Why can there be only one god?

Question

For all those who claim that.

Answer 1

Why can you only have one biological Father? Why do you have only one nose? Why is there one God? There are thousands of questions that we can ask according to this sort of logic but it does not get us anywhere closer to the answer.

The people who do not believe cannot prove that there is no god. The people who are against it cannot prove there are more gods and the people who are for it cannot prove that there is only one God.

This is a faith question. Either we believe or we don't. Christians, Jews and Muslims believe in one god. Buddhist, Taoist and Hindus believe in a pantheon of gods.

As a Christian, God has revealed to us through His word that the Lord is one God and there is none besides Him. But like I said its a faith question, either you believe or you don't.

Hope this helps

Answer 2

God has revealed to us that He (or She) is the One True God.

Why this is so has not be revealed to us.

With love in Christ.

Answer 3

Do you not believe that?

Answer 4

Choosing the One Right Religion

“To the law rather, and to the testimony. And if they speak not according to this word, they shall not have the morning light.”—Isa. 8:20, Dy.

“HOW am I to know which is the right religion? There are hundreds of different religions and each one claims to be the right one. I don’t have time to study every religion in order to choose the right one. It would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack!” Thus do some answer in substance when Jehovah’s witnesses call on them at their doors. Though their attitude is understandable, the problem is not so formidable as they resignedly think. It is a matter of proper procedure. To find a needle in a haystack one need not pick up and examine each straw. Probing with a powerful magnet that would clutch the needle but reject the straw would hasten success. Or a fire would quickly consume the straw while leaving behind the needle. Similarly, to find the right religion one need not exhaustively examine each one of the hundreds of religions. The Bible will serve as a figurative magnet to which the true religion will adhere while the haystack of false ones is rejected And has not the previous article shown Jehovah’s Word to be like a fire that consumes the straws of falsehood while leaving the purified truth? Hence the proper procedure is not to inspect every straw or every religion, but to study the Bible and let it make manifest the truth while destroying the falsehood. That is the method this article will employ to choose the one right religion.

2 The method comes with the highest recommendation. When Israel became entangled with false religions Jehovah made the appeal to them: “Come now, and let us reason together.” And what was to be the basis for this reasoning that would put Israel on the narrow road of true worship? Was it to listen to all the false voices that sought Israel’s ear? No, but “to the law rather, and to the testimony. And if they speak not according to this word, they shall not have the morning light.” (Isa. 1:18; 8:20, Dy) Jehovah’s law and testimony are recorded in the Bible, and if religions do not speak in accord with that Word they have no light of truth, and they will never see the dawning light of Jehovah’s new world of righteousness now near at hand. So by this divinely recommended method we turn to an examination of a few doctrines to see whether they and the religions that teach them will adhere to the Bible like a needle to a magnet or will be consumed like straw in a flame.

3 The magazine Awake! in its issue of November 8, 1952, published a chart of religions in the United States that showed their views on some of the principal doctrines. While the listing may not be exhaustive, it is very adequate for all practical purposes inasmuch as it includes all the religions that could be located by checking several different books on denominations. It includes groups whose numbers range from nine to twenty-three million. And even if there are some small independent groups meeting in homes or small halls that are not included, it is almost certain that their doctrinal beliefs are reflected by those in the chart and that in this way even these unknown handfuls of worshipers are covered by the elimination that follows. Hence if we base our study on the 251 religions that the chart was able to give sufficient information on as to their beliefs, it is highly improbable that we shall be overlooking any denominations. So now “to the law rather, and to the testimony” of the Bible, to see which of the 251 denominations speaks according to that Word and which does not.

THE TRINITY DOCTRINE

4 Of the 251 religions at least 214 of them believe in the trinity. That doctrine claims that Jehovah God and Christ Jesus and the holy spirit are three persons combined to make one God, and that these three are coeternal and coequal. Jehovah alone is the one Almighty God, not a third of a god needing two others to make a whole: “Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.” “It is I who am God, and there is no other—The God, and there is none like me.” (Deut. 6:4, NW; Isa. 46:9, AT) “God” means a mighty one, and men are called gods, Satan is called a god, and Christ Jesus is called a god; but Jehovah is The God, the Almighty God. (Ps. 82:6; 2 Cor. 4:4; Isa. 9:6; John 1:1, NW) Others can be one with him only in the sense of being at unity with him in belief or purpose or work. In this way Jesus and Jehovah are one and all anointed followers are one with them. And if Jesus and the holy spirit are one, why is sin against Jesus forgivable but sin against the holy spirit unforgivable? Scripturally, the holy spirit is not a person but is Jehovah’s invisible active force.—John 10:30; 17:20-23; 1 Cor. 3:8; Matt. 12:31, 32.

5 Are Jehovah and Christ coeternal? Of Jehovah it is written: “Even from eternity to eternity thou art God.” He is called “the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity” and “the king of eternity.” (Ps. 90:2; Isa. 57:15; Jer. 10:10, Da) Hence he was not born, was not created, had no beginning. But this is not true of Christ Jesus, for he is called “the firstborn of all creation,” “the beginning of the creation by God.” As the Logos or Word he was the first one created by Jehovah God and the only one directly created by God, for thereafter he was used by Jehovah to create all other things, and was the one to whom Jehovah spoke at Genesis 1:26 when he said: “Let us make man in our image.”—Col. 1:15, 16; Rev. 3:14, NW.

6 And what about their being coequal? Jesus did not think so, for he said: “The Father is greater than I am.” Trinitarians will argue that this was true only of Jesus in the flesh. Yet before he became flesh, when he existed in God’s form or in spirit form, he “gave no consideration to a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to God. No, but he emptied himself and took a slave’s form and came to be in the likeness of men.” Instead of raising himself to seize equality with God, as Satan tried to do, Christ went the opposite direction and lowered himself to the likeness of men. And after his resurrection as a spirit creature and at the end of the thousand-year reign “when all things will have been subjected to him, then the Son himself will also subject himself to the one who subjected all things to him, that God may be all things to everyone.” Hence before and during and after his earthly sojourn Christ was and is beneath Jehovah.—John 14:28; Phil. 2:6, 7;1 Cor. 15:28, NW; Isa. 14:12-15.

7 When Jehovah raised Jesus from death as a glorious spirit creature he rewarded him with a higher position than Christ left when he went to earth: “God exalted him to a superior position.” If he was equal to God before he came to earth, yet got a still higher position when he returned to heaven, that would make him higher than Jehovah God! Another absurdity is the trinitarian claim that Jesus when on earth was God in the flesh and that when he ascended to heaven he did so in a fleshly body. Jesus in the flesh was “made a little lower than angels,” and if he was also God in the flesh that made God lower than angels, and if the ascension was in the flesh that makes both God and Christ lower than angels right now! Flesh and blood, however, cannot inherit the heavenly kingdom. (Phil. 2:9; Heb. 2:9; 1 Cor. 15:50, NW) Man is not equal to Christ: “The head of every man is the Christ.” Christ is not equal to God: “The head of the Christ is God.” Jehovah blessed Christ: “Now without any dispute, the less is blessed by the greater.” Jehovah sent him: “A slave is not greater than his master, nor is one that is sent forth greater than the one that sent him.”—1 Cor. 11:3; Heb. 7:7; John 13:16, NW; Ps. 21:1, 6; John 17:3.

8 As for the holy spirit, it is not a person but is Jehovah’s invisible active force. Sometimes the Scriptures attribute personality to things not persons and use personal pronouns to refer to them, such as Zion and Jerusalem. This is sometimes done with the holy spirit, but at other times it is referred to as “it,” which would not be done if it were a person. Moreover, how could a person be poured out upon a hundred and twenty persons, as the spirit was at Pentecost? And how could it thereafter be poured out upon thousands more, as the holy spirit was? (John 16:13-15; 14:15-17; Acts 1:15; 2:1-4, NW) Nor can the holy spirit claim equality with either God or Christ, for God is spoken of as sending it and Christ is spoken of as sending it, and we have learned that those who do the sending are greater than what is sent.—John 14:26; 15:26.

9 Only one text in the King James Bible can be construed as saying God and Christ and the holy spirit are one, and that is 1 John 5:7: “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” Even this could logically mean no more than oneness in purpose and effort. However, these words do not appear in the reliable and oldest manuscripts of the Greek Scriptures, and modern versions of the Bible either leave them out altogether or have a footnote acknowledging their absence from the oldest manuscripts. Hence by going ‘to the law and to the testimony’ of Jehovah’s Word we find that the doctrine of trinity is false, that the religions that teach it are mixing falsehood in with Jehovah’s truth, that they thereby adulterate and make impure and invalid Jehovah’s Word as handled by them. Failing to purge this falsehood from their creed, they eliminate themselves from consideration as the one right religion. Thus by disproving one doctrine, the trinity, we remove from the 251 religions the 214 that teach it. Religions remaining, 37.

IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL

10 Of the 37 religions remaining 18 believe in the inherent immortality of the human soul. Does the Bible support them or eliminate them? There is not a scripture in the Bible that says man has an immortal soul. An earthly soul is a living, breathing, sentient creature, animal or human. It does not have a soul separate and distinct from the body, but can be said to have soul only in the sense that it has life. This definition includes animals as souls, which is contrary to the immortal-soul teaching but is in agreement with the Bible. Prior to man souls were created: “Let the waters swarm forth a swarm of living souls.” “And God proceeded to create the great sea monsters and every living soul that glides.” Man was made a living soul, not an immortal one: “Then Jehovah God proceeded to form the man out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man came to be a living soul.” Men and animals are lumped together as souls, when a required tax was “one soul out of five hundred, of humankind and of the herd and of the asses and of the flock.” Also, “In case a man should strike any soul of mankind fatally, he should be put to death without fail. And the fatal striker of the soul of a domestic animal should make compensation for it, soul for soul.”—Gen. 1:20, 21; 2:7; Num. 31:28; Lev. 24:17, 18, NW.

11 Notice that in the last-quoted scripture it speaks of both animal and human souls being fatally struck, proving the soul can be killed. Jehovah warned man that if he disobeyed he would die; it was Satan who said he would not die. (Gen. 2:17; 3:4) Religions teaching immortal soul say wicked sinners suffer eternal torment, but the Bible disagrees with them: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” “The wages sin pays is death.” Rather than immortal souls soaring heavenward or plunging into a fiery lake, it is a case of mortal human souls landing in the grave: “What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?” Only by a resurrection can dead souls in the grave live again: “God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave.” It was by Jehovah’s resurrection power that the soul or life of Christ was rescued from death, for even his soul died, as foretold: “He hath poured out his soul unto death.”—Ezek. 18:4; Rom. 6:23, NW; Ps. 89:48; 49:15; Isa. 53:12.

12 These dead souls in the grave are completely inactive and unconscious, and hence it is utterly impossible for them to be enjoying bliss or suffering torment: “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” (Eccl. 9:5, 10; Ps. 146:3, 4) Both men and animals are souls that die alike: “As regardeth the destiny of the sons of men and the destiny of beasts one fate have they, as dieth the one so dieth the other, and one spirit have they all, and the pre-eminence of man over beast is nothing, for all were vanity: all go unto one place, all came from the dust, and all return to the dust.” (Eccl. 3:19, 20, Ro) The only difference is that man may hope for a resurrection from the dead. The majority raised from the dead will come forth as human souls, flesh-and-blood creatures, and mortal. A comparatively few are raised as immortal spirit creatures, and of them it is written: “This which is mortal must put on immortality.” (1 Cor. 15:53, NW) If they already possessed immortality they would not have to put it on, would they? Clearly the Bible rules out as false the religions teaching immortality of the soul, and thereby eliminates 18 of our remaining 37 religions, leaving 19.

NOT UNDER THE LAW

13 Of these 19 religions 6 of them believe Jehovah’s servants are still under all or part of the Mosaic law. But the purpose of the Law was accomplished with the coming of Christ: “Consequently, the Law has become our tutor leading to Christ, that we might be declared righteous due to faith. But now that this faith has arrived, we are no longer under a tutor.” Other scriptures state: “By works of law no flesh will be declared righteous before him.” “You are not under law but under undeserved kindness.” “Christ by purchase released us from the curse of the Law.” “If you are being led by spirit, you are not under law.” “By means of his flesh he abolished the hatred, the Law of commandments consisting in decrees.” “Certainly, then, there occurs a setting aside of the preceding commandment on account of its weakness and ineffectiveness. For the Law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in besides of a better hope did, through which we are drawing near to God.” Jehovah God “blotted out the handwritten document against us which consisted of decrees and which was in opposition to us, and He has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the torture stake.”—Gal. 3:24, 25; Rom. 3:20; 6:14; Gal. 3:13; 5:18; Eph. 2:15; Heb. 7:18, 19; Col. 2:14, NW.

14 It is futile to argue, as some do, that the law here set aside is the ceremonial law and not the Ten Commandments. They have no Scriptural authority for their arbitrary division of the Law into two parts, and claiming that texts that speak of the Law as passing away refer to the ceremonial law but not the Ten Commandments. Two verses after it speaks of Jehovah blotting out the Law “by nailing it to the torture stake,” we read: “Therefore let no man judge you in eating and drinking or in respect of a feast day or of an observance of the new moon or of a sabbath.” The law set aside included sabbath observance, which was the Fourth of the Ten Commandments. (Col. 2:16, NW) After saying “now we have been discharged from the Law,” the apostle Paul quotes as an example of that nullified Law: “You must not covet.” That was the Tenth of the Ten Commandments. Also, Paul explains that Christians are under a new covenant, no longer under the law “which was engraved in letters in stones.” They are under the spirit, the guiding principles of which are inscribed, “not on stone tablets, but on fleshly tablets, on hearts.” (Rom. 7:6, 7; 2 Cor. 3:7, 3, NW) So Christians are not under the law written “on stone tablets.” What was written on stone tablets? A so-called ceremonial law? Or all the Law? No, only the Ten Commandments! Though Christians are not under any of the Mosaic law, they are under the guidance of the holy spirit, and its standards and requirements are higher. The 6 of our remaining 19 religions that are erected on the belief that we are under all or part of the Law are built on sand and must collapse. Only 13 now remain.

NO PERSONAL DEVIL?

15 Of the 13 religions left 3 of them do not believe in a personal Devil. They do not believe that any such wicked spirit creature exists. They say the Devil is not a person but is a symbol for flesh-and-blood temptations, the temptations common to fallen man with his inherent weaknesses. However, the Bible speaks of Satan as a spirit creature, that he was perfect and upright before his rebellion, that after it he became known as Satan, Devil, Serpent and Dragon. He converses with Jehovah in heaven and afflicts Job on earth. He quarreled with Michael over the body of Moses. A principle of error or personification of wickedness could not do such things. (Ezek. 28:14, 15; Isa. 14:12-15; Rev. 12:9; Job 1:6-19; 2:1-7; Jude 9) Revelation chapter 12 tells of a war in heaven wherein Michael ousted Satan from heaven. If Satan is fleshly temptations he would never have been there, for flesh and blood is not there to be tempted. (1 Cor. 15:50) Believers in this doctrine say the heavens here are the political heavens or rulers of earth, and that Satan’s being ousted is when evil is purged from human governments. But that cannot be so, for that would bring joy to men, whereas the hurling of Satan from heaven meant woe for them: “Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.”—Rev. 12:12, NW.

16 How could an abstract force of evil expel itself from a person? Jesus and the Jews had no such abstractions in mind when they were discussing the demons and the ruler of the demons, Satan. (Matt. 12:24-27) To say that when we entertain a sinful thought we have a devil in us, or that when another person makes a temptation for us he is a devil to us, is to say our fight is solely against blood and flesh. That is wrong, for specific distinction is made between fleshly temptations and assaults by invisible Devil and demons: “Stand firm against the machinations of the Devil; because we have a fight, not against blood and flesh, but against . . . the wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:11, 12, NW) This is a specific denial that the struggle is solely with fleshly temptations. These religionists contend there is no personal Devil, to avoid the appearance that Jehovah created a wicked spirit creature. They fail to understand he was created perfect but turned bad, being a free moral agent. According to their reasoning, they should not believe in a personal Adam, since he was wicked. Created perfect, he turned bad himself, as did the Devil. So their refusal to believe in a personal Devil is not on Scriptural ground but is based on their own view of propriety, a view that is itself inconsistent and erroneous. The dropping of the 3 religions that believe this from the 13 that remained leaves 10 religions.

AUTHORITY EQUAL TO OR ABOVE THE BIBLE?

17 Four of these 10 religions say there are authorities equal to or above the Bible when it comes to religious guidance. Since it is by going ‘to the law and to the testimony’ that we are choosing the right religion, we must see if the Bible allows for this view. Beyond oral or written words that may clarify or magnify Jehovah’s Word, that may give background to it or history in fulfillment of it or otherwise deepen our understanding of it, we do not need more than the Bible. When understood it provides complete equipment for Christian service: “All Scripture is inspired of God . . . that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.” The Bible is Jehovah’s true, inspired Word. What other authority can be above him or even equal to him?—2 Tim. 3:16, 17, NW.

18 Jehovah warned: “You must not add to the word that I am commanding you, neither must you take away from it.” But the Jews did add to it, building up their religious tradition that supposedly explained and enriched it, yet actually contradicted it, as Jesus told them: “Why is it you also overstep the commandment of God because of your tradition? . . . You have made the word of God invalid because of your tradition.” About them Jesus added: “They teach commands of men as doctrines.” By accepting tradition that voids the Bible they actually reject God’s Word, with the foretold result: “They have rejected the word of Jehovah; and what manner of wisdom is in them?” Instead of proving themselves wise they prove themselves liars: “Add not to his words, lest he call you to account, and you be proved a liar.” Paul pointed out the divine rule: “Do not go beyond the things that are written.” (Deut. 4:2; Matt. 15:3, 6, 9, NW; Jer. 8:9, AS; Prov. 30:6, AT; 1 Cor. 4:6, NW) But these 4 religions of the 10 left violate this rule by going beyond the things written, and we are Scripturally supported in discarding them. Only 6 remain.

INDECISIVE RELIGIONS

19 Of these 6 religions 5 have no uniform doctrinal views, but say each member believes as he wishes. Instead of showing “oneness in the faith” they have an internal babel of private interpretations. How can members of such a religion “all speak in agreement” and “be fitly united in the same mind and in the same line of thought”? (1 Cor. 1:10, NW) Such an indecisive religion is like the doubting man: “Let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from Jehovah; he is an indecisive man, unsteady in all his ways.” The Bible’s Author is not unsteady, his Word is not indecisive, the right religion is not riddled by doubts. The true religion is not as Israel once was: “You must not do the same as all that we are doing here today, each one whatever is right in his own eyes.” Soldiers of Christ have a message of clarity and conviction, not one of vagueness and confusion: “If the bugle sounds an indistinct call, who will get ready for battle?” (Jas. 1:7, 8; Deut. 12:8; 1 Cor. 14:8, NW) Special provisions assure proper training and maturing of Christians, “until we all attain to the oneness in the faith and in the accurate knowledge of the Son of God, to a full-grown man, to the measure of growth that belongs to the fullness of the Christ; in order that we should no longer be babes, tossed about as by waves and carried hither and thither by every wind of teaching.” (Eph. 4:13, 14, NW) Indecisive religions embracing differing beliefs have not attained “accurate knowledge” or “oneness in the faith” and cannot expect to receive approval from Jehovah. Their wavering eliminates these 5 and only 1 religion out of the original 251 remains.

THE ONE RIGHT RELIGION

20 That remaining one right religion is that of Jehovah’s witnesses. It is not conceited for us to say that. Of course we believe we are right. Every Catholic, every Baptist, every Methodist, every Anglican, everyone of whatever religion should think his religion is the right religion. It is not conceit to think so; it would be hypocrisy to think otherwise, to claim to believe what we actually do not believe. But our belief should have solid basis, not on religious leaders, not on religious systems, but on the Bible. We should make sure that our religion speaks according ‘to the law and the testimony’ before we cling to it: “Make sure of all things; hold fast to what is right.” If we learn that our religion is teaching what is not right, we should let go of that religion. The above elimination dropped religions on the basis of one false doctrine only, but actually each of those false ones falls on many counts. The foregoing is only a foretaste of evidence; further Scriptural investigation will provide overwhelming confirmation.—1 Thess. 5:21, NW.

21 The unsightly buildings of religious falsehood must be pulled down to prevent their blocking the view of attractive truth. They must have no standing in our mind but must give way to new structures of truth. The right religion must root out the false and plant the true, just as Jeremiah was commissioned “to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.” False beliefs are stumblingstones in the pathway to truth, and to return to true worship it is necessary to “grade up the highway, clear it of stones.” Jehovah’s Word is “like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces,” and with it we must shatter the stumblingstones that might trip us as we endeavor to walk with God. The primary application of the text about clearing out the stones is to the return to true worship by the anointed remnant after Christ came to the temple in 1918, but the principle may be applied to the removal of religious falsehoods that now stumble the incoming other sheep. So if the trinity stumbles any from seeing Jehovah is supreme over all, or if soul immortality blinds any to the text that says the soul dies, or if additions to the Bible trip us into believing the Bible is incomplete and unfinished, or if any other false religious teaching blocks our grasp of the truth, we can apply the Bible like a hammer to smash these obstructions.—Jer. 1:10; Isa. 62:10, AT; Jer. 23:29.

22 Some will here inject the belief that if one is sincere in his religion he will be saved, regardless of which religion it is. Is this belief true? It may seem plausible to some, but “to the law rather, and to the testimony.” The Bible testifies on this point: “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Prov. 14:12) Sincerity is essential, but sincerity alone is insufficient. To illustrate, if three children at the blackboard add two and two and one gets three and one gets four and the other one gets five, will the teacher approve all three? Will she pass them if they say they were sincere in their answers? Rather, will she not send the two who were wrong back to their textbook for more study? And if these two are really sincere, will they not show it by further study, until they learn the right answer, and gain the teacher’s approval? Jehovah has provided a Textbook, the Bible. He tells us to study it, to learn the right answers, to give those answers to others. What about those who refuse to study the Bible and learn the right answers, but accept just any religion and complacently say their sincerity will save them? Are they really sincere? Rather, are they not lazy instead? A teacher will not pass a student that refuses to study to learn what is right. Jehovah will not approve those who deliberately remain ignorant of his truth now that it is being made clear, notwithstanding their inconsistent claims of sincerity.

23 Jehovah has a teaching organization in the earth today. Sincere truth-seekers should listen to it. Not only should they learn what is false to clear it out, but they should learn what is true to put in its place. After false religions are ousted one should become filled with the true religion, for his protection and salvation. (Matt. 12:43-45) Jehovah’s witnesses are anxious to help any sincere persons searching for the truth. When Jehovah’s witnesses locate sincere ones by going from door to door with the truth, they offer to conduct Bible studies in the homes, without charge or obligation. They use the Bible to prove not only what is false but what is true. It is a case of setting aside pride and prejudice and with an open mind going ‘to the law and to the testimony’ and reasoning together. Sincere ones will do this. All the more so if they sincerely believe they are right, for they will want to help the one calling on them to see the right. They will either be helping or be helped. Truly sincere ones will be happy in either case.

24 To intelligently choose the right religion will require some personal study. Those who wish to be doctors, chemists, engineers and educators must study for years. Those who sincerely desire to be real Christians must also study. It is not of less importance; it is more important than anything else. Not only do most persons fail to choose the right religion, but they actually do not choose any religion themselves. Their religion is chosen for them by their parents or by their friends, or because of social reasons or because of business advantage. When they thus leave the choice to chance it is like reaching into a grab bag of 251 religions and expecting to pull out the right one while blindfolded. You think it is foolhardy to play the game of Russian roulette where one bullet is put in a revolver’s chamber with five left empty and the cylinder is spun, and, without knowing where the bullet is, to hold the gun to the head and pull the trigger? You are correct; it is a game for fools. Even so, your chances are five out of six. But to pick a religion at random is to gamble with your chances for eternal life, and your chances of grabbing the right one are, in our examination here, only one out of 251! How much more foolish!

25 There is no need to take a chance. Jehovah has provided his Word, the Bible. Study it. Prove what is false and reject it. Prove what is true and hold it fast. Separate the straw from the wheat. Identify the wine that has been adulterated. Settle out the muddying, beclouding falsehoods so that only clear waters of truth remain. By studying the Bible, learning the truth, associating with Jehovah’s people, and serving and praising your Creator, “taste and see that Jehovah is good.” Turn a hearing ear to Jehovah’s invitation: “Ho! everyone that is thirsty, come to the waters, and he that has no money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy grain without money, and wine and milk without price! Why should you spend money for what is not bread, and your earnings for what does not satisfy? If you but listen to me, you shall eat what is good, and shall delight yourselves with rich nourishment.” Rather than be undernourished by and eventually die with false religions, be spiritually strong with the right religion. “Choose life in order that you may keep alive, you and your offspring, by loving Jehovah your God, by listening to his voice and by sticking to him, for he is your life and the length of your days.”—Ps. 34:8, AS; Isa. 55:1, 2, AT; Deut. 30:19, 20, NW.