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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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21

WEEK OF JUNE 27JULY 3

Settle Dierences in a Spirit of Love

Because we are imperfect, sometimes we may have
disagreements with our brothers and sisters. In this
article, we will learn Bible principles that can help us
to solve disagreements and keep peace with others.

WEEK OF JULY 4-10

Is the Bible Still Changing Your Life?

You may have made big changes before you were
baptized. But do you feel that it is now harder to
make smaller changes in order to imitate Jehovah
and Jesus better? This article explains why it can
be so dicult to make these changes and how the
Bible can help us.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

WEEK OF JULY 18-24

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Go, . . . and Make Disciples

of People of All the Nations

27

This article will help us to understand why we

say that Jehovahs Witnesses are the only people
on earth today who are fullling Jesus prophecy
at Matthew 24:14. We will also learn what it means
to be shers of men.Matthew 4:19.

WEEK OF JULY 25-31

Benet Fully From Jehovahs

Provisions
In this article, we will discuss a danger that we
must avoid, and we will learn how we can benet
from all the provisions that Jehovah gives us.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

15

WEEK OF JULY 11-17

How Do You Make Personal Decisions?

When you are making a decision, do you simply
do what you think is right? Or do you ask others
what you should do? This article explains why we
will make the best decisions when we consider
how Jehovah God thinks.

This publication is not

for sale. It is provided
as part of a worldwide
Bible educational work
supported by voluntary
donations.
To make a donation,
please visit www.jw.org.

34567

Unless otherwise
indicated, Scripture
quotations are from
the modern-language
New World Translation
of the Holy Scriptures.

May 2016
Vol. 137, No. 8 ENGLISH

The Watchtower (ISSN 0043-1087) Issue 8 May 2016 is published monthly with an additional
issue published in January, March, May, July, September, and November by Watchtower Bible
and Tract Society of New York, Inc.; L. Weaver, Jr., President; G. F. Simonis, SecretaryTreasurer; 1000 Red Mills Road, Wallkill, NY 12589-3299, and by Watch Tower Bible and Tract
Society of Canada, PO Box 4100, Georgetown, ON L7G 4Y4. Periodicals Postage Paid at Brooklyn, NY, and at additional mailing oces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Watchtower,
1000 Red Mills Road, Wallkill, NY 12589-3299. 5 2016 Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of
Pennsylvania. Printed in Canada.

Settle Differences in a Spirit of Love

Keep peace with one another.MARK

9:50.

HAVE you ever thought about the personal conicts

found in the Bible? In just the rst few chapters of Genesis, we learn that Cain killed Abel (Genesis 4:3-8); Lamech killed a young man for hitting him (Genesis 4:23);
Abrahams shepherds argued with Lots shepherds (Genesis 13:5-7); Hagar felt superior to Sarah, and Sarah became upset with Abraham (Genesis 16:3-6); Ishmael was
against everyone, and everyone was against him.Genesis 16:12.
2 Why were such conicts mentioned in the Bible? Because we can learn from these examples of imperfect people who had real problems. We too are imperfect, and
when we have similar problems in our life, we can imitate
the good examples found in the Bible and avoid imitating
the bad ones. (Romans 15:4) This can help us learn how
to keep peace with others.
3 In this article, we will learn why we need to settle differences, or solve disagreements, and how we can do
1, 2. What human struggles are featured in Genesis, and why is this of
interest?
3. What topics will this article cover?

SONGS: 39, 77

HOW WOULD YOU

ANSWER?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What counsel did Jesus give

to help us handle dierences
in a spirit of love?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What questions might a

Christian ask himself when
deciding how to settle
dierences with others?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How can the three steps

outlined at Matthew 18:15-17
be used to resolve some
conicts?

that. We will also learn some basic Bible principles that can help us to solve
problems and keep a good relationship
with Jehovah and with others.
WHY GODS SERVANTS
NEED TO SETTLE DIFFERENCES

Satan is the main reason why people are divided and have so many
dierences. Why do we say that? In
Eden, Satan said that everyone can
and should decide for himself what is
good and what is bad independent of
4

Are you quick

to forgive
your brothers?
God. (Genesis 3:1-5) But when we look
at the world today, we can see that
such an attitude only brings problems.
Many people feel that they have the
right to decide for themselves what is
good and bad. They are proud, selsh,
and competitive, and they do not care
if their decisions hurt others. Such an
attitude leads to conicts. The Bible reminds us that if we are quick to get angry, we will have many disagreements
with others and we will commit many
sins.Proverbs 29:22.
5 When Jesus gave the Sermon on
the Mount, he taught his disciples
4. What attitude spread throughout the world,
and what has been the result?
5. How did Jesus teach people to handle disagreements?

SIMPLIFIED EDITION

to make peace and prevent disagreements, even if it did not seem to be in

their best interests to do so. For example, he told them to be kind, to make
peace with others, to get rid of feelings such as anger, to solve disagreements quickly, and to love their enemies.Matthew 5:5, 9, 22, 25, 44.
6 Today, we worship Jehovah when
we pray, preach, and go to our meetings. If we do not make peace with our
brothers, Jehovah will not accept our
worship to him. (Mark 11:25) In order
to be Jehovahs friends, we must forgive others when they make mistakes.
Read Luke 11:4; Ephesians 4:32.
7 Jehovah expects all of his servants
to be forgiving and to have a peaceful
relationship with others. We can ask
ourselves: Am I quick to forgive my
brothers? Do I enjoy being with them?
If you realize that you need to be more
forgiving, pray to Jehovah and ask him
to help you improve. Our heavenly Father will hear such humble prayers and
answer them.1 John 5:14, 15.
CAN YOU IGNORE AN OFFENSE?

We are all imperfect, so we can expect people to say or do things that

may oend us. (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Matthew 18:7) How will you react? We can
learn an important lesson from the following experience: A sister greeted two
brothers at a gathering. But one of the
brothers was oended by the way she
8

6, 7. (a) Why is it important to settle personal dierences promptly? (b) What questions
should all of Jehovahs people ask themselves?
8, 9. What should we do if we are oended?

greeted him. When the two brothers

were alone, the oended brother started to complain about the sister. However, the other brother reminded him
that the sister had loyally served Jehovah for 40 years despite many diculties. He was sure that the sister did
not mean to oend him. How did the
rst brother react? He said, You are
right. He then chose to forget about
what had happened.
9 What does this experience teach
us? When someone oends us, we can
choose how we react. A loving person
is forgiving. (Read Proverbs 10:12;
1 Peter 4:8.) When we overlook an
oense, this is something beautiful to
Jehovah. (Proverbs 19:11; Ecclesiastes
7:9) So the next time someone says or
does something that oends you, ask
yourself: Can I ignore this oense? Do
I really need to keep thinking about
this?
10 When others say something negative about us, it may be dicult to ignore their words. Consider what happened to a pioneer sister we will call
Lucy. Some in the congregation made
negative comments about the quality
of her ministry and her use of time. She
was very hurt and asked some mature
brothers for advice. What was the result? She says that they used the Bible to help her stop thinking too much
about the negative opinions of others
and start thinking more about Jeho10. (a) How did one sister at rst react to criticism? (b) What Scriptural thought helped this
sister to maintain her peace?

vah. She was encouraged when she

read Matthew 6:1-4. (Read.) Those
verses reminded her that making Jehovah happy is what is most important.
So she chose to overlook the negative
comments. Now, even if others make
negative comments about her ministry, she is happy because she knows
that she is trying her best to please Jehovah.
WHEN YOU CANNOT
IGNORE AN OFFENSE

We all stumble many times.

(James 3:2) Suppose you learn that a
brother was oended by something
you said or did. What should you
do? Jesus said that if you are bringing your gift to the altar and there
11

Our goal should be

to make peace with
our brothers
you remember that your brother has
something against you, leave your gift
there in front of the altar, and go
away. First make your peace with your
brother, and then come back and oer
your gift. (Matthew 5:23, 24) So talk
with your brother. When you do, your
goal should be to make peace with
him. You should admit your fault and
11, 12. (a) How should a Christian act if he believes that his brother has something against
him? (b) What can we learn from the way Abraham dealt with a dispute? (See opening picture.)
MAY 2016

It may be necessary
to talk with your
brother more than
once in order to
make peace
(See paragraph 15)

not try to blame him. Peace with our

brothers is the most important thing.
12 The Bible shows how Gods servants can keep peace when there are
disagreements. For example, Abraham
and his nephew Lot both owned many
animals, and their shepherds began to
argue because there was not enough
land for all of them. Because Abraham wanted peace, he allowed Lot to
choose the best land. (Genesis 13:1,
2, 5-9) What a good example for us!
Did Abraham suer permanent loss because of his generosity? Not at all. Immediately after this, Jehovah promised to bless Abraham with much more
than he lost. (Genesis 13:14-17) What
do we learn? Even if we suer some
loss, Jehovah will bless us when we
solve our disagreements with love.[1]
See endnote.
13 Consider a modern example. The
new overseer of a convention department called a brother to ask if he
would be able to work in that department. The brother said several unkind
things and hung up the phone because
he was still angry with the previous
overseer of the department. The new
overseer did not get oended, but he
could not ignore what had happened.
After an hour, he called the brother
again and suggested that they meet.
The next week, the brothers met at the
Kingdom Hall, and after praying to Jehovah, they talked for an hour. The
brother explained what had happened
13. How did one overseer react to harsh words,
and what can we learn from his example?

with the previous overseer. The new

overseer listened kindly and discussed
some helpful scriptures. As a result,
the brothers made peace and worked
together at the convention. The brother is grateful that the overseer spoke to
him in a kind and gentle way.
SHOULD YOU INVOLVE THE ELDERS?

Most problems between two Christians can and should be solved privately. However, sometimes this is
not possible. Some situations may require help from others according
to Matthew 18:15-17. (Read.) The
sin Jesus mentioned there was not
a small disagreement between Christians. How do we know? Jesus said
that if the sinner refused to repent after talking to his brother, to witnesses, and to responsible brothers, he
should be treated just as a man of
the nations and as a tax collector.
Today, this means that he should be
disfellowshipped. The sin could include things such as fraud or slander,
but it would not include sins such as
adultery, homosexuality, apostasy, or
idolatry. These types of sins denitely
need to be handled by the elders.
15 Jesus goal in giving this counsel
was to show us how to help a brother
because we love him. (Matthew 18:1214) How can we follow this counsel?
(1) We should try to make peace with
our brother without involving others.
14

14, 15. (a) When should we apply the counsel

at Matthew 18:15-17? (b) What three steps did
Jesus mention, and what should be our goal in
applying them?
MAY 2016

We may need to talk with him several

times. But what should we do if there is
still no peace? (2) We should talk to
our brother with someone who knows
the situation or who can see whether
something wrong has been done. If
the problem gets solved, you will have
gained your brother. But only when
you have talked to your brother several times and you cannot make peace
with him should you (3) report the
problem to the elders.
16 In most cases, it is not necessary to
use all three steps found at Matthew
18:15-17. That is encouraging. Why do
we say so? Because in most cases, the
sinner recognizes his mistake and xes
the problem, so that there is no need
for him to be disfellowshipped. The offended person should then forgive his
brother in order to have peace. So it is
clear from Jesus counsel that we do
not need to go to the elders too soon.
We should report the matter only after
we have followed the rst two steps
16. What shows that following Jesus counsel is
practical and loving?

SOME
EXPRESSIONS
EXPLAINED

and if there is real proof that something wrong has been done.
17 As long as we are imperfect, we will
continue to oend others. The disciple James wrote: If anyone does not
stumble in word, he is a perfect man,
able to bridle also his whole body.
(James 3:2) To solve disagreements,
we need to do our best to seek peace
and pursue it. (Psalm 34:14) When we
continue to make peace with others,
we will have good friendships with our
brothers and sisters, and this will keep
us united. (Psalm 133:1-3) Most important, we will have a close friendship
with Jehovah, the God who gives
peace. (Romans 15:33) We will enjoy
all these blessings when we settle differences with love.
17. What blessings will we enjoy when we seek
peace with one another?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ENDNOTE:
[1] (paragraph 12) Others who solved problems peacefully were Jacob, with Esau (Genesis 27:41-45; 33:1-11);
Joseph, with his brothers (Genesis 45:1-15); and Gideon,
with the Ephraimites (Judges 8:1-3). Perhaps you can
think of similar Bible examples.

Fraud:
Deceiving or tricking another person with the purpose
of getting something valuable or some legal right

Slander:
Saying something bad
and untrue about another
person that destroys his
or her reputation

Go, . . . and Make Disciples

of People of All the Nations
Go, . . . and make disciples of people of all the nations,
baptizing them . . . , teaching them to observe all the
things I have commanded you.MATTHEW 28:19, 20.

JESUS foretold that in the last days, the good news of the
Kingdom would be preached to all people. (Matthew 24:
14) As Jehovahs Witnesses, we are known worldwide for
our preaching work. Some people like the message we
preach, while others do not. But even some of those who
do not like our message respect us for our work. We claim
that we are the ones doing the work that Jesus foretold.
Do we have the right to say that? How can we be sure that
our preaching is the work that Jesus foretold?
2 Many religious groups claim that they are preaching
Jesus message. But their preaching is limited to sermons
at church, on television, or on the Internet, or they may
simply tell others how they learned about Jesus. Others
feel that helping people in need or doing charity work as
doctors, nurses, or teachers is their way of preaching.

SONGS: 141, 97

HOW ARE JEHOVAHS

WITNESSES DIFFERENT
CONCERNING . . .
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

the message they preach

and why they preach it?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

the methods they use?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

the scope of their work?

1, 2. What questions arise because of Jesus words found at Matthew

24:14?

But are these activities the preaching

work that Jesus spoke about?
3 Did Jesus want his disciples to wait
for people to come to them? No! After
his resurrection, Jesus told hundreds
of his followers: Go, therefore, and

Jehovahs Witnesses
are the only
ones preaching
the good news
of Gods Kingdom
make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them . . . , teaching them to observe all the things I
have commanded you. (Matthew 28:
19, 20) So as Jesus followers, we need
to do four things. We must make disciples, baptize them, and teach them.
But rst, we must go to the people.
One Bible scholar explains: To go
is the task of each believer, whether
across the street or across the ocean.
Matthew 10:7; Luke 10:3.
4 What did Jesus expect from his disciples? Did he want them to preach on
their own, or did he want them to be
organized as a group? Since it would
be impossible for one person to preach
to all the nations, his disciples would
need to be organized as a group. That
3. According to Matthew 28:19, what four
things must Jesus followers do?
4. What is involved in becoming shers of
men?

10

SIMPLIFIED EDITION

is what Jesus meant when he invited

his disciples to become shers of
men. (Read Matthew 4:18-22.) Jesus was not referring to one sherman
using his own line and bait, waiting for
sh to bite. Instead, the shing Jesus
referred to involves the use of shing
nets. That kind of shing requires hard
work, organization, and many people
working together.Luke 5:1-11.
5 To know who are preaching the
good news today, we need to answer
these four questions:
What message should Jesus followers preach?
What should their motive be?
What methods should they use?
What should be the scope of the
work, and how long should it continue?
The answers to these questions will
help us to identify who are doing this
lifesaving work and will strengthen our
desire to continue preaching.1 Timothy 4:16.
WHAT SHOULD BE THE MESSAGE?

Read Luke 4:43. Jesus preached

the good news of the Kingdom, and
he wants his disciples to do the same.
Which group of people are preaching
that message to all? Only Jehovahs
Witnesses! Even some who dislike us
admit that. For example, notice what
one missionary priest who had lived in
6

5. What four questions need to be answered,

and why?
6. Why can you be condent that Jehovahs
Witnesses are preaching the right message?

many dierent countries told one of

Jehovahs Witnesses. In each country, the priest had asked Jehovahs
Witnesses what message they were
preaching. The priest said, They were
all so stupid that they gave the same
answer: The good news of the Kingdom. The priests comment actually
proves that we are not stupid but
that we are united as true Christians.
(1 Corinthians 1:10) Gods Kingdom is
also the main message of The Watchtower Announcing Jehovahs Kingdom.
This magazine is available in 254 languages, and an average of nearly 59,000,000 copies of each issue are produced, which makes it the most widely
circulated magazine in the world!
7 The clergy of Christendom are not
preaching about Gods Kingdom. If
they do talk about the Kingdom, many
of them say that it is a feeling in
a persons heart. (Luke 17:21) They
do not teach people that the Kingdom is a heavenly government ruled
by Jesus. Instead, they usually talk
about Jesus at Christmas or Easter.
They do not explain that the Kingdom
will solve all mankinds problems and
that it will soon remove all wickedness
from the earth. (Revelation 19:11-21)
Clearly, Christendoms leaders do not
know what Jesus will do as King of
Gods Kingdom. And because they do
not understand Jesus message, they
do not understand why they should
preach.
7. How do we know that the clergy of Christendom are not preaching the right message?

WHAT SHOULD BE OUR MOTIVE

FOR DOING THE WORK?

Jesus disciples should not preach

to make money or to build impressive
buildings. Jesus said: You received
free, give free. (Matthew 10:8) So the
preaching work should not be a business. (2 Corinthians 2:17, footnote)
Jesus disciples should not ask to be
8

The preaching work

should not be
a business
paid for their preaching work. (Read
Acts 20:33-35.) Even though Jesus
instruction is very clear, most churches are distracted by collecting money
in order to keep their churches and
pay their clergy and other employees.
As a result, many leaders of Christendom have become very rich.Revelation 17:4, 5.
9 Do Jehovahs Witnesses take collections at their Kingdom Halls or conventions? No! Their work is supported
by voluntary donations. (2 Corinthians 9:7) Yet last year, Jehovahs Witnesses spent almost two billion hours
preaching the good news and conducted more than nine million Bible studies each month. They are not paid for
8. What is the wrong motive for doing the
preaching work?
9. How have Jehovahs Witnesses shown that
they engage in the preaching work with the
right motive?
MAY 2016

11

We preach wherever we nd people

(See paragraph 10)

their preaching but are happy to use

their own money to do this work. One
researcher said about the work of Jehovahs Witnesses: The main goal is
preaching and teaching. He also said
that Jehovahs Witnesses do not have
a paid clergy. So if we do not preach
for money, what is our motive? We
willingly do this work because we love
Jehovah and we love people. That attitude fullls the prophecy at Psalm
110:3. (Read.)
WHAT METHODS SHOULD BE USED?

What methods did Jesus and his

disciples use to preach? They went
wherever they could nd people. For
10

10. What methods did Jesus and his disciples

use to preach?

12

SIMPLIFIED EDITION

example, they preached in the streets

and at markets. They also looked for
people in private homes. (Matthew 10:
11; Luke 8:1; Acts 5:42; 20:20) Preaching from house to house was an organized way to reach all kinds of people.
11 Do churches of Christendom
preach the good news as Jesus did?
Usually, paid clergy give a sermon to
their members. These leaders do not
make new disciples but simply try to
keep the church members they already
have. At times, they have tried to encourage their members to preach. For
example, in the year 2001, Pope John
Paul II said in a letter that church
11, 12. When it comes to preaching the good
news, how do the eorts of Christendom compare with those of Jehovahs people?

members should preach the Gospel

and have the same zeal as the apostle
Paul, who said: Woe to me if I do not
preach the Gospel. The pope then
said that this preaching work should
be done not only by a few trained people but by all church members. However, few have followed that encouragement.
12 What about Jehovahs Witnesses?
They are the only ones who preach
that Jesus has been ruling as King
since 1914. They obey Jesus and make
the preaching work a priority in their
life. (Mark 13:10) The book Pillars
of FaithAmerican Congregations and
Their Partners said that for Jehovahs
Witnesses, the preaching work is very
important. It also said that when they
nd people who are hungry, lonely, and sick, they try to help, but
they never forget that their main goal
is to preach about the end of this
world and to teach people about salvation. Jehovahs Witnesses continue to
preach that message and to imitate
the preaching methods of Jesus and
his disciples.
WHAT SHOULD BE THE SCOPE
OF THE WORK, AND HOW LONG
SHOULD IT CONTINUE?

Jesus said that his followers would

preach and teach the good news in all
the inhabited earth. They were commanded to make disciples of people
of all the nations. (Matthew 24:
14; 28:19, 20) This means that the
13

13. What should be the scope of the preaching

work?

good news would need to be preached

worldwide.
14 Only Jehovahs Witnesses have
fullled Jesus prophecy that the good
news would be preached worldwide.
Why do we say that? In the United
States, there are about 600,000 members of the clergy in Christendom,
while there are some 1,200,000 of Jehovahs Witnesses preaching the good
news in that country. Worldwide, there
are about 400,000 Catholic priests,
but there are more than 8 million
of Jehovahs Witnesses preaching the
good news in 240 lands. Clearly, Jehovahs Witnesses are preaching the
good news worldwide, which brings
honor and praise to Jehovah!Psalm
34:1; 51:15.
15 As Jehovahs Witnesses, our goal
is to preach the good news to as
many people as possible before the
end comes. To do this work, we have
translated and published millions of
books, magazines, tracts, and convention and Memorial invitations in more
than 700 languages. We oer these to
people free of charge. Just last year,
we published about 4.5 billion pieces
of Bible literature. We have also published more than 200 million copies
of the New World Translation of the
Holy Scriptures in over 130 languages.
On our ocial website, information is
available in more than 750 languages.
Only Jehovahs Witnesses are doing
such an amazing work.
14, 15. What proves that Jehovahs Witnesses
have fullled Jesus prophecy with regard to the
scope of the work? (See opening pictures.)
MAY 2016

13

How long would the preaching

work continue? Jesus said that the
good news would be preached until
the end comes. As Jehovahs Witnesses, we have been able to endure in
the preaching work throughout the
last days only because we have Jehovahs holy spirit. (Acts 1:8; 1 Peter 4:
14) Some religious people may say:
We have the holy spirit. But are
they able to do the work that Jehovahs Witnesses are doing during these
last days? Some groups have tried to
preach the way we do, but they have
failed. Others are willing to preach,
but only for a limited time. Still others
may preach from house to house, but
they do not preach the good news of
the Kingdom. So they cannot be doing
the work that Jesus started.
16

WHO REALLY ARE PREACHING

THE GOOD NEWS TODAY?
17

So who are preaching the good

16. How do we know that Jehovahs Witnesses

have Gods spirit?
17, 18. (a) Why can we be certain that Jehovahs Witnesses are the ones who are preaching
the good news of the Kingdom today? (b) How
is it possible for us to continue in this work?

SOME
EXPRESSIONS
EXPLAINED

news of the Kingdom today? Only Jehovahs Witnesses! How do we know

that? Because we are preaching the
right message, the good news of the
Kingdom. We are searching for people in our ministry, so we are using
the right methods. We have the
right motive for preaching, that is,
we love Jehovah and we love people.
Our preaching work has the greatest
scope, because we preach to people of all nations and languages. And
we will continue to preach the good
news of the Kingdom until the end
comes!
18 It is truly amazing to see the wonderful work that Jehovahs people are
doing to preach the good news during
these last days. But how are we able to
do all this work? The apostle Paul explains: God is the one who for the
sake of his good pleasure energizes
you, giving you both the desire and
the power to act. (Philippians 2:13)
May Jehovah continue to give us the
needed strength so that we can do our
best to keep preaching the good news!
2 Timothy 4:5.

The scope of the preaching work refers to the widespread

preaching of the good news around the world to all the nations. It includes the total number of Witnesses preaching
the good news, the large number of publications containing
the message, and the tremendous number of languages
used to preach the message

How Do You Make

Personal Decisions?
Keep perceiving what the will of Jehovah is.
EPHESIANS 5:17.

IN THE Bible, Jehovah has given us laws that clearly tell

us what he wants us to do. For example, he tells us that
we must not worship idols, steal, get drunk, or do things
that are sexually immoral. (1 Corinthians 6:9, 10) And
Jehovahs Son, Jesus, gave this specic command to his
followers: Make disciples of people of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the
things I have commanded you. And look! I am with you
all the days until the conclusion of the system of things.
(Matthew 28:19, 20) Everything that Jehovah and Jesus
tell us to do is for our own good. Jehovahs laws teach us
how to look after ourselves and our families and help us
to have better health and to be happy. More important, when we obey Jehovahs commands, including the

SONGS: 69, 57

HOW WOULD YOU

ANSWER?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How can our decisions aect

us and others?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When the Bible does not give

us a specic law, how can
we know what would please
Jehovah?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How can we get to know

more about the way Jehovah
thinks?

1. What are some examples of Bible laws, and how does obeying them
benet us?

15

command to preach, he is pleased with

us and he blesses us.
2 At the same time, the Bible does
not give us rules about every situation
in life. For example, we do not nd
specic instructions in the Bible on
what we should wear. This shows how
wise Jehovah is. Even though fashion
keeps changing over time and people
around the world wear dierent styles
of clothes, the Bible is never out-ofdate. Also, it does not contain a lot of
rules about what jobs or entertainment
we should choose or exactly what we
should do to stay healthy. Jehovah allows individuals and family heads to
make decisions about these things.
3 So when we have to make an important decision that will aect our life
and we nd no law about it in the Bible, we might wonder: Is Jehovah interested in the decision I make? Will
he be pleased with whatever I choose
to do as long as I do not break a law in
the Bible? How can I be sure that he
will be happy with the choices I make?
OUR DECISIONS AFFECT
US AND OTHERS

Some people feel that they can do

whatever they want to do. But we want
to do what makes Jehovah happy. So
before we make a decision, we need to
think about what the Bible says and
4

2, 3. (a) Why does the Bible not give us rules

for every situation in life? (b) What questions
will be considered in this article? (See opening
picture.)
4, 5. How could our decisions aect us and
others?

16

SIMPLIFIED EDITION

then obey it. For example, the Bible

tells us how God feels about the use of
blood, so we follow what it says. (Genesis 9:4; Acts 15:28, 29) We can pray to
Jehovah to help us make decisions
that will please him.
5 Our decisions aect us. A good decision can help us draw closer to Jehovah. A bad decision could damage our
friendship with him. Our decisions can
also aect other people. We do not
want to do anything that might upset
our brothers or weaken their faith. We
also do not want to cause problems between brothers in the congregation.
So it is important for us to make good
decisions.Read Romans 14:19; Galatians 6:7.
6 When the Bible does not tell us exactly what we should do, how can we
make good decisions? Instead of just
doing what we prefer, we must think
carefully about our own situation and
make a decision that will please Jehovah. Then we can be sure that he will
help us to have good results.Read
Psalm 37:5.
WHAT DOES JEHOVAH
WANT ME TO DO?

But how can we know what will

please Jehovah? Ephesians 5:17 tells
us: Keep perceiving what the will of
Jehovah is. When there is no specic
law in the Bible, we need to perceive,
7

6. What should guide our decisions?

7. Where there is no Bible law, how can we nd
out what Jehovah would want us to do in a certain situation?

or understand, what Jehovah wants us

to do in our situation. How can we do
that? We need to pray to him and allow
his holy spirit to guide us.
8 Jesus always perceived what Jehovah wanted him to do. For example,
twice when the crowds were hungry,
Jesus prayed and then fed them by
means of a miracle. (Matthew 14:1720; 15:34-37) But when he got hungry
in the wilderness and the Devil wanted
him to change stones into bread, Jesus refused. (Read Matthew 4:2-4.)
He knew his Father very well, so he
knew that Jehovah would not want
him to use holy spirit for his own
needs. He was sure that his Father
would guide him and give him food
when he needed it.
9 Like Jesus, we can make good decisions if we rely on Jehovah to guide
us. The Bible says: Trust in Jehovah
with all your heart, and do not rely on
your own understanding. In all your
ways take notice of him, and he will
make your paths straight. Do not become wise in your own eyes. Fear
Jehovah and turn away from bad.
(Proverbs 3:5-7) When we study the
Bible and learn about the way Jehovah
thinks, we will understand what he
wants us to do in a specic situation.
And the more we learn about the way
Jehovah thinks, the easier it will be for
us to make decisions that will please
8. How did Jesus perceive what Jehovah wanted him to do? Give an example.
9, 10. What will help us make wise decisions? Illustrate.

him. In this way, we become more

sensitive to Gods guidance.Ezekiel 11:19, footnote.
10 Imagine that a married woman is
shopping and sees a lovely pair of
shoes. But they are very expensive. Although her husband is not with her,
she knows what he would think if she
spent that much money. How does she
know? She has been married to him
for some time, so she knows how he

To nd out what
Jehovah thinks,
we should read
and study the Bible
regularly
wants them to use the money they
have. In a similar way, when we learn
about the way Jehovah thinks and
what he has done in the past, we will
know what he would want us to do in
dierent situations.
HOW CAN YOU FIND OUT
WHAT JEHOVAH THINKS?

How can we nd out what Jehovah

thinks? The most important thing we
can do is to read and study the Bible
regularly. While we are doing this, we
could ask ourselves: What does this
teach me about Jehovah? Why did he
11

11. What questions can we ask ourselves when

we read or study the Bible? (See the box When
You Study the Bible, Ask Yourself.)
MAY 2016

17

WHEN YOU STUDY THE BIBLE,

ASK YOURSELF:
What does this teach me about
Jehovah? (Psalm 25:4)
How can I use this information . . .
at home?
at work?
at school?
in the ministry?

act this way? And like David, we also

need to ask Jehovah to help us know
him better. David wrote: Make me
know your ways, O Jehovah; teach me
your paths. Cause me to walk in your
truth and teach me, for you are my
God of salvation. In you I hope all
day long. (Psalm 25:4, 5) When we
learn something about Jehovah, we
can think of situations where we can
use that information. Could we use it
in the family, at work, at school, or
in the ministry? When we think of a
specic situation, it will be easier to
18

SIMPLIFIED EDITION

know how Jehovah would want us to

use the information.
12 Another way to get to know the
way Jehovah thinks is to pay close
attention to what his organization
teaches us from the Bible. For example, when we have a decision to make,
the Watch Tower Publications Index and
the Research Guide for Jehovahs Witnesses can help us nd out what Jehovah thinks. We can also benet from
12. How can our publications and meetings
help us to get to know what Jehovah thinks
about various matters?

our Christian meetings when we listen

carefully and comment and when we
meditate on what is being taught. This
will help us learn to think the way Jehovah does. As a result, we will be able
to make decisions that will please him
and that he will bless.

Let us take a look at an example of

how we can make a wise decision when
we consider what Jehovah thinks. Perhaps you would like to pioneer. You
have made some changes in your life
so that you can spend more time in
the ministry. But you are still not
sure whether you will really be happy
with less money and fewer things. Of
course, the Bible does not say that we
have to pioneer to serve Jehovah. We
could continue to serve him faithfully
as publishers. But on the other hand,
Jesus said that Jehovah blesses those
who make sacrices for the Kingdom.
(Read Luke 18:29, 30.) The Bible also
says that Jehovah is pleased when we
do all we can to praise him, and he
wants us to be happy serving him.
(Psalm 119:108; 2 Corinthians 9:7) By
praying about these things and meditating on them, we can make a decision that is practical in our situation
and one that Jehovah will bless.
14 Here is another example: You real-

ly like a certain style of clothing,

but you know that some in the congregation might be oended if you
wear those clothes. The Bible does
not say anything about that specific style. So how can you know what
Jehovah thinks? The Bible tells us:
The women should adorn themselves
in appropriate dress, with modesty
and soundness of mind, not with styles
of hair braiding and gold or pearls or
very expensive clothing, but in the
way that is proper for women professing devotion to God, namely, through
good works. (1 Timothy 2:9, 10) Of
course, all of Jehovahs servants, including men, can learn from these
words. When we are modest, we think
of how others might feel about the
clothes we choose to wear. And because we love our brothers, we avoid
upsetting or oending them. (1 Corinthians 10:23, 24; Philippians 3:17) If
we consider what the Bible says and
how Jehovah thinks, we can make decisions that he will be pleased with.
15 From the Bible, we learn that Jehovah feels deeply hurt and sad when
people do wicked things and when
they think about bad things. (Read
Genesis 6:5, 6.) It is clear that Jehovah does not want us to daydream
about sexually immoral things. In fact,
if we keep thinking about these things,

13. Give an example of how we can make a

wise decision when we consider what Jehovah
thinks.
14. How can you determine if a certain style of
clothing is pleasing to Jehovah?

15, 16. (a) How does Jehovah feel if we keep

on thinking about sexually immoral things?
(b) When we are choosing entertainment, how
can we know what is pleasing to Jehovah?
(c) How should weighty decisions be made?

MEDITATE ON WHAT JEHOVAH THINKS

BEFORE YOU MAKE A DECISION
13

MAY 2016

19

we may actually do them. Instead, Jehovah wants us to think about pure

and good things. The disciple James
wrote that Jehovahs wisdom is rst
of all pure, then peaceable, reasonable, ready to obey, full of mercy and
good fruits, impartial, not hypocritical. (James 3:17) So the Bible teaches us that we must avoid any entertainment that could cause us to imagine or
desire unclean and bad things. And if
we understand clearly what Jehovah
loves and what he hates, it will be easy
for us to know which books, movies,
or games to choose. We will not need
to ask others what we should do.
16 When we have a decision to make,
there are often several options we can
choose from that would all please Jehovah. But when we need to make a
very important decision, it may be
good to ask an elder or another experienced brother or sister to give us some
advice. (Titus 2:3-5; James 5:13-15)
Of course, we should not ask that person to make a decision for us. Instead,
we need to think carefully about what
we know from the Bible and then make

SOME
EXPRESSIONS
EXPLAINED

our own decision. (Hebrews 5:14) The

apostle Paul said: Each one will carry
his own load of responsibility.Galatians 6:5, footnote.
17 When we make decisions that
please Jehovah, we draw closer to him
and have his approval and blessing.
(James 4:8) Then our faith in Jehovah becomes stronger. So let us meditate on what we read in the Bible
so that we can understand how he
thinks. Of course, we will always have
something new to learn about Jehovah. (Job 26:14) But if we work hard
to learn about him now, we will become wise and will be able to make
good decisions. (Proverbs 2:1-5) The
ideas and plans of humans change, but
Jehovah never changes. The psalmist said: The decisions of Jehovah
will stand forever; the thoughts of his
heart are from generation to generation. (Psalm 33:11) Clearly, we can
make the best decisions when we learn
to think the way Jehovah thinks and
then do what is pleasing to him.
17. How do we benet from making decisions
that please Jehovah?

To perceive Jehovahs will:

To nd out, or understand, what Jehovah thinks
and what pleases him. This is especially important
when there is no specic command in the Bible.
We need to pray and meditate on what we have
learned about Jehovah, what he loves and hates,
and what he has done in the past

Is the Bible Still Changing

Your Life?
Be transformed by making your mind over.ROMANS

12:2.

FOR many years, Kevin gambled, smoked, drank too

much, and took drugs.[1] (See endnote.) Then he learned
about Jehovah and wanted to be his friend. But to do so,
he had to make big changes in his life. He was able to
change by means of Jehovahs help and the power of His
Word, the Bible.Hebrews 4:12.
2 After Kevin got baptized, he still had to make changes to his personality so that he could become a better
Christian. (Ephesians 4:31, 32) For example, he used to
get angry quickly. He was surprised when he found out
how dicult it was to learn to control his temper. In fact,
Kevin said that learning to control his temper was
1-3. (a) What changes may it be hard for us to make after our baptism? (b) When making progress is harder than we expected, what
questions might we ask? (See opening pictures.)

SONGS: 61, 52

HOW WOULD YOU

ANSWER?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After baptism, why should we

keep making changes?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why does God expect us to

put forth eort to overcome
our weaknesses?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What can we do to let

Gods Word keep on
changing our life?

21

actually harder than it was to stop the

bad things he was doing before he got
baptized! But he was able to make
changes by begging Jehovah to help
him and by a thorough study of the Bible.
3 Before we got baptized, many of us
had to make big changes in our lives so
that we could live in the way the Bible
says we should. But even now, we realize that there are smaller changes we
need to make to become more like
God and Christ. (Ephesians 5:1, 2;
1 Peter 2:21) For example, we might
notice that we complain a lot or that
we often gossip and say unkind things
about others. Or at times we may be so
afraid of what others might think or
say that we do not do what is right.
Perhaps we have been trying to change
for many years but we still keep making the same mistakes. So we may
wonder: Why is it so dicult for me
to make these smaller changes? What
must I do to apply what the Bible says
so that I can continue to improve my
personality?
YOU CAN PLEASE JEHOVAH

We love Jehovah, and we desire

with all our heart to please him. But
sadly, we cannot please him all the
time, because we are imperfect. We often feel like the apostle Paul, who said:
I have the desire to do what is ne
but not the ability to carry it out.
Romans 7:18; James 3:2.
4

4. Why are we unable to please Jehovah in

everything we do?

22

SIMPLIFIED EDITION

Before we could be part of the congregation, we had to stop practicing

things that Jehovah hates. (1 Corinthians 6:9, 10) But we are still imperfect. (Colossians 3:9, 10) So we continue to make mistakes even if we have
been baptized for many years. From
time to time, we may have wrong desires and feelings, or we may nd it
hard to control a weakness in our personality. In fact, we may have to ght
the same weakness for many years.
6 Even though we are imperfect, we
can still have a friendship with Jehovah and serve him. Always remember how you rst became Jehovahs
friend. He was the One who saw the
good in you and wanted you to know
him. (John 6:44) He also knew that
you had faults and weaknesses and
that you were going to make mistakes.
But Jehovah still wanted you to be his
friend.
7 Jehovah loved us so much that he
gave us a precious gift. He sent his Son
to earth so that Jesus could give his
life as a ransom for our sins. (John 3:
16) When we make a mistake, we can
ask Jehovah for forgiveness. And because of the ransom, we can be sure
that he will forgive us and that we will
still be his friends. (Romans 7:24, 25;
1 John 2:1, 2) Remember, Jesus died
5

5. What changes did we make before we got

baptized, but what weaknesses may we still
struggle with?
6, 7. (a) What makes it possible for us to be
Jehovahs friends even though we are imperfect? (b) Why should we not hold back from
asking Jehovah for forgiveness?

for repentant sinners. So even if we

feel that what we have done is very
bad, we must never stop praying to Jehovah for forgiveness. If we did not
ask him to forgive us, it would be like
refusing to wash our hands when they
are dirty. How grateful we are that Jehovah has made it possible for us to be
his friends even though we are imperfect!Read 1 Timothy 1:15.
8 Of course, we cannot ignore our
weaknesses or keep making excuses
for them. Jehovah has told us what
kind of people he wants his friends to
be. (Psalm 15:1-5) So if we want to
draw closer to him, we must keep
trying to imitate him and his Son. We
must also try to control our wrong desires, and we may even be able to
get rid of some of them. No matter
how long we have been baptized, we
must keep improving our personality.
2 Corinthians 13:11.
9 The apostle Paul told Christians:
You were taught to put away the old
personality that conforms to your former course of conduct and that is being corrupted according to its deceptive desires. And you should continue
to be made new in your dominant
mental attitude, and should put on the
new personality that was created according to Gods will in true righteousness and loyalty. (Ephesians 4:22-24)
This means that we need to keep on
making the eort to change and put
8. Why should we not ignore our weaknesses?
9. How do we know that we can keep putting on
the new personality?

on the new personality. So no matter

how long we have been serving Jehovah, we can always learn more about
his qualities. And the Bible can help us
to keep making changes in our personality to become more like him.
WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT?

We all want to follow what the Bible says. But we need to work hard if
we want to continue to change. Why
do we need to make such an eort?
Could not Jehovah just make it easy
for us to do what is right?
10

If we want to draw
closer to Jehovah,
we must keep trying
to imitate him
and his Son
When we think of the universe
and all that is in it, we have no
doubt that Jehovah has the power to
do anything. For example, he made
the sun, which is extremely powerful.
Every second, the sun produces a huge
amount of light and heat, yet only a
small amount of this energy is needed
for life on earth to exist. (Psalm 74:
16; Isaiah 40:26) Jehovah also gives
11

10. What must we do to keep making changes

with the help of the Bible, and what questions
might we ask?
11-13. Why does Jehovah expect us to put forth
eort to overcome our weaknesses?
MAY 2016

23

The Bible and Prayer

Changed Their Lives
Russell often complained about other brothers and sisters and thought
that most of the time they did not do
anything right. Maria Victoria loved to
gossip. Linda was afraid of what others
might think or say whenever she went
out in the ministry. Although all three
were baptized Christians, they thought it
would be impossible to change. But they
were able to make changes. What helped
them?
Russell: Supplicating Jehovah in
prayer and a daily dose of Bible reading
helped me. Meditating on 2 Peter 2:11
and on personal counsel from the elders
made a big dierence.
Maria Victoria: I fervently prayed to
Jehovah to help me control my tongue. I
also saw the need to stop having close
association with people who loved to
gossip. Psalm 64:1-4 made me realize
that I did not want to be one from whom
others pray to be safeguarded! I also
came to appreciate that continuing to
gossip would make me a poor example
and bring reproach on Jehovahs name.
Linda: I familiarized myself with our
tracts so as to be prepared to oer them.
Associating with those who enjoy various avenues of service has been a great
help. And I continue to rely on Jehovah
through prayer.

power to his servants on earth when

they need it. (Isaiah 40:29) Clearly, if
Jehovah wanted to, he could make it
very easy for us to ght our weaknesses and to stop having wrong desires.
So why does he not do so?
12 Jehovah has given us free will.
He allows us to choose for ourselves
whether we will obey him or not. When
we choose to obey him and work hard
to do his will, we show that we love him
and want to please him. Satan says
that Jehovah has no right to rule. But
when we obey Jehovah, we show that
we want him to be our Ruler. And we
can be sure that our loving Father values every eort we make to obey him.
(Job 2:3-5; Proverbs 27:11) When we
work hard to control our weaknesses
even though it is not easy to do so, we
are loyal to Jehovah and show that we
want him to be our Ruler.
13 Jehovah tells us that we should
work hard to imitate his qualities. (Colossians 3:12; read 2 Peter 1:5-7.) He
also expects us to work hard to control
what we think and what we feel. (Romans 8:5; 12:9) Whenever we have
to work hard to make a change and
we are successful, we feel especially
happy.
LET GODS WORD
KEEP ON CHANGING YOU

What must we do to develop the

qualities that Jehovah loves? Instead
14

14, 15. What can we do to develop qualities

that Jehovah loves? (See the box The Bible
and Prayer Changed Their Lives.)

24

SIMPLIFIED EDITION

Collect articles from our

publications or scriptures
from the Bible that help
you ght your weaknesses,
and read them again
from time to time
(See paragraph 15)

of just deciding for ourselves what we

need to change, we need to let God
guide us. Romans 12:2 says: Stop being molded by this system of things,
but be transformed by making your
mind over, so that you may prove to
yourselves the good and acceptable
and perfect will of God. So to nd out
what Jehovah wants, we need to rely
on the help that he has provided. We
must read the Bible daily, meditate on
what we read, and pray to Jehovah to
give us his holy spirit. (Luke 11:13; Galatians 5:22, 23) In these ways, Jehovah can help us to understand what
pleases him, and we can learn to think
the way he does. As a result, what we

think, say, and do will be more pleasing to Jehovah, and we will learn how
to control our weaknesses. But even
then, we will need to keep ghting
them.Proverbs 4:23.
15 In addition to reading the Bible
every day, we need to study it with the
help of our publications, such as The
Watchtower and Awake! Many articles
in these magazines teach us how we
can imitate Jehovahs qualities and
how to ght our weaknesses. We may
nd certain articles or scriptures that
are especially helpful to us. We can
collect these scriptures and articles so
that we can read them again from time
to time.
MAY 2016

25

It takes time to learn to imitate Jehovahs qualities. So if you feel that

you have not made as many changes as
you would like to, be patient. At rst,
you may need to force yourself to do
what the Bible says. But the more you
think and behave the way Jehovah
wants you to, the easier it will become
for you to think the way he does and to
do what is right.Psalm 37:31; Proverbs 23:12; Galatians 5:16, 17.
16

THINK ABOUT OUR

WONDERFUL FUTURE

We look forward to the time when

we will be perfect and serve Jehovah
forever. At that time, we will not need
to ght any weaknesses, and it will be
much easier for us to imitate Jehovah.
But even now we are able to worship
Jehovah because he has given us the
gift of the ransom. Although we are
imperfect, we can please him if we
continue to work hard to make changes and follow what he teaches us in the
Bible.
17

16. Why should we not be discouraged if we are

not able to make changes quickly?
17. If we are loyal to Jehovah, what delightful
future can we look forward to?

SOME
EXPRESSIONS
EXPLAINED

Kevin did all he could to learn to

control his anger. He meditated on
what he read in the Bible and tried
hard to make changes in his life. He
also followed the advice that fellow
Christians gave him. Although it took
a few years for Kevin to improve, in
time he was able to serve as a ministerial servant. And for the last 20 years,
he has been serving as an elder. But
even now, he knows that he needs to
continue ghting his weaknesses.
19 Like Kevin, we can keep improving our personality. If we do, we will
continue to draw closer to Jehovah.
(Psalm 25:14) And when we do all we
can to make changes to please him, he
will help us to succeed. We can be
sure that with the help of the Bible,
we can keep making changes in our
lives.Psalm 34:8.
18

18, 19. How can we be sure that the Bible has

power to continue changing our life?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ENDNOTE:
[1] (paragraph 1) The name has been changed.

We fight our weaknesses:

We may have weaknesses that are not easy to control,
or we may make the same mistakes again and again.
For example, we may be impatient, lose our temper easily,
or complain a lot about others. We need to keep trying
hard to correct our weaknesses because we know that
this will please Jehovah. Resisting these weaknesses
is likened to a ght

Benefit Fully
From Jehovahs Provisions
I, Jehovah, am your God, the One teaching you
to benefit yourself.ISAIAH 48:17.

AS Jehovahs Witnesses, we love the Bible. It gives us

comfort, hope, and instruction that we can trust. (Romans 15:4) It is not a book of human ideas but is the
word of God.1 Thessalonians 2:13.
2 Most likely, all of us have our favorite parts of the Bible. Some like the Gospels because they show Jehovahs
beautiful personality through Jesus. (John 14:9) Others
prefer prophetic books such as Revelation, which shows
us the things that must shortly take place. (Revelation
1:1) Some are comforted when they read the Psalms, and
others enjoy reading the helpful advice in the book of
Proverbs. Clearly, then, the Bible is a book for everyone.
3 Because we love the Bible, we also love our publications, which are based on Gods Word. All the books,
brochures, magazines, and other literature we receive
1, 2. (a) How do Jehovahs Witnesses feel about the Bible? (b) What
is your favorite part of the Bible?
3, 4. (a) How do we feel about our publications? (b) What publications do we receive for specic groups of people?

SONGS: 117, 114

HOW WOULD YOU

ANSWER?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What could cause us to miss

out on the benets of some
spiritual provisions?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What suggestions can help

us to benet from all portions
of the Bible?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How can we benet

from considering material
directed to young people
and to the public?

27

are provisions from Jehovah. They

help us to stay close to him and to keep
our faith strong.Titus 2:2.
4 Many of our publications are written for Jehovahs Witnesses in general. However, there are some publications that are written for specic
groups, such as young ones or parents.
Most of the articles and videos on
our website are prepared specically for people who are not Jehovahs
Witnesses. Such a variety of material
shows that Jehovah has kept his promise to provide plenty of instruction for
all people.Isaiah 25:6.
5 Most of us would like to have more
time to read the Bible and our publications. So we may not always spend the
same amount of time studying every
publication we get. We can be sure
that Jehovah is pleased with us when
we use our time wisely to read and
study the Bible and our publications.
(Ephesians 5:15, 16) However, there is
a danger that we must be careful to
avoid. What is it?
6 If we are not careful, we might
think that certain parts of the Bible or
certain publications do not apply to
us. For example, what if a part of the
Bible does not seem practical for our
situation? Or what if we are not part
of the main audience for a publication? Do we just read such information quickly or even avoid reading it at
5. We can be sure that Jehovah appreciates
what?
6. What could cause us to miss out on the benets of Jehovahs provisions?

28

SIMPLIFIED EDITION

all? If so, we could miss out on valuable information that would benet
us. How can we avoid that danger? We
should remember that all the information we get comes from Jehovah.
In the Bible we read: I, Jehovah,
am your God, the One teaching you
to benet yourself. (Isaiah 48:17) In
this article, we will discuss three suggestions that will help us to benet
from all the provisions that Jehovah
gives us.
SUGGESTIONS FOR
BENEFICIAL BIBLE READING

Read with an open mind. It is true

that some parts of the Bible were written for a specic person or group of
people. However, the Bible clearly says
that all Scripture is inspired of God
and benecial. (2 Timothy 3:16) That
is why we need to have an open mind
when we read the Bible. One brother
tries to remember that he can learn
several lessons from just one account.
That helps him to see lessons that are
not so obvious. So before we read the
Bible, we should ask Jehovah to give
us an open mind and the wisdom to
understand the lessons that he wants
us to learn.Ezra 7:10; read James
1:5.
8 Ask questions. When you read the
Bible, stop and ask yourself the fol7

7. Why do we need to read the Bible with an

open mind?
8, 9. (a) When reading the Bible, what questions might we ask ourselves? (b) What do the
qualications for Christian elders tell us about
Jehovah?

lowing questions: What does this tell

me about Jehovah? How can I use
this information in my life? How can
I use it to help others? When we
meditate on these questions, we will
benet more from our Bible reading.
Let us look at one example. The Bible describes certain qualications for
Christian elders. (Read 1 Timothy
3:2-7.) Yet most of us are not elders, so we may think that this information cannot help us in any way.
However, let us use the three questions mentioned earlier to see how
this list of qualications can help all
of us.

What does this tell me about Jehovah? Jehovah gave us the list of qualications for elders. He has high standards for the men who care for the
congregation. This shows that the congregation is precious to Jehovah. The
Bible says that he bought it with the
blood of his own Son. (Acts 20:28)
So Jehovah expects elders to be good
examples, and they are accountable to
him for the way they treat members of
the congregation. He wants us to feel
safe under their care. (Isaiah 32:1, 2)
When we read these qualications, we
learn how much Jehovah truly cares
for us.
9

Are you getting all

the benets you can
from your Bible reading?
(See paragraph 7)

MAY 2016

29

How can I use this information in my

life? If you are already an elder, you
should regularly review the list of qualications and try to improve. If you
are reaching out to be an overseer,
you should try to meet these qualications to the best of your ability.

(1 Timothy 3:1) But all Christians can

learn from these qualications. For
example, Jehovah expects each of us
to be reasonable and to use good judgment. (Philippians 4:5; 1 Peter 4:7)
When the elders are examples to the
ock, we can learn from them and
imitate their faith.1 Peter 5:3; Hebrews 13:7.
11 How can I use this information to
help others? We can use the list of
qualications for Christian elders to
help Bible students and other interested ones to understand how the elders
are dierent from the religious clergy.
This list can also help us to remember
the hard work that the elders do in
our congregation. And this, in turn,
will help us to respect these brothers.

(1 Thessalonians 5:12) The more we respect them, the more joy they will have
in their assignment.Hebrews 13:17.
12 Do research. When we study the
Bible, we can look for the answers to
the following questions:
Who wrote this part of the Bible?
Where and when was it written?
What important events were happening when this book was written?
Such information may help us to see
lessons that are not immediately obvious to us.
13 For example, Ezekiel 14:13, 14
says: If a land sins against me by acting unfaithfully, I will stretch out my
hand against it and destroy its food
supply, and I will send famine upon
it and cut o man and animal from
it. Even if these three menNoah,
Daniel, and Jobwere within it, they
would be able to save only themselves
because of their righteousness, declares the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. If
we do some research, we learn that
Ezekiel wrote those words about 612
years before Christ. Noah and Job
had already been dead for hundreds
of years, but Jehovah still remembered their faithfulness. Daniel, however, was still alive. Most likely, he was
about 20 years old when Jehovah said
that he was righteous just like Noah
and Job. What do we learn? Jehovah

10, 11. (a) When reading the qualications for

elders, how can we apply the information in our
own life? (b) How can we use this information to
help others?

12, 13. (a) Using tools available to us, what

kind of research might we do? (b) Give an example of how background information may reveal lessons that are not immediately obvious.

10

Jehovah expects
each of us to be
reasonable and to
use good judgment

30

SIMPLIFIED EDITION

sees and values all of his faithful servants, including young ones.Psalm
148:12-14.
BENEFIT FROM A VARIETY
OF PUBLICATIONS

Literature for young people. We

have learned that we can benet from
all parts of the Bible. In a similar way,
we can benet from all our publications. Let us consider a few examples.
In recent years, Jehovah has provided
a lot of information for young people.[1] (See endnote.) This information
helps them to cope with pressures at
school and the challenges of growing up. But how can all of us benet
from reading these articles and books?
When we read this information, we
learn about the problems young people have and are better able to help
and encourage them.
15 Adult Christians should not be too
proud to read information for young
people. Many of the problems discussed in the articles for them aect
all Christians. For example, all of us
need to defend our beliefs, control our
emotions, reject peer pressure, and
avoid bad association and entertainment. So even though these publications were written for young people,
the information in them comes from
the Bible, and all Christians can benet.
14

14. How does the material published for young

people help them, and how can it benet others
too? (See opening picture.)
15. Why should adult Christians be interested in
information for young people?

Publications written for young

people can also help them to strengthen their friendship with Jehovah.
(Read Ecclesiastes 12:1, 13.) And
adults can benet too. For example,
the April 2009 issue of Awake! included the article Young People Ask . . .
How Can I Make Bible Reading Enjoyable? That article had several helpful
suggestions and included a box that
could be cut out, kept, and used for
study. Did adults benet from the article? One wife and mother said that Bible reading has always been dicult
for her. But she used the suggestions
in the article and now looks forward to
Bible reading. She says that she enjoys
16

Adult Christians should

not be too proud
to read information
for young people
seeing how the books of the Bible are
related and create a beautiful picture,
adding, I have never been this excited over Bible reading.
17 Literature for the public. Since
2008 we have enjoyed the study edition of The Watchtower. This edition is
written mostly for Jehovahs Witnesses, but we also have magazines that
16. What else do our publications help young
people to do?
17, 18. How can we benet from reading material written for the public? Give an example.
MAY 2016

31

Jehovah gives advice and

instruction for our benet.
Jehovahs provisions
include the Bible, our
publications, and material
on jw.org. We benet when
we read and study such
information carefully

are mainly for the public. How can we

benet from those as well? Let us use
an example. When you invite a person
to the Kingdom Hall and he comes,
you are excited. While the speaker
gives his talk, you think about your
guest. You wonder how this person
feels about the things he is hearing and
how the information can change his
life. As a result, your heart is touched
and you are even more grateful for
that subject.
18 Something similar may happen to
us when we read literature written for
the public. For example, the public
edition of The Watchtower and articles
on jw.org explain the Bible using words
and expressions that are easy to understand. When we read this information, we deepen our understanding
and love for Bible truths that we already know well. Also, we may learn

n
o

Free downloads of this

magazine and other
publications are
available

To have an open mind

means to be willing to
accept new and dierent
ideas. When we read the
Bible and our publications,
we need to meditate on
how the information can
help us personally

new ways to explain our beliefs in

the ministry. In a similar way, the
Awake! magazine strengthens our belief that there is a Creator. It also helps
us learn how to defend our beliefs.
Read 1 Peter 3:15.
19 Clearly, Jehovah has provided
plenty of advice and instruction for
our benet. (Matthew 5:3) Let us continue to read and apply all the information he has given to us. If we do
that, we will benet and will show Jehovah that we are grateful for all of his
provisions.Isaiah 48:17.
19. How can we show our gratitude to Jehovah
for his provisions?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ENDNOTE:
[1] (paragraph 14) Such information includes Questions
Young People AskAnswers That Work, Volumes 1 and
2, as well as the series Young People Ask, which is now
published exclusively online.

You can also read the

New World Translation
online

Visit www.jw.org,
or scan code

ws16.05-E
160112

SOME
EXPRESSIONS
EXPLAINED