dedicated witnesses. In harmony with Deuteronomy 14:21, the administering of blood upon request to worldly persons is left to the Christian doctor’s own conscience. This is similar to the situation facing a Christian butcher or grocer who must decide whether he can conscientiously sell blood sausage to a worldly person.b

MAKING YOUR DECISION

These few examples of how Christians may go about deciding on their employment may be helpful when it comes to considering types of employment mentioned here. The Christian should always consider God’s laws in everything he does; and whatever he does, he does unto Jehovah. (1 Cor. 10:31) If what he does is not contrary to God’s law and “Caesar’s” just laws, he is within his rights in doing it, and no one should criticize him. When a Christian is in doubt about what he should do, he should pray to Jehovah God. (1 Pet. 5:6, 7) He should read the Bible and consider Christian publications that deal with his problem. (The Watch Tower Publications Index contains many references under “Employment.”) He can talk to the congregation overseer. However, after doing these things it is the individual who, knowing all the circumstances and consequences, must analyze matters and then decide. Others cannot make his decision, if it is a matter of conscience.

When faced with a decision, you may feel in advance that your conscience would bother you if you decided in a certain manner. The thing to do, then, is to avoid that which will cause you to have a troubled conscience. Christians desire to please Jehovah and so, whatever their employment, it should be the kind of work they can do with a clear conscience before Jehovah. “Whatever you are doing, work at it whole-souled as to Jehovah, and not to men.”—Col. 3:23; 1 Tim. 1:18, 19; 1 Pet. 3:16.

Sunday School Unsatisfying

◆ In Florida one of Jehovah’s witnesses had the following experience: “A nine-year-old girl living on my street came to my home one evening. She said she had heard that I was a Bible instructor and asked if I would be willing to study the Bible with her, because, after attending Sunday school for three years, they were still reading stories about pictures they colored. I gave her the book From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained and the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures for her parents to look over. The next evening I called on the parents, explained our work and method of study. They gave their daughter permission to study during summer vacation but said she would have to go back to Sunday school when school started. During our studies sincere appreciation and much enthusiasm were shown.

“The first time she was back in Sunday school she told her classmates about Paradise and the Kingdom for which Christians are to pray. The teacher was amazed and asked her where she got her information. ‘From the Bible,’ she answered, ‘and a nice lady helped me to understand it.’ Every Sunday she came home from Sunday school crying because she did not learn anything about God’s kingdom or about God’s name. Finally she thought of an idea. She looked up scriptures and bombarded her parents with questions that they could not answer, with the result that we resumed our study in the Paradise book and she no longer goes to Sunday school. Also, she brought over her seven-year-old neighbor boy to get him started in studying the Bible.”