• Estonia
    2011 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses

    • AN ATHEIST JUDGE LEARNS THE TRUTH

      During the Soviet era, Viktor Sen was sentenced to prison for two years because he refused to do military service. After serving a year in prison, he petitioned to be voluntarily exiled to Siberia as a free settler, an option that would give him more freedom. At the parole hearing, the judges vented their indignation on him, one judge even saying that people like him should be hung or shot.

      A few years later, at a convention, a brother introduced Viktor to a group of interested people and asked him, “Do you recognize anyone?”

      “No,” responded Viktor.

      “Really?” asked the brother. Then, pointing to one of the men in the group, who was clearly very embarrassed, he asked, “What about this man?”

      Viktor still did not recognize the man. How surprised Viktor was to find out that the man was Yuri, one of the associate judges at his parole hearing. Now he was studying the Bible and was at the convention with Viktor. What had changed Yuri’s mind about Jehovah’s Witnesses?

      “I was raised in a family of aggressive atheists,” explains Yuri. “During my schooling, I often gave speeches about the danger of religion. Then, years later, I sat in on a few of my friends’ Bible studies with Jehovah’s Witnesses. I realized that while I had a good knowledge of religious lies, I really didn’t know anything about the Bible. I thus became interested in learning more about the Bible.”

      After Yuri was baptized, he said to Viktor: “When we were last in court together, we sat on different benches. But if we ever end up at a similar trial again, we’ll be sitting on the same bench! I will never be the one to sentence you.” Yuri and Viktor now both serve as elders in Tallinn.