By Adar Kielczewski

“That youngin is always asking so many questions, he’s sure to be a Philadelphia lawyer when he grows up,” Mr. Armstrong’s father said of young Herbert.

Herbert W. Armstrong, even from a very young age, was hungry for knowledge. He wanted to know why things were the way they were and how things were possible and how things worked. He had an inquiring, analytical mind that craved understanding. He fervently pursued the answers to his questions and quandaries. He continued asking until he received an answer.

As little children, many of us were like that. We wanted to know why. Even when given an answer, as a little child we still asked, “Why?” Children can sometimes pester adults with a steady stream of such questions. Somewhere in the process of growing up, we often lose that inquiring mind. We start to lazily accept whatever information we come across, whether from television, movies, newspapers, and books or acquaintances … without asking why?

But Mr. Armstrong did not allow this quest for knowledge to end. He was not mentally lazy; he continually wanted to get to the bottom of a matter. Whether pursuing a career in advertising or seeking and preaching the truth, he went after understanding in most everything, big or small.

Understanding can only come from searching out rock-hard, solid proof. It cannot come from simply accepting what one believes may be true, or what everyone else carelessly accepts.

One example of Mr. Armstrong’s diligence came not long after he got married. Mrs. Armstrong challenged her husband on which day should be kept as the true Sabbath. The religious world accepted Sunday, and she challenged him that the right day was Saturday. At the same time, he was studying evolution and the Bible’s statements of creation. His sister-in-law and the world of higher education accepted evolution.

Mr. Armstrong proved the truth on both of those challenges through long, laborious and intense hours of study. He proved Saturday was indeed the true Sabbath day and evolution was false. Mr. Armstrong said the answer “didn’t come easily or quickly. It required effort, zeal, determination, patience. And above all, a willingness to confess error when proved, and to confess truth even against my own will.”

Mr. Armstrong’s zeal and “Philadelphia lawyer” effort to obtain answers and understanding didn’t even stop there however.

Mr. Armstrong said, “That obsession for understanding was to have a great influence on founding the Plain Truth magazine and Ambassador College in later years.”

The world was and is full of magazines and colleges. But God used Mr. Armstrong’s unique, honest, zealous curiosity and pursuit of the truth to raise up the Plain Truth and Ambassador College.

How do you approach your Bible study? Are you mentally on fire? Do you put hard work and great effort into the things set before you like Mr. Armstrong did?

To learn more about Mr. Armstrong’s life, read chapter 1 of his Autobiography or check out the first “Armstrong Anecdote.”