Truth Magazine

By Dick Blackford

The Bible has stood the test of time and persecution, yet it continues to be the best seller year after year. One would think that the world would be in better shape than what it is, since there are so many Bibles in print (some families own several). But that is not the case. There must be some explanation for this seeming inconsistency. One way to find out is to examine the reasons some purchase and/or read the Bible, as well as why it should be read.

I. Some read the Bible just to be able to say they have read it. One is considered to have a well-rounded education if he has a general knowledge of the Bible. In the English departments at most universities, portions of the Bible are required reading, but merely as another piece and style of literature, not as the Word Of God! “A knowledge of the Bible without a college course is more valuable than a college course without a knowledge of the Bible,” (William Lyon Phelps). There is a big difference between the books that men make and the Book that makes men.

Others read the Bible because they know their preacher or pastor is going to ask for a show of hands on Sunday from all the daily Bible readers. Prizes are often awarded to those who read it through. In many cases very little is learned when the Bible is read from this motive. The important thing is not that you went through the Bible, but did the Bible go through you?

Il. Some own a Bible as a status symbol. In spite of the fact that interest in spiritual matters seems to be approaching an all time low for modern society, it is still the “in” thing to display a Bible on the coffee table as a “conversation piece” – provided the conversation is about the beautiful cover and not the contents. It is also “in” for the bride to carry a pretty Bible at her wedding for “good luck.” Lip service is given to the Bible as a good book to live by, but most discussions of it are of a shallow nature (usually to satisfy some curiosity – the answer to which would profit little in many cases). Surely, there is a better reason for owning a Bible than this.

III. Some read the Bible for argument’s sake. Certainly much of the Christian’s life will be spent in controversy if he is truly doing the will of God. However, this is not to be confused with a love for strife. Every person should want to be right about what the Bible teaches, but not for the sake of winning an argument. The mere desire to win an argument is motivated by pride. An haughty, arrogant spirit is condemned in the Scriptures. “Pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov. 16:18). Love is not arrogant (1 Cor. 13:4). There are those who would make a game out of Bible knowledge. A church out west sponsors a “Bible Bowl” in which contestants compete against each other for carnal prizes. When our desire to know what the Bible teaches comes from a purely academic interest rather than a desire to go to heaven or to save a soul, then it matters not how great our knowledge may become. An argument never yet answered by an unbeliever is a godly life. It is possible to “win” an argument and lose a soul. Sometimes when great men with much Bible knowledge depart from the faith, it was because their knowledge was purely academic. Their heart was not in it.

IV. Some read the Bible to put something into it. They may read with prejudice, attempting to prove a theory. Some see salvation by faith only in John 3:16. But the idea of “only” is not there. Others see the “rapture” theory in 1 Thess. 4:16-18. They believe the righteous will be raised to meet the Lord while a seven year period of tribulation is occurring on the earth for the unrighteous. But the rapture is not there, the unrighteous are not mentioned, and the seven years is unheard of. John 5:28, 29 ruptures the rapture theory, as do many other Scriptures. Further, there are some who see church contributions to benevolent societies in James 1:27. But neither the church nor the institution can be found in the passage. The Psalmist said “Forever, O Jehovah, thy word is settled in heaven” (Ps. 119:89). Our Lord did not ask us how the Bible should be written. It is presumption on the part of man to try to tell Him how the Bible should read. “For who hath known the mind of the Lord and who hath been his counselor?” (Rom. 11:34).

V. There are those who read the Bible to get something out of it. It is an inexhaustible mine of treasure. It deals with the loftiest and most sublime questions that a man can raise – Where did I come from?, Why am I here?, and Where am I going? It answers the most serious question that could ever cross the mind of a human being, yet it deals with them in simple terms that all can understand. The Bible was not written merely for the critics and philosophers. It touches on a vast number of subjects and covers several thousand years of history, but it is brief when one considers the vast area of subjects with which it deals. It has that ring of genuineness about it (to all fairminded people) that overwhelms the reader with the evidence that its author had the total welfare of its hearer; in mind. When one reads with this attitude, he is sure to find in it a richly rewarding experience. Still, the Bible is the textbook of life, not merely a book of texts.

VI. The best motive for Bible reading is to get to someone – Christ. Concerning the Scriptures, Jesus said “They are they which testify of me” (Jn. 5:39). The Bible is history – His story. The Bereans were commended for they “searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11). They were not reading the Scriptures just to say they had read it or to try to, put something into it. Their interest was not merely in winning arguments or in status symbols, for “many of them believed.” Their interest was more than the curiosity of the Athenian philosophers. They, as the many believers today, regarded it as “the chart of life.” Other books are given for our information, but the Bible was given for our transformation. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul” (Ps. 19:7). “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word” (Ps. 119:9).

Conclusion

The Bible is not only the world’s best seller; it is man’s best purchase. However, no one is saved by buying a Bible he does not read, nor is one saved by reading a Bible he does not obey.

Truth Magazine XXIV: 44, pp. 713-714
November 6, 1980

By Irven Lee

I am using the word “trifles” to refer to things of little or no value. There are some men who cannot support a family even if they have good salaries and a minimum of health. expenses. In some cases, these men waste their substance in riotous living and on alcohol. Others do not follow after these vices, but they do not have money to buy food and clothing for their children. What do they do with their money? They buy trifles and gadgets which are soon torn up, and then they have nothing, not even trifles, to show for the dollars they have spent. If they buy things of some value they do not know how to care for them, so they are soon in the junk heap. They work hard for nothing.

Is it a mental quirk that causes some to be such failures in the common sense of wise use of their income? Do you remember seeing a man who could not provide for his family on a good income and later learned to spend wisely so that he could have the essential food and clothing? I do not remember seeing such a change. This weakness seems to last a life time. There are men who will not work, but we are thinking of those who get good jobs and hold them but never can have anything but debts.

Purchasers of trifles seem not to worry over their lack of useful things which most people buy as soon as they can after they start a family and home of their own. They like money for themselves so that money is much desired, but not that they might provide for their family. They wish it so that they may spend for selfish fancies and trifles. They covet the money made by other members of their families even though the families are struggling to get food and clothing. A man who will not provide for his own has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel (1 Tim. 5:8). If a man has a mental quirk, he may not be accountable before God. This is as kind a defense as I know.

There are preachers who have moved many times in a few years leaving debts at every place even though their incomes were about the same as the incomes of preachers who had more and kept debts paid. In some cases, friends or churches came to their rescue to clear their debts and save their reputations. This special help seems not to benefit them because the next word you hear is that they owe much more than they can pay. Churches are harmed very much by such preachers.

There are times when a financial crisis in some home is caused by an extravagant wife. It must be that some women have the same lack of appreciation for the essentials and a special desire for the useless things on the market. When either marriage partner is a foolish spender, there can never be a stable family with the joy of ownership. The wise woman of Proverbs 31 was a great asset to her husband and children rather than a hindrance to them.

What about the children of compulsive spenders? Is there such a thing as inheriting this sad weakness? All should assume that their children are normal and teach them to work and earn for themselves. Work, pray, and hope that they will realize that they cannot buy all the trinkets drat are on the market and that there are important things to buy. People without some skill in buying are business failures in life regardless of how intelligent they may be in other ways. A little child does not know what is important, of course, but if one who is approaching the age of maturity does not grow in this wisdom it is time to cry as you consider his future.

The young man who is thinking of marriage should by all means avoid marrying one who could easily spend two salaries on herself. The young women should be very confident that a young man is one who would spend his money for useful things before she gives her consent to marriage. There has not been enough teaching and thinking on this subject. If the young lady marries one who will never get above a child’s level of ability in the matter of providing, she will find a heavy load on her shoulders. She will have to provide for the family and fight for her own earnings even to do that.

The compulsive spender is a money lover and a compulsive borrower. In many cases, he borrows from friends who trust him until he has no friends because he never repays them. Very able preachers often destroy themselves and harm many churches before it becomes so well known that they will leave unpaid bills at every place. One who knows this about a preacher should not recommend him to preach anywhere. It will not help to pay his bills and give him a fresh start because there will soon be many new bills that are beginning to be delinquent.

A man who will not provide needed things for the home and family will likely have little respect for the property of others. If the church provides a good house for such a man who preaches, it may find that the house is something of a wreck a few months after he moves into it. The failure to provide the nicer things in life for his family seems to be tied in with a lack of appreciation for useful and beautiful things. A good wife can fight to train the children to have appreciation for the useful things. In such cases she will fight alone. The man himself may be the chief offender rather than an aid in the proper care of property.

Truth Magazine XXIV: 44, p. 712
November 6, 1980

By Fred Holthouser

After the death of Russell in 1916, the board of directors met to elect a new president, just like the board of cardinals of the Catholic Church meets to elect a new Pope. Joseph F. Rutherford, sometimes called Judge Rutherford, was elected President with much controversy. This led the people into calling them Rutherfordites. They carried this name until 1931 when they took the name by which they are now known.

Millions Then Living Are Now Dead

In Rutherford’s book Millions Now Living Will Never Die, he talks of the Jubilee years that the nation of Israel was to celebrate every fifty years until seventy of them had been celebrated. This was to start from the time they entered the land of Canaan, which was fifteen hundred and seventy-five years before the year one in the calculation followed by Rutherford. The passages on the Jubilee years were Leviticus 25:1-12 and 2 Chronicles 36:17-21. Now anyone can figure that seventy times fifty would be thirty-five hundred years. So counting from fifteen hundred and seventy-five years before the year one, count thirty-five hundred years and that would bring us to the year of 1925 in the fall of that year. In this time period, according to the book Millions Now Living Will Never Die (pp. 88-89), would occur the resurrection of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the other faithful men of old mentioned in Hebrews 11. This would see the people of this earth brought back to the perfect human life form which one would see no death, sorrow, sickness, no more graveyards, and would be in fulfillment of Revelation 21:1-4. All of the people of the earth that had gained life would grow back to their young manhood or young womanhood and never grow any older.

I would like to ask them, “If this Scripture had its fulfillment in 1925, why is it that I have lost loved ones since that date?” Why is it that I had to spend a month and two days in the hospital during late 1979? Also why do I keep getting older as each year passes by? Would one of the Witnesses answer these questions for me, as this was not supposed to happen to anyone after 1925, according to their own book which they called the truth.

The word of God teaches that if a prophet speaks and the thing that he says does not come to pass, then he is a false prophet (Deut. 18:22). Now who are we going to believe, God or the Witnesses? As for me I will take the word of God. There is another question I would like to ask the Witnesses. If Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the other faithful men of old were supposed to have been resurrected in 1925 in the fall, I would like to know just where have they been hiding? It surely must be a good hiding place as I have never met anyone that has ever seen them nor have I ever seen them myself. And, I have traveled all over the country, both while I was in the Navy and when I was driving a truck. Neither have they been seen by any one that I have talked to.

The House of Princes

In Rutherford’s book Salvation (p. 311), the Judge talks about a house the Witnesses bought in San Diego, California. He named this house Beth-Sarim, which means house of princes. It was to house all of the faithful men of old that had been resurrected in 1925. Now this house was not bought until 1929 or four years after they were to have been resurrected. Again, a question for the Witnesses which they have not answered after many years of inquiry: Where did these faithful men of old live from 1925 when they were supposed to have been resurrected until the house was bought for them in 1929? It is only logical that they would have needed some place in which to live.

No one was ever allowed to live in this house except Rutherford, who suffered with tuberculosis most of his life. One time a man came to the door of this house and said, “Hello, Judge, I am David.” It did not take the Judge long to put this man off the property and down the road! No one was going to cut in on the good thing the Judge had going for himself. This house caused the Witnesses so much trouble because of people making fun of the fact that this house was bought for the purpose of housing the men of old that it was sold after Rutherford’s death. He had blocked the effort of the board of directors to sell it while he was living – and they say that the President does not control them!

The New Name

An Assembly was held in Columbus, Ohio in 1931 and attended by Witnesses from all over the world. An account of this can be found in their book Let God Be True (p. 221): “That it be resolved and elected by all those present from all over the world that in fulfillment of Isaiah 43:10-12 that they would hence forth be called by the name that Jehovah had given them and that is of being his Witnesses.” Now the new name for God’s people was not promised until the sixty-second chapter of Isaiah, but 43:10-12 speaks of the Jews alone being testimony to the true God in the midst of Gentile idolatry. By making “Witnesses” the new name, the Society has the fulfillment of the new name for God’s people nineteen chapters before it was ever promised.

To see what the new name for God’s people is, look at Acts 11:26 (“the disciples were called Christians”). You will find there what God said His people would be called. I can find no other new name in the Bible for the people of God to wear except that of Christians. It was given during the first century, not 1931. This taking by the Witnesses of their new name can also be found by lpoking at their Yearbook of 1941 (pp. 30-35). Who would ever think that an all-powerful God would have to have a group of people meet and by voice vote bring to fulfillment one of His prophecies?

Elected to Absolute Power for Life

At the death of Rutherford, the board of directors met again just like the board of Cardinals meets to elect a new Pope. The board of directors met to elect a new president of the Watchtower’ Bible and Tract Society, which was Nathan H. Knorr. When they elect a new president, it is for life, just like the Catholics elect the Pope for life. The Witnesses condemn the Catholics for this and talk about the way the Catholics are dominated by the Pope. Here is a shining example of the pot calling the kettle black. This has been done in the past and is still being done. Since I have come out of the New World Society, Knorr has died and once again the board of directors met and elected a new president, which is Fred W. Franz.

One must understand that, just like the Pope in Rome, when the President makes a decision concerning what the Witnesses are to believe, then that is what they are to believe. The president has an editorial staff to advise him but the final’ decision is his to make or not to make as he sees fit. If you cause any trouble by questioning what you are to teach or to believe, then you face trouble with the hierarchy of the so-called New World Society. Watchtower slaves must change their beliefs every time the masters change their prophecies and doctrines.

The prophecy of the world coming to an end has been changed many times (to be fully discussed in a later article). Every time a Witness starts to wind down – just like a spring-driven-toy will do – and lags in putting out enough of the society’s books and magazines, he is threatened with the idea of the end of time. The authorities warn him to get busy, for the battle of Armageddon is just about to happen, which will end the world as we know it. If you are not doing all that you can for the Society in slavery to them, then you will not be spared in this great battle that will take place. So now the toy is wound up again and ready to get busy, since the harder you work the greater the chance that you will be spared in this battle. The chance is always held out as a “maybe” and the harder you work the more sure the maybe becomes. In Matthew. 25:13 Jesus tells us to watch, therefore, for we know not when the son of man will come. The Witnesses believe that they can know. Which will you take: the word of God’s Son as revealed in the Bible or the fickle claims of the Witnesses?

Truth Magazine XXIV: 44, pp. 710-711
November 6, 1980

By Jimmy Tuten

Those who seek truth with reference to certain Bible subjects often come face to face with apparent obstacles that seem to block all efforts of investigation. These obstacles are many times presented by well-meaning individuals who, because of previous teachings which have not been verified, are unconsciously following error. The question of the immortality of the soul is no exception to this matter and, when it is brought up, different objections are raised, which is the final analysis deny that man is not wholly mortal. These objections are sometimes based on certain passages of Scripture while some are based purely on materialistic concepts.

The Bible teaches that man was created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27). This could not have been a physical makeup, for God “is Spirit” (Jn. 4:24) and a “spirit hath not flesh and bones” (Lk. 24:39). Since “like begets like,” the image to which man was conformed was not physical, but spiritual. Then again, God is immortal (1 Tim. 1:17), i.e., He is an immortal Spirit. God is the Father of our spirits (Heb. 12:9); therefore our spirits (souls) are immortal, being in the likeness of God. Hence, inherent in the existence of the soul is endlessness, or immortality. Some deny that the souls of men survive death. It is said that the soul of man is naturally mortal and that the only hope for immortality is in Jesus Christ. As seen already, the souls of men are not naturally mortal; they are immortal, and those who deny this fact take a negative position with reference to what the New Testament teaches regarding the subject.

Other Statements With Reference To Immortality

God is immortal (1 Tim. 1:17). Through His personal ministry, Jesus Christ brought “to light life and immortality through the gospel” (2 Tim. 1:10). Based on these and similar scriptures, immortality for some denotes simply a redemptive concept. L. Berkof, in his Systematic Theology (pp. 672-678), argues for the indestructibility of the soul, but he says that this is not what the Bible means by immortality. He argues that immortality according to the Bible means nothing more than eternal blessedness. Closely related to this is the position taken by another writer (H. Hoeksema, In The Midst Of Death, pp. 98-99), who applies immortality only to those who are in Christ. O. Cullmann, writing in Christianity Today (July 21, 1958, pp. 3-6), substitutes “resurrection” for immortality. This demonstrates that for some there are different shades of immortality. But regardless of the denial of the immortality of the soul and various shades of understanding concerning it, the fact still remains that man has a soul that lives eternally. The soul is not only immortal, it is conscious from death till the resurrection. This is the position defended in this writing.

Man Is A Dual Being

Man is made up of body and soul. The soul and the spirit of man are used interchangeably many times in the Scriptures, as can be seen from such passages as Luke 1:46-47 (Cf. Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, p. 520). Pursuing this line of thought, the soul and spirit will be used interchangeably in this writing. Is man a dual being, made up of body and spirit? First, from the Old Testament, observe the account of the death of Rachel, about which it is said, “and as her soul was departing (for she died) . . .” (Gen. 35:18-19). The text says therefore, that her soul departed the body when she died! If, as some claim, the soul is the breath, they must explain how there can be life without breath (Lk. 1:41). Again, if the body is the whole of man, then the ridiculous assertion would be that Rachel’s body left her body! Something had to exist apart from Rachel’s body in order to leave it. That something is the soul which made its abode in the body. The body, as the dwelling place for the spirit, is referred to in the Scriptures as a “tabernacle” (2 Cor. 5:1). If, as in the case of the son of the widow of Zarephath, Rachel’s soul had returned to her body, she would have lived again (1 Kings 17:22), for she, like all humans was made of body and soul.

From the New Testament we learn that Jesus Christ, “being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made of himself no reputation, and took upon him the likeness of men: And being found in the fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:5-7). This passage also clearly teaches that man is made up of body and spirit and that as such, there is a likeness of man in contrast to a likeness of God. Since God is a Spirit and Christ was in the form of God, the form that Christ had before coming to the earth was a spiritual likeness. When He was born of the virgin Mary, He took upon Himself an earthly body made of the dust of the ground (Jn. 3:3; Gen. 2:7). Jesus, who was spirit, became flesh and spirit. This is what is meant by “likeness of men.” He was a dual being like all other men (2 Cor. 4:16; Matt. 10:28).

What Is The Soul?

The favored trite expression of some is, “man is a soul; man does not have a soul.” The latter statement is a falsehood. Man is a soul, but he also has a soul. Soul is used in various ways in the New and Old Testaments. In the Old Testament, it is translated from the Hebrew nephesh, which is translated “soul,” “life,” “living,” etc. In the New Testament it is the translation of psuche, which is sometimes translated “mind,” “life,” etc. The exact meaning of these two words must be determined from the context in which they are found. The following is a summary of the three most common usages of psuche, translated “soul”: (1) “That in which there is life, a living being”- (Thayer, p. 677). In this sense it means a person, such as “eight souls (i.e. persons, J.T.) were saved by water” (1 Pet. 3:20). (2) It is used to refer to animal life. This by no means is to be confused with immortal spirit of man, for as already indicated, the spirit and soul are used many times to refer to this same being. The rich man was told, “This night thy soul shall be required of thee” (Lk. 12:20). “Thy soul shall be required” simply meant that the man was to die, and that his life (animal life) was to be taken from him (cf. 1 Sam. 24:11; 2 Thess. 5:23). (3) The third use of the word has reference to that which is the immortal part of man (the immortal soul or spirit). “The soul is an essence which differs from the body and is not dissolved by death . . . . the soul freed from the body, a disembodied soul” (Thayer p. 677; cf. Acts 2:31; Heb. 13:17; Mt. 16:26). Having established that the soul differs from the body, let us now establish the fact that the soul is the spirit of man. Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines spirit (pneuma, Gr.) as being among other things “a human soul that has left the body” (p. 520). In some reference then, the soul is the spirit, and the spirit is the soul. According to the Scriptures, the spirit and the soul have the same motions. Job said that the soul of man mourns (14:22). Daniel said that the spirit grieves (7:15). Grieving and mourning are the same emotions and since these are applied to both spirit and soul, one must refer to the other. Since the spirit of man expresses itself emotionally (Gen. 41:8; Deut. 2:30), it could not possibly refer to wind or breath as some assert.

The Spirit Of Man Is Immortal

Immortality is from the Greek word athanasia, which means deathlessness (a negative, thanatos, death). It is rendered “immortality” in 1 Cor. 15:53-54, and in 1 Tim. 6:16. While the body is described as being coruptible (2 Cor. 5:1-4), this is not the case with the spirit of man (2 Cor. 4:16-18). The mistake that some make is not only denying the existence of the soul of man, but in attributing to the entire man what is said of his body. The Bible teaches that the souls of men have deathlessness. In Matthew 10:28, it is said that man cannot kill the soul, though he can cause it to depart from the body by killing the body (Jas. 2:26; Eccl. 12:7). Of the spirit, Peter said, “let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible (aptharto, “not liable to corruption or decay, imperishable,” W.E. Vine, Expository Dictionary, p. 249), even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit” (1 Pet. 3:3-4). One is wrong when he says that there is not a soul in man that lives endlessly, and shows his ignorance of what the New Testament teaches when he claims that “the serpent is the one who originated the doctrine of the inherent immortality of the soul” (Let God Be True, p. 66).

Truth Magazine XXIV: 44, pp. 709-710
November 6, 1980