“And Walk Humbly with Thy God”
MANY people turn a deaf ear to the good news of God’s kingdom because of prejudice, others, because of selfishness, being unable to see wherein they will be immediately benefited by it. Again, others because of lack of faith are completely indifferent, and many reject it because of pride. It seems that this latter reason accounts for the comparatively little progress that has been made in the praise to Jehovah in the land of India. Emphasizing this point is the following report from that vast land.
While most people know that India is the land of Hinduism, few in the West have much idea of what Hinduism really is, or what the mentality of the average Hindu is like and especially what his reaction is to the Bible. The average Hindu is an exceedingly proud man; proud of his religious philosophies. The Bible says: “God opposes the haughty ones, but he gives undeserved kindness to the humble ones”; and that is as true in India as in any other land.
It might seem strange to some that a people so stricken with poverty and so backward in their domestic and social services should be proud; but it is so. The average Hindu is so proud of his religion that he believes he knows all there is to be known about the mysteries of life. He is completely disdainful of the thought that the Almighty God would reveal his purposes to man through a book, and one that he thinks began to be written only 1900 years ago by Jesus Christ. Oh no, God has used only the holy men of Hinduism to teach the world about the origin of life and the ultimate destiny of man. To him the Bible is merely a third-rate effort of some Christian upstarts to foist Western civilization upon an ancient and cultured people. They ridicule the idea that salvation can be gained only through Jesus Christ, and it is a very common experience in India to have the Hindus listen with joy to the good news about the new world and then turn away in disgust as Bible texts are produced showing that this new world will come by means of Christ Jesus.
However, there are some exceptions to this rule, some who are not too proud to accept the truth that all things are of God but by Christ Jesus. For example, there is the recent case of a young man of the Sikh religion who began reading the Bible study aid “Let God Be True” and studying the Bible with the Watch Tower missionaries. In the Sikh religion all the men let their hair grow long and they never shave. They coil their long hair, of which they are very proud, into a ball on top of their heads and cover it with a turban. So, imagine the surprise of the Watch Tower missionaries when one day this Sikh gentleman walked into their Kingdom Hall in Bombay with his hair cut and brushed in the Western style and his chin shaved clean.
Clearly he was humble enough to be taught and he was not afraid to follow the path of truth when once he saw it. He dedicated himself to Jehovah God and now regularly associates with Jehovah’s witnesses in all features of the preaching work. “What doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?”—Mic. 6:8, AS.