Dishonest Shepherd Disgusts Catholic Lamb

SHE was a young, trusting Catholic lamb, a graduate of parochial schools. Upon her third Bible study with one of Jehovah’s witnesses she realized that what she had been taught by her church was not in line with the Bible and asked why. She was told the reason: because her church leans more heavily upon tradition than upon the Bible. She appreciated the explanation given but stated that, since she was no authority on the Bible, she would not be fully convinced until the witness accompanied her to her priest to hear his viewpoints on these matters.

This was agreed upon and the two visited the priest. He began by asking the witness if he had any degrees or diplomas as a minister; the witness, however, replied by asking if the priest thought such were essential, seeing that the early disciples of Jesus did not have any. He agreed that such were not necessary.

The priest then began by referring to Jesus’ words to Peter regarding the rock to prove that the Catholic Church was the true one. The witness refuted his position by showing that Jesus was referring to himself as the Rock. The priest did not agree but then took up other subjects, such as hell, the soul and the war issue. Finally he came back to the words of Jesus to Peter. The witness then produced the Diaglott (which has both a Greek and an English reading of the “New Testament”) to show that Jesus could not have been referring to Peter as the Rock on which he built his church because Jesus used different genders in referring to each.

The priest, however, taking the Diaglott, insisted that, being able to read Greek, he would show that Jesus’ words did refer to Peter. Unable to find the text, he began hinting around as to just where it was but the witness did not tell him. Instead he asked the priest if he did not know where this text was to be found upon which his church leaned so heavily to prove that she is the true church. He said he did, stopped leafing and began to read.

When the witness asked if he was reading the words of Jesus to Peter regarding the rock, the priest replied, “Yes.” But when the witness got up to peer over the priest’s shoulder the priest’s hands began to tremble; and no wonder, for the witness saw that the priest was feigning to read Jesus’ words to Peter from Mark the fourth chapter, whereas they are found only at Matthew 16:18! The witness rebuked the priest for trying to pull a trick like that and then suggested to the Catholic girl that in view of what had taken place it would be best to leave.

As the witness and the disgusted Catholic girl left, the priest said, “I wouldn’t be a Jehovah’s witness for all the proof in the world!” The witness asked, “Including the Bible?” “Yes,” replied the priest, “including the Bible.”

The result of this two-hour discussion was that this Catholic girl severed her connections with her church and now continues to study the Bible and to attend congregational meetings with the witnesses.