been marked in our country by the holding of religious conventions.”

The way Jehovah’s witnesses preach the gospel has given rise to the following commentaries: “Jehovah’s witnesses have an unusual way of propagating their religion. They visit the homes of the people and present their beliefs to each householder, quoting a series of Bible texts. They use only the Portuguese language in all the meetings held in their 587 congregations, from the Amazon to Rio Grande do Sul.” (O Jornal, Rio de Janeiro, December 29, 1959) “Every member admitted to the denomination is, basically, a preacher. It is his duty to go from house to house, explaining the Bible for the people.”—Diario Carioca.

Explaining the procedure of Jehovah’s witnesses, Última Hora, of Rio, stated: “Jehovah’s witnesses do not oblige anyone to enter their fold; they do the work of systematic Bible instruction, explaining its truths, and only one who reasons fully and recognizes its virtues will be able to enter their ranks. For this reason children are not baptized by the ‘Witnesses’.” On this point the Correio de Manhã, February 21, 1959, published further: “We took occasion to note the presence of a number of young people from 12 to 16 years of age. We tried to learn from them whether they were being baptized because of family influence or of their own free will. All made plain that they were not forced by any influence whatever, although members of some of their families are Jehovah’s witnesses.”

Favorable testimony is also given when it is seen that they do not have discrimination of any kind. O Dia, of Rio, stated: “Persons of all social classes are going along with the movement of Jehovah’s witnesses.”

Questions From Readers

● Matthew 24:30 states: “All the tribes of the earth will go to wailing and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Why is it claimed that the Greek word here rendered “see,” which is horáo, means “discern” when practically all the scriptures using the word horáo carry the thought of literally seeing and not merely discerning a thing or person?—J. S., U.S.A.

The endeavor to force the literal meaning that this Greek verb often has, that of literally seeing with the naked eye, into all the texts that use the term when speaking of Christ’s second presence not only goes contrary to the plain basic teaching of the Scriptures that Jesus’ second presence is to be invisible, but violates the very meaning of the Greek verb horáo itself.

The Greek verb horáo is a defective one, which means that it does not exist in all tenses and that verbs from other roots have to be used in order to supplement the thought of sight. This is true in the future tense and also in the aorist tense. The use of such supplemental verbs cannot therefore be used to argue, as some argue, that horáo always has a literal meaning. Thus A Greek-English Lexicon, by Liddell and Scott, shows that horáo means not only to see with the naked eye but also to perceive, to observe, and “metaphorically, of mental sight, discern, perceive.”—1948 edition, pages 1244, 1245.

So we must consider both the context and the testimony of the rest of the Scriptures as to whether horáo refers to literal sight, seeing with one’s naked eyes, or to spiritual sight, seeing with the eyes of one’s understanding, having discernment. Because of the testimony of the rest of the Scriptures on our Lord’s coming again, horáo, when used in that connection, must refer to discernment and not physical sight. His being a spirit, it will be impossible for the naked human eye to see him directly. However, with their naked human eyes men will see outward manifestations that will betoken his invisible presence and arrival. By means of these outward manifestations, they will, metaphorically speaking, see with mental sight that he has come to the battle of the great day of God Almighty.—Rev. 1:7.

The metaphorical sense of horáo, that of discernment, is clearly proved by Romans 1:20, where the Greek horáo is used combined with the preposition katá to form the Greek verb