to stay on the job. The assembly made me realize more than ever before how much the New World society is doing to care for its members and to prepare them for the coming storm of Armageddon. It helped me to appreciate my assignment and to continue to pursue with vigor my purpose in life.

It was impressing to me to see what a good influence the assembly had on New Yorkers. One day I was stopped by a store manager who inquired what it is that makes Jehovah’s witnesses so clean-cut, neat and polite. A little while later, right in the middle of the traffic, a priest from a local Catholic university brought his car next to mine and, leaning out the window, politely complimented Jehovah’s witnesses on being such an orderly people and such a good influence on the people of the city, and he invited us to return to New York. Whether we return before Armageddon or not, the assembly served the purpose of making me better equipped for New World living.

It was generous of the brothers to make it possible for the Society to give me the assistance to be there, and that generosity and the Society’s spiritual and material provisions make it possible for me and others to continue working for the expansion of Jehovah’s pure worship in this country. All the thanks I have to give can best be expressed in the form of an invitation for you to come and join me in a foreign assignment and have a joyful and theocratic purpose in life as a pioneer.

Questions From Readers

● When the book From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained says, on page 229, that faithful servants of Jehovah who die now “will be brought back in the ‘resurrection of life’ to get the same blessings that the people who live through Armageddon will receive,” does it mean that they will marry and share in fulfilling the procreation mandate?—F. B., U.S.A.

The statement referred to, which speaks of the prospects that await dedicated, baptized and faithful witnesses of Jehovah who have the hope for life on earth, means that they will get the blessings that the Scriptures say they are entitled to. There is nothing in the Scriptures to indicate that they will marry and participate in fulfilling the procreation mandate. Jesus said, as recorded at Luke 20:35: “Those who have been counted worthy of gaining that system of things and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.” This applies also to those who died before Christ appeared in the presence of God to present the value of his human sacrifice in behalf of his faithful followers here on earth; so it includes those faithful ones from Abel to John the Baptist.

Consequently a woman who has been made a widow by the death of her husband now before Armageddon is not obligated to wait for his resurrection from the dead after Armageddon. She is free to remarry whom she wants, only in the Lord, and to bring forth children by her new husband. Death dissolves the marriage tie, as Romans 7:1-3 shows.

● Is it all right for Christians to resort to sterilization to avoid childbirth?

We can be guided in this matter by the principle that is set down in the law of God given through Moses. We know that if any member of the priestly family of Aaron had broken testicles he could not serve as a priest; also, no person sexually mutilated could enter into the congregation of Jehovah. And God so cared for the procreative organs of the male that if any woman took part in a fight between her husband and another man and reached out and grabbed that man by his privates to disable him, she was to have her hand cut off. (Lev. 21:17-20; Deut. 23:1; 25:11, 12) So if God was concerned about the procreative powers of his typical people of Israel, he must likewise be so about those of his spiritual Israelites, because he authorizes them to be parents and bring up offspring in the fear of God.

If anyone was sexually sterilized before coming to a knowledge of the truth and he survived Armageddon, it would require a miracle from God through Christ the King of mankind to enable such sterilized person to take part then in fulfilling the procreation mandate.

There are several other methods used today to avoid parenthood, and on these the Society remains silent, leaving each married couple to make their own decision. (See The Watchtower, March 1, 1951, page 159; April 1, 1953, page 222.) However, it is absolutely wrong for a person to think that in order to stay free for the Kingdom service and avoid family responsibilities in the way of children he is justified in getting himself sexually sterilized. If he is so desirous of avoiding family responsibilities, then let him stay single, and thus, as Jesus said, make himself a eunuch for the sake of God’s kingdom. (Matt. 19:12) A person who has himself sterilized does an injustice to his marriage partner who may at some time want and be entitled to children. He may think he is thus making himself free from trials and temptation by the Devil in this respect, but he is exposing himself to other trials and temptations in this very same respect. It is best to live a normal life with all the powers and faculties God has given a creature physically.

If one was sterilized before understanding the truth, then let him draw comfort from Isaiah 56:3-7.

● Who was the father of Shealtiel? The Bible account at Matthew 1:12 says his father was Jechoniah, while Luke 3:27 says Neri. How can these two genealogies be harmonized?—H. H., U.S.A.

On page 130 of the book “Your Will Be Done on Earth” it is correctly stated: “But before finally merging in King David, the ancestral lines of Joseph and Mary meet in Zerubbabel and his father Shealtiel.” As Matthew says, Shealtiel was the direct son of King Jechoniah or Jehoiachin. How, then, was he the son of Neri? He was the son of Neri also because he married Neri’s daughter and became in reality the son-in-law of Neri. The Hebrews, however, spoke of a son-in-law as a son, just as Joseph the direct son of Jacob is spoken of by Luke as a son of Heli because Joseph married Heli’s daughter Mary.—Luke 3:23.

It is interesting to note in this connection that in Luke 3:27 the Cambridge manuscript of Beza, which is designated by the international symbol “D,” reads: “the son of Jechoniah,” not Neri.

Announcements

FIELD MINISTRY

The Bible-study aid “Your Will Be Done on Earth” and a booklet will be offered by Jehovah’s witnesses in their ministry during July, on a contribution of 50c. Congregations throughout the world will endeavor to cover all their territory with this offer during the next three months, so people everywhere will have the opportunity to obtain the book.

JOIN THE THRONGS IN ASSEMBLY THIS SUMMER!

“When God Speaks Peace to All Nations” is the title of the featured talk at the 1959 Awake Ministers District Assemblies. All together, four days of vital information have been arranged for by the Watch Tower Society that will be shared by thousands of active ministers and those with whom they are studying the Bible, as well as other persons who are of good will toward Jehovah God and his new world of righteousness. You will want to join these thousands in attendance throughout the United States and Canada at the convention city nearest you. In spite of world conditions and a threatening future, there is real hope for those who put their trust in God’s provision. Hear it discussed at any one of the assemblies scheduled. For details write WATCHTOWER CONVENTION, 117 Adams St., Brooklyn 1, N. Y.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

August 16: Keeping Kingdom Interests First. Page 396.

August 23: Resisting Entanglement with This World’s Interests. Page 401.