In This Issue

• MARRIAGE "FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE CREATION"
• DEAR JEHOVAH WITNESS FRIEND
• I'M DIFFERENT
• UPCOMING GOSPEL MEETING SCHEDULE
• MORE INFORMATION...

MARRIAGE "FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE CREATION"

The Pharisees had asked Jesus, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" Since their question involved a matter of law, Jesus asked them in return, "What did Moses command?" There was one way to know what was lawful - see what the law required. As their conversation continued, Jesus took them back beyond the allowances Moses made for their hardness of heart to the original desire and purpose of God in establishing the marriage relationship. He showed that God intends for husband and wife to intertwine their lives so as to form a family unit. As He put it, "so they are no longer two, but one flesh." Then, on the basis of that fact, He declared, "Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."

Mark continues: "In the house His disciples also asked Him again about the same matter. So He said to them, 'Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery'" (Mark 10:10-12).

Under Moses' law divorce had been permitted if a man found "some uncleanness" in his wife, Deut. 24:1. As time went on, Israel began to make a looser and looser application of that permission, until by the time of Jesus, divorce was being allowed "for just any reason" (Matt. 19:3).

The time was rapidly approaching when the Law of Moses would be taken away and "nailed to the cross" (Col. 3:14-16). Jesus was little concerned with making technical clarifications of that law. He was more concerned with emphasizing the original intent and purpose of God in the marriage relationship, and with underscoring that under His administration, divorce "for just any reason" would not be acceptable. In the gospel age, marriage is to be as it was intended "from the beginning" (Mark 10:6).

Both Matthew and Mark record Jesus' teaching that marriage is to be a permanent relationship between a man and a woman as long as the two marriage partners live, but Matthew shows that Jesus did recognize one exception to that general rule. "Whoever divorces his wife, except it be for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery…" (Matt. 19:9). 

Mark's account should always be studied in the light of Matthew's fuller account, but Mark supplies one detail Matthew omits. The rules are the same for both husband and wife.

Under Jesus' rule, divorce is to be greatly discouraged. Remarriage is not sanctioned except in the case of the death of a spouse or in a case where a person has divorced a partner because that partner was guilty of sexual immorality. Our society needs to get back to the teachings of Jesus on this important subject.

--Clarence R. Johnson

DEAR JEHOVAH WITNESS FRIEND

May we ask a few questions in the interest of Truth? We know that you respect the Bible as the word of Jehovah God, and that you conform to it as much as you understand it. We do the same, yet there are a number of important differences between us religiously.

We'll keep this message brief and only request that you ask yourself a few questions, and seek the answers of Jehovah God as He has revealed them in the Scriptures. For your benefit, we will quote from the New World Translation of the Scriptures. 

1. Why does your "Theocracy" assume and claim the right to appoint the visible rulers of God's kingdom when Jesus himself told James and John that such authority "is not mine to give"? (Matthew 20:33). Read with us the entire passage: "Jesus said in answer: 'YOU men do not know what YOU are asking for. Can YOU drink the cup that I am about to drink?' They said to him: 'We can.' He said to them: 'YOU will indeed drink my cup, but this sitting down at my right hand and at my left is not mine to give, but it belongs to those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.' When the ten others heard of this, they became indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus, calling them to him, said: 'YOU know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them and the great men wield authority over them. This is not the way among YOU: but whoever wants to be first among YOU must be YOUR slave. Just as the Son of man came, not to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give his soul a ransom in exchange for many.'" (Matthew 20:22-28).

2. Does God have commandments for men today that are not in the Bible? Before you answer, please consider the following Bible passages.

"All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

"While I did not hold back from telling YOU any of the things that were profitable nor from teaching YOU publicly and from house to house… for I have not held back from telling YOU all the counsel of God." (Acts 20:20, 27).

"My underserved kindness and peace be increased to YOU by an accurate knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, forasmuch as his divine power has given us freely all the things that concern life and godly devotion, through the accurate knowledge of the one who called us through glory and virtue." (2 Peter 1:2-3).

"If anyone speaks, let him speak as it were [the] sacred pronouncements of God: if anyone ministers, [let him minister] as dependent on the strength that God supplies: so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. The glory and the might are his forever and ever. Amen." (1 Peter 4:11).

Now, in the light of these Bible verses, do you honestly believe that God has commandments for men today that are not in the Bible? If so, how do you explain the statements in the Scriptures implying their competence to completely equip the man of God to every good work?

3. If question number two was answered, "No," then please consider these related questions. Where does God's word tell us of a "territory assignment"? In what Scripture may we read instructions for handing in reports of book sales? Please consider the conversation of Jesus with the scribes and Pharisees who had asked him why his disciples overstepped the tradition of the men of former times. "In reply he said to them: 'Why is it YOU also overstep the commandment of God because of YOUR tradition? For example, God said, 'Honor your father and your mother'' and, 'Let him that reviles father or mother end up in death.' But YOU say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother: 'Whatever I have by which you might get benefit from me is a gift dedicated to God,' he must not honor his father at all.' And so YOU have made the word of God invalid because of YOUR tradition. YOU hypocrites, Isaiah aptly prophesied about YOU, when he said, 'This people honors me with their lips, yet their heart is far removed from me. It is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because they teach commands of men as doctrines.'" (Matthew 15:3-9).

When the leadership of the Watchtower organization requires converts to report book sales, and to work territorial assignments, are they teaching God's commands or are these commandments of men? They cannot be God's commands unless they are somewhere to be found in the Bible.

4. Should we obey a group of men from Brooklyn, New York, or should we obey God as ruler rather than men? See Acts 5:29. Has Jehovah God ever authorized a group of men to judge over others, or does the words of the Anointed of God, "Stop judging…" (Matthew 7:1) still hold true?

5. Where can I read in any translation of the Bible the words "pioneer" or "missionary"?

6. Does the congregation of which you are a member have a local governing committee, a congregational committee appointed over the congregation? If so, what are their duties? By what authority were they appointed to such a position? And finally, where can we read of this committee, its functions, it limitations and the qualifications of committee members in the Scripture?

Dear Jehovah Witness friend, if you have trouble answering these questions from the Bible, may we ask you to consider the possibility that the religious organization of which you are a member is not truly of God. If you would like to study further along these lines, please get in touch with us at your earliest convenience.

--Adapted and arranged by Clarence R. Johnson 

I'M DIFFERENT

Did you ever notice that any weakness, any wrong committed, any neglect is always worse in someone else? When I commit some infraction it's never quite as bad as when someone else does the same thing. For instance:

• They're lazy; I'm just busy. 
• They're indifferent; I'm just not quite ready. 
• They're gossips; I just tell it like it is. 
• They're fanatics; I'm merely involved. 
• They're complainers; I'm just concerned. 
• They have a bad attitude; I'm just upset. 
• They're overly critical; I'm just trying to help. 

"Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest; for wherein thou judgest another, thou condmnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things" (Romans 2:1). 

--Dee Bowman, January 3, 1999 edition of Life Lines

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