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Some teen-agers go right along with their parents, and there is no problem. Other teens re-
bel. You need to size up your teen-agers. You need to understand them: how they think, what they
like and dislike, what their needs are and what is really precious to them. Then you need to ask
YEHOVAH for wisdom, understanding, insight, to know how to approach your teen-agers with the
subject of the Sabbath. Any decisions about their Sabbath conduct and activities should be made
very carefully and with wise counsel. Also show them the positive side of YEHOVAH's way.
Make YEHOVAH's way the fun way of life -- the kind of fun that's fun today and next year -- with
NO kickbacks. In other words make YEHOVAH's way so attractive to your teen-agers that this
world's way will lose a lot of its appeal to them.
You need to really love and
work with your children. Don't be
an iron-fisted autocrat who lays
down the law, and woe be it to the
one who dares to disobey. Rather,
be a loving parent. Show real con-
cern for your children. Children
and teen-agers must have confi-
dence in their parents. Put the ac-
cent on building this confidence.
Farm Problems
Farmers have special ques-
tions concerning the Sabbath. For example, is it all right to care for livestock on the Sabbath?
Yeshua showed very clearly that feeding and watering stock is necessary on the Sabbath
and permissible (Luke 13:15). The same principle holds true for milking cows. However, if you
are spending an excessive amount of time caring for dairy cattle or livestock on the Sabbath, then
you should either learn to better organize your work or cut down the number. YEHOVAH does not
want us to be slaves to our occupation.
What about the sale of farm produce on the Sabbath? Amos 8:5 and Nehemiah 13:15-19
show that we should not transact any business on the Sabbath. To avoid this problem, you should
make this fact known tactfully. But if your neighbor is in real need of food, it wouldn't be wrong
to give it to him.
This brings up another problem. What if a neighbor has an emergency and asks to borrow
one of your tools on the Sabbath? In this case it is an "ox in the ditch" situation and it would be all
right to lend it to him. On the other extreme, suppose a neighbor habitually wants to borrow some
item from you on the Sabbath? If he is that close a neigh, he certainly should be aware of your con-
victions. If not, you could tactfully tell him the Sabbath is holy to you, and that you don't normally
loan out your tools on that day. Of course, with the Sabbath falling on different days of the week, it
may not be too much of a problem.
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