My Talk

My talk, to be delivered at the Kingdom Hall tonight. Will be glad when it is done.  My householder came over yesterday and we went through it.

It was the Initial Call, and the Counsel point:  49   Sound Arguments Given. Time: 2 minutes or under.

The brief was:

Question: How can couples build a strong marriage?
Scripture: Eph 5:33
Link: How can parents raise responsible children.

Sue:  Good morning - I am Sue from the local congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. We are calling on all your neighbours this morning to talk to you about the Bible's message.

HH (interrupts).  Sorry - but let me stop you there.  I respect the work you do, but I'm afraid with the mess the world is in at the moment such an old book can't be of much help.

Sue.  If this is a book written by men, then I would have to agree with you. We would know much more than they did by now wouldn't we?  But if it is as it claims, a book inspired by our Creator, if it is his message to us, then won't the wisdom it contains be timeless?

HH:  Well, yes. It would have to be

Sue.   I can see you are busy, but may I read you one Scripture, one piece of advice from the Bible, about how to build a strong marriage.  Because isn't the family under attack at the moment?   

HH.  Yes, very much so.

Sue  So let me show you some Biblical advice.   Reads Ephesians 5:33:  "Nevertheless, each one of you must love his wife as he does himself; on the other hand, the wife should have deep respect for her husband."      So the husband is not just to love his wife, but to love her as his own self - and the wife must not just respect her husband, but have deep respect for him.   If that Biblical advice was followed by  both partners in marriage what effect would it have?

HH:   It would make it very strong.

Sue.  Exactly.  Could I call back, maybe this time next week, as I would like to show you some more Biblical advice about to raise children in these difficult times.   Then you can see whether it is out of date, or whether it is exactly the advice we need.   

HH. Yes, I am usually here in the mornings.  

I was out with my siblings this morning - it is still VERY HOT.  We did two hours - first call and a couple of returns.   An odd morning.  We met two quite unpleasant guys, one angry with us, and one just weird.  Then at the next house a very large guy with pit bull and tattoos loomed over me.  But he turned out to be really nice, and took a tract about the Kingdom of God.

Jean and I were out Tuesday morning. We went to the group, but did return visits - a few of Jean's  some very good calls.   and one of mine that had been on my mind. It went well too.

Wimbledon and the World Cup proceed apace. But of course England crashed out of the semi-final last night. Poor Captain Butterfly and poor team. But lovely for the Croatian team to be in the final.

I am no football buff - can't tell one end of a football bat from the other - but even I could see that the Croatian team had the edge - they seemed more cohesive somehow.