Beroean Pickets – JW.org Reviewer

Shawn has been baptized for six years, but is having issues with some of the teachings of the organization. In situations like this, are the elders interested in helping the sheep, or are they more interested in enforcing compliance?

By Sheryl Bogolin    Email sbogolin@hotmail.com The first congregational meeting of Jehovah's Witnesses that I attended with my family was held in the basement of a home filled with many, many chairs. Although I was only 10 years old, I found it to be rather intriguing. The young woman I sat next to raised her hand and answered a question from the Watchtower magazine. I whispered to her, “Do it again.” She did. Thus began my complete immersion into the religion known as Jehovah's Witnesses. My father was the first one in our family to pursue an interest in the religion, probably because his older brother was already one of Jehovah's Witnesses. My mother agreed to a home Bible study only to prove the Witnesses wrong. We four kids were dragged in from our playtime outside and reluctantly sat in on the weekly study, although the discussions were often beyond our understanding and sometimes we nodded off. But I must have gotten something out of those studies. Because I began talking with my friends about Bible topics on a regular basis. In fact, I wrote a term paper in 8th grade entitled: “Are You Afraid of Hell?” That caused quite a stir among my classmates. It was also when I was about 13 years old that I got into a debate with a householder, who obviously knew more about the Bible than I did. Finally, in frustration, I said: “Well, we might not get everything right, but at least we're out here preaching!” All six of us in the family were baptized within a couple years of each other. My baptism date was April 26, 1958. I was not quite 13 years of age. As my whole family was quite outgoing and gregarious, it was almost easy for us to knock on doors and start up conversations with people about the Bible. My sister and I both started regular pioneering as soon as we graduated from High School in the early '60s. In view of the fact that I would have made the eighth regular pioneer in our home congregation, we decided to go where the “need was greater”. The Circuit Servant recommended that we assist a congregation in Illinois about 30 miles away from our childhood home. We initially lived with a dear Witness family of five, which soon became six. So we found an apartment and invited two sisters from our original congregation to live and pioneer with us. And help us with expenses! We jokingly called ourselves 'Jephthah's Daughters'. (Because we figured we might all remain single.) We had good times together. Though it was necessary to count our pennies, I never felt like we were poor. Back in the early '60's, I think about 75% of the householders in our territory actually were at home and would answer their door. Most were religious and willing to talk to us. Many were anxious to defend their own religious beliefs. As were we! We took our ministry very seriously. We each had a few regular Bible studies. We used either the “Good News” booklet or the “Let God Be True” book. In addition, I tried to include a 5-10 minute segment at the end of each study which was nicknamed “DITTO”.--.Direct Interest To The Organization. Within the congregation, we were also busy. Since our new congregation was small with a limited number of qualified brothers, both my sister and I were assigned to fill positions of “servants”, such as the “Territory Servant”. We even had to conduct the Congregation Book Study sometimes although a baptized brother was present. That was a little uncomfortable. In 1966, my sister and I applied for the special pioneer work and were assigned to a small congregation in Wisconsin. About that same time my parents sold their house and bakery and moved to Minnesota as pioneers. Later they entered the Circuit work. With the last name of Sovereign. they fit right in. Our congregation in Wisconsin was also small, about 35 publishers. As special pioneers, we spent 150 hours a month in the field service and each received $50 a month from the Society, which had to cover rent, food,

When is Nisan 14 in 2020 (Jewish Calendar Year 5780)? New Moon in the Western Sky begins the lunar month. The Jewish Calendar consists of 12 lunar months of 29.5 days each, bringing the “return of the year” in 354 days, falling short by 11 and one-quarter days of the solar year length.  So the first problem in determining the date is to choose which new moon will mark the first month of the sacred year (as opposed to the start of the agricultural year which is 6 months latter). In the 4th century of our common era the rabbi Hillel II established an official Jewish Calendar that has been in use since then.  A 13th lunar month is added 7 times in 19 years to make up the shortfall.  The long years (13 months) occur at the end of years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 19 in the cycle, which is named for the Greek astronomer, Meton, who first devised it in the fifth century before our common era. This cycle pattern is similar to the black keys on the piano, representing the grouping of long years. Piano Key pattern of 13-month years in 19 year Metonic Cycle This means that by simply observing the calendar, we can determine which years correspond to this pattern of long years.  Since the 20th century the first year on the Jewish calendar in the 19-year groups began in 1902, and again in 1921, 1940, 1959, 1978, 1997, and 2016. The first 13-month year of the current cycle occurred in 2019, corresponding with C# on the piano scales as year 3. Jehovah’s Witnesses have followed this same pattern since the first World War.  However, their first year in the cycle occurs 14 years after the Jewish system, or 5 years earlier in the over-lapping scale of time. So in 2020, the Jewish calendar is at year 5 (12 months), while the Witnesses are at year 10 (also 12 months.)  The mis-matches between the two parallel systems occur in years 1, 9 and 12 of the Jewish system, when those years are short, whereas the Witnesses are observing long years 6, 14, and 17 at the same corresponding time.  Likewise, while the Jews are observing adar-adar, their 13th month in their years 3 and 14, Witnesses are starting Nisan a month earlier. This means that although Witnesses claim to follow the Jewish passover for Nisan 14, in 5 out of 19 years, there is a month difference in setting the date for Nisan 14. According to this for 2020 (5780) both systems have a short year, with Nisan starting with the new moon just after the spring equinox.  That astronomical conjunction  of the moon and the sun will occur at 11:29 am on March 24th (28th day of the Jewish month Adar) Jerusalem time, with the sun setting just before 6 pm. In order for a star or a dark face moon to be visible, the sun must be at least 8 degrees below the horizon, and the body observed must be 3 degrees above the horizon.  Therefore, the new moon will not be visible in Jerusalem that evening, even with the best weather, and the next day will be the 29th of Adar. The moon moves to the left of the sun when the sun is high in the sky in its daily arc, or it appears to rise above it at sunset at the rate of one diameter per hour or 0.508 degrees of arc out of 360.  Therefore to separate from the sun by the required 11 degrees, at least 22 hours of time must elapse after the time of conjunction or point of passing in the observed sky. Sunset the next evening in Jerusalem on March 25th will occur at 5:54 pm local time (GMT+2), when the sun will descend below the horizon. Thirty-two minutes later the sun will be 8 degrees below the horizon, but the lunar month’s astronomical age will be 30.5 hours old, placing the moon about 7 degrees above the horizon, allowing for a visual sighting.  Therefore, Witnesses will start their month of Nisan at sunset on Wednesday March 25th.  This means that Nisan 14 will begin at sunset on Tuesday, April 7th, which is the evening set for the Memorial observance at Kingdom Halls and places of meeting.

After leaving the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, many lose their faith in the existence of God. It seems that these ones had faith not in Jehovah but in the organization, and with that gone, so was their faith. These often turn to evolution which is built on the premise that all things evolved by random chance. Is there proof of this, or can it be disproved scientifically? Likewise, can the existence of God be proven by science, or is it just a matter of blind faith? This video will attempt to answer these questions.

Review of the November 2018 Study Watchtower article, "Trust in Jehovah and Live".