WT February 1 Keep Bearing Much Fruit study March 23, 2003
In the WT world, Love is a completed time card.
The first two paragraphs start great. “I am the vine, you are the branches...“(John 15:5), but the article quickly degrades. Union with Christ is turned around to
Unity , (para. 3) which turns around again to the burden of obligation. A Christian well plugged in to his Life Source has no trouble bearing the fruit of love, kindness, gentleness, etc. etc. It flows naturally out of the generosity poured in to his life. Here is how the WT turns it around, para. 4 ...all disciples are required to bear fruit but also that all are capable of doing so, no matter what their circumstances or limitations may be. para. 5 .. within the limits of our circumstances, we must make room for growth in our activities as a disciple . Lip service is given to Galatians 5:22,23, but the article quickly focuses in on one activity - Literature Distribution.
The most astounding mental gymnastics, however, are reserved for para. 10-11. Here the argument is made that great fruitfulness is not measured by how many disciples are gained, but by how much seed (literature) is distributed. Apparently, it is of no concern that WT seed is sterile.
Para. 10
Jesus’ illustration of the sower and the different types of soil points to the answer - a heartening answer for those who witness in less productive territories...What fruit? Well, after a wheat stalk sprouts and matures, it produces ...not little wheat stalks, but new seed. Likewise, a Christian produces as fruit, not necessarily new disciples, but new Kingdom seed. para. 11 ...Since the seed that is sown is the word of the Kingdom, the fruitage must be a many-fold duplication of that seed.
Excuse me, but I do not know a farmer on this planet who deliberately wastes his seed. If he has rocky soil, he picks rocks. If he has hard soil, he laboriously plows and works the soil. His goal is that every seed sprout and grow. Carelessly strewn seed are an abomination to Jehovah (why do Laundromats come to mind) .
Then Judah said to Onan, Go in to thy brother's wife, and fulfil to her the brother-in-law's duty, and raise up seed to thy brother. But when Onan knew that the seed should not be his own, it came to pass when he went in to his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, in order to give no seed to his brother. And the thing which he did was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and he slew him also. Darby Gen 38:7-10
A better understanding of the various soils is that not every man is ready for the same message at the same time. Some need more practical helps, like a hot meal and a helping hand, before a Christian should ever attempt preaching at him. I maintain that a fruitful Christian, in contrast to a “True Christian (TM)”, will be giving much more tangible evidence of their love than a completed time card.
Click on the whirling seed for some astounding seed record breakers.
