Question Box

● When and how should Scriptural questions be referred to the Society?

Every year the Society’s office in Brooklyn receives thousands of questions on various matters or requests for counsel in dealing with problems. These are received by letter as well as by telephone. We are pleased to be of help to our brothers in time of need. However, this puts a heavy burden on our office force. Many of the questions received deal with matters treated quite thoroughly in our literature, and many problems presented could often be cared for best by local elders acquainted with local circumstances.—1 Pet. 1:10.

Therefore we recommend that when you have a question you first look up the matter in the Society’s publications by using the subject and Scripture sections in the Watch Tower Publications Index or approach a local elder with your question. Further, when you have a problem on which you need counsel, it would be advisable first to seek counsel from the local elders. If your efforts in this regard do not provide you with the needed explanation or counsel, then you may direct the matter to our office. This should preferably be done by a letter in which you state all the facts clearly. Please do not use the telephone unless it is a very urgent matter.

You may wish to refer to the Question Box in the Kingdom Ministry of October 1974, if available, for additional comments on the question: “How can we get help to solve a personal problem?”