Research Biologist Now Researches the Bible
MY WIFE and I had been in professional training as research biologists for a little over six years. I had received extensive evolutionary training during my undergraduate days. Additionally, I worked as an assistant curator of reptiles in a taxonomic museum and was in contact with what were considered some of the “finest minds” in the fields of evolution and taxonomy. As a result of my training, I had no confidence in the existence of God. I felt that if he did exist, he wasn’t worth much.
During my last quarter as an undergraduate, I took a course in Systematics and Evolution. It was a very involved course concerning mechanisms of evolution, missing links, taxonomic structure, and so forth. Our instructor was a Harvard-trained scientist, with whom I worked closely in the museum. On the last day of our class, he made a startling statement, that evolution was not really sound science, and he proceeded to tell us why it wasn’t. What he said started me thinking.
After graduation, my wife and I went on to graduate school to work on our master’s degrees. I never forgot my surprise over that instructor’s statement; so I started seriously investigating the structure of science. As I progressed, I became increasingly aware of evolution’s almost complete lack of foundation.
During this same time, I began going to churches of Christendom with questions about the existence of God and his personality. The answers I received were unsatisfying, that this was a mystery and that I shouldn’t worry about it. Although I had become interested in the Bible, I soon discovered that Christendom had nothing to offer me, and so I decided not to become involved. I then started looking into Eastern religions, but found the same emptiness.
By this time, we were at a real turning point in our lives. My wife was pregnant with our first child. I was due to finish my M.S. degree about the time the baby was expected, and I couldn’t find employment anywhere. I was convinced that all man’s conflicting philosophies and religion added up to a big fat zero. So I decided to follow our family tradition and volunteered for the Marine Corps.
One night, just to assure myself that I was right, I silently offered a “prayer.” It went something like this: “All right, you up there, if there’s anyone there, if there’s any truth or reason for me to keep looking, I want to know about it, or else I’ll never bother again.”
I’d never spoken to one of Jehovah’s Witnesses before, nor even “seen a live one” for that matter. However, the next morning at 9 a.m., two ladies were at my door, offering the book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life and a free home Bible study. I was stunned, but accepted their offer to have a teacher call back in a day or two to study.
Between that initial call and the first study, I “devoured” the Truth book. When the man came for the first study, I fired some questions at him and was amazed at his ability to answer every question from the Bible. By the third study, I had decided to become one of Jehovah’s Witnesses; it took my wife until the fifth study. Even though we had made our decision, we had much to learn. So we started attending meetings, continued asking questions, and read all the Witness literature on which we could get our hands.
However, there was that other problem developing. I had volunteered for the Marine Corps and was committed. Prayer was again the only channel, and we took to it freely, and more respectfully too.
In a period of a few days, I received a phone call. The Vietnam War was winding down, and the Marine Corps had decided not to take me.
Our baby came a month later. I went to work as a welder on the night shift. My wife and I were baptized together in symbol of our dedication and we are continuing joyfully to serve Jehovah, the greatest Scientist of all.