Kingdom News No. 35

Will All People Ever Love One Another?

 Love of Neighbor Has Grown Cold

MILLIONS feel lost and miserable, with nowhere to turn. A retired businesswoman observed: ‘One evening a widow who lives on my floor knocked on my door and said she was lonely. I told her politely but bluntly that I was busy. She apologized for bothering me and left.’

Sadly, that very night, the widow committed suicide. Afterward, the businesswoman said that she had learned a “hard lesson.”

Lack of neighbor love is often tragic. During ethnic conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, formerly part of Yugoslavia, over a million were forced from their homes and tens of thousands were killed. By whom? “Our neighbors,” lamented a girl who had been driven from her village. “We knew them.”

In Rwanda hundreds of thousands of people were slaughtered, often by their own neighbors. “Hutu and Tutsi [lived] together, intermarrying, not caring or not even knowing who was a Hutu and who a Tutsi,” reported The New York Times. “Then something snapped,” and “the killings began.”

Similarly, Jews and Arabs in Israel live side by side, but many hate one another. The situation is the same with many Catholics and Protestants in Ireland and growing numbers of peoples in other countries. Never before in history has the world been so lacking in love.

Why Has Love of Neighbor Cooled Off?

Our Creator gives the answer. His Word, the Bible, calls the time in which we live “the last days.” This is a period during which, Bible prophecy says, people would have “no natural affection.” Regarding these “critical times hard to deal with,” also called in the Scriptures “the conclusion of the system of things,” Jesus Christ foretold that “the love of the greater number will cool off.”—2 Timothy 3:1-5; Matthew 24:3, 12.

Today’s lack of love, therefore, is part of the evidence that we are living in the last days of this world. Happily, it also means that this world of ungodly people will soon be replaced by a righteous new world ruled by love.—Matthew 24:3-14; 2 Peter 2:5; 3:7, 13.

But do we really have reason to believe that such a change is possible—that all people can learn to love one another and to live together at peace with one another?

 Love of Neighbor—A Reality

“Who really is my neighbor?” a first-century lawyer asked Jesus. No doubt he expected Jesus to say, ‘Your fellow Jews.’ But in a story about a neighborly Samaritan, Jesus showed that people of other nationalities also are our neighbors.—Luke 10:29-37; John 4:7-9.

Jesus emphasized that, next to love of God, love of neighbor should govern our lives. (Matthew 22:34-40) But has any group of people ever truly loved their neighbors? Early Christians did! They were noted for the love they had for others.—John 13:34, 35.

What about today? Is Christlike love practiced by anybody? The Encyclopedia Canadiana observes: “The work of Jehovah’s Witnesses is the revival and re-establishment of the primitive Christianity practised by Jesus and his disciples . . . All are brothers.”

What does that mean? It means that Jehovah’s Witnesses allow nothing—neither race, nationality, nor ethnic background—to cause them to hate their neighbors. Nor will they kill anyone, for they have figuratively beaten their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. (Isaiah 2:4) The Witnesses, in fact, are noted for taking the initiative to help their neighbors.—Galatians 6:10.

No wonder an editorial in California’s Sacramento Union noted: “Suffice it to say that if all the world lived by the creed of the Jehovah Witnesses there would be an end of bloodshed and hatred, and love would reign as king.” A writer in Hungary’s Ring magazine remarked: “I have come to the conclusion that if Jehovah’s Witnesses were the only ones living on the earth, wars would cease to exist, and the only duties of the policemen would be to control traffic and to issue passports.”

Admittedly though, a huge, worldwide change will be needed if all people are to love one another. How will that change come? (Please see the back page.)

 When All People Will Love One Another

A prayer Jesus Christ taught shows that a dramatic change is at hand. In his famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught us to pray: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”—Matthew 6:10, King James Version.

What is God’s Kingdom? It is a real government, one that rules from heaven. That is why it is called “the kingdom of the heavens.” Jesus, the “Prince of Peace,” has been appointed by his Father to be its ruler.—Matthew 10:7; Isaiah 9:6, 7; Psalm 72:1-8.

When God’s Kingdom comes, what will happen to this hate-filled world? “The kingdom,” will “crush and put an end” to all the corrupt governments of this world. (Daniel 2:44) The Bible explains: “The world is passing away . . . , but he that does the will of God remains forever.”—1 John 2:17.

Concerning God’s new world, the Bible says: “The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.” (Psalm 37:9-11, 29; Proverbs 2:21, 22) What a glorious time that will be! “Death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore.” (Revelation 21:4) Even dead ones will live again, and the entire earth will be transformed into a literal paradise.—Isaiah 11:6-9; 35:1, 2; Luke 23:43; Acts 24:15.

To live in God’s new world, we must love one another, even as God teaches us to do. (1 Thessalonians 4:9) An Oriental Bible student said: “I look forward to the time when, as the Bible promises, all people will have learned to love one another.” And we can be sure that God will keep his promises! “I have even spoken it,” he says, “I shall also do it.”—Isaiah 46:11.

But to enjoy the blessings under God’s Kingdom, you must take in Bible knowledge, as millions of honesthearted people worldwide are doing. (John 17:3) The 32-page brochure What Does God Require of Us? will help you. Obtain a copy by filling out the coupon provided on the previous page and sending it to the address nearest your home.

□ I would like to receive the brochure What Does God Require of Us?

□ Please contact me concerning a free home Bible study.

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Sniper and funeral in Bosnia: Reuters/Corbis-Bettmann