The ability to make decisions

This ability, which God created and gave to every intelligent creature, is something that all the organizations on earth work extremely hard to dull, destroy, and annihilate. The thing Satan hates most is for a human being to use the free will he possesses and, along with it, his ability to make decisions. Of course, I mean using it correctly. As with every ability, one succeeds in this only if it is developed. Just like our brains and our muscles. The more we fail to exercise them and leave them idle, the day comes when we cannot even stand up, cannot even think. A bodybuilding athlete must always train. At whatever age, a person’s muscles always develop and grow stronger the more they are used. We can liken our ability to make decisions to this. This trait, which is a very precious ability of ours, develops only through use, through practice. And conversely, if we do not use and exercise this ability, no matter what age we reach, we can regress right down to the state of a child, even a baby.

Because humanity is imperfect (incomplete), it will surely make mistakes and errors as well. The most important goal of an instructor or teacher who wants to give a good education is to ensure that his student makes decisions on his own and, if possible, makes correct decisions. Whatever the profession, think of an apprentice. The apprentice begins that profession with the goal that, through the training his master gives him, the day will come when he can do the very things his master does, making decisions on his own. This is the correct way, and indeed it is expected that one day the apprentice will surpass that master. There is a famous proverb said about this: “If the apprentice does not surpass the master, that profession dies.” It really is so, and it should be so. If humanity had not passed on its knowledge and experience to the next generation, and if that knowledge had been buried along with them, then the science and technology we possess today would not exist either. For instance, whatever has been invented, it came about with the help of hundreds of years of accumulated knowledge connected to that subject. If Edison invented the light bulb, he did it by combining many past discoveries and knowledge. Or the knowledge, principles, and many other necessary things required for a car engine were, knowingly or unknowingly, prepared hundreds of years earlier. The rockets sent into space came about by combining the calculable, proven knowledge that many scientists discovered and found one by one. This knowledge, which emerged as a result of many investigations and experiments carried out in the fields of physics, chemistry, mathematics, and biology, was put to use. To combine all of these appropriately and bring something into being requires skill, ability; yes, and most importantly, it requires making decisions. Because these are not things that people who cannot make decisions can accomplish.

Within these last hundred years we have lived through, a person cannot even finish counting each of the inventions that have come one after another. Machines have taken the place of the animals whose strength humanity has benefited from most for thousands of years. The task of sending and receiving news, which could sometimes take years, can now happen within seconds. From one end of the world to the other, we have communication for sending and receiving news that can be called “instant,” and with images too. Let me not even describe the technology of killing and destroying human beings. Man has invented weapons that, at the press of a few buttons, could destroy the world many times over. Alongside this, the innovations found for medicine and human health are also astounding. They can stop memories. I cannot go into the details of these subjects. I do not even know how to make the simplest radio we use every day. There are books by people who make radios work by using the energy of a potato. Whether it is laziness or indifference on my part I do not know, but I have somehow never been curious enough to read these. There are still millions of things I have not read and do not know. Moreover, because human life is short, it is not possible for us to know everything. And besides mere knowledge, we should also feel joy in the things we want to learn.

In short, the reason I speak about these subjects is related to making decisions. And this, rather than being a scientific or technical subject, involves concepts such as the spiritual, the mental, will, and discipline. As I said, it is one of the most important abilities of a human being. Otherwise, all these developments, of which I mentioned only a speck above, would not be possible. Also, when I say “development,” do I also mean the things that destroy humanity? Yes. I do not see them as development, but I want to speak of the intelligence that lies behind them. Even if an atom bomb destroys many living things, the intelligence that invented that atom bomb cannot be belittled. In the end, some things were combined, or reduced, and then misused; that is an entirely separate subject. In fact, if we look at the truth of the matter, it is a certain fact that many of the things humanity has done while saying “we have progressed” are not life-giving to humanity but are actually destructive of humanity. The things I mean under the name of development are, of course, not only the humanity-destroying inventions, atom bombs, war materials and so on. Is there anyone who still does not know about the pollution of the seas, the air, and the earth caused by their waste? Even though these are not related to the subject I want to discuss, a person cannot pass on without stating what a state we are in.

So then, man is a creature that develops and shows progress. This is what I want to explain. Because the life he lives is very short, passing on his knowledge, his inventions, and his experiences to others is one of his most important duties. A piece of knowledge that took thousands of years to obtain, a person can sometimes explain in a very short time, even in a few sentences. For example, if we give as a simple case that the earth is round, humanity could not understand this and did not know it for thousands of years. In fact, when Galileo, whose name I mention from time to time, said this, he endangered his life. The man got frightened and retracted the knowledge he had put forward, and so he saved his neck. With this knowledge that we obtain in a short time, in a sense we inherit something ready-made. At the same time, we also take on responsibility. In fact, we should use the knowledge we possess and run toward the goal of being like the apprentice who surpasses his master. Let this word “surpass” not be understood as encouraging conceit. To say, “Look, I surpassed my master, I am greater and smarter than him,” is the greatest foolishness. You surpassed that master with the knowledge he gave you. If you had been in his place and he the apprentice, then he would have surpassed you. People love to take all the glory for themselves. Especially, they strain themselves to say: “I am far superior to others.” This is the greatest aim of the competitions on our earth. Let us give an example by likening this matter of knowledge to weight. For instance, that master became a master with 10 kilos of knowledge and perhaps added two more kilos of his own on top. If he raised his apprentice with 12 kilos of knowledge, then it is normal, and it should be even better, for that apprentice to one day have a capacity of 15 kilos. That is why to become arrogant and to belittle others is foolishness.

Here I have touched on only a few of the developments humanity has shown over thousands of years. In its thousands-of-years-long history of existence, humanity has recorded countless both regressions and advances. We accomplished both the advances and the regressions by using the values God gave us humans at our creation. We either deliberately misused these values or used them purely for our own benefit or that of humanity. Whatever the case, among these values, making decisions is a very important ability of ours.

If we consider again a student or an apprentice; during the training they receive from their teacher or master, the first experience they will gain will be “making mistakes.” That apprentice will surely learn his profession by making mistakes. In his time the master did this too, and his master, and his master too, surely learned by making mistakes. The reaction of going after this mistake is surely different for every master or instructor. While some come down very harshly on a mistake, others may act more gently and understandingly. In fact, a good and experienced master is one who can weigh his apprentice’s abilities and strives to get to know him. Whether it be at school or at the workplace, or in whatever other field of education and training, mistakes will surely be made. There will certainly be a price for this mistake too. This may be a bad grade, a scolding, or a whole host of other disciplinary penalties. What is being tried to be planted into a person’s subconscious with this is the price of a mistake. Sometimes a person can even be made to pay the price of a mistake his whole life long. Let us not only think of the mistakes we make or will make against others. There is also, among the possibilities, remaining crippled for life as the result of an accident, from a mistake we make against our very own selves. This knowledge automatically develops fear in us. Willingly or not, we begin to fear making mistakes.

As its very name suggests, a mistake is not something intentional. That is, a person does it without knowing, without being aware. The education and training we receive, how much we love or do not love that thing, our disciplining of ourselves, our abilities, our environment and so on will surely play a role in this matter. As healthy as it is to fear making mistakes, this also depends on the degree of that fear. Excessive fear makes us very passive and unsuccessful. Fear too has no end. A person has learned everything by making mistakes. A person learns to ride a bicycle, falls countless times and gets hurt. He learns to drive a car, again surely by making mistakes and having accidents, whether few or many. If he has an interest in motorcycles, the situation is again the same. Who does not know this truth? Who can claim: “I will never make a mistake or have an accident in this”? And if anyone does, such people are called know-it-alls, conceited, ignorant. Well then, for someone who accepts this reality of making mistakes and having accidents to be afraid, and because of that fear to withdraw his hand from that work, is that not appropriate?

There are two types of fear. One is healthy and protects us; the other is unhealthy, unwarranted, and can even disturb and make us sick. Indeed, in psychology these are described as phobias. For instance, when it is said that some people have a phobia of heights, this means that person is afraid of high places. Some have a phobia of getting on airplanes. They are scared to death of planes. There is no shortage of women who fear driving a car. It is said that even people who have driven for years have a phobia of getting stuck in traffic. In their subconscious they are said to drive the car always with this stress. It is said that there are also no small number of housewives who live every day with the fear of “what shall I cook?” They are afraid of not knowing what to do. The number of people who fear the dark, mice, spiders, the sea, and water is likewise not small. With the examples in our subject, rather than asking whether there are people who fear being tested, fear making mistakes, it would be more correct to ask whether there is anyone who does not fear it. In my opinion there is not.

At a time when he was on campaign against the enemy, Napoleon’s soldier suddenly came into his tent and woke him. To his soldier, who spoke excitedly saying, “My commander, we are surrounded on all sides by the enemy occupation and they have besieged us,” he said sleepily: “Oh dear, and here I was afraid we were going to be tested.” This is how this story was told to us. The man fears not the enemy, not dying, but being tested. So then, imagine how they must have frightened them with these tests back when he was at the military academy. These are the kinds of fears that everyone feels, more or less.

Healthy fear, on the other hand, protects us. We are afraid of walking on rooftops, we are afraid of driving cars and motorcycles very fast. Our fear of being for the first time in front of a saw, of the police because of disturbing a community’s peace, of getting caught on radar, of being near someone with a contagious disease, and so on, is a protection for us. This feeling has a warning, deterring effect against dangers. Put a one-and-a-half-year-old child on top of an apartment rooftop and he feels no fear at all. And if you leave him like that, he will crawl and throw himself off the roof. And as he falls, since his stomach drops, he even laughs! Because these feelings have not yet developed in him. We should actually see such healthy fears as a gift given to us. There are of course still other kinds of fear. For instance, in the Holy Scriptures, the prophet Isaiah (or Yeşaya) states in a prayer that we should perceive the fear of God as a gift, as follows:

For you are our father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel (Jacob) does not acknowledge us, you, O LORD, are our Father; from of old your name is our Redeemer. O LORD, why do you make us wander from your ways and why -do you harden our hearts so that we do not fear you-... Isaiah 63:16-17

So then, God gives the fear of himself as a gift only to those who want it, not by force. For this reason, we should actually always pray, and ask God for this fear. But the fear of God that has been taught to us until now was not a healthy fear. That is, they planted into our subconscious the idea of God as an executioner, a bogeyman, someone always watching out for our mistakes and standing ready to punish. This is an unhealthy, indeed destructive, fear. Whereas, on the contrary, we should fear the ruin of our good relationship with God, fear sinning because we love him. These things protect us from evil against people, from grudge and hatred, from revenge, from meaningless desires and cravings. That is, it is the kind of fear that develops a person. To fear the disturbance of the peace of conscience that comes from practicing these things is constructive and therefore healthy. But the fears we call unhealthy set a person back, prevent his development and success, and moreover have effects so bad as to damage a person’s spiritual and physical health.

In short, to do nothing at all because “I will make a mistake and there is a price for it” is also nonsense. In that case, let us neither board any vehicle nor go to driving school and buy a car. Because there are people who drown even in a knee-deep river, let us not even go fishing. If we set out with this mentality, even going out the door of the house into the street is dangerous. Especially if we do not forget the fact that a large proportion of everyday accidents happen inside the house. The fear that “I will make a mistake” will always hold us back. Whereas the more we train ourselves in the matter we fear and practice it in practice, the less prone to mistakes we become, and even if not one hundred percent, we can move along the path toward being without any mistakes at all. So then, keeping our feelings under control and disciplining them will both bring us benefit and give us happiness. We will taste the happiness of seeing many things and living through many experiences. Moreover, as we become aware of the abilities we develop, this will give us pleasure.

Imagine you have bought a child a toy. Let us think of a toy like the kind of thing that is built and constructed by fitting pieces into one another. The child will joyfully open the toy and try to make something. If we stand over him and say, “No, it doesn’t go like that, move aside,” and then, whatever we make by assembling the figures ourselves, how much happiness will that child have? On the contrary, the pleasure the child gets from what he himself makes or breaks by playing is far greater. Especially with the shapes he brings out on his own, without any help at all, does not the happiness that child feels—actually, do not people of every age feel this throughout their lives? These feelings, as we said, are the superior traits and abilities God has given us. Those who taste such happiness will surely understand what I have written too. Again, think of the happiness of a child on the day he learns for the first time to ride a two-wheeled bicycle with no one holding it. Apart from the happiness of succeeding and being able to succeed, the happiness of enjoying that thing is greater still.

As we can understand from all these examples, a person makes and will make mistakes. The Holy Scriptures also state that this will be so until the day comes when he returns to perfection. To draw from the fact that man is prone to mistakes the meaning that “let him withdraw his hand from everything and do nothing,” would it not willingly or not make us say: “This is only a way of thinking peculiar to cowards”? The more a person is trained and exercised, the more his abilities in that matter develop as well. Is there anyone who does not know how difficult it is to make decisions, indeed to make certain decisions? From buying clothes to cooking, to which car, which computer to buy, to which job to take, to which school to enroll in, to which field to choose, is making decisions not really very difficult sometimes? We have all often come across people holding the menu in their hands in a restaurant as if trying to memorize it. They struggle to decide which dish to choose. The technology and conditions of our time make this business of making decisions even more difficult. To see the price of an electronic device that was bought after much, much deliberation drop by half a month later makes no one happy. Or seeing, for the same price, another far superior model with new technology is the same thing. And to see that the price of a product bought at one shop is lower at a shop a few meters further on is something else again. As we live through such experiences, we find it even harder to make decisions. Since the main subject of this book of mine concerns religions, come, you decide which religion in our world is right and which is wrong! It is not easy. Moreover, making decisions and fear are things connected to each other. One is afraid, because every mistake has a price and it must be paid. The fear of paying the price prevents one from making a decision. And sometimes, even though he sees the wrongness of the decision he has made, he is afraid to turn back immediately. Whereas he cannot act according to the saying, “Turning back from a loss at any point is a profit.” Fear prevents a person’s development, his making decisions, indeed even his making correct decisions. As fear develops, our feelings of doubt develop too. All this confusion is not for nothing. It is clearly a great success of Satan’s. The more we are afraid, the more we are pushed into indecision, and the more we regard what is right with suspicion, the more we thereby please Satan. That is right, for we cannot say, “God is pleased by these things.”

Then too, fleeing from responsibility keeps a person from doing things, from advancing. In being unable to make decisions, the biggest factor is the fear of taking on responsibility. Because he knows that responsibility will bring obligation, fleeing, keeping away; or, without making a peep, carrying out that command whether it be good or bad, stems from this too. But making decisions is necessary. In fact, however much we want to keep away from it and flee from it, our conscience, our mind, our feelings also tell us and support that we must make correct decisions.

In the experiments the doctors carried out on human beings in Hitler’s Germany—their research into how to kill the elderly, the disabled, the Jews, the Gypsies by the cheapest methods, and their killing of them—these people defended themselves at the postwar trials as follows: “We were ordered to, and we had to obey, otherwise we would have been killed.” But the decision the court reached did not save them from being executed. The decision was more or less as follows: those people were executed with the justice and logic that “‘I obeyed orders’ cannot be an excuse for killing, for murdering a human being.” Their excuse that they “were obedient donkeys” could not save them. They took and destroyed the lives of many innocent people; in return, they gave up one single life of their own! True, if ten or twenty of them were executed, nothing was done to the tens of thousands, the millions of them. And the situation is no different now. It is discussed at these doctors’ congresses that in Germany the retired population has grown too much and that no money remains in the coffers. The managers at the top hint at this situation to them one way or another. And in any case, those people who catch on to a hint without a word being spelled out become the heads at the hospitals. The others always remain the tail. With this knowledge and out of the love of country that accords with the typical German conscience, death rates in the hospitals gradually increase too. Often, thanks to patients who are left crippled, it is the goal of those head doctors to also make a profit for the hospital. For this reason many unnecessary and casually stacked-up operations are performed. The conscience of the chief doctor there determines who should live and who should not. If you are old, unemployed, if you have retired or are close to retiring, if you are a Turk or some other foreigner he does not like, if you have no money and receive social assistance, it means your life is on the way out. I do not want to dwell on these methods of doing away with lives either. For these reasons the doctors ask the patient a whole host of private questions that have no relation to his illness. Since they know that people are bothered by these questions too, with a new invention all this information is loaded onto every insured person’s card. Ostensibly they are always in the position of “I am serving you with these.” Whereas now there is no Hitler or anyone forcing them. This time their excuse is their love of country! And with all this, the public has no power at all against the doctors in the country. The laws do not even grant an opportunity for it. These people too are making decisions about something. Of course it is disgusting and terrible, but they do it with a very easy conscience, with the thought, “I am saving my country.” The more they do such things, the worse their situation gets as well.

Such events occur in the history of the Holy Scriptures too. Before God gave Israel into the hands of their enemies because of their sins and destroyed them, these lines are written about their crimes:

…they had walked in the statutes of the nations whom the LORD had cast out from before the sons of Israel and in the statutes which the kings of Israel had made. And the sons of Israel did things secretly that were not right. 2 Kings 17:8-9

With these verses God also emphasizes the fact that that nation had been led astray by its own kings. And yet, who can oppose the word of the king? This bowing down to those kings of Israel, this obedience out of fear of losing their lives, could it save them? No. By submitting to wrong things, they were destroyed perhaps not by the hand of the kings of Israel but by the hand of their enemies. And moreover by angering God. The fact that the prophet Daniel and his friends went beyond the king’s command and were thrown into the lions’ pit, condemned to burn in the fiery furnace, did not frighten them. They made correct decisions, and God, to show that they had made correct decisions even at the cost of their lives, saved them from death. (Please read these subjects in their place in the very short book of Daniel in the Holy Scriptures. They are subjects to be read in one breath with excitement.) Even if they had not been saved, the fact that many faithful people who followed Jesus and Muhammad were slaughtered in the first century and later does not show that they made wrong decisions. With this manner of conduct they lost nothing; on the contrary, they gained in God’s sight.

So then, if the fear of death and the obedience shown along with it cannot save a person, how much less can those people who become donkeys for free to religions, organizations, and politicians hope to be saved! Clearly, even though they have seen, experienced, and witnessed their crooked, twisted things. People often resemble ostriches burying their heads in the sand to flee from responsibility. Does one think he can thereby save himself from danger?

We must accept that we need to make decisions large and small every day. From which color sock we will put on our feet in the morning to which empty seat we find on the bus, the train, or the ferry and sit in, it is so. We are also forced to make serious decisions. Even in the strictest administration, in a management, organization, or military army that has rules about what is right and wrong in everything, our situation depends on the decisions we ourselves will make. With this, whether we end up in a better situation or a worse situation is entirely possible. Right down to the form of the attitude and conduct we adopt, we see effects according to how we made our decisions. In short, we cannot say, “I never need to make a decision about anything.” Even in a place where everything is bound to command, rule, and order, from time to time it may even be vital for us ourselves to be compelled to make decisions. Since making decisions is such an important trait, and considering the price of wrong decisions; well then, what must we do? What must we do in order to learn to stand on our own feet in making decisions? And what is the secret of making decisions without making mistakes, come what may?

As I said at the very beginning of the subject, the more an athlete trains, the more successful he becomes. The more a student practices what he learns, the better it enters his mind and the more his skill increases. People who deal with music must always practice it night and day, without stopping. Every teacher, instructor, mother, father, athlete, soldier, experienced student and so on knows that if we want to achieve success, these are rules that must necessarily be fulfilled. Since the facts require us, for our constant development, to practice, work at, and learn those things; why should it be any different when it comes to making decisions? If the problem is that we make mistakes, then no matter how experienced we are, no matter how knowledgeable we are, our making them is inevitable. If our aim is to be without mistakes, then let us give up on everything. Because it means we are asking for something impossible. But if we want to reduce mistakes to a minimum, this is a very good attitude of heart and a correct way of thinking. The ideal is, of course, to make no mistakes at all, but this would not be a realistic expectation.

It is logical for each subject to be consulted with people who are experts in that field. The knowledge of a person who is an expert in his field cannot be compared with someone who has no knowledge at all of that subject. As I said, all my life I have listened to the radio and I use this device. My having used and seen all sorts of radios is one thing; the knowledge of making a radio is another thing entirely. My knowledge on this subject cannot, of course, be compared with someone who has the knowledge and experience of building a radio from A to Z. When both of us are brought a radio with the same fault, never mind deciding what I would do, perhaps I would exhaust myself just trying to open it up without smashing its insides. The expert who is experienced in this subject does not even put his hand to his temple to think about the things he will do. Comparing the way he uses the screwdriver, opens up the insides of that device, does it with a speed as though he is not thinking at all, decides on the necessary things—and with the speed of making correct decisions at that—with my radio repairing would be nonsense. Alongside this, if I too take the training for this work, if I gain experience and knowledge in this subject through practice, it is not impossible that one day I too could become a master radio repairman and builder.

With all these examples, let us now come to the focal point of our subject. Since the fundamental subject of my book is the relationships between God and human beings, would these religions in between not say, by means of the explanations above: “Precisely because it is exactly like this, because knowledgeable experts about God are needed; we must obey the religions and the managers over them”? Never mind whether they would say it—they do say it. Indeed, come, let us defend this matter with examples, taking their side. In line with what I have written, let us strive to prove them right.

Imagine you are ill. To whom do you go? “To the doctor, of course,” is said. Let us say that your problem area is your tooth. Instead of going to a dentist, could you accomplish that work yourself? Or could you solve that problem of yours? Under very difficult conditions, when people were left without doctors, barbers and farriers did this work. In this business of treatment there were sometimes even very painful deaths. The tooth became infected, the nerves were damaged while pulling the tooth, the muscles of the lip, cheek, and eye stopped working and so on. On top of the pain suffered, there were even many who lost their lives just because they had a tooth pulled. Everyone knows this in our time. That is why, whether he knows the person or not, one entrusts himself into that person’s hands looking only at the label, at the “Dr.” written on the sign. The reason for doing this is very simple. As in the examples I gave above, the knowledge, experience, and abilities of a person who is an expert in this subject are far superior to those of a barber, a farrier, and ourselves. Moreover, even if we ourselves were a dentist, still having that work done by another colleague would be far easier and more successful than doing it ourselves. Because that colleague is, by virtue of position, in a more advantageous situation than we are while doing this work.

Who conducts a special investigative inquiry about that doctor we go to: How much of a liar is he or is he not? Does he commit adultery or not? Does he gamble or not? Is he just or unjust? Is he cruel or merciful? Does he drink and smoke a lot? Or how many wives and mistresses does he have? I have not come across anyone like this. But the aspect of that doctor we would investigate in the first place is his success, or failure, in the field related to his profession. Basic questions such as whether he has a light hand, whether he causes much pain, whether there is a high probability of encountering a problem afterward, are the concern of every normal patient. Perhaps at the end one might also ask, “Is he a likable and warm person?” Again, all this can be done if our time and means permit. Otherwise, in an environment we do not know at all, in a difficult situation we find ourselves in, it is quite normal for us to entrust ourselves to the first dentist we come across. Why do we do all this? Because however bad that person may be, he is still more knowledgeable, experienced, and able than we are in this subject. At the same time, our very own life is at stake, and that is why we have need of an expert.

Let us come to the subject of religion and God. Is a person who has only heard by hearsay, who has never even taken into his hand—let alone opened—the book he calls holy, more knowledgeable and an expert in this subject; or is it someone who has had years of experience with people on this subject, who almost knows these books by heart? From all these explanations we have made, we automatically say, of course, again the one who is the expert. And with these examples, do we not want to take their side? In connection with our whole subject, the problem in fact begins right here. Just as people have accepted the existence of an expert in every profession, they have done the same thing in the matter of religion. According to their own whims, their culture, the things they want to believe, they have put someone at their head and said, “Here, be an expert for us in God’s name. You are more knowledgeable and experienced in this subject than all of us.” Did we not already state the logic, “you do this work best,” about the other professions? Those religionists, becoming aware of this, of course seized the opportunity. But is it only the religionists? Did we not also speak of the doctors in Germany? Is there any human being who has not misused his profession, his field of expertise? There surely is, because to say there is none at all would be wrong.

I will never forget, once Bernd told me, when talking with a priest about his profession, the priest himself said this: “Just as a person becomes a butcher, a carpenter, a car mechanic, so I became a priest, I chose this profession”—which actually emphasized a very sincere truth. Just as we entrust our life to the doctor, and we only said the tooth, there are also those in far more important fields. In the matter of the heart, the lungs, the kidneys, the brain, and many other illnesses, the faces of the persons who will operate on us we either see very briefly before the operation, perhaps once, or we do not see at all, or we are not even aware that we saw them. Despite this, we entrust our life to them entirely, and by signing documents that even take into account the mistakes that could be made. We are talking about entrusting our life, our very life; can this be described as simple trust? We clearly say no.

Since we accept that those people can make mistakes and we sign the bottom of such agreements without knowing them personally at all, why, in the matter of religion, in the relationship with God, do I split hairs? And also saying openly, “none of these religions can be trusted.” Until now I have not taken up this matter by looking at its spiritual side; I have tried to write like this looking only from the professional and expertise angle. Let us come now to looking at it from this angle too.

We said that in all professions the goal of an apprentice is to become a master. We even mentioned that it can be expected that he surpass his master in that field. What does God say about this? Jesus Christ said as follows:

“A pupil is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the pupil to become as his teacher, and the slave as his master.” Matthew 10:24-25

So then, God too, through his prophets, supports this logic. But when we look at religions, we see a completely opposite attitude and conduct. They, far from giving the education and training that supports the apprentice’s advancing and becoming a master, even forbid one’s trying to read and understand those books. In the past they used to burn people alive. There is no meanness they did not do to those who translated these books into their own languages so that they could be understood. The Islamic world too experienced and is experiencing more or less the same things on this matter! Even now, those who say, “let the Quran be read in Arabic,” and who apply pressure on this matter, are by no means in the minority. Do not let the Jehovah’s Witnesses among them, going door to door with the Holy Scriptures in their hands and saying, “Read this book,” deceive you. This is merely a trap, a bait, that gives a sense of freedom and inquiry, applied in order to draw people in.

Again, Raymond Franz, whom I mentioned, who at one time served full-time among them for 40 years and rose all the way up to what is called the highest level, the governing body, also touches on this truth in his book and writes as follows: “At the beginning, the knowledge one gains about the Holy Scriptures in the first year, a person cannot gain later even over years of such intense education in the same organization,” he says. And he continues: “Because the organization aims for those people to always remain children in the truth and not to grow up,” he writes. Because of my experiences, I too say, “this is definitely so, and I saw it so.” Indeed, that I could not find in a forty-year-old man who had been a born-and-bred Jehovah’s Witness for years the knowledge I gained about the Holy Scriptures in my first three months, greatly surprised me at the time and I could not make sense of it. And these people gave 45-minute talks in person at almost every circuit and district convention. It would be only years later that I would become aware that the organization was specifically preventing these people from growing in the knowledge of God. The Witnesses’ publications, in order to support the words written in the book of Psalms (Zebur), “the light of the righteous grows brighter and brighter,” show their publications, of which they have in their hands millions of printed copies coming out one after another without end. Those publications they put out, which they always want their members to learn from, tediously go round and round over the same subjects for years. Take a few of their publications from fifteen or thirty years ago, and then read a few of the new publications they put out. The pictures and colors may be different, but the subjects are more or less always the same. You will say, “Does the Holy Scriptures change, that we should expect changes from these?” The Holy Scriptures has been the same Holy Scriptures for thousands of years, but our subject was these people’s light growing ever brighter! Indeed, on the contrary, when they forbid things that had already been accepted long before and then permit them again years later, they boast, saying, “The light of the righteous grows brighter and brighter.” If this is a light, it was already burning long ago. It was they themselves who darkened that light. By lighting it again afterward, did they bring to light or understand something that never existed?!

For instance, they had for years forbidden organ transplants. Then they released it and called it a matter of conscience. Blood was entirely forbidden, and blood had to be poured out only onto the ground, onto the earth. Now many factors of blood are permitted, and do not be surprised if, in a very short time, all of it becomes permitted and it is called “a matter of conscience.” One of their fears is what they will say to the relatives of the so many people they killed. Because they think about this, they announce their permissions slowly, one by one, writing them in their publications as if unimportant, in an incomprehensible manner. Because if one day someone stands up to them, the answer to be given to the members is ready: “We did not impose such a prohibition; it was again you who tried to get ahead of us and made mistakes according to your own heads,” they will say. Or, by saying, “this is a matter of conscience,” they will think that by saying, “we are not in favor, but we do not interfere either,” they have taken a consoling attitude toward the relatives of the people they killed. These intrigue-like subjects are endless. Their methods also greatly resemble the examples of the country-loving German doctors. They will supposedly perform the filth they do as smoothly as pulling a hair out of butter. Since my emphasis is on religions, I will write to help you understand why religions on this subject shy away from knowledge and from informing people.

That Holy Scriptures they say “read” they never permit or even tolerate being believed or discussed in any way other than the way they themselves understand it and want it understood. Even if you read, you will understand as they do, believe as they do, and behave not as they do but as they want! Those governing body members who tell others to preach, to come to the meetings and book studies without fail, would themselves sometimes attend such meetings only once or twice a year. Indeed, according to what Raymond Franz writes in his book, one of the presidents among them never, but never, in his life even went out to preach.

While people in every profession fulfill, more or less, the duty that falls to them in the matter of educating and giving knowledge; the religious ones, with the claim that “we serve God,” indeed even those who appear very zealous, on the contrary block all the knowledge on this subject and have not been in favor of anyone knowing it either. It is not only the present-day Jehovah’s Witnesses, the medieval church, the Islamic world; we understand again from Jesus’ words that the religionists have always carried out this rule faithfully, without ever breaking it. Jesus accused the religionists of that time, who sat on Moses’ seat and were charged with teaching the law to the people, with these truths:

“Woe to you, experts in the law! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.” Luke 11:52

Whereas should it not have been the opposite? While it is this way in every profession, why, in the matter of God, do those who deal with this work apply this rule in a completely opposite way? Yes, selfish feelings such as jealousy and envy always exist in people. Indeed, the Germans say: “Knowledge is dominion, is power.” So then, are they hiding the knowledge, the dominion, about religion, about God, in order to keep it in their own hands? In other professions too, this knowledge is not given away so easily. From the beginning we always spoke of a good instructor, a good master. Is every master, every instructor and teacher, good? Of course we cannot say “Yes.” They too do not give their knowledge to everyone easily. And in any case, our aim is to try to understand why these religious ones do not educate their students. So then, they too are not good instructors, good teachers.

The biggest reason that causes them to flee from knowledge is the fear that, after their true nature is discovered, dominion and power will consequently slip from their hands. Look at the religions all over the world and their members. If we take up those three most famous religions, “Judaism, Christianity, and Islam”, these people know almost nothing about the truths written in their own books. And if someone does know, this has been only through his own effort, desire, and diligence. Neither in schools nor in homes, neither on television or radio, nor in places of worship do they teach anything properly. These are not false, baseless accusations, but realities we are living through. On the hundreds of TV channels, the televisions running 24 hours thanks to satellite dishes, sex, indecency, violence, and endless nonsensical serials and musical hip-shaking programs, contests to find superstars, are the foremost basic subjects. The scenarios of those “family serials” everyone famously loves to watch are full of never-ending intrigues, and tedious love themes that are never attained again and again. In the subjects treated about God and religion, the basic themes of religious conversation have become not constructive but mocking, and in our time especially questions related to below the belt. What people are most curious about is what is in their underpants, their hearts and minds full only of these. Let me state again, on this subject the Witnesses are not alone. All religions are against knowledge and aim, in the matter of making people experts in the knowledge of God, for people to remain—and that at most—apprentices their whole lives long. And as Jesus said, they themselves have not gone in through the door of expertise, so how could they let others in! The field in which they are experts is only over such subjects as oppressing, exploiting, sowing enmity, waging war, causing pain, making people believe lies, threatening, freeloading, fraud, secrecy, filth, greed for money, selfishness, and conceit.

Until now, still without looking at the matter in depth, I have compared these religionists, who have put themselves forward as representatives about God, with the professions in present-day life and the education and training programs they follow. It is quite clear that, next to those professions, the religious organizations are very, very bad instructors, teachers in educating their members. We spoke of the need felt for an expert; we said, do we not trust him whoever he may be, without looking? For instance, giving the example of doctors, did we not say, “do we not entrust our life into their hands”? Again I also said, “However bad an instructor this doctor may be, however unjust and equally corrupt in character he may be, we concern ourselves with none of these; we expect him to relieve our life, to save us from pain, and if necessary to save our life too.” Some out of love of country, some out of love of money, some out of love of I-know-not-what, however difficult our situation with them may be.

It may be that these people are sometimes not good instructors, and are also zeroes in many subjects. Why do we entrust our life, our very life, to such people, and yet, as I keep mentioning in my book, expect far superior qualities and virtues from the people charged with this work in the matter of God, in the matter of religion? In fact, is not our very life at stake in both? One, for this life; the other, for eternal life and paradise in the future.

Looking at the practice, humanity, unfortunately, does not show even the investigation it shows toward a doctor to a manager in its own religion, to the practitioners of that religion. They follow after those who say, “One can enter the gate of paradise only through us,” without ever, ever even seeing their faces. They neither know them nor know anything about them. They are the legends they conjure up in their imaginations. There are times they do not even trust a doctor, but they trust these people blindly, without understanding and without knowing, and believe, “they will take us to paradise.” Saying, “they will give account to God on our behalf,” they practically give them a general power of attorney over the responsibility belonging to our relationship with God. And moreover saying: “Command us whatever you want, we will do it.” Not like a human being, but unfortunately like a donkey! And that is exactly what they expect. Whereas, when we look at the truth of the matter, neither the religion they are in nor God interests them all that much. Those religions are like a mascot they carry, or a lucky charm. But for this cause they fight, they die, and if necessary they kill without any hesitation.

In the Holy Scriptures, the traits of animals are from time to time compared with human beings. For instance, believers and those who stubbornly refuse to believe are likened to two types of animal species, called sheep-like and goat-like people. (Matthew 25:32-33; Mark 6:34; John 10:1-15) These were the kinds of animals the people of that time were closely familiar with. While the sheep is gentle-natured and recognizes the shepherd, indeed a good shepherd; goats are creatures that do not easily obey and, being by nature far more agile than sheep, are also a difficult species to control. There are shepherds who say, “Rather than herd ten goats, I would herd a hundred sheep more easily.” With these examples these animals are not being disparaged; comparisons are being made by taking their traits as examples. It is emphasized that if we display gentle-natured traits like a sheep before God, it will only be to our benefit, while it is emphasized that being stubborn like a goat, running now here and now there away from the flock and from under the protective influence of the shepherd, will again harm us. These are only to enrich the telling with examples. Only, if you notice, neither type of animal carries anyone’s load, and by nature cannot carry it either. Have you ever come across a sheep with a saddle on its back? Or, exceptions aside, a goat carrying its owner on its back? Only a donkey, a horse, a camel can do this. And this does not diminish those animals. What I want to convey with the word donkey in my book, or the type of person I want to liken, is in the sense of having the trait of being unable to think and being good only for carrying loads. For instance, a donkey is not a hero that goes fearlessly toward the sword, the spear, the enemy like a horse. It is by no means a beneficial animal like the camel, which crosses a vast desert for days without eating or drinking, without easily getting sick. The camel is said to have astonishing traits. Although a horse is much more delicate and less enduring next to the camel, in terms of esteem the horse is still preferred. The difference between these two types of animals and the donkey is due to the fact that the horse and the camel are more versatile. Whether it be the camel or the horse, as much as they both carry loads and are fast, they also run bravely and without fear toward every kind of weapon in a battle. Alongside these, the donkey can, and even that only under suitable conditions, carry only loads. And if it also gets into a senseless stubbornness, do not ask about its mood! On this subject, God himself, while speaking with Job, gives much more interesting information about the horse. If you want to read it, this subject is written in verses 39:19-25 of the book of Job.

In short, the people I liken to donkeys are actually the ones these religionists strive to bring to that state. They love and want neither sheep-like nor goat-like people. What they need are donkeys to carry their loads. Without thinking, without asking questions, in fear, and if possible without being stubborn at all. The very stubborn ones they cut off from among themselves right away. Although I love the donkey very much, one feels hatred and pity at a human being being a donkey. A human being does not deserve to descend to this state. I write these writings of mine saying, “please save yourselves from donkeyhood.” God too calls to his side not donkeys but human beings, who can think and who have a superior creation, created in his own likeness (image). For this reason, if we are looking for an expert, a teacher, a master, someone experienced who will train us in this matter; the greatest helper in education and training is God himself. He gave Jesus Christ the office of kingship, in the heavens and at his own side. (Acts of the Apostles 17:31; Daniel 2:44; Surah an-Nisa 4:158) Next to those religious ones who do not give even a flick of benefit, we have such a king who gave his life for our sins. God, by having thousands of years of people’s lives and experiences penned—repeating and confirming them in the Holy Scriptures and the Quran—ensured this. These books were also written so that we might take lessons about what we are to learn from the events lived through concerning those people’s experiences.

Now these things happened to them as examples; and they were written as counsel for us, upon whom the ends of the ages have come says 1 Corinthians 10:11

I said every work has an expert. Well then, to which experts should we go about God? Whom can we trust? Or does God say—as in every profession—consult whoever has chosen this subject as a profession? Almost all of the religionists, even if they do not openly say so, see this duty like a profession chosen to earn a living while alive. I said that our being experts with knowledge in every subject would not be possible anyway, at least because of the shortness of the life we live. Yes, this is true, but should it be so about knowing God too? Can a person turn his knowing his own Creator into a job, a profession, in order to earn money? What would we do to know, to search for, and if possible to find our mother and father whom we have never seen? Many people say “everything.” Why do we not say about God: “I would do everything to know him too”?

In fact, God wants each and every one of us to be very well-trained masters, teachers, experts about himself. Even if this is perhaps not obligatory about any other subject, on this subject it is definitely a point that he wants every human being he created to reach. If God had commanded, “appoint teachers at your head and follow after them,” and had said, “I will only demand account from them on your behalf,” then there would be no problem. I would say, let us continue in our donkeyhood. But look at what he says:

“…You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart; and you shall impress them upon the minds of your sons, and shall speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.” Deuteronomy 6:5-7

Many people say, “God said these words for the Israel of that time, not for us.” Yet look at what is written again toward the end of the same book:

And it is not with you alone that I am making this covenant and this sworn agreement, but with the one who is standing here with us today before the LORD our God, and also with the one who is not here with us today. Deuteronomy 29:14-15……Let it not happen that when he hears the words of this oath, he blesses himself in his heart, saying: However much I walk in the stubbornness of my heart, I will have peace (good), so as to sweep away the moist along with the dry. The LORD will not be willing to forgive him, but then the anger and jealousy of the LORD will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book will settle upon him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under the heavens. Deuteronomy 29:19-20

So then, God gave the covenant that appears in those books and the words necessary for life to all of humanity. By means of all the events lived through and the experiences in these books, God wants to educate and teach his servants in the best way, and to make each one of us an expert in this subject. If only, out of ignorance, stubbornness, and laziness, we do not still take to such deviations as, “these books were changed, in place of these books we have our own book,” trying to divide God’s words like political parties, like football teams. Just as we can never save ourselves from donkeyhood with these things, it means we will not be able to escape God’s judgment either. Whomever we want to please and from whomever we expect salvation, let us run toward him.

Let us come to that famous example I gave, the situation of entrusting ourselves, our lives, to any doctor. For one thing, patients do not go to the doctor to take lessons from the doctor, to learn that profession from him. We cannot expect the doctors to train us as experts in that subject. If we want to become experts in this subject, medical schools may be a beginning. What we expect from the doctor is to benefit, for a fee, from the experience he has learned and applied. Well then, what is to be said about entrusting our life to those people?

Such a feeling of trust can sometimes mean, as we often hear and know, losing our life. Who in our time no longer knows that there is a risk factor? If we have another, better option in hand, let us certainly use it. For instance, in the time of the government of Mr. Erdoğan, I generally always handle my health problems in Turkey. Before that, Turkey was worse than present-day Germany in this respect. Their concern, however, was not saving the country but money, lack of resources, order. But if we have no option and no dominion over such things, do we have any choice but to bow our necks? And moreover, is losing our life the only thing at stake? Which of us will live eternally in this world? Since death is, as it were, already in our pocket, ready, is not what kind of life we lead more important than how we will die? How and what we do while living, our relationships with people, our interest in God and his commands, our desire to apply them—these are the truly important things. Otherwise, our dying as the result of an accident, illness, appointed time, or an unexpected natural disaster is not so important. No one wants to die; God knows this too, and the death of humanity is not his purpose. (Ecclesiastes 3:11) That is why God also promises to resurrect each one of us again. (Daniel 12:2; John 5:28-29; al-Isra, Surah 17:49-51; al-Hajj, Surah 22:7)

To become a slave to a human being by means of an education very far removed from God in the name of religion, and by this path only to earn God’s anger and in the end to die, is one thing; to trust a doctor and to remain on the operating table because of the doctor’s mistake, inexperience, or love of country, is another thing. What does God attach importance to? Those who live long, or those who live short? Or does he attach no importance to these at all? Are not absolute life and death things that are anyway in God’s hands? For this reason God looks not at the reasons beyond our control, but rather at the things that are within our control by means of our free will—what we think, what we speak, what we do—and at our heart. In short, we have some relationship, more or less, with every profession. Again, by going to the mechanic when our car breaks down, we cannot expect that mechanic to train us as experts in this matter. But it is the right of an apprentice working there to expect this. That apprentice entered there in order to become an expert in that field. But a customer’s expectation is different. The aim is not to make experts of the customers anyway, but of the people under our training.

Well then, what can a person belonging to a religion expect from that religion? Is it not that the institution he entered should make him a teacher, an expert about God? Or do those religious ones go in and out of there like a customer, only for the purpose of a visit? While making experts is valid for every professional field, why should it be wrong in the religious matter? And must every person who is to become an expert necessarily earn money? Why should the duty of religious institutions not be to aim for their members to possess the knowledge, abilities, and experience to be able to make correct decisions about God on their own behalf? Or does religion mean lying down and getting up every Friday! It does not mean going to sing hymns to the church bell every Sunday either! There are so many institutions and organizations giving empty sermons in the meetings as though in God’s name. People have now grown tired of listening, become sick of it, their ears have grown heavy and they have thrown up. Because of this they have become unable even to hear the truth. The aim was anyway to make them deaf, to ensure they do not hear the truth, and to sicken people and make them hate everything belonging to God. Satan aimed for this. That is why, in Revelation, the very last book of the Gospel, there is a prophecy that all of these religions will be destroyed in a single day. (The entirety of chapters 17 and 18 of Revelation) The Babylon referred to symbolizes all religions. When you read it, it is understood from its characteristics anyway. By “the voice of the bride, the voice of the bridegroom,” again the religious institutions are meant. Generally Christians marry in churches. Although the method of the Islamic world seems different, they too attach importance to religious marriage. With these verses those places are meant.) The time is very near when the dirty laundry of all the religions of this world will be laid out one by one. At the same time this is also God’s will. Look at how apt God’s words against those nations, those religions, are when all these prophecies are fulfilled:

And if you say in your heart, “Why have these things come upon me?”—it is for the greatness of your iniquity that your skirts are uncovered and your heels are suffered violence. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then you also, who are accustomed to doing evil, may do good. Therefore I will scatter them like chaff carried by the desert wind. This is the lot that has fallen to you, the portion I have measured out to you, says the LORD; because you have forgotten me and trusted in falsehood. Therefore I too will lift up your skirts over your face, and your shame will be seen. Jeremiah 13:22-26

All these will come upon the religions on earth. If God at one time did not spare Israel, whom he called “my own people,” and the Temple that he had built, because of all their ugliness and evils, why should he spare the religions of our time? Moreover, he never even chose them. If God uproots the nation and the place of worship that he said he chose, and destroys them because of their sins, what will he not do in return for the sin of the one he did not choose?

When the day comes and these prophecies are fulfilled, those fanatical religious ones who have given so many years, when they see this, I believe they will hate everything that is in God’s name. Filled with the feeling of having been deceived, cheated, robbed, they will beat their breasts saying, “Why did I become a donkey for these people?” It is as though I already see the disappointment, the hatred, of these people now. Satan’s aim with these religions was exactly this anyway. He drew people to himself as though in God’s name, so that he might make people God’s enemies. Each one like counterfeit money. Some are minted in such a way that to distinguish them from the genuine requires knowledge and research that takes very, very many years.

Many people will also say: “Just as I do not expect my religion to make me an expert or anything, I do not want it to either.” Freedom means knowing how to make decisions, and consequently means responsibility. Many people are conscious of this too. That is why people flee from responsibility and see freedom as a burden. Moreover, there is also the fear of who will pay the price as the result of wrong decisions made. We saw it in the situation of Adam and Eve; neither of them wanted to take the blame upon himself. In the end they threw the blame onto an animal that actually cannot even speak, the serpent. We know that by this they meant Satan. Because they knew of Satan’s existence. (Genesis chapter 3; al-A’raf, Surah 7:22) However much we flee from responsibility, because we do not want to pay the price, let us even endure being donkeys. Do we suppose that the one who mounts our backs will always make correct decisions? Even if we think about them with the best of intentions, this is not possible. However prone to mistakes we are, they too are more or less prone to mistakes. What human being can know us better than ourselves and make better decisions about us? What I want to convey has been this from the beginning. Thanks to whom do all these religions and religionists live? Is it not thanks to us? According to whose desires and wishes do they work? Again, in the end, is it not according to ours? If no one throws money to the beggar, will any beggars remain in the country? If we do not become donkeys for them, no one who mounts people’s backs will remain either. Do not forget, however great the guilt of the one who mounts the back, the one who makes himself a donkey will be held equally guilty. What do you suppose God will say to excuses like, “I obeyed, I was deceived, I feared making mistakes”? At the trials held after the war, in response to the defenses of those who said, “We were servants of orders, otherwise we would have been killed,” we read the death decisions the judges handed down and found them just too.

On this subject Jesus once gives this example. He likens it to a man who, as he was going to receive heavenly sovereignty, entrusted his property to his slaves. All of them did business, traded with that property, and increased what was given to them still more. Only, one among them was afraid and buried that money in the ground. Then, to his master who came to demand account, he answered as follows:

Then the one who had received a talent came and said, “Master, I knew you to be a hard man. You reap where you did not sow, and you gather where you did not winnow. So I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, take what is yours!” His master answered him: “Wicked and lazy slave! Since you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I did not winnow, you should have put my money out at interest. Then at my coming I would have gotten it back with interest…So take the talent from him, and give it to the one who has ten talents! For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will be in abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw that useless slave outside, into the darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 25:24-30

What is meant here is what we do with the spiritual wealth we possess. What is our reaction to the truths we know and see. If we, out of fear, hide and bury the things we see, learn, and know, then our end too will be like that of the lazy and wicked slave in this parable.

Who is it that wants, or expects, us and all humanity to be experts in this matter?

In the letter to the Hebrews in the Gospel, look at what God’s Apostle writes about just how necessary this matter of expertise is:

Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of God’s words. You need milk again, not solid food! Everyone who feeds on milk is a baby and inexperienced in the word of righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, those who through practice have had their perceptions trained to distinguish good and bad. Hebrews 5:11-14

So then, what God wants from humanity is not for each one to remain a milk-needing baby in this matter, but on the contrary; to be experts who are trained, educated, and able to make decisions in distinguishing good and bad. And this is not a matter of whim, pleasure, or a hobby. It is at least an obligatory duty for every living person, for himself. Just as we see having an operation, going to the dentist, not as a hobby but as necessary, this too should at least be seen so. But we are free in doing it or not doing it, in being so or not being so. And everyone will pay the price himself.

Moreover, as is clearly understood from the verses above, the goal of every believing person should be to become a teacher. Because they are not so, the Apostle belittles those people and, in a sense, scolds them too. So then, the meaning that has been taught and applied to us until now—that this work is only the duty of the priests, the hodjas, the rabbis, the governing body, the elders, and should remain so—is wrong. The saying in the Holy Scriptures, “obey the elders who are over you,” is something related to a time, not always. One day it is expected that a person himself will be above these teachings. Indeed, the new Turkish translation says as follows in the following verse:

“…Going beyond the teachings about the Messiah, let us press on toward maturity. If God permits, we will do this.” Hebrews 6:1-2-3. And in the old Turkish translation:

“Therefore, leaving the first instruction about the Messiah, let us press on toward perfection…” Hebrews 6:1

All these writings clearly encourage us always to advance, and at the same time also give commands.

Let us now come to that famous verse that the religionist managers use most, that they try to prove in order to support the donkey model:

Obey the words of your leaders, and be submissive to them. For they keep watch over you as those who will give account for your souls. Obey their words, so that they may do their work with joy and not with groaning—for this would be of no benefit to you. Hebrews 13:17

It is certain that those leaders meant here are ones each person chooses of his own free will. If leadership existed automatically, then again these very Jehovah’s Witnesses would have committed the greatest crime. Because they too, before starting on this path, were each under the leadership of another religion. But their rising up against those leaders, their rebelling, shows that they did not accept them as leaders. This is not wrong. In the time of the priests in Israel, because of their teachings and lives far from God, we read that many righteous people distanced themselves from them. For instance, the prophet Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, the apostles in Jesus’ time, and tens of thousands of nameless righteous people who believed in the Messiah, did not make these priests their leaders and did not see them as such either. And this even though the priestly office had been given to them by God himself. Moreover, the law did not even give the people any authority to make a distinction between a sinful priest and a sinless priest. The Israelites of that time knew a truth. In the end, the greatest leader who must be obeyed was only God. Even in that matter we have the freedom to choose. Either we can choose to walk in the way of Satan, which means death; or we can choose God, who created us and is our owner—who consequently has right and authority over us—which means life.

In the second sentence of the verse, “they keep watch over you as those who will give account for your souls,” in what sense should this be understood? Many people, saying, “Look, they will give account on our behalf,” suppose that they are freed from their own responsibility and will be held guiltless doing whatever they say. Whereas with these verses the responsibility possessed by those who have taken on the duty of leadership over others is emphasized; not a blind obedience that we should show toward them. And does not the Holy Scriptures say to obey not only your leaders, but also your mother and father, and the authorities? All these people will, of course, give account for the responsibility they have taken on, or that they possess even unwillingly—this is certain. Well then, what about us? Will account not be demanded from us? As I have said many times and tried to prove from the Holy Scriptures, since excuses such as being a servant of orders, obeying, being afraid, not knowing and not learning have not saved anyone until now, they will not save us either. Because God does not accept such excuses, does that make him merciless and pitiless? According to the justice we humans possess, would we accept it when people who come before us, having senselessly and cruelly hanged, slaughtered, and tortured, say, “I was a servant of orders, I was compelled, I was afraid”? With what eyes did we regard the decisions declaring that Hitler’s soldiers, officers, doctors, and judges could not escape by means of such excuses at those postwar trials the Americans set up? In fact we all approved and said, “they were just decisions,” indeed we even found the punishments given too light. If we humans are so just, do you suppose God will not judge us who act contrary to this justice, at least according to our own justice? He will certainly judge. And you can be sure that he will judge according to the words that come out of our own mouths, not others’. (Matthew 7:2; Mark 4:24)

Let us come now to those leaders who keep watch over our souls! First, they misused this duty of theirs. If, because of their misusing their duty, I did not come under their command and was disobedient toward them, whose fault, I wonder, is this? There are thousands of religions that are in favor of such words appearing in the Holy Scriptures being applied to themselves unconditionally. To which of these should we show obedience and loyalty? To the religions that want such verses applied to themselves I say: “Why did you not apply these commands yourselves, but rather left the church, the mosque, the temple you were in, and moreover became enemies of them? And now, do you shamelessly want and defend the very same things, like those frauds resembling yourselves in the religions you came out of?” Therefore, if we did not count their leaders as leaders and left those meetings, as I said; the apostles who wrote this themselves had also left the religion they were in, and that is why we do the same thing. So then, these people came out from among them thirsting for righteousness, justice, and the knowledge of truth. And by doing this, they only pleased God. If we suppose that by stubbornly, forcibly, and unwillingly attending those meetings, we are worshiping and clothing ourselves in righteousness—as though tossing alms to a beggar—we are mistaken. Do not the members of all the religions of the whole world that we oppose do just this too? Even though none of them has, either near or far, any relationship with religion, with God, with such traits as righteousness, justice, love of neighbor. Still, with whatever eyes God regards their visiting those places from time to time as if giving alms to God, he will look with those same eyes at those who do these things too. Let us not deceive ourselves. Moreover, would God permit such a blind obedience as the religions expect from people? (Acts of the Apostles 4:17-20) Look, in fact, at what the Gospel clearly writes about whom we should recognize as leader on this subject:

“But I want you to know that the head of every man is the Messiah, the head of a woman is the man, and the head of the Messiah is God.” 1 Corinthians 11:3

As we will understand from this verse in a way that admits no doubt, it is emphasized that—without it being meant that the head of a man is a church, an organization, a mosque, a synagogue, or some other religious community—this glory should be given only to the Messiah, and consequently to God. Whereas these institutions, exactly contrary to this verse, with the teaching, education, and messages they give, by forcing their members through pressure to recognize themselves as leader in place of the Messiah, are in a stance completely opposite to God’s command. Those who stubbornly obey these, by gathering to themselves such leaders and teachers according to their own whims and heads in place of God’s Messiah, clearly reject the Messiah. Let us not expect those institutions to make themselves the Messiah in the literal sense. They are not that stupid. I write these things by looking at their works and words. Do they teach that the head of every man is the Messiah, or that it is first themselves, indeed by force?!

And Jesus said: See that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name, saying: I am he, and: The time is near; do not go after them. (Luke 21:8) How could there be a clearer warning than this?

Do not the Witnesses themselves say, “to vote in elections means to disregard the kingdom of the Messiah who has been appointed over us”! Since they see getting involved in the politics of this world, expecting help from other people in place of the Messiah whom God appointed, as wrong—and I too fully share this thought and belief—well then, what is to be said about their showing an unconditional obedience toward the governing body over them, their presidents, and whatever other label they have cloaked themselves in? At least the others give half-hearted obedience to what they themselves chose; but these people cannot even choose those people whom they obey unconditionally.

“I am astonished that you are so quickly turning away from the one who called you by the grace of the Messiah to a different gospel. In reality there is no other gospel (Good News). But there are some who confuse your minds and want to distort the Good News of the Messiah. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should declare to you a gospel contrary to what we declared, let him be accursed! As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone declares to you a gospel contrary to what you accepted, let him be accursed! Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of the Messiah.” Galatians 1:6-10

In the light of these verses, are not all the religions on earth that wrongly present God and the Messiah, with their teachings and practices, under a curse?

It is very normal for us to see all this hypocrisy, in the light of the verses and truths we have read, in the Jehovah’s Witnesses, whom we call the most diligent, each one a trained robot. In their relationship with you, their opening places in the Holy Scriptures in their hands is a point that every willing person can reach within three to six months. In the knowledge they learn in the later years, they remain just like a six-month-old baby. Those more eager for knowledge may perhaps come as far as one, two, three years old. But after this, pressure is even applied so that they at most remain so and do not advance. There is anyway an intense program so that that person stays where he stands and cannot move. These programs look, to an outside observer, like a very good education and advancement. But the reality known to those who have been inside for years is that the same old tune goes round and round. By means of an intense program, the aim is to prevent people from investigating and thinking for themselves. The real aim is to raise slaves for the organization, to make them dependent on it. Each one must be unable to choose his right from his left and live always in need of these people. Concepts such as making decisions for oneself, freedom, thinking on one’s own, stem, according to them, from Satan. That is why they break the legs of the one who stands spiritually and give crutches into his hand. Saying, “We will allow you to use those crutches too only if you do what we say.” From the one who says no they pull away even those crutches. What I mean by the person’s broken legs is the valuable trait a person must definitely develop, the ability to make decisions. And this is anyway a trait very hard to obtain in our world. By destroying this trait too, which has barely developed since childhood, they leave a person spiritually lame and crippled. And the crutches they give to their armpits are only permission to live within that community. And this is achieved by destroying your relationship with everyone around you. All the people who say no to them and do not join them are worldly and from Satan. Once one enters into that intense program, one does not even have time for others around him. Their aim is to slowly, without the person even becoming aware, like a fly caught in a spider’s web, suck his blood for years, for a whole lifetime, empty out his insides, and in the end throw the husk outside. They do not permit or tolerate anyone among them criticizing them about even the simplest matter. Let me tell an event that happened to me, so that you may think about, and again yourselves decide, what state people who cannot make decisions on their own can come to.

If I am not mistaken, it must have been three or four years before I began writing this book. It was the time when we were passing from spring into summer. Two Witnesses were in the business of preaching door to door. Both were elderly men. Around 60 and a bit older, I would guess. I invited them into the house. They did not know who and what I am. I am nothing anyway, but the communication and gossip among the Witnesses is terrible. If they had had information about me, they would not have even knocked on my door—that is what I wanted to emphasize. Because they belonged to another language, another region’s congregation, they did not know me for that reason. I noticed this situation and thought that it would be far more enjoyable and constructive to talk and converse in such an unprejudiced environment. I did not tell them what I know, that I knew them, that I had gone to the meetings for years, that in the end they had done everything they could to distance me from among them, and so on. They began to explain their knowledge about God. I wanted to keep the subject on certain specific questions. I saw again in these people a truth I knew. These people—one of whom had been a Witness for about 40 years—did not know what their own religion taught even on fundamental subjects. Or if he knew, he had forgotten it in time. Whereas some subjects were very important and not of the kind to be swallowed so easily. I thought and made a plan inside as follows. Now, whatever I said to these men, if it conflicted with the teachings of their organization, then whether they knew that subject or not, whether they understood or not, they would automatically defend the organization’s teaching. So I said I would do it completely the reverse and explain it that way. That is, I would defend the organization’s teaching as if it were my own belief, my own thought, and I would put on a kind of theater in which the knowledge I had learned from the Holy Scriptures and the Quran was as if the organization taught it, but I somehow could not understand it and was opposing it. The basis of the subject was about whether God sees the future or not. The Witnesses’ organization denies this. If you remember from earlier subjects, I had published Bernd’s letter on this subject as it was. Indeed, because of this subject, as is known, they finally threw Bernd out from among them too. Yes, let us come to the brothers who came to our house! I began to ask them my question. I began defending, exactly as it is, the thing that is the Witnesses’ belief and teaching. Right at the start, in response to my asking, “Does God see everything?” they had said, “Of course he sees.” I was going to try to refute this natural thought of theirs with the Witnesses’ teachings. But they thought the subject I was defending was my own thought. I was hearing words that would astonish me. Both of these men actually began defending the things I truly believe. Inside I listened very contentedly, without showing it, as if I were against them. Using the Witnesses’ writings on this subject, using even their best cards, I persisted in opposing these men. Both of them, just as I had done for years, tried—and moreover with proofs from the Holy Scriptures—to explain to me that God sees everything in advance. I pitied these two poor souls so much. Because these men naturally could not draw any other meaning of the message from that book they had read, except this one. Just like me. But because of the corrupt spirits, attitudes, and conduct of the organization they belonged to, this truth was distorted. Their perverse and inextricable teachings of that logic stemmed from this too. I looked at both of them and said: “Brace yourselves, but please do not be angry with me either.” Because the thing I had done was, in my view, in a sense not honest, but to explain what state they were in, I could not think of any other remedy. This was, for me, the best and clearest method of proof. Otherwise, if the slightest corner of my mind had passed the thought of personally mocking those men, of belittling them, I believe that God would judge me on this matter, and again that I have no obligation to tell anyone a lie.

“Yes, I too believe exactly the same as everything you have all explained,” I said. “Then there is no problem left,” they said, but bewildered, looking at my face as if to say, what does this man mean? “There is no problem for me, but if you say that you believe this way at those meetings you attend, where you have been together for years, you will have a problem, and if necessary they will throw you out from among them because of it—know this too,” I said. Both of them laughed in disbelief. They could not believe that what I was defending to them, which they themselves opposed, was the teaching of their own organization. This subject I took up appeared in the book whose German name is “Unterredungen” and whose Turkish name is “Holy Scripture Conversation Topics”. This subject is treated in a small brown booklet the Witnesses put out, under the subject related to Adam and Eve. I opened it and put it before them. Both of them took a look, then looked at each other. I began to save the situation. I told them “that I too, because of my belief the way they explained and many similar subjects, had never been one of the Witnesses, and that they throw out from among themselves those who talk with me about the subjects I discussed with you.” These poor souls turned red and flushed, but they somehow could not believe that such a thing exactly as I described could be so. One of them said: “We do not have much knowledge on these subjects; may I bring someone with me and come again?” Over sixty years old, together with the Witnesses for nearly forty years, the subject he called “on this subject” was about God’s always seeing the future, but he was emphasizing that he did not have sufficient knowledge of it. Whereas, until I showed the Witnesses’ publications, his knowledge on this subject was more than enough. But the thing that shut the mouths of those people who possessed these truths was the pressure of the organization. Their organization, of course, welcomes this situation with joy. The more ignorant and uninformed they remain and shut their mouths to the truths, the more freely those people can dance on the stage and gallop their horses in the arena. I said, “Come, of course,” what else could I say! We set a day and made an appointment.

This time the joker one, the man whose wife had been a Witness for years but he himself only for a few, was not there. The brother who had been a Witness for nearly forty years came on the day he had said, together with someone he called knowledgeable. Tall, also their age, a conceited fellow. I let them in and we sat down. This one talked constantly and did not let me talk at all. But what I am saying is no exaggeration. Whereas the one beside him also wanted me to talk, to open the subject we had discussed together, but it was impossible. I understood with this man that this was impossible. Instead of opening that long subject, I aimed first to dwell on a very simple subject. It is treated in the second volume of their book consisting of two large volumes, whose German name is ‘Einsichten,’ under the name ‘Nebuchadnezzar,’ on page 442, in the subject at the very bottom of the left-hand paragraph. There, in the first verse of the immediately second chapter of the book of Daniel in the Holy Scriptures, the place that reads “In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar,” these people, saying, “in all probability it should be the twentieth year,” want with their teachings to emphasize that the Holy Scriptures was written wrongly on this subject. Whereas in all translations, even in their own Holy Scripture translations, in every language this verse reads “the second year.” And this subject was very easy to prove. There are a whole host of other verses in the Holy Scriptures supporting this truth. Indeed, I drew up the chronological chart of this subject and published it on my internet pages, under the chronology link at http://mesias.de. This man, however, kept talking on his own and telling, without a full stop, the same subjects I know and have thrown up from listening to the Witnesses for years. As many times as I said, I know these, if you like give me five minutes—but a literal five minutes—and let me talk too, he says: “No, we are going to leave now anyway, when we come another time.” I look at the clock, another hour, hour and a half passes, and this one is again in a chinwag, a man like a Watchtower publication the Witnesses put out. Perhaps whoever reads these magazines for the first time gets excited, but for someone who has heard the same thing for years, they are terribly boring and sleep-inducing subjects. I said at least five times, “please give me five minutes, let me talk, look, ever since you came you keep saying we are going to leave, six and a half hours have passed, if you do not give me even five minutes, this cannot be called a conversation at all.” He was both shameless and very brazen. And equally conceited. Indeed, even though I said, “there is a timer clock, let me bring that too, and when five minutes is up I will fall silent,” so that they would believe it would be exactly five minutes—no, it did not happen. He says, “We will come again.”

This man had done missionary work in other countries for years. It is clear that at their meetings this was a very great and respectable person! I could also guess that he ran those poor donkeys ragged. One did not need to be a prophet to understand. That poor soul beside him who had come to us first shrank smaller and smaller, was crushed and cowed, his face went beet-red like a pancar in front of the table. It was clear he was uncomfortable. And he is not free like me either. And I, supposedly free, had listened to that chatter-machine for six and a half hours so as not to be rude! At the time I was forty years old, I am not like ten years old or anything. True, a ten-year-old child would not tolerate it at all, but anyway. Again these people made an appointment, saying they intended to do a study with me about a booklet. “But if you do not listen to me for five minutes, I will do nothing at all,” I said. What can I do, the men are going to fill up the hours, write a report, say I preached in a comfortable and clean environment. And moreover for how many hours! The Witnesses love very much to fill up the hours at our house too. True, I too have a limit to my foolishness. When that is exceeded, this time people hate me!

Anyway, these people came that day. And at eight, eight-thirty in the morning. That gentleman wanted it so! As though we are going to change shifts at a factory. I too had made my preparations the day before, found the magazine he mentioned, and specifically left it in the upstairs room and came down. Our house is the type you have to enter from inside, a small two-story house. I put the stopwatch on the table too. I prepared their teas, coffees, waters as well, so that I would not have to keep getting up. We sat at the table, and this one again started talking. “For goodness’ sake!” I said, “last time in six and a half hours you did not give me five minutes, let us not have the same thing again,” reminding him, embarrassed, in the form of a joke. I am embarrassed to remind him of his crookedness, his disrespect! “What are you going to prove?” he said. “A very simple mistake you people made,” I said. “Come, if you like, before we get into the investigation, give me now those five minutes I want on this subject,” I said. I understood that this time too he was just going to make himself heard. Truly, these men are looking for donkeys, not human beings. He said all right, he had to say it. The one beside him also says, “please, open that subject of Adam and God’s knowing the future.” Just as I knew I could not fit that subject into five minutes, it was also certain they had spoken to him about this subject. He would talk nonsense and scatter the subject, and our work would fall into the water. And moreover he would upset the knowledge of that 60-year-old child beside him on the subject of God’s seeing the future! First let me put before this a simple mathematics subject, let me see what he will do, I said. Because this question of two years or twenty years was a subject that any primary-school child who knows how to count numbers and do a little addition and subtraction could understand and solve. I wanted to see this man’s reaction. Rather, I intend to show his reaction to the one beside him. Although at first he said “keeping time and such is nonsense” for my talking, once I began to talk, would he not say, “start the stopwatch too”! This man, who talked more than six hours at a stretch in one go without letting anyone breathe, wants the stopwatch running during the other person’s five-minute talk! Let him want it, I am the one who deliberately made the offer. I started the clock and, opening it up with verses, showed that this two years written in the Holy Scriptures was correct and that it could not be twenty years as the Witnesses cast doubt. After five minutes I said, “if you have questions, of course that takes a separate time.” Look at our struggle! Even to talk for five minutes, and to get above him if necessary, I have to take long, long permissions. And moreover in my own house. And by the tactic they apply in this way, they are supposedly striving to teach me “the truth”! After my talk was finished, this man got so angry, so angry, that he snapped: “Who are you to be able to understand the Holy Scriptures?” “Whoever you are, I am he too,” I said. “Who gives you the authority to understand this?” he continued to snap. “Even I cannot understand; only the faithful and discreet slave in our organization understands, and only they have the authority to explain. From whom did you get this authority?” As he said this, I say, “God gives this authority to all humanity, to his servants, and moreover God’s word is not something that is anyone’s monopoly.” But by now I too lost my temper and: “Look, do you see that man beside you? You can learn many things from him, for instance humility,” I said. Then again he: “From the very moment I came in, I understood from your not bringing to the table the book I mentioned, from your not having made preparation, that you are an empty man,” would he not say! And I: “Look, I prepared that book upstairs, and come, if you like, let me show you, but I specifically did not bring it downstairs,” without him even hearing me say this, he was getting up to leave, and I continued asking, “why don’t you ask why I did not bring it downstairs?” “Why?” he said. Because I noticed you are conceited, a fan of command like some Hitler, that is why I specifically did not do it. Look, the brother beside you gentlemanly wants me to open a subject, and I tried to give you milk as though you were a baby, and you cannot even swallow that, so how am I to open, or explain, the other subject,” and I looked at the face of the one beside him. That tall 60-year-old child said, “I will never come here again,” and left angrily! It is clear I offended that 60-year-old child. I could not help but say, “However great you may be in everyone’s eyes at the meeting you attend, once you enter through this door we are all human beings; let those who put up with you and give you authority think about it.” This one flew out and left, but the poor soul beside him anyway had an ailment in his leg, he somehow could not put on his shoe, his face beet-red, in shame he too left after him. I shook his hand and said, “now do you understand what I meant?” But he could not even speak at all. He nodded his head as if to say a very faint yes, and left.

Some time later, this one with the leg ailment came to me again. But he only sat on the terrace and drank a lemonade. He did not get into these subjects at all. I too acted as though nothing had happened, and so did he. We talked very briefly about the weather, the flowers, water, and he left. I never saw him again. He was a gentlemanly person. Whether he stopped by so briefly perhaps to indicate that he was not on the side of that ill-mannered one beside him, that he did not approve of him, is not known. But he too could not save himself from that organization. Whereas that conceited one beside him—however well-mannered or ill-mannered a person he was, I do not know, but in fact he only knew the rules of the organization and was applying them. The other one, on the other hand, by using his own priorities, his humanity, his love, was, without knowing, only greasing the wheels of this filthy organization. The biggest reason these organizations stay standing is thanks to the existence of these well-intentioned people who have become slaves among them, who use superior qualities. If, like that conceited man, they wanted to carry out fully and without fail what the organization says, in a very short time they would all be destroyed. Whereas this is a terrible thing. Those people who are aware of this filth, so that a stain does not come to the organization’s name, striving to make people like me out to be liars by doing the human things they know to be right from their own consciences and not from the organization. Whereas should not those people do without fail whatever the organization says? Yet by using their own initiative, by striving to make one say “this is good” about something that is evil, they fall into exactly this category that God speaks of:

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who put darkness for light and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight! Isaiah 5:20-21

This event I have described was only one of my thousands of conversations with the Witnesses. In the letter we sent to the Witnesses’ governing body under my wife’s name, we had also mentioned another event that was lived through. That lived-through example too is where, at a meeting in America, the elders come face to face with a problem, and they ask their governing body for help on this subject by letter, requesting advice. A woman whom they had thrown out but who still attends the meetings, while climbing the steep stairs alone in order to attend that meeting, and unable to decide whether or not to hold the baby carriage and help the mother, they ask the governing body in America: “Should we help the mother or not?” Imagine what religious organizations reduce grown people to. These people cannot make decisions on their own even in such simple matters! Because they are not allowed to. I published this letter too in my book. You will read it in a later subject under the title “The letter that went to the organization”.

If the ability to make decisions is what keeps us standing, then we must also decide to desire to possess it. That is, in order to make decisions, we must also make a decision. Are we going to decide to live, walk, run, laugh, and have fun spiritually standing on our own feet; or are we going to decide to insist on being bedridden, exactly like a cripple, always not using our leg muscles, being in need of others? In the matter of a correct faith belonging to God, will they walk on our behalf, or we? Even if they can walk, how are we going to run after them with crutches? Religious organizations never want you to develop. As an organization, they only want to develop themselves. And for them, to develop also means, first their own comfort, then numbers, money, wealth, becoming famous. Jesus Christ, in order to emphasize the wise and the foolish among those who believe in him, gave a beautiful example about people waiting to meet the bridegroom coming to a wedding. Those who were prepared were wise, those who did not prepare were foolish.

Let us certainly distance ourselves from those religious organizations that strive to bring us to torpor and in the end to make us into a nothing. Let us begin to develop our ability to make decisions again, to swiftly train ourselves in preparation for this. As Jesus told in his parable, those who came late were the foolish—let us not forget! (Please read this parable in Matthew 25:1-13 in its place.)

Because we fear responsibility, are we going to allow others to have dominion over our minds, our faith, our way of life, our literal organs, right down to our blood? And moreover with baseless things that are merely human commands, far removed from God. Indeed, by insistently giving authority to these organizations, religions, managers and saying, “now they will make decisions in our place,” are we going to suppose that we have freed ourselves from making decisions? Yes, perhaps we will free ourselves from making decisions, but will those who make decisions on our behalf be able to save us from the troubles that will come upon us? That is why I say that developing this “ability to make decisions” is one of the vital subjects we must think about very seriously.

As I said at the very beginning, we will surely make mistakes too. Let this not break our courage. A child too, when he begins to walk, falls to the ground countless times and gets up too. Because of this, do we forbid him to walk? And in any case, do not we grown-ups still fall from time to time? Edison, whom the teachers of many scientists whose inventions we benefit from—indeed those people’s own primary-school teachers—expelled from school saying, “You will amount to nothing,” is a very fine example on this subject. Edison, whom they expelled, had in his whole life only three months of schooling. Probably the Americans constantly hide this truth, lest a stain come to their education system. In the job he got on the railways, when he blew up the train wagon he was staying in as the result of the experiments he was doing, he was fired from that workplace too. But they were nonetheless determined people who knew what they were doing. Nothing could break their courage. Humanity literally reached light thanks to people like them. Such a person registered around 1300 patents. We know Edison only as having found the light bulb. Whereas he was someone with valuable inventions—from the telephone we use, to the fax, to the camera, to the light bulb—of which he pioneered nearly 2000. If they had been afraid and fled from responsibility, could they have done these things? If prohibitions had been placed on the things he investigated, if he had been hindered, could Edison have developed? Even if he had developed, it would perhaps have been difficult, indeed impossible, for him even to achieve one percent of his success. I have given one example each from thousands of experiences and people. And now, about spiritual subjects—faith, love of God, for the sake of the truth—look at what the Holy Scriptures write about the examples of people who walk in the path of “the truth,” which never leaves the Witnesses’ mouths, which they chew like gum:

Abel’s offering to God a better sacrifice than Cain came about through faith. On this subject too, the two brothers, making decisions on their own behalf, offered something to God. God accepted one’s and did not look at the other’s. Because his works were evil.

Through faith Noah, when warned by God about events that had not yet happened, out of the fear of God built an ark for the salvation of his household. With this he judged the world and became the heir of the righteousness that is based on faith. He trusted in God alone, and on this path he was alone with his family in the whole earth. He made a decision and obeyed and built the ark.

Through faith Abraham, when he was called to go to the place he would receive as an inheritance, obeyed God’s word and set out without knowing where he was going. He too had to make a decision. On this path, apart from his family, he was alone.

All these people died as believers. Even though they could not attain the things promised, they saw and greeted them from afar and openly acknowledged that they were strangers and guests on the earth. Those who speak so show that they are seeking a homeland. Had they thought of the country they left, they would have had the opportunity to return. But they desired a better one, that is, the heavenly one. For this reason God is not ashamed to be called their God. These people had to make decisions, and they made them. With the decisions they made, they are mentioned in God’s books with these words full of approval.

When Abraham was tested, by faith he offered Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham, who had received the promises, was about to sacrifice his only son. Yet God had said to him, “through Isaac your offspring shall be called.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead; and indeed he received Isaac back from death in a symbolic way. Abraham made these decisions without being under the command of any organization and manager. Yes, God commanded, and he decided to obey this command. Others, however, decide not to obey. Do not suppose that just because God calls, everyone goes to him like automatically wound-up robots. God always wants people to make decisions with their free will in order to come to him.

When Moses was born, his mother and father hid him for three months. Because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they did not fear the king’s decree. (Because at that time the Israelite male children born in Egypt were to be killed.) There was no one behind this husband and wife either. Neither the nation of Israel—whose children were also being killed, who could say what to whom—nor did they show this courage in the name of some other organization. They themselves decided on this courage stemming from love.

What more shall I say? If I were to tell the things concerning Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, time would not suffice. Through faith these conquered countries, established justice, obtained the things promised, shut the mouths of lions. They quenched raging fire, escaped and were saved from the edge of the sword. They found strength in weakness, grew powerful in battle, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead who were resurrected. Others, refusing to be released, endured tortures in the hope of rising again to a better life. Still others were mocked and scourged, indeed even chained and imprisoned. They were stoned, sawn in two, put to the sword and killed. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, suffered poverty, endured hardships, saw oppression. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered about in deserts, on mountains, in caves, and in underground hollows. Even though all these gained God’s approval through faith, none of them attained the thing promised. All the encouraging verses above about faith have been taken here and there from chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews in the Gospel. I wrote these to emphasize that it is also necessary to decide to believe. You too can open and read all the verses in their place.

All these people, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, Muhammad, and so many people, named and unnamed, whom we have not counted, all began on their own. On their own they first had to believe and then to make a decision, and they made correct decisions. They did not look at the majority and take fright. Even if they were mocked, even if they were tortured, even if they were chased by the sword, they believed and remained steadfast in their resolve. They were not stubborn, disobedient, contrary, rebellious people. On the contrary, in the writing about Moses:

“He was more humble than everyone living on the face of the earth.” (Numbers 12:3) it speaks. If these people started out on their own, opposed, did not bow down, and endured even death, they behaved so not because they were stubborn, but because they loved their Creator, righteousness, justice, the truth, and DECIDED to walk in that path. Blessed are they, blessed are those who decide to stand on their own feet. Blessed are the humble people who are sheep-like. Blessed are those who decide to be saved from donkeyhood, from carrying loads, from bearing the filth of others. Blessed are those who decide to make it their goal, in knowing the truth and in gaining knowledge about God, who is the true owner of the life he carries, to advance toward expertise, competence, maturity, perfection in making decisions about life.

Atatürk has very beautiful, idealistic words that he said for the sake of homeland and nation. Indeed, I said that these words are written on the walls not only in Turkey but in the armies of many countries as proverbs, to serve as encouragement. The religionists never like Atatürk. Is it because he was a sincere, upright, honest, idealistic person, or because he opposed religions and religionists? Without getting into any of these subjects, I will try to emphasize a truth from Atatürk’s words related to our subject. We all know, or have heard, his famous speech. In it, briefly; he speaks of a country being occupied by enemies, its armies scattered, weapons and every kind of necessary material destroyed, all the country’s institutions dominated by the enemy. In fact, when a person reads this speech giving himself to it and trying to understand it, he says inside: “There is no way of salvation left.” Because Atatürk knew that it was so, he shows an encouraging, courage-giving path of solution. By saying: “The power you need exists in the noble blood in your veins.” Let us do everything in our power to use and develop the free will God gave us—which depends on making decisions—this trait of ours. We cannot prevent others from having dominion over us, from ruling us, indeed even from killing us. God even says that sometimes we must obey those governments. All this, even if it is sometimes very hard, can be accepted. But regarding our faith, our love for God, in order to make decisions about the path we will walk in this matter, let us not be afraid, come what may. Whether or not everyone has noble blood I do not know, but in this matter of making decisions, God has placed the power we need in the creation of every human being. If we develop it, only then will we have raised the odds of making correct decisions too.

In this subject in which we want to be experts, perhaps we will not find any leader around us to train us—this is a truth too. When I told you all that the power we need exists in our creation, I emphasized that we need to do something. Just as turning the nourishment we take into energy is something within our power, so too the power and abilities within us we can bring out only by using them. Either we lie about all day with that nourishment, making paunches and fat; or we do sports and develop a healthy body with that energy, or we work and turn that energy into work. Developing ability is similar to this. Rather than sitting and waiting for what others will do on our behalf, we can advance toward becoming experts in gaining knowledge and making decisions on our own behalf. In the example about the radio, the simplest electronic device of our time, I compared myself with an expert. I wanted to dwell with these on the importance of being an expert. Otherwise, knowing or not knowing how a radio is made is not obligatory or vital. But let us see the developing of the decision-making trait that God expects from every human being as obligatory. By doing this, we will not only save ourselves, but will also have given the knowledge and encouragement that lead many to salvation. Is it possible to do this all alone? In fact it is hard, but it is not impossible. All those prophets and scientists were often alone in the things they did and discovered. Indeed, they had to struggle with obstacles and much opposition. We read again from the Holy Scriptures that the price of following the love of God and his principles is often greater still. Alongside this, the ease of gaining knowledge in our time is something our world has never lived through or seen in any of its ages. Many of the people we call ordinary possess these opportunities too. That is why let us take courage from these words given to us:

Let me tell you this: ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks the door will be opened.

Which father among you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

If then you, although you are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more certain is it that the Father in heaven will give Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Luke 11:9-13

With the courage these words give, let us not see ourselves as ownerless, as we have felt until now. Which of us, if he seeks God and his will with a whole and simple heart, with sincerity and earnestness, with righteousness and truth, and then pleads when he comes to an impasse in the matter of knowledge and understanding, will God say: “Oh, now he is cornered, let him perish in his ignorance”?! Would God do such a thing? The verses above show us the exact opposite of this. Moreover, rather than a corrupt, lying, wrong majority, a righteous, upright, and sincere aloneness is more constructive and makes it easier to find the truth. The teaching of religions on this subject is exactly the opposite. Again, as I said, they shamelessly say: “Rather than do what is right on my own, it is better that I do what is wrong together with the organization or my own religion.” In a sense, everyone bears witness to what he has chosen.

Here we must accept that we are under an obligation to make a distinction. Which one we will choose is something for everyone himself to know. One leads to eternal life, one to eternal hatred, shame, and death. (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)

Do not see the subject related to making decisions in my book as ending here. The whole book was written also with the aim of supporting this line of thought. Of course I want to encourage you to decide on what is good. But I say “encourage”; I do not say “I will make decisions on your behalf.” As long as you do not want it, no one but you can make decisions on your behalf. And if someone does, this does not affect God’s relationship with you. If, because they do evil, you do the same thing, you become evil in God’s eyes. And if, because they do good, you do good, this will not have much value in God’s eyes. In line with this logic, look at what God says:

The LORD of hosts says: “If a person carries holy meat in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt touches bread, or stew, or wine, or oil, or any food, does it become holy?” now ask the priest about the law. And the priests answered and said: “No.” And Haggai said: If someone who has become unclean from a corpse touches one of these things, does it become unclean? And the priests answered and said: It becomes unclean. And Haggai answered and said: “The LORD says: ‘So is this people, and so is this nation before me, and so is every work of their hands, and what they offer there is unclean.’” Haggai 2:11-14