Questions from the readers (W15, 01/01) “What is the christian position regarding looking out the window ?†God’s word, the Bible, commands us to thoroughly “make sure of all things; hold fast to what is fine. Abstain from every form of wickednessâ€. (1 Tess 4:22, 23) It is clear that, in order to avoid ‘every form of wickedness’, the God-fearing christian must ‘make sure’ that his beliefs, conduct, and even his thinking are in accordance with Jehovah’s will. ‘Making sure of all things’ involves studying the Scriptures to understand the mind of God. This is crucial, because not everything in the Bible consists on direct commands to do something or prohibitions regarding something else. Naturally, due to our imperfect nature, we cannot fully understand Jehovah’s way of thinking; Still, we’re encouraged to seek “intimacy with Jehovahâ€. (Ps 25:14) How do we achieve this? By carefully examine the Bible accounts and to meditate on them, we can begin to understand God’s qualities and his way of thinking. This is certainly the case when we consider what God thinks about looking out windows. In the early dealings of Jehovah with humans, looking out windows wouldn’t be an issue, since most would live in simple shelters, with a single opening serving as doorway. In the early days of the patriarchs, tents were used as homes, and these wouldn’t have windows either. However, as the first cities were built, using more permanent materials, such as stone, windows were introduced into the architecture. We must keep in mind that the construction of concentrated human settlements in the early stages of human history was contrary to God’s commandment to the first human couple to “be fruitful and fill the earthâ€. (Gen 1:28) No doubt, the influence of the pre-deluge fallen angels led mankind into desobey God by building cities, which in turn resulted in the invention of windows, which then became stumbling blocks for mankind. When God directed Noah to build an ark that would serve as saving vessel for his family and the animals, he gave detailed instructions for the inclusion of an opening immediatly below the roof: “Leave an 18-inch opening below the roof all the way around [the ark]. Put the door on the side, and build three decks inside the boat--lower, middle, and upper.†(Genesis 6:16, New Living Translation) Was this opening a “window†in the architectural sense? No. Unlike windows in homes, this opening was placed imediatly under the roof, serving only for ventilation and lighting purposes, as can be seen by its small vertical dimentions (18 inches / 45 cms) and the fact that it would be placed all the way around. When the deluge stopped and the ark was floating free, Noah wasn’t allowed by Jehovah to look out this opening to inspect the landscape; Instead, on the 40th day after the ark landed on Mount Ararat, he opened a ‘window’, not to look through it, but instead to release a raven and a dove to scout the surrounding areas for dry land. (Gen 8: 6-11) Even in this earliest mention of a “windowâ€, Noah didn’t look through it. Clearly, Noah understood Jehovah’s way of thinking. Noah and his descendants lived in tents soon after leaving the ark, but it didn’t take too long before Satan’s rebellious ways lead Noah’s grandson, Nimrod, described in the Bible as a “mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah†(Genesis 10:9) In his rebellion against God, he built the first post-deluge empire, based on the contruction of several cities in the plains of Shinar, including Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh. No doubt, in all of these cities existed houses whose architecture included windows. This is confirmed by modern archaeology. In the days of the patriarch Isaac, the heathen people of the Philistines lived in houses with windows. When Isaac and his attractive wife Rebekah took an extended stay at the city of Gerar, he, fearing that the immoral Philistines might kill him to steal his wife, said that Rebekah was his sister. In the meantime, the Philistine king, Abimelech, obviously with immoral intentions, had an eye on Rebekah. The account says: “A·bim′e·lech, king of the Phi·lis′tines, was looking out of the window and taking in the sight, and there was Isaac having a good time with Re·bek′ah his wife†(Gen 26:8) Unbeknown to Isaac, Abimelech had been ‘looking out of the window’ with immoral intentions towards Rebekah. However, Jehovah providentially made Isaac to engage into foreplay with his wife, thus revealing their bond, so that a potential rape was averted. The Bible is very clear when repeatedly showing its readers how morally dangerous looking out the window can be, even for a faithful servant of Jehovah. The book of Proverbs also speaks of a loyal servant of Jehovah who, against all godly wisdom, looked out of a window, only to become interested in become a voyeuristic witness of an act of immoral seduction between a married woman and a young man. (Pro 7:6-20) This certainly led to an unclean conscience before God. The psalmist wrote: “Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.†(Psalms 119:37) Certainly it would have been better to avoid looking out the window than to carry the burden of an unclean conscience! Looking out the window can also lead to severe loss of spirituallity. When David returned from a successful military campaign that resulted in recovering the covenant ark from the Philistines, his wife Michal, instead of coming down and join her husband in a most appropriate joyous celebration for such victory for theocracy, she “looked down through the window and got to see King David leaping and dancing around before Jehovah; and she began to despise him in her heart.†(2 Sam 6:16) Being the daughter of the unfaithful King Saul, Michal lacked spiritual insight to understand Jehovah’s way of thinking, and recklessly looked out of the window. This resulted not only in rejecting the theocratic arrangement of Jehovah regarding the covenant ark, but also in despising her husband, which resulted up in the breaking of her marriage. How tragic! As with other types of brazen conduct that end up resulting in physical damage for the individual, the Bible also inform us of the hazards that result from looking out of windows. Take, for example, the wicked queen Jezabel, widow of King Ahab of Israel. When Jehu, the appointed agent from Jehovah, approached the palace in Jezreel to request a hearing before the queen, the paganish Jezabel “heard about it ... painted her eyes, arranged her hair and looked out of a window.†This offensive gesture outraged Jehu, that cried out to her servants: “let her drop!â€; so they did and Jezabel died instantly for her blasphemy. - 2 Kings 9:30-33 The heathen mother of the cananite general Sisera also had the filthy habit of looking out of the window. The Bible tells: "Through the window peered Sisera's mother; behind the lattice she cried out, 'Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why is the clatter of his chariots delayed?' (Jud 5:28) However, even her detestable practice couldn’t revert the result of Jehovah’s judgement against Sisera and the army of the cananite king Jabin. Even faithful christians must guard themselves against this dangerous practice. Remember how the young Eutychus allowed himself to sit by a window while Paul was delivering a discourse in Troas? While the Scriptures don’t directly mention so, obviously Euthycus peeked out of the window. Instead of paying attention to the theocratic message delivered by Paul during his fairwell discourse, Eutychus allowed his mind to wander to the worldly affairs that he could watch from the window, and that made him sleepy - spiritually and physically. He momantarily lost his precious balace - his relationship with Jehovah - fell and died. How tragic for this young man! Fortunately, God is merciful and saw something good in the young Eutychus and empowered the apostle Paul to bring him back to life. - Acts 20:7-12; 1 Kings 14:13 James warned us to not be ‘deceiving ourselves with false reasoning’. (James 1:22) Such ‘false reasoning’ includes thinking that, just because the Bible doesn’t explicitly condemns certain practice, such practice becomes acceptable, even desireable for a Christian. The Bible clearly depicts looking out the windows on a very unfavorable light. This practice is usually linked to: a) detestable heathens b) spiritually weak people and c) has hazardous consequences, both spiritually and phisically. Think about it: If God wanted us to look out the windows, wouldn’t he made that clear in his inspired word? Those who wish to please Jehovah take into account his feelings. He hates badness. At first glance, some practices may not seem so bad. But after meditating on the cited scriptures, you will likely see the wisdom of Jehovah’s laws and points of view. Following a different path than the majority of the wordly people may seem challenging; yet, living in a way that pleases God brings great satisfaction and happiness. (Isa 48:17, 18) And it is something that is within your reach. You CAN avoid looking out of windows. Eden
Dear reader, This publication will not endorse nor otherwise advise against the use of such software. It's not wrong to use software. As for looking into a computer screen and visualize "Windows" (regardless of its revision number) is something that each christian must decide for himself. Remember, "each one should carry its own load" (Galatians 6:5) If a Christian decides his conscience allows him to use Windows, others should not criticize him; But if his conscience abhors such usage, others shouldn't try to dissuade him from using Mac OSX or Linux. Eden
If I don't see some green every day , I get depressed , I spend a lot of time looking out my windows which are surrounded by green stuff growing , that Jah and Jesus made ..Also just to be reflective ...I worked in an office that was fully windowed all the way around our work areas. and was nearly surrounded by a "green belt" as they call it ..the work environment was very peaceful even with what was considered a high stress job ( ok any job dealing with someone else's money is stressful) when the market started changing the cost of the offices was prohibitive so we moved to new offices again completely surrounded with open glass windows. but the view was all building and tarred and cemented parking lots ...the tempers in that office rose by at least 50% and near immediately after moving into the new offices... I completely recommend that you have many windows surrounded by much greenery ...also one can appreciate any kind of beauty without lusting after it ...and Elijah lived with a widow for three years from another country , and do we assume he couldn't control his thoughts and actions ...(sorry hun , you have just been disfellow shipped because it looks bad to others ) ...don't taste , don't touch , and don't share ...another fact is that as soon as they started to completely cover or close the windows in the Kingdom hall , I was less able to concentrate as that feeling of being forced and confined went into high gear ...an enclosed building with far less exits puts me also on edge having grown up with fire drills and kiss your life goodbye bomb drills and should there be a violent mob also less ways to retreat ...So I heartily disagree . many windows are a must if you must be in a building ..and looking at everything God made should bring you joy and comfort ...its up to you to control what you think ...having a wall there doesn't change self control ...
Uh-oh! It looks like I'm in trouble then - I have had several windows open on the computer at the same time - and I've been looking through all of them!
Pssssssst psssttttt ... Do I have to say the obvious? It's a parody .... That's why it's in the Shout Box. However, ponder about this for a moment: With a little imagination, it is entirely possible to construct an argument based on the Bible and using a familiar wording to defend something as absurd as a prohibition to look out of a window. What does this tell you ...? Eden
I sorta figured you had something like that in mind ...as also there are usually two ways you can apply questions ...to which of the angels did God say "today ....... can be construed as "not to any angel" or "to which angel" which is true when reading some or many sentences ..as to where you place the word emphasis will determine or even change the statements reference ...and yes I got what you were looking for ...so I took the simply for the sake of argument stance ...that there are many ways to look a subject being researched ...just as sitting at a circular (also argument) table with something in the center all can see whatever is there from different perspective yet it is the same item ....
Eden, I have another secret commandment : "One [man] has faith to eat everything, but the [man] who is weak eats vegetables." - Rom. 14:2 "But solid food belongs to mature people, to those who through use have their perceptive powers trained to distinguish both right and wrong." - He. 5:14 Now, where's the beef ?