brochure for a more in-depth discussion of whether the HS is a person, part of a trinity. That is the first paragraph.
But I did highlight some interesting points.
"If we are God's servants with an earhtly hope, we have not been anointed with holy spirit. Nevertheless, we can have just as much of God's spirit as those with the heavenly hope. Hence, we (obviously not an anointed brother writing this) could grive the spirt. But how?"
"If we were to ignore Scriptural counsel penned under the guidance of holy spirit, we could develop traits that could result in willful sin against the spirit, the loss of Jehovah's favor, and eventual destruction."
"We certainly have to control our thoughts and actions. In his letter to the Ephesians, chapter 4, the apostle Paul spoke about avoiding tendencies toward dishonest statements, sustained wrathfulness, laziness, and unsuitable speech. If we have put on "the new personality" and yet allow ourselves to drift back toward such things, what would we be doing? We would be going against the spirit-inspired counsel of God's Word, the Bible. By doing this, we would be grieving the holy spirit.
"In Ephesians chapter 5, we read Paul's counsel about avoiding prurient interest in fornication.l The apostle also urges fellow believers to avoid shameful conduct and obscene jesting. If we do not want to grive God's holy spirit, we ought to bear this in mind when choosing etertainment. Why would we show interest in such things by talking about them, reading about them, and viewing their portrayal on television or elsewhere?"
"Of course we could grieve the spirit in other ways. Jehovah's spirit promotes unity in the congregation, but suppose we were to spready harmful gossip or encourage cliques in the congregation. Would we not be working against the spirit's leadings toward unity?"
"In a general way, we would be grieving the holy spirit, like those who caused divisions in the congregation in Corinth."
"We would also be grieving the spirit if we deliberately undermined respect for spirit-appointed men in the congregation."
I think the WTS never intended to reinforce the teaching that the holy spirit is not a person. But I do think they are trying to reinfoce something. Rather than give my opinion, I invite you to tell me what you think it is. No right or wrong answer, this is not a test.
Blondie
