November 8

Page Two

We are said to live in the scientific age. Many understand this to mean that all basic truths must come from scientifically established causes and effects. Thus the progress of truth is directly related to the progress of science. But is this true? Truth will always result in benefit, but has science always been a benefit? Can one find truth beyond the reaches of science?

The Progress of Science 3

Science: A Balanced View 4

Science and the Bible 6

Beyond the Reach of Science 9

The Progress of Science

Many today feel that science has made the Bible out-of-date. How should Bible students view the advances of science? And how should scientifically inclined individuals view the Bible? Does there have to be conflict between these two sources of knowledge?

“THE rapid Progress true Science now makes, occasions my regretting sometimes that I was born so soon. It is impossible to imagine the Height to which may be carried, in a thousand years, the Power of Man over Matter.”

American statesman Benjamin Franklin said these words two hundred years ago. He was optimistic about the progress science was going to make. But doubtless even he would have been astonished to see the giant steps science has made in the two centuries since his time.

Today science​—or its application—​is a part of our lives. Anyone who takes an aspirin, undergoes an operation, rides a bus or an airplane, makes a telephone call, watches television or allows wastewater to run down the drain, to be handled by the city sanitation department, is benefiting from scientific progress.

Science has even changed the way we view the world. At one time, food was just food. Now different kinds of food are scanned for calorie content, trace minerals and vitamins. Before the last world war, computers were things out of science fiction. Now schoolchildren learn how to program them. And most of us are used to the idea that matter is made up of tiny atoms, which are made up of minute, highly active particles; or that the earth orbits around the sun, which is part of a vast galaxy called the Milky Way, which is just one of countless billions of galaxies in space. Since the days of Benjamin Franklin scientists have gradually filled out the details of this picture.

In advanced lands, science has achieved so much that many see it as man’s best hope for the future. Nobel prize winner Dr. Max Perutz clearly felt that science held the best answer to man’s problems. He said: “The priest persuades humble people to endure their hard lot, the politician urges them to rebel against it, and the scientist thinks of a method that does away with the hard lot altogether.” A recent humanist manifesto rejected the Bible as a source of truth and maintained: “We believe the scientific method, though imperfect, is still the most reliable way of understanding the world.” However, while science is indeed an outstanding source of knowledge, it has drawbacks.

Science: A Balanced View

YES, science has brought great benefits to humanity. Despite this, though, we should view these provisions of science in a balanced way. Science is a human effort, and humans are imperfect. Hence, scientific progress has not always been an unmixed blessing.

For example, the automobile has provided fast, convenient transportation. But it has also killed hundreds of thousands in fatal accidents each year, as well as caused pollution and a dangerous depletion of the world’s energy reserves. Similarly, television brings news and entertainment right into our homes. But family members often become addicted to it, and the entertainment presented can be mindless and corrupting.

New chemicals have revolutionized many industries, but they also pollute the water we drink and the air we breathe. Insecticides have greatly increased the crop yield of our farms. They have also killed wildlife and endangered human health. The bad results, as well as the good ones, are the fruit of scientific progress. Should we blame scientists for this?

Who Is to Blame?

It is not always the scientists. Scientific research has made automobiles relatively safe, yet human error, criminal folly and drunkenness continue to cause road accidents. Scientists can reduce pollution, but economic reality often prevents them from doing so. Scientific discoveries made the television set possible, but scientists do not provide the programs that are so often marred by sex, violence and corrupt ideas. Neither is it their fault that people fail to control their viewing habits.

However, we cannot absolve scientists of all the blame for the problems their progress has caused. For example, science has made modern warfare extremely dangerous. Who is to blame? Certainly, those scientists must at least share the blame who spend their time developing more destructive nuclear bombs or better delivery systems for these weapons, or who use their intelligence and training to develop poison gases or materials for horrifying germ warfare.

True, scientists do not start wars. Politicians do. But, as was asked in the London newspaper The Guardian: “With more than half the world’s best scientists and engineers employed in the arms race, how can disarmament begin and a nuclear holocaust be averted?”

The Theories of Science

Balance is also needed when we consider the theories of science. Scientists have formulated some impressive ideas to explain such things as the makeup of matter and the origin of the universe. But it should not be lost sight of that these ideas are truly theories​—in some cases backed up by impressive evidence but, nevertheless, always open to revision. No scientific theory is viewed by scientists as the last word on anything.

Professor Pascual Jordan said: “Since my studies I have come to recognize natural science and particularly physics as being, not a finished and closed system of thought, but rather something alive, in the process of continual change.” Another scientist admitted that what science presents “is at best relative truth.” Science essayist Dr. Lewis Thomas said: “I cannot think of a single field in biology or medicine in which we can claim genuine understanding, and it seems to me the more we learn about living creatures, especially ourselves, the stranger life becomes.”

Besides, while examining the history of scientific progress, the researcher is constantly reminded that scientists are human. He will find evidence of bias. The New York Daily News reported that “in the saccharin controversy, for example, it was remarked that all the studies sponsored by the sugar industry found that the artificial sweetener was unsafe, while all the studies sponsored by the diet food industry found nothing wrong with saccharin.”

He will find prejudice, as in the case reported by science writer Isaac Asimov: “The German geologist Alfred Wegener suggested in 1912 that the continents had been drifting slowly for millions of years. He was laughed out of court and died before his idea finally won recognition.” (Science Digest, July 1981) Now Wegener’s idea is accepted doctrine in geology.

The student will also find examples of fraud. An English science magazine ran a survey after a respected scientist was found guilty of deliberate manipulations. Of the 204 scientists who participated, 92 claimed that during their careers they had met up with at least one example of what they called IB (intentional bias), which is a somewhat more polite expression than falsification but means the same.

One example of IB occurred in 1976. German newspapers hailed a fossil find unearthed then as “sensational.” It was thought to be a missing link in a chain of Cephalopoda, and thus a proof of evolution. In 1979 “intentional bias” was exposed, and the fossil was found to be a fake. “But,” sighed a newspaper reporter, “paleontology [the study of fossils] looks back upon a colorful history of falsified fossils.”

Hence, while we should not detract from the great contributions of science to mankind, we should also remember the limitations of science. This is particularly important when we compare it with that other great source of information, the Bible.

[Box on page 5]

How can an educated man, perhaps with a wife and children, work at designing weapons that kill literally millions of people?

Dr. Helen Caldicott, president of Physicians for Social Responsibility, described in a magazine interview how she asked a scientist that same question: “I said, ‘Joe, why do people design these weapons capable of mass destruction?’ He said, ‘Do you know why? It’s terrific fun. You have an insoluble problem​—how to put ten warheads on one missile, put a computer in its nose, and have them each land independently on a different city. It’s just terrific fun.’”​—U.S. Catholic.

But even if scientists revel in the intellectual challenge and achievement, they deserve a large share of the blame for the tensions and dangers that their expensive “fun” results in for the rest of us.

Science and the Bible

DOES modern science make it impossible to believe the Bible? Some appear to think so, but we should remember that the Bible is not primarily a science textbook. It reveals a different kind of truth from that revealed by scientific methods. However, it does sometimes say things that have to do with geology, archaeology or other sciences. In such cases, does it harmonize with what scientists say? Consider just two examples.

In the book of Psalms we read: “He has founded the earth upon its established places; . . . with a watery deep just like a garment you covered it. The waters were standing above the very mountains. . . . Mountains proceeded to ascend, valley plains proceeded to descend.” (Psalm 104:5-8) Do mountains really “ascend”? And are they sometimes submerged in the sea? The Book of Popular Science says: “From [earliest] times down to the present, the perpetual process of building and destroying mountains has continued. . . . Not only have mountains originated from the bottom of vanished seas, but they have often been submerged long after their formation, and then re-elevated.”

In the first verse of the Bible we read: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) At one time scientists hotly debated whether there even was a beginning, or whether matter had always existed. In 1979, though, Time magazine stated: “Most astronomers now accept the theory that the universe had an instant of creation. . . . The Big Bang theory sounds very much like the story that the Old Testament has been telling all along.”

However, it has sometimes seemed as if the Bible says one thing and science another. Is the Bible wrong? No, although sometimes those who claimed to be teaching the Bible were mistaken.

Is the Bible Really Wrong?

Back in the seventeenth century, for example, the Italian scientist Galileo taught that the earth revolved around the sun, not the sun around the earth. The Catholic Church ordered him to recant. Why? Because they considered that what he was saying contradicted the Bible. Well, Galileo was right and the Church was wrong. But the Bible was not wrong. The Bible nowhere states that the sun orbits the earth. It was the ancient astronomer Ptolemy who said that.

Today, certain fundamentalists believe that the earth was created in six days of twenty-four hours each. This is in striking contradiction to the teaching of science, but which thought is correct?

The fundamentalists believe that their teaching is based on the Bible, but a careful reading of Genesis chapter one reveals that they are mistaken. The Bible states that the earth was created at some unspecified time in the past, and the famous “six days” involved the preparing of it for man to live there.​—Genesis 1:1-31.

True, the account goes on to say that huge steps in the development of the earth took one day each. But, in the Bible, “day” can mean more than a twenty-four-hour period. It can mean a thousand years or even longer! (Genesis 2:4; Psalm 90:4) The Bible record, together with verifiable history, indicates that the seventh day of that creative week covers a period of 7,000 years. Hence, each of the six preceding “days” would be of the same length.

Thus, when we read the first chapter of Genesis, we find that over six long periods of time​—thousands of years, not merely hours—​land appeared in the ancient seas. Day and night came to be distinguishable (possibly because of the removal of cosmic dust from around the earth). Plant life appeared, followed by fishes, birds, land animals and finally man. In many respects, this account resembles what you would read in a school textbook.

Is Modern Science Really Right?

But what about those times when the Bible says something that clearly contradicts a modern scientific theory? Should we assume that the Bible is wrong? No. Remember, science at its best is a continuing process of learning. Theories that were widely held yesterday may be abandoned tomorrow. Hence, it is quite possible that a scientific belief that contradicts the Bible might itself be out of fashion in the future.

An example of this: At the beginning of the century many agreed with the critic Wellhausen who said that the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were only myths. Today, opinions are changing, as a recent book explained: “Since Wellhausen’s day views have shifted, on balance, in a conservative direction, but this trend is all too often exaggerated. A fair example is the historicity of the Patriarchs, whom Wellhausen considered ‘a glorified mirage’ from the first millennium. Now more recent scholarship has come upon evidence which has persuaded many that the Patriarchs were real people after all, and lived in the period indicated by the Bible, namely the second millennium BC.” (Ebla, a Revelation in Archaeology, by Chaim Bermant and Michael Weitzman) Hence, in this instance, progress in the science of archaeology has brought the ideas of many scholars closer to what the Bible says.

Perhaps the best-known difference between the Bible and modern science involves the theory of evolution. Evolution teaches that all living things developed gradually from a single biological source. This is different from the Bible’s version, that God created all living things separately, and each reproduces “according to its kind.” (Genesis 1:11, 12, 21, 24, 25) Science has demonstrated the possibility of wide variation within animal kinds. But the idea that, for example, the rhinoceros, the eagle and the mackerel ultimately all have the same ancestor clearly contradicts what the Bible says. Does this mean that the Bible is wrong?

No. Many do not accept that the evidence available proves that evolution took place.a And who knows what the future holds for the theory? For one thing, the idea that all life descended from a single ancestral form is coming under fire in some quarters. In 1978 Professor Dr. A. E. Wilder Smith, author of over fifty scientific books, wrote: “A number of mostly young authorities have become convinced in recent years that biogenesis, the origin of life, was not monophyletic (all living things derived from a single cell), but rather polyphyletic (from many sources). Therefore there are authorities today who no longer believe that all species derived by means of transformism from one original cell. They do not believe that all species had a common biological ancestral tree with a single root for all forms of life.”

That is not exactly what the Bible says. But it is closer to what the Bible says than is pure Darwinian evolution. And future research and theorizing might bring many scientists even closer. But even if they do not, should we therefore assume that scientists are right and that the Bible is wrong?

Remember, scientific theories are based on the evidence available, as interpreted by imperfect people. In the case of paleontology (the study of fossils)​—and archaeology—​much of the evidence is mutilated, lost or difficult to interpret. And the scientists who make the interpretations often have strong opinions about what the evidence will prove. Hence, we should not quickly abandon the Bible because it does not agree with some scientific theory. And especially is this the case when we remember that the Bible reveals many truths that are far beyond the reach of science.

[Footnotes]

[Blurb on page 7]

The Bible says many things that modern science confirms

[Blurb on page 8]

If the Bible and science clearly contradict each other on some point, it should not automatically be assumed that the Bible is wrong

[Box on page 8]

DID YOU KNOW THAT SCIENCE ONCE TAUGHT

● That heat is a fluid called caloric?

● That the atom is the smallest particle of matter, and that it was impossible to divide it?

● That an impassable barrier between matter and energy prevented any possibility of one being changed into the other?

● That sleep is caused when the nerve cells shrink, thereby no longer making contact with one another?

Of course, scientists have long rejected these theories and replaced them with others more consistent with the facts as they now know them. New facts discovered in the future, or different approaches to facts now in their possession, could lead to modifications, or even abandonment, of theories scientists now hold.

Beyond the Reach of Science

“THERE is danger in the intense emphasis upon science today, . . . to deny that there is any validity beyond the findings of science is absurd.” These warning words by Vannevar Bush, sometimes called the father of the modern computer, are timely. Science does not have all the answers. There are essential truths beyond the reach of science. What are they?

Science and God

A long-time biochemist at New York’s Columbia University, Erwin Chargaff, once said that “natural science is not an instrument to investigate the unfathomable; [nor is] its job to decide on the existence or nonexistence of God.” Is that true?

Well, Albert Einstein, the best-known scientific theorist of this century, was led to speak of “a spirit [that] is manifest in the laws of the Universe​—a spirit vastly superior to that of man.” And more recently Fred Hoyle, the brilliant British astronomer, was reportedly converted from disbelief to belief in the existence of a creative power when he calculated that it was mathematically impossible for life to appear in the universe by chance.

These examples illustrate to some extent the truth of the Bible’s statement: “His [God’s] invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made.” (Romans 1:20) However, Chargaff was correct insofar as there are limits to what science can teach us about God. Neither Einstein nor Hoyle was able to discern from science more than the fact that an organizing God must exist. We have to go to the Bible to learn who that God is and what his purposes are. All such knowledge is truth beyond the reach of science.

Science and the Future

Also, science cannot foresee the future. It cannot even foresee the results of its own discoveries. When DDT was developed, for example, it was hoped that this new weapon would forever solve the problem of insect pests. It would provide protection for plants and keep in check those insects that spread diseases such as malaria. However, the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said that this “blessing for mankind . . . an undreamed-of achievement for chemistry” later became “a rather questionable blessing. . . . DDT’s victory march through Germany is over.” And not only in Germany but also in many other countries where its use has been banned. Science failed to foresee the negative effects it would have on other forms of life, including man.

Remember, too, Alfred Nobel, after whom the Nobel peace prize is named. He was a man of peace, yet he invented dynamite. Why? He wrote to a friend: “I should like to invent a substance or machine with such terrible power of mass destruction that war would thereby be made impossible for ever.” Two world wars since Nobel’s death have proved that his invention failed to have the effect he hoped for.

Albert Einstein also hoped that the development of the atom bomb, based largely upon his theories, would eliminate forever the danger of war. Yet bitter wars are still being fought, and civilization finds itself sitting on a nuclear powder keg, terrified that someone will light the fuse. Shortly before he died, Einstein is reported to have said: “If I had only known, I would have been a locksmith.”

It is sadly ironic that science, which has improved the lives of so many millions, has also provided the means by which man can destroy himself. If only scientists could foretell the future! They cannot, of course, but the Bible does.

The Bible and the Future

Consider just a few examples from the past where the Bible has accurately foretold what was going to happen. In the book of Daniel, a part of the Bible written during the time of the Babylonian Empire in the sixth century BCE, a prophecy was recorded foretelling that Persia and then Greece would follow Babylon as world powers. It then foretold that the great Greek Empire would be divided into four smaller powers, and it convincingly described the ironlike empire of Rome that would come next. (Daniel 7:1-8; 8:3-8, 20-22) Everything happened as prophesied.

An interesting foreview of the future had to do with the city of Tyre, to the north of Israel. Ezekiel prophesied that Tyre would be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and gave these details about its ultimate fate: “I will scrape her dust away from her and make her a shining, bare surface of a crag. . . . And your stones and your woodwork and your dust they will place in the very midst of the water. . . . The vast waters will have covered you.” (Ezekiel 26:4, 12, 19) Did this happen?

Yes, it did. Sometime after he destroyed Jerusalem, King Nebuchadnezzar came against Tyre and overpowered it. However, the city did not totally disappear. Its inhabitants fled to an offshore island, which they fortified. Then, almost three hundred years later, Alexander the Great besieged what by then had become the island city of Tyre. So that his army could attack the island, he took the ruins of the ancient mainland city and threw them into the sea to make a causeway out to the island city. Hence, in remarkably literal detail, the prophecy was fulfilled. The dust of the ancient city of Tyre was scraped away, and the stones, the woodwork and the very dust were thrown into the water.

Even more remarkable are the prophecies relating to Jesus Christ. The Bible foretold not only the time of his appearance as Messiah but also the things he would do, and even the death he would die. Jesus’ whole life course was in fulfillment of prophecies written hundreds of years in advance.​—Daniel 9:24-27; Isaiah 53:3-9; 61:1, 2.

Even today, Bible students can see remarkable fulfillments of prophecy in the present political developments. (See, for example, Matthew 24:7-15 and Luke 21:25-28.) And when they read Paul’s words in Second Timothy chapter three, verses one to five, they see a very accurate description of this world’s deteriorating moral climate. Moreover, the Bible prophesies things for our future too.

It foretells a startling solution to the world’s present political crisis. Speaking of today’s competing world rulers, it says: “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite.”​—Daniel 2:44.

There are many reasons why we can believe that promise, not the least being that, up to now, all the prophecies in the Bible have come true. But just consider the implications. This means that God’s kingdom will soon provide just one government for the whole earth, replacing the nationalistic, warring governments of today. What a difference this will make!

For one thing, scientific advances will no more be used by politicians to destructive ends. Also, this kingdom will do the same kind of powerful works that Jesus did while on earth. Science can remove cataracts, but it cannot restore the sight of someone born blind. Jesus did. (John 9:1-12) Science can make artificial limbs, but it cannot restore a withered hand or foot. Jesus did. (Matthew 12:10-13) Science has made great progress in improving strains of crops and increasing the yield. But Jesus fed more than five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fishes. (Matthew 14:15-21) Science, too, can restore life to a drowning man or a heart-attack victim​—if they catch him in time. But Jesus brought back to life a man who had been dead for four days!​—John 11:39, 43, 44.

Perhaps even more remarkable, though, was the effect Jesus’ teachings had on people. The violent persecutor Saul became the long-suffering apostle Paul. The impulsive fisherman Peter became a mature, responsible apostle. Immoral people became moral. Families became more loving. Individual members of enemy nations became brothers in the faith. Such changes are far beyond the ability of science.

Hence, while science can make life pleasanter in many ways, much more can be done by the power of God. And under God’s kingdom the full effect of that power will be experienced. The Bible promises: “He [God] will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”​—Revelation 21:4.

No, man will not return to a prescientific age. Rather, unfettered by the harmful tendencies that science has been unable to remove​—but that God will remove—​man will be able to employ, to his lasting benefit, all the worthwhile scientific knowledge of the past, present and future. We are grateful for what science has revealed to mankind. But we are even more grateful that there is truth beyond the reach of science that God has made available, bringing everlasting benefits to those who seek for it.

[Blurb on page 10]

Regarding his share in developing the atom bomb, Einstein reportedly said: “If I had only known, I would have been a locksmith”

[Box on page 11]

Here are some questions that are beyond the reach of science:

● Who is God and what is he like?

● What are God’s purposes?

● What does the future hold?

● What is the best way to deal with our neighbors?

● What kind of personality traits is it best to have?

● How can we develop them?

Happily, the Bible answers such questions, which ultimately are more important than the questions science answers, such as “What is matter made of?” and “How far away is the sun?”

Young People Ask . . .

What Can I Do About My Shyness?

THE young man was tall and handsome. In fact, it was said that there was no one else as handsome. Yet he was painfully shy. When paid a compliment, he considered himself too insignificant for it. Upon being privately appointed to a position of authority, he kept the incident to himself and didn’t even tell his family. And when he was to be presented publicly in this office, he hid. Even when some jealously spoke insultingly of him, “he continued like one grown speechless.”

Shy​—yes; but he overcame his shyness, and the problem was not mentioned again. Do you also have the problem of shyness? Would you, too, like to overcome it?

As shown in our previous issue, you may have learned to be shy from your past experiences with people. Perhaps you have become overly self-conscious, or you may have allowed negative thoughts and expectations to control your actions. Shyness may have become a deeply rooted way of life for you. So first you must really want to change and believe that change is possible.

Overcoming Shyness

Overcoming shyness will take time and effort. You will have to think and behave differently. Don’t worry about whether the other person is evaluating you. He is probably too busy thinking of himself and what he will say and do. Think positively. No one is perfect; we all have our strengths and our weaknesses. Even persons who look very attractive usually have flaws that they have minimized or covered up. So work on building up your own self-esteem.

Learn from your past mistakes, but don’t carry them with you. Remember, there are different ways of looking at things, different likes and dislikes. People don’t always agree. A difference of opinion does not mean a rejection of you as a person. No one succeeds at everything. We all have some failures, but these can help us to establish realistic goals for ourselves. And don’t just accept all the labels others may put on you. Their evaluation may be wrong.

Neither should we evaluate others incorrectly​—a common cause of withdrawing and acting shyly. One young man who suffered greatly from shyness, but later overcame it, said this: “I discovered two things about myself; and once I understood them I was able to overcome being shy. First, I was too self-centered. I was thinking too much about myself, worrying about what people thought of what I said. Second, I was assigning bad motives to the other persons​—not trusting them and thinking they were going to look down on me. I was misjudging them as well as myself.”

What helped change this young man’s attitude? He attended the meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses. He continued: “I heard a talk there that really helped me. The talk was about love. The speaker pointed out that love is outgoing; that if you have love you think the best of people, not the worst. So I learned to quit assigning bad motives to people. Instead, I assigned good motives to them. I told myself: ‘They’re going to be understanding, they’re going to be kind, they’re going to be considerate.’ That really changed my outlook to the point where I began to trust people. I felt that I could talk to them now, that they would not look down on me. I realized that some might misjudge me, but I now felt that that was their problem.”

But what positive steps did he take to overcome his shyness? “I also learned the need to start showing love in an active way​—to extend myself more to others,” he explained. “I tried it first on younger ones. Later I began visiting others in their homes. I learned to be sensitive to their needs, to think in terms of helping them and making them feel comfortable when with me.”

This young man came to realize the truthfulness of Jesus’ counsel at Luke 6:37, 38: “Stop judging, and you will by no means be judged; and stop condemning, and you will by no means be condemned. Keep on releasing, and you will be released. Practice giving, and people will give to you. . . . For with the measure that you are measuring out, they will measure out to you in return.”

Making a Start

Learning to adjust your thinking is one thing, but using what you have learned when dealing with other persons is another. Nevertheless, a start must be made. Effort must be made to reach out and share yourself with others.

Learn to be sociable​—to say “hello” and start a conversation.a It can be as simple as a comment on the weather, an observation on the situation around you, a question or a compliment. To keep the conversation going, show interest and listen! This will usually give you the clue for your next statement or question. Don’t be discouraged if you have difficulty starting a conversation or two. The person to whom you are speaking may be shier than you are!

Also important in overcoming shyness are your bearing and the way you dress. These things have a lot to do with the image you project to others and how you feel about yourself. Try to look as good as possible but don’t overdress. Just dress comfortably and make sure that your clothes are clean and pressed. Feeling that you are looking your best will minimize apprehension in this regard and enable you to concentrate on the conversation at hand.

Your bearing can also make you feel more confident. Stand straight​—yet be at ease. Keep an open posture; don’t cross your arms and legs or fold your hands. Look pleasant and smile. Maintain friendly eye contact and nod or verbally acknowledge what the other person says.

These suggestions may not come easy for you, especially at first. There will be times when you will feel discouraged and will want to withdraw again. But remember: You have only 50 percent of the responsibility. The other half is up to the other person. If you blunder in speech, don’t feel condemned. If others laugh, learn to laugh with them. Saying “That didn’t come out right” will help you to relax and continue with the conversation. And there are some things that will help you cope with the stress and anxiety: Preparation and practice.

Did you know that many famous people​—world leaders, sports and entertainment celebrities—​consider themselves to be shy? How is it, then, that they face so many people and speak to them? They have learned to control their shyness​—to relax and concentrate on the task at hand. They have practiced until they feel comfortable at what they are doing and in the knowledge that they can do it. So, whenever you know where you will be and what situation you will face, come as prepared as possible. Practice beforehand what you will say. Imagine the entire scene and run through it in your mind. Speech problems can also be overcome or minimized by practice. It will take time, just as it does to acquire any other set of new skills. But as you see the positive results you will be further encouraged to succeed.

Not to be overlooked is the help that God can give. The young man mentioned at the start was none other than Saul, the first king of the ancient nation of Israel. (1 Samuel, chapters 9 and 10) He was shy, but when the time came for action “the spirit of God became operative upon Saul” and he led the people to victory.​—1 Samuel, chapter 11.

Thinking of aiding others helps you to get the focus off yourself. What a fine thing it is to help others to learn about God and his promised righteous new system of things! This inspires confidence, as you carry good news and represent the highest Authority in the universe.

Love for others will motivate us to action. And if we are faithfully serving God, he will bless us and help us overcome our shyness by means of his spirit, even as he helped the young man Saul.

[Footnotes]

[Box on page 15]

You can overcome shyness by:

● Wanting to change and believing that change is possible

● Replacing negative thoughts with positive action

● Setting realistic and meaningful goals for yourself

● Knowing how to relax and cope with anxiety

● Rehearsing a situation beforehand

● Gaining confidence by progressively successful experiences

● Remembering that differences of opinion exist and that others err too

● Practicing to increase skills and learn new ones

● Reaching out to show love and to help others

● Dressing properly and acting confidently

● Relying on the help that God gives

[Picture on page 14]

Learn to be sociable, smile, greet others and carry on a conversation

What’s Happening With Video Games?

FROM Japan to the United States, from Europe to Australia down under, a new craze has taken hold of millions of people, young and old, by storm. With bizarre names like Pac-Man, Asteroids, Space Invaders, Battlezone and Donkey Kong, video games have landed themselves not only in amusement arcades but also in corner drugstores, supermarkets, gas stations, fast-food parlors and nearly everywhere else that people congregate. Their beeps and booms and colorful lights have captured the fancy and imagination of a new generation of players to the point of obsession.

Last year in the US, coin-operated arcade video games alone grossed a staggering five billion dollars. That was double the take of the movie industry, or three times the receipts of professional baseball, basketball and football combined. At a quarter a game that sum of money translates into 20,000,000,000 games. And to play that many games took a total of 75,000 man-years. On the home front the sale of video games that can be played on home TV sets is estimated to be in the neighborhood of one billion dollars a year; and it is anyone’s guess how much time is spent in playing them.

It is not difficult to see that anything of this magnitude is bound to have some far-reaching effects on the participants. And surveys show that 90 percent of the participants are male and 80 percent of them are teenagers. Another study shows that nine out of every ten teenagers have visited an arcade to play the games. What this means is that even though home games are getting ever more popular it is, by far, the coin-operated, arcade-style games that have the strongest attraction, and teenage boys are being affected the most by these games, whatever their effects.

Is There a Brighter Side?

Many analysts feel that video games have a positive effect on the players. “For so much entertainment, we are programmed just to sit,” says a psychology professor. “With these games, you can input. The player has a lot of control. And control is especially important for teen-agers.” Another expert says that “the fantasies in computer games allow people to fill emotional needs not filled otherwise.”

Others feel that video games are beneficial because, after all, we are in the computer age, they say, and the earlier we can introduce children to the concepts and techniques of the computer, the better they will be able to master the real thing later. The games are intellectually stimulating, they further point out, and sharpen the player’s mathematical skills and eye-hand coordination.

Undoubtedly, computers and computer games do have immense potential as teaching tools. They are becoming familiar sights in classrooms, from primary schools to universities. But, even here, experts in education do not share the enthusiasm shown by computer programmers and manufacturers. They see most of the programs currently being used as nothing more than expensive textbooks, and they question whether the heavy investment involved is really worth it. In any case, there is a world of difference between the use of computers in schools and what is happening at the video-game arcades.

Reactions to the Games

Other than the obvious appeal to teenagers and its commercial success, the proliferation of arcade video games has triggered reactions ranging from strong parental protests to outright government bans. In the Philippines, President Marcos officially banned the games and gave owners two weeks to destroy them. In West Germany, anyone under eighteen is not allowed in the arcades. In Brazil, importation of any arcade video machine is strictly prohibited. And in the US, lawsuits involving these games are before the Supreme Court.

Why such strong reactions to what appears to many people to be nothing more than a fun game?

Reasons for Concern

First of all, there is the question of money. The major part of the vast sum of money spent on arcade video games comes from teenage players. It is not uncommon for boys to change twenty-dollar bills into quarters at the arcade change booth more than once in one evening. Many of them readily admit that it takes up to fifty dollars to master any game that requires enough skill to be challenging. The obvious question is: Where do they get all that money?

Angry parents say that their boys simply skip lunch and spend their lunch money, and time, at the video-game arcades. An irate mother in an affluent suburb of New York blamed the games for increased juvenile crime. “Children snatch purses and gold chains for money to put in these machines,” she said. In South Auckland, New Zealand, a police sergeant reported catching a gang of fourteen-year-olds raiding the neighborhood, stealing money left for the milkman. “Those kids admitted they wanted the money to play the space invaders machines,” said the sergeant, “and there are many similar instances on our books.”

Even the players themselves feel the immense power these games have over them. They openly admit to being addicted, hooked. “It’s like a drug,” said an “arcadian,” as regular players at the arcades are often called. “You see the same people here week after week. I’ve tried to wean myself. I’d like to have back all the money I’ve spent.” Part of this “hook” is built into the games. “You want to develop a healthy level of frustration,” says the designer of one of the popular games. “You want the player to say, ‘ . . . if I put another quarter in, I might do better’.” In fact, most games are programmed in such a way that as the player’s score goes up the game becomes faster and harder. The situation is not unlike dangling the carrot in front of the donkey​—it’s always almost within reach, but not quite.

This kind of psychology can be particularly damaging to children. A newspaper columnist commented that watching children play the games reminded him of “compulsive gamblers, sitting for hours on end, pumping quarters into slot machines​—the mentality is the same.” So it is not surprising that Gamblers Anonymous has spoken out against video games on the basis that obsessive and compulsive habits can begin to develop in children as young as ten years of age. And that is when children begin to be attracted to the video games. “The games begin to fascinate a child at the point in the child’s development when mastery and control become the most important issues​—at 8, 9, 10,” according to sociologist Sherry Turkle.

Another source of concern has to do with the very nature of most of today’s popular video games. As the names suggest, the overwhelming majority of them are war games. They work on the kill-or-be-killed instinct, they are violence-oriented and they promote aggression without mercy. At the same time, these games cater to instant gratification. “The more you can titillate your emotions,” says a professor of communications, “the less tolerant and patient you are going to be for things that don’t deliver as fast.” Thus, in a letter addressed to the editors of The New York Times, the writer argued that current commercial video games “pander to the basest instincts of man. They are cultivating a generation of mindless, ill-tempered adolescents.”

Many video-game arcades have grown out of onetime pinball parlors and pool halls. Though the sounds and sights are different, the atmosphere remains largely the same. Outbursts of bad language, fits of anger, screams and kicks when a player loses his game are common occurrences in such places. More seriously, however, Time magazine reports that “homosexual cruising is a problem in Amsterdam’s arcades. In Stockholm, the games are associated in the public mind with teen-age hoodlumism involving drugs, prostitution and illegal hard liquor.” When fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds are thrown into such an environment for hours on end, day after day, the results can be disastrous.

Well aware that many parents are becoming concerned over what the arcade video games can do to their children, enterprising manufacturers have turned out home versions of these and other computer games for children of all ages. While such home games may protect children from the undesirable elements at the arcades, the effect is largely the same. Besides, children soon find out that these are stripped-down, slower versions of the real thing. The lure of the arcade is as strong as ever.

To Play or Not to Play

Whether video games are here to stay or they will come and go as other fads have done, only time will tell. But the fact is that there is much more than meets the eye about these games. What starts out as innocent fun turns out to be an addictive, compulsive game that controls the players​—mind and body. Responsible parents, therefore, must consider whether video games are suitable entertainment for their families, to what extent they will go if allowed to play them and whether the investments in time and money can be better used in other areas of family life. They would do well to acquaint themselves with the facts and decide what their families should do.

[Blurb on page 16]

“I’ve been playing these games for five years,” says fourteen-year-old David who earns his money pumping gas. “I’m definitely addicted to these video games. I realize it’s a waste of money; but I enjoy myself, and it’s my money; I earned it”

[Blurb on page 17]

“The whole world ceases to exist when you’re playing,” says Mickey who grew up playing these games and now manages video-game arcades. “You can forget about everything and live the life of Buck Rogers, overcoming technology”

[Blurb on page 18]

‘I take all my frustrations out on this machine,’ says twelve-year-old John who spends his allowance perfecting his game. ‘When I do real bad, I hit the machine. I blame the machine, not myself. I want to be among the top players. That’s my goal’

New Missionaries Enter the Field

LAST summer some unusual students spent five months together in the United States, in Brooklyn, New York. They were the thirty-eight members of the seventy-third class of the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead, and they were unusual because, in this age of skepticism and selfishness, they had offered themselves to serve as missionaries in foreign lands. Would you like to know what sort of people choose to be Christian missionaries in this modern, materialistic age?

Different Paths to Gilead

For some, missionary work had been a longtime ambition. Carlton and Georgina Bailey had both wanted to be missionaries since they were growing up in California. When they got married they pursued the goal together. They viewed their full-time preaching work both in very wealthy and in poor neighborhoods, as well as among Seminole Indians and Spanish-speaking minority groups, as preparation for missionary work. Now they will use this experience in their assignment in El Salvador.

For others, the desire to be missionaries came later in life. One of these is Gunnar Stanzen, who, fourteen years ago, was a promising young actor in his native Sweden. At that time he wanted nothing more than to succeed in his chosen career. Then one night his cousin phoned to say that Jehovah’s Witnesses were coming for a visit, and Gunnar should come too if he wanted a good argument. Gunnar went. During the discussion he found himself defending the Witnesses against his cousin, and that contact eventually led to Gunnar’s abandoning his acting career and entering the full-time preaching work. He is now on his way to a missionary assignment in Zaire, along with his wife, Noomi.

Martin Witholt, too, is a friendly kind of person, but when he was younger nothing was further from his mind than being a missionary. At one time, in fact, he lost all hope for mankind, left his native Holland and sailed away with a friend in a thirty-five-foot boat, intending to find some isolated island where he could forget the modern world. But the boat sprang a leak, so they had to put into port at Alicante, Spain. There Martin met Jehovah’s Witnesses and learned for the first time about God’s kingdom. Subsequent events have led him and the girl he later married, Catharina, not to an isolated island, but to an interesting missionary assignment in Kenya.

All the students were, like Martin, concerned about world problems. Some at one time had tried to find solutions of their own. Christine Sowers joined a religious “Crusade on Campus” back home in California. Stephen Richards, from New England, followed a family tradition and got involved in politics. Tom Gilmore toyed briefly with the idea of being a priest and then threw his energies into proenvironment and antiwar movements.

They were sincere, but sooner or later they found that the answers did not lie in those directions. They came to realize that only God’s kingdom could successfully tackle the huge job of removing war, dishonesty, injustice and all the other plagues of this twentieth century. They now want to be missionaries to spread the good news about this kingdom as widely as possible.

The Gilead Course

What did the students encounter when they came to Gilead? Hard but rewarding work. “All that studying!” one of them gasped. There was a chapter-by-chapter study of the whole Bible, as well as detailed discussions of such things as Bible doctrine, Bible law and Bible history. A longtime Christian elder discussed “Giving Counsel from God’s Word” with them. Another, with many years’ experience as a public speaker, helped them to improve their reading and speaking ability. An instructor who had been a missionary in the Philippines and in Vietnam gave a series of lessons on the everyday problems of missionary life.

The students also enjoyed listening to lectures by members of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, including a talk entitled “Faithfulness Under Persecution,” delivered by Martin Poetzinger who spent many years in Nazi concentration camps because of his faith. And the president of the Watchtower Society, Fred Franz, gave them two lectures analyzing the operations of the holy spirit.

How did the students feel about the School? For Tim Lockwood of New York State the love and teaching ability of his instructors is a happy memory that he will carry to his assignment in Panama. Tim Kinyon and his wife, Yvonne, will take to their new home in the Dominican Republic a deeper appreciation of how Jehovah’s spirit acts on his organization.

Catharina Witholt, Martin’s wife, said that studying in Gilead was “like coming into the truth all over again,” while Tom Gilmore was impressed by the practicalness of the courses. One speaker, for example, listed fourteen big problems that new missionaries usually meet up with in their assignments. “That is valuable information,” said Tom. “Forewarned is forearmed!” Mary, Tom’s wife, said that Gilead had taught her to be a better student of the Bible. “Now I know how to use Bible literature to extract real ‘jewels’ from the Bible,” she said.

All in all, the students came from six countries and they are being sent to sixteen lands. Jehovah is surely blessing the worldwide preaching of the good news of the kingdom when he raises up such fine new missionaries for the work.​—Matthew 24:14.

On September 12 the class graduated at Jehovah’s Witnesses Assembly Hall in Queens, New York. The students put on an entertaining and instructive program for the large Brooklyn Bethel family and also heard some final words of counsel from their instructors and other speakers. The Society’s president spoke on the subject “United Under a Shepherd That Is Greater Than King David.” Then the students went their separate ways to their distant assignments. Although their time at Gilead has become just a memory, it is one they will treasure all their life. May Jehovah bless them as they join the thousands of graduates from previous classes of Gilead who are still faithfully serving full time in the field, which is the world.​—Matthew 13:38.

[Picture on page 20]

WATCHTOWER BIBLE SCHOOL OF GILEAD

In the list below, rows are numbered from front to back and names are listed from left to right in each row.

(1) Gomez, L.; Gilmore, M.; Koh, Y.; Murakami, L.; Dela Cruz, N.; Stanzen, N.; Stubenvoll, C. (2) Payne, J.; Koh, C.; Sowers, C.; Kinyon, Y.; Bailey, G.; Witholt, I.; Elb, A. (3) Sowers, R.; Shannon, J.; Madsen, S.; Ferguson, C.; Garland, R.; McClung, P.; Gomez, S. (4) Stanzen, G.; Kinyon, T.; Currie, K.; Garland, D.; Richards, B.; Ford, W.; Stubenvoll, T.; Bailey, C. (5) Payne, J.; Stringer, R.; Witholt, M.; Gilmore, T.; Lockwood, T.; Richards, S.; Elb, T.

Crossword Puzzle

Clues Across

7. Snakebit Israelites died unless they gazed at it [2 words] (Numbers 21:4-9)

9. Jeremiah thought he was one but Jehovah disagreed (Jeremiah 1:6-8)

10. To judge (1 Corinthians 6:2)

11. Nehemiah mourned for days because its wall was broken down (Nehemiah 1:3, 4)

12. To break it meant to destroy someone’s power (Psalm 10:15)

13. A tree that cannot produce olives (James 3:12)

14. Do not desire your neighbor’s (Exodus 20:17)

15. Jehovah put his “hook” in Sennacherib’s (2 Kings 19:28)

16. Benjaminite town (1 Chronicles 8:1, 12)

18. Formed in the heart (Luke 1:51)

19. Esau’s color (Genesis 25:24, 25)

20. Called “the perfection of prettiness” and associated with 11 Across (Psalm 50:2)

21. Israel’s territory stretched “from ‐‐‐ to Beer-sheba” (2 Samuel 24:2)

23. It should not feel sorry for apostates (Deuteronomy 13:6-11)

26. To employ (1 Peter 4:10)

27. Jesus’ foster father Joseph did not wish to live in the territory of this son of Herod (Matthew 2:22, 23)

28. Flying creature unclean for Israelites (Leviticus 11:13-20)

30. “Letters of Christ” are not written with this (2 Corinthians 3:1-3)

31. Fourth-listed ‘fruit of the spirit’ (Galatians 5:22, 23)

Clues Down

1. Second-listed ‘fruit of the spirit’ (Galatians 5:22, 23)

2. Many of them worshiped the false goddess Artemis (Acts 19:35)

3. Becoming like this makes you detestable to Jehovah (Proverbs 16:5)

4. These majestic trees were found in ancient Lebanon (Psalm 92:12)

5. While camped here, the Philistines sent David away from their army before proceeding to attack Saul (1 Samuel 29:1-11)

6. This tiny creature is a model of industriousness (Proverbs 6:6)

7. Potiphar was one [2 words] (Genesis 37:36)

8. Violating, or disobeying (Acts 23:3)

14. Torrent valley bordering Moab (Judges 11:18)

17. David was chief over Saul’s (1 Samuel 22:14)

22. Son of Hezron, born after his father’s death (1 Chronicles 2:24)

24. Rock-masses containing 25 Down (Jeremiah 16:16)

25. Small hiding place found in 24 Down (Isaiah 2:21)

29. Jephthah fled here (Judges 11:3)

30. The ‘Good Samaritan’ brought the wounded man here (Luke 10:34)

CROSSWORD SOLUTIONS PAGE 26

Answers Across

7. COPPER SERPENT

9. BOY

10. TRY

11. JERUSALEM

12. ARM

13. FIG

14. ASS

15. NOSE

16. LOD

18. INTENTION

19. RED

20. ZION

21. DAN

23. EYE

26. USE

27. ARCHELAUS

28. BAT

30. INK

31. LONGSUFFERING

Answers Down

1. JOY

2. EPHESIANS

3. PROUD

4. CEDARS

5. APHEK

6. ANT

7. COURT OFFICIAL

8. TRANSGRESSING

14. ARNON

17. BODYGUARD

22. ASHHUR

24. CRAGS

25. CLEFT

29. TOB

30. INN

The Slimming Nightmare

By “Awake!” correspondent in Great Britain

“AS A mother, I would do anything for my daughter. Her father would have bought her anything she fancied to eat. But she asked for nothing. We could see her getting thinner and thinner. It was awful. I was the only member of the family who didn’t cry. I tried, but my heart was like a lump of lead.”

What had caused such a problem in an otherwise happy, united family? The same strange illness that also confronted the husband of newly married Jane. He vividly recalls what it was like:

“I tried reasoning with my wife until I was blue in the face, but I couldn’t get through. She had made her mind up and that was it. The only thing I realized I could do was tell her in practical terms what sort of harm she was doing by not eating​—not just to herself but to her baby. You see, my wife was pregnant, and I was desperately worried.”

Fortunately, in both these cases there was a happy outcome. The first young woman recovered from her sickness, but it took four years to do so. In the second instance, the mother gave birth to a healthy boy and she herself is now on the road to recovery. But, sadly, this is not always the case. In the British Isles, records show that fifteen out of every hundred who have anorexia nervosa die as a result of it. Of the rest, only half recover their health completely.

Anorexia Nervosa

What, then, is anorexia nervosa? How do people get it, and why is it so extremely difficult to treat and cure?

Loss of appetite is not unusual. We all have days when we are off our food. This is termed “anorexia,” a word drawn from the Greek, meaning no appetite. This common-enough break in the normal routine of living is soon resolved as the body takes its rest and our appetite is restored.

The opposite is true, however, of those who suffer from anorexia nervosa. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary records that this “loss of appetite due to severe emotional disturbance results in emaciation.” Little wonder it can so easily lead to death! Medically, anorexia nervosa is viewed as a psychosomatic disorder, that is, a disorder affecting the mind as well as the body. But to many, that is an oversimplification of a complex and even now not fully understood illness. It can bring with it great physical suffering as well as much heartache to all who come in contact with it.

“It Happened to Me!”

“Don’t say, ‘It’ll never happen to me!’ That’s what I always thought. But it did!” Candid advice from Pat, whose body weight dropped dramatically from a normal 115 pounds to just over 75 pounds.a Her story continues: “I had always been a sensible, levelheaded person. I loved cooking and enjoyed my food. But as I became anorexic my whole character changed. People couldn’t say anything to me without my shouting abuse at them. All I went through at this time was horrible and degrading. I would lie in bed and cry for hours at a time. I was so miserable and unhappy.”

Looking back now, as a restored and healthy young woman in her twenties, Pat observes: “Just why it all started I still really don’t know. It could have been for any one of a number of reasons.”

The difficulty experienced in not being able to determine the exact cause of the onset of anorexia nervosa is not unusual, but there are common factors that emerge from a study of cases, and it is worth while to consider them.

The Danger of Dieting

Although anorexia nervosa can affect young men, the sufferers are usually adolescent girls. The main factor in many cases is dieting that gets out of control. Skipping the odd meal is not a dangerous thing to do, but strict dieting and irregular eating are a different matter.

Teenager Mary confided: “I wanted to lose a few pounds and so decided to go on a diet. To lose a little more, I cut out meals as well. Although my friends would tell me, ‘Oh, you’re thin​—you’re losing weight!’ whenever I looked in the mirror I just saw myself as I always had been. Strangely, I could see no difference and still felt that I was greatly overweight. But it wasn’t long before I was quite ill.” What does her mother say? “If my other daughter should come to me about a diet, I wouldn’t take it so lightly again. I would go more into it and say, ‘We will work it out together,’ so that when she is dieting she is still getting sound nutrition. The trouble is that when Mary had anorexia nervosa it was impossible to reason with her.” What, then, is it that goes wrong?

For reasons that are still not clearly understood, once the body reaches a certain point of undernourishment, strange things can happen. In the case of a young girl, menstruation will cease. A little later on, extra hair on the arms and legs may appear, while the individual feels repelled by food and is overtaken by an overwhelming desire to remain thin. Initially, an artificial vitality takes control. Additionally, as Mary’s mother discovered too late, no amount of talking can convince the patient (which is what she has now become) that she is acting in any way abnormally or that her health​—and maybe even her life—​is in danger.

Would you know if someone dear to you has anorexia nervosa? A marked loss of weight is an obvious sign to watch for, but, surprisingly, that is not always easy to spot. Why? Because anorexics often go to great lengths to conceal their true condition from both themselves and those who try to help them. By putting on many layers of clothing, or by carrying weights in their pockets, they deceive themselves in a way that is difficult for their friends to comprehend. Some will go to the extreme of self-induced vomiting or drastic purging to eliminate food from their bodies, but, again, usually without the knowledge of those around them.

Many view the illness as one peculiar to the Western world, but this is not the case. “Africans have become the best imitators of other cultures,” comments Dr. Daniel Kabithe of Kenya. “If slimming is such a rage in the West, then African women are vulnerable to compulsive slimming, too.” Summing up his findings from a study of the subject, Dr. Kabithe further explains: “Anorexia is cultivated deliberately and the girl’s refusal to eat is to achieve a certain goal.” This illness can be more than a simple dieting problem. Emotions and stress play their part too in triggering it off.

Why Mostly Young People?

Adolescence can be a particularly trying time, especially today when teenagers face many unusual problems and frustrations. What has this to do with anorexia nervosa? English physician Dr. Michael Spira says of its cause: “It seems that the most likely explanation is that the girl has a basic fear of growing up. Thus by losing weight she tries to prevent or reverse the puberty changes in bodily configuration and sexual characteristics that she associates with adulthood whose responsibilities she is afraid to accept.”

In assessing the illness, the relationship of the patient to life itself, as well as to the immediate family environment, is of prime importance. Making this point, consultant psychiatrist Dr. Joan Gomez observes: “Hormone changes are absolutely secondary and not the cause of anorexia nervosa. The cause lies within the family itself.”

Endorsing this view, psychiatrist R. L. Palmer writes: “Those young people who develop anorexia nervosa when they lose weight have been experiencing difficulties in coping with their lives, their feelings or more particularly with their transition through adolescence. These difficulties may be of a wide variety of kinds.” What are some of these? Consider what two sufferers have to say.

“My illness started about four years ago. The owners of the house my father was renting returned from abroad, which meant that for a while we were homeless. My parents and my brother and sister were all settled in different accommodations and we did not see much of one another.

“I didn’t realize how much I worried about it all until I look back now. I felt very insecure, went off my food and eventually found myself in the hospital. Then, when I wanted to eat, I just couldn’t. I was force-fed, but the arthritis I have now is a direct result, the doctors say, of the anorexia nervosa brought about by stress.”

“‘You are getting fat!’ ‘Hey​—haven’t you put on weight!’ True comments, spoken more in jest than anything, but to my teenage ears they hit a very sensitive spot.

“When I left school at sixteen, the happiest, most successful, best-dressed girls seemed to be the slim ones. To me, so shy and retiring, there was something to aim for, so I started to slim. But soon I was going far beyond my original diet, missing meals and cutting out food to lose more weight. The hunger pangs I suffered were excruciating, and yet the fact that I was somehow able to ignore those feelings and eventually conquer them brought me a great deal of satisfaction.

“Gradually, I grew weaker until I climbed stairs with the utmost difficulty. Even lifting a pillow became a great burden to me. Anorexia nervosa had become a reality. The cure took five long, difficult years.

“Yes, there were problems at home too during adolescence, but I know now that so much hinged on my reaction to the remarks passed about my baby fat. So, may I say, never, never make personal comments about a teenager’s weight, shape or size! You may do more harm than you can possibly imagine.”

A broken romance, an inferiority complex, pressure to pass examinations and ‘get on’ in the world, trying to live up to certain standards set by parents or by others in authority, all these things and many more can lead an insecure person along the road to anorexia nervosa. Although all therapies may have their value in treating the symptoms (and it is advisable to get medical aid as soon as possible), recovery really rests with the individual. How? Apply the following suggestions:

[Footnotes]

[Blurb on page 25]

In the British Isles, records show that fifteen out of every hundred who have anorexia nervosa die as a result of it

[Blurb on page 26]

Although all therapies may have their value in treating the symptoms, recovery really rests with the individual

[Box on page 27]

Some Don’ts and Do’s

DON’T isolate yourself. It is so easy to become introspective. The avenue of approach to mature adult thinking is so easily lost. It was a very wise man who said: “He that is walking with wise persons will become wise.” (Proverbs 13:20) Make friends! Value a wise confidant!

DON’T feel that you have to conform to fads and fashions. Christians are no part of the world. If you find yourself on your own on a matter of principle, see it as a position of real strength.​—John 17:16, 17.

DO find something constructive to do, preferably something that is helpful to others. Jesus is recorded as saying: “There is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving.” Serving others will take your mind off yourself.​—Acts 20:35.

DO recognize that your Creator, Jehovah God, cares for you. Your approach to him in prayer can give you “power beyond what is normal” in times of need.​—2 Corinthians 4:7.

DO realize that people have been cured of anorexia nervosa, as you can be. But much depends on your own positive thinking.

From Our Readers

Marriage

I want to thank you for the article “‘Surviving’ the First Year of Marriage.” (August 8, 1982) I was recently married and I certainly needed some advice as to how to cope with my new situation but at the same time enjoy it. It’s nice to know that there are rough spots in almost every marriage. I was beginning to feel I had the only marriage with rough spots. But most importantly, I appreciated the advice as to how those rough spots can be smoothed out. Please keep up the good work.

H. S., Ohio

I had to write and tell you how much we enjoyed the article on “‘Surviving’ the First Year of Marriage.” So much of it expressed how I personally felt. My husband and I had a lot of tension toward the end of the second year of our marriage. The specific points with regard to “Adjusting Sexually” were written for us! Thank you so much. My husband and I plan to read this together as part of our family study.

C. A., New York

Violence

This morning I sat down to read the article on “Violence” (July 22, 1982). I was in tears. For some time now I’ve acted, at times, violently toward my three-and-a-half-year-old son. I love him more than I can say and yet I continued in my course. Four days ago I beat my son for doing something that irritated me but was not really wrong. As soon as I put him down for a nap I went to my room to pray for help with my bad temper. This morning I picked up the Awake! on “Violence” and didn’t give any consideration to my problem until I read in the first article the experience about how Marjorie treated her son. Immediately I remembered my problem and my prayers and started to cry. I read the articles on “Violence” and took notes on things that applied to me most (keeping in mind, all the while, my problem). Now I realize that I have a responsibility​—to work in harmony with my prayers. Thank you, thank you so much for the excellent coverage.

D. M., Ohio

Alcoholism

I want you to know how much good your article on “Alcoholism” (July 8, 1982) did for at least one person​—me! For years I suspected that I was an alcoholic. I have read other articles on drinking but was able to excuse myself with the thought that they did not actually apply to me. Not so with this Awake! I tested the medical findings and points in the boxes. I learned that one beer could set me in motion so that I would be unable to stop. I’m happy that I have not drunk anything since reading that magazine, nor do I intend ever to drink another drop of anything alcoholic, no matter what! The results? I feel wonderful, am sleeping better, am happy and, best of all, can function mentally as I did ten years ago when I started drinking. I thank you with all my heart.

A. N., Virginia

Watching the World

Churches and Tobacco

● While some church groups are beginning to speak out against smoking, “North Carolina churches, unlike many of their counterparts across the nation, are steering clear of the issue of tobacco and smoking,” according to The Sentinel of Winston-Salem. The reason? “Economics has kept this one off the front burner in all churches in the state,” said an official of the Baptist State Convention. Other denominations, including the Presbyterians and the Methodists, have likewise avoided the issue. “If we’re going to take a stand against tobacco,” a Methodist minister says, then “we’d better find another source of income.” North Carolina is the leading tobacco producer in the US.

Fetus Has Rights

● A US federal judge in Connecticut has ruled that an unborn fetus has the legal rights to sue. The particular case involves a nine-month-old boy and his mother. The mother was allegedly beaten by a police officer when she was five and a half months pregnant with the boy. The suit claims that the beating resulted in physical injuries to the fetus, and the boy’s legs apparently were damaged because of it. The ruling denied the defendant’s request to dismiss the case and it is viewed as precedent setting. The federal judge said that his decision is based on “recent and well-established trends in the state courts,” which have “expanded the legal rights of the viable fetus in a wide variety of contexts,” according to an Associated Press dispatch.

Asbestos Deaths

● The British Health and Safety Commission announced that in 1980 more than 500 asbestos workers died from cancer of the lining of the lungs and the abdominal cavity. This is a threefold increase since 1968, when records were first kept, in spite of the passage of government regulations in 1969. Some specialists believe that the real figures might be much higher because of the difficulty in detecting the disease. In addition, there were 150 deaths from asbestosis, a lung disease caused by the inhaling of asbestos fibers. Officials fear that deaths due to exposure to asbestos will continue to increase for another decade before leveling off.

More Women Ministers

● Since the ordination of the first woman minister in 1853 in a small rural Congregational church in South Butler, New York, there has been a steady rise in the number of women ministers. Soon, it appears, more women than men will be ordained in a number of the denominations. For example, 52 percent of students currently enrolled in the Master of Divinity program of the United Church of Christ (offshoot of Congregational Churches) are women. One year ago 46 percent were women and five years ago only 30 percent. Similar trends are seen in seminaries of other Churches: Unitarian Universalist, 50 percent; Disciples of Christ, 34 percent; United Methodist and United Presbyterian, 32 percent; American Baptist, 29 percent; Lutheran Church in America, 26 percent.

Number One Son

● The centuries-old Chinese custom of favoring sons over daughters is putting the Beijing government’s population-control policy of one child per family to a severe test. The pressure for the first child to be a son is so strong that, according to China’s Health News, some pregnant women take fetal tests, and if a girl is predicted they have an abortion. Sometimes things take an even uglier turn​—the unwanted daughters are abandoned, or worse, drowned. More common, however, is mistreatment of the mothers with beatings or divorces, resulting in nervous breakdowns and suicides. The government fears that in just a few years such practices will upset the male-female balance in the population.

Abuse of Antibiotics

● Antibiotics such as penicillin and tetracycline are gradually losing their effectiveness against gonorrhea, leprosy and other dreadful diseases “for no better reason than saving a few cents a pound in the price of meat,” says The New York Times. The reference is to farmers’ “routine addition of clinically useful drugs to animal feed” to stimulate growth. A report in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that such indiscriminate use encourages the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can pass on the resistance to other bacteria infecting humans. In 1977 the Food and Drug Administration proposed banning the practice, but farm and pharmaceutical lobbies influenced Congress to block the proposal.

Historic Hydraulics

● An ancient canal system along the arid coast of Peru is found to employ “concepts of fluid dynamics that Western hydrologists only began to implement during the last 100 years,” according to engineer Charles Orloff of the General Electric Company. The system, about 400 miles long, was built by the Chimu civilization between 500 CE and 1200 CE. It irrigated 35 to 40 percent more land than the canal system in use now. However, due to movement of the earth’s crust, the ancient canals were cut off from their source of water in the Andes. Scientists believe that the resultant loss of crop land, along with periodic floods, probably accounted for the demise of that ancient civilization.

Pregnancy Illness for Men

● The Annals of Internal Medicine reports that a recent study finds that 22.5 percent of men with expectant wives suffer from the couvade syndrome​—headaches, nausea, upset stomach, vomiting and cramps. Though the syndrome has been documented as far back as Roman times, it has traditionally been viewed as a rarity. Thus, the report suggests that physicians should be more aware of this fact in treating their male patients. In as many as 85 percent of the cases studied, the doctors had not been aware that the men were expectant fathers. If the facts had been known, a lot of unnecessary treatment could have been avoided.

Growing Space Sickness

● Amid all the clamor and glamor of spaceflights, few people are aware of a new problem that has space agencies, both American and Russian, worried​—space sickness. Strangely, in the early days of spaceflights, few astronauts or cosmonauts ever got sick in space. With the Skylab project the number increased. By the time of the space-shuttle flights, two of the first three flights were plagued with sick astronauts. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration fears that half of all the astronauts it puts in orbit will become space sick in spite of careful selection and rigorous training.

Equality for Baldness

● “There has been a dramatic increase in hair loss among women,” said the managing director of an Australian firm that makes wigs for people who suffer from baldness due to medical reasons. Three years ago only 15 percent of the firm’s customers were women. Now they make up about 35 percent of the total. “It’s due mainly to the increase in stress-related disorders,” he said. “With all this equal opportunity, women are taking on tougher jobs and a greater role in business affairs.” Other reasons for clinical hair loss, according to the director, are accidents and burns, brain surgery, drugs and the side effects of cancer therapy.

Mother’s Rights

● For six days and six nights a mother of five sat outside her house in a lawn chair through heavy rain and 90-degree heat​—on strike against her family. Why? “They forget to talk to me. They forget to kiss me. They didn’t think of me as a person. They thought of me as a mother, and, therefore, I owed them something.” The strike ended only when the last of the children, a sixteen-year-old daughter, gave in and signed mother’s list of demands, agreeing not to treat her as a taxi driver, loan officer or twenty-four-hour cook but to show affection and appreciation. But why had the daughter previously refused to sign? “Peer pressure,” said the mother. “Her friends were telling her that if their mothers did it, they wouldn’t sign. They’re making it difficult for her to give in.” Apparently the agreement worked. “Tommy brought me home a dozen long-stemmed roses and a card that said, ‘I’m glad you’re you,’” said the mother. “I cried for hours over that.”

“Holy” Tortilla

● One October afternoon five years ago, a Spanish woman in Lake Arthur, a small town in southeastern New Mexico, was making lunch for her husband. Suddenly, as the account goes, what looked like the face of Jesus appeared on a tortilla frying in her pan. Reckoning that a miracle had taken place, her husband told her to get the priest, who blessed the tortilla. Word soon got around, and people from far and near came to pay their respects and pray for their sick. To date, over ten thousand persons, some from as far away as California and Mexico, have come. And over a hundred letters, including a few from Europe, have been received, requesting prayers to be said for as many assorted ailments.

Cathedral of Athens Bombed

● A bomb exploded in the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Church of Athens recently, causing damage to glass panes of certain big icons. Despite intense efforts, police were unable to find those responsible. However, an organization called Iconoclasts-Nihilists took the responsibility for the explosion. A short distance from the point of the blast, the following words were written: “Down with despotocracy. We want pastors, not faithless persons.”

Computerized Taxis

● Taxi riders and drivers in four Canadian cities will no longer be troubled by the nerve-racking bursts from the dispatcher’s radio. Several lines have switched to computer dispatching, sending silent messages to the cabby on a video screen in the cab. By pushing a few buttons the driver gets on his screen a list of cab zones with the number of empty cabs in each. By pressing another button he then tells the computer which zone he is going to. When a call comes in, the exact location of the fare comes onto his screen and no one else’s​—no danger of someone beating him to the fare. One channel on the computer can handle as many as 500 taxis compared with 150 on a radio channel. Taxi companies in the US are looking into the system.

Tea for Teeth

● Two dentists in Hamburg, Germany, have found that drinking tea without sugar can help fight tooth decay. The reason is that tea, especially the type grown in Java and Kenya, is rich in fluoride. They caution, however, that tea drinking is no substitute for brushing and checkups.

Could the World’s End Be Near?

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