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consistently to make right decisions,
to obey bis laws. He could conceiv–
ably eradicate all evil actions from
this earth by turning human beings
into divine puppets, unthinking
beings capable of reacting only as
God might allow. Men in such a
condition might even be described
as "perfect" - perfect robots.
Fortunately for us, a human race
devoid of free moral agency would
have totally thwarted God's very
purpose in creating mankind. God
has something much better in store
for humanity than mechanical per–
fection.
Power and Responsibility
God built into mankind the free–
doro of choice. It ís the essential
element in tbe production of perfect
character, a quality which can only
be created through voluntary obedi–
ence to the laws of God. Producing
this perfect character is a major step
toward fulfilling the purpose for
which all human beings have been
bórn: that is, to become, eyentually,
literal , eterna! members of the fam–
ily of God - bis sons.
Now what is perfect character?
Character can be defined as the
ability to consistently choose the
right and then do the right thing
according to the laws of God, even
when it is not convenient or even
when the pulls in the opposite direc–
tion are incredibly strong.
Obviously, tbis kind of character
cannot be instantly manufactured.
It must be built through a lifetime
of daily leaming and making right
decisions - decisions which are in
direct opposition to the pulls of
human nature and society.
Those who, with God's help, de–
velop this type of God-like charac–
ter, will ult imately be used in
establishing a ruling world govern–
ment under Jesus Christ, thus usher–
ing in a new age of peace and
prosperity for the entire world. (For
a further elaboration of this overall
purpose in living, we invite you to
write for
Why Were You Born?
and
PLAIN TRUTH September 1973
The Wonderful World Tomorrow
-
What
It
Wi/1 Be Like.
Both are free
upon request.)
"Choose Life"
That new age is yet in the future.
What about the present? Is there a
viable way to realistically cope with
the negative results of the nations'
freedom to go to war if they so
choose?
There is, but it has largely been
ignored. God offered the remedy to
mankind in the past, but has never
forced it upon humanity.
lt
has
never been popular because it, too,
involves making a choice which
goes against basic human self–
ishness. That choice is put forth
clearly in Deuteronomy 30: 15- 19.
Speaking to our forefathers, God
said:
"See, 1 have set before thee this
day life and good, and death and
evil; In that
1
command thee this
day to !ove the Lord thy God, to
walk in bis ways, and to keep bis
commandments and bis statutes and
his judgments, that thou mayest live
and multiply.. . . 1 call heaven and
earth to record this day against you,
that I have set before you life and
death, blessing and cursing: there–
fore
CHOOSE LLFE,
that both thou
and thy seed may live."
Most of the time, men have made
the wrong choice. They have chosen
to reject the law of God that defines
the way to peace and have chosen
selfishness and death - all the while
believing they have chosen happi–
ness, peace, and life. What a para–
dox!
It would be na·ive to view history
with the idea in mind that men have
ever ehosen the way of blessings and
life on any major scale. But it didn't
have to be that way. Any nation
that would choose to accept the
teachings of God about war would
never need to go to war!
What are God's teachings relative
to war? What is the road to peace? Jt
is quite simple. The basic point of
God's spirituallaw regulating war is
the sixth commandment: Thou shalt
not kill.
What could be more basic or
seem more blatantly impractical in
this day and age? Suppose a nation
such as the United States were to
adopt a complete about-face in its
national defense policy. Suppose it
were to announce to the world that
"the United States of America has
adopted the teachings of the law of
God relative to taking the lives of
other human beings. The Army,
Navy, and Air Force will immedi–
ately disband; all nuclear devices
and other appurtenances of inter–
national warfare will be system–
atically destroyed; henceforth, the
U. S.
A.
will be totally devoid of any
capability of its own physical de–
fense, having adopted the teachings
ofGod Almighty in reference to any
forros of warfare."
What do you suppose would hap–
pen? lnstant nuclear destruction at
the hands of the Russians or Chi–
nese? Incredibly hostile feelings of
resentment and rejection from
America's Christian and non-Chris–
tian allies, formerly able to relax un–
der the counter-defense of the
American nuclear umbrella? A com–
plete disintegration of the U. S.
economy concomitaot with the de–
mise of the defense industry?
Or, possibly, complete success in
that uothinkable endeavor?
Has Anyone Ever Tried
lt?
There actually was a nation at
one time which had, as its national
policy, trust in God to handle mat–
ters of warfare. The name of that
ancient nation was Israel.
Israel at that time was a compos–
ite of twelve different tribes, only
one of which was descended from
Judah, father of the Jews. The origi–
nal patriarchal ancestors of the
twelve tribes had migrated from the
arca of Canaan to the fertile Egyp–
tian Nile delta to escape a period of
severe famine.
For years they enjoyed favor in
the eyes of the Egyptian govern–
ment. But time was not kind to
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