What Has Religion Done For Mankind? (1951)
Download: PDF — What Has Religion Done For Mankind? (1951)
What Has Religion Done for Mankind?
What Has Religion Done for Mankind?
“There is not a fine tree producing rotten fruit; again there is not a rotten tree producing fine fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit.” Luke 6:43,44, NW.
PUBLISHERS
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Inc. International Bible Students Association Brooklyn, New York, U. S. A.
2,000,000 Edition
COPYRIGHT, 1351 by Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
Made in the United States of America
Dedicated to the peace and unity of all people of good will of whatever race or nation, by the exposure of the false religion and the vindication of the true.
Abbreviations of Bible versions quoted or cited in this book
AS -American Standard Version, by the American Committee of Revision
AT - An American Translation, by J. M. P. Smith and E. J. Goodspeed
CB - The Holy Bible, translated by the Catholic Biblical Association of America
Da - The ‘Holy Scriptures', a New Translation, by J. N. Darby
Dy - Translation of the Latin Vulgate made at Douay and
Rhelms
Fn - The Holy Bible In Modern English, by Ferrar Fenton
Kx - The Holy Bible, translated by Monsignor Ronald A. Knox LXX - The Septuagint Version of the Hebrew Scriptures, translation published by S. Bagster and Sons Limited
Ly - The New Testament In the Westminster Version, by Cuthbert Lattey, S.J.
Mo -A New Translation of The Bible, by James Moffatt
Mfc - The Syriac New Testament, by James Murdock
NW - New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, 2d edition
Ro - The Emphasised Bible, a New Translation, by J. B. Rotherham
RS - Revised Standard Version of the New Testament, by the International Council of Religious Education
Sp - The New Testament, a New Translation, by Francis A. Spencer, O.P.
Yg - The Holy Bible, translated by Robert Young
Any quotation not followed by any specific abbreviation should be understood to be made from the Authorized or King James Version.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
1 What Has Religion Done for Mankind? ....
2 The Standard for Judging Religion
3 When There Was One Religion
4 How the False Kind Began
5 Development of the False Before the Flood . . 58
6 Apostasy After the Deluge, with Variety .... 74
7 Further Revelation on the Sacred Secret .... 91
8 Egyptian Cult Menaces the True Worship . . . 106
9 Establishing a National Worship Under Theocracy
10 Prophetic Patterns
11 Compromise with Demonism a Snare
12 Kingship and Priesthood—Why Separate . . . 164
13 Fall to Idolatry and Recovery
14 The Spread of Hinduism
15 Buddhism, a Salvation by Psychology
16 Confucianism, a System of Morality
17 The Sacred Secret of the Seed Solved
18 World Religion and the Seed of Mystery .... 236
19 The Poor Transferred to Abraham’s Bosom . . 246
20 The "Sacred Secret of This Godly Devotion” . . 257
21 The Falling Away from Christianity
22 Islam, Mohammed’s Religion of Submission . . 278
23 Christendom Rejects the Kingdom of the Seed 291
24 The Remnant Restored from Mystic Babylon . . 302
25 Red Religion and the “Man of Lawlessness” . . 313
26 Pure Religion Alone Survives the World’s End 323
27 New World Unity Under Theocratic Worship . 333
What Has Religion Done for Mankind?
CHAPTER I
RELIGION or no religion—what shall it be for me? That is the question every full-grown, intelligent person must decide today. Upon each one’s personal decision depends his everlasting destiny. It is as serious as all that. We have to face the question and answer it, because religion, all religion, is on judgment in this most trying time.
2 Now, for the first time in human history, all the civilizations that have survived till today are in turmoil at the same time. This is most unusual. It must be very significant. Religion cannot be divorced from responsibility for the situation, for from the beginning religion has been connected with every civilization that has arisen on the face of the earth. That is why it is sorely feeling the effects of the worsening situation. That is why it is under judgment. Is history now overtaking religion? Are its sins, long indulged in, catching up with it and finding it out while the whole world looks on? Is it now reaping the fruitage of what it has sown for centuries? As we endeavor to answer all these vital questions we cannot escape
1. What question must we now answer? Why is it so serious?
2. Why is the world situation so unusual, and why must we investigate what religion has done for mankind?
8 WHAT HAS RELIGION DONE FOR MANKIND? investigating the question, What has religion done for mankind? We must be honest with ourselves and courageously face the facts. The truth may hurt but will be beneficial. The grand climax of testing is certain to come shortly, and only the truth will endure.
8 This word “religion” has a broad meaning. There is much that is called by this name, and we want to know whether the truth, the pure, absolute truth, is associated with religion. So it becomes necessary for us at the start to set out the meaning of the term as here used, in order to understand what we are talking about and to come to right conclusions. In various languages this word has some equivalent. The word the Hebrews used for it literally meant “service”. The Germans have long called it “Gottesdienst”, which means “service of God”. The Russian Communists, following the German Socialist Karl Marx, call it “the opium of the people”. But the English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italians, whose languages are drawn largely from the Latin of the Roman empire, use the term “religion”. In Latin it is religio. This word, says the great Roman orator and author Cicero, is made up of two words re and legere, which, together, mean “to read over again”, to reflect upon or to study the sacred books in which religion is delivered.* So he called it the “pious worship of God”. But according to a later Latin author Lactantius it
* De Divinations, Book 4, by Cicero.
3 . From what comes the word “religion", and how has it been defined?
comes from re-ligdre, meaning “to bind back”, because it reveals to us the obligation which binds us to a higher power.*
4 The word occurs in the Latin Vulgate Bible. There it is applied to the Jewish religion, to worship of angels, and to Christianity. Testifying before a Roman law court, the Christian apostle Paul tells of when he was a Jewish Pharisee and says: “According to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.”! Writing to Christian believers at Coldssae, he warns them: “Let no man seduce you, willing in humility, and religion of angels.”! Still earlier the book of The Wisdom of Solomon (14:18, 27) applied the word to the worship of idols. Now, although Paul calls by the name “religion” the cult of the Pharisees and the worship of angels, things which he considers to be wrong, his fellow writer James applies the name to true Christianity, saying: “If any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation: and to keep one’s self unspotted from this world.”!
* De Civitate Dei, Book 10, chapter 3.
tThe Bible, at Acts 26:4,5, translated from the Latin by the Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1941. tThe Bible, at Colossians 2:18 and James 1:26,27, according to the Douay Version, translated from the Latin Vulgate. In the original Greek text the word is threskeia, which is derived from the Hebrew word meaning to seek, search or inquire, that is to say, seek for God or a higher power.
4. How do the Christians Paul and James apply the word “religion”?
5 Taken according to the way it is used, “religion” in its simplest definition means a system of worship, a form of worship, without regard to whether it is true or false worship. This agrees with the meaning of the Hebrew word for it, ,a-'b6h-dah, which literally means “service”, regardless of to whom it is rendered. Adopting this plain meaning of the word, notice how the New World Translation of James’ words above reads: “If any man seems to himself to be a formal worshiper and yet does not bridle his tongue, but goes on deceiving his own heart, this man’s form of worship is futile. The form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their tribulation, and to keep oneself without spot from the world.” It is in the sense of system or form of worship that we use the term “religion” in this book.
’Religion is universal. No matter how loudly they claim to be godless, religion is practiced even by the Red Fascists or Communists, as we shall show to their embarrassment. Despite this fact, the world of today is not bound together in one. More so than political beliefs, religion is a divisive force today. It itself is divided. There are many kinds of religion. Each conscientious devotee of a religion will insist that his own is the true one, which is why he sticks to it. But he finds in it something which keeps him from enjoying complete harmony with someone who holds some oth-
5. In what sense is the word used in this book? Why? 6. What kind of force is religion today, and why so?
WHAT HAS RELIGION DONE FOR MANKIND? 11 er belief. For him to get along with the other person he must practice religious toleration. Intolerance has been a curse to mankind, but it is still rife today and threatens to do more damage than it has already wrought throughout the centuries. So divisive is religion that the Assembly of the United Nations, an organization which represented sixty different member nations in 1951, cannot open its sessions with united prayer to a common deity, through one religious spokesman. At most they can only rise and all have a minute of silent meditation. A chapel has been proposed for use of all in common, where anyone of any belief may go of his own accord and indulge in individual prayer to his own deity.
T What, then, are we to do with religion in order to unify the world? Are we to say that all the many kinds stand for a sincere worship, and so, because of the sincerity of heart, they will all be accepted? Are we to encourage each and every one to be religious according to his own way, because the kind of religion does not matter, just so the person is religious and this makes him a better person? That may stand for toleration, but mere religious toleration will never unify this world. No more so than the provision for this in the Constitution of the United States of America has unified this country. What, then, are we to do? Try to synthesize all kinds and build up a fusion religion? Is that the way it will be able to survive in this perilous day? We see movements
7. Why will religious toleration not unify this world? And how is unification proceeding?
toward unification, especially among the Protestant sects and organizations, to protect themselves and to create internal strength. And the head of the mighty papal system at Vatican City is constantly pleading for the Protestant systems to return to the Roman Catholic fold. In fact, the pope designated the 1950 “Holy Year” as the “year of the great return”. However, the cleavage between the great systems still continues. In some instances the rift widens.
8 A movement toward a world fusion-religion was begun toward the close of the last century. In Chicago, Illinois, during the World’s Columbian Exposition, what was called the World’s Parliament of Religions was held in September of 1893. It was promoted mainly by the Protestant systems, but it extended the honors of opening and closing the parliament to clergymen of the Catholic church. Representatives of the great systems of belief and worship in all parts of the world were invited to attend and deliver speeches, explaining their creeds and their way.
8 For seventeen days so-called Christian met with pagan, Jew with Gentile, Hindu with Presbyterian, Buddhist with Baptist, Confucian with Methodist, Christian Scientist with Lutheran, Monotheist with Polytheist, apparently to come to a better understanding of what the other believed and to find some common ground for blending with one another in belief and practice. It was to be a grand
8. What movement toward a world fusion-religion was begun in 1893?
9. How was this Parliament of Religions really a meeting of compromise?
WHAT HAS RELIGION DONE FOR MANKIND? 13 meeting of compromise, with each one admitting he did not have “the whole truth and nothing but the truth”. Those who most showed themselves willing to compromise on even their basic principles were the Protestants. No conviction of having the truth, but peace at any price! As one Protestant clergyman, of the Disciples church, expressed himself: “This first Parliament of Religions seems to be the harbinger of a still larger fraternity—a fraternity that will combine into one world-religion what is best, not in one alone, but in all of the great historic faiths. It may be that, under the guidance of this larger hope, we shall need to revise our phraseology and speak more of Religious unity, than of Christian unity. I rejoice that all the great cults are to be brought into touch with each other, and that Jesus will take his place in the companionship of Gautama, Confucius and Zoroaster.”*
10 Did that World’s Parliament of Religions have heaven’s blessing and work toward world peace and unity? Evidently not. Twenty years later the world entered into a period of disunity and turmoil such as it had never before known, with the outbreak of the first world war in 1914. The rupture of peace and harmony began, not in so-called “heathendom”, but in Christendom where all are supposed to be Christian brothers who show that they follow Christ because they love one another and lay down their lives for one an
* The Battle of Armageddon, published in 1897, page 183. io. What shows whether the Parliament worked for world peace and unity?
other, not kill one another. Catholic and Protestant clergymen ignored the rule laid down by their professed Leader Jesus Christ, when he said: “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.”* Contrary to this, these sectarian leaders patriotically divided on the national and political issues of the time and prayed to this one and the same Christ to bless and prosper the death-dealing weapons of whichever side they were on. This same course was followed in World War n, and every indication is that it is to be the course followed in further international conflicts.
11 For the duration of the conflict each great religion of Christendom becomes nationalized, while the clergy on top reap the benefit, win or lose their side militarily. No second World’s Parliament of Religions is proposed, not even on the basis of the United Nations of many religions. To judge from the results of the first one, world unity would not be furthered by such a parliament with its efforts toward a fusion world-religion. Besides, conditions are even far more unfavorable toward one now than in 1893.
12 Since hope does not rest in a synthesized re-
* The Bible, at John 13:34,35, New World Translation.
11. Why does existence of the United Nations not favor a second such religious Parliament?
12. As respects religion, what is this crucial time the opportunity for?
ligion for all mankind, what then? Does it rest with any one kind? Back there, one of the leading promoters of the parliament of 1893, a Protestant clergyman, expressed it this way: “Some one has said that the time is now ripe for the best religion to come to the front. The time for a man to put on any airs of superiority about his particular religion is past.”1 2 The task of making certain which is the best religion in Christendom or in heathendom would be an endless one, a fruitless one, especially when even such “best” one is examined in the face of the question, What has religion done for mankind? Another thing, the task of getting all mankind to adopt such “best” one, even for the sake of world unity, would be humanly impossible. This is not the time of opportunity for what men may cals who boast of their godless materialism have a form of worship which differs from other kinds only in the naming of things, even they have been forced by this day of judgment of the nations into choosing a religion. With this they hope to integrate the world under one political control allowing for only one allegiance. That they will not succeed, we propose to prove on reliable authority. But, then, what other religion of this world will succeed in unifying all nations, races, colors, and languages? Based on past performance, upon what they have already done for mankind, not one, not even the “best”, if there be such, will prove able to do so. We owe it to our fellow man to respect his right to worship according to what mode or system he prefers. But because sentimental people view worship as sacred and beautiful when it is conscientious and sincere, this does not make all beliefs and forms of adoring some higher power right and leading to endless life, liberty and happiness. They cannot all be right and leading to the same happy end, for they all differ and disagree with one another and contradict one another.
Th2NiwTert:TlB«i7
RELIGIOUS FAKES DECRIED
Dr. W. L. Pettingill Call2 Much of Modem Teaching a ‘Curse’
The weakness of the church today is largely the result of the absence of persecution and suffer-'ing, the Rev. Dr. William U Pet-I tingill, pastor of the First Baptist, Church, Broadway and Seventyninth Street, said in a sermon yesterday morning.
"Religious teaching that is dished out now is a curse and not a blessing,” he declared. “Most of it is false religion which ignores the teachings of Christ. These false beliefs called religion are our greatest enemies.
“Elven right here In New York City there are many churches i which do no more than parade under the name of God. Ninety-nine per cent of religion tn this city should be scrapped because one 1 cannot believe man and God at the same time. One must believe God."
11 Though all other kinds disagree with it, there must be only one kind of worship, one religion, that is right. This is the one in harmony with the absolute truth. Since there is just the one that is true, set against so many hundreds of others that prove to be false, it follows that those who adopt and practice the true must necessarily be
14 . Why must only one religion be right? Why is it shown intolerance by others? in the minority. History proves that this has always been so. The contradiction of the minority by the majority does not prove they are in the wrong. While not tolerating falsehood for themselves, they exercise most genuine tolerance toward all others in the world in their privilege of choosing the gods whom they want to serve. Unjustly they are rewarded with the greatest intolerance in political, social, economic, legal and religious ways. But this will not crush them out of existence. The intolerant religionists who oppose them are the ones that are in fear for their form of belief and worship, both fear from the truth as well as fear from the violent radical classes who claim to be antigod.
15 The truth has endured till now, and those who have it need not fear. The truth is eternal. It will last forever, after all error has been exposed and perishes. So those who worship with spirit and truth can afford to exercise true toleration toward all other religions as long as this old world of which such are a part lasts. But this toleration does not mean they are obliged to put the quietus on the proclamation of the truth by which men may be turned from darkness to light, from false worship to right worship. The fact is, they are under moral obligation to their fellow men to let them hear and examine it and then say, “It is the truth.”
18 It is with a sense of this obligation that this
15. Why may those with the truth be tolerant but not silence the truth?
16. In recognition of what right of the people is this book published?
18 WHAT HAS RELIGION DONE FOR MANKIND? book is published. Nothing is accomplished by saying that your religion is good enough for you, and his is good enough for him, and ours is good enough for us; so do not cause religious disturbance but let everything stay as it is. That which is false has come to its day of reckoning and will perish amid the great ruin which it is bringing upon itself. Those who hold to it, even in their ignorance, will perish with it, just as, when a blind guide falls into the ditch, the blind person he is guiding will tumble in with him. So those blinded with falsehood have a right to hear the truth and need to hear it to escape destruction.
17 Truth is one and is for all who love it, the same way as proved science is for all. Being for all, it is the only thing that will bind all men together. By modem developments the whole earth is now one close neighborhood, and we are one human race, from one original human father, and on one earth, and faced with a world-wide trouble in common. The pure worship is the one thing that will unify the universe in a new world and lead to the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. The rule is sure, By the fruitage of a tree you will know the tree for what it is. So with tolerance toward the rights of all, but in the interests of unity and salvation by the truth, we now proceed to examine the fruitage and see what religion has done for mankind. Indifference toward the true religion puts you in peril.
17. For whom is the truth, and so what universal condition can it bring about? How, then, do we proceed to our investigation?
CHAPTER II
The Standard for Judging Religion
WHAT is the measuring stick for all religions? What is it that distinguishes the true one as such? Is religion only what man develops naturally through his contact with the material creation? Or is there a revealed religion which has come to him by supernatural means? These are questions which persons of all creeds and beliefs must have answered according to reason and the facts before they can decide whether they have what is the true knowledge and worship or whether it is necessary for them to make a change, in the interest of their eternal welfare.
2 In the world today there are a number of religions of great age and with large followings. For example, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Shinto, Judaism, Mohammedanism, and Christianity. These all have their sacred writings. Hindus have the Vedas, their four books of knowledge; Buddhists their scriptures called the “Three Baskets of Wisdom”; Taoists their holy book Tao Te King; Confucianists their classics such as “Spring and Autumn”; Shintoists their
i. What questions must be answered before we can decide whether we have true knowledge and worship?
2. What questions must be settled concerning the religions of great age and their sacred writings?
Kojiki or “Records”; orthodox Jews their Talmud; Mohammedans their Koran; Christians their Holy Scriptures or Bible. A number of these sacred writings are regarded by their devotees as being revealed religion, from a source higher than man. But recognizing that there are powers higher than man that are good and bad, we must ask, Did each such set of supposed “sacred” writings have its revelation from a good source or a bad source? Which one is the true revelation?
3 There is every need for a supernatural revelation. We cannot depend upon what men call “natural religion”. Men have the senses of seeing, hearing and feeling. They can observe the marvels of the natural world, the earth and the sun, moon and stars. They see, hear and feel the phenomena resulting from the operation of the laws that govern this natural world. By experiment they determine what is hurtful and what is beneficial. They have relations with one another in human society and so set up standards of what is proper conduct. They come in touch with many forces and phenomena that they cannot understand or explain and they attach some superstitious connection to these. Thus they build up a “natural religion”, a system of rules of conduct and of worship toward what is visible or invisible.
* But honesty must compel us to admit that all men are imperfect and subject to mistake and error. In different parts of the earth, widely sep-
3. How is “natural religion” developed?
4. Why does “natural religion” differ in places and fall short of truth and righteousness? arated, men have different experiences, different associations, different things to contend with and different sources of information. Hence the development of natural religion is bound to differ in various sections of the earth. Men are debased, too, and often prefer what is bad to what is good, because of the selfish satisfaction which they get out of this reversal of matters. They are also limited in knowledge. The result is that mere natural religion falls far short of truth and righteousness. In many cases it violates that which is pure, healthful, just and upbuilding. Hence there must
be a revelation from a higher truthful source in order to correct the wrong tendencies of natural religion and in order to instruct the human conscience in the right way.
“Natural religion, even such as the higher critics and materialistic scientists are trying to develop today, could never be sufficient. It can never explain the mystery of life, how it got its start and what keeps it going. How did this wonderful natural world with all its variety in earth, sea and sky come into existence? Who is responsible for all this? What did we humans come from? Where did
5. In view of what questions could natural religion never be sufficient?
22 WHAT HAS RELIGION DONE FOR MANKIND? this thing called “sin” together with imperfection and error come from? Why is it that the human organism, which shows every possibility of being kept in operation for eternity, dies? Is there a life after death? Or will there be a return from death to life on this earth? Are there invisible persons different in make-up from man and higher than man? Do they serve man’s interests or does man need protection from them? Will this stupendous material creation in heaven and earth pass away and all human and animal existence cease? If there are higher powers superior in intelligence and power to man, what are our duties to them? Are they to be worshiped, and how? What have they to do with the destiny of mankind? Is there but one God over all things, or are there many gods? To these questions many others could be added. The answers to these natural religion could never work out of itself. Modern science also provides no satisfactory, unchangeable answer, but it too shows it is subject to human disabilities and limitations.
6 All progressive nations are turning to modern science in order to keep abreast of the rest of the world, and, as they hope, for the sake of their independence, survival and liberation from the backwardness of the past. The more the scientists study the universe the more they can see that there is an intelligence behind it, and that the master mind behind it is a great mathematician. The famous Einstein, whose theory of relativity
6. What do progressive students and scientists see more and more behind the universe? played an important part toward the invention of the atomic bomb, had this to say:
“It is enough for me to contemplate the mystery of conscious life perpetuating itself through all eternity; to reflect upon the marvelous structure of the universe, which we can dimly perceive, and to try humbly to comprehend even an infinitesimal part of the intelligence manifest in nature.”
7 Then there is Dr. Robert A. Millikan who has been rated the dean of American scientists, being the first of them to study cosmic rays and winning the Nobel Prize for being the first to determine the charge and mass of the electron, an electrical particle of all matter. Addressing the meeting of the American Physical Society at Washington, D.C., on April 29, 1948, he expressed himself in the terms of a believer in the theory of the evolution of man and yet he said with conviction:
“There’s a Divinity that shapes our ends. . . . Just how we fit into the plans of the Great Architect and how much He has assigned us to do we do not know, but if we fail on our assignment it is pretty certain that part of the job will be left undone. But fit in we certainly do somehow, else we would not have a sense of our own responsibility. A PURELY MATERIALISTIC PHILOSOPHY IS TO ME THE HEIGHT OF UNINTELLIGENCE. Wise men in all the ages have always seen enough to at least make them reverent.”
Then he quoted Einstein’s notable words above and went on to speak of God as the “Great Architect” and of our responsibility to Him.—New York Times, April 30, 1948.
7. What did an American scientist say about a “purely materialistic philosophy”, and why?
8 However, wise persons do not need these modem scientists to prove to them that there is a living intelligence behind visible and invisible creation and that He is all-powerful, all-wise, supreme and just, and harmonizes all things. Nineteen centuries ago such a wise man showed that mankind are inexcusable for not recognizing that there is such a God. Why? “Because what may be known about God is manifest among them, for God made it manifest to them. For his invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are understood by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship, so that they are inexcusable; because, although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God nor did they thank him, but they became empty-headed in their reasonings and their unintelligent heart became darkened.”*
8 From our own experience we know that intelligence is associated with mind. The mind which can understand some of the things about the universe is associated with a brain in a body of a definite shape and individuality. So this great intelligence, this great mind responsible for all creation must be the Supreme Being, the great Person who is God, with a definite body and individuality and powers, all this distinguishing him from all creation.
* Paul of Tarsus in the Bible, at Romans 1:19-21, New World Translation.
8. Why do really wise persons not need modem scientists to prove a living intelligence to be behind all creation?
9. How, then, do we reason that there must be a Supreme Being?
10 Natural religion, resulting from man’s own observations and investigations, cannot reveal to us who this God is and what his name is. Only a direct revelation from this Supreme Being himself can inform us of this. Only this revelation can give us the truth on how he made creation, what is the correct way to worship him, what his will is for us in the different periods of human history, what his purposes are, and why he has permitted sin, imperfection, selfishness and death to mar his creation and bring disunity into it. If mankind are to learn to worship in the proper, acceptable manner, there has to be a revealed religion; and to be in perfect agreement with truth and righteousness this religion must come from the living and true God, the Supreme Intelligence and Great Architect of all creation. Since we are his creation gifted with intelligence and entirely dependent upon him for true knowledge and guidance, it is only reasonable that he would give us a revelation of his will and purpose. Every loving parent imparts reliable information and instruction to his child for its protection, safety, welfare and understanding. How much more would the Creator, from whom we draw the quality of love, do so to his intelligent creatures! This he would do in order for us to know him, understand our relationship to him, see what are his requirements of us, and faithfully fulfill our responsibilities that we might harmonize our lives with him and gain his approval.
10. To inform us on what must there be a revelation from him, and why is it reasonable to expect it?
11 What is reasonable and proper to expect He has done. He has given us a revelation of himself beyond what the so-called “book of nature” has to tell us. He has caused it to be written down and preserved that we might go to it and learn truth, righteousness and pure worship. But there are many writings which the various religions hold sacred and for which they claim higher inspiration. Which of all these is the true God’s written revelation? To save time and space and to get at once to the point, we confidently reply, The Holy Scriptures or Bible, written originally in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, and upon which true Christianity is based.
12 What! many will exclaim, That book upon which the hundreds of religious systems and sects of Christendom claim to rest but upon the teachings of which none of them agree, exercising the greatest intolerance toward one another, persecuting one another and even going to war with deadly weapons of violence over their doctrinal and other disagreements? Yes, we mean that book, The Holy Bible, but not the sectarian creeds which falsely claim to rest upon it. The reasons for accepting it as the divine revelation are not those of childish, blind credulity, but they spring from mature study of it, experience with it and sound facts of history.
n. Has he given us such a revelation, and, if so, where is it?
12 . What will some exclaim in objection to this, but why is our acceptance of it not based on blind credulity?
13 Let us dismiss from our minds what the jangling creeds of Christendom have to say about the teachings of the Bible and let us consider the Book itself. The only way to explain its existence and what it teaches and how and why it has survived till this perplexing day is that it is the divine revelation. There must be some providential reason why it has been translated into more than 1,125 languages and is the most widely published, circulated and read book on earth today. All this in spite of the fact that its publication has been most bitterly opposed, and those who have spread it have been most hotly persecuted, and it has been attacked and misrepresented by not only non-Christian religions and powers but also by those who possessed it and claimed to be its friends, and the most wicked and violent efforts have been made to destroy it from all existence. Only the Almighty God its Author could have preserved it till now to become the foremost book on earth.
14 The Creator who is from everlasting to everlasting is the only One who could have inspired the Holy Bible. That is why it is the oldest book on earth, for the written document upon which its account of the creation of earth and its inhabitants rests goes back almost six thousand years, to near the time of the creating of man and woman. Today the Bible, composed of the ancient He-
13. How only can its existence and survival till now be explained, and its becoming the foremost book on earth?
14. For what special reason must the Creator who is from everlasting have been the Bible’s Inspirer? brew Scriptures and the Christian Greek Scriptures, is made up of 66 books, the last of these being written in the closing decade of the first century after Christ. Hence the entire book was about four thousand years in being written. Some thirty-five men took part in writing it, especially counting from the prophet Moses, who wrote the first book of the Bible and wove it together from eleven earlier written documents. Even if we begin its writing from Moses in the sixteenth century before Christ, the Bible was over sixteen centuries in being written. So the thirty-five writers lived at different periods of time, few of them were contemporaries, and the time gap between the first writer Moses and the last writer the apostle John is very great Thus, though they were all Hebrews or Jews, few had direct communication with each other. Their occupations in life were quite varied, some being warriors, shepherds, kings, temple Levites, fishers, with a tax collector and a physician among them, and men of other ordinary professions.
15 Their style is different, their writings include narratives, history, cosmogony,’hygienic rules, governmental rules, laws, doctrine, poetry and proverbs. Some wrote in Hebrew, others in Aramaic, and others in the common Greek of the first century after Christ. Notwithstanding this, their writings are all in agreement from first to last, and they show the gradual revelation of the divine will and purpose. Only the great First
is. What is it that makes its harmony remarkable, and why does this argue for one author of it?
Cause, who has immortality, could have caused a book of such diversified contents and written over so long a time by such widely separated men to harmonize with itself from start to finish. He is the one Author of this most important book.
16 Written by men, indeed! But this fact is no objection to the divine authorship of it. Had it been written by heavenly angels, it could have been no truer, for God would even have had to inspire them to do the writing the same as he did his earthly human writers. We are informed concerning the sacred secrets that these men of God were inspired to write into the Bible: “Into these very things angels are desiring to peer.”* Men are an easier medium for us to receive divine revelations through than angels are, who on numbers of occasions were terrifying in their glorious appearance to men. We are plainly told that the Bible writers did not know or understand the meaning of many things they wrote, particularly the prophecies, and yet no confusion and disagreement resulted. Not their own mental ability, but the spirit or invisible active force of Almighty God was responsible for these releases of sacred Scripture. Some writers testify to this, and the apostle Peter builds up our faith in God’s written Word, saying: “You know this first, that no prophecy of Scripture springs from any private release. For prophecy was at no time brought by man’s will, but men spoke from God as they
*The Bible, at 1 Peter 1:12, New World Translation. 16. Why does its being written by men not deny its divine authorship?
30 WHAT HAS RELIGION DONE FOR MANKIND? were borne along by holy spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20, 21,NW; 1 Peter 1:10-12) This makes the Most High God the one great Author of the Book, though it was written by men’s hands.
17 Throughout the centuries men of this world, and particularly in these last few centuries the materialistic scientists as well as irreverent radical thinkers, have attacked the Bible as historically incorrect, unscientific, contradictory, ancient and not advanced enough for our day. But scientists have repeatedly had to correct themselves. The advances made by them and the search for ancient records found in writing and on the buried relics of former days have brought discoveries which have more and more confirmed the Bible as true rather than supported the arguments of its attackers. Compared with the so-called “creation tablets of Babylon” which are filled with senseless fables, the Bible account of creation is plain, simple, and fully supported by the findings of modem science. None but the Creator could have inspired that account.
18 The Bible solves the great mysteries that have baffled mankind. In this it displays that its great Author knew the end from the beginning of his works toward mankind. It tells how sin entered the universe and how it will be wiped out, and how all its sad effects upon mankind will be cleansed away. It tells how God would send a great Liberator for mankind and how he would
17. How and by whom has the Bible been attacked, and how has it received only further confirmation?
is. What baffling mysteries does the Bible solve, so proving God its Inspirer?
THE STANDARD FOR JUDGING RELIGION 31 be identified and how he will finally bring full deliverance to the groaning creation, in the near future for us of this day. According to the law of probabilities, there would be an infinite number of chances against one that all these foretold marks of identification could be fulfilled in one Liberator. And yet well-established history and the testimony of eyewitnesses prove they were faithfully fulfilled, a fact which stamps the Bible as the truth and the all-wise God as its Author and Inspirer.
19 This Book, too, explains how the demons came into existence and why the fear and worship of them is so prevalent throughout the earth. It tells how Babylon was founded and how all the great variety of languages and religions got started. It foretells how the Greater Babylon with all the religions that it includes within itself will be destroyed, and that at now no distant day. The Bible has always been ahead of the latest generation of men. It is no old-fashioned, static book, showing the ignorance of a former day, and giving only past history. It is far in advance of the latest thought of our time. Its prophecies foretold events centuries, yes, millenniums, in advance; and the unfolding events of history from the first century after Christ until now prove those prophecies true. They are finding a climax of fulfillment in the strange world events since World War I in 1914. Those prophecies do not halt with our momentous epoch, but carry on a thousand years into the
19. How is it in advance of the latest thought of our day, and what assures its complete fulfillment?
future. The faithful, accurate fulfillment of Bible prophecy thus far gives full assurance that those prophecies of that future glorious time will also be carried out to the letter, when all wickedness will be erased from the universe, death will be abolished from the earth, and paradise will be restored here for a perfect race of humans to enjoy forever with honor and praise to their worshipful Creator and to his Liberator for mankind.
20 The Bible reveals the development and progress of the pure religion in contrast with all the false kinds and shows its early triumph over all error of belief and practice. It sets forth principles that are eternal and unchangeable. It is a Book of liberation from all the power and evil of the false religion. That is why it has been so fought against by the practicers of falsehood, who try to prevent men from getting free from the power of darkness and entering into the light and blessing of the pure knowledge and worship of the living and true God. Already in this day of world change the Bible stands vindicated as his Word of truth. There can be no question about it: The Holy Scriptures of the Bible are the standard by which to judge all religions. Follow this volume through its further chapters and prove it.
20. Why has it been so fought against by practicers of falsehood, and as whose word does it already stand vindicated?
CHAPTER JU
When There Was One Religion
CAN you imagine our earth without a temple, a shrine, an altar, an image, a priest, or a sacred holiday? Well, that is the way it was on earth when there was but one religion throughout the universe. You are interested in how this could be, seeing that these things have become so associated with the various forms of worship. So let us examine the inspired Record of those days.
2 The first book of the Bible is entitled “Genesis”. This is a word drawn from the Greek language and meaning “beginning”. It corresponds with the opening words of the book in the original Hebrew, “In the beginning,” and which words the Hebrews use to designate that book. From the first verse of Genesis on we are taught that there is but the one God, the Creator: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) Here the Hebrew word for “God” is Elohim. This Hebrew word Elohim is in the plural number, not to indicate that there are several persons in God, but to indicate the excellence
i. What present-day religious things was the earth without when there was but one religion?
2,3. (a) Why is the Bible’s first book appropriately named? (b) What does Elohim, meaning “God”, indicate, and what is his unique name?
of God, just as when, in old English, the king of England used to be addressed in the plural number, “Your Majesty,” not, “Thy Majesty.” For this reason Elohim, when meaning “God” the Creator, is always used with an adjective and a verb in the singular number. Does God give himself a name? Yes. In Genesis, chapter 2, verse 4, it first occurs: “These are the histories of the heavens and the earth, when they were created, in the day that Jehovah Elohim made earth and heavens.”—Darby’s translation; see also American Standard Version, also Young’s.
3 That is the name which He has exclusively given himself, and no creation of his may take it to himself. “I am Jehovah, that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise unto graven images.” (Isaiah 42:8, AS) Testifying to God’s exclusive possession of this unique name, the sacred song writer prays to Him against his enemies and says: “That they may know that thou alone, whose name is Jehovah, art the Most High over all the earth.” (Psalm 83:18, Da; AS) His name is to be held sacred.
4 The materialistic scientists are led by their investigations and discoveries to appreciate only more and more the wisdom with which God created the heavens and the earth. The reverent psalmist long, long ago showed his appreciation of that when he said: “O Jehovah, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all: the
4. Who were already in existence when God began creating the earth, and so who must have been his first creation? earth is full of thy riches.” “Jehovah by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens.” (Psalms 104:24; 136:1,2,5, AS; Proverbs 3:19, AS) At the time that Jehovah began creating the earth there were heavenly spiritual creatures in existence. Men who cannot see spirit creatures could not know this, but Jehovah God himself informed us of this fact when he put questions to the faithful man Job on what he knew concerning the construction of the earth: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? . . . When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy [all the heavenly beings shouted for joy, AT; all the angels chanted in their joy, Mo]?" (Job 38:4,7) Since these spiritual sons of God came ahead of man, one of these heavenly sons of God must have been Jehovah’s first creation. Does the Bible bear that fact out? Yes, and it shows us who he was.
5 Like endless space, God has no beginning and no end. He is the source of all creation and of all life and intelligence. To show his everlastingness in the past and in the future he described himself as “I am that I am” and spoke of himself as the “I am”. He used the name 6,823 times throughout the inspired Hebrew Scriptures, and that name “Jehovah” is understood to mean “He causes to be”. Thus he declares himself to be the Creator of all things, the great First Cause. (Exodus 3:14, 15, AS) He gives life to all his sons, whether they
s. By what description did he show his everlastingness, and what does his name mean and also indicate? are in heaven or on earth. He is their heavenly Father, and as such he precedes every one of his sons.
6 There is one of his heavenly sons whom the Bible calls “his only-begotten Son”. This was the one who became for a time a man on earth named Jesus Christ. In order to return to heaven this only-begotten Son of God died so as to sacrifice his human nature for mankind’s restoration to everlasting life, and God raised him from death to heavenly life again as a spiritual Son more glorious than ever before. This glorified Jesus confessed to being the first creation of God. This he did when he gave a revelation to his apostle John and said: “These are the things the Amen says, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation by God.” (Revelation 3:14, NW; RS; Ro) So he was the chief one of God’s creation. (Yg; Mk) Since God created him first, without the co-operation or agency of anyone else, because there were no other creatures then existing, he is rightly called God’s “only-begotten Son”. He is also called “the only-begotten god” in these inspired words: “No man has seen God at any time; the only-begotten god who is in the bosom position with the Father is the one that has explained him.”—John 3:16; 1:18, NW; Ro; Sp; Ly.
7 The eternal Jehovah filled his only-begotten Son with wisdom. He became the very symbol of
6. What did his “only-begotten Son” confess to being, and so how was he properly the “only-begotten” One? 7. Under what symbol was his creation described in Proverbs, and how was he used and what title was he given?
wisdom. In the proverbs of wisdom he speaks of himself as wisdom and calls attention to his being a creation of the eternal heavenly Father. He says: “The Eternal formed me first of his creation, first of all his works in days of old; I was fashioned in the earliest ages, from the very first, when earth began; I was born when there were no abysses, . . . when he laid foundations for the earth; I was with him then, his foster-child, I was his delight day after day, playing in his presence constantly, playing here and there over his world, finding my delight in humankind.” (Proverbs 8:22-31, Mo; AT; Ro) This Son’s wisdom must not lie idle. So God his Father gave him something to do. God used him as his agent or servant in creating all other things. Because this Son was his chief representative and was to be his spokesman to all other intelligent creatures, God gave his only-begotten Son the title “The Word”. How this Son was used in making all other creations we read:
8 “In the beginning the Word existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was divine [and the Word was a god, NW], It was he that was with God in the beginning. Everything came into existence through him, and apart from him nothing came to be. It was by him that life came into existence, and that life was the light of mankind.” (John 1:1-4, AT; Mo; NW) “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, because by means of him all other things were created in the heavens and upon the earth, the
8. How is his making of all other creations stated? things visible and the things invisible, no matter whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All other things have been created through him and for him. Also he is before all other things and by means of him all other things were made to exist, and he is the head of the body, the congregation. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that he might become the one who is first in all things, because God saw good for all fullness to dwell in him.” —Colossians 1:15-19, NW.
9 In harmony with this all-inclusive statement the only-begotten Son was used in creating the earth and man upon it. Although it is not said who it was, this must be the one to whom God spoke, when the account of creation tells us: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Genesis 1:26,27; also 3:22; 11:7) The credit for man’s creation was given to God, but the rest of the Bible testifies he used his wise Son. The way man has been made bears witness to the wisdom and understanding with which God made him. Man was a perfect piece of workmanship. It could not have been otherwise, for God was his Creator, and concern-
9. How is his association with God in creating mankind indicated, and in what condition did mankind start? ing Jehovah God it is written: “His work is perfect; for all his ways are justice: a God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is he.” (Deuteronomy 32:3,4, AS) Consequently, when he finished his earthly creation by making the perfect man and woman, he could approve of what he had made. He did so on the sixth and last day of such creative work. “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” Thus mankind started out perfect.—Genesis 1:31.
10 Did God place man on earth to stay just a while in human form and then to pass on and assume some other form and nature, that of a lower animal on the same earth or that of an angel in heaven? Was man made with a thing called a “soul” which was separate and distinct from the human body? And could this soul exist apart from the body and also go into other bodies, that of say a cow or an insect or a spiritual angel? You might not believe us if we answered for ourselves. So we let God’s own inspired Record speak for itself, at Genesis 2:7,8, quoting from a Roman Catholic translation: “And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul. And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning: wherein he placed man whom he had formed.” (Dy; also Kx) The Christian apostle Paul endorses that account of man’s creation by quoting from it and saying: “The first man Adam was made into a living
io. What questions arise on the human soul, and how does the creation account indicate what it is? soul.” (1 Corinthians 15:45, Dy) There we have two inspired statements, fifteen centuries apart, that man became or teas made into a living soul. God did not breathe into him an immaterial, invisible soul that could exist independently of the body and leave it and go somewhere else. A living soul was what the perfect man became and not what man had inside him. A living man has soul, that is to say, he has life or existence as a human soul, but he does not have an intelligent, separate something inside him which can abandon his body for a new existence elsewhere. Man and woman are human souls. But how the religions of this world, including those of Christendom, have twisted that fact and deceived mankind!
11 Man was not the first material soul on earth.
11. Was man the first material soul on earth? How does the account show whether?
On the fifth and sixth days God created material souls ahead of mein. They were the lower animal creatures. “And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living souls, and let fowl fly above the earth in the expanse of the heavens. And God created the great sea monsters, and every living soul that moves with which the waters swarm, after their kind, and every winged fowl after its kind. . . . And there was evening, and there was morning—a fifth day. And God said, Let the earth bring forth living souls after their kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth, after their kind. And it was so.” These animal souls were kept alive with food. God told man of the food provisions for him and said: “It shall be food for you; and to every animal of the earth, and to every fowl of the heavens, and to everything that creepeth on the earth, in which is a living soul, every green herb for food. And it was so.”—Genesis 1:20-24,29,30, Da; Ro.
12 Every animal soul was made after its kind. No such animal soul could transmigrate out of its body and go into the body of some different kind of animat The first man did not receive a soul by transmigration from some heavenly angel or from some lower animal or insect. Those animal souls were not immortal and able to pass on after the animal or insect died. This is a fundamental fact of inspired Scripture, and the rest of the Bible does not contradict it. In the very last book of the Bible we read of these animal souls: “A third
u. Why could the first man not have a soul transmigrated from some other dead creature?
42 WHAT HAS RELIGION DONE FOR MANKIND? of the creatures that are in the sea which have souls died, . . . and every living soul died, yes, the things in the sea.” (Revelation 8:9; 16:3, NW; Ro) Man’s creation toward the end of the sixth creative day was separate absolutely from that of the lower earthly creatures. God breathed into the created human body the principle of life which is sustained by breathing and man became a living soul. Being God’s perfect workmanship, with no parts lacking and with no useless, unnecessary parts, the first man was no product of a supposed law of human evolution. Human souls cannot mix with the lower animal souls. Not such animals, but man alone on earth was made in the image and likeness of God.
13 The loving Creator gave man a perfect home. He put him in the paradise of pleasure or garden of Eden. That man might not be alone in Eden God created for him a human counterpart, in this way: “Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof: and the rib, which Jehovah God had taken from the man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And the man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” (Genesis 2:21-23, AS) Jesus Christ, who in heaven had served as God’s agent in creating man and woman, confirmed this account as true by quoting from it. He showed that it set out God’s law
13. How did God give the first man a human counterpart?
WHEN THERE WAS ONE RELIGION 43 governing the relationship of man and woman, husband and wife.—Matthew 19:4,5.
14 Did man in Eden’s paradise have communication with God? Did God leave the perfect man to develop a natural religion by merely what he saw, felt and heard, or did God make a revelation to him for his perfect guidance? God made a revelation, and that evidently through his only-begotten Son, the Word, who acted as spokesman.
15 In this way God assigned the man to his work and gave him the divine commandments. “And Jehovah God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” It was after God had presented man with a perfect wife that he revealed to them both the purpose of their being together on the earth. “And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed;
14. Was man left to develop natural religion or did he receive a revelation? How?
15. (a) For what disobedience was man told he would die? (b) What were man and woman told was the purpose of their being together?
to you it shall be for food.” (Genesis 2:15-17; 1:28, 29, AS) However, the prohibition which God had expressed to Adam regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil still stood, until they passed the test which God had imposed upon them. Then they might eat of it with divine approval, and also of another tree, “the tree of life also in the midst of the garden,” as an indication of their God-given right to live forever in the paradise.—Genesis 2:9.
16 There was just one religion on the earth, just one form of worship, and that was according to the truth of the divine revelation. But how was it carried out? Did not God command the man to build him a temple for the worship of his Creator there? Search the entire Record, and no such command to Adam will be found. Surely God himself could not dwell in such a man-made building. Thousands of years later the wise King Solomon who was commanded to build a temple to Jehovah at the city of Jerusalem correctly sized up Jehovah when he said: “But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded!” The holy of holies of Solomon’s temple was only a small picture of the heavens where God actually dwells surrounded by his heavenly hosts, and where he in due time received his great High Priest with the sacrifice for the everlasting life of humankind in a righteous
…