Where Love of Truth Is Found
THERE is a big difference between knowing what is truth and loving it. A person may know what is true but not act in harmony with it. But one who loves truth shows this by adhering to it.
To the disappointment of many, love of truth is woefully lacking among church members. But this does not mean that there are no lovers of truth today. To the contrary, some of the disappointed ones now rejoice in having found real love of truth. Where? Read their experiences and see.
PRACTICERS OF TRUTH ARE DIFFERENT
A young woman working at the Catholic headquarters in Essen, Germany, tells of her disappointment about the views she heard expressed there: “I was surprised and disappointed when they told me that the Bible was subject to interpretation and that one should not take everything in the Bible so seriously. The Bible ‘had gone through many changes and was only applicable to certain times,’ I was told. The account of creation was definitely rejected. Concerning celibacy, one priest declared, ‘I have lived together with my housekeeper in the best relationship for thirty-five years, but we have agreed that we will not marry.’”
Through a study of the Bible with Jehovah’s witnesses, however, this woman came to appreciate that there are people who take the Bible seriously and are not afraid to expose religious error. After attending the talk and slide presentation at the Kingdom Hall on the subject “A Close Look at the Churches,” she noted the clear distinction between true worship and the false.
After she told her mother what she had seen and heard during this presentation about the actions of some Catholic clergymen, her mother felt that the Catholic Church had been misrepresented. Therefore she insisted that the speaker have a talk with the priest. During the resulting discussion, the mother said repeatedly to the priest, “Say that what the Witnesses are saying is not so!” But the priest could not deny what was being said, because it was the truth.
On account of her love for truth, the daughter severed her connection with the Catholic Church and is now sharing with others what she has learned.
Not all respond so readily to the exposure of religious error. At times, false teaching has blinded people to such an extent that they think they want nothing to do with those who do not agree with their beliefs. Yet, once someone is able to help them to see that they have not been told the truth, they are willing to make tremendous changes. Says a young woman from California: “As a child I was taught by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and attended their church school. At that time we were taught not to have anything to do with the name Jehovah, and always to check certain scriptures to make sure that that name did not appear before we bought a Bible.
“Despite this religious background, I married by the time I was fifteen and, at eighteen, was in the process of getting a divorce. In the meantime I had turned to prostitution, nude modeling, making stag films and also to the occult.
“Then, one day, a nine-year-old boy and his grandmother came to my door with The Watchtower and Awake! I told them that I wasn’t interested and didn’t want any. The man in the apartment with me said that he wanted them and gave the boy ten cents. When we closed the door, I took the magazines out of his hand, ripped them up and threw them into the garbage.
“The grandmother came back about two months later. Again I told her that I wasn’t interested in Jehovah’s witnesses or their literature. I told her about Jehovah’s name and how it was not in the Bible and that as Christians we shouldn’t use it. Then she asked me to get my Bible and to turn to Psalm 83:18. When I read it, I was put into a state of shock. I stood there for a moment with my mouth open and then started to scream at her, saying things like: ‘Why didn’t they tell me the truth? Why did they have to lie to me?’ She could see that I was upset. So she left.
“The following week she returned and we had a long Bible discussion. Thereafter we had several other discussions, but never an organized Bible study. I began to see this would mean changes in my life, changes that I was not quite ready to make. So I would not be at home, only being there when I had a question or when I felt like talking. I would sit at my neighbor’s place and watch her come to my door and wait for her to leave, or just not bother answering the bell. But, somehow, we always got together. I even moved three times and she tracked me down!”
In time this young woman did make the necessary changes. She continues: “Within six months I was preaching the good news. Not long thereafter I was baptized.”
Similarly, a man in Colombia, South America, did not continue following what was generally accepted in his community once he understood that it was wrong. This man was about to accompany Jehovah’s witnesses in their preaching activity. He had already made tremendous changes to bring his life into harmony with the teachings of the Bible. However, when asked, “Where do you get your electricity?” he replied, “Like others in this section of town.” And how was that? He had simply strung two wires to an electric pole for street lighting and had connected them. When it was explained to him that this was a form of stealing, he immediately saw the point and desired to rectify the situation. He reported the matter to the proper authorities, saying:
“Look, I was a no-good, I was a drunkard and was unfaithful to my wife. But now this is all different. I study with Jehovah’s witnesses and want to get baptized to become one of them. Also, I want my home used for Bible studies, and I need a meter, as Jehovah’s witnesses do not steal electricity, nor anything else.”
LOVE FOR TRUTH LEADS TO FAITHFUL ENDURANCE
Besides moving persons to change their way of life to conform to God’s Word, love for truth has made it possible for many to endure terrible persecution.
A case in point is one of Jehovah’s witnesses in Liberia. The mother of five children, she lived with her non-Witness husband in a very remote village of less than ten houses. Through jungles and swamps she would make her way to the Kingdom Hall, always being among the first to arrive. This despite the fact that for eight years her husband opposed her, even subjecting her to great physical abuse.
There was the time that he wounded her seriously with a stick. He inflicted wounds on one of her legs and told her, ‘Let me see how you can go to the Kingdom Hall without legs.’ She was in bed for some days, but as soon as she felt better and could walk a bit, her first trip was to the Kingdom Hall, to the disappointment of her husband.
Finally, after many similar incidents, came the climax. Their large rice farm was about to be harvested. The husband chose this time to abandon the family, with no intention of returning to his Witness wife. He went to the capital city of Monrovia. Meanwhile, fellow Witnesses harvested the rice, thereby saving the mother and her children from starvation.
At Monrovia, the husband, by coincidence, found accommodations with a man who, unknown to him, was one of Jehovah’s witnesses. This Witness invited him to a meeting and, though he did not know the nature of the meeting, he just could not refuse to go, as he was staying in the home. At the Kingdom Hall he was warmly welcomed and learned that those in attendance were Jehovah’s witnesses, just like his wife. Their kindness impressed him, as he never thought that such a “crazy religion” (as he had been calling it) could be practiced by people in a city like Monrovia. Later, in the house, he confessed to the Witness accommodating him that he was going back to his family and would worship Jehovah.
Back home he kneeled down before his wife, related his experiences and asked her for forgiveness. Since then he never misses a meeting at the Kingdom Hall and is now zealously telling others about the truth that he once bitterly opposed.
If you would like to associate with people who live by the Bible because they love truth, even to the point of enduring persecution for it, why not visit a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses at your earliest opportunity? See for yourself whether love of truth can be found there.