Watchtower: The Time for True Submission to God - 1982

8/20/2019 Watchtower: The Time for True Submission to God - 1982

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In m np +d hir dwn M

*bath & e m + . B u E hOwrnwm~d-ly rbout, W a w e u~ to the

t h ~ d q b d h marehmm feel h ( n e e d o invsdtig to w h h

l& ,&~PD,* .w3w lni& not b y e peeowchasm, is- p h l i n ~ ~ i a ?

w h y ~ m t @ k a h t ( ; o d a n d r r a l W n ?Why ah& e h ~ Z L &get W wwp l e d r r ~ l ; l t e t o d ~ n a m d y , w h e t h s r t b eWE b e ofTirnnlRndm,ri&t or mug ? W , do wee o t t m e i n a t i m e i n w h i c b p e o g b m r e P h a n e v e r dGd? Can f l ~ m tb t world emib am devebpi n g ~ a c l i m a r t 7 D O ~ n a t f e a l t h a t t b e d d ' ~pr~blemsam gdthwout of had? Word exphhuWPM ewnh d hom us that d d n f b t l l ~ ~ l l sdepends on our hpisg-a gwd dntwnddp d t h GadIn other wu , it dtqmbda on whatha aomeom breally mbmit&l to G@. Yw, t s m w he time formakind di 4 l submlt rQ d

lhmha&dF-

- W ( U . S . ) 2 6 ~ ~ ~~ ~ . Y . l m lB a r a d The Y Lwdoa NW Wm &X 471rnrreria P.M.B. 1m Beninatp Ed0 abbeP l97-A A h i d New Garden Tom, bhob 64609

- - -w mE1We i n he United &a of A m e h

The Time forTrue Submission to God

a YOU ove righ&a nm o you hate @k,Bt- hostilltdml and bbdaheol? Dw3 it &+kws you to see some mple as if theyw e r s ~ ~ p e r i a r t o t h o a e d a d B m m t ~ . w c e ,~ , ~ ~ , ~ O r s e r R W o t t l d y a~ s e 0 a l l h ~ l i ~b m t h @ m a n d M E g m - - Y w bthew qu~tstions, hen hia ?mkkt as m~ mpor-tant for you.

~ N & m to say, people do not live inunity like brothem and ebtem. hlnlt of PUPneighborn or those you work w i t h ow m my doyou know that are tmtp homt? How m a y wyou trust? Frobably xaoQ many a n m alk betree& alone in the k Mbbut f& ould

you dam ~ go to bed at night without a m r e l ylocking your dooa? M a t of m would not.

what abut; the nations a a whole?-0 p opl arM8r asld SOuM lwobhKm go €In-mlved, many poutidam &m@le with therfor w8aith &mi gower. whue a i m re swv-tw, g o v ~ e n t apend huge amowb of moneyon armamemts. Meantime, the e c w l a l of morstooutriw g h worse an8 wotse, and peoplefor the future.


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4 THE TIM FOR TRUE SUBMISSIONTQ GO13

4The truth is* we are living in the most criticaltime in human history nd thoughtfa penpIer m g n h this f a t . Recently, two authcrrs in-vestigated some of the problems of the modemworld: the arms race inflation, th populationproblem, the depletion of resources, limitless jn

pollution and the upset n the balance of nature.They wrote a book about their andins and thetitle they chose was 18 7 he orld Going Down?m y Sezer D u ~ u nd Qrhm Durn, published in

dust;traWkfon, faulty nutrition, environmental

Istanbul, Turkey, 1915). Consider their commentabout mefi's eft0r-h t o solve these problems.

s Autharities who are comtantly telling theisle of good days to oome with l ~ m nd happi-

i 'ness, refrain from giving tangible proofs for theiroptimism One day they gather in Bucharestfor the 'W'orld Population Corderenee,' The nextday in Rome they talk abut $he problem of nu-trition. Another day in Hmkholm pollution ofthe environment is discussed. All them conven-tions and conference ^ are organized by the UnitedNations. So t h w matters must have a real sideto then. But these conventions and conferenw-smostly Mmme he forum for airing mrdlictingScientiAC, p o l i t i d , social and economic. views.''

8 you Wagreewlth the& words3 Even whenexperts have the be& of intentions, they em3to m o m p U b very Mae. It is as if an in~Mblehand is blocking their good inentiom, and mean-while the world becomes gradually wmse, Whakb the real reason that they canrlot solve todQVsprobIem?

, 5, H@p he expefts We n able to wlve any of W ' s

oubbndrag pmblw'?6. Xn v w of the faflure af the wor2d's leaders, what q etion & asked?

THE TIME FOR TRUE SUBMISSIONTO QOD

WHY THE FAILURE?Buppose you o to a ailor with a piece of ma-

terial and s t him to make you a suit. ITowev ,the suit he makes does not fit you The t q i l o~aysthat this is not his fhult, but it is bemuse of thepaor q W i q of the cloth you'gave him. 0 you

buy the kind of cloth that he wants and go backto him. Again the sui t he makes far you d mnot fit. How many times would you go b@ck tothat tailor before you realized that the problemwas not the cloth but the W r imself?

The situation with mankind, is d m i k , Dur-ing th centuries, many dtfferat kinds of gwernment haye been tria by man. The= havebeen kingdoms, s~ltanebbs~ ligwchies, dictator&ships and democracies. Just l ike a dustorner whokeeps going W k o the tailor with dmerent ma-terial, m a n has tried all these &Berent kinds ofgoomment, And not one of them has fitted.Not one has braught happiness to the rndqjoriw ofits subjeeb. ~ u s t i m s ave been rife. Individualshave heen trampled on, and sometimes misrulehas been so bad that the o p p r d have revoltedYet even governments brought about by revolu-tion h v e not fitted.

k t the i a t century, t was suggeskd that theroot of most of man's iUs was economic. A newsystem w a put forward called communism, whhhmariy philosophers felt would elirnimlx iqjusticeand bring peace. During, this century, govern-ments based on the communist theory have kenestablished in many Lnds. hat has been he

1 2. (a1 What illustration i s presented here7 1 m d wthis help ua to s whether human g w e m e n b cr n solvehumanity's groblem?3 e Have either a~~ or ~&piWk.rn e n s dm bringing ptme and happin-?


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6 THE TIM FOR TRUE SUBMIGb[OFI TO GOD

raulf? While not wishing to corn re commu-nism with cag i~s r r l , r t sum. 5 ~ t e iksuperior to the other, we have &ke note of Yibfract thak communism has been just as unable wcapiMm solve mankind s problem

It has not even brought F e e In S o u t h d

Asia communist goternmenbs W v e recentlywar against one another, provoking the followingcomment in TRe M W York Time :

"The conflict t h t s p r a tRi weekend fram Cam-,- to the border of Chfma snd V ~ e t m m nd tq ha+r t l le e x c ~ ~etween China and the Sovket Unionjprovi&s the f h d proof a t o idmhgy makes men:immune to ethnic m d racial strite, or a@r&onand chauvinism While an impatent Uni ted Natimlooks an, hoth- gmemenFs with no amwenteconomic interest at &%Ice risk even major war. Uglyrl@tiomllgm s triumphetj a r m agdn n the humanfami3p.

9 W b t is the real reason for the fail- of aUthese f o m of g o w r m m n t ? In our illustrationof the W b r m d &he cloth, it everntuaIlp kernme

lw that the t d u r MmseIf was the problem.Similarly, if man h ts tried so mar@ dmemntkinds of gmmmen.t, and they have l failed,then we have ta conclude that the problem i s

with man himelf. Evlan is not capable of mlhhimself s r r c ~ l y 6 a wise man said manyyears ago: '+It does not hefang t o man who isw d k i n g m n o direct hls &zp+''*

*But i man cslnn~t ule himelf, whogovern him? There is only me; ad hfrnseu, 8

* quoted from Jme?aiah Kkm, n the Bibis Atl qu t .tiow - on am either mm the mb~e r trrnjhe:&ur'a OXora'zF, unless o t i l m rwted5. What is the re l rewon for the Wure of PlWWif r m m k ?% ? ~ h o l g heonly ~ n e w h o c w r u l e ~ ~ s u ~ ~ y ?

THE TIMEFOR TRUE SUBMtsSfPN TO GQD

come, atheists will gue bhgt there i s no Gtd,so it i s valueless tO W k b u t W , ' a rul ing man-1id. But their seasoning is shortsighted. It is ,hnpoasible tu di pr&ir~he exktmce of' Gad. Onthh other hand, -when we see things such ihouse, n w$mmbfie or airplane, common@me tells us that someone mush have madethkm. They could not have made thenlselves. Eth s ordlnaty thws must W v e m k m , hensurely things as wonderful e s the h m n body,this earth, or a bird in flight, must also have amaker. And that Maker must be Gad,*

7 Now, g r m M the f&t that God errists,cfo youfml he is p l w e d with the m y his e y e

, twes are conducthg themelves? If you were afather, would you be happy to me y o w childrenlying, cheating, killing and oppWfI1g one an-ather? Qf course not. Surely then either is Godhappy to see the b m m that he put on this

, earth doing the same things. For m e ~ i n g , tshows that they axe n o t subwfthg themselvestiom rule,

BTt'ue, m a y Wa y elaim to warship God bratd m t h a t mean that they have submitkd to himan$ a c c e ~ t Wm as heir r&fi Some stme owners,f8r example, hang up an ~ p t i o ~roclalmkng:'cWbat God Says Occ.urs*Iy But does that signgumantxe that t h e store owner will slot cheat you,or b a t he w i l l pay hi$ bxes honestly-as'iduld w a n t him ta do? SImWrly, m a n y stabs-: men mat they will ccomplish certain thingswith the help af acrd But how many statesmen

-1 Bee Ro 1:2@ Hebrews 4, in the Bible.7. How rnru3t G d iew the oanduct of mnW8 . l b ~ s t h e f a & W ~ c W t O g e m G a d ~ f ithey haw m y tlbmfkW t h d v a o bim?


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TH TIME FOR TRUESU ISSION TQ Q Q

OP cow& beUeWs in all % M e Ii@on h n@t f U ~ a s h e e. y 9ffe h p t ~

o y y d y ~ ~ :hy b v e none af tbw *Wm8pr8vemted m g d frai33 oomlng hb o r i 6 i dd ~ ~ f i mhat ws&ee arouml ub a f A @meIge& ob the f o U p m 'af @me w 1 ~ 0 ~l h lp@ to yndmstmd.Z f f us emmme, st, the WlhweIIts o J*Xsajn: Have these really followed he aw of MBswand serv d M he W y - M a s did? Have theyacted h ham0~1.y im his words? For .mmglp,M o m said to the farefaWrs 9f $@m d w d a yJ& who be n his &;v; ''A pr bt-Wtn ybur

micis4 m w s ~ ~ ~ a m e , B +vatJehovah your Gpd Wl -)>lbp )r mu-togou people should 14t4n9 Deu€e~nomy &15)When did that prophet a p w Well, he did flatasppear during the tirap that me hob books of;the Jews were being written. In Pact, SQ ewswe at i l lw d h g for him

But clorl@Ig@ A b t m n l y n m d a&r Mum p h m M ~ h & p , knm Uida g p e w W ; i n ~ ~ M o- 5m J,qmw.o , dr w Mwmver1thee m e moreth & bre hwdred gmphecies h %he books ac-

as htily by he Jews th t Wbte Wkd in'~WJ remar4able man~ ~ h i z ;an hfm'se~ i o t~ the JWS: T u

W * v d Moses ~ l o u ould bellwe me, orme wrob abut me: (John 8:4@ In spib of W ,the Jews of .those d a p rejected him. Who w wthi~ mmP J e w , who w called the CThrM or


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-1 1.1-0 # .W 1 WE; Tic . R TR G Z N Z ~-Intad one. Surely, those who d w W the one~ b y a c I ~ ~ t r e a l l y b e v i e w e d ~ ~w o m h i p h ~a d he ~ 9 oses w o m h i w him,- eg'What a b t thww who ckkm to be UhrMiamCwhossythstth@y doacceptJesusSZloolr at tkrhundmb of millions of persona around the world,~Vho belong tBe muntlem ~ o n w t n g ect8 t h t ,dafisl to be Chriatian. Can you wtually bellevethat they are ll orshiping od $he way Jesusdid? IMany religions c k h h g to be Christian w eicons or in their wonhip. Would Jamhave done his? M- who prophesied the corn-lq of Jmm, warned: You muat not make forg o u m l f a ~ e d f m a g e o r a f o m l i l t e ~that is in the heavens above or that is on theearth underneath or W t b fn the watef~ un-der the You must not bow down to themnor be induced to mrve them, @lxoduer2Q:4, )A c l w Feimtl and followerof Jesus, the agmtleJ a b , a i d ta vprshlpem of C FoB in hi^ day: Littlechildren, guard y o ~ l v e srom idoh?, Q J o bS:21) Oan you sm the W m n w between whatM a e j m d Jesus friend, John, add, and whatthaee who claim to be Christian8 are doing

@M&tionaS& ave you notbd that m a t dthe great wars of thh century have stark4 eitherb e t w e n Christian nations, or between a 0-tfan and a nation?Think, too,the Cmwia and the Thirty Ye- War. On@ww C h r b b h ' W e W n agalnlst hbuaUms and

7 . d a 3 ~ h r r b d o ~ w b ~ m t o b e ~ a a g ~ I b f ~

TldE.TiPE FOR TRUE SU8MISldNTO Q00 11

the otber was vfcfousaggrwsion b e t w e ~ t l e9flesckming to be C l W t 4 n . Jesus would n v r havemtedhmchaway.

B 3 w tm&htfomdly warned: Those whotake the sword will pe- by the sword,'' Wabthew 26:52) For more th n r t h o w d yeamCMstmdrrm (those nations alaimhg to CMs-tfan) b89 relied on the sword, or on warfare.Even M a y , he natiom of Chrhtendom are W m *i n a t in stockpiling the marry rls of w~f&pamo m d e m warfwe.

1 e J a w also told hls followers: I am giving youa new commandment, that you we ne sflo -er ut-& a8 I have l d ou, U t ou also loveone mother. By thia alI will Emow that yau aremy dbdgies, i you hsve love among y o ~ v e s .(Joha 13:34,35) When you look at the WwMianmthw do you feel that they love one moth-er? Surely not, when throughout h w heyhave fought 8 many war8 aanong thems8lv&And within t hee nation8 crime, oppmsion, lying,eheatin~, tealing and her unloving acts mejust as =pant aa fn the non-Chrhthn natiom,We e n only conclude that thew nations m notmade up o rue dkiplm of Christ.

ilBut what about thwre who adhere toIsba?

AS pointed out above, a M u l h is one who feelshe ha6 ''surrendered to M . To m d wmeans W yield oneself to someone,to submit tohim. It qm in the Gmat Islamic C a t e c h t m (bydmr NWUM Blhnen): & for the word Islam,its I e d d meaning Q obeblenoe,submWton, mrendep to something. In ~ c u I 8 r . r :obedience ta


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12 THE TIME FOR TRUE SUBMISS~UN~TO OD, THE TIME FUR TRUE SUBMISSIONTO GOD 13

G@ the M o t Righ. This meaning is q&nHcant. As long as he stays bald, no one ia going tu buyIf All Muslims had truly submitted themselves his auppmedly hair-ratorfng drug,to God would not atmosphere of peaice and 4 The czqe is similar t o that of many of thebrotherhood prevail among them? Yet we m clergy-and remember, we are speaking aboubitter hatreds between diff~rent mc@, m d even the elera of l religions. While what they ;sapwars between Muslim nations. DauMless many oftm sounds impressive, ' nevertheless, in theh

upright MusI im, on w'ing su h things, have lives they do not l ive up to their own t&&hgs.asked themelves: 'How meany Muslims among us It is as hey were selling a, hair-restoring drughave truly surrendered to God?' but were bald themselveves.

lgPerhaps part af the r m n or the above stt-

Imus once spoke a b u t the religious leaders

uation in these three religions is the atatude of of his day. B a d *ha.t he said, and see if yout h e clergy-whatever their religion-toward ma- agree that, in primiple, It appues to many of thekrb l things. Do they supply their reIigious ser- clergy in mast of h e religions with which youvices free, or do their f ~ l l o w w me to pay? Is it haye come in contact.not true that the longer prayers a re more expen- They bind up heavy loads and put them upon theshe? Q lergymen @ i l h g l y go to the fmemls shoulders of men but hey themselves are not will-d paor men without baking money? Weddings ing to budge them with their flilger. ll the waksand other religious ceremoniw also have t o be they lo Chey do to be viewed by men They Wepaid for, do they not? Often, yau am only do the the m a t prominent piwe at evenin meals and thethings premibed by your religion fn proportion front seat In the s y w q u e ~ nd the m e ~ t h p nb the aamwnt of money you c n Skfxord. It has the rnwk&plaaes and to be mUed Rabbi PPeachwlbeen made t o appear that God% kindnes c a n be by men. But you, do not you be called Rzbbi, foram is your tmcher, whersas all you are brothers,baught for money and the clergy are the ones -Matthew 63:4-8.who beneat from that money. The truth is, manyhave Men led to hate religim for this reason. Can you s now k t least one rewon why the in-flueflee of religion throughout history h w done

ZaTPlere a mying* Do what the ppriest says, IfttIe t o brmg mankind closer to God ?Don t do nhat he does. Thi8 betrays the f ctthat many clergymen act contrary t the w a ~ , 15. (a) What ww Jesus' ooment about religtow leadersthey teach. But thbk: If someone who w& with:. f his day b) DO w fml thh applim to m y eligiousout a single hair on h S head claimed that he had ladera todaya drug to make hair grow amh, would you b u ~the drug Born hhn? Xf the drug is f a y mtive; ONE GOD, m ELIGIONthen why is the man who Is seWg i t ill Wd? 1 If we really wish to xurrehdet ourWves ta

God, we 4ave Q mt le in our mind an imparkant12. W h % as been tape record o mmxy rehgtous leaders with problem regarding religion. Is it God's will thatm W3t;BW W e ~ i omp23,14. What i l lwtrab Whmer t d e w p r m w what I, 2. y Is it set l 4 that the many ~~c~ ret h ~~~? t0n4 frr the world . d a d all J d ~ m8 m e ad.


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14 THE TIME FOR TRUE SUBMISSIW TO GOD

there are m mimy religions, in tlie world? 1s hecontent to sw geeple trying tu worship him inmany dmermt organimtfans, with d i B e m t 'be-liefs, reIigious rituals and even diffeent mom1s r n d m d s ?

aThe answer has to k K o . Wi is a ad of

harmony, But the different religions of mankindare not in harmarly with emh other. They fightone another, persecute one another and wntwdict one another, Irmghe t t you were lost, ndyou wked four different people how you couldget home, What would you thirlk, if one told you

travel north, another said to travel south, thethird mid you had to go eastward, and the fourth,westward, in order tu arrive bwk home? CwIdhey all be right? Of course noL And -ly,

all the religi~ns of this world c nnot be right,&*ha, when they give contradictory instructionsas to what we should do to submit to mi

3 It i~ inkeresking, however, that the three mainreligions mentionM earlier, although they dis-agree about man3 thmgs, ll Mree on one point:there is only one God. True, Christendom w n f wes this with he^ dactrhe bf the Trinity, te e mthat there ls one Gad W e p af three per-

m s . But he able, which Ohriskendom meleptaas holy, d w not teach the Trinity, The Bibleteaches the oneness o God.

*Thus it is that in the Hebrew Bible we maLiskn , O I s W Jehovah our ud is mu J e w

v z h (Deuteronomy &Q In t h ~ hristian Scrip-tmes we read: Them one od m d FatherLif*Give? or Creatofl of aU persons, who is aver3. W i b c om poln on wMch three x the mador WWO

of the world-7

4, HOWdo h k I y writings of each of tkese three rewwde-b this faat?

THE TIME FOR TRUE SUBMISSIONTO GOD 15

all and t h r ~ u g h l and in a ' U . ' m W m l ~:4, @In the Qur an dm &pelled Kar~a-Q~~t is wri tkqin the Unity .Ak-J7chW chapter, in the h s t verse:

I Say: Allah is Om. *I

6 However, these three religions all d a d bdiEerently. It is as If you *bed 1-m abouta wt in important 033chL and you ed threeI a e r e n t neighbor6 what kind of m n h was.One aid he was tall and blond, the other said hewaa smdl and dark, and the third one mid hew w f average height rtnd gray-haired. m e ly ~ u rhree neighbors would thus show that theyWUeved this oacfal e a t & , it would bviousthat at least two of them did not really knowhim personal ,

In the same way, when different mligiolls d ewebe God in mntdctory ways, we have t askourselves: 'which one is true, and which ones m emistrsken?' If we really wish t submit ourselvesto God, we will be anxious t o find the ansmrto that question, The most ItYIwrtant subject wea n ver study is the truth about God,

6. W fs it not W b i e that we could come a hiow the- t n r e ~ ~ u a J W w e U t h r o u g h a l l t h t e e d t h e ~ e r r l l g i o n

THE NEEP TO BEARcR EYla THE TBmHActually, w need ta lmow the truth about

'everything we e alms wim. A b u s h e s -Wnb to toow the W fi when he B settling acaounts. H e does not Iet sentiment or prejudice

A l l . q u o ~ o n s rom the Qur an in W s , bk l e t aretaken from the +nsbtion by N. J. Daw- gublfshed byPenguin am8iCa m 1066.

I. 4 llustrah why it ist~

our amn ato

know the Withabout evg we have dealin@ a. ) Whei problemofbn misea fn d M w i o n a about religion?


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16 ftlE TiME FOR TRUE SUBMlSOlDhl TO GbD THE TIMEFOR TRU SUB~~ISSION-TOOD 17

bpnd him, othetwise he is UkeIy t lose moneyY Emme find it hard reason on :+he subjectWhen we get ~art*fed, e want to know the truth i .of r e ~ g i o n . hey are convinced theirsabout our future partner. If we allow ourselves is the right religion and nu more dWu&on sto be deceivwi, we w i l l likely be unhappy later ofi. needed. In this, we M a y be a little Uke a fainaCYes, if w do not know the truth about a rnafk, F iml suppWter of a ceft h poflts -111. s yoqwe hinmrhbly - out 131 one way or ahother. This' know, when a fanat id 'suppork m h h w hfs

i s dm rue with respe t to religion The ppublemo w n team play modher one, he suppork'hfs awn,

is, many people for one reason or another are howevek badly it pIa3s. If the opwgentsw e

not inclined t o disc- religious matters. , may say that fbey cheaw, or the refereewas on

-. their side, or something else hwpened. H e husa Here someone may say: 'But I have a religion. ignores t he good qwdities of he other t a m and

I belong b the same religion my parents and all the bad qualltia of hi own.my grandparents belonged to How c n that be However, to s the true fach in a @wrong?' Yes at birth most of us received some engagam you have to he impwtial. And treligious faith as a heritage from om parerib, s even more so in the mse of ~ l i g b n , 'f ourOften, the name of that religion is put On our mind is captive to prejudice, ~ wiIlnever the

identity papers without our even beiag asked. ruth. Is 3t reawnable to say whether something*But do we deserve honor or credit for be- ;-is right or wrong before you have Icmked i n b it,longing to a religion that we received from our or fore you have even thought abut it?parents, if We have never done anythirlg to c h ~ k ryesj we nwy b y e received our religion fromwhether that religion is right or wrong? A man r ur paients, and we respect om parents. W e oweborn in Italy would likely be born inh a Catholic - - them much, and many of the things they havefamily, and he would grow up a Catholic. A man a given us are very good. But t b t d m not meanborn in B u r m would likely be of the Buddhfst _we have t accept everything they say withoutreligion. If a man k born in a Milslim family, he -thinking. Our pmen are human, w we are.

wi l l W l y grow up as a M w l i t .=mey make mistakw, as we do. III W y

the problem that we have to Ilve With b x h y anSurely a11 of thrs means nothing as ta his sub- becaw of things that our aarents' generationrnit t ing himself tu God It is pur'ely an accident. did. They did not do tt.lem deliberately t;O makeThe man who truly surrentlers himself ta b rod js hard for us. They just made Mm, be-the one who mrefuUy examin& dLZ1 asw of the muse of being h u m .religion he was, barn into. If he finds it Is true, UHenee, a wise msur wiU examhe the thb~gshe remains with it. But if he finds i t is false, ha he I W fv fmfn his gapen&, including hiissets out t M d the true religion.

5, 6, W h y &odd we be maamable q d -minded pahen2, 3. Is K m y redit to a person to helong to a religf we ww religion?merely Mcause he fnherlhd It W m ig paren ? 7 , 8 . H m w U l a wL s e m a o , v i e w th ? ~ ~ h e r e c e i v e d f t' a m4. ow a man be sure h has truly mbmtked ? m

SS O


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18 W E TIME OR W E UBM~SS~ONTO 060

religion H e wil l Jmp the good hings and Wectt b ~ e i e ~ ~ ~ 3 0 t g o o d . T ' 4 i S ; f i 3 e 3 8 e n t i € t lIi he fs to l d the truth abut Mglon

IDmmFmHIii mmBOOg OF T8UTHlHow can we t he truth about rewon?

7 U e the example d a new employee 8tsrrElngwmk in a firm. Who teUs him what work heshould do and what rules he m to obey? Why,the employer, of cuurse The employer will eitherqxsk ta him ~~, send him a memoran-dum, or gerhsps let him read a book oi inrstmo-tlom giving him the mded information. Now,since W crated us and gut us on the earth,hehtheonewhoshmldtd luswbathewmbus to do. Row doe he do this? B h c e he does not5 p a k b ewh of us individually, it follow5 thathe,mu&tel lusMswUhwri thg .

P Where can. we find W ritten instmtlomfar w? Resdes of tfie Qufan will already havesame I d e a abut this, ur there is frequent men-tion made in that l m k of writing8 of what scalled God's Word. In the b@mhg of theQWan we ma4: L'mhe rlghteaus3 W t wh t h abeeta reveQled to r Wohammecl1 sn d to Other8before yozr, and believe In h e life to come.

M, A Z - B m [tk OWL V- 4.=What b meant by what hae been d e d

to othem W o r e you ? Three separate writingsaremmmedinthe&ur'an. Oneisalludedtointhe fifth Sura, A - M u m Prhe W e l , in verrres 43and44.There,weread: Howwilltheycomefoyou fot jubgement, when they already have the

. H a w w a u M m e X p e c t ~ ~ d d ~ w n m ~ w i t husP&s-@)a3tWQuf&Idan #mysd*aetowhaatoloolrfor God% w m mj -wIt m

THE TiME FOR TRUE SUBMBStONT GOD 19

Torah which enshrines Allah'& own judgement3&on a fk r they are bound to gnore you: khey amno t rue beliema Thm b guidance, and t h mk ight, in the Tomh which We have revealed.Hence, the Tom the writdqgs of M-, are

to in the w a n s the Word of W

we read in the Qur'an: Your Urd Ist aware of all who dmll in heaven andre have exalted some prophetg above othem. ToDavid We gave t he m " 8ura 17, Al- a'W e ight Journey], verse 55) Noteworthy, too,are the following words: We ave revealed wwlll b Noah and the pbphets who m eafter hfm; . o Abrrrham, hhmW1, m w b -and M d , whom w8 mVe m '@UP& 4, AleNW [Women], vwse 103) Noah, A b m

ham smml, I- and Jwicob re all referredto Fn the writingti of Moms, the Tom .*The hircl writing referred to in the Qur'an Is

called the Gospel.'*On this the Q w ~ ads:After thoare grophete We sent forth Jesus, fbe

~ l o n f dAasy confirming the Torah aIrea4y r evealed a n d gave the Gospel in *Wch mere-Is guidmte and light, corroborating that whichwaa revealed before if in the Torah a guide andan admonition to the rtghteuup~. Therefore let Wf0ll0wep8 of the WlXl h WCO- Mtfiw b t Allah h&s r evded merein.. Evil4om amthose that do not base their judgemerib on AlEah revelations. -Sum 5, ALdba idQ me TabIeJ,versea Is 47.

6 careful d e r f the wan has saenthat the Torah, he P d m and the Gospl are


11/33

XI W E TIME FUR TRUE SUBMISSIONTQ GOD

time and again shown to be God's Ward. Ih h eone hundr@d ourteen Sums, t c h a m s , of the-'an, at least sixty-two verses paint out thatthese three writ ings come from God And at leasttwelve other wms m y that the Qw'an wae- wri t -ten fur the purpose of confkming these books.

pHere are some af these verses. GhiIdren ofBrael . . Have faith rr My revelations, whichconfkrm your Scriptures." (Bura 2 Al Bmpra [Thea w l , vem 41) ABook confirming their own h scome t o them horn Allah." (Sum 2, Al-Baqara[The Cow] verse 89) When it is said t them:'Belteve in what Allah has revealed, they reply:'We believe in what was reve&Zed to qs.' But theydeny what has hasince been revealed, although itis the truth, corroboratllng' heir own &riptur%.

(Sum 2, dl-Baqara [The Gow], verse 91) "He hasrevealed t o you the Book with the truth, con-e m i n g the scriptures which preceded It: for Hehas already revealed the Tor& m d the -pel.for the guidance of men, and the di&inction h etween right and wrong, [Bum 3, Al-Imran rFheIfnrrrns] verses 3, 4) 'This is a blesed Bmkwhich W e have revealed, confuming what camehefore it." @ur& 6 , AI-An m [Cattle], verse 52"If you doubt what we have revealed to you, ask

those who have read the Scriptu+ befo~e pw.(Bura 10, Yu~fs Jonah] verse 94) "What We haverevealed to you In the Book is the truth canfirm-ing; prevf~US ct'fptW~~' -8Ura 5, -F~ t i ' f fTheCreator], verse 31,

*However, the QuI"&n m k s he additionalpoint #at merely howing which books are Gcd'sWord b isat enough. We have to do what thmebooks say. Say: 'People of the Book, you shall

8. h a r d i r i g td t h W'm what is needed M d e s me*tmmm what ~ w 9 t Vo r d b

V I E TIMEFOR TRUE S~~MISSION' GOD 21

@bf be guided until yuu O W ~ ile Tbmh a dthe Gosgwl and tbiat which is revwed to youfrom your Lord' * (Sura 5+AI1Maptda Pfhe Table&verse 68 See also 8ura 3, dl-Ymaa m mrisJveme 93.) The Q w m d m &ys: ' rhose to w h q$he bureen o the Torah wm entrust& and y&refurn to bear it

areU e a donkey

M aith

b a p k ~ , ~ * - 6 w2, At-Jum'a, EHdayl, verse 5.g T o sum up, the tftftftftftftftftftftftftftftftftw'mhes tW t h . ~

t wriimg$+ the Torah, the Psalms and the-1 are from God They skrodd be both rm-o g m d and obeyed. Du you 6nw %here a Wzlf h d t h e writings Wa y ? They haye &en coWbad tagether into me book, whhh haa beome themast widely dlstributwl publiwtion in the wholeworld Thia book the Whole or in pM% beentmhstated i n t o mure than seventen h u n Wlanguaga. It is the Bible. But More onfumingthat this book really does contain the Word ofGod, let us & to kndq it a little betkr.

0. Where are the writings locaw that are f & n W In theGur'an :S WOW

WHAT I 3 T E kII m'The Bible is viewed in the East made up

bf three different boala, namely, T m u f ora ah),3 r (Ptalms) arid 1 m j d ' ( Q o s ~ I l . f YOU &&mineS Bible, you i l l flnd th&t w h th-ese thrboob Q diyided firh several. smaller boob7 Inf a t , the word LLEible'' omes f r ~ m he Greek word'bibih, wMok means "little books." In all thereafe sikty-six lime bods n the Bible, T g ~ u $wearding ta he way t4e Bible: is spoken ofthe Qur'axl, consists of thirhy-nhe '"little boola,"

1. f wbst ls the able made up?

THE TIME FOR TRUE 8UBMj5810PITO BbD s


12/33

THE TtME FOR TRUE SUBMlSSlON TO Gbb rd ncludes the W k f FmJm&, or 2 T. Ifijii

Icumb'h of twenw-geven * little boob.

PSom l tbe first thMy-nlne bookdl of theSble the '#Old m a t , u s the wri-of these was fmhlxd hundreds of yeare before

rthe next m%ion

-egun. They view this as

L ss important thm the 8econd part, which theyc d l the %bnent, However, it is notl o g i c a l t o v f e w 0 n e p a r t O f t h e W ~ o i C ) o B a smore Important than another part. All the Wordat aod Is irrrpommf. A veme In the m e dNew m r i t saw All S d p t u r 8 ia implmlof God a d bene3&d for - for reprov-fng, for setting t or d i s c i P k W inr i g h ~ u s m a 2 Timothy 3:16 We use the t rm

Hebrew ~~w to M w to the %rat thwy-afne bootrs of the Bible, since ey were writtenn tmt h g r x a g e . And he la1 pmt of theBible was d t t e n In Greek, we c d l that aectlonthe G m k S c r i g r t ~ . ' '

The twenty-seven 'little boaMb' of the meekBcrlpturers In@) a re made up d five historybooks, several letters written by foUowem of Je-SW and one baok co~sbtlng lmost entirely ofprophecies. Thfs section is called Injil, or W p lk c a w e the Wst four bolts are -pel8 (whichword rn news ). The writers of thmeGmpeIrs were disciples of Jem& named Matthew,W k uke and John. Each Gospel mnterins anm u n t of the life and death of Jesus Chrlst.

4 At thls point, you may &But hy shoulclthem be faur acmmb of Jesus' We? Why notjust one?' Perhaps ~ r o u eel W s shows that them w n t of Jesus' life has been distorted. &me

. W b & a r e b t w o ~ ~ o r ~ o n % a t t h e B L b l e Pa -be w ha4,s . W h y ~ t W m ~ i o u r ~ a farrua'UieP

THE TIME FOR TRUE 8UBMj5810PITO BbD sm p l a apgpntly atup th i n v ~f theBfble at t goht. But et ua remind youof what was said earlier abut predudiw BefmUedding what to think abut thls m q a cmMer what the Bible i says

6 In the Hebrew f3dptupm Te m t ) we w Wdthat when an Imporhnt mtrW mu be ebb-U b d thereshouldbemo~khanonewihmsIt~ ~ ~ ~ y ~ : ' ~ A t t h e r n o u t h O i W o w l t n ~ o rmouth of We e w l t n w the ma* should &mdgood, w t e r o n o m g 1R16) Now he Me of Jesusw a s e x ~ h ~ t~ mnce, Oodprovided not three w i t n w , but four. We GWbe sure that what we read of Jesus hh sayix~@and hi8 We, is the truth.

But you e h f 79ugpofie these four W%nwea contWct one 11oMer9' Hem ts the won-derful thing: Although mere am four an beyeach give ua sn woount of the life of J e w fmma different point of ulew and fo sat Mesen au-dience~, hey do not c ~ n t r a d i dne another. T h eaocount b t merms Is unliled and it W p mconfidence.

TThat brhgs up a matter b a g ts do withthe writing of the Bible that ma g do not tm-derstsnd. Some f e d mt or a book ta be W sWor& vw sentence ahould be dlcttated byend wme from above, m it wwe. However,ma of the able was not written that wag.~ e w o r d s i n t h e B l b l e ~ d i m c ~C od through the medium of angel& But at 0th-ertirnqmenwemcOPJIXI1ILIIC1BCIbyaOdtOMl n t h e i r o w n w o r d s t h e ~ t h e g h a d h e a r dor seen. Hence, aemmt pwts o the Bible aJrewritten tn mmm s t y k D a s rn mean that

. D o t h s ~ w r l t e ~ c ~ n ~ 0 1 1 e a R O t b e a P. 7 ~ d l d Q o d a a ~ t h e B i b l e t o b e ~ ?

24 FOR TRUE SUBMISSION O WE TIME FOR TRUE gUBMlS lONTO G b D


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24 THE TIME FOR TRUE SUBMISSIONTO GOD

there is a pm&ility of -or? Not at all, because,as was mentimed in the scripture quote above,*'all Scripture s impfwd of God. (9 Timothy 3:16) H u h m writers wrote under the influence ofM God, who is Almighfiy, is able ta produce abook in this way since that is his will.

8 A h u t fofiy persons were used fn the writ-ing of the Bible. They were from many differ-ent waJb of l h , ncluding shephm& herdsmen*fishermen, faxmers, a doctor and a taz calIec-tar. A t le st two were kings. Others were priests,prophets or scribs. They all poke from Gad zathey were borne along by holy spirit." 2 Peter 1:19-a Each m e wrote In tom honesty, mmetfmeseven describing his o m personal faults.

*The W e between the writixrg of the firstand the last bmks of the Bible is about teenhundred pears. Yet, despite this, the Bible is ba-sically just one h k here is m e W o r theme,And nowhere does it mntndict itself. Swely, thisis proof that there m nly one Author behindthe forty g e r m who woke the s b t y a "lit-t le books"

1eBut is the Rible complete in itself? Well if youhave a copy of the Bible, open it to the v ry firstpage, at Lt of the Hebrew &rigturn,

or Teurd There it says:"In

theb e g m m g God

crated the heavens and the earth." Genesis 19)The baok starts at the very w a n i n g of creationwith referem ta our earth, Nothing on this sub-ject could come befare that. Hence, t he RebrewScfiptws were not the continuation of another

8. What kinds of people were med in the writing of theBible?B dpes the way the Bible was written,prove t came'from Gal?10. How do we know that- the Tewd w m not the continutt-tion of a prevfous boo

WE TIME FOR TRUE gUBMlS lONTO G b D

b o k . They mug&


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2a THE TIME FOR TRUE 8UBM188tOMTO QQD

Sdpturea But should we expect an addition tothe j e r i D M

*WeiI, the closi lg part of he Scriptunsread^ '1 am karine witnm b everyone that

hems the words of the prophecy of fhl8 80~011: fanyone make an addition b them Wngs,M l a d d t o h f m ~ h e p ~ ~ W t & ~ w r l t ~ hthis wroll; and if anyone h k e s m-gf awayfrom the words of the scroll d W prophesy, Godwill W e his gartion tiway from the trees of life&nd out of the how city, things which are writ-ten about in this mroll. Be that bears witness ofthew5 things Mys, YES; I am mmingr quickly* ':Amen Come mml J w ' ay the undeserved:kMness of the I m d Jesus Ohrist be with the;holy ones."-Revelation 9218-21.

w8ure ly, that sounds like a mnclusbn. O n hehopeful note of awaiting the aecand coznhg ofJ ~ u s hrist, notlw how we are warned rrgairvstadding to ar a k i n g away from the writings, Thatmuat be t h e con@lu8ion of the written Word ofw

Some mag have heard of the word mrakbtos and wonder whm th&t fib h b hb pi~tUre,

w s on one occasion Informed h l ~ OuOWCW8:4aNever elm, I am telling you the truth, It isf w y a u r ~ t I a m g o h g a ~ . F o r i i I d onot go away, the h e l p u m k k W will by nom e a m c o m e t o g o u ; b u t l i I d o g o m way,IwlIlsend him to youw John 16:q Wa9 helperw abook, a pepson or mmethbg elm thqt S lwwaagolng to =d?

IlThe Oreek word for "helper" s pambletoa.mme h ~ v e 31x%ge t& that w h a t Jaaw really WdS, It Should we exwct an acWlthn to the Qssk ScriptursrhffwasbhewordafGCodm~~trritbthatarrl~~ , I l ( i . ~ b ~ l t ~ d o ~ ~ a n d ~ W

THE TIMEFOR WUE SUBMIBSIONTO OOb 27

was @Mrtos but b w e f poor gronunda-tion, pwukletm is what came to b written in theBible, P Wutos means, m d m g 0 onea reawn-ing t is way, 'me one commended, or pnWxL"Heam, J a u could be v h x d as grogheaying hemthe coming of mme other person. mt Is thiswhat he himelf h8d in mind?Jesus actually e x g W M what the m r a k k b ~is fn another scripture. Jwt before hls death,he d d : "The helper ~ralsletm], he hdv pifit,whfcb the mther will eend in m y name, $batone will teach you all things mcl bring back toy o u r ~ B s a l l t h e ~ I t o l d ~ " E J o h n 126) A little earlier, he had a i d : If you love meyou wiU observe my m e e n * and I willrequest the Fbther and he give you another

helper 1 b be with you faever, the@fit of Cruth.**-John l&1$17.luffenae, the par&Mm ia not a -XI or 831-

a&hw ook. It is wtiue force from Cfod the holyspirit. Jesw referred b it again when he w aspe ng b his folfowm afhr his ~ ~ U ~ O-tion irom the dead. ~e told them ~ohn,indeed, b a r n with water, but you wil l be pti& in holy splrlt not many dajPs after thk"(A 1:s) Were t h w words iutUgd?

Well, read for youmeif the aocount of whathappened to those foUowm about ten days later.The record tells wc Now while the day of thefestival of Penteaat ww in progress th0y were alltogether at the same plsce, and suddenly Werewurred from heaven a now just like that of arushing b m , d t sled $be whole home

nwhich they were dtting, And tonwe8 as i of17 UI. Hew elid Jrtmrs s ? c p i ~ hat the is?l 9 * 4 , . f ~ ~ d i d J s c l u a ' i p l l o t w e r a ~ ~ ~ ~ g f faa?(b)xow was this a bk q for them?

28 THE M M E FOR TSIUE SUSMIIUONT 60b THETIMEFOR TRUE SUBMISSiON TO GO 29


15/33

28 THE M M E FOR TSIUE SUSMIIUONT 60b

b e k them and were cUWbut-eB about, m d one sat upon each one of them,and they all became Wed with holy q W t and

b s p d k th Merent tongues, j u t asthe ~pirfQ a gmnttn them to m k e uttemnce,

m EX+.W h h event a w m d in the year 33 a. t

thf~t m e , none of the 8 c r i p W (hmhad k e n wrttten Em , s Jmw prodmi, thatholy spirit wsn now avdkble W ensum that allthe thfngs to be written down would be m u -m t ~ nd trustworthy. Obviously, thh pamkletasb not a gems. 1 is active force oaming f rnW h m U . f esus w a no onger ghysiWywith his foUowm, th i s wave force helped themto m e m b e r all the thhgs thak he had said andit strengthened

themto apply therre t fa

their UVBS.H e m , now we h o w P little abut the Teetr

and the fnfi2, hich the Qur'an identifies sss theword of W w d whhh wgetner make up t ~ ~ eBflrle. The Bible compIeted #rim the writ-or the laat W k f the Irsf l l and Jesus -f the coming ~ m k l t o s id not mean we should

sOm&hhg in aadiU011 to that, Ho-,80- people have ~lqiectbns o belie- in the

Bible. t us now &muss some ofthose

objwtI~1~.

T I m ~ ~ ~ ~ M~ ~ r e f u E i e t o ~ p theB1bi€ #c3rod'sww

because the natigm that claim to believe in theBibla have acted m badiy. It cannot be denied

~ a , ~ ~ h a s . ~ p ~ m & n y g e o ~ l e m n ~ p o ~ i ~ ~ ~ ~Bible? bl D w the ~ k e d n e m f O ~ U mm Bthe BtbIe is not m ' a Word?

*

THETIMEFOR TRUE SUBMISSiON TO GO 29that the so calted Christian nathxm, ~ 8 - rferred ta as ChrUmdom, have atused muchsdering ta mWdnd. Doea Wlla mcsn that theBible is wrong tao? No or ChrWtndom long agoabctndoned the Bible and ha not Wed m m d h gto the teachings of Jesus: H e w , it would n bbe groper t condemn the Bible bec w of thething81 Chrishndom has done.

S T 0 &OW th t GMstendom met-1;- ed t h e w f theBlbl~,consldvaomeoIher beliefs. Par manpie, a funclamenkt3 doctrfneof Chri~tendom s the TrMty* According to this,Cj)oB b made up of hree perms: the Father, theBon, and the holy sgfrft. T h a hree are coequaland coeternal, t persona In one W Oh&-tend~m'a heol- call this docl ine a mystmy.

a

Mystery or not,is

this what t he Bibleteach

& F' r h m t S e m a on one w&on statThe lhther h greater than I am. (John 14:28)

On mother h o n , e8W follower, the apostleFaul, ntatw. "1 want you to know that the headof every man Is the Uhr t; In turn th head of awoman is the rn n turn b eQot of the hMis God. (1 Corinthians 11:3) Those two statemenleave no room for belfePing that Jeaus is equalto W The idea of %bee pmom in one W

- is completely foreign to the Hebrew W p te sT m t ) nd the Greek Bcriptums I?zjit), In fact,the word uTrinityw never appears ln the f3ibie.

'Oonsider mother teaching of ClhWndomThe outsbmdhg mbo of Chrhhndom ts thecros&ThhihcIaimedesasymbol b e c a w i t htaught that J w ied on rr cross. Hence, m a -

a a~WhatIstheoentral,~eoiCmbn&ln?tb)me3ths Lb l s tCIEh tbfs d MneP4 , s . What other cent* dmWe of ChrUhndarn b eklom

IM h e without Biblical Powrdstion?

THE TIME FOR TRUE SUBYlSStON TO GOD THE TIME FOR TRUE SUBMISSION TO GOD


16/33

THE TIME FOR TRUE SUBYlSStON TO GOD

W s of ChrWmdozn's churches even bow downbefore images of the cross in their reIigibus aer-vices. Is this what the Bible teaches?

5 Dehitelqr not. For one thing, there is evfdence thab Jesus did n die an i cmss shapedlike the one usually used in Chrf~texldom. bmescripturw n the Bible my that Jesus d M on atree Others my he was hanged on w b t the or -h a 1 Greek language a sfaurm. What doesstauras mean? An authoritative reference wmkstabs: H o m r [an ancient Grmk poet] uses theword d a u m of an ordinary poIe or W e , or asingle piece of timber. And this is the meaningand usage of the word throughout the Greek clas-sics. It never means two pieces af timberacross om another at any anglq, but always ofone piece alone. Hence, the use of the word x u h[or xpiba r n m timber7' or tree ] in canneetibn with the manner of our Z ordTs death . Theevidence i s thus complete, that the Lard was- putto death upon an upright stake, and not on wopieces of timber placed at any angle. -Appendixto he Companion Bible gage 188.

8 Of course, even if Jesus had died on a cross,would the way Chris*ndom uses t; be resanaX,le?

V mmeane you loved very much waa s k h M t odeath, would you worship the knife th t Idbedhim? Of c o m e not. It would be an object ofabhorfence to y o u m e r , m m x W g to the Bi-ble, it is wrong b worship anpbh&g or anyoneapart from God himself. The apostle, John s t a bed: ''Little children, guard y~wselves om id&~s?(1 John 5:2f) Yet Christendom has made an idolof the cross

6, Why f the worship of the woe+ W h nrmmnable andz&mt what the Bible wps?

7 Many Other doctrines and pr W of Chris-tendom muld be mentima3 t0 haw tMt it s ntitruly Christim. For example, t h e theoration ofMary, the belief that the souls af the d kd 1b u m eternally in hellmi and the @lsb&ion ofE d r nd C W m a i i we all derived from pag4Lnprwt1ces and prove that Christepdorn's w m pis not in harmony with the Bible.ashauld we be surprised that od would letsuch a thing happen? No. esus himself prophe-sied that it would e told the Jews of fi day:

Not everyone saying t me, lard, Lord,' Wi I len& into the kingdom of the hmvens, but theone doing the will of my FhWr who is in theheavens wdll. will say to me in that clayIrd, Urd, did we not pmph&y lh ymr nsr-

and expel demons in pour mm4 m d W o r nmany powerful works in your m e ? ' And yetthen I will wafw to them: I nmw h e w youCfet away om me, you workers of bwIessness.Matthew 7:21-23) Chiskndom, while tofallow Jesus, h&s worked great l a w l e t m a Hence,Gad bandoned her.

7. Name some QWP eliefs and p m c t i m of Chrkhmdomtha$apr:umaptud.tl.1Iow d f d J e $ u s f ~ & e I l t h a ~ ~ w o u l d b e m ato s m him but who woad in I? b worker5 of b w h s -m ot true w a n t 8 of

IS THE BIBLE laZTaa TEE WORD O F GOD?IBumetimes a different objeion s raked. Borne

feel that the Bible .was the Word of God but ithas been dishrrted and corrupted by men rn thatnow we can no longer trust it. Can this b e true?

a L e t us repeat a verse from the Qur'an that

Qw2 What d m he Qur'an aWut M

83 THE TIME FOFl TRUE SUWISGIONTO o O D T e MMEFOR TRUE SUBMIBSION TO QOP 38


17/33

83 THE TIME FOFl SUWISGION o O D e MMEFOR TRUE SUBMIBSION TO QOP 38was quoted mk ut now we w 4 &cuss it t h m f s a b ~ t p r O o t t f i a t t h e ] 3 1 ~ h ah m ~ e r m t ngle. Atter t h m prophe& Wes e n t f m t h J e s u s , t h e m o i ~ ~ ~ t h eT o r a h ~ r e v e s l e d , a n d ~ v e h l m t h e ~ p e l ,in whIch thm is guidance an8 Nht, combomt- ~ ~ t h e ~ ~ u fh g t h a t w h i e h ~ m w d e c l b f m i t I n t h e To l turn unttl our d ~ , dmtlst golnted out:M, r gufde

and an admn~tiono

therighteous,

m e n-althen btw88n

thek s of

or in ITherefom let the fullowem of the mp judge in mrnWtdon and the earhrsst abnt evtdence Wamordance with what Wah 3rae rweded there &a m ll sa t be in fwt nepIlgib18, and heln. E v i r d m are those that do not baee their hut foundation for any doubt that th 8crlpturesjudgements on All hrareveIatiow, -Eiwa 6, AG have ome down to u ubatmially they wereMu'ida pl be Table], v a m 46, 47. ,writ* has now been rsmov9d. The fble

¶If t th b e hese words were wrlthn, t h e A ~ ~ ~ , b y 8 i r Z F w d d c K ~ S i r h zBible had almdy been corrupted, how could be- u c Kenyon Is here expmairrg the widely acceptedl i e v e m i n t h e a i w p e l ~ u d g e i n a o o o r d a n o e ~ t h '&t that we c n read in the m k crigtupeswhat Allahhad revealed therein'? Thus believm /Cmiu s u m t i a l l y w h t he o r i g h l wribm, un-in the QWan pt that the Bible WM uncor- r Inspimtion, gut there. There bas been norupted at the time he an was written (about mvm d i s ~ o nom t h o ~ d ti^ h u n M years wo), the Regarding he Hebrew Bcriptm (Ta ra t} , heother h W here exf xinranuscriptsl of the Bible :external proof t equally mn that they bgveWtten four hundred or 3ve hunched yew^ b ~ f o r e r W h reserved fadthtully, The mcient mgglsts ofthat time -6 are on publlc display In m w m thm acrlgturees were renowned for their ace-Way, When corn- our modern B l b b withtime We n t xnmumxt* it t a l l y fieen &&tth H b no signmant diuerem. The Bible issubdtanWJly the same OerWdy, the Bible hasno t ch nged since tho@ WOFds were written int he QuFan =ying that in the -pel d ~ t h e r e sguldalce rand light,

Thus, person who bellevw In the Qur' lrlwlll agme that the Bible W not bam eomuptedand W t ft is s t l l the Woxd of Gad. But even ~QmiaJly ith regard t b m g an8 doc,wm.for people who do not believe in the QWan fter emmining thae newly d Wo v m d ancientd&mea , Frof-r Mfilar Burrow8 && The3. GOTRdo these w a d s of the Qur'an support the u t hat genepal mUer a d tudent of the Bible mayth Bible h a ot been corarptsa?

, R ~ L w e b o w t h a t ~ U ~ ~ p t ~ h a p a n o t 6 , X i ~ d o w e ~ o w t h n t # 8 ~ ~ b espmm been c#TUPW?

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~ ~ ~ n ~ t h a t m w g l n ~ t h i e r c ~m u n a ~ o f ~ ~ o u 8 ~ o it b R t b l e T h e ~ ~ t n t t h m d t b w l l lo f ~ ~ ~ i n t h e B i b l e , b o w e v e r , h a v e b m m

U u m n g e d ~ u g h a l l r n M -the hnsm&Won of the texE. --2% ead S&e

& 7 d h *

bY Airillar BWTOWS*v X mt -bI Bhauld we not e x p tt b t ih Almghtg cJoa would be able to gmervehis Word uncomgte$? The Bible itsalf yz 'The

rim has dried up,, he blaersom hsls with-~ b u t ~ ~ t h e w o r c l o i o u r ~ , i t ~ l a s th ime inMbite. -- m8

D o ~ ~ ~ C O ~ I m ~&Home critfa of he Bible a i m that it ;toon-

tradktg iwu. Is s true3 No it is not, l YOUtrikthew critic8 w W h pwhi of the Bible re contra-dhtory, th8y =- have no 8p8cao eKampl0 inmind. When -plea are mentioned, they ofhnturn out be tam w h a e Werent Bible WiWBtell the s m e story &om W2-t mes

#For -le, on one Jam m h m -l o u r s l y ~ t h e ~ t f ~ R o m a n a r m g r0fBcer. fn me wcmmt by t h e ae m t mwe ma W h e he en hito CwermLU l, ana r r o ~ r & w s ~ e t u b i m , e n ~ ~ h b a n 8S M SIT* mg ImmemEUIt b Md UP in theMIJW i t h gmaly , Mlng terribw tormented '

. m u t ~ ~ t t o n I s ~ ~ P ~ f a t h~ ~ ~ h y ~ ~

8 . e a , o t v e o r n ~ a i w b o t a o m ~ r V 1 B W a 6 ~ m ~im k n m m e ~ ' ~ ~ ~& ~ t y l l e n o t ~ a ~ ~ PC , W h P i s t h y r a - m ?

ME TIME FOR TRUE SUBMtSSW TO GOD 36

Wtthew 8:5,6) Jaw then agreed to go and healthe maa. In the dbiple Luke's m u n t we read:'When he [the m n y ofEkm1 hsarcl about Jesus,he mt forth older men of the Jews ta him to askWntoc~meandbringh@&vesaiely hough.Fuke 7:3 Once ag;aSn, w c d h g to Luke's a

count Jesus agre8d to go, 8 it a conwa t io r rtl one account sap the army ofllam asked Jesw nd the other mays that he sent older menof 4e Jews to represent him?

SA rtxmnsble pemn would not think so. Thbis typkal of what happem when two honestpeople tell af the same event. To Matthew, theimpormlt thing waa that the ammy 0 madethe request of Jeetus. Luke merelg added the dp.t il

that he did not aak him pemnally, but sentJ m o represent him. Thla Is dmUm to the waywe ofkn speak. For example, we may my thatthe mayor of 8 certain city built a new rod,Nor, did the mayor build the wad himelf? Orwm the road built by s contracbr, ushag mawworkers and engheers'l O b v f o ~ l y, he l a h r Lthe case, Neverthelm, i t is not wrong to s y thatthe myor built the Poerd gfnc3e he is the one whohi tbted the work BimWly in t h i a bsbnce, thearms o-r made a regueat of Jesus, but he didit through cem repmentativm

4Another alleged contredLetion haa fo do withthe t;wr aons of the mt man md womn, Adamand Eve. he imtborn was named a&, and themnd A M . In 4 flt of w e , W n urwittedthe f i rs t murder anB killed hb brotW1 Abel. APbwardtherewdtaytithatQalnI13arrfedandprodmed chilclren. The quedtlon 0W.n a&ed is:

4 , 5 . ( ~ ) ~ t b a n o t b s r ~ U Q n ~ i( b l I s ~ t ~ a ~ ~ P

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'Where a d Gain get his wife? Surely, Eve wasthe only womm alive then.'-mnesis 41-17.

Such o question springs from a imited kna~QI-edge of the Bible. Tn fact Adam and Eve hadmany children. We read: And the days of Adamafter his fathering Seth [anothd son1 came t o be

eight hundred years. Meanwhfle he became fa-ther t o wns and daughkss. (Genesis 5:4) Hence,there were other women n those days, apart fromEve. G a i n married one of his sisters. Later ofcourse, Gad forbade marriage among such closerelatives. hvi t icus 18:9; 20;17.

THE E m c-e?1 Andher objection sometimes raised against

the Bible is that ik is unscientific. Today scienceis highly thaught of. Scientists have sent men tothe muon. They have made e more mmfortablefor some. And they have made great strides inmedicine, so that m a n y sick people now recoverfrom sicknesses that fifty y a r s ago would havekilled them. Hence, men tend to look down anthings that they f l re not scientik

3 However thaw w e more important thingsthan science. Loving our naghbor a n d serving

odare mare important. With all the progressof science today, men still fight wars and oppress

m d kill one another. In f a t bemuse af science,warfare s much more d;estruetlve than it usedto he. Hence we have a greakr need than v rto learn a b u t Gad and hls purposes

The Bible tells us about God. That fs why it isso valuable. It is not a book about science. Nev-1 What ohm objection is somtlmes raked against the=Me?2. What is more important than d e n c e3, 4. {a) Is t h e Bible unscient i? b) Mve an example,

ertReless, when it touches on thin@ that havetQ do with =fence, I t often agrees W h modernscienW thinkfng. For example, in Bible timesthere m e many thearb about the ahape of theearth and how it was suppurted. Wme thoughti t wag held up by a huge turtle. Others taughtthat the Tim Atlas, held it n place. What d&stho Bible Uy [God] s stretching out the northover the empty place, hanging the e r th upqnnothing.' It also says about the shape of thew t h : There i9 One [MI who is dwelling W t e$he circle of the earkh. -Job 26:7; Bai& 40:22.

Does that sound wien t i i i c , to you? Or Is thatnot o t l y what the American and Russian as-tronauts see when they venture infa outer s F ein their rook& ships? HOW could people thou-sands of years ago have known that the earthwas hm@n$ in empty space unless God himselfhad revealed it to them?

5 Mother instante where the B W s largely inagreement with madern 3dence is in the handlingof W e Of c o u w, n the days when the Biblem m written the medicines that; a r e available toeda~r were w h o w f l . But within the IWitatians dthe times, Gods Word p r o h k d his wopshipesfrom the worst a t ' s of sickness, In khe days ofM # m , for example, leprosy was a serious threat.The Bible gives detailed inshctfans; that manymadern doctors would agree with about how toquarankine sorneune suspected of bVin$ leprohy,and SO keep the rest of the nation dean. Rviti-cus 13:1-14~57) In fact this p&d of the Bible m n -hins many laws abu t cleanline& thati ssuggmt aQowIedge saaihry principles f a in advanceof that w l y time This, of course is w h a t we

5 How is the Bible's mumel on mnihthn in accord m iscience?

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would expect when we remember that it was Oadwho gave th m t h e aws.

Hence, he objections by some th t theBible is contmdictary or unscientific are no ma-son for rejecting this book as the Word of CtodMmt of these o£s.jectiom spring rom a laek of

undmhnding, and when iavestlgakd, they onlyadd fo the evidence that the Bible truly Is divine-ly i n sphd* But there b greater evidence thanwhat has been mentioned so Par that the Bible

T d nd InjiZ comes from God

. Ta what m l w i o n dcm a c w w d m t b n of the abovem a r ^ ^ ^

~ ~ I P I L O ~

'The most poweflul proof that the Bible struly W s ord fs its proghecim. As you know,to prophesy meana to tell tn advance hings thatare going to happen Men try to guess what iagoing t happen in the future, Bomethiea theysucced, but most of the time they fail, There Inonly One wha has the power b foretell infalliblywhat the future holds, and that is Gtod Hence,when w mad literally hundreds of prophecies inthe Mble, and can tat ify that they all c me truein their due time, we have ta admit that this isby the power of God.

m d e r , or example, Gad's pronouncementaagainst the city of Bab lon We read: 'There is

a r f u r t h e r ~ ~ o f t h e a c c u r a e y o f t h a B i b l e , a e ethe W s he Hbk M y he otd of GaI? published bythe Watchtower Bible armd t edety.

1. What hi the st nwst i n W m f that Ww W e a tbeWord of OadP2. What prophecy mw uttered against Babylon, at the t h eshe rn he world's mightiest milItsrp potPerP

a sword agdxut the Qhaldem,' f the u t k mof Jehovah, 'md against the inh bimfs of R a bylon and against her and against her wiseonas There is a da vlasWon upon her waters andthey must be Wed up. Por it a lrmnd of gmv-en w nd beoause of-their rightful visiomthey keep acting crasy Therefore the h&w&mof leas regions w i l l dwell w i t h the howlingmixnab* and in her the ostriches must d m ndshe will nevermom be dwelt in nor wSll sh pe .bdd0 for generation tatter genemth. Just as wi thW a vwthmw of Sadom and Qomorrah oman wlll dwell there.' w-Jemnhh 50:36,3&.60.

a vid dewription of abandonment anddemlationl Yet this prophecy was written whenBabylon ww at the height of her authority. 6he

was the mightlahit power in the world,But God warned that she would k m m e Me arf . W m he prophmy fu ? Youits f ulffllment for yourself. fn the country d raqbetwmn the modern cities of Baghdad wad Bmm*thew is o large t t of uninhabited W hztti s all that remaim of the: mighty city of Eaby1bn,W s rophecy, aa recorded In the Bible, wascompletely fulflllad.

'Another imgressive prophecy hm to do w i t hthe o n f world powers af er he Pall ofBabylon. If you have s ss to a Bible, open tta the b o k of Daniel mad the vision thatDaniel was glven in chapter 8 The angel whoerxplained the meaning oi hat vhhn ahowed thatBabylon would be s u c c ~ y an empire ruledby the Mngs of M e d h and Persia. This kingdomin its turn would be overthmwn by a conqueror

. W m the pmphecy oi eabglan'9 destructam fd tUM7I . W h a t ~ ~ w a r l d p o n a r e w a s m ~ 1we

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from Greece. However, thia Greek empke< ouldr m be divided into four srnaer [email protected] 8:1-8, 20-22.

Was this made of world powere f a e d ? twas indeed. Under King yrus the G m t * Persiaoverthrew the Babylonian BnpW In 639 l 3 aThls

P&sWEmpire

was eventmy overtakenby Greek armies under the young Alexander theGreaL However, when AIexander died, h k empirepm weakened, m d e v m t w l y four of his gener-

als became ruler% in four divisions af it. retn youimagine a m a n i ble to prophesy such coming events in so @eat d e w ?

a It hzu already been mentioned tbat many,many prophecies were fuIf3lled in Jesus: Christincluding d e w such as where he would be born,whst bribe he would be born inb how he woulddie and his betrayal by a GI- follower for thirtypieces of silver. ObviousIy, such prophecies couldonly have beai by divine wwer. A mrtn could abtorgmizx his ife ta fulfill such details.

'There are propheeiea being fulfilled n ourown day; bo. Read th s war of the apostlePaul: In he la day^ c r i t i d times hard to dealwith will be here. For men will be lovers of them-

selves, lovers of money, seh-wulllhg, haughty,blmpheimxsd @obedient to parents, uxrbbnkftdSslayal, having no natural atEectian, not open bany agreement, h d e r e m , without self-con rol,fierce* without love € rfoodnws, betrayers, head-strang, p a p with pride, lovers of pleasuresrather than lovers of sod, havihg a form of god12

5. Wow w Daniel~er pmpheky about the wm1d p ~ w e r s

~ p m g h m i e s ere hllflllrrt in h a ose of Jesus hrjstl7. IB What r e m b W e prophwy hwbeen hUUled in ourown d fl @I What d m bb indiaak2

48evotion but provhg false ta its power.'' 2 0t 32-5 Can you discem the f ~ l f l l h m t f tWtproghwy today? We are sure you can.

BThen, oo th r are the wards of Jesus him-=If. When asked about the sign of the end dthis world system, he Mated many things that

would b ~ w ust More the end. Are his groph-ecies ooming true fl ead some examplesand s for yourself. Herre is one: Ration wil l?is@ &gainst mtion, a i d khgdbm against king-dom; and them MI1 be g r e ~ t arthquakes, w d

ne place after mother wtilenees m d foodshortages, -Luke 21:10, 11,

Yo u may my: But there have always beenwars.' That Is Wue, as Jesus hhmelf h e w . But heww $peakinn& f unusual wara such as we haveseen only since lgJ4. Begarding the st worldwar, which r k d in that year, a military analystwr& Y n ts scope, its violam, and above all,in its totality, it eskablfshed a p r d q n t . WaddWar I ushered in the century of Total War, of

in the first full s e m of the temn- ob war., Never Wme 1914-1918 had war absorwso much of the total resour- of so many corn-batants and covered so large a part of the &h.Never had so m y tfons been Ihmlved. Nw-

r had the slaughter bieeh so wmprehen~ive mdindiscriminate, (World WU by H . aldwin)NmdIessiNsa , t hecamageaf the f i r s twar ldwarwas multipli d many tfm'es over in the w a n d .

H O W but the f w d 9hortag;ea thit Jesusmentioned? I t is paradoxid that, despib the8. What 0utakWmg p r o p h e did Jam utW?9. Row Je8us prop- abut war been f u E U i sjnee191910. How has Jew' gmphecy about foad shortages beenm a ?

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fact that some mutries have the highest ma*ria1 standard of ti in recarded &tory, themare m r e people hungry M a y than ever before.2 % ~ ew Ywk i m mported. Every 8.6 secondssomeone h an underdeveloped couiltry dies w aresult of illnew cawed by maIautritfon 16,000every day, Over 3,fdlO,W every year. ~ Ehatnot W U eug prophecy abut f a o d sbo&qtes?

has there been an unuawl numberearthquakes? WeU, in 1915,,29,970 pepple died Ila.an earthquake in Italy. In 1920,180,000 erish4 inChina, 143,000 died n J a m in 1923, and in 1939,32,300 m e i&d in Turkey ~ 6 1 ~ccord-ing to S c h t @ c A m m k ~ ince 948 'one gre tquake is occurring each par.' We can probablyremember m y igantic mthquakes that haveeftruck in recent years. Many of us eithm havefelt an earthquake o r have relatives; who hwebeen dTect.4 by one,

mFk&lly, Jesus mentioned pe&lencek Tt ismother p m d o x tf the modem world miat inspike of the advances af mecine , there tare stillscourges that take millions of lives, wpeclaUy inprxlrBr muntriw. ImedX&ly after World W W ,an inkmtbnd epidemic of influenm broughtdam to twenty-one million victim. Today, poor-er lands continue to s a e r from plagues such a&malaria, cholera and typhbid. Even in w a l t h i -er lands, cancer and hear atbacks cut millionsoff in their prime. Venereal disease is m i l d a

pmdemie -more severe Wan an epidemic, Andspreading, worldwide pollytian Is thrwtmtng uswith additionaJ horrible illnesses. Regarding- pol-lution, ~ I ~ tarry Crrrnmonm said We have

11. What ahute w t h

Wke8 since 1914112. mar in spite ol e advance. r me6iea~ wi~nce,Jews rophecy about pst1Eenm w lfllled?

come to a urnirlg paint in the h m n habi t ionof the earth. helieve that mnthued pollu-am of the earth, if w ~ h w k e d , will eventudiydestroy the fitness of this planet sts a g1we forhuman life,

18 There are many more details of Jesusr, great

prophecyt u b

are clearly being fulfUl& in ourchys. One of the musk notewor$hyiS with regmito a worldwide preaching work. Jesus said: "Thisgood n ws of the kingdam will be preached in allhhe Inhabited earth for a withes ta l thetions; and then the end wil l come. (Matthew 24:14) n ow generation, modern c o m n i c a t i o n sand travel have made fulflllrnent of this prophecymare p m t i c d on a lobaE s& , Today, Jeh~vaWsWitnesses are prewhing ' " t ~ood news in morethan two hundred h d ~round $he earth. Yes,t h b p rophw, too, is being fulwerj

Thus, Bible prophecy gives us strow f e w nt~ accept the truth #at the Bible is the Wordof God And these same prophecies show that wewe living in very musud t i m a , times c ll thelast day# by the apostle Paul. We will returnto this subject again and see what it m a n s forus. Meanwhile, Iet us see what the Bibk's s i cmessage is all about.

13. What ather part Of Jesus' graph%cy behg fuWednow 8 never befare?14. {a) what mx he fuWlment of iwse prophwiw Wdi-a t e ZLS h the Hble? &l What does Ef BS Drove wim wmt@ to days in which we are living?

WHAT tmw THE BIBLE SAY A B O U ~ OD'IThe most imparbnt p r s m th Bible M a s

about is, of course God. It tells us that God is

1. I ] W h o 'the mwt i fnprbnt tr the uoiverse?(bl What are someof the things the W W L s us about him?

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the one who created all tbhg&. You are worthy,Jehovah, even our M o w i v e th glory andthe honor and the p e r , because you createdall things and because of your wlu they exfstedand were cream. (RevelatAon 4:11) We aha 1that Ws a spirit, (John 424) and that he L

eternal. Before the mountains themlvss wereborn, or you p m e d e d ta bring forth as withlabor pains the e rth and the productive land,even from time indefinite to tlme indefinite youare God. -- m a

art ls true that many gods am worshiped inthe world. But that does not change the factthat there is only om true Gal . The ofher go&rue inventions of men are demons. Only oneC od created the EWUI and deserwj our wor8hip.The apostle Paul sai W e know that an Idol bnothing in the world, and that there b no Gcodbut one. For even though there are those whoare called '&a&,' hether in heaven or on earth,Qmt i 9here we many 'gad and many 'lord,'there is wtusllly to us one God the Father, outof whom aJ1 thmgs re, and we for him. -l Co-rinthbns W-6-

#You m y onder why the a p t l a Paul calls

God the Father. Does h i s mean that God hasa wife, in the way that a man must have a wiie Inorder to hemme s ather7 No, QoB d m not need~ueh wife Sla order to become a father, Whenthe Bible calk Gtad B Father, it h mhe Q the source of the exbhnce of EPthings,atm 0th- words he created them, For example,Adam is callad f i e '*sun of Cicld. (Luke 358) Yet,if you read the account of the creation of Adam,

Howshoul8 .wvIewl the ia l se~ tha tmenhavcmadefor merm?lv&9,4. W h y dtm the Bfble refer to od aa Wle 1Pather'V

you will see that he was matie out of the dust.H e t born Of wo--Gien& 17.

'Hence, when the Bible of asd as afather, th Is m e w b a t Merent h mthatamanf afa ther.But , i t i t the tbehth&m p m k A father gtves llfe to his children. Qai

gives life and existenceto all

thlngs, but not bymeam of intercourse wlth a wife. Gud createsa m

YOU ay remember mother scripture thatw have mad that mid: You are worthy, Jeh*v , wen our CSod to receive the glory and thehonor and the power, (Revelation 4:11) Sou mhywonder why in t is chapter sod b ad* as

Jehovah W e have come acrm this name afew time already Sn t ts booklet. Well, Jeho-vah i s the name that W as given to hirnseif-Psalm 8318,

Right back in the b e g i m h g , the Bible tells usthzqt Jehovah God pmwded to form the m mqut of dust from the ground. ( -nW 27) U b r ,he said t Moses: 'This is what you are to say tothe som d srael, 'Jehovah the Ctod of your forefathers, the Ood of Abraha3n the od of m a tm d the God of Jacob, ha9 sent me ta you.' Thfis y name to m e ndemte, an8 this is thememorial of me to generation fter generation.Exodus 3:15) Again, later on he said to BBWX1 am Jehovah. That le my name; and to no one

else &dl mve my own glory, neither my praiseta gmven ixnages. -hhh 428.

~AccoWngIy, aua wid in prayer to God: Ihaw made your name known to them and willrn&e it known. (John 7:W And a r esus'

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death, we learn that God for the that timeturned hi8 atkention to the nations to take out ofthem a people for his norme. (Acts 16:14) Hence,i t i son ly~~)pe r~BnowG)od~smmeand touseIt in our worship of him.

We must cume to know Ood, because only if

we know himcrrzl

we submit ourae~ves W bJm.is love- (1 J a b 4:8) He ts also mercifulgust and righkmua, He haes inflnite witadorn endalmighty power. Hence, we must worship onlyhh-EXaduS a, 7; 203.

The next most important g m sp4ken abutin the Bible b Jesus. But before we see why Jeawb E~Oimportant, we hare to go back to the very~ a f t h e h ~ r a c e .

. ~ r n ~ w e ~ t o k n o w C i o d ?@ , ~ 4 t h e s e a o t l d m o a t ~ p o r t s n t p s n r o n ~ e ~ t oh he me

1 \ 6 m n S BEOmN?NG1 The Bible tells w that od creahd man out

of the dust of tbt ground He gave him a wifeand placed him in a pa- m e n alled Men,where d is nt&erial needs were satisfled. Wercsd that when he had completed the creation

of A d m and Eve, God saw everything he hadmw3e and, ook it was v@ry good. (Gentxis 1:31)There was no def&t at dl, ust WJ here is nodefect in anything that ad oes. Msn's mutww perf&.

=Hence, at t lmh t h e man whbs not In conflictwlth God Gad evm gave him wide resgonsibfIi-ti= We read: W l m e d them [Adam and Evethe &st pair and Gal a i d to them: Ek fruitfuland become m y and ffll the earth and suMue

it, and a v e h 8uWwrtion the f 4 h d he sea andt4e flying meat- of the heavens and everyU u h g c r u r e t h a t QmwIngupon theear& 'Gl?nwt3 1:28.

sHowever there was a condition at-hed tathat goo relationship: okiknoe. Ctod mkdman obey him and thus show hi$ suhnisionto the will of his Creator. As Qod safd at a tepWne, 'To bey is b W r than a mcriflce. I Elam-uel 15:22) Thia L reasonable f t not? In anyorga&ation, rules are necemmy w s o b e d h eby the members to thaw m k ~ , ence Ctod want-e m n to ts obedient to the rules he f t down

4 What were the rules? C iod placed in the gardenof Eden a tree called the tr of the knowldgeof g m and bad He ssld to Actrun: "As for thetr of the knowledge of goad and bad you rutnot t from It for fn the day you eat fmrn it youwill positively die ' (Qenesh 29, 17) We do notknow what lhind of fruit grew on that gEtrticulartree, but if Adam and Eve were to eat of thatfruit, it would how that they were no Iollgersubmissive to God. The muft of such a r&eUiousact muid be death, However if they remainedokdiant, they would keep on lvIng forever.

' T h i s shows that Adam and Eve ha8 a cle rchoice and tAegl were t h e ones that would maket h e choices It would not be made for them. Somem p l e Wieve that we cannot make choices or~ ~ ree d l . They feel Cfoa has fommainedwerythhg, and a person r only follow hi s des-tiny. If that is true, however, men and women

THE TIME FOR TRUE WMISSIONTO GOD

bl hTHE MEFOR TRUESUBMlSSlUNTO*BOD 9

? h h %


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are not t blame when they commit sfns. If7 ? Id@, l l U X d m , W ~ V ~ S , iars, OgpreaWF8

and all ather evll men am merely following themth laid out for them They have no choice.why should they b unished?

#In act, to s y that we m controlled bytin3 leads ta a bhsphemous dmtrhe, hat iathat? Just thhk ahnit it When an a u t 0 m O b ~ldUs a pedesMan, it is not the automoW e that Ismp&ble. The vehicle was only mwing in thedirection that the driver pohted it. The driver ism b l e or what happened. Ushg simllar reacso , if we w e all ruled by d hy, a murdereris not m p n s b l e when he kills mmeone, I30 ison y doing what destiny directs him to do. Theone who laid out hls destiny is responsible. And

who is that? Why, none other than Qod him8elf,according ta thwe who belteve thisi doctrine. I t isthe wane ots b.Ptng Qod for all the suffering, alithe heartache and a& the misery that m n haveendured through the ages. C m ou see why thiaI d a is so harmful?

IYet od is not like that. M a love, weare b L d , (1 Jobn 4:8) You ase not s God takingdelight in wickednm no one bad may reside fora n y time with you, the lue says, (Palm S:OHence, God wuuId never have foreonlain& tklIthe wi&ettna we see around ub) W k y. Thb s~ l y a r e s u l t d ~ ' s ~ u s e o i M 8 f m e w i l L

m b i sbelief in dest$ns hat3 mother bad eflect,It rn- that pesple are not h o improvetheir dtuation or to t ry to stme W better.Tbey say that what they do L lready 'Wt-,hence, they are helplm In the matter. But is that

, 7 . I . i s f b e I i e i i n d e s t i n g ~ b l e a n d ~ ?8 . @ ) W h a t a U 1 e r W m u l t m l 1 e ~ ~ ~ W w se ~ e r u l e d t r s ~ ~ ) W h a t c h o k e & w e & l l I a Q e P

true? The tact i8 that %verymecan mwe choices.And M y , we dl have to n u k e the m e howthat ww presented m a d ' s people in tlzn s pet:

Now if it ir bad in your eyes to 8erw Jehovah,chwse for your8elvea m y hom youwil l serve

But as for me and m t household, we shallaerrre Jehovah. (Jcahu W15) We have to c h mwhether or not we will submit to M.

ADAM'S SEN1 Jehovah sod gut a real choice before Adam

and Eve. How did they chow? Unforhmkly,they ohwe wrongly, and that b a bash mamn farthe problems we are -acing today. What,then, happened bacb: there?

The record tells that mother creature ap-

proached Eve In Eden when she wa ame, f2risww an d m J , a mrpent. 8uqwMngly, the serpent spoke: '1s t t rwly so that od &aid youmust not eat from every trm of the garden?' A tthis the woman W d t the sergent: Of the fntitof the trees of the ghflen we may wt. But asfor eating of the fruit of the tm that is in themiddle of the garden, W baa mid, You munot eat from it no, ou must not touch ir thayou do not die. ' A t this the serpent said b hwoman: 'You posttively will not d k ' The wom-&n beueved the mrpent and ate of he forbiddenfruiI Law she persuaded her husband, Adam,to job her in thls sin. Genesis Z1-8.

S o e r e it sound strange to you that a 8erpentmke b me M c o w snakes ~&l l l lo t peatr soth r m w t have been mmething uncanny kh indthis event. The Bible show that Batan the M

. W h a t o h o L o e ~ ~ B t l d E v e m k e 7W h 8 t ~ v ~ t S k d u $ v s ' ~ d & n g ? @ ) H ~ a o a SVIIH, dwltlrs ths d y e d

THE TIME FOR TRUE SUBMISSION TO GOD THE TIME FOR TRUE SUBMlSS1QN TO GOD

L ood If the mold i blemished the maMs


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il was aupematumLly causing it b s m e ilden ifM n the very last part of the Bible: Themi@nai erpent, the one called Devil and tan,who Is nnfsl- the entire inhabied earth.(Revelation 12:9) an's deceptive persuading ofEve through the medium of a snake caused herto sin, Of course, ie the idea were t r u e that we amall ruled by desttny 6akn would not have hadto speak with me It would already have beenM t t e n in the boog that Eve and Adam weregoing to sin. But &sUa knew thut was not tmeH e had to persuade her to do that wrong acL

4After Adam and Eve had stnned, W d in-formed them that the sentence of death wouldbe wrrM out. wh t Sam had safd was a lie.

od told Bdlam ''In the sweat of your face you

will eat bread until you return to the ground, for'out of yau were take^. Far dmt you re and to#dustyou will return. (Genesis 319) - a goodrelatiomhip with od h d been broken. He wasno longer in submissfon to Ms Creator.

8The emct af sin on a perfect pemn can becompared ta w h a t happens to a piece of mwhln-ery when it ss not used pmperly, If you allow gritand dirt to get hito it, it; wil l quiakly wear out.Thus it was with the fimt pair. They allawed theunclwmess of s in to enter inta the& Uvea,and sothey started to deterbra*. Eventually they dhd.

OThis aB&ts us beawe it wna only af er thissin that Adam and Eve herd children. If youhave a mold and s W mod from it,the modela will 6nly be good as long as the mold

. W b a t ~ t c a m e a n A d s m B n B ~ ~ ~ t h s yhad mhaed?a ~ o t ~ ~ t b e e k t s d ~ i a m a p e r i m t m m n b sUUstratedP6 1 . ( a ) H o W ~ t ~ e s & e c t e d ~ B B a m ' a m @ ) H o w ~ t h es ~ eSU~ thln

L ood. If the mold is blemished, the maMswiil be blelniahed, tm. n ABtun a case he hadno children while he was perfwt. It wa;s mIy&er he hacl sinned, rebelled a@nst God andbegun to die, that he pmIuced childnm, Heme,the mold was blemished, and the models, hischildren, were blemished too They inherited his$in.-Compare Job 14:4.

?The apostle Paul explained this clearly. H ed Through one man [Adam] sin entered iatathe world and death through sin, and thus dmthspread to all men btxawe they had all sinmi.IRomans kI2) But perhaps you wonder, 'Whydid God let wickednm cuntinue r that stsin? Actually, thb wta an sct oi memy aa W spwt for ue.

W H Y DID SJN C U N T X WtWhen &tan led Acfam and Eve into sin, he

rained questions that n his mercy d d d e dehould be answered, For one thing, Satan hadcalled God a liar. C d l had said that man woulddie if he a l n n e Batm a d he would not die.When Adam and We dtd die, it showed thatis a w of truth,

3 Then again, Bachn made the stxIucUve pram-: Cfod know8 that in th very day of youreating from it [the forbidden fruit] your e p re

b o u r u f t o b e o p m ~ I a n d y o u a r e b D u n d t a b eUke God, knowing good and bad. (en- 2 5 )He made it wUna as if d ere withholdingsomething good from man that man would dob t b r f he submitted to someone ek . Adamand Eve d i m b y 4 Ciod, and Jehovah has allowed

h B t ~ t l i d 1 S e t m ~ w h e n b e l i e d t o E v

'IWE TIME FOR TRUE SUSM1SSIQN TO a00

m n t hi f dx th dTHE TIME FOR TRUE SUSMlWQN TO GOD 3her wed H e Prrill b r u b you in the he&d and you


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man to go his o w n way for dx thawand yews.He has allowed man ta try all kinds of religions,governments and syshm By now. t is very evi-dent that man ls not happy unlesa he aubmits toW s ule. rr the m e n of Men, man r t e r r Mout happy. Since then, he has experlencecl suf-fering and hadship.

a O n later waajssl, Satm challenged Qodregarding mrtnkind When d h c u ~ i n ghe faithfulmari Job, Satan sad: Is It for nothing that Jobhas feared Uud? (Job 1:9) He went on tu augge~tthat the only reason Job (and therefore all oth-er m E s f God worshiped M was for theg m i things he got out of it. Hence,Oo allowedadversity to come upon Job aa a test. And thesame has hapwed to all bia womhipers. Whenthey faithfully submit ta C W whakver the clr-cumtmm, this is proof that the evil k aliar, that he bas slmdered both Ood and Hisearthly servanb.

However, when the purpose of Uod'a allowingsin rand sdering k w een wrved, then od willremove them ffom the earth. ThL brfnga us backto the second m a t i m p o m t pemn mentionedin t he Bible* esus Christ.

3 . ( a ) W h a t ~ ~ M S 1 L t a n m a l r e t o W ( b ) H ~ ,f o r 1 ~ b a t ~ e r r e s s a n d i B a d ~ s l n t o a o n t i n u e P4 . W h e t w l U a o l d d o w h e n t R e ~ ~ b y ~ t a n h a v abeen solved?

WEAT THE BIBLE SAYS AEOUT JmUSI A f k r &he st human grdr had sinned, Ocd

said to 'the Devk I &dl gut enmity betweenyou and the woman and between your 8ee.d an8

1 . - t ~ d i a C i m d m a g e i m m e d t a t e l y ~ M a maml Eve had md7

her wed. H e Prrill b r u b you in the he&d and youwill loW him in the heel. ( M e 3:15) QiodfO*tuld thst, mmetfme in the iuture, a seedWDUXciappear who would eventW1y destroy SZGWn and undo all the evil that the Berpent hads M n Eden. Thus we see that Ood did nothst leave matMrs run their own eoum. Im-meotiatelpafter the problem arose, he took aativemps to counteract sin and wickedness,

'Amording to the history in the Bible, most ofm m k l a d foliowedthe bad example of Adam mtndEke and rebelled against O d owever, therewas a line of w o m m r s that m e d aithful.mmtimw in spite of the most bitter v u t l o n .T h e 6rst faithful m m s Abel, and he died athis brother's hand. Another man of outsfandlnagfaith ww N a h , who was used by c ood to buildan ark to preserve manktnd through the Wbalflood. One of NOEbh e desmndants, who k a m erenowned for his faith, was- Ah-. By me mof Ab h m, od revealed important information&out the one who w u going t be the prom-

' seed.Abraham and hh wife earah aubmitkl ta the

wfll of God during all their lifetime, Ood prom-that they would have r mn ut when they

had grown old, they were stil l chfldlepis. At m etime, hmb gave tu Abrahsm her slave glrl Ha-gar and he had a son by her w e d ahmaet Butthis son was not t h e fulfillment of W s prombe.G M purposed that Abraham would have a sonat, ah, hh natumi wife, so He said to him: &

some of t h w who proved l ithfui tc Qod?tant infomtion waa dven o Abraham, and

whleh wom n waa - I m m m to Latlfaw h . t d l d ~ a y n w l d R p p n U 1 ~ r p

T =

THE W E FOR TRUE SUBMISSIONTO QOD

for Baml your wife you mu not call her nameFOR TRUE SUBM18slONTO GOD. 56

welve m m who Wa m e the fathen of the


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for Baml your wife, you mu not call her nameS a r a i , b e c a u s e ~ i s b e r ~ . h d I ~ b l e s ~her and aEsa give you a son from her; and I wil lbless her and she shall become natlom; kings ofpeoples will come from her. -Genais 17:16,16.

c ~ a r a h hough very 14 did hear a mn mAbraham, and they called Ma name Xsaac Manyyears after Abraham had fathered I-, Jehcbvah h t e d Abraham s faith and submission byr e g w t h g him to sstcrlflce this dear 8on (Genet&221, a; see wlso Sum 37, ESMat [The FbnkSl,vmes 108rla.) When his faith m tieen to bevery strong, tald im not to $0 on with thesac- m promised: ''I sh l l surely rnulMplyyour seed Uke the stam of the heavens and Hkethe gmhm of sand that w e on the searshore; andyour seed will take pmmaion of the gak of hlsenemies. And by means of your seed all na t imof the e rth will c e M y b l m themselvm dueto the fwt that yuu have lhbned to my voice,(Genesis 22;17,18$ [30d w s here hiPea3dng of ham,H e howed that the seed, promised back tn theh y ~f Adam and Eve, would ap- throughthe lint3 of Abraham's son Emc.

8 When i kbmhn died. Isaac and his half broth-er fshfflael buried him. Later, od repeated t

Isaac the promise he had made to Ab IwlU c rry out the swum statement that I s w mb Abraham your fa#er, 'And f wfll multiplyy o u r s e e d l i k e t h e ~ o f t h e eavens and XwUlgive to your e all th s lands; and by meam ofyour seed all netttom of the earth wfll nerkhlybless themselves,' due to the fact that Abrahamlhtened ta y voice and mntfnued to keep hisobligations tu me,' QenW m3-8 M b r Isaac,Jamb inherited this m e romk, and Jacob

. W h ~ l f f a ~ 8 1 1 t Q ~

welve m m who Wa m e the fathen of them d v e tribes of m

Wba JuW. Then, t ww revealedW t he would appear in the amily of King DeL.via. Through the prophet Micah, God revealed€ha +he &ied would be barn In Bethlehem. Andthrough Isaiah it ~ s sropheded that he wouldd m oo news and emer for the sins of oth-m m 40:fO; 2 m u e l Rll-16; Micah 33;

3:3..12.d b r thoumds d a m , the waiting

w s over The seed arrived. Who was he? Thee e eul explains 'The pmmises were speken to Abmdmm and to his d t says, not:' XI o seeds, as in the c w of m ny such, buta;s l a the a m d one: 'And t your ureed,' w o isGAr&+ Yw, the pro- seed was Jesus a b t .-Galatians 3:lfl.

The Blble ahow8 that Jeaw was born in Belehem, as gn,mhd, but In an unmml way. IIis;m a w rrsr;s a virgin. Hence his human life cameWut by a mimcle, In a sgacial way then, the~ 1 e s ~ o f ~ e h n r a a a t h e a o n o f O o d . A n a

e x p M W to h e young Wgln M w , hoM hb earthly mother: Holy spirit will

you, and power of the M a t High willgw. For that r e w n also what isp d e d holyj God's t3on, -Luke k35.

about t h i s gram-

?

1 You m y m m U that the ~ u t o u sirth of -a ence Jeaua ~ s s e s s s a special plnae among


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1 You m y m m U that the ~ u t o u sirth ofJasus XI remwbred in the Q Wa . Hereb h e amount: '#And you Mohamme l shall mw u n ~ f a t h e I 3 o o k t h e e t o r ~ r o f ~ h o w 8 h eleft her m p l e and m k ersall to a d t a r yp ~ t o € h e ~ . W e s e n t t o h e r O u r 8 p M t h

t b semblance of a fullgrownman. Ancl

whenahe a w hfm she May the Memihrl defendme rom youl If gou fear the Urd l a v e me a n dgo away: 1 am the r n e m ~ ~ rf mur Lord,' hereplied, 'and have come to give you a holy an.'How s W l I lmu a chil4,' she amwered, 'whenI ~ a v i r @ n , u n ~ ~ b y m a n ? 8 u c h f s t h ewiIlofgourLord,'herepUed, T h a t b n o ~ ~ tthbg far Him. m all be a slgn to mnldnd,sags tbe Lord, and a M e w i n g fmm OumlfTWa is Our &am. -Sum 19, aryam -v e m 16-2la

u m y w wch an mum Mrth Xfor this promised 4 4 e d q ?emember that a13 ofA d m l s c W e n were born sfter he sfnned; t h e mfore, they were born In ah, Since the 'Wagisa p g y a t fs &akh, all therefor43 wane un er me~ ~ t l 0 df deafh. Even righteous men likeA had to die W e ~ w . - E t o m :s;

&la.*The only exmptlon to this rule was Jaws.Jesw &ved his Me, not from an earthly fa-ther, but-h s O W w8y-trom a d im-self, Hence, J e w w a ~ ot born in . e wmj u t like A m m before Adam 8lnne8, In fmt,he ie led the last Adam, (1 Corinthians 16:

9, Why w r a d m of the Wan be familiar with J a w 'u n a w

1 0 , 1 1 . W h g w a 8 ~ ~ t ~ a u o t h a r m s n b o m a dW U a m n P

a ence, Jeaua special plnae amongb ho have submitW M

A ~~ etween Adam and Jesus bstl. ~10- ri t he @dm. There it b sbted: 'Jeq h 3 ike Adan in.the alght of Allah. 3,

ma rF4e Z m r w ~ l , erse 69) me favor Cgod~ & t o J e a r u s f s ~ B h o w n . ~ A l l & h w i l'JBw, sea of Mar~r, emambsr the fhvour I Mvehe@wyd om you and on your mother: how XMmgthmeB you with the Holy 8pirlt. (19- 6,~ l r i r ' t t h m e able], v e m UO) n more th zl f3f-

-q.mts born without s m r , peri~nned' e % m i m u m c W # e d e s d .

- ~BUf,whatmthepwposeofaUdtW?Onlgthe W e hlh ua, Jwus, as a perfect and sfn

'1- man did not dewme to dfe. He muid havelived foreverP ust m Adam could have P he hadnmt-8li,nxled. W id not ah, ut he V O l ~ n t l yw r m MBhuman life on our behdf. He wok\upan imelf the gWhment for our sins andWIM -me a m m m for us. The Bible kl4 us:There i~ m liod md one medhtor hetween God

axld men, tb man Q W e m , who gave himelfa W r ana~ l rn or all, 1 Timothy 25 ,

m he Bible mys B y mema of him [Jes l , s s l w e ~ v e t h e m ~ b y ~ m t b n , u g h tof that one, ye8, the fmglvrne4~1 f our ** ~ :n J e s w himaelf dB ?memmpf mr rr w e , not to b mbisbred to, butb ~ r a n d t o p s v e h f s ~ a ~ m i n e* @ fdr =y. -15batthew 20:28,

ol.rvb some, it weme strange t k t someone ars

68 m TIME FOR TRUE SUBMISSIONTO

boly as Jesus hould be put to death H a w mme ly gave him the name that la above every


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boly as Jesus hould be put to death H a w , mmethink that he did not really die. But if that mtrue, hen the whole p q m s e of Jesus' being bornin such a mbwlilaus way would not have beenaccomplished. Consequently, man would have nochance d being ransomed, or freed from slaveryta sln and death,

However,the Bible my8 that

J w s did die for our sins. He paid the

Documents

Watchtower: The Time for True Submission to God - 1982