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“Your Sins Are Forgiven”The Watchtower—1970 | November 1
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The Great Teacher, Jesus Christ, showed that sin has a bad effect on all of us. He showed this when he did one of his wonderful acts or miracles. Let me tell you about it.
Jesus was staying in a town near the Sea of Galilee. A crowd of people came to see him there. So many people came that there was no more room for others to enter the house. No one else could even get near the door.
But more people kept coming. One group of people brought a man who was very sick. He was paralyzed. It took four men to carry him on a little bed or cot, because he could not walk.
Do you know why they wanted to bring this sick man to Jesus?They had faith that Jesus could help him. They believed that Jesus could heal him from that sickness.
But, with all those people in the house, how could they get the paralyzed man to Jesus? The men found a way. They climbed up onto the roof. It was a flat roof. And they made a big hole in it. Then they lowered the sick man on his cot right through that hole and into the room below. What faith they had!
All the people in the house were surprised when they saw what was happening. The paralyzed man on his cot came right down into their midst. Was Jesus angry because of what the men had done? Not at all! He was glad to see their faith. He said to the paralyzed man: “Your sins are forgiven.”
Some of the people did not think it was right for Jesus to say that. They did not think that he could forgive sins. So, to show that he really could, Jesus said to the man: “Get up, pick up your cot, and go to your home.”
When Jesus said that, the man was healed! He was not paralyzed anymore. Now he did not need other people to carry him about. He was able to get up all by himself and walk.
The people who saw this miracle were amazed. Never in all their lives had they seen anything as wonderful as that. They praised Jehovah for giving them this Great Teacher who could even heal people from their sickness.—Mark 2:1-12.
What do we learn from this miracle? We learn that Jesus had the power to forgive sins and to make sick persons well. But we also learn something else. We learn that people get sick because of sin.
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“Your Sins Are Forgiven”The Watchtower—1970 | November 1
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Will there ever be a time when we will not get sick? Will we ever get rid of sin? Well, what did Jesus do for that paralyzed man? He forgave his sins, and healed him. In this way Jesus showed what he is going to do in a complete way for all those who try hard to do what is right.
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