Living for a Crime-Free World

DO YOU doubt that a crime-free world is really possible? Many persons do. Yet there is sound basis for believing that this earth will be the home of an entire world of law-abiding people.

‘What is that basis?’ you may ask.

Well, consider: If one large group of people can now live essentially free of crime, does that not prove that a whole world of people could? Could not people everywhere, given similar guidance and training, eventually live completely honest and law-abiding lives?

‘That seems reasonable,’ you may agree. ‘But where is there today such a miniature crime-free society?’

A Law-abiding People

A truly law-abiding society now exists world wide. In 1969 a resident of Seattle, Washington, was astounded when coming in contact with it. Writing in the Seattle Times, July 18, 1969, this person said:

“Recently I attended a session of a Jehovah’s Witnesses convention at Vancouver, B.C.

“Imagine, if you can, 40,000 visitors in a city and all of them in the habit of being law-abiding citizens because they want to be. I saw no drunkenness, no walking on private lawns, no illegal parking, no traffic offenses and heard no profanity on the part of the visitors.

“And imagine! No littering! I walked the length and breadth of Empire Stadium and saw no paper on the grounds while tens of thousands of people ate and drank from paper plates and cups.

“I saw tens of thousands of people get up from their seats in the stadium at the noon lunch recess and reserve their same seats for the afternoon session by leaving on them their tape recorders, binoculars, umbrellas, purses, sweaters and cameras and walk away to be absent about 90 minutes with no worry or concern about theft.

“I am not a Jehovah’s Witness. . . . But I do feel very strongly that by their high standards of morality, courtesy and honesty they bring nothing but good to any city they select for a convention.”

Persons, accustomed to today’s crime-infested world, may find it hard to believe that such law-abiding people really do exist. Yet they do! After a similar experience with the Witnesses, a North Carolina doctor was moved to write his local newspaper, saying, in part:

“These days when all we hear or see are news items about rioting, looting and hate propaganda it is time to console ourselves . . . I am referring particularly to the recent convocation of Jehovah’s Witnesses that came to Asheville for a week early this month. . . .

“During the convention several thousand of the visiting Witnesses were milling about the two buildings attending the lectures, song sessions and devotional periods. Never was there a policeman in sight. There were no raucous noises, no disturbances and no altercations. . . . The order was perfect.”​—Asheville “Citizen,” July 26, 1967.

Nor is it just in the United States that such observations are made regarding Jehovah’s witnesses. The same things are noted about them around the world. In an article appearing in the London Daily Telegraph, October 26, 1972, reporter Bryan Wilson wrote:

“Jehovah’s Witnesses have shown themselves, through Africa, to be decent, orderly citizens living up to a high moral code. They are hardworking, sober (although not absolutely teetotal) people, who maintain exemplary family discipline. The promiscuity and polygamy characteristic of African society is simply inconceivable among Witnesses. The sect inculcates habits of thrift, punctuality, honesty and obedience.”

Since over one and a half million Witnesses earth wide are now almost totally crime free, does this not prove that a whole world of people could also be? Indeed it does! And soon, after God brings an end to this crime-infested system of things, all persons on earth will be honest and law abiding. Jehovah’s witnesses are living for that crime-free world. They seek to do God’s will now, even as everyone will do it then.

What about yourself? Will you live for God’s crime-free world by doing his will now? It will mean real blessings to you if you do.

Security and Peace

You will enjoy the blessing now of having friends that you can really trust. At the Kingdom Hall, where Jehovah’s witnesses regularly meet for study of God’s purposes, a genuine feeling of security and peace exists. Persons there do not try to get the better of others, or in any way harm them. But, rather, they earnestly seek to apply such Bible counsel as: “Love one another intensely from the heart.” “Put away all badness and all deceitfulness and hypocrisy and envies.”​—1 Pet. 1:22; 2:1.

Truly it is fine to have the friendship of such persons! You can feel comfortable and safe with them, because the doing of God’s will is the motivating force in their lives. Thus when a Philadelphia woman left two handbags of jewels in the taxicab of Witness W. Dixon recently, it never crossed his mind to keep them.

“The jewels weren’t worth anything to me because they weren’t mine,” Dixon explained to a New York News reporter. He watched the lost-and-found notices, and when he spotted an ad placed by Mrs. Byrde Tuckerman describing the jewels, he contacted her, and the jewels were returned.​—New York Sunday News, November 26, 1972.

Conforming to God’s Will

True, it may involve quite a change in your life to conform to God’s will. But all who live for God’s new system must make changes. This is because the whole attitude and thinking of this old system are based on selfishness. Thus the Bible urges: “Quit being fashioned after this system of things, but be transformed by making your mind over, that you may prove to yourselves the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”​—Rom. 12:2.

You can make that transformation, just as many others have done. In the first century, fornicators, homosexuals, drunkards, extortioners and other lawless persons quit such practices to become servants of God. (1 Cor. 6:9-11) Some persons today also have made really radical changes to conform to God’s will.

For example, a few years ago a young couple from England, who had been thieves, started studying the Bible with Jehovah’s witnesses. As they learned that it is God’s purpose to bring an end to this crime-filled system and replace it with a new one, they desired to dedicate their lives to God. So they took steps to settle their debt with the law. The newspaper, The Mercury, of June 15, 1967, explained under the headline “Why a Housewife Confessed”:

“The police couldn’t catch housewife C— M—. She had committed four crimes but changed her job and her address so often that she couldn’t be traced.

“Then Mrs. M— started reading the Bible . . . and later walked into a police station where she confessed to the four offences.

“With her husband, she had decided to become a Jehovah’s Witness. And Mrs. M—, a mother of two young children, felt that the only way to ‘wipe the slate clean’ was to go to the police.

“‘She came purely voluntarily,’ a police officer told Greenwich Court.’”

In another issue, The Mercury told about the woman’s husband. Under the headline “The ‘Converted’ Raider Confesses All His Crimes,” the newspaper reported:

“A man went to the police and confessed to thefts amounting to thousands of pounds, because he wanted to be a Jehovah’s Witness. . . .

“Two years ago M— started studying the Bible. Last year he wanted to be baptised into the Jehovah’s Witness faith . . .

“M—’s wife said: ‘There has been a tremendous change in my husband during the last two years. His Bible studies have brought a great change to his life.’”

So changes can be made​—even radical ones. And all who would live for God’s crime-free world must make them.

The Changes Required

Do not conclude, however, that simply avoiding obvious violations of God’s law, such as stealing, lying and fornication, are the only changes required. More is involved to conform to God’s will. The Bible shows this by telling us: “Become imitators of God, as beloved children, and go on walking in love.”​—Eph. 5:1.

So, then, to live for God’s crime-free world means imitating God’s blameless course of conduct. We must not only refrain from any conduct that is wrong in God’s eyes, but also conform our personality to His loving, merciful personality. This is admittedly not easy to do. Nor will we accomplish the required changes overnight. Continual effort over a period of time is needed to bring our lives into harmony with God’s thinking and conduct.

But think how grand it is when a whole society of people endeavor to copy the love, mercy, kindness and other grand qualities of God! Truly there is pleasantness in their association. Do you want that for yourself and your loved ones? Then, if you have not done so already, begin now to live for God’s crime-free world.

The first step necessary is to take in knowledge of Jehovah God and his Son Jesus Christ, who so perfectly imitated his Father while on earth. The Bible shows the necessity of this, saying: “This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.”​—John 17:3.

Jehovah’s witnesses will be happy to help you to take in this life-giving knowledge. Simply ask them and they will, free of charge, conduct a Bible study with you and your family in your own home. Accept this invitation. Associate with Jehovah’s witnesses, and see for yourself that God’s promises of a crime-free world have a sound basis.

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The London “Daily Telegraph” says that African Jehovah’s witnesses are noted for their “honesty and obedience”

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Among Jehovah’s witnesses you can have a genuine feeling of security and peace, for each one seeks to apply the Bible counsel: “Love one another intensely from the heart.”​—1 Pet. 1:22

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Bible study shows willing individuals how to transform their lives to a crime-free course