Finding the Right Religion

THE following account of his search after the religion of Jesus Christ was given by a student at the Kingdom Ministry School at the Watch Tower Society’s headquarters:

“At thirteen I decided I wanted to become a minister. I planned to get a scholarship to college. However, in my junior year in high school my mother had a stroke and was hospitalized—the left side of her body completely paralyzed. The family broke up, my brothers and sisters scattered here and there in foster homes. But I was still bent on getting to college and entering the ministry.

“At sixteen I was still giving much thought to the vocation I had chosen. But at times I would think to myself, Why become a Methodist minister? Why not a Catholic priest, or a rabbi, or a Hindu or Moslem minister? The main thing was to aid the poor, knocked-about people, to comfort them and teach them. Then I began to ask myself, Who was the best minister ever in the whole wide world? Why, it was Jesus Christ, of course! Then the religion that follows his example is the one I want to serve with as a minister.

“So I started to study the life of Jesus in the Bible. I noted that he loved the people and taught them so well from God’s Word that they, in turn, were able to teach others. I liked that. So, I would look for this feature in the right religion. I would check on how much Bible study there was among members of my own church. I did, and found that there was little of real understanding. Most people seemed to think that religion was only for Sundays.

“I questioned my minister about why he took up the ministry in the first place, and asked if he thought he had made a success of it. He told me that when he first started he thought he was going to set the world on fire, but finally realized that a man can only do so much. I asked him to explain from the Bible his favorite sermon theme, the Trinity or three persons in one God. He said that if I went to the seminary I would be taught about it there, that it was impossible for him to explain it to me from the Bible.

“I then asked him if a minister should set the right example in morals for the rest of the church members, in view of the fact that Jesus said to his flock: ‘Follow me.’ He replied: ‘I am only human, and not Jesus; so just do as I say and not as I do.’

“After this interview I knew that the right religion must be elsewhere. So I began a search from church to church, reading about various religions, always using Jesus’ ministry as the model. After about two years without success, I got to wondering how God could expect persons to worship him if he did not have a religion that imitated Jesus, to give them the right example.

“One day a friend of mine asked me to pick up some soiled clothing from one of his dry-cleaning customers. I did, and the customer handed me a Watchtower magazine, asking me to read it and let her know later what I thought about it. When I returned her clean garments I told her I had never read a magazine with so many quotations and citations from the Bible. She invited me to attend a lecture at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s witnesses. I accepted, thinking to myself, Why not to a Kingdom Hall? since I have been to so many other churches.

“It was on the top floor, and as I ascended the stairs I recall thinking with a smile, This church is going to bring me closer to heaven than any of the others I have tried. But when I stepped into the hall I was amazed—no crosses, no pictures of bleeding hearts, nor of Jesus carrying a lamb, no altar, but just people of different races quietly sitting side by side. And during the sermon I heard more Scripture texts quoted and explained than I ever heard from all other clergymen I had listened to in the past.

“After the lecture I asked a Witness sitting near me about the Trinity. In but a few moments he gave me ample proof from the Bible itself to show that this was no Bible doctrine. Then I asked more about the significance of the year 1914, mentioned by the speaker that day. He explained to me by Bible chronology the importance of that vital date, backing up his Scriptural argument with a chart of dates that he drew for me freehand.

“My long search for the right religion ended that day. This was exactly what I had been looking for, the religion that followed the pattern of Jesus’ ministry, and extended to all Christians the privilege of training for the ministry. It was a happy moment in my life. I thanked God that he had drawn me to his people.”