The Watchtower published a milquetoast article on how to protect ourselves from misinformation and conspiracy theories. So, here is my response filed under Watchtower Review. Did you know that the phrase “conspiracy theory” came into vogue after the assassination of President Kennedy? It was only natural that people would want to know who was behind the murder of the American president—the fourth to be murdered, [...]
Wednesday, May 12 Be in subjection to the older men. . . . Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the haughty ones. —1 Pet. 5:5. Avoid being presumptuous. If we heed the direction we receive from trusted, responsible brothers, we will avoid problems. For example, in a land where the work is under ban, the responsible brothers had directed that the publishers not leave printed literature [...]
Tuesday, May 11 It is enough! Now, O Jehovah, take my life away. —1 Ki. 19:4. Elijah became afraid when Queen Jezebel threatened to kill him. So he fled to the area of Beer-sheba. He became so discouraged that “he asked that he might die.” What made him feel that way? Elijah was an imperfect man, “a man with feelings like ours.” (Jas. 5:17) Perhaps he felt overwhelmed [...]
Monday, May 10 Look out that no one takes you captive by means of the philosophy and empty deception according to human tradition. —Col. 2:8. Satan wants to turn us against Jehovah. To achieve his goal, he tries to influence our thinking, in effect, to bring our mind into captivity and make it obedient to him. He tries to persuade or to deceive us into following [...]
Saturday, May 8 Watch that among you there is no one who is sexually immoral. —Heb. 12:16. Jehovah God hates all forms of wickedness. (Ps. 5:4-6) How he must hate child sexual abuse —an especially repugnant wicked deed! In imitation of Jehovah, we as his Witnesses abhor child abuse and do not tolerate it in the Christian congregation. (Rom. 12:9) Any act of child abuse is [...]
Friday, May 7 Satan . . . is misleading the entire inhabited earth. —Rev. 12:9. A major way in which Satan and the demons try to mislead people is through spiritism. Those who practice spiritism claim to know or control things that humans cannot normally know or control. For example, some claim to be able to know the future by using divination or astrology. Others may act as though [...]
Wednesday, May 5 Let no one lead you astray. —2 Thess. 2:3. Satan blurs people’s view of Jehovah. After the death of Jesus’ apostles, some who claimed to be Christians began to spread false teachings. (Acts 20:29, 30) These apostates started to blur the identity of the only true God. For example, they stopped using the divine name in their copies of the Bible and preferred such expressions as [...]
Tuesday, May 4 If anyone wants to come after me, let him disown himself. —Matt. 16:24. When you make a dedication, you approach Jehovah in earnest prayer and tell him that you will use your life to serve him forever. When you dedicate yourself to God, you “disown” yourself. You now belong to Jehovah, which is a great privilege. (Rom. 14:8) You are telling him that from [...]
Jehovah established marriage. In fact, God conducted the very first wedding in the Garden of Eden when He created a woman from one of Adam’s surgically removed ribs and then brought her to the man. Evidently, wedlock was intended as the only human institution. We know the sad ending of that original marriage. Marriage, though, with all of its connotations, is used by God metaphorically. God [...]
In my recent Internet meanderings, I came upon a summary of a book called the God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins. Having no inclination to read the book I do, however, wish to respond to a few summary points that are the premise of the atheists’ point of view. Argument #1: Who Created the Creator? For creationists, an intelligent God is the ultimate and simple explanation [...]
