The Watchtower, January 15, 1968

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The Watchtower — January 15, 1968

Source: jw.org

Contents

Security That Even Money Cannot Buy

The Churches Misrepresent God!

The Time Is Short

The Righteous Standard of the Changeless God

Christian Morality

Putting Kingdom Interests First

Grateful to Be One of Jehovah’s Witnesses

Questions From Readers

Announcements

Security That Even Money Cannot Buy

Security That Even Money Cannot Buy

TO MOST people security means having material possessions. If they have a good job, a fine home and a substantial bank account, they feel they are secure.

While such things can bring a measure of comfort, do they really guarantee security?

Can anyone really guarantee that a person will have his job a year from now? Multitudes of persons have lost jobs for reasons outside their control. Perhaps their company moved, or changed its policies, laying off workers. Or it may go bankrupt, forcing a layoff in workers. In some places, people must even leave jobs due to racial or religious prejudice!

Also, in many lands civil war or rioting has destroyed both homes and places of business. As the aftermath of one such riot in the United States last summer, note the course of action a man took after seeing his life’s work go up in smoke in minutes. A report relates: “A negro who lost two businesses in fires that accompanied racial rioting in Cambridge [Maryland] July 24 committed suicide today.”

Then there was the grocer who had worked hard all his life and to whom the following happened, as reported in the press: “A 60-year-old grocer was killed yesterday during an attempted robbery in his shop.” His life’s hard work came to a bitter end.

What security do millions of persons have when they do not even know where their next meal is coming from? A report from India recently stated the following:

“It has been estimated that between 35 and 40 per cent of the children of India have suffered permanent brain damage by the time they reach school age because of protein deficiency.

“This means that [in India] we are, in effect, producing subhuman beings at the rate of 35 million a year. By the time they reach school age they are unable to concentrate sufficiently to absorb and retain knowledge.”

And what of the millions of persons who thought that they had security, only to lose homes, businesses and even their lives in the horrors of two world wars, the Korean war, and now the Vietnam war? What of the many whose savings were wiped out when runaway inflation ruined the value of their money?

INSECURITY OF LIFE ITSELF

How elusive security is, and how unwise it is to put one’s whole trust in material possessions, Jesus Christ illustrated when he said:

“The land of a certain rich man produced well. Consequently he began reasoning within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, now that I have nowhere to gather my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my storehouses and build bigger ones, and there I will gather all my grain and all my good things; and I will say to my soul: “Soul, you have many good things laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, enjoy yourself.’”

“But God said to him, ‘Unreasonable one, this night they are demanding your soul [life] from you. Who, then, is to have the things you stored up?’

“So it goes with the man that lays up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.”—Luke 12:16-21.

The point of Jesus’ illustration is that real security through material possessions is an illusion. Even if a person does manage to hold on to his material possessions all his life, what good will they do him when he dies? He cannot take them to the grave with him. As Job said: “Naked I came out of my mother’s belly, and naked shall I return [to the earth].”—Job 1:21.

The truth of the matter is just as the apostle Paul wrote under inspiration: “We have brought nothing into the world, and neither can we carry anything out.”—1 Tim. 6:7.

PROVIDER OF TRUE SECURITY

Jesus Christ said: “Even when a person has an abundance his life does not result from the things he possesses.” (Luke 12:15) No material possession can give life. None can keep a person alive indefinitely either. And certainly no material thing can bring back the dead to life.

It is God Almighty alone who has the power to give life. (Acts 17:25, 28) He also has the power to give everlasting life. (John 17:3) And God has promised to give life back to those who have died already, if they are within the scope of Christ’s ransom sacrifice! That is why Job was moved to say: “O that in Sheol [the grave] you would conceal me, . . . that you would set a time limit for me and remember me!” (Job 14:13) Yes, God remembers those who put their trust in His provision instead of in material possessions. Even death will not gain permanent victory over them, because in his new system of things God will resurrect, or restore to life, those individuals who are under the benefit of Christ’s ransom sacrifice.—John 5:28, 29.

Who else can guarantee you life again? Who else can promise you a restored paradise earth, even if you die before that time comes?—Rev. 21:1-4.

Not only did the Bible writers have such confidence of being brought back to life in the resurrection, but they also knew that their God, Jehovah, would take care of them while they were alive.

It is the same today. Those who put their trust in God, and not in material possessions, have this security. Loss of material things, while it may cause hardship, does not make them lose their balance or give up. Since they did not put their trust in these things, they are not unduly dismayed if they lose them. They maintain their mental calm and their happiness because they know that God will take care of them. They appreciate that there is no true security anywhere apart from that provided by Jehovah God.

In this regard, note how solid the basis for their confidence is. The Bible states at Hebrews 13:5, 6: “Let your manner of life be free of the love of money, while you are content with the present things. For [God] has said: ‘I will by no means leave you nor by any means forsake you.’ So that we may be of good courage and say: ‘Jehovah is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’”

How can you, or anyone else, have such confidence in the security that Jehovah provides? By doing what every person who already has that security has done: study God’s Word, the Bible; determine what God’s will is; and follow it. Then without fail you will be assured that God will look after your best interests. He will assist you in your time of need, for “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but along with the temptation he will also make the way out in order for you to be able to endure it.”—1 Cor. 10:13.

SPIRITUAL BROTHERS GIVE AID

One who serves the true God has spiritual brothers who also come to his aid in time of need. These are persons who believe in, and serve, the true God just as he does. Nor are these spiritual brothers few. They are many! In fact, such spiritual brothers who serve the true God, Jehovah, are found in 197 lands world wide. Well over a million persons are actively associated with this organization, and they gladly provide assistance in time of need. The aid they render is very substantial!

For example, in September of 1967 hurricane “Beulah” smashed into lower Texas and upper Mexico along the Gulf coast. Many of Jehovah’s witnesses lost virtually all their material possessions. When this became known, their spiritual brothers in nearby areas immediately responded by sending thousands of dollars in money, food and clothing. Truckloads of necessities were rushed to those who were hard hit. When floodwaters forced many to flee their homes, they were taken into the homes of fellow Witnesses in safer places. Food, shelter and clothing were given to them. Such outpourings of Christian hospitality are part of the love that marks true worshipers of Jehovah God, for Jesus himself said: “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.”—John 13:35.

One of the many offers of assistance came from congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses in New Orleans. Having heard of the difficulties due to hurricane “Beulah,” they wrote: “The brothers in this area would like to know what we can do to aid and assist our brothers in those areas.” They were deeply appreciative of the privilege of assisting others because they themselves had already been the recipients of such assistance! In 1965 they had been in the path of hurricane “Betsy” when it smashed into the New Orleans area, leaving a trail of ruined buildings and floods. At that time the presiding ministers of the congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses there immediately organized a “nose count” to see who needed assistance. Even though 80 percent of the telephones were not working, and they had to find their way through water and debris that often contained snakes, they accounted for every one of their spiritual brothers!

On that occasion hundreds who needed aid were taken to the homes of fellow Witnesses. And from all over the country their spiritual brothers poured in assistance in the form of thousands of dollars, food, clothing and other needed items. One who received such aid said: “What impressed me was the love that the brothers showed by getting all these things together to aid all of us. It certainly was a display of real love.” Yes, these Christians in and around New Orleans had a very deep appreciation of the privilege of helping their brothers in Texas and Mexico who were affected by “Beulah”!

Then, too, when rioting flared last summer in American cities, where it was necessary ministers of Jehovah’s witnesses contacted their spiritual brothers and told them to stay indoors. It was arranged for food and other items to be taken to them so that the majority avoided having to expose themselves to danger. And in Detroit, when one of Jehovah’s witnesses had her home destroyed by fire, she was quickly moved into another place and her Christian brothers contributed food, clothing and money until she could take care of her needs.

JEHOVAH ALWAYS PROVIDES

However, even when fellow Christians are not at hand to render aid, God fulfills his promise to provide security for his servants. He can open the heart of anyone when the need arises. That is why the psalmist could observe: “A young man I used to be, I have also grown old, and yet I have not seen anyone righteous left entirely, nor his offspring looking for bread.”—Ps. 37:25.

Particularly does Jehovah take delight in providing for the needs of those who are full-time preachers of His kingdom. As they devote their lives to God’s work, they look to God to provide as he has promised. They are never disappointed. That is why Jesus said: “Seek continually [God’s] kingdom, and these things will be added to you.”—Luke 12:31.

So when a person seeks for God and serves him, God promises to take care of him, to provide for him. Not that he will provide material riches now, for he has not promised that. Jesus did not encourage his disciples to pray for a large bank account. He taught them to pray to God: “Give us today our bread for this day.” (Matt. 6:11) It is in God’s new system that He will shower down material prosperity. Then all of earth’s inhabitants will enjoy the good things that God has in store for those who love him.

Until that time comes, the right attitude is the one that the apostle Paul had when he stated: “Having sustenance and covering, we shall be content with these things.” (1 Tim. 6:8) But he also said: “It is a means of great gain, this godly devotion along with self-sufficiency.” (1 Tim. 6:6) Yes, taking in knowledge of God, and then serving him, brings the greatest gain possible. It brings many spiritual brothers that really care about you, and deeply so. And it brings the friendship and care of God. That is security that money cannot buy, security that only God can give.

Such security is not temporary either. It will continue forever. Those who serve God now will have God’s approval and be preserved alive into his new order where, earth wide, Jehovah promises, “the bow and the sword and war I shall break out of the land, and I will make them lie down in security.”—Hos. 2:18.

The Churches Misrepresent God!

The Churches Misrepresent God!

IF YOU are one of the 960 million persons who regard the churches of Christendom as representatives of God, you may be shocked by the bold statement that they misrepresent him. From your personal experience you may not see how this could be so, but permit us to present some facts. If you are not afraid of the truth, you will consider them.

The personal name of God appears as four letters in the portion of the Bible that was originally written in Hebrew. The churches know what these letters stand for. They have even put them on many of their buildings throughout the world, such as Saint Paul’s Chapel in New York city, the Basilica of St. Victor in Varese, Italy, and Paris’ oldest church, Saint Germain des Près, to mention a few. Although knowing God’s personal name, the churches have kept it from the people by suppressing it. They have even done this in their translations of the Bible.

SUBSTITUTE TITLES

Wherever the four Hebrew letters for God’s name appear in the Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible, the churches have almost invariably substituted the title “Lord” in their translations. In English the letters for his name are JHVH or YHWH. How can you get Lord out of that? It does not even remotely resemble the personal name of God, which, with vowels added, is Jehovah or, as some prefer, Yahweh.

Church organizations produced the King James Version of the Bible and the Catholic Douay Version. The King James Version translates God’s name as Jehovah only four times by itself and only three times in combination with the name of a place or altar out of the more than 6,800 times that the letters for his name appear in Hebrew. (Ex. 6:3; Ps. 83:18; Isa. 12:2; 26:4; Gen. 22:14; Ex. 17:15; Judg. 6:24) The Douay Version does not translate it as Jehovah even once. Both use the undistinguishing title “Lord” or “God” in place of his name, thus changing what the Bible in its original languages actually says. While keeping people ignorant of God’s name, the Catholic church acknowledges the name in The Catholic Encyclopedia. Its edition of 1910, in Volume 8, on page 329, says: “Jehovah, the proper name of God in the Old Testament.”

Even though “Jehovah” may not be the way the Hebrews originally pronounced the name, that is not a valid argument for not using it. The name “Jehovah” preserves the four letters representing God’s name in Hebrew and has long been recognized as his personal name. It distinguishes him from the millions of man-made gods, such as the 330 million gods of India, which cannot be said for the common title “Lord.” While rejecting the name Jehovah, claiming that it is not the accurate Hebrew pronunciation of God’s name, the churches inconsistently use the proper name Jesus, although that is not the accurate Hebrew or Greek pronunciation of the name of the Son of God. By suppressing Jehovah’s name and substituting titles for it, the churches misrepresent him, making him appear to be nameless.

MISREPRESENTED AS A TRINITY

As if this indignity were not enough, the churches have misrepresented the true God as an incomprehensible triune God of three persons in one. They refer to him as the “Triune God” or the “Blessed Trinity.” As you search your Bible, you will not find one mention of the word “trinity” or any statement that Almighty God is three coequal and coeternal persons, as the churches claim. What you will find there flatly contradicts them, making their trinity doctrine a lie.

In support of their doctrine the churches claim that various statements in the Bible imply that God is three persons in one. When he says, at Genesis 1:26, for example, “Let us make man in our image,” they claim that the use of the word “us” implies three persons in one God, although the verse does not indicate how many persons were meant by the word. They insist on distorting this scripture to fit their pet doctrine. That the one to whom the Creator was actually speaking was his first creation, his only-begotten Son, is testified to by the Bible at Colossians 1:15, 16: “He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; because by means of him all other things were created in the heavens and upon the earth.” That mighty spirit Son was Jehovah’s master workman. Logically it was to this spirit creature, and not merely to himself, that the Almighty God was speaking.

Another scripture the churches distort to imply seeming support for the trinity is John 10:30, where Jesus says: “I and the Father are one.” They contend that Jesus was testifying that he is God, but is that really what he was saying? By comparing John 10:30 with John 17:20, 21, it becomes evident that Jesus was not doing that at all. In the latter scriptures he speaks of those that have faith in him as being one with himself and the Father. Obviously, Jesus was speaking of unity of purpose and not oneness in godship.

Many churches go so far as to misrepresent God as sacrificing himself for the redemption of mankind. A Catholic publication put out by the Benedictine Convent of Perpetual Adoration in Missouri makes this unscriptural claim in its title: “God Himself Our Sacrifice.” And the Book of Mormon makes a similar claim at Alma 42:15: “God himself atoneth for the sins of the world.” This gross misrepresentation of the eternal God results from the lie that Jesus is God. The Book of Mormon carries that lie to the point of having Jesus Christ say at Ether 4:12, “I am the Father.”

Throughout his ministry Jesus Christ proclaimed himself, not as God, but as the Son of God. He said nothing about being part of a triune God and neither did the Bible writers. Instead of claiming to be equal with his Father, he said: “The Father is greater than I am.” (John 14:28) This relationship of unequality with the Father did not change after his resurrection and ascension to heaven. This is shown at 1 Corinthians 11:3 and 1 Co 15:28, where it shows subjection of the resurrected Jesus Christ to the Father.

Jesus referred to his Father as his God when he told one of his followers: “I am ascending to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God.” (John 20:17) He worshiped the same God as did his followers. It was to this God, Jehovah, that he prayed when dying on the torture stake: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”—Matt. 27:46.

As these scriptures plainly show, the churches of Christendom are lying when they say that Jesus Christ is God and that God came to the earth and died to save men. They grossly misrepresent the Creator when they claim that he is a triune God of three persons in one, thus likening him to what pagans say about their gods. They dishonestly twist the Scriptures to make them appear to imply support for their doctrine. Considering how the churches thus misrepresent the true God and his name, how could they possibly be his representatives? Do you honestly believe that you can please the God of truth by belonging to such organizations?—Rev. 18:4.

The Time Is Short

The Time Is Short

WAILING police sirens paused only momentarily to permit the warning message by loudspeaker: “This is a tornado alert! This is the real thing! Take all emergency steps!” Wise citizens grabbed a few essentials and hastened to shelters. Unwise ones dallied, toying with the thought that it might, after all, be only a false alarm. But suddenly they found themselves engulfed in the fury of the storm as wild winds and flying objects smashed larger buildings like matchwood and lifted scores of smaller ones high into the air.

People living throughout the earth today might well ponder the lesson of such a situation. Survivors often come forth from the shelters to scenes of appalling desolation, but at least they are alive! The victims are usually those who failed to heed the warning. What if it should at times turn out to be a false alarm? Would it not be far wiser to take precautions and protect one’s life? When all the signs point unmistakably to the approach of the tornado, how foolish to ignore warnings!

Yet today a vast multitude of earth’s inhabitants are acting and living as though the blackening horizon of our times did not point to a world storm of unprecedented proportions. Yes, all the signs today point to the closeness of God’s great war against all the kingdoms of the whole inhabited earth, the war of Armageddon, that must clear the way for a New Order of peace and righteousness. (Rev. 16:14, 16; Dan. 2:44) What is your attitude? Will you heed the warning and take steps for survival, or will you join the heedless ridiculers, who say: “Why, from the day our forefathers fell asleep in death, all things are continuing exactly as from creation’s beginning”?—2 Pet. 3:4.

IN THE PATH OF THE STORM

For almost fifty years now Jehovah’s witnesses have been sounding the warning. There is no doubt about the reality of this great world storm that is bearing down upon a whole world of disobedient men. Warned Jesus Christ: “Those days will be days of a tribulation such as has not occurred from the beginning of the creation which God created until that time.” (Mark 13:19) Think of that! The slaughter in countless wars waged on earth, all of history’s earthquakes and famines that have swept millions into their graves, disease epidemics whose victims have run into the billions, yes, even the destructive forces unleashed during two world wars—all these were accounted by Jesus of little consequence when compared to the great tribulation or time of trouble he was foretelling!

And Jeremiah, God’s prophet, foretold that our whole terrestrial globe would be in the path of this unparalleled tempest. Under inspiration he wrote: “Look! A calamity is going forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest itself will be roused up from the remotest parts of the earth. And those slain by Jehovah will certainly come to be in that day from one end of the earth clear to the other end of the earth.”—Jer. 25:32, 33.

Just as the tornado smashes everything in its path, sparing neither the wealthy nor the influential, so the warning of the coming great world storm declares: “Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovah’s fury; but by the fire of his zeal the whole earth will be devoured, because he will make an extermination, indeed a terrible one, of all the inhabitants of the earth.”—Zeph. 1:18.

NO TIME TO LOSE

But how do we know that the foretold world storm did not already come in the past? Because, since the great deluge of Noah’s time, no world calamity has measured up to the intensity of this calamity. Consider these further words of the prophet Jeremiah, for example: “They will not be bewailed, neither will they [the victims] be gathered up or be buried. As manure on the surface of the ground they will become.” (Jer. 25:33) Nothing so all-consuming and destructive has yet taken place. It is yet future.

But how far into the future? Not far, for all the evidences around us point to this time in which we live as the “last days” spoken about by so many of God’s inspired penmen. You have only to look around in this restless world of men and compare what you see with the apostle Paul’s prophecy at 2 Timothy 3:1-4; and with the apostle Peter’s words at 2 Peter 3:3, 4; and with Jesus’ own words recorded at Luke 21:25, 26. Note the rising tide of senseless violence and crime, the ridiculing of things that are sacred and true by men devoid of faith in God’s existence, the anguished fear of those who sense impending catastrophe but who see no way out. Yes, we are facing the greatest crisis of all times!

Further stressing the shortness of the time remaining, Jesus prophesied about a generation that would witness the fulfillment of the many-featured “sign” marking the conclusion of this system of things, such as global wars, followed by food shortages and earthquakes, and by the worldwide heralding of the good news of God’s kingdom. Said he: “This generation [witnessing these events] will by no means pass away until all these things occur.”—Matt. 24:34.

You belong to a generation that has either seen those world developments or one that has been told about them by your parents. You have heard about the heralding of the Kingdom message by Jehovah’s witnesses throughout the earth, a work now shared in by more than a million Witnesses in 197 lands, a work that began almost fifty years ago and has continuously increased in intensity. Proof, all this, that the “generation” spoken of by Jesus is now close to passing away! The time is truly short!

WHERE DO YOU STAND?

In view of all this, where do you stand? Have you lived your life thus far with thought only for your own ambitions and pleasures? Has your time, your attention, been absorbed in the pursuit of ‘all those things that the nations are eagerly pursuing’? (Matt. 6:32) Of what lasting value are all these things when all the things in the world, yes, and the world of unbelieving mankind itself, are to pass away within the lifetime of the generation that saw World War I?—1 John 2:15-17; 2 Pet. 3:10.

You may even have taken notice of Jehovah’s witnesses and read some of the Bible helps they distribute. But where do you stand before God right now? Have you done anything to merit his approval, anything more, that is, than people of pagan religions have done? Yes, you have probably been charitable and tried to deal justly with your fellowmen. But have not people of so-called “heathen” nations done as much?

The vital question is: In view of the shortness of the time before irretrievable calamity befalls this wicked system of things on earth, what is your position in relation to the great God who can grant life or take it away? (Ps. 36:9) If you have virtually ignored him until now and run your own life to suit yourself, surely it is time to show him proper respect by listening to the message that he has provided for all men in the Bible, and especially for these critical times!—2 Thess. 1:7-9.

WHAT TO DO NOW

God caused his prophet Zephaniah to point the way for those desiring refuge and protection during the storm of his wrath upon all nations. “Seek righteousness, seek meekness,” was his message. “Probably you may be concealed in the day of Jehovah’s anger.” (Zeph. 2:2, 3) So it is urgent to get to know, not the human view, but God’s view of “righteousness” and “meekness.” The Bible holds the answer, and that is the Book that must become the basis for your study for you to know what is God’s will for you.

The loving God has also provided an organization of true worshipers from whom you can obtain help to study the Bible and learn also how to apply the things learned in your life. You are welcome to attend regularly at any one of the Kingdom Halls of Jehovah’s witnesses. There you can learn not only to help yourself but also how to extend aid to others—your own family, your relatives and friends. They need to be impressed with the danger in which they stand in view of the oncoming tempest of Jehovah’s wrath upon the nations. There may yet be time for you to aid them.

This is no time for complacency. It is not the time to hesitate between two opinions. It is God you must please, not men, in order to gain eternal life and happiness. You may not safely procrastinate. Warned Jesus: “Just as it occurred in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building. But on the day that Lot came out of Sodom it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed them all. The same way it will be on that day when the Son of man is to be revealed.” (Luke 17:28-30) Lot and his daughters escaped. Will you?

The Righteous Standard of the Changeless God

The Righteous Standard of the Changeless God

“I am Jehovah; I have not changed.”—Mal. 3:6.

1. What is Jehovah’s attitude and purpose with respect to all disorders?

SOVEREIGN Ruler of the whole universe is what Jehovah God is, and as such he is the champion of peace and order. (1 Cor. 14:33) In this capacity it is his unshakable purpose to maintain order, and, where disorder arises, to correct the situation and restore peace. He may ‘tolerate with much long-suffering’ those who fail to appreciate the value of order. (Rom. 9:22) Nonetheless, such ones will not be permitted to block his purpose indefinitely. Those who refuse to comply with his arrangements for universal good order are the ones who will suffer irretrievably.

2, 3. (a) What should impress us about the soulless creations of God in the heavens above us? (b) What would likely result were Jehovah’s controlling laws relaxed?

2 As we look out into the skies around our planet we should be deeply impressed with the order and harmony that are everywhere manifest. Marvelous laws, many of which are yet unknown to men, bind the countless stars in their galaxies into one vast system in which there is no jarring note of independence. Each star maintains its place in its assigned orbit, and all together they accomplish the will of the Creator. To each he has imparted the tremendous energy to go on rotating on its axis and at the same time to go on hurtling speedily on its orbital flight. The prophet Isaiah points to Jehovah as “the One who is bringing forth the army of them even by number, all of whom he calls even by name. Due to the abundance of dynamic energy, he also being vigorous in power, not one of them is missing.”—Isa. 40:26.

3 Were God to relax his laws governing the movements of his huge soulless creations in the sky, can you imagine what would happen? Doubtless they would fly off wildly on collision courses that would end up disastrously. Happily for us who live on this tiny sphere, there never will be such a contingency, for the very reason that Jehovah is the upholder of order.

4, 5. (a) Why are the heavenly bodies of more than superficial interest to us? (b) What features in common do astral and human creations have?

4 In his written Word the great Creator has caused stars to be compared with humans. Daniel, for example, writes: “The ones having insight will shine like the brightness of the expanse; and those who are bringing the many to righteousness, like the stars to time indefinite.” (Dan. 12:3) Abraham’s great-grandson Joseph was given a dream-vision of stars representing the members of his own family. (Gen. 37:9) And Abraham’s offspring were prophesied to become numberless like the stars.—Gen. 22:17.

5 The comparison is so fitting too! Humans, like the stars, have their own place or role in life to occupy. Like the variegated stars, humans differ from one another in appearance and in characteristics. (1 Cor. 15:41) Humans, too, can accurately reflect, if they will, the glory of their Creator, even as the stars do. And those foolish men who obstinately refuse to comply with God’s righteous standard for humans are appropriately described as “stars with no set course, for which the blackness of darkness stands reserved forever,” far from any opportunity to collide with God’s useful creations.—Jude 13.

MAN’S NEED FOR A RIGHT STANDARD

6. What, then, do we learn from the fact that unchangeable laws govern the soulless creation? (b) How is this backed up by God’s own record of his purpose?

6 Now, do you begin to realize the need for God to set up his righteous standard for the guidance of every human that lives? Not to deprive anyone of something essential to true happiness. Not just to be arbitrary or to show his authority. Not because he would withhold from anyone true freedom, for Jehovah’s spirit is the spirit of freedom. (2 Cor. 3:17) Rather, his grand purpose is to have an assemblage of perfect creatures in heaven and upon earth, like the billions of stars in the sky, all cooperating together in peace, with not even the trace of intrusion by one upon the rights of another. Read about this purpose of God, if you will, at Ephesians, chapter 1, verses 8 to 10.

7. What may we note about persons who insist upon unlimited freedom of decision and action?

7 To persons who are impatient of control, any kind of requirement may seem to be galling. They want to be free to do as they please. They do not want to be answerable to authority. They are like the popular writer who is reported as saying: “I must be able to live as I want or I don’t want to live at all.” It is not that they want to be treated like everyone else. They want to be treated as exceptions, as special cases. Yet they know quite well that, if everyone insisted on doing exactly what he felt like doing, conditions here on earth would be even more chaotic than they are. Refusing to take into account the limits imposed by the rights of fellow creatures, they are, in fact, dedicated to pleasing themselves.

8. What attitude early infected the human family, and with what results?

8 Early history offers many examples of those who claimed the right to map their own course. Eve disregarded God’s command, an action that selfishly dragged her husband into trouble. She allowed her eyes and her heart to lead her off into the way of sin. Adam, too, determined he would rather not live if he could not have life with his beautiful but lawless companion. Their firstborn, Cain, also turned out to be a man who wanted to have his own way. Though God gave him warning, he stubbornly refused counsel and ended up as a condemned murderer. It was not merely that Cain had inherited imperfection. No, for Abel also lived under such a handicap, yet he pleased God. Cain was an independent, and that attitude has been shared by multitudes of Adam’s posterity since those days.—1 John 3:12.

9. What contrasting attitudes were evident just prior to the great Delulge?

9 In course of time selfish angels “forsook their own proper dwelling place” in heaven, materialized as men and engaged in debauching the human race. (Jude 6; Gen. 6:1-8) Yet Noah “proved himself faultless among his contemporaries.” He maintained proper control of his family, shielding them from the immoral corruptions of a wicked world. He refused to run with the crowd of lawless creatures who ignored God’s standard for right conduct and paid for their willfulness with their lives.—Gen. 6:9.

10. What particular viewpoint of the changeless God was underlined by the overthrow of Sodom and her sister cities?

10 When Abraham’s nephew Lot was dwelling in the city of Sodom, “greatly distressed by the indulgence of the law-defying people in loose conduct,” Jehovah God determined to register his hatred of filthy sexual practices in a decisive manner. As Lot and his family were hurried from the scene, “Jehovah made it rain sulphur and fire,” completely overthrowing Sodom and its neighbor cities and snuffing out the lives of their inhabitants. (2 Pet. 2:7; Gen. 19:1-28) The record of that terrible punishment should be a reminder to all, of God’s insistence upon the sexual and moral cleanness of those who would have his favor.

11. How did Joseph view God’s righteous standard for human conduct, and against what powerful influences did he take his stand?

11 Into a land where women occupied a prominent and influential role in society Jacob’s son Joseph was sold as a slave. When exposed to the seductive importunities of his employer’s wife, which course did he choose? He did have a choice. He could have concluded that there was no harm in doing what his mistress required, leaving the full responsibility upon her. Instead, he took into account a far more important consideration. Note his words of decision as he tore himself from the presence of the seductress: “How could I commit this great badness and actually sin against God?”—Gen. 39:9.

12. How did the conduct of Esau and Jacob display their respectives attitudes toward God’s requirements?

12 Contrasting attitudes toward the standard of human conduct that God had communicated to men were displayed by Abraham’s grandsons, Esau and Jacob. Esau grew up to be “a man knowing how to hunt, a man of the field, but Jacob a blameless man, dwelling in tents.” (Gen. 25:27) The implication is that Esau was not blameless. May it have been because his love of the hunt took him away from the regular supervision of a godly household? His subsequent course proved him to be a wild, independent man, preferring his freedom to please himself to the quiet, industrious life of the keeper of flocks. As a self-pleaser he took wives from among the daughters of Heth, to the great vexation of his mother.—Gen. 27:46.

13. What wrong course might Moses have been tempted to follow, had he failed to cast his lot with the chosen people of God?

13 Moses, on the other hand, stands as a fine example of those concerned about adhering to God’s fine standard for his earthly servants. He could have continued in the lap of luxury as an Egyptian prince, doing and having whatever his heart or eyes desired. But the account tells how he “refused to be called the son of the daughter of Pharaoh, choosing to be ill-treated with the people of God rather than to have the temporary enjoyment of sin.”—Heb. 11:24, 25.

A WRITTEN STANDARD GIVEN

14. How was Moses rewarded, and what did Jehovah now furnish for the direction of his typical nation?

14 Because he did not please himself, but looked to the invisible God for direction and power to endure, Moses was greatly favored by being appointed as the mediator through whom God gave a written code to the nation he purchased for himself out of Egypt. Some of the basic statutes of that code are as follows: “You must not have any other gods against my face. Honor your father and your mother in order that your days may prove long upon the ground that Jehovah your God is giving you. You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely as a witness against your fellow man. You must not desire” anything belonging to your fellowman.—Ex. 20:3, 12-17.

15. The basic laws given to Israel at Mount Sinai embody what deep-lying principles of conduct?

15 It is worthy of notice that for any Israelite to insist on being his own judge of right and of wrong would, in effect, be setting himself up as a god. Submission to family authority is required. Depriving a fellow human of the right to live, to have a clean body, to retain his own property and to have a good name are actions that God forbids. Finally, going to the source of all troubles, God’s written standard warns against entertaining in the heart illegal and covetous desires. So that no Israelite might plead ignorance of these just requirements, parents were commanded to inculcate them in their children from infancy onward.—Deut. 6:6-9.

16. Against what wrongful course especially did Jehovah warn his people, if they would continue to enjoy his favor?

16 The filthy immoral rites of pagan worship were warned against: “For you must not prostrate yourself to another god, because Jehovah, whose name is Jealous, he is a jealous God; for fear that you may conclude a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, as they will certainly have immoral intercourse with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone will be certain to invite you, and you will certainly eat some of his sacrifice. Then you will have to take some of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters will be certain to have immoral intercourse with their gods and make your sons have immoral intercourse with their gods.”—Ex. 34:14-16.

17. Why the ban against ordinary social amenities with the peoples of the nations surrounding them?

17 Jehovah well knew the pattern of things to expect. It would start with apparently harmless social amenities. Just accept the hospitality of those pagans. Then, before the victim is aware of it, he has accepted some of the sacred food offered to the pagan idol, and has brought himself under obligation to comply with other requirements of the false religion, immoral and degrading though they might well be. In ancient times, to eat bread at a man’s table put one under obligation to remain in friendly, covenant terms with his host. To eat at the table of a false god likewise placed the partaker in friendly relationship with such a god. Jehovah, however, demanded exclusive devotion from his worshipers.

18. In what way did Jehovah remove any basis for doing what everybody else is doing?

18 Knowing that in time to come his people would observe the customs of neighbor nations who set up their own independent standards, and majority groups who would try to stampede them into the wrong way, Jehovah commanded: “You must not follow after the crowd for evil ends; and you must not testify over a controversy so as to turn aside with the crowd in order to pervert justice.” (Ex. 23:2) He left them no basis for going wrong and then claiming in justification, ‘Everyone else is doing it.’

19. How were the Israelites to guard themselves against violation of God’s righteous standard, and why did Zimri and other Israelites fail?

19 That his people might protect themselves against the onset of seductive sin, Jehovah commanded them: “Remember all the commandments of Jehovah and do them, and you must not go about following your hearts and your eyes, which you are following in immoral intercourse.” (Num. 15:39) Thus their safety lay in continually reminding themselves of God’s right standard of conduct and conforming their lives to it. Had this counsel been heeded by Zimri, son of Salu, and 24,000 other Israelites, they would not have had to suffer execution for indulging in immoral relations with the degraded women of Moab.—Num. 25:1-9.

NONE EXEMPTED FROM GOD’S STANDARD

20. What Scriptural example shows the relationship that often exists between materialism and moral looseness, and why did Jehovah act swiftly in that case?

20 Greed and lack of godly fear go hand in hand with sexual looseness, as may be noted in the account about Phinehas and his brother Hophni, sons of the priest Eli who served at God’s tabernacle in Shiloh. Not only did they treat with disrespect the sacrificial offerings of the people to Jehovah, but, taking advantage of their trusted office, “they would lie down with the women that were serving at the entrance of the tent of meeting.” (1 Sam. 2:17, 22, 34) God acted to uphold his standard. After full opportunity was given Eli to discipline his sons, a man of God appeared with the shocking message: “On one day both of [your sons] will die.” That sentence was soon executed when the Philistines defeated the Israelites in battle and carried off the sacred ark of the covenant. Neither position nor privilege excused Eli of parental responsibility and his sons from punishment for sacrilege.

21. What do we learn from King David’s bitter experiences following his sin in the matter of Bath-sheba?

21 No one can claim before God that he or she is a special case demanding departure from the strict rules governing right conduct. Not even the royal position of King David could excuse him for coveting the wife of another and then procuring the death of the husband so that his wrong desire might be satisfied. Though his own life was spared, the child Bath-sheba bore him died and he was destined to suffer throughout the remainder of his life from constant heartaches and troubles fomented by his own sons and trusted servants. Even his wives, his concubines, were to be publicly ravished by a rebellious son of his own house.—2 Sam. 12:1-14; 16:21, 22.

22. How did Solomon come to merit the announcement of the coming calamity of his kingdom?

22 In the latter part of his reign, Solomon, David’s second son by Bath-sheba, got to ignoring the right standard set by God. He multiplied wives for himself, taking women from pagan nations, women who insisted on importing the worship of their false gods into the land of Israel. The record tells how he catered to those insubordinate females who despised the God of their husband, and how he built temples for their idols. Jehovah decreed that a calamity would befall his kingdom after his death. Ten tribes revolted from the rule of his son and set up an independent kingdom. Two tribes only gave allegiance to the king in Jerusalem.

23. (a) Why did Jehovah foretell and permit the miserable fall of the kings of Israel and Judah? (b) What lesson had not yet been impresssed upon individual exile Jews up to the time of Ezra?

23 Later kings of Judah and Israel, with few exceptions, also proved unfaithful to God’s requirements, immoral in their intercourse with the false gods of the surrounding nations, filthy in their practice of lewd religious rites. Jehovah eventually gave their kingdoms over to the Assyrian and Babylonian conquerors, leaving the land of Judah a ruined desolation for seventy years. Then he mercifully gave them a release and return to their own land. But did they then subject themselves to his standard of right conduct? No, for they failed to maintain separation from the Canaanites and other mixed peoples around them. Scribe Ezra was shocked to learn how they had taken heathen women as wives for themselves and their sons. He lost no time in sounding the warning of God’s adverse judgment against the wrongdoers. At his sobering reminder the Jews agreed to make a clean break from their unclean state: “Let us conclude a covenant with our God to put away all the [pagan] wives and those born from them according to the counsel of Jehovah.” (Ezra 10:3) The choice was vital. They averted the dreadful consequences of Jehovah’s wrath.

NATIONS JUDGED ACCORDING TO GOD’S STANDARD

24. Hewing to the line in connection with his righteous standard, does Jehovah limit his actions to individuals who ignore his requirements? Give examples.

24 Not individuals alone, but whole nations stood or fell in times past according to whether they honored or ignored the right standard of the changeless God. Moab, Ammon and Edom, all of them Semitic nations who scorned and hated Israel, coveted their land and put on airs against Jehovah, were brought to ruin and desolation by decree of the righteous God. (Ezek. 25:1-14) The Phoenicians, dominated by commercial greed, broke covenant with Israel and began trading off captive Jews into slavery. Israel’s God brought calamity upon them first by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and later by Alexander of Greece.

25. How did God’s justice operate in connection with the entire nations of Judah and Israel, and why?

25 Even the kingdoms of Judah and Israel insisted on pleasing themselves and following in the way of the pagan nations round about. Jehovah by his prophets reproved them for their filthy and immoral practices. He calls them “daughters of prostitution” and describes them as “lusting after those passionately loving [them].” However, they ignored his warnings, and he brought upon them the threatened judgment slaughter: “There will be the bringing up of a congregation against them and a making of them a frightful object and something to plunder. And the congregation must pelt them with stones, and there will be a cutting of them down with their swords. Their sons and their daughters they will kill, and with fire their houses they will burn. And I shall certainly cause loose conduct to cease out of the land.” (Ezek. 23:46-48) How foolish of those highly favored peoples to despise the very standard that Jehovah designed for their welfare and happiness!

26. How does Jehovah, through his prophet Malachi, assure his typical people of his unchangeability with respect to his righteous standard?

26 Even after Ezra’s day the Jews again fell to the low moral level of the heathen peoples around them. Again by his prophet Malachi God sent solemn warning of their danger: “I will come near to you people for the judgment, and I will become a speedy witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against those swearing falsely, and against those acting fraudulently with the wages of the wage earner, with the widow and with the fatherless boy, and those turning away the alien resident, while they have not feared me. . . . For I am Jehovah; I have not changed.” (Mal. 3:5, 6) God’s view of these specifically mentioned wrongs remains the same. He has not changed and never will in this respect. He will not overlook the willful violators of his righteous standard.

NOT SWAYED BY THE CROWD

27. What is to be said about the majority view of imperfect humans in all such matters?

27 The individual or nation that is unduly influenced by the conduct of the majority of imperfect and sinful humans is led into a snare. Those who patterned their lives after the example of the majority in Noah’s day, for example, proved to be in the wrong and God’s adverse judgment came upon them. Safety was not in numbers. The popular, the orthodox way of viewing matters is seldom the way that accords with God’s will.

28. What right mental attitude was displayed by all the faithful men of old who are commended in God’s written Word?

28 On the other hand, those who viewed with suspicion the easy road of the majority were the ones who chose to keep their lives in harmony with God’s will. Noah, Abraham, Job, Jacob, Moses and other faithful servants of Jehovah followed the way of the minority. They were unswayed by the preponderance of numbers. They knew that the Creator’s thoughts and ways were far loftier and of far greater account than the thoughts and ways of men. (Isa. 55:9) They chose the future, everlasting reward of life in a clean New Order promised by God, rather than to have “the temporary enjoyment of sin,” or the satisfaction of pleasing themselves. (Heb. 11:25) Soon now such faithful ones will receive that rich reward.

29. What are some of the conclusions that God-fearing persons of today should reach?

29 It is the course of wisdom, today, to see in these choice records of human history set out in the Bible the counsel and direction so urgently needed in this day of global crisis. How wise to recognize that no individual can properly claim the right to run his own life just as he pleases, without regard for the interest and welfare of his fellow creatures and without respect for the right standard of conduct decreed by the Creator! Those individuals or nations who presume to act independently of God’s arrangement, who violate the moral standard that he has set up to guide his creatures, are headed for disaster.

30. Of what can we be assured relative to God’s dealings with people of the past?

30 God’s dealings with those who in the past either honored or despised his righteous standard of conduct are of vital moment to us who live today. Why? Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, answers: “All the things that were written aforetime were written for our instruction, that through our endurance and through the comfort from the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Rom. 15:4) Meantime we can be assured that God’s standard for human conduct does not change, for Jehovah is rightly described as “the Father of the celestial lights, and with him there is not a variation of the turning of the shadow.” (Jas. 1:17) He is, indeed, the changeless, the everlasting God.

[Picture on page 46]

Joseph fled from seduction

Christian Morality

Christian Morality

“The minding of the flesh means death, but the minding of the spirit means life and peace.”—Rom. 8:6.

1. In sending his own beloved Son to earth, what great change did Jehovah institute, and why?

BECAUSE Abraham’s natural descendants continually fell away from the righteous standard he set up to govern their conduct, Jehovah cast them away from being his special possession, and proceeded to gather together those who would form a new nation for his praise. Not by an ordinary human servant like Moses did he assemble the new nation of his worshipers, but this time he sent his own Son from heaven “in the likeness of sinful flesh.” (Rom. 8:3) In Jesus he furnished the means of ransoming men from the power of sin and death as well as a perfect model in whose steps other men might follow.—1 Pet. 2:21.

2. Jesus being “in the likeness of sinful flesh” meant what, and why was this appropriate to God’s purpose?

2 That his Son was “in the likeness of sinful flesh” does not mean that “the two absolutely opposite principles of human ignorance and imperfection, and divine omniscience and perfection,” met in Christ Jesus, as affirmed by the Roman Catholic Thomas Aquinas. No, for Jesus was no God-man. “He emptied himself and took a slave’s form and came to be in the likeness of men,” but as such, we are assured, he was “guileless, undefiled, separated from the sinners.” (Phil. 2:7; Heb. 7:26) As a perfect human Jesus was in position to be submitted to the same test of obedience and integrity as that to which Adam and Eve were subjected. The course he would follow would demonstrate his attitude toward Jehovah’s righteous standard.

3. Under what kind of dominion had humankind been subject prior to Jesus’ appearance?

3 When Jesus appeared the human race had been long under the despotic rule of sin. ‘Sin rules as king in their mortal bodies,’ is the way the Christian apostle Paul expressed it. (Rom. 6:12) And it hardly needs to be proved that the mortal bodies, with their feelings or sensations, can and do dominate the thinking and actions of most humans. Just think of the powerful influence on human lives that is brought to bear by the sense organs that govern touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing!

4. How do fleshly sensations tyrannize imperfect humans?

4 Fleshly sensations, given free rein, are capable of producing the glutton, the drunkard, and the lover of luxury and ease. There is the jealous eye that wants everything it sees and slave-drives its owner into the path of materialism. (Eccl. 4:8) The sense of touch, when permitted to dominate our thinking, can lead us into lewd and filthy practices. (Matt. 5:30) Even the ear can mislead us by seeking only the pleasurable sounds and shutting out those harsher notes that may come in the form of sober counsel and healthful discipline.—Zech. 7:11.

5. What was God’s purpose in furnishing his human creations with those sensory powers?

5 Of course, the all-wise Creator did not equip us with those sensory powers in order for them to dictate the course of our lives. Fully cognizant of the powerful influence that would be exerted upon men and women by the fleshly sensations, Jehovah made provision so that intelligence nourished by divine wisdom would act as a counterpoise. Thus in his Word he counsels: “My son, to my wisdom O do pay attention. To my discernment incline your ears, so as to guard thinking abilities; and may your own lips safeguard knowledge itself.”—Prov. 5:1, 2.

JESUS LEADS IN THE RIGHT WAY

6. (a) With what former experience in mind would the Tempter approach the perfect man Jesus? (b) What was the result?

6 Satan the tempter well knew how humans could be influenced through their fleshly senses, and so, in seeking to cause Jesus to break integrity with his God, he suggested to the hungry Son of God that he draw upon the miraculous power of his Father for the appeasement of his appetite. Would Jesus now mind the flesh, that is, pay attention to its demands with a view to obeying it? Or, would he mind the spirit, that is, pay attention to spiritual direction from his Father in heaven? To Satan’s chagrin he chose the latter, declaring: “Man must live, not on bread alone, but on every utterance coming forth through Jehovah’s mouth.” (Matt. 4:4) Jesus submitted to the right moral standard.

7. How did Jesus show his accurate understanding of human weakness?

7 Showing his awareness of the dangerous influence the members and organs of our human bodies can have over our lives, Jesus warned: “I say to you that everyone that keeps on looking at a woman so as to have a passion for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If, now, that right eye of yours is making you stumble, tear it out and throw it away from you. For it is more beneficial to you for one of your members to be lost to you than for your whole body to be pitched into Gehenna [from which there can be no resurrection]. Also, if your right hand is making you stumble, cut it off and throw it away from you. For it is more beneficial for one of your members to be lost to you than for your whole body to land in Gehenna.”—Matt. 5:28-30.

8. Why can we be sure that Jesus was not here teaching self-mutilation?

8 Manifestly, Jesus was not here teaching self-mutilation, something that would have been in opposition to the principles of God’s law to the Jews. But he knew that the eye is capable of kindling a covetous spirit and the hand can be used to manipulate matters for selfish gratification. At the same time, Jesus knew that the eye and the hand are useful for many godly activities when controlled by a mind nourished upon godly teaching. Instead of the fleshly members directing the thinking, the mind should have those members under control.

9. On another occasion, how did Jesus identify the worst kinds of defilement and their source?

9 On another occasion Jesus assured his followers that “not what enters into his mouth defiles a man; but it is what proceeds out of his mouth that defiles a man.” (Matt. 15:11) In response to their request for clarification, Jesus explained: “Are you not aware that everything entering into the mouth passes along into the intestines and is discharged into the sewer? However, the things proceeding out of the mouth come out of the heart, and those things defile a man. For example, out of the heart come wicked reasonings, murders, adulteries, fornications, thieveries, false testimonies, blasphemies. These are the things defiling a man.”—Matt. 15:17-20.

10. How do bad things come to be in the heart, and with what terrible result?

10 Bad things, in turn, come to be in the heart and mind of the man through his sensory organs, the eye, the hand, the tongue, and so on. Not that those organs are bad in themselves, but, rather, they usurp control of the thinking abilities and crowd out of the mind the fine counsel from God. Then the creature is likely to be led off into an immoral course, a law-defying course, for “the minding of the flesh means enmity with God, for it is not under subjection to the law of God.”—Rom. 8:7.

11. How does Bible writer James explain the process leading to death, and what, therefore, becomes vital for each God-fearing person?

11 James, one of God’s inspired Bible writers, outlines the process leading to this lawless and death-dealing course: “Each one is tried by being drawn out and enticed by his own desire. Then the desire, when it has become fertile, gives birth to sin; in turn, sin, when it has been accomplished, brings forth death.” (Jas. 1:14, 15) So the evil way finds its root in the heart (seat of affection) influenced by the body’s sensation-loving members. How vital, then, to guard our hearts and nourish them with the precious thoughts of our God, thoughts he has generously made available to us in his written Word!

APOSTLES MAINTAIN THE TEACHING OF JESUS

12. What is the counsel of the apostle Paul, and in view of what inclination of the flesh?

12 For those who would keep themselves free from the defilements and immoralities now so rife in this world, the apostle Paul recommended filling the mind with good things, including “whatever things are chaste.” (Phil. 4:8) This certainly means giving more and more time to the study of the Bible, for it is the contents of that unique Book that are “beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness.” (2 Tim. 3:16) In view of the evil inclinations of the flesh, we all need such reproof and discipline applied continuously.

13. In what way is it proper to be babes, and in what way is it preferable to be adult?

13 Again pointing to the need for a well-nourished mind, the apostle offers this excellent counsel: “Brothers, do not become young children in powers of understanding, but be babes as to badness; yet become full-grown in powers of understanding.” (1 Cor. 14:20) It is true that we are born into this world with the handicap of imperfection and waywardness inherited from our ancestors, but we do not need to develop to manhood in the ways of this wicked world. We can become weaned from the ways of the world by accepting the direction of God’s spirit-filled Word.

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