Your Favorite Illustrations!

[Sheep]

Hhmm. I think I agree... "more loving." That could be a big, needless embarrassment to someone in the congregation. At least give them a few more inches for their desire to do more.

[Meditate!]

i like an illustration on keeping up meeting attendance despite the difficulties we sometimes face... one problem we get is personality clashes or get rubbed up the wrong way.

 

You're on the Titanic and it hits the iceberg.. the ship is going down rapidly  and you end up in the freezing, icy water. Everyone around you is getting hypothermia, they are all having difficulty keeping their heads above the water and people ARE going to die unless someone comes to the rescue.

 

In the distance a ship comes and everyone, rightly,  gets their hopes up. The captain of the rescue  ship commands that life belts they have, be thrown to those in the water. One lands right by someone about twenty feet from you and they are desperately clinging on to it... No more life belts are left to cast out to the others so you need to swim to the closest one.  You swim as fast as you can possibly go.. but ss you get nearer to them you notice that they were the one that upset you at the dinner table earlier in the day. You slowly stop swimming and the Captain shouts.. Why are you stopping!!!!!

 

'I'm not going over to them, they upset me.. They can come to me!'

 

That is now the only life belt and everyone else is holding onto theirs, tightly,  till they are pulled out of the water (NS) .. the meetings are the life belt. Of the two people mentioned, presently only One of them will survive, as they are holding onto it firmly.. the other one will die if he doesn't put his personal feelings aside and join the other one.

 

Personality problems are just as real as that cold water but how silly to put yourself in danger by missing the meetings for the sake of some being cold towards you. We can sort out any difficulties 'after' you get out of the water.. can't we?

[Tcvancoops]

Talk today had a nice illustration describing how we show forgiveness vs how Jehovah shows forgiveness:

 

Imagine a chalk board, and written on it is the word “MISTAKE”.  When we forgive, we’ll take an eraser and wipe away that word.  However, on that chalk board you can still kinda see the word.  So we may have forgiven, but we don’t always forget.  We still kinda see the mistake someone had made.

However, when Jehovah forgives, he not only uses an eraser but he’ll also take a soapy wet sponge and completely wash the chalk board.  Not a trace of that word would be left to be scene.  Jehovah forgives and never looks back on any of our past mistakes.  Like it wasn’t even there to begin with.

[Qapla]

Nice illustration ...

 

 

 

 

as long as you know what a "chalk board" is - yes, I am old enough to know

Edited August 11, 2019 by Qapla

[kejedo]

Not necessarily my fave illustration, but one I have personally used and thought about  recently. You have probably heard the story of the rocking chair: "One exerts a good deal of energy and doesn't get anywhere." 'Worrying' has been compared to a rocking chair. With no other servants of Jehovah in my family, there are many dynamics that help keep me up all night. I use 'help" b/c i have a coupla sleep disorders that impair sleep ability, so maybe there are things I perseverate over since I am already awake. One of my sons also has a coupla sleep disorders and his doc is trying out some meds. He is a professional driver and works unbearably long hours, with little or no sleep. I recall functioning like this when i was 19 or 20, but he is now 36 and a half, and I recall, personally, that precision is directly proportional to amount of sleep and decreases as a function of aging. He has fallen asleep twice behind the wheel and taken out two side panels. Paying his company for these damages has eaten up the pay he earned for these extra fares. Wooden I like to be off my rocker? Y( fret is not just on a guitar neck)S 

[Tia]

On ‎8‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 2:49 PM, Qapla said:

Nice illustration ...

 

 

 

 

as long as you know what a "chalk board" is - yes, I am old enough to know

I like it too!  and sometimes you can see it on a whiteboard as well...hmmmm  - a keeper! 

[Old]

On 8/11/2019 at 11:49 AM, Qapla said:

Nice illustration ...

 

 

 

 

as long as you know what a "chalk board" is - yes, I am old enough to know

.... and if your are really old you can remember 'black boads'   

[Qapla]

Especially when those blackboards were actual slate ... not man made composition.

[Old]

Yeah, real slate black boards those were the days (I would just as soon forget.)

 Just dug my old composition book out of the attic.  

[Tia]

That looks like Little House on the Prairie!  🤣

[daydream]

Also Anne of Green Gables. Watched it on Netflix last year so still fresh in my mind.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Funny

Quote

 

 

 

Anne smashing the slate over Gilbert's head in Disproportionate Retribution for a comment about her hair. The book feels the need to clarify that it was the slate that cracked, and not Gilbert's head.

• Colleen Dewhurst's reaction to this in the film is priceless. She asks how hard Anne smashed the slate and smirks when Anne replies "very hard, I'm afraid."

 

 

Edited August 27, 2019 by M'Awan

[Meditate!]

Heard an illustration at a talk today.. 

 

The speaker said he often speaks to brothers who tell him that they don't know how to meditate... 

 

I actually wrote down his next words. 

 

If you know how to worry, you know how to meditate. 

 

Think of the effort people put into the 'what ifs' etc when worrying. Meditation on the scriptures is like that, but beneficial. 

Edited September 8, 2019 by Alan
spelling grammar

[Tortuga]

I worry about not being able to meditate...

[dove]

I knew you were going to say that...

[Tortuga]

Here's an illustration that I'm still working on.

 

The area you live in has a complete power outage just after sunset, the entire area is completely dark. You and your family huddle together for warmth and comfort,  afraid to go to sleep, you are anxiously waiting for the sun to come up but you don't have any way to see what time it is so you don't know how much longer it will be before sunrise. There is no doubt the sun will come up, you just don't know when,  so the darkness feels like forever. You and your family are staring to the east waiting for some sign of sunshine.  It feels like it is truly the darkest and coldest before dawn but suddenly it's dawn and you have light and warmth. No one needed to tell you the sun came up, there wasn't any city wide announcement,  it was obvious to everyone. 

 

That is I feel feel the start of Jehovah's Day and the GT will begin. The world is in darkness but when Jehovah's day begins it will be as obvious as the sunrise. 

[Daniel]

Great illustration ^^^. I thought of another aspect.

 

Some may be unaware or even question that the sun came up. It's because they are literally blind and can't see. So it will be during Jehovah's day. The spiritually blind won't be aware it started because they aren't looking for it. But just like the blind who can feel the warmth of the sun rising, it will be the same with the spiritually blind. They will know it's Jehovah's day when things heat up.

[Newtonian]

My favorite illustration is in Hebrews 3:4.

 

It is simple and effective in the ministry in showing evidence of Creation.

 

Of course, one can go into depth on this for the scientifically oriented - like comparing the complexity of the simplest possible living cell to their house.

 

As in our book highlighting we have a Creator who cares for us.

 

And that illustration on the cover - awesome!

[akpowenre]

Please I need illustration on having Evangelizing Spirit. Thanks 

[Friends just call me Ross]

1 hour ago, akpowenre said:

Please I need illustration on having Evangelizing Spirit. Thanks 

How about Paul running alongside the eunuch's chariot?  

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

Please I need illustration on having Evangelizing Spirit. Thanks 

This is in today's text (Sat here):

Much as electricity powers a light bulb, breathing energizes your voice when you speak or sing.

While talking about singing, I think you could adapt it...

Just Older

[Tortuga]

Here is another illustration that I'm working on. It's probably been used before but I like it anyway...

 

In the US an automobile driver needs to pass a test and get a driver license to legally drive. Poor drivers that dont follow the rules may have their license suspended and can not legally drive a car. That protects them and other drivers from their lack of judgement, poor driving habits and failure to follow the law. Their license is returned when they eventually demonstrate that they can obey the laws and are not a danger to themselves or others.

 

A baptized witness may be disfellowshipped for violating their dedication to Jehovah. They have their right to associate with other witnesses restricted and can not participate in service or the meetings. That protects others from being influenced by their lack of judgement, poor choices and failure to obey Jehovah. They may be reinstated when they show they will obey Jehovah and are not a danger to themselves or others. It's a loving arrangement that protects everyone.

 

Spending unnecessary time with a disfellowshipped person is like loaning your car to someone with a suspended license. No matter how inconvenient it is for them not to drive, it is foolish to put them in a position that might kill them or others.

Edited September 22, 2019 by Tortuga

[Tortuga]

Here is another illustration that I'm working that might help make a decision about using blood fractions.

 

The majority of the world is currently dependent on petroleum products that are derived from crude oil. There are large corporations that find and extract the crude oil, it goes to other oil refineries around the world and eventually becomes gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel, butane, propane, wax, plastic and even barbecue briquettes. 

 

Suppose that one day Jehovah says that the crude oil belongs to him and Christians should not extract or use crude oil. However, he doesn't say anything about gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel, wax or plastic. Some Christians may reason that if the crude oil was never removed from the ground, we wouldn't have any of those things, so they strictly avoid any products derived from the crude oil. Other Christians may reason that a worldly corporation broke Jehovah's law by extracting the crude oil and Jehovah will hold them accountable. A different corporation refined the crude oil and a different corporation created products out of the fractions. 

 

How far would a Christian go to avoid petroleum based products?

Edited September 22, 2019 by Tortuga

[Old Guy]

I heard a good illustration last night that might help a non-witness understand why someone would be removed from the organization.  He used a worldly organization called a Football Team.  The singular goal to which all the team members are totally devoted is to win.  If one of the players starts to deviate from the game plan and go his own way, he is corrected.  If he continues to go his own way and even causes some other players to do it his way and refuses to conform to the team effort, he is fired.

Anyway, I had never heard this before.

 

What good illustration have you heard lately?

 

(Note to moderator - check spelling and let me know if I have put it in the right place)