January 22

Page Two

The Moral Breakdown​—Can It Be Reversed? 3-10

Well into the 20th century, people had specific ideas about right and wrong. Then a change began in the 1950’s and escalated in the decades that followed. Many say that there is no right or wrong, that each one should do his own thing. The results have been disastrous. Can this moral breakdown be reversed?

Learning Begins in the Womb 14

Beginning at three weeks, adding 250,000 brain cells a minute, the infant brain by birth has 100 billion neurons that are the basis of all functions of the brain.

What if My Family Is Poor? 18

I hated watching my father work his fingers to the bone just to keep us alive. I resented that there seemed to be no way out.

[Picture Credit Line on page 2]

Photo: Lennart Nilsson for A Child Is Born - 1976 ed./​Dell Publishing Co.

The Moral Breakdown Is Widespread

It Infects Every Facet of Society

SOCIETY today is in a values vacuum. It is fragmented by many life-​styles. The reasoning of many runs like this: ‘Each life-​style is an acceptable alternative. You be tolerant of mine, I’ll be tolerant of yours. You do your thing, I’ll do mine. To each his own. There are many ways to go, and each way is right; nothing is wrong. There is no sin anymore. Stand up for your rights. Peaceful protest is a whisper; turn up the volume with violence. Violence is a form of free speech. Sex is open to expression with whomever you choose and in any way you want. Obscenity is art. Live and let live.’

Or is it ‘die and let die’? Well into the 20th century, people had very precise ideas about what is right and what is wrong, what is moral and what is immoral, what is honorable and what is dishonorable​—and many still do. But for others a change began during the 1950’s and escalated thereafter. The entire inventory of ideas about virtue, morality, honor, and ethics was made to seem illogical, inhumane, and unacceptable. The ideas that became dominant exalted individuality. They asserted the view of each person to live according to self-​determined goals. Now the acceptable mores were to be tolerance, diversity, and nonjudgmentalism. In this new philosophy, it is forbidden to forbid.

The disastrous consequences of this philosophy continued to mount until in the 1980’s they were at flood stage, and they are still rising in the ’90’s. Here are just a few reports on the disastrous consequences, beginning with a speech on values that was given in New York City by a corporation vice-​chairman before a conference on business ethics:

“Politicians cheat on their constituents. Brokers rip off their clients. S&L executives drive their institutions into the ground and leave taxpayers footing the bill. Preachers and would-​be presidents cheat on their wives. Kids cheat on exams, and millions destroy themselves and others through the ravages of drugs and crime. . . . Fifty percent of all marriages end in divorce. Twenty-​two percent of all children born today are born out of wedlock, and one-​third of all children will live with step-​parents before they are 18. Clearly, the disintegration of family is massive. If you assume that the molding of values starts at home​—early in life—​then the reasons for a breakdown in ethics are obvious.”​—Vital Speeches of the Day, September 1, 1990.

Every day newspapers, magazines, newscasts, movies, and television programs reflect the decline of traditional values. In a speech at the University of Chicago, chairman of the Chase Manhattan Corporation said:

“Whether you flip first to the sports pages, the Washington report, or the business section, the evidence is the same. The sports pages bristle with the latest scandals of ball players shaving points, college teams on probation for recruiting violations, and professional athletes on drugs. The news from Washington is of perjury trials, federal judges indicted, influence peddling, and the latest lawmaker under investigation by the House Ethics Committee. You turn to the business section and find exposés of insider trading and the like.”​—Vital Speeches of the Day, August 1, 1990.

The barrage is so steady and unrelenting that people become numb to it. They are no longer scandalized by these scandals. The lecturer just quoted commented on this: “Many Americans are no longer outraged by news of yet another ethical lapse. Convicted felons are no longer outcasts. They are celebrities. They are invited to elite parties. They write best-​sellers.”

Wall Street’s Ivan Boesky ended a speech to students at a business school by raising his arms overhead in a V-for-​victory pose and said, “So here’s to greed!” Later his greed led him into insider trading, and he was tried, convicted, fined, and jailed. His fine was $100 million, but he got to keep over half a billion dollars. Michael Milken, another Wall Street manipulator, was fined $600 million for his junk-​bond dealings​—he made almost that much in one year! He was able to retain one and a half billion dollars.

Industry Week magazine published an article whose title raised the question, “Forget Ethics​—and Succeed?” A consultant from Utah thought corporate ethics had worsened and said: “My observations suggest that the more successful the businessman, the more unethical the behavior.” A manager from Michigan said: “We have a policy regarding ethics, but middle management ignores the rules by rationalizing, ‘That’s not unethical, it’s just smart business.’” A supervisor from Miami laments: “Ethics is fast losing the battle; profit is No. 1 at any expense.” Other businessmen were more blunt: “Anything goes,” one said. Another added this: “Our policy is if you can get away with it, do it.”

It is not just businessmen who contribute to the tumbling moral standards. The values virus has spread into every facet of society. Too many lawyers are acting more like shysters than respecters of the law. Too many scientists are stooping to misconduct and fraud to get grants from the government. Too many doctors are earning reputations as being more interested in fat fees than in patients​—and too many of their patients are scheming up ways to launch malpractice suits.

Neighborhoods reel under the impact of drugs, crime, and gang wars. Marital infidelity ruins families. Small children become victims of sexual abuse, including child porn. Teenage sex brings on pregnancies, abortions, and neglected babies. Drug pushers invade school yards. Schoolchildren carry knives and guns, and reading scores continue to tumble. The best remedial training for this is parents who read to their children, but often parents are too busy making a living or too involved in their own self-​fulfillment goals.

The music industry contributes to the moral breakdown, outstandingly so through some of the far-​out, heavy-​metal rock bands. A corporation counselor commented: “Rock music turned out to be the perfect medium for proclaiming and spreading the idea of casual and unlimited sexual acts and for celebrating the use of illegal drugs. Rock music was also a powerful force in generating contempt for parents, for older generations and social institutions which opposed the unzippered, drug-​using lifestyle.”

One of their goals is to offend and shock and grab attention with lyrics that are outpourings of crude, coarse, vile, and loathsome gutter filth, which are crammed full of brutal abuse of women. Oral and anal sex described in scores of ways, sexual abuse urged, gloatings over rape so violent that female sex organs are ruptured​—no limit to the gross obscenities glorified. When one group was tried in court for obscenity, a Duke University professor praised them as literary geniuses and defended their rank obscenities as having artistic value. The jury agreed, concluding that the lyrics were not obscenities but art.

A similar evidence of the decay of values in society is the fact that last year one of the most grotesquely obscene rap albums ‘sold so many copies (more than 1 million) in its three weeks of release that it sailed to the No. 1 position. That means it was the biggest thing in the music business at the moment.’ Names chosen for these rock groups match the lyrics: “There are at least 13 bands named after the male genitals, 6 after female genitals, 4 after sperm, 8 after abortion and one after a vaginal infection.”​—U.S.News & World Report.

A professor at Boston University commented on the Mapplethorpe exhibit: “I saw it at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. There, as elsewhere, the works were arranged in sections, so to speak. The ‘hard core’ photos were . . . as disturbingly pornographic as one can imagine. I do not know if they were ‘homo-​erotic,’ but they were photographs which depicted acts I would not on my own think were possible, let alone pleasurable.” The issue of the exhibit’s obscenity was tried in court, and a jury judged its obscenity to be art. Hardly art, certainly not morally responsible, and evidence of a further erosion of true values on the part of artists and viewers.

We need limits. We need stabilizing guidelines. We need ideals to work toward. We need a return to the original source of true values.

[Blurb on page 4]

People are no longer scandalized by scandals

[Blurb on page 5]

Juries declare gross obscenities to be art

The Source of True Values

Their Application Will End the Moral Breakdown

MAN looks up into a night sky packed with stars, and he is filled with awe and wonder. As he gazes at this starry vault so far overhead, he feels small and insignificant. The words of the psalmist spoken long ago may even come back to him: “When I see your heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have prepared, what is mortal man that you keep him in mind, and the son of earthling man that you take care of him?” (Psalm 8:3, 4) The psalmist saw a few thousand stars and felt small; man now knows that there are billions of galaxies with billions of stars in each, and he feels much smaller. Questions may crowd into his mind: ‘How can I matter? Why am I here? Who am I anyway?’

But no animal has such thoughts.

Man looks at the variety of life around him and notes amazing design to accomplish practical purposes. He sees birds that migrate thousands of miles, mammals that hibernate through the cold of winter, and many other forms of life that used sonar, air-​conditioning, jet propulsion, desalination, antifreeze, scubalike structures, incubators, thermometers, paper, glass, clocks, compasses, electricity, rotary motors, and many other marvels long before man ever dreamed of them. Thinking men wonder: ‘How did all these amazing, intricate, purposeful designs ever come about? What great intelligence is behind them?’

Again, no animal gives thought to any of this.

But man does. Why is man, of all the myriads of creatures on earth, the only one that marvels in awe and wonder at the heavens above and the mysteries of life here below? Why? Because man is different.

Why Is Man So Different?

Because he alone was created in the image and likeness of God: “And God went on to say: ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.’” (Genesis 1:26) This explains the unbridgeable gulf between man and beast. It explains why no other creature on earth is remotely close to man. It explains why man is a thinking creature, asks questions about the world around him, and concerns himself with moral values.

In what way is man in God’s image and likeness? It is by possessing some of the attributes and qualities of God, such as love, mercy, justice, wisdom, power, kindness, goodness, patience, honesty, truthfulness, loyalty, industriousness, and inventiveness. These were good qualities originally programmed into man, but with the first human pair’s misuse of freedom of choice, leading to their rebellion, these attributes became distorted and hence were not passed on in perfection to their descendants. They were thrown out of balance, and through disuse some faded from consciousness. Colossians 3:9, 10 shows, however, that by gaining an accurate knowledge of God and applying it, we can put on a new personality and again approach ‘the image and likeness of God.’

When Jehovah God gave the Israelites the Mosaic Law, it contained the true values, among them the Ten Commandments and the admonition to ‘love their neighbor as themselves.’ (Leviticus 19:18; Exodus 20:3-17) These values were to be passed on as a legacy to future generations. Moses told Israel to obey this Law, and he further said: “Command your sons to take care to do all the words of this law. For it is no valueless word for you, but it means your life.” (Deuteronomy 32:46, 47) Centuries later, Proverbs 8:18 referred to them as “hereditary values.”

Values to Reverse the Moral Breakdown

Many object, however, that society is now so diverse that no one set of values would cover the needs of everyone. The different backgrounds and cultures call for a wide variety of values, they contend. But what modern problem would not yield to the practice of Jesus’ command to love your neighbor as yourself? Or to do unto others as you would have them do unto you? Or to live the principles contained in the Ten Commandments? Or to aim toward producing the fruits of the spirit set forth at Galatians 5:22, 23: “The fruitage of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-​suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-​control. Against such things there is no law.” Not one of these is asking anything impossible; any one of them would eliminate a large percentage of society’s present woes.

‘But people won’t live that way!’ you exclaim. However, if you think such solutions are too difficult, don’t expect the problems to be solved by easy substitutes. It is within society’s power to apply these remedies, though apparently it is not within its will to do so. This generation brooks no restraints on its freedoms, including its freedom to do wrong and suffer the consequences.

The paper Bottom Line/​Personal asks: “What Ever Happened to Self-​Restraint?” After commenting that “most people are horrified by the results of our sexually permissive era,” it continues: “Yet people continue to hold sacred the importance of indulging sexual appetites to the fullest. . . . People are expected to diet, to exercise, to stop smoking, to be self-​disciplined about the way they live for the sake of their health. Only sexual gratification seems to have been granted a sacrosanct status for continued limitless indulgence.” It is not that they cannot apply the values; it is that they will not. So society sows and reaps.

Today these values have fallen into disrepute. Many call bad good and good bad, as it was foretold they would do: “Woe to those who are saying that good is bad and bad is good, those who are putting darkness for light and light for darkness, those who are putting bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20) Others, however, have growing concerns. They see the rotten harvest that comes from the do-​your-​own-​thing philosophy and want to see a reversal of the current moral breakdown.

Can Religion and Family Help?

Many programs are offered for the restoration of values. One is religion. It will supposedly offer spiritual strength. But that strength is not to be found in the orthodox religions of Christendom. Some have backslid into paganism to resurrect such blasphemies as the Trinity, eternal torment, and immortal soul. Others have discarded the ransom and creation to bow down to the scientific religion of evolution. They embrace the higher criticism that discredits the integrity of God’s Word, the Bible. They offer a “Christianity” so watered down and polluted that nothing of value remains, and the younger generation sees only hypocrisy and hollow mockery. No, it is not to such sickly religions that we should look for spiritual strength but only to the one true Bible-​based worship that announces Jehovah’s Kingdom as the only hope of the world.

There remains, however, another source of help for concerned people, and that is the family, the setting in which parents can instill values in their children. The attachment that began at birth must continue. Children who love and trust their parents want to be like them, to imitate the way they talk and act, to mimic their behavior, and to absorb their morals, and in time the parental values become incorporated in the value system of the children. Simple explanations, not windy lectures; two-​way communication, not dogmatic statements, are the effective approaches.

Parents who not only preach but also practice true values will have children who have incorporated those values within themselves. Such children will not be endangered by the negative role models of peers at school or elsewhere. As Proverbs 22:6 says: “Train up a boy according to the way for him; even when he grows old he will not turn aside from it.” Train by valuable counsel. More important, train by valuable example.

Potential for Values Encoded in Our Genes

Jesus said: “Happy are those conscious of their spiritual need.” (Matthew 5:3) It is an instinctive need programmed into us, as some psychiatrists have said. It is also true that only out of spiritual strength will we be able to resist the false values championed today.

In keeping with the fact that we were created in the image and likeness of God, with a potential for values innate in us, Thomas Lickona, a professor of education, says: “I think the capacity for goodness is there from the start.” But he adds that “parents must nurture those instincts just as they help their children become good readers or athletes or musicians.”

TV producer Norman Lear was a guest speaker to the national convention of the National Education Association. After recognizing “the problem of those more sophisticated, better-​educated people among us​—those who have dismissed the search for transcendent purpose as flaky or irrelevant,” he said: “I have no trouble drawing the conclusion, from human history, that the response to life, to Being, the impulse to believe in something larger than oneself, is so strong and irresistible as to be part and parcel of the way we are genetically coded.”

Lear indicts big business and four decades of television with transmitting a “new value system” so influential on public morality and personal values that many social ills have resulted: schools and colleges that graduate people unable to read and write; increasing use of drugs; unmarried teenage girls having babies; and families with no savings sinking deeper into debt. Lear then adds: “When we speak of a hundred social ills​—I think we may be talking about a trickle-​down value system that, with the help of television, has come to subvert the entire culture.” And again he said that he “believes that, embedded in our genes is the belief that there is a greater force and mystery framing our lives, to which attention must be paid.”

The prominent psychiatrist C. G. Jung said that religion “is an instinctive attitude peculiar to man, and its manifestations can be followed all through human history.” Innate also is a conscience that senses right and wrong: “For whenever people of the nations that do not have law do by nature the things of the law, these people, although not having law, are a law to themselves. They are the very ones who demonstrate the matter of the law to be written in their hearts, while their conscience is bearing witness with them and, between their own thoughts, they are being accused or even excused.” (Romans 2:14, 15) “Conscience” is “a knowing within oneself” like an internal court of justice convened within us to render decisions on our conduct, accusing or excusing us. If, however, we show “contempt of court” for our conscience, its sensitivity will become calloused and nonfunctional.

Scientists See Mysteries Only God Can Explain

Very interesting is the fact that as science learns more of the earth and the universe, some scientists gravitate toward a belief that a supreme intelligence must be behind it all. They balk, however, at accepting the God of the Bible.

Astrophysicist George Greenstein, in his book The Symbiotic Universe, set out “to detail what can only seem to be an astonishing sequence of stupendous and unlikely accidents that paved the way for life’s emergence. There is a list of coincidences, all of them essential to our existence.” Greenstein said the list got longer, the coincidences could not be by chance, and the thought grew that some supernatural agency was at work. “Is it possible,” he thought, “that suddenly, without intending to, we have stumbled upon scientific proof of the existence of a Supreme Being? Was it God who stepped in and so providentially crafted the cosmos for our benefit?” He felt “an intense revulsion” at such a thought and arbitrarily said: “God is not an explanation.” Yet the growing list of “coincidences” had forced the questions from him.

Another astrophysicist, Nobel prize winner Fred Hoyle, in his book The Intelligent Universe, discussed those same mysterious coincidences that troubled Greenstein: “Such properties seem to run through the fabric of the natural world like a thread of happy accidents. But there are so many of these odd coincidences essential to life that some explanation seems required to account for them.” Hoyle also agrees with Greenstein that they could not have happened by chance. Consequently, Hoyle says, ‘the origin of the universe requires an intelligence,’ ‘an intelligence on a higher plane,’ ‘an intelligence that preceded us and that was led to a deliberate act of creation of structures suitable for life.’

Einstein spoke of God but not in the sense of orthodox religion. His concept of God related to “the infinitely superior spirit” he saw revealed in nature. Timothy Ferris, in his article “The Other Einstein,” quoted Einstein as follows: “What I see in nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of ‘humility.’ This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism. . . . My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality. . . . I want to know how God created this world. I want to know his thoughts, the rest are details.”

Guy Murchie, after discussing some of the incomprehensible mysteries of the universe, comments in his book The Seven Mysteries of Life: “It is easy to see why modern physicists, who have been pushing the frontier of knowledge into the unknown probably more profoundly than any other scientists in recent centuries, are ahead of most of their fellows in accepting that all-​encompassing mystery of the universe commonly referred to as God.”

Seek God, Benefit Yourself, Live Forever

Man is groping. What he is groping for is God. Some were doing this in Paul’s day. He said: “For them to seek God, if they might grope for him and really find him, although, in fact, he is not far off from each one of us.” (Acts 17:27) No animal gropes for God. Not even one has any concept of God. Man does, is made in God’s likeness, with an unbridgeable gulf separating him from even the most advanced animal. And as the text tells us, God “is not far off from each one of us.”

We see evidence of him everywhere around us reflected in his creations, as Romans 1:20 says: “His invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship, so that they are inexcusable.” As scientists see more and more of the unexplainable coincidences and complexities and ponder the awesome marvels in the universe, perhaps more and more of them will perceive the Supreme Intelligence at work behind those features and recognize their Creator, Jehovah God.

The earth and its fullness belong to Jehovah. He sets the standards for those who will live on it. He has given the true values as guidelines to happiness and life. He has also given people freedom of choice. They do not have to obey him. They may sow what they wish, but sooner or later they will also reap what they sow. God is not to be mocked. He has given the true values, not for his own sake, but for the benefit of his subjects on earth. So says Isaiah 48:17, 18: “I, Jehovah, am your God, the One teaching you to benefit yourself, the One causing you to tread in the way in which you should walk. O if only you would actually pay attention to my commandments! Then your peace would become just like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.”

Heeding Jehovah’s earnest plea, all peoples will then tread in the way they should and will pay attention to their Creator’s commandments. All will benefit themselves with peace like a river and righteousness like the waves of the sea. All will apply the hereditary values and will never again suffer a moral breakdown. And when will all of this be? When the prayer is answered, soon: “Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.”​—Matthew 6:10.

[Pictures on page 7]

Jet propulsion

Desalination

Papermaking

Sonar

The Rise and Fall of World Commerce

Part 2​—Branching Out to Consolidate Power

ORIGINALLY, the development of the world of commerce was severely restricted by the unavailability, the slowness, and the expense of transportation and communication. Trade by sea was time-​consuming. Overland routes were fraught with danger. But all of this was due to change.

Trade Becomes International

During the Hellenistic period, from 338 B.C.E. to 30 B.C.E., Mediterranean cities became major trading centers. These included Alexandria, Egypt, founded by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C.E. But “by the second century B.C.[E.], the Hellenistic East,” says professor of history Shepard B. Clough, “began to show signs of economic stagnation; in the first century B.C.[E.], it was manifestly on the decline.” Greece was replaced as a world power by Rome. Later, under Roman control, Alexandria became a provincial capital, second only to Rome itself.

The Eastern counterpart and successor of the Western Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, reached its zenith between the 9th and the 11th centuries. Its capital, Constantinople (today Istanbul), with a population of one million, was by far the largest city in the world. A marketplace for the silks, spices, dyes, and perfumes of the East and the furs, amber, timber, and iron of the West, it served as a strong economic bridge between Europe and Asia.

But in 1204, during the Fourth Crusade, the empire suffered a setback. Its capital was seized and sacked, a victim of economic greed. How so? According to The Collins Atlas of World History, “the Western drive to go in search of the wealth of the Orient is at the origin of the crusades.” This clearly indicates that the church, although supposedly driven by religious fervor, had other motives as well.

Meanwhile, in medieval Europe, merchants were establishing commercial, or trade, fairs where they could display goods from various lands along the routes they traveled. Of the particularly successful exhibitions held in the Champagne region of northeastern France, The New Encyclopædia Britannica says: “Transactions by merchants at the fairs were often made through letters that promised payment at a future fair and that were transferable to another person. Such transactions were the beginnings of the use of credit. By the 13th century the fairs served as a regular banking centre for Europe.”

During the 15th century, conquests by the Ottoman Turks threatened to cut off the trade routes between Europe and Asia. So European explorers set out in search of new ones. Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese navigator, led an expedition from 1497 to 1499 that successfully sailed around the Cape of Good Hope of Africa, thereby establishing a new sea route to India that helped make Portugal a world power. The new route also robbed Alexandria and other Mediterranean ports of their commercial importance as major trade centers.

Meanwhile, Portugal’s neighbor, Spain, was financing the attempt of Italian navigator Christopher Columbus to reach India by sailing westward around the world. In 1492​—exactly 500 years ago next October—​Columbus stumbled, as it were, upon the Western Hemisphere. The English, on the other hand, instead of seeking to reach the East by sailing south as had Vasco da Gama or west as had Columbus, kept searching for a northeast or northwest passage. All this exploration helped trade become international. And by being a decisive factor in the discovery of the Americas, the world of commerce demonstrated its powerful influence over world affairs.

Economic Power​—Builder of Empires

The world of commerce has built powerful organizations. An example, according to the book By the Sweat of Thy Brow, is “one of the most far-​reaching and long-​lasting socioeconomic innovations of the ancient world: the craft corporation or guild.” Reminiscent of similar powerful organizations today, these guilds, along with accomplishing good, at times blatantly abused their power, so much so that Bible translator John Wycliffe is said to have denounced some of them in the 14th century as “false conspiratours . . . cursed of God and man.”​—See box on page 13.

The world of commerce has even built empires, the British Empire undoubtedly having been the most successful. But before it began emerging in the 16th century, other commercial ventures in Europe began grasping for the economic power that makes the world go round. One of these was the Hanseatic League.

The old high German word Hanse, meaning “troops,” gradually came to be applied to any one of a number of guilds or associations of merchants that arose. During the late 12th and early 13th centuries, a Hanse centered in the northern German city of Lübeck gained mastery over Baltic trade and successfully linked Germany with Russia and the other countries bordering on the Baltic. Meanwhile, to the west, the Hanse in the German city of Cologne was strengthening trade connections to England and to the Low Countries.

These merchant associations passed legislation to defend themselves and their wares, generally regulating trade for the common good. They also undertook united efforts to suppress piracy and robbery on land or sea. As trade expanded, the need for greater cooperation among the various groups became apparent. So by the end of the 13th century, all the major north German cities had joined together into a single league that came to be known as the Hanseatic League.

By reason of its geographical position, the league controlled the main currents of northern trade. To the west it traded with the economically advanced countries of England and the Low Countries, which, in turn, had trade contacts with the Mediterranean and the Orient. On the east it had easy access to Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Besides the wool trade with Flanders, the league thus came to control the fish trade with Norway and Sweden as well as the fur trade with Russia.

Although not a political federation, and without a permanent governing body or permanent officials, at its peak the league nevertheless exercised great power. One of its greatest accomplishments was the development of a system of maritime and commercial laws. While expanding into new markets, the league was quick to defend its old ones, using force if necessary. In most cases its large merchant navy was able to break resistance by enforcing economic embargoes or blockades.

The Hanseatic League reached its peak about the middle of the 14th century. Its decline started in the 15th, when the English and the Dutch began to grow in power and to dominate world trade. The Thirty Years’ War doomed the League. Its members met for the last time in 1669. Only a few cities, among them Lübeck, Hamburg, and Bremen, still pride themselves on being Hansa cities, relatively impotent members of a once powerful commercial giant.

Other larger, more powerful commercial giants were waiting to take the place of the Hanseatic League. Learn about them in Part 3 of this series: “Greedy Commerce Shows Its True Colors.”

[Box on page 13]

The Power of Guilds and Labor Unions

By the fourth century B.C.E., some Mediterranean cities were specializing in certain commodities, with practitioners of the same craft gathering to the same area within these cities. Initially, these craft guilds were evidently religious-​social in nature. By the Sweat of Thy Brow tells us that “each association had its patron god or goddess, and its members held their own communal religious services.”

Medieval guilds were designed to provide welfare assistance to their members and to protect the craft as a whole by regulating production and setting standards, possibly even controlling prices and wages. Some became monopolistic, manipulating prices by secret agreements, aiming to protect the guild’s market and to prevent unfair competition.

As a follow-​up of ancient craft guilds, merchant guilds came into existence in the 11th century, when traveling merchants organized them to gain protection against highway dangers. But the guilds gradually lost their original character. Geared to local trade, their power and prestige slipped as regional, national, and international markets became predominant and as merchants began to overshadow craftsmen.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as an outgrowth of the Industrial Revolution, labor unions originated in Britain and the United States as associations of workers with the same skills. Started partly as social clubs, they developed into protest movements against the prevailing social and political system. Today, some unions strive simply to determine wages, hours, working conditions, and job security for their members, achieving this either by collective bargaining or by resorting to strikes. Others, however, are overtly political in nature.

Learning Begins in the Womb

TO ARISTOTLE the baby’s brain at birth was a tabula rasa, a blank slate. Over two thousand years later, many still considered it little more than that. “When the baby is just born,” a medical professor from the University of Pennsylvania wrote in 1895, “it is very little more intelligent than a vegetable.” Folklore disagreed and claimed that an infant learned in the womb and had awareness of happenings outside of it. Science now says that both Aristotle and the professor are wrong and that the folklorists are right.

The brain has a small beginning, but how awesome it is at its completion! Its development starts during the third week of pregnancy as a thin layer of cells called the neural plate. Neurologist Richard M. Restak tells us what it becomes by pregnancy’s end: “But from that inauspicious beginning will develop the most marvelous organ in the known universe.” The process begins with perhaps 125,000 cells and increases at the rate of 250,000 a minute. Restak adds: “Eventually they will multiply into some one hundred billion neurons that are the basis of all functions of the brain.”

As the brain grows, connections are formed between its neurons. By the eighth week, these connections, called synapses, are developing and soon number in the millions as they assume the multitudinous functions of the fetal brain. It is also at this time​—the end of the second month of pregnancy—​that “everything that will be found in the fully developed human being has . . . been established,” according to the widely acclaimed book A Child Is Born. All its body parts are in place, and it is no longer an embryo. The fetal stage for growth and perfection of detail has begun. Even so, the abortionists dare to tell us that it isn’t living.

The earliest movements of the fetus begin at seven and a half weeks. By 13 weeks taste buds are functioning, and later on if sugar is added to the amniotic fluid, the rate of swallowing doubles. But if something distasteful is added, the fetus sharply curtails its swallowing and grimaces to underscore its displeasure. By 15 and 16 weeks, breathing, hiccuping, sucking, swallowing, yawning, eye movement​—and in succeeding weeks REM sleep—​all of these are occurring. “To a limited extent,” Restak says, “the fetus too is able to hear, see, taste, smell, and feel in the intrauterine world.” But it is still not a living creature, the abortionists assure us.

The newborn remembers things it was exposed to in the womb​—its mother’s heartbeat, for example. It fell asleep to that sound, woke up to it, rested to it, moved to its rhythmic beat. It was a constant companion, giving a feeling of tranquillity and security. Researchers proved its soothing powers in an experiment in a maternity ward. The babies exposed to a recording of a human heartbeat cried less and thrived better than those without it. Interestingly, “intrauterine and other sounds are soothing (to fussy infants) only when presented at levels comparable to those found in utero.”

Not only is the fetal brain involved with the activities inside the womb but it is also noting and remembering things going on outside. “Vivaldi is one of the unborn child’s favorite composers,” says Dr. Thomas Verny. “Mozart is another. Whenever one of their soaring compositions was put on a record player, reports Dr. Clements, fetal heart rates invariably steadied and kicking declined. . . . All forms of rock, on the other hand, drove most fetuses to distraction.”

Dr. Anthony DeCasper, a psychologist at the University of North Carolina, designed a nonnutritive nipple that monitors the rate and pressure of an infant’s sucking. By varying its sucking pattern, the infant learns to select the recorded sounds that it wants to hear​—certain voices and stories, for example. A newborn only an hour or two old was able to pick out the voice of its father, who had talked to it in short soothing words while it was in the womb. Not only did the child select that voice to listen to but it also responded emotionally and stopped crying, feeling safe. In the same way, it would select its mother’s voice to listen to, as well as her heartbeat, both of which it had grown accustomed to in the womb.

In another experiment, DeCasper had 16 pregnant women read aloud a children’s story entitled The Cat in the Hat. They read it twice every day for the last six and a half weeks of their pregnancy. Shortly after the babies were born, they were hooked up to the sucking device, and recordings of two stories were played to them, The Cat in the Hat and The King, the Mice and the Cheese. By their sucking tempos, the babies in every case picked out The Cat in the Hat as their choice to listen to, the story that they had heard in the womb. They picked it out repeatedly instead of The King, the Mice and the Cheese, which they had not heard in utero. Children of any age do the same, always wanting to hear their favorite story over and over, rather than hearing a new one.

DeCasper concluded: “It looks as though auditory preferences after birth are influenced by what is heard prenatally.” Dr. Restak, who reported on these findings, says: “The baby learns in the womb, recognizes its mother’s voice, even her intonation and the very book she’s reading.” His conclusion: “Fetuses, in other words, are capable of auditory perceptual learning in the uterus months before they actually need it or could be expected to make use of it.”

The baby has learned much in the womb. It is well equipped to learn. All the foregoing shows that even in the womb the brain is amazing. While there, it acquires its full complement of neurons. “At birth, a newborn brain has more neurons with which to form networks than it will ever have again,” according to the neuroscientists. From its inception this new life in the womb has been very busy for eight months making these billions of neurons and creating billions of connections between them, making possible the moving, breathing, sucking, swallowing, tasting, urinating, hearing, seeing, learning, and remembering. How can any intelligent person say that this creature is not living?

Many scientists and millions of others logically believe that life starts in the womb at conception. In his book The Mind, Dr. Restak says: “The true beginning and most critical event in our lives is clearly the moment of our conception. The Chinese recognize this by calculating age from that moment; a baby is considered one year old at birth.”

Today, many like to believe that babies are not to be considered a life, a person, until birth, but God’s Word disagrees. If the baby is intentionally aborted, God’s rule is: ‘A life for a life.’ This is reinforced by Exodus 21:22, 23: “In case men should struggle with each other and they really hurt a pregnant woman and her children do come out but no fatal accident occurs, he is to have damages imposed upon him without fail according to what the owner of the woman may lay upon him; and he must give it through the justices. But if a fatal accident should occur, then you must give soul for soul [or, “life for life,” King James Version].”

While the baby is still in the womb, Jehovah considers it to be a living person. That it is such is clear from all its activity in utero. Science now knows that all its bodily parts are present and functioning by the end of the second month, that it is feeling, learning, and remembering. Certainly the newborn’s mind is not a ‘blank slate’ as Aristotle said, nor does the baby know ‘little more than a vegetable’ as the university professor said. It has all the neurons that it will ever have, and they are ready to register all the new sights and sounds and feelings that now surround it. It is ready to go! Or is it?

The mother can do much for the well-​being of the baby in her womb, or she can do damage to it. Her thoughts can affect it, for good or ill. It is not that the fetus will think the mother’s thoughts; but the thoughts she dwells on generate emotions, and the fetus is affected by the emotional states those thoughts generate, whether they be of security, serenity, and tranquillity or of anxiety, fear, and rage. Far worse, infectious diseases may be transmitted from mother to fetus through the placenta. Sexually transmitted diseases, even AIDS, can be passed on. Mothers who during pregnancy use tobacco, marijuana, alcohol, morphine, cocaine, heroin, and other drugs may give birth to babies addicted to drugs, with minds retarded, brains damaged, bodies malformed, subject to strokes, seizures, and other dire consequences.

The baby in the womb is not as sealed off from the outside world as many once thought. While in the womb, it may be lovingly nurtured or cruelly victimized. What treatment awaits it once it leaves the womb? Its learning began in the womb, but what will its learning experiences be when it comes into this world? Hopefully, happily married loving parents will make those experiences good ones.

[Blurb on page 14]

“The most marvelous organ in the known universe”

[Blurb on page 14]

Eight weeks, and all its parts in place

[Blurb on page 15]

How can any intelligent person say that this creature is not living?

[Blurb on page 17]

Many scientists believe that life starts at conception

[Picture on page 16]

At eight weeks, 1.6 inches [4 cm] in length, and all its body parts in place

[Credit Line]

Photo: Lennart Nilsson for A Child Is Born - 1976 ed./​Dell Publishing Co. (also page 2)

Young People Ask . . .

What if My Family Is Poor?

THE South African shantytown he grew up in does not evoke happy memories for George. “We stayed in a typical mukhukhu dwelling​—nothing but a small tin shack with two rooms,” he recalls. He shared one of the rooms with his eight brothers and sisters. During the winter months, he would brave the winter wind in order to fetch water from the one water tap that served the whole community. “But what I hated most about growing up poor,” George says, “was watching my father work his fingers to the bone just to keep us alive. I resented that there seemed to be no way out.”

Economic hardship is a way of life in developing lands. And even affluent Western countries have shocking numbers of poor people. Perhaps you are one of them. Like George you may even feel trapped in poverty. While such feelings are understandable, they can also prompt you to react in ways that aggravate, rather than alleviate, the problems of being poor.

The Escape Trap

Alarming numbers of poor youths try to escape the pain of poverty by dulling their senses with alcohol or drugs. According to researcher Jill Swart, the street children of one southern African city “do not smoke glue solely ‘for kicks’. They use it to . . . shut out cold, loneliness and hunger.”

But how do these youths feel when they come to their senses and the trip is over? Jill Swart documented symptoms such as “intense depression,” “aggression,” “rapid mood swings,” “impaired vision,” and a host of other physical ailments that could hardly be described as a healthy “escape” from poverty.

Wise King Solomon said: “A drunkard . . . will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe one with mere rags.” (Proverbs 23:21) Trying to shut out the realities of poverty by altering one’s state of mind with alcohol, glue, or drugs will not make the problem disappear. (Compare Proverbs 31:7.) As Maria, a 16-​year-​old girl from a poor single-​parent family in South Africa, observed: “Trying to escape reality causes more problems than it solves.” Besides, the high cost of maintaining such destructive habits drives one deeper into poverty. Only when a poor youth squarely faces up to his situation can he hope to come to grips with it.

Anger and Frustration

Angry at being trapped in a poor environment, many youths act out their rage by violence, vandalism, stealing, and other forms of juvenile delinquency. The World Book Encyclopedia says that such youths see this as the “only escape from boredom, poverty, and other problems.” George, mentioned earlier, recalls that some of his peers became angry and frustrated and joined gangs that terrorized the neighborhood. He adds that “they mostly fought and stole for a living.” Yet other youths try to beat poverty by getting enmeshed in lucrative illegal activities, such as selling, or pushing, drugs.

Far from alleviating poverty, though, delinquent behavior merely makes matters worse. Energy that could have been channeled into productive activities​—such as learning a useful skill or trade—​is wasted. Rather than improving his situation, the wayward youth simply subjects himself to further physical and emotional trauma. Some youths end up spending time in jail​—or losing their lives by violence. As King Solomon warned: “The one neglecting discipline comes to poverty and dishonor.”​—Proverbs 13:18.

Helpless and Hopeless

Perhaps the most damaging marks that poverty may leave on a youth are lingering feelings of worthlessness and inferiority. For many, the sheer scale of poverty on all fronts of life has snuffed out any hope for ever improving their standard of living. The World Book Encyclopedia comments that young people often “come to acquire the same feelings of helplessness and hopelessness that their parents have developed.” Eventually, a “culture of poverty” may set in, its victims resigning themselves to a lifetime of misery.

But will wallowing in feelings of helplessness and hopelessness improve your situation? No! If anything, doing so simply perpetuates the vicious cycle of poverty. As an ancient proverb put it: “He that is watching the wind will not sow seed; and he that is looking at the clouds will not reap.” (Ecclesiastes 11:4) If a farmer focused only on negative possibilities​—the wind that could blow away his seed or the rain that could dampen his crop—​he would fail to take necessary action. Similarly, by focusing only on negative feelings, you can paralyze all efforts to improve yourself.

King Solomon thus further gave this advice: “In the morning sow your seed and until the evening do not let your hand rest; for you are not knowing where this will have success.” (Ecclesiastes 11:6) Yes, rather than being immobilized by a fear of failure or a feeling that things are hopeless, take action! There are things you can do to help you gradually replace negative feelings with positive ones.

Building Self-​Respect

Consider 11-​year-​old James. He lives with his mother and his sister in a squatter camp near Johannesburg, South Africa. Materially, they own almost nothing. Each weekend James volunteers his services to assist in building a local Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Not only does this take up time that would otherwise hang heavy on his hands but it also gives him a sense of accomplishment. Says James with a broad smile: “After a day of hall building, I have this deep feeling of contentment inside!” Poor as this youth is, he still has valuable assets: time and energy.

Another productive activity is the door-​to-​door Bible education work. (Matthew 24:14) Many young Witnesses of Jehovah engage in that work on a regular basis. By doing so not only do they give others hope of a better life in the future but they increase their own feelings of self-​respect, worth, and dignity. True, one makes no money from doing such work. But recall the message Jesus gave to Christians in the ancient congregation of Smyrna. They were quite poor materially, but because of their deep spirituality, Jesus could say to them: “I know your tribulation and poverty​—but you are rich.” Ultimately, because of their actively exercising faith in Jesus’ shed blood, they would become supremely rich, receiving the crown of everlasting life.​—Revelation 2:9, 10.

Growing up poor is not easy. There is no reason, however, to feel ashamed, helpless, or hopeless about your situation. Poverty exists because “man has dominated man to his injury.” (Ecclesiastes 8:9) The evidence shows that God will soon take over the management of earth’s affairs and eliminate poverty and its devastating effects. (Psalm 37:9-11) His Son, Christ Jesus, will usher billions of mankind into the earthly Paradise, just as he promised to the bereft evildoer who expressed faith in him as they were dying on execution stakes. (Luke 23:43) In the meantime, though, there is much you can do in a practical way to cope with poverty. This will be discussed in a future issue.

[Box on page 20]

“I Felt Trapped by Poverty”

George was an African youth who desperately wanted to stay in school and finish his basic education. He reasoned that by doing so he could find a well-​paying job that would get him and his family out of poverty. However, things did not work out that way. His family fell into such dire financial straits that after just six years of schooling, George felt obliged to quit school and find work. He eventually found a job crating at a bottling plant, earning only 14 rands per week ($5, U.S.). His entire wage went toward the upkeep of his family.

“Although I felt trapped by poverty,” says George, “I realized that joining a gang or stealing for a living would not help at all. Today, many of those from my age group who did those things are either hopeless dropouts, slaves to drink and drugs, or in jail. Some were even killed as a result of their life-​style.”

Then George came in contact with Jehovah’s Witnesses. “One of the first things I noticed,” says George, “was that at the Christian meetings, everyone would come and talk to me respectfully.” He adds: “I gradually gained the confidence and self-​respect that I had previously lacked.” George also found much comfort in Bible texts such as Psalm 72:12, 13, which says: “For he [the Messianic King] will deliver the poor one crying for help . . . He will feel sorry for the lowly one and the poor one, and the souls of the poor ones he will save.” The Bible’s promises filled him with renewed interest and hope in life.

Looking at George today, you would never guess what a struggle it has been for him to change his feelings of helplessness and hopelessness to a positive outlook. A happily married man, he now serves as the presiding overseer in a congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Soweto, South Africa.

[Pictures on page 19]

Using your time and energy to do something worthwhile is much better than resigning yourself to feelings of hopelessness

The Enduring Cockroach

ALTHOUGH millions have heard the lilting Mexican folk song “La Cucaracha” (The Cockroach), not many housewives actually burst out singing it when they see the little insects darting for cover in the kitchen. To most people, roaches are annoying pests. They are not attractive in appearance, at least to us. They carry diseases. Their pungent odor is repulsive.

Yet, despite such human abhorrence, roaches continue to abound. Their great reproductive capacity, coupled with the scarcity of natural enemies and the roaches’ ability to adapt and protect themselves, quickly generates an amazing population. The common German roach, for example, can easily have over 35,000 descendants in a year. That is the average, not the maximum, which may exceed 100,000 a year. How so? The German roach’s ootheca, or egg case, may contain up to 48 eggs. The female roach produces seven ootheca during her average 140-​day lifetime. If everything goes well for the roaches, with each female in each generation producing the same amount, tens of thousands of roaches are generated in a remarkably short time.

Most of the over 3,500 species of cockroaches live outdoors, unnoticed by humans. But a few, such as the German variety, favor man’s buildings for their homesites. Actually, the national names (American, Australian, German, Oriental, and so on) are really meaningless. Europeans, it is said, would name the roach after neighboring countries. The Romans called it lucifuga, from its habit of fleeing from light. The English word “cockroach” is from the Spanish cucaracha.

Some entomologists report a happy family life among roaches. Adults have been observed carrying little ones piggyback. Mothers have been noted helping the emerging young to escape from the egg capsule. After hatching they are often kept together and brooded by the mother, and a colony of nymphs, or young ones, will usually be found with a few older ones.

Not Choosy Eaters

Roaches feed on almost anything. They will eat whatever humans eat, as well as many other things, such as leather, hair, wallpaper, and animal carcasses. They also eat books​—especially if they are soiled by perspiration—​and will eat the bindings to get at the paste. In some parts of the world, parchment cannot be used for legal documents because it is so often damaged or destroyed by roaches. They relish dirty areas and filth but may infest even the most sanitary places.

Actually, roaches do not need much food. A dozen of them can live for a week on the glue of just one postage stamp. Water is more important to them, which is why they are most often found in kitchens or bathrooms.

Cockroaches have been accused of being carriers of bacteria and viruses that cause infectious hepatitis, food poisoning, urinary-​tract infections, skin infections, allergies, and dysentery​—to name a few. As they wander about, they contaminate food and utensils and leave an unpleasant odor, which is the combined result of their excrement, the fluid that they exude from scent glands, and a dark-​colored fluid that they regurgitate to soften their food before eating it. Dishes that are soiled should be thoroughly washed and then scalded; otherwise, when hot food is put in the dish, the offensive odor will come back.

Redeeming Values?

Is there anything good about a roach? Actually, it is a quite complex little creature. The roach’s sensors detect changes in air pressure and temperature, as well as locate water and warn of approaching predators. Roach antennas have 40,000 nerve endings that do the touching, tasting, and smelling for the roach. The largest sense organs of the cockroach are the compound eyes, which are made up of many small lenses, and yet the roach does not see objects clearly. It is, however, very sensitive to movement and is quick to notice even minute changes in light intensity. The cerci​—the forked pair of appendages at the end of the abdomen—​detect vibrations as well as sound or air movement and thus trigger the insect’s escape reaction of scurrying into the nearest crack or crevice. Alarmed, a roach can react in as little as 0.054 second and dart away!

A roach breathes through spiracles, portholelike openings on each side of its body. Blood is pumped by a huge tube that runs the entire length of the body. Decapitated, a roach can still survive for over a day​—long enough for a female to deposit her eggs safely. The American roach can live up to six weeks without any food or water.

An amazing creature, yes, but of what benefit is it to mankind? Well, for one, it is a known enemy of bedbugs. And because of its size and ease of rearing, the American roach is often used in laboratories for scientific research. Japanese researchers, for example, had at one time successfully used a roach extract in treating liver disease in laboratory mice and were optimistic that it would also work on humans. Some fishermen use the Oriental roach as bait for catching bream, a sunfish. But this little fellow is essentially a scavenger, doing the work for which he was created: returning trash, garbage, and dead carcasses to the earth.

Ridding the Home of Them

“How did these insects get into my house?” asks the housewife. Well, they​—or their eggs—​may have come in grocery bags, sacks of potatoes or onions, in beverage cartons. They may have flown in. Since a roach can flatten itself, they might have walked in right under your front door. And if you or your guests have visited an infected place, they may have hitchhiked on shoes or clothing. In apartment houses, they can enter by passing through cracks in walls or floors or by traveling the “roach highways”​—the common water and steam pipes.

How do you get them to move out and stay out? Fastidious housekeeping is essential. Likely hiding places, such as cracks and crevices in floors, baseboards, and vents, should be cleaned frequently. Keep clean all spaces around stoves, refrigerators, and cabinets. Clean up food spills and crumbs completely and immediately. Do not leave unwashed dishes overnight in a sink or a cabinet. Keep food stored in tightly closed containers. Since dry dog or cat food may provide a picnic for roaches, it is best to store it in a container with a lid and to avoid putting out more food than the pet will eat. Inspect incoming grocery bags and soft-​drink containers for hidden insects and their eggs. Remove trash and garbage from the house daily. Repair all dripping faucets. Remember, though, while keeping the kitchen clean will make Senõr Cucaracha feel unwelcome in the kitchen, if you eat your meals in your living room or den, you may find you are inviting him in there.

If a room is badly infected, a pesticide may be necessary. Too much spray, however, may work against you. The roaches will either avoid it or become immune to the poison. So read the label carefully and follow the instructions exactly. Pay attention to precautions, and be especially mindful of children, the elderly, or anyone who has a respiratory problem.

Serious infestations often require professional help. Because it takes 30 days for roach eggs to hatch, monthly services may be needed for a while. If you do call a professional, the following will help. Thoroughly clean the kitchen before he comes, and be sure that food and dishes are removed from cabinets. Dishes and utensils may temporarily be placed on a table and protected with a plastic sheet. Food items may be stored in the oven or in the refrigerator. If the pest-​control technician offers some suggestions or recommends changes, be sure to consider them.

The war against roaches has been going on for some time. And the roaches have been fighting back. They have become resistant to most pesticides that have been used over the years. Now scientists are turning to biological weapons. A newly developed compound, a synthetic hormone called hydroprene, keeps roaches from reproducing by keeping them in the juvenile stage. However, even though sterile, that generation keeps on living. So results are not immediately seen unless hydroprene is combined with another pesticide.

Whether these pests will be eliminated from households or not remains to be seen, of course. So far la cucaracha has endured and has done remarkably well.

[Box on page 23]

Rid Your Home of Roaches

◻ Keep entire kitchen clean. Give attention to all spaces around and under stoves, cabinets, and refrigerators.

◻ Frequently clean all possible hiding places​—such as cracks and crevices in floors, baseboards, and vents. Where possible, caulk cracks and crevices in kitchens and bathrooms.

◻ Remove trash and garbage daily.

◻ Store food in tightly closed containers.

◻ Clean up spills and crumbs immediately and completely.

◻ Examine all incoming bags and containers for insects and their eggs.

◻ Practice moisture control. Repair all water leaks, and do not soak dishes overnight.

◻ Use a good roach bait.

A Look at the Golden Age of the Incas

By Awake! correspondent in Peru

It is the time of the winter solstice​—time for the grand festival of the sun. As the cloudless winter sky over Cuzco brightens, the worshipers flock inside the massive curved walls enclosing the Temple of the Sun.

All eyes now focus on the high priest as he kills the sacrificial llama, extracts the still-​beating heart, and performs an act of divination to determine the new year’s fate. A brightly polished silver mirror flashes in his hand as he focuses the sun’s rays on a piece of cotton. Finally, there is a puff of smoke, and the sacred fire burns once more. The nine-​day festival has begun.

THE Incas and their civilization have long engendered wonderment among explorers, historians, and readers of history alike. The fabulous Inca riches in gold and silver that were plundered by Spanish conquistadores altered the whole European economic system. Engineering marvels, such as the citadel of mysterious Machu Picchu, the Sacsahuaman fortress of Cuzco, and the ingenious irrigation system testify to Inca technological brilliance. Some even claim that there was no robbery, laziness, or vice among the Incas. Be that as it may, that a single government could control many diverse tribes, many of which were ensconced in the nooks and crannies of some of the most lofty and treacherous mountains in the world, is simply remarkable.

Their Origin​—A Mystery

But just who were the Incas? Where did they come from? What caused their mighty empire to crumble?

No one really knows where the Incas came from. Some have noted similarities they shared with the ancient Egyptians. Like Pharaoh, the Inca lord was revered as the son of the sun-​god and would also marry his sister to preserve “royal blood.” Some religious practices were identical, and the Inca boats that once traversed Lake Titicaca were very much like Egyptian reed boats. Nevertheless, for all their similarities, there are also a number of great differences between the Incas and the Egyptians. Thus, an Egyptian origin for the Incas is called into serious question.

Interestingly, one Inca legend claims that the original Incas were flood survivors. The book Sociografia del Inkario states: “All the traditions of the people of the Andean altiplano speak of a flood that had submerged the whole earth.” According to one Inca legend, all living beings perished. However, another version speaks of some individuals “who, by hiding in a hollow up on a very high mountain peak, were saved and repopulated the earth.”

The parallel with the Bible’s Flood account is striking. Nevertheless, the ancestors of the Incas must have made their way to South America some time after the confusion of languages at Babel.​—Genesis 11:1-9.

What, though, were the ancient Incas like? How did they live? In answer let us go back in time to the golden age of the Incas.

Life in an Ayllu in the Inca Domain

It is the year 1500. We gaze upon a valley plain below, dotted with small dwellings. It is a village of an Inca ayllu, that is, a clan of families who live and work together. The whole Inca empire is divided up into ayllus, each supervised by a chief called a curaca. Families live in thatched-​roof houses built of stone and mud. Practically no tables, chairs, or any other creature comforts exist. They simply sit on the floor to eat their two frugal daily meals of dehydrated potatoes, corn, quinoa, and dried llama meat. At night, the whole family sleeps on the floor.

A mysterious fear of evil pervades Inca life at almost every turn. We approach a group of people gathered around a newly laid foundation for an adobe room. A man ceremoniously places a dried llama fetus in a small built-​in niche. This is to appease the Pacha-​Mama, or Mother Earth, and to protect the home from evil. Other fetishes, consisting of trinkets of animals, shells, and feathers, will be inserted in the joints of the walls or woven into the thatched roof.

The Incas fear that evil may befall them even when they sleep. Strange dreams are thought to be adventures had by the soul when it leaves the body during the night. The next morning, a sorcerer may be consulted to interpret such dreams.

Life expectancy is short, but the Incas believe in reincarnation. Fingernail clippings, hair cuttings, and teeth are all meticulously saved in case the returning spirit may need them. In the meantime, if the person has been good, he will go to a place of waiting called Hanan Pacha; if not so good, to Hurin Pacha; and if bad, to Ucu Pacha to suffer in misery​—similar to Christendom’s vision of heaven, hell, and purgatory.

The Glories of Cuzco

Next, we approach the sprawling Sacsahuaman fortress, which protects Cuzco, the very heart of the Inca empire. Massive cut stones, some weighing over a hundred tons, have been dragged here from distant quarries, over mountains and ravines, by thousands of Inca workmen. These stones form a series of three formidable walls. The zigzag design of the walls forces any would-​be invaders to turn their backs on Inca archers and lancers.

Right now, though, crowds jam the plaza of the Temple of the Sun, and all hail the arrival of a triumphant procession. A group of awestruck and frightened country folk are being led in as prisoners. They gaze wonderingly at the huge thatched-​roof temple buildings, which are decorated with dazzling gold.

In the temple courtyard, Inca accountants duly record the number of captives, animals, and other booty from this latest conquest. When the chiefs surrender peacefully, they, along with their sons, are taken to the Amautas, professional teachers. There they will learn the Inca language, the rules of Inca religion, and law. Later, they will be sent back to govern their former clan​—this time as an Inca envoy. However, their children must remain in Cuzco for further schooling. This ensures that, when set free, the chiefs will not rebel against their captors.

A neighboring tribe had almost put an end to the Incas in the early 1400’s. The aged Inca lord Viracocha was forced to flee Cuzco. But his son Pachacuti rallied the troops and drove out the invaders. Spurred on by this victory, he conquered other tribes, thus forming this empire made up of various nations.

The empire’s prosperity does not depend solely upon the spoils of war, however. The secret of Inca wealth is the mita. Mita, or turn, is a labor program imposed upon everyone by the Inca ruler. Since it takes only about 60 or 70 days a year for a family to farm for its own needs, the rest of the time is devoted to the mita. Everyone thus takes his turn working on temple-​owned fields, building bridges, roads, temples, and terraces, or extracting gold and silver from the mines. Millions of workers keep the empire buzzing like a beehive, while the Inca lord and his nobles control all work from Cuzco through chiefs of thousands, hundreds, and tens.

Inca law helps maintain this arrangement. Condemned criminals may be sentenced to death by being thrown to ferocious beasts. Not surprisingly, the crime rate is very low. But there are even more effective ways of averting rebellion. Every nine days a festival providing free chicha, an alcoholic drink, is presented by the Inca lord.

The Sun Sets on the Inca Domain

For years the Inca empire continued in this way until developments both inside and outside its domain brought ultimate ruin. When the Inca lord Huayna Capac died, the throne went to his son, Huáscar. But an illegitimate son of Huayna Capac named Atahuallpa rebelled and stirred up a civil war. Thousands of Incas died. Discontent and hate now divided the once peaceful domain. Atahuallpa took the throne.

Atahuallpa was not overly concerned when a small band of iron-​clad men began meandering their way up through the mountains. Little did he know that they spearheaded a major international invasion, nor did he realize that the light-​skinned visitors would infect his people with deadly plagues that would sweep the Inca domain.

Assured of victory by his diviners, Atahuallpa traveled to Cajamarca (located today in northern Peru) to meet a group of invading Spaniards. Though surrounded by thousands of his followers, he was completely unarmed. A Catholic monk then walked out and offered him a religious book. The intent was to convert him to Catholicism. The Inca lord, however, threw the book to the ground. Spanish cannons roared, and 6,000 Incas died.

Atahuallpa was kept alive to reveal the whereabouts of all the gold. He offered to fill a large room with gold objects in exchange for his freedom. His lavish offer accepted, Atahuallpa kept his word. The Spanish did not. Atahuallpa was strangled, and the sun set on the golden era of the Inca empire.

The passage of centuries has somewhat romanticized the life of the Incas. But it must be remembered that for all their great accomplishments, the Incas were held captive to sun worship and superstition. Today, among some inhabitants of the Andes, religious traditions, modified only slightly by Catholicism, an austere life-​style, and superstition still dominate the lives of the Incas’ descendants.

Interestingly, though, many among them have left such superstitious fear behind. To the ancient Incas, the Creator was a distant deity, dependent on secondary huacas (objects of worship) and gods. But some of their progeny have learned about the true God, Jehovah, who is very close to all of those searching for him.​—Acts 17:27.

[Box on page 27]

Some Facts About the Inca Domain

*What does the term “Inca” mean?

“Inca” applied first to the king, or ruler, who was called Capa Inca, meaning “Only Lord.” The term “Inca” was also given to all male descendants of royal blood. Today, the term may apply to all who lived in the Inca domain hundreds of years ago.

*How many lived in the Inca domain?

At the height of its magnitude, it is reported, 6,000,000 people inhabited the domain, though at least one source lists 12,000,000. This indicates how large the empire really was, considering that at the time the earth’s population was far smaller than it is today.

*How did the Incas communicate?

Mostly by word of mouth, since the Incas did not read or write. Quechua is a spoken but unwritten language, though there have been modern efforts to create a written form based on other languages. Brief official messages were sent using the quipu, long strings with knots to record information.

[Picture on page 25]

Inca sun worship was practiced at Machu Picchu, Peru

[Pictures on page 26]

Sacsahuaman fortress of Cuzco

Watching the World

“Iceman” Keeps Scientists Busy

Two German hikers were amazed to find a deep-​frozen corpse in a glacier near the Austro-​Italian border last September. The grisly discovery has been called the best-​preserved “prehistoric” man found in Europe. Named “Simulaun Man,” after the glacier where he was found, the corpse “is beginning to reveal some of his secrets following some intensive scientific coaxing,” reports the Süddeutsche Zeitung. The “iceman” had with him clothing, hunting weapons, and a wooden-​framed rucksack, which items scientists used to date the discovery to be about 4,000 years old. Interestingly, the quality of his clothing and equipment was more sophisticated than many experts would ever have imagined.

Cholera in Africa

The number of cases of cholera in Africa during the first seven months of 1991 was almost double the total of 1990, stated Nigeria’s Daily Times. Referring to a World Health Organization report on the epidemic, the Times said that the outbreak now affects 20 African countries, including some with no previous record of the disease. Since January 1991, the number of reported cases on the continent reached 48,860, with a death toll of 3,736. Recently, cholera has also been raging in South America.

Presbyterians Reverse Decision on Women Ministers

In 1975 the Presbyterian Church in Australia decided to allow women to be ordained as ministers in that church. But on September 11, 1991, the Presbyterian governing body, the National General Assembly, overturned this decision and voted by a two-​to-​one majority to ban women from the ministry. Concession was made, however, to allow the five women who had been ordained during the intervening period to continue serving as ministers. And two other women who had been accepted as candidates were also allowed to proceed with their ordination on the condition that they not change parishes. The decision was not popular with many church members, and there is talk of a challenge in the courts by opposing groups. Stronger critics even predict that the decision will split the church and that many​—particularly women—​may choose to leave the Presbyterian Church altogether.

Human Food Supply Endangered

The governor of the state of Amazonas asked the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Resources for permission to hunt alligators. Why? According to Veja magazine, ‘the superpopulation of the alligator is disturbing the life of human beings. In Nhamundá, for example, there are 200 alligators for every human inhabitant, and in the dispute for food, man does not always come off as winner.’ Veja explains that alligators not only devour the fish before the fisherman appears but also attack chickens and pigs. Says the governor: “Man has the right to kill the alligator when it takes away his food.”

Contaminated Blood

Judge José Eduardo Carreira Alvim sentenced the Brazilian federal government and the State of Rio de Janeiro to pay damages to the family of musician Francisco Mário de Souza for his having contracted the AIDS virus through a blood transfusion, reports the magazine Veja. The musician, a hemophiliac, died in 1988. According to Veja, Governor Leonel Brizola said that his state will comply. “If I were the judge,” he is reported as saying, “I would make the same decision.” However, the federal government plans to appeal. The final decision may have far-​reaching effects, since, as the magazine declared, only “70% of the blood offered in the 3,600 blood banks in the country is analyzed.”

Mother Stands Off Lioness

A mother, her two sons, and a young friend climbed a hill in a game park of Botswana with the intention of viewing a black eagle’s nest. Halfway up, according to the wildlife magazine Custos, they heard a menacing growl from behind a bush. Instinctively, they turned to run, but then the mother recalled advice she had once read not to react that way. “I spun around,” explains Jill Olivier, “to face a huge lioness, who, fortunately for me, skidded to a halt about five metres [15 feet] away.” Then brave Jill gave loud instructions to the three boys behind her, telling them not to move. “I was quite terrified,” she adds, “but I knew I dare not take my eyes off hers, as she might charge me.” After about two minutes, the lioness started to retreat. With her eyes still fixed on the animal, Jill also backed away. Suddenly, the lioness turned and ran off. Jill concludes with this sound advice: “Do not take the bush for granted and always walk with someone who is experienced.”

New York Worst

In 1990, for the second straight year, New York City topped the 25 largest cities in the United States in robberies. According to the annual report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a record 100,280 robberies were reported to the New York City police last year. That means that 1 out of every 73 people in the city was mugged or robbed during the year. Following New York were Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit, New Orleans, Washington, Dallas, Boston, and Los Angeles​—each exceeding the 25-​city average of 9.7 robberies for every 1,000 residents. Despite its record of 2,262 homicides last year, New York City dropped to tenth place in murders per capita, with 30.9 for every 100,000 residents. Heading the list was the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. It had 77.8 killings for every 100,000 residents. According to the report, firearms were used in 3 out of every 5 murders.

A Community of Prostitutes

Vila Mimosa is reputedly the oldest and best-​known center of prostitution in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. According to the Argentinean newspaper Clarín, more than 400 prostitutes can be found in this two-​block community. In order to educate and entertain these women, a new radio station is now broadcasting news, interviews, advertising, and music just for prostitutes. “Most of the disc jockeys are prostitutes,” reports Clarín. The spread of AIDS is a serious concern among many prostitutes. The newspaper adds that there are more than 17,000 victims of AIDS in Brazil, with an additional 350,000 to 450,000 people who are infected with the virus but who have not yet developed AIDS.

TV Blamed

Television is again being blamed for the decline in the reading ability of students. Verbal-​test scores of college-​bound students in the United States reached an all-​time low in 1991. William M. Honig, superintendent of public instruction in California, said: “The more television you watch, the lower your reading ability.” On the other hand, Michael Fitzmaurice of the National Association of Broadcasters came to the defense of television. He said: “The one thing we know is that the biggest predictor of scholastic success is the time parents spend reading to their children. Even if you threw away television, the scholastic abilities aren’t going to improve.”

Back Problems

“Every third German suffers constantly from backache,” reports the German daily Schweinfurter Tagblatt. According to Gebhard Glück, Bavarian minister for social services, absence from work due to back-​related disorders amounts to 75 million working days per year. Not only is the adult or elderly population affected but 11 percent of persons under 18 years of age who were examined also had spinal disorders. The main causes were said to be the lifting of heavy objects incorrectly, bad posture, sitting in the wrong position, and strenuous body movements while engaging in sports and other leisure activities.

Coastal Pollution in Asia

The pollution of coastal waters has become an increasing concern in Asia and the Pacific, reports Asiaweek magazine. Charles Birkeland, a marine biologist at the University of Guam, told the magazine that since the mid-1970’s, more and more people have been hospitalized or killed by eating poisoned shellfish. The shellfish are apparently tainted when they consume organisms that, in turn, are fed by pollutants. The source of these pollutants? According to Asiaweek, a prime suspect is the nutrient-​laden runoff that leaches into the sea when tropical forests are cut down.

Dilemma for Spiritists

Zé Arigó, a spirit medium who died in 1971 and who claimed to speak for a spirit called ‘Doctor Fritz,’ currently has 13 would-​be successors in Brazil. According to Veja magazine, this profusion of ‘Doctor Fritz’ mediums is posing a problem for Brazil’s 6.9 million spiritists. Reportedly, the president of the Spiritist Federation of São Paulo stated: “Theoretically, it is possible that a spirit may be incarnate in more than one person. But we are beginning to think that there are too many ‘Doctor Fritzes.’” Yet, as Veja comments: “Spiritism is a decentralized movement, without any rigid hierarchy, and has no authority to point out who really receives Doctor Fritz and who is merely an imitation.” Spiritism, however, is not a dilemma for those who look to the Bible for instruction. It condemns all forms of spiritism.​—Deuteronomy 18:10-12.

From Our Readers

Children of Divorce I have been separated from my wife for three years, and I miss my child very much. But it is the children who suffer, and we parents ought to think more about this. Had I read the series “Help for Children of Divorce” (April 22, 1991) while we were still together, I am certain I would have thought twice about separating.

S. C. M. F., Brazil

Barrier Reef At school I was assigned to do research on corals. I did not know where to seek detailed and concise information, however. It was a great surprise to me to see the article “A Visit to the Great Barrier Reef.” (June 8, 1991) It had precisely what I needed! I used that information and received the highest grade. Many thanks for your valuable help.

M. M. T., Argentina

Raising Families The article “Raising Families Worldwide​—Parenting With Love, Discipline, Example, and Spiritual Values” (September 22, 1991) was a great encouragement to me as a new student of the Bible. When we began attending Christian meetings, my son would act up and cry like a maniac. But with the help from the Christian woman who studies with us, and the encouragement from the magazines you publish, I am now reaping fruitage. My two-​and-a-half-​year-​old son now sits quietly during the meetings and even makes short comments.

M. T., Japan

Gossip I was a serious gossiper. But one day I came home from school and read the series “Gossip​—How to Avoid Getting Hurt.” (June 8, 1991) With your help I was able to break that bad habit. I really didn’t know that gossip was so serious and that it could ruin someone’s reputation. I am so grateful for this information.

F. B., United States

The articles literally saved my job. I repeated a rumor going around that they were closing down the factory where I work. Before the day was over, I was called to my supervisor’s office. He told me that I was gossiping and that spreading things like that would only scare people because jobs were scarce. People had been getting laid off where I work, and I figured this was their excuse to get rid of me. When I received the Awake! on gossip, I took it as counsel from above. I showed it to my supervisor and told him what I had learned and that I would do whatever I could to stay free from gossip. He thanked me​—and I still have my job.

L. G., United States

Estrogen Replacement I am grateful for the article “Estrogen Replacement Therapy​—Is It for You?” (September 22, 1991) I was amazed at its clarity. I am being treated now for osteoporosis and have been receiving estrogen replacement therapy for four years. But now I am better able to converse with my doctor about things and can face my problems with more optimism. Thank you very much.

R. C. S. M., Brazil

Learning Musical Instruments I really want to thank you for the article “If Only I Could Play Like That!” in the September 8, 1991, issue. I am now in my first year of junior high school and am learning to play the electric organ. Already two years have passed, and although it’s about time I showed some progress, I have not. At this year’s recital, my playing was full of mistakes. It was terrible. This article was gentle and timely advice for me.

M. O., Japan

Alcoholism Inherited?

In the case of some people, scientists speculate that a tendency to alcoholism may be inherited through a specific gene, according to a study reported in The Journal of the American Medical Association. It claims to have pinpointed a gene that puts people at risk of becoming alcoholics. However, scientists caution that no single gene leads to alcoholism. The head of the research team said: “The good Lord did not make an alcoholic gene, but one that seems to be involved in pleasure-​seeking behaviors.”

The report continued: “The researchers said no single gene, including this one, caused all forms of alcoholism. Some people with the gene they studied did not become alcoholics, while some who lacked the gene did become alcoholics . . . Social and cultural factors may set off the affliction for many alcoholics.”

How Can I Cope With Peer Pressure?

A letter from a policeman in Chicago, U.S.A., illustrates the importance of knowing the answer. He writes:

“On January 15, 1990, I was processing an 18-​year-​old prisoner who was brought back to Chicago from Mississippi on a fugitive warrant. Part of the processing is to take all the prisoner’s property. He had in his possession a book, Questions Young People Ask​—Answers That Work.

“‘Did you read this book?’ I asked.

“‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘While I was hiding in Mississippi, I worked on a farm, and two of Jehovah’s Witnesses gave me this book.’ Then he started to cry, sobbing almost uncontrollably. Between sobs, he said: ‘I’ve read this book many times, and the chapter I keep reading over and over is “How Can I Cope with Peer Pressure?”’ He added: ‘If I had only had this information three or four years ago, I would not be here today.’

“The prisoner was led away, and I read the police report and the confession he gave to the police. In it he said: ‘The leader of my gang told me to go down the street and shoot a rival gang member who was selling cocaine in our territory. I did what I was told. I feared the other members would think I’m not cool. I wanted to be accepted.’

“This 18-​year-​old prisoner was charged with murder, and if convicted, he will be put on death row for doing what his peers told him to do.”

The Bible offers reliable guidelines and wise counsel for many of today’s problems. If you would like to have further information or a free home Bible study, please write to Watchtower, 25 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, New York 11201, or to the appropriate address listed on page 5.