Do God’s Ways Really Work?
DO GOD’S ways really work? Can they provide practical solutions to everyday problems now, as well as in the future? Well, let us put them to the test. Let us examine a few areas of life and see if they really work where other methods fail.
For example, let us take one of the big problems of life, a global one, and see if Jehovah’s way works best. It is noted at Isaiah chapter 2, verse 4, in prophetic words as regards our time: “And he will certainly render judgment among the nations and set matters straight respecting many peoples. And they will have to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore.”
Fulfillment Now
Is this really being fulfilled right now? The evidence shows that it certainly is. No, not among the members of the United Nations; that’s obvious. They have been warring among themselves since the very start of that organization.
That prophecy is not being fulfilled upon the religions of this world, either. They have also warred among themselves, for centuries. Regarding this, note what a New York Times editorial writer said earlier this year, in an article he entitled “Death in the Name of God.” He observed: ‘It is a dismal truth that probably half or more of the wars now being fought around the world are either openly religious conflicts or involved with religious disputes. And, since virtually all religions believe in one God, this means that at this very instant men are killing each other in the name of God.’
Well, then, upon whom is Isaiah’s prophecy being fulfilled? Upon God’s servants—his Witnesses. God’s purpose to unite people into a peaceful, loving human society world wide is moving ahead irresistibly right now. He is already collecting sincere people out of all nations, bringing them together into one global family, teaching them the ways of total, permanent peace.
Yes, right now, in the midst of an era that has been ripped apart by the most horrible wars in history, Jehovah’s servants in over 200 lands are living proof that there can be—and is now—a peaceable society of people. In this regard, Jehovah’s servants are accomplishing what the most powerful politicians, the strongest nations and leagues of nations, and worldly religions, have never accomplished: and that is to end war permanently among people of all races and nationalities. As a result, these servants of Jehovah do not participate in any of the wars of the nations.
How Possible?
How has this been possible for God’s servants? Is it because they are so intelligent?
No, they are just ordinary people, imperfect, limited, like anybody else. But it is possible because Jehovah’s Witnesses have agreed to serve God, to do what he says. So when God says, at Acts 17:26, that all men are brothers, they believe it. When he says, at Acts 10:34, that he is not partial, then they cannot be, either.
Also, when he tells them through his Son, at John 13:35, that “by this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves,” then they work to cultivate that love. When he tells them to lay down their war weapons, they do that, too.
When God’s servants do things his way, he favors them with success in their efforts to be at peace with one another, even as Psalm 29:11 says: “Jehovah himself will bless his people with peace.” And, as Isaiah 2:4 foretold: “Neither will they learn war anymore.” So God’s servants today do not war among themselves, or with anyone else. They never have, and never will! Thus, they have already been prepared by God to step into his new order and start off that new human society with a totally peaceful order of things—from the very first day!
Other people notice this peace, harmony and love. An observer who attended an assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses for the first time last summer remarked: “I have never seen anything like this before in all my life. I have never seen so much love between peoples of all nations and races together at one time.”
Yet, it is true that there are still awful wars among those who are not God’s true servants. And this certainly does affect our happiness. But that part of the problem God himself will solve by crushing the warring nations out of existence soon, as well as their fiendish weapons of destruction. Psalm 46, verses 8 and 9, says: “Come, you people, behold the activities of Jehovah, how he has set astonishing events on the earth. He is making wars to cease to the extremity of the earth. The bow he breaks apart and does cut the spear in pieces; the [war] wagons he burns in the fire.”
Ending Crime
Another evidence that serving God can solve big problems has to do with the staggering increase of crime nearly everywhere. This is a problem that the authorities are unable to solve.
But God can. And he is doing it! Where? Again, among those who serve him and learn his ways. It has been observed that among Jehovah’s Witnesses crime is practically nonexistent. Why? Because serving God means obeying his laws and principles. These laws forbid such things as stealing, dishonesty, murder, violence, sexual crimes and others.
On those rare occasions that one of God’s servants does commit a serious offense, the judicial arrangement among the 39,600 congregations world wide takes care of the matter by applying the proper Scriptural sanctions. That is why it has been truthfully said that Jehovah’s Witnesses throughout the world enjoy the most crime-free society of people anywhere. And again, they do not take credit for this, because it comes from doing things Jehovah’s way.
At a recent assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Montana, a motel manager said: “If all people were like Jehovah’s Witnesses we wouldn’t need policemen!” A police officer at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium declared: “We wish that all of the assemblies here were like yours. We haven’t had any problems with unruliness.”
Still, the skyrocketing crime elsewhere does affect even those who serve God. But here too, as with war, only God himself can and will solve this problem entirely. This he will do when he brings the present wicked system of things to its end. Proverbs chapter 2, verses 21 and 22, says: “For the upright are the ones that will reside in the earth, and the blameless are the ones that will be left over in it. As regards the wicked, they will be cut off from the very earth; and as for the treacherous, they will be torn away from it.”
At the same time, however, Bible principles help protect us better from crime, even now. For instance, the evidence reveals that most murders are committed among people who know each other—family members, friends, neighbors. Often it is the lack of self-control on the part of the victim that leads to provoking the killer. But Christians trained in Bible principles know that they should not pay back evil for evil; they know that a mild answer often turns away someone else’s anger; and they know that to be a servant of God they have to work to develop a mild temper. So a person who lives by such Bible principles is far less likely to provoke someone into doing him bodily harm.
Stamping Out V.D.
Another problem, a big one, that serving God helps his people to avoid has to do with the epidemic of venereal disease that is spreading like wildfire in nearly every country. Medical authorities admit that they are powerless to stop it.
Why? Because the world ignores God’s laws forbidding adultery, fornication and homosexuality; and that is how venereal disease is spread. But these laws are enforced among God’s servants; so his people are kept clean. They learn to limit their sexual relations to where they belong, and God tells us that this is only in the marriage arrangement.
Think of the problems—the awful diseases, unwanted pregnancies, arguments, broken homes, heartaches—that God’s servants avoid completely by doing things His way in this matter!
Another huge problem has to do with family life. Can serving God really help here?