The Watchtower — July 15, 1958

Let Your Way Be Guided

WOULD a ruler make a political decision without first seeking advice from his counselors? Would a businessman make a big investment without consulting experts? Would a doctor perform a dangerous operation without first conferring with other doctors? In politics, in business and in medicine the value of consultation is recognized. There are even firms that have made it their business to be consultants. They are experts in certain fields and can give good guidance to businesses in those fields.

Seeking guidance through consultation with experts is a wise policy to follow. This was pointed out long ago by King Solomon. “When there is no skillful direction the people fall, but there is salvation in the multitude of counselors.” (Prov. 11:14) Men will acknowledge the need for skillful direction of their business and their political endeavors, and they will even seek guidance for their marriages, but when it comes to their life’s course they reject it.

If it is important to have expert advice in human endeavors, is it not more important to have expert guidance along the path of life? At present this path of life is short, but it will not always be so. It is the purpose of the Creator that man should have the blessing of “life to time indefinite.” (Ps. 133:3) But to receive that blessing a person must have expert guidance along life’s path.

Where can guidance be found from a better expert than the Source of all life, Jehovah God? The counsel he gives is the finest that can be had. It is to a person’s best interests to follow it.

You will not get his guidance by going to some person who claims to have a private wire to God, exclusive contact with him. What that person will give will not be advice from the Supreme Counselor. The only place you can get it is in His written Word, the Bible. There you will find expert advice for guiding your life’s course.

But how many businessmen will wisely seek advice to guide their businesses, but foolishly reject God’s advice for guiding their lives? If it is important to have expert guidance to protect financial investments, is it not more important to have expert guidance to protect one’s life? Which is more important, a person’s business or his life?

When it comes to the path of life adults are like children. They are not capable of guiding their own steps. This was pointed out long ago by Jeremiah: “O Jehovah, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.”—Jer. 10:23, AS.

This fact is evident from the state of this world. Because it has rejected the wise guidance of God’s Word it is a confused muddle. It is eaten through by corruption and torn by violence. This is the result of man’s foolish effort to direct his own steps on the path of life. It is a folly that began ages ago when Eve wanted to decide for herself what is right and what is wrong instead of following the guidance of God.

As if this folly has not caused enough trouble for the adult world, many modern educators think it is the way to rear children. Their policy is nondirective education. Let the children decide for themselves what they should study. Let them direct their own steps, and under no circumstances discipline them. They seem to have the idea that discipline will discourage and frustrate children. They could not be farther from the truth.

In an article that appeared in the Cosmopolitan magazine condemning such educators it is stated: “Worse yet, there are even some teachers who don’t believe it is the function of the teacher to teach. . . . The teacher shouldn’t attempt to express any opinion or idea for fear of upsetting the delicate balance of group dynamics. The ideal is the fading out of the teacher.”

Children are not capable of directing themselves. They need adults to guide them, to make decisions for them and, above all, to discipline them. They are too immature to appreciate what is good for them. Since the condition of the world makes it evident that adults need wise guidance, certainly children have a greater need for it.

SEEK GUIDANCE OF GOD

You are free to choose your life’s course, but the choice you make will not be to your best interests if you refuse to be guided by the wisdom of the Scriptures. It is only by letting God direct your steps by heeding the counsel of his Word that your short life span will be extended indefinitely. “Hear, my son, and accept my sayings. Then for you the years of life will become many. I will instruct you even in the way of wisdom; I will cause you to tread in the tracks of uprightness. When you walk, your pace will not be cramped; and if you run, you will not stumble.”—Prov. 4:10-12.

Let the greatest expert on life and its problems give you wise counsel and guidance. He knows his subject. He knows what is best for you. When your steps are guided by his wisdom you will not stumble into life’s many pitfalls. You will not have the trouble and the heartaches that come to those who refuse his guidance. Through his written Word he does for you what was asked by King David: “Make known to me the way in which I should walk.”—Ps. 143:8.

Corroboration

Charles A. Dana, the American newspaper editor, once said about the Bible: “The grand old Book still stands; and this old earth, the more its leaves are turned over and pondered, the more it will sustain and illustrate the pages of the Sacred Word.”

Where Man Can Live Forever

If man does not go to heaven, must he suffer torment in a fiery hell? The Bible shows a place other than heaven where obedient man may live in happiness forever.

MANY religions teach that after death your immortal soul will live in either a heaven of bliss or a hell of torment. There is a world where man can live forever, but it is not one populated by immortal human souls. There is no such thing as an immortal human soul. The human soul is the human life, and when the person dies he is a dead soul, not an immortal one. The Bible uses this expression at Numbers 6:6: “He may not come toward any dead soul.” All imperfect human souls or creatures sin and the penalty for this is death: “The wages sin pays is death.” “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”—Rom. 6:23; Ezek. 18:4, AS.

For the dead to have opportunity to live forever they must be released from death, and this will be by resurrection: “There is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.” “The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.”—Acts 24:15; John 5:28, 29.

Some will be raised from the dead as spirit creatures to live and reign with Christ in heaven, some will be raised as human creatures of blood and flesh to have opportunity to live on earth, and some will not be resurrected at all because of having already shown themselves incorrigibly wicked: “They shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts.” “These will depart into everlasting cutting-off.”—Jer. 51:57, AS; Matt. 25:46.

Few religionists of Christendom will argue with the thought of some going to heaven, but few will agree that some will live forever on earth as human creatures. What Bible proof is there for this belief? Proof is found in the very meaning of “world.” The first world was destroyed in the flood of Noah’s time: “There were heavens in ancient times and an earth standing compactly out of water and in the midst of water by the word of God, and by those means the world of that time suffered destruction when it was deluged with water.”—2 Pet. 3:5, 6.

The world destroyed by water in Noah’s day consisted of a heavens and an earth, but not the literal starry heavens, nor the literal earthly globe, for those things survived the flood of water. What perished were the wicked invisible heavens organized in a certain system under Satan and wicked persons organized on earth. The wicked heavens were disrupted and the evil people were destroyed, and it was that world of wicked invisible and visible creatures that ended in those ancient times. That a symbolic meaning of “earth” is the peoples on the earth is clear from 1 Kings 10:24, marginal reading: “And all the earth were seeking the face of Solomon to hear his wisdom.”

“But by the same word,” 2 Peter 3:7 continues, “the heavens and the earth that are now are stored up for fire and are being reserved to the day of judgment and of destruction of the ungodly men.” Many religionists use this text to say that the earth will be burned up at the end when the good go to heaven, but if the heavens and earth destroyed in the Flood are not literal, neither are the heavens and earth of this present world literal, which are to be destroyed by fire. To say the literal earth is to be burned up contradicts the Bible statement at Psalm 104:5: “He has founded the earth upon its established places; it will not be made to totter to time indefinite, nor forever.” And for these religionists to say the fiery end of this world of heavens and earth is literal is to say that the heavens they expect to ascend to will also be burned up. Actually, it is the symbolic heavens and earth proved bad that are destroyed, the invisible heavens of Satan and his demons and the visible system of ungodly men inhabiting the earth.

Then the promise is given: “But there are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell.” (2 Pet. 3:13) The new symbolic heavens is Christ and Christians from earth raised as spirit creatures to reign with him; and the new earth is people preserved or resurrected to live on earth in righteousness as human creatures of flesh and blood. If there is to be a new world, there will be earthly creatures on earth, for world includes both a heavenly and an earthly part. First Corinthians 4:9 shows this: “We have become a theatrical spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.” The world the apostles became a spectacle to consisted of visible and invisible parts, of men and angels.

Not only does Bible usage thus clearly indicate that the Greek word kosmos used for “world” includes a heavenly and an earthly part, but the Greeks themselves understood the word to have that meaning, as shown by Aristotle’s writing “On the World” (Perì Kósmou) wherein he defines kosmos in this way: “A system composed of the heaven and the earth, and of the creatures contained in them; otherwise the order and beautiful arrangement of the world is called kosmos.”

If there is to be a world thus defined, and if it is to be a world without end, then it will include an earthly part of human creatures living forever. It is a part of Jehovah’s promise, and we may confidently await it according to his promise. The very definition and usage of “world” in the Bible proves that there will be human creatures of blood and flesh living forever on earth.

Jehovah’s expressed purpose gives further proof, for his purpose never fails: “I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed, I will also do it.” “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” His purpose in making the earth was to have it inhabited, not to have it a waste or reduce it to a cinder: “Thus saith Jehovah that created the heavens, the God that formed the earth and made it, that established it and created it not a waste, that formed it to be inhabited: I am Jehovah; and there is none else.” He made man to “cultivate it and to take care of it” and to “subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is creeping upon the earth.”—Isa. 46:11; 55:11; 45:18, AS; Gen. 2:15; 1:28.

If faithful persons before the time of Christ are to get a resurrection and life, it must be to an earthly existence. John the Baptist was the last of this line of faithful men, and Jesus explicitly said he would not be in heaven and that from his time only was the heavenly way opened up: “Among those born of women there has not been raised up a greater than John the Baptist; but a person that is a lesser one in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he is. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of the heavens is the goal toward which men press.” None of the faithful ones before Jesus’ time had gone to heaven: “No man has ascended into heaven but he that descended from heaven, the Son of man.” Approved David did not go to heaven: “Brothers, it is allowable to speak with freeness of speech to you concerning the family head David, that he both deceased and was buried and his tomb is among us to this day. Actually David did not ascend to the heavens.” If these men get the reward of life, it must be on earth.—Matt. 11:11, 12; John 3:13; Acts 2:29, 34.

“By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed in going out into a place which he was going to receive as an inheritance, and he went out although not knowing where he was going. By faith he resided temporarily in the land of the promise as in a foreign land, and dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the very same promise. In faith all these died, although they did not get the fulfillment of the promises.” A land was promised to these men and others like them, but they did not get it: “And yet all these, although they had witness borne to them through their faith, did not get the fulfillment of the promise.” They will get the fulfillment of the promise, however, for Jehovah keeps his promises. He will raise them from the dead to life on earth as fleshly human creatures and plant them in the land and they shall never be uprooted. This must happen, or Jehovah’s word would go unfulfilled.—Heb. 11:8, 9, 13, 39.

Human creatures who gain life in heaven as spirit creatures with Christ are limited in number, but an untold number can live on earth forever. To qualify, seek meekness and righteousness: “Seek ye Jehovah, all ye meek of the earth, that have kept his ordinances; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye will be hid in the day of Jehovah’s anger.” “The meek ones themselves will possess the earth and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace. The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.”—Zeph. 2:3, AS; Ps. 37:11, 29; Rev. 14:1, 3.

Materialistic Dream

A few years ago Time magazine reported the following from “Give Me Liberty And———,” an unpublished play by Eugene O’Neill: “We talk about the American Dream, and want to tell the world about the American Dream, but what is that dream, in most cases, but the dream of material things? I sometimes think that the United States, for this reason, is the greatest failure the world has ever seen.”

Use What You Learn

OF WHAT good is a tool if it is not used? Accurate knowledge of the Scriptures is a tool that can bring honor to God’s name and comfort to distressed people. It is God’s will that his servants use this tool and use it effectively. “These are the things that ye shall do: Speak ye every man the truth with his neighbor; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates.” “For with the heart one exercises faith for righteousness, but with the mouth one makes public declaration for salvation.”—Zech. 8:16, AS; Rom. 10:10.

This public declaring of Scriptural truth opens spiritually blind eyes and frees people from captivity to false religious teachings that have become strongly entrenched among the world’s people. As the Christians of the first century used their knowledge of Scriptural truth to tear down such teachings that act like imprisoning walls around people of good will, so do Jehovah’s witnesses today. “For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful by God for overturning strongly entrenched things. For we are overturning reasonings and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God.”—2 Cor. 10:4, 5.

One of the purposes of the great international assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses that is being held in New York city this summer is to help Jehovah’s witnesses to become more skillful in this spiritual warfare. For eight days they will be instructed in Scriptural truths and in ways that they can use the tool of accurate knowledge more effectively. They will also be encouraged and edified. Good counsel will be given to help them maintain Christian integrity in this great work they have been commissioned by God to do.

For a delegate to receive the most benefit from this assembly he will have to do more than just be in attendance. He will have to listen, and then apply to himself the counsel that is given as well as use in the ministry the things he learns. He must realize that the assembly program is for his benefit. It is designed to make him a better minister. By using the things he learns from the program he will be better equipped “to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the year of Jehovah’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn.”—Isa. 61:1, 2, AS.

As Jehovah’s witnesses use their knowledge of the Scriptures to comfort people and to bring them freedom from false religion they find that many people resent their Christian efforts. But they cannot permit this resentment to cause them to stop preaching. The apostle Paul was faced with the same situation. “But after they kept on opposing and speaking abusively, he shook out his garments and said to them: ‘Let your blood be upon your own heads. I am clean. From now on I will go to people of the nations.’ Moreover, by night the Lord said to Paul through a vision: ‘Have no fear, but keep on speaking and do not quiet down, because I am with you and no man will assault you so as to do you injury, because I have many people in this city.’”—Acts 18:6, 9, 10.

Such opposition can be discouraging and is why Jehovah’s people should assemble together for mutual encouragement. The big assembly this summer will lift up the spirits of any delegates whose zeal may have slackened off a bit because of opposition or because of spiritual carelessness on their own part. The counsel and instruction that will be given and the experiences that will be heard will fire up their zeal. They will return home with greater determination to speak the truths they know. They will not quiet down as the enemy wants them to do.

Zealously putting into use the things learned at the assembly is one of the ways the delegates can show their appreciation to Jehovah God for this great gathering of his people. It is also a way they can show that they did not go to New York city in vain.

While at the assembly let each delegate be an attentive listener who tries to remember what he hears. Then when he leaves for home his mind and heart will be filled with good things that he will want to use in his ministry. So let each delegate be determined to listen and learn and then to use what he learns.

Hate Evil, Not People

LOVE is the outstanding attribute of Jehovah. “God is love,” wrote the apostle John. His love is so complete that it reaches even to his enemies, as Jesus said: “You heard that it was said: ‘You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ However, I say to you: Continue to love your enemies and to pray for those persecuting you; that you may prove yourselves sons of your Father who is in the heavens, since he makes his sun rise upon wicked people and good and makes it rain upon righteous people and unrighteous. For if you love those loving you, what reward do you have? are not also the tax collectors doing the same thing? And if you greet your brothers only, what extraordinary thing are you doing? Are not also the people of the nations doing the same thing? You must accordingly be complete, as your heavenly Father is complete.”—1 John 4:8; Matt. 5:43-48.

If Jehovah is long-suffering toward these enemies of his, why should not we be? The love he expresses respecting them is expressed by the Greek word agápe, and it is broader in scope than a sentimental affection. As Dr. Strong says, it is “embracing especially the judgment and the deliberate assent of the will as a matter of principle, duty and propriety.” It wishes well even for enemies, works for their good, though unable to approve all their deeds. God’s love worked good for those sinning against him: “God recommends his own love to us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” It is love, not slowness, that makes God wait in executing sinners: “Jehovah is not slow respecting his promise, as some people consider slowness, but he is patient with you because he does not desire any to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance.” By kindness and forbearance and long-suffering God tries to lead sinners to repent: “You do not know that the kindly quality of God is trying to lead you to repentance?” He does not approve sin, but he shows love to sinners.—Rom. 5:8; 2 Pet. 3:9; Rom. 2:4.

WHAT WE HATE

It is right to hate wrong. To do so is to copy Jehovah and to model ourselves after Christ. Jehovah hates “lofty eyes, a false tongue, and hands that are shedding innocent blood, a heart fabricating hurtful schemes, feet that are in a hurry to run to badness, a false witness that launches forth lies, and anyone sending forth contentions between brothers.” Jesus “loved righteousness and hated lawlessness.” Nonetheless, Jehovah and Christ show love toward sinners while hating their sins. So should we.—Prov. 6:17-19; Heb. 1:9.

Love may work toward the sinner’s conversion. We preach to people that sin, and we preach in love, for if it is not done in love it is nothing: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but do not have love, I have become a sounding piece of brass or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophesying and understand all the sacred secrets and all knowledge, and if I have all the faith so as to transplant mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my belongings to feed others, and if I hand over my body, that I may boast, but do not have love, I am not profited at all.” We show love to the sinner but not for the sin.—1 Cor. 13:1-3.

You do not hate a person because he is young or old, male or female, tall or short, fat or thin, blonde or brunette, beautiful or homely. It is not the person’s looks or appearance that incites hate. It is his acts that are wrong, and if you love righteousness you hate his wickedness. If he ceases these acts your cause for hate is gone, so your hate goes too. When a persecutor stops persecuting and embraces Jehovah’s truth we love him. It was his wrongdoing we hated, not the person. Show love to the person even while he does wrong and it may lead him to doing what is right. This is Jehovah’s loving way: “Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of his sins that he hath committed shall be remembered against him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.”—Ezek. 33:14-16, AS.

SINNER HATES OWN SINS

A wrongdoing child is disciplined because he is loved: “The one whom Jehovah loves he reproves, even as a father does a son in whom he finds pleasure.” A child may do many hateful acts, but the parent still loves his child. He hates the wrong acts, but not his child, and he works for its recovery by disciplining it. Jehovah follows this course also. He does it where there is hope for saving the sinful person. He knows that in so many cases it is fleshly weakness that plunges the person into wrongdoing, that it is not really what the person himself desires. Paul showed this aversion to sins he himself committed: “For what I wish, this I do not practice; but what I hate is what I do. But now the one working it out is no longer I, but sin that resides in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, there resides nothing good; for ability to wish is present with me, but ability to work out what is right is not present. For the good that I wish I do not do, but the bad that I do not wish is what I practice. If, now, what I do not wish is what I do, the one working it out is no longer I, but the sin dwelling in me.” Many wrongs persons commit are because of weakness, of environment, of past circumstances in an unfortunate childhood, and do not express the true person within at all. Some wrongs are committed in ignorance, and on coming to knowledge the wrongdoer may possibly repent.—Prov. 3:12; Rom. 7:15, 17-20.

WHEN HATRED ENCOMPASSES THE PERSON

In the above cases the sins do not really express the desire or inward yearnings of the person, but there are others that have become so degraded that they relish their sins and pursue them with deliberateness and in full knowledge of their evilness. They have so merged their personalities with these evils that a separation of the person from the sins is difficult or impossible. They go to an extreme that leaves them in an unforgivable position before Jehovah: “Every kind of sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the spirit will not be forgiven.” Deliberate and continued sin against the enlightening spirit of Jehovah is not forgivable; defiance of the spirit’s manifest operation is not pardonable. When persons persist in wrongdoing after it has been completely exposed to them, when it becomes so ingrained as to be an inseparable part of their make-up, then hatred for the person that lovingly clings to it as well as the sin must be one’s feeling. How else can it be, when the person and the sin become inseparably and permanently merged?—Matt. 12:31.

Such incorrigible ones reverse the injunction, “Hate the evil, and love the good,” becoming those “who hate the good, and love the evil.” No intercession is to be made for them. “Pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me; for I will not hear thee,” says Jehovah. God himself will be “repaying to his face the one who hates him by obliterating him. He will not hesitate toward the one who hates him. He will repay him to his face.” Some reach a point when even strong discipline will not pry loose the evil that has become a part of them. It is no longer possible to destroy the evil and preserve the persons. Both must be destroyed together, since there is no separating them. The evil works truly express and reflect an incorrigibly evil heart. Such persons personify evil, just as God does love. To such Jesus said: “You are from your father the Devil and you wish to do the desires of your father.” In Matthew chapter 23 he scathingly denounced them and asked: “Serpents, offspring of vipers, how are you to flee from the judgment of Gehenna?”—Amos 5:15; Mic. 3:2; Jer. 7:16, AS; Deut. 7:10; John 8:44; Matt. 23:33.

When the wicked hater of Jehovah will not separate himself from his wickedness and his hatred, how can we do it in our proper hatred of his sinfulness? “Is it to the wicked that help is to be given, and is it for those hating Jehovah that you should have love? And for this there is indignation against you from the person of Jehovah.” When the hatred is intense and entrenched and inseparable from the person, the case goes beyond the enmity due to inherited sin or ignorance that can be dealt with patiently in love: “Do I not hate those who are intensely hating you, O Jehovah, and do I not feel a loathing for those revolting against you? With a complete hatred I do hate them. They have become to me real enemies.”—2 Chron. 19:2; Ps. 139:21, 22.

But these incorrigible ones that personify hateful evil make themselves manifest. Generally we can and should look upon the masses of humanity alienated from God as Jesus did: “On seeing the crowds [seeking him] he felt tender affection for them, because they were skinned and knocked about like sheep without a shepherd.” We can preach to them in love, while hating their sins. When told to hate the evil and not the correctible doer of it, it may seem difficult to do. But when you stop and reflect you see that in your own case you have been doing it all your life. Do it unto others also.—Matt. 9:36.

Ready for the Ax?

“Inward religion, without the outward show of it,” once stated English clergyman Ralph Venning, “is like a tree without fruit, useless; and the outward show of religion, without inward sincerity, is like a tree without heart, lifeless.”

“The Bankruptcy of an Age”

Anglican prelate H. R. L. Sheppard, at one time dean of Canterbury Cathedral and canon of St. Paul’s Cathedral, wrote his work The Impatience of a Parson almost two decades before the advent of the atomic age. Yet some of his statements sound as if they were written today.

“We do not hesitate to confess that the times are out of joint,” he wrote, “and the weapons we forged for our safety are broken in our hand. There is considerable confusion in the minds of those who were once our trusted counselors; the ring of confidence is lacking in their speech. The situation is the more difficult since stern reality has forced us to give up our mid-Victorian belief in an automatic progress towards perfection; as a matter of fact, it gave us up in August of 1914, and we have not yet recovered from the shock. We have been obliged in recent years, as Dr. Fosdick has reminded us, to contemplate the bankruptcy of an age which had some right to consider itself the most humanely progressive, the most enlightened and the most secure in all history.

“We have been reminded lately that during recent years twenty-four thrones have been overthrown, including those of the greatest land empires of the world. During those years we have seen the worst war that has ever taken place, costing over ten million lives; we have experienced the worst famine the world has hitherto known; and the worst pestilence known to man, taking a larger toll of life than the war itself. . . .

“We may not forget what has happened to the civilization in which we so trusted. Progress in science and education and an increase of knowledge all round have not fulfilled our hopes for them by making life safer and more agreeable for our fellows; indeed, with selfishness unsubdued, man is as much more dangerous as his power for mischief has increased. Professor Huxley was justified when he said, many years ago, that our highly developed miracles had given us a command over nonhuman nature greater than that once attributed to the magicians. We are not to be trusted with this fresh acquisition of scientific knowledge; we cannot handle it either to the glory of God or for the welfare of mankind.”

A “New and Daring Approach”?

Under the heading “Christian Family Living” a writer in The Christian Century, March 3 ,1954, discusses the Sunday school and points to the “primacy of the family in Christian education,” that the “parents are the first teachers of religion, that the faithful Sunday-school pupil spends 90 hours under the influence of his home for every hour spent in church, and that the child is available to the training of parents in those most plastic years of life when he is not in direct touch with the church at all.”

The writer further observes that in spite of these facts some denominations “act as if parents do not exist. It would be better, far better, if we disbanded the conventional ‘Sunday school’ entirely and began with a new and daring approach.” And what is that “new and daring approach”? “Put our Christian educational task where it belongs, on the shoulders of the parents, and put the church at their service.” The sum and substance of the plan that follows is to organize classes to educate the parents so that they in turn can educate their children in the home.

While this may be a “new and daring approach” for organized Christianity it is not for the witnesses of Jehovah. The modern witnesses have been doing this very thing for many years, while the Bible records that Abraham did so about four thousand years ago, not to say anything about Moses’ commanding it a few centuries later.—Gen. 18:19; Deut. 6:4-9.

Writing, an Art as Ancient as Man

WHERE can we go to get reliable information on the art of writing? What is the most ancient source? In his book Semitic Writing G. R. Driver identifies that source when he points out that what information is available on the use of writing during early centuries comes largely from the Bible. And there we find that sometime before Adam’s death in 3096 before the Christian era he wrote “the book of Adam’s history.” (Gen. 5:1) But what kind of writing was then in use? As we explore the field we shall find clues to the answer to that and many other questions.

It is generally thought that the alphabet is a relatively recent invention, since it is the simplest form of writing. However, David Diringir, in The Alphabet—a Key to the History of Mankind, observes: “It is a fact that the crudest forms of writing, both ancient and modern, are nonalphabetic, but these non-alphabetic systems of writing are not always earlier in time than the forms of alphabetic scripts. Some of the crudest forms of writing are in use to this day and indeed have come into use long after alphabets were firmly established and widely used.” Certainly Adam, who began as a perfect man equipped by God for his role in life, did not learn by a tedious trial-and-error method how to express himself either verbally or in writing. Though fallen into sin, he made adequate record of the events of his time, which record was later used by Moses at God’s direction as the basis for a portion of the account of Genesis.

Within a comparatively short space of time after man’s expulsion from Eden, cities were built as the human family grew in numbers. There was the city of Enoch of Biblical mention, and Eridu, Larak, Sippar and others referred to in secular tablet records that have been unearthed. (Gen. 4:17) Businesses developed: cattle raising, even the art of toolmaking, and others necessary to society. (Gen. 4:20, 22) That writing was used to keep the records of such daily transactions and contracts as are necessary in business is borne out by the many tablets that have been found.

The art of writing, however, did not remain unchanged. As the human family fell farther from the perfection of man in Eden, his abilities became gradually degraded. Following the Noachian flood, when man’s language was confused at the Tower of Babel, the field was thrown wide open for great diversity in writing and it apparently developed along a number of lines.

WRITING WITH PICTURES

Whether of pre-Flood or post-Flood origin, many of the early traces of writing that have been found are simply pictures, so the system is called pictographic. For a house, it was simple to draw a picture of a house. An animal could easily be drawn with simple lines in outline form. At times the method was speeded up by using a part of the object to stand for the whole. For example, the head of a beast representing the beast itself. While the system had severe limitations, it was apparently adequate for the time in which it was used.

Edward Chiera, in his book They Wrote on Clay, discusses how the system may well have been enlarged. “It was easy to represent concrete ideas. . . . An abstract idea was more difficult to represent, but the association of ideas came to one’s aid. A foot does not always indicate a certain part of the human anatomy; it sometimes gives the idea of walking.” These are termed ideographs. An arm might represent strength; a hand, giving. A drop of water coupled with an eye to represent tears might mean weep or sigh. A star could indicate height, and a rising sun might mean day. But how was the reader to know how to classify the signs? The problem was solved by use of a determinative sign, an ideogram that denoted the general class to which the object belonged.

Ideographs have certainly not passed out of use. When you look at a numeral, a dollar sign, or skull and crossbones on a bottle of poison, you are reading ideographic writing and it is quite understandable regardless of the language you speak. Oftentimes young children of Jehovah’s witnesses who have been orally instructed in God’s Word use pictographic and ideographic notes in giving short talks on Bible subjects in the congregation’s ministry school even before they attend regular secular schools.

A strictly ideographic system might multiply to an unlimited extent the drawings or symbols used and still some words could not be written. For example, how would a name be written? It might be possible to draw a picture of the individual, but that would require considerable skill if it were not to be mistaken for someone else, and the ability to “read” the drawing would require acquaintance with the person involved. This was solved by use of the phonetic or sound value of the symbols. The symbol for “eye” could be used to stand not only for that part of the body but also for the sound. Several of such symbols joined together might be used to help the reader sound out the desired word. This was known as syllabic writing.

CUNEIFORM AND HIEROGLYPHICS UNLOCK HISTORY

Cuneiform writing, used extensively in Mesopotamia and adapted to a number of languages, is not a system divorced from the practices already discussed. To the contrary, “at the beginning cuneiform writing was not cuneiform at all; the characters were purely pictorial, and the picture-symbols represented the various objects, animate and inanimate.” (The Alphabet, D. Diringir) The word “cuneiform” simply means “wedge-shaped” and indicates the shape of the impression made in the soft clay by the writing instrument used. When inscriptions were made on stone, the ones cutting the stone copied the style of marks made on clay. Thus cuneiform writing was at times pictographic and ideographic, it employed “sound-pictures,” many of which were catalogued to form a syllabary, and it was used in alphabetic writing as well.

The cuneiform inscription named by The Encyclopedia Americana as of greatest interest is the large stone monolith on which is found the Code of Hammurabi, a group of laws covering many aspects of social life. Sir Charles Marston comments on the law code: “It seems certain that Hammurabi’s laws were a codification of the older and existing laws and customs of the Semitic Race—the race that sprung from Noah’s son Shem, the race to which the Hebrews belonged.” Since it embodied many of the laws and customs from the earlier Noachian patriarchal system, there are many similarities between it and the later Mosaic law code given to Israel.

In Egypt hieroglyphics came into use. The name itself reflects much. It means “sacred carvings,” and it was an art that was considered to be a gift of their god Thoth. The hieroglyphics themselves, used principally for inscriptions on monuments and public buildings, combined pictographic, ideographic and phonetic methods of writing. Normally they were written from right to left; at times, from left to right; and for symmetry, even from the center out. When Napoleon’s soldiers invaded Egypt in the eighteenth century they found the Rosetta Stone, which contained in both Greek and hieroglyphics the same inscription glorifying Ptolemy Epiphanes. It was the key to unlock the history sealed in the hieroglyphics of Egypt.

Use of a brush-pen on papyrus for writing purposes led to adaptation of hieroglyphics by the priestly class into a cursive form called “hieratic.” Hieratic is to hieroglyphics what modern handwriting is to print. Perhaps by 500 B.C. a more compressed system that had lost much of its resemblance to hieroglyphics had developed. It was the “demotic” or simplified common writing used by business people for their records of civil transactions.

Even in these very early times written records on stone or baked clay multiplied in number. Many were simply business records, found in the royal archives and the temples. Others contained records of history, legends, mathematical and religious information. At various times these were gathered into large libraries, such as those uncovered in Babylonia and Assyria. Since these tablets were often stored in large pottery vessels, Babylonian archives were called by a term meaning “pot of tablets.” Reed baskets and wooden chests were also used.

USE OF THE ALPHABET

While many and varied systems of writing came into existence in the ancient world, the Hebrews apparently employed alphabetic writing. The alphabet is generally recognized to be of Semitic origin. R. W. Rogers, in Volume I of History of Babylonia and Assyria, when commenting on cuneiform writing, says: “Even while they still struggled with ideograms, determinatives, and simple and compound syllabic signs, Phoenicians and Hebrews close at hand, to say nothing of yet ruder folk like the Moabites, were writing inscriptions, and, in the case of the Hebrews, even books in prose and verse by means of a simple and most effective alphabet—whose construction was the greatest effort of ancient civilization.”

Noteworthy among such ancient alphabetic inscriptions is the Moabite Stone. It is an inscription of Mesha, king of Moab, in which he relates some of the events involved in his revolt against Israel, in corroboration of the account in 2 Kings 1 and 3. Also, and of particular interest, is the fact that the name Jehovah appears in the inscription.

The Bible clearly indicates that not only was the art of writing known among the Israelites in the days of Moses, but it was commonly used by the people. This is shown in the commandment of Jehovah to all the people, when he said concerning the words of the commandment to love their God: “You must write them upon the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deut. 6:9) It is a fact attested to by this most ancient record of the art of writing and now confirmed by the more recent finds of archaeology. In the appendix to the book The Bible Comes Alive a letter from S. Langdon to the editor of the Times is reproduced, which says: “The presence of an alphabetic script of the Mosaic period in Canaan was a great discovery, proving the existence of alphabetic writing then and in a script from which the ordinary Hebrew letters were derived. There can be then no doubt but that the Hebrews were writing documents in this period.”

Where did they acquire the ability? In view of the use by Moses of pre-Flood documents in compiling the book of Genesis, it is apparent that men before the Flood had the ability to write, which was given to the first man Adam by God. It was used as a safeguard against the lapse of human memory so that we would have in this time the information God has provided to instruct us. (Matt. 24:37; Rom. 15:4) A document written by Shem after the Flood tells us that when men presumptuously sought to build their Tower of Babel to reach up to heaven itself, God intervened and thwarted their foolish schemes by confusing their language. (Gen. 11:1-9) There is no indication that either faithful Noah or Shem was a party to that effort to glorify men; they would not have been among those whose speech was changed. So centuries later it should not surprise us to find the Semitic peoples (descendants of Shem) writing inscriptions, prose and verse while those of other national groups were struggling in their development of systems adequate to express in writing their ideas.

From the Semitic peoples the Greeks borrowed the alphabet, adapted it, and passed it on to the nations of the West. The English alphabet itself is derived from the Latin, as are most of those of modern Europe, but they have earlier roots taking them back through Greek development and to the Semites.

CHANGES IN THE ART

Changes have marked the art of writing since earliest times and continue to do so. Pictographic, ideographic, cuneiform, hieroglyphic and alphabetic writing have all been in vogue. Writing of a few centuries ago is often nearly unintelligible to people now, although basically the same language.

At times manuscripts were written entirely in capital letters, or in large rounded letters called uncials. Early writings did not have space between words or use punctuation. All that has changed, as well as writing materials. Instead of clay, stone, metal, wood, papyrus, leather, etc., paper is now used.

The English alphabet is far from perfect. It has only twenty-six letters to represent some forty-two sounds, and even here there is needless overlapping. That ancient and valuable art of writing may change even more, but it will continue to be a key to the transmitting of knowledge.

Find Your Place in the New World Society

“Now God has set the members in the body, each one of them, just as he pleased.”—1 Cor. 12:18.

1, 2. (a) What physical facts prove that Jehovah is a God of order? (b) What arrangement, then, should we expect to find in the New World society?

LOOK above into the vault of heaven on a clear moonless night and count the number of stars if you can. Thousands are visible to the naked eye. Actually there are billions; yes, hundreds of billions of these stellar bodies may be observed when the boundless depths of outer space are probed with powerful telescopes and special photographic equipment. Certainly mere men are dwarfed by this display of immeasurable greatness. Yet here is something even more marvelous and awe-inspiring to ponder over: The uncountable material hosts of heaven are not thrown together in a haphazard chaotic scramble without thought or reason, but, rather, according to a most intricate pattern of a Supreme Intelligence each one has its fixed place in the unlimited expanse of celestial space. Moreover, instead of being stationary or frozen in place like grains of sand in hardened concrete each star is in high motion and is traveling at an astounding speed. Each star has its own individual orbit, each its predictable course in which it moves with precise timing; each is controlled by established laws of the Creator.

² Jehovah, the Maker of the heavens and the earth, by his own design and arrangement has set the stars each and all in their places. Hence we may say that each star has a God-given position, a divine assignment, its proper individual place. (Gen. 1:1; 2:1; Neh. 9:6; Ps. 8:3; Isa. 45:12, AS) So it is in all of Jehovah’s creative works. He is a God of orderly arrangement. “God is a God, not of disorder.” Hence all things in his organization “take place decently and by arrangement,” by divine assignment. It is only reasonable, therefore, to expect that in the New World society, which is also a special creation of Jehovah, there would be a place arranged for each individual member. An examination of the Scriptures and facts shows us that this is so.—1 Cor. 14:33, 40.

3. Since 1918, what place have the remnant filled?

³ At one time the earthly remnant of the “bride” of Christ were in Babylonish captivity, but surely that was no proper place for this pure virgin class of Christ’s footstep followers. So when Jehovah came to the spiritual temple for judgment in 1918 this faithful remnant class were commanded to get out of Satan’s filthy Babylonish system. They obeyed. Then God placed the restored remnant in their proper place, at the very center of the New World society, appointing them as “the faithful and discreet slave” to watch over and care for all the Master’s belongings. (Rev. 18:4; Matt. 24:45-47) Other scriptures speak of God’s spiritual temple, of which the remnant is the only visible part remaining on earth, as constituting a “spiritual house for the purpose of a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” “You have been built up upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, while Christ Jesus himself is the foundation cornerstone. In union with him the whole building, being harmoniously joined together, is growing into a holy temple for Jehovah.”—1 Pet. 2:5; Eph. 2:19-21.

4, 5. (a) According to the prophecies of Isaiah and Micah, what other class of people are finding a place in the New World society? (b) Is this “great crowd” an idle class without responsibilities?

⁴ Today great multitudes of other people are coming to this house or temple of God and are gathering around this visible temple class, the central core of the New World society, even as the prophets Isaiah and Micah foretold would take place in these latter days. “And it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of Jehovah’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.”—Isa. 2:2, 3; Mic. 4:1, 2, AS.

⁵ With already upward of seven hundred and sixteen thousand persons, speaking more than a hundred languages and numbered from more than one hundred and sixty lands and islands of the seas, all congregated as a New World society around the Lamb Christ Jesus as the Right Shepherd, it is most important for each one to recognize his proper place in the organization, recognize whether he is of the remnant of spiritual Israel or of the “great crowd” associated with the remnant. (Rev. 7:4-10; John 10:16) That those constituting the “great crowd” must also bear a heavy load of responsibility Isaiah’s prophecy shows, for after describing the condition of the restored remnant it says that those of the “great crowd” would be as strangers that feed the flocks and as aliens that serve as plowmen and vinedressers. So whether of the remnant class or of this “great crowd,” each one is accountable to the one Master to take his place in this fertile, fruit-bearing organization and then discharge the duties assigned. None are exempt from the King’s service. “Each one will carry his own load of responsibility.”—Isa. 61:4, 5, AS; Rom. 14:4; Gal. 6:5.

6. What place of pre-eminence and authority does Jehovah occupy in this organization?

⁶ The New World society is and must of necessity be theocratic in its structure, that is, God-ruled from top to bottom. At the very head of the organization, faithfully residing in his most rightful place, is Jehovah God, the Most High and the most glorious Sovereign of the universe. “You, whose name is Jehovah, you alone are the Most High over all the earth.” In him alone reside all three branches of government, the judicial, the legislative and the executive. “For Jehovah is our judge, Jehovah is our lawgiver, Jehovah is our king.” “Jehovah himself has firmly established his throne in the very heavens, and his own kingship has held domination even over everything.”—Ps. 83:18; Isa. 33:22, AS; Ps. 103:19.

7. Describe some of the special privileges of service entrusted to Christ Jesus.

⁷ Christ Jesus, “the only-begotten Son of God,” also has a very proper place in this New World structure. He is the Ransomer and Redeemer, “by means of whom we have our release by ransom, the forgiveness of our sins.” Also, “he is the head of the body, the congregation. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that he might become the one who is first in all things.” Furthermore, “Christ did not glorify himself by becoming a high priest [of his own initiative], but was glorified by [Jehovah] who spoke with reference to him: ‘You are . . . a priest forever after the likeness of Melchizedek.’” This King-Priest is now reigning in the heavens as “King of kings and Lord of lords,” and as Jehovah’s great Vindicator he is riding at the head of all the armies of heaven, riding to the battle of Armageddon, where he will crush the very life out of Satan’s wicked organization. Jehovah’s long-promised New World government ‘is upon his shoulder and his name is called Prince of Peace, and of the increase of his peaceful government there shall be no end,’ for he will rule for a thousand years, restoring paradise in all its glorious perfection. (Col. 1:14, 18; Heb. 5:5, 6; Rev. 19:11-16; Isa. 9:6, 7, AS) This is the sacred treasure of service that has been divinely entrusted to Christ Jesus; and no enemy of his, not even the Devil and all the demons of outer darkness, can take him away or crowd him out of his place in Jehovah’s new system of things!

ONE BODY WITH MANY MEMBERS

8. How does the human body in its structure resemble the New World society?

⁸ Even as “the head of the Christ is God,” so Christ, in turn, “is head of the congregation.” (1 Cor. 11:3; Eph. 5:23) Logically it follows that there are not many organizations, not even two, beneath this centralized headship. There is but one theocratic organization, even though within this one structure there are many branches of service and departments of work, many places to be individually filled, and many assignments of duties, each carrying its own degree of responsibility. Thus we read in Ephesians 4:4-12: “One body there is, and one spirit, even as you were called in the one hope to which you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all persons, who is over all and through all and in all.” Only one organization, yes, yet the eleventh verse says, “And he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as missionaries, some as shepherds and teachers.” What for? Why, “with a view to the training of the holy ones for the ministerial work, for the building up of the body of the Christ,” the one body or organization. This also shows that in the early Christian organization there were many appointments made, and they were made theocratically, not democratically.—Acts 10:44, 45, 48; 14:23; 20:28.

9. How was the early Christian organization held together, and with what results?

⁹ With the spread of Christianity in the first century many congregations were established in various parts of the Roman Empire, but instead of becoming isolated and independent organizations these scattered groups were kept closely attached to the central governing body at Jerusalem by letters and by the periodic visits of traveling representatives. “Now as they [the visiting representatives] traveled on through the cities they would deliver to those there [the local congregations] for observance the decrees that had been decided upon by the apostles and older men [the central governing body] who were in Jerusalem.” And what was the result of each one’s keeping his place in that young and growing organization? The next verse answers: “Therefore, indeed, the congregations continued to be made firm in the faith and to increase in number from day to day.”—Acts 16:4, 5.

10. Show how the basic organizational structure of Jehovah’s witnesses today conforms to that established in the first century.

¹⁰ Removed as we are from the infancy of Christianity by some nineteen hundred years, yet under the headship of the same Higher Powers, Jehovah God and Christ Jesus, there still remains but one theocratic organization, represented in the earth today by the one God-sponsored and God-ruled organization, the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses. Even though the twentieth-century expansion of this truly primitive Christian society has been phenomenal, yet in basic structure it conforms to the divine pattern set out in the first century. As then, so now in the modern society of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses “God has set the members in the body, each one of them, just as he pleased.” (1 Cor. 12:18) As then, so now it has pleased the divine headship to establish a central directive body, which serves and governs Jehovah’s witnesses throughout the earth. Representing this central body are many branch servants and thousands of traveling ministers who serve in various capacities as zone, district and circuit servants. These representatives, besides visiting many isolated publishers of the good news, regularly serve 16,883 organized congregations. In these established congregations there are various servants appointed by the central governing body and its special representatives to oversee the local activities of Jehovah’s witnesses.

11. Describe the earth-wide unity among Jehovah’s witnesses. How is this possible?

¹¹ This being organized from top to bottom to conform to the theocratic pattern has brought about a oneness and unity among Jehovah’s people not to be found in another group on the face of the earth. In thought and belief, in doctrine and teaching, in activity and conduct and in living habits and practices there is a oneness and unity among Jehovah’s witnesses that leaps all geographical boundaries, all language barriers and all national and tribal customs. Now such oneness and harmony are made possible only because each one in walking in his integrity finds his proper place in this society and then discharges his God-given responsibilities in faithfulness.

12. How does 1 Corinthians 12:20-30 make room in the New World society for congregation publishers who are not overseers?

¹² Are you appointed overseers in a local congregation of this New World society? If you are in such a position, the apostle Peter says you must “shepherd the flock of God in your care, not under compulsion, but willingly, neither for love of dishonest gain, but eagerly, neither as lording it over those who are God’s inheritance, but becoming examples to the flock.” (1 Pet. 5:2, 3) Or are you an honored congregation publisher without particular overseer responsibilities? If so, you too have a proper and important place in God’s arrangement of things. “Now they are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand: ‘I have no need of you’; or, again, the head cannot say to the feet: ‘I have no need of you.’ But much rather is it the case that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary, and the parts of the body which we think to be less honorable, these we surround with more abundant honor, . . . God compounded the body, giving honor more abundant to the part which had a lack, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its members should have the same care for one another. . . . Not all are apostles, are they? Not all are prophets, are they? Not all are teachers, are they? Not all perform powerful works, do they? Not all have gifts of healing, do they? Not all speak in tongues, do they? Not all are translators, are they?”—1 Cor. 12:20-30.

13. When taking the good and wholesome place provided among Jehovah’s witnesses for youth, what responsibilities must they also assume?

¹³ In this globe-encircling New World society there is also plenty of room for our children and youth. You younger ones should therefore know your place and take it. The Bible mentions some children in the past that did this very thing. So follow the good examples set by such boys and girls as Samuel, Jeremiah, Jephthah’s daughter, Timothy and Jesus, to mention a few. Prepare yourselves for greater privileges that will be assigned to you when you prove capable of carrying a heavier load of responsibility. To this end take in knowledge of the Scriptures, both by personal and by organized group study, which knowledge will make you wise for salvation. Study your assignments ahead of time and come prepared to take an active part in the congregational meetings. Grow to maturity in spiritual wisdom and understanding not only by diligent study but also by taking part in the various forms of ministerial activity. Regularly engage in the house-to-house preaching work and in the weekly distribution of the magazines. Learn how to call back properly on interested persons and how to conduct home Bible studies with them. Show proper and due respect for your parents as well as toward the overseers in the organization. “Remember, now, your grand Creator in the days of your young manhood.” This is certainly the place, and it is a good and wholesome place, for the youth among Jehovah’s witnesses. And, praise Jehovah! the wise youths who find and keep this happy place are not numbered among the criminal delinquents of this present wicked system of things.—Eccl. 12:1.

IS YOUR PLACE PIONEERING?

14, 15. (a) Does the New World society make room also for pioneers and missionaries? (b) As a pioneering missionary, what blessings and privileges did the apostle Paul enjoy?

¹⁴ Often there are full-time pioneers and missionary publishers associated with local congregations. They too have a place in this society of Christian ministers. Being free of Scriptural obligations that would prevent them from serving as full-time ministers, they seek first the kingdom of God instead of selfish pursuits and, like the apostle Paul, they count the loss of worldly position and material luxuries as so much refuse or common garbage.—Matt. 6:25-34; Phil. 3:8.

¹⁵ Stop and consider what a privileged man the apostle Paul was. He was the “foremost apostle” to the Gentile nations. He traveled over a considerable expanse of the Roman Empire, visiting many places and establishing many congregations. Paul was further privileged to write more of the Christian Greek Scriptures than anyone else. In Athens he bore witness before the most distinguished philosophers and educated men of his day. He also testified before the Supreme Court of Jerusalem, the Jewish Sanhedrin. He had the privilege of preaching the good news about Christ Jesus, the New World Ruler, before such oldworld rulers as Governors Felix and Festus, King Agrippa, and eventually before the Imperial Court of the Roman emperor Nero. All these and many more privileges and blessings Paul enjoyed when as a pioneer he crossed over the threshold separating the part-time from the full-time ministry.

16. (a) Are all able to enter the pioneer service? (b) How does Jesus’ illustration show the danger of being so preoccupied with personal matters that one misses out on the privilege of pioneering?

¹⁶ That same open door of opportunity is before those of the New World society today. But some feel they are not able to enter the pioneer ranks because they have small children or other dependents, or because they are in a feeble state of health. Others feel they are so heavily burdened down with financial obligations that must be met that it is impossible for them to pioneer. On the other hand, there are a large number of persons associated with Jehovah’s witnesses who profess to be fully dedicated to God’s service and who are free of binding Scriptural obligations, yet, for one excuse or another, they attempt to beg off from assuming the responsibility that goes with pioneering. May it not be said that these persons are out of their proper place in the New World society? Are they not out of orbit, wandering carefree off course, attempting to remain free of the restrictions and routine of full-time pioneer service? This is certainly a foolish and dangerous course to pursue, for it borders on the attitude had by those in Jesus’ illustration who begged off from attending a special banquet simply because they had bought a field or some oxen or because they had married a wife. Now was not the proper place for those invited guests at the banquet table? And were not their excuses extremely small and trivial? No wonder the householder’s anger was kindled against those excuse-makers who were so preoccupied with selfish interests that they passed up an opportunity of a lifetime! True, it would have inconvenienced them somewhat to cancel, postpone or rearrange their personal affairs in order to accept the special invitation. But what surpassing joys and blessings they would have had if only they had made room in their lives for the extraordinary privilege offered them!—Luke 14:16-24.

17. What was the pioneer Paul’s attitude toward his ministry?

¹⁷ The same is true with the opportunity of full-time service that is offered today to those free to accept it. It is not easy to pioneer. Cancellations of personal programs, for example, a college education or a specialized career, may be necessary in order to accommodate the full-time pioneer service in one’s life. Many obstacles and much opposition must be overcome. Paul had to surmount similar obstacles in order to cross the threshold and enter the enlarged field of activity as a pioneer. “A large door,” he says, “that leads to activity has been opened to me, but there are many opposers.” Again this full-time servant of the Lord God wrote: “Who will separate us from the love of the Christ? Will tribulation or distress or persecution or hunger or nakedness or danger or sword?” If on earth today Paul might add: ‘Will the materialism and luxuries of this age prevent us from proving our love for God in the full-time service?’ Positively and forcefully he answers all such questions, saying, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor governments nor things here nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other creation will be able to separate us from God’s love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Any other “creation” would include not only animate creatures but also all the inanimate luxuries and unnecessary things of this modern civilization, which things those having the same mental attitude as Paul do not allow to come between them and their proving their love for God to the full extent of their ability.—1 Cor. 16:9; 2 Cor. 4:7-11; Rom. 8:35-39.

18. Is it possible for one today to have the same peace of mind and contentment that Paul possessed?

¹⁸ Paul’s peace of mind and contentment and his joy and happiness in life certainly did not suffer because of the privations he experienced. His personal loss of many of the comforts of life did not dampen or quench his fire and zeal. His writings bubble with enthusiasm and optimism as he urges others to follow him in his Christlike way of life. He never complained when it was necessary to work part time at his secular trade in order to keep in the apostolic ministry. You too can partake of similar blessings as Paul and others enjoyed, provided you also enter into the same privileges of service as they did.

19. In making sure we find our proper place in the New World society, how should we question ourselves?

¹⁹ Question yourself whether you have found your proper place of service in the New World society. Do you have family responsibilities that hinder and prevent you from engaging in the pioneer service? If so, the Scriptures say you most certainly must take care of such responsibilities. (1 Tim. 5:8) Or are you free of legitimate Scriptural obligations, free to enter through the large door that leads to activity in the pioneer service? Are you willing and anxious to be a missionary and travel to foreign lands and there serve where the need is great? Perhaps you have the willingness and desire but lack the physical health to go to foreign fields of service. There is a great need for full-time ministers in every country of Christendom. The so-called Christian nations need Christian missionaries as much as the rest of the world. There are many isolated territories among people speaking your own language where there is a crying need for more pioneers. Your home congregation undoubtedly needs more full-time ministers to feed, train and care properly for the “other sheep” that are flocking into the New World society. Now if your proper place in this organization of diversified assignments is that of a full-time pioneer or missionary, then it is certainly wrong and foolish to allow the cares and anxieties of the old-world system of things to prevent you from occupying your rightful place.

20. Why the urgency now to both find and keep one’s place in the constellation of the New World society?

²⁰ Jehovah God has a place for each one of us in his organization, just as he has a place for the two hundred million times two hundred billion stars of space. Under Jehovah and Christ Jesus, for those of the remnant and those of the “other sheep,” for appointed servants and for congregation publishers, for those old and those young in years, for part-time and for full-time ministers—yes, indeed, in this highly organized New World society there is a properly assigned place for each and all. It is therefore most important for every living individual to find his appropriate place quickly in this association. It is not less important either, as the following article shows, that, having found one’s place in the constellation of the New World society, one should faithfully remain in it if one hopes to survive Armageddon and live forever in eternal peace and happiness.

Prefers Bloodless Therapy

Dr. J. D. Thompson, in the Southern Medical Journal, May, 1957, says that the use of oral ferrous sulphate is to be preferred to blood transfusions in building up the hemoglobin level of anemic women patients in preparation for operations for diseases peculiar to their sex. Especially is this so, he states, because of the “unfortunate fatalities from blood transfusions which have occurred.”

He lists five cases of severe anemia that were helped by this type of treatment “to show that even the markedly anemic patient does not always require transfusion for preoperative correction of anemia if sufficient time is available. Of course, many other patients with less severe degrees of anemia have been given iron orally and have thus avoided the dangers of one or more blood transfusions.” As for the disadvantages of oral iron therapy, they are few and mild.

Beware that You Do Not Lose Your Place!

“Let him that thinks he has a firm position beware that he does not fall.”—1 Cor. 10:12.

1. Is there a possible danger of losing one’s place in the New World society?

IT IS one thing to find a pearl of very great value. It is quite a different thing to keep from losing it. It was one thing for Adam and Eve to find themselves in the Edenic garden of perfection; it was another matter whether they proved worthy of remaining in it forever. As pointed out in the previous article, it is important for people to find and take their proper places in the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses without delay. But once they are in it, it becomes even more urgent upon them to keep that precious place faithfully and loyally. Otherwise stated, it is not so much a matter as to who comes into the truth as it is who remains in the truth, for there is no such thing as “once saved always saved.” The apostle Paul’s case is in point. Almost unthinkable it is that a person like the apostle would ever lose his place, yet he saw the ever-present danger of doing that very thing. To prevent such a calamitous thing from occurring he said: “I browbeat my body and lead it as a slave, that, after I have preached to others, I myself should not become disapproved somehow.” We do well to heed his warning.—1 Cor. 9:27.

2. Point out some of the pitfalls that have caused others to lose out.

² Certain precautions, if taken, will serve as safeguards against losing one’s privileged place in the New World society. One such protective measure is to observe and avoid the errors and pitfalls into which others have stumbled. “Shrewd is the one that has seen the calamity and proceeds to conceal himself, but the inexperienced have passed along and must suffer the penalty.” (Prov. 22:3) So, to keep your place faithfully, do not follow the wicked course of Satan the Devil. He let iniquity, that is, lawlessness and rebellion against Jehovah’s organization, take root in his heart. Do not openly or secretly challenge Jehovah’s channel of communication, as Korah, Dathan and Abiram did, lest the earth swallow you up and you lose your place among those who will live in the new world. Do not secretly commit the sin of Achan by attempting to gain material loot contrary to Jehovah’s commandments. (1 Tim. 6:9) Achan’s confession when he was caught with the goods came too late to prevent his being disfellowshiped from the congregation of God. Do not lie to Jehovah or to his appointed servants like Ananias and Sapphira did, lest you drop out of place as quickly as they dropped dead in their tracks. Do not play the hypocrite and betray God’s organization to the godless Communists or other agencies of the Devil’s organization, as Judas Iscariot did. That too is suicide. All these foolish individuals lost their places in God’s theocratic organization. (Ezek. 28:13-15; Isa. 14:12-14, AV; Num. 16:1-35; Josh. 7:1-26; Acts 5:1-11; Matt. 27:3-5) Do not so much as even slow down and look back. “Remember the wife of Lot,” for she too lost both her place and her life when she slowed down and looked back. Be on guard, therefore, and walk circumspectly, in order that you do not stumble over some unforeseen obstacle, lose your footing and fall out of God’s favor. “Let him that thinks he has a firm position beware that he does not fall.”—Luke 17:32; 1 Cor. 10:12.

3. What encouraging examples do we have of those who steadfastly kept their places?

³ Instead of following the course of those who lost their places in Jehovah’s arrangement of things, much better it is to copy the virtuous examples of those who remained immovable regardless of what hit them in the way of painful trials and seductive temptations. There is a great cloud of these inspiring examples surrounding us, and the apostle Paul mentions a number of them in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. Chief of such faithful witnesses was Christ Jesus; and what a perfect example he is of one who steadfastly kept his place! “Look intently at the leader and perfecter of our faith, Jesus. For the joy that was set before him he endured a torture stake, despising shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Indeed, consider closely the one who has endured such contrary talk by sinners against their own interests, that you may not get tired and give out in your souls.”—Heb. 12:2, 3.

4. What scriptures show that Jehovah requires obedience of all of us?

⁴ Concerning this perfect place-keeper, Jesus, it is written: “Although he was a Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.” If it was necessary in Jehovah’s all-wise arrangement of things to prove whether his perfect and only-begotten Son would obediently keep his place under stress, how much more so should we be proved, we who “were once senseless, disobedient, being misled, being slaves to various desires and pleasures.” (Heb. 5:8; Titus 3:3) Obedience to Jehovah is a prime requirement of those keeping their place, and faithful Samuel emphasized this when proud King Saul in disobedience got out of place. “Look! to obey is better than a sacrifice, to pay attention than the fat of rams.” (1 Sam. 15:22) “Obey my voice,” Jehovah himself commands, “and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.” That is the only way to remain within the organization whose God is Jehovah; and this explains why disobedient Israel as a nation got so far out of line that they were finally cut off completely. The sad historical commentary reads: “But they [the nation of Israel] hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.”—Jer. 7:23, 24, AV.

5. How may we avoid the disaster that befell ancient Israel?

⁵ If spiritual Israel, represented today by the remnant, together with their good-will companions are to avoid the disaster that overtook ancient Israel, then they must be obedient to the “superior authorities,” Jehovah God and Christ Jesus. They must also show proper respect toward the central governing body, the traveling representatives of that body, as well as the overseers in the local congregations. “Let the older men who preside in a right way be reckoned worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard in speaking and teaching.” “Remember those who are governing you, who have spoken the word of God to you, and as you contemplate how their conduct turns out imitate their faith. Be obedient to those who are governing you [taking the lead among you] and be submissive, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will render an account.” “In like manner, you younger men, be in subjection to the older men.”—1 Tim. 5:17; Heb. 13:7, 17; 1 Pet. 5:5.

6. Is it possible for those in Communist countries to have a place in the New World society?

⁶ Willingness to be in subjection and obey properly constituted authority is not a hard thing to do for those keeping their proper place in the New World society; but sometimes Jehovah’s witnesses are unwillingly forced to be in subjection to unreasonable authority and to those who are “difficult to please,” as, for example, in Communist slave camps. But if, because of a good “conscience toward God,” they suffer great affliction and bear up under cruel persecution they will certainly continue to hold on to their cherished place in the New World society despite the fact that they are isolated from physical contact and cut off from communication with their brothers and sisters in other parts of the world. Actually, in their suffering for what is upright and true they are only following closely the footsteps of Christ Jesus their perfect Model.—1 Pet. 2:18-21.

7. Overseers must display what quality, and why?

⁷ Overseers and “those who are governing you,” to whom members of the congregations are in submission, must themselves keep their proper place in the organization. They must be humble in mind and attitude, not bossy or dictatorial in their treatment of others, not presumptuous before God. Rather, they must have the same mental attitude the Leader and Commander of God’s people has always had, for says the apostle: “Keep this mental attitude in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he was existing in God’s form, gave no consideration to a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to God. No, but he emptied himself and took a slave’s form and came to be in the likeness of men. More than that, when he found himself in fashion as a man, he [further] humbled himself and became obedient as far as death, yes, death on a torture stake.”—Phil. 2:5-8.

KEEP YOUR PLACE BY BEARING FRUIT

8. What striking illustration did Jesus give to show the necessity of keeping one’s assigned place in God’s organization?

⁸ This magnificent example of faithful obedience and submission, Christ Jesus, gave a very fitting illustration of how those who are grafted into this fruit-bearing society should keep their respective places. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the cultivator,” he said. Now, “every branch in me not bearing fruit he takes away, and every one bearing fruit he cleans, that it may bear more fruit.” Further underscoring the necessity of holding on to one’s place, Jesus continues: “Remain in union with me, and I in union with you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remains in the vine, in the same way neither can you, unless you remain in union with me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He that remains in union with me, and I in union with him, this one bears much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing at all.” Note, now, the terrible consequences befalling anyone who has his own way of doing things and is not at oneness with the Head and others in the organization. “If anyone does not remain in union with me, he is cast out as a branch and is dried up, and men gather those branches up and pitch them into the fire and they are burned.”—John 15:1-6.

9. (a) How should one respond to correction? (b) What divine judgment awaits those who produce only thorns and thistles instead of Kingdom fruit?

⁹ This apt illustration shows that if any in the organization become lax or careless in their bearing of Kingdom fruit they are ‘cleaned’ or ‘trimmed’ with the truth in order that they may become more productive. (John 15:2, 3) So when corrected, instead of becoming offended and bucking against the organization it is much wiser to keep one’s place and bear even more fruitage, for disgruntled ones are pitched outside. Describing the fiery destruction awaiting those who fall away from their place in Jehovah’s sacred vinelike organization, it is written: “For it is impossible as regards those who have once for all been enlightened and who have tasted the heavenly free gift and who have become partakers of holy spirit and who have tasted the right word of God and powers of the coming system of things, but who have fallen away, to revive them again to repentance, because they impale the Son of God afresh for themselves and expose him to public shame. For example, the ground that drinks in the rain which often comes upon it and . . . [then] produces thorns and thistles, it is rejected and . . . it ends up with being burned.”—Heb. 6:4-8.

10. (a) How should we clothe the nakedness of our imperfections? (b) Why is “lowliness of mind” such a great virtue?

¹⁰ Besides these many examples and illustrations there is also a great deal of direct counsel in the Scriptures, which, if followed, will help each one in the New World society to keep in his place. We being born in sin and shaped in lawlessness, our dispositions, by nature, are rather unsightly. We should therefore cover up the nakedness of our imperfections, and the Scriptures suggest the proper clothing to use. “As God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, clothe yourselves with the tender affections of compassion, kindness, lowliness of mind, mildness, and long-suffering. Continue putting up with one another and forgiving one another freely if anyone has a cause for complaint against another. Even as Jehovah freely forgave you, so do you also.” “Lowliness of mind” or humility is a great virtue. It will keep one from becoming a boaster, proud or exalting oneself because of superior education or a better economic or social standing or because of a presumably higher position in the organization. We should remember that “not many wise in a fleshly way were called, not many powerful, not many noble; but God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put the wise men to shame, and God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put the strong things to shame; and God chose the ignoble things of the world and the things looked down upon, the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are.” Why? Paul emphasizes the importance of humility when he answers: “in order that no flesh might boast in the sight of God.”—Ps. 51:5; Col. 3:12, 13; 1 Cor. 1:26-29.

CEMENTED IN PLACE BY THE BOND OF LOVE

11. What special bond holds true Christians together?

¹¹ What beautiful garments—tender affections, kindness, lowliness of mind, mildness and long-suffering! But these are not enough to cover our imperfections. The apostle adds yet another part of dress to this ensemble that must be worn by all who are identified with the society that is new and altogether different from the present system of selfishness and greed. “But, besides all these things, clothe yourselves with love, for it is a perfect bond of union.” Yes, indeed, love first for Jehovah and Christ Jesus, and love too for one another, is a bond or cement that will identify and hold us firmly in God’s organization.—Col. 3:14; John 13:34, 35.

12. In walking orderly, what practices must those of the New World society avoid?

¹² With each one adorning himself with these godly qualities there is no envying of one another or coveting the place and position that another is assigned to. There is no competition among those of the New World society. Co-operation, not competition, is one of the high principles of God’s organization. There is also no room for inflated egos or egotistical practices among Jehovah’s witnesses, for if anyone pursued such a course he would be walking out of step, walking disorderly, and thus out of harmony with theocratic instructions. “If we are living by spirit, let us go on walking orderly also by spirit. Let us not become egotistical, stirring up competition with one another, envying one another.” “Make my joy full in that you are of the same mind and have the same love, being joined together in soul, holding the one thought in mind, doing nothing out of contentiousness or out of egotism, but with lowliness of mind considering that the others are superior to you, keeping an eye, not in personal interest upon just your own matters, but also in personal interest upon those of the others.”—Gal. 5:25, 26; Phil. 2:2-4.

13. Is there room in this theocratic organization for slanderers and busybodies?

¹³ This recommended helpful co-operation between members of the New World society certainly is not counseling individuals or making allowance for individuals to busybody in the business of other persons. Indeed, if any would pry into, meddle with and unscripturally concern themselves with the private matters of others, such ones would be out of place and walking entirely out of order. Does not this same writer take to task those who go “gadding about” as “gossipers and meddlers in other people’s affairs”? “Make it your aim to live quietly and to mind your own business . . . so that you may be walking decently.” “For we hear certain ones are walking disorderly among you, not working at all but meddling with what does not concern them.” (1 Tim. 5:13; 1 Thess. 4:11, 12; 2 Thess. 3:11) The apostle Peter goes so far as to classify those who busybody in other people’s matters with thieves and murderers, and the Scriptures say that the place for murderers and their associates is completely outside the New World system of things.—1 Pet. 4:15; Rev. 22:15.

14. Mutual co-operation results in what healthy benefits?

¹⁴ So the helpful co-operation that exists between Jehovah’s witnesses is a healthy, uplifting and strengthening force that mutually aids both the strong and the weak ones. It is very much like the assistance and aid that the individual members of the human body supply one another so that all are able to retain their organic place in the body. “Let us by love grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ. From him all the body, by being harmoniously joined together and being made to cooperate through every joint which gives what is needed, according to the functioning of each respective member in due measure, makes for the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”—Eph. 4:15, 16.

15. (a) To what extent must there be unity in matters of doctrine and teaching? (b) What warning example do we find in the case of Miriam?

¹⁵ This co-operation on the part of each one in this bodylike organization is not simply in physical matters at congregation meetings or in helping one another to engage in the public preaching activity. It also includes a harmonious unison with the Head of the organization in spiritual matters of doctrine and teaching. “I exhort you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you should all speak in agreement, and that there should not be divisions among you, but that you may be fitly united in the same mind and in the same line of thought.” There can be no divisions in belief and teaching of Bible truths. If, therefore, anyone in the organization would set himself up as an expounder of new and strange doctrines not founded upon the revealed Scriptures, and in opposition to what the Lord God has brought to light through his theocratic organization, then that one would be wholly out of place, as out of place as leprous Miriam was when quarantined outside the camp of Israel because she attempted to cause a division in that theocratic society of long ago.—1 Cor. 1:10; Num. 12:1-16.

16. To remain in the harness as “slaves” of Jehovah and Christ, what must we do?

¹⁶ Subservient service to the “superior authorities,” Jehovah God and Christ his King, is also demanded of all those keeping their places. “Be slaves to Jehovah,” the Scriptures say. “Whatever you are doing, work at it whole-souled as to Jehovah, and not to men, for you know that it is from Jehovah you will receive the due reward of the inheritance.” Those who are willing slaves to Jehovah are also voluntary “slaves to the Master Christ.” (Rom. 12:11; Col. 3:23, 24) To such this loving Master extends the invitation: “Take my yoke upon you and become my disciples, . . . For my yoke is kindly and my load is light.” Here, then, you members of the New World society, is where your proper place is—under Christ’s easy yoke of service, pulling with him and his organization. There is no place in this theocratic organization for any who hold back and who have to be prodded, or for those who grudgingly and sluggishly drag along halfheartedly, or for those who jump over the traces and stubbornly want to go their own way. The voluntary slaves of Jehovah are and must be hard workers, willing workers, diligent workers, who gladly and joyfully team up with Christ Jesus and one another and apply their minds and bodies and all their talents and physical energies toward advancing the Kingdom interests. That is what Jesus did, and Jehovah’s witnesses today are privileged to be ‘substitutes for Christ.’—Matt. 11:29, 30; 2 Cor. 5:20.

17. What is required of all those that keep their place when it comes to endurance and covenant keeping?

¹⁷ “No man that has put his hand to a plow and looks at the things behind is well fitted for the kingdom of God.” Thus Jesus stated an important principle, namely, it is endurance that wins. Endurance is required of all those who will retain their place in the New World society. “He that has endured to the finish is the one that will be saved.” “Prove yourself faithful even with the danger of death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (Luke 9:62; Matt. 24:13; Rev. 2:10) We once accepting the responsibilities that go with a theocratic appointment, faithfully sticking to that assignment is required. Never be a quitter, for quitters are disapproved by Jehovah and are removed from their places of appointment. Demas was such a quitter, one who forsook his theocratic privileges, simply because “he loved the present system of things.” Judas Iscariot was another quitter and he lost all hope of a return to a place of life. It was after this unfaithful one had been dismissed from the last passover meal that Jesus said to the remaining faithful eleven: “You are the ones that have stuck with me in my trials; and I make a covenant with you, just as my Father has made a covenant with me, for a kingdom.” Since covenant breakers and those “false to agreements,” as quitters, “are deserving of death,” covenant keeping becomes an all-important matter.—2 Tim. 4:10; Luke 22:28, 29; Rom. 1:31, 32.

18. So what are the beneficial results of keeping our proper place in the New World society?

¹⁸ You, therefore, of the New World society, all of you, with endurance prove faithful to your dedication vows. Continue “keeping a tight grip on the word of life.” Never lose your grip and you will never lose your place. And keeping your place now in the New World society, you will prove worthy of living forever, either associated with Christ Jesus in the heavens, or here upon the earth under Edenic conditions of perfection—all to your everlasting blessing and prosperity and, above all, to the honor and glory and vindication of Jehovah’s most holy Word and name!—Phil. 2:16.

A Catholic Defends Children Witnesses

OFTEN in remote and lonely sections of the world great faith in God can be found. From one of these sections of the Cagayan Valley a report came to the Watch Tower office in Quezon City that little children had been expelled from school for alleged disrespect to the flag, to their teachers and to their parents. Help was urgently needed to settle the controversy and have the children reinstated in school.

The Society’s attorney, a Roman Catholic, sped to the scene. He took a plane from Manila to Tuguegarao. There he was joined by leading provincial school authorities, who were to conduct an administrative investigation of the complaints. After taking land transportation as far as possible, the men removed their shoes and stockings, rolled up their trousers and proceeded on foot along the muddy trail to the distant schoolhouse. Out of courtesy to the visiting attorney, a water buffalo was provided for him to ride. After walking about a kilometer, the animal refused to go farther. The attorney slipped off its back into the mud and finished the journey on foot with the others.

Teachers and children were called for the investigation. The charge was that the children had refused to salute the flag in school when ordered to do so by their teachers. For this they were accused of being disrespectful to the flag and to their teachers. Because they referred to their mothers and fathers as “brothers” and “sisters” in a spiritual sense, they were accused of being disrespectful to their parents.

The children were called upon to explain their conduct. With the Bible in hand they calmly expressed themselves against idolatry, which they recognized flag saluting to be. Never have they been intentionally disrespectful to their parents. The parents verified this. The children were dismissed from the assembly. The school officials then turned to the teachers and reprimanded them for giving false reports about innocent Christian children and ordered their reinstatement. Both attorney and school officials were amazed to see children putting up such an intelligent defense for their faith. As the attorney himself stated: “There, among simple farm folk, I found real Christian faith.”

In June, 1957, the Society’s attorney appeared before a court in the Philippines to defend and legally establish the right of the children of Jehovah’s witnesses to refuse to salute the flag, sing the national anthem and recite the pledge to the flag. He faced a courtroom filled with attorneys displeased with the position of Jehovah’s witnesses. Yet he calmly and logically presented his arguments for an hour and a half to an attentive court. This Catholic attorney concluded by saying: “Just as Catholics will defend to the death their right to refrain from eating certain foods on days of abstinence, so the witnesses of Jehovah have a right to abstain from performing an act which, to them, would bring upon them the displeasure of Almighty God.” Then he sat down.

Momentarily there was complete silence in the court. Then the Catholic judge chose to show his humility in a most impressive manner. Leaving the bench, he came down to the lawyers’ table and grasped the hand of the Society’s attorney. He said: “I may not agree with all you have said, but I certainly like the arguments you have presented. It is the most impressive speech I have heard in this court.” When the court was dismissed, the presidents of the provincial bar association and the city bar association congratulated the attorney on the arguments he gave and offered the facilities of their homes and offices as a token of their change of heart toward the position taken by parents and children of Jehovah’s witnesses.

Questions From Readers

● Is there really a moral breakdown in marital relations? Or is what we hear the cry of headline hunters quick to feed ears itching for sensationalism?—D. P., United States.

It is not the purpose of The Watchtower to treat any subject emotionally. From its vantage point it calls attention to physical facts and sets them alongside prophecy so that you can see for yourself how well the two match and how accurately Jehovah interprets his own Word. Relating to the question, Jesus foretold in his great prophecy concerning the end of this system of things that “as people were in those days before the flood, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark; and they took no note until the flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be.” The prophet Hosea foretold that there would be “no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land. There is nought but swearing and breaking faith, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery.”—Matt. 24:38, 39; Hos. 4:1-3, AS.

Now, we ask, what do the facts show? Are we witnessing a fulfillment of Bible prophecy or are we caught in a whirlpool of sensational reports? Queen Elizabeth II of England, when a princess, said: “We can hardly help admitting that we live in an age of growing self-indulgence, of hardening materialism and of falling moral standards.” This is hardly a flair for sensationalism. Yet it does put the point across. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science for November, 1950, concerning England, said: “The figures are startling. From about 5,000 per annum in 1937, the divorce rate actually multiplied by ten in ten years!” Regarding Sweden it reported: “The divorce rate in Sweden has steadily increased. It rose by more than 100 per cent in the past decade and by 1,000 per cent in the past half century.” It quoted an official marriage mediator as saying that “50 per cent of the husbands and 25 per cent of the wives [in Stockholm] were accused of practicing adultery.” Concerning the United States, this report shows that the average number of divorces per hundred marriages in the 1881-90 decade had increased 466 percent by the 1940-49 decade. Similar increases are in other countries. Since this record was made the divorce rate has increased. These are the unemotional facts.

Make no mistake, the moral breakdown is real and it is on a world-wide scale. Happy are your eyes if you see these conditions to be a part of the great sign marking the end of this old world.—Matt. 13:13-17.

Priest Rebukes Bishop

The Finnish Lutheran priest and educator, Urho Muroma, was incensed when a prominent Lutheran bishop, Eelis Gulin, took a stand publicly in behalf of the evolution theory. In his religious periodical Herää Valvomaan, No. 9, 1957, priest Muroma voiced his indignation by saying: “All honor must be to everyone’s belief, but when a bishop, who is obligated by the canonical law to defend pure doctrine in the church, presents opinions that contradict the two-thousand-year-old faith of the Christian church besides being scientifically untenable and apparently contrary to his own oath when sworn into office, then he is guilty of a most improper act. Bishop Gulin says that the faith of the Christian church in Jesus’ positive authority is ‘ridiculous’ and so do all liberal theologians. . . . The matter is a very serious one. . . . The Baptist church is within its rights to demand that its leaders do not start to defend baptism of infants and, if they do so, to remove them. The Adventist church is within its rights to demand that its leaders do not start to recommend Sunday as sabbath day and, if they do so, to dismiss them. Jehovah’s witnesses are within their rights to demand that their leaders do not believe in a triune God and, if they do so and teach accordingly, to disfellowship them. But in the Lutheran church everyone is entitled to teach any heresy he likes without being punished.”

Announcements

UNITEDLY PREACHING THE KINGDOM

It is the happy privilege of Jehovah’s witnesses world-wide to preach unitedly the kingdom of God as having begun. From study of the Scriptures they have come to understand clearly that we are living in the parousía, properly translated from Greek into English as “presence,” of the Lord. It being that his presence began in 1914, it was then “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will rule as king for ever and ever.” (Rev. 11:15) To acquaint as many people as possible with this urgent information, during August Jehovah’s witnesses will continue their diligent house-to-house preaching work, offering to people two Bible-study aid books and two booklets on a contribution of $1. More and more preachers are joining in the ranks of the witnesses and are being richly blessed as they share in the happy work of preaching the Kingdom. Would you like to share? Contact the local Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s witnesses for information or write us.

DIVINE WILL INTERNATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

July is the month that Jehovah’s witnesses the world over have waited for with keen anticipation. On the 27th day of this month their big international assembly in New York city begins. For eight glorious days thousands of delegates from more than a hundred lands will feast upon spiritual fat things and be strengthened by Christian fellowship. Two immense stadiums, Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds, will be used for the entire period of the convention. A fine program is planned for each day to instruct, encourage and upbuild all in attendance. All persons of good will toward Jehovah God are invited to attend every day of the assembly. It will be an experience they will not want to miss. On the afternoon of August 3 at 3 p.m. a special talk will be given by N. H. Knorr, president of the Watch Tower Society. Its title is “God’s Kingdom Rules—Is the World’s End Near?” During the assembly it will be widely advertised throughout New York and vicinity. Every reader of The Watchtower is urged to hear this talk and to attend other sessions of the assembly if it is at all possible for them to do so.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

August 17: Find Your Place in the New World Society. Page 433.

August 24: Beware that You Do Not Lose Your Place! Page 440.

Check Your Memory

After reading this issue of “The Watchtower,” do you remember—

✔ How adults are like children? P. 420, ¶1.

✔ How the dead can live forever? P. 421, ¶2.

✔ How a dedicated servant of God can open blind eyes and free captives? P. 424, ¶2.

✔ Why God does not execute sinners speedily? P. 425, ¶2.

✔ What a person should hate? P. 426, ¶2.

✔ Whether Adam could write? P. 429, ¶2.

✔ Whether it can be said that each star has a God-given position? P. 433, ¶2.

✔ Why the Christian congregation cannot consist of many organizations? P. 435, ¶8.

✔ What has brought about a unity among Jehovah’s witnesses that does not exist in other organizations? P. 436, ¶11.

✔ How the apostle Paul revealed that he did not believe the doctrine “once saved always saved”? P. 440, ¶1.

✔ Why Christ stressed the need for his followers to be in union with him? P. 442, ¶8.

✔ What garments are more beautiful than any clothing that can be bought? P. 443, ¶11.

✔ Where the divorce rate multiplied ten times in ten years? P. 447, ¶3.