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Does the End Justify the Means?The Watchtower—1957 | January 15
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save their nation under the Romans. The end of saving their nation justified their murder of Jesus, they argued. They said: “If we let him alone this way, they will all put faith in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”—John 11:45-48, NW.
This immoral slogan that puts expediency ahead of principle cannot work. Jesus said that it could not: “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, neither can a rotten tree produce fine fruit.” Bad means do not bring good ends. Good means, good end; evil means, evil end. To purchase expediency at the expense of principle is the snare of the shortsighted. Only by clinging to divine principle can permanent good come.—Matt. 7:18, NW.
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How We Got the BibleThe Watchtower—1957 | January 15
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How We Got the Bible
The Bible was written so we could get the thoughts of God. We need God’s thoughts. The Son of God said that “every utterance coming forth through Jehovah’s mouth” is vital for life. How did we get the Life-giver’s thoughts in written form?
NO ORDINARY book is the Bible. It is unique. It is God’s Book. It contains his thoughts. It tells us what God’s purposes are and what he wants us to do. To learn the sublime thoughts of the Creator is necessary. Recognizing the imperative need for man to know the Life-giver’s thoughts, Christ Jesus said: “Man must live, not on bread alone, but on every utterance coming forth through Jehovah’s mouth.”—Matt. 4:4, NW.
The written utterances of God may be had in hundreds of languages today. In many countries the common people may read the Bible freely. But during the Middle Ages the common people could not read the Bible; it lay entombed in a dead language.
But God never caused the Bible to be written originally in a dead tongue. He wanted people to get his thoughts. So as not to be speaking into the air the Bible’s Author caused his thoughts to be written in the familiar language of the people.
The everyday language of God’s chosen nation of Israel was Hebrew. So the Bible’s Author used that tongue for the writing of the bulk of the so-called Old Testament, properly called the Hebrew Scriptures.
When did Bible writing begin? About the year 1513 B.C., shortly after the Israelites had been delivered from bondage in Egypt. Jehovah said to Moses: “Write this as a memorial in the book.” God himself had given to Moses “two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone written on by God’s finger.” These tablets contained the Ten Commandments. Moses incorporated these into the book of Exodus when he wrote the first five books of the Bible.—Ex. 17:14; 31:18, NW.
From then on the writing of the Bible continued. God used many men, men from all walks of life, such as Joshua a general, Samuel a judge, David a king, Daniel a
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