The watchtower answer to this question can be found in the ‘require’ brochure, but along with that go the mountains of Watchtower and Awake! Magazines, books and kingdom ministries etc. spelling out the dos and don’ts of our lives as Christians. On the whole, the advice we have received to date is good, bible based counsel, but these ‘reminders’ make up the majority of the ‘food’ we receive. Will this information draw us closer to Jehovah? Do these guidelines for our conduct qualify as the ‘food at the proper time’ that Jesus commissioned his slaves to provide for one another? What motivates the writers of The Watchtower to provide such advice?

Detail, Adoration of the name of Jesus, El Greco - Phillipians 2:10 courtesy Web Gallery of Art - http://www.wga.hu/index1.html

THE FOOD

Physically speaking, food is vital for life. So it follows that spiritual food is vital for spirituality. The spiritual food we receive will determine the state of our spirituality. Our initial thought of spiritual nourishment is likely of healthy spiritual food, however Satan is also a spirit, Ephesians 2:1 says, “Furthermore, [it is] YOU [God made alive] though YOU were dead in YOUR trespasses and sins, in which YOU at one time walked according to the system of things of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit that now operates in the sons of disobedience.” So there must also be spiritual food that Satan provides in order for his spirit to operate in the ‘sons of disobedience’. So we can appreciate the absolute vital importance attached to the spiritual food we take in; we must be sure it is from Jehovah. (1 John 4:1)

Jehovah has provided the bible for us to search thru for nourishment. So the slaves of Christ must feed each other truth from Jehovah. There is only one source of truth, Jehovah. He has communicated this truth to us by means of his word the bible. So, the spiritual food we partake of has to be from and in harmony with the bible.

With this in mind consider Paul’s words to the Galatians in the 1^st chapter verse 6 “ I marvel that YOU are being so quickly removed from the One who called YOU with Christ’s undeserved kindness over to another sort of good news. But it is not another; only there are certain ones who are causing YOU trouble and wanting to pervert the good news about the Christ. However, even if we or an angel out of heaven were to declare to YOU as good news something beyond what we declared to YOU as good news, let him be accursed. As we have said above, I also now say again, whoever it is that is declaring to YOU as good news something beyond what YOU accepted, let him be accursed.”

The Galatians had been ‘eating’ spiritual food from someone other than Jehovah; they had been removed ‘over to another sort of good news’. What was this ‘good news’? This: a righteous standing before Jehovah could be accomplished by living by law.

How serious was this situation? Verse 7 states the ones teaching this ‘good news’ are perverting the good news about the Christ. The source of this advice is Satan. This places those teaching these perversions in a very serious situation. So Paul lovingly points out the error of the Galatians thinking in the following pages of his letter to them. With phrases like: “I do not shove aside the undeserved kindness of God; for if righteousness is through law, Christ actually died for nothing. O senseless Ga·la´tians, who is it that brought YOU under evil influence, YOU before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed impaled? This alone I want to learn from YOU: Did YOU receive the spirit due to works of law or due to a hearing by faith? Are YOU so senseless? After starting in spirit are YOU now being completed in flesh?”

Yes, this teaching is so far removed from the truth; Paul is trying to shake them to their senses! Righteousness cannot be earned! To assert this is anti-Christ since it is only thru faith in Jesus that we can be ‘counted worthy of the kingdom of God’. (Romans 4:4,5)

So where do the ‘reminders’ from the watchtower fit in? Advice on tattoos, hairstyles, grooming styles, entertainment, cleanliness, manners, and other matters that Jehovah has lovingly left to us to decide on. These have been extensively discussed in the Watchtower publications leading the reader to the Watchtower’s preferred conclusion. These could be viewed as loving suggestions, but why suggest a course of action at all? Although the society has stated, ‘we should not make rules’, the suggestions put forward are enforced as rules. For instance,one watchtower study article said meetings and field service were compared to tithing, as in ‘not optional’. Another watchtower placed the work of witnessing as more important than the gift of Holy Spirit!

Direction of this nature serves to create a nation of people that have no ability to develop let alone use their own Christian trained conscience. Worse still, it teaches that a righteous standing is attainable thru performing these duties or refraining from these activities. Is this not another sort of good news, perverting the real good news about the Christ?

THE MOTIVATION

Perhaps more serious is the motivation for supplying this kind of food. The heart is the seat of motivation and only Jehovah can read hearts, so we must ensure that we do not assume Jehovah’s role. Jehovah has however, revealed the heart condition of his people. (Isaiah 1:4, Jeremiah 3:17 There are many more examples, but these two illustrate the fact the heart of God’s people will be bad before they return to the truth.)

Romans chapter 10 is another expose of the heart condition of God’s people: “Brothers, the goodwill of my heart and my supplication to God for them are, indeed, for their salvation. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God; but not according to accurate knowledge; for, because of not knowing the righteousness of God but seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the Law, so that everyone exercising faith may have righteousness.” Paul here shows us that the motivation for living by law is ‘seeking to establish our own righteousness’. What really is the difference between living by law and living by all these ‘suggestions’ from The Watchtower? What is it that our brothers hope for, other than our achieving a righteous standing before Jehovah? Although a loving motive could be construed from that hope, a righteous standing cannot be earned and to assert that it could is a serious distortion of the truth, a perversion of the good news! Paul’s words to the Galatians in the 2nd chapter explain the seriousness of this matter. “We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners from the nations, knowing as we do that a man is declared righteous, not due to works of law, but only through faith toward Christ Jesus, even we have put our faith in Christ Jesus, that we may be declared righteous due to faith toward Christ, and not due to works of law, because due to works of law no flesh will be declared righteous.” So, in order to have a righteous standing before Jehovah, we must put faith in Jesus. There is NO other way.

Paul was telling the Galatians this because they were holding on to the Law. Paul concludes the 2nd chapter with these words: “ I do not shove aside the undeserved kindness of God; for if righteousness is through law, Christ actually died for nothing.” Here, the seriousness of this matter is clearly shown. To promote these ‘works’ is ’seeking to establish their own’ righteousness. To say: “you cannot get a tattoo,” or “you cannot grow a beard” or “you must go out witnessing and get to all the meetings, and by the way, make sure you are never late.” To say these things is to say, “if you do these things you will be saved,” or “righteousness is through law.”

A comparison of John’s words to Paul’s.

1 John 1:8-10 reads: "If we make the statement: “We have no sin,” we are misleading ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous so as to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we make the statement: “We have not sinned,” we are making him a liar, and his word is not in us." To make the statement “we have not sinned” is to deny the love of God. It is only thru his love and undeserved kindness that we can be declared righteous and have everlasting life as our hope. (Romans 3:24,25)

So it is our faith in Jehovah and Jesus that is important. Through this faith we can openly confess our sins to our loving heavenly father knowing with all confidence that we are forgiven thru Jesus blood. Striving to earn a righteous standing is making the statement “I have no sin”. It is also denying Jesus is the Christ. How?

We are in effect saying to Jehovah, “ thanks for providing Jesus for everyone else, I don’t need him, because I can quite easily just get 10 hours in a month and go to all the meetings, I haven’t got any tattoos and I shave regularly, so I am righteous already thanks.” is that denying the Christ? Most definitely! 1 John 2:22 says: “Who is the liar if it is not the one that denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one that denies the Father and the Son” Yes, we can now see how the insidious influence of the man of lawlessness has crept in to our very teachings!

FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD

James says: "Was not Abraham our father declared righteous by works after he had offered up Isaac his son upon the altar?" But Paul says: ^"If, for instance, Abraham were declared righteous as a result of works, he would have ground for boasting; but not with God. ³ For what does the scripture say? “Abraham exercised faith in Jehovah, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” What can we do with this apparent contradiction? Well firstly, it is no contradiction. Secondly, herein lies the key to performing whole souled service!

The context of James’ words is helpful: ^"Of what benefit is it, my brothers, if a certain one says he has faith but he does not have works? That faith cannot save him, can it? If a brother or a sister is in a naked state and lacking the food sufficient for the day, yet a certain one of YOU says to them: “Go in peace, keep warm and well fed,” but YOU do not give them the necessities for [their] body, of what benefit is it? Thus, too, faith, if it does not have works, is dead in itself." In other words the one saying, “go in peace…” is a liar! He doesn’t mean it at all; it is merely lip service, if he truly wished for that one to be comfortable he would have ensured it! So if we truly have faith we will perform the works that accompany our faith. If our service to Jehovah is merely token, where is the faith? Truly, it is only lip service.

When Jesus saw the widow drop in the coins of small value, only he could know her heart or her situation. The value of her sacrifice was not in its quantity. If a brother reports 1 hour for a month of service when that was all he had, surely then his sacrifice is of greater worth than a brother who reports 15 hours when he could have done 30. How would we ever know the heart of another man? We cannot. Only Jesus and Jehovah can know that. The answer? FAITH. We must not only build our faith in Jehovah, but we must also have faith in one another, with this attitude we are inline for blessings from Jehovah. The success of our ministry cannot be affected by the efforts (or lack of effort) of men!

The reason the first century Christians enjoyed success was because the Holy Spirit was there!! Jesus said the stones would cry out if we didn’t do it. In the subject of faith and works, works should never be promoted. This is another sort of good news, a perversion of the real good news. We need to become intimately informed of Jehovah’s righteousness, which has been expressed thru Christ. (Romans 10:1-4)

FAITH is the important thing; works are the by-product of true faith. The works will follow the faith; they are inseparable. So what are the requirements of Christians? We must build our faith! NOT: We must increase our service? Jude: 20 is encouraging: But YOU, beloved ones, by building up yourselves on YOUR most holy faith, and praying with holy spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love, while YOU are waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ with everlasting life in view. Also, continue showing mercy to some that have doubts; save [them] by snatching [them] out of the fire. But continue showing mercy to others, doing so with fear, while YOU hate even the inner garment that has been stained by the flesh.

So we need some deep inspiring study of god’s word to build our faith. We need prayer. We need Holy Spirit. This channel of communication to Jehovah is Jesus; meditation on that subject will build faith!! There are so many treasures that are designed to build faith, if we do things Jehovah’s way it will be easy. Pray for faith and Jehovah will give it to you.