BLONDIE’S highlights FROM the NOVEMBER 27, 2016 WT Study (SEPTEMBER 2016) (PARENTS BUILD CHILDREN FAITH)
https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/watchtower-study-september-2016/
EXCELLENT GENERAL WEBSITE: www.jwfacts.com
Bible translations www.biblegateway.com/cgi-bin/bible
WT publications http://www.a2z.org/wtarchive/archive.htm (old)
www.jw.org (new)
WT child abuse www.silentlambs.org
Blood issue www.ajwrb.org
United Nations http://www.randytv.com/secret/unitednations.htm
Parents, Help Your Children Build Faith
PlayPauseDisable audioEnable audio
Parents, Help Your Children Build Faith
“Young men and young women . . . Let them praise the name of Jehovah.”—PS. 148:12, 13.
SONGS: 88, 115
HOW WOULD YOU ANSWER?
Why is it so important to know your children well?
How might you use illustrations effectively in teaching?
Why do you need to be faithful, patient, and prayerful?
OPENING COMMENTS
I was raised as a young person from 3 to 18 as a jw. I lived the reality, not the examples below, none of my contemporaries did.
1, 2. (a) What challenge do parents face, and how can they meet that challenge? (b) What four points will we now examine?
“WE BELIEVE in Jehovah, but that does not necessarily mean that our children will believe,” said a married couple in France. They commented: “Faith is not something you inherit. Our children acquire it little by little.” An Australian brother wrote: “Helping to build faith in your child’s heart is probably the greatest challenge you will ever face. You need to draw on every available resource. You may feel that you have dealt with a question to your child’s satisfaction. Then you find that he raises the same question again later! The answers that satisfy your child’s curious mind today may not be enough for him tomorrow. You may need to revisit some subjects regularly.”
COMMENTS
They commented (a married couple in France) so is this the WTS view? “Faith is not something your inherit.” But doesn’t the WTS say that people are more likely to be stronger jws if second or third generation jws? Isn’t it more true that faith is shown by the parent’s example? How many jw adults are satisfied by the explanations of the WTS/GB?
Do the answer their question or tell them what they should believe? How many jw children explain to non-jws these reasons for what they believe.
That’s what my parents say. 2) It’s against my religion. 3) It’s pagan.
2 If you are a parent, do you at times feel unequal to the responsibility of teaching and molding your children to become men and women who have faith? Really, in our own wisdom, none of us are up to the task! (Jer. 10:23) But we can succeed when we look to God for guidance. Consider four things that can assist you in helping your children to build faith: (1) Get to know them well. (2) Put your heart into your teaching. (3) Use good illustrations. (4) Be patient and prayerful.
COMMENTS
None of us are up to task: Remember even God had failures, i.e.
Get to know them well---do you know how old they are, what grade they are in school, what their favorite food is, etc. (I know jw parents who don’t, especially fathers)
Put your heart into your teaching—how many jw fathers actually teach their children, especially by example?
Use GOOD illustrations—not the lame ones the WTS provides or worse they ones other jws make up.
Be patient and prayerful---just like the elders are with the rank and file, NOT
PUT YOUR HEART INTO YOUR TEACHING
6. When parents inculcate Bible truth in their own heart, how does this help them as teachers?
6 As a teacher, Jesus reached hearts because he loved Jehovah, God’s Word, and people. (Luke 24:32; John 7:46) Similar love will help parents reach the hearts of their children. (Read Deuteronomy 6:5-8; Luke 6:45.) So parents, be good students of the Bible and of our study aids. Take an interest in creation and in articles in our publications that discuss this topic. (Matt. 6:26, 28) Your doing so will broaden your knowledge, deepen your appreciation for Jehovah, and better equip you to teach your young ones.—Luke 6:40.
COMMENTS
If jws do not use God’s word to support their beliefs and treat people, even other jws without love, even hating them, how could they say they love God?
Jws are told they cannot understand the bible without WTS publications.
7, 8. When a parent’s heart is filled with Bible truth, what will be the result? Illustrate.
7 When your heart is filled with Bible truth, you will want to discuss it with your family. Do this not only when preparing for Christian meetings or during family worship but at any time. Moreover, such discussions should not be forced but should be natural and spontaneous—a part of your everyday conversation. A couple in the United States reflect on Jehovah when the family enjoy an aspect of nature or certain foods. “We remind our children of the love and forethought that Jehovah put into everything he provided for us,” the parents state. When gardening with their two girls, a couple in South Africa point to aspects such as the marvels of how seeds germinate and then plants grow. “We try to develop in our daughters a great respect for life and its wonderful complexity,” say the parents.
COMMENTS
Bible truth or WT truth?
I know fathers/elders who spend more time watching sports than discussing bible topics with their family.
How many jws really discuss bible teachings before or after the meeting? Administrative tasks, social activities, even gossip.
8 When his son was about ten years old, a father in Australia took advantage of a visit to a museum to help his son to strengthen his faith in God and in creation. “We saw a display of ancient sea creatures called ammonoids and trilobites,” says the father. “It struck us that these extinct animals were beautiful, complex, and complete—no less so than what we can see today. So if life evolved from simple to more complex forms, why were these ancient creatures already so complex? It was a lesson that deeply impressed me and that I shared with my son.”
COMMENTS
I think this boy would have been more confused as this explanation proves nothing scientifically.
USE EFFECTIVE ILLUSTRATIONS
9. Why are illustrations effective, and how did one mother demonstrate this?
9 Jesus often used illustrations, which stimulate thinking, appeal to the heart, and aid the memory. (Matt. 13:34, 35) Children tend to have a vivid imagination. So parents, try to use illustrations liberally in your teaching. A mother in Japan did just that. When her two boys were eight and ten respectively, she taught them about earth’s atmosphere and the care Jehovah showed in making it. To do that, she gave the boys milk, sugar, and coffee. Then she asked each of the boys to make her a cup of coffee. “They took great care,” she explained. “When I asked them why they were so careful, they said that they wanted the coffee to be just the way I like it. I explained that God mixed the gases in the atmosphere with similar care—just right for us.” That illustration was fitting for their age, and it engaged them in a way that passive learning might not have. No doubt they long remembered the lesson!
COMMENTS
I don’t think mom would have died if they had not mixed the coffee right.
You can use common objects to build faith in God and in creation (See paragraph 10)
10, 11. (a) What illustration could you use to help your child build faith in God? (See opening picture.) (b) What illustrations have you found to be effective?
10 You might even use a recipe to help your child build faith in God. How? After you bake a cake or a batch of cookies, explain the role of the recipe. Then hand your child a piece of fruit, perhaps an apple, and ask: “Did you know that this apple started off with a ‘recipe’?” Then cut the apple in two, and give him a seed. You could discuss that the recipe was “written” in the seed but in a language far more complex than the words in a recipe book. You might ask: “If the recipe for the cake had a writer, who wrote the much more complex recipe for the apple?” For an older child, you could explain that the recipe for the apple—in fact, for the entire tree on which it grew—was part of the code in the DNA. Together, you might even look at some of the illustrations on pages 10 to 20 of our brochure The Origin of Life—Five Questions Worth Asking.
COMMENTS
But how did humans learn about DNA, from human scientists, almost certainly not jws? And jws only learn through filtered comments through WTS publications, that misquote out of context often, but how many jws check?
11 Many parents enjoy discussing articles in the Awake! series “Was It Designed?” with their children. Or they use this feature as a basis for teaching simple ideas to very young children. For instance, a couple in Denmark compared airplanes to birds. “Airplanes look just like birds,” they said. “But can airplanes lay eggs and hatch small airplanes? Do birds need special landing strips? And how would you compare the sound of an airplane to the singing of a bird? So who is more intelligent—the maker of airplanes or the Creator of birds?” Such comments, along with good questions, can help a child to develop “thinking ability” and to build faith in God.—Prov. 2:10-12.
COMMENTS
Actually, contrary to the statement here, birds cannot just land anywhere all the time.
How many jws run to the publications for an answer, not just the Bible?
12. How can illustrations help children to build faith in the Bible?
12 Effective illustrations can also strengthen a child’s faith in the accuracy of the Bible. For example, consider Job 26:7. (Read.) How might you show that this scripture was inspired? You could just state facts. Instead, why not stimulate your child’s imagination? Bring up the fact that Job lived long before telescopes and spaceships. Your child’s job could be to show how difficult it might be for some to believe that a very large object, such as the earth, could sit on nothing. The child could use a ball or a stone to illustrate the point by showing that objects with mass have to rest on something. Such a lesson would impress on your child that Jehovah had facts recorded in the Bible long before humans could prove them.—Neh. 9:6.
COMMENTS
How has the explanation worked for you or other jws or students?
ILLUSTRATE THE VALUE OF BIBLE PRINCIPLES
13, 14. How might parents impress on their children the value of Bible principles?
13 It is particularly important that you impress on your children the value of Bible principles. (Read Psalm 1:1-3.) There are many ways to do this. For example, you could ask your children to imagine that they are going to live on a remote island and will have to choose a number of people to live there with them. Then ask, “What qualities must each person have if all in the group are to live in peace and get along well?” You could also talk with them about the wise directions found at Galatians 5:19-23.
COMMENTS
They must all be jws….oh, that’s right, the child has seen mom and dad fight, seen mom and dad label people at the hall bad because they disagree on some personal point, or been bullied by some elder’s child.
14 That exercise could teach two important lessons. First, God’s standards promote genuine peace and harmony. Second, by educating us now, Jehovah is preparing us for life in the new world. (Isa. 54:13; John 17:3) You could drive these points home by selecting an experience from our publications. It might be from the series “The Bible Changes Lives,” published in The Watchtower. Or if someone in your congregation has made major changes in order to please Jehovah, you could invite him to join you and share his story. Such examples bring Bible principles to life!—Heb. 4:12.
COMMENTS
I can remember my stepfather telling me of the fights among the elders at an elders meeting that lasted until midnight. Or 2 BOEs that had not exchanged speakers for 10 years because the 2 brothers coordinating it had an ongoing battle, and they were relatives. Or the 2 sisters that refused to be in the same bible study group or go in the same car group. Or the 2 young sisters who sat behind a third and kicked her chair during the meeting. Set an example parents.
15. What should you have as a primary goal when teaching your children?
15 The point is this: When teaching your children, do not get into a rut. Try to use your imagination. Stimulate their thinking, keeping their age in mind. Make learning exciting, faith strengthening. “Never tire of experimenting with new ways to approach old subjects,” said one father.
COMMENTS
Actions speak louder than words…live a sermon, don’t preach one.
BE FAITHFUL, PATIENT, PRAYERFUL
16. When teaching children, why is patience vital? Illustrate.
16 God’s spirit is needed to produce strong faith. (Gal. 5:22, 23) Like literal fruit, faith takes time to grow. Thus you will need to manifest patience and perseverance in teaching your children. “My wife and I simply gave our children a lot of attention,” said a father of two in Japan. “From the time they were very young, I studied with them for 15 minutes every day, except on days when we had Christian meetings. Fifteen minutes was not too hard for us or for them.” A circuit overseer wrote: “As a teenager, I had many more questions or doubts than I ever put into words. Over time, many of these were addressed at meetings or during family or personal study. That’s why it’s important for parents just to keep teaching.”
COMMENTS
15 minutes, but of course, he had to plan and prepare.
Did that CO get all his questions or doubts answered at meetings?
If you are going to be an effective teacher, God’s Word must first be in your heart (See paragraph 17)
17. Why is good parental example important, and how has one couple set such an example for their girls?
17 Something that is very important, of course, is your example of faith. Your children will observe what you do, and it certainly will affect them for the good. So as parents, keep building your own faith. Let your children see how real Jehovah is to you. When a couple in Bermuda have anxious moments, they pray with their children that Jehovah guide them, and they encourage their children to pray on their own. “We also tell our older daughter, ‘Have complete trust in Jehovah, keep busy in Kingdom service, and do not worry too much.’ When she sees the outcome, she knows that Jehovah is helping us. This has done wonders for her faith in God and in the Bible.”
COMMENTS
My non-jw father molested me and my siblings. Jw-mom knew but turned a blind eye. The one elder we confided in did not believe us. It wasn’t until the youngest told us she had been molested, did we older children go to the police. Then it was a fight with the BOE, the WTS. The laws were not strong but we did get our by then jw father, reproved privately and my sister out of his control legally. How real was Jehovah to them?
18. What important fact must parents recognize?
18 In the end, of course, children have to develop their own faith. As parents, you can plant and water. Only God can make it grow. (1 Cor. 3:6) So pray for his spirit, and work hard to teach your precious children, for by doing so, you give Jehovah much to bless.—Eph. 6:4.
COMMENTS
Yes, in the end, blame the child. If you do not water or feed a plant enough, it dies. Even God does not make it grow.
FINAL COMMENTS
Folks, I lived the real life for children at the KH. From 3 to 18…and then to 50. By the time I was 45 I had stopped talking to both my parents. What a relief! And when they died, one 10 years ago and the other 6 years ago, I knew there would be no more attempts to call and blame. My siblings all have cut off contact with people in the family. No more reminders of what happened to be endured. After 45 years in the WTS, I never saw a family that fit any of these examples.