The Watchtower — September 15, 1961

Do You Keep Your Word?

DID you ever have a person ask you for money and give you his solemn word that he would positively repay you on a specific day, then for some reason never keep his word? Have you a neighbor who borrows sugar, pots and pans and other items with a promise to return them later, yet never does? What about persons who are never punctual for appointments, never on time for work; people who somehow never keep their word? What do you think of such persons? Or are you one of them?

Invariably disappointment follows a broken promise. We feel let down, because we expect more of intelligent people. We want them to be persons of their word, and rightly so.

Man, by virtue of his being a creation of God, made in the image and likeness of his Creator, is expected to reflect the qualities of his Maker Jehovah, who is a God of truth, a God of his word. Of Jehovah Captain Joshua said: “Not one word out of all the good words that Jehovah your God has spoken to you has failed.” “Not a promise failed out of all the good promise that Jehovah had made.” (Josh. 23:14; 21:45) Of himself Jehovah stated: “My word that goes forth from my mouth . . . will not return to me without results.” (Isa. 55:11; 46:11) Therefore, we can count on God. He has built for himself a good reputation for dependability, because he is a God of his word. Can the same be said of you?

Jesus Christ called on men to imitate God, saying: “Let your word Yes mean Yes, your No, No; for what is in excess of these is from the wicked one.” “You must accordingly be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matt. 5:37, 48) Our being creatures of God is a compelling reason for us to be creatures of our word, for by our words we either honor or dishonor our Maker. We also harm ourselves if we do not keep our word.

When the United States Congressional investigators probed into the television quiz programs in 1959, they uncovered what was called one of the worst frauds perpetrated on the American public in recent years. The whole nation was hurt and bewildered by the disclosures. This because trusted men proved false to their word. Columbia Broadcasting System’s president, Frank Stanton, admitted that the integrity of all broadcasting had been challenged, and that “it is doubtful if the industry will ever completely recover from the loss of public confidence.” So great was the loss when men proved false to their word!

People who do not keep their word are untrustworthy. They lack forthrightness. Doubt and suspicion are born in their words. A cup of sugar not returned may be a small thing, but soon small things develop into big things. Little atoms make big mountains. Unkept promises breed irresponsibility, negligence and sloppy habits. Soon words lose meaning, contracts and solemn agreements are not honored. If a man does not honor a publicly announced engagement to get married, for example, can he be trusted to respect solemn engagements in God’s organization? Hardly. If there are no valid reasons for breaking an engagement, then that man is untrue to his word. He is not a man of his word, and therefore not worthy of responsibility.

God holds man to his word. “Whenever you vow a vow to God, do not hesitate to pay it, for there is no delight in the stupid ones. What you vow, pay.” (Eccl. 5:4) This can be a dedication vow, a marriage vow, or any vow made to God. In the marriage vow the couple promise, not only to accept each other as husband and wife, but also to love and cherish each other in accordance with the divine law as outlined in the Holy Scriptures. Are you keeping your word? The large number of divorces, separations, desertions and breach-of-promise suits is ample proof that many are not.

Local customs often make men untrue to their word. For an example, at a recent wedding, the minister waited. The bridegroom waited. The guests waited. The wedding was scheduled for three o’clock, but the bride did not show up until five! She could have been ready at three, but custom dictated that she be late. However, sometime later, when the husband was unavoidably delayed a few minutes from keeping an appointment with her, she felt irked. For pleasant relations, we should keep our word.

Some people have a custom of inviting people to dinner when they do not mean it. The guest is expected to decline the offer politely. However, one not acquainted with the custom may accept the invitation, much to the embarrassment of all present. Such show of “hospitality” is nothing but hypocrisy. It is not honest and it is unfair.

Say what you mean and mean what you say. “Let your word Yes mean Yes, your No, No.” Do not invite people to have a meal with you if you do not have food in the house. Do not ask them to spend the night if you do not mean it. Be persons of your word. Customs may be fine, but when they make a liar of you, then it is time for a change.

We expect children to be forthright with their words, but are parents when speaking to them? Do you promise to spank, and not spank? Do you “say but do not perform,” as Jesus said the scribes and Pharisees did? Does your Yes mean Yes and your No, No, to your child? Or are you more like the father who said to his son: “You positively, absolutely can’t go to the movie today and that’s final—unless your mother says you can”? Keep your word if you want your children to respect you.—Matt. 23:3.

Do not try to copy the world around you, for it has become schooled in the art of subtleties and circumlocutions. Keep your word. If, due to circumstances beyond your control, you see that you cannot, then immediately inform persons involved and explain why. Be truthful in your speech. By all means, keep your word.—2 Cor. 6:4-7.

What Does the Bible Teach About the Divinity of Christ?

Is Christ God? Or was he never more than a mere human? The Bible answer makes sense.

“YOU are apostates! You are not Christians! You do not believe in the divinity of Christ!” Thus shouted the elderly prominent clergyman. What had brought on this emotional outburst? His chance meeting with two young Christian ministers, Jehovah’s witnesses. This true-life incident, which took place on a streamliner between two major United States cities, is typical of how strongly some professed Christians feel about the subject of the divinity of Christ.

Just what is meant by the “divinity of Christ”? Apparently there is considerable confusion on the subject, even among those belonging to denominations teaching it. As with many other teachings of the Bible, religious leaders have gone to extremes. On the one hand there are those that argue that Jesus Christ never was more than a mere human, and on the other hand the trinitarians argue that he always existed and always was divine. The Bible truth, as we shall see, lies about halfway between these two extremes. The Word of God shows that Jesus Christ was at one time, in his prehuman existence, a spirit, that he became wholly human upon coming to earth, and that upon his resurrection he again became a spirit, now endowed with an incorruptible organism and receiving immortal life.

CHRIST’S PREHUMAN EXISTENCE

Was Christ never more than a mere human, or did he have a prehuman existence? He himself explicitly answered these questions, for he repeatedly testified to the fact of his prehuman existence and to his having come down from heaven: “No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man.” “I am the living bread which came down from heaven.” “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” “Father, glorify thou me in thy own presence with the glory which I had with thee before the world was made.” “The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.”—John 3:13; 6:51; 8:58; 17:5; Rev. 3:14.a

Jesus’ disciples testified to the same effect: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God . . .” “All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” “His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation . . . He is before all things.” “We see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, . . . that by the grace of God he might taste death for every one.” So if we believe the Bible to be God’s inspired Word, we have no alternative but to accept its testimony as to Christ’s actually having had a prehuman existence.—John 1:1, 3; Phil. 2:5-7; Col. 1:13-17; Heb. 2:9.

NOT DIVINE OR A GOD WHILE ON EARTH

Just as the Bible clearly shows that Jesus Christ had a prehuman existence as a glorious spirit, so it is equally unambiguous as to Jesus Christ as being wholly a human from his birth until his resurrection from the dead. Thus the apostle John tells us that “the Word became flesh.” Not part flesh and part God, not merely clothed with flesh, but became or now was flesh. Likewise the apostle Paul testifies that “God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law.” If he had been part God and part human it could not have been said that he had been “made lower than the angels.” And the apostle Peter states that “Christ also died for sins once for all, . . . being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.”—John 1:14; Gal. 4:4; Heb. 2:9; 1 Pet. 3:18.

If Jesus Christ had been both God and man at the same time, would it have been necessary for him to pray to God for help, as he repeatedly did? “Father, all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what thou wilt.” “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.”—Mark 14:36; Heb. 5:7-9.

If Jesus had been both God and man while on earth, how could he have been tested as are human creatures? Yet this he was. “For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning.” Only because he was truly human could he experience what humans experience and so become a sympathetic high priest.—Heb. 4:15.

Nor is that all. Jesus came as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” To this end he “gave himself as a ransom,” that is, a corresponding price, to redeem, to buy back what Adam had lost for the human race. Adam was not a God-man, he was not an incarnation. God’s justice required “life for life,” and so we read that “as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”—John 1:29; 1 Tim. 2:6; Deut. 19:21; 1 Cor. 15:22.

READING INTO TEXTS MORE THAN THEY SAY

Many, many are the texts that are cited by those who hold that Jesus Christ always has been divine and is, in fact, a member of a trinity, equal in essence, glory and duration with his Father. But almost invariably when we examine these texts we find that they are credited with saying far more than they actually do. For example, the texts previously cited proving that Jesus did have a prehuman existence are adduced as proof that Jesus was God Jehovah or equal to his Father; yet not one of them even intimates such a thing.

In the same way the texts that tell of Jehovah using the pronoun “us” are used as an argument for the equality of the prehuman Jesus, the Logos, with his Father. But the mere fact that God uses this pronoun does not prove that he was speaking to an equal. At best, it can merely imply that among all the heavenly creatures there was one that occupied a preferred position in relation to God Jehovah; and this is exactly how the Scriptures present the matter. The Word, the Logos, was Jehovah’s intimate, his chief Deputy, Spokesman or Messenger before he came to earth.—Gen. 1:26; 11:7; Prov. 8:30; Isa. 63:9; John 1:3.

Then again, the fact that the Father, Son and holy spirit were present at Jesus’ baptism, were mentioned in the commission Jesus gave his followers to “make disciples of all nations” and by Paul in one of his closing benedictions cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be used to argue that the three must be persons coequal in glory, substance and eternity, as is almost invariably argued by trinitarians. Such is reading far more into such texts than they actually say. Surely, one who had never heard of the trinity would never, from these texts, get the trinity idea.—Matt. 3:16, 17; 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14.

It is also reading too much into Bible texts to claim that because they tell of Jesus performing miracles and being raised from the dead they prove that “Christ is God,” as did Roman Catholic priest F. X. Cronin, preaching at St. Patrick’s Cathedral; or to say that because of these facts Jesus was either “God . . . or the greatest fraud that ever lived!” as did a Knights of Columbus advertisement.—New York Times, February 1, 1960.

It was not at all necessary for Jesus to be divine or God to perform the miracles he did. Moses and many other prophets of old performed amazing miracles without being God, and so did Jesus’ disciples. So Jesus’ miracles and his resurrection from the dead cannot be used as proof that he was God. As for his being a fraud if he were not God, let it be noted that at no time did Jesus claim to be God, to be the same as his Father. The most he ever claimed for himself was that he was the Son of God; in a unique sense, it is true, but not God himself, only the Son of God.—John 10:36.

Micah 5:2 is another text into which too much is read by those believing in the trinity. According to the King James Version it prophetically speaks of Jesus as the one “whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” Because only Jehovah is from everlasting it is argued that Jesus is Jehovah God. But again, not so. The Hebrew word here rendered “everlasting,” is olám, and simply means an indefinite period of time. It is used at Numbers 25:13 to apply to the Levitical priesthood, which did last for an indefinite period of time, coming to its end more than 1900 years ago. Other translations of Micah 5:2 therefore read: “Whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.” (RS) “Whose origin is from early times, from the days of time indefinite.”—NW.

The title “Mighty God” applied to Jesus Christ at Isaiah 9:6 is also used to prove that Jesus is God, because Isaiah 10:21 and Jeremiah 32:18 speak of Jehovah God as “mighty God.” But here again too much is read into the texts. Only the superlatives and the infinites can dogmatically be limited to Jehovah, such as “the Most High.” Jesus is a god, a mighty god, and so is Jehovah a God, a mighty God. But additionally, Jehovah is the mighty God and also the God Almighty. The term in the Hebrew, el gibbór, “mighty God,” is not limited to Jehovah, but the term el Shaddái, “God Almighty,” is.—Gen. 17:1.

“Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.” (Isa. 43:10) More is also read into this text than it warrants by those who use it to prove that Jesus Christ is equal with God. The claim is made that this text proves that Jesus could not have been created by God but must have existed from eternity, otherwise he would have been a god that came after God, and God says that there shall be no god after him. Such an argument, however, shows a misunderstanding of the text. The point Jehovah is here making is that he had no predecessors, before him no god existed. How could there be a god before him, since he always was? Neither will there be any god after him, that is, he will never have any successors, because he will always be the Supreme Sovereign, Jehovah God. That God Jehovah did produce other gods, the Scriptures show: “I say, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, you shall die like men, and fall like any prince.’” So also the Logos was a god created by Jehovah.—Ps. 82:6, 7.

SUBORDINATION UNEQUIVOCALLY TAUGHT

Far from the Scriptures teaching that Jesus Christ is a coequal deity, a God equal to Jehovah God, they continually show that he is inferior to his Father. He himself said: “The Father is greater than I.” And even after his resurrection he referred to Jehovah, not as his equal, but as his God, saying to Mary: “Go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Jehovah is the Father and God of Jesus, but is Jesus the Father and God of Jehovah? No.—John 14:28; 20:17.

In particular does the apostle Paul show the distinction between Jehovah and Jesus Christ. He did not teach that God and Christ are equals, but clearly reiterated time and again that Jesus occupies an inferior position: “For us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” Further, he shows that even as “all things are yours,” so “you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” Yes, even as Christians belong to their Head and Master, Jesus Christ, so Jesus Christ belongs to his Head and Master, Jehovah God.—1 Cor. 8:6; 3:21, 23.

Referring to the same thing, the apostle farther on states: “The head of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.” What could be clearer than that? And that this relationship will continue throughout eternity is apparent from the apostle Paul’s further words: “Then comes the end, when [Christ] delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things under him, that God may be everything to every one.”—1 Cor. 11:3; 15:24, 28.

In view of the foregoing, what may briefly be said in answer to the question: What does the Bible say about the divinity of Christ? That there was a time when Jesus was not; that before he was born of Mary he had an existence in heaven as a glorious spirit creature, the Word, a god; that upon coming to earth he was wholly a human, not more, not less than perfect Adam as far as his nature was concerned; and that since his resurrection he is a mighty, glorious divine spirit, incorruptible and immortal; that never at any time has Jesus been equal to his Father but is ever subordinate to him.

[Footnotes]

Corrupted by Pagan Philosophy

“Among the earliest noticeable corruptions of the church was the introduction of Greek philosophy to harmonize and reconcile with it the truths of the gospel, which to a certain class ever have been, and ever will be, foolishness.”—Beacon Lights of History.

Respect for the Sanctity of Blood

“Flesh with its soul—its blood—you must not eat.”—Gen. 9:4.

1. (a) What attitude on the part of the world calls for Christians to demonstrate faith in God and his law? (b) What has been the world’s record as regards blood?

LIVING as they do in a world that turns a deaf ear to the Word of God, Christians are daily confronted with situations that test their faith in God and the rightness of his law. God requires respect for the sanctity of blood. But the world has strayed so far from his paths that many are not aware that there is a divine law governing such matters as the use of blood, and those that do know the law often violate it without any feeling that they have done wrong. With the blessing of the religious clergy they have spilled the lifeblood of countless persons on the battlefield, and as they do it they pray for God to be with them. When they hear that in many parts of the world blood of animals is regularly consumed as food, or when they see blood products sold in stores where they do business, they see nothing out of the way in it. And when they hear reports of the tremendous increase in the number of blood transfusions—now well over five million in a year—they view it as a mark of medical progress.

2. (a) What have the public press and the clergy said about those who show respect for the sanctity of blood? (b) What attitude toward God’s law on the part of uninformed persons has resulted from this misrepresentation, but how should we view the matter?

² In sharp contrast to the world’s indifference is the record of nearly a million persons in all parts of the world who do obey God’s law on the sanctity of blood. They have met the test of their faith and stood firm. But the public press has taken advantage of the ignorance of the people to misrepresent them as religious fanatics, particularly as regards their rejection of blood transfusions. And the religious clergy of Christendom and Jewry have added their voices, declaring that the law of God is not applicable in these cases where an individual’s life is involved. The result is that many uninformed persons have been turned against God and his Word as unreasonable and unloving. But how can the Source of all wisdom himself be unreasonable? How can God, who is love and who endowed man with the capacity to love, himself be unloving? He cannot and he is not! His is the right way, and a careful consideration of his Word helps us to get matters in proper focus. As the Life-giver he tells us what we must do in order to continue to live. By his laws he lovingly protects us from doing things in ignorance that might result in injury to ourselves, even the loss of life. The facts show that this is true in regard to his law on the matter of blood.—Prov. 2:6; 1 John 4:16; Ps. 25:4.

DIVINE LEGISLATION ON BLOOD

3. When was God’s law on blood first stated, and what does it require of mankind?

³ The issue is not new; it is not something peculiar to this twentieth century with its research into the medical use of blood. It was over 4,300 years ago, when Noah and his household, the only human survivors of the global flood, came out of the ark, that God stated to them his law on blood. Before this, man had eaten only the soulless vegetation and fruits, but now, for the first time, God granted permission for man to add meat to his diet, saying: “Every moving animal that is alive may serve as food for you. As in the case of green vegetation, I do give it all to you. Only flesh with its soul—its blood—you must not eat.” (Gen. 9:3, 4) The law is clear. Meat can be eaten, but not with the blood still in it, because the blood represents the soul or life of the creature. Man must show respect for the sanctity of blood and, so doing, show his respect for the Life-giver, Jehovah God.

4. How was the ruling on blood emphasized to the Israelites, and what reason for the prohibition was given to them?

⁴ Some eight centuries later, when the Israelites, who had recently been spared from annihilation in Egypt, were gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai, Jehovah again emphasized the restriction on blood. “It is a statute to time indefinite for your generations, in all your dwelling places: You must not eat any fat or any blood at all.” (Lev. 3:17) No distinction was made as to the source of the blood; whether animal or human, it was not to be taken into the body as food. It was not even to be stored, as shown when God went on to say: “As for any man of the sons of Israel or some alien resident who is residing as an alien in your midst who in hunting catches a wild beast or a fowl that may be eaten, he must in that case pour its blood out and cover it with dust. For the soul of every sort of flesh is its blood by the soul in it.” (Lev. 17:13, 14) The reason was clearly stated. The soul or the life of the flesh is in the blood, and obedience to God’s law on blood would show proper regard for the sanctity of life and for the Source of life.

5. Does an emergency that involves human life warrant setting aside the divine law on the use of blood, and why?

⁵ Even in times of emergency it was recognized that there was no justification for setting aside the divine law concerning the sanctity of blood. This is shown by an occurrence when the army of Israel under King Saul was fighting the Philistines. It had been a hard fight and the men were at the point of exhaustion. “And the people began darting greedily at the spoil and taking sheep and cattle and calves and slaughtering them on the earth, and the people fell to eating along with the blood.” This was no insignificant thing, excusable because of the physical condition of the men. It was reported to Saul: “Look! The people are sinning against Jehovah by eating along with the blood.” (1 Sam. 14:32, 33) They did not view the matter as do certain rabbis today who theorize that any of the requirements of the Law can be set aside when the saving of a specific life is involved. What the men were doing was a sin against God, and immediate steps were taken to put an end to it.

CHRISTIAN OBLIGATION

6. Why does the law on blood apply to Christians who are not under the law covenant?

⁶ Of course, Christians are not under the law covenant made with Moses as mediator. That law covenant passed out of existence, having fulfilled its purpose, when the new covenant was made over the blood of Jesus Christ. Does this mean that the restrictions on the use of blood have passed away too? Not at all! Because what the law covenant had to say about refraining from the eating of blood merely emphasized the requirement that is set forth in the law God gave to Noah, and that is binding upon all mankind. To set this matter straight in the minds of all Christians, both Jews and Gentiles, none of whom were any longer under the Law, the Christian governing body at Jerusalem directed their attention to the obligations that devolved upon them in this matter, saying: “The holy spirit and we ourselves have favored adding no further burden to you, except these necessary things, to keep yourselves free from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication. If you carefully keep yourselves from these things, you will prosper.”—Acts 15:28, 29.

7, 8. What arguments are set forth by theological commentators in an effort to limit the effect of the apostolic ruling on blood, and what shows that these arguments are not sound?

⁷ However, various theological commentators on this text say that this is nothing that concerns us. ‘It was only a temporary thing,’ they say, ‘designed to prevent giving offense to Jewish converts. And the need for such a prohibition having passed away, the repeal is understood even though not stated.’ But we ask, What need has passed? There are still natural Jews associated with the Christian congregation, so it cannot be said that their absence has removed the need. The Scriptures make clear that man was to abstain from blood because the life is in the blood. Is it any less true now than it was then that the life is in the blood? And if it is argued that respect for the sacrificial use of blood is no longer binding because Christians are not called on to offer up animal sacrifices, then let it be noted that such use of animal sacrifices among the followers of Christ had come to an end sixteen years before the apostolic decree was issued. Furthermore, those who contend that Jesus’ teaching, that ‘not what enters into the mouth but what proceeds out of the mouth is what defiles a man,’ has made obsolete the ruling on blood are, in effect, arguing that the ruling on Christian abstinence from blood, which decree was delivered under direction of God’s holy spirit, was repealed before it was issued; because Jesus made his statement here referred to seventeen years before the decision on blood was sent out by the council at Jerusalem.—Matt. 15:11.

⁸ The governing body that sent out the decision on blood did not have in mind that it was merely expedient in view of the situation then and could later be dispensed with. If the prohibition of blood was temporary, then the rest of the decision must fall into the same category, which would mean that abstinence from idolatry and fornication were also temporary and designed to avoid hurting the feelings of new converts. But has the necessity for these prohibitions passed, so that fornication and idolatry are now permissible to Christians? Definitely not! The terminology of the decree indicates no time limitation; the restrictions are “necessary things” now even as they were then. As Clarke’s Commentary, in discussing Genesis 9:4, well observes: “That the prohibition has been renewed under the Christian dispensation, can admit of little doubt by any man who dispassionately reads Acts xv. 20, 29; xxi. 25, where even the Gentile converts are charged to abstain from it on the authority, not only of the apostles, but of the Holy Ghost, . . . not for fear of stumbling the converted Jews, the gloss of theologians, but because it was one . . . of those necessary points, from the burden . . . of obedience to which they could not be excused.”

9, 10. (a) What facts of history show that early Christians recognized abstinence from blood to be a serious matter? (b) In the third century what did Christian writers have to say about it? (c) As late as the year 692 what is shown to be the attitude of the Eastern church on the matter of blood?

⁹ The facts of history confirm this understanding of the matter. Early Christians did not view the prohibition on blood as of importance only in avoiding offense to Jewish converts. They did not feel that it could be set aside if it would endanger their lives to insist on it. It was well known, even among their persecutors, that Christians would not eat blood, and they would test a person to see if he was truly Christian, not only by urging him to offer incense to the pagan gods of Rome, but on occasion by urging him to eat blood sausage. So crucial was the matter that eating blood was viewed as a denial of the Christian faith. Tertullian, who lived at the beginning of the third century, referred to this when addressing his writing to the Roman world. He said: “Let your error blush before the Christians, for we do not include even animals’ blood in our natural diet. We abstain on that account from things strangled or that die of themselves, that we may not in any way be polluted by blood, even if it is buried in the meat. Finally, when you are testing Christians, you offer them sausages full of blood; you are thoroughly well aware, of course, that among them it is forbidden; but you want to make them transgress.”a Origen, too, another Christian writer, in his defense of Christian teachings, declared: “As to things strangled, we are forbidden by Scripture to partake of them, because the blood is still in them.”b

¹⁰ Even as late as the year 692, a religious council in Constantinople (the Synod of Troullos), in its 67th canon, declared: “We suitably rebuke those, who in some way prepare a meal with the use of the blood of any animal and they thus eat it in order to satisfy the gluttonous belly. If, therefore, anyone will henceforth attempt to eat the blood of any animal in whatsoever way, he will, if a priest, be unfrocked and excommunicated if a layman.”c Belief in the importance of the apostolic decree on blood still continues in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

11. What events showed mounting disregard for the restrictions on blood in the church of Rome?

¹¹ In the West, however, disregard for the divine law on blood grew most notably from the fourth century onward. Augustine, through whom Plato’s teaching of inherent immortality of the soul was also popularized, argued that the decree had lost its importance since its purpose had been accomplished.d Finally, in the fifteenth century the church of Rome had swung so far away from the viewpoint of the early Christians that the blood, not of animals, but of three young boys was appropriated in an unsuccessful attempt to revive the ailing pope of Rome, Innocent VIII, and that at the cost of the lives of all three blood donors. So it is evident that the indifference of modern-day Christendom toward the sanctity of blood is not a reflection of Christian faith, but is the result of a falling away from the faith.—1 Tim. 4:1.

MISUSE OF BLOOD AS FOOD

12. What are some of the modern-day practices that violate the sanctity of life and that Christians avoid?

¹² This makes it vital for true Christians in this time of the end to be on the alert if they are to show proper respect for the sanctity of blood. They must avoid the world’s misuse of blood. For example, in Africa there are some native peoples who supplement their diet by drinking blood from the jugular vein of their cattle. In many places men line up at slaughterhouses to drink the blood of freshly slaughtered cattle, in the belief that it is a cure for certain ailments. In the Far East there are many lands where blood is used as a basic ingredient in certain soups and gravies. In South America a dish that is quite common consists of pig’s blood mixed with rice or potatoes and condiments, and blood is even sold and eaten as candy. Blood sausage, under various names, is available almost everywhere. All of these practices show rank disregard for the sanctity of life because they violate the law of the Life-giver on the matter of blood.

13. Why must care be exercised in proper killing of animals to be used for food, so what might this call on a Christian to do?

¹³ The law on blood also rules out the eating of anything that has died of strangulation, because the blood would not have been drained. So any animal found smothered or dead in a trap and animals that have been shot but not immediately bled are not fit for food. The practice in many lands of killing chickens by strangulation, breaking the neck but not cutting it, also makes these unfit for consumption by Christians. Some butchers, with no regard for the divine law on these matters, do not properly bleed the animals they prepare for food; in fact, they may deliberately impair drainage to add weight to the meat. If a Christian learns that his butcher does not give attention to the draining of the blood, then he will look for another place to do business or even refrain from eating meat if nothing else is available. Likewise, a conscientious person will not eat meat in a restaurant if he knows that it is customary locally not to give attention to proper bleeding. Under such circumstances, a Christian who wants to eat meat may have to buy a live animal or bird and arrange to have the killing done himself.

14. How else is blood misused in food products, so what should Christians be careful to do?

¹⁴ Disrespect for God’s law is so rampant that whole blood, blood plasma and blood fractions are used freely in numerous products that are sold for food. For example, it is reported that some meat packers include blood as a part of their regular recipe for wieners, bologna and other cold-meat loaves. They may not all call it blood; but, regardless of what they call it, if it is blood or part of the blood it is wrong. Not all meat packers do this by any means, but some do. In certain localities it is also known that hamburger is made up largely of fat with blood added. In Russia blood bakeries were put in operation years ago where seven parts of rye flour are mixed with three parts of defibrinated ox blood in the bread. In other lands some bakers use dried plasma powder in pastry as a substitute for egg white. And various tonics and tablets sold by druggists show on their labels that they contain blood fractions such as hemoglobin. So it is necessary for one to be alert, to be acquainted with the practices in his community, to make reasonable inquiry at places where he buys meat and to read and understand the labels on packaged goods. As the old world becomes more careless in its attitude toward God’s law on blood it is important for Christians to exercise increased care if they are to keep themselves “without spot from the world.”—Jas. 1:27.

BLOOD TRANSFUSION

15. What have been the developments in the use of blood in medical treatment?

¹⁵ Over the centuries man’s misuses of blood have taken on many forms. Ancient Egyptian princes used human blood for rejuvenation; others drank the blood of their enemies. But not until after William Harvey’s research into the circulation of the blood, in the seventeenth century, was there any extensive effort made to transfuse blood into the circulatory system of another creature. After having suffered severe setbacks due to fatalities, blood transfusion finally came to be viewed with more favor at the beginning of this twentieth century, when research made it possible to identify certain blood types. The two world wars and the Korean war gave doctors ample opportunity to experiment with the therapeutic use of blood, and now the process has been developed to the point that doctors use not only whole blood and blood plasma, which is the nearly colorless liquid in which the blood cells are carried, but also red cells apart from the plasma, and the various plasma proteins as they feel the need.

16. Is use of blood in medical treatment to sustain life a violation of God’s law?

¹⁶ Is God’s law violated by such medical use of blood? Is it wrong to sustain life by infusions of blood or plasma or red cells or the various blood fractions? Yes! The law that God gave to Noah and which applies to all his descendants makes it wrong for anyone to eat blood, that is, to use the blood of another creature to nourish or sustain one’s life. Even as Tertullian in his Apology showed how the early Christians reasoned on the matter, so today it is recognized that if this prohibition applies to animal blood, it applies with even more force to human blood. It includes “any blood at all.”—Lev. 3:17.

17. How do the facts of history prove that human blood was misused in ancient times and so was included in the prohibition set forth by the early Christian governing body?

¹⁷ Arguments to the effect that the prohibition on the use of blood issued by the early Christian governing body did not deal with human blood, but only with animal blood, show ignorance of the facts of history. In ancient Rome, which dominated the Mediterranean world in the first century, spectators at the gladiatorial contests would rush into the arena after the fight and suck the blood streaming from the neck of the vanquished gladiator. Some from among the Scythians reportedly ate their dead relatives. Treaties were made among some peoples by mutually drinking a portion of each other’s blood; and human blood caught in the hand and eaten was used to seal initiation into the rites of the pagan goddess Bellona. So when the apostles, under direction of the holy spirit, said that Christians were to keep themselves from blood, they did have in mind human blood too.

18. What shows that the transfusing of blood is a “feeding” on blood?

¹⁸ It is of no consequence that the blood is taken into the body through the veins instead of the mouth. Nor does the claim by some that it is not the same as intravenous feeding carry weight. The fact is that it nourishes or sustains the life of the body. In harmony with this is a statement in the book Hemorrhage and Transfusion, by George W. Crile, A.M., M.D., who quotes a letter from Denys, French physician and early researcher in the field of transfusions. It says: “In performing transfusion it is nothing else than nourishing by a shorter road than ordinary—that is to say, placing in the veins blood all made in place of taking food which only turns to blood after several changes.”

19, 20. (a) In view of the constant developments in medical therapy, how can one determine whether treatment involving the use of blood is to be accepted or rejected? (b) What fine example in this regard did David set, showing respect for the sanctity of blood?

¹⁹ In view of the emphasis put on the use of blood in the medical world, new treatments involving its use are constantly being recommended. But regardless of whether it is whole blood or a blood fraction, whether it is blood taken from one’s own body or that taken from someone else, whether it is administered as a transfusion or as an injection, the divine law applies. God has not given man blood to use as he might use other substances; he requires respect for the sanctity of blood.

²⁰ What a fine example in respect for this law was set by God-fearing King David! Before the enemies of God’s people had been driven from the land, the Philistines had a garrison in Bethlehem near Jerusalem, and on one occasion “David showed his craving and said: ‘O that I might have a drink of the water from the cistern of Bethlehem, which is at the gate!’” Yes, he wished that the Philistines were gone and that he could be free to go to that cistern and be refreshed by its water. But on hearing his expression, “three [valiant men] forced their way into the camp of the Philistines and drew water from the cistern of Bethlehem, which is at the gate, and came carrying and bringing it to David.” What they brought was nothing more than water, but they did it at the risk of their lives, and David knew it. “And David did not consent to drink it, but poured it out to Jehovah. And he went on to say: ‘It is unthinkable on my part, as regards my God, to do this! Is it the blood of these men that I should drink at the risk of their souls? For it was at the risk of their souls that they brought it.’ And he did not consent to drink it.” (1 Chron. 11:16-19; 2 Sam. 23:15-17) David respected the law of God. Not only did he abstain from animal blood; he avoided the far more gross wrong of consuming human blood. Yes, he avoided doing anything that even resembled violation of that law. He was a man after God’s own heart. It is a like course of obedience from the heart that moves mature Christians today to abstain from any practice at all that involves misuse of blood. Out of love for God they show respect for the sanctity of blood.

[Footnotes]

Using Life in Harmony with the Will of God

1. (a) Whose will must govern our use of blood, and what practices does he forbid? (b) What occurred in the days of Cain and Abel that gave indication of the proper use to which shed blood might be put?

THE only way the life-blood of any creature can properly be used is in harmony with the will of God. It is forbidden as food. It is not authorized by God for administration to another person under the guise of medical treatment to sustain life. Apart from its life-sustaining role in the body of the creature to whom it belongs, only one use of blood is sanctioned by God. This came to light in the days of Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam. “Abel came to be a herder of sheep, but Cain became a cultivator of the ground. And it came about at the expiration of some time that Cain proceeded to bring some fruits of the ground as an offering to Jehovah. But as for Abel, he too brought some firstlings of his flock, even their fatty pieces. Now while Jehovah was looking with favor upon Abel and his offering, he did not look with any favor upon Cain and upon his offering.” (Gen. 4:2-5) Cain’s offering was from the soulless vegetation. Abel’s sacrifice represented a life and called for the pouring out of blood. By his accepting Abel’s sacrifice Jehovah gave the first indication that shedding of blood was required in sacrifice. But Cain did not accept God’s leading in the matter; instead, he violently murdered his brother Abel, the one man on earth who was using life, both his own and that of his flock, in harmony with the will of God.

2. What one proper use of shed blood did God permit, to whom was this made known, and how?

² Faithful servants of God recognized that the pouring out of the lifeblood of animals in sacrifice to Jehovah was God’s will, and Noah, Abraham and others are mentioned in the Bible as having done so. (Gen. 8:20; 22:13) When their offspring, the Israelites, were gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai, where they were organized as a nation, Jehovah God told them in unmistakable language that there is only one proper use to which the shed blood of any creature can be put. He said: “I myself have put it upon the altar for you to make atonement for your souls, because it is the blood that makes atonement by the soul in it.” (Lev. 17:11) Since the blood is so intimately involved in the life processes, and since sin leads to loss of life, God requires as a sacrifice in atonement for sin that which represents life, namely, the blood. “Unless blood is poured out no forgiveness takes place.”—Heb. 9:22.

3. What greater sacrifice did those animal sacrifices foreshadow, and how does its blood benefit mankind?

³ These animal sacrifices all foreshadowed a much grander one, a sacrifice that could lastingly remove sin and that would open up opportunities of eternal life for servants of God. This sacrifice was not selected from the flocks or the herds of Israel; it was Jesus Christ the Son of God, the one whom John the Baptist identified when he exclaimed: “See, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) This was Jehovah’s own provision on behalf of mankind; it was his Lamb, his Son, whose life was given in sacrifice. By means of this loving arrangement it has been possible for men and women on earth to have opened to them the privilege of service in the heavenly courts with Christ the King, because these “have been declared righteous now by his blood.” (Rom. 5:9) In addition to this “little flock” of one hundred and forty-four thousand members, a “great crowd” of others who serve God before the throne on his footstool earth have availed themselves of this ransom sacrifice, washing their robes and making them white in the blood of the Lamb, and as a result they enjoy the forgiveness of their sins and are righteous persons in the sight of God.—Rev. 7:14, 15.

4. Upon the acceptance of what do our lives depend, and why?

⁴ The perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ has completely filled the need for a sacrifice to God on behalf of sinful mankind. It does not have to be repeated. No longer are animal sacrifices required; in fact, they are now detestable to God because they show disregard for the sacrifice that he himself has provided. Therefore, the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ is absolutely the only arrangement that God has authorized among his Christian witnesses by which the blood of one creature may be used on behalf of another to save life. “By means of him we have the release by ransom through the blood of that one, yes, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his undeserved kindness.” (Eph. 1:7) Our lives depend on our acceptance of this provision, hence on acceptance of the divine arrangement as to the proper use of blood. Wisely, those who want to receive life at God’s hands refrain from using blood in any way that has not been authorized by him as the Life-giver.

LOVING GOD WITH ONE’S WHOLE SOUL

5. (a) In answer to an inquirer, what did Jesus say one must do to inherit everlasting life? (b) What is involved in loving God with one’s whole soul, and why?

⁵ On one occasion a certain man versed in the Law inquired of Jesus: “Teacher, by doing what shall I inherit everlasting life?” In his reply Jesus set out a guiding principle that helps us to determine what to do with our present lives in order to gain the reward of everlasting life. He said: “‘You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole strength and with your whole mind,’ and, ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10:25-27) Now just what is included in this matter of loving God with our whole soul? It means giving our life to God in dedication, yes, devoting our life to the performance of any work that God may give us to do. Since we have given our life to God in dedication, we ought to realize what the Bible uses to represent life. It is blood, which is the seat of life or soul. So when a life has been taken, it is said that blood has been shed. So fundamentally is blood involved in the life processes that the Bible says that the soul or the life of a person is his blood. When speaking to Noah, God paralleled the expressions soul, or life, and blood, saying: “Only flesh with its soul—its blood—you must not eat.” (Gen. 9:4) And to the Israelites he said simply: “The blood is the soul,” or, “The blood is the life.” (Deut. 12:23, margin, 1953 Edition) Consequently, when we dedicate our lives to God we must certainly take care to use that which represents life, our blood, in harmony with his law.

6, 7. Is a Christian free to donate his lifeblood for another person, and is it safe from a medical point of view?

⁶ This greatest of commandments therefore indicates that a dedicated Christian is not at liberty to donate his lifeblood for use by someone else. Life belongs to God, and we are free to give it only to him in his service. Nor would it be proper to argue that love of neighbor calls for one to give blood. It is not love of neighbor to collaborate with him in violation of the law of God. And since God’s Word indicates that it is wrong to take a blood transfusion, it is also wrong to give one’s blood for transfusion.

⁷ Obedience to God is required of his servants; it is also a blessing to them, because it protects them from harm. It is interesting to note that, while the general impression given by organizations that are anxious to have blood donated is that the procedure is perfectly safe, the opinion is not unanimous. For in the book Physiology and Clinic of Blood Transfusion,a among others, the statement is made: “As the latest research shows, considerable health disorders can arise on the part of the blood donor.” Faithful Christians are spared such hazards that might impair their service to God.

DANGERS AVOIDED BY OBEDIENCE

8. Upon what do Jehovah’s witnesses base their attitude toward blood transfusion, so why consider medical evidence on the matter?

⁸ The position of Jehovah’s witnesses in regard to blood transfusion is not one based on the approval or disapproval with which the practice meets in medical circles. It is not the safety or danger of the procedure that governs their decision, but the Word of God. However, knowledge of some of the effects from which one is protected by obedience to God’s law on blood does enhance one’s appreciation for the rightness of Jehovah’s ways.

9. What is the general viewpoint in the world as to blood transfusion, but is this medically sound?

⁹ The general practice among medical doctors in recent years has been to give blood in the belief that it may do some good. Sometimes it is given because of the insistence of patients or to satisfy relatives who want to be sure that “everything possible has been done.” Concerning this the Director of the Blood Bank at New York University-Bellevue Medical Center said: “Blood transfusions have been administered on the theory that they can never do any harm and might possibly benefit the patient. This idea is wrong because there are dangers inherent in blood transfusion.” Says the journal of the American Academy of General Practice: “It is unfortunate that many have lost the fear of transfusion and now order a transfusion as blithely as ordering a bottle of saline.” Over four thousand years ago Jehovah God told man that he should not take the blood of other creatures into his body; and modern medical practice confirms the fact that violation of that law is fraught with grave dangers.

10, 11. (a) What are some of the dangers that face one who receives a blood transfusion, and are doctors able to eliminate these dangers? (b) In view of these facts, would you say that blood transfusions are truly lifesaving?

¹⁰ One of the immediate dangers that faces anyone who is given a blood transfusion is the possibility of a hemolytic reaction, that is, the rapid destruction of the oxygen-carrying red blood cells. This may result in bursting headaches, pains in the chest and back, and the backing up of poisons into the system due to kidney failure. Death may come within a few hours or a few days. Medical knowledge has not removed this danger. “Try as we may we can only reduce the incidence of the reactions. We cannot eliminate them, and patients will continue to be damaged as a result of blood transfusions.” So says W. H. Crosby, chief of the Department of Hematology at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Even when such a hemolytic reaction does not occur as the result of naturally occurring antibodies in the blood stream of the patient, antigens in the blood transfused into the body can stimulate the production of antibodies so that a severe reaction will occur if ever blood containing those factors is given again. With reported possible combinations of known blood factors now numbering 15,000,000, the likelihood of being given blood that matches one’s own and that will not have some adverse effect is remote almost to the point of impossibility.

¹¹ There are other perils. Since it is difficult for a doctor to know exactly how much blood has been lost, he may try to transfuse more blood than there is room for, which, as reported by the journal Medical Science (July 25, 1959), is a frequent and disastrous occurrence. Also, air can get into the blood stream during transfusion, again with deadly effects. Then, too, blood removed from the body readily becomes contaminated, and certain bacteria found right in the air are of such a nature that they reproduce in stored blood even at refrigerator temperatures, making even small amounts of such blood deadly to the recipient. How can such treatment be viewed as truly lifesaving?

12. Name the disease dangers that might arise from a transfusion of blood, and show what these might result in to the patient.

¹² Ominous as the picture is, it is not the full extent of the hazards to which a patient is subjected when he is given blood. The doctor who gives the transfusion may never know how much harm is caused, because diseases transmitted by transfusion may not strike at once. But medical authorities all recognize that syphilis, malaria and hepatitis can be transmitted by blood transfusion. Not only can they be transmitted; cases are regularly reported in which they are transmitted. With the world-wide upsurge of immorality and the resultant venereal disease, the danger of syphilis is increasing—a disease that can result in premature childbirth, blindness, deafness, paralysis, heart disease, insanity and death. The test used to detect syphilitic blood does not reveal the danger in its early stages, and the patient pays the price. In February of this year the Japan Times reported the case of a woman who had won a suit against the Government-managed Tokyo University Hospital, on the grounds that she had been transfused with syphilitic blood that resulted in loss of eyesight and divorce by her husband. The financial compensation ordered by the court was small comfort for the damage done. And what about the risk of contracting malaria? Carriers of malaria do not always know they have it in their system; blood tests seldom reveal it; but anyone who receives blood can be the victim. The danger is not decreasing; to the contrary, anyone who has ever lived or visited in a malarial area is a possible carrier, and international travel assures that the number is increasing every day. By no means last among the disease dangers, but demanding attention because of its frequency, is serum hepatitis. So real is the danger of crippling and death from hepatitis that Dr. Alvarez, Emeritus Consultant in Medicine, Mayo Clinic, has said that he would never permit anyone to give him a transfusion unless he felt it was absolutely necessary.

13. What further price might a woman who is given blood have to pay as regards childbearing?

¹³ As if the harm to the patient himself were not enough, it does not stop there. In the case of a woman, the damage may involve even her unborn children. Due to factors some of which are known and others of which are not yet understood, a woman given an incompatible blood transfusion may find that her opportunity to give birth to normal, healthy children has been taken from her.

14. How does God protect his people from such calamities?

¹⁴ How much better it is to listen to the Word of God when it tells us to keep ourselves from blood! How much happier we are if, as children listen to their father, we heed the counsel of God and live in harmony with it! “My son, to my words do pay attention. To my sayings incline your ear. May they not get away from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those finding them and health to all their flesh.”—Prov. 4:20-22.

PERSONALITY INFLUENCED

15. How do some worldly-wise men reason on these transfusion dangers, but what facts as to the sources from which blood is obtained raise serious questions?

¹⁵ Those who are more inclined to rest their confidence in the learning of men than in the wisdom of God may feel that the care exercised in the selection of blood donors makes it possible to avoid all these dangers. But consider the facts. It will probably shock you to learn that the blood of dead people is being transfused into the bodies of hospital patients, but reports from Russia and Spain show that it is exactly what is done there; and even in the United States of America experiments have been conducted with transfusion of cadaver blood!b Of course, that probably is not the practice in your community. But the magazine Time as of May 26, 1961, reports the case of a 49-year-old woman in the Pontiac General Hospital who was given two pints of blood from the cadaver of a 12-year-old boy who had drowned in a nearby lake and who had been dead from two and a half to three hours. Also, that as long ago as 1935 a doctor in a Chicago suburb had used a technique like that of the Russians, and that this American doctor accounted for about thirty-five cadaver-blood transfusions in two years. Perhaps the donor is one’s own living relative, a reputable, clean-living individual. Does that assure safety? No; it will not remove the danger of a reaction due to incompatibility; nor does it guarantee that the individual may not be the carrier of some disease, perhaps even unknown to himself. In most cases, however, one who receives blood has no idea who the donor is. Some of it may come from healthy persons; some from alcoholics and degenerates. Criminals in jail are given the opportunity to donate their blood. For example, the New York Times of April 6, 1961, reported: “Inmates of Sing Sing Prison at Ossining will give blood to the Red Cross today.” A commendable act? Perhaps not as beneficial to their fellow men as the community is led to believe.

16. (a) What interesting observation on blood is made in a Bible footnote on Deuteronomy 12:25? (b) What do modern-day doctors have to say on this same matter, and why is this of interest to Christians?

¹⁶ When the Israelites were preparing to enter the Promised Land, Jehovah moved Moses to repeat to them his law forbidding the consumption of blood. As recorded at Deuteronomy 12:25, he said: “You must not eat it, in order that it may go well with you and your sons after you, because you will do what is right in Jehovah’s eyes.” An edition of the Pentateuch edited by J. H. Hertz has a footnote on that expression “that it may go well with you,” which says: “Ibn Ezra suggests that the use of blood would have a demoralising effect upon the moral and physical nature, and pass on a hereditary taint to future generations.” The point is an interesting one, and that it may apply in the matter of blood transfusions is testified to by medical doctors. For example, in his book Who Is Your Doctor and Why? Doctor Alonzo Jay Shadman says: “The blood in any person is in reality the person himself. It contains all the peculiarities of the individual from whence it comes. This includes hereditary taints, disease susceptibilities, poisons due to personal living, eating and drinking habits. . . . The poisons that produce the impulse to commit suicide, murder, or steal are in the blood.” And Dr. Américo Valério, Brazilian doctor and surgeon for over forty years, agrees. “Moral insanity, sexual perversions, repression, inferiority complexes, petty crimes—these often follow in the wake of blood transfusion,”c he says. Yet it is acknowledged in the public press that organizations whose blood supply is considered reliable obtain blood for transfusion from criminals who are known to have such characteristics. Certainly no one who is trying to depart from the works of the flesh and use his life in the way that God directs through his Word is going to lay himself open to such a ruinous future.—Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:22-24.

DEMONSTRATING FAITH IN THE GIVER OF LIFE

17. (a) Do Jehovah’s witnesses object on religious grounds to all medical treatment? (b) Is there anything that can be done on behalf of a Christian if he suffers severe blood loss?

¹⁷ What do these facts mean in the case of a Christian who has suffered severe blood loss and is in need of treatment? Is there nothing that can be done? Must he simply wait to die? Not at all! Jehovah’s witnesses have no religious objections to any treatment that does not conflict with the law of God, and the fact is that other treatments are available. Doctors who recognize man as a creation of God, instead of a product of evolution, are usually more inclined to realize that the human body has been endowed by God with marvelous recuperative powers, and they co-operate with these instead of feeling that the prohibition on the use of blood is a barrier to recovery. Our own bodies are marvelously equipped to meet emergencies, even those occasioned by blood loss. (Ps. 139:14) According to The Encyclopædia Britannica: “Besides the blood which actually circulates in the arteries, veins and capillaries, the body possesses reserves which can be mobilized. One such is known to be located in the spleen. On the onset of haemorrhage the spleen shrinks, squeezing blood as from a sponge into the circulation.”d In view of this, many doctors recognize that it is much safer to co-operate with the body’s own blood-manufacturing system than to try to take the place of it by transfusing foreign blood. Even the highly respected medical publication The Surgical Clinics of North America (February, 1959) has said: It is not to be forgotten that, not blood transfusion, but “iron therapy is the treatment of choice for blood loss anemia.” In emergency cases, where the body’s fluid loss has been excessive, there are “plasma volume expanders” that can be used without violating God’s prohibition on blood, and, according to the testimony of many doctors, these have proved to be much safer than blood transfusions. While it is true that they cannot do for the body what one’s own blood does, yet they help to keep the remaining red cells in circulation so that oxygen will reach the various organs during the time needed by the body to replace the blood loss. So Christian patients, instead of being pressured into accepting blood on the plea that it is the only hope, seek out a doctor who has sufficient skill, patience and respect for their religious conscience to be willing to treat them without blood.

18. Why is it foolish to attempt to save life by violating God’s law?

¹⁸ Lifesaving efforts by unscriptural means can never produce results of lasting good. How foolish it is to think that one can save life by violating the laws of the Life-giver! While it may produce seemingly beneficial results at the moment, it may ultimately take its toll in disease and stillborn children as a direct result of such an ill-advised course. Even if no physical harm results to the patient or to one’s offspring, violation of the law of God seriously jeopardizes one’s opportunity to gain eternal life in God’s new world.

19. (a) Who was it that argued that man would do anything, even forsake God, to save his present life? (b) How can we benefit from reproof that Jesus gave Peter on this matter? (c) What reward will God give to those who obey him even in times of stress?

¹⁹ In the case of Job, Satan contended that man would do anything, even turn on his God, to save his present life. “Everything that a man has he will give in behalf of his life,” he argued. (Job 2:4, margin, 1957 Edition) But he was wrong. Job proved him a liar, and Jesus Christ outstandingly did so. On one occasion Jesus had been speaking about pursuing a course that would mean his death in the service of God. “At this Peter took him aside and commenced raising strong objections to him.” But Jesus rebuked him. “‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, because you think, not God’s thoughts, but those of men.’ Then Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If anyone wants to come after me, let him disown himself and pick up his torture stake and continually follow me. For whoever wants to save his soul will lose it; but whoever loses his soul for my sake will find it.’” (Matt. 16:21-25; Mark 8:31-35) May none of us ever become like Satan to our Christian brothers, urging them to sell out their confidence in God in favor of the wisdom of the world! There is only one way to gain life and that is by living in harmony with the will of God. Confidence in God is never misplaced. As the Divine Physician he can do what no human doctor ever could: he can extend the life of his servants, not merely for a few troubled years, but for all eternity—if necessary, by a resurrection from the dead—in his glorious new world now so near at hand.—Ps. 23:4; Acts 24:15.

20. What should we do now so that we will be using our lives in harmony with the will of God?

²⁰ With such marvelous prospects before us, let us be careful to live our lives in harmony with the will of God. Let us not grow careless, like the world, in our attitude toward the blood of our fellow men. Now is the time to show the greatest concern for their lifeblood by urging them to exercise faith in the blood of Jesus Christ, the only blood that has any real value in the eyes of God toward the saving of life. Point them to his kingdom; help them to learn its laws; encourage them patiently as they move along on the way to life. Make it your determination to be able to say, as did Paul: “I am clean from the blood of all men, for I have not held back from telling you all the counsel of God.”—Acts 20:26.

[Footnotes]

The Thought Behind the Proverb

IT IS interesting to compare the Bible book of Proverbs with the law of Moses. Moses recorded the direct commands Jehovah gave to guide his people in the way of security and life. Solomon and other writers of the Bible proverbs do not highlight God’s commands directly but show through observation that those laws are in our best interest. Often local phenomena are compared to human behavior to help us appreciate good and bad, wisdom or folly. Knowing the thought behind the proverb is an aid to understanding the lesson taught.

PROVERBS 16:31

“Gray-headedness is a crown of beauty when it is found in the way of righteousness.”

Among some early peoples an elderly man unable to fight or hunt was considered an unhappy burden. Some tribes harshly put the aged to death! Contrast this with the kindness of Jehovah God, who commanded: “Before gray hair you should rise up, and you must show consideration for the person of an old man, and you must be in fear of your God. I am Jehovah.” (Lev. 19:32) The proverb calls attention to the fact that a life spent in the wholesome fear of Jehovah is beautiful in God’s sight and should be respected by all as a proper example to follow. But when old age finds one in the way of wickedness, his conduct is even more repugnant than a youth’s because of his years.

PROVERBS 16:33

“Into the lap the lot is cast down, but every decision by it is from Jehovah.”

In ancient times, in a number of nations, doubtful questions were determined by lot. Stones or inscribed tablets were put into a vessel, shaken and then drawn out or cast forth. Jehovah was pleased to use the lot as a means of making known his will in the early history of his chosen people. It seems that the lots were thrown into the gathered folds of a robe and then drawn out. But first an appeal was made to Jehovah to decide the matter. The outcome was accepted as his will. Even Jesus’ apostles utilized the lot to choose a successor to Judas Iscariot, but their selection was set aside by Jesus’ choice of Saul. Since Pentecost, holy spirit directs Christians, but in pre-Christian times God did approve use of the lot.

PROVERBS 17:14

“The beginning of contention is as one letting out waters; so before the quarrel has burst forth, take your leave.”

Eastern cities often depended on a reservoir for their water supply. A tiny hole in the bank or dam confining a large body of water can have great consequences. If the tiny trickle is not stopped, the force of the water becomes ever stronger, until everything is washed away. From a small beginning comes a terrible flooding. So with strife. If anger is given the smallest vent it can burst into a flood of angry words and deeds that may even culminate in someone’s death. Before any discussion takes that turn it is better to leave the subject or the other person and thereby strengthen the bonds of peace.

PROVERBS 20:4

“Because of winter the lazy one will not plow; he will be begging in reaping time, but there will be nothing.”

In Palestine the winter crops were sown as soon as the early rains had softened the ground—from the end of October to the beginning of December. The cool north wind blows during winter plowing time. While there is seldom a season of very cold weather, very cold days sometimes occur, with wind, rain and sleet. This would not deter a manly person, but a lazy farmer might neglect his plowing and blame it on the weather. Without winter plowing and sowing there could be no harvest. His hard-working neighbors could hardly be expected to sympathize with him. So with those who seize on unfavorable circumstances as an excuse for neglecting their opportunities and duties. They will reap only what they sow and must bear the consequences of laziness without redress.

PROVERBS 20:26

“A wise king is scattering wicked people, and he turns around upon them a wheel.”

On the ancient threshing floors grain was separated from its husks by the feet of the oxen trampling among the sheaves or by bringing a rough-shod wheel over them. As the wheel crushed the sheaves, forcing out the grain, so the impartial administration of justice crushes the wicked, separating them from the righteous. A wise ruler takes measures to suppress evil elements with the sternness of the wheel that crushes the sheaves.

PROVERBS 27:15

“A leaking roof that drives one away in the day of a steady rain and a contentious wife are comparable.”

The roofs of most Eastern homes, aside from those found on the stone houses of the wealthy, are made of tree branches, canes, palm leaves, and so forth, covered with a thick layer of earth. These flat earthen roofs were always susceptible to cracks and leakage. Imagine the endless, irritating sound of dripping water during a steady rain, when the unhappy occupant can neither sit, stand, work or sleep in comfort. Such is the plight of the man who must live under the same roof with a contentious wife. As an Arab proverb expresses it: “Three things make a house uninhabitable: tak (leakage of rain), nak (a woman’s nagging), and bak (bugs).”

Youths, Watch Your Conduct in This Delinquent World

YOU young people who are serving your Creator have a happy future in front of you—if you watch your conduct. Why so much stress on proper conduct for young people? Because we are living in a world gone mad, a world of delinquents, a world wherein it is considered smart to gratify one’s desires. Because it is so easy to make a mistake that may affect your life for years afterward, it is wise to watch your conduct. As the Bible says: “Keep strict watch that how you walk is not as unwise but as wise persons, buying out the opportune time for yourselves, because the days are wicked.”—Eph. 5:15, 16.

These are wicked days, and a wicked world wants to exploit you, to make a profit out of turning you toward improper desires. Recently a New York newspaper reported: “Today’s teen-agers are a chief target of a barrage of immoral movies, magazines, books and commercialized smut which is unprecedented in size, ugliness, filthiness and viciousness. . . . Check over a magazine counter in a railroad station or drug store and you’ll see that most of the true confession type magazines are now devoted entirely to illicit teen-age sex and violence.” You young people are a target of attack by the Devil’s world. For selfish reasons this world would turn you away from God to the worship of men as so-called “heroes” and to the doing of impure things in the eyes of God.

So you need to watch your conduct. How can you do this? Obey the counsel given in the Bible at 2 Timothy 2:22: “Flee from the desires incidental to youth.” So do not copy the young people who are part of this delinquent world; flee from the desires of this world’s delinquent youths. Most young people in this world do not desire to do God’s will and obey him; they think mainly of their own desires. So do not copy them in their bad-language habits. Many young people use language that is vulgar, language that marks them as part of this wicked world. Watch yourself; do not pick up these bad words. Flee from them at all times. Really try to avoid using them. If you do not know whether a word is really bad or not, ask your parents. Christian parents will be able to tell you what words to flee from. Use good speech.

MANNER OF DRESS AND YOUTHFUL FADS

Do not copy this world’s youths who go to extremes in their manner of dressing. Christians are to dress well but not so as to bring undue attention to themselves. The young Christian minister wants to draw people’s attention to God and his Kingdom message. So do not dress as some of this world’s girls do, in tight-fitting clothing to draw the attention of boys. To dress in such a manner is to ask for trouble, for this world is wicked.

You young Christians remember reading in the Bible how wicked men and women were in the days before the great Flood. Women in those days apparently dressed so as to inflame the sexual desires of wicked men. The Aramaic Targums have kept alive reports as to the bad conduct that went on before the Flood by saying of that time:

“And it was when the sons of men began to multiply upon the face of the earth, and fair daughters were born to them; and the sons of the great saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and painted, and curled, walking with revelation of the flesh, and with imaginations of wickedness.” You young girls, do not mimic the wicked women of the time before the Flood nor the girls today who purposely dress “with revelation of the flesh” by wearing clothes too snug, too tight.

You young people, watch your conduct also as to the dangerous youthful fads of the day, which vary according to customs and country. For instance, why copy this world’s youth in dangerous driving habits, in so-called thrill-seeking ventures? As a Christian your life is or will be dedicated to God; do not threaten your life or injure your health. You want to be able to do what God’s Word says: “Remember, now, your grand Creator in the days of your young manhood.” (Eccl. 12:1) So do not indulge in “dares” and risks that place your life in danger. Some youths of this world think it is smart to take habit-forming drugs for “kicks,” but they are likely to ruin their health by doing this. Do not copy them. Flee from the harmful habits of this world, the fads that are not really smart but downright stupid.

WORLDLY “PRACTICAL JOKES” INJURIOUS

Especially you boys and young men, watch your conduct as to this world’s “practical jokes.” Many young persons think it is fun and a big joke to destroy the property of others, or to steal it or injure and disfigure it in some way. Some delinquent youths think it is fun to damage automobiles, such as slashing tires; and some even steal parts from automobiles or the automobiles themselves. Some young persons think it is a big joke to turn in false fire alarms; others turn in false bomb reports. Recently a fifteen-year-old boy in the New York area admitted that he had called almost 300 schools and public buildings to frighten them with false reports of hidden bombs. Think of the time lost while those buildings had to be emptied and searched, and the work involved!

Some so-called practical jokes not only rob people of their time and energy but may rob them of their health and life itself. Throwing stones at trains and setting fire to someone’s property may kill people; and yet some of the delinquent youths of this world do such things, thinking it is some kind of a joke. It is no joke. It is against man’s law and God’s law. “Practical jokes” can get you in trouble.

God does not excuse us for doing bad things because we may think it is “fun.” Rather the Bible says: “Just like someone mad that is shooting fiery missiles, arrows and death, so is the man that has tricked his fellow man and has said: ‘Was I not having fun?’” (Prov. 26:18, 19) When a person tricks someone else and really hurts him, it is not fun but it is like a madman going around shooting flaming missiles and throwing about firebrands that set houses and buildings on fire. No, damaging another person’s property or doing something that may injure him is not the way for Christians to enjoy themselves.

Watch your conduct, then, and do not copy the young people who go around tricking others; when you do something that affects other persons, always keep in mind the principle that Jesus Christ set forth: “Just as you want men to do to you, do the same way to them.” (Luke 6:31) If you intend to do something to someone and you know in your heart that you would not like to have it done to you—then do not do it! Flee from the desire! If you do not want others to tell lies about you, do not tell lies about others. If you would not want others to steal from you, do not steal from them. Jesus spoke in a positive way, so since you want good done to you, do good to others. Whatever you want other young people and adults to do to you, you also should likewise do to them.

MANNERS IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE

Watch your conduct as to your manners. In some parts of this world where boys and girls go places together, it is often observed that they put their arms around each other in public places. Usually it is not that they are engaged to be married, which is still no proper reason for displaying their affection in this way in public. In some places such as railroad stations and airports, brief public displays of affection are a different matter, for a dear one is departing or arriving. But at public meetings, for instance, for a boy and a girl to put their arms around each other and indulge in necking is wholly improper. It is not kind to others, who are distracted by such public displays of affection. It is not kind to their parents nor to those engaging in such display, because it casts an unfavorable reflection upon all of them. People wonder: ‘Didn’t the parents of that boy or girl ever give instruction about conduct in public?’ Many persons consider it disgraceful conduct, and it brings reproach not only upon the young people but upon the Christian organization to which they belong. In public, display good conduct and manners; do not mimic the worldly teenagers.

Just as you youths must guard your conduct in public so you must also in private. When an unmarried boy and a girl are in private, they need to watch their conduct; heavy petting, for instance, can easily arouse the passions and result in immoral behavior. God condemns and punishes fornication, even though this world may think it is the popular thing to do. What if worldly youths boast of what they do? Do not imitate them. Do not be dared or pushed into doing something that you know is against God’s laws.

HAVE COURAGE TO OBEY GOD

Remember that the big thing is not whether you dare to do this or that, but, Do you have the courage to obey God, even when people all around you are not obeying God? Young people of this world do not have such courage; they are pushed and frightened into doing bad things because they say “everyone is doing it.” What if everyone of this delinquent world is doing something bad? Christians are not to be a part of this world. Said the Son of God, in prayer to his Father, concerning true Christians: “I have given your word to them, but the world has hated them, because they are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world.” (John 17:14) When faced with temptation, ask: What would God think? You are not trying to please girls and boys of this delinquent world, but God. So then, do the things that God approves. It will take courage, but courage is a Christian quality you can cultivate.

To avoid temptation and to watch your conduct better, avoid close association with worldly youths. You do not need to go to their parties and their gatherings. Those youths who are not interested in serving God cannot give you real enjoyment and happiness. Heed God’s command: “Into the path of the wicked ones do not enter, and do not walk straight on into the way of the bad ones. Shun it, do not pass along by it; turn aside from it, and pass along. For they do not sleep unless they do badness, and their sleep has been snatched away unless they cause someone to stumble. For they have fed themselves with the bread of wickedness, and the wine of acts of violence is what they drink.” (Prov. 4:14-17) So do not cultivate association with those who are not lovers of Jehovah.

MARRIAGE “ONLY IN THE LORD”

Seek the association of those who are serving God and who love Him. If you do not do this, there are many dangers that will overtake you. One of them is the danger of marrying someone who is not a lover of Jehovah and dedicated to the doing of the divine will. Christians are to marry “only in the Lord,” that is, other dedicated Christians. To violate this divine command is likely to bring all manner of misery into one’s life. Your parents, if they are dedicated Christians, can likely tell you from their knowledge of the experiences of others how often unhappiness overtakes those who ignore God’s will as to proper associations and marriage mates.

Your parents have had much experience with this delinquent world. Benefit from their experience. Do not think you know it all. You cannot. When parents tell their children that teen-age marriages are not likely to bring the happiness they seek, they know what they are talking about. Statistics show that teen-age marriages have less chance of success. One doctor who has had much experience with teenage marriages writes:

“I know a man who at the age of 19 married a girl of the same age. Three years later they had two children. The parents, twenty-two now, have awakened as from a dream. They do not like each other and if it were not for the children they would be divorced. . . . Precocious [early] marriage deprives . . . youngsters of a period in their lives in which they should be still free and learn what love of an adult may be. Instead they often marry for the fun of it, interrupting with this premature step a development that we might call the post-adolescent time before marriage. . . . The adolescent and postadolescent periods are not only preparatory years for marriage, but also have value in themselves, being the time in which juvenile idealism has to be tested against the onslaught of reality. . . . In my opinion, it is better if part of this period is lived through before getting married.”

So do not rush into marriage because other teen-agers do. Christian marriage brings heavy responsibilities. Heed your parents’ counsel. Do not show disrespect for parents or mature Christians who try to help you.

Watch your conduct by keeping busy in God’s Kingdom ministry. Work with other youths in the ministry, under the supervision of an adult. Enjoy the many happy experiences of the ministry, experiences you will be eager to tell others about. Have a happy time doing God’s will. So much must yet be done before this wicked world soon goes down into destruction at Armageddon. So do not copy this world and its delinquent youths. Imitate God and his Christian witnesses. Always have “plenty to do in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in connection with the Lord.” Then your future will be a happy one in God’s new world.—1 Cor. 15:58.

Rewards of Endurance

As told by F. J. Franske

INDIANS still roamed the plains of the Canadian west and my job was in the saddle on the cattle range when I was a boy. It was the kind of life that calls for endurance, but one with only limited rewards. In 1921 a new life opened to me, much of it still in the rugged west, but calling for endurance in the service of God. The rewards have been many.

Careful study of the Word of God showed me that there was work to be done, educating others for life. It was the article “Birth of the Nation” in The Watchtower, in 1925, that really clinched the matter for me. I read and reread that article, and as I did, it opened to me an appreciation of the kingdom of God that was so wonderful, so all-embracing that I decided that service in such a cause was worth all it might require to make it my own.

SATISFYING SERVICE

That year my brother and I volunteered for colporteur service and the Watch Tower Society sent us out as one of four “School Teams” to give Bible lectures in the schools throughout the prairie provinces. The response was good, and the hitching rails outside were often lined with saddle horses while the cow punchers inside listened to the lecture. One of our subjects was “Is Hell Hot?” and by the time we showed that the Bible hell is no hotter than the grave, the local preachers began to feel that it could be plenty hot right here on earth. Once, through a misunderstanding, I shared the platform with a politician. Was his face red! But the audience enjoyed the setting. In fact, the family with whom we stayed accepted the message, and one of the girls took up the full-time preaching work as a pioneer.

Came 1929 and the need for endurance in a new field. The Society sent me to Newfoundland in charge of the schooner “Morton.” At the time my knowledge of ships was nil, but during the years that followed, parts of twelve of which were spent at sea, I had opportunity to learn a lot. My partner, Jimmy James, and I preached in all the outports of Newfoundland and in parts of Labrador. Often we encountered rough seas, dense fog and heavy ice floes. Once we struck a submerged rock at full speed, and on another occasion we were barricaded behind a huge iceberg that moved into the harbor entrance during the night. In winter I often traveled the coast with a dog team. With the Eskimos we bartered for fur and leather goods; from the Newfoundlanders we received cash and dried fish or other items in exchange for Bible literature, and placements were phenomenal. It was satisfying work.

In Montreal, where I found myself in 1931, there was no rough sea to contend with, but the Quebec mobs, goaded on by their priests, were equally unpredictable, and they came after us when we tried to preach from the Bible. Even the police did the bidding of the clergy, and it seemed that every policeman in the city was looking for us. We made regular visits to the police station, but we did not quit. We knew the scripture that says: “If, when you are doing good and you suffer, you endure it, this is a thing agreeable with God.”—1 Pet. 2:20.

The next year I was in charge of a group of pioneers that specialized in field ministry and holding weekend conventions throughout the province of Ontario. It was interesting work, but strenuous. Unfortunately, I had not yet learned to conserve my strength; I pushed too hard, and that fall I took the count for a nervous breakdown. The condition proved to be recurrent, and I needed a change.

ENDURANCE IN THE CARIBOO

I returned to the west coast and joined up with an ex-mounted policeman and we devoted ourselves to preaching throughout the famous Cariboo ranching and gold-mining country of central British Columbia among the miners, loggers, trappers, ranchers and Indians. It was a man’s country—rough but productive. So sparse were the settlements and so great the distances from towns and between calls that it was difficult to keep a supply of food, so we carried a rifle and shot our meat or fished for it in the rushing mountain streams. Our fare ranged from berries and wild grouse to moose and bear steak. Bread was baked in a frying pan over an open campfire. We were really living off the fat of the land.

How often when day was done we sat under the fragrant pines by the towering mountains and watched the sparkling embers of our crackling fire! There under the starry skies we discussed The Watchtower or mused upon the Scriptures and the wonderful prospects ahead under the Kingdom for which we worked and prayed.

Next spring our plans met with disaster when my partner was killed in a motor accident. I tried to go it alone, but, periodically isolated for a month at a time, I could not make it. There had to be some adjustment in my circumstances if I was to continue.

I needed a companion, and the one I found was patient, practical, uncomplaining and true-blue from the start. We were married in 1935 and together carried on operations in the Cariboo. Our territory was rugged. Many times we almost slipped over the precipitous mountain trails, and once we were swamped in the morass and had to be literally lifted out, car and all. On another occasion, while doing part-time work, I received a severe ax cut on my leg. No doctor was available and it looked bad, but we managed to treat it by applying raw balsam gum fresh from the trees. We loved our territory and its people. Their cheery invitation to “Come right in, the door is open” always put a glow in our hearts. Many heart-warming friendships developed with both Indians and Whites while we were there, and now the country is covered with a network of congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses.

BACK TO THE BOATS

After brief periods of service on Vancouver Island, in Winnipeg and on the Society’s boat, my nerves began to wear thin again. I was putting in time but was not really on the job. A complete change was needed, so I shipped as engineer on a tugboat. While that was good for me physically, it kept me from congregation meetings and association with my Christian brothers, and that was killing. So I bought my own salmon trolling boat and did fishing while my wife continued to pioneer in Vancouver. Just as we were laying plans to have a large deep-sea trolling boat built with spacious cabin for living quarters, so we could pioneer along the British Columbia coast, my wife fell ill with cancer, and in November of 1946 I buried her. Now what?

Despondency pressed hard, but marking time in idleness is no cure for such a loss. I went ahead with work on the boat and invited Jim Quinn along as a partner. Together we carried the Kingdom message to every island, inlet, logging camp, lighthouse and settlement along the coast. We put in more than two hundred hours a month preaching and logged ninety hours traveling, much of it at night. But we left a trail of Bible literature from Vancouver to Prince Rupert and on into Alaska. In twelve months we obtained over fifteen hundred subscriptions for The Watchtower and Awake! My head was clear again.

INCREASED SERVICE PRIVILEGES

That fall I was invited to become a traveling representative of the Society in the circuit work; so I left the boat to visit congregations on the west coast. It was intensely interesting work. A few years later I was appointed district servant, regularly serving assemblies. Canada was then divided into two districts; I served the west while Jack Nathan served the east. We traveled by car, train, ship and airplane in order to cover the great distances. After a year our districts were switched, and I went east.

Following the 1953 New World Society Assembly in New York city, I was invited to become a member of the Canadian Bethel family. Appointment as the farm servant on the Canadian Kingdom Farm was an unanticipated privilege and one that put me in line for much valuable experience. While continuing to share in the field ministry, I came to appreciate more than ever that there is other work that is part of the ministry. In this case it was providing the physical food needed for the hard workers at Bethel in order to keep Bible publications and instructions flowing to the ministers out in the field. This new assignment called for a knowledge of dairying, gardening, fruit raising and all that goes with them. It took me back to my boyhood days in the west. Since I had grown up around cattle, the cows and I did well.

REWARDS ENJOYED

How many things we have learned in Jehovah’s service, and how beneficial they are! Over the years we have learned how to live and work closely with brothers and sisters who are imperfect but who are willing to overlook differences because they love Jehovah and one another. We have learned how to forget personalities and apply Christian principles with impartiality. We have learned that none of us can be lone wolves but that we need one another. The warm friendship and enthusiastic expressions of our Christian brothers buoy us up when we feel low, and meditation on God’s Word along with earnest prayer are like a healing balm to flagging spirits.

I have never enjoyed the customary pleasures of family life, but my association with the huge family of God’s people and the privileges I have enjoyed in serving its interests have built up for me a backlog of pleasurable relationships that can be neither evaluated nor duplicated by any other experience. Wherever I go, at Kingdom Halls or conventions, individuals ask, “Do you remember me?” and then they remind me of some occasion when we served together, perhaps a time when I helped to start them out in the service or gave them the encouragement they needed to get over a hump. Who would want to exchange such a wealth of experiences, such an appreciative family, for anything in the old world?

The experiences of my life have proved to me that Jehovah does indeed deal with his people through his organization but that he also sustains them personally in time of need. We cannot rely on ourselves, thinking that we will not fall. We must look to Him, and when we do he supplies strength commensurate to the demand. As the apostle Paul so well expressed it: “Consequently let him that thinks he is standing beware that he does not fall. No temptation has taken you except what is common to men. But God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but along with the temptation he will also make the way out in order for you to be able to endure it.”—1 Cor. 10:12, 13.

If I had given up when the going got tough, I would have lost out on so much. The problems that have confronted me are only those that are common to imperfect men; sometimes they are hard, but for one who trusts in Jehovah the spirit of God is a wonderful sustaining force.

My hair is graying now and I have slowed up. It has become necessary to step aside in favor of younger and more capable men, but I am not yet down and out. There is still spring in my step and a song of praise to God in my heart.

How grateful I am to God that he has strengthened me to endure in his service! What a full life, what rewards, what deep satisfaction have been mine for devoting my life to the service of God!

All Should Witness

“The evangelism program of a congregation is off center when all witnessing is left to the pastor. It is also off center when the pastor expects his people to witness and does not equip, train and organize them for this basic work. He is to be a witness to witnesses and a trainer and organizer of witnesses.”—The Lutheran Witness of October 20, 1959.

Questions From Readers

● What answer can be given to those who point out that certain dates given by Egyptologists conflict with the chronology published in The Watchtower?—C. V., United States.

The facts are that the Egyptologists have more self-assurance than proofs for the dates they give for the various Egyptian dynasties. Bearing this out is the following quotation from the book, Archaeology of Palestine, pages 219, 220, written by W. F. Albright, the leading Palestinian archaeologist in the United States:

“It is frequently said that the scientific quality of Palestinian archaeology has been seriously impaired by the religious preconceptions of scholars who have excavated in the Holy Land. It is true that some archaeologists have been drawn to Palestine by their interest in the Bible, and that some of them had received their previous training mainly as Biblical scholars. The writer has known many such scholars, but he recalls scarcely a single case where their religious views seriously influenced their results. Some of these scholars were radical critics; still others were more conservative critics, . . . others again were thorough going conservatives. But their archaeological conclusions were almost uniformly independent of their critical views.

“There have been a few cases [but] the violence done to scholarly objectivity by some of these Palestinian excavators is slight indeed when compared to the damage to Egyptology which resulted from the wholesale brigandage of Belzoni and Passallacqua, or the airtight monopoly of the field by Mariette and the ruthless exploitation of royal tombs by Amelieau. Nor should we forget that some of the foremost scientific excavators, such as Petrie and Reisner, won some of their fairest laurels in Palestine. As an illustration of the caution practised by leading Palestinian archaeologists it is interesting to recall that Petrie and Bliss, MacAlister and Watzinger, followed by all others, nearly always set their dates too low, while in Egypt dates were generally placed far too high. Here we have the curious spectacle of an archaeological chronology being progressively raised in Palestine, while in Egypt it has had to be progressively lowered.”

From the foregoing the Christian may draw several conclusions. First and most important of all, the fact that the chronology of the Egyptologists does not harmonize with that of the Bible is no cause for concern or alarm; such a discrepancy need not be taken seriously. Secondly, that it appears that the Egyptologists were likely to be less conscientious than were the Palestinians. On the other hand, the archaeologists of Palestine were so conscientious that they leaned over backward in not assigning an older date than was absolutely necessary.

● Could you help me find the statement, supposedly in the Bible, that “it is better for a man to put his seed in the belly of a whore than to cast it upon the ground”?—M. P., United States.

This is a question that has been repeatedly asked and almost invariably it has been quoted by a Roman Catholic. According to the Knights of Columbus Information Service, this statement does not represent the Roman Catholic viewpoint. But on the other hand a priest, speaking in behalf of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, observed that it was more natural to put one’s seed into the belly of a whore than to spill it on the ground although there was no scripture to that effect. This is the type of thinking employed by Roman Catholic priests in certain parts of Italy, for they have gone on record as excusing fornication and adultery so long as birth control was not practiced.

Obviously, the statement runs counter to all that the Scriptures have to say on the subject of sexual intercourse. Nevertheless, it may be that the saying is a corruption of the Scriptural record regarding Onan, who wasted his seed on the ground rather than perform the duty of levirate marriage toward his deceased brother’s wife, because of which he was slain by Jehovah.—Gen. 38:9.

Announcements

FIELD MINISTRY

Devoted servants of God stay spiritually awake in these critical times. (Luke 12:37) They keep busy doing the work assigned them by God. In fulfilling their God-given commission, during September Jehovah’s witnesses will be offering to all persons the latest Bible-study aids published by the Watch Tower Society.

NOW IN ONE VOLUME

The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, produced in six volumes over a period of ten years, is now available in one volume. It is a revised text, printed in clear legible type, two columns to the page. Comprehensive concordance, appendix, maps. Hard-bound green cover with gold-embossed title, special Bible paper, 1472 pages, size 7 5/16ʺ x 4 7/8ʺ x 1 1/8ʺ. New also is the highly informative hard-bound book “Let Your Name Be Sanctified.” 384 pages, complete scripture index. Orders are now being filled! Send at once! Both for only $1.50.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

October 15: Respect for the Sanctity of Blood. Page 553.

October 22: Using Life in Harmony with the Will of God. Page 559.