Young People Ask . . .
Is Anything Worth Believing In?
“THE kids I go to school with don’t believe in politics or much of anything else,” said Anne-Lynne, a tenth-grader from California. What’s important, then, to them? “Looking good—nice haircuts, designer jeans, makeup.” Her comments were echoed by teenagers across the United States. Is that how your friends look at things?
Did you know that the Number Two killer of American young people is suicide? What’s wrong? A University study recently showed that many American high school students view their lives as empty and meaningless. Do you see a connection? Do you wish your life were more meaningful?
Teenagers in other countries have similar feelings. The French newspaper Le Monde comments on “a turning inward and a fatalism among the youth” of France. In Japan a poll revealed that only 20 percent of Japanese youths would sacrifice their interests for the well-being of their fellow countrymen. Most youths polled no longer accepted the traditional Japanese belief in putting society’s interests above their own.
“It’s easy to feel alienated, like nobody really wants to listen to you,” says June, a New York City teenager. “My favorite record album is about a young person that no one will relate to. He can’t get through to his family, his teachers, or anyone. He feels like there is an invisible wall around him. Sometimes I can identify with that.”
Many adults criticize rock music. But the fact is that such music often expresses the very real frustrations and concerns of young people. A recently popular song was singled out by a California teenager. “The title of the song is just nonsense syllables,” she said. “The point of the lyrics is that when kids hear the older generation preaching to them it’s just so many words without meaning. Nobody believes what they are saying.”
How can young people believe in politics when politicians have brought the world to the verge of nuclear war, and keep making bombs? And religion? In a Gallup poll 40 percent of young people rated clergymen anywhere from “only average” to “very low” in personal honesty and ethics! Is it any wonder that young people are wary of believing anything?
Answering Basic Questions
David, now a young man, was a teenager during the turbulent 1960’s. He recalls: “As a college student I was very depressed by world conditions, especially war. I was not very religious, but I remember hitchhiking one night and praying that, if there was a God, he would please help me understand the reason for all the trouble on earth.”
“I don’t think I really expected an answer to my prayer,” he continues, “but that night I was picked up by a fellow about my age who was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. We started talking about the Bible’s view of war and I guess he could tell I was intrigued, because he took me to his house, and we stayed up talking past midnight.
“I was stunned to learn that the Bible had predicted the very world problems that so upset me! I read Matthew chapter 24, where Jesus prophesied of a time period marked by a sudden outbreak of war, followed by food shortages, earthquakes and a worldwide increase in lawlessness. It certainly sounded like a description of the 20th century.
“I was amazed that such things were in the Bible! After all, I had always thought of the Bible as just a book of religious ritual, with a few stories and parables thrown in for variety. The Witness gave me a copy of the Bible that night and I started reading it through.”
Finding Reasons for Belief
What this teenager read changed his life. “I was struck by the dynamic personality of Jesus,” he relates. “My church had always given me the impression that Jesus was a passive character who spent his time forgiving people of their sins. The Bible showed him to be a decisive leader, someone who was not afraid to denounce religious hypocrisy scathingly; and a man of action, driving the money changers out of the temple. Here was a leader I could believe in!
“Another revelation was the name and personality of Jehovah God. My church had been confused about who God was, and so was I. God was so distant and vague that he didn’t even have a name. His main quality seemed to be an indifferent acceptance of everything, including evil, which the church piously called his ‘all encompassing love.’ I remember being amazed when it dawned on me one day, while reading the prophecy of Isaiah, that God could be sarcastic! I realized that God had very definite opinions about things and even had a sense of humor, that he was not just a First Cause but a real Person with a name—Jehovah.”—Psalm 83:18.
“All of this took time to sink in,” David admits. “I had been so mixed up! When the Witnesses showed me the Bible’s promise that God is soon going to put an end to wickedness, I couldn’t accept it. I thought it was too good to be true, like something out of a fairy tale.
“But reading the book of Ecclesiastes, with its very realistic viewpoint of life, helped convince me that the Bible is no book of fairy tales. I was also impressed by people I met in the local congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses. They were imperfect, of course, but had made great changes in their lives. The Witnesses not only preached brotherly love but practised it by unselfishly visiting their neighbors and offering to help them study the Bible. The congregation went out of its way to show me Christian love. Most important, they had something solid to believe in and it gave them a purpose in life that I envied.”
Three years after his prayer on that lonely road, this young man became one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. “Before studying the Bible I thought I had lost faith in God,” he remembers, “but really I hadn’t known what faith was all about. I thought I was well educated, but my Bible ignorance was appalling.”
What About You?
If the political and religious leaders of this world have disillusioned you, you are not alone. But do not let discouragement stop you from investigating something truly worth believing in that can give you a real purpose in life. Do you really want to understand why there is so much war, cruelty and suffering in the world? Jehovah’s Witnesses can show you the satisfying Bible explanation. Does your life seem empty, meaningless? It can be full of purpose! Jehovah God is interested in helping you to find a meaningful life. Why not sincerely pray to him for such help? Then work in harmony with your prayers by reading your Bible and asking one of Jehovah’s Witnesses to help you to understand it.
Is anything worth believing in? Yes, indeed! The sooner you find out about it the happier you will be.
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‘My favorite record is about a young person who can’t get through to his family or anyone. Sometimes I can identify with that’
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How can young people believe in a system that has brought the world face to face with nuclear destruction?
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He was amazed at what he saw in the Bible—not at all what his church had led him to expect