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Door To Door Preaching |
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The above scriptures are used by the Watchtower Society to support the door to door method of preaching the "good news." The Greek word here translated in English as "house" is also translated as "private homes" in Acts 2:46. Why is this so? This is up to the translator and the fact is, both translations are correct. So the choice of rendering is opinion and this cannot be avoided, nor is wrong, however what is wrong, is to try to make the phrase convey a meaning that is not actually there. That the apostles and other early Christians visited people in their private homes is clear. That they engaged in door-to door activity as done by Jehovah's Witnesses today is definitely not clear.
"And every day in the temple and from house to house (private homes), they continued without letup teaching and declaring the good news about the Christ, Jesus." - Acts 5:42
In Acts 5:42, it shows that first Apostle Peter taught publicly at the temple. Communities of Christians were formed. Possessions were sold and equally distributed to all, every day they went to the temple and met in private homes to break bread and pray and build each other up in Christ as a community, a close knit family in Christ. In the temple more persons would be converted and baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and would be invited to meet in private homes to further bond and become a part of the Christian brotherhood. These private homes acted as small house churches of communities of love and fine works towards one another to build each other one up in the Christ. They met in small groups, as close knit families, in private homes. No door to door activity was even remotely involved or part of the daily routine of the early Christian brotherhood.
In Acts 20:20 , it shows the same scenario with Apostle Paul first teaching publicly, meeting
Paul's Teaching
Publicly
Publicly
Private Homes
Synagogues
Market Place
House Churches
various individuals, and then teaching them, building them up as small close
knit families with love and brotherhood, being transformed as new creations in Christ, as children of God and part
of a universal family, a royal priesthood, meeting in small close knit groups in many different private homes.
The idea of first visiting strangers at their houses, going up and down the street, and enforcing this as a requirement
for salvation ( works of "sacrifice"), is clearly a misapplication of both Peter's and Paul's activity
and far from the atmosphere of a Christian family brotherhood that met as families in private homes. No where ever
in the Gospels and New Testament was preaching the good news a requirement of detailed doctrinal explanation of
scriptures carried out with formal house to house visitations as done by Jehovah's Witnesses, but rather teaching
took place publicly in the market place, in synagogues and in the many small churches that met in private homes.
The context of the book of Acts, with the readings of the Gospels and the letters of the Apostles, all conform to the mention of "house to house" visits to solely apply to small family communities of Christians that met in "house churches," in private homes, under the service of an "elder" (older man) who rendered service to them. This would certainly appear to be the case in Antioch and Ephesus. As Jamie Buckingham states in his publication: Power for Living:
Anotherwards our works of mercy and loving one another, each day on a continual basis far outweigh the sacrifice of door to door preaching." (Acts 11:26;13:1; 14:27; 15:3,30)
Matthew 10:9-14 & Mark 6:6-13 & Luke 10:1-12
What about the matter of Jesus instructing his apostles to go out and preach to people's homes, in Matthew 10:9-14 ? The context shows the primary emphasis to be speaking in the matter of lodging, not about a door-to-door activity. Verse 11 says "Stay there until you leave." Another wards, "When you come to a town or village, look for someone trustworthy and stay in that one house only, until you leave the town to return back to me. Luke 10:7 states it this way, "Do not be transferring from house to house." Again, when you go to the village, do not be transferring from house to house, but find a hospitable household and stay in that one house, until it is time to leave the village and return back to me. As Phillips Modern Translations renders this verse: "Wherever you go, whether it is into a town or a village, find out someone who is respecting, and stay with him until you leave."
Secondly, there were three specific actions to perform when following Jesus words at Mark 6:6-13. "........ to preach, expel many demons and grease many sickly people with oil and cure them." Do we see Jehovah's Witnesses "expelling demons, and greasing sickly people with oil, curing them ?" No we do not, and yet they insistently and forcefully acknowledge themselves as the only true Christians, following Jesus words above and yet solely applying them to a doctrinal preaching of door to door sacrifice. Where can a line be drawn between the allowance of doctrinal preaching and the non existent demon expulsions and healing others with oil ?
A third point of interest is the content of the teaching the apostles were to preach. The message was to preach "the kingdom of the heavens are near." At that time, which was before Pentecost 33 CE, the apostles and deciples did not fully understand the meaning of this message. For soon man would be reconciled with God through the blood of his son, Christ, who would soon have the name of God, "a name above all others" and begin "ruling as king" in the "superior position" of God, on his father's very throne. Now all persons on earth would have the opportunity to become a (Spiritual) Jew and could be one of God's children, his chosen race. The message was not about a detailed governmental arrangement with a future date, 1914, where Jesus Christ would rule invisibly until his coming. There were no elaborate question and answer Bible studies and there were no organizational requirements to pass in order to be baptized. (Phil 2)
Where Did The Apostles Teach ?
According to former Governing Body member, Raymond Franz, when his uncle, Frederick Franz, was asked at one Governing Body meeting about whether the phrase 'from house to house' as found in Acts 5:42 & Acts 20:20 actually means going from door to door , that is from one door to the next door", he responded, in all seriousness, "Yes-I believe it can include that". He then went on to say, "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."
If one is to follow Acts 5:42 as a model to follow, should one not also teach in publicly in temples as well ?
Where did Paul teach and make converts according to All the accounts ?
There are no accounts of Paul or any other disciples or apostles, making converts by preaching to someone at their front or back door, and going to the next house to preach to another. There are however, accounts of house churches, teaching in private homes. There, persons were invited to "gather together" at one of the small close knit family, house churches that met in private homes. All other accounts of individuals "coming into the truth" are by other means, none of which include a door to door preaching activity, with the statistical recordings of "hours", "return visits", "book & booklet placements" & etc., from an appointed "slave class" of men.
External Sacrifice or Internal Faith ?
The external sacrifice of the door to door preaching method is not the same as an internal, intimate faith in Christ. All Christians are to be "circumcised of the heart" having "the law written on their hearts." They are spiritual beings who worship in "spirit and truth." Their worship is an invisible relationship that can only be truly seen by themselves and Christ. They walk by "faith and not by sight", for they are not recognized by the physical sight of door to door activity and organizational achievements.
Of course, the conduct of Christians can be physically seen, however all persons are far from perfect and miss the mark, failing short in a large way, so even this cannot be used as a barometer to measure a person's spirituality.
Internal faith in Christ is having the assurance that what reward is promised will be received, it will no doubt happen, although it cannot be physically seen. This faith will then move the person to do some form of works of "mercy" and "sacrifice" as an individual, creative and volunteer action. Each will use his or her individual "different gifts" they receive from God's spirit. These works can be seen by others, but are different in each individual and in no way can be used to measure the level of a person's spirituality. (Heb 11:1; Rom 2:28-29; John 4:24; James 2)
Almost always, external sacrifices that are required by an organization to achieve a higher spiritual status and possible appointment to overseership results in legalism and lukewarm faith. Worship becomes of the religion, the organization, and not solely God. The "letter of the law" of man's rulings then stand as law, being the final word in all decision making matters.
The end result are man's rules, where the external sacrifice of the organizationally-promoted door-to-door method has been clearly been converted into a standard by which the spirituality of others and their love of God is judged. How can men judge anothers spirituality on this standard? Christianity is an internal relationship with Christ, moving persons to love their fellowman. How can we rate love? How can we judge another man's love? Some things are obvious, others are not. Can any religious organization measure the spirituality of another man?
Portions of this article have been taken out of the book "In Search of Christian Freedom" by Raymond Franz
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This Chart of John's and Jesus' Method and Location of Their Ministry Was Supplied To The Governing Body By Raymond Franz |
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| Footnotes: | |||
| 1. | Power for Living - Jamie Buckingham | ||
| 2. | In Search of Christian Freedom - Raymond Franz | ||
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