should be recorded and remembered always. As far as Jehovah’s visible organization is concerned it is the date of your ordination to the ministry of the Most High.

16-19. (a) What important questions are asked of candidates for baptism? (b) What indicates eligibility for baptism? (c) On this occasion, of what is it good to have a clear perspective? (d) Is baptism the ultimate goal?

¹⁶ However, before candidates are admitted to baptism it is proper and fitting that they answer two questions, so that all those assembled with them for the occasion may be witnesses who have heard from the candidates’ own mouths that they understand what they are doing and that they have taken the required steps to qualify for baptism. Those who can answer the questions in the affirmative should say “Yes” after each question, and they should say it loudly and in unison, that is, all at the same time.

¹⁷ The first question is: Have you recognized yourself before Jehovah God as a sinner who needs salvation, and have you acknowledged to him that this salvation proceeds from him, the Father, through his Son Jesus Christ?

¹⁸ The second question is: On the basis of this faith in God and in his provision for salvation, have you dedicated yourself unreservedly to God to do his will henceforth as he reveals it to you through Jesus Christ and through the Bible under the enlightening power of the holy spirit?

¹⁹ Everyone who has answered “Yes” to those two questions is eligible for baptism and should be baptized at that same assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses. The baptized one should remember the day always, for it is truly a decisive day of his life. On such an occasion it is a very wholesome thing to have a clear perspective of one’s responsibilities and privileges in the ministry from this point forward. Remember, baptism is not the ultimate goal but rather the beginning of a very favorable relationship.

20. What questions present themselves for further discussion?

²⁰ Following baptism, that vitally necessary step, how should one view his relationship to Jehovah, His organization, his Christian brothers? What can one do to fulfill one’s dedication vows faithfully and joyfully? How can one increase one’s spiritual-mindedness and decrease one’s desire for the material things of life? What steps should one pursue to gain greater maturity, in order that one might endure and walk in his integrity before God in these critical days? We will leave these questions for the next article to answer.

The Right Way

One of Jehovah’s witnesses in North Carolina (U.S.A.) relates this experience: “My husband was called upon to do some electrical work for a lady who was trying to get it done as cheaply as possible. She wanted him to lower the quality standard that he felt was vital; he would not do this, so he asked her to get someone else to do the work the way she wanted it done. But she finally agreed to having it done the right way. A little later I called by this house with the Watchtower subscription offer, and she immediately invited me in and listened to what I had to say. After answering her many questions on the first visit, I was able to start a Bible study on the second. She said that the reason she listened to me was because of the firm stand my husband had taken in doing the work the right way rather than the cheapest.”