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875.
REMOVING ANOTHER BOULDER OF STUMBLING
FOR GOD'S PEOPLE. (Isaiah 62:10).
REGARDING THE PROHIBITED USE OF THE WORD 'LUCKY'.
The common use of certain ordinary words is ignorantly prohibited from use among
members of the sect who like to call themselves Jehovah's Witnesses. For
example, JWs who repeatedly use the word 'lucky' are soon placed under a social
ban. But only when this word is used to utter an augury
a false sign, particularly
a false prophetic sign (omen)
is the word being used in an unGodly way.
It is bizarre that while JWs have for many years uttered and published many
false prophetic signs of their own, more than any other religion, they are
over-sensitive about the use of such words as 'lucky' and 'chance'.
In the book of Proverbs 24:10 it states the following: "If your strength
fails on a lucky day, how helpless will you be on a day of
disaster!" (New English Bible). This simply means: If your strength fails
over a less demanding matter when you are at your best (on a fortuitous day),
then it will certainly fail on a day of disaster.
As to the scriptural denunciation against the "god of Good Luck" described in
Isaiah 65:11,12 of the New World Translation, this scripture teaches that we
must not ignore the voice of God by instead worshipping a man-made god of good
luck, fate, or destiny. But it does not teach that we are prohibited from using
the word 'lucky' in its proper context, or that we are to substitute it with
words like 'fortuitous' or 'fortunate'; for they all mean the same thing.
The following are the dictionary definitions of the particular words in question:
LUCKY:
1.
Attended by good luck. In early use, fortunate, successful, prosperous.
Now: Fortunate by chance.
2.
Of a literary composition: Having an unstudied felicity. 1700.
3.
Of the nature of good luck; occurring by chance and producing happy results. 1547.
4.
Presaging or likely to promote good luck. 1549.
5.
Occurring by chance; casual, fortuitous. 1691.
6.
Used as a term or address of endearment, esp. to a woman.
(Oxford Dictionary).
CHANCE:
1.
The happening of events; the way in which things fall out; fortune: case;
a fortuitous circumstance.
2.
A fortuitous event or occurrence; often a mischance.
3. (One's) hap, luck, lot. 1674.
4.
An opportunity.
5.
A possibility or probability: as distinct from a certainty. Absence of design or assignable cause,
fortuity; often spoken of as a cause of events. 1526.
(Oxford Dictionary).
FORTUITOUS:
That happens or is produced by fortune or chance; accidental, casual.
(Oxford Dictionary).
1/12/96.
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