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    The Watchtower, November 15, 1947

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    The Watchtower—1947

    NOVEMBER 15, 1947

    CONTENTS

    Patience Toward Incidental Matters .. 344

    Profitable Tolerance ..................

    Mercy ............................................

    Foregoing Our Liberty ...............

    Rising Up Above Petty Things

    Vol. LXVIII Semimonthly No. 22

    They shall know that I am Jehovah

    -Ezekiel 35:15.

    The Vital Things.............................

    Amaziah Wavers in Worship.........

    Convention Tour Through

    France, Belgium, Luxembourg “Praise-giving Nations”

    Testimony Period .....................

    “Watchtower” Studies ................

    Eastern Seaboard Convention ____

    Use Renewal Subscription Blank

    SfeWATCHTOWER-

    Published Semimonthly By

    WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY 117 Adams Street • - Brooklyn. 1, N.Y., U.S A.

    Officebs

    N. H. Knobb, President Grant Suiter, Secretary

    “And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” - Itaiah 54:13.

    THE BIBLE CLEARLY TEACHES

    THAT JEHOVAH is the only true God, from everlasting to everlasting, and is the Maker of heaven and earth and Giver of life to his creatures; that the Word or Logos was the beginning of his creation and his active agent in creating all other things; and that the creature Lucifer rebelled against Jehovah and raised the issue of His universal sovereignty;

    THAT GOD created the earth for man, made perfect man for the earth and placed him upon it; that man yielded to unfaithful Lucifer, or Satan, and willfully disobeyed God’s law and was sentenced to death; that by reason of Adam’s wrong act all men are born sinners and without the right to life;

    THAT THE LOGOS was made human as the man Jesus and suffered death in order to produce the ransom or redemptive price for obedient men; that God raised up Christ Jesus divine and exalted him to heaven above every other creature and clothed him with all power and authority as head of God’s new capital organization;

    THAT GOD’S CAPITAL ORGANIZATION is a Theocracy called Zion, and that Christ Jesus is the Chief Officer thereof and is the rightful King of the new world; that the faithful anointed followers of Christ Jesus are Zion’s children, members of Jehovah’s organization, and are His witnesses whose duty and privilege It is to testify to Jehovah’s supremacy and declare his purposes toward mankind as expressed In the Bible;

    THAT THE OLD WORLD, or Satan’s uninterrupted rule, ended AD. 1914, and Christ Jesus has been placed by Jehovah upon the throne, has ousted Satan from heaven, and now proceeds to vindicate His name and establish the “new earth”;

    THAT THE RELIEF and blessings of the peoples can come only by Jehovah’s kingdom under Christ, which has begun; that His next great act is to destroy Satan’s organization and establish righteousness completely In the earth ; and that under the Kingdom the people of good-will surviving Armageddon will carry out the divine mandate to “fill the earth” with righteous offspring, and that the human dead in the graves will be raised to opportunities of life on earth.

    ITS MISSION

    HIS journal Is published for the purpose of enabling the people to know Jehovah God and his purposes as expressed in the Bible. It publishes Bible instruction specifically designed to aid Jehovah’s witnesses and all people of good-wilL It arranges systematic Bible study for Its readers and the Society supplies other literature to aid in such studies. It publishes suitable material for radio broadcasting and for other means of public instruction in the Scriptures.

    It adheres strictly to the Bible as authority for its utterances. It is entirely free and separate from all religion, parties, sects or other worldly organizations. It is wholly and without reservation for the kingdom of Jehovah God under Christ his beloved King. It is not dogmatic, but invites careful and critical examination of its contents in the light of the Scriptures. It does not indulge in controversy, and its columns are not open to personalities.

    Notice to Subscribers: Remittances should be sent to office in your country in compliance with regulations to guarantee safe delivery of money. Remittances are accepted at Brooklyn from countries where no office is located, by international money order only. Subscription rates in different countries are stated below in local currency. Notice of expiration (with renewal blank) is sent at least two issues before subscription expires. Change of address when sent to our office may be expected effective within one month. Send your old as well as new address.

    Please address the Watch Tower Society in every case.

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    Translations of this journal appear in many languages.

    ALL SINCERE STUDENTS OF THE BIBLE who by reason of infirmity, poverty or adversity are unable to pay the subscription price may have The Watchtower free upon written application to the publishers, made once each year, stating the reason for so requesting it. We are glad to thus aid the needy, but the written application once each year Is required by the postal regulations.

    Printed in the United States of America

    Entered as second-class matter at the post office at Brooklyn, N. Y., under the Act of March S, 1879.

    “PRAISE-GIVING NATIONS” TESTIMONY PERIOD

    The “Praise-giving Nations” Testimony Period closes the calendar year of 1947, occupying the final month of December. Persons of all nations, without discrimination, are invited to take part in this special testimony, and those anxious to give praise to God and his kingdom by Christ will do so. For the aid of such in doing so, the Society’s books are provided. During December any three of the Watch Tower publications, namely, “Let God Be True”, “The Kingdom Is at Hand", “The Truth Shall Make You Free", and The New World, may be offered in combination for a $1 contribution in house-to-house and public work. Let preparations for this testimony period proceed in the stock and territory departments and in the weekly service meetings and in personal arrangements. We should close out this year 1947 with a mighty burst of praise through publishing the message. Watchtower readers, what about you? Write us, if necessary. Reports on work done should be made on the Society’s forms at the end of this testimony period.

    “WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

    Week of December 21: “Profitable Tolerance,” fl 1-20 inclusive, The Watchtower November 15, 1947.

    Week of December 28: “Profitable Tolerance,”

    fl21-39 inclusive, The Watchtower November 15, 1947.

    EASTERN SEABOARD CONVENTION

    For the benefit particularly of the brethren living east of the Mississippi river a late autumn convention has been arranged for November 21, 22, 23, in the eastern seaboard city of Philadelphia, Pa. The spacious Convention Hall at 34th Street near Spruce, in that city, has now been engaged for the three-day assembly. At this convention the president of the Watch Tower Society and other official members will be present to serve on the platform as part of a specially prepared program. The public address will be upon the subject, “Permanent Governor of All Nations.” Brethren that can manage their affairs so as to attend should at once get in touch with the Watchtower Convention Committee, at 1343 W. Venango Street, Philadelphia 40, Pa., for rooming assignments or other information. Kingdom publishers may also consult the October issue of the Informant for additional details.

    USE RENEWAL SUBSCRIPTION BLANK

    The renewal blank sent you prior to the expiration of your Watchtower subscription should be filled out and returned to the Brooklyn office or to the Branch office in the country where you reside. Servants in the companies, and individuals, when sending in renewals for The Watchtower, should always use these blanks. By filling in these renewal blanks you are assured of the continuation of your Watchtower from the time of expiration, and without delay. It will also be a great help if you sign your name uniformly, and note any recent change of address, on the renewal slip.

    ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH’S KINGDOM

    Vol. LXVIII November 15, 1947 No. 22

    PROFITABLE TOLERANCE

    “What if God, though desirous to display his anger and show his might, has tolerated most patiently the objects of his anger, ripe and ready to be destroyed? What if he means to shoiv the wealth that lies in his glory for the objects of his mercy, whom he has made ready beforehand to receive glory?’’

    —Rom. 9:22,23, Moffatt.

    JEHOVAH has tolerated for thousands of years those who corrupt mankind and who misuse the earth. In this course he is the greatest and best example of tolerance. Men, when suffering under injustice and oppression, have questioned his wisdom in being so tolerant, and in being tolerant so long, with such wicked oppressors and workers of injustice. They have not searched the Bible diligently enough to find out the underlying reason why he has permitted such wrongdoing by man to man and by devils to men. He has permitted it in a negative way in that he has not prevented it. They misinterpret this to mean he is responsible for such evil and that he has sympathy with it, and that he does wrong in letting righteous men suffer from such evil. The psalmist David suffered much wrong at the hand of jealous enemies but never did he condemn God for permitting it. He looked ahead to the grand time when God’s tolerance would cease and he would root out the doers of wickedness from the universe. Notwithstanding his own sufferings from evildoers David could praise the Lord God, “for,” said he in fullness of faith, “thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: evil shall not sojourn with thee. The arrogant shall not stand in thy sight: thou hat-est all workers of iniquity. Thou wilt destroy them that speak lies: Jehovah abhorreth the blood-thirsty and deceitful man.”—Ps. 5:4-6, Am. Stan. Ver.

    2 Jehovah God showed he could end his tolerance with wicked creatures on our earth when he caused a global flood to sweep them from the face of the earth, preserving only righteous Noah and his household of seven others with him in the great ark. In the four thousand years since then, why has the Almighty God of righteousness tolerated the wicked, permitting them to overspread the earth and to multiply their wickedness today beyond that of any previous time? Jehovah God, speaking through his prophet Moses, summed up the answer to the long-baffling question when he said to mighty Pharaoh of

    1. How has Jehovah been tolerant but been misrepresented for it? 2. How did he sum up the reason for being so tolerant?

    Egypt: “By now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, so that you would have been effaced from the earth; but this is why I have spared you: to show you my power, and to have my fame recounted throughout all the earth.” (Ex. 9:15,16, An Amer. Trans.) Six nationwide plagues Jehovah God had already brought upon that land of slavery for the Egyptian government’s refusal to let his chosen people of Israel march out in freedom for the Promised Land; and still the oppressive Pharaoh, backed by the priests and other religious advisers, resisted Jehovah’s demand. All the common people of Egypt had suffered losses and hardships, and yet the national government survived. Why did God tolerate that mighty government in its opposition to him and its continued and intensified oppression of his chosen people? It was in order that the direct point in question might become sharp and clear, Who owns and rules the earth ?

    3 Actually that issue of terrestrial concern was related to the supreme question at issue, Who owns and rules the universe? Who is supreme ruler of the universe? This issue of paramount importance was tied in, because Pharaoh, God’s visible opposer, was Satan’s visible representative and servant. The name Satan means opposer, and it was in reality Satan the Devil that was here opposing Jehovah God by influencing his servant Pharaoh to oppose Jehovah God and to keep on oppressing Jehovah’s chosen people. Satan’s aim has all along been to gain the control of the entire universe and to be like the Most High God, and hence Jehovah’s words uttered to Pharaoh are in fact directed at Satan. They explain why He has tolerated the ambitious and wicked activities of Satan the Devil and his servants from the time of his fall into sin six thousand years ago until now. It is in order to let Satan the Devil show he is unreformable and let him build up his wicked organization to its greatest strength. Then at the time when it appeared strongest and most firmly rooted, Jehovah God could

    3 . How was this tied in with the supreme question at issue?

    display his superior power over it and destroy it and halt its wickedness. By this he would have his own sovereignty and supremacy vindicated and made famous in all the earth and heaven. Never again would there be reason for the dispute over universal sovereignty to be permitted to arise in any part of the universe.

    4 The vindicating of the sovereignty of the Most High and Almighty God is greater and of more consequence to the universe than all the suffering of human creatures that is permitted until this supreme issue is decided for all time by Jehovah’s show of power against his combined enemies. What, then, is the purpose of the sufferings incidental to the deciding of the issue ? What is the benefit, if any, of such sufferings? The purpose and benefit are made clear in the case of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Although he is God’s own Son and also the One through whom Jehovah God made the earth and man upon it, he suffered on earth as no other man has suffered or will ever suffer.

    5 In Jesus’ case the sufferings for righteousness’ sake served the purpose of proving that God’s most trusted servant could not be driven by sufferings to rebel against the universal sovereignty of his heavenly Father, but that he stood firm for it in the midst of an opposing world, willing to endure ridicule, reproach, misrepresentation and persecution to the death for such an uncompromising stand. The benefit to Jesus was that by such sufferings that God let come to him for no fault of his own he learned perfect obedience to God his Father. He showed that his obedience was no shallow, superficial thing but was motivated by perfect love toward God. Hence Jesus was fearless of any present painful consequences for rendering perfect obedience to the Most High God. By this faithful and obedient course he vindicated God as the rightful Sovereign of the universe, and Jehovah God his Father rewarded him with the appointment to be his Chief Servant in finally vindicating God’s universal sovereignty and sacred name. God raised him from the dead and clothed him with all power in heaven and earth, and appointed him to be King of kings in the promised kingdom of God. By this kingdom the final vindication of Jehovah’s sovereignty and name will be brought to pass. Convinced that Jehovah God would come out the winner in the long-standing controversy over sovereignty of the universe, Jesus when on earth as a man preached and taught the kingdom of God and exhorted men and women to seek it first above any other thing.—Matt. 6: 33.

    8 The Almighty God and Creator has a right to let his faithful creatures on earth suffer because of

    4, 5. How were the purpose and benefit of such suffering made clear in the case of Jesus Christ?

    6. How is God’s right to let us suffer for his tolerance shown? tolerating the presence and activity of the wicked enemies. God’s right to do this is especially manifest when we see that the suffering we endure because of faith and obedience toward God results in vindicating his sovereignty, and it perfects our obedience if we faithfully suffer, and God will reward such obedience and faithfulness to him with everlasting life and blessing in the righteous new world in which Jesus Christ will be King of kings. For these past nineteen centuries men and women have been called to follow in Christ’s steps and to share in Christ’s death and resurrection, and these will be rewarded with Kingdom glory, honor and immortality in the heavens with him. A great multitude of others on earth today believe in God and hail Christ Jesus as his anointed King and have therefore consecrated themselves to God as loyal subjects of the King Christ Jesus; and these will have their faithful devotion rewarded with living forever on this earth as perfect creatures in the image and likeness of God. A reign by Christ Jesus for one thousand years over this earth will transform it into a state of which the garden of Eden was a model, and it will be their happy home for all time to come. The faithful men and women of the centuries before Christ who also proved their integrity toward God will be raised from the dead and will share this terrestrial home with them. Besides that, any of the unjust ones who may be brought forth from the graves and who will reform and render unswerving allegiance to God’s universal sovereignty as represented by the kingdom of his Son will be pardoned through Christ the King, and they will find a permanent place in this blessed earthly paradise for perfect humankind.

    7 For the sake of realizing his glorious purpose to vindicate his universal sovereignty and irreproachable name Jehovah God has held off from at once destroying the wicked. He continues to tolerate the devils and wicked men until his own appointed time arrives for the “battle of that great day of God Almighty”, in which he will halt their organized wickedness by destroying them. They are like clay vessels which the Potter reserves for destruction. However, Jesus’ faithful followers who share in his sufferings and death are like prized vessels which the great Potter favors with his mercy and which he reserves for heavenly glory with Christ.

    8 This is the point of argument at which the apostle is driving when he writes: “Why, scripture says to Pharaoh, It was for this that I raised you up, to display my power in you, and to spread news of my name over all the earth. Thus God has mercy on anyone just as he pleases, and he makes anyone stubborn just as he pleases. 'Then,’ you will retort, 'why does he go on finding fault? Who can oppose his 7, 8. To realize his glorious purpose, to what course has God resorted toward human vessels of his creation? and why rightfully? will?’ But who are you, my man, to speak back to God? Is something a man has moulded to ask him who has moulded it, ‘Why- did you make me like this?’ What! has the potter no right over the clay? Has he no right to make out of the same lump one vessel for a noble purpose, another for a menial? What if God, though desirous to display his anger and show his might, has tolerated most patiently the objects of his anger, ripe and ready to be destroyed? What if he means to show the wealth that lies in his glory for the objects of his mercy, whom he has made ready beforehand to receive glory—that is, for us whom he has called from among the Gentiles as well as the Jews? As indeed he says in Hosea, Those who were no people of mine, I will call ‘my People,’ and her ‘beloved’ who was not beloved; on the very spot where they were told, “You are no people of mine,’ there shall they be called ‘sons of the living God? ”—Rom. 9:17-26, Moffatt.

    MERCY

    ’ God has thus been tolerant of the wicked in their willful, malicious wickedness. He has also been merciful toward the weaknesses of those who become his consecrated people. He has been merciful to the Gentiles or non-Jews by ending the exclusiveness of his favor to the natural Jews and by opening up to uncircumcised Gentiles the opportunity of becoming united with Christ Jesus in the heavenly kingdom. He forgives the sins of all those who consecrate themselves to him with faith in the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Even after God shows this mercy to them and makes them his consecrated people, they still have their human weaknesses and imperfections of body and mind, and it is necessary for him to be merciful toward them. If now God has mercy upon us, we ought also to be very merciful with one another. For who are we to withhold mercy from anyone to whom Jehovah God shows mercy through Christ Jesus? Also, God is tolerant toward the wickedness of those willful sinners who are reserved to destruction in his due time. Ought we not, then, to be tolerant toward those of the consecrated people of God in their habits, customs and imperfections, hoping for them to come to better understanding of matters after further instruction? To abide in God’s mercy, we must cultivate his disposition and must copy him by showing mercy to others: “Blessed are the merciful : for they shall obtain mercy.”—Matt. 5:7.

    10 In companies of God’s people there are sometimes minor things that do not appear so clearly to all minds. In a company organization an observer will occasionally find arguments and squabbling over things of no basic importance, extending even to the point of debating with fellow Christians about what they should eat. To one who enjoys flesh foods regularly, a member of his company will say: “You have been eating a lot of meat lately, and it is bad for your health. Watch what is going to happen. You had better stop if you want to please the Lord.” To another who is a vegetarian, a person of different diet may say: “You are wrong in holding yourself down to fruits, greens and vegetables. You ought to eat some meat. Put that into your diet.” Thus an argument will start about diet, which finally appears to become of more importance than considering and discussing the Kingdom, judged from the way it engrosses their time, thought and attention and the way it heats them up. Ought it to be so? Not if the Kingdom is the first thing to seek!

    11 What is the way to correct such an unbalanced state of things ? The apostle Paul, who had a similar question to deal with, suggests the way. Recommending tolerance respecting matters of minor importance which should correct themselves in the Lord’s due time, Paul wrote to those in the heathen city of Rome: “Treat people who are overscrupulous in their faith like brothers; do not criticize their views. One man’s faith allows him to eat anything, while the overscrupulous man eats nothing but vegetables. The man who will eat anything must not look down on the man who abstains from some things, and the man who abstains from them must not criticize the one who does not, for God has accepted him. Who are you to criticize someone else’s servant? It is for his own master to say whether he succeeds or fails; and he will succeed, for the Master can make him do so.”—Rom. 14:1-4, An Amer. Trans.

    12 Both kinds of men here discussed are Christians, for Paul’s letter is addressed “to all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints”, according to his introduction at Romans 1: 7. But one of these Christian men has one idea about eating as a Christian, and the other has another idea. Both of them made a full consecration of themselves to Jehovah God through Jesus Christ, and both were immersed in water to symbolize that fact. Further, they were also “baptized into Christ” and hence “baptized into his death”. (Rom. 6: 3) Both men were active in letting their Christian faith be known to others by telling the Kingdom message abroad as Paul the apostle did, “publicly, and from house to house,” for the apostle says to that first-century congregation at Rome: “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.” (Rom. 1: 8) But unwisely they got into a controversy about diet. There was danger that they might get so deep into this argument and keep pushing it to the fore so often that eventually one or the other or both might be stumbled and be pushed

    9. Wbat reason, then, have we for being merciful and tolerant?

    10. How will arguments over diet arise and grow to undue size?

    11. Who hao a like problem, and what did such one recommend?

    12. What kind of men were the disputants? and what was their danger?

    out of the truth of the Kingdom. Some of our readers might say that this could not happen; but the apostle Paul actually had to take time out and sit down and, among other things, write those Christians at Rome and tell them to quit arguing about their diets. This controversy had loomed up to such proportions and had grown to such importance with some that those involved began to judge one another according to what they ate and to pass sentence upon their being Christians or not according to their diet.

    18 It is not our assignment from the Lord to go about criticizing someone else for what he eats or how he eats it. The apostle Paul had once been used as a messenger of the church conference at Jerusalem to carry its special letter to various congregations of Christians instructing them, among other things, “that ye abstain from meats offered to idols.” (Acts 15:29) In his day some Christians did eat flesh from animals that had been offered to religious idols. Suppose, now, that Paul, in his work “from house to house”, should make a return visit at the home of some person found interested, to talk the truth further to him, and this interested person invited Paul: “Come back next week; come a little early and have dinner with us.” After seating himself at the table, would Paul say, pointing to the flesh on the meat-platter: “Where did you get that meat ? Did it come from the shambles where they sell meat offered to idols of heathen gods? I must know this before I offer a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the food spread before us.” We cannot imagine the apostle doing this, because in his letter to the Corinthians he advised acting to the contrary. He was more interested in preaching the Kingdom gospel to any such hospitable person than in arguing about the food graciously set before him on the table.

    FOREGOING OUR LIBERTY

    14 Note the tolerance of the apostle on this score as he writes: “Eat anything for sale in the meat market without raising any question, as far as conscience is concerned, for the earth and everything in it belongs to the Lord. If one of the heathen invites you to his house, and you wish to go, eat whatever is served, without raising any question, as far as conscience is concerned. But if someone says to you, ‘This meat has been offered in sacrifice,'’ let it alone, on account of the man who told you and his conscientious scruples; his scruples, I say, not yours. For why should my liberty of action be limited by another’s scruples? If I give thanks for what I eat, why should I be denounced for eating what I give thanks over?”—1 Cor. 10:25-30, An Amer.Trans.

    15 Paul makes plain that, if he is to do good to his

    13. Of what wrong conduct was Paul not guilty at a meal-table?

    14, 15. (a) What did Paul advise at 1 Corinthians 10:25-30 as to eating at a heathen's table? (b) Why did he so advise? interested host without getting distracted over minor things and without raising stumblingblocks for him at the outset, he does wisely in not asking where that meat on the table originated. If, however, a fellow Christian was with him on this return visit upon the interested man and he had conscientious scruples and therefore pointed to the source of the meat, saying, ‘This meat has been offered in sacrifice to idols,’ then Paul would beg his host to excuse him from partaking. Paul was not hypocritical in doing so, but was at liberty to do so for the profit of the one already a Christian. Rather than have the question argued out before this newly interested person and maybe stumble him; rather than turn attention away from the main object of consideration, the kingdom of God, Paul chose to refrain from eating. Not because his own conscience was pricked by what his fellow Christian said, but because of the conscientious doubts of this brother who might be stumbled at Paul’s example. He might misjudge Paul to be a careless Christian, or he might be made bold by Paul’s example to eat some of the meat while his own uneducated conscience was still objecting to doing so.

    18 That scrupulous brother might thereby injure himself for the sake of some food. Once a man did so. This man, Esau, for the sake of one meal, sold his birthright claim on the Abrahamic covenant. He wanted to get his belly full. So for a meal he was willing to throw the whole thing aside. Ordinarily, Paul’s conscience would not condemn him if he used his liberty to eat in appreciation of his host’s hospitality and interest in the truth. But why should Paul submit himself to be condemned by the scrupulous conscience of his weak brother by just using his liberty to eat meat on that occasion where the Kingdom was the main thing to be discussed?

    17 Consequently the apostle stated the right action and attitude to be this for the conscientious person: “So whether you are eating or drinking or doing anything else, do it all to the honor of God. You must not be hindrances to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God either, just as I for my part try to please everyone in all I do, not aiming at my own advantage, but at that of people generally, in order that they may be saved. You must follow my example in this, as I am following Christ’s.”—1 Cor. 10: 31-33; 11:1, An Amer. Trans.

    18 Paul took the view that everything with which God filled this earth is His creation and belongs to Him and so is not sinful in itself. The meat that was set before him by his heathen host Paul accepted as being God’s creation and belonging to Him. That meat or the animal carcass from which it came, Paul

    16. What did the apostle avoid by this course?

    17. What did he state to be the right attitude and action?

    18. What view did he take on such meat offered to idols? looked upon it objectively as being God’s creation. In thus viewing it he could give thanks for it to God, and not to the idol to which it was offered. However, the Christian companion of Paul looked at the meat, not objectively, but from the standpoint of its heathenish religious connections. For this reason his conscience rebelled at eating, because he objected to idols and to recognizing them in any way. He felt that meat to be contaminated by the heathen rite. But Paul knew that, despite being dedicated to an idol, the animal victim still belonged to God its Creator, and he could conscientiously and rightly thank God for a piece of its flesh set before him.

    19 In what he next says note the apostle’s clearness of understanding and also his unselfish tolerance in two directions, one toward the Christian with weak conscience and one toward the interested heathen: “As to eating things, then, that have been offered to idols, we all know that no idol has any real existence, and that there is no God but one. For supposing there are so-called gods in heaven or on earth—and indeed there are plenty of such gods and lords—yet for us there is just one God, the Father, who is the source of all things, and for whom we live, and just one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom everything was made and through whom wre live. But it is not everyone that has this knowledge; for some, through being long accustomed to idols, still eat meat that has been sacrificed to them as really offered to an idol, and their consciences, being oversensitive, are troubled. But food is not going to affect our standing with God. We are none the worse if we do not eat it, and none the better if we do. But you must take care that this right of yours does not prove a hindrance to the overscrupulous. For if somebody sees you, who are intelligent about this matter, attending a dinner in an idol’s temple, will not he, with his sensitive conscience, be led to eat meat that is offered to idols? For this overscrupulous brother, for whom Christ died, is ruined by what you call your knowledge. But in sinning against your brothers in this way and wounding their too scrupulous consciences, you are really sinning against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat makes my brother fall, I will never eat meat again, rather than make my brother fall.”—1 Cor. 8:4-13, An Amer. Trans.

    20 Whether eating or not eating, the apostle tried to please each one concerned, not in a wishywashy way without fixed, right principles, but disregarding his personal likes and conveniences and aiming for the benefit of those concerned. He avoided stumbling them, that he might be unhindered in helping them to salvation. In this way he did all things to the honor of God and was an example.

    10. Under what conditions was he determined not to eat meat?

    20. In what way and why did he try to please each one concerned?

    RISING UP ABOVE PETTY THINGS

    21 Accordingly, it is not our main business to argue over native customs and actions of persons of various nationalities and races, their drinking coffee, tea, beer, cocoa, and how they prepare and serve and drink it. It is foolish and time-wasting to be diverted from the main channel for thought, the lofty theme of the Kingdom. Like Paul, we should not let national customs or local habits or racial peculiarities interfere with our preaching of the gospel of the Kingdom to interested, inquiring individuals. When accepting invitations to meal as Jesus often did, we do not go to the homes to talk about the cooking or the origin of the foodstuffs. We go there primarily to talk about Jehovah’s Theocratic Government, and that is what we ought to do while there. Then we do not miss the point of our visit. We do not permit interferences with our preaching the gospel by such side-issues any more than we permit interference by some visitor who drops in later and intentionally or unintentionally tries to break up the home gathering for Bible study.

    22 The apostle adds another illustration of where Christian mercy and tolerance should be exercised toward the oversensitive conscience: “One man thinks one day better than another, while another thinks them all alike. Everybody must be fully convinced fn his own mind. The man who observes the day does it in the Lord’s honor. The man who eats does it in the Lord’s honor, for he gives God thanks, and the man who abstains does it in the Lord’s honor, and gives him thanks. None of us lives only to himself, and none of us dies only to himself; if we live, we are responsible to the Lord, and if we die, we ai e responsible to him; so whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”—Rom. 14: 5-8, An Amer. Trails

    23 In the light of these words, take, for example, a natural Jew who came into the Christian organization in the first century. To do so he passed out from the old law covenant of Moses and into the new covenant through its Mediator, Jesus Christ, who offered himself as a human sacrifice to validate this bettei covenant. That Jew had been trying to observe every Sabbath day and everything contained in the law of Moses. All his ancestors back to Moses’ time had been keeping the seventh day of the week as a Sabbaih holy to Jehovah God, and believing with all then heart that this particular day was different from tin-other six of the week. Now by faith this Jew has been made free from the Mosaic law by the liberty wherewith Christ makes us free, because he has come into the Theocratic organization under Christ as Mediator. Naturally when the Jewish Sabbath day came along he inclined to think it a little more holy than

    21. What Is, and what is not, our main business at the homes9 22. What does Paul say as to some who observe days?

    23. Why be tolerant with a converted Jew who observes days9 the six weekdays. The congregation with which the Jewish convert meets has some “Greeks” or Greekspeaking non-Jews as converts. They never were burdened down with the Mosaic law. They were free of that law before becoming Christians, and they did not come under that law by becoming Christians. So all their lifetime they did not know one day from the other. It would not be unlikely that such converts got into arguments on observing days.

    24 The Greek might tell the Jewish convert: “Now listen! You are all wrong about that. Forget about that holy day of the Jews.” The Jewish convert then maintains that the Greek is the one in the wrong because he does not observe the seventh day, arguing that Christians are still under the obligations to keep that day just as Jesus Christ himself did when on earth. The Greek comes back with the argument that Jesus Christ was born a Jew under the Mosaic law and hence was bound to keep the sabbath observance as long as he was in the flesh; but that with his death on the accursed tree the Mosaic law was taken out of the way. God nailed it to the tree with Jesus Christ, who fulfilled such law but who was made a curse for the sake of the sin-burdened Jews. What now? Should Jew and Greek now get heated over the matter, become impatient and intolerant toward each other and judge and condemn each other? Not according to the counsel of the apostle. He gives us to understand that this question is not all-important, and hence the one who understands the subject Scrip-turally should be patient and forbearing toward the one still unable to see his full liberty in Christ. Certainly so, because the one backward in his knowledge has no wrong intentions but is trying to honor the Lord upon the basis of the Scriptures that he believes in but does not fully understand. Intolerant argument would get neither of them anywhere. Why not preach the main issue, the Kingdom, and let this minor matter be straightened out calmly with the Lord’s spirit over a period of time?

    25 If a sectarian who believes in Seventh Day observance should come to your home or encounter you in your field witnessing from house to house, he will quite likely start talking to you about the Sabbath day. He may agree with you on what the Bible teaches as to what a human soul is, or on where the dead are, or on the falsity of the “trinity” doctrine, yes, on many Scriptural things, except the Sabbath. Yet, in the light of the apostle’s words, why should we make the issue of the Sabbath day all-important? Why put a stumblingblock at once in the sectarian’s way to hinder him from learning the other truths that you have, and the principal one about Jehovah’s vindication of his universal sovereignty by his kingdom?

    24. How would Greek and Jew argue? and why be tolerant?

    25, 26. Why be patient with a Sabbath-keeping sectarian?

    28 The question of the Sabbath we can let clear itself up in the sectarian’s mind as he gains a knowledge of the “present truth” and opens his eyes wider to the grand purpose of Jehovah God. There is no reason to argue and insist that this sectarian right there on the spot must give up his Sabbath ideas or else—doom! Let that be a little individual, personal matter for the time being. Give him a chance to renovate his mind and clean out false doctrine by the study of God’s Word. Why think that in one minute he must conform to your way of thinking when the fact may be that you have been in the “present truth” many months or years? Be patient, as God’s own Word tells us to be, at 2 Timothy 2:24-26: “A slave of the Lord must not quarrel, but treat everyone kindly; he must be persuasive and unresentful, correcting his opponents with gentleness; for God may possibly let them repent and acknowledge the truth, and they may yet return to their senses and escape from the toils of the devil, who has caught them to make them do his will.”—An Amer. Trans.

    PATIENCE TOWARD INCIDENTAL MATTERS

    27 We should not put a roadblock in our own way or in the way of others, which hinders and prevents us from getting the soul-saving message of the Kingdom across to them with good effect and acceptance. We in the United States may have some customs that are not found in other lands; and countries foreign to America may have their respective customs and modes of doing things. Some brethren from abroad may come over here and begin associating with Americans and, noting that we do things a certain way different from theirs, may start arguing about this and making it a large-size issue. Such a thing is not necessary, however. No habit, no formality, no tradition should be permitted to become a hindrance to our getting along together amicably or to a newly interested person’s coming into the Lord’s organization and serving Him.

    28 We may defeat our purpose if we insist upon another person’s measuring up to the standards of elite society, or to the traditional requirements of well-to-do circles, before we choose to let him into our Kingdom Hall or our study chambers. Refined society, or high-class social clubs, may demand that a gentleman wear a coat or some other formal style of clothing before he be let into the midst of their dignified, formal, exclusive social gathering. But why should we as followers of the lowly Nazarene raise divisive standards and show partiality according to outward appearances? In this case it may be that the man is too poor to buy himself a coat or possibly the climate and season of the year do not dictate the wearing of a coat for present comfort.

    27. When foreigners meet, how may hindrances be raised?

    28. How might we hinder certain ones from coming into our midst? Why, then, subject ourselves to the divisive influences of partiality and conform ourselves to the standards and artificial, man-made institutions of this world 1 Thereby we are sure to deny certain ones or many persons the privilege of coming into our midst in order to study with us and learn the way to life and to service of God. Says the disciple James:

    28 “My brothers, do you try to combine faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with acts of partiality! For if a finely dressed man with a gold ring comes into a meeting, and a poor man in shabby clothes comes in also, and you pay attention to the man in the fine clothes and say to him, 'Sit here; this is a good place1’ and say to the poor man, 'Stand up, or sit on the floor at my feet,’ have you not wavered and shown that your judgments are guided by base motives! Listen, my dear brothers, Has not God chosen the world’s poor to be rich in faith, and to possess the kingdom that he promised to those who love him! But you humiliate the poor. Are not the rich your oppressors! Is it not they who drag you into court! Is it not they who slander the noble name you bear! If you really obey the supreme law where the Scripture says, “You must love your neighbor as you do yourself,’ you are doing right, but if you show partiality, you are committing a sin, and stand convicted before the Law as law breakers. For anyone who obeys the whole of the Law but makes one single slip is guilty of breaking it all. For he who said, 'You must not commit adultery,’ said also, ‘You must not commit murder.’ Now if you abstain from adultery, but commit murder, you are still a violator of the Law. You must talk and act like men who expect to be judged by the law that treats men as free [as not bound by tradition].”—Jas. 2:1-12, An Amer. Trans.

    30 According to heavenly wisdom it is wise for us to remember one thing: Each of us must give an account of himself to God, and not to some man, not to some human organization, and not to the country under whose government we live. This truth stirred up the apostle to write to those who inclined to dictate the lives of others: “What business have you to criticize your brother! What business have you to look down upon your brother [whose conscientious views or habits do not conform to yours]! We shall all have to stand before God for judgment. For the Scripture says, 'As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bend before me, and every tongue will make its confession to God.’ So each one of us must give an account of himself to God.” We cannot, therefore, afford to take the native customs of our country and its precedents and set them up as the rule for ourselves. Our guide is the Word of God our Judge, not the national habits and traditional prac-

    29. What does James say regarding acts of partiality?

    30. To whom must we give account? and so what should we not do? tices. Seeing, then, our final accountability to God, to whom the nations of this earth are as a drop in a bucket, the apostle admqnished: “Therefore let us not criticize one another any more. You must resolve instead never to put any hindrance or obstacle in your brother’s way.”—Bom. 14:10-13, An Amer. Trans.

    81 For a practical illustration, let us take the possible case of a present-day Kingdom publisher who bears the gospel from house to house. At a certain man’s home she places a bound book, say, “Let God Be True", published by the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society. After giving him a verbal testimony and noting the man’s kindly interest, she makes a notation on her House to House Record form. Guided by this, she drops in the next week and asks how the man is getting on with his reading. Fine! he has read "Let God Be True” halfway through. She discusses some questions on his mind, and then suggests making another return call on him to start studying the book together and going over it page by page and helping him with his questions, thus getting down to a serious Bible study. This appeals to the man; and she agrees to return next week at the time convenient to him. She does so. They both have their Bibles open, and the textbook “Let God Be True", and together they start studying the Bible doctrines with its guidance. They go over several pages, discussing the question on each paragraph, and the session becomes very interesting. Unconsciously a craving asserts itself in the man. By force of habit he reaches into a pocket, pulls out a package of cigarettes, lights up one, and starts smoking.

    32 Shocked, disgusted, the Kingdom publisher shuts her book and Bible and says: “Now wait a minute. We have to settle one thing before we go any farther.” She has forgotten or become sidetracked from the theme of "Let God Be True” concerning the Kingdom, concerning Jehovah God, concerning Jesus Christ, concerning the righteous New World, and she says: “This matter of smoking we have got to settle right away.” Then she settles down to giving him a discourse on smoking and its bad effects. However, would it not be a whole lot better for her to keep on with her study of the first chapter of “Let God Be True” and proceed on week after week to the last chapter, right through those pungent smoke screens, and continuously teaching him the Kingdom gospel! Is it a Gospel publisher’s business, unbidden, to tell men what to do in their own homes!

    38 When making the first return visit on the interested to start a study with one of our Watch Tower textbooks, are we Scripturally required to say: “Now before we start our study in this book, I should like

    31 What illustration might wo take where smoking starts up?

    32 . What would be the unwise, and what the better course tor her ’ 33. On a return visit what have we no right flrat to ask or do? to ask you, Have you ever committed adultery ? Have you ever stolen anything? Have you ever been in jail for perjury ? Have you ever coveted your neighbor’s wife?” We might just as well do so (and it would be consistent to do so) if later on we let ourselves become disturbed and then interrupt our Bible study because our student starts to smoke. But we are not there to try to tell that student on the first night of our visit just how to live.

    M The Lord knows we are all sinners from birth, conceived in sin and shaped in iniquity; and it is His mercy and goodness to all of us that we have his truth today. None of us had anything to brag about as regards moral habits when we came into the knowledge of His truth. Why, then, let a little thing like a cigarette that has already been exposed publicly as dangerous and injurious to human health become a barrier between us and block that student from learning the truth with our help? Would it not be a great deal better and wiser for us to go right ahead with the Bible study, overlooking the incidental matter of smoking, and help the student to learn about the Kingdom and its unspeakable blessings, and so guide him into the love of God? At an appropriate time invite him to the weekly study of The Watchtower of our local company, or to its weekly service meeting, and to the semiannual circuit assembly. There let him observe the conduct of the faithful witnesses of Jehovah. Most likely some day thereafter, maybe six months or even a year later, he may say to us: “I’ve been coming to the meetings for many months, and I don’t see anybody smoking there.” Would it not then be a proper time to drop some casual remarks on what you think of smoking? We could also say: '"Well, the Lord's consecrated people just do not bother with that habit; it is filthy; it is not good for a person’s health, and so we just don’t indulge in it.” After a while we may not see our student smoking. He may smoke in secret, but that is his own business.

    35 We have no right to dictate to our student what to do. But we can assist him to become thoroughly grounded in the truth, and let him cleanse himself according to the Lord’s directive: “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (2 Cor. 7:1) As he cleans out his mind, he will incline to do what the apostle says, at Romans 12:1, 2: “I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by this mercy of God, to offer your bodies in a living sacrifice that will be holy and acceptable to God; that is your rational worship. You must not adopt the customs of this world but by your new attitude of mind be transformed so that you can find out what God’s will is—what is good, pleasing, and perfect.” (An Amer. Trans.) Yes, indeed, let this interested person study the Lord’s Word more deeply and let him thereby renew his mind. Then he will of himself be impelled to clear away all those old habits of this world. Of course, as servants, we shall help him all we can to do this; but we certainly should not let a little bad habit, a little offensive custom, needlessly interfere with his gaining a knowledge of God’s kingdom, which is the all-important concern. Such knowledge leads to life for that interested person. Smoking will not help him to get into the Kingdom or into its blessings. It is a knowledge of God’s Word that will help him to do that. Yet smoking should not obstruct our helping him to gain that vital knowledge which leads mankind to the Kingdom.

    THE VITAL THINGS

    38 We must be patient and show tolerance that will be profitable to those we desire to aid in the way of salvation. We must show love. We must love those persons just as much as we love ourselves. Secondary matters such as eating and drinking, or personal habits such as smoking, should not be blown up to such swelling importance that they hide the main issue, the vindicating of Jehovah’s sovereignty and name by means of his kingdom, and the part we have in vindicating Jehovah on this issue by keeping our consecration to him and holding fast to our integrity toward him. If some individuals need education on eating, drinking, observing days, and harmful personal habits, we will be tactful with them on these items. Meanwhile, keep at the main objectives, and let people gradually become awake to what fits in with those objectives as to food, drink, habits, observances. Of course, if a meeting is in progress where the spiritual food from the Lord’s organization is being served to all in attendance, we will not get up and walk out before the spiritual feast is concluded, in order to go out and get some material food or to get ahead of others and be first in the line that queues up at an eating counter to get served. Martha put her first interest in natural food for the physical body at the time that Jesus was serving spiritual food; but her sister Mary put the spiritual food first, to show respect for the Lord Jesus and to get her spiritual needs satisfied.—Luke 10: 38-42.

    37 Against setting a bad example in the secondary matters that are only of passing concern or benefit, the apostle wrote: “I know and as a follower of the Lord Jesus I am convinced that nothing is unclean in itself; a thing is unclean only to the man who regards it as unclean. For if your brother’s feelings are hurt by what you eat, your life is not governed by love. You must not, by what you eat, ruin a man

    34. How help a student to make his own observations on smoking?

    35. How can we help him to renovate himself?

    36. How may we keep at the main objectives for others* profit?

    37. Why deny ourselves our right for our brother’s sake?

    for whom Christ died. The thing you have a right to do must not become a cause of reproach. The Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of uprightness, peace, and happiness through the possession of the holy spirit. Whoever serves Christ in that way pleases God and gains the approval of men. Let us, therefore, keep before us whatever will contribute to peace and the development of one another. You must not, just for the sake of food, undo the work of God.”—Rom. 14:14-20, An Amer. Trans.

    38 God’s kingdom as an established working governmental arrangement is now here. Its time for beginning operations arrived with the end of the “seven times” of the Gentiles A.D. 1914, the year of the first World War of the Gentile nations. That kingdom, with Christ Jesus enthroned as Jehovah’s King for the new world, will shortly settle the primary issue of sovereignty, regarding which Jehovah God has been so tolerant. Christ Jesus will settle the issue overwhelmingly in favor of Jehovah’s side. The weighty obligation rests upon each one of God’s consecrated people to put that kingdom first and to proclaim it to all the worldly nations for a witness, because the final end of this world is getting so close. Keeping the Kingdom to the fore, we will not make eating and drinking certain things, or eating and drinking at a certain traditional time of the day, so important and urgent that it will interfere with our efforts to proclaim the Kingdom. Eating vegetables 33. Why make the Kingdom business our primary business, and how? or flesh, drinking coffee, tea, alcoholic beverages, or plain water, is not the thing of chief importance now. Our primary business is the Kingdom business.

    ” As regards the many petty questions relating to eating and drinking and wearing coats and smoking, etc., there are no specific rules or itemized commandments in the Bible telling us minutely what to do, as in the Mosaic law. As long as such is the case, there is no sound reason for us to get excited about such things of less importance. We will not stop preaching the Kingdom gospel to an individual because he smokes while he listens. In this perilous time of widespread smoking by women and men, if any of such are interested in the gospel and interested enough to listen, we will take advantage of such interest by talking the gospel as long as they want to hear, exercising tolerance toward them for their spiritual profit. And so also in other matters: we will not allow them to become factors disturbing the peace between us, as we seek together to learn of the Lord God and serve him unitedly. If we thus seek to contribute to the peace of God’s organized people and to contribute to the development of them in uprightness, we shall be found serving Christ and pleasing God. We shall also gain the approval of those men whom He will preserve to life eternal in His new world of righteousness. “It is the duty of us who are strong to put up with the weaknesses of those who are immature, and not just suit ourselves.”—Romans 15:1, An American Translation.

    39 . How shall we serve Christ, please God and gain men's approval

    AMAZIAH WAVERS IN WORSHIP

    JEHOVAH God does not change. (Mal. 3:6) In sharp I contrast with this unwavering God of purpose, man is J as changeful as the restless bosom of the sea. Prophetic of the last days Christ Jesus even spoke figuratively of the state of humanity as “the sea and the waves roaring”. (Luke 21:25) Like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed and slapped about by the high winds, so is a man weak in faith who wavers in worship. Such an unstable and double-minded man is in danger of losing everything. (Jas. 1:6-8) Not in his personal strength can Jehovah’s witness stand fast amid the surging tides of society and the ever-changing popular trends in commerce and politics and religion that keep this world in a state of constant agitation. Christians that hold fast to faith and hope in God and his promises are thereby steadied, and with the apostle Paul can say: “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast.” (Heb. 6:19) Worshipers who would not waver in integrity must look to the stable One who purposefully stands unchanged by surrounding forces. To such a one they must look for strength, and that one’s name is Jehovah, or Jah. Jah has strength.

    “Amaziah” is a name that was given to a king of Judah who reigned from 866 to 837 B.C., and which name means “Jah has strength”. But King Amaziah did not always reflect faith in the meaning of that name, and for that reason he at times failed to measure up as an unwavering worshiper of Jehovah God. He succeeded his father King Joash in the kingship when he was twenty-five years old, and the divine judgment as to his twenty-nine-year reign in Jerusalem is: “He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.”—2 Chron. 25:1, 2.

    For three years Amaziah reigned jointly with his father until the elder king was murdered by his own servants to vengefully repay him for the cold-blooded slaughter of the son of Jehoiada the high priest. The first recorded act of Amaziah after he was established alone in the kingship was his taking of vengeance on the murderers of his father. However, in his reprisal action Amaziah exercised a restraint not always manifested by the kings in those days. His endeavors to stay within the bounds of the Mosaic law are evidenced in the account: “He slew his servants that had killed the king his father. But he slew not their children, but did as it is written in the law in the book of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying, The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin.”—2 Chron. 25: 3, 4.

    Jah has strength. To be sure, the Almighty Jehovah has strength, strength sufficient to outmatch any might raised up against him, or against those under his protection. But it was on this very point that Amaziah’s faith first wavered. After the king of Judah had mustered up the fighting men of the realm, of twenty years old and upward, to form an army of 300,000 picked men, he hired an additional 100,000 seasoned warriors from Israel. He failed to rely upon Jehovah God’s ability to save, whether there be few or many visible troops. Specially objectionable was his drawing of mercenaries from the nation of Israel to merge with his own Judean troops. At the time Israel was under kings counted evil in the sight of the Lord and the ten-tribe kingdom had deserted Jehovah’s worship for the worship of demons. Hence it was that a man of God came to King Amaziah and said: “O king, let not the army of Israel go with you; for the Lord is not with Israel, even all the Ephraimites. But go by yourself, take the initiative, be courageous for battle; for God will not allow you to fall before the enemy, for God has power to help and to cast down.” These words steadied Amaziah, but he still hesitated because of the financial investment involved: “But what shall I do about the hundred talents I have given to the armed band of Israel?” “The Lord is able to give you much more than this,” said the man of God.—2 Chron. 25: 5-9, An Amer. Trans.

    …