Will You Accept the True Source of Relief?
HUMANS can endure much where there is hope of something better soon to be realized. But the relief that hope brings is real only if the hope itself is real.
In what do you place your hope for relief from today’s pressures? Actually, your choice narrows down to two options.
You can put your hope in men—or you can put it in God. Men say they can patch up the world’s failing systems, make them work and succeed. God through his Word says he is going to wipe the earth clean of those systems and establish a new order based on righteousness.
Is it “realistic” to hope in men but “unrealistic” to hope in God?
What Hope from Men?
How realistic is it to look to men to free us of the threat of war? Past human history is written mainly in human blood. Have men changed today? Why, then, do we see the greatest arms race of all time?
What hope do men give of early relief from rampant crime? Recently representatives from 100 countries attended a meeting in Brussels of Interpol, the international police organization. What did they hear? That law-enforcement agencies world wide are steadily losing ground against crime.
Do men have the remedy for the plague of drug addiction? Leading Swedish expert on drug addiction Dr. Nils Bejerot says of the Western world: “I believe that at best we have ten years in which to prevent a social catastrophe; at worst it may already be too late.”
Can we trust in men to cure the world’s sick cities? Of the annual Congress of Cities in 1970 we read: “Speculation on the future contained little that was hopeful. . . . There was little prospect that the urban crisis would abate during the ’70s or in the foreseeable future.”—1971 Britannica Book of the Year.
What basis for confidence do men, scientists included, offer us as to the pressing problem of feeding the world’s exploding population or of turning the tide in the ruining of our environment? Dr. Paul Ehrlich says: “The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970’s the world will undergo famines—hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now.”
No wonder, then, that a California newspaper reports that these problems have “prompted some scientists to circle a date on the calendar for an Armageddon sometime in the middle or latter years of this decade.” Their Armageddon would come in the form of global famine, pestilence and war.
These sources quoted are no mere calamity howlers. If you incline to think so, then ask yourself: What real solutions do you know of that men can offer for these problems? Really, it is time to stop dreaming and courageously face up to the facts as they are. It is a matter of life and death.
World’s Religions No Source of True Hope
But what does turning to God and putting our hope in him mean? Does it mean turning to Christendom’s religions for relief? By no means! Why not?
Because Christendom’s religions are as pressure-wracked as is the rest of human society. Pope Paul VI recently said: “The Church is experiencing a time of disquiet, self-criticism, one would even say of self-demolition.” And writing in a foremost Protestant magazine, The Christian Century, Dr. Walter D. Wagoner of the Boston Theological Institute says: “We Protestants are tired and confused.” These conditions are paralleled by growing disloyalty to the Bible and its principles among Christendom’s churches.
Why Investigate the Bible?
Nevertheless, the real relief is found within the pages of the Bible and among those who genuinely live what the Bible teaches. Human predictions have repeatedly failed, have brought only disappointment. But each passing day confirms the rightness of the Bible prophecies and principles.
The Bible foretold the very problems men of the world now warn about. It foretold this same time period as being critical in human affairs. It alone explains the truly basic causes of the pressures. But it shows that there is a solution and that it is from a Source higher than man. The planet Earth and the celestial bodies above give us ample evidence that that Source, our Creator, has all the power, wisdom, and the love needed to bring us full relief.
Till now you may have had little interest in the Bible. You may not have been inclined to take its message seriously. But surely the situation we face today gives sound reason for examining it and finding out what it has to offer. For it alone presents a positive hope of survival, with relief from the pressures of today’s world.
A People Who Have Found Relief
Jehovah’s witnesses believe what the Bible says. They have not followed the world’s religions in rejecting the Bible in favor of human philosophies, theories and schemes. The Bible has brought a great change in their lives even now as they look forward to a grand new order.
Why not find out for yourself what kind of people they are? See for yourself whether the influence of the Bible has really made their lives happier and brought them relief now from so many of the world’s problems. Their Kingdom Hall doors are open to all persons sincerely seeking to know what is right and true. Walk in and listen to them, hear the things they talk about, see if their meetings are not indeed refreshing, upbuilding, faith-strengthening.
Some persons, of course, prefer the present tension-filled way of life—the fierce competition, the sharp practices, the cheating and immorality—and they have no desire for a world free from these things. If you shared this preference, you would find no pleasure in associating with Jehovah’s witnesses. You would feel no urge to investigate the source of their happiness and confident outlook for the future.
But if you have a heartfelt longing for a complete change in world conditions, yes, a longing for full relief in a world where righteousness prevails, then you will surely put forth the needed effort to investigate and know.
Jehovah’s witnesses will gladly visit you, discuss with you the Bible’s answers to your questions, and even conduct a six-month, one-hour-a-week Bible study course with you, free of charge, if that is your desire.
You can receive such refreshing aid and knowledge simply by writing the publishers of this magazine. With sincere interest, we invite you to do so.