house to house vs. in private homes

DesirousOfChange

Does not Matt 10 suggest that the household would NOT be those already in the faith? "not deserving" or "does not take you in or listen"

Matt 10:12-14 -- 12 When YOU are entering into the house, greet the household; 13 and if the house is deserving, let the peace YOU wish it come upon it; but if it is not deserving, let the peace from YOU return upon YOU. 14 Wherever anyone does not take YOU in or listen to YOUR words, on going out of that house or that city shake the dust off YOUR feet.

Debating this with another "stuck in". When I showed Acts 5:42? and 20:20 could be "in private homes", I was rebuttaled with this

sir82

I dunno, anyone with an ounce of historical understanding would realize that this scenario:

"1st century fisherman wandering through a village, knocking on the doors of peasants, and then conversing with them about religious ideas"

...is beyond absurd.

If a JW wishes to believe that, it's fine, but by holding that belief they demonstrate they haven't the foggiest notion of what life was like in 1st century Palestine.

You may as well argue with a 1st grader about string theory.

Doubting Bro

WHAT, they didn't drag around scrolls offering the latest issues of the 1st century Watchtower and Awakes for a denarius? And turn in time cards to the secretary for his records (as shown in the drama last year)?

NeonMadman

Acts 20:20 HAS to mean "in private homes." The context shows that Paul is discussing his teaching of the elders of the Ephesian church. Nothing in the passage suggests anything about a door-to-door proselytizing work. In verse 20, Paul writes, "You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house." The "you" is shown by verse 17 to be the elders; not the regular church members, not the general public. He taught them "from house to house" by visiting the various private homes of the elders, not by going up the street knocking on doors. Unless the Witness is willing to take the position that Paul found a neighborhood, started going down the street knocking on every door until he found an elder of the church and then taught him, there is no warrant whatsoever for using this verse in support of a house-to-house ministry such as that of the JWs.

Anony Mous

LOL @ Doubting Bro. For those that don't understand sarcasm or missed the joke: No they wouldn't have, scrolls and codexes were hand written and thus very expensive and in very limited supply. They were written on papyrus, vellum, hides, metals, stones, pottery etc. not something you could carry around - think about your current bible with at least 4 times thicker than paper to quarter inch thick pages, either very fragile (flipping the page too roughly could break the papyrus) or very dense, in large handwriting (as the ink would bleed), without chapters or verses, standing at a door and trying to flip to a specific verse as an introduction. One was recently discovered written on lead (very weighty). They were kept very safely at the house of the person that hosted the congregation. Even Paul mentioned appreciation for the fact that somebody sent him some (a very limited amount) of the holy writings while he was in prison, he didn't mention he gotten all or even a complete subset of them.

The way Jesus and Paul and all other Christians worked was that they would preach in the public places where others usually went and talked (as Paul himself mentioned, there was a city wholly devoted to the listening to random talking in the designated areas). Then they would get invited to somebody's house if they were either interested or just because that was the decent way to treat people in those areas (if you ever get to one of those countries in the less urban areas, you can still enjoy the hospitality of random people taking you into their tents/houses and sharing a meal or meals talking about your history and your family before even wanting to listen to what you have to say). That's how the message spread. Jesus didn't go knock on doors, there's nowhere in the Bible that supports that but it does support that he was invited to certain people's houses.

DesirousOfChange

Also in the conversation was Luke 10:1, the 70 [disciples] sent forth by two's into all cities, but totally ignoring 10:7 about not transferring from house to house when I sited it.

Then the shut down mode hits.

Doubting Bro

Exactly Anoy Mous! Yet, there's a picture in a recent WT (or maybe it's the book on Acts that is currently being reviewed at the CBS) that shows 1st century Christians reading from a scroll at a householders door step. The drama last year showed an elder in the late 1st century reviewing the congregations records. Anyone that knows anything about what life was like in the 1st century realizes those scenes are complete fiction. Yet, JWs continue to eat it up.

freeman

Just to add my two cents:

You will note the demarcation within the sentence in verse 20 i.e.

Publicly AND from House to House. The word AND in this sentence is the line of demarcation.

Within this structure, “publicly” is being contrasted, separated, or distinguished from House to House.

The JW’s define their door-to-door work as their PUBLIC ministry. Within the context of Acts: 20:20, House to House is not PUBLIC, hence it is private and quite different then the door-to-door preaching.

From the Bible in Basic English translation:

“And how I kept back nothing which might be of profit to you, teaching you publicly and privately,”

Freeman

compound complex

You may find this intesting, DOC:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/bible/126568/1/Fred-and-Ray-on-Door-to-Door-the-Truth

It was agreed among members of the writing department that preaching is a requirement incumbent upon Christians; however, there was no consensus as to HOW it should be accomplished. Some felt that the scriptural texts speaking of homes and houses were being forced into the context of a pre-conceived requirement of door-to-door preaching activity. Ray Franz made a chart twelve pages in length referencing all examples of witnessing and preaching from the Gospels and The Acts of the Apostles. He "also made a comparative chart of 27 translations and their renderings of Acts 2:46; 5:42; and 20:20." Each member of the GB received his own copy of each chart. The findings of Ray Franz's research are presented point by point, in outline form, for ease of reading and retention:

Witnessing/Preaching Activity

Gospels/Acts of the Apostles

150 SEPARATE incidents (like accounts combined)

34 of 150 incidents refer to homes/houses

4 homes only - of above - are used by WT

21 homes provided lodging

7 homes provided lodging/places to gather

2 homes to which ones healed by Jesus returned

"In all the accounts, there is not a single instance that shows Jesus or any of his apostles or disciples calling from one door to the next door or even going from one house to another house." --- Ray Franz, ISOCF, p. 220

[During the meeting [with GB] in which the above was discussed, Ray asked his uncle if, then, the texts in Acts actually mean going from one door to the next door]:

"Yes - I believe it can [not "does"] include that ... For example, on going to a home Paul might have entered in the front door, and after his discussion, he might have gone out the back door, and so he would be going from door to door." --- ibid, p. 223

Laughter broke out among some of the GB, but Fred Franz's comment was stated in all seriousness. Ray was stunned.

Pahpa

If going "house to house" was a regular practice in the 1st century,

one would expect many references about it in the New Testament.

But, alas, it is lacking. On the other hand, we have plenty of examples

for the public ministry of the disciples in the temple, synagogues and

other meetings places where the public met together. No doubt that

personal testimony about Christ to friends and family helped to

spread the word. But Paul makes it quite clear that only "some" were

to be "evangelists" in the early church. (Eph. 4:8-1)

house to house vs. in private homes

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