Homework (or My Part in the Ministry School).

This was the brief for my part on Thursday:

Encourage your student to read the Bible daily, and show him how to reach his goal.  It was a 5 minute part:

Sue: So we are coming to the end of our review of Section 1 (This review is in the book: Enjoy Life Forever, which you can find on the website JW.org). This is question 8. Why is it good to read the Bible regularly? What is your daily Bible-reading program?

Student: (hesitates). Well, I guess if this is God’s word, his message to us, we do need to read it.

Sue: Yes. Exactly right. And If you remember we discussed what you felt would be a good time for you to sit down and read the Bible every day. I remember you said that the afternoon would be best.

Student: Yes. But really I am busy and I find that when I do sit down, I want to read something light, or watch something on the TV. I know for you the Bible is very interesting, but I find it quite difficult, though I do like our study

Sue. Actually I did not find it easy to get down to regular Bible study. I did learn to follow along with our regular meeting schedule for the Bible reading, but it wasn’t until comparatively recently that I managed to start my own personal Bible reading, and stick to it. I got some very good advice from two young elders who called on me. As they advised, I find it helps to concentrate on just one chapter a day, and really think about it. And I also find it’s true that the more you study the Bible the more interesting it becomes. So as you continue this regular study, you may find that Bible reading will become more and more interesting.

Student: I do want to continue. But as for actually reading the whole Bible all the way through, I am not so sure I could ever do that.

Sue: As I have admitted, it has taken me a long time to begin a personal Bible reading schedule. But you know you don’t have to read the Bible from beginning to end, starting with Genesis and ending with Revelation. You could start, for instance, with the gospels, the four accounts of Jesus’ life. They might well motivate you to want to read on through the Book of Acts to see what happened after his death, or to start to read some of the Hebrew Prophets to see how exactly Jesus’ life fulfilled the prophecy they were inspired to write down hundreds of years before.

Student: That is an idea. I hadn’t thought of that.

Sue. Actually, I have got a little project for you, Bible-reading wise, for us both really, if you think it’s a good idea. Only we have a very powerful chapter in our study coming up next week, the chapter entitled How False Religion Misrepresents God. And as I was looking through it, it reminded me of your saying last week that you could hardly bear to watch the News any more.

Student: True. It’s so upsetting. There is something very wrong with the world.

Sue: You are not wrong there, alas! So I wonder if for the next week you would find a moment to sit down with just one chapter of Proverbs a day. And could you think as you read the concentrated wisdom it contains, of how different things would be if everyone was reading and applying it. With that in mind would you read Proverbs 3:13-17 for me.

Student: (reads Proverbs 3:13-17)
Happy is the man who finds wisdom

And the man who acquires discernment;
To gain it is better than gaining silver,
And having it as profit is better than having gold.
It is more precious than corals;
Nothing you desire can compare to it.
Long life is in its right hand;
Riches and glory are in its left hand.
Its ways are pleasant,
And all its paths are peaceful.

Sue: So if we find, and apply, godly wisdom, what is the outcome, according to the last verse you read.

Student: Pleasantness and peacefulness.

Sue: And then there is this. Would you agree that the world’s great religions have had immense power and influence down the centuries?

Student: Yes, certainly.

Sue: And do we live in a world full of pleasantness and peacefulness? I think we have already answered that. We don't. So maybe the question is why, what have they been teaching people? Have people been learning Godly wisdom? Maybe we could both keep that thought in mind as we do our daily chapter of Proverbs over the week. I think it’s going to add a real depth to our next study session.

Student: Ok. Well that seems easy enough. And quite interesting. I look forward to doing that chapter and hope we will both have done our homework!

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My "student" came over for lunch on Wednesday - lentil veggie soup and apple crumble (what else?) - and we practised, and she did a brilliant job. And, of course, I prayed to Jehovah, and it is he who gives us the confidence and the teaching.

And Penny listened in via Zoom.

Talking of homework, the photo is of me at school, back in the early 1950s. I am end middle row, left as you look at the picture. I can say, confidently, that my convent schooldays were NOT the best days of my life.