00:00:01 Collette, I’m home.
00:00:03 In the kitchen, Curtis.
00:00:06 How was your day?
00:00:07 Oh, it was a long day, but it’s nice being home.
00:00:09 That smells amazing! I can’t wait.
00:00:11 Oh, well, it will be ready in a few minutes.
00:00:13 But I have a surprise;
00:00:16 my job gave us tickets to the game this weekend
00:00:18 —enough for all of us to go.
00:00:20 So it’s downtown at the . . .
00:00:21 That sounded like fun.
00:00:23 It was a sport we could enjoy watching.
00:00:26 Collette and I hadn’t been in years,
00:00:27 and I don’t think the kids had ever gone.
00:00:35 We were all looking forward to a family night out.
00:00:42 But, Dad, what exactly do we do during the national anthem?
00:00:48 Honestly, I wasn’t sure.
00:00:51 Ladies and gentlemen,
00:00:52 would you please stand for the singing
00:00:54 of our national anthem?
00:01:04 Dad, I have a question too.
00:01:07 Will they salute the flag at my new school?
00:01:09 That’s right.
00:01:11 The conference with her teachers was next week,
00:01:14 and we didn’t know what they’d do there.
00:01:15 OK, class. Now that everyone is here,
00:01:17 let’s all stand for the pledge of allegiance.
00:01:23 Elizabeth, is everything all right?
00:01:27 What do you think, Honey?
00:01:32 Well, tomorrow night is our Family Worship evening.
00:01:35 So why don’t we do a study project as a family
00:01:38 on Christian neutrality at public events?
00:01:41 That sounds like a good idea.
00:01:42 Yeah.
00:01:43 I think this will be great. We’ll all get a chance to do our research.
00:01:49 I asked Daniel to research Christian principles on neutrality.
00:01:55 Collette and Elizabeth would find examples
00:01:57 of ones who proved loyal under pressure.
00:02:02 And for me,
00:02:04 my job was to call Elizabeth’s new school
00:02:07 to find out if they saluted the flag or sang the anthem.
00:02:11 Hello.
00:02:12 Hi, Mr. Johnson? This is Curtis, Elizabeth’s dad.
00:02:17 We’d studied this topic when the kids were younger,
00:02:20 but we needed reminders for these new challenges.
00:02:23 The kids found some great information.
00:02:28 Several Bible principles applied.
00:02:30 But what Jesus said at Matthew 4:10
00:02:33 was an essential foundation:
00:02:36 “It is Jehovah your God you must worship,
00:02:39 and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.”
00:02:44 If we participate in a nationalistic ceremony,
00:02:48 we’re sharing in worship
00:02:50 of something or someone other than Jehovah God.
00:02:53 But what would help us know what to do?
00:02:57 Elizabeth found some good examples to imitate.
00:03:01 The account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
00:03:04 was one of our favorites.
00:03:06 When King Nebuchadnezzar ordered them to worship the gold image,
00:03:10 they bravely stood while others bowed down.
00:03:14 They were determined to worship only Jehovah,
00:03:18 and He rescued them from the furnace.
00:03:21 And there are modern-day examples
00:03:23 of courage like the three Hebrews.
00:03:26 Some children have had to take a stand
00:03:28 when governments tried to force them
00:03:31 to take part in patriotic events during wartime,
00:03:34 when feelings of national pride ran strong.
00:03:37 And despite legal victories in some countries,
00:03:40 young ones today are still put to the test.
00:03:44 We learned there was no one answer on what to do.
00:03:48 Situations are different depending on where we live
00:03:52 or what a person does to show he’s participating.
00:03:55 But in every case,
00:03:58 Christians in some way make it evident
00:04:00 that they are respectful observers, not participants.
00:04:05 We felt good because we had decided
00:04:08 what we would do to be respectful but neutral
00:04:12 and show Jehovah that our family worships him alone.
