SHOULD YOU TRUST RELIGION?

Why Question Religion?

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Suppose you need to have surgery for a life-threatening illness. You would want to have the utmost confidence in the surgeon, since your life will be in his hands. Would it not be prudent to review his record of experience?

Similarly, it is wise to examine religion carefully. If you belong to a religious organization, you are, in effect, putting your spiritual life in its hands. This includes your prospects for salvation.

Jesus provided a standard to help us view religion objectively. He said: “Each tree is known by its own fruit.” (Luke 6:44) For example, when you look at a particular religion or denomination, what fruitage does it bear? Do its religious leaders place excessive emphasis on money? Do its members follow Bible principles regarding warfare and morals? Finally, is any religion deserving of trust? We invite you to examine the following articles.

“Each tree is known by its own fruit.”—Luke 6:44

Can You Trust Religion Regarding Money?

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Estelle * was a regular churchgoer with several children. “I told my minister that I wanted to learn about the Bible,” she says. But he never offered to teach her. Finally, she stopped attending church. She continues: “The church officials wrote and basically said that if I could not be there, just send money. I thought, ‘They don’t care if I even attend; they just want my money.’”

Angelina, who has always been religious, said: “In my church, they passed the basket three times during each worship service, and we were expected to give each time. They were always asking for money. I thought to myself, ‘They do not have God’s spirit.’”

Do the religions in your area employ direct or subtle pressure to obtain money? Is that in harmony with the Bible?

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE TEACH?

Jesus, the founder of Christianity, said: “You received free, give free.” (Matthew 10:8) The message of the Bible is priceless and should be available to all who want it.

How did the early Christians care for congregation expenses?

Each one contributed “just as he has resolved in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7) The apostle Paul said: “It was with working night and day, so as not to put an expensive burden upon any one of you, that we preached the good news.” (1 Thessalonians 2:9) Paul worked as a tentmaker to support his ministry.—Acts 18:2, 3.

HOW DO JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES MEASURE UP?

Jehovah’s Witnesses commonly meet in modest buildings called Kingdom Halls. How are expenses covered? They never pass collection plates, nor do they send out envelopes to solicit donations. Rather, any who appreciate the spiritual program can discreetly place a donation in a contribution box at the Kingdom Hall.

How should religion be financed?

This magazine obviously costs money to print and ship. Yet you will never see commercial advertising or appeals for money. The emphasis is on dispensing Bible truth.

What do you think: Is the spirit behind these arrangements in accord with Jesus’ words and the example of the early Christians?

Is God’s Kingdom a condition of the heart?

God’s Kingdom

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“You are not far from the kingdom of God.”—Mark 12:34.

WHAT PEOPLE SAY

 Many people believe that God’s Kingdom is, as one major denomination of Christendom put it, “the reign of God in the heart and life of the individual.”

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS

 The Kingdom is a real government, not just a metaphor for a person’s submitting to God in his heart. God’s Kingdom will rule over the entire earth.—Psalm 72:8; Daniel 7:14.

What, though, about Jesus’ statement that “the kingdom of God iswithin you”? (Italics ours; Luke 17:21, King James Version) Jesus could not have meant that the Kingdom was in the hearts of his listeners. Why not? Because on that occasion his listeners were the Pharisees. Jesus said that they would be excluded from the Kingdom because their form of worship was hypocritical and thus unacceptable to God. (Matthew 23:13) However, Jesus could rightly say that God’s Kingdom is “within you” or, as the New World Translation says, “in your midst.” Why? Because he, as the future King of the Kingdom, was standing right before them.—Luke 17:21.

 What is God’s Kingdom?

“Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.”—Matthew 6:10.

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS

 The Kingdom is a real government by God with Jesus Christ as Ruler. (Matthew 28:18; 1 Timothy 6:14, 15) Its mission is to accomplish God’s will in heaven and on earth. (Matthew 6:10) Thus, by means of his Kingdom, God will solve man’s problems. The Kingdom will do what human institutions could never accomplish.

Under the rule of God’s Kingdom, the human family will experience peace, security, and prosperity on a paradise earth. (Psalm 46:9;Isaiah 35:1; Micah 4:4) No one will get sick or die anymore, and disease will be eliminated. (Isaiah 33:24; Revelation 21:4) Even the aging process will be reversed. The Bible foretells: “Let his flesh become fresher than in youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor.”—Job 33:25.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

 Regardless of your ancestry or place of birth, you can become a subject of God’s Kingdom if you do what God asks of you. The Bible says: “God is not partial, but in every nation the man that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.”—Acts 10:34, 35.

Will human efforts bring God’s Kingdom?

“The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin.”—Daniel 2:44.

WHAT PEOPLE SAY

 Some believe that humans will establish the Kingdom of God on earth, either by converting others to their faith or by working for world peace and brotherhood.

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS

 God—not man—sets up the Kingdom. (Daniel 2:44) At the inauguration of the Kingdom, God says: “I, even I, have installed my king.” (Psalm 2:6) Humans do not bring God’s Kingdom, and they cannot disrupt its affairs, since it will rule over the earth from heaven.—Matthew 4:17.

WHY SHOULD IT MATTER TO YOU?

 It is only natural to wish that humankind could one day achieve peace and unity. You might even expend yourself trying to bring these about but then despair when your goals are not reached. Knowing that God’s power is behind his Kingdom will allow you to direct your efforts most productively, by becoming a subject of that Kingdom.

Is Protest the Answer?

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Jehovah’s Witnesses, the publishers of this magazine, are politically neutral. (John 17:16; 18:36) Thus, while the following article reports on specific examples of civil unrest, it does not endorse one nation over another or take sides on any political issue.

ON December 17, 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi reached his limit. He was a 26-year-old street vendor in Tunisia who was frustrated with being unable to find a better job. He was also aware of corrupt officials’ demands for bribes. On that particular morning, inspectors confiscated Mohamed’s supply of pears, bananas, and apples. When they took his scales, he resisted; and some witnesses say that a female police officer slapped him.

Humiliated and enraged, Mohamed went to the nearby government office to complain but could not get a hearing. In front of the building, he reportedly shouted, “How do you expect me to make a living?” After dousing himself with a flammable liquid, he struck a match. He died of his burns less than three weeks later.

Mohamed Bouazizi’s desperate act resonated with people in Tunisia and beyond. Many consider his actions the trigger for an uprising that toppled the country’s regime and protests that soon spread to other Arab countries. The European Parliament awarded Bouazizi and four others the 2011 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, and The Times of London named him its 2011 person of the year.

As that example shows, protest can be a powerful force. But what is behind the recent wave of protests? And are there any alternatives?

 Why the Surge in Protests?

Many protests are ignited by the following:

• Dissatisfaction with social systems. When people believe that the local government and economy serve their needs, there is little desire to protest—people work within the existing order to address their problems. On the other hand, when people feel that these systems are corrupt and unjust and rigged in favor of a select few, conditions are ripe for social unrest.
• A trigger. Often, an event moves people to action, to change from resignation to a belief that they must do something. Mohamed Bouazizi’s case, for example, set off mass protests in Tunisia. In India, a hunger strike against corruption by activist Anna Hazare set off protests by his supporters in 450 cities and towns.

As the Bible long ago acknowledged, we live in “a world where some people have power and others have to suffer under them.” (Ecclesiastes 8:9, Good News Translation) Corruption and injustice are even more widespread today than they were back then. Indeed, people are more aware than ever before of how political and economic systems have failed them. Smartphones, the Internet, and 24-hour news broadcasts now allow events even in isolated places to trigger a response over a large area.

What have protests accomplished?

Proponents of social unrest would claim that protests have accomplished the following:

• Provided relief for the poor. In response to so-called rent riots in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., that occurred during the Great Depression of the 1930’s, city officials suspended evictions and arranged for some of the rioters to get work. Similar protests in New York City restored 77,000 evicted families to their homes.
• Addressed injustices. Ultimately, the 1955/1956 boycott of city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, U.S.A., led to the overturning of laws for segregated seating in buses.
• Stopped construction projects. In December 2011, tens of thousands of people protested the construction of a coal-fired power plant near Hong Kong because of concerns about pollution, so the project was canceled.

Although some protesters may accomplish their aims, God’s Kingdom offers a better solution

 Of course, protesters do not always get what they want. For example, leaders may crack down rather than give in to demands. Recently, the president of one Middle Eastern country stated regarding the protest movement there: “It must be hit with an iron fist,” and thousands have died in that uprising.

Even when protesters accomplish their aims, the aftermath invariably brings new problems. A man who helped depose the ruler of an African country told Time magazine about the new regime: “It was utopia that immediately descended into chaos.”

Is there a better way?

Many well-known people have felt that protesting oppressive systems is a moral imperative. For instance, the late Václav Havel, a former Czech president who spent years in prison for his human rights activities, wrote in 1985: “[The dissident] can offer, if anything, only his own skin—and he offers it solely because he has no other way of affirming the truth he stands for.”

Havel’s words foreshadowed the desperate acts of Mohamed Bouazizi and others.  In one Asian country, dozens have set themselves on fire recently to protest religious and political repression. Describing the feelings behind such extreme actions, one man told Newsweekmagazine: “We don’t have guns. We don’t want to harm other human beings. What else can people do?”

The Bible offers a solution to injustice, corruption, and oppression. It describes a government that God has set up in heaven that will replace the failed political and economic systems that lead to protest. A prophecy about the Ruler of this government says: “He will deliver the poor one crying for help, also the afflicted one and whoever has no helper. From oppression and from violence he will redeem their soul.”—Psalm 72:12, 14.

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that God’s Kingdom is mankind’s only true hope for a peaceful world. (Matthew 6:9, 10) Thus, Jehovah’s Witnesses do not engage in protests. But is the idea that a government by God could eliminate the reasons for protest unrealistic? It might seem to be. Yet, many have developed confidence in God’s rulership. Why not look into it for yourself?