Text For Thursday, 31 May 2007

[barry]

[God] makes his sun rise upon wicked people and good and makes it rain upon righteous people and unrighteous.—Matt. 5:45.

What if on one occasion our employer accepts a contract to beautify a place of false worship? In this case, we would need to consider such factors as the extent of our having authority over what is being done and the degree of our involvement. And what about performing a legitimate service, such as delivering mail everywhere in a community, including places that promote wrong practices? Would not the principle stated in today’s text have a bearing? Not to be overlooked is how doing the work day in and day out might affect our conscience. (Heb. 13:18) Indeed, carrying our load of responsibility in making mature decisions regarding employment calls for us to sharpen our perceptive powers and train our God-given faculty of conscience. w 3/15/06 13

[Kenneth]

[God] makes his sun rise upon wicked people and good and makes it rain upon righteous people and unrighteous.—Matt. 5:45.

And what about performing a legitimate service, such as delivering mail everywhere in a community, including places that promote wrong practices? Would not the principle stated in today's text have a bearing? Not to be overlooked is how doing the work day in and day out might affect our conscience. (Heb. 13:18)[/b]

Sometimes all this just goes over the top. Suppose a postal worker as part of his delivery has to post a letter into the local church would that be wrong, even though 99.99% of his deliveries were to a residential area. What about shops and supermarkets, some of them promote capitalism that are oppressing many in developing countries, should a postal worker avoid them on moral grounds. What about companies on industrial sites that are spewing out gunk into the local rivers and polluting the environment should he say sorry "No can do". Most of the time postal workers have no idea of what they are placing through peoples mail boxes. However, some mail has to do with the occult, or the sale of sex magazines, in fact just about everything is advertised via the postal service from A-Z. Does that mean though that a brother can post only post letters that are acceptable and have to leave the rest behind? Try telling that one to the boss. There are scores of brothers who work in post offices up and down the country in the UK, how are they going to react to this kind of retric. Is it going to bother their consciences to the point of having to give their livelihood up, or will they carry on delivering the post knowing that what they are doing is wrong. Sometime the society just go to far with the personal live of JWs, they need to let brother's work things out for themselves rather than trying to play the part of Jimmy Cricket.

[barry]

I think this a good advice. Sometimes during a carreer we might be confronted with the fact that we should work on something that might have impact on our conscience.
In that case it is interesting to look at the impact of the work you're doing. Will it directly promote false religion, or give support for military usage or other things?
Sometimes you can have to work on things that might be 'misused' for eg weapons. Some people will say it is not wrong because the material itself is not meant for weapons, while others might say it is not possible to do that kind of work.
So, the thing is to work on training your conscience, so you can make good decisions based on it.

[Kenneth]

I think there are two issues here. If an individual is a postal worker and in his mailbag he carriers bills etc than that's OK. However, the postie can't say well I'm going to deliver this but not that because it affects my conscience, he wont have employment for that long. And if he refuses to post to certain establishments, again he will find himself on the unemployment list. If however we are in let say the building trade and we are going to work directly on the church steeple then that's another matter, the brother's conscience should be kicking into gear. I don't see why the society has to pick on certain professions using scenarios to make their point. Brothers are having a hard enough time as it is without having more rules and situations to contend with.

[stayawake]

Thank you Barry for this monings text,and thank you Ken for your remarks. I guess this is as good a post as any to add my two cents, which in Jehovahs eyes it more then just two cent,I am sure.
THe WTBS has brought such disgrace on Gods name, they deserve everything Jah has in store for them.
For being no part of the world, they are right there on the TOP.
It is amazing how we under thier direction were able to keep seperate from the world. It had to be Jehovah that was looking after us.
It certainly was not the so called Channel GB that makes the claim they are Jehovahs spokesman.
The WT is rolling in her filth.
Its do as I say not as I do. OR ELSE

It was bad enough with the NGO and the Pedifilers, but the nerve to have THEM make themselves look so spotless from the world.
Hypocrites is what they are, the same as what Jesus called the Pharasees

I will let you do your own research. heres a clue.
love stayawake

: Quote regarding not investing in "unethical" enterprises
*** g00 10/8 pp. 25-27 Is It Wise to Invest in the Stock Market? ***
By considering the background of a company, an investor can also ensure that his money will not be used to support an unethical enterprise.—See Awake!, February 8, 1962, pages 21-3.

[Kenneth]

w99 4/15 29 Questions From Readers
<div align="left">2. To what extent does the person have authority over what is done? A Christian store owner would hardly agree to order and sell idols, spiritistic amulets, cigarettes, or sausages made from blood. As owner he is in control. People might urge him to sell cigarettes or idols and make a profit, but he would act consistent with his Scriptural beliefs. On the other hand, a Christian employee at a large food store may be assigned to run the cash register, polish floors, or do bookkeeping. He does not control what products are ordered and sold, even if a few of these are objectionable, such as cigarettes or items for religious holidays. (Compare Luke 7:8; 17:7, 8.) This is related to the next point.
3. To what degree is the person involved? Let us return to the example of a store. Probably an employee assigned to run the cash register or to fill the shelves only occasionally handles cigarettes or religious items; that is a small part of his overall work. What a contrast, though, with an employee in the same store who works at the tobacco counter! All his work, day in and day out, focuses on something contrary to Christian beliefs. (2 Corinthians 7:1) This illustrates why the degree of involvement or contact must be evaluated in deciding employment questions.

[/b][/quote]

So why pick on the postman for delivering one or two items? Neither does he control the subject matter of the mail nor where he delivers it.

[billy]

thanks Barry for the text

the surrounding verses of this scripture is about showing love to others -

You heard that it was said, &#39;You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.&#39; However, I say to you: Continue to love your enemies and to pray for those persecuting you; that you may prove yourselves sons of your Father who is in the heavens, since he makes his sun rise upon wicked people and good and makes it rain upon righteous people and unrighteous. For if you love those loving you, what reward do you have? Are not also the tax collectors doing the same thing? And if you greet your brothers only, what extraordinary thing are you doing? Are not also the people of the nations doing the same thing. You must accordingly be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect

i cant quite see how this is applied to using our conscience in the workforce

Jehovah still showers love to people who may curse him and rebel or are just not interested in His purpose or message - yet so many people are in awe of the rain and sun and moon and creation - and still feel Jehovah&#39;s display of love towards them - so we too as lovers of Jehovah can practice this principle in our eveyday lives were ever we are by reflecting the light and love to all whether in the workforce at school play - and if people may be abusive or arrogant, angry it&#39;s a good and perfect thing to overcome our reactionary emotions and replace them with the higher law of love (it can be a difficult thing to do though)
<sup>What about shops and supermarkets, some of them promote capitalism that are oppressing many in developing countries, should a postal worker avoid them on moral grounds. What about companies on industrial sites that are spewing out gunk into the local rivers and polluting the environment should he say sorry "No can do". ..................occult, or the sale of sex magazines,

i think everything in society today is contaminated with unehtical viruses</sup>

</span>

[billy]

thought i better redo that last bit.... :icon_rolleyes:

Hi Stayawake

funny you should mention that article on the &#39;stock marke&#39; I just read that yesterday

has the society invested in unethical companies?

theres plenty of them - on the same line of thought as Kenneth&#39;s comment (which made me laugh)


What about companies on industrial sites that are spewing out gunk into the local rivers and polluting the environment should he say sorry "No can do". Most of the time postal workers have no idea of what they are placing through peoples mail boxes. However, some mail has to do with the occult, or the sale of sex magazines,

the whole world is contaminated with unethical viruses

[Kenneth]

thought i better redo that last bit.... :icon_rolleyes:

Hi Stayawake

funny you should mention that article on the &#39;stock marke&#39; I just read that yesterday

has the society invested in unethical companies?

theres plenty of them - on the same line of thought as Kenneth&#39;s comment (which made me laugh)


What about companies on industrial sites that are spewing out gunk into the local rivers and polluting the environment should he say sorry "No can do". Most of the time postal workers have no idea of what they are placing through peoples mail boxes. However, some mail has to do with the occult, or the sale of sex magazines,

the whole world is contaminated with unethical viruses[/b]

Hi Billy

Just in case you didn&#39;t know you can re-do your post in the event of them not coming out correctly by using the button under your personal posts (edit) rather than just recreating another post.

The text can be difficult to navigate to get the correct font size .

[stayawake]

Hi Stayawake
funny you should mention that article on the &#39;stock marke&#39; I just read that yesterday
has the society invested in unethical companies

the whole world is contaminated with unethical viruses
[/quote]

Hi billy, I&#39;ll let that disscusion come from the brothers :198:

[Eli&#39;s Foe]

This links in very nicely with the question raised by Kenneth on the 50 Michegan Foundations. Ther are likely many such arrangements in place which benefit the Society. Do you believe that the WTS vets the content of the underlying portfolios? I seriously doubt it. Hence, although they may have an ethical stance on direct investment themselves (?) they cannot be sure what investments have been made and which benefit them from trusts and foundations or even from individuals. Whether this is reasonable or not, each one can decide but there is of course the famous shareholding once owned by the WTS (though without the voting rights) to consider. I wonder whether they still receive the same benefit? The shareholding is now hidden behind a trust arrangement, but who is its beneficiary?

EF

[Candace]

Today&#39;s text reminded me of a situation that occured many years ago. I had moved to Florida and needed to find a job. Back then the economy was depressed and jobs were very hard to find, especially if you didn&#39;t have any special skills or training. I applied for any and every job I thought I could qualify for, as long as it didn&#39;t conflict with Bible principles.

A local drugstore, very close to where I lived wanted to hire me to run their Lotto machine. This is where the customers would come up with their tickets filled out, or do some kind of quick-pick thing, and you would ring up the sale and give them a receipt. This was a big money-maker for this particular drugstore. When the manager offered me the job, but made it clear I would mostly be working on the Lotto machine, not just the regular cash register, I declined his offer of employment, but explained to him the reasons why.

Not long after turning that job down, I did manage to get a job doing merchandising, which meant traveling to all kinds of stores in the county I lived in. And on my route happened to be the drugstore where I had turned down the job working the Lotto machine. As I made my regular rounds I became familiar with the women who worked there and as always, something came up and I explained that I was one of Jehovah&#39;s Witnesses. Lo and behold, one of the workers there was a sister too! I was really surprised because she was the one running the Lotto machine most of the time. Perhaps when she first started working there, there was no Lotto machine, and perhaps she had made it known to the manager that she didn&#39;t like running the Lotto machine. I don&#39;t know. I never asked her about it. But I always wondered what the manager thought when I turned down the job he had offered me, and gave my reasons why I couldn&#39;t accept the job.

There are a lot of conscience matters, and I think the important thing is that we train our own conscience and not force our conscience on others. Employment, entertainment, housing, education.....there are a lot of decisions to be made. We want to please Jehovah with the decisions we make, so prayerfully asking his guidance before we make a decision is very helpful.

We should also consider how our decision will affect others, since we don&#39;t want to be a cause for stumbling our brothers and sisters. But because we all fall short and make unwise decisions at times, don&#39;t let my stupidity trip you up either, lol!

All in all, I think it was a really good text today, showing us how Jehovah views things, and how reasonable we can be in making decisions, and reflecting Jehovah&#39;s reasonableness.