My October Talk

It was my talk in the Ministry School last night.  And my householder rang up just as I was getting supper to say she couldn't make it!  She had a bad cold - she sounded very hoarse poor girl. 

Panic panic. Anyway the sister I chauffeur to the Hall kindly volunteered and we had a few minutes to run through it together before the meeting started.  She did a great job, but I could hear the nervousness in my voice.

It was a 5-minuter. I had to use the sample conversation, include the video, and discuss it.  And I was working on Study 8: Illustrations that teach.

And illustrations, if appropriate and simple, are very powerful.  I can remember to this day the first Watchtower study I ever attended - over 30 years ago - because it was about following in Jesus' footsteps and it used a powerful illustration. It asked us this.  If we were following a trusted guide through a very dangerous area - a swamp or a minefield say - where one false step could lead to disaster, wouldn't we be very careful to put our feet exactly where our guide put his feet?  We would not try to second guess him, or take any shortcuts.

I thought of Grimpen Mire, in The Hound of the Baskervilles (that poor hound by the way!), and it has stayed with me.  We are in a very dangerous world - a minefield - we need to pay careful attention to God's word, and follow it exactly.  And of course to do that we would first need to know what it says.  Which brings me to the talk:

Sue:  Hello HH.  I’m very glad to find you at home this morning.  I’m Sue if you remember. We had such an interesting talk on your doorstep last week, and I left you with a question..

S.   Yes, you showed me that the Bible says it’s not God who causes us to suffer – and that left the question: if it is not God who is causing our suffering, why are we suffering - what is causing it?

Sue: Yes. Well remembered! And the Bible gives a simple and clear answer, here at 1 John 5:19. "We know that we originate with God, but the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.".  The wicked one is Satan the devil, and it is he who is controlling  the present wicked system of things on the earth.

HH:  Really I’m sorry but I can’t accept this idea of a devil – that’s a very nasty idea, tormenting people in hell.

Sue: I want to assure you that hellfire torment is not a Bible teaching   The Biblical hell is simply the ground, the grave, where the dead sleep in complete unconsciousness, awaiting a resurrection.  And would it surprise you to know that, according to the Bible, hell is one place Satan never was, he never is, and he never will be?

HH. Now that would surprise me. I’m not saying I even believe in Satan, or everything in the Bible, but surely that IS what the Bible says?

Sue. That is what many of us were told it says, yes. I was taught that in my schooldays, and its a teaching that put me off the whole idea of God and the Bible for many years.  But what does it really say?   It is so important that everyone study it for themselves.  To help you see why,  I would like to show you this short video, just over 3 minutes called ”Why study the Bible?” (shows video).

Sue. And do you notice that after raising the question of suffering, it speaks of Satan as someone who is pulling the strings behind the scenes right here on the earth   It uses the simple illustration of the puppeteer. We don’t see the puppeteer, but we certainly see the effects of his string pulling.  So think what is happening, what we are seeing on the earth.  Is it exaggeration to say that it is close to being ruined?

HH.  I see we are in a lot of trouble and many people are concerned. In fact I just read an article in The Independent in which David Attenborough says that humanity has made a “tragic, desperate mess” of the planet.   And I have to agree.   But why blame it on Satan?  Aren’t we bringing all this on ourselves?

Sue. For sure we do bring a lot of trouble on ourselves. But think about this. Why would we set a system in place which is bringing the planet to ruin – the only planet we have to live on?!   And if it’s really the rich and the powerful who run things on the earth, why would they do it?  However rich and powerful you are, you can’t buy yourself another planet to live on.  But if the one really in charge, the one pulling the strings, is Satan, who wants to spoil God’s creation, does it begin to make a horrible kind of sense?

HH.  It does.   But what can we do about it?  It doesn’t seem to hold out much hope.

Sue. And this is just why we want you to know what the Bible says. As the little video says, it answers all the important questions.  Is there hope?  How does our Creator, Jehovah, feel about what Satan is doing to his lovely creation?   Has he abandoned us to this? What is he going to do about it?  May I call back and show you what the Bible has to say about that - because it holds out such a wonderful hope.

HH.  Well, why not?  We do need some hope.

This was the brief:

First Return Visit: (5 min. or less) Begin with the sample conversation. Then introduce and discuss (but do not play) the video Why Study the Bible? (th study 8)

The sample conversation is:   "Why do we suffer?"   1 John 5:19: "We know that we originate with God, but the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one."

And study 8 is: Illustrations that teach,  Matthew 13:34.35:  "All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds by illustrations. Indeed, without an illustration he would not speak to them, in order to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet who said: “I will open my mouth with illustrations; I will proclaim things hidden since the founding.”"