November 22

Awake from Sleep!​—Why? How?

WHAT the firemen of Saint-Laurent-du-Pont saw when they managed to pry open a padlocked emergency exit of a local dance hall caused two of them to faint. Bodies, 145 of them, “in ghastly contortions of agony. Fists were literally fried against the locked door.” Government investigations revealed such criminal neglect of fire laws that the local mayor and another official were suspended by the French government.

Protesting these suspensions, a Deputy from the area pleaded in the French National Assembly: “Let the dead sleep in peace.” But France-Soir, a leading French daily, in a front page editorial replied: “We are not trying to disturb the dead. We want only to wake up the living.” No question about some persons having been asleep as regards their responsibilities to protect the lives of their citizens, and with what tragic results!​—Time magazine, November 16, 1970.

Yes, there is more than one way a person can be asleep, even as the Bible shows. It speaks, of course, of literal sleep. (Eccl. 5:12; Jer. 31:26) It also speaks of death as a sleep, for in death a person is unconscious of what is going on, or of threatening dangers, even as in literal deep sleep.​—John 11:11; 1 Thess. 4:14.

But of particular interest to us at this time is the fact that the Bible also refers to “sleep” as did France-Soir, in the sense of being unaware of danger or being negligent as to your responsibilities, as were certain officials of the Saint-Laurent-du-Pont area. The apostle Paul warns against this very thing at Romans 13:11-14: “Do this, too, because you people know the season, that it is already the hour for you to awake from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than at the time when we became believers. . . . Let us therefore put off the works belonging to darkness and let us put on the weapons of the light. As in the daytime let us walk decently, not in revelries and drunken bouts, not in illicit intercourse and loose conduct, not in strife and jealousy.”

So Paul here urges all of us not to fool ourselves. If anyone tends to enjoy things that lead to loose, immoral conduct​—whether in conversation, entertainment or in his personal actions—​he needs to wake up. He needs to face up to the fact that we reap in harmony with what we sow. (Gal. 6:7, 8) For a time he may seem to get away with loose conduct. But God does not sleep, and it is with him that we have an accounting. Does your life show that you are awake in this regard?

Because so many do engage in “illicit intercourse and loose conduct, . . . in strife and jealousy,” the apostle further counsels: “So, then, let us not sleep on as the rest do, but let us stay awake and keep our senses.” (1 Thess. 5:6) Surely persons who carry on wickedness do not ‘keep their senses.’ To such Paul further commands: “Wake up to soberness in a righteous way and do not practice sin.” No question about it, to be practicing sin is to be morally asleep.​—1 Cor. 15:34.

Why is especially now the time to keep awake? Because of the times in which we are living. When you read news reports about war, food shortages and earthquakes, what do they mean to you? Many people react with indifference. They do not like the conditions, but they do not get excited about them. Do you see any special significance in the events of our day? The Bible foretold the “last days” of the entire wicked system of things, when men would be ‘lovers of themselves, lovers of money, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, without self-control.’ Do you know your Bible well enough to be able to say whether the things that are happening now fit these prophecies? Are you awake to the significance of our time? Jesus likened these days to those of Noah. Back there ever so many perished because they were not awake to the fact that they were living at the end of a wicked system of things. And concerning these very days Jesus warned: “Keep looking, keep awake.” Your life depends upon your being wide awake.​—Matthew, chapter 24; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; Mark 13:33.

What will aid you to wake up and to stay awake? Heeding the good advice Jesus gave: “Pay attention to yourselves that your hearts never become weighed down with overeating and heavy drinking and anxieties of life, and suddenly that day be instantly upon you as a snare.” To keep from overeating and heavy drinking you must learn to exercise self-control, and to avoid being weighed down with the anxieties of life you must learn to trust God and heed Jesus’ words: “Keep on, then, seeking first [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these other [needful] things will be added to you.”​—Luke 21:34, 35; Matt. 6:33.

A spiritual stimulant to staying awake is an intelligent and purposeful study of the Bible not merely a routine reading of it. Very essential also is meeting regularly with fellow Christians. Christians come together to ‘incite one another to love and fine works,’ and certainly to be incited to do something is to be awakened if one is asleep.​—Josh. 1:8; Heb. 10:24, 25.

Jesus counseled his followers living in our day to stay awake and keep making supplications. (Luke 21:36) In the garden of Gethsemane he likewise associated prayer with staying awake, saying: “Keep on the watch and pray continually, that you may not enter into temptation.” Yes, prayer, uttered earnestly, in faith and in Jesus’ name, also helps Christians to stay awake and be on guard.​—Matt. 26:41.

In these perilous last days of this wicked system of things it is imperative for you to stay awake if you would not be one of the victims trapped in the fire of the coming “great tribulation,” a holocaust far more consuming than that at Saint-Laurent-du-Pont. To help you to do so is one reason why this journal is being published and why it is called Awake!

Where Does Manned Space Flight Stand Now?

WHEN the first astronauts stepped onto the moon in 1969, hundreds of millions of persons all over the world were thrilled. Many millions actually watched the event on their television screens.

The mood has changed since that time. Public interest in space ventures has decreased. Many people are now questioning the wisdom of spending so much time and money for so little return when there are so many critical problems on earth.

Manned space flight has unquestionably brought benefits, however. For one thing, a great wealth of basic knowledge has been added concerning the earth, the moon, other planets and space itself. Humans obviously are more flexible than machines, and their observations in space are of great value. Also, there have been other benefits, such as improved communications and better computers resulting from the need to build smaller and more durable instruments for space travel.

Yet, what many, including some scientists themselves, have begun to say is that there are too many dangers involved for men in space and that their use is far too costly. They believe that adequate results can be obtained much cheaper by using instruments instead of men.

Space scientist Dr. Thomas Gold of Cornell brought the matter into focus by saying: “The high costs of manned programs and the great risks that we understand from the Apollo 13 flight, which avoided disaster by a narrow margin, and from the recent death of the three Soviet cosmonauts now raise the question of whether manned space flight is necessary at the present time.”

What, then, of these objections? Do the dangers and costs outweigh the benefits that come from manned space flight? Could instruments do a good enough job?

Problem of Weightlessness

As experience has been gained in space flight, the dangers have become more apparent. One is the effect of prolonged weightlessness, a condition produced when humans are beyond the influence of earth’s gravity.

The longer men remain in a weightless condition, the more severe their problems become. Weightlessness has resulted in a deconditioning of the veins and muscles, and a decalcification of the bones. It has also caused a substantial decrease in the volume of blood, risking damage to internal organs and tending to dehydrate the body.

America’s Apollo 15 crew, which made the fourth moon landing, stayed away from earth’s gravity for twelve days in July of 1971. The two men who landed on the moon suffered irregular, or double, heartbeats because of extreme fatigue. On their return to earth, the crew took longer to readapt themselves than did others whose flights were not as long.

Soviet cosmonauts in Soyuz 9 spent eighteen days in earth orbit in June of 1970. Soviet scientist A. Nikolayev acknowledged that prolonged weightlessness produced a general weakening and disorientation of these spacemen. He described their condition as “very serious.” Their muscles were so out of condition that they had difficulty walking and lifting things. It was even reported that they were unable to stand or walk after their return and had to be carried. It took three weeks for them to recover.

Other Dangers

Another medical problem arose on the Apollo 12 moon mission of November 1969. The interior of the spacecraft and all three men were infected with Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. It was on their skin and in their nasal passages. This could be serious on long space trips.

Another danger is exposure to cosmic rays. On journeys away from earth’s protective atmosphere and magnetic field, there is the danger of being struck by heavy primary cosmic-ray particles. On several flights the astronauts reported flashes of light in their eyes. This was experienced even when their eyes were closed, or when the cabin was dark and their eyes were open. It is thought that this effect may have been produced by cosmic rays.

In a report from Universal Science News, Dr. Leonard Reiffel said: “It looks like nature has made long space voyages more dangerous than we thought. . . . [cosmic rays] are almost like needles entering human flesh. They can destroy a whole column of cells as they penetrate the body.” He also stated: “Following the Apollo 8 and 12 missions, tests were made on pieces of plastic taken from the helmets worn by the astronauts. It was found that little needle-like holes developed wherever heavy primaries had struck the men.”

Other evidence, although not confirmed, suggests possible brain damage. Dr. George Margolis, professor of pathology at Dartmouth Medical School, said: “On a visit to the laboratory of a scientist who was studying the brains of animals subjected to extended flights in space, I was shown a pattern of lesions which may be related to this phenomenon. . . . These were interpreted as the result of the destructive effect of spent cosmic ray particles. If this interpretation were confirmed, these lesions would have the highest significance, for they would eliminate the possibility of extended manned space flights.”

Also very real is the danger of accidents. In January 1967 three American astronauts were burned to death in a ground test inside an Apollo capsule. About three months later a Soviet cosmonaut was killed when his Soyuz 1 spaceship got tangled in its reentry parachute and crashed to earth.

Then in June of 1971 three Russians who spent twenty-four days in space were found dead in their Soyuz 11 capsule after it landed. The faulty sealing of a hatch allowed the air to escape from the spaceship, killing them in seconds. Since the ship showed no structural failures, a suspicion existed that the crew may have been so weakened by prolonged weightlessness that they made a mistake in the critical reentry procedures.

Of course, many people are killed in necessary daily activities, and few suggest abandoning these activities. But it is questioned whether man in space is a necessity, especially since public tax money is used without the taxpayer having a choice.

Worth the Cost?

Aside from potential dangers to astronauts, a source of great irritation to many is the enormous cost of manned space flights.

With grave problems on earth begging for money and attention, people question spending so much money on space ventures which produce so few benefits that the average person can see. They feel that the few benefits, such as better communications or increased knowledge, could be obtained with far less cost by applying the money directly to those areas.

Science News of July 24, 1971, wryly remarked: “The dropping of $200 million Saturn boosters into the Atlantic Ocean every time the United States launches men into space is not generally regarded as the most frugal sort of action.”

The Apollo 15 moon landing alone cost $445 million. When a television program referred to a unique rock the astronauts brought back, a viewer telephoned the station and suggested that a name for it be picked from the Internal Revenue Service’s list of taxpayers. This was a somewhat sarcastic reference to the fact that the taxpayer must eventually pay the huge cost of men in space.

Some people would have preferred that the energies and money spent on that mission be spent, for example, on better housing. The $445 million could have built 44,500 homes each costing $10,000. And the cost of the entire moon program so far, about $25 thousand million, could have built 2,500,000 such homes. That would house a large portion of the country’s poor families. The Soviet Union’s spending on men in space could be viewed similarly, since not all of that country’s people have adequate housing either.

Because of rising opposition, the United States program of manned flights to the moon has been cut back. Yet, beyond moon landings, there is the proposed development of an earth-orbiting space station. ‘Space shuttles’ from the earth would take astronauts to and from this station.

On one occasion four senators and two leading space scientists argued that this kind of program would develop to the point where from $50 to $100 thousand million would be spent on a manned flight to Mars. They argued that manned flight in space was becoming increasingly costly and unnecessary, and that problems on earth had a much higher priority on tax money.

Cornell’s Dr. Gold stated: “What is the promise of the large manned stations? Are they needed for scientific investigations or for applications that have economic benefits? . . . Much effort has been put into finding ways that the manned stations can be useful. The results have been very disappointing. . . . its much larger cost can certainly not be justified in scientific or economic terms.”

Dr. Gold warned that if “the tremendously costly and unnecessary space station is built, it will be the focal point of anti-science and anti-intellectualism which is very much in predominance today.”

‘Crowning Achievement’?

Among the arguments the scientific community often uses to try to justify manned space flight is that it contributes to knowledge about the evolution of heavenly bodies such as the moon and Mars, as well as to knowledge about the evolution of life.

For instance, note the following report: “The crowning scientific achievement of the [Apollo 15] mission, according to officials of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, may turn out to be discovery of crystalized rocks that could have formed at the time of the moon’s birth.”​—U.S. News & World Report, August 16, 1971.

Many people would not agree that finding a few rocks is a ‘crowning achievement’ when it costs $445 million and has to be paid for by public tax money. For the same reason they are not particularly impressed by words such as those of Dr. John Wood of the Smithsonian Institution when he said: “By the time the Apollo program ends, we’ll have a pretty good framework of the moon’s evolution.”

A proposed large expenditure of tax money on an unmanned ‘Viking’ spacecraft to be sent to Mars has a similar objective. Program Director Walter Jakobowski says: “A major objective is obtaining information about the evolution of life on another planet. . . . As far as finding life, we’re really trying to determine what stage Mars is at in evolution.”

Commenting on this, Electronics magazine states: “To be sure, program officials carefully play down Viking’s search for life​—past, present, or future—​because they fear a sense of failure if it is not found. But this is obviously the most exciting part of the $800 million program.”

Yet, the Christian, particularly, knows that even a million landings on the moon or Mars will reveal no evolution of life. Both life and intricately designed living creatures came from the Creator, as he clearly tells us in his Word. To spend money with a stated major objective of verifying the myth of evolution is folly indeed. The money would be much better spent, not trying to verify an erroneous scientific theory about the origin of life, but on the life already here.

What Some Suggest

Some scientists, and many other people, see the lack of practical wisdom in spending a fortune on manned space flight. While they do not object to exploring the universe, they favor a carefully planned program of modest size involving unmanned space vehicles.

Dr. James Van Allen, discoverer of the earth’s radiation belts, suggested devoting two thirds of available space funds on direct practical applications of what has been learned. This would include communications and meteorology, as well as making surveys for the benefit of fishing and forestry. He advocated spending the remainder in exploring the solar system.

Dr. Gold also proposed that only unmanned vehicles be used for space exploration, including remote-control devices. These could land on other planets, be controlled from the earth, and send back information at a fraction of the cost of manned flights.

The practicality of such devices has already been demonstrated. Late in 1970 the Russians sent to the moon their unmanned Luna 16, which picked up soil samples and returned to earth. The estimated cost was as low as one fiftieth that of a manned flight.

Two months later Russia’s unmanned Luna 17 put on the moon an eight-wheeled vehicle called Lunokhod (moon rover), automatically controlled from the earth. It crawls around for many months, getting television pictures and gathering other scientific information and sends them back to Soviet scientists on earth.

Whether those who have a more moderate view of space travel will prevail remains to be seen. However, one thing is certain. Scientists will increasingly be confronted with the following Biblical truth regarding manned space travel: “As regards the heavens, to Jehovah the heavens belong, but the earth he has given to the sons of men.”​—Ps. 115:16.

How Some Jesuits View Their Church

THE name “Jesuit” comes from the Latin word for “Jesus,” Jesuita. It was originally a nickname of contempt given by their critics to the members of an organization founded by the Spanish Roman Catholic soldier Ignatius Loyola in 1534.

First called the “Company of Jesus,” now the “Society of Jesus,” it is the largest and most powerful religious order in the Roman Catholic Church. Today there are more than 34,000 Jesuits in the world, some 8,000 of whom reside in the U.S.A.

Although not specifically organized to counteract the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, the Jesuits did prove to be the most efficient instrument their Church had for doing just that. But their methods and zeal were such that many governments, both in Europe and in the Americas, banned them. Even the pope in 1773 was persuaded to ban their order. The ban was supposed to stand “for ever,” but in 1814 a later pope rescinded the ban.

In 1964 the Jesuits were asked to leave Haiti “in order to preserve the internal peace and the territorial integrity of the country.” Today in the United States Jesuits are among those taking the lead in opposing the military draft. For instance, the Berrigan brothers are serving prison terms for destroying draft records. They are considered to be Jesuits in good standing.

Jesuit Training

Education has long been the favorite career of Jesuits. Some two thirds of their number in the United States are either educators at Catholic high schools and colleges or are training to be such.

Preparing to be a Jesuit used to take fifteen years of training after high school. But currently it is a few years less, although individual cases differ. And at present, the Jesuits have 220 colleges world wide, among which are the noted Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and Fordham University in New York city.

To what end is such training directed? According to Fulton J. Sheen, a Catholic authority but not a Jesuit, “the Jesuits work for the glory of God, defend the Roman Catholic faith against heresy, engage in missionary work, and educate the young.” As do other Roman Catholic religious orders, Jesuits vow chastity, poverty and obedience.

Education in obedience has long been a Jesuit standard. Loyola instilled in his followers the principle of “blind,” that is, absolute, unquestioning obedience, saying: “Each one should convince himself that they who live under obedience must allow themselves to be carried and ruled by God’s Providence through their superiors as though they were a dead body which allows itself to be carried in any direction and to be treated in any manner whatsoever.”

Due to such education, the Jesuits were in the forefront when it came to religious intolerance, calling anything that differed from Roman Catholicism “heresy.” They instilled this intolerance in others. For example, they did their job of training Ferdinand II, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, so well that he was determined to wipe out the fruits of the Reformation. His actions helped to bring on the Thirty Years’ War, a series of conflicts between European Protestants and Catholics from 1618 to 1648. To Ferdinand, the voice of a Jesuit was the voice of God. He said he would rather rule over a desert than over Protestants.

The ‘New’ Jesuits

Yet, in spite of all this Jesuit training in obedience, this very characteristic is beginning to disintegrate. There no longer is just one kind of Jesuit, holding the same views in total obedience to the Church.

In America, and doubtless in other lands too, there might be said to be basically three kinds of Jesuits. There are the older conservatives, the newer young radicals and the ones in between. So much do these differ that one of them stated that it is as impossible to define a Jesuit today as it is to define a Jew. This helps to explain why a few years ago the Jesuits were scolded by Pope Paul, and their general admitted that some of them had “gone beyond what was opportune.”

These differences have resulted in many Jesuits becoming unsure of themselves and their mission in life. Even their present general, Arrupe, stated: “I am afraid that we may have little or nothing to offer this world, little to say or do that would justify our existence as Jesuits. I am afraid that we may repeat yesterday’s answers to tomorrow’s problems, talk in a way men no longer understand, speak in a language that does not speak to the heart of living men.”

But there is one thing that many new Jesuits are certain of: they will not be blindly obedient to a set of rules. John L’Heureau, ordained a Jesuit priest in 1966, writes in Atlantic magazine of November 1969: “The question of obedience or disobedience never arises.” This spirit of indifference is said to be “utterly baffling” to their superiors.

Jesuit L’Heureau also stated: “The new American Jesuit acts in consultation with his conscience and his friends; how his superior will react is not a matter of importance to him.” Of these Jesuits he stated: “They are invariably men who have questioned all existing authority and found it wanting; and at the same time have found no adequate substitute for it.” What a dilemma!

Typical of their feeling is the remark by one of them about the pope’s references to dissenting priests and divisions within the Church. This Jesuit said: “What the Pope means is that, by God, we’d better all knuckle under to the thinking of a few conservative Roman cardinals. What he fails to appreciate is that the Church of Christ is far more extensive than the merely hierarchical Church, and if I have to choose one or the other, I’m afraid my allegiance is with Christ.”

These young Jesuits not only talk this way, they also act independently. Thus two of them refused the “kiss of peace” from Cardinal Cooke when being ordained as priests, because he is the Military Vicar of the Armed Forces of the United States. That role seemed to the Jesuits to be incompatible with his being a Catholic bishop.

Forty-five Spanish Jesuits refused to meet with their head, General Arrupe, when he visited their city of Barcelona. Why? Because he had previously had an interview with Franco, who, according to them, represents a regime that “pretends to be Catholic while it tramples on most Christian principles.”

Older Jesuits Also Stirring

The younger Jesuits, mostly thirty or under, are not the only ones now viewing their Church with a critical eye. Some of the older Jesuits are too, including those in their sixties.

One of these is Karl Rahner, sixty-five, considered by some Jesuits to be “the greatest theologian of our time.” This German theologian keeps making statements with which many conservative Roman Catholic clergymen disagree. With a sense of humor he defends his criticisms of his Church by observing: “You can’t forever keep sharpening a knife, you’ve got to cut something once in a while.”

Rahner holds that Catholic “theologians should reflect a lot more than they do on the fact that in the church and in its theology there has been considerable error, and certainly still is today. These facts cannot be dismissed. This erring . . . touches many sides of life; and vitally it touches the concrete life of Christians. And this erring, much more than one thinks, is also linked with truth and dogmas of the church.”

Jesuit Rahner has even been accused of calling Jesus Christ Lord and Savior but refusing to call him God, as does official Church doctrine. He has also challenged the practice of celebrating the Mass so frequently, as well as charging varying rates for low, high and solemn Mass. He further has stated that the Roman Catholic positions on marriage and divorce, on infant baptism and on clerical celibacy should be discussed.

Jesuit’s Appraisal of Papacy

Interesting too is what sixty-one-year-old Jesuit John L. McKenzie, professor of theology at Notre Dame, says about his church. He begins by confessing that “Roman Catholicism stands at what may be the most critical point of its entire history,” and that it “is passing into a crisis of authority and a crisis of faith.”

Contrary to official Church doctrine, Jesuit McKenzie states that Roman Catholicism began in the fourth century “with the conversion of Constantine.” He states that “in the strict sense, the apostles left no successor,” and that “historical evidence does not exist for the entire chain of succession of church authority.” He notes that the authority of the pope cannot be defended by any reference to Peter’s position in the Bible.

Coming down to the tenth century of Roman Catholic history, McKenzie states that the Roman See experienced one of the most severe moral collapses of its history. He states: “The corruption of the papal court under unworthy men approaches the incredible [unbelievable]. . . . the adventurers and bandits who were elected to the papacy had no interest in affirming spiritual leadership of any kind.”

After noting blunders of other popes, he describes the papacy and compares the Curia to the cabinet of a political government. However, there is no office of the treasury. McKenzie reports that “this part of the pontifical administrative structure is well concealed. . . . Neither the source of the funds [which he describes as “enormous”] nor their disbursements are known.” Why not? Because the “Pope is responsible to no human authority,” either in spiritual or temporal affairs.

About Cardinals and Bishops

Regarding the college of cardinals, which might be likened to a senate, McKenzie observes: “The history of the College shows that it has been open to political influences of the most pernicious kind.” Some of their elections for a new pope have resulted in judgments which “cannot be explained.”

This Jesuit also notes that over half of the cardinals in the Church are Italian, but “Italy is not half the Roman Church.” This suggests that appointments of cardinals are not really made on the basis of spiritual qualifications. On what then? He replies: “Normally the appointment signifies that the cardinal has personal friends and influences in high places in Rome. More often than not it signifies personal friendship with the Pope.”

Of particular interest to knowledgeable Bible students is McKenzie’s statement that “bishops, as the church has historically known them, do not appear in the New Testament. . . . Churches do not appear with the supreme local authority vested in a single person.” This has led to ambitious men using unscrupulous tactics to attain such authority. The Jesuit says: “It should be said candidly that clerical ambition has long been and is one of the major problems of Roman Catholicism.”

Other Observations

Further, this theologian correctly notes that “the priesthood as we know it does not appear in the New Testament.” He observes that the Bible does not support the kind of clergy-laity distinction seen in Roman Catholicism.

Nor can enforced celibacy find support in God’s Word. McKenzie declares: “It has to be recognized that celibacy is not recommended as anything but an option in the New Testament . . . In regions where many [priests] do not live a celibate life, the institution of celibacy may seem to be nothing but sheer, vast hypocrisy. It is hard to think of anything of value that is preserved by such an institution.” He also notes that “some find the possibility of great scandal in clerical adultery and divorce; for reasons not easy to ascertain, they do not see the same scandal in clerical concubinage.”

Concerning other teachings of the Church, he states: “In the long-term analysis one has to say that the Roman Church has had more bad theology than good.” An example of this he gives is infant baptism. Not only the New Testament, but the testimonies of ancient church authorities “presuppose adult candidates” for baptism, not babies. The use of bread only at the Mass is also unscriptural: “No Roman theologian could deny that reception of both species [bread and wine] is the original sign.”

In Church theory, Jesuit McKenzie says, ‘a man is no more doomed to hell for murder than he is for missing Mass on Sunday.’ And in this regard he notes that another Catholic has written that the Church would have been “much more concerned if the United States armed forces had dropped contraceptive pamphlets and devices on Hiroshima than it was when the same United States dropped a bomb which took 70,000 lives.”

Thus, when the Jesuits, the ‘elite’ of the Roman Catholic Church, express themselves in such ways, is it any wonder that a crisis exists among Catholics? To those familiar with their Bibles it calls to mind the words of Jesus Christ, who said that “if a house becomes divided against itself that house will not be able to stand.” (Mark 3:25) Since Jehovah God has forewarned that he will shake everything so only that which is based on a firm foundation remains, where should we be taking our position? His Word tells us that only God’s kingdom, his righteous government by his Son, will prove enduring. For your own everlasting welfare, take your stand now with those who loyally support and announce that kingdom.​—Hag. 2:6, 7; Heb. 12:26, 27.

What I Looked for When I Bought My Mobile Home

LIKE so many married couples today, we had to obtain adequate housing for our family. Living in the northeastern United States, we needed a well-built home, one that could withstand temperatures below zero on the Fahrenheit scale.

My wife got the idea that she would like to live in a mobile home because of the lower maintenance cost and because conventional homes were priced so high. This idea was not an untried one, since we had lived in a small rented mobile home the first seven months of our marriage. That unit should have broken our desire ever to set foot in one again.

Our honeymoon home had an old pot-bellied stove that would not heat properly. My wife kept two pairs of shoes, one pair on her feet and the other on the stove so she could switch them to keep her feet warm. The closets were filled with mildew. And condensation on the windows would frost up at night, only to melt in the next day’s sun and run down the walls to make puddles on the floors. This time, though, we were not renting, but buying a new mobile home.

We found that the price of new mobile homes varies greatly, depending on quality. They generally begin at around $3,500 and run up to some $15,000; the average for a completely furnished sixty-footer is about $6,000 to $7,000. In some places, however, most mobile homes sold are the ‘double wides.’ The double width, twenty-four feet instead of twelve, is obtained by bolting together two mobile-home sections. The prices of these ‘double wides’ frequently run from $12,000 to $17,000 and more.

Need for Caution, Taking Time

Although the cost of a mobile home may be only a fraction of that of a regular house, it is nonetheless a major expense. Therefore, buying one deserves careful consideration and study.

Some persons, however, decide rather abruptly that they want to move into a mobile home. At the sales lot they are captivated by the glamour and ornate beauty of a particular model, and so buy it on impulse. They do not really analyze its quality of construction, whether its design is practical for their needs, or whether the manufacturer and dealer are reputable. Later, they may deeply regret their hastiness.

We did not want to make such a mistake. We realized the need for caution. It is as the business magazine Fortune observed: “Buyers of mobile homes have a good deal to beware of. An industrialized house is only as good as the assembly line which produced it and not infrequently that is not good, as evidenced by shoddy interior finishes, or substandard wiring, plumbing, and heating. Mass purchasing of furnishings can lead to uncomfortable beds, distorting mirrors, fustian [pretentious but inferior] fixtures, and other minor flaws.”

Thus we took our time, carefully comparing prices and quality. We visited every mobile-home sales lot within a radius of sixty miles, looking at forty different makes on fourteen lots. We felt that this was a good cross section of mobile homes designed for the climate in which we live. Actually there are many other makes turned out by hundreds of manufacturers; in just 1969 an estimated 110 new manufacturers came into the field.

At each sales lot we talked with salesmen about their homes. We also picked up the manufacturers’ printed literature, which at times describes the mobile home’s construction​—how the floor, the walls and the roof are made, and the type of materials used. We took the literature home and carefully studied it, comparing the various homes in the $6,000 to $10,000 price range in which we were interested. We are a family of four, with a girl five years of age and a boy four, so we were looking for a well-built mobile home with three bedrooms.

Checking Dealer and Manufacturer

We bought our mobile home through a dealer. Most persons do, although some have found it advantageous to buy directly from a manufacturer, when possible. Homes can often be purchased for less this way, but the services of a dealer are sacrificed.

The need to do business with a reputable, established manufacturer can hardly be overemphasized. A manufacturer, for example, usually provides a warranty that guarantees correction of major defects of workmanship that appear within a certain time after purchase, perhaps three months or even a year. But his guarantee is of little value if he goes out of business or is not inclined to live up to the spirit of the warranty.

A dealer should also provide a written guarantee, promising services in addition to those guaranteed by the manufacturer. For example, a dealer may promise to move the purchased mobile home to the location desired, block it up on its foundations, level it, connect the utilities and care for minor repairs, things that a distantly located manufacturer cannot be expected to do. When we purchased our mobile home we obtained a guarantee from our dealer that he would perform such services, and he has. It is good to have a written guarantee, properly signed.

We were careful to check in advance on the reputation of both the dealer and the manufacturer of our mobile home. There are a number of ways in which this can be done. One of the best is to inquire of other persons who have purchased the same make of mobile home. Are they satisfied with it? Did the dealer fulfill his promises? Or one might check with the local Better Business Bureau or with a bank, asking about the reputation of a manufacturer or dealer. Such an investigation before buying is important, often saving many heartaches.

Whether one buys directly from the manufacturer or through a dealer, it often pays to visit a mobile-home factory. Perhaps there is one not too far away. Some six hundred of them are in operation in the United States alone. A person may thus be able to see just how his home is put together.

How Is It Built?

The interiors of new mobile homes are often exceptionally beautiful; we saw models comparable in glamour to $50,000 conventional homes. But remember, looks can be superficial. How is the mobile home made? How will it stand up? These are vital considerations. We wanted one that would last and give us good service.

I checked the manufacturers’ literature that describes how their homes are constructed. I learned that a mobile home rests on a steel chassis, the floor being built upon this steel framework. The floor’s wood joists or beams should be at no more than sixteen-inch intervals, and the plywood sheeting laid on them should be no less than three quarters or five eighths of an inch thick. A solidly constructed floor will not show signs of springing when a heavy person steps between the floor joists. If it does, the floor will probably develop squeaks and fail to hold up.

Inside the walls, I learned, manufacturers usually use two-by-three-inch vertical beams at sixteen-inch intervals. The interior walls are generally quarter-inch plywood paneling, and the exterior walls are often aluminum sheeting. However, it is good to check the quality of construction by pushing on the walls. They will not be as sturdy as the walls of a well-built house, but they should give very little.

Once while we were shopping I almost collapsed a wall between the living room and the first bedroom because it was so flimsy. And some persons have discovered that they must hold one hand against the wall when pulling a plug out of an outlet; otherwise the plug and the wall move together. So it is best to check these matters before buying.

The quality of roof construction is also important. Some roofs have been observed to sink beneath a couple of feet of snow. The dealer may allow a customer to get onto the roof to check out its sturdiness, although he may understandably object to this.

A particularly vital consideration is a mobile home’s insulation. If it is insufficient, the home will be cold in winter and hot in summer. It is not enough that a salesman says the home is well insulated, or even that the insulation is “extra thick” or “double thick.” Experience has revealed that it is not wise to take a salesman’s word for it.

One can examine the insulation as well as other interior construction by using a screwdriver to take off light-switch plates or plates around heating ducts, and so forth. This will allow a look at the inner floor, walls and ceiling. If a salesman objects to such a simple check, it is probably best to go elsewhere to shop.

Insulation in walls should be at least one and a half inches thick; and in the floors and ceiling, two to four inches thick. Important, too, is that insulation material include a vapor shield, typically of reflective paper or plastic. The reflective side of one sheet of this should be facing the interior, and another sheet should have its reflective side facing outside.

We also examined cabinets and shelves. Sometimes cabinets are poorly built, doors even closing without entirely covering their openings. And in some homes we noted that the shelves were not well-supported, probably a clue to the quality of the rest of the construction. A mobile home, we learned, should be put together with screws, since these are more likely to remain secure than nails.

Floor Plan, Decor and Furnishings

Since modern mobile homes may have four or more rooms plus a couple of bathrooms, they are sold with a wide variety of floor plans. Many homes even have a balcony dining area, or sunken living room. Our choice was a single floor level with three bedrooms, providing both our son and our daughter with bedrooms. We also have a living room, utility room, bathroom, front kitchen and dining area in our twelve-foot-wide, seventy-foot-long home.

Choice of floor plans, of course, depends upon individual circumstances and preferences. A couple without children may choose fewer but larger rooms; for instance, one large bedroom and bathroom. But couples with children may need several smaller bedrooms, and perhaps two smaller bathrooms. A woman who enjoys being in the kitchen may want the kitchen located on an end where it can receive sunlight from three sides. Or for persons who desire privacy, the bedrooms may be preferred on either end, with kitchen, living room and dining area in the middle.

The buyer also has many choices of decor in a wide variety of price ranges. There is Early American, Spanish, Mediterranean, French Provincial, Oriental, contemporary, and so forth. We felt that the decor at times is overdone; for instance, we looked at a $12,500 Spanish decor that left no room for one’s personal touch. Our choice was Early American, for which we paid $7,600.

One wants to avoid being enamored by fancy decor and forgetting to check on the amount of closet space, number of cabinets and other practical matters. And just because it may appear that there are cabinets, do not take it for granted. The cabinets may be fake, put there just for looks; or when opening them one may discover that the space in them is infinitesimal.

It is important to have an exhaust fan over the stove and in the bathroom. In our home the fan in the bathroom was an optional item, so we decided to have it installed at extra expense. Other equipment usually offered as optional is air conditioning, automatic dishwashers, automatic garbage disposals, radios​—about any appliance found in today’s modern home.

We found mobile-home furniture, for the most part, to be of poor quality. Many manufacturers offer a standard line and an optional deluxe line. We decided to take the deluxe line for the living room, but not to take any furniture in the bedroom since we preferred to use our present bedroom furniture.

Other Considerations

After finally selecting a new mobile home, there is the matter of paying for it. This is handled much like a new automobile purchase, with the dealer often handling the financing. Some people believe that it is not wise to pay the full cash amount immediately, since some dealers then have been less inclined to fulfill their promised services.

Another vital consideration is selecting a site to park one’s home. Our home is on our own property, but zoning permission had to be granted. Our neighboring town, which borders our property, has no parking restrictions for mobile homes. But in the city in which we formerly lived the only lawful site is a state-approved mobile-home park, where the monthly rent is $40. Since mobile-home sites are often limited, it is good to line up one before buying.

Both my wife and I feel that our earlier experience in a rented mobile home was a real help in selecting our new one and in adjusting to living in it. For persons who are thinking about buying a new mobile home, a similar experience may prove beneficial in selecting one that will be pleasing to them.​—Contributed.

The Abacus​—Bead Calculator of the Orient

By “Awake!” correspondent in Taiwan

AT THE local store in Japan a woman has purchased a number of items. “How much, please?” she asks. The Japanese storekeeper picks up his abʹa·cus and with a quick tilt and sweep of the hand ‘clears’ it of previous calculations. Then, as fast as he can recite the individual prices, he adds them. The moment he has recited the last price he reads off the total. The woman pays the amount asked without question. To her the answer is as authoritative as that of a cash register.

A traveler in a Tokyo bank decides to change all his pocket money into yen. He has $53.67. The clerk picks up his abacus and, in less time than it would take to write down the figures to work it out, he has the answer. Looking around the well-equipped bank, the Westerner might well be puzzled. There are many modern business machines and typewriters. Nevertheless, about three fourths of the employees rely on the abacus for their calculations.

Yes, wherever one goes in Japan or China he is sure to see the Oriental version of this most ancient of calculating machines, the abacus, in constant use. When he sees the shopkeeper use it to add a few figures, he may tend to despise its real value. “Why not do it mentally rather than rely on his bead calculator?” he might think. At least that is what I thought when I first went to Japan and saw how dependent people seemed to be on their bead calculator.

However, when a person sees that clerks and bank tellers use the abacus for working out more complicated problems, he will no doubt respect it more. If he inquires about it, he might be told that the operator has not only calculated the problem in that short time but has double-checked by reversing the calculation to obtain the original figures. “Truly amazing!” he will think. All that with a wooden frame containing some beads?

From Ancient Times to Today

The abacus is one of the oldest counting devices known to man. It was used, for example, by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Since Roman numerals do not have a place-value system nor a zero concept, some sort of aid in calculating was essential. If you try to add the Roman numerals XCVIII and LXXXIX you will more fully appreciate the problem. An effort at multiplying those two numbers will further demonstrate the problem. The development of ‘Arabic’ numerals with their place-value system and zero concept diminished the need for the abacus in the West.

However, among the Chinese and Japanese the abacus found a welcome new home. But even in the West there is a simple form of abacus in use today that is familiar to many persons. Yes, you too may have started your knowledge of numbers with the aid of such an abacus-like instrument. It is the little set of horizontal bars with colored beads that is on many children’s playpens around the world.

The Chinese abacus is called a suan-pan, while the Japanese version is known as a soroban. The Oriental abacuses have vertical rods divided in two, with the beads above the crossbar being five times the value of the beads below the divider. Note that in the illustration the Chinese suan-pan has two beads above the crossbar or divider and five below. The modern Japanese soroban, on the other hand, has one bead above and four below the divider.

A basic difference between the Japanese and Chinese abacuses is the size and shape. The Japanese version uses smaller beads and usually has more rods. The Chinese abacus uses larger beads, and fewer rods. The Japanese abacus is therefore long and narrow, while the Chinese is not so long. The smaller construction of the Japanese instrument makes for faster manipulation while the larger construction of the Chinese abacus makes accidental moving of the beads less likely and also makes for easier reading. However, the tendency here in Taiwan nowadays is to switch to the Japanese style.

Learning the Basic Principles

I decided to learn the rudiments of operating an abacus. I bought a standard Japanese one, two and a half inches wide and twelve inches long (6 cm x 30 cm). It cost the equivalent of $2. On the dividing bar there is a little dot on certain rods. The operator selects one of these as the unit rod. The rod to the left is the tens rod, the next to the left is the hundreds and the third to the left is the thousands rod.

The value of the rods to the right decreases by tens so that they equal tenths, hundredths, thousandths and so on. It is thus a decimal system.

It was explained to me that the abacus is ‘cleared’ by a quick tilt toward yourself, so that the beads all slide to the bottom of the rods, or in the case of the upper beads, down to the divider. Then the upper beads are moved upward by a quick sweep along their lower edge with the index fingernail.

If you now push up one bead on the unit rod until it comes in contact with the crossbar or divider, you have set one on the abacus. Push up another two of these beads and you now have three of the lower beads in the upper position so that you have three set on the abacus.

Now move down the upper bead (which is five times the value of the beads below the divider), and you have added five. This means you have five above the divider and three below the divider bar for a total of eight. If you now want to add on another three, you do not have enough beads left on the units rod, so you have to spill over to the left to the tens rod. You do not think 8 + 3 = 11, but think along the lines of 3 = 10 − 7. You remove seven by sliding the five up and two of the unit beads down. Then add one ten, (that is, you move up one bead on the rod to the left of the unit rod) and the result will be eleven, as in the illustration. Of course, there are many ways of explaining how to work out these rules of movement, but in actual practice they become automatic.

When you have larger numbers, how do you proceed? You just start at the left or highest column involved in your calculation and work from left to right. Thus if you have 548 and wish to add 637, you will first put 548 on your calculator. Then add the 6 to the 5. You follow the rule or pattern 6 = 10 − 4 by removing the 5 on the hundreds rod and adding a 1 on the same rod (−5 + 1 = −4) then add one of the thousands beads on the rod to the left. You then proceed to add the three to the four, the seven to the eight and your abacus will appear as in the illustration. Can you read the answer? It is 1,185.

Because you thus work from left to right, you can start your calculation as soon as you know the first digit. In mental or written arithmetic you work from the units or right hand side of the problem. The abacus has an advantage.

Putting My Knowledge to Work

I learned to add and subtract, and later, when I had the need for more addition, I decided to put my knowledge to work. The results were disappointing at times and encouraging at others. I decided to find out why.

Study of a booklet on the technique showed me that I had no system and that I was not using my fingers in the proper manner. I learned that with the Japanese abacus you should use only the index finger and thumb and that you must follow a special order in moving the beads if you want accuracy and speed. With the Chinese abacus, use of an additional finger is recommended due to its larger construction.

With a little study and practice my accuracy improved so that a recent visiting friend from overseas was surprised to see me, a Westerner, using my little Oriental bead calculator for not only addition and subtraction but also multiplication and division. Of course, I am by no means a skilled operator and thus am very slow by Japanese or Chinese standards, but it certainly saves much work for someone who would otherwise have to rely on writing the figures in columns and laboriously adding them.

Advantages, Disadvantages

A distinct advantage of the abacus is that maintenance costs are also in line with the low initial cost. Recently my abacus was getting so sticky that I was having trouble operating it. I resigned myself to having to buy a new one. When I went to buy one I mentioned my problem. “That’s all right,” the proprietor said. “We have a maintenance kit.” I bought one for less than twenty cents. It consisted of bristles protruding from the top of a plastic case that looked like a saltshaker. The case contained French chalk. Holes between the bristles let some chalk come through when the brush is used to scrub the beads. A few brushings and my abacus was like new, with the little beads clicking back and forth in easy sliding motions again. Somewhat different from maintaining an electric calculator!

There are, of course, a number of disadvantages to be encountered. One of these is the fact that there is no record of the steps involved in the calculation. Only the answer is available when the calculation is completed. Also, to obtain any degree of skill much practice is involved. Because I do not have that practice and rarely do involved calculations, I often have difficulty with multiplication and division when there are a number of digits involved in the multiplier or divisor.

The Oriental abacus has a lot going for it even in this electronic age. All Japanese and Chinese children learn to operate one in grade school. There are also numerous schools to prepare students to take examinations conducted regularly in Japan. There are three main grades to be attained, and if a person is qualified as a first-grade operator he or she has a much better opportunity of gaining a good office position. This is true even though the company may have the latest calculating machines.

The training that use of the abacus gives the mind is another factor in its popularity. Mental training is such that one abacus operator, Mr. Yoshio Kojima, is recorded as having given correct answers to fifty division problems, each containing five to seven digits in its dividend and divisor, in the time of one minute, 18.4 seconds. Then in 13.6 seconds he added ten numbers of ten digits each. All this without his abacus, paper or other aid! It is said that such men do this by working the problem mentally on an imaginary abacus!

While the abacus in China and Japan is giving some ground to the more sophisticated machines, it still has a firm position in the Oriental business world. Regardless of its future, this business tool of the East and educational toy of the West holds a unique place in man’s progress with mathematics. I am one Westerner who truly appreciates the bead calculator of the Orient.

[Picture on page 18]

A Chinese abacus set at eleven

[Picture on page 19]

A Japanese abacus set at the number 1,185

Columbus the Contributor

◆ Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) is famous as the navigator and explorer who reportedly “discovered America.” However, the book Environment​—Resources, Pollution & Society (1971) observes:

“When Columbus crossed the Atlantic in 1492 and established the link between the Old World and the New, he set in motion an exchange of crops between the two worlds, some of which found a much better ecological niche in the world to which they were introduced than in the one from which they originally came. As this exchange of crops progressed, the earth’s population-sustaining capacity expanded greatly.”

This is illustrated with the potato, which Spanish explorers introduced into Europe from South America in the 1500’s. It became a staple food item in many parts of Europe. “The Irish population grew rapidly for several decades on the strength of the expanded food supply which the potato . . . made available.”

Corn, a cereal crop indigenous to the Americas, is now produced earth wide. It is the principal food staple in Kenya and is even exported from Thailand. On the other hand, wheat, oats, barley and rye were brought to the Americas and grew very well over much of the Great Plains where the moisture is generally insufficient for raising corn.

As to livestock, the exchange has been mainly one way. We read: “The New World is indebted to the Old for all of its livestock, except the llama and the alpaca, and, with the exception of the turkey and Muscovy duck, for all of its poultry.”

Thus some of the great advances in agriculture and the population-sustaining capacity of the earth stem from the exchanges set in motion by Columbus. “It is not customary to associate Columbus with a major technological advance in the earth’s population-sustaining capacity, but his contribution was profound.”​—Pages 54, 55.

Why to Be Selective When Watching TV

“THE most awe-inspiring weapon of communications ever invented.” How well those words, spoken by a noted author of television documentaries, describe the wonder of television! And wonder it is!

Just as your eye travels back and forth some forty-six times to read a column of type in this magazine so the TV camera beam used in the United States scans each picture or image in 525 lines. With thirty complete pictures per second, this means the beam takes less than a fifteen-thousandth of a second to scan a line. Talk about speed reading! Not only that, but the camera first scans all the odd lines, 1, 3, 5, 7 and so on, and then goes back to the top left corner of the picture and scans all the even lines, 2, 4, 6. The process by which TV cameras photograph color and the TV sets reproduce it (although no color is actually broadcast) is even more cause for wonder.

The United States boasts of 930 TV stations and more than 93 million TV sets, upward of 30 percent of which are color sets. In the past five years ten million sets have been sold annually. There the typical family is said to use its TV set some six hours a day on an average.

Man has indeed conquered space when it comes to transmitting information, both by pictures and by sound. But how is this medium being used? Is man putting it to the best possible use?

Many Complaints About TV Programs

The most common complaints about TV programs are regarding the commercials. Nearly all viewers feel that these should be fewer, shorter and, in particular, less interruptive. Government officials have other complaints. One official blasts TV stations for an allegedly biased political point of view. Another official charges them with producing a cultural “wasteland.” Still another stated: “We have taken the most powerful medium ever devised by man for instruction and inspiration, and​—like the temple in Jesus’ time—​turned it over to the merchants and the money-lenders.”

Reviewers in the press speak of “commercial TV’s flavorless pap,” and disparagingly refer to reruns as “recycled waste.” They complain: “It’s no wonder the networks can claim no one cares about their serious offerings. They haven’t begun to try to make them interesting.” One of America’s foremost TV commentators, the late Edward Murrow, once described TV programs as giving “evidence of decadence, escapism and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live.” Much of this criticism is directed against programs intended for children or watched by children.

Why? Why? Why?

Why are there so many complaints about what is being shown on the TV screen, especially in the United States? (In most other lands television is largely or wholly a government monopoly; it decides what the people will see.) An insider, an executive of one of America’s busiest advertising agencies, answered one of these “whys” in an article entitled “The Real Masters of Television.” Therein he said that in 1959 the two leading TV networks were putting on ‘quality shows.’ Then a third network, which was running a poor third, “launched a group of new shows distinguished by stylized violence and unstylized gore.” At once it became a close second, so the other two networks compromised their programming standards in order to hold on to their audiences, for the sake of self-preservation.a

What determines the “quality” of the shows? The public’s response. According to this advertising executive, “in the audience-delivery business, you do not have the luxury of setting either your standards or those of your audience. Instead, they are set for you by the relative success of your competitors.”

Nor is the foregoing just one man’s opinion. A recent reviewer of the five TV programs that were rated the highest in the winter of 1970-1971 were those that he described as ‘cheap, sickening, flat, dull and mindless.’ Audience preference doubtless is one reason why TV programs at times leave so much to be desired.

Another “why” is because of the repercussions that may result from a network’s presenting a challenging documentary dealing with current problems. The documentary, “The Selling of the Pentagon,” dealt with the policy of the United States Defense Department in creating a favorable image of its activities and policies. Although it was rated by some sources as one of the finest documentaries of the year, it aroused the ire of politicians. Also, there was little enthusiasm evinced on the part of member stations, for they feared the loss of their licenses.

Then again, a documentary telling of how banks discriminate against Negroes and against the poor resulted in the loss of considerable revenue on the part of at least one station that carried it. A program that exposed those locally causing pollution resulted in such strained relations between some of the officials of the TV station broadcasting and some of the local business community that it was deemed advisable to discharge the reporter who had developed this program. So fear of economic or political reprisal is another reason why better programs are not more often presented.

Another “Why”

The foregoing “whys” do not explain everything; there is something else. The TV networks and broadcasting stations cannot shift all the blame onto the shoulders of others. This is apparent from the fact that occasionally some very fine programs are presented, especially on educational or “public” stations as they are now called. An outstanding example is the extremely popular and very highly praised program “Sesame Street.” Concerning it the UNESCO Courier was moved to write that it was “a series of wit and humor, devoid of any violence, containing the positive message that no problem can be solved without cooperation. Secondly, it seeks to teach youngsters letters, numbers, and simple counting skills, to stimulate their vocabulary and powers of reasoning and to open their eyes to the world at large.” Thus in one program viewed in May 1971 it featured the number 12, the capital and small letter E, gorillas at play, and a dance sequence that illustrated the difference between a triangle and a square. It was a program both diverting to grown-ups and educational to the children.

What do these facts indicate? That upbuilding and educational programs can be successful if enough skill and quality are put into them; if those producing them are really dedicated to their tasks and are not penny-pinching in dollars or stingy in effort. That is why at times the advertising playlets of just one minute might be the most entertaining features of an evening’s TV fare.

The Need to Be Selective

TV programs reflect the general decline in standards. But what more is to be expected? Why should the TV industry be more idealistic than others are these days? The chief concern of all is profits.

Of course, as an average reader of this journal you can do little if anything about improving the quality of TV programs. But you may be able to improve your own viewing habits. You can be selective as to what TV programs you watch. If you are a parent, you also should be very much concerned as to the kind of programs your children watch. Make sure that what they watch is upbuilding and not trash. And especially keep them from violent pictures, for watching TV desensitizes children to violence. The problem is great, with a violent episode every 14 minutes and a murder every 45 minutes. According to Dr. V. B. Cline, “We are creating violence addicts.” The violent episodes become models that children later act out in real life.

There has been some agitation to decrease the amount of violence but little about decreasing sexual immorality on the TV screen. One cannot keep watching people carrying on loose conduct without becoming morally desensitized. And so, even as with violence, such examples of loose conduct become models for the conduct of the viewers in real life. The Bible says: “Do not be misled. Bad associations spoil useful habits.” (1 Cor. 15:33) You would not choose the company of persons with known loose morals, would you? Then why associate with them on TV? Being selective means being careful as to the kind of TV programs you watch.

And being selective also means controlling the time you spend watching television. As Dr. G. A. Steiner shows in his book The People Look at Television, many persons have an ambivalent attitude toward television, that is, they have conflicting attitudes regarding it. While they say they enjoy watching TV, at the same time they express concern about watching it too much.

You can derive good and pleasure from watching TV, but there is such a thing as being addicted to it. When you let TV programs cause you to neglect your duties, neglect needed sleep, neglect getting wholesome exercise and fresh air, you are not being selective but addictive. Nor, if you are a Christian minister, are you selective if you neglect any of your ministerial obligations for the sake of watching TV programs.

TV is indeed an awe-inspiring weapon of communication, truly a wonder. But learn to control it; do not let it control you.

[Footnotes]

The Rosetta Stone​—Key to Egyptian Hieroglyphics

IT WAS the year 1799. Four miles from the small Egyptian town of Rashid, or Rosetta, a corps of French soldiers was hard at work making alterations on Fort Julien. Thrown onto the defensive by the victory of the British fleet under Nelson, the French army under Napoleon was preparing for a last stand.

Suddenly, one of the soldiers came across a most unusual stone. It was black and had a metallic ring when struck by the workman’s pick. Three of the corners had broken away. Looking more closely, he noticed that it was covered with curious writing. An officer named Boussard recognized the stone’s value. Unquestionably the writing was very old. What was more, there were different types of writing making up the inscription, one of which included Greek characters.

When Napoleon heard about the stone, he ordered that copies of it be made, and later, when the stone was surrendered as part of the spoil of war, it was taken to England. By the end of 1802 it was on exhibition in the British Museum, where it still occupies the most prominent position in the Egyptian Sculpture Gallery.

The Rosetta Stone is of importance to linguists because its inscription is in two languages, Egyptian and Greek. At the top, the intriguing hieroglyphic characters are incised on the stone, and below this appears the demotic, or more popular simplified form, the writing of the people in general. The last band at the bottom contains the Greek translation.

Early Work on This New Key

Unknown writing has always attracted the curiosity of man. But cracking the most difficult and secret of codes has often proved simple by comparison with some ancient scripts. In the past, Egyptian hieroglyphics had been mistaken for mere ornamentation. Somehow the Chinese were thought to be involved with them, and at best they were viewed as a purely pictorial symbolism. But during the eighteenth century more serious attempts were made to unravel their mysteries, and ideas and theories began to take shape.

The Rosetta Stone was quickly recognized as a find of immense value to students of Egypt’s history. The translation of the Greek portion had appeared in French and English by 1802, and, armed with this, scholars in several countries began to study the Egyptian texts. David Akerblad, a Swedish Orientalist, identified all the Greek names in the demotic section and formed a partial alphabet of sixteen letters. His error, however, was in thinking that the demotic script was exclusively alphabetic.

In 1814 an English scientist, Thomas Young, began to make some progress with the hieroglyphics. He began by dividing up the whole of the texts to correspond with the Greek. He noticed something that other investigators before him had commented upon. Six groups of signs were enclosed in an oblong ring called a cartouche, and this made them stand out prominently from the other signs. Their positions corresponded with a name in the Greek text, that of King Ptolemy. Young tried to break down the signs into the letters and syllables of his name. The result was as follows:

[Artwork​—Hieroglyphics characters]

Another Englishman, W. J. Bankes, discovered an obelisk on the island of Philae, on the river Nile, and identified the cartouche of Cleopatra. It contained three of the signs found in the cartouche of Ptolemy. With other hieroglyphic texts to help him, and some judicious guessing thrown in as well, Young had a list of more than 200 words by around 1818, but only about a third of these were right. In addition, however, he was the first to realize that many of the signs had a phonetic or syllabic value.

At this point, Young lost interest in his studies, and faded from the scene. The field was left open for the man who was to crack the secrets of Egypt’s ancient past in the most decisive and final manner.

Champollion Presses the Search

Jean François Champollion was not yet nine when the Rosetta Stone was found. At an early age he realized that the ancient Coptic language had descended from the still older Egyptian language, and so he set about mastering Coptic. That this was a vital stepping-stone was demonstrated when his knowledge of Coptic led him to his first success with the hieroglyphics.

As various signs yielded up their meanings through the intensive and painstaking efforts of Champollion, a simple but important idea struck him, in 1821. He added up the number of hieroglyphic signs on the Rosetta Stone, and found them to total 1,419. But the Greek text contained only 486 words, so clearly the hieroglyphics could not be just ideographs or symbols, as there were three times as many of them.

He returned to the name Ptolemy, already partly deciphered by Young. Correctly he now read it as ‘Ptolmis’ as follows:

[Artwork​—Hieroglyphics characters]

With the discovery of the Bankes obelisk, Champollion could also correct his own suggested reading of the cartouche for Cleopatra. Having analyzed these two names letter by letter, Champollion studied every royal cartouche within reach.

As name after name was spelled out, it was noticed that they always seemed to belong to the later declining period of Egyptian history, in Ptolemaic and Roman times; too, none of the names were genuinely Egyptian, but foreign. Would his interpretation also open up the secrets of the more ancient Pharaohs? One day a different cartouche appeared. The first sign he knew to be the sun, which in Coptic is ‘Re.’ At the end was a double ‘s.’ If the middle sign was an ‘m,’ why, the name must be ‘R - m - s - s,’ Rameses! The hieroglyphics had not changed radically for hundreds of years.

Now at last Champollion was certain that he had found the key to unlock the secrets of Egyptian history, but the excited and relentless search, carried on often against his physical needs, had left him weak and exhausted. For nearly a week he was too ill to set down his findings in a presentable manner. When his evidence was made known in 1822 it aroused much skepticism in certain quarters, and until his death from a stroke in 1832 he was unable to shake off the controversial storm that his decipherment had evoked.

The Stone Tells Its Story

But the way was now open. Other scholars took up the work where Champollion left off. In particular, Karl Richard Lepsius, a German, stolidly set himself to elucidate every detail, and in 1837 provided a thorough treatise on the matter. Another inscription found at Tanis (in Lower Egypt) in 1866 was like the Rosetta Stone. This stele contained a hieroglyphic and Greek text; a demotic text was in the margin. It has come to be called the Canopus Decree. Lepsius read the hieroglyphic and Greek texts at his first attempt.

Now that the Rosetta Stone could be read completely, along with thousands of other Egyptian inscriptions, what is the story it has to tell? It contains a decree made by the priests of Egypt in the ninth year of Ptolemy V Epiphanes, which corresponds to 196 B.C.E. Because of the king’s beneficial acts during his reign, the honors paid to him as “Savior of Egypt” would be increased. His statue would be set up in every temple in Egypt, and gold figures used in processions. His birthday and coronation-day anniversaries would be festivals “forever,” and all priests would take on a new title, “Priests of the beneficent god Ptolemy Epiphanes, who appears on earth.” Lastly, the decree was to be cut on basalt slabs and erected alongside his statue in the temples, and incised in the “writing of the speech of the god”​—the hieroglyphic language.

Nearly two thousand years later, as the Rosetta Stone was unearthed from near oblivion, the temples of Egypt stood in ruins. The glory of Egypt was a legend, her kings and Pharaohs long since dead. The gods and statues had tumbled from their niches, powerless to assist their priests in the celebration of Ptolemy’s festivals “forever.” Even the language of the god was lost and forgotten, and the search for the clues to open again the secrets of the past was to prove a challenge calling for the ingenuity of more than one generation of scholars.

[Picture on page 25]

The cartouche of Ptolemy

Who Was Cain’s Wife?

✔ The Bible says that after Cain killed his brother Abel he “took up residence in the land of Fugitiveness.” The account continues: “Afterward Cain had intercourse with his wife and she became pregnant.” (Gen. 4:16, 17) Many persons reading this account wonder where Cain got his wife and who she was. Do you know?

A young married woman in Denmark agreed to have a regular home Bible study with a minister of Jehovah’s witnesses. Her husband said that he was not interested, and so he would sit quietly on the other side of the room. Before long, though, he asked: “Where did Cain get his wife?”

The minister pointed out from Genesis 5:4 that Adam and Eve had daughters that are not named in the Bible record. Since Adam and Eve were the first two humans God created, and since Eve ‘became the mother of everyone living,’ Cain evidently married one of his sisters, one of the daughters of Adam and Eve. (Gen. 3:20) The man was quite surprised at the Bible’s plain answer to this question. He exclaimed: “I have been in the army nearly eight years and have asked many chaplains that question. None could answer it!” As a result the husband accepted the offer to share in the Bible study, and he has since made fine progress.

“Your Word Is Truth”

The Biblical View of Riches​—Is It Contradictory?

JEHOVAH‘S approved servants of ancient times included rich men. In fact, Jehovah God is identified as the One ‘giving power to the Israelites to make wealth.’ (Deut. 8:18) Yet Jesus Christ exclaimed: “How difficult a thing it will be for those having money to make their way into the kingdom of God!” (Luke 18:24) Is this contradictory?

It is important to remember that Jehovah God has not given the same instructions to his servants at every period of human history. For instance, in view of the circumstances and God’s purpose for Jeremiah to serve as a sign, the prophet was commanded not to marry and raise a family. (Jer. 16:2-4) But none of God’s servants either before or since that time have specifically been commanded to remain single. Similarly, what the Bible has to say about riches must be considered in the light of God’s purpose respecting his people.

Faithful servants of Jehovah God, such as the patriarchs Abraham and Job, were not directly commissioned to make disciples. For this reason their time appears to have been filled mainly with caring for the physical and spiritual needs of their respective households. Jehovah blessed the diligent efforts of these servants of his so that they came to have much livestock, gold and silver, and many servants.

Though wealthy, these men were not materialists. They appreciated that their material prosperity was due to Jehovah’s blessing upon them. When given an opportunity to increase his wealth by accepting an offer of the king of Sodom, Abraham said: “From a thread to a sandal lace, no, I shall take nothing from anything that is yours, in order that you may not say, ‘It was I who made Abram rich.’ Nothing for me!” (Gen. 14:23, 24) Because of the right attitude shown by men like Abraham, Jehovah had good reason to protect them from being defrauded by selfish and greedy men.

As in the case of the faithful patriarchs, the material prosperity of the Israelites depended upon their maintaining a proper relationship with Jehovah God. It was Jehovah’s purpose that Israel, if obedient, would be a prosperous nation. Said Moses: “Jehovah will open up to you his good storehouse, the heavens, to give the rain on your land in its season and to bless every deed of your hand; and you will certainly lend to many nations, while you yourself will not borrow.”​—Deut. 28:12.

The prosperity of the nation would have brought honor to Jehovah, constituting a powerful proof to surrounding nations that he was the Enricher of his people and that the Law he had given to them was beyond compare in securing the welfare of all concerned.

That Israel’s prosperity did move other peoples to glorify Jehovah is illustrated in the case of King Solomon. Having heard about Solomon in connection with Jehovah, the queen of Sheba, for instance, came from a distant land to see whether the reports about his wisdom and prosperity were true. What she saw moved her to praise Jehovah. The queen of Sheba told Solomon: “You have surpassed in wisdom and prosperity the things heard to which I listened. . . . May Jehovah your God come to be blessed, who has taken delight in you by putting you upon the throne of Israel; because Jehovah loves Israel to time indefinite.”​—1 Ki. 10:1, 2, 7-9.

Of course, the prosperity of the nation did not mean that every individual therein was wealthy​—or that those who had little were necessarily under divine disapproval. Unforeseen occurrences might plunge individuals into poverty. Accidents and sickness could temporarily or permanently hinder a person from performing necessary work. The coming of death could leave behind orphans and widows. Hence the Israelites were encouraged to be generous with their riches in giving aid to the poor and afflicted in their midst.​—Lev. 25:35; Deut. 15:7, 8.

Unlike the patriarchs and the nation of Israel, the followers of Jesus Christ had the commission to “make disciples of people of all the nations.” (Matt. 28:19, 20) Fulfilling that commission required time and effort that might otherwise have been properly used in secular pursuits. Therefore, one who continued clinging to his wealth, if it hindered him from being able to use his time and resources to fulfill that commission, could not be a disciple of Jesus, with the prospect of gaining life in the heavens. That is why the Son of God said: “How difficult a thing it will be for those having money to make their way into the kingdom of God!”​—Luke 18:24.

Christ’s followers, however, were not to reduce themselves to a state of poverty and then depend upon others for support. Rather, they were to work hard so as to be able to care for their families and also have “something to distribute to someone in need.” (Eph. 4:28; 1 Thess. 4:10-12; 2 Thess. 3:10-12; 1 Tim. 5:8) They were to be content with sustenance and covering, not striving to become rich. Says 1 Timothy 6:9, 10: “Those who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many senseless and hurtful desires, which plunge men into destruction and ruin. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of injurious things, and by reaching out for this love some have been led astray from the faith and have stabbed themselves all over with many pains.”

Of course, this does not mean that a Christian cannot have riches. Even in the first century C.E. some wealthy Christians were associated with the congregation at Ephesus, Asia Minor. The apostle Paul did not instruct Timothy to advise these rich Christians specifically to divest themselves of all material things, but wrote: “Give orders to those who are rich in the present system of things not to be high-minded, and to rest their hope, not on uncertain riches, but on God, who furnishes us all things richly for our enjoyment; to work at good, to be rich in fine works, to be liberal, ready to share, safely treasuring up for themselves a fine foundation for the future, in order that they may get a firm hold on the real life.” (1 Tim. 6:17-19) Thus these wealthy Christians had to watch their attitude, not letting either the pursuit or the maintenance of riches engross them, but keeping riches in their proper place land using them generously to aid others. Doing this, they would doubtless cease to expand their wealth, in fact, it might now diminish. But their “foundation for the future” would remain secure.

Truly what the Bible says about riches is always appropriate to the circumstances and God’s purpose respecting his servants. Throughout the Scriptures the emphasis is consistently placed, not on the possession of material riches, but on a good standing with Jehovah God, a standing that is maintained by a person’s continuing to do the divine will by faith. So the Biblical view of riches is harmonious, not contradictory.

Watching the World

Marijuana Affects Brain

◆ Experiments made by biochemists Harris Rosenkrantz and Yugal Luthra revealed serious chemical changes in the brains of animals after being exposed to heavy doses of marijuana for a long period of time. There was a loss of brain protein and RNA, which are vital to the brain. Rats that were given lighter doses also showed signs of bizarre behavior. In harmony with this the chief of the psychiatry department of Cowell Memorial Hospital at University of California at Berkeley observed the following from his own experience with marijuana smokers: “After a period of prolonged use (say six months to a year) of marijuana in frequent dosages (on the order of one time daily), chronic changes occur which are similar to those seen in organic brain disease.”

Football Deaths

◆ The popular American game of football takes a yearly toll in dead and injured players. According to the Medical Tribune of October 13, 1971, in 1970 there were twenty-nine deaths directly related to football. In 1969 there were twenty-three. Most of the fatalities were due to injuries to the head, neck and spinal cord. For the past thirty-nine years deaths due to football have averaged nineteen a year. Is the game worth the annual sacrifice of young men?

Sex Without Love

◆ Sex relations outside the marriage bond are so common among young people that physicians on the campus of the University of Maryland are directing up to ten unmarried co-eds a week to abortion services in New York. A teen-age girl in San Francisco said: “You can’t tell a 16- or 17-year-old girl she can’t have intercourse. She’s going to do it anyway!” What are the results? In the past five years venereal disease has increased more than 1000 percent in the United States. One hospital in Britain reports an increase in VD patients of 25 percent this year. Some of these patients are only thirteen to fifteen years old. A professor of psychiatry at the American University of Washington said: “What they are saying when they live together and are not married is ‘I don’t want to get stuck. I am afraid that too much will be torn from me. I haven’t got enough love to be continually concerned and worried about somebody else.’” The results: frustration, disease, abortions, suicide. How much better to live by Bible standards, which promote enduring love within the marriage bond.

Shoplifting on Increase

◆ The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation reports that shoplifting in American stores is growing at the rate of 20 percent a year. More than 50 percent of it is done by youths. In defense the stores have stepped up their security measures by installing mirrors, turnstiles and television cameras. Some have guards with dogs patrolling hallways during working hours. When one store installed TV cameras it caught 325 employees stealing merchandise in the course of one year.

Waste Products for Fuel

◆ A number of commercial companies are beginning to solve their waste-disposal problems and save money by burning their wastes for fuel. A coffee company that makes instant coffee burns its coffee grounds in a special boiler that generates a third of the steam needed to operate its plant. Previously forty truckloads of coffee grounds were hauled to a dump every day. Such wastes as coconut shells, sunflower-seed hulls, peanut shells, sawdust, the by-products of paper making and sugar refining, and even city trash, are being used by various companies as fuels, with substantial savings on fuel costs.

Sewage Can Be Useful

◆ What to do with tons of sludge left from the processing of sewage has become the headache of many large cities. The city of Chicago believes it has found an answer. This black goo that smells like tar is basically purified human manure. Chicago is shipping it by barges to an area where the land has been ruined by strip-mining. A test on 7,000 acres of such land proved the sludge to be a fine fertilizer. Corn grown on a portion that was treated with it grew eight feet tall, whereas corn grown on untreated acres grew only three feet. It has been estimated that the United States has two million acres of land ruined by strip-mining that could be reclaimed with the sludge from its many sewage-processing plants.

Photographs by Radio Waves

◆ Radio astronomy has come up with something new that has generated considerable excitement among astronomers the world over. A photograph of a distant galaxy, made by means of radio waves, is nearly as detailed as one taken by visible light. It was made by the so-called Synthesis radio telescope in the Netherlands. This telescope consists of a single mile-long row of twelve identical dish antennas. Radio impulses from the antennas were combined by a receiver and fed into a computer, and the result was a meaningful picture of the Whirlpool Nebula.

Earth’s Quasimoon

◆ A small heavenly body, only a mile or two in diameter, is now being viewed as a quasimoon. Computer calculations show that it is locked into an orbit that involves the earth and the moon. This is the first indication that the earth-moon system involves another heavenly body. This little moon is called Toro and has an orbit that brings it within 9.3 million miles of the earth as it circles the sun. The path and velocity of Toro are kept constant by the earth’s gravity.

Contact Lenses

◆ Interest in contact lenses has been sparked by the development of soft, flexible lenses. While they have certain advantages over the non flexible type, they have the serious disadvantage of being very susceptible to bacteriological contamination. Recently 1,300 sets of these lenses were seized in California because they contained eye-damaging bacteria. Even with the non flexible variety care needs to be exercised to avoid infection. They should never be moistened with one’s tongue and placed in the eyes, and cases should be kept clean. The soft variety must be boiled for fifteen minutes every day.

Sinking City

◆ Tokyo, the world’s largest city, is gradually sinking into the sea. This year it is one to eight inches lower than last year, some areas sinking faster than others. Parts of the city have sunk more than six feet since World War II. It appears that the major cause of the sinking is the pumping of water from wells by industry. With the industrial expansion in Japan such water is being pumped out faster than natural processes can replace it. As water pressure beneath the land decreases, the city sinks.

Cholera Is Spreading

◆ Throughout Africa, the Middle East and the Far East, cholera is spreading rapidly. There has not been such a widespread outbreak of it since 1899. The death toll is thought to be well past 20,000, but there is no problem where there are adequate medical facilities and good sanitation. The disease is spread by food and water that are contaminated by human wastes. Death is caused by a severe loss of body fluids.

Tonsils Are Needed

◆ It has been estimated that during 1971 one million pairs of tonsils will be removed from American children. The wisdom of this is questioned by Dr. Robert J. Haggerty of the University of Rochester. It is his view that no more than 2 or 3 percent of the children have tonsils in such bad condition that surgery is warranted. Tonsils have been found to be germ traps and are very important to children who are in the process of building resistance to various diseases.

Loss of Hearing from Antibiotics

◆ There are some antibiotics that, as a bad side effect, cause loss of hearing, especially when taken in combination. Among these are streptomycin, neomycin and kanamycin. According to Modern Medicine of October 4, 1971, they are “so toxic to the cochlea and kidney that it is essential to check the function of the two organ systems before and during administration of the drugs.”

Mind Aids Recovery

◆ Doctors have found that 40 percent of patients will respond just as well with a placebo as with a genuine drug. Results are even better if the doctor also thinks that the placebo is real medication. According to Dr. Bernard Grads of Canada’s McGill University, the mind is as important as medicine in helping a patient to get well. Concurring with this, Dr. Alfred J. Kantor of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine in the United States observed: “The most active drug can become relatively inactive in the hands of a physician who is not held in sufficient esteem by the patient . . . and a relatively inactive or even inert preparation may become highly potent if the patient believes in the doctor.”

Diet Change for Diabetics

◆ Recommendation has come from the American Diabetes Association that diabetics eat carbohydrate foods to the same extent as is considered normal for nondiabetics. Such foods include sugars, starches and celluloses. This change in viewpoint is due to the fact that the major killer of diabetics now is hardening of the arteries, which causes heart attacks and strokes. They have been eating more fatty foods, which is causing a problem with their arteries. The Association observed: “There no longer appears to be any need to restrict disproportionately the intake of carbohydrates in the diet of most diabetic patients.”

Unwise to Marry Young

◆ Statistical material released by the Census Bureau of the United States reveals that persons who marry young are twice as likely to get a divorce as are older persons. According to the census figures, 28 percent of the men who married before the age of twenty-two were divorced within twenty years of marriage. The figure was only 13 percent among men who married when older. The divorce figure for women who married young was 27 percent. It would be wise for young people to wait until they are mature.

Disenchantment with Heart Transplants

◆ Since 1967 doctors have performed 166 heart transplants, but the initial enthusiasm is gone. Too many patients have died​—more than 85 percent thus far. There were also bad side effects. There were depression, brief periods of being psychotic, memory lapses, sleeplessness and marked changes in personality. According to Life magazine, immunologists have concluded that “the heart is a peculiar, particular organ, not only a pump, but a creature of some internal, unknown majesty.”

Dollar Unpopularity

◆ American tourists are finding that the dollar has lost much of its previous popularity in other countries since the United States decided to allow its value to float. Money changers are demanding substantial discounts when changing dollars to other currencies. Therefore travelers have been advised not to change money in hotels, restaurants, stores and on ferryboats. Banks give a better rate of exchange, but the rate may differ from one bank to another. Credit cards and traveler’s checks are recommended over cash.

Do You Live in Fear of an Atomic War?

Many people do, and with good reason. The casualties from such a war could be fantastic​—in the hundreds of millions.

That people would be fearful about the future was foretold in the Bible in a prophecy about our day. But there are good reasons why you need not live in fear. These can be found in the Watchtower magazine.

During the course of a year The Watchtower presents much information from God’s inspired Word that can help you to overcome fear as to the future. Only $1.50 will bring it into your home twice a month for one year.

Please send me the Watchtower magazine for one year. I am enclosing $1.50. Also send me the three gift booklets: When God Is King over All the Earth, “This Good News of the Kingdom” and Saving the Human Race​—in the Kingdom Way.

A King Greater than Solomon Will Bring Peace to Earth

King Solomon was noted for his great wisdom, and the people under his reign enjoyed peace, security and plenty.

A King, enthroned by Jehovah, who is greater than Solomon now rules from the heavens. His reign will bring life, peace, security and plenty to mankind. Learn how you can become a subject of this King and enjoy the benefits of his reign.

Read the 416-page book “The Nations Shall Know that I Am Jehovah”​—How? It considers in detail the prophetic Bible book of Ezekiel. Send only 50c.

Please send me the book “The Nations Shall Know that I Am Jehovah”​—How? for which I enclose 50c. Send also the gift booklet The Approaching Peace of a Thousand Years.