Youths Turn to Religion​—Why?

“A STRANGE phenomenon indeed,” many people are saying. They refer to the recent turning toward religion on the part of an increasing number of young people throughout the world. In the Western world, youths by the thousands have become involved in what has been called “the Jesus revolution.” Various “gurus” and cults have drawn converts from all walks of life. In the Orient, it is quite common to see youths carrying their Bibles to church on Sunday rather than going on outings. In Hong Kong, many small independent youth groups have formed simply to fellowship together, discussing the Bible and perhaps passing out tracts printed by Bible societies.

What has generated this surge of religious fervor? It could not be religious schools, for, reportedly, the lessons on religion are usually boring and without substance. Rather, it seems to be the fact that, world wide, youths can see that materialism, human governments and schemes have led only to greed, selfishness, wars, misery and general futility. Many have tried drugs, sex and alcohol, but found no answers. So they hopefully turn to religion, but often not the religion of their family.

This sudden conversion to religion and the change in the way of life frequently cause great concern to parents or other family members. This is not without just cause at times, for some religious groups lead young converts to forsake family and friends, to turn all their money over to the group, and then to isolate themselves by living in a commune away from the rest of the world. In the Orient, parents prefer to see their children pursuing something with material benefits, such as more education and higher paying jobs.

If you are a youth, how should you feel and react when suddenly some members of your family oppose your religious beliefs? Does difference in religion or even opposition necessarily mean that a serious breach must exist in relationships between family members? No. But to answer those questions properly, you first must have the right religion, and have the facts to prove it. This is because only the right religion, the religion of the Bible, makes better children and shows one how to have a closer relationship with parents and other family members. In the Bible, the originator of families, mankind’s Creator, Jehovah, gives detailed instruction on how to have truly united and happy families.

What True Religion Can Do for Young People

IF ALL the members of all families would give close attention to the Bible and would make attempts, even though imperfect ones, to put the Bible’s good advice into effect, all families would enjoy internal unity and happiness. Moreover, strife and warfare between families, tribes and nations would cease. But at the present time such is not universally the case. Sometimes only one member of a family takes this good course. What if this is the situation​—if, say, only a son or a daughter tries diligently to apply Bible principles? Does this bring about a happy family atmosphere? Not always. But a strong influence toward greater unity does result. And certainly God helps the son or the daughter to cope more satisfactorily with the problem, to have greater peace of mind and to exert a wholesome influence in the family.

In considering this statement about a Christian’s unifying effect, some may recall that Jesus said, in Luke chapter 12, verses 52 and 53, that he came to cause division​—“five in one house divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” In saying this, Jesus was not encouraging a split in the family relationship. Jesus did not take a position against his own fleshly brothers. On the other hand, his brothers did not encourage him, but tended to speak disparagingly about his claims. However, Jesus’ course was such that his brothers finally believed the “good news” that he taught and became Christians.​—John 7:3-5; Acts 1:13, 14.

Jesus, not only by his own life experience, but also by his words, pointed out that his followers would, in many instances, receive rebuffs, ridicule and even persecution from their own families. However, the believer was not to be the cause of the enmity through rude or disrespectful conduct on his part. This would actually be unchristian, and could be a snare into which a Christian, particularly one who is young, might easily fall. He or she may have been disrespectful before coming to a knowledge of the truth of the Bible. But Bible truth can make marvelous changes in the Christian, for he can exemplify its sterling value, thereby recommending himself to every conscience in the sight of God.​—2 Cor. 4:2.

With regard to those who may actually manifest vigorous opposition, due to failure to understand or appreciate the Christian’s changed course, Jesus commanded: “Continue to love your enemies and to pray for those persecuting you; that you may prove yourselves sons of your Father who is in the heavens.” (Matt. 5:44, 45) The Christian’s hope always is that such ones may eventually become believers.

In the face of opposition to the truth, the Christian will, like his Master Jesus Christ, stand firm for the truth. But firmness does not have to be harshness. He will always be kind. He will not think himself above others, nor be one who is insolent or “talks back” (traits particularly characteristic of many young persons today). During periods of ridicule or abuse, the Christian also does well to remember Peter’s words to be “always ready to make a defense before everyone that demands of you a reason for the hope in you, but doing so together with a mild temper and deep respect.” (1 Pet. 3:15) Especially should this mild temper and deep respect be shown toward family members. To answer in this manner requires sincere, earnest, diligent study and effort. All, even youthful Christians, should be able to give sound, clear, thorough reasons for their faith. Otherwise, where is their faith?

RESPECT FOR PARENTAL AUTHORITY

A youth who has become a Christian learns, as Jesus said, that “the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32) He (or she) finds that there is indeed freedom from many of the things that control, yes, actually enslave young people today​—fear of their peers, social pressure to ‘follow the crowd,’ hero worship, jealousies, rivalries, wrong desires, frustrations and calamitous results from being influenced by bad associates. But youths need to recognize that they are not absolutely free. They must recognize properly constituted authority, one of the foremost being parental authority. It is God himself who gave parents the responsibility to train children in the right way and to determine what is the best for each child.​—Deut. 6:1, 6, 7; 31:12, 13.

Parental authority includes the “rod” of discipline. Proverbs 23:13, 14 states: “Do not hold back discipline from the mere boy. In case you beat him with the rod, he will not die. With the rod you yourself should beat him, that you may deliver his very soul from Sheol itself.” At times, children may feel that the discipline is not properly administered, but they must remember that it is to God that the parents are accountable for the exercise of their authority, and that if discipline is improperly administered, God can, nevertheless, make it work out to the good of the obedient child.​—Rom. 8:28.

Subjection to parental authority is much easier for the young person if he gives thought to the apostle Paul’s words: “True, no discipline seems for the present to be joyous, but grievous; yet afterward to those who have been trained by it it yields peaceable fruit, namely, righteousness.” (Heb. 12:11) A youth who appreciates this can be thankful for the discipline that he receives at the hands of parents and older ones in the congregation, as well as at school. He will make rapid progress and will enjoy a good conscience and freeness of speech, for when he submits to authority, even though it is sometimes not the most pleasant experience, the youth is serving the Lord Jehovah and his Son Jesus Christ. The apostle gave special attention to youthful ones, to comfort them, when he wrote: “You children, be obedient to your parents in everything, for this is well-pleasing in the Lord.” (Col. 3:20) The only exception would be in the event that the youth was called on to do something not pleasing to the Lord.

EXERCISING THE WISDOM THAT IS FROM ABOVE

When you worship the Creator, you may not receive help from family members or associates. To keep your balance under such circumstances, you can pray for and obtain wisdom from God. The disciple James, a half brother of Jesus Christ, wrote to those undergoing difficulties: “Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you meet with various trials.” “If any one of you is lacking in wisdom, let him keep on asking God, for he gives generously to all and without reproaching; and it will be given him.”​—Jas. 1:2, 5.

James also describes the “wisdom from above” as being “first of all chaste, then peaceable, reasonable, ready to obey, full of mercy and good fruits, not making partial distinctions, not hypocritical.” (Jas. 3:17) Consider each of these qualities carefully, and honestly see whether you are displaying them, and where improvement can be made. These qualities will help you to understand the situation and feelings of others as well as your own.

It should be kept in mind that your family members nearly always have your best interests at heart, even though they may have only a limited knowledge as to what true Christianity is. Perhaps you have begun studying the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses. Your relatives and friends may not really know what kind of people Jehovah’s Witnesses are. They may therefore feel that ‘this religion is taking up a lot of your time.’ In view of the hypocrisy seen in most religions today, older persons understandably may be apprehensive and cautious. Seeing your youthful zeal toward religion, they worry that your action may not be based on good sense, but only on emotion. If they manifest opposition, you may be able to prove, by respectful answers in the spirit of peaceableness and reasonableness, that you have made a sensible and well-founded decision.

So ask yourself: Am I truly peaceable and reasonable? Do I demonstrate this attitude toward my family even though they, to some extent, oppose my beliefs? What can I do to improve family togetherness and thereby make my service to the Creator whole-souled? In this regard, does my scheduling of activities show balance and reasonableness, so that I can take care of family obligations and share in proclaiming the “good news” in an effective way?

By applying the Bible’s wisdom from above, the Christian should constantly improve in conduct and in communication with family members. Your family and friends may not oppose you, but if they do, the apostle Peter’s words point out what you should do. He comforted Christians with the following words: “Hold a good conscience, so that in the particular in which you are spoken against they may get ashamed who are speaking slightingly of your good conduct in connection with Christ. For it is better to suffer because you are doing good, if the will of God wishes it, than because you are doing evil.”​—1 Pet. 3:16, 17.

Often, a Christian’s conduct makes a more powerful appeal to others than the spoken word.

In Hong Kong, when a girl in her early 20’s started regularly attending the Bible study meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses, this was frowned on by the family, especially by the older brothers. However, one brother noted that, whereas the daughter had previously engaged in loud, shouting arguments with her mother, as she continued to study the Bible she began to change and was progressively demonstrating a more quiet and mild spirit. Still he had doubts and was not sure that this improvement was due to the influence of her new religion. He felt that actually his sister was being “taken in” and that her changed attitude was only superficial.

To make a test of the matter, the brother went with her once to the local Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses to attend the meeting. To his surprise, he did not find a social club or a collection-plate-passing session, but, rather, a group of warm, friendly people interested in studying the Bible and applying it in their lives. Soon, he, too, was studying the Bible. Now, as baptized Witnesses, this brother and sister attend meetings together and are starting to bring along other family members. Interest in God and his Word had been aroused and opposition turned to family unity and happiness​—all because of a daughter’s application of Bible counsel in developing a mild temper and a spirit of desire to help others.

At times, it may seem that good conduct goes unnoticed by opposers, but this should not discourage the Christian.

A young girl who had previously been prone to get into mischief and show her independence worked hard at changing over to a Christian personality. At first, this brought no comment and had no apparent effect on her parents. Then, one day, she overheard her mother say to a neighbor: “I used to oppose my daughter when she joined this religion [Jehovah’s Witnesses] but I have noticed such an improvement in her conduct that I won’t oppose her anymore, for this must be a good religion.”

How happy this girl was that she had persevered in displaying fine conduct!

OLDEST ANCESTOR, “ANCIENT OF DAYS”

What is it that causes youths among Jehovah’s Witnesses to follow the Bible with such tenacity even when the family disapproves? Is it that they are being taught disrespect for relatives? Indeed not! Rather, they are following a practice as old as the human race, namely, respect for and obedience to the eldest forefather. In societies around the world, until more recent times, the eldest male member of the family was looked to for advice, wisdom and guidance. His word was law and took precedence above that of others​—a son, a grandson or a great-grandson. Many persons in the Orient even worship their dead ancestors and look to them for guidance. But true Christians are actually listening to the oldest ancestor or forefather, who is not dead, but is “the living God,” namely, mankind’s Creator, Jehovah God.​—Jer. 10:10-12.

The Bible book of Daniel (7:9) speaks of God as the “Ancient of Days.” He is from everlasting to everlasting and the source of life for all humans. (Ps. 36:7, 9; Acts 17:24, 25, 28) Accordingly, all should be obedient to him, even as properly trained youngsters should be quick to listen to parents and grandparents. It is by following the wisdom and instructions of the “Ancient of Days” that we can come to be called his children. (1 Pet. 1:14; 1 John 3:1; 2 Cor. 6:18) Understandably, then, youthful servants of the Creator feel that they must conscientiously listen to this highest parent as the final authority whenever there is a conflict of commands, while still maintaining respect and showing love toward their parents.

Since Jehovah is the originator of families and family life, it follows that youths who serve him will become better family members. Sons and daughters will not shame their earthly parents by following the fads, immorality and bad conduct of this world. They will be quick to help out at home and otherwise bring glory to their parents through their chaste and upright conduct at all times. (Titus 2:6-8) By giving attention to these things, which are much more pleasant and satisfying than strife and resistance to authority, true Christian youths bring praise to the Creator. Their heavenly Father also receives glory from this and blesses them for their love and faith.

In all corners of the earth, in whatever circumstances, thousands of youths are taking the course that pleases God. Perhaps some of the world’s greatest attractions for youth, and the greatest pressures, exist in the so-called modernized nations, where the prevalent spirit is materialistic. Can true Christianity provide youths what they need for contentment and happiness, and free them from being swept along by worldly materialism? A good example is found in the Federal Republic of Germany of the postwar period.

In Postwar Germany​—Youths Praise Jehovah

GERMANY, 1978. The flat windswept plains of the north carpeted with eye-catching fields of heather; the big industrial center of the Ruhr, as hustle-bustle as ever, lying half hidden under a layer of smog; the majestic Bavarian Alps blanketed with thick coats of freshly fallen snow, and with tourists swarming over the landscape in search of leather pants, colorful dirndls, beer mugs and cuckoo clocks​—that is the Germany everybody knows. Little seems to have changed.

And yet the world, including Germany, has changed, perhaps never so rapidly as since the end of World War II. It has been introduced to new dangers, new attitudes and new standards of conduct. Emerging from the holocaust of war, what kind of heritage would the former generation be able to give the postwar generation?

There could be no better heritage to enable the new generation successfully to cope with their problems than an accurate knowledge of the true God Jehovah and of his purposes. During the Hitler regime there were Christians who had this knowledge and whose faithfulness under persecution is well known. Keeping in mind David’s words, that “generation after generation will commend your works, and about your mighty acts they will tell,” they have been resolved to pass this fine heritage on to the postwar generation. (Ps. 145:4) Have they succeeded in this? Let us investigate.

THOSE REARED BY BELIEVING PARENTS

Many of Jehovah’s Witnesses of the present generation (since 1945) have had the advantage of being reared by parents and even grandparents who were Jehovah’s Witnesses. For example, Elke and her sister Heidi, both serving God full time, are happy to belong to the fifth generation of Witnesses in their family. How wonderful to see whole families serving Jehovah unitedly!

Consider, too, a family in Westphalia with 15 children. Gerhard, now serving full time at the headquarters office of the Watch Tower Society in Wiesbaden, remembers the fine parental training the children received when all were still at home. Three family studies were necessary to look after their individual needs: one for the older children, one for the very small, and one for the “middle-aged.” Before meetings, and afterward as well, the father would spend an hour and a half driving back and forth to get the entire family to the Kingdom Hall. Strong Christian families are not built without effort!

THE PROBLEM OF DIVIDED HOUSEHOLDS

Others have not been blessed with a united family background, for they have been brought up in religiously divided households.

Friedhelm recalls that his father repeatedly burned his Bible, his books and his magazines. Despite the ambitious plans his father had made for him, an only child, he settled instead on serving as a full-time proclaimer of the good news of God’s kingdom.

Similarly, Wilfried tells of how he and his mother often found themselves locked outdoors when they returned home from Christian meetings. Once they even had to spend the night in the car. At another time his father dragged him out of bed and began beating him with a lamp. But by remaining faithful, he earned, not only his father’s respect, but, what is more important, Jehovah’s approval. “The brothers always made me feel welcome in the congregation, even though I was only 11 or 12 at the time, and it was this love that kept me going,” he explains.

Uwe, a teen-ager when he first became a Witness, had opposition at work as well as at home.

He remembers once when he took advantage of an opportunity to speak the truth to others during a coffee break and was rewarded, not with hearing ears, but with a bucket of water dumped on his head. However, both he and his brother, now a missionary in Spain, continued to advance to Christian maturity.

Rolf-Dieter was only five or six when his mother came to appreciate Bible truth. He and his younger brother were not permitted by their opposing father to attend Christian meetings, although their mother talked to them at home and took them along whenever possible.

“I remember once when my father made me go to the church services of one of Christendom’s denominations,” he relates. “But mother had explained everything to me beforehand. I went and listened, but could not conscientiously take part in the ceremonies, which I understood to be unscriptural, despite the fact that the others sitting nearby kept punching me and whispering what I should do.” Nevertheless, Rolf exercised self-control toward those in attendance at the services, recognizing that the Scriptures command respect for other persons.

COPING WITH PROBLEMS, LARGE AND SMALL

Young Christians do not have it easy. Being mocked and made fun of at school can be a real test of one’s integrity. After graduation male students are faced with the question of neutrality. And they, as well as female Witnesses, have had to contend with all the problems common to young people today: drugs, alcohol, immorality and so many, many more.

Why, even finding a marriage mate can pose a problem. It was Ute’s. She explains:

“Where could I find a suitable mate? All the young people in our congregation were already married. Maybe it would not hurt to ‘look around in the world’ just a little. But, no, I just couldn’t, being aware of the Scriptural counsel to marry ‘only in the Lord.’ In this matter, too, I placed my confidence in Jehovah. Then during construction work on our new assembly hall in Trappenkamp I met my fiancé. We are getting married in June.”

And what about our little ones and their “little” problems? Let us listen to Eric:

“I am 10 years old and in the fourth grade. My parents have been Witnesses for a long time, so until I started school I associated only with fellow believers. Everything went along fine until the day our class left to spend a week in the country at a school hostel. I had never been away from home before. Suddenly our teacher took sick and a substitute teacher went along. I did not know him. Sunday morning he said: ‘This morning we are all going to church.’ I knew I must explain to him that I did not agree with the teachings presented there, and for this reason would rather not go. During breakfast I thought of what I could tell him. After breakfast, I talked to him, but he said: ‘You are going, so let’s not have any argument!’ I went to my room and, when I was alone, I recalled what mother had told me the morning I left: ‘If you run into trouble, Jehovah knows your heart. You can speak to him about your problems.’ I cried as I prayed. I didn’t want to have anything to do with false religion! A little while later when I went back outside I met another teacher who asked me what the matter was, because she saw I had been crying. I told her. She said: ‘I will take care of it for you.’ A little later she came back and told me: ‘You don’t have to go. I spoke to your teacher.’ I was so happy! I thanked Jehovah that he had listened to my prayer. His hand was not too short.”

A “little” problem? Some may think so, but our postwar generation has discovered that Jehovah considers no problem too small or insignificant to warrant his attention. Neither does he desert us in the face of larger ones. Take the case of Marion:

She was a fine example of Christian youth, regularly active in Kingdom preaching. Marion was just 17 years old and full of life. But then a tumor on her spinal cord started slowly to paralyze her arm. An operation became absolutely necessary, but because of its dangerous nature no doctor was willing to perform it without blood. Marion and her parents remained firm. Disobedience to Jehovah was out of the question! Although she was in pain, her good spirits never faltered. Finally a surgeon was found who was willing to respect her religious convictions. An operation was successfully performed without blood! However, relief was short-lived; a second operation was necessary and then a third one. As the paralysis spread, her pain increased. Her tongue became paralyzed, but her actions at the hospital continued to give witness to her faith. Lovingly, and with great effort, she knitted her nurse a sweater. When death finally became inevitable, her parents took her home. Although her voice was almost inaudible and she could scarcely lift her head, yet as often as possible they took her on a stretcher to Christian meetings. Like Job when plagued, she held to the firm conviction that she, too, would one day be blessed by God and be as full of life as ever. She died on December 28, 1977, at the age of 18. Refusing to compromise her faith in Jehovah, she was strengthened by Him and joined a long line of Christians faithful unto death, including others of our postwar generation, whose prayer for life will be answered in the resurrection.​—Acts 24:15.

THOSE NOT REARED BY BELIEVING PARENTS

Of course, many of our young Witnesses were not reared by believing parents. They, too, have had to overcome problems, sometimes very serious ones, before they could become servants of Jehovah.

For example, there is Christa, 22 years old, who became interested when Jehovah’s Witnesses started a Bible study with her brother. She was active in Catholic youth work, but also attended Baptist meetings every week. She explains why she herself then began to study with the Witnesses:

“I had not the faintest idea of becoming one. My aim was to win my brother back to Catholicism. So I wanted to learn as much as possible about the Bible and then use it to fight against these ‘enemies.’” But the more she studied, the more she became convinced that the Witnesses had the truth, as she says, “to my horror!” She continues: “I was torn between my Catholic friends, my newly found Baptist friends and Jehovah’s Witnesses, of whom I really knew very little except that they were able to answer all my Bible questions.”

Christa’s next problem was music. Since the age of 15 she had sung in public and dreamed of one day being a “star.” She had received good reviews at talent shows and had performed in England as well as in Germany. What should she do? She goes on to say:

“I made my decision after visiting my pen pal, Janet, in England. She told me she had been forced to leave home because of the truth. This made me stop and think, because Janet had known about the truth for only four months, since the time my brother and I had witnessed to her during her visit to Germany. Now things began happening fast. Before leaving England I stopped smoking. As soon as I arrived home I broke off all my worldly friendships and stripped my walls of all the photos of the ‘stars.’ Now I was free to attend all the meetings. Soon I had many new, and really true, friends. I was baptized in 1974. Seven months later I flew to England to see my friend Janet being baptized. We are so grateful to Jehovah that he delivered us from false religion and strengthened us to overcome our many problems.”

FULL-TIME SERVICE

Because they are young and generally without family obligations, many of this postwar generation in the Federal Republic of Germany have been able to devote their energies full time to preaching and teaching God’s Word. Once having tasted the blessings of full-time or “pioneer” service, most have wanted to continue enjoying them as long as possible. In fact, Karl-Heinz was so determined that he sought a mate who held his viewpoint of this service. He says:

“We have since enjoyed eight years of ‘pioneer’ service together and have been greatly blessed. We have a happy marriage and have helped several persons accept the truth, including an entire family, the head of which is now himself an elder in the congregation.”

Others have been willing to make changes in their secular work to enable them to devote more time to proclaiming the “good news.” “It was not beneath my dignity to work as an unskilled laborer in order to ‘pioneer,’” is the way Wolfgang, a professional decorator, expressed it. Eighteen-year-old Carola does part-time housework and describes it as “a wonderful profession!” Helmut, trained in an architectural office, spent part time in the plastering trade and switched over to delivering newspapers early in the morning so that he could be a “pioneer.”

Before learning the truth, Ulrich was a chef, working in the best hotels, catering to prominent politicians and well-known movie personalities. He gave it up to have more time for Scriptural pursuits. He says:

“My friends and colleagues advised against it, saying I would ‘sink’ ever lower. My career of becoming a famous chef was over, also my dream of ‘big money.’ But I would never exchange all of that for what I have today. As a ‘pioneer’ I am happier than ever before​—certainly happier than I was before I ‘sank’ so low.”

PRAISING JEHOVAH IN MANY TONGUES

The postwar generation has also done excellent work among the foreign-language groups in Germany. Many have learned a foreign tongue in order to serve in one of the 167 English, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish or Yugoslavian congregations in Germany. So they are “missionaries” in a foreign field within their own country. Others have moved to Spain, Luxembourg, France, Italy and other countries and are serving there.

But, of course, Germany’s postwar generation has its missionaries who have received training at the Witnesses’ missionary school, and are now serving in foreign countries. The majority of the 124 young men and women sent from Germany to this school (in the United States) during the past 10 years belong to this age group. And some who have had to return from their assignments for health or other reasons are, nevertheless, still in full-time service.

THE OTHER SIDE

But, of course, there are two sides to every story and it would be misleading to assume that all young people among Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany are like the ones described above. Public indifference, worldly influences, materialism​—they have all taken their toll and continue to do so. Some youths have become spiritually weak because they have not diligently studied the Bible and prayed to God for “the wisdom from above.” A traveling overseer recently wrote that he was shocked to see how little some of the young people are doing in the preaching work:

“In the last three congregations that I visited, they make up 23 percent of the Witnesses but, as regards time spent in preaching, they are the weakest. It hurts a person to see that some of them have scarcely any relationship with Jehovah and with the congregation. They are ‘members’ of a religion, nothing more. It is bitter for the parents when they discover this, but oftentimes they themselves are not without blame. It is, in some cases, due to parental neglect of their children’s spiritual welfare.”

As this wicked system hurries toward its destruction, it is high time for all such youths to awake to the seriousness of the situation, and act accordingly. Jehovah will bless them if they do so.​—Rom. 13:11; Luke 21:34-36.

May those of our postwar generation faithfully serving Jehovah and telling of his mighty acts KEEP UP THE FINE WORK! (Ps. 145:4, 12) May their example encourage others of their age group to put up a strong fight against becoming ensnared by Satan’s wicked system. Having been recipients themselves of a fine heritage, let them recognize their obligation to transmit it now to the oncoming generation. But there is further motivation for serving faithfully now. If they do so, they may be privileged, because of the coming miracle of the resurrection, to pass this fine heritage on to generations that have preceded them! What a thrilling prospect! Who would not want to be among those so privileged?