The Two Sides of Field Service

Side One - Forced To Perform

Being one of Jehovah's Witnesses, we were taught that in order to please God, we much perform works of sacrifice, not realizing that its works of mercy God wants and not sacrifice. We were taught that going house to house was to knock on stranger's doors and preach the Watchtower's unique interpretation of God's kingdom as being a literal

Pioneers Are Required To Preach 1000 Hours Per Year

In Order To Start Their Time Count, Many Pioneers Will Talk To The First Unbaptized Person They Find, Not Out Of Genuine Concern, But To Start The Clock On Their Time

government that was invisibly present, ruling since 1914 and was soon, within a generation, to extend it's ruler ship over the earth, transforming it into a paradise. When performing the preaching work, most felt satisfied, yet when failing to do so, a heavy guilt would set in, as though we were not pleasing God. This was the center of most of the teaching emphasized by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, both directly and indirectly. With the exception of the Ministerial Servants and the Elders, no one was directly forced to go out and knock on doors. However, those who did not perform the preaching work were looked on by those who did, such as the pioneers and elders, as being spiritually weak. And no doubt, the preaching works of sacrifice were used as a measuring rod in assessing the spirituality of those in the congregation. But to go ever further, Elders and Ministerial Servants who did not meet the national requirement of 10 hours a month of the door to door preaching work, were eventually deleted from their title and position.

This teaching of judging the spirituality of others, based on the amount of hours they performed in the preaching service works of sacrifice, brought on three main things. One, persons who performed the works of sacrifice of the door-to-door activity, put this work ahead of showing kindness to others in the congregation. Secondly, because of their hard works, many unknowingly developed self-righteousness and became judgmental of those who did not perform the sacrifices of service they did. Third, those who failed to perform the door-to-door service developed both a guilt and insecurity of not pleasing their God. Over all, a legalistic, luke warm worship, based on performance of sacrifices became the first and paramount way of worship, putting second and crowding out the real meaning of the Christ, the love of our fellow man. This type of worship, a luke warm worship based on legal sacrifices, was the type that Jesus said to the Laodiceans, that he would "vomit out of his mouth".

The Garage Sale Chronicles

Here I was, an over zealous witness with a strong burning desire to speak the bible and the Watchtower's unique interpretations to the public. I thought of Jeremiah who had a burning desire to preach, who stated "And in my heart it proved to be like a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I got tired of holding in, and I was unable to endure it." (Jer 20:9)

The elder in charge didn't like field service of preaching of door to door. So he would slow things down for others with out of the way driving directions, and frequently would stop at garage sales, preventing them from doing the preaching work.

Garage Sale?	or	Preach?

If you're "pioneering" with the Watchtower Society's obligation of meeting the requirement of 83 hours a month (1000 hours a year) in the preaching work, how can you possibly count the 3 or more hours per day to meet this monthly requirement? This is a very heavy burden to perform but can be done with much endurance and persistence. (I have known many, who exaggerate their hourly numbers, to keep up and look good spiritually in the eyes of the Watchtower). Myself and this one other "brother" were almost in tears from this "garage sale versus preaching" and the elder in charge who hated the door-to-door work. We both spoke to him on separate occasions and this lasted for over a year.

Finally, after some of us spoke up, it eventually resulted in this elder being counseled by his fellow elders. However, there were some other serious leadership and personal ego problems that existed in this past situation that went far beyond the garage sale chronicles. The point is, this elder was being forced to perform works by the Watchtower organization and all the witness followers, including myself. All of us had the obligation of the preaching works of sacrifice and were under pressure to perform this, causing us to speak up out of frustration. For those of us who were average Jehovah's Witnesses, publishers, we knew we were judged by the amount of hours we went out preaching and that this reflected on whether or not we would ever be appointed as a Ministerial Servant or Elder if we were a male. On the other hand, if we were Pioneering, with the requirement of 1000 hours a year of preaching, we were even under more pressure to speak up against the Elder's garage sale actions, because we could not count our time doing so. This elder had two things against him. One consisted of other problems of leadership that existed with him. And second, he was in the Watchtower's legalistic system of sacrifices that over rode mercy.

Side Two - Forcing Others To Perform

Young over zealous pioneers push the rest of us spiritually weak brothers with a fast pace, out done, careless push

The Minding of The Flesh Unlike the early Christian gatherings who relied on the spirit, the Watchtower Society relies on being a large religious organization with much money, real estate holdings and printing facilities

God, who does "not despise small beginnings", does not need a large religious "visible organization" to do his work. For it is "not by a military force, nor by men, but by God's spirit" that will accomplish his purpose.

. It's not all their fault, for it's "the mother organization", the "slave class", the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society who is constantly pushing for in increase of numbers, relying on detailed elaborate reports of hours spent preaching the Watchtower's version of the good news, as well as all facets of individual, organizational and corporate activities. This is purely the minding of the flesh, for God does not need a military force but only by his spirit is his work accomplished.

The Society keeps pushing "Pioneering", "Pioneering," . . . . . "Can You Pioneer?" . . . "What Can You Do To Pioneer?" . . . . and so on. What is Pioneering and where in the scriptures is it? It simply is not in there. The Nazarites of the Israelites does not set precedence of any type, nor does any works or the mosaic law code. The law of Christ does not pertain to external works, but rather an internal circumcision of the heart, exhibiting love, mercy and justice to all others. God's works are accomplished by his spirit and "where two or three are gathered in his name, he is there".

The point here is, the Watchtower Society pushes and forces others to perform works, causing many to obtain an immature, unbalanced zeal for organizational achievement, becoming obsessed in works and performing sacrifices, becoming self righteous in their own personal growth, lacking empathy and being judgmental of others. This spiritual poison existed within myself. As I became more and more aware of it, I also awoke to the misguided zeal in many Circuit and District Overseers and from articles directly written from the Watchtower Society's Governing Body of Jehovah Witnesses themselves.

The Counting of Time

Can you imagine Jesus Christ filling out a slip of paper at the end of each month to count the amount of hours he preached to others? Or his deciples sign up to "Pioneer" and then handing in their slips of

How Can Field Service Hours Determine One's Relationship With God?

paper to meet hourly requirements for Jesus, so he can inspect them? On the contrary, Jesus stressed walking in an invisible faith, not by sight. He stressed "love of neighbor" with "mercy and not sacrifice." Performance of works were based on love, justice and mercy, not regimented, detailed, organizationally outlined sacrifices. The apostles scriptural knowledge was important, but the knowledge needed for life was of Jesus, the person, not doctrines. Having this knowledge of him was the same as having the knowledge of love, for "God is love" and "he that loves is born from God." (1 John 5:1; 4:8; Math 22) The Pharisees had scriptural knowledge and correctly performed works of sacrifice, yet without love, mercy and justice, they were intellectually blinded into legalism, rejecting the true meaning of the messiah, the same as the Watchtower Society blindly counts hours, literature placements, meeting attendance and thousands of detailed manmade scriptural interpretations, rejecting the true meaning of love and mercy.

The entire actions of counting time, "Auxiliary Pioneering" and "Pioneering" are no where in the scriptures and completely out of line of

Just as King David relied on the flesh, by counting his army, the Watchtower Society relies on their flesh by counting their hours spent preaching, printing of publications and Bible studies. 2 Samuel 24:9-15

Annual Worldwide Statistics Attendance at the annual Memorial of Christ's death 14,872,086 Total volunteer hours spent in public Bible educational work 1.2 billion Average weekly home Bible courses taught 4,766,631 Practicing members* 6,035,564 New members baptized 288,907 Increase over 1999 2.3 percent Branch offices 110 Congregations 91,487 * While other religious groups count their membership by occasional or annual attendance, this figure reflects only those who are actively involved in the public Bible educational work.

Does God Count Hours, Branch Offices and Bible Studies? Does This Determine His Spirit? Are We To Look For Fleshly, Visible Signs?

the teachings of Christ Jesus. Our service to God is based on a free gift. No matter how many hours we perform works of sacrifice by going out in field service, we are unacceptable to God, as sinners. It is only with the blood of Christ, that makes us acceptable to God, whether we go out preaching one hour or one thousand. The point is, we should NEVER feel guilty because of our lack of works of sacrifice. Rather it is works of mercy that God wants and not sacrifice. It is faith in him that he wants, not hours spent going door to door. Faith is having the assurance and confidence in God's ability to care and help us, freely relying on him and making the first course of action, while yet under a degree of uncertainty. Our faith is then rewarded by God and is what pleases him, much more then field service hours could ever do. Anyone who reads the scriptures apart from manmade interpretations can see that there are absolutely no "Pioneers" and Auxiliary Pioneers" meeting some hourly requirements. "Pioneering" is nothing short of "washing the hands to the elbows", that is, adding to the scriptures what is not there and therefore making "the word of God null and void."

Our faith tells us, that even if there were only a human army of 2 persons preaching to the entire world, we could trust in God, having the full confidence that he will care for, provide for us and accomplish his purpose. For it is God's spirit that does the work, not the flesh of man, as Jesus stated "the stones would cry out" if God wanted them to. When King David took a count of his men, to see how strong of an army he had, he was punished, for it revealed David's trust in flesh and not in God's Spirit. It is the same with the annual count of hours, bible studies, magazine placements & etc. that the Watchtower Society and

Flesh	vs.	Spirit
Field Service "Pioneering" Meeting Attendance Platform Talks Amount of Members, Real Estate, Hours		An Invisible Internal Love of God With Visible Acts of Love And Mercy To All Persons (Acts of Love And Mercy Are To Show Kindness, Not A Prescribed Programed Preaching Work)

Jehovah's Witnesses so meticulously observe. By counting and listing all of the printing facilities, full-time servants, bible studies and placement of literature, the Watchtower is putting their trust and faith in the flesh, not of God's spirit. They are as the ancient nation of Israel who put their trust in their gold and silver and not God. Certainly the God, who does "not despise small beginnings", does not need a large religious "visible organization" to do his work. For it is "not by a military force, nor by men, but by God's spirit" that will accomplish his purpose. Again, if God really wanted to, "he could make the stones cry out", for "we are walking by faith and not by sight."

Our works or deeds are important, but they are not limited to "sacrifices" or a preaching work, for sacred service to God is "mercy" and the "doing good things and the sharing with others." Performing the sacrifice of preaching is only a part of sacred service to God and is not the primary identifying mark of true followers of Christ, where time should be counted as of high importance, and congregation positions should be based on the amount of hours a brother preaches per month. I personally know of ministerial servants who were told by the elders to increase their 10 hours a month of field service to 15 hours a month, in order to be appointed as elders. Truly, this misses the entire point of Christianity. There are also brothers

A Worthy Track Record Does Not count With God As Much As Humble Acknowledgement of One's Unworthiness and Unrighteouness With The Acepetance of God's Free Forgiveness.

who are constantly being deleted for lack of hours or browbeaten with a "heavy load on their shoulders" to increase their service hours.

Sacred service to God is to be internal, "written on the heart", not an external record of activity acting as a barometer of measuring one's spiritual activity. Whether it be meeting attendance, amount of verbal participation, or the preaching activity to other people, these are merely external actions that do not show the true internal intimacy a person either has or does not with God. The only barometer that really can be seen are acts of mercy and love. Field service preaching is sacrifice, not mercy. The account of the Good Samaritan, who did not have accurate knowledge, confirms this.

The result of putting priority on external activities, working hard to please God, is the mechanical following a regimen of service almost with a stopwatch and checklist in hand to be sure one has "put in their time." When this is done, one can feel good. When the service is not performed, guilt sets in. Somehow the point is missed that service to God is not supposed to be an end in itself but a means to an end. God does not want external sacrifices and service as a work to please him, rather he wants our internal devotion, intimacy and faith in him. He wants persons hearts and not just their time put in. If our external activities help us to get to our internalization of love and faith for God, then they are helpful. But if they do not, they can be very harmful.

To give an example, many today put emphasis on various formulas of external service for a maximum marriage and have raised great expectations that often lead to frustration. Not that these formulas are all invalid, for many are practical, beneficial and helpful, but the real issue is internal intimacy, faithfulness and love. It is an internal service to each other that keeps the marriage together. If this love is lost, then the marriage doesn't last.

Another example is, many governments are putting what they call a "zero tolerance" to fight crime and law breakers. But the fact is, this zero tolerance makes matters far worse lacking any flexibility and prosecuting the slightest infringers of the law. Rather then forcing a zero tolerance on external laws, it would be far greater to instill in people the desire to have an internal respect for the laws and at the same time the government's need to exercise flexibility and comprehension upon each individual circumstance. This is called true justice. The same is true with the God of the scriptures. He does not want to force external rules and regulations, but rather instill in us an internal love for our fellow man and exercise flexibility towards each individual circumstance.