November 8

Page Two

1914​—Gunshots That Still Shake Our World 3-11

The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife of Austria led to the start of World War I. How are the issues that then affected the Balkans still shaking our world today?

Christians Face Jerusalem’s High Court Again 12

Recently a young Israeli Witness was expelled from school for reasons of conscience. His case was appealed to Jerusalem’s supreme court.

Have I Committed the Unforgivable Sin? 18

Many sincere young people, and older ones too, are deeply affected by their sins and weaknesses. But are these sins really unforgivable?

[Picture Credit Line on page 2]

The Bettmann Archive

[Picture Credit Line on page 2]

Cover picture: Artist’s conception of the shooting of Archduke Ferdinand: Culver Pictures

Sarajevo​—From 1914 to 1994

BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN SWEDEN

Eighty years have passed since those ill-​fated shots on June 28, 1914, in Sarajevo. The shots killed Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife, Archduchess Sophie, and then the enmity between Austria-​Hungary and Serbia escalated into World War I. Of the 65 million young men who were sent out to the battlefields, some 9 million never returned. Including civilian casualties, a total of 21 million persons were killed. Some still talk about the outbreak of that war in August 1914 as the time when “the world went mad.”

ONCE again shots have been echoing throughout Sarajevo. And not only in Sarajevo but also in several of the six republics of the former federation of Yugoslavia.a The book Jugoslavien​—Ett land i upplösning (Yugoslavia—​A Land in Disintegration) states: “It is a civil war where neighbor fights neighbor. Long-​standing grudges and suspicious attitudes have grown into hate. This hate has led to fighting and the fighting to more killing and more destruction. It is like a vicious circle or, rather, a spiral of growing hate, suspicion, and killing.”

When battles broke out in Yugoslavia in June 1991, it was not surprising that many people remembered the shots fired in Sarajevo in June 1914. Would this new conflict lead to the same devastating results? Would peace in Europe be threatened? Could the “ethnic cleansing” (deliberate killing and expulsion of a racial, political, or cultural group) program spread to other parts of the world? International pressure has been exerted to try to put an end to the fighting. But what really lies behind the troubles in the former Yugoslavia? Do recent events in Sarajevo have anything to do with the assassination in 1914?

Yugoslavia and World War I

The conflicts are not new. At the very start of this century, the Balkan Peninsula was spoken of as “the restless corner of Europe.” Jugoslavien​—Ett land i upplösning says: “It is a question of the disintegration of a union where tension has been growing for a very long time. In actual fact, the conflicts were already there when the Kingdom of Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia [Yugoslavia’s former name] was created at the end of World War I.” Some historical background will help us to see how present-​day conflicts go back to World War I.

History tells us that at the time of the assassination of Francis Ferdinand in 1914, the South Slavic countries of Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina were provinces in the Austro-​Hungarian Empire. Serbia, on the other hand, was an independent kingdom and had been so since 1878, powerfully supported by Russia. Many Serbs, however, lived in the provinces dominated by Austria-​Hungary, and Serbia therefore wanted Austria-​Hungary to give up all occupied areas on the Balkan Peninsula. Even though conflicts existed between Croatia and Serbia, they were united in one wish: to rid themselves of the detested foreign masters. Nationalists dreamed of uniting all South Slavs into one kingdom. The Serbs were the strongest driving force in the formation of such an independent state.

At that time the reigning emperor, Francis Joseph, was 84 years old. Soon Archduke Francis Ferdinand was to become the new emperor. The Serbian nationalists saw Francis Ferdinand as an obstacle to their realizing the dream of a South Slavic kingdom.

Some young students in Serbia were obsessed with the idea of a free South Slavic state and were willing to die for their cause. Several youths were chosen to carry out an assassination of the Archduke. They were given weapons and trained by a secret Serbian nationalist group called the Black Hand. Two of these youths made an assassination attempt, and one of them succeeded. His name was Gavrilo Princip. He was 19 years old.

This assassination served the intended purpose of the perpetrators. When the first world war was over, the monarchy of Austria-​Hungary had been dissolved, and Serbia could take the lead in uniting the Slavs to form a kingdom. In 1918 that kingdom came to be known as the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. The name was changed to Yugoslavia in 1929. However, when the different groups no longer needed to unite in their common enmity toward Austria-​Hungary, it became evident that there were differences among the groups themselves. There are almost 20 different population groups, four official languages and several lesser ones, two different alphabets (Roman and Cyrillic), and three major religions​—Catholic, Muslim, and Serbian Orthodox. Religion continues to be a major divisive factor. There were, in other words, many long-​standing divisive factors in the new State.

Yugoslavia and World War II

During World War II, Germany invaded Yugoslavia, and, according to the book The Yugoslav Auschwitz and the Vatican, “more than 200,000 people, mostly Orthodox Serbs, were systematically murdered” by Catholic Croatians who were cooperating with the Nazis. However, Croatian Josip Tito, together with his Communist partisans and in cooperation with the British and the Americans, was able to drive back the Germans. When the war was over, he stood out as the obvious leader of the country and proceeded to govern it with an iron hand. He was an independent man. Not even Stalin could coerce him into bringing Yugoslavia into line with the rest of the Communist bloc.

Many from the former Yugoslavia have said: ‘If it hadn’t been for Tito, the union would have fallen apart much earlier. He alone had the willpower and the necessary authority to hold it together.’ This has proved true. It was after Tito’s death in 1980 that conflicts once again flared up, intensifying until civil war broke out in 1991.

The Bullets That Changed the World

In his book Thunder at Twilight​—Vienna 1913/1914, author Frederic Morton wrote about the murder of Francis Ferdinand: “The bullet that tore into his jugular sounded the initial shot in the most devastating slaughter mankind had known so far. It set off the dynamics leading to World War II. . . . Many of the threads of the scene all around us were first spun along the Danube in the year and a half preceding the thrust of that pistol at the Archduke’s head.”​—Italics ours.

The recent events in the former Yugoslavia are not the only “threads of the scene all around us” that can be traced back to 1914. Historian Edmond Taylor expresses something that many historians agree on: “The outbreak of World War I ushered in a twentieth-​century ‘Time of Troubles’ . . . Directly or indirectly all the convulsions of the last half century stem back to 1914.”

Efforts have been made to explain why the shots in Sarajevo had such dire consequences. How could two shots from a “schoolboy” set the whole world afire and usher in a period of violence, confusion, and disillusionment that has continued right down to our day?

Attempts at Explaining 1914

In his book Thunder at Twilight​—Vienna 1913/1914, the author endeavors to explain what happened by pointing to what he calls “the new power” that influenced the nations in 1914. This “power,” he says, was really several factors all working together. The few sober-​minded voices that were raised were drowned in the constantly growing cry for war. The mobilization of one country accelerated the mobilization of all the others. Authority was transferred from the ruling class to the generals. Many people also saw in the war a welcome opportunity to experience a “grand national adventure” and thereby get away from the dreariness of everyday life. Later, an official wrote: “Like men longing for a thunderstorm to relieve them of the summer’s sultriness, so the generation of 1914 believed in the relief that war might bring.” German author Hermann Hesse said that it would do a lot of people good to be jolted out of “a dull capitalistic peace.” The expression that war is “a purification, a liberation, an enormous hope” has been attributed to the German Nobel-​prize-​winning author Thomas Mann. Even Winston Churchill, intoxicated by the thought of war, wrote: “War preparations have a hideous fascination for me. I pray to God to forgive me for such fearful moods of levity.”

It was because of this “new power” that lively scenes were enacted throughout Europe as the soldiers marched out to war. Green twigs were fastened to their caps, roses were hung in garlands around the cannons, orchestras played, housewives waved with handkerchiefs from their windows, and joyful children ran alongside the soldiers. It was as if people were celebrating and cheering the arrival of the war. World war came disguised as a festival.

This is a résumé of some of what Morton, quoted earlier, called the “new power” that is supposed to help us to understand the cause of the first world war. But where did this “power” come from? Historian Barbara Tuchman wrote that the industrial society had given man new powers and new pressures. In fact, “society . . . was . . . bursting with new tensions and accumulated energies.” Stefan Zweig, a young intellectual from Vienna at that time, wrote: “I cannot explain it otherwise than by this surplus force, a tragic consequence of the internal dynamism that had accumulated in forty years of peace and now sought violent release.” The expression “I cannot explain it otherwise” suggests that he himself finds it hard to explain. In the foreword to his book Thunder at Twilight, Morton writes: “Why did that happen just then and just there? And how? . . . Is there a pattern to the maze?”

Yes, many who endeavor to explain 1914 feel that the deep-​lying reasons are really not easy to understand. Why was the war not restricted to those parties directly involved? Why did it escalate into a world war? Why was it so drawn out and devastating? What really was this strange power that got a grip on humankind in the autumn of 1914? Our next article, page 10, will discuss the Biblical answer to these questions.

[Footnotes]

[Blurb on page 6]

“Like men longing for a thunderstorm to relieve them of the summer’s sultriness, so the generation of 1914 believed in the relief that war might bring.”​—Ernest U. Cormons, Austrian diplomat

[Box/​Pictures on page 8, 9]

1914

The Bible prophesied the disastrous events that have occurred since 1914

“Another came forth, a fiery-​colored horse; and to the one seated upon it there was granted to take peace away from the earth so that they should slaughter one another; and a great sword was given him. And when he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say: ‘Come!’ And I saw, and, look! a black horse; and the one seated upon it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice as if in the midst of the four living creatures say: ‘A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the olive oil and the wine.’ And when he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say: ‘Come!’ And I saw, and, look! a pale horse; and the one seated upon it had the name Death. And Hades was closely following him. And authority was given them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with a long sword and with food shortage and with deadly plague and by the wild beasts of the earth.”​—Revelation 6:4-8 (See also Luke 21:10-24; 2 Timothy 3:1-5.)

“The Great War of 1914-18 lies like a band of scorched earth dividing that time from ours. In wiping out so many lives which would have been operative on the years that followed, in destroying beliefs, changing ideas, and leaving incurable wounds of disillusion, it created a physical as well as psychological gulf between two epochs.”​—The foreword to The Proud Tower, by Barbara W. Tuchman.

“The four years that followed [1914] were, as Graham Wallas wrote, ‘four years of the most intense and heroic effort the human race has ever made.’ When the effort was over, illusions and enthusiasms possible up to 1914 slowly sank beneath a sea of massive disillusionment. For the price it had paid, humanity’s major gain was a painful view of its own limitations.”​—The afterword in the same work.

[Credit Lines]

The Bettmann Archive

The Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, London

National Archives of Canada, P.A. 40136

[Map on page 7]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

Europe as It Was​—August 1914

1. Great Britain and Ireland 2. France 3. Spain 4. German Empire 5. Switzerland 6. Italy 7. Russia 8. Austria-​Hungary 9. Romania 10. Bulgaria 11. Serbia 12. Montenegro 13. Albania 14. Greece

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Gavrilo Princip

[Picture on page 6]

Germans receiving flowers on their way to war

[Credit Line]

The Bettmann Archive

[Picture Credit Line on page 3]

Culver Pictures

The Real Significance of 1914

AS INDICATED on page 4, “this magazine builds confidence in the Creator’s promise of a peaceful and secure new world before the generation that saw the events of 1914 passes away.”

No doubt many of our readers find that statement surprising. Yet, as far back as December 1879​—some 35 years before 1914—​The Watchtower (then known as Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence) gave Bible evidence proving that 1914 would be a significant year. Even before this​—in the middle of the 19th century—​other students of the Bible had hinted that 1914 was possibly a year marked in Bible prophecy.a

Prophecy has been described as history written in advance. This feature of the Bible gives evidence of its divine origin. In addition to telling us of future events, the Bible sometimes gives the length of time that will elapse before something is to occur. Some of these specific prophecies refer to a few days, some to years, and others to centuries.

Daniel, who prophesied about the time for the Messiah’s first appearance, also revealed when the Messiah would return for his “presence” at what is called “the time of the end.” (Daniel 8:17, 19; 9:24-27) This Bible prophecy stretches over a long period of time, not for just a few hundred years, but for more than two millenniums​—2,520 years! At Luke 21:24, Jesus calls this period “the appointed times of the nations.”b

1914 Initiates a Time of Distress

The fulfillment of Bible prophecy indicates that we have been living in the time of the end since 1914. Jesus described this time as ‘beginning with pangs of distress.’ (Matthew 24:8) At Revelation 12:12, we read: “Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.” This explains why the world has been in greater turmoil since 1914.

This time of the end is, however, to be a relatively short period​—stretching over one generation. (Luke 21:31, 32) The fact that we are now 80 years beyond 1914 indicates that we can soon expect the deliverance that God’s Kingdom will bring. This means that we will see “the lowliest one of mankind”​—Jesus Christ—​take complete control of “the kingdom of mankind” and bring about a peaceful and just new world.​—Daniel 4:17.

[Footnotes]

[Box on page 11]

Comments About 1914 and After

“It may be that, after the seeming inevitability of two world wars, the creation of nuclear weapons was an admonitory gift, which spared us a third clash of great nations and introduced the longest period of general peace, albeit a peace of terror, since Victorian times. . . . What had gone wrong with humanity? Why had the promise of the nineteenth century been dashed? Why had the twentieth century turned into an age of horror or, as some would say, evil?”​—A History of the Modern World—​From 1917 to the 1980s, by Paul Johnson.

“Of all the convulsive transformations of the European system, the Great War and the peace settlement brought about the sharpest break with the past, economically and socially no less than politically. . . . The mellow glory of that freely operating and productive system had vanished in the catastrophe of war. Instead, Europe had to cope with economic exhaustion and universal economic dislocation. . . . The damage was so great that the European economy did not recover from stagnation and instability before the next world war struck.”​—The World in the Crucible 1914-1919, by Bernadotte E. Schmitt and Harold C. Vedeler.

“In the Second World War every bond between man and man was to perish. Crimes were committed by the Germans under the Hitlerite domination to which they allowed themselves to be subjected which find no equal in scale and wickedness with any that have darkened the human record. The wholesale massacre by systematised processes of six or seven millions of men, women, and children in the German execution camps exceeds in horror the rough-​and-​ready butcheries of Genghis Khan, and in scale reduces them to pigmy proportions. Deliberate extermination of whole populations was contemplated and pursued by both Germany and Russia in the Eastern war. . . . We have at length emerged from a scene of material ruin and moral havoc the like of which had never darkened the imagination of former centuries.”​—The Gathering Storm, Volume I of The Second World War, by Winston S. Churchill.

“There is now a recognition of the human rights of people of all classes, nations, and races; yet at the same time we have sunk to perhaps unheard-​of depths of class warfare, nationalism, and racialism. These bad passions find vent in cold-​blooded, scientifically planned cruelties; and the two incompatible states of mind and standards of conduct are to be seen to-​day, side by side, not merely in the same world, but sometimes in the same country and even in the same soul.”​—Civilization on Trial, by Arnold Toynbee.

“Like a ghost that lingered past the appointed hour, the nineteenth century​—with its essential orderliness, its self-​confidence, and its faith in human progress—​had tarried until August 1914, when the major European powers suffered a collective attack of muddleheadedness that led directly to the senseless slaughter of millions of the best young men of a generation. Four and a half years later, as the world tried to pick up the pieces after the wrenching cataclysm of the Great War, it became apparent to many (but by no means all) contemporary observers that the last remaining vestiges of the old order had been swept away, and that mankind had entered a new age that was considerably less rational and less forgiving of human imperfections. Those who had expected peace to usher in a better world found their hopes betrayed in 1919.”​—The preface in 1919—​The Year Our World Began, by William K. Klingaman.

[Picture on page 10]

Bavarian Alps

Christians Face Jerusalem’s High Court Again

BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN ISRAEL

JESUS stood before the Sanhedrin, the highest court in Jerusalem, on trial for his life. Despite this pressure, he fearlessly represented God’s Kingdom. (Matthew 26:57-68) Within weeks of Jesus’ trial, his closest followers stood before this same high court. There they gave a dynamic witness for God’s Kingdom and its appointed King.​—Acts 4:5-21.

Days later, when the apostles were once again haled before the Sanhedrin, there was an unexpected turn of events. Despite tremendous peer pressure, Gamaliel, one of the court’s most respected members, spoke out in behalf of Jesus’ disciples. As a result of this surprising intervention, the apostles were set free.​—Acts 5:27-42.

These court appearances were in fulfillment of Jesus’ words at Matthew 10:16-18: “Look! I am sending you forth as sheep amidst wolves . . . They will deliver you up to local courts . . . You will be haled before governors and kings for my sake, for a witness to them and the nations.” Though often misunderstood, Jesus’ followers became well-​known throughout Israel. Thousands of first-​century Jews accepted Jesus’ message. (Acts 4:4; 6:7) All of this was a result of the zealous preaching of Jesus’ Jewish disciples, including their fearless court appearances.

In Israel today, relatively few know of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who presently number less than 500 in a nation of about 5 million. But in 1993, the case of one young Witness not only brought considerable attention to their activity but also highlighted a unique historical link between prejudice and persecution that both Jews and Jehovah’s Witnesses have suffered.

How Did the Controversy Begin?

Ariel Feldman, a 17-​year-​old Jewish Russian immigrant to Israel, living in Haifa, was an honor student and well liked both by the school staff and by his fellow students.

As a result of a chance discussion on the street during the Persian Gulf War, Ariel and his family began studying the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses. Ariel made a thorough investigation and comparison of Jewish religious teachings and the Bible’s explanations being presented to him by Jehovah’s Witnesses. Serious-​minded, Ariel made rapid progress in his study of the Bible and was the first member of his family to be baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

All of this presented no difficulty for him in his school studies. In his senior year, however, his school decided to take on an experimental program to prepare students for army service. Soldiers gave instruction, and the program included practicing combat positions and techniques. Feeling that active participation in this course would violate his Bible-​trained conscience and his neutral stand as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Ariel made reasonable efforts to explain his position to the principal. (Isaiah 2:2-4) He respectfully explained that he was willing to take part in any other school activity during this period but that he could not act against his beliefs.

Although his school principal had previously shown some understanding toward him, she decided that this request was more than she could allow. She gave him an ultimatum: Either actively participate in the premilitary training or be expelled from school. Ariel could not violate his conscience. On January 31, 1993, just a few months before his final exams, he was formally expelled from school with no alternative offered.

Defense From an Unexpected Source

Ariel turned to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. They were willing to take on his case, offering free legal assistance. The modern-​day Jewish State of Israel is a democracy. Although it has no constitution guaranteeing individual rights, the Israeli declaration of independence promotes freedom of religion and freedom of conscience. There was no legal precedent in Israel involving expulsion from school on grounds of religious belief.

The newspapers began to take an interest in the story. Following legal advice, Ariel did not grant interviews to reporters, preferring to have his case judged in the courtroom rather than in the “court” of public opinion. However, the school principal was quick to justify her actions in an interview. In the newspaper Hadashot of February 9, 1993, she not only expressed her view that the student’s religious stand was offensive to the State of Israel and all those who love it but used the opportunity to speak out against Jehovah’s Witnesses as an organization, saying: “Their activity is disguised, filthy, underhanded. They send out octopus arms and virtually hunt down the weak.”

Many Israelis could see that the principal’s views represented a prejudiced outlook. Tom Segev, an Israeli journalist-​historian who has done much research on the Holocaust, was especially disturbed by the interview. It reminded him of an attitude shown by some in Nazi Germany, who, spurred on by false accusations against the Jews, vented their prejudice in one of the worst large-​scale crimes of mankind’s history. Segev’s opinion was that the greater danger to the State of Israel lay, not in the young student’s conscientious stand, but, rather, in the example of intolerance shown by the school principal. He was moved to write an article defending the rights of Jehovah’s Witnesses. (See box, page 15.)

In the wake of Segev’s article, others also spoke out. One Jerusalem resident, who because of being a Jew had been a prisoner in a camp during World War II, wrote a letter to the editor recalling the fine conduct of Jehovah’s Witnesses who were in the same camp because of their refusal to serve in the German army.

Since the young Witness student wouldn’t accept interviews, reporters turned to other congregation members. Although not commenting specifically on Ariel’s situation before it went to court, they were happy to give out information on the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses and their activity in Israel. This led to a number of favorable articles in the Israeli press as well as a radio interview with one of the local elders. Many heard of Jehovah’s Witnesses for the first time as a result of this unsolicited publicity.

The Day in the Jerusalem Court

The Haifa branch of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel repeatedly tried to reason with the principal, the Board of Education, and the Ministry of Education in Jerusalem. However, all these efforts met with unsatisfactory responses. On March 11, 1993, a petition was presented on Ariel Feldman’s behalf to the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, the highest court in modern-​day Israel.

March 15, 1993, was set as the date for a preliminary hearing of the case. Lawyers from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel represented Ariel’s case against the Board of Education, the school principal, and the Haifa city municipality. Three Israeli Supreme Court judges sat on the initial hearing of the case.

The State’s attorney presented the issue as one that would undermine the school’s authority if the student was allowed to “dictate” which classes he would or would not take part in. They requested the court to support their decision that under no circumstances should the student be allowed to set foot again on school property.

The civil rights lawyers presented the issue as a matter of basic rights of freedom of worship and freedom of conscience that had been violated by the school’s handling of the matter. The judges posed questions regarding the principles of Jehovah’s Witnesses in order to understand the reason for the young student’s stand. They also were presented with much information in the written petition regarding similar cases around the world in which high courts had decided in favor of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

In their summation the judges stated that both sides were fighting for a principle. However, when weighing which side would suffer greater harm by leaving the situation as it stood, it was definitely the student. The judges expressed incredulity regarding the behavior of the principal and the Board of Education, giving them ten days to explain their actions in writing. The court issued an intermediate order requiring that Ariel Feldman be accepted back onto the school premises to finish out the school year and that he not be hindered from taking his final exams.

Days before the final hearing, which was set for May 11, 1993, the Board of Education dropped their charges against Ariel Feldman. As a result, the final hearing was canceled, the fundamental issues of the case were never decided by the court, and no binding legal precedent was set. Although this leaves the matter open to further legal debate, Jehovah’s Witnesses appreciated the reasonable attitude shown by the judges of the Israeli Supreme Court.

The Lessons Learned

From Jesus’ day till now, Jehovah’s Witnesses have met with opposition and prejudice that have brought them to the highest courts of many lands. These cases turn out to be ‘a witness to the nations.’ (Matthew 10:18) Even when his Witnesses in a certain land are few, Jehovah can see to it that his name becomes widely known. And just as was the case in the first century with the surprising intervention of the respected Sanhedrin member Gamaliel, God today can raise up support for his people from unexpected sources.

[Box on page 15]

“What a School Principal Knows About Jehovah’s Witnesses”

(Excerpts from Tom Segev’s article in Haʼaretz, February 12, 1993)

“In a nation that has everything, there are also some Israeli Jehovah’s Witnesses. They are not many, and not many have heard about them, despite the fact that in Israel, as in every country, they endeavor to gain followers to their principles, by both the written word and orally. Somehow they reached that student in the Hugim school. Since he adopted the movement’s principles, he refused to share in premilitary physical-​fitness lessons in the school. The principal didn’t agree to release him from these lessons. If I understood her correctly, she sees him as a threat to the future of Zionism. This week she explained to me: ‘We’re a Zionistic school; we teach the children loyalty to the State and to the nation.’ . . .

“Rina Shmueli, of the Citizen’s Rights Association in Haifa, tried to convince the principal to acknowledge the student’s right to obey his conscience and release him from the premilitary training; this could have been a very fitting lesson in tolerance and democracy. But she stood her ground. She is of the opinion that we are dealing with a dangerous sect that gains its members by means of seduction. . . .

“This reminded me of something not so good. So I called up the principal and asked her what she actually knew about Jehovah’s Witnesses. She said that she didn’t know much but that she had heard that they’re also active in other countries, and she herself encountered them in Canada and Germany. I asked her if she knew what they did to them in Germany. ‘I don’t know, and I also don’t want to know,’ the principal answered.

“Perhaps the Hugim High School has a library, and perhaps in that library they happen to have The Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, edited by Israel Gutman. If they don’t have a copy, they should buy one. Under the heading ‘Earnest Bible Students,’ the principal will find that the Nazis sent Jehovah’s Witnesses to the concentration camps.”

These Pretty Butterflies Are Poisonous?

BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN SOUTH AFRICA

HAVE you ever watched entranced as a butterfly fluttered by? Were you impressed by its beauty, its design, and its colors? As it flits from flower to flower, it seems to tantalize and tease you. You would love to get a closer look, maybe even a photograph, but it never seems to stop long enough on any one bloom​—and it is always twitching its wings up and down. But did you know that some of these delightful creatures are believed to be poisonous?

Let us take a look at the two on these pages​—the monarch (on the right), with its large black and orange-​brown wings, and the viceroy (above), which looks almost identical to the monarch, although it is usually smaller. What makes them poisonous, and what purpose does that serve?

Butterflies, of which there are more than 15,000 species, go through four stages of development to become those delicate winged wonders that we see in our gardens. One of these is the larva, or caterpillar, stage. The monarch caterpillar feeds on the toxic milkweed, and thus, it is claimed that it becomes “a truly toxic butterfly, potentially deadly to any bird that eats one and doesn’t vomit it back up,” writes Tim Walker in Science News. The poison is cardenolide, a heart poison. What about the viceroy butterfly?

Walker states: “For more than a century, the conventional wisdom has held that this winged insect cloaks a very appetizing body behind the colors of a toxic monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus.” As you can see from the photos, the two butterflies have a very similar design except for the black inner line on the lower wings of the viceroy. During the last 100 years, evolutionists have believed that the viceroy evolved a wing design similar to that of the poisonous monarch in an effort to avoid attacks from birds that had learned to keep away from this distasteful butterfly. Except for that, it was believed, the viceroy was appetizing to birds.

What have investigators recently discovered? Walker writes: “New research indicates, however, that the viceroy has successfully deceived scientists, not birds. . . . Two zoologists have demonstrated that to discerning birds, the viceroy can taste just as foul as the noxious monarch.” But why is the viceroy distasteful, especially since its larvae eat nontoxic willows, not toxic plants? Walker writes: “This suggests that viceroy butterflies somehow manufacture their own chemical defense.”

In fact, the present state of entomology suggests that the experts still have much to learn and should perhaps be less reliant on their “conventional wisdom.” One critic wrote this about a recent book on the monarch butterfly: “This remarkable book shows us that the more we learn about the monarch the less we ‘know’ with confidence.”

Rather, it is as the Bible states: “You are worthy, Jehovah, even our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, because you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created.”​—Revelation 4:11.

It is evident that man still has much to learn about all forms of life on our earth. One fundamental barrier to accurate knowledge is the refusal of many scientists to accept the existence and the active role of a Creator-​Designer. Paul Davies, professor of mathematical physics, wrote in his book The Mind of God: “There is no doubt that many scientists are opposed temperamentally to any form of metaphysical . . . arguments. They are scornful of the notion that there might exist a God, or even an impersonal creative principle or ground of being that would underpin reality . . . Personally I do not share their scorn. . . . I cannot believe that our existence in this universe is a mere quirk of fate, an accident of history, an incidental blip in the great cosmic drama.”

The psalmist David wrote: “The senseless one has said in his heart: ‘There is no Jehovah.’ They have acted ruinously, they have acted detestably in their dealing.” On the other hand, the wise person will humbly acknowledge the Creator, even as Isaiah the prophet did: “This is what Jehovah has said, the Creator of the heavens, He the true God, the Former of the earth and the Maker of it, He the One who firmly established it, who did not create it simply for nothing, who formed it even to be inhabited: ‘I am Jehovah, and there is no one else.’”​—Psalm 14:1; Isaiah 45:18.

[Pictures on page 16, 17]

Monarch (above), viceroy (page 16). A major difference is the black line through the lower wings of the viceroy. (Images not to scale)

Young People Ask . . .

Have I Committed the Unforgivable Sin?

“I HAD never felt so downhearted. I no longer had any self-​respect, and I thought that God would never forgive me.”​—Marco.a

“I was very discouraged. Guilt overshadowed my heart. I thought that I had committed some unforgivable errors.”​—Alberto.

“There is no man that does not sin,” says the Bible. (1 Kings 8:46) But sometimes a youth may feel that he has gone beyond making a simple mistake. Like Marco and Alberto, he may be oppressed by an unrelenting sense of guilt. He may feel that what he has done is so vile, so wicked, that God can never forgive him.

What if feelings like this afflict you? Take heart. Your situation is far from hopeless.

Why Our Conscience Pains Us

It’s only natural to feel bad when you’ve made a foolish mistake. We are all born with the faculty the Bible calls “conscience.” It is an inward sense of right and wrong, an internal alarm that usually sounds when we do something bad. (Romans 2:14, 15) Consider King David, for example. He committed adultery with another man’s wife. Later, he had her husband, Uriah, sent to a certain death. (2 Samuel 11:2-17) The effect on David?

“Day and night [God’s] hand was heavy upon me,” admitted David. Yes, he felt the weight of divine disapproval. David also said: “There is no peace in my bones on account of my sin. For my own errors have passed over my head; like a heavy load they are too heavy for me. . . . All day long I have walked about sad.” (Psalm 32:4; 38:3-6) David’s conscience continued to afflict him until he was moved to take positive action and repent of his error.

In a similar way, if you have been educated by Christian parents and you stray from the Bible’s standards, you will feel bad. This feeling of remorse is normal, healthy. It can induce a person to correct himself or seek help before a wrong becomes an ingrained habit. On the other hand, a person who persists in sin damages his conscience. In time it becomes insensitive, like seared skin. (1 Timothy 4:2) Moral corruption is sure to follow.​—Galatians 6:7, 8.

Godly Sadness

Not surprisingly, then, the Bible speaks of “a sin that does incur death.” (1 John 5:16; compare Matthew 12:31.) Such a sin is not merely a weakness of the flesh. It is committed deliberately, obstinately, stubbornly. It is not so much the sin itself as it is the heart condition of the sinner that makes such a sin unforgivable.

The fact that you feel hurt and distressed over your misconduct, however, indicates that you have not committed an unforgivable sin. The Bible says that “sadness in a godly way makes for repentance to salvation.” (2 Corinthians 7:10) Indeed, note the exhortation given at James 4:8-10: “Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you indecisive ones. Give way to misery and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into dejection. Humble yourselves in the eyes of Jehovah, and he will exalt you.”

True, the wrong may be a very serious one. Young Julie, for example, got involved in necking and petting with a boyfriend. “I felt very guilty at first,” she confesses, “but as time went on, I got used to it. It didn’t bother my conscience so much.” In time, unclean acts escalated to the point of sexual intercourse. “I felt miserable,” says Julie. “My conscience weakened to the point where it happened several times.”

Is such a situation hopeless? Not necessarily. What about Manasseh, one of the kings of Judah? He committed extremely serious sins, including spiritism and child sacrifice. Yet, God pardoned him on account of his sincere repentance. (2 Chronicles 33:10-13) What about King David? Having repented of his wicked acts, he found Jehovah to be a God who is “good and ready to forgive.”​—Psalm 86:5.

Christians today have this assurance: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous so as to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) To whom should one make this confession? Primarily, to Jehovah God. “Before him pour out your heart.” (Psalm 32:5; 62:8) You may find it helpful to read David’s contrite confession in Psalm 51.

Additionally, the Bible urges Christians who have fallen into serious sin to speak with the congregation elders. (James 5:14, 15) Their earnest counsel and prayers can help you to reestablish your relationship with God and to regain a clean conscience. They can discern the difference between weakness and wickedness. They should also see to it that you get the help needed in order to avoid repeating your error. Julie, having taken this courageous step herself, recommends: “I tried ‘reproving myself’ and even thought it worked to an extent. But after a year I knew how wrong I was. You can’t clear up serious problems without help from the elders.”

Guilt Over Minor Sins

Sometimes, though, a youth “takes some false step before he is aware of it.” (Galatians 6:1) Or he or she allows a fleshly compulsion to take over. A youth in this situation may suffer deep feelings of guilt​—perhaps more guilt than the wrong actually merits. Needless anguish results. Such profound guilt feelings can be the result of a healthy but overly sensitive conscience. (Romans 14:1, 2) Remember, when we sin “we have a helper with the Father, Jesus Christ, a righteous one.”​—1 John 2:1, 2.

Consider, again, the case of young Marco, quoted in our introduction. This young Christian was convinced that he had committed an unforgivable sin. He used to say to himself: ‘I know Bible principles so well, yet I can’t stop sinning!’ His sin? The problem of masturbation. ‘How can God forgive me if I can’t break the habit?’ Marco would reason. Alberto, who similarly had bouts with self-​abuse, said: “I felt the guilt deep down inside because I couldn’t free myself of the sin.”

Masturbation is an unclean habit. (2 Corinthians 7:1) However, the Bible does not class it with serious sins such as fornication. In fact, it does not mention it at all. Therefore, a lapse into masturbation would hardly be unforgivable. Viewing it as if it were beyond forgiveness could actually be dangerous; a youth might reason that there is little point in trying to overcome the problem. But Bible principles indicate that a Christian should put forth strenuous efforts to fight this habit.b (Colossians 3:5) Jehovah knows that “we all stumble many times.” (James 3:2) If a relapse occurs, a youth need not feel condemned.

The same is true of other missteps and errors. Jehovah does not require that we punish ourselves with excessive guilt. Rather, he is pleased when we take steps to correct the problem.​—2 Corinthians 7:11; 1 John 3:19, 20.

Sources of Help and Comfort

Likely, though, you will need personal assistance in doing so. God-​fearing parents can often do much to help and support their children. And the Christian congregation offers other means of support. Marco recalls: “The thing that really helped me was a conversation with an elder. I had to have courage to open up and tell him my most intimate thoughts. But he inspired confidence, so I asked his advice.” Alberto, too, sought advice from an elder. “I can’t forget his encouraging counsel,” says Alberto. “He told me that when he was young, he also had the same problem. I would never have believed it. I listened to him with great appreciation for his honesty.” With such help and support, Marco and Alberto overcame their problems. Both presently serve in positions of responsibility in their respective congregations.

Fervent prayer is another aid. Like David, you can pray for “a pure heart” and “a new spirit, a steadfast one.” (Psalm 51:10) Reading God’s Word is another source of comfort. For example, you may find it encouraging to learn that the apostle Paul also had internal conflicts. He admitted: “When I wish to do what is right, what is bad is present with me.” (Romans 7:21) Paul succeeded in keeping his wrong tendencies under control. So can you. You may find it particularly comforting to read the psalms, especially those dealing with God’s forgiveness, such as Psalms 25, 86, and Ps 103.

In any event, avoid withdrawing into yourself and letting yourself be dominated by pessimism. (Proverbs 18:1) Fully avail yourself of Jehovah’s mercy. Remember, he ‘forgives in a large way’ on the basis of Jesus’ ransom sacrifice. (Isaiah 55:7; Matthew 20:28) Do not minimize your errors, but do not conclude that God cannot forgive you either. Strengthen your faith and your determination to serve him. (Philippians 4:13) In time you will come to have peace of mind and the deep inner joy of knowing that you have been forgiven.​—Compare Psalm 32:1.

[Footnotes]

[Picture on page 19]

Talking things over with a qualified Christian can give you a new perspective on matters

Missionaries Agents of Light or of Darkness?​—Part 3

Christendom’s Missionaries Return to Where It All Began

ASIA is humankind’s original home. It is where the Creator introduced pure worship. Although humans unwisely replaced it soon thereafter with false religion, true worship eventually found a continuation in Asia in ancient Israel and then in Christianity. So when Christendom’s European missionaries took their message to Asia, they went to the continent where human life and true religion had begun. Would they turn out to be agents of light or of deeper darkness?​—Genesis 2:10-17.

What Is One God More or Less?

It is not possible to determine with certainty when and how the Christian faith first arrived in India. The fourth-​century religious historian Eusebius says that the Christian apostle Thomas took it there in the first century. Others say that “Christianity” was introduced there between the second and the fourth centuries. When Portuguese explorers arrived there at the end of the 15th century, they found “Christians forming an accepted and respected element in Indian society.”​—The Encyclopedia of Religion.

Spanish priest Francis Xavier set foot on the Indian subcontinent in 1542. He was an associate of Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the religious order the Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits. The New Encyclopædia Britannica speaks of Xavier as being “the greatest Roman Catholic missionary of modern times,” calling him “instrumental in the establishment of Christianity in India, the Malay Archipelago, and Japan.”

Though Xavier’s life was comparatively short​—he died in 1552 at the age of 46—​his ten years of missionary service were full of activity. He reportedly encouraged missionaries to adopt the customs and the language of the people they served.

The first Protestant missionaries to India arrived in 1706, some 85 years before William Carey published An Enquiry Into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens. This book’s publication has been called “a landmark in Christian history.” After writing it, Carey served 40 years in India as a missionary.

As time passed, Christendom’s missionaries pushed out into all sections of the country. The underprivileged lower classes, particularly the outcastes, finding no hope of a better future in Hinduism, began turning to Christendom’s religions. The Encyclopedia of Religion notes, however, that this trend “was disapproved of by a great many missionaries and by the majority of educated Indian Christian leaders.”

Revealing Christendom’s ineffectualness, historian Will Durant writes: “India believes as strongly today as ever in the gods that have so long looked down with equanimity upon her poverty and her desolation. . . . When heresies or strange gods became dangerously popular they [the Brahmans] tolerated them, and then absorbed them into the capacious caverns of Hindu belief; one god more or less could not make much difference in India.” In his book The Jesuits, published in 1984, Manfred Barthel says: “The Indians stuck with their sacred cows in the end; Hinduism outlasted both the Jesuits and the Moguls, and today seems to be exporting its surplus divinities to the Christian West.”

Failing to Leave a Lasting Mark

Early Christendom, already divided into a Western and an Eastern church, suffered a further schism during the fifth century. Nestorius, the patriarch of Constantinople, became embroiled in a controversy that led to the forming of a breakaway group from the Eastern church, the Nestorian Church.

The Nestorians emphasized missionary work. One of their missionaries, Alopen, apparently introduced Nestorian beliefs to China in 635 C.E. The Western church, on the other hand, did not reach China until about 1294, when the Franciscan friar, John of Monte Corvino, set up a mission there.

For all intents and purposes, however, missionary activity in China did not begin until the arrival in the 1580’s of Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit. While Protestantism was struggling to strengthen its foothold in post-​Reformation Europe, Catholicism was busy seeking converts outside of Europe. The exploration campaigns of Portugal and Spain, lands both devoutly Catholic, well served the church’s attempts at doing so.

The 17th- and 18th-​century missionaries had a degree of success possibly because, as The Cambridge History of China notes, “a substantial number of [them] (Jesuits especially) developed an attitude of great tolerance.” Professor of Chinese history Hans H. A. Bielenstein elaborates: “[The Jesuits] emphasized the similarities between Christianity and Confucianism, equating the Christian God with the Chinese Heaven, and raising no objection to ancestor worship. This explains why the Jesuits made converts in some circles, but also why they left no lasting mark.”

In 1724 the Chinese emperor denounced Christendom’s religions and expelled most foreign missionaries. As opportunity afforded, Catholic missionaries returned. Protestant missionaries joined them, Robert Morrison from the London Missionary Society being among the first to arrive, in 1807. He established a college designed not only to spread his beliefs but also to introduce China to Western culture and to introduce Western students to Eastern culture. By 1819, with the help of William Milne, Morrison had completed a translation of the entire Bible.

Some missionaries were dedicated to bringing a different kind of light. Dr. Peter Parker became the first medical missionary to China, helping to organize the Medical Missionary Society founded at Canton in 1838. Other missionaries devoted themselves to educational pursuits, to supporting philanthropic ventures, or to solving social problems. According to The Cambridge History of China, some of the translation work that missionaries did was “better suited to furthering European understanding of China than to building up Chinese receptivity to Christianity.”

Christendom’s missionaries also failed to give the Chinese an example of Christian unity and brotherhood. The Protestants were especially disunited. In four decades the number of their missionaries grew from 189 to 3,445. By 1905 each of the 60-​and-​more missionary societies was spreading its own particular version of Christian teaching. Catholic missionaries also presented a less-​than-​desirable image of what Christianity should be. The Cambridge History of China mentions “the widespread practice of interfering in local political and judicial affairs in order to win over potential converts.”

Seeking Converts Elsewhere

Less than a century after Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan first set foot on the Philippine Islands in 1521, Catholic missionaries there had baptized about two million people. Today, 84 percent of the population is Roman Catholic. The educational system set up by the church doubtlessly helps explain this success. But another factor not to be overlooked, says one writer, is that the missionaries “allowed the converts to retain many of their religious beliefs and practices.”

The church had less success elsewhere. For example, the number of Catholics in Japan is only 0.3 percent of all Japanese. In the Republic of Korea, the figure hovers close to the 6-percent mark.

Japan had its first contact with Europeans in 1542. In 1549, Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier, along with a few companions, was received with friendliness. Before long this initial enthusiasm cooled as Japanese leaders “began to suspect that European missionary activity might be a prelude to political conquest by the Spanish king (as they knew it had been in the Philippines),” writes professor of history J. Mason Gentzler.

In 1614 “the missionaries were proscribed as enemies of the state and the emperor decreed that Christianity would no longer be tolerated in his dominions. . . . Converts who refused to renounce the new religion were crucified by the tens of thousands . . . , whereas more elaborate horrors were reserved for the missionaries . . . who were burned or roasted alive, dismembered, thrown into pits full of venomous snakes,” among other atrocities.​—The Jesuits.

Catholicism was introduced to Korea in 1784, Protestantism a century later. The latter “grew much faster because American missionaries brought not only the Gospel but also education, medicine and technology,” explains Time magazine. This policy of making converts by means other than religious instruction alone is apparently still in force. Philosophy professor Son Bong Ho of Seoul National University is quoted as saying: “Those churches that have emphasized material blessings have grown faster than mainstream denominations.”

What the Future Will Reveal

How should we view Christendom’s missionaries of the past? What they represented was not the pure form of worship introduced by Jesus. Yet, many of them were doubtless sincere. At any rate, they translated the Bible into many vernaculars and taught at least some Bible concepts.

What about Christendom’s missionaries to Africa, which has been called the Dark Continent? Read about this in our next issue in the article “Spiritual Light for a ‘Dark Continent.’”

[Box on page 23]

“Jehovah” in Chinese Bible

John W. Davis, a 19th-​century missionary and translator reasoned: “If the Holy Ghost says Jehovah in any given place in the Hebrew, why does the translator not say Jehovah in English or Chinese? What right has he to say, I will use Jehovah in this place and a substitute for it in that? . . . If in any given case it is wrong to use Jehovah in the translation then why did the inspired writer use it in the original?”

Norway’s Olympic Games​—Were the Ideals Enough?

BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN NORWAY

WHEN the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was founded a hundred years ago, it had great visions. The aim was to promote brotherhood and peace by making youths of all the world gather every fourth year at the sports ground without financial gain. It was hoped that a fair contest would generate solidarity and reconciliation among peoples. On this basis the Olympic Games of antiquity were revived in modern times.

From a humble start in Athens, Greece, in 1896, the Summer Games have developed into the biggest sports festival in the world, with a peak of 11,000 participants from more than 170 nations. The first Winter Games were held in Chamonix, France, in 1924, and they have always been the “little brother” of the Summer Games. Nevertheless, about 2,000 athletes from nearly 70 nations were gathered for the Winter Olympics at Lillehammer, Norway, on February 12-27, 1994.a

The idea of brotherhood and friendship, as symbolized by the famous Olympic rings, and of “a sound mind in a sound body” seems to be needed more than ever. What part did these ideals play at the Olympic Games in Lillehammer?

Olympics and Big Business

The comprehensive news coverage generated an enormous public interest in the Olympics. Four times as many media people as athletes were present at Lillehammer, and a record number of approximately two billion people watched the Winter Games on TV. Thus the Olympics have become a lucrative business for powerful commercial interests, and TV networks and sponsors contend for special privileges and contracts.

Trade and industrial representatives from all over the world attended the Games in Lillehammer, and many of them viewed this international mass meeting as an opportunity to nurture business relations and arrange seminars and conferences. Enterprises, both small and large, showed a seemingly boundless inventive talent through the countless different Olympic products that were sold​—everything from pins and postcards to kitchen utensils and clothing.

Naturally, for local people things were turned completely upside down during the Games. The great influx of Olympic workers, participants, and leaders doubled the population of Lillehammer, which usually numbers well over 20,000. In addition there was a daily “invasion” of 100,000 spectators. Some of the local residents chose to go on vacation to get away from the commotion and were referred to in jest as “sports refugees.”

What about the sports aspect of the Games and the Olympic ideals?

Citius, Altius, Fortius

In harmony with the Olympic motto​—Citius, altius, fortius (Faster, higher, stronger)—​an Olympian tries to break records and outdo his rivals. To achieve this today, Olympians find that it is usually not enough to make sports just a leisure-​time activity. It is a full-​time job and a livelihood for most Olympians, their income from advertising endorsements being to a great extent dependent on the results they achieve. The original amateur ideal has had to give way to money and professionalism.

In return, the public gets all the drama and entertainment it wants. Several records set during recent Olympics testify to attainments that were unthinkable a few decades ago. This is due not only to increased training and greater specialization but also to improved equipment and better facilities. At the Lillehammer Games, for example, four world records and five Olympic records were set during the five speed-​skating events for men. Some of the credit was given to the new skating hall, where scientific measures had been adopted to make the ice ideal for professional skating.

Unfortunately, some athletes stand out by not competing “in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport,” as they promise in the Olympic oath. This year’s Winter Games had some bad losers, and a few athletes tried to sabotage fellow competitors. In recent years it has been necessary to fight drugs and steroids. At Lillehammer, one participant was sent home on the opening day because of doping. However, during the Games none of the athletes tested positive.

There were some new approaches to the Olympic ideals in connection with the Lillehammer Games.

Environmental Protection, Relief Work, and Peace Efforts

A giant operation as big as the Olympics, involving extensive developments and a large-​scale production of waste, “is neither resource sparing nor environment friendly.” (Miljøspesial, environmental bulletin for the Lillehammer Olympics) A lot of people felt this was incompatible with the Olympic spirit and suggested making the 1994 Winter Games an environmental showcase. This idea was adopted, and the Lillehammer Games came to attract international attention as the “first Olympic Games with a ‘green’ profile.” What did this imply?

The location, shaping, and long-​term operation of the new sporting venues were considered in order to minimize the adverse effects on the environment. In all fields, environmentally friendly and recyclable materials, such as wood, stone, and paperboard, were extensively used, and high environmental standards were set for all sponsors and suppliers. There was a total ban on smoking indoors.

A study of the Olympic goals also led to the foundation of the relief action Lillehammer Olympic Aid. Starting as a collection to aid children in the former Olympic city of Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was later extended to aid young war victims all over the world. The action was given tremendous impetus after one of the gold medalists contributed all his victory bonus money from one of the events (about $30,000) in support. The initiators hope that Olympic Aid will continue during future Games.

The customary release of doves in the opening ceremony of the Olympics sent a silent message of peace to the world. The peace ideal was further brought into focus in connection with the 1994 Winter Games, as the president of the IOC, Catalonian Juan Antonio Samaranch, repeatedly spoke about peace for all people of the earth.

Ideals That Will Be Realized

The Olympic ideals reflect a desire that is deeply rooted in all humans​—the desire for brotherhood, peace, righteousness, joy, and physical and mental soundness. This year’s Winter Games drew high praise for bringing the original goals of the Olympics back into focus and were spoken of as “the best Olympic Winter Games ever.” Nevertheless, the Olympic movement once again fell short of its ideals.

Prestige and commercialism tended to prevail over the basic ideals of sports. The contest often turned into intense competition that produced egotism and nationalism instead of brotherhood and reconciliation.

Is there a way for the Olympic aspirations to be realized? The Bible shows that human efforts to achieve an ideal world will fail. However, God’s Kingdom will soon take action to bring perfect, paradise conditions to the earth. (Jeremiah 10:23; 2 Peter 3:13) Such a world is founded neither on athletic development nor on loyalty to Olympic principles and traditions but on true devotion to the Creator. The apostle Paul said: “Bodily training is beneficial for a little; but godly devotion is beneficial for all things, as it holds promise of the life now and that which is to come.” So for those today who are training themselves “with godly devotion as [their] aim,” the result will truly be a sound mind in a sound body.​—1 Timothy 4:7, 8.

[Footnotes]

[Box on page 26]

The Olympic Religious Mix

The Olympic Games are rooted in Greek religion. They were born as a religious festival to honor Zeus, supreme among the Greek gods. Various features of the modern Games have an aura of religiousness: solemn rituals for the Olympic flag, the “sacred” flame, and the Olympic oath. The nearly 100-​year-​old Greek hymn sung at the opening of the Games was translated into Norwegian for the opening ceremony in Lillehammer. This Olympic hymn has strong religious overtones. It is understood to be a hymn to Zeus. The lyric includes the following statements: “Immortal spirit of antiquity,/​Father of the true, beautiful and good,/​Descend, appear, shed over us thy light/ . . . Give life and animation to those noble games!/ . . . All nations throng to adore thee,/​Oh immortal spirit of antiquity!”

The Norwegian Lutheran Church, through its own Olympic Committee, arranged for an extensive music and religious program. All major church organizations were represented in a large interfaith project. The official Olympic chaplain and an international and ecumenical clergy team were available in the Olympic Village at Lillehammer.

[Pictures on page 24, 25]

Top: Speed skater heading for a gold medal in the 10,000-​meter race

Middle: Freestyle aerials represented a new Olympic event

Bottom: Competing in downhill​—at speeds of more than 75 miles an hour [120 km an hour]

[Credit Line]

Photos: NTB

Watching the World

A Water Crisis

The latest report by the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) says that some 30 countries around the earth will be facing serious water shortages by the year 2000. According to the FAO, with ever-​increasing competition for limited water resources, hundreds of millions of people will not receive the minimum amount of water needed for their survival. The populations in greatest danger are those in northern and sub-​Saharan Africa, the Near East, and Hungary. The report, appearing in the Paris newspaper Le Monde, says that agriculture uses approximately 70 percent (90 percent in developing countries) of the earth’s freshwater supplies for irrigation. The FAO estimates that up to 60 percent of this water is wasted because of ineffective irrigation methods.

A Dying Japanese Tradition?

The deep reverence Japanese people have traditionally shown their elders seems to be declining. Physical and psychological abuse of the elderly is on the increase. Mainichi Daily News explains that according to one expert, many modern families find themselves caring for their old relatives unwillingly and are not able to cope with the stress. They often resort to violence and neglect. According to the Mainichi Daily News, in one case a man got into the “habit of beating his 75-​year-​old father black and blue whenever he refused to hand over his pension money.” Other typical examples include tying up the arms and legs of a senile parent and then locking him in a room and stuffing rags into the mouth of an old woman.

Aerobics Alert

The Times of London reports that “the obsessive pursuit of high-​impact aerobics” can result in inner-​ear injuries. Apparently too many sessions of vigorous jumping can permanently damage the delicate granules of the inner ear. Some of the common symptoms are dizziness, loss of balance, motion sickness, and ringing in the ears. A recent survey of women who taught high-​impact aerobics classes twice a day revealed that 83 percent had problems hearing high-​frequency sounds. Another cause for concern is that some women seem to develop “exercise bulimia,” an addiction to excessively vigorous exercise. Its victims “end up exhausted, with strained muscles, stress fractures and, if they take high-​impact classes, balance problems,” notes The Times.

Why So Few Cars in China

With a population of more than one billion people, China has only 50,000 privately owned automobiles. Still, according to China Today, this figure represents “an astronomical leap.” In 1983 there were only 60 private cars in that country! The number of car owners is expected to grow in the near future. However, a prospective buyer must count the cost. In China there are more than 40 different types of taxes that inflate the cost of an automobile. For example, a “car might sell for 300,000 yuan (about US $37,000) in China, yet cost no more than US $10,000 in other countries.” What about the cost of learning to drive? One driving school charges “double the annual income of the average wage earner,” notes China Today.

Cameras Make a Difference

The Department of Transport in London, England, reports a dramatic reduction in the number of speed violations in areas where cameras have been set up to photograph the speeding vehicles’ license plates. These cameras provide the authorities with photographs that are used to prosecute speeding drivers. They can also produce incriminating evidence against those who run red traffic lights. The magazine New Scientist reports that since the cameras were installed, “the number of people seriously injured on the roads chosen for the project has fallen by a third.” Once the cameras started clicking, the average number of vehicles exceeding the maximum legal speed limit by 20 miles [32 km] per hour dropped from 1,000 to 30 cars a day. “There has been a drop of 40 per cent in the number of drivers jumping the lights and a 60-​per-​cent reduction in the number of accidents at the crossroads,” notes New Scientist.

The 1914 Generation

Only 272,000 of the 4,743,826 U.S. men and women who participated in World War I were alive in 1984. (Awake!, April 8, 1988) Today that number, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, has dwindled to an estimated 30,000, and their median age is 95. Worldwide, however, in 1992 there were still 61,486,000 persons living of the generation born in 1914 or prior to it.

Save the Bugs

Without insects and other invertebrates, “the global ecosystem would collapse, humans and other vertebrates would probably last only a few months, and the planet would belong mostly to algae and fungi,” notes The New York Times. Based on a recent study, the Times article warns that the popular concerns over saving whales, tigers, and other endangered species should be extended to include invertebrates. These small creatures are responsible for a number of important ecological processes, including consuming decaying matter, pollinating plants, dispersing seeds, and eliminating waste. In the United States alone, humans produce about 130 million tons of excreta every year, and livestock a further 12 billion [12,000,000,000] tons. According to one expert, 99 percent of this waste “is thought to be decomposed by invertebrates.”

Dying Languages

Several languages are at risk of disappearing in the linguistically diverse country of Papua New Guinea. Already five languages have died in the past 40 years. That “leaves the country with just 867 languages,” according to the Post-​Courier of Papua New Guinea. The country’s “linguistic diversity is attributed to the geographical isolation of many tribes in the mountainous, forested terrain of the country’s centre,” explains the Post-​Courier. The newspaper adds that there are “22 languages with fewer than 100 speakers, seven languages with less than 20 speakers and 10 languages with less than 10 speakers.” One of the endangered languages is Uruava, spoken by five people. Bina and Yoba are each spoken by only two people.

The Snake’s Forked Tongue

Of what use is a forked tongue to a snake? According to a report in the International Herald Tribune, the tongue helps the snake follow an aromatic trail in much the same way that our two ears work together to detect the direction of a sound. When on the trail of its prey or a mate, the snake repeatedly flicks out its tongue, spreading the ends apart as far as possible. In this way, the snake tests the strength of the scent at two points, enabling it to know the direction of the animal it seeks to find.

Sexual Harassment by Patients

A recent study reveals that sexual harassment on the job is a serious problem for many female physicians. In the survey, 77 percent of the respondents “reported some form of sexual harassment from patients,” explains The Medical Post. Many believe that the solution to this problem rests on the shoulders of the doctors themselves. They are encouraged to act businesslike and professional, wear a lab coat, and wear a wedding ring when treating patients. Others, however, feel that there is nothing that can be done to avoid the sexual harassment of female doctors. The Post voices this opinion when it says that “women doctors are part of a society where sexual harassment and the fear of it is part of the fabric of being female.”

Burning Corneas

A medical journal recently reported that many young women are accidentally burning their corneas by jerking curling irons into their eyes while styling their hair. According to Dr. Dean Ouano of the University of Pennsylvania’s Scheie Eye Institute, this is “probably the most common thermal injury to the cornea.” One study shows that in most cases there is no long-​term damage to the eye, and in many cases the burned eye heals within three days. However, Dr. Albert Cheskes of the Bochner Eye Institute in Toronto describes this type of accident as one that can be “very dangerous.” He adds that it happens “because there are more and more curling irons that are being used and women are in a rush.”

School-​Yard Crimes

“School violence is ugly, prevalent and fast becoming the hottest issue facing educators and politicians,” claims The Toronto Star. The number of violent acts is increasing with each passing year. In 1993, school-​yard crimes in the Toronto area included 810 assaults, 131 sexual assaults, and 7 poisonings as well as 141 dangerous-​weapon charges. Police have “seized a virtual arsenal of guns, knives, sticks, bats and other weaponry from students,” adds the Star. Frantic parents see schools as a dangerous place to send their children. Schools used to be a haven for learning, “but now you get gangs, group intimidation, weapons,” reports the Star.

From Our Readers

Double Life I want to thank you for the article “Young People Ask . . . A Double Life​—Who Has to Know?” (January 8, 1994) When I was 16 years old, I started drinking, smoking, and dating behind my parents’ backs. These articles really helped me to see that nothing is hidden from the watchful eyes of God.

T. T., Fiji

Money Chase I just read the series “The Money Chase​—Where Will it End?” (March 22, 1994) The articles gave the subject excellent coverage. I did not know that such bad conditions still existed for migrant workers and their families. My heart goes out to them.

G. M., United States

The way you described the bad working conditions and low wages is accurate. It is a sad commentary on how some view these workers​—not as human beings with feelings like ours. Yes, “man has dominated man to his injury”!​—Ecclesiastes 8:9.

K. V., United States

Breast Cancer In your series “Breast Cancer​—Every Woman’s Fear” (April 8, 1994), you made no mention of studies that indicate breast-​feeding may lessen the chance of breast cancer.

B. J. M., Germany

We regret this omission. However, the point was made in the article “The Case for Mother’s Milk,” which appeared in our September 22, 1993, issue.​—ED.

I spent some time with a Christian sister who had her breast removed. She was 62 years old and very depressed. I remember being at a loss for words of support. Thanks to the comments you quoted in the articles, I can now give her support that counts.

D. H., United States

About two years ago, I was operated on for breast cancer. To find information on the subject, I bought a medical encyclopedia, but I did not find much. Your article, though, answered my questions. It truly comforted me.

M. G., Italy

Nine years ago my mother died from breast cancer. At the time I was only nine years old, and I never understood what she went through. It was hard not to cry as I read those articles and thought of her. I shall never be able to thank you enough for the insight you have given me into the last few years of her life.

K. F., United States

AIDS Victims I read your article “Helping Those With AIDS.” (March 22, 1994) I am HIV positive and found the article very hard to swallow. My family cried because of the hurt and the feelings of rejection.

B. J., United States

Our hearts certainly go out to all such afflicted ones in our midst. Our article endeavored to balance their needs with the concerns of the majority. Since God’s Law to Israel took strong measures to protect the health of the nation as a whole, we felt it appropriate to recommend reasonable health precautions. (Compare Leviticus 13:21, 33.) We acknowledged that “one need not be unduly fearful of being around people with AIDS.” Even so, many continue to be fearful in spite of the assurances of doctors. We therefore encouraged AIDS sufferers to respect the feelings of others who might be uncomfortable with displays of physical affection. What noninfected ones choose to do in this regard is their personal decision. In any event, all Christians should have a heartfelt desire to show kindness and compassion to sufferers.​—ED.

I am very encouraged that such a compassionate and well-​written article has been provided. I especially appreciated the suggestions that while we should take “universal precautions,” we should show compassion and provide sympathetic help.

M. H., United States

“Extinct” Bird Rediscovered

WHAT is about the size of a domestic hen, has a red parrotlike beak and purple-​blue plumage, is flightless, and was considered extinct from about 1900 to 1948? Another clue: It is only found in New Zealand and has a Maori name. It is the takahe, or Notornis mantelli hochstetteri.

These elusive birds spend most of the year in the highland of the Murchison and Kepler mountain ranges of Fiordland in the southwest of New Zealand’s South Island. However, a few are kept in captivity, such as the one photographed here in Te Anau’s small public park. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Birds states that this large bird (nearly 25 inches [63 cm] long) “has suffered a catastrophic decline in the face of competition and predation by introduced animals.” In spite of captive breeding and predator control, it is still an endangered species.

The same source says that “it feeds on the seed heads and tender bases of the grasses.” But it has to compete for its food “with [the] introduced deer and generally loses the contest.” Let us hope that this unique bird does not disappear from New Zealand’s list of singular creatures.

“What a Plethora of Knowledge!”

“PLETHORA,” a word of ancient Latin and Greek origin, means “a superabundance, an excess.” A reader of the Watchtower and Awake! magazines in Sierra Leone, West Africa, wrote the above words regarding the yearly bound volumes of these magazines that are produced by the Watchtower Society. He continued: “What wonderful gems of priceless wisdom! There is hardly a subject that interests me that I do not find discussed somewhere in the pages of one of these volumes. Many times people honestly mistake me for a college graduate, and when I confess that I have never darkened the doors of a college, they are surprised. But I say: ‘No, I am only an avid reader of the Watchtower and Awake! journals.’”

These magazines appear each year in bound-​volume form. However, you can obtain the magazines through the mail. If you are interested, please contact Jehovah’s Witnesses in your area, or write to the Watchtower Society at the nearest address indicated on page 5.