February 22

Having the Right View of Praise

WHO does not appreciate praise? If we are conscientious, we want to do well, we put forth the effort to do well. Commendation encourages us in this right course. Such expressions of commendation, however, should not come from our own mouth, from our own lips, but from those of others.

The wise Bible writer at Proverbs 27:2 says: “May a stranger, and not your own mouth, praise you; may a foreigner, and not your own lips, do so.”

Self-praise on the part of some is obvious. They use the pronoun “I” to excess. But it can also be more subtle. A person, for example, might mention his making some purchase, perhaps doing so in an offhand, matter-of-fact way. But if the purchase is one involving large sums of money, far more than the person’s listeners could be expected to handle, the very matter-of-factness with which he relates the purchase may cause his listeners to be very impressed with his act. So, too, with many other things in life. Of course, no self-praise may be intended. But if a person finds himself frequently doing this, he needs to realize that his heart may be leading him astray into a course of self-elevation.

Note that the inspired writer of Proverbs 27:2 speaks of a “stranger” and a “foreigner” as being the ones to give the praise. This adds another facet to the principle being taught. It recalls the German saying, “Eigenlob stinkt, Freundes Lob hinkt, fremdes Lob klingt,” which means, “Self-praise stinks, a friend’s praise limps, a stranger’s praise rings [true].”

True, this saying may not hold good in all cases. But the Bible proverb shows that when praise comes from one who is free of ties to you, who is very unlikely to feel under any constraint to speak well of you, who gives no evidence of hoping to gain something by so speaking, then you may usually feel satisfied that his praise is ‘unvarnished,’ based on the true merits of your work, speech or course. Failing to realize the value of this proverbial truth, on the other hand, may keep one from knowing where one could, and perhaps needs to, improve.

But there is another facet to the matter. We should exercise care that gaining praise does not become our driving motive to do well. Because of being free from desire for personal benefit, the Christian apostle Paul could write to the Thessalonians, saying: “In fact, at no time have we turned up either with flattering speech, . . . Neither have we been seeking glory from men, no, either from you or from others.”​—1 Thess. 2:5, 6.

So we want to be careful, first of all, not to sing forth our own praise. Then we should not go out of our way to elicit praise from others. The Bible urges Christians not to do things “with acts of eye-service, as men pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, with fear of Jehovah. Whatever you are doing, work at it whole-souled as to Jehovah, and not to men.”​—Col. 3:22, 23.

Then again, having the right view of praise would include a readiness to have others included in the praise; sharing it with those who may have contributed to the success of what you said or did. As an illustration, at a symphony concert the conductor may ask the entire orchestra to take a bow in response to the great and repeated applause. And such is no more than fitting, for as a noted conductor once told his men, ‘You know that without you I can do nothing.’ Honesty and modesty will cause us to give credit where credit is due. Christians should not be like many men of this world who strive to stay ‘in the limelight.’

Of course, a person may have given help that significantly contributed to the success of a project and yet his efforts may not have received any public recognition or acknowledgment. This should never concern him, for, where it is merited, in due time each one “will have his praise come to him from God.” (1 Cor. 4:5) Thus, the hardworking wife who may receive little public acknowledgment can have the inner satisfaction of knowing how much she has contributed to her husband’s well-being and success. And she can be happy that her course is pleasing to those who are higher than her husbandly head, Christ Jesus and Jehovah God.​—Prov. 31:23, 28, 31; 1 Cor. 11:3.

In particular should the Christian who receives praise for having done well in one line of endeavor or another, direct the praise to Jehovah God and his Son. God is the Giver of every good gift and every perfect present. (Jas. 1:17) Not necessarily always out loud, but in his heart and mind the Christian should remind himself of the part that God played in whatever success he has enjoyed. Jesus gave the most striking example of this.

Although greatly honored as the Messiah and the Son of God, at no time did he take credit for his message or works. Thus, to religious opposers Jesus could honestly say: “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father that glorifies me.”​—John 8:54.

All Christian servants of Jehovah God will therefore do well to bear in mind the principle the apostle Paul enunciated in this regard. He stressed: “We are God’s fellow workers. You people are God’s field under cultivation, God’s building.” And that it is God who deserves the praise, Paul shows in the context, for there he says: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God kept making it grow; so that neither is he that plants anything nor is he that waters, but God who makes it grow.” How true that is! Certainly everything depends upon God’s blessing on our efforts.​—1 Cor. 3:9, 6, 7.

Surely, having the right view of praise, we will not only be loath to sing our own praises, or go out of our way to elicit the praise of others, but, when given praise, with due modesty give credit to others where it is due and, above all, direct the praise to Jehovah God, to whom it always is due.

Is God in Your Marriage?

MARRIAGE is more than just the union of two persons of the opposite sex. It consists of many important facets. There are emotional and religious factors, as well as social, recreational, intellectual and financial aspects that must be considered.

In the beginning Jehovah God said: “It is not good for the man to continue by himself. I am going to make a helper for him, as a complement of him.” And so God created Eve and brought her to Adam. From then on, the rule applied: “A man will leave his father and his mother and he must stick to his wife and they must become one flesh.” The words of wise King Solomon, “two are better than one,” can well be applied to marriage.​—Gen. 2:18, 24; Eccl. 4:9.

Two are indeed better than one, but for these two to remain strongly and happily united in wedlock, outside help is apparently needed. This can be seen by the great number of unhappy and broken marriages. Those who have made a study of the situation in the United States say that, although all couples marry with the hope of realizing happiness, their chances of doing so are far less than 50 percent. Why, in some lands there is one divorce to every three marriages, and in certain cities the ratio is one to two!

Because of the stresses upon modern marriage, legislators are making it ever easier to obtain divorces. New York state, after allowing only adultery as a ground for divorce for ever so many decades, now grants divorces on a number of other grounds. And in California the only ground required for divorce is the desire of either one or both parties to terminate the marriage because of “irreconcilable differences.”​—Time, January 12, 1970.

Why?

It has well been said that the chief reasons for unhappy and broken marriages are human weaknesses and selfishness, especially as exemplified by emotional immaturity. The personalities of two emotionally immature persons are bound to grate upon each other. Such immaturity manifests itself by wanting to have one’s own way all the time, by wanting something for nothing (as by gambling), by turning to alcohol to compensate for frustrations, or by giving oneself over to loose or promiscuous conduct. The pressures of earning a living also contribute to the breakdown, as does commercialism, which tempts people to live beyond their means.

And ironical though it may seem, it is nevertheless true that the very things that can bring so much happiness to a marriage​—the differences in the sexes—​can, if viewed improperly, strain it to the breaking point. For example, the man is more likely to view things intellectually and logically, while the woman is more prone to look at things emotionally and sentimentally.

With the average man sex relations are the more dominant consideration, while with the average woman other considerations are likely to play a dominant role. The incident of the patriarch Judah, son of Jacob, having relations with his daughter-in-law is a case in point. (Gen. 38:1-26) So it has been said with no small measure of truth that man gives affection to get ‘sex,’ and the woman gives ‘sex’ to get affection and love. Thus also we are told that a man will buy a home for the sake of having a wife, while a woman takes a man so that she might have a home of her own.​—1 Cor. 7:1, 2.

“A Threefold Cord”

Important to the success of marriage is the desire to please each other, but that is not enough. Something else is needed. It is as we read: “A threefold cord cannot quickly be torn in two.” (Eccl. 4:12) Marriage becomes a threefold cord by bringing God into it. How is that done? By making the marriage vows in the presence of God and recognizing one’s obligation at all times to be pleasing Him, the originator of marriage.

That this should be so is recognized even by educators and university professors who are concerned with marriage problems. Thus, F. Alexander Magoun, who for decades has lectured to college students from one end of the United States to the other, devotes the last chapter of his book on love and marriage to “Religion in the Home.” Says he: “Life and religion cannot be separated . . . Real religion is indispensable to happiness and fullness of life . . . Any material problem always has a spiritual side, and a right material solution is impossible until the spiritual principles have been discovered on which to base that solution.”

In a somewhat similar vein, sociologist J. D. Unwin has noted that, for a marriage to realize its full potential, ‘partners must share an allegiance to some purpose outside themselves and which they consider ultimately more important than even themselves or their relationship.’ The service of Jehovah God furnishes just such a purpose for dedicated Christians.

Pleasing God by Loving One’s Neighbor

To bring God into one’s marriage by pleasing him means to keep his commandments as found in his Word, the Bible. It commands, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” For married folks their closest neighbor is their own mate. They must also apply to their relations with each other Jesus’ further words: “Just as you want men to do to you, do the same way to them.” How strengthening to marriage is the application of these commands!​—Mark 12:31; Luke 6:31.

Married couples have vowed to love each other. How does love act? God’s Word tells us: “Love is long-suffering and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, does not get puffed up, does not behave indecently, does not look for its own interests, does not become provoked. It does not keep account of the injury. It does not rejoice over unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” Clearly no marriage tie could possibly be torn in two if these divine commandments are carried out.​—1 Cor. 13:4-8.

Married persons, being imperfect, at times transgress against each other. Here again God’s inspired counsel helps: “Become kind to one another, tenderly compassionate, freely forgiving one another just as God also by Christ freely forgave you.” The Bible also tells Christians to cultivate the fruitage of God’s spirit: “Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control.” Trying to be good Christians will certainly strengthen the marriage, for it will bring God into it.​—Eph. 4:32; Gal. 5:22, 23.

God’s Principles Governing Marriage

God, having originated marriage, purposed that it be a great blessing and the source of much happiness. But only by abiding by his rules for marriage can such be realized. These spell out the roles to be filled by each mate.

The role of the husband is that of exercising loving headship: “The head of a woman [wife] is the man.” (1 Cor. 11:3) A family is a miniature organization, and every organization must have a head if it is to survive and realize its purpose. A mature man is mentally, physically, emotionally and biologically fitted to take the lead in the family.

But this in no way authorizes the husband to be a selfish, independent dictator. By no means! That would be sidestepping God, for he counsels: “Husbands, continue loving your wives, just as the Christ also loved the congregation and delivered up himself for it . . . In this way husbands ought to be loving their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself, for no man ever hated his own flesh; but he feeds and cherishes it.” One of the greatest examples of unselfish love is this one of Christ, the one that husbands are to follow.​—Eph. 5:25-29.

This matter of headship on the part of the husband cannot be dismissed as old-fashioned and out-of-date. Headship is the divinely ordained inheritance of the man.

Some people would have the family run as a democracy, with all its members voting on the way it should be run. But this is not the Creator’s way at all! One of America’s foremost educators, Elton Trueblood, states: “It is only when the recognition of male headship, as expressed in the Biblical story of creation is fully accepted by both partners to a marriage that the true dignity not only of manhood, but also of womanhood is appreciated.”​—The Recovery of Family Life, p. 89.

Even more to the point are the words of David and Vera Mace,a who have studied marriage problems on all five continents:

“All cannot be treated as equals, because in fact they are not so. A man and a woman may be equal as persons in society. But as husband and wife, acting out their masculine and feminine roles in marriage, they are different and complementary; the concept of equality is meaningless here. A parent and a child simply cannot be equal, because the child needs the protective authority of his parents to give him the security without which he cannot grow healthily into an adult.

“We are coming to see in the West, therefore, that by undermining the authority of the man in the family we are not only damaging him, but hurting everyone else as well. The wife cannot function in her feminine role if her husband’s masculine role is taken from him. The family group cannot function as a family if its natural head is dethroned.

“In Western marriage many troubles are arising because the reciprocal husband-wife interaction pattern is out of kilter. If the husband can no longer play his part as leader and initiator, the wife is paralyzed in her responsive function.”​—Marriage: East and West (1960), p. 297.

By supporting the Bible’s role of headship for the husband, these persons also support the role it gives to the woman, which is just as biologically sound. Her God-given role as mother, while being unquestionably very rewarding, exacts its own price. Her monthly vicissitudes, pregnancy, childbirth, nursing and care of her offspring, all emphasize her need of security, which her husband can provide. To care properly for every need of an infant (emotional, mental and physical) requires a very gentle, sensitive, feminine nature, just the opposite of an aggressive masculine one.

Truly in wisdom and love the Creator has ordained that the wife should be in subjection to the husband and father. In fact, only by her being submissive can her husband love her as he loves his own body, for his own flesh is submissive to him. That is why the Word of God commands: “Let wives be in subjection to their husbands as to the Lord.” And again, “The wife should have deep respect for her husband.” By both husband and wife playing their God-ordained roles the marriage is strengthened.​—Eph. 5:22-33.

Women, by seeking to compete with men and occupy and play man’s role, are actually working against their own interests. They are denying their own femininity. True, man is naturally the leader and the aggressive one, but, in the case of a loving husband and father, is it not used in the interest of his wife and children? Thus one leading woman psychoanalyst and author in New York city, in discussing with women their marital problems, among other things said: “Women must learn to thank God daily for the enormous energy and drive of their men.”

Also strengthening the marriage tie is what God in his Word has to say regarding the intimate aspects of the marital relationship: Neither the husband nor the wife has exclusive control of that one’s own body but each has a claim on the other’s body for the satisfying of basic sex needs. (1 Cor. 7:3-7) Husband and wife are also counseled to limit their sex interest to each other; the only ground for divorce with the right to remarriage is infidelity on the part of a mate.​—Matt. 19:4-6, 9.

Walking with God

There is yet another way in which God can be in your marriage so as to strengthen it, and that is by both husband and wife ‘walking with God.’ (Mic. 6:8) What does this mean? It means to have a meaningful relationship with God. This is shown by one’s looking to God at all times for wisdom and strength, and in particular by frequently talking to him in prayer. It means to be like Moses, who “continued steadfast as seeing the One who is invisible.” It means not to “be anxious over anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication along with thanksgiving let your petitions be made known to God.”​—Heb. 11:27; Phil. 4:6.

True it is, “two are better than one . . . For if one of them should fall, the other one can raise his partner up.” But better still is “a threefold cord,” for it “cannot quickly be torn in two.” More than anything or anyone else that can help you to have your marriage like a threefold cord, strong​—and also happy—​is having God as the third strand to your marriage cord.​—Eccl. 4:9-12.

[Footnotes]

Advancing in Wisdom

● It has been said that as a person becomes older and wiser, he often talks less but says more.

Multiple Sclerosis​—a Baffling Disease

ARE you stiff as a board when trying to get out of bed in the morning? Are you unable to walk so that a wheelchair is needed? Must someone push your legs and aid you into a chair so you can bathe? At one time did you have good penmanship but now can barely write your name? Do you have difficulty in controlling your bladder especially in cold or rainy weather? Do you see well and then your eyes blur or do you have double vision?

Maybe you have multiple sclerosis​—baffling MS.

What Is It?

Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system. It attacks the insulation of nerve fibers of the brain and spinal cord. Normal nerve fibers are insulated by a sheath of fatty tissue. This insulation might be compared to insulation around a telephone wire. When the insulation around a nerve fiber is broken down by MS, the conduction of impulses along the now exposed fiber is disrupted. There is a short-circuiting of nerve impulses, and the corresponding muscle cells become paralyzed.

In areas where nerve-fiber insulation is broken down, scar tissue forms; this results in hard patches in the brain and spinal cord. “Sclerosis” comes from a Greek word meaning “hard.” Because these small hard areas appear scattered throughout the gray and white substance of the brain and spinal cord, the disease is called “multiple” sclerosis.

Some of the symptoms are fatigue, numbness, tingling, incoordination, strong jerky movements, weakness or spasms of the arm, leg and eye muscles (causing blurring and double vision), tremors of the limbs on attempting some special action, staggering, a spastic gait, actual paralysis, headaches, weakness of the bladder and stiffness of the limbs.

Odd Aspects of MS

One of the many odd aspects of MS is that it attacks chiefly people in the prime of life, persons between the ages of twenty and forty. In fact, doctors report that MS is the commonest disease of the nervous system affecting people in the prime of life in northern Europe and North America. Some 250,000 Americans, and possibly many more, are afflicted. It is most common in the economically advanced areas of the earth, where the hygienic standards are the highest. “The more primitive the society,” says one doctor, “the less the MS problem.” It is relatively more common in cold climates. It is relatively rare in South America, Africa and in Asian lands.

MS is slowly progressive, perhaps developing in fifteen to thirty years. As a rule it is a disease that worsens, slackens off and then returns. Severe symptoms may appear and then, just as suddenly, disappear. The patient may suddenly find he can walk again. His eyesight may be restored. He may be an office worker, able to hold down a job, type and dress himself. Then without notice his hands become clumsy, awkward and so numb that he strikes the wrong keys. Speech is slow and broken into small syllables. Even though improvement is spontaneous, he may relapse into a similar state, or worse. Baffling MS.

Despite much medical research, MS remains, as one doctor put it, “a disease with an unknown cause, an unpredictable course, an undiscovered cure and not even a simple laboratory test to confirm its diagnosis.” Baffling MS.

Possible Causes

MS was first described in detail in 1868, and since then many opinions as to possible causes have been offered. One of the most popular in recent years is that MS is an autoimmune disease; that is, one in which the body produces antibodies that attack its own substances.

However, there are authorities who believe MS is linked with a virus. For example, writing in Scientific American of July 1970, British epidemiologist Dr. Geoffrey Dean reports that variations in its incidence around the world suggest that it results from infection by a virus of the little-understood “slow” or latent kind. Normally, he believes, MS is “a virus infection of childhood” like polio. The earlier a child is exposed to the polio virus, the less likely he is to develop the crippling variety. But in those parts of the world with a high hygienic standard, a child may miss an early infection; then if it occurs for the first time in early adult life, it is with more serious consequences. The virus theory, like others, has not been proved.

Treatment and General Aids

There is no specific therapy for MS, but many doctors use adrenocortical steroids such as cortisone. It is believed that temporary use of this drug may possibly hasten a recovery or remission. But whether such drugs actually shorten an acute episode or lessen it in intensity is still debated. Thus much of the therapy for treating MS is related to relieving symptoms, and drugs of various kinds are used. Opinions vary, and so does the treatment of MS. Baffling MS.

Many doctors recommend occupational therapy, which might be knitting, painting, typing and so forth, anything to keep the mind active and not on one’s ailment. Enough rest, a happy mental outlook and a determination to get well are helpful. It is important to keep the patient’s morale high, and a sympathetic, hopeful attitude on the part of the family will help to make life more pleasant for all concerned.

Extreme fatigue, exposure to cold or dampness should all be avoided. Infections of any sort, especially respiratory infections, often bring on relapses or cause the disease to worsen.

There is also the need to avoid bad emotions, such as anger and rage. Studies have shown that chronic bad emotions probably have an injurious effect as to the activity of the disease. Acute emotional stress may suddenly bring on a severe attack.

It is believed that inactivity will lead to increased stiffness of the legs. Thus, writing in the volume Current Therapy (1967), Dr. W. W. Tourtellotte, M.D., of the University of Michigan Medical Center, says of MS patients: “Daily walking to just beyond the level of fatigue by patients who are moderately afflicted is encouraged. . . . It is our experience that patients with multiple sclerosis should be active and busy as long as their neurological condition permits.”

Nutritional Factors

Much controversy exists as to whether the taking of certain vitamins will help an MS patient. There have been reports of improvement following the taking of some vitamins, but the medical profession in general believes that there is no real evidence or support for many of the conclusions drawn. The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy states that vitamin preparations can be taken for “their psychotherapeutic and tonic effects.” Recommended in this regard are nicotinic acid (niacin), and vitamins B1 and B12. French doctors who used vitamin B12 for treating MS reported considerable improvement in patients.

Nutritionists generally believe from their research that vitamins can help an MS patient. Nutritionist Adelle Davis, for example, reports in her book Let’s Get Well: “When patients suffering from multiple sclerosis have been given vitamins E, B6, and other B vitamins, the illness has been arrested; even advanced cases improved in walking and had better bladder control and fewer arm and leg spasms. The calcification of soft tissues has been prevented with vitamin E. It seems to me that all of these nutrients should be emphasized in the diet of any individual suffering from this disease.”

Also nutritionist Catharyn Elwood reports that Doctor J. E. Crane “has had wonderful success with vitamin-E treatment of multiple sclerosis. Of 24 severe cases, 18 ‘improved markedly.’”

Vitamin C has also been reported as having some value. In The Complete Book of Vitamins, the statement is made: “In multiple sclerosis, objective and subjective improvement was noted in the majority of cases when large doses of ascorbic acid were administered.”

A recent book, New Hope for Incurable Diseases (New York; 1971), has a chapter on MS. The authors, E. Cheraskin, M.D., and W. M. Ringsdorf, Jr., D.M.D., tell of MS patients who have benefited by a low-carbohydrate diet. A high-carbohydrate diet made their symptoms worse. Say the authors: “There is hope for the person with multiple sclerosis! Diet, as a therapeutic tool, certainly should be included on the basis of this evidence.” In the light of the dietary evidence they have uncovered, these doctors say: “Simple sugars and saturated fats should be viewed as susceptibility factors in multiple sclerosis.”

With regard to the matter of prevention, these doctors state: “It is likely that the diet offering more hope for the incurable may also prevent the development of these disorders.” Dietary factors recommended by these authorities are: Adequate protein and “1. Restriction of dietary carbohydrate, especially sugar, syrup, and very highly processed starch foods. 2. Restriction of saturat[ed] fats and replacement with the unsaturated fats. 3. Multiple vitamin-mineral supplementation. 4. Megadoses of Vitamin C and Vitamin B.”

My Own Experience with MS

Baffling MS manifests itself in various ways among different persons. My own experience with strange symptoms began in 1956 when I was in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I was waiting to attend the fall class of the Watchtower Society’s Gilead missionary school. A pain in my back came on, and one hip looked higher than the other. The doctor put me in bed for a week or so and called it sciatica. The pain in the right lumbar region left, and I straightened up.

After going to my missionary assignment in Guyana, I had no trouble again until 1959. Again it was pain in my back. After some time in bed, I returned to work but had stiffness. When I visited Minneapolis in 1961 a chiropractor told me he thought that I had multiple sclerosis. He gave me adjustments of the spine, and I began taking some vitamins, such as vitamin B.

Later my right hand went dead for over a month, and I ate with my left hand. Then my right hand came back to life, and I was normal again. It was all very baffling.

In February 1962, I did much enjoyable work. But in March I could not walk for a time. Every year I would get this attack. Then it came after nine months, and after six months.

I began to have trouble with my legs; I would often fall down. Then I had trouble with my bladder. In 1964 a doctor gave me cortisone and called my ailment peripheral neuritis. Cortisone seems to deaden the pain. Another doctor examined me and recommended shortwave treatments for my back and certain exercises. In 1965 I went to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Here I had many examinations and tests. Finally after more than a week, I was told that my ailment was multiple sclerosis. In my case it was thought wise not to take any more cortisone, as it seemed to make my muscles more stiff.

Later in 1965 I was back in Guyana to continue my missionary work. My legs steadily got worse, and in 1968 I began to use a wheelchair.

Now in 1972 my hands are getting weaker, and I am unable to stand on my legs. I find it difficult to write my name, and my typing is done with two fingers. Though there is general deterioration now, my conducting Bible studies with students helps to keep my mind alert.

A person with MS is dependent on others, and I am fortunate to be living in Guyana, where people are friendly and understanding. The doctors and nurses at the Georgetown Public Hospital really are kind, and when I need help they give me assistance. Even the climate in Guyana is favorable, since warm weather seems to help me. The whole year around it is between eighty-two and eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit.

My husband and I have been full-time ministers for eighteen years now, and we have been here for about fourteen years. I am able to teach people the Bible in my home, on the phone and when talking to neighbors and friends. It is good to keep active in spite of that baffling MS.​—Contributed.

Hardworking ‘Soil Bugs’ Clean the Air

◆ Scientists at the Stanford Research Institute have concluded that soil microorganisms perform an invaluable service in removing deadly carbon monoxide from the atmosphere. Of the 200 different organisms so far isolated from the soils, at least sixteen actively remove this gas. Each year some 200 million tons of “man-made” carbon monoxide are produced in the continental United States. Yet the head of the institute’s plant biology laboratory estimated that the soil in the country can remove more than 500 million tons. And people get the greatest benefits from this service in those areas where trees have not been mostly eliminated and the ground covered with concrete. Thus it seems that these soil microorganisms largely account for the fact that the amount of this gas in the atmosphere has remained almost constant for the past decade.

Why the Boom in Wigs?

A FEW years back, wigs were almost unknown​—actresses, wealthy women of fashion and a few women with thinning hair being about the only ones who wore them. But now they are sold by the millions practically world wide. In the United States, retail sales have boomed from almost nothing eleven or twelve years ago to more than 500 million dollars annually!

In some larger cities and affluent suburbs a large proportion of women own them​—if not a full wig, then a partial hairpiece of some kind or another. And the New York Times of August 22, 1970, noted that “wigs for men are a hot, new item in stores across the country.” One of the first department stores to stock wigs specially designed for men had sales of $5,000 in the first two weeks.

Such popularity, however, is not unprecedented. In the eighteenth century, wigs were commonly worn in Europe and colonial America by both women and men. During the American Revolution wigs were ‘government issued’ to soldiers, and dressing his wig was important in the soldier’s life.

But why are wigs again so widely popular, especially women’s wigs? Why such booming sales?

Improved Quality, Low Cost

When wigs started gaining popularity again around 1960, only those made of real hair looked genuine. But they were and still are generally expensive, running into the hundreds of dollars for quality ones. On the other hand, wigs of synthetic material were poor imitations, being obviously artificial.

However, in the latter 1960’s synthetic wigs made of modacrylic fibers were perfected. These fibers are inexpensive​—about $3.25 a pound—​not very flammable, and remarkably similar to human hair in molecular structure. They are also so light that a full wig may weigh only three ounces.

Thus began production of synthetic wigs that almost perfectly duplicate in appearance and feel human hair and they could be purchased for $25 to $30, which was quite low when compared with those made of genuine hair. Another advantage of the synthetic wig is the minimal effort and cost to maintain it.

The human-hair wig requires practically the same care one’s own hair does​—regular setting, shampooing and so forth. However, when the synthetic wig is manufactured, the curls are baked into it so that the set does not come out except at high temperature. Thus it can be worn time after time, and it still looks good. When it gets dirty it can be washed simply by swooshing it about in cool or tepid soapy water, rinsing it, shaking it, and hanging it to dry.

In 1967 another improvement was made​—the stretch wig was developed. The hair is attached to a cap made of elasticized fiber threads, which can be stretched to fit a variety of head sizes. It is pulled on more or less like a bathing cap, and it stays firmly and securely in place.

With such improvements, the wig boom was on. Practically all wigs sold today are synthetics. Of those sold in the United States, well over 90 percent are imported, mostly from such places as Korea and Hong Kong.

Other Reasons for the Boom

Wigs are a profitable business, tremendous profit margins being realized all along the line, from manufacturer to retail seller. So promotional efforts, prompted by a profit motive, are also a factor in the wig boom. But, of course, to maintain sales buyers are necessary.

What many women like about wigs is their convenience. It takes only a few minutes to put on a wig, and then one is ready to go, adorned with a hairstyle that few persons, if any, may be able to tell is not one’s own. A wig department supervisor observed that only one person in a hundred buys a wig because her own hair is poor.

Some women, for example, have found they can go swimming and, by donning a wig, be ready in minutes to meet an appointment or fulfill a social engagement. Some men, too, are pleased by the advantage this affords, not only for their wives, but for themselves. As one said: “The time it takes her to get ready to go out is cut in half. Now if only someone would invent instant make-up.”

A factor, too, in the boom in wig sales is that many women buy not just one, but a number of wigs, some even changing from one style (and color) to another each day.

Factors to Consider

Not all women have been satisfied with wigs. Some say they feel uncertain when wearing them, being afraid that they may come off, to their embarrassment. Others complain that they are uncomfortable, that their heads feel hot and itchy after a day’s use. Wig caps, some women say, are not porous enough to allow the scalp to breathe sufficiently. Even women who like wigs admit that in very hot, humid weather they can be unpleasant, just as a hat can be. On the other hand, in the winter this feature can be an advantage, serving to keep the head warm.

The question is often raised as to whether regular wearing of a wig harms the hair or scalp. It can. Frequent wig wearers commonly find that the elastic around the edge of the wig cap has a tendency to rub the hair off near the hairline. Aside from that, however, little harm is apparently done, at least no more than would occur from regularly wearing a hat that covers the top of the head. Of course, the wig should be taken off when going to bed, since the hair and scalp do need ventilation.

Women usually are glad to take their wigs off when they return to the privacy of their home, even as they find it comfortable to remove a hat. As a result, a woman may appear rather unsightly, for to wear a wig the hair must be pressed down tightly on the head. Some women say they do not like to appear this way before their husbands, and husbands may understandably not like it either.

Looking at Wigs from the Christian Viewpoint

Some feel that the boom in wigs may be explained entirely by lowered prices, improved synthetics and timesaving convenience. But is this all?

Perhaps one might here think of another question: Why is it that the previous boom in wigs, one that saw even ordinary soldiers wear them, faded out in most places in the nineteenth century? The answer is that what was popular became unpopular; artificiality gave way to naturalness. Could it not be simply a reversal of popularity today that has brought a restoration of an earlier fad?

Christian women will recall the Bible’s exhortation to modesty, including the avoiding of elaborate “styles of hair braiding.” (1 Tim. 2:9) Wigs can serve as a temptation to violate this sound counsel. In the eighteenth century, when wigs were so popular, French women notably competed for the most extravagant hairstyle. Today, too, some women purchase wigs that look quite unnatural on them, even outlandish. What is their motive?

Does a woman wear a wig because of a serious problem with her hair, as did one who suffered the loss of much of her hair due to a family tragedy? For most this is not the reason. Then is it truly for practicality? Or is it simply a strong desire to be “fashionable,” even to “stand out”?

In the absence of hair problems, the intensity of the wearer’s concern about wigs could be the determining factor as to the rightness or wrongness of the whole matter as viewed from the Christian standpoint​—just as the intensity of desire differentiates the materialist from the non-materialistic person who nevertheless works for wages.

Admittedly we humans often suffer in appearance due to imperfection. We may try to cover over some defects or blemishes and do so with a right motive: that of wanting others to have something pleasant (or at least reasonably pleasant!) to look at. Today, however, man’s ingenuity has made it possible for humans, particularly women, to change virtually everything about their appearance, substituting artificiality for naturalness. Might not a great enthusiasm for such artificial things or immoderate use of them imply some lack of appreciation for the body we received through our parents by the Creator’s life-transmitting process? We might here recall the apostle’s statement that a woman’s hair, her own hair, can be “a glory to her.”​—1 Cor. 11:15.

All this is not to say that the use of a wig is of itself improper from the Christian viewpoint​—no more than the use of cosmetics, perfume, jewelry or, in menswear, padded shoulders, is of itself improper. Basically the question is the motivation behind it and whether the use is with moderation.

So, like some women, you may feel that the timesaving convenience (or winter warmth) of a wig merits its use. Or, like others, you may prefer naturalness, perhaps preferring to be appreciated principally for what you actually are. In either case, the married woman should also give due consideration to the preference of her husband.

The Amazing Ostrich

By “Awake!” correspondent in South Africa

HOW would you like to start your meal by eating pebbles? Not a pleasant way to dine, but to the amazing Mr. Ostrich there is nothing better. Hard objects pass at once into the bird’s stomach and from there they go to its second stomach, the gizzard. This functions like a mill, the food being ground up by action of muscular walls.

Baby food for the amazing ostrich family is unusual. When the chicks are hatched, wet dung of the mother is an indispensable baby food. It supplies the necessary bacteria to start the baby’s digestive processes.

In South Africa there are quite a number of ostrich farms. Here these huge birds are raised not only for plumes but also for their skins, which are made into fine-quality leather. In the district of Oudtshoorn there are two hundred farms that keep some 70,000 ostriches. On these farms Mr. Ostrich has a great share in the hatching work. The hen sits during the daytime so that her grayish-brown feathers blend with the surrounding karroo bushes. The male sits at night for the same reason​—for camouflage, his black-and-white plumage being invisible at night.

Just before the eggs are due to hatch, the male will sit next to the female even during the daytime or stand next to her, throwing his shadow over her to protect her from the rays of the subtropical sun.

Mrs. Ostrich lays from twelve to fifteen eggs. If a farmer removes these eggs, she will keep on laying, up to thirty eggs, providing a dummy egg is left in the nest. In this way three hatchings can be obtained annually instead of one.

As might be expected of the world’s largest living bird, the eggs are huge and may weigh three pounds. The Grand Creator has made the provision that the germ is so suspended in the egg that, no matter how the egg is turned, the germ rises to the top so that the vital spot can be brought into contact with the warm body of the parent bird. The chicks hatch after incubating for six weeks.

A chick lies folded up like a miniature umbrella inside the shell, with its feet and beak together. At the final stage of hatching, the chick kicks the shell open with its hard, bone-reinforced toenail. When grown up the ostrich may reach nearly eight feet tall and weigh as much as 345 pounds.

In spite of its hefty build, the ostrich is a very graceful bird. In fact, they have been seen dancing to the tune of a herdboy’s reed pipe.

Or perhaps you would rather watch a male bird performing his courting dance? He sits on his haunches, spreading his wings out so that the shining white plumage is fully displayed while he moves his body slowly from side to side. The neck arches backward in swanlike elegance; the head beats with a dull thud alternately on either side of his body. The mating call is three deep growls followed by a shorter call. It can be heard at a distance of two miles and sounds like the roar of a lion.

Though a flightless bird, the ostrich makes up for that by being an amazing runner. Its long legs can carry it at speeds of thirty or forty miles an hour.

If unable to run from danger, the ostrich does not hide its head in sand. Rather, it defends its nest by kicking with its powerful legs. The ostrich is unique among all birds in having but two toes on each foot, one of them equipped with a clawlike hoof that becomes a dangerous weapon when the bird is forced to defend itself.

Certain characteristics of the ostrich are said to stagger scientists. It has a bladder that collects uric acid, an organ characteristic of mammals, but not possessed by any other family of birds. It also possesses eyelashes that protect its eyes from the blowing sand. Truly the amazing ostrich gives credit to the wisdom of its Creator.

Borobudur​—Philosophy in Stone

BY “AWAKE!” CORRESPONDENT IN INDONESIA

IN A picturesque setting of green terraced rice fields of Central Java, Borobudur is located. Built about 800 C.E., it has a name thought to mean “Monastery on the hill.” But rather than being a monastery, it is a huge, forty-two-meter-high square pile of stones enveloping the top of a hill. Strangely enough, the philosophy of Buddha is reflected in this mammoth pile of stones.

Buddhist teaching does not conceive God as a personal being. Thus man becomes the important thing. That is why many Chinese Buddhists are at the same time also followers of Taoism and Confucianism, to fill the religious lack of Buddhism. Since Buddhism is not so much a belief as a philosophy, Borobudur resembles, not a place of worship, but one of meditation.

Today, next to being a favorite tourist attraction, Borobudur serves as a holy place for Indonesian Buddhists. Many of them make an annual pilgrimage in order to celebrate their most important festival, the enlightenment of Buddha, during the full-moon night in May.

Magic Taken Seriously

During that night the followers of Buddha gather at the field surrounding Borobudur. The place becomes, they believe, a strong reservoir for magical power. “White magic” is said to be obtained in order to fight “black magic.” Buddha’s spirit is thought to appear in visible form on top of a southern mountain, and after the celebration is over, “magic water” is taken along from Borobudur for those who could not attend the celebration as well as for healing sick people.

Those who have witnessed Waiçak, or the celebration of the enlightenment of Buddha, have seen how important spiritism or occultism is for Buddhists. Such observers may rightly wonder why Buddhists do not believe in God yet, on the other hand, regard magical power from invisible creatures very seriously.

Buddhist Evolution Depicted

The very shape of the monument of Borobudur resembles the philosophy of Buddhism. How so? Built in ten terraces with a small room on top, it depicts the Buddhist concept of gradual transfer of the human being into the ultimate destiny of Buddha nirvana. This is represented by the central upper chamber. There are no clearly marked entrances. But on all four sides are flight steps and gateways leading to the upper chamber of the step pyramid.

Evolution is part of Buddhist philosophy. All life is thought to have its origin in the rocks. The rock is said to become sand, sand becomes plants, plants change into insects, insects into wild animals, wild animals into domestic animals, and domestic animals are thought by Buddhists to become humans.

No links are required as in Darwinism, as the Buddhist-type evolution is thought to be achieved through reincarnation. Thus Buddhists believe that Gautama Buddha himself lived before becoming a human, once as a rabbit, another time as a turtle, then as a monkey. Next, he became a man, according to Buddhist philosophy, later a spirit, and finally entered nirvana.

Now, all these different stages of life according to Buddhist concept are illustrated through artistic carvings and statues over the whole monument of Borobudur. For example, the supposed prehuman life of Buddha is depicted as a rabbit, or as a good turtle saving the lives of shipwrecked sailors by bringing them on its back safely to the beach. Thus the sculptures depict the Buddhist philosophy of evolution of man.

Efforts to Eliminate Human Suffering

Illustrated at Borobudur in the hundreds of well-preserved reliefs on the first five terraces is the Buddhist concept of life full of suffering.

Siddhartha Gautama, called the Buddha, which means the Enlightened One, is said to have lived from 563-483 B.C.E. Moved by the sudden realization of illness, old age and death, he left his home in search of wisdom that would eliminate human suffering. That was a very long time ago, and his teachings have spread far over Asia. But if we think for a moment, what did he accomplish?

With his good intentions, did Gautama finally succeed in solving human problems? Did he eliminate illness and its cause, old age and death and its cause? Or do people even today, 2,500 years after Gautama’s enlightenment, suffer from illness, old age and death? You may say: “Of course, I too feel sick sometimes; I have seen people grow older and die.” Then did Buddha really succeed in freeing humans from suffering?

After spending seven weeks under the shade of a bo tree, he came to the conclusion one night that charity and renunciation are the keys to nirvana. His argument was that if a person is in no way affected by what he sees, hears, smells, feels, tastes and thinks, he becomes free, uninvolved, unconscious of life, death, old age and sickness. He enters what is called nirvana, which is described, not as a place somewhere, but as a condition, the end of all suffering.

You may naturally wonder, How can it work to be completely uninvolved in life; not to hear a thing, or not to see? If, for example, you see something very horrible, something really disgusting done to your friend, are you not immediately moved to react? Most people would feel so. Or, if you suddenly realized that you put your hand on something very hot, would you not automatically retract it? That is what every normal person would do.

No Remembrance in “Reincarnation”

What comes next in the philosophy of Buddhism is shown on the next four terraces. This part of Borobudur is not square-shaped as the lower part is but is circular and is covered with seventy-two bell-shaped, perforated stone chambers. Each chamber contains a Buddha statue. These statues, being without ornaments, are thought by Buddhists to indicate spiritual life on a higher level than that of a human. Although the main position of Buddha is the same with each statue, the different positions of his hands are thought to indicate the progress to higher virtues.

Since it seemed impossible for a human to get completely disassociated from life, not to feel anything nor to see, hear, smell or think anything during his short lifetime, Gautama continued in the Hindu belief of reincarnation, the evolution of man into a higher form after his death.

After a person has died, according to this concept, his real spiritual personality is immediately transferred into a newborn baby somewhere else, and he now has a chance to continue his human progress to reach the unconscious life. If he has led a good life during the first lifetime, it is thought that his new life will be an improvement. That is, he may have wealthier parents, be more handsome or have better personality traits. On the other hand, if he was bad, it is thought that he may be reborn under poorer conditions, be uglier, or if he was really a bad fellow, he may even be transferred back into a newborn domestic animal.

But you may wonder, What benefit is there in reincarnation, in an experience, if you cannot remember a thing of what has happened in the life before? How can there be an improvement of the personality or a striving after a higher desire if all the lessons of the former life are not remembered anymore?

Disassociation or Enjoyment of Life?

While visiting the seventy-two statues on the four terraces, the Buddhist pilgrim is in search of freedom from human life. Each image, by means of how the hand, are held, is said to give hints of how to get disassociated, to become unconscious of life. You may wonder, however, how a person can ever be happy, enjoy and share happiness if he disassociates himself. For just the opposite is required to enjoy life​—participation, the use of the senses and the use of the brain.

Did Buddha really teach love of life? Or does his philosophy not rather indicate fear of life? To try to run away from it, to disassociate himself from life, is surely not the successful way to make himself or others happy. Is Gautama’s philosophy of enlightenment not rather a way to get rid of life, to finish its existence while trying to convince himself and others of an uncertain nobility in doing so?

Torment in a fiery hell in a life after death was always a fearful expectation of Hinduism; Buddhism tries to abolish this fear by concentrating on nonparticipation. Since the use of the senses would be required for making hell a place of which to be afraid, Buddha thought that by putting the senses out of action, this would make hell ineffective; and the state of nonparticipation would abolish all things, good and evil, pleasant as well as unpleasant.

The tenth and final terrace of Borobudur is formed by a huge bell-shaped structure. It contains an empty chamber with two compartments. If the pilgrim has reached these rooms, he maintains a complete silence, meditating that he has now symbolically reached nirvana, the highest form of disassociation. He ceases to exist. The world is still there, but he himself has gone out of it. No material nor spiritual matter will ever affect him anymore, it is believed. For him the world has ended and there is nothing anymore that will come thereafter.

A Better Way of Liberation

It is true that since man’s beginning about 6,000 years ago, we have suffered from sickness, old age and death; and it is also right for humans to look for a way to free themselves from these sufferings. So why not ask man’s Creator himself how suffering will finally end?

Then you will learn that God will end suffering for all obedient mankind right here on earth. They will not need a nirvana. They will have a rich, happy life. The plants are good, and the earth is good, and the animals are good too. For people who love what is good and like to live, the Bible promises: “And [God] will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore.”​—Rev. 21:4.

Borobudur is man-made, and so is the philosophy that formed it. Siddhartha Gautama was human, and so was his thinking. And although Borobudur is an outstanding example of Indonesian art and craftsmanship, it merely expresses man’s need for liberation. God’s Word the Bible tells us in simple terms God’s way of liberating mankind. And people of all races, colors and languages can take courage that God’s time for liberating us from old age, sickness and death is now at the very threshold.

Eyes to the Blind

SOME years ago a man in Indiana suffered a stroke that impaired his speech. As a result, he had to learn to speak properly all over again. To help him to this end he joined a tape club, hoping to improve in his speech as he read into a tape recorder material for blind persons. He in effect wanted to be the eyes to some blind person.

The first assignment he received was to read copies of The Watchtower and Awake! for a woman in Canada, one of Jehovah’s witnesses who was blind and who had heart trouble. Although his basic desire was to improve his speech, when he began to read The Watchtower and Awake! for the Witness he realized that what he was reading was quite different from what he had been taught in church. The Scriptural articles with their many Bible quotations stimulated in him an interest to know more.

In view of his interest the Witness in Canada sent him a copy of The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life and suggested that the two of them have a regular Bible study using this small volume. He accepted the offer but wondered how she was going to manage this, since she was blind. As it turned out, she had a copy of the book in Braille and so over the next eleven months a Bible study was held by tape, slowed down somewhat by postal strikes.

The Witness in Canada encouraged the man to contact Jehovah’s witnesses in his area. But this was a problem, for he was not able to get around as he would like. Finally, a minister of Jehovah’s witnesses sharing in the regular house-to-house ministry knocked on his door. The man’s surprising greeting to the Witness was: “Come on in. I have been waiting for you for a year now . . . I know I’ve got to go to your Christian meetings. I’ve been waiting for you to come and get me.”

Now he regularly enjoys a study of the Bible with one of the local ministers and is aided to get to the Christian meetings at the Kingdom Hall. He has not, though, forgotten the means by which he learned the truth of the Bible. Though he is not physically in position to share in the house-to-house ministry with Jehovah’s witnesses, he does carry on a preaching work by means of tapes sent to blind and crippled members of the tape club. It is his hope that, just as his spiritual blindness was cured through tapes, he will be able to open the spiritual eyes of others with the enlightening truths of the Bible.

I Am an Australian Aborigine

As told to “Awake!” correspondent in Australia

I AM an Australian aborigine. My name is Warwirra. In my country, to distinguish from first-generation migrants whom we call “New Australians,” we use the term “Dinkum Aussie” for citizens born in the land. I am a “Dinkum Aussie.”

In appearance I am much like other aborigines, for although we are many tribes yet we are of one origin. Our head shape is longer than most, with a receding forehead and protruding brow. Our hair is curly, our nostrils flattened and our mouth large, set with white teeth. Our frame is of medium build, but our limbs are long and thin. Skin color is black-brown. People say that the nearest to us in likeness are the wild Veddah tribe of Ceylon and the hill tribes of India.

I live in a humble brick house, but my forefathers did not live this way. In this as in other things, we have changed. Consequently, we get a frequent yearning to go what we call “walk-about.” When the urge comes upon us, then we will leave our houses and “go bush,” there to live off the land as did our fathers.

The reason for this urge is that in the mind of every aborigine there is what we call our “dreamtime,” meaning our tribal history and early way of life. A nostalgic longing for the days of our “dreamtime” seems born within us. Before Captain Cook landed in Botany Bay we enjoyed a way of life so different from now​—a hard life, but a free one. By mutual arrangement my tribe and others held title to territories that were universally respected. There were boundaries, but unmarred by fences and gates. Inside each tribal territory were “sacred” places that were to us what Paris is to the French or London to the British.

Not all of our dreams are happy ones. Within them are memories of terrible savagery. After the Europeans established themselves in the country, they ignored our territorial rights and set about to exterminate us. Gradually we were degraded to the status of serfs in our own land. Even as recently as 1942 while, ironically, Australia was at war with Hitler on the issue of genocide, a parliamentary member in Western Australia advocated: “It will be a happy day for Western Australia and Australia at large when the natives and the kangaroos disappear. . . . In dealing with this matter all maudlin sentiment should be abolished. The time has come for drastic and positive action.”

For happier dreamings we have to go back before the Europeans arrived. We loved our land and tended it with care, but we had our own way of going about this. We did not, for example, fence in cattle or kangaroos. We had no tractor or plow. Our ways were better suited to our needs.

A Rich Nature Lore

We traveled over our territory, gathering what had grown of its own and, in the case of some tribes, scattering as they did so. Our mind was always projected to our next visit to an area. It was in our own interests that we conserve what would serve us on our next visit. We tapped water-bearing trees, but carefully plugged them afterward; we dug water holes, and then covered them with sand to prevent evaporation; we killed to eat, but never an animal with young; we fished the stingray, but in times of breeding passed it by.

So by these methods, peculiar to our way of life, we tended our land. True, we did not harvest huge crops as is done today, but what we did procure was highly nutritious and in constant, fresh supply.

The success of our methods depended on considerable knowledge and skill. Survival rested upon our storing in our dreaming a rich nature lore. See, here, what this book (The Australian Aborigine, by A. P. Elkin) has to say on this: “Nature is to the aborigine a system in which natural species and phenomena are related or associated in space and time. The appearance of an object, for example a . . . bird or flower or insect, has become through observation down through the centuries, the sign that rain is coming, that fish are running, that some particular animal or reptile will soon be plentiful, that yams or ground nuts are ready for digging, or that certain fruits are ripe. . . . The yellow flowers of the wattle tree are a sign that the magpie-geese will be flying over their yearly routes, over the giant paper-bark trees from swamp to swamp to eat the water-lily tubers. So the men build platforms in the branches of selected trees and, waiting, mimic the honk-honk of the geese, which then circle the tree and alight. But as they do so, they are knocked to the ground with well-aimed throwing sticks where they are quickly despatched by men at the base of the tree.”

Sadly, many of these skills are lost today. For example, the art of tracking. True, the police still use aborigines to track persons lost in the bush, but good trackers are fast getting scarce. But back in the dreamtime, our very lives depended upon it. Boys from infanthood were taught to examine the ground minutely and to read the story it had to tell, doing so as easily as my son today reads his schoolbooks. By adulthood we could tell you the story of any piece of ground, even hard rock​—what man, animal or reptile had passed that way, and when. We could follow these tracks for days. The tracks left by a person, whether he was known to us previously or not, would tell us a lot about him; if he was tall or short, fat or thin, male or female, sick or well, white or aborigine. As we followed we could relate what he had done on the way.

The tracking called for considerable patience and endurance. We might follow an animal track all day, and at nightfall settle to sleep and resume on the next day until we arrived at our quarry. If by our carelessness the animal learned of our presence and bounded away, then we started all over again until at last it was within spearing distance. Do you think you could do that? How many times we read in the newspapers of men who would have died in the waterless bush but for our skills.

Going “Bush”

I said “waterless” bush, but it is so only to the new Aussies. We aborigines know water is there and also how to locate it. That is another of our dreamtime skills. Would you care to come “walk-about” with me and let me demonstrate? See that green tinge among the browner grass? I can collect water there with the aid of my digging stick. If I tap this tree, water will ooze out. Under that sun-dried mud are water-storing frogs. The roots of this mallee tree, when pressed, give off water. If I dig deep enough in that dry creek I would reach water. So, you see, there is water all around us in this arid land if you know how to get it.

In fact, there is both food and drink, but you must know where. One modern anthropologist listed food items for aborigines in one small area as follows: 18 mammals and marsupials, 19 birds, 11 reptiles, 6 water roots, 17 seeds, 3 vegetables, 10 fruits, besides many water plants, fungi and eggs. Probably our choice of foods and methods of cooking would not appeal to you. Tastes differ, as people say. After a long, tiring day spent trekking and hunting, what a joy to sit down to a meal of tender kangaroo, fat lizards slowly roasting on sand or in a clay oven, along with freshly picked berries, green leaves and assorted seeds. Delicious! More importantly, it is packed with the nutriment so essential for our active lives.

In “walk-about” we have no need for houses. In Australia’s friendly climate, they are not essential. They are, in fact, a liability, for they tie us to one spot where water and food would soon be exhausted. Nor do we carry tents. Our hunting lives demand that we travel light. So beyond necessities​—water bags, fire sticks and tools, which the women carry—​we men carry only spears and boomerangs.

On the trek the tribe proceeds according to set pattern. We men go ahead, widely spread out, our eyes scanning the ground for fresh tracks. Far behind come the women, children and aged men. All observe complete silence. Why, even the toddlers will not step on a dry twig or leaf or utter a whisper. Remember, one sound and we go to bed supperless. We converse by using a well-developed sign language. In fact, basic words have signs universal among all tribes. Could you talk to persons whose language you do not know?

Trekking is not always by day. To conserve body moisture and snare the nocturnal kangaroo we may travel at night. When time to camp arrives, then a “house” of branches, to keep off the cold wind at night and the hot sun by day, is soon erected. A campfire is lit, and home is established.

That brings me to the subject of fire making. On trek our fire sticks are guarded carefully against moisture. See this stick like a pointed pencil and this board pitted with scorch holes. Now watch. I place the point of the “pencil” into one of these holes and twirl rapidly between my palms, pressing firmly, and see how soon the tinder starts to blaze. Let the sparks fall on this dry tinder and blow gently and, see, I have a fire started. Almost as fast as you could strike a match! Will you join us for supper? We have duck, fat grubs, emu eggs, edible roots and shall finish with the berries the children are gathering.

The Boomerang

You are wondering how we caught these ducks? I’ll explain. But to do so I will need first to describe our hunting weapons and methods. Let me start with the boomerang. Have you ever considered how precise an instrument it is? No gunsmith ever machined a bore more skillfully than we fashion a boomerang. The relative length of the blades, the angle of the bend, the propeller-like twist and the convex upper surface: any one fault could ruin the final product. The Australian Encyclopedia says: “Mathematicians have shown that a slight alteration in the shape of the returning boomerang​—in the ratio of size, twist and rounding—​all will cause corresponding changes in its flight which can be demonstrated by equations.”

You probably are wondering, seeing that we have no drawing boards or precision instruments, how we make so exact a weapon. Its design is in our heads, so to speak, learned from childhood. The only tools we use in its shaping are a chisel made from the tooth of an animal, a tula or graving tool flaked from quartz with a prepared convex working edge, and pieces of flint and rock for smoothing. Yet how carefully balanced and beautifully polished the finished instrument! Could you make a boomerang? or throw one?

Did you know that there are two kinds of boomerangs? Or that the returning kind is not the one for striking game? For this we use only the second type, the throwing-stick. This is just as delicately made and similar in shape, but the blades are set in planes that make it silent. If it were noisy, the grazing “roo” would hear its approach. So fast is the spin that it is lethal up to two hundred yards. The returning type we use only for competitive sport and for just one hunting purpose​—to catch the wily duck we have for dinner.

These wise birds post guards while feeding, so stratagem is needed. A team of hunters spread out and cautiously cram to the water’s edge, where one of them throws a returning boomerang out over the water. The sound of its revolving blades resembles the wingbeat of the hunting hawk. Alarm is sounded, up fly the ducks, easy targets for our throwing-sticks. So that is how we got duck for supper tonight.

Our ability to design and make the boomerang has captured the interest of other nations, but that is only one of our skills. In our dreaming we have stored up a vast nature lore or know-how. We learn animal habits, know and mimic their call, anticipate wind direction, make and throw delicate fish harpoons, convert skins or wood into watertight water carriers, flake and serrate quartz spears, build fish traps, make rafts or hollow a tree-trunk canoe. We can disguise body smells with mud, camouflage ourselves with branches, and if the quarry looks our way, we can freeze in an instant.

No Product of Evolution

Are you wondering why I keep bringing to your attention our talents? Please do not misunderstand; I am not boasting. It is because there is a theory current, linked with godless evolution, that we aborigine Australians are a sort of hangover “missing link.” You have seen those highly imaginative pictures of cave-dwelling creatures, half man, half beast, with abilities scarcely removed from animal instincts. Such creatures never did exist outside the pages of pseudoscientific books. But because we aborigines build no houses, shelter in caves, use no machines, those men try to prove that we are closely related to such creatures. Upset? Of course we are!

The point I am making is this. The difference between the apparently most backward peoples and the most advanced is one of opportunity. Printing presses have enabled other nations to store vast knowledge in libraries, but we only in our dreaming. Those who argue that, because of their advanced technology, such nations are more highly evolved, are leaning on a fallacy. We cannot equal their accumulated knowledge, but can they equal ours? Which illustrates my point: various peoples’ abilities have been channeled into different fields, each according to their needs.

There was an article published some years ago. It told of an African girl-baby abandoned by a cannibal tribe, rescued by Americans and then educated in America. In college she equaled and surpassed her classmates. It is not the place of birth that counts, but opportunity.

It is said that a people can be measured by the complexity of their language. So let us take a look at our languages. Although now five hundred in number, they stem from a single source. I have related how we still converse in sign language, but our spoken language is quite complex. Grammar, word order and vocabulary all vary. Where English has six noun cases, some of ours have nine. Others have three genders against two in French. The English conjugate the verb to six, we do so to eleven.

Our Social System

Do not, also, the culture and civilization that we built up call for respect? Although each tribal territory had set boundaries, yet that did not interfere with intertribal relations. In times of drought there was the need to share water and food resources. Relations were maintained by ambassadors who carried a sort of tribal totem pole, giving them ambassadorial status. The bearer of the pole was granted free access into other territories, where he would arrange bride exchanges, secure entry for food or water, and so forth. Thus were peaceful relations ensured.

The social system within each tribe was similarly well arranged. Authority was sometimes patriarchal, sometimes vested in a council of elders. Several tribes went naked, but the moral code was high. Any man had authority to spear both an adulterous wife and her paramour. The education of children began early; the girls to track, gather and cook insects and lizards; the boys to track, hunt, make and use tools, and memorize tribal and intertribal law.

You are not paying attention! Does not that noise distract you? It is Wanju practicing on his didgeridoo for tonight’s corroboree, soon to begin. Come along and let us watch.

It is at these corroborees that much of our dreaming is written upon the tribal mind, for here law, customs and hunting methods are rehearsed. For example, the dance now beginning is a lesson on hunting. How cleverly those men imitate the kangaroo. Those others are hunters, stalking them. Mimicry of bird and animal calls comes into the dance. See how keenly the children watch and learn. Now they are relating history, telling the story of when the tribe was saved from a great flood that destroyed all others of mankind. Recent events are also incorporated into the corroboree. See, they now depict the making of a movie film such as they once witnessed. Each dance enacts some drama, tragedy or comedy; but always with its roots back in tribal history.

How We Got Here

When somebody presented me with a Bible, it came as a surprise to find that it, too, tells of the great flood you just saw in the dance. It set me wondering how we aborigines traveled from far-off Shinar to Australia. From what I have read, nobody seems really to know. Guesses seem as numerous as guessers! However, certain facts stand out and do assist. These are that we are of Aryan, not Negroid, descent; that we came from the north.

Probably it was by island hopping that my forefathers landed on the shores of Australia, and then spread out over the continent, adapting themselves to each locality in which they settled and gradually divided into tribes, established local customs, built varieties into the basic language, and developed mutual boundaries and territories. Knowledge and skills brought with them they adapted to the new environment, acquiring more with time and need. They became specialists of survival in an arid land. Because they were now cut off from the stream of general knowledge that flowed in other lands, circumstances shaped them into the pattern that the first European settlers found when they landed in 1770 C.E.

Two civilizations, totally dissimilar, now clashed. Because the new arrivals were unaware of our territory boundaries and methods of tending our land, they concluded that the land was unpossessed and set about exploiting their discovery. At first we were tolerant, but inevitably war followed. Musket encountered spear. Bit by bit our land fell to the newcomers and we aborigines found ourselves thrust into the reserves. We saw our forests fall to ax, fire and bulldozer; we witnessed species of wildlife forced into extinction, others into near extinction. Digging stick and tractor met in conflict and the tractor won.

Or did it? Acres of land are now dust bowls; topsoil pours into the sea; rivers are fouled. Insecticides undermine the ecology of insects, birds, animals and now threaten even man. Just as aborigines live in reserves, so also many species of rare bird and beast exist only in tiny pockets that fast decline in size and number.

Only in the vast, desert-dry interior of Australia do pockets of aborigines live out the days of their dreamtime. One of these, the Pintubi tribe, just recently (1957 C.E.) was contacted by a Melbourne journalist in the Gibson Desert, 600 miles west of Alice Springs. His report on these included the following: they had never before seen a white man, nor money, fish, nor flour; they hunted with tame dingoes, ate rodents and lizards, went naked, had never bathed and spoke only in soft whispers.

Do I wish I were living there with them? Why, no! Nor do I long to return to the days of our dreamtime as once I used to. You see, of recent years I have learned much of what the Bible has to say of the immediate future of mankind, of how the whole earth has to be transformed into a new Eden. Nothing like this was ever written into our “dreaming.” Instead of the past, I now yearn for what the future holds and hope to have a share in cultivating this land of Australia, to see waters flow where now are deserts, to be here when my forefathers return in the resurrection, and to be allowed to add to their “dreamtime” the happy information about Jehovah’s kingdom, and encourage them to share with me in making a paradise of our smiling land down under.

[Picture on page 23]

Using the fire stick

“Your Word Is Truth”

Who Wrote The Pentateuch?

THE term “Pentateuch” refers to the first five books of the inspired Hebrew Scriptures​—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Who wrote these books?

Within the Pentateuch itself can be found statements attributing the writing to Moses (the information about his death likely being added by Joshua). (Ex. 17:14; Num. 33:2; Deut. 31:9) Other parts of the Bible likewise testify to Moses’ writership. (Josh. 1:7, 8; Judg. 3:4; 1 Ki. 2:3) Jesus Christ obviously accepted this as fact. He said to the Jews: “If you believed Moses you would believe me, for that one wrote about me.”​—John 5:46.

But numerous modern scholars reject this testimony, advancing instead their so-called “documentary theory.” They claim that the documents on which the Pentateuch is based were written by various persons and long after the time of Moses. Says The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (Vol. 3, p. 726): “The documents themselves were composed at various times, beginning in the tenth century B.C. and ending in the middle of the sixth, when the whole of the primary history was completed.”

According to the documentary theory, there are four basic sources (some would add still others) for the information contained in the Pentateuch. These are called “J” (Jahwist), “E” (Elohist), “P” (Priest Codex) and “D” (the source on which much of the book of Deuteronomy is said to be based). The underlying basis for the documentary theory is that the use of different titles for God indicates different writers. But is this reasonable? Might not a single writer logically employ various titles for the sake of variety or to reveal a different attribute of God?

When examining just a few chapters of the first book of the Pentateuch, Genesis, we find such titles as “the Most High God,” “Producer of heaven and earth,” “Sovereign Lord,” “God of sight,” “God Almighty,” “God,” “the true God,” and “the Judge of all the earth.” (Gen. 14:18, 19; 15:2; 16:13; 17:1, 3, 18; 18:25) For one to assign each section to a different writer on the basis of the different appellations for God would split up the account into meaningless fragments.

On the other hand, when we view the record as a coherent whole, we can readily see that the different titles for God are used purposefully, revealing Jehovah in his different attributes and in his various works and dealings with his people.

Then, too, variety in expression should be expected. Variety of expression is, as Professor Segal of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University noted, “a standing feature in all Hebrew narrative style, and particularly in the designation of names of persons.” In illustrating this point, he called attention to Exodus chapter 18, where “Jethro” and “father-in-law” are used in an alternating way, evidently for variety.

Decrying the unreasonableness of the documentary theory, Egyptologist K. A. Kitchen says: “In Pentateuchal criticism it has long been customary to divide the whole into separate documents or ‘hands ‘. . . . But the practice of Old Testament criticism in attributing these characteristics to different ‘hands’ or documents becomes a manifest absurdity when applied to other ancient Oriental writings that display precisely similar phenomena.” He then cites an example from an Egyptian biography that, using the theoretical methods employed by the critics of the Pentateuch, might be attributed to different “hands.” But this Egyptian biography “was conceived, composed, written, and carved within months, weeks, or even less. There can be no ‘hands’ behind its style, which merely varies with the subjects in view and the question of fitting treatment.”​—The New Bible Dictionary, p. 349.

Not only is the documentary theory absurd, it actually does violence to the Biblical narrative. It would make the account of Joseph’s being sold by his half brothers a clumsy combination of two contradictory stories. For example, The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (Vol. 3, p. 713) states: “There are two accounts of what happened, which have been blended into confusion. In one, Joseph was thrown into a pit and left there to die. He was found by Midianites, brought to Egypt, and sold there (Ge 37 vss. 22-24, 28a [to ‘pit’], Ge 37:28c-30, 36; the source is E). In the other, he was sold to a passing band of Ishmaelites (Ge 37 vss. 25-27, 28b [to ‘silver’], Ge 37:31-35; the source is J). Reuben figures as the intercessor for Joseph in one (E), Judah in the other (J). Only such a separation offers an intelligible account of the episode.”

But does the account require such a separation to be “intelligible”? Does the separation not rather result in confusion, making it impossible for the reader to know just what did happen? If this view were correct, this would mean that it is impossible to consider intelligently the account as a harmonious whole. Yet, throughout the centuries, millions of sensible persons, including learned scholars, have done so.

Briefly, this is what occurred. Upon catching sight of Joseph at a distance, his half brothers began scheming against him, saying: “Look! Here comes that dreamer. And now come and let us kill him and pitch him into one of the waterpits.” The firstborn Reuben, however, desired to thwart the murderous plot and urged that they not kill Joseph but throw him into a dry waterpit. When Joseph arrived, they stripped him of his long striped garment and followed through on Reuben’s recommendation. Subsequently, as they were eating, a caravan of Ishmaelites came into view. By now Reuben had left. And in his absence, Judah persuaded the others that rather than killing Joseph (as they would have done by leaving him in the pit), it would be better to sell him to the passing merchants. “Hence they [Joseph’s half brothers, as indicated by the context] drew and lifted up Joseph out of the water pit and then sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty silver pieces. Eventually these brought Joseph into Egypt. Later Reuben returned to the waterpit and here Joseph was not in the waterpit.” (Gen. 37:18-29) Is this account difficult to understand?

Surely there is no need to claim that in one account the intercessor was Reuben and in the other, Judah. Two different times were involved. The Bible says: “Later Reuben returned,” indicating that he was not present at the time Judah recommended that Joseph be sold.

The fact that the terms “Midianites” and “Ishmaelites” are seemingly used interchangeably poses no problem. Being descendants of Abraham through his sons Ishmael and Midian, the two peoples doubtless were very much alike in their way of life, and intermarriage could have resulted in a further amalgamation. It may also be that the Midianite merchants were traveling in the Ishmaelite caravan.

Thus the “confusion” is seen to rest, not with the Bible, but with those adhering to the documentary theory. The Bible’s testimony that Moses did write the Pentateuch stands unimpeached.

Watching the World

Child Safety

◆ In the United States approximately 10,000 children under the age of four died in automobile accidents between 1960 and 1969. Others were severely injured, some experiencing paralyzing spine injuries. These accidents have shown that the most dangerous place for a child without a seat belt is the front seat in a car. It is reported that an infant’s seat and a mother’s lap are both dangerous locations in an automobile accident. The child can be thrown from the seat or, if on the mother’s lap, can be crushed by her body. Those who have analyzed accidents say that the best place for an infant in a car is in a bassinet that is placed in the rear seat with its rear supports fastened to a rear seat belt and the front supports secured to the floor. The child should lie with his feet forward. A net or webbing over the bassinet will protect the infant if the auto rolls in an accident. Children between eighteen months and four years can be restrained in the back seat by a harness attached to a restraining belt.

Fasten Seat Belts

◆ The wisdom of keeping one’s seat belt fastened throughout an airplane flight was well illustrated recently in a giant 747. Although the 334 passengers were warned to fasten seat belts, many did not. Suddenly the plane ran into what is called clear air turbulence. No clouds were in sight, and yet the plane dropped suddenly. Passengers, and food that was being served, were thrown against the ceiling. Thirteen passengers were taken to hospitals when the plane landed.

Gun Tragedy

◆ More and more people are buying guns for self-protection. A woman in Detroit bought a handgun from a friend to protect herself and her children from burglaries and muggings in her neighborhood. She kept the gun in her purse. One day she was looking for an address in her purse when the telephone rang. She set her purse on the floor and went to answer the phone. Her three children, ages four to eight, were playing in the room. While she was gone the youngest pulled the gun out of her purse, put it to his head and pulled the trigger. Tragedies resulting from having loaded guns in a home are not rare. In Detroit alone in 1971 there were 690 homicides involving people who knew one another.

Aspirin Causes Bleeding

◆ According to Dr. Vernon M. Smith, professor of medicine at the University of Maryland, aspirin can cause heavy intestinal bleeding. He believes that aspirin inhibits the actions of platelets in the blood to stop bleeding. He observed: “It is well documented in humans that aspirin in very small doses poisons the platelet’s ability to aggregate.” He views aspirin as a “dangerous drug.”

Dissolved Gallstones

◆ For years the common treatment for gallstones has been to have the gallbladder surgically removed. Now researchers at the Mayo Clinic claim that they have successfully dissolved gallstones in four women. The treatment involves the use of a chemical known as CDC, found naturally in human and animal bile. The treatment is still in the experimental stage.

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning from Cigarettes

◆ To the increasing list of bad side effects from cigarette smoking has now been added carbon monoxide poisoning. By experimenting with rooms filled with tobacco smoke, scientists have found that the level of carbon monoxide equaled and at times exceeded the legal limits for maximum air pollution. Their report stated: “The presence of such levels indicates that the effect of exposure to carbon monoxide may on occasion, depending upon the length of exposure, be sufficient to be harmful to the health of an exposed person.” This applies to smokers and nonsmokers in the room. It certainly is not showing neighbor love to harm the health of other persons by means of tobacco smoke.

British Juvenile Violence

◆ According to a report appearing in London’s Sunday Telegraph of December 5, 1971, violence among British school children is on the increase. The paper stated: “At some schools, gangs of schoolboy thugs roam the playgrounds, Blackboard Jungle style. Teachers are being mugged and victimised, some retiring from their jobs with nervous breakdowns.” It reported that the Teachers’ Association has compiled evidence over two years of dagger fights in playgrounds, gangs of children only six and seven years of age brandishing razor blades, and protection rackets among schoolchildren.

Suicide Pill

◆ British police are concerned over a tiny, purple pill the size of a pinhead. It contains a super-concentrated dose of LSD and creates fear, terror and suicidal tendencies in those who take it. One British teen-ager, after taking this pill called a microdot, threw himself under a bus.

Church Crisis in Quebec

◆ According to a report appearing in the New York Times of January 2, 1972, the Roman Catholic Church in Quebec, Canada, is in a state of crisis. It is losing young people, failing to recruit enough priests, and church attendance has been declining. Prominent lay organizations have either disappeared or are dying. The paper reports: “Most of the close links between the church and all levels of Quebec society have disappeared in the last decade.”

Franco Warns Priests

◆ Francisco Franco warned Spanish priests that he will not tolerate their political activities against his government. He said that the state “cannot cross its arms before the determined temporal attitudes of some clergymen.” There are Spanish priests and bishops who are seeking to bring an end to the close support that the Roman Catholic Church has given Franco.

Church Finances

◆ According to charges made by a Catholic organization known as The National Association of Laity, the financial statements of nearly every diocese in the United States are “misleading.” The purpose is to give the impression of poverty because of the campaign to get public funds for parochial schools. Reporting on the charge, The Wall Street Journal stated: “The key accusation by the five-year old group with chapters in 25 cities is that the bishops have failed consistently to report the income of individual parishes. Instead, the report asserts, they disclose only the finances of the chancery, which is essentially the diocesan business office.”

Pagan “Christians”

◆ In Brazil 90 percent of the population call themselves Catholics. But many of them make up the 20 million devotees of spiritism in this country, some of whom were on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro on New Year’s Eve to participate in pagan rites. They were there to worship the sea goddess Iemanja and to make offerings of lipstick, combs, jewelry, perfume and flowers to her. Despite the dominating influence the Catholic church has exercised over the people of Brazil for hundreds of years, paganism flourishes. Reporting on this, Time magazine of January 10, 1972, stated: “Today, many Brazilians practice two religions at once, going to Sunday Mass, then returning to the same church on Monday’s ‘night of the souls’ to burn candles invoking their favorite spirits.”

Protestant Churches Criticized

◆ A unit of the National Council of Churches criticized ten Protestant churches as well as the National Council of Churches itself for having invested almost 203 million dollars in companies manufacturing war material. Last year these companies, the unit claims, produced war material, from guns to missiles, worth more than 10 thousand million dollars.

Religious Conflict in Israel

◆ There is religious conflict in Israel between the ultra-Orthodox and the secular Jews. The head of the Rabbinical Council of America expressed concern about it, saying that it is “a greater danger to Israel’s survival than the Arab enemies who surround it.” After the end of the weekly sabbath, bus drivers and others who do not follow a strict interpretation of the sabbath laws are stoned if they drive near that section of Jerusalem where the ultra-Orthodox live. Also, pathologists are threatened with death for carrying out autopsies, which the Orthodox view as “abominations on the human body.” Police officials acknowledge their inability to stop the harassment.

Legal Rights of the Unborn

◆ The Victorian Full Court in Australia has ruled that a baby injured before birth has the right to sue for damages after it is born. The decision involved a child that was born with brain damage apparently resulting from an automobile accident involving her mother when she was pregnant. Since the decision gives legal rights to an unborn child, it could have wide legal implications with respect to abortion laws.

Filth in Spices

◆ Few people realize that the spices they use on their foods may contain a certain amount of filth such as insect parts, rat excreta, larvae, mold and dirt. The spice industry claims that it is impossible to get spices wholly clean. So from .5 percent to 2 percent “extraneous” material is considered acceptable. There are people, however, who do not agree that any filth is acceptable in a food.

Space Shuttle

◆ President Nixon recently endorsed the development of a space vehicle that would shuttle between the earth’s surface and an orbit around the earth. After taking off like a rocket, it would go into earth orbit and be capable of releasing a satellite. Then it would return to the earth like a jet plane. The plan is for it to be reused as many as one hundred times. It would be capable, it is claimed, of reducing the cost of launching a satellite payload from $700 to $100 a pound.

First in Nuclear Power Plants

◆ Construction on the first large, commercial, fast-breeder, nuclear reactor has been completed in the Soviet Union. It is located in the desert town of Shevchenko on the Caspian Sea. The 350,000 kilowatts of electricity that it will produce is to be used commercially as well as for operating equipment for daily converting 30 million gallons of saltwater into freshwater.

Laser Lighthouse

◆ The first laser lighthouse is a slim cylinder seven and a half feet tall on top of a sixty-foot memorial on Australia’s east coast. Its laser beam of light can be seen for twenty-two miles out at sea. The power to operate it is about the same as that for a television set. It is said to cost about one third what a conventional lighthouse costs.

Paper from Garbage

◆ A paper company has succeeded in making acceptable printing paper with fibers from reclaimed garbage. From 30 percent to 55 percent of such fibers were used to make three grades of printing papers. A spokesman for the company said that the use of such reclaimed fiber is “technically feasible in papermaking and can be made economically sound under the right conditions.”

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Choosing a Modern Bible Translation

Which translation best represents what the inspired Bible writers recorded in Hebrew and Greek? Which also is written in a way that is most easily understood?

Before you answer, we urge you to obtain and read the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. Not only is it accurate in the way it expresses in English what is in the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of the Bible, but it also is written in a manner that is easy to read.

The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures contains the entire sixty-six books of the Bible and can be had for only $1. If you want the deluxe edition, send $3. On the other hand, if your eyes require the much larger, big-print edition, send $5.

There is benefit in comparing Bible translations, as when you want to see various ways in which a scripture has been translated. So it would be good to have in your personal library the Authorized Version ($1) and the American Standard Version, available in pocket size ($1.50).

For careful students of the Bible we recommend also The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures ($2) and The Emphatic Diaglott ($2). Both make available to you the Greek text of the Christian Greek Scriptures with a word-for-word translation under the Greek. The first has the master Greek text prepared by the scholars Westcott and Hort, and the second has the Greek text prepared by J. J. Griesbach.

Round out your personal library with this fine variety of Bible translations.

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