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Trivia From Atheism to a Purposeful Life

Gentleman007

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As told by Fred N. Severud

ALTHOUGH I was raised in a very religious family in Norway, I became an atheist. Why? An incident in my early life helps to explain.

In 1909, when I was about ten years old, my little sister died at birth. My grandmother was frantic to get a minister to baptize the baby so she would not go to hell and burn forever. When no minister was available, she grabbed the dirty water she had just bathed the baby in, sprinkled it over her head, said a prayer and “sent her to heaven.”

“Why couldn’t we all go to heaven that easily?” I wondered. Seeds of doubt were sown that eventually caused me to lose all faith in God. I just could not understand what kind of God would torture people in a burning hell.

I also could not accept the idea that life on earth is just preparing us for heaven. What purpose is there to life? Is it just to live seventy or eighty years and then die? Those were questions begging for answers. So when the time came for my confirmation, I refused to be confirmed into a Church that worshiped such a seemingly unreasonable God. I had been going to church just to make my parents happy, but I would clench my teeth at the minister and say about him to myself, “You hypocrite!” Everyone who got confirmed got a new suit. But no confirmation and no new suit for me!

A New Direction to My Life

At the university I attended, for some reason I was the teacher’s favorite student. One day the teacher asked me to give a lecture to the class on the subject of evolution, which I did. As an atheist, I believed in evolution. Yet after the lecture, I told the teacher that there was one thing I did not understand.

“What happened before the eye developed?” I asked. The teacher answered that the eye started with some soft spots in the skull; millions of years went by and finally the eye developed. “You mean to say they just stumbled around not knowing where they were going?” I just wanted to know. I did not mean to argue.

But the teacher got so angry and embarrassed that he gave me a low grade. And that may have changed my whole life. You see, that bad grade disqualified me from being the leader of the cadets at the prestigious military school I attended. Had that not happened I might have chosen a military career. So instead I took up engineering.

I graduated as a civil and structural engineer, and I married a girl I had met while at the university. In 1923 we left our native Norway and headed for the United States, where I hoped to fulfill my ambition “to become the greatest engineer in the world.”

Then, an unexpected turn of events gave my life a new direction. Before we left Norway, our relatives had warned us not to speak about religion with my uncle Chris, in the United States. Why not? Because he was a bit “funny in the head” when it came to religion, we were told. He was a “Bible Student,” as Jehovah’s Witnesses were then called.

Well, upon arrival, who should meet us at the dock but Uncle Chris! And, yes, he did speak to us about his “strange religion,” but we marveled at his answers. ‘A God of love certainly does not torture souls in hell,’ he explained. ‘The earth has an eternal future in God’s purpose. And man was promised eternal life in perfect health right here on a paradise earth.’—You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now..

I must admit that I felt drawn to this kind of God, but I was somewhat skeptical. My wife, however, accepted all of it right away. I wanted to search more deeply to see if there were any flaws. Whenever my King James Bible seemed to disagree with what my uncle had said, I would do research, using Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. Everything came up in favor of what the Bible Students were saying.

Back in Norway we had had to study the Bible as part of our schooling. So I had the “pieces,” as with a jigsaw puzzle, but I did not have the “picture.” However, the more I studied with my uncle, the more I saw there was a place for every piece, with no pieces left over. Finally, in 1935, I too accepted what I was learning and soon was baptized.

I began to see a new direction to my life. I had to spend more time in pleasing God, while still supporting my growing family. Still interested in being a good engineer, I knew now that my life would be more satisfying by serving Jehovah God. Yet I also had to get my business on its feet. The more I studied the Bible, the more I saw that I had put the cart before the horse. First I must serve Jehovah, and then all else (life’s necessities) would be added. (You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.) And this is how it has worked out.

Jehovah’s Work Comes First

I had got a good business going by the time of the Depression in 1929. Then I couldn’t pay the wages of my staff, so I was forced to let all of them go. Later, as the economy began to pick up, I put in a bid on a job that would supply me with all the work I would need to get going again. However, quite a number of other engineers were also being considered for the job.

It was a housing job and various government guidelines had been stipulated. One was that there be flat concrete roofs with parapet walls. I knew that without special precautions the parapets would ***** at the corners (which, by the way, happened to thirty-nine other projects that I knew of) because of the conflict between the insulated concrete roof, which was heated in the winter, and the parapets, which were out in the cold. The architect saw the point and recommended me for the job. Little did I realize that my determination to put Jehovah’s work first was about to be tested.

At that time Jehovah’s Witnesses were the objects of intense opposition due to their neutral political stand and their public preaching of God’s Word. Arrests were rampant, especially in New Jersey, where I was living.

On a certain Wednesday I had an appointment in Washington, DC, to formulate the new contract. But the Friday before the appointment, at our meeting at the Kingdom Hall, a letter from the Watchtower Society was read in which all the surrounding congregations were asked to counteract the unlawful arrests of our brothers.

We were invited to make peaceful calls that Sunday (just three days before my appointment!) on the homes of the residents of some towns in New Jersey to explain the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses. If many would support the divisional campaigns, as they were called, a good witness could be given. But we had to expect to spend 120 days in jail. If I were to go to jail I could be sure of not getting the job I so badly needed. After praying for Jehovah’s direction, I signed up. Jehovah’s work came first!

When working our assigned territory, we were approached by a policeman who called out brusquely: “What are you doing here?” Immediately a strange feeling came over me. “The job is gone!” I thought to myself. “But Jehovah will take care of me.” Quickly, a sister in the car asked the policeman to direct her to the nearest service station, as she had to use the rest room.

“You just passed one,” he retorted.

“I didn’t need it then,” she answered.

So off we went to the service station. When we returned, fully expecting to be arrested, strangely there was no policeman, no arrest. Consequently I got the job after all!

Full Time in the Preaching Work

It was my earnest desire to spend more time in the preaching and teaching work. To this end, when rehiring my former employees after the Depression, I asked them to be partners. Why? Well, in that way I could spend only three days in the office and four days in the Bible preaching and teaching work.

“You’ll be out preaching all the time,” they said. “We’ll never see you.” I assured them I would come to the office as promised. So they agreed—they needed the work! Later, I took in more partners and reduced my office days to two.

I kept the goal of pioneering (full-time preaching work) before my children and all four of them have had a share in it, two daughters also serving for several years at the world headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses. When my youngest child was fifteen, I started pioneering.

Serving in Needy Areas

About the time I started pioneering, I asked the Watchtower Society where the need for kingdom preachers was greater. My family and I were directed to Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, near enough to my business that I could spend two days a week in New York and the rest of the week pioneering. There were only eight Witnesses in East Stroudsburg when we moved there. Twenty years later, there was a thriving congregation, consisting of many whom we had the privilege of helping to become Christians.

With such a strong group no longer needing our help, we felt it was time to seek out new fields where help was needed. The Society suggested an area near New York—häçkettstown, New Jersey. It was not long before a congregation was formed, then a second one.

One man I called on there, when I introduced myself, asked, “Where are we going to sit, inside or out?” You can imagine the puzzled look on my face. As it turned out, a short time before, in California, he had spent several hours talking to a Witness, which was the first time he had ever heard of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Witness, excited about the man’s interest, asked him, “When you get home, why don’t you listen to a Witness who comes around?”

“I thought she had sent you,” the man explained. But I just happened to be there in the regular house-to-house preaching work. This man is now an elder, and his wife and two daughters are in the full-time pioneer service.

Engineering Used to Jehovah’s Praise

In the late 1930’s, J. F. Rutherford, then president of the Watchtower Society, called on me to design a building to provide refuge for the Bethel family should intense persecution require their transfer to that location. Little did we know the future use of that building in Ithaca, New York—Gilead, a school designed to train missionaries for ministerial activity in foreign countries.

To keep up with the ever-increasing flow of Bible literature, there was a continuous need to expand the Watchtower Society’s printing facilities. Thus, in 1950 a new addition to the Bethel home was opened, as well as a new factory for printing Bibles and Bible literature. I had the privilege of designing both these buildings. Yet expansion was not limited to the Society’s facilities in Brooklyn. Rather, it was decided that other properties of the Society be used, near its farm in upstate New York. And once again it was my privilege to work on the plans.

In 1972, after I had been a pioneer for some twenty years, my wife’s health deteriorated, with disability in walking and speech. This made it necessary for me to stop pioneering. Nonetheless, my purpose in life is the same—to serve Jehovah God forever. I try to share in the preaching work every day. At eighty-two, I am still in fairly good health.

Worldly Prestige Versus Praising Jehovah

My career did not suffer from putting Jehovah’s interests first, as my business partners had feared. In fact, as an engineer I have had the privilege of helping to design many familiar structures, such as the Saint Louis, Missouri, Arch, “Gateway to the West”; the Toronto City Hall; Madison Square Garden and a number of others, both in the United States and in other parts of the world. However, rather than seeking glory in being an engineer, I have come to appreciate that the real glory is spiritual. (You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.) Any abilities we have are because of being made by our Grand Creator in his image.—You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now..

How meaningless and empty my life would have been if I had continued as an atheist! As You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now. says: “The senseless one has said in his heart: ‘There is no Jehovah.’” How glad I am that I was led to a really worthwhile goal that brings satisfaction and eternal life! And I have the prospect, upon finishing my earthly course faithfully, of seeing face to face the Creator whose very existence I once doubted.
 
Yung ayaw ko lng sa mga atheist yung i preach ka nila sa gusto nila e dapat respeto nalang kung ano gusto na religion ng tao di yung ipamukha sayo ang kanilang paniniwala..Kung yun ang gusto nila edi wow basta wag lang silang epal na gusto ng atensyon.
 
To be honest , ang bata ay kapag namatay lalo kung galing tiyan or pagkalabas mismo ay diretso agad sa heaven po. Walang kilalaman ang relihiyon sa kaligtasan ng mga tao.

Una sa lahat ay meron history kung papaano na develop ang relihiyon. Pangalawa , based on testimonial ng near-death experiencer kung saan niya nakita ang kapatid nito sa heaven which is ang kapatid mismo ay nanggaling sa tiyan ng ina.

Ang mga bata ay mga inosente iyan. Walang bahid na kasalanan. Ni hindi nga nila alam kung ano ang tama at kung ano ang mali unless ãdül† ang magtuturo sa kanila. Nasa bible verse din na sinasabi na it is easy for children to access in heaven kaya nga ang sabi , unless hindi raw tumulad ang mga ãdül† sa mga little children ay pahirapan po sila maka access to heaven.

Ang iniisip ata ng tao na sa relihiyon ang kaligtasan na tipong kapag baptize ng ganitong relihiyon , saved na ang soul mismo.

Wala sa relihiyon po ang kaligtasan pero ganyan ang belief ng nanay kaya nagkaroon siya ng fear na hindi maliligtas ang bata dahil hindi miembro ng specific religion na kahit dirty water ay ginamit na rin. Buti hindi nagkasakit ang bata sa dirty water na iyan.
 
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