Meeting the Challenge of Apathy

15As the frequency of our visits increases, a growing challenge is the apathy we often encounter.
But an examination of some of the causes of apathy can encourage us to note that it may yet be
possible to reach the hearts of some of these people. Their apathy may mirror their frustration and
hopelessness. They may feel that there is no way out of the present world situation, reasoning that
they will just live out their lives in the best way they can. Others are disgusted because some religious
leaders get involved in politics, are guilty of immoral behavior, or fail to take a firm stand against
sexual immorality. So these householders are disillusioned and just live for today.
16 We know that early Christian ministers successfully coped with the same attitude, for some
people then said: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we are to die.” (1 Corinthians 15:32) Hence, we
know that we have just what such persons need to hear. Still, how can we reach their heart? One way
is to put away our Bible literature for the moment, letting them see us do so. Then we might ask them
such well-thought-out questions as these: “Do you think there is some solution to present-day
problems? Is it that most people simply have not yet found solutions? Do you think we should be
positive and keep searching?” To others, we could say: “Surely you agree that it is better to live with
hope than without any prospect of better things. What do you hope to see?” We might ask: “What do
you yourself feel is the biggest obstacle to world unity and peace?” Still others could be asked: “Do you
think all religions are like what you have described?” Many times such questions will cause
householders to express their views. Then, when they respond, be sure to listen. Yes, let them pour
their heart out to you. Many of them are ‘sighing and groaning over all the detestable things now
being done.’—Ezekiel 9:4.
17Another approach to apathy is to take note of a point or objection made by the householder and
return with a magazine or other Watch Tower publication dealing with the matter. At first, it might
even be a nonreligious subject, such as an article on sudden infant death or the dying off of the
forests. Explain that you were thinking of what interested the householder and recalled this article.
Then point out key ideas in the material. One woman who had just rejected our literature accepted a
magazine only seconds later. Why? Because the Witness asked if the woman knew that there were
55 million abortions annually. Shocked to learn this, she asked for the magazine containing that
information.
Seeing It to Completion
18 Above all, we need to be patient with people. Talk slowly and with warmth. Manifest love and
kindness. (Galatians 5:22, 23) Before going to the next door, think over what took place at the
previous one to see where improvement is possible. Be understanding, for many people have wrong
ideas about Jehovah’s Witnesses. They may say: ‘You avoid politics and civic duties,’ ‘You refuse
military service,’ or, ‘You break up families.’ But this attitude is like that of the world toward our
fellow believers of the first century. Show householders this, perhaps using quotations under the
heading “Neutrality” in the Reasoning book.
19 Concerning the early Christians, historian Will Durant wrote: “To a Christian his religion was
something apart from and superior to political society; his highest allegiance belonged not to Caesar
but to Christ. . . . The detachment of the Christian from earthly affairs seemed to the pagan a flight
from civic duty, a weakening of the national fiber and will. Tertullian advised Christians to refuse
military service; . . . Christians were exhorted by their leaders to avoid non-Christians, to shun their
festival games as barbarous, and their theaters as stews of obscenity. . . . Christianity [when making
converts] was charged with breaking up the home.”—Caesar and Christ, page 647.
20Some people will not listen, no matter what we say. But that should be because of their rejection
of the Kingdom message, not because of our failure to make good-quality presentations in our
ministry. (Luke 10:8-11; Acts 17:32; Ezekiel 3:17-19) We should do our best with God’s help, and
Jehovah will see the work through to its completion.—Compare Philippians 1:6.
 Insight on the News

Why Evangelize?
The lack of evangelizing on the part of churchgoers has been cited by some authorities as related
to the decline in church membership among mainline religions. Concern over this problem in 1988
prompted the United Church of Christ to adopt as a four-year priority the issue of “evangelism and
membership growth.”
The St. Petersburg Times reports that other mainline denominations in the United States,
including the Presbyterian Church and the Episcopal Church, have acted similarly. However, a recent
survey of over 200 congregations of the United Church of Christ revealed that many of its 1.6 million
members manifest little interest in talking to others about their faith. One member asked: “Why do we
have to talk to others if we’re doing good?” Another said: “If you live your faith, you don’t have to talk
about it.”
Yet, in his book American Mainline Religion, coauthor Wade Clark Roof admitted that “how people
talk about their religious and spiritual lives is integrally related to the survival of faith itself.”
If “doing good” and having “faith” is enough to please God, why did the apostle Paul write: “Woe is
me if I did not declare the good news”? He explained to fellow believers in Rome: “If you publicly
declare that ‘word in your own mouth,’ that Jesus is Lord, and exercise faith in your heart that God
raised him up from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one exercises faith for
righteousness, but with the mouth one makes public declaration for salvation.”—1 Corinthians 9:16;
Romans 10:9, 10.
Exploiting Sex
More than half of some 1,100 comic stories that appeared in various Japanese publications,
including those for children, portrayed sexual acts, said Professor Mamoru Fukutomi. He headed a
survey in Tokyo of more than 390 magazines and other publications purchased in one month.
‘Most depictions of the sexual act,’ says Professor Fukutomi, ‘follow the pattern of men coercing
reluctant women [into sexual intercourse] and women finally responding actively.’ Almost 80 percent
of the 6,861 photographs in popular Japanese magazines that were analyzed “depicted women in a
sexually provocative manner,” reports The Daily Yomiuri. Whereas most of the women in the pictures
were “in underwear, swimming suits or in the nude” and only 40 percent were clothed, 75 percent of
the males in the surveyed pictures were clothed.
How will such sexploitation affect the young? The Bible book of Proverbs graphically describes a
young man “lacking good motive” being attracted to the house of a prostitute. (Proverbs 7:7,
Reference Bible, footnote) And the prostitute? “Now she is outdoors, now she is in the public squares,
and near every corner she lies in wait. And she has grabbed hold of him.” (Proverbs 7:8-13) In
modern times even the printed page ‘lies in wait to grab hold’ of youth. However, the Bible
admonishes: “May your heart not turn aside to her ways. Do not wander into her roadways.”—
Proverbs 7:25.
Who Is the “Better” Christian?
“Regardless of the decision a Christian makes, whether to be a soldier or to be a conscientious
objector, it would be wrong for him to claim a higher degree of Christianity for himself than for the
other, or even to call into question, for supporting a position different from his own, the other’s being a
Christian.”
This statement was released by the Evangelical Lutheran Church Council of Germany in
July 1989. Why? Officials said that it was to counteract the position taken by some in the church that
conscientious objection is a more “positive sign” of being Christian than is military service. While
agreeing that Christians could eliminate war by “personally refraining from violence,” the Church
Council argued that this could also be done by fighting violence with military might in order to ensure
peace.
In his book History of Christianity, Edward Gibbon wrote that first-century Christians “refused to
take any active part in the civil administration or the military defence of the empire,” and that “it was
impossible that the Christians, without renouncing a more sacred duty, could assume the character of
soldiers, of magistrates, or of princes.”
The question, therefore, is not who is the “better” Christian but whether a person pursuing a
course contrary to early Christianity is indeed a Christian at all. Paul wrote: “Though we walk in the
flesh, we do not wage warfare according to what we are in the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not fleshly.”—2 Corinthians 10:3, 4.