Can Faith Win Out in Today’s World?
A REWARDING purpose in life. The young man did not have it. By his own admission, he was “a troublemaker from age 12.” Deeply involved in drug use, he was unable to cope with the world’s “unsolvable problems,” and admits: “I turned to compulsive eating. In January of 1977 I became suicidal. I refused to live like this any longer. Every second hurt.”
Not many months later, the same young man had found happiness and a rewarding purpose in life. Why? What had brought about the change? Faith!
Happy family life certainly was not being enjoyed by a farm laborer, his wife and their children living in an eastern land. The father was a poor provider and spent his money largely on tobacco, drink and betel nut. He and his family lived in deplorable conditions, were scarcely clothed and were often hungry.
But then the man began to change. He ceased getting drunk, improved his work habits and got better wages. In but a few months he cleaned up and improved his home. His family then was fed and clothed, with resulting happiness.
What had brought about happy family life? Newfound faith!
A personality change for the better was sorely needed by a 16-year-old girl from a South American land. In her own words, she rebelled against everything that “simply smelled of authority.” The girl even became involved with contraband to and from her country. As she herself put it, ‘I was a rebel without a cause.’
Yet, this girl was able to make a personality change, abandoning her rebellious and illegal pursuits. How was this possible? She had acquired Bible-based faith.
Brotherhood and unity are not common in today’s world. Especially has warfare done much to destroy this spirit. But consider the experience of four men—three Canadian sailors and one German battleship gunnery officer. On one occasion during World War II, the three Canadians had tried to sink that officer’s vessel. Thirty-four years later the former Canadian sailors were reunited. Imagine their surprise when they learned that their wartime enemy had in the intervening period become their spiritual brother, even baptizing one of them as a Christian!
So, then, can faith win out in today’s world? It is doing so. Many, once without hope, now have a rewarding purpose in life. Formerly joyless fathers, mothers and children now enjoy happy family life. Many persons who have recognized that their attitude and conduct once were wrong have made personality changes for the better. And some former foes have been bound together in unbreakable bonds of brotherhood and unity.
Primarily, what has been responsible for these favorable developments? Victorious faith! In fact, all the foregoing experiences were featured at various “Victorious Faith” International Conventions of Jehovah’s Witnesses held recently. Some of these gatherings are considered in the following account.