A need for new students

[JayV]

Recently I had a Bible study who was very smart and attentive and thoughtful. In general even though he was very young I would cover heavier material with him and he did quite well. One study something came up and I started talking about Isreal and I immediately knew something was wrong and after some time I asked “do you know who the Israelites are?" He said no. I probed a little bit and found out Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, MOSES he knew little to nothing about  I thought maybe knows them as Jews. Aside from Hitler and WW2 that was all he knew. I ended up giving him a My Book of Bible Stories and had him read corresponding stories to what we were studying. He was not an isolated case. With many young people I have found they just don't know biblical history. I mean there was a Ministeral Servant at our hall (he is a great brother) that had no idea who King Saul was. Is this knowledge just not important. (For this next section please no judgement) I love the new Lessons from Bible stories but the history feels secondary and sometimes even absent. When I was younger and went to my grandmother's (who was in the truth) I would watch a religious anime on TV and it served as a springboard to personal study through out the years. Would it be beneficial for the brothers to produce something like this? Something thing easy. Even a step above a slideshow. Like the old Noah and David videos. I would not aim it at young ones but more towards those like the MS in my congregation. He didn't fully start putting together who Hezekiah was until the movie a few years ago. One important reason to consider this is when I watched that Bible anime I picked up a few erroneous facts that have been weened out. With all the new and down right horrible Biblical movies coming out being armed with the truth would be a benefit.

Edited April 17, 2019 by JayV

[Leon J]

That's interesting that an MS isnt' away of King Saul but not entirely that strange to me.

A missionary brother from our area  serves in an African land that is very poor. He comes home every few years and spends a little time visiting with his family and all the congregations in the area. It's a treat to work with him in service because of the loving way he talks about the brother there.

 

All the brothers in his assignment are fishermen or subsistence farmers. They don't have a lot of money and work from before the sun comes up till dusk. Candles can cost a days wage and electricity service is very random. Therefore the members of the congregation do not have a lot of time to study.

 

He related that the watchtower study sometimes takes 2 hours because of this. They ask the question, read the paragraph then ask the questions again. after about a minute someone will raise their hand. He said that they spend most of their elder meetings reading from the flock book in addition to correspondence
 

They love Jehovah and devour as much spiritual food as possible but their knowledge is very limited.

[Cushi]

1 hour ago, Leon J said:

That's interesting that an MS isnt' away of King Saul but not entirely that strange to me.

A missionary brother from our area  serves in an African land that is very poor. He comes home every few years and spends a little time visiting with his family and all the congregations in the area. It's a treat to work with him in service because of the loving way he talks about the brother there.

 

All the brothers in his assignment are fishermen or subsistence farmers. They don't have a lot of money and work from before the sun comes up till dusk. Candles can cost a days wage and electricity service is very random. Therefore the members of the congregation do not have a lot of time to study.

 

He related that the watchtower study sometimes takes 2 hours because of this. They ask the question, read the paragraph then ask the questions again. after about a minute someone will raise their hand. He said that they spend most of their elder meetings reading from the flock book in addition to correspondence
 

They love Jehovah and devour as much spiritual food as possible but their knowledge is very limited.

Yes, I had heard that knowledge of the Bible and the truth is very limited in some African lands. That they only know the basics but love Jehovah. I couldn’t figure out why. This makes sense.

[Leon J]

@Brother Jack He said they have a lot of faith but there's also so much upheaval and disease outbreaks that a lot of them can be malnourished which leads to learning problems.

during an ebola outbreak a few years ago he wasn't able to travel back for almost a year. He was genuinely worried about them because he would only get news every few weeks from the branch or someone who could actually write. 

[Ludwika]

This doesn't just happen in poor countries, I have found very few people know history these days here in new Zealand. And I'm not just talking about biblical history. What was the holocaust? What or who was a Tzar? Never mind where is Russia on the map! When I was in primary school ( admittedly many years ago!) we had bible stories read every morning, so as an adult some of the bible characters were familiar. Now most children have never heard that there was a global flood. So when these people come to study, they can't grasp timelines,  they can't put the picture together in their minds, and need a lot of assistance before they can get a sense of the bible's message. 

[Good-O]

My FS group talked today about the same identical problem here in our own territory.  It is beyond belief almost to see how people know nothing about nothing!

[Alexa]

Its time consuming to produce something like an anime Bible. I know of another situation an old woman who has a memory loss and had a hard time knowing things and hearing things has been studied by her daughter who is a witness. The daughter asked the CO if her mother can be qualified for baptism. The CO replied if she know who is Jehovah and Jesus, she can get qualified. The old woman gets baptized

[dove]

11 minutes ago, Good-O said:

My FS group talked today about the same identical problem here in our own territory.  It is beyond belief almost to see how people know nothing about nothing!

That was so evident when late night hosts would go on the streets and ask people randomly about some well known event or famous person. The answers they got were so unbelievably naive and clueless that I thought it had to be set up, but it wasn't...

[Good-O]

1 minute ago, Dove said:

That was so evident when late night hosts would go on the streets and ask people randomly about some well known event or famous person. The answers they got were so unbelievably naive and clueless that I thought it had to be set up, but it wasn't...

I had forgotten about that....and I thought it was a set up as well.  

 

[Cushi]

46 minutes ago, Dove said:

That was so evident when late night hosts would go on the streets and ask people randomly about some well known event or famous person. The answers they got were so unbelievably naive and clueless that I thought it had to be set up, but it wasn't...

Lol so true.

[well]

No wonder our preaching method is getting more simply than ever...

[JayV]

These are the anime I watched. Do think the high production of most Anime. The fact is all Japanese animation is called anime. I have seen some very long quality anime these being more towards the middle.

[JayV]

These videos are what I was thinking could be a good starting point.

[Alexa]

Yes I have those videos. Superbook is something that was aired here in our local channel. I think the cost is also an important factor and animators and time. But still Caleb and Sophia lessons are already good ones

[Gimestr]

https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/teenagers/bible-study-activities/

https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/children/family-worship-projects/

 

These are awesome!!!  They have so much info in them and are designed for all ages.  Download the parents guide, it has everything, it even breaks it down by age group, so you can use it for family worship with kids of different ages.

 

I use them for myself sometimes when I want to have a light and fun study.  

 

https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/children/family-worship-projects/choosing-to-serve-jehovah-god/

 

This one in particular cause me to read all of 1 Samuel because it ends in a cliffhanger.  The other day, I wow'd a few brothers and sisters out in service by telling them that Rahab was the great-great-grandmother of David.  Everyone was floored by it, and I got that piece of information from the Bible Character Cards designed for kids.  

[JayV]

2 hours ago, Gimestr said:

These are awesome!!!  They have so much info in them and are designed for all ages.  Download the parents guide, it has everything, it even breaks it down by age group, so you can use it for family worship with kids of different ages.

I agree these are great. But for some asking them to sit and study more things can be a bit much depending on their life. The young man I studied with was in an odd situation he lived 2 or more hours away so he did his studying on the trips back and forth. Others I've had to talk up the ease of it and find their balance between this is just an aid and knowing this is a great benefit. We live in a very different time. A person I work with said to me I don't read. He can read he chooses not to read. He says if they haven't made a video of it they don't want him to know it. He is definitely on the extreme but many are nearer to him than we think. I often sit and wonder how I would study with him if he ever took the interest, his wife was an RV for a while, and I would have to use every video the brothers have produced. I'm sure he would read some as his appreciation grew and especially when he started in the ministry and joined the school (yes, I fantasize about bringing the people I work with into the truth) but for now Since have to get his interest. I asked him if he read comic books, he looked in the eye and said "I don't read unless I have to."

There is a point in there somewhere.

[JayV]

3 hours ago, Gimestr said:

The other day, I wow'd a few brothers and sisters out in service by telling them that Rahab was the great-great-grandmother of David. 

The funny thing is I learned that from the cartoon I watched. I researched it in the Bible and publications and developed a minor obsession with biblical genealogies. Once when I was in highschool a kid saw me writing names and dates in a notebook and asked me what I was doing I said writing the names and life spans of people  in the Bible and to figure out how long current history is. He looked at me weird and asked what class was that for I said none and kept on working. I was weird......and lonely.

[Cushi]

11 hours ago, JayV said:

These videos are what I was thinking could be a good starting point.

Those came to mind when I read your post 

[EccentricM]

12 hours ago, ivy said:

No wonder our preaching method is getting more simply than ever...

Yes. Sometimes when more "highly educated" or intelligent people in the world read certain publications or parts of the website (for example the bible teach self study section), they may scoff and find it "too" simplistic of a format. But with such people I explain that, "it's not because the Bible is for simple people only, but rather our message has to go out to 'people of all sorts', so whilst it's very simple, there are certainly deeper things you could dig into, but these foundational things have to be accessible for 'everyone' no matter their background or educational level".

[dove]

29 minutes ago, EccentricM said:

Yes. Sometimes when more "highly educated" or intelligent people in the world read certain publications or parts of the website (for example the bible teach self study section), they may scoff and find it "too" simplistic of a format. But with such people I explain that, "it's not because the Bible is for simple people only, but rather our message has to go out to 'people of all sorts', so whilst it's very simple, there are certainly deeper things you could dig into, but these foundational things have to be accessible for 'everyone' no matter their background or educational level".

Yes, Jesus' method of preaching to both the lowliest of people and the highly educated  was an example of simplicity..

[JayV]

20 minutes ago, Dove said:

Yes, Jesus' method of preaching to both the lowliest of people and the highly educated  was an example of simplicity..

Yes look at what he talked to Nicodemus about and the sermon on the mount.

[dove]

3 minutes ago, JayV said:

Yes look at what he talked to Nicodemus about and the sermon on the mount.

Yes I thought of the Sermon on the Mount as a good example. Jesus wanted the people to understand his message, not make an impression. 

[JayV]

58 minutes ago, EccentricM said:

so whilst it's very simple, there are certainly deeper things you could dig into, but these foundational things have to be accessible for 'everyone' no matter their background or educational level".

I love this and I think providing something to help the masses gain an interest in digging deeper would be a great help.

[Gimestr]

13 hours ago, JayV said:

I agree these are great. But for some asking them to sit and study more things can be a bit much depending on their life. The young man I studied with was in an odd situation he lived 2 or more hours away so he did his studying on the trips back and forth. Others I've had to talk up the ease of it and find their balance between this is just an aid and knowing this is a great benefit. We live in a very different time. A person I work with said to me I don't read. He can read he chooses not to read. He says if they haven't made a video of it they don't want him to know it. He is definitely on the extreme but many are nearer to him than we think. I often sit and wonder how I would study with him if he ever took the interest, his wife was an RV for a while, and I would have to use every video the brothers have produced. I'm sure he would read some as his appreciation grew and especially when he started in the ministry and joined the school (yes, I fantasize about bringing the people I work with into the truth) but for now Since have to get his interest. I asked him if he read comic books, he looked in the eye and said "I don't read unless I have to."

There is a point in there somewhere.

I just recommended these because they go over a lot of the stories in the bible. These are colorful comic books.  A lot of them include videos, fun coloring, and arts and crafts assignments.  It is not an intense study, now it can be turned into a much harder study if wanted to. I hated reading as a kid, I would have loved these.

 

[JayV]

1 hour ago, Gimestr said:

I just recommended these because they go over a lot of the stories in the bible. These are colorful comic books.  A lot of them include videos, fun coloring, and arts and crafts assignments.  It is not an intense study, now it can be turned into a much harder study if wanted to. I hated reading as a kid, I would have loved these.

 

 

I agree they are wonderful. They are great for younger ones but there is a quickly growing number of people I don't know what can help them.