Jehovah Limits His Dealings With Humans

Though having the power to do so, Jehovah does not direct and control every detail of human activity. There are reasons for this. One is that humans were created in God's image, having free will, being free moral agents. Jehovah does not force us to do his bidding; neither are we puppets. (Deuteronomy 30:19, 20; Joshua 24:15) Though he holds us accountable for our acts, God has lovingly allowed us considerable freedom to decide how we will manage our lives. -Romans 14:12; Hebrews 4:13.

Another reason why God does not direct everything that happens relates to the issue that Satan raised Eden. Satan challenged God's sovereignty. He offered Eve what seemed to be an opportunity for independence-an offer that she and later her husband, Adam, accepted. (Genesis 3:1-6) In response, God has allowed humans to rule themselves for a period of time to prove whether Satan's challenge was justified. For this reason, the wrong things that people do today cannot be blamed on God. Moses wrote of rebellious people: "They have acted ruinously on their own part; they are not [God's ] children, the defect is their own." -Deuteronomy 32:5.

However, while allowing for free choice and experiments in independent rulership, Jehovah has not adopted a hands-off policy concerning earth's affairs, which would leave us with little hope that he will fulfill his promises. Though Adam and Eve rebelled against God's sovereignty, Jehovah did not alter his loving purpose for the earth and for humankind. he will without fail transform the earth into a paradise populated with perfect, obedient, and happy people. (Luke 23:42, 43) The Bible record from Genesis to Revelation describes how Jehovah has progressively been working to accomplish that aim.

Next time: God Acts To Accomplish His Will

Watchtower, 1999

Living By Faith In God's Promises

HOW involved is God in earth's affairs? Opinions vary. One view is that he is not involved at all. Having set things in motion through creation, he is either unwilling or unable to act in our behalf. In this view, God is like a father who puts his son on a new bicycle, steadies it, and gives it a push to start his son down the road. After that, the father walks away. The boy is on his own; he may fall, or he may not. Either way, the matter is out of the father's hands.

Another view is that God is actively directing every aspect of our lives and that he is directly involved with ever occurrence throughout his creation. If this is so, however, some would conclude that God causes not only the good things that happen but also the crime and tragedy that afflict humankind. Knowing the truth about God's dealings will help us know what to expect of him. It will also fortify our faith in the certain fulfillment of his promises. - Hebrews 11:1.

Central to the question of God's involvement in human affairs is the fact that Jehovah is a God of purpose. This is implicit in his very name. "Jehovah" means "He Causes to Become." With progressive action, Jehovah causes himself to be the Fulfiller of all his promises. Consequently, Jehovah is spoken of as 'forming,' or fashioning, his purpose concerning future events or actions. (2Kings 19:25; Isaiah 46:11) These terms are from the Hebrew word ya-tsar', related to the word meaning "potter." (Jeremiah 18:4) Just as a skillful potter can shape a lump of clay into a beautiful vase, Jehovah can shape, or maneuver, things to accomplish his will. -Ephesians 1:11.

For example, God purposed that the earth would be a place of exquisite beauty to be inhabited by perfect, obedient humans. (Isaiah 45:18) Long before he created the first man and woman, Jehovah made loving preparation for them. The opening chapters of the book of Genesis describe how Jehovah established day and night, land and sea. Next he created vegetation and animal life. This habitation involved many thousands of years. The project was successfully completed. The first man and woman began their lives in Eden, a delightful paradise that was fully provisioned so that they could enjoy life. (Genesis 1:31) Thus Jehovah was directly involved in earth's affairs, progressively fashioning his works to his lofty purpose. Did the expansion of the human family change his involvement?

Next time: Jehovah Limits His Dealings With Humans

Watchtower,1999

Living By Faith In God's Promises

The Truth

None of the above-mentioned developments has anything to do with the truth. This truth is the entire body of Christian teachings as found in the Bible. (2 Corinthians 4:2; Titus 1:1, 14; 2 John 1-4) The Bible is the one and only source of truth. -John 17:17; 2 Timothy 3:16.

However, the enemy of Jehovah, of truth, of humankind, and of everlasting life-Satan the Devil, the "manslayer" and the "father of the lie" -has used a variety of devious ways to adulterate that truth. (John 8:44; compare 2Corinthians 11:3) Among the most powerful tools he has used are the teachings of pagan Christian philosophers-actually a reflection of his own thinking-in an effort to alter the content and nature of Christian teachings.

This unnatural blending of Christian teaching with Greek philosophy is an attempt to dilute Bible truth, diminishing its strength and appeal to the meek, sincere, and teachable truth seekers. ( 1Corinthians 3:1, 2, 19, 20) It also tends to defile the purity of crystal-clear Biblical doctrine, making the line between truth and falsehood appear fuzzy.

Today, under the direction of the Head of the congregation, Jesus Christ, true Christian teaching has been restored. Also, sincere seekers of truth can very easily identify the true Christian congregation by its fruits. (Matthew 7:16, 20) Jehovah's Witnesses are willing and eager to help such ones find the unadulterated waters of truth and to assist them to get a firm hold on the inheritance of everlasting life offered by our Father, Jehovah. - John 4:14; 1 Timothy 6:19.

Next time: Living By Faith In God's Promises

Watchtower,1999

Conclusion of Corrupting Pollutants

Indeed, as time went by and the Church Fathers became increasingly influenced by Neoplatonism, the Trinitarians gained ground. Third-century Neoplatonic philosophy seemingly enabled them to reconcile the irreconcilable- to make a threefold God appear like one God. By philosophical reasoning they claimed that three persons could be one God while retaining their individuality!

The truth of the Bible, however, clearly shows that Jehovah alone is Almighty God, Jesus Christ is His lesser created Son, and the holy spirit is His active force. (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 45:5; Acts 2:4; Colossians 1:15; Revelation 3:14) The Trinity doctrine dishonors the only true God and confuses people, turning them away from a God they cannot comprehend.

One more victim of the Neoplatonic influence on Christians thinking was the Scripture - based millennial hope. (Revelation 20:4-6) Origen was noted for his condemnation of millennialists. Why was he so opposed to this well-founded Biblical doctrine of Christ's rule of one thousand years? The Catholic Encyclopedia answers: " In view of the Neo-Platonism on which his doctrines were founded . . ., {Origen]could not side with the millenarians."

Next time: The Truth

Watchtower, 1999

Corrupting Pollutants

It has been noted that "the Christian Platonists gave primacy to revelation and regarded Platonic philosophy as the best available instrument for understanding and defending the teachings of Scripture and church tradition."

Plato himself had been convinced that there exists an immortal soul. Significantly, one of the most prominent false teachings that crept into "Christian" theology is that of the immorality of the soul. Accepting this teaching can in no way be justified on the grounds that doing so made Christianity more appealing to the masses. When preaching in Athens, the very heart of Greek culture, the apostle Paul did not teach the Platonic doctrine of the soul. Rather, he preached the Christian doctrine of the resurrection, even though many of his Greek listeners found it hard to accept what he said. -Acts 17:22-32.

Contrary to Greek philosophy, the Scriptures clearly show that the soul is not what a person has but what he is. (Genesis 2:7) At death, the soul ceases to exist. (Ezekiel 18:4) Ecclesiastes 9:5 tells us: "The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten." The doctrine of the immorality of the soul is not taught in the Bible.

Another deceptive teaching had to do with the position of the prehuman Jesus, the notion that he was equal to his Father. Explains the book The Church of the First Three Centuries: "The doctrine of the Trinity . . .had its origin in a source entirely foreign from that of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures." what was that source? The doctrine "grew up, and was ingrafted on Christianity, through the hands of the Platonizing Fathers."

Next time: Continue with Corrupting Pollutants
Watchtower, 1999

"Hellenized Christianity" And "Christian Philosophy"

Starting in the second century C.E., "Christian" thinkers made a determined effort to reach the pagan intellectuals. Despite the apostle Paul's clear warning against "the empty speeches that violate what is holy" and "the contradictions of the falsely called 'knowledge,' " such teachers integrated in their teachings philosophical elements from the surrounding Hellenistic culture. (1 Timothy 6:20) The example of Philo seemed to suggest that it might be possible to reconcile the Bible with Platonic ideas. -Compare 2 Peter 1:16.

The real victim, of course, was Biblical truth, "Christian" teachers tried to show that Christianity was in harmony with Greco-Roman humanism. Clement of Alexandria and Origen (second and third centuries C.E.) made Neoplatonism the foundation of what came to be "Christian Philosophy." Ambrose (339-397C.E.), bishop of Milan, had "absorbed the most up-to-date Greek learning, Christian and pagan alike-notably the words. . .of the pagan Neoplatonist Plotinus." He tried to provide educated Latins with a classical version of Christianity. Augustine followed suit.

A century later, Dionysius the Areopagite (also styled pseudo-Dionysius), probably a Syrian monk, tried to unite Neoplatonic philosophy with "Christian" theology. According to one encyclopedia, his "writings established a definite Neoplatonic trend in a large segment of medieval Christian doctrine and spirituality . . .that has determined facets of its religious and devotional character to the present time." what a flagrant flouting of the apostle Paul's warning against "the philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men."! Colossians 2:8.

Next time: Corrupting Pollutants

Watchtower, 1999

"Christianized Helenism"

During the first five centuries of our common era, certain intellectuals sought to demonstrate a relationship between Greek philosophy and the revealed truth of the Bible. The book A History of Christianity states: "Christian Metaphysicians were to portray the Greeks in the decades before Christ as struggling manfully but blindly towards a knowledge of God, trying, as it were, to conjure up Jesus out of the thin Athenian air, to invent Christianity out of their poor pagan heads."

Plotinus (205-270 C.E. ), a precursor of such thinkers, developed a system that was based chiefly on Plato's theory of ideas. Plotinus introduced the concept of a soul separate from the body. Professor E.W. Hopkins said of Plotinus: "His theology . . .had not little influence upon the leaders of Christian opinion.

Next time: "Hellenized Christianity" And "Christian Philosophy"

Watchtower, 1999

"Hellenized Judaism"

The first, "Hellenized Judaism," is truly a contradiction. The original religion of the Hebrews, which was instituted by the true God, Jehovah was not to be contaminated with false religious ideas. (Deuteronomy 12:32; Proverbs 30:5, 6) Right from the start, however, purity of worship came under threat of corruption by the false religious practices and thinking that surrounded it-such as the influence from Egyptian Canaanite, and Babylonian sources. Sad to say, Israel allowed its true worship to become deeply corrupted. -Judges 2:11-13.

Centuries later, when ancient Palestine became part of the Greek Empire under Alexander the Great in the fourth century B.C.E., this corruption plumbed new depths and left behind a lasting and corrosive legacy. Alexander recruited Jews into his army. The contacts between the Jews and their new conqueror deeply influenced Jewish religious thinking. Judaistic education was penetrated by Hellenistic thought. High Priest Jason is reputed to have established a Greek academy in Jerusalem in 175B.C.E. to promote the study of Homer.

Interestingly, a Samaritan, writing in the second half of the second century B.C.E., sought to present Bible History as Hellenized historiography. Apocryphal Jewish books, such as Judith and Tobit, actually allude to Greek erotic legends. A number of Jewish philosophers appeared who attempted to reconcile Greek thought with the Jewish religion and the Bible.

The figure that is most credited with this is Philo, a Jew of the first century C.E. He appropriated the doctrines of Plato (fourth century B.C.E.), the Pythagoreans, and the Stoics. Jews were profoundly influenced by Philo's views. Summing up this intellectual infiltration of Greek thought into Jewish culture, Jewish author Max Dimont says: "Enriched with Platonic thought, Aristotelian logic, and Euclidian science, Jewish scholars approached the Torah with new tools. . . . They proceeded to add Greek reason to Jewish revelation."

In time, the Romans absorbed the Greek Empire, taking over Jerusalem. This opened the way for even more significant changes. By the third century C.E., the philosophical and religious doctrines of thinkers who endeavored to develop and synthesize the ideas of Plato took their definitive form, known collectively today as Neoplatonism. This school of thought was bound to have a profound influence on apostate Christianity.

Next time: "Christianized Hellenism"

Watchtower, 1999

Greek Philosophy-Did It Enrich Christianity?

AMONG those who had a definitive influence on "Christian" thought, "Saint" Augustine holds an undisputed position. According to The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Augustine's "mind was the crucible in which the religion of the New Testament was most completely fused with the Platonic tradition of Greek philosophy; and it was also the means by which the product of this fusion was transmitted to the Christendoms of medieval Roman Catholicism and Renaissance Protestantism."

Augustine's legacy is indeed enduing. Speaking of the extent to which the Greek philosophy has influenced Christendom, Douglas T. Holden stated: " Christian theology has become so fused with Greek philosophy that it has reared individuals who are a mixture of nine parts Greek thought to one part Christian thought."

Some scholars strongly believe that such philosophical influence enhanced Christianity in its infancy, enriched its teaching, and made it more convincing. Was this the case? How and why did the influence of Greek philosophy take place? Did it, in fact, enrich or did it pollute Christianity?

It is enlightening to trace a number of developments from the third century B.C.E. to the fifth century C.E. through an examination of four strange terms: (1) "Hellenized Judaism," (2) "Christianized Hellenism," (3) "Hellenized Christianity" (4) "Christian philosophy."

Next time: "Hellenized Judaism"

Watchtower, 1999

Conclusion of Keep Anger From Stumbling You

Prayer can mold and guide you. In what way? It can have a profound effect on your dealing with others. Remember how Jehovah has dealt with you. As the Scriptures say, Jehovah "has not done to us even according to our sins." (Psalm 103:10) A forgiving spirit is vital so that you "may not be overreached by Satan." (2 Corinthians 2:10, 11) Furthermore, prayer serves to open your heart to the guidance of the holy spirit, which can overturn strongly entrenched patterns in life. Jehovah gladly gives a 'peace that excels all though,' which can release you from the gripping power of anger. -Philippians 4:7.

Prayer, however, must be coupled with a regular examination of the Scriptures in order for us to "go on perceiving what the will of Jehovah is." (Ephesians 5:17; James 3:17) If you personally have a hard time controlling your anger, strive to get Jehovah's thinking on the matter. review scriptures specifically related to the controlling of anger.

The apostle Paul offers this important reminder: " Let us work what is good toward all, but especially toward those related to us in the faith." (Galatians 6:10) Focus your thoughts and deeds on doing good to others. Such wholesome, positive activity will encourage empathy and trust and will mitigate misunderstandings that can easily result in anger.

The psalmist said: "Fix my own steps solidly in your saying, and may no kind of hurtful thing domineer over me. Abundant peace belongs to those loving your law, and for them there is no stumbling block." (Psalm 119:133, 165) That can be true of you too.

Next time: Greek Philosophy-Did It Enrich Christianity?

Watchtower, 1999

Continue with Keep Anger From Stumbling You

Inevitably, when one gives way to uncontrolled anger, he or she will say and do things that will hurt everyone involved. (Proverbs 29:22) Cain and Saul became angry because each, in his own way, was jealous and envious. However, angry reactions can occur for various reasons. An unjustified criticism, an insult, a misunderstanding, or unfair treatment could be the spark that ignites an outburst.

The examples of Cain and Saul suggest a serious deficiency held in common. Cain's offering apparently laced the motivation of faith. (Hebrews 11:4) Saul's failure to obey Jehovah's express commands and his subsequent attempts at self-justification led to his losing God's favor and spirit. Clearly, both men breached their relationship with Jehovah.

Contrast such dispositions with that of David, who had reason to be angry over the treatment he experienced from Saul. David restrained his spirit. Why? He said: "It is unthinkable, on my part, from Jehovah's standpoint, that I should do this thing to my lord, the anointed of Jehovah." David had clearly in mind his relationship with Jehovah, and it affected his dealings with Saul. He humbly left matters in Jehovah's hands. -1 Samuel 24:6, 15.

Indeed, the implications of uncontrolled anger are serious. The apostle Paul cautioned: "Be wrathful, and yet do not sin." (Ephesians 4:26) While righteous indignation has its place, there is an ever present danger that anger could become our stumbling block. No wonder, then, that we face the challenge of controlling our anger. How can we do so?

A Primary way is to develop a strong relationship with Jehovah.

He encourages you to open your heart and mind to him. Tell him your cares and concerns, and ask for a calm heart to subdue anger. (Proverbs 14:30) Be assured that "the eyes of Jehovah are upon the righteous ones, and his ears are toward their supplication." - 1 Peter 3:12.

Next time: Conclusion of the above subject

Watchtower, 1999

Keep Anger From Stumbling You

"Take a deep breath!" "Count to ten!" "Bite your tongue!" Are these phrases familiar to you? Perhaps you recite them to yourself to calm an inner agitation. Some people, in an effort to prevent an angry outburst, go for a walk. These are simple ways to manage anger and preserve relationships with others.

In recent years, though, conflicting advice from professionals on whether anger should be controlled or suppressed leaves many confused. For example, some psychologists have advanced the theory that "if it makes you feel better," give vent to your anger. Others warn that regular outbursts of anger are "a stronger predictor of dying young than[are] other risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol." God's Word plainly states: "Let anger alone and leave rage; do not show yourself heated up only to do evil." (Psalm 37:8) Why does the Bible give such specific counsel?

Uncontrolled emotions lead to uncontrolled deeds. This became evident very early in man's history. We read: "Cain grew hot with great anger, and his countenance began to fall." Where did this lead him? His anger gripped him and took control, so much that it hardened his heart to Jehovah's admonition to turn to doing good. Cain's unbridled anger led him into grave sin-the murder of his brother. -Genesis 4:3-8.

Saul, the first king of Israel, was similarly overtaken when he heard David receive great praise. "The women that were celebrating kept responding and saying: "Saul has struck down his thousands and David his tens of thousands.' And Saul began to be very angry, and this saying was bad from his viewpoint." Anger so dominated Saul's thinking that it drove him to make several assassination attempts on David. Even though David made overtures for friendship, Saul was unwilling to pursue peace and reconciliation. Ultimately, he totally lost Jehovah's favor. - 1 Samuel 18:6-11; 19:9. 10; 24:1-21; Proverbs 6:34, 35.

Next time: Continue with the above subject

Watchtower, 1999

Conclusion of "The Real Life" Is A Certainty-Grasp It!

Understanding Bible prophecies, we now see the approach of "the great day of God the Almighty," during which the earth will be cleansed of all wickedness. (Revelation 16:14, 16) Like faithful men of old, we must remain in confident expectation of future events, motivated by faith as well as by love for God and for "the real life." The nearness of the new world provides a strong incentive for those who exercise faith in Jehovah and who love him. Such faith and love need to be cultivated in order to gain God's favor and protection during his great day, which is at hand. -Zephaniah 2:3; 2Thessalonians 1:3; Hebrews 10:37-39.

So, do you love life? And do you desire even more "the real life"-life as an approved servant of God, with the prospect of a happy future, yes, with eternal life in view? If that is what you seek, heed the exhortation of the apostle Paul, who wrote that we should 'rest our hope, not on uncertain riches, but on God.' Paul continued: "Be rich in fine works," which honor God, so as to "get a firm hold on the real life." -1 Timothy 6:17-19.

By accepting the offer of a Bible study with Jehovah's Witnesses, you can acquire knowledge that "means everlasting life." (John 17:3) Lovingly, the Bible records this fatherly invitation to all: "My Son, my law do not forget, and my commandments may your heart observer, because length of days and years of life and peace will be added to you." -Proverbs 3:1, 2.

Next time:Keep Anger From Stumbling You

Watchtower, 1999