“I Have Never Known One to Lie”

MIKE received a summons to present himself in the local Brooklyn court for a parking violation. The only thing was, although the summons bore his license-plate number, Mike knew that he was at work at the Watchtower headquarters at the hour cited for the offense. Furthermore, he did not even know the location of the street where his car was supposedly parked. So he decided to appeal the fine.

When he presented himself neatly dressed in court, he gave the summons to the clerk of the court, an older man with white hair. Then Mike was called before the judge and told to take a seat. At that point the clerk spoke up and asked the judge: “Your honor, just by looking at him, do you know what religion this man is?” The judge replied: “I don’t know . . . He’s a Catholic.” Probably he was misled by Mike’s Portuguese last name. The clerk responded: “No. Just by looking at him, you can tell he’s one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. In fact, as soon as he walked in the door, I knew he was a Witness, and his address confirmed it!”

The friendly judge then started to question Mike about the facts on the summons. The description matched Mike’s car except for one detail​—the car model was missing. The clerk said to the judge: “Ask him what kind of car he has.” With his registration receipt in hand, Mike politely answered the question. When the ticket was dismissed for incomplete evidence, the clerk of the court insisted on speaking up again.

He said: “Your Honor, I would like to say before you and everyone else here​—I have known Jehovah’s Witnesses for 30 years, and I have never known one to lie. When he said that it wasn’t his ticket, I believed him, and this proves that it wasn’t his car. I really respect these people. They are good people, and I like people who tell the truth.”

Then he continued: “There’s only one thing I don’t agree with​—not that I’m right.” And turning to Mike, he added: “You’re probably right and I’m wrong. It’s your belief on blood transfusion.”

Mike answered: “If you want me to, I will bring you some information on our stand on blood transfusions.” The clerk declined in a kind manner. But a woman in the audience spoke up: “It’s not worth taking blood transfusions. You can get AIDS from them these days.” Everyone in the court nodded or spoke in agreement​—and Mike walked out happy and relieved.