January 8

Do You Heed “No Trespassing” Signs?

“NO TRESPASSING” signs are a common sight. Usually they are erected to protect the property or the privacy of the owner on whose place the “No Trespassing” signs appear. At times they are for the purpose of protecting a lawn. Government military installations often have “No Trespassing” signs for security reasons. Then again, a “No Trespassing” sign may be erected to protect a would-be trespasser from harm, as in the case of high-power electrical installations. He who fails to heed such signs might get into difficulty and might even harm himself.

The Bible tells of such a literal “No Trespassing” sign in connection with the giving of God’s law at Mount Sinai. All the people were told to gather at the foot of Mount Sinai. Jehovah further told Moses: “You must set bounds for the people round about, saying, ‘Guard yourselves against going up into the mountain, and do not touch the edge of it. Anybody touching the mountain will positively be put to death.’” By means of this “No Trespassing” sign Jehovah God impressed upon the minds of the Israelites the awesomeness of the place, because it was here that he manifested himself to Israel and gave them his law.​—Ex. 19:12, 13.

For our own good the Bible contains what might be said to be many “No Trespassing” signs. For the first man Adam there was, in effect, a “No Trespassing” sign in regard to the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad, and Adam saw to it that Eve knew of the restriction. As Eve stated: “God has said, ‘You must not eat from it, no, you must not touch it that you do not die.’” Adam and Eve failed to heed that sign, with bad consequences to themselves and to their offspring. Yes, “by one man’s trespass many died.”​—Gen. 2:16, 17; 3:1-19; Rom. 5:15.

The Ten Commandments that Jehovah gave to Israel might be said to have consisted of a number of “No Trespassing” signs to protect the rights of God and of everyone’s fellowman. The first four protected God’s rights: No other gods were to be worshiped; no idols were to be made and bowed down to; God’s name was not to be used in a profane manner; man was not to toil secularly on Jehovah’s day, the sabbath. Safeguarding the rights of human creatures were the remaining six commandments, such as those directed against murder, adultery and stealing. In particular might the Tenth Commandment, against coveting, be said to be a “No Trespassing” sign. It said: “You must not desire . . . anything that belongs to your fellow man.”​—Ex. 20:3-17.

A warning example of one who violated one of God’s “No Trespassing” signs with disastrous results to himself was King Uzziah of Judah. He started out well, for we read that “he kept doing what was right in Jehovah’s eyes.” But success made him haughty and he trespassed onto territory strictly reserved for priests. Presumptuously he entered the sanctuary of the temple of Jehovah “to burn incense upon the altar of incense.” When eighty priests strenuously objected, Uzziah became enraged. For his presumptuousness Jehovah God struck him with leprosy. What a tragic ending to such a fine beginning!​—2 Chron. 26:1-21.

Today, among God’s “No Trespassing” signs that are heeded the least are those relating to sex. In this regard the apostle Paul clearly stated at 1 Thessalonians 4:3-6: “This is what God wills, the sanctifying of you, that you abstain from fornication; . . . that no one go to the point of harming and encroach upon the rights of his brother in this matter.”​—1 Thess. 4:3-6.

How can fornication be said to be the violation of one of God’s “No Trespassing” signs? In that the body of an individual Christian belongs to Jehovah God, by reason of his dedication, and by committing fornication the Christian is sinning against his own body. (1 Cor. 6:18) Since this is so, the Christian who commits fornication is, as it were, trespassing upon God’s property.

And certainly the command not to “go to the point of harming and encroach upon the rights of [a] brother in this matter” also constitutes a “No Trespassing” sign. It forbids taking liberties with the mate of another. Today it is a common custom in some places to wear wedding rings. It might be said that a wedding ring, on either a man or a woman, is also a “No Trespassing” sign. It shows that he or she belongs to another.

What will help us to heed these “No Trespassing” signs? God’s Word not only gives us these signs but also furnishes help in heeding them. One such help is the fear of Jehovah God that the Bible inculcates. We do well to fear God, “for our God is also a consuming fire.” And if we have that fear it will have a wholesome effect upon us, for we also read: “The fear of Jehovah means the hating of bad.” Trespassing on the rights of others is something bad. If we hate this form of badness we will not trespass.​—Heb. 12:29; Prov. 8:13.

Another great aid is the so-called “Golden Rule” that Jesus gave: “Just as you want men to do to you, do the same way to them.” We want others to respect our rights, our belongings, do we not? So we should respect theirs by heeding the “No Trespassing” signs.​—Luke 6:31.

What if others trespass against us? Then we do well to remember that we ourselves trespass at times and that ‘God has kindly forgiven us all our trespasses.’ (Col. 2:13) Since Jehovah God has kindly forgiven us our trespasses we should be willing to forgive the trespasses of others against us. In fact, it is to our own lasting welfare that we do so, for Jesus Christ, in commenting on his Model Prayer, said: “if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; whereas if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”​—Matt. 6:12-15.

Spaceship Earth in Deep Trouble

“ALL systems are go!” These were reassuring words to the three astronauts aboard Apollo 13 as it stood poised for its voyage to the moon and back. The success of the mission depended on the intricate life-support systems of the spacecraft; they would need to function with exactness throughout its nearly half-million-mile journey. The supplies of oxygen, water and electricity would have to be husbanded carefully. If one system went awry it could knock out other systems and endanger the men’s lives.

They did experience near disaster. But through constant communication with Ground Control and strict compliance with its instructions, the craft and crew were brought safely back to earth.

Our earth is in reality a giant spaceship and one that is in trouble, as earth’s physical environment is being thrown out of balance. It was not always this way. When the Creator put perfect human “passengers” on the earth, all its life-support systems were ready and functioning in complete harmony. Everything was in faultless balance. God made the reassuring pronouncement: ‘It is very good.’​—Gen. 1:31.

For the good of these first human inhabitants of earth God gave them certain instructions. Obedience to such would keep them on a safe course wherein they would “have in subjection . . . all the earth” and would “cultivate . . . and . . . take care of” their environment.​—Gen. 1:26; 2:15.

All life-support systems of the earth were designed to respond to man’s loving oversight. The whole globe was to become a paradise of beauty for a perfect human race to enjoy eternally. Only disobedience to his Creator would throw man and his environment out of balance.

The first man disobeyed his Creator and started doing things according to his own wisdom. This started the long chain of events that has brought us to the few remaining years of this system of things and an environmental defilement that now threatens all life on this planet.

Concern for Our Environment

Scientists recognize that the life-support arrangement of man’s environment is made up of many interrelated parts. The study of these parts is named “ecology.” This is the branch of biology that deals with the relationships living things have to one another and to their environment. The scientists who study these relationships are called “ecologists.”

Today ecologists deplore the general lack of discernment as to how much human life depends on keeping earth’s environment in balance. They realize that if one aspect of earth’s environment is thrown out of balance, it will in turn affect others, to the harm of man and other living creatures.

Consequently, concern for our environment is being expressed in the highest echelons of human government. For example, President Nixon of the United States in his State of the Union Message early in 1970 said: “The great question of the 70’s is: Shall we surrender our surroundings or shall we make peace with nature and begin making reparations for the damage we have done to our air, to our land, and to our water?”

Nevertheless, many well-informed men of science believe time is running out or has already run out for bringing about a reversal of the rapid trend toward total environmental wreckage of spaceship earth.

Atmosphere Endangered

Without air we cannot live. Pure air is made up of 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen and 1 percent divided between argon, water vapor and carbon dioxide. Maintaining the balance involves the use and renewal of these gases by plant, soil, animal and human life.

A dramatic example of this marvelous interlocking of air, soil, plant, animal and human life is seen in the nitrogen cycle. Nitrogen is required as food for all plants and fleshly creatures but cannot be assimilated in its natural state. However, nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil take this gas from the air in a wonderfully efficient way, changing it into plant food. In turn, animals and humans feed on the plants. When these die, other bacteria move in to decompose the dead plants and flesh. Ammonia results.

The remaining moves to complete the cycle are achieved by two distinct bacterial groups. The first changes the ammonia into nitrates and the other releases free nitrogen into the atmosphere. A similar vital interplay between plant life and air is seen in the way plants take in carbon dioxide through their leaves and release oxygen. Refraining from interfering with such a finely balanced system can assure us a lasting supply of clean and healthful air.

Instead of dealing kindly with his atmospheric environment, man has used it as a dumping ground. Ever since the so-called industrial age began he has spewed hundreds of millions of tons of pollutants into it, thinking that air currents would carry them off into limitless space. No thought was given as to what tomorrow might bring forth, yet it is as a noted writer once said: “Sooner or later, everybody sits down to a banquet of consequences.”

It appears that humans are now sitting down to that “banquet.” Time magazine of February 2, 1970, stated: “What most Americans now breathe is closer to ambient filth than to air.” The Toronto Star Weekly of April 11, 1970, called it the “Exhausted Air.” Automobiles are said to be the worst offenders, causing some 60 percent of all air pollution in North American cities. However, one jet aircraft spews out pollutants equal to what is emitted by one thousand automobiles! United States industry vomits 172 million tons of smoke and gases into the air each year. When the “ambient filth” of New York’s atmosphere was recently checked it showed that a person in that city daily breathes in the same amount of poisonous fumes as if he smoked thirty-eight cigarettes a day!

In 1968, a leading meteorologist, Morris Neiburger, showed the criticalness of the situation by saying:

“It is clear that as the amount of pollution . . . increases, a stage will be reached at which the cleansing processes in the atmosphere are no longer adequate to purify the air before it reaches or returns to sources where it receives additional pollution. . . . As time goes on the amount of pollution throughout the world will then increase. Eventually the concentration of toxic substances will reach and exceed lethal concentrations and life on earth will pass away.”

With the arrival of the very large urban units and ever-larger highways to cope with more and more cars, the balanced arrangement between plants, air and soil suffers dangerous interference. It is estimated that one million acres of land are added each year to the 60 million acres in the United States that have already gone out of plant and tree production due to highways and general urbanization. Now it is noted that oxygen and nitrogen cycles are not functioning effectively. The atmosphere is becoming overloaded with poisonous gases such as carbon monoxide and dioxide plus nitrogen oxides (which cause eye irritation and infection). Pesticides have played havoc with vital soil bacteria and insects helpful to plants, besides contributing to the general air pollution.

No wonder Life magazine of January 3, 1970, stated: “Scientists have solid experimental and theoretical evidence to support . . . predictions” such as: “In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution,” and “increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will affect earth’s temperature, leading to mass flooding or a new ice age.”

Do you not think it would be wise for mankind to husband the rapidly dwindling atmospheric resources as the astronauts did when some of their life-support systems failed?

Is Our Water Supply Secure?

Some persons would be inclined to say, Yes, as they point to the fact that 71 percent of earth’s surface is presently covered with water. In actuality, though, a little less than 1 percent of the some 325 million cubic miles of water on the globe is available for man’s use. If that becomes polluted, what then? Man must remember that he cannot live without water either. He does not want to become like the shipwrecked mariner who said: “Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink!” Unhappily, this is almost the situation man finds himself in today as he views a shrinking supply of clean water.

Now, why should this be the case? Because rivers have been used as a dumping area for human and industrial wastes. Till recently the rivers and lakes have been able to purify themselves. However, once this self-purification system is taxed beyond its capability to function in proper balance, these water sources lose their precious life-supporting qualities.

Lake Erie, on the border between Canada and the United States, is an outstanding example of what happens when water becomes overburdened with pollutants. This once-beautiful body of water has been so befouled by human and industrial wastes plus chemical phosphates and nitrates that ecologists speak of it as “dying.” Detergent phosphates, after having made the family wash gleaming white, end up in the lake to promote an overgrowth of algae (as do fertilizer nitrates). When the slimy green alga dies and goes into the process of decay, it uses up so much oxygen that the bacterial action once capable of cleaning up organic wastes in the lake is rendered useless. This applies to rivers too.

One would suppose that due to the immensity of the oceans, pollution problems would be minimal. Such is not the case. On February 19, 1970, United States Senator Gaylord Nelson warned of potential disaster to our oceans. He said: “Like all other systems of the planet, the sea is a fragile environment. . . . Upset the intricate ecological systems of the ocean and you run the grave risk of throwing all natural systems so seriously out of balance that the planet will no longer sustain any life. . . . We are already on the way to causing drastic and lasting damage to the ocean and environment.”

This is confirmed by students of the subject who warn that the entire ecology of the ocean may be drastically changed in another five years. They foresee diminishing supplies of food from the oceans. Even now, every kind of fish and animal life in the seas is affected, including the penguins of Antarctica! Is there a particular reason?

Recent studies indicate that the insecticide DDT, carried to the ends of the earth by ocean currents, is a chief contributor to this potential ecological disaster. DDT slows down the process of photosynthesis, the process by which green plants make the sun’s energy available to living creatures. All plant and animal life in the seas is dependent on this process.

Especially significant is the threat to innumerable multitudes of tiny water plants called diatoms. These live close to the surface of the oceans and produce much of earth’s oxygen supply. Without this vital element all of earth’s creatures would find themselves in the same position as the astronauts would have been if their oxygen supply had completely failed!

When we add to this all the other poisons constantly flowing into the oceans from polluted rivers, as well as one million tons of crude oil being spilled or dumped into the seas each year, it simply spells out one thing​—spaceship earth is indeed in deep trouble!

What to Do?

In a belated effort to save spaceship earth its passengers have been notified by news media of the crisis. Laws have been passed to control pollution. Some good has resulted. The Thames River in England, once “one of the dirtiest in the world,” has since supported some sixty varieties of fish, but recently, alas! a garbage strike increased the pollution again.

Improvement can take place when people care about their environment. What can you do? Farmers and gardeners can remember that there is nothing wrong with compost or other organic fertilizers or the use of crop rotation to build up the soil. And could it be that you do not need to use your car as much as you do, or could you walk to a nearby store? Is it possible to curb water waste in your home? As housewives, can you use good old laundry soap instead of water-polluting phosphate detergents?

Though the Bible shows that Almighty God will straighten out conditions on earth by means of his kingdom, this is no reason for God-fearing persons today to go along with those who are ‘ruining their way upon the earth.’ (Gen. 6:12) Do what you can now on a personal and a family basis to refrain from adding to the pollution of earth’s environment. And in due time, with the direction provided by the Creator by means of his kingdom, all earth’s life-support systems will be restored to perfect balance and be approved as “very good.”

Brighter than the Sun

One of the stars nearest to the earth is Arcturus. It is eighty times as bright as the sun and has a diameter about thirty times as great. Being the fourth-brightest star in the heavens, it can be easily seen with the unaided eye.

The Value of Toys

A LITTLE pail and shovel, some water and soil or sand​—that combination works wonders for a small child! With these tools he creates a castle, a bridge, a spaceship, a cave​—any number of things his mind can conceive and delight in. Indeed, a toy may be anything a child gets his hands on to play with.

Toys come in all sizes and shapes, colors and designs. The majority are manufactured to amuse children, stimulate them into action and, hopefully, educate them as well.

Although they are as varied as they are numerous, the simple ones have proved to be the most durable. Balls, ropes, dolls, jacks, building blocks, marbles, model cars and trucks have been used for decades and are still popular with each new generation.

Others have been improved upon over the years. There are now dolls that do almost as many things as a live baby. A few toys even rival complicated computers, being especially geared to create problems for the child to solve and help him to reason and make decisions.

Then, too, there is a vast supply of unconventional toys. For when a child wants to play, he can convert almost anything around him into a plaything, as parents well know. It may be a piece of string, a rock, a flowerpot, a frying pan, a key chain, an old shoe, an ordinary box or a paper bag. As long as it holds his interest, it can serve as an electric light to his imagination, a bridge to the adult world and a train to that wonderful world of make-believe.

Why Some Are Not Used

Generally, the most practical toys are purchased by parents or close relatives, since they are the logical ones to know what will suit the child best. However, despite the wide variety of interesting toys that are now available, some end up unused. Why is this?

For one thing, some parents do not give as much thought to their children’s toys as they could. For instance, a mother may be out shopping when a toy catches her attention. If the color and price are right, she may hurriedly buy it without thinking enough about its value.

Yet her choice could often be wiser if she had asked herself some questions: Is it safe? Do the children have enough of this type of toy? Will this encourage them to think?

Some adults mistakingly purchase toys that fascinate themselves rather than the child. Have you ever done this?

To illustrate, consider a father who buys an expensive train set supposedly for his two-year-old son. He spends hours assembling it. Then when it is set up, he is captivated by it. But the youngster may watch it for a short time and then surprise his father by going off and playing with a paper bag instead. Or he may even take his toy hammer and proceed to hammer away on the set. This is a natural thing for a two-year-old to do, since he does not know how intricate the mechanism of the set is or its cost. He knows only that it moves around, it attracts him and he wants to do something with it rather than sit quietly and watch it. Now, this type of toy would be ideal for an older boy who could appreciate its value and even help to assemble it. But it is entirely too complex for one so young.

Therefore, a child’s age and mental capacity are factors that are essential to consider in selecting toys that he will enjoy.

Simple Ones Usually the Best

Parents usually find through experience that the general rule in toy buying is to keep it simple. Most youngsters will pass up an expensive toy in preference to one that is simple in design and function. Have you not found this to be so with your children?

It is surely not hard to understand, is it? An uncomplicated toy provides the freedom of movement and expression that is so necessary if a young child’s imagination is to work. One has only to observe a little boy at the beach with his pail and shovel to appreciate this fact.

Observation and Individual Personality

But how can you know which kind of toys your children will like best? Well, one of the most effective means of determining that would be to observe them at their play. For instance, that dump truck your son favors so much​—why does he prefer it to all his other toys? Have you asked yourself that question? Have you really looked at that truck? Oh, of course you have noticed it. You may have stumbled over it many times. But, really, did you see it through his eyes? Do you know how many different things it becomes for him in his play?

And what about your daughter’s favorite doll? It may be coming apart at the seams, but she refuses to part with it. Why? Do you ever observe her when she plays with it? The way she handles that doll could be revealing. Children not only imitate the adults around them in their play but sometimes use toys to express themselves in many little ways. Yes, observation can be very helpful.

Perhaps, too, you may have found that each child must be dealt with individually as far as toys are concerned. A toy that is popular with one child may be ignored by another because toys mean different things to different children. For some, they are a means of expression: The child may use them to make noise, playact and do many other things. For others, toys are a source of amusement and entertainment. These children may be more docile and may prefer toys that allow them to be quiet spectators rather than vigorous participants. One would have to observe each child to determine which kind of toy will best suit his personality.

Stimulating Curiosity and Imagination

Play has been referred to as a child’s work, and if that be true, then toys are certainly his tools. They teach him to investigate, observe, reason, remember, build, and coordinate his mind and body. To make sure that your children’s toys do the same, why not take an inventory of their toys? With each toy in hand, examine it and ask yourself if it does any of the following things:

One of the first things a toy should do a child is arouse his curiosity. If it does not, it will rarely hold his interest for long. That is one of the reasons why a toy for a baby is purposely oversized and vivid in color. It first attracts his attention. Once he notices it, then he wants to know more about it. He will grasp at it, shake it, squeeze it, pound it and, of course, it will usually end up in his mouth for a taste. Frequently, he may break it in the process. But even then it has served its purpose. It has given him greater enjoyment and some new information to add to his growing fund of knowledge.

Also, does a toy stimulate your child’s imagination? Once a toy triggers a child’s imagination, there is no limit to what the item can become to him. It need not be a formal toy. Your three-year-old son can take one of your shoes, and in seconds it becomes for him a sailboat on the high seas; a cave in which refugees are hid; an ark in which stuffed, as well as live, animals and insects are housed, including perhaps a dead frog or a live caterpillar. Any number of toys could qualify. It is not the materials used that are important to him but what these become through his mind’s eye. A complicated mechanical toy that does all the work itself would rob him of much of his pleasure in make-believe.

The same principle holds true with girls. How little girls delight in dressing up in their mother’s clothes and playing house with their dolls! Why, a little girl may line up all her dolls on her bed, and they become schoolchildren listening to a stern lecture from their teacher; next, they are a row of sick patients being ministered to by a sympathetic nurse; still another time, they become a silent first-row audience observing her great stage performance.

In this connection, a word of caution would be in order. There are now too many things that tend to stifle children from using their imagination. Television and many other gadgets have robbed children of much of the simple pleasure of yesteryear. As a result, reading has become almost a lost art. And this is a pity, for reading can be a means of opening up new worlds of learning to a child. In the days when listening to the radio was a popular pastime, a roomful of children could listen to a program and then relate dozens of different concepts from the same broadcast.

Although television is certainly a marvelous means of educating the young, it can stunt their imaginative powers. Many children sit immobile in front of a television screen for hours at a time with little mental stimulation. In fact, a study by the Carnegie Corporation, the Ford Foundation and the United States Office of Education found that “preschool youngsters spend 54 hours a week watching television.” They put the blame partly on the parents who use television as an electronic baby-sitter. Surely, concerned parents will try to arrest this trend by providing entertainment that will not only amuse their children but, more importantly, stimulate them to think.

Aids to Physical Growth

When a child gets past the exploratory and imaginary stages of his development, his play becomes much more physical. Toys that help him to develop physically will be most practical then. By the time he is three years old, his toys usually include those that improve his coordination and strengthen his reflexes.

Tricycles and scooters are excellent developing leg muscles. Then as he moves about in these mobile toys, he is able to learn to coordinate his leg movements with his arms in steering. Next, he may advance to jumping rope, use of skates and swings and then to the bicycle. And although much of this physical activity is hard work for him, he enjoys the feeling of movement and especially speed. It gives him pleasure and laughter and helps him to grow at the same time.

As a child’s play becomes more physical, he may tend to concentrate on the toys that exercise only his body. It is up to his parents to see to it that his play remains balanced. They can encourage his use of books, puzzles and various table games to offset activity that is solely physical.

Developing Various Skills

Some children give evidence of having unusual skills from a very early age. In fact, a child’s favorite plaything is often related to his ability. The little boy who invariably prefers his planes and toys with motors may show an aptitude along mechanical lines when he grows up. And the four-year-old who often goes to the piano with great interest may have musical talent. Of course, you may not have a budding Mozart or Einstein under your roof. But if your child does show some talent, he can be encouraged with certain toys.

There are various toy instruments that are inexpensive, and parents can use these to determine if future lessons to develop these skills are warranted. Miniature pianos, various stringed instruments, xylophones, harmonicas, accordions and the currently popular guitar are some, to name just a few. There are also clay sets, chemistry sets and water-color paint sets.

Even if your children are not especially talented in any of the arts, they can still enjoy expressing themselves in ways unknown to them previously. Toys can cause their little worlds to grow and expand.

Future Selections

Now as you proceed to analyze your children’s toys, you may find that some are not as effective as you would like them to be for one reason or another. There is no need, however, to throw them out unless, of course, they are unsafe or unwise. But you can resolve to be more selective in the future. Safety should certainly be a factor. Toys that are poorly constructed can break easily and cause harm. They all should be examined for sharp edges, rusting, peeling of paint and many other features that could be dangerous, especially for the very young.

Additionally, some toys may be quite safe but still unwise for children to have. Just because toys are sold in a store or may be currently popular with the majority, this will not unduly influence those who follow godly principles. The toys that methodically train a child to be violent and pretend to “kill” are not in keeping with the Christian command to “have intense love for one another” and to “seek peace and pursue it.” (1 Pet. 3:11; 4:8) So principles besides safety and popularity govern Christian parents’ choice of toys.

Thus, as you resolve to select toys more wisely in the future, you may want to give more consideration to what each toy will help your child to accomplish: Will it arouse his curiosity and imagination? Will it improve his coordination? Will it stimulate his creative ability? And, most important of all, will it make him think? Indeed, toys are a valuable aid in a child’s mental and physical growth, and you, as parents, can use them as tools to guide that growth.

German High Court Rules on Full-Time Ministers

By “Awake!” correspondent in West Germany

JEHOVAH‘S WITNESSES are well known in Germany for not having compromised for the sake of expediency during Hitler’s Reich. People of other religions, including clergymen, heiled Hitler, saluted the Nazi flag, and supported Hitler’s armies in their aggressive warfare. Nearly all Catholic priests and Protestant ministers were guilty of compromising with Hitler’s regime. These clergymen were granted exemption from military service during that time.

But Jehovah’s witnesses steadfastly refused to heil Hitler, salute the Nazi flag, or support his armies. They too claimed exemption as ministers of religion. But they were refused exemption and were persecuted. Thousands of them were sent to Nazi death camps and many were killed.

No Exemption

After World War II, military conscription was again introduced in Germany, in 1956. Catholic priests and clergymen of other religions were again given exemption. At first, Jehovah’s witnesses were also exempted. But then alternative service requirements were introduced, and Jehovah’s witnesses were not granted exemption from this service.

In 1962 the first sentence under this new law was pronounced upon a young minister of Jehovah’s witnesses. He had refused to report for service alternative to military conscription. But since ministers of state churches and other denominations were not required to perform this service, this minister of Jehovah’s witnesses claimed that he was also eligible for exemption under the West German constitution. However, his appeal was rejected. He was sentenced to four months in prison.

Many similar cases followed, with jail sentences given. Among those sentenced were ministers of Jehovah’s witnesses who devoted full time to ministerial activities. An appeal for constitutional rights was submitted in an attempt to reverse these decisions and obtain legal recognition as ministers exempt from all conscription.

In October of 1963 further evidence was submitted to the court. This outlined in great detail the fact that full-time ministers of Jehovah’s witnesses are ordained ministers entitled to the exemption provided by the constitution.

The appeal was not acted upon. The case remained pending for seven years. During all that time full-time ministers of Jehovah’s witnesses continued to be sentenced to prison for periods of from one to sixteen months.

Also, a new situation arose. Upon release from prison, these ministers were again called up for alternative service. When they refused, they were imprisoned a second time. Some were imprisoned a third time. Hence, a further appeal for constitutional rights was submitted to the Federal Constitutional Court of West Germany. The appeal contested the constitutionality of repeated convictions for the same violation.

High Court Decides

On March 7, 1968, the Federal Constitutional Court handed down its decision. It declared that repeated sentencing in these cases was indeed unconstitutional. It noted that no one can be punished twice for the same act according to basic law.

Yet, this did not entirely solve the problem. Jehovah’s witnesses continued to be jailed the first time for refusing conscription and alternative service not required of ministers of other religions.

Finally, on December 11, 1969, in Berlin, the 8th Senate of the Administrative Court of the Federal Government handed down a decision. It was of great significance regarding the status of full-time ministers of Jehovah’s witnesses serving as special pioneers and overseers of Christian congregations.

This highest administrative court of Germany declared these full-time ministers exempt from military service and alternative service as well. This reversed the decision taken by the 7th Senate of this same court several years earlier.

Arguments Against

Previously, the 7th Senate had contended that such full-time ministers of Jehovah’s witnesses did not merit exemption because they did not fill a position similar to that of ministers of other religions. It upheld a lower court’s decision that the positions did not “correspond” because of the differences in study and instruction given Catholic or Protestant ministers.

The court had also maintained: “A minister is only deserving of protection, according to the law, when his position before the congregation of believers stands out in that he alone is allowed to perform the ceremonies of the religious cult and he is conferred a special dignity, which belongs exclusively to the profession of minister; in contrast to this, the religious group of Jehovah’s witnesses do not recognize any class as laity, nor any clergy class.”

The court had also stated: “Decisive is the image that a denomination normally has of a minister; this image is in the larger denominations the position of a minister who as a pastor of his flock does a pastoral work, without which the ceremonial life practically succumbs.”

Hence, these previous decisions had maintained that Jehovah’s witnesses who were serving full time did not have the “image” of a clergyman. That was, and is, certainly true. And Jehovah’s witnesses do not want that “image.” But this did not mean that they were not ministers in the true sense of the word.

Court Upholds Rights

In its final decision of December 11, 1969, the 8th Senate disagreed with these previous interpretations. Instead, in the case at issue of a special pioneer and overseer, it upheld the rights granted by law to other ministers serving full time regardless of their religion. It stated: “The neutrality of the State toward the religious comprehensions of its citizens prohibits the State from evaluating the teaching and institutes of religious associations and other denominations.”

The court showed that the accepted “image” was not the important thing, but the duties performed were. It said: “From the principle of religious parity, however, it is inferred that here, for reasons founded on constitutional rights, the ‘pattern’ or ‘vocational image’ of a minister of both large ‘Christian denominations [Roman Catholic and Evangelical] as developed through their church order and theological interpretation may not be used as a measuring rod for the ministers of other denominations. Differences in faith and dogmas, which are understood as peculiar to the self-representation of both large Christian denominations, are not to be taken into consideration.”

Thus, the court declared that it would not be possible to force a minister of a religion other than the two large denominations to conform to a certain standard that these churches had built up for themselves. Religious equality and exemption could not be made dependent upon any particular religion’s idea of the office of minister. With Jehovah’s witnesses, it is not an “office” of “title” or “image” that is vital in establishing their ministry, but the spiritual services that they perform.

In regard to what constitutes a full-time minister, the court said: “Whether a ministerial activity . . . ‘corresponds’ to the activities that are assigned to the [Roman Catholic and Evangelical] ministers can only be decided upon according to outward characteristics, without taking into consideration a certain ‘pattern’ determined theologically or by church law.” It was pointed out that ministerial activity would be considered a “full-time” activity when the minister devoted his full labor to ministering.

Nor should just one type of schooling or preparation be the determining factor. The court decided that “what preparatory instruction and verification are required when someone is assigned to a permanent full-time activity as a minister and how this assignment is made is also of no special significance. The State leaves it up to the religious convictions and teachings of all religious associations to determine under which circumstances duties are assigned, the same as these are correspondingly attended to by the named ministers of the large churches.”

This firm decision by the German high court for freedom of religious conviction is commendable. It is similar to the noteworthy decisions of other countries where the rights of the individual are highly held.

However, long before this decision was handed down, Jehovah’s witnesses had shown that they are indeed ordained ministers of the Most High God Jehovah. They have long been known throughout all of Germany for their zealous ministerial work. That activity has helped tens of thousands of righteously disposed persons in Germany to gain a knowledge of God’s Word, the Bible, and has enabled them to serve their Creator.

Nevertheless, the court’s decision is a fine legal acknowledgment of the God-given ordination of such full-time ministers of Jehovah.

Smallest Antelope

● The smallest antelope is the dik-dik, found mainly in eastern Africa. The largest dik-diks are only about fourteen or fifteen inches high at the shoulder. They are very delicate and have tiny hooves and short tails.

How an Egg Is Made

HAVE you ever given thought to how an egg is made? It is quite a complicated as well as orderly process, a fascinating one.

The development of an egg takes place in the ovary and oviduct. Chickens have only one ovary, on the left side. Certain wild birds, however, have two ovaries and oviducts. The ovary in a chicken might be likened to a bunch of grapes, with the many ova in various stages of development. The most ova ever found in one chicken was 3,065, and the greatest number of eggs any one chicken laid in her lifetime, as far as observed by man, is said to have been 1,515 in eight years.

The egg-producing process of a chicken takes about twenty-four hours. In less than an hour after a chicken has laid an egg another yolk has reached its full size, at which time it consists of six layers. In wild birds the sixth layer depends upon the presence of a male bird. If no male bird is on hand the female cannot produce her egg. Domestic fowl, though, can keep on laying eggs without ever seeing a rooster.

Can there be any purpose in this? Indeed there is. The purpose served by wild birds in laying eggs is the reproduction of their species, and so the presence of the male is required for mating. But domestic chickens also lay eggs for human consumption, and for this purpose a male bird is not needed.

Once the yolk has been fully formed or is ripe, it drops off the ovarian stem into the oviduct or egg tube, which consists of several sections. In the first section, known as the infundibulum, the egg is fertilized if the chicken has mated. Its stay in this section is but a matter of minutes; then it passes to the next section, the magnum. As the egg moves through this section the albumin is added, layer upon layer, four in all, a process that takes about four hours. By then it has also reached the next section, the isthmus, where two membranes, an inner and an outer, are added to cover the albumin layers.

These latter two membranes are completed in about an hour and ten minutes, then the egg reaches the uterus or shell gland, where it tarries for some nineteen hours. When the outer and inner membranes were first added they fit snugly over the egg, but soon they loosen up and so in the uterus the first five hours are consumed in filling out the membranes with water and minerals, a process termed “plumping” the egg. Then for the next fourteen hours several layers of eggshell are added. After that the cuticle or skin is supplied, giving the egg its characteristic color. The egg then moves on to the vagina and is expelled by the chicken.

By now you may well be asking, Who instructed the chicken in the making of an egg? How does she know how long the egg has to be in each section?

Furthermore, the producing of an eggshell presents quite a challenge to a chicken. The blood of a laying chicken at any one time contains only 25 milligrams of calcium (non-layers and roosters have only about one-third as much), yet while producing an eggshell the chicken uses 125 milligrams per hour. Where, then, does she get this extra calcium? The original source, of course, is the food she eats, the chicken extracting the calcium from her intestines. But still she is unable to absorb calcium from this source as quickly as she needs it.

So what does she do? She draws it from calcium reserves found in the ‘medullary bones’ located within the cavities of most of her regular bones. These secondary bones are not found in male chickens or in chickens too young or too old to lay eggs. This system is so efficient that a hen can mobilize as much as 10 percent of the total calcium in her bones in one day if her diet is very low in calcium. However, if her diet continues low she cannot keep this up and so first compensates by laying eggs with thinner shells. If a serious shortage of calcium persists, the chicken quits laying altogether rather than laying eggs without shells. Who taught her how to grow extra bones so as to have sufficient calcium for eggshells?

It is indeed interesting to note the facts of how a chicken egg is made. Truly there is evidence in it of wisdom and design. It adds its testimony to countless other wonders of visible creation that there is indeed an all-wise and almighty Creator, whom the Bible identifies as Jehovah God.

Acne​—the Teen-Ager’s Woe

ARE you a teen-age youth who is troubled with acne? Do not take it too seriously. It no doubt looks far worse to you than it does to others. You may be particularly sensitive about it because you have become very conscious of your appearance, quite likely due to your budding interest in the opposite sex.

In fact, if you are a boy, your having acne might even be said to be something for which to be thankful. How so? you ask. In that, for one thing, it is evidence that you are not a eunuch. Eunuchs are not plagued with acne, for acne is triggered by the male or androgenic hormones. Proof of this is seen in that eunuchs get acne when they are given male hormones. (Female hormones have the opposite effect. That is why some doctors give these female hormones to girls bothered with acne.) And for another thing, since acne in both males and females is a result of increased activity of what are called “male hormones,” it might be said to be an indication that you are progressing physically, and it is hoped also mentally and emotionally, toward adulthood.

But just how does this hormone work to cause acne?

Your skin consists of several main layers. The upper layer, known as the epidermis, may be subdivided into a number of layers, the topmost of which might be likened to shingles on a roof. Beneath the epidermis is the dermis, in which are found the blood vessels, nerves, the sweat and oil glands and the hair roots. Sweat glands have their own openings or pores leading from the dermis to the top of the skin. The hairs rest in tiny openings alongside which are from two to five oil glands that lubricate the skin as well as keep it soft and smooth and serve to protect it.

At puberty the “male hormone,” in both boys and girls, seems to increase the oil production of these glands. Also it appears that the cells of the upper layer of skin grow more rapidly than they are shed. As a result some 80 percent of both girls and boys have a bout with acne, boys more severely than girls, but the girls earlier than the boys. A severe case of acne is invariably associated with a very oily skin, which condition often continues even after the acne disappears. Another explanation could be that the approach of puberty puts a strain on the kidneys, with the result that the skin is overburdened with the problem of removing impurities from the blood. It is a known fact that sweating has a beneficial effect on kidney patients.

Aggravating Factors

Since increased hormonal activity accompanies puberty, does that mean that nothing can be done about acne? Not necessarily, even though it is quite likely that in severe cases susceptibility to acne is inherited. This is seen from the fact that youths with severe cases of acne often have parents who were likewise plagued in their youth.

Among the things that might aggravate acne are failure to keep the skin clean, or the use of irritating soaps or the habit of squeezing blackheads or pimples.

In view of the fact that oiliness of the skin is associated with acne, exposure to oils could make it worse. Thus if one’s occupation required one to be around or in touch with oil or oil products, this could worsen one’s acne. An interesting report appeared in Archives of Dermatology, May 1970, on the subject of “pomade acne.” This was found to afflict Africans who make use of pomades to keep their hair straight. Interestingly, it showed that ordinary Vaseline or mineral oil products were far less likely to cause an acne condition than were the fancy, high-priced and highly advertised products.

It is also generally recognized that emotional problems can aggravate or cause acne. Thus Dr. Morris Fishbein, a leading medical author and editor, noted that “even antagonism between the acne sufferer and parents or close associates” can cause a persistent case of acne. And so it is not surprising that leading dermatologists, such as Dr. Gordon Sauer, hold that nervous tension, as when youths worry unduly over examinations or school sports, as well as a lack of sufficient rest and sleep can be responsible for acne.

Many years ago it was believed that sex had something to do with acne, as it accompanied puberty, when youth becomes sex conscious. However, while modern medical authorities, by a large majority, strongly stress that there is just no connection between masturbation and acne, there still could be a relationship, indirectly. In what way? In that if the practice creates an emotional problem, causing one to worry about it, this could have a bearing on one’s having acne. But youths can be afflicted with acne without engaging in this practice, and, on the other hand, they could well be indulging in it and yet not have acne.

And finally there is the matter of diet. While for ever so many years skin specialists were prone to hold that diet played a decisive role in acne, the medical profession by and large has discarded the view that diet has any bearing on it.

What Can Be Done About It?

There are two avenues of approach open to one afflicted with acne, and both can be utilized. There is the topical remedy. That is, the remedy is applied locally, to the skin. There is general agreement that, since acne is worse in the winter than in the summer, sunshine has a beneficial effect on acne. However, not so general is the agreement as to the use of sunlamps in treating acne. If they are used, care must be exercised so that one does not burn the skin. It is best to start with very short periods of exposure to the sunlamp and then gradually increase the amount.

Dermatologists generally recommend extra precautions in keeping the skin clean. Recommended by latest writers on the subject is that the skin be cleansed often and thoroughly with a soap that has a great deal of drying effect. This could be an old-fashioned laundry soap or some modern medicated soap. Since it is usually not convenient to wash the face often every day, these skin specialists recommend astringent lotions. Swimming is also said to be of help. In fact, according to such modern authorities as Dr. Milton Ross, the acne problem is basically a matter of “a few ounces of soap, medication and conscientious hard work.” This may often, though not always, be the case.

The Systemic Approach

The systemic approach considers acne as more or less a symptom and tries to get at the contributing causes. This approach recognizes that stress is likely to play a prominent role in acne. So the situation might be improved if you learn not to worry unduly about school examinations, sports events or personal problems. Especially try to cooperate with your parents, appreciate their good points and do not exaggerate in your mind their shortcomings. This may go far in relieving tension at home. Remember, the Bible says that love builds up and covers over others’ weaknesses. Love in your family circle may well make the difference between your having a light case or a severe case of acne.​—1 Cor. 8:1; 1 Pet. 4:8.

Recommended also is exercise, for that which improves your general health will also work against acne. It therefore follows that you should see to it that you get sufficient rest and sleep. Learn to exercise self-control by turning off the TV set when it is time for sleep.

Vitamins are recommended by some. While in certain cases they have not proved effective, in other cases they have. And while vitamin A is the vitamin usually prescribed for acne sufferers, the B, C and D vitamins are also said to be helpful.

What about diet? Since the modern trend is to ignore diet almost entirely in dealing with the trouble, what should a teen-ager who has a serious acne problem do?

Do not be like the young woman who wrote to a leading medical authority, complaining about persistent acne in spite of doctors and medication and who said she kept eating sweets and pastry because the doctors said that diet had no bearing on acne. Rather, be wise and experiment. Find out for yourself. A well-balanced diet is essential for everyone’s health. Professor of Dermatology Dr. Sauer recommends: DO NOT EAT chocolate, peanut butter, ice cream and such things. Avoid excesses of sweets and fats, especially French fried potatoes and spicy foods. Go easy on oysters and like seafoods. Try to do without nerve and headache medicines. If such self-denial brings relief, is it not worth while? On the other hand, be sure to eat enough fruits and vegetables.

Why not follow these suggestions for two or three weeks and, if no improvement is noted, it may be that your remedy lies in a different direction. It may be that you need extra vitamins, exercise, more rest and sleep to get rid of tensions. Or you may want to go to a dermatologist for medical treatment.

But, after all is said and done, it is well to remember a few basic principles, you teen-agers with the acne problem. Concentrate on developing a good, sunny disposition and the fine qualities that make people enjoy your company. Make it a point to be always neat and clean. Do not get impatient with the problem, for most likely you will find it to be but a temporary affliction. Remember that it can even be a blessing in disguise if it makes you less vain and more sympathetic with the suffering that other persons have to endure. Since ever so many persons had the same problem in their youth, most of them will understand. Appreciate and thank God for the blessings you do have, not least of which is youth and strength.​—Prov. 20:29.

Variety of Flowers

There are about 200,000 known kinds of flowers on earth. They range in size from water blossoms so small they can be seen only with a microscope, to tropical flowers that are three feet wide. Some kinds of flowers have petals. Others look like stars, saucers or balloons. Some even have shapes that resemble insects, spiders or birds. Many flowers have smells that attract the birds or insects that help fertilize them.

“Snowmen” of Japan

BY “AWAKE!” CORRESPONDENT IN JAPAN

WHAT fun! Has it not often been a child’s delight to build a snowman? But in Sapporo, in Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, they have super snowmen. Some of these weigh over a thousand tons, and are breathtaking in their artistic detail. There also are snow animals, birds and fishes, snow gods, snow trains and jumbo jets, snow houses, pagodas and castles​—a virtual world modeled in snow!

It is a short-lived world, however​—just four days in late January or early February. Then it is pulverized back into formless snow and carted away.

The site of this festival in snow, Sapporo, is called “Japan’s City of Youth.” Though little more than one hundred years old, it has blossomed into a bustling metropolis of 930,000 people. Strangely, a recent snow model depicted “Sapporo’s One-Millionth Citizen” as a bleary-eyed individual with just two bottom teeth. Most of the city’s hardy populace look healthier than that!

Japanese cities generally grew out of groups of feudal villages, with narrow, winding alleys for streets. But Sapporo is different. Designed with the aid of British and American town planners, it has wide, straight boulevards, and a 330-foot-wide park runs east and west through the center of the city. This is lined with lilac and acacia trees, which blend with green lawns and colorful beds of flowers in summer. However, it is a contrast in white in wintertime, and especially during the festival in snow.

A Festival That Snowballed

This festival dates from about 1950. To brighten the drudgery of the north’s long winter, the children were organized to build snow models, for fun and exercise. As the festival grew larger, the city fathers saw big possibilities in using it to popularize Sapporo. The festival has now snowballed into one of mammoth proportions.

A solid snow platform is constructed for each exhibit, and wooden scaffoldings are anchored into this base. These must be sturdy, as a thousand-ton avalanche of snow and ice can be dangerous to the viewer! Several years ago, a replica of Noah’s ark collapsed during construction, and had to be done over again. Had the builders simply followed the blueprint given in the Bible book of Genesis, instead of the imaginary pattern of the movie “The Bible,” they would no doubt have produced a sturdier ark. But at least the animals were beautifully accurate, true-to-life representations.

For the 1970 exhibition, ancient history was represented in a beautifully “carved” representation, forty-five feet high and one hundred feet broad, of the Abu-Simbel Rock Temple of Egypt, said to have been built by Ramses II in celebration of his conquest of the Sudan. This was complete with pharaohs, winged lions and hieroglyphics, which looked just as baffling to the Japanese as Japanese writing does to outsiders.

Modern history was featured at another exhibition site, where the visitor could make his ‘first big steps’ among craters of the moon, but with feet crunching snow instead of moon dust. Alongside, two snowman astronauts, a snow lunar module and a snow Apollo 11 rocket lent realism to the scene.

A Child’s Delight in Snow and Ice

However, the “show” is mainly a child’s delight. For here, depicted in snow, are many of the stories, from Japan and from the West, that have been told and retold to children down through the centuries. One display, stretching the width of the city park, depicts Princess Snow White arriving at “the dazzling castle of the Prince.” She comes by “bullet” train, accompanied by the dwarfs, two of whom sit astride the train. A tremendous Gulliver, weighing probably two thousand tons, lies stretched across the park. Snow models of children perform winter sports around his waist while real children in colorful berets and jerseys cluster around his feet to have their pictures taken.

In the next block of the park there is a white-haired, white-faced Urashima Taro, the Rip Van Winkle of Japan, riding out of Japanese folklore on a hundred-ton all-white turtle.

Around the larger models are arrayed many smaller exhibits, including household animals, foxes, badgers and bears. How the children love to hug these life-size animals at close quarters, and to climb up on their icy backs!

As a variation, one full block displays exhibits fashioned out of clear ice! Outstanding among these is a seven-tiered pagoda, its icicle-like structure sparkling with colored lights at night. Nearby, chiseled delicately and skillfully out of ice blocks, are to be seen a farmhouse, barn and farm animals. There is also a treasure ship and a veritable menagerie in ice: frogs, a penguin, a camel, a cobra, a swan, a “black” cat, a bear (safely tied to the fence), a crab, a turtle and arctic dogs.

Snow Gods and Men Demolished

Since Japan is a Buddhist country, a monstrous statue of the Bosatsu-Hanka Buddha, standing thirty-six feet in height, is displayed prominently at the central park. But even “Buddha,” though exquisitely carved on the exterior, is just like any other man-made image inside​—only a little colder in Sapporo. He is solid enough to weather most storms, although a fubuki (blizzard) during the festival can be hard on his visitors. And if soft snow does accumulate in his eyes and ears, fire trucks and ladders are on hand to hose and brush it out again. For four crisp days and four illuminated nights, Buddha reigns along with his fellow gods and exhibits.

After these four transitory days of glory, all the exhibits of gods and men and others must be demolished, as they would be a danger to children and other passersby if left to be decomposed by the elements. Already, on the morning after the festival, “Buddha” has lost a finger. Soon, workers are busy with pick and shovel, destroying him and his fellows from the top down. Sometimes these “gods” receive a parting dispensation of sake wine, poured between their icy teeth, to steady them against the blows of the pick-and-shovel men.

In a sense, this demolition work on “Buddha” represents what many of the thinking citizens of Sapporo are now doing. This city, and indeed the entire snow-swept island of Hokkaido, is proving to be one of the most fruitful fields for Kingdom witnessing in Japan. As Jehovah’s witnesses preach from the Holy Bible to these humble people, many of them have come to realize that “Buddha,” however beautifully sculptured, is still merely an idol, and that, as the Bible states, “an idol is nothing in the world.” (1 Cor. 8:4; Ps. 115:4-8) In their hearts they are demolishing the “Buddha” idea, just as completely as workmen demolish the gods of the snow festival.

Though the festival in snow brings forth many striking and graceful masterpieces in art, these are man-made and last but for a few days. And can any of these begin to compare with the loveliness of the snowy landscape that Jehovah weaves through the countryside each wintertime? This He has been doing for thousands of years. Snow models, like the gods some of them represent, come and go, but the magnificent cycles of Jehovah’s earthly arrangement will go on forever, to the pleasurable enjoyment of those who love him. It will be even as he promised long ago, in the time of Noah: “All the days the earth continues, seed sowing and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, will never cease.”​—Gen. 8:22.

How Camels Beat the Heat

◆ Physiology professor Knut Schmidt-Nielsen conducted a study of camels in the Sahara Desert. His findings reveal how the camel, marvelously designed by the Creator, is able to endure the extreme heat of his environment:

“In the burning heat of the desert an inanimate object such as a rock may reach a temperature of more than 150 degrees F. A camel in such an environment, like a man, maintains a tolerable body temperature by sweating. But where the temperature of the man remains virtually constant as the day grows hotter, the temperature of the camel increases slowly to about 105 degrees. As the temperature of the camel rises, the animal sweats very little; only when its temperature reaches 105 degrees does it sweat freely. The camel’s elevated temperature also lessens its absorption of heat, which of course depends on the difference between the temperature of its body and that of the environment.

“The camel lowers the heat load on its body still further by letting its temperature fall below normal during the cool desert night. At dawn its temperature may have dropped as low as 93 degrees. Thus much of the day will elapse before the animal’s body heats up to 105 degrees and sweating must set in. As a result of its flexible body temperature the camel sweats little except during the hottest hours of the day, where a man in the same environment perspires almost from sunrise to sunset. . . .

“The camel employs camel-hair insulation to lower its heat load still further. Even during the summer, when the camel sheds much of its wool, it retains a layer several inches thick on its back where the sun beats down. When we sheared the wool from one of our camels, we found that the shorn animal produced 60 per cent more sweat than an unshorn one. . . .

“The camel’s hump also helps indirectly to lessen the heat load on the animal. Nearly all mammals possess a food reserve in the form of fat, but in most of them the fat is distributed fairly uniformly over the body just beneath the skin. In having its fat concentrated in one place the camel lacks insulation between its body and its skin, where evaporative cooling takes place. The absence of insulation facilitates the flow of heat outward, just as the insulating wool slows the flow of heat inward.”

We Are Going to Build a House

By “Awake!” correspondent in Mexico

HOUSING is one of man’s most pressing problems. Millions of persons do not have a house in which to live. Millions of others live in overcrowded quarters. So it can be a real advantage to know how to build a house.

It has long been common for humans to build their houses from materials immediately available. Ancient Egyptians and Babylonians built their homes with adobe, which is a material made from clay. In some places today this material is still used. For instance, in Mexico and the southwestern United States adobe houses are common. In fact, adobe is the building material most often used in rural Mexico.

Houses built with adobe can be long-lasting. Some have endured for centuries. They are cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Although methods of constructing adobe houses will vary from place to place, let us consider the method generally used in Mexico.

Preparing the Adobe Bricks

First, a good clay is selected. It should be free of stones and have the least possible amount of sand. If the clay has much sand, the adobe will be very brittle.

An excavation then is made in the ground. Here the clay is kneaded, and sufficient water is added to make a firm clay mud. Then hay, straw, pine needles or the hair of animals is mixed in. This serves as a bond to tie the mixture together. Care is exercised so that the material added to the clay mud does not exceed 20 percent of the final product.

Wooden molds are used to form the adobe bricks. These molds are called garrillas. The size mold that is most commonly used in Mexico is 15-3/4 inches long, 12 inches wide and about three inches thick.

To prevent the adobe bricks from sticking to them, the molds are moistened. Then the prepared mixture is poured into the molds. The mixture is soft and easy to manage. It is pressed and manipulated with the hands to fill out the corners of the mold.

The brick is not left in the mold to dry. Rather, as soon as the brick is firm enough, the mold is taken off and the brick is left to lie on the ground. Until they harden sufficiently the bricks are allowed to lie flat on the ground. Then they are placed on edge so that their drying is more rapid and complete. The drying takes from two to three weeks. These dried adobe bricks are now ready for use in building a house.

Building an Adobe House

First, we gather the things we will need for the construction work. These include a tape measure and plumb bob. We will also need a spool of thread as a guide, so that the rows of bricks will be straight. Necessary, too, is a trowel and a rough wooden box or trough in which to put the mortar.

An important factor in building a long-lasting adobe house is the foundation. It ought to be made of stone. A stone foundation will prevent the moisture in the ground from rising in the wall and weakening the adobe bricks. Stone is good for use in the corners of the house. The stone strengthens the structure and protects it from hard knocks and wear.

After the stone foundation is laid, we waterproof the top layer of stones with asphalt. This will prevent the penetration of water up into the adobe bricks. Moisture can cause the wall to disintegrate. This is why adobe is not a suitable building material in cold or damp regions.

Once the foundation of the wall is completed, we begin to lay the adobe bricks. They are laid in much the same way as ordinary bricks are. We make sure that the bricks are laid never more than one and a quarter inches apart. We also make sure that the bricks overlap, so that they are never in line vertically one above the other.

The mortar that we use to hold the bricks together is adobe. It is the same material as the bricks themselves, only it is fresh adobe that is soft and easy to manage. We mix small stones into the mortar. These help to strengthen and preserve the wall.

As the bricks are laid in the wall, we keep checking to see that the wall is straight vertically. We also make sure that it is level horizontally. We have prepared a simple wooden framework with strings attached to serve as a guide so that we do not build a crooked wall.

Once the walls are up, we plaster them inside and out with the adobe mortar. This gives the walls the appearance of being one solid piece.

Thus, in a short time, our house nears completion. It has a remarkable solidity that you may not have thought possible. Later we will improve the house’s appearance by whitewashing the walls with a coat of lime or white plaster.

Of course, we also need a roof. The one that we will put on will match our house’s typical rustic construction. We will make the roof with a framework of wood, and with roof tile of baked clay. A straw roof could also be used. In many places it is the custom to make the roof with wide overhanging eaves. These protect the adobe walls from the rain, which would damage them.

So there it is! We have finished our house. It has a simple, romantic aspect that characterizes houses constructed of adobe.

Someday you may want to build a house. You may be able to do the work yourself, and at a very low cost for materials, if you build it with adobe.

A Rabbi’s Commendation

A Jewish woman in Detroit, Michigan, wanted to learn the Bible. One day she asked her husband for permission to go to a church or synagogue to do this. When he refused, she replied, “You just wait and see. Someone will come and want to teach me the Bible.” That very afternoon her door was the first one at which Jehovah’s witnesses called in that area. She eagerly accepted their offer to help her learn the Bible, something for which she had been praying.

After studying the Bible for some time this woman told her husband that she wanted to be baptized as one of Jehovah’s witnesses. He became very upset and called a rabbi. The rabbi’s comments were most interesting. He said: “This is a free country. We can worship the way we want to. Jehovah’s witnesses are fine people. Their worship is clean and pure. I have nothing against them, except that they use the New Testament and we don’t. Besides, it is written, ‘choose for yourself whom you will worship!’”

A Mother’s Respect for Life

AT THE beginning of 1970, Mrs. B— of New York city began suffering from internal bleeding. When it persisted, she decided to consult a doctor.

On January 29, she was examined by a reportedly reputable doctor in the Bronx. He said that Mrs. B— was pregnant, although she had been carefully taking birth-control pills. However, he said that there were no signs of life, and doubted that the fetus was alive. The vaginal bleeding was thought to originate from growths in the areas of her kidney and womb.

The same day she was sent to a Manhattan clinic for tests. The following Thursday, February 5, the results of these tests were revealed. They showed that Mrs. B— was pregnant. However, the doctor still felt that the fetus would not live.

Abortion Recommended

Since he saw no hope of a normal birth, the doctor recommended an abortion. He suggested a “D and C,” or dilatation and curettage. In this, the embryo or fetus is scraped from the wall of the womb. The doctor explained that unless this was done the infection of the dead child would eventually endanger her life.

Mrs. B— declared that as long as there was any possibility that there was life in her womb, she could not consent to an abortion, since this would be against God’s law. As one of Jehovah’s witnesses she knew that an induced abortion is murder in God’s eyes. (Ex. 21:22, 23; 1 John 3:15; Rev. 22:15) Her respect for God’s view on life came first.

At this the doctor called her mother, who was waiting outside, and repeated his recommendation. However, Mrs. B— again refused, and the doctor disclaimed any responsibility for what might result.

After two more visits in February, he still felt the same, although tests continued to prove positive, showing that there was a continued pregnancy.

Also Recommends Abortion

In March, Mrs. B— was referred to another doctor in New York. After his first examination, he said that it appeared that the baby was not alive. He too recommended an abortion, but said it was now too late for a “D and C,” since that is usually performed early in pregnancy.

At this stage of pregnancy an abortion is handled differently. One type is similar to a cesarean operation, where by surgery entry is made into the womb to remove the fetus. Or it can be performed by injecting a saline solution through the abdomen, killing the fetus and inducing labor.

This second doctor stated that it would be just a matter of time before she would abort naturally anyhow. Sooner or later, he felt, the body would expel the fetus, since he believed it was not alive.

Another Diagnosis

An incident that took place during this time is also of interest. One day, due to her bleeding and weakened state, Mrs. B— had a fainting spell. She fell down unconscious.

Her sister rushed her to a hospital on Long Island. There X rays were taken, and the report was issued that there was no baby in her womb at all.

However, Mrs. B—’s sister, a registered nurse, asked to see the X rays. She inquired as to what the large dark area was in the location of her womb. She was told that this was only the “stool,” resulting from constipation.

But when her sister asked why Mrs. B—’s abdomen was protruding if there was no pregnancy, she was told that what Mrs. B— had was only “beer stomach.” Yet, during her pregnancy Mrs. B— did not drink beer or alcoholic beverages of any kind.

As events later turned out, the diagnosis could not have been more mistaken.

Signs of Life

In May, the second doctor began to acknowledge that there were possible signs of life. He said that Mrs. B— had carried the fetus so long that there was now a possibility of birth. But since he no longer delivered babies, he turned her case over to another doctor in the Bronx.

This doctor examined Mrs. B— and gave her the first positive assurance that the baby was indeed alive. He began making preparations for her to give birth at Jewish Memorial Hospital in Manhattan.

During a brief stay at this hospital for false labor on September 4, X rays were taken. Mrs. B— was told that there were indications that the baby would be too small. And there was also talk of a possibly deformed or abnormal child. This had also been mentioned by other doctors previously.

The false labor was not pursued to try to force a birth, as it was felt that the child should have time to develop naturally. But the doctor did say that if she did not deliver by the end of September, they would arrange for a cesarean delivery. By that time the baby would have been quite a few weeks overdue.

A Baby Boy

On September 19, 1970, Mrs. B— again went to the hospital. This time it was to give birth in the normal way to a 6-pound, 15-ounce bouncing baby boy, normal in every respect! No cesarean operation was necessary. Now Mr. and Mrs. B— have a boy to go with their family of three girls.

After the birth of her baby, Mrs. B— agreed to stay and have another operation for the removal of the growths. However, nurses pressured her to have a blood transfusion. They felt she would ‘risk her life’ if she refused. When she did refuse because of its being against God’s law, they said her action was “awful.” Yet some of these very nurses assisted other women to have abortions. Mrs. B— reminded them of their inconsistency in pressuring her to ‘save life’ but then helping to kill other life.​—Acts 15:20, 29.

Mrs. B— reasoned that it would be best to return home and, under her doctor’s care, take the time to build up her strength and blood. In this way she would be in a better condition for the operation later.

This entire experience shows the wisdom of obeying the laws of God and not being stampeded into premature action. The first two doctors undoubtedly advised in sincerity, but their recommendations would have cost a life. By putting God’s laws first, life was preserved, the result of ‘obeying God as ruler rather than man.’​—Acts 5:29.

When February Had Thirty Days

● February had thirty days until the time of Julius Caesar. Caesar took one day off to add to the month named after him, July. The emperor Augustus took another day off to add to August, the month named after him.

“Your Word Is Truth”

Is a Change of Religion Too Difficult?

ARE you one of multitudes who have become disillusioned with their religion? Have you perhaps found that it is not so solidly founded on Bible truth as you had been led to believe? Despite your new viewpoint, do you find it difficult to make a change in your religion? If this is the case, do not lose courage. Love for God can give the spiritual strength needed to make such a change. God wants those worshiping him to worship with spirit and with truth. (John 4:23) So it is important to associate with those whose religion is founded on Bible truth.

Perhaps you have spent time studying the Bible with one of Jehovah’s witnesses. In a brief space of time you have learned basic Bible truths that you did not learn in all your years with your present religion. You have discovered that the Bible is filled with information that can lead persons to everlasting life in happiness. So why now hesitate to cut all ties with a religion that you know fails to preach the whole truth about God’s purposes?

Could it be that your relatives have persuaded you not to make a complete break from false religion? Do they argue that if the old religion was good enough for grandfather and his parents it ought to be good enough for you? But now, if your grandparents were alive today, what course would they follow? Were they alert, thinking persons? Then do you believe that they would observe all the changes that have taken place in the world and the churches without making any move?

Suppose your grandfather could witness the trend toward downgrading the Bible by clergy and laity of today. If he could observe the rapid deterioration of morals among “church” people and the rebellion of priests and people against church policy, would he be content to sit pat? And if he could gain the accurate knowledge of Bible teaching you have gained, what do you think he would do? Would he permit relatives and family members to prevent him from taking a course he knew was right?

It may be that your parents are content to see all these drastic changes without making any move, and expect you to adopt the same attitude. You have learned that children should be ‘obedient to their parents.’ (Col. 3:20) But what does that include? What if your parents required you to do something that is contrary to what God requires? What would you do? If you truly love God, you will put his will first. This is the right thing to do. (Matt. 10:37) And it is God’s will that honest-hearted persons get out of the Babylonish world empire of false religion​—make a clean break from it.​—Rev. 18:4.

Perhaps it is not relatives who are holding you back. It may be fear that you will lose your friends. You may feel that you are not strong enough to go against the popular tide of opinion. You may fear what they might say about your change of religion. But surely, as against fear of displeasing the true God, fear of mere humans should be of little account. That is why the Bible tells us: “Trembling at men is what lays a snare, but he that is trusting in Jehovah will be protected.” (Prov. 29:25) If you depend on Jehovah for his promised protection, the views and opinions of your former associates need not cause you to worry.

Besides, in the association of true worshipers of Jehovah at the Kingdom Hall you will find satisfying, genuine friends who will be by your side in good times and bad. Only in such association will you find the truth of the inspired scripture: “A true companion is loving all the time, and is a brother that is born for when there is distress.”​—Prov. 17:17.

Then, it may be that long-standing traditions in your community make it difficult to break away. These traditions may hold you in membership of some false religion out of fear that you will not get a proper burial. Such a fear is groundless, for those who have attended funerals conducted by Jehovah’s witnesses can testify that it is always an upbuilding experience. The hope of the resurrection, so convincingly presented, offers real comfort to the survivors, and what is more, the funerals are conducted without charge.

Perhaps you say to yourself, “I’m too old to change my religion.” But are you too old to go to a doctor when you are ill? If you value life, then it is not too late to make the change. Think of Suba Sesay, of Port Loko, Sierra Leone. He changed his religion when he was 107 years of age! And do you know what he said? “If it pleases Jehovah God to overlook my past life and accept me, why should I feel too old to change?”

A change to true religion does require some adjustments in one’s way of life, that is true. People who have bad habits and practices may hesitate to give them up in order to make the change. Customs, such as polygamy, that are contrary to God’s will are permitted in most religions. But they are not allowed among Jehovah’s worshipers. If you see that these customs and practices are wrong, then God holds you responsible. Remember the warning words of Jesus Christ: “This is the basis for judgment, that the light has come into the world but men have loved the darkness rather than the light, [why?] for their works were wicked. For he that practices vile things hates the light and does not come to the light, in order that his works may not be reproved.”​—John 3:19, 20.

Consider this illustration: A bridled horse or a loaded donkey must perform the will of its master. It is useless for the animal to balk or kick against the spurs or goad, for it is inevitable that the will of the master shall be done. Thus, when Saul the Pharisee kept persecuting Christians, the Lord Jesus told him: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? To keep kicking against the goads makes it hard for you.” (Acts 26:14) Anyone who balks at taking the course clearly marked out for true worshipers of God only makes more difficulty for himself, and risks loss of life.

Much less difficult it is to make the change to right religion, even as did Abraham, who grew up among worshipers of the moon god, Rahab the harlot, Ruth the Moabitess, Mary the Jewish mother of Jesus and a host of others. Would you not rather follow the lead of such God-fearing men and women and be classified with them than with the cowardly ones who will never share the blessings of God’s kingdom? (Rev. 21:8) By seeking God’s help through prayer and then resolutely moving forward to carry out his will for you, you can prove for yourself and others that a change to the right religion is not too difficult.

Watching the World

Disaster in Pakistan

◆ The devastating cyclone and tidal wave that hit East Pakistan in November are being called the twentieth century’s worst “natural” disaster. Estimates of the number dead run from 175,000 to half a million or more. However, the extent of the disaster is reflected, not only in the number of dead, but also in the pitiful conditions faced by the survivors.

Living Cell Created?

◆ Newspaper headlines late in 1970 declared: ‘Biologists Report Synthesis of Living Cell.’ This gave some the impression that scientists had created a living cell. But nothing of the kind had taken place. What Buffalo, New York, scientists had done was to dismember one-celled amoebas and then put them back together using parts of other amoebas. When different strains of amoebas were used, most died out.

Peking Wins Majority

◆ For the first time since balloting began in 1950, Communist China won a majority of votes in the annual attempt to seat her in the United Nations. The vote was 51 to 49, with 25 nations abstaining. However, since a two-thirds majority is required, Peking fell short by 16 votes. But the trend is unmistakable, and some predict U.N. membership for Communist China within a few years.

Communist Leader at Vatican

◆ Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko had what was described as “an unusually long audience with Pope Paul” at the Vatican. Some observers took Gromyko’s visit as another sign of the Vatican’s attempts to improve relations with the communists. Communist Yugoslavia and the Vatican had renewed diplomatic relations in August.

Churches Bless Marxist

◆ After the new Marxist president, Dr. Salvador Allende Gossens, had taken the oath of office before Chile’s Congress, all of the traditional religions in the country gathered together in the Santiago cathedral to give thanks to God. In the presence of many Communist delegations, among the seventy-five nations represented, Cardinal Raúl Silva Henriquez applied the prophecies of Isaiah 57:14, 15; 58:6 and Isa 61:1 to the new Marxist government. He declared that “the kingdom we are awaiting for begins to be built here.” Five prayers imploring God’s blessing on the new government were read by a Catholic monsignor, a Lutheran pastor, Episcopal, Methodist and Pentecostal bishops.

‘Churches Reject Christ’

◆ Lay theologian William Stringfellow stated that “the apostasy of the contemporary American churches is so like the original rejection of Christ . . . by the Jews.” He added: “It is the awful, if appropriate, fate of white churches to be so burdened by inherited, cumulative, corporate guilt​—for genocide, slavery, war, waste, greed—​that they become incapacitated to confront, confess and be freed from the guilt.”

Religious Recession Deepens

◆ Religious commentator Louis Cassels wrote: “‘We’re having the worst [religious] recession in 25 years, and I don’t see any recovery in sight,’ said a prominent church leader. He happened to be an Episcopalian, but the same statement could be made about many other major denominations. The religious recession has been developing for several years. It is reflected in virtually every available index of public interest in religion.”

“Growing Phenomenally”

◆ Baptist church historian H. L. McManus of Georgia acknowledged the decline of the major religions, but then said: “Some fringe groups eventually become big denominations, which is what very likely will happen to the Jehovah’s witnesses, now becoming one of the great Protestant denominations. It’s growing phenomenally.” Of course, Jehovah’s witnesses are not a “Protestant” denomination, but his description of their growth is accurate. In 1970, while most churches showed declines in priests and ministers, Jehovah’s witnesses increased more than 10 percent world wide, reaching a peak of over 1,480,000 active ministers in 206 lands.

A Cold Preventive

◆ Dr. Linus Pauling of Stanford University declared that the common cold can be successfully prevented or treated by large doses of vitamin C, ascorbic acid. He stated that where experiments did not show good results, the amount used had been too small. He suggested that for financial reasons many drug manufacturers and medical journals have tried to hide evidence that vitamin C is beneficial in preventing and treating colds. Dr. Pauling recommended one or two grams a day for cold prevention, and when a cold occurs, four grams a day until the symptoms disappear.

World Population

◆ As of July 1, 1970, the world’s population was an estimated 3,550,000,000 persons. That represented an increase of 72 million in one year, an average of about 200,000 persons a day.

Health Gains Menaced

◆ Gains in the health of people in ‘developing’ countries are menaced by their huge population rise, said Dr. Abraham Horwitz of Chile. He noted that Latin America’s population growth is among the world’s highest, tending to cancel out any improvement in health because poverty and low living standards soon interfere.

Pope Restates Ban

◆ Pope Paul VI strongly restated the Catholic Church’s ban on all forms of birth control except abstinence. His remarks came during a visit to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome. Later in the same session the organization’s director general, A. H. Boerma of the Netherlands, warned that the world was threatened “with being overwhelmed by the sheer weight of numbers of its inhabitants.” In a letter to the meeting, Norman E. Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize winner in agriculture, wrote: “If the world’s population continues to increase at the same rate, we will destroy the species.”

Wall Street Shaken

◆ Wall Street, America’s financial center, has been undergoing its greatest shaking since the depression that began in 1929. Eighty member firms of the New York Stock Exchange have gone out of business since the start of 1969, casualties of the current economic recession.

Skyrocketing Welfare Rolls

◆ The number of persons on welfare in the United States has reached an all-time high of 12.4 million. This was an increase of 2 million, or 20 percent, in just one year. The cost of relief has doubled in the past five years, reaching $12,000,000,000 annually.

Layoffs of Scientists

◆ Cutbacks in the American aerospace program, as well as in defense and research, have brought the demand for scientists and engineers to the lowest level in at least ten years. One employment agency official said: “I’ve been in this business nine years, and I’ve never seen anything like it . . . Companies suddenly find there is no work for men in the $30,000 to $40,000 range, and no one wants them.”

Fastest-growing Larceny

◆ The Federal Bureau of Investigation described shoplifting as the “fastest-growing larceny” in the United States. Cases of shoplifting have tripled since 1959. Retail store owners claim that prices could be cut 15 percent if it were not for these thefts.

Fatherless Society

◆ The head of the Dallas, Texas, Criminal Bar Association, Emmet Colvin, criticized the theory that more courts and stiffer jail sentences could end crime. He stated that a main element in rising crime is that “we’re in a fatherless society today.” He said that fathers are too busy with other things and do not spend enough time with their children to provide sound guidance. Is that true in your household?

Venereal Disease Epidemic

◆ Dr. William L. Fleming of the University of North Carolina stated that venereal disease is now out of control in America. Similarly, Oklahoma’s public health adviser, John Underwood, said that gonorrhea is “out of control.” More than 1.5 million new cases of gonorrhea were expected for 1970. In some areas, syphilis increased 50 percent in one year.

Drug Use Spreading

◆ A New York Chamber of Commerce official reports that drug use by company employees has increased so sharply that it rivals alcoholism as a problem. And younger drug users are being joined by more older persons. Dr. J. M. Lewis of Texas notes that older persons are using drugs as a “social lubricant” or as a “tranquilizer.” He stated: “People are more and more inclined toward chemical solutions to everyday problems.” However, this is not leading to any solutions, because the problems mount and so do the number of drug users.

“Out of Control”

◆ Drug use is not just an American problem. London’s Daily Mail declared: “Illegal drug use is today virtually out of control.” It noted the alarm of a senior police officer who warned: “If all the drug squads of all the police forces in the country [Britain] were to be combined they would still not be able to cope with even London’s addicts.”

Addicted at Birth

◆ A two-day-old baby in a Philadelphia hospital suffered from drug withdrawal symptoms due to its mother’s heroin addiction. Addiction at birth is becoming a medical problem due to the increased use of drugs.

Growing Toll of Wildlife

◆ Audubon magazine reports that whales have now been added to the list of marine animals having high levels of DDT in their bodies. Also, a bald eagle that fell to earth in Minnesota had nearly three times the lethal amount of mercury in its tissues. And of 500 mating pairs of brown pelicans on California’s Anacapa Islands, only one young was produced last summer, due to high pesticide levels that upset their reproductive systems.

Stork Numbers Decline

◆ Denmark reports that its national bird, the stork, has declined in numbers so rapidly that it is nearing extinction. A century ago about 10,000 storks arrived each spring from North Africa. In 1970 only 70 pairs arrived.

Sea Lions Contaminated

◆ Dead sea lions washed ashore on California beaches contained the highest DDT content ever noted in sea life. The pesticide count ran to 3,900 parts per million. High mercury counts were also found in the sea lions.

Propane Gas for Taxis

◆ A London taxicab company is converting its taxis to run on bottled propane gas. They average about 200 miles for a cylinder of gas, which is replenished from large storage tanks. The gas is a by-product of crude oil refining. It is said to emit less chemical waste, has about the same mileage performance as diesel oil and gasoline, and is cheaper.

Too Many Operations?

◆ An editorial in the Medical World News says: “There are twice as many surgeons, in proportion to population, in the U.S. as there are in England and Wales, and proportionately they do twice as many operations.” According to the National Center for Health Statistics, about 14 million surgical operations were done in the United States in 1965, which is 7,400 operations for each 100,000 people, compared with 1,700,000 operations in England and Wales​—3,370 per 100,000 people. Did United States’ residents really need twice as many operations as did the British?

“Be My Follower”

How many people responded to this invitation of Christ Jesus in 1970? You can find the answer in the “1971 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses.” Read the fascinating experiences that Jehovah’s witnesses had in personally extending Jesus’ invitation to people around the earth. Send for your copy. Only 50c. Available in English, French, German and Spanish.

Please send me the 1971 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses in ‐‐‐‐‐‐ (indicate language), for which I am enclosing 50c.

“The Watchtower”

Esau sold his birthright for a meal of stew. He did not appreciate a sacred thing.

Many people today are like Esau. They think more of material things than sacred things. God’s written Word is sacred. Do you appreciate it?

“The Watchtower” can broaden your knowledge of God’s Word and strengthen your faith in it. Manifest your appreciation for sacred things by receiving “The Watchtower” regularly. The cost is small, only $1 per year.

Please send me The Watchtower for one year (24 issues), for which I am enclosing $1. Send also the three free booklets God’s Way Is Love, Man’s Rule About to Give Way to God’s Rule and Saving the Human Race​—in the Kingdom Way.