Awake!, February 22, 1968
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Why the Churches Are Losing Influence
PAGE 3
How Fine Are Refined Foods?
PAGE 7
What You Ought to Know About Funerals
PAGE 16
Eyes in the Darkness
FEBRUARY 22, 1968
THE REASON FOR THIS MAGAZINE
News sources that are able to keep you awake to the vital issues of our times must be unfettered by censorship and selfish interests. "Awakel!" has no fetters. It recognizes facts, faces facts, is free to publish facts. It is not bound by political ties; it is unhampered by traditional creeds. This magazine keeps itself free, that it may speak freely to you. But it does not abuse its freedom. It maintains integrity to truth.
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CONTENTS
Why the Churches Are Losing Influence 3
How Fine Are Refined Foods? 7
Peace—Available at the Shop with
the Wooden Door? 11
Doctor Urges Colleagues to
"Be Consistent" 15
What You Ought to Know
About Funerals 16
Eyes in the Darkness 20
A House Divided 23
"Your Word Is Truth"
Is There No More
Such a Thing as Heresy? 27
Watching the World 29
Number 4
WHY The Churches ARE LOSING INFLUENCE
"AT THE present time, do you think religion as a whole is increasing its influence on American life, or losing its influence?"
This question was asked people in a nationwide survey last spring by the American Institute of Public Opinion. Fifty-seven percent said they thought religion was "losing" influence. This represented a marked change of view. For, just ten years before, when the same question was asked, only 14 thought religion was "losing"
Worldwide Loss of Influence
In other countries the churches' loss of influence is even greater. In the Soviet
Who is responsible? What will be the outcome?
Another poll conducted last year at Harvard and Radcliffe colleges by Professor Gordon W. Allport, a specialist in social ethics, yielded similar results. Only 59 percent of the Harvard. students and 55 percent of Radcliffe, a nearby women's college, said they felt a need for religion. This compared with 76 percent of the men and 82 percent of the women who, in a survey some years before, said they felt a need for religion. A steady decline in church attendance reflects these changing attitudes toward religion. It is very clear that the churches in the United States are losing influence.
Union, for example, the once-influential Russian Orthodox Church is entirely ignored by the vast majority. And in Scandinavian countries the churches' loss of influence rivals that in the Soviet Union. Official surveys indicate that in Sweden and Denmark, where the State Church is Lutheran, only about 3 percent of the population attend church regularly.
The Roman Catholic Church's loss of influence is, in many places, almost as great. Regarding the situation in Spain, Newsweek of March 28, 1966, comments: "The gap between the church and the people is widening. According to a survey of 15,000 industrial workers prepared by the anti-Franco Catholic Workers' Brotherhood, only 7 per cent of the working class attend Mass on Sundays, while 89 per cent consider themselves anticlerical."
The Church of England, too, has been in rapid decline.
Less than 10 percent of the population regularly attend a place of worship in England. In 1966, Nicolas Stacey, Rector of Woolwich, wrote: "In one downtown area of an industrial city there are twelve churches and twelve Parochial Church Councils and fifty-seven ill-supported, struggling, and largely useless church clubs—all within a stone's throw of one another. The congregations of the twelve parishes could easily fit into one building. . . If the Church is not to be dragged to the grave by the weight of these historic buildings around its neck, it must deconsecrate most of them and hand them over to the state."
The Catholic church is following this cue. In Rotterdam, the Netherlands, the historic Rotterdam Cathedral was auctioned off recently, and after it is demolished a block of offices will rise in its place. The cathedral was built in 1892 to hold a thousand people, but it had been quite some time since more than seventy turned up for mass. Two other Netherlands cathedrals are expected to follow Rotterdam's lead fairly soon.
Merging to Survive
In the United States dwindling congregations have caused some churches to merge in order to survive. In Schellsburg, Pennsylvania, less than twenty-five persons generally attended services at the United Church of Christ, Methodist, Presbyterian or Lutheran churches. So these four denominations agreed on compromises in forms of worship, and merged.
In Kansas City, Missouri, a First Presbyterian Church and United Church, both of which had declining congregations, worked out a merger. Eventually a Roman Catholic and an Episcopal church were persuaded to join them in the union. In this instance, the four congregations
planned to meet in the same building, but retain their separate religious services.
Also in Newark, New Jersey, Presbyterian, Methodist and Episcopal churches are presently working toward a merger. Again the driving force behind the union is the decreasing church'attendance. Each of the churches can seat about 450 persons, but the average attendance is about 100. Methodist minister Travis Kendall, whose congregation united with the First Presbyterian Church in 1965, said that this kind of "yoked congregation" is increasingly necessary for "sheer survival."
Loss of Confidence in Clergy
Why is the very existence of the churches threatened in many places? Why have the churches lost so much influence in the past several years? Loss of confidence in the religious leaders is a principal cause. Fewer and fewer persons trust or respect them. Their conduct has turned millions away from religion.
This unquestionably has been true in countries that have turned to atheistic communism. Now, however, it is also true in many other lands, including the United States. This was evidenced by a poll of 2,000 Americans by Lou Harris and Associates early last year—the results of which were called "a shocker." It showed that clergymen had fallen in public esteem and confidence to a rating below that of doctors, bankers, scientists, military leaders, educators, corporation heads, and even local retailers. But why have clergymen, as a group, fallen to such low esteem in even non-Communist countries?
Downgrading the Bible
A principal reason is that they have downgraded the Bible as the reliable Word of God. Really, there is hardly a Bible teaching that clergymen have not claimed is a myth, or is untrue. Some even openly say that they believe "God is dead."
And instead of endorsing the Bible's moral code, more and more of them are advocating the so-called "new morality."
According to this clergy-made philosophy, "Nothing can of itself always be labelled as 'wrong.' . . . the only intrinsic evil is lack of love." Therefore, theologian Joseph Fletcher explains: "One enters into every decision-making moment . . . prepared in one's freedom to suspend and violate any rule except that one must as responsibly as possible seek the good of one's neighbor." Endorsing this philosophy, many clergymen justify fornication and adultery when a person feels that such action is demonstrating neighbor love. They thus ignore the Bible's unequivocal command: "Abstain from fornication."—1 Thess. 4:3.
Even homosexuality is excused by disciples of the "new morality." From time to time individual clergymen have publicly condoned homosexual acts, but recently entire groups of them have indicated approval. For example, in a front-page New York Times article of November 29, 1967, ninety Episcopalian priests were reported to have generally agreed that the church should classify homosexual acts between consenting adults as "morally neutral." A leading clergy spokesman explained: "A homosexual relationship between two consenting adults should be judged by . . . whether it is intended to foster a permanent relationship of love." Yet God's Word plainly, and without qualifications, declares that homosexual acts are wrong, saying that "men who lie with men" will not inherit God's kingdom.—1 Cor. 6:9, 10.
How corrupting this clergy philosophy! And with what dreadful consequences! The Christian Century of May 17, 1967, observed: "One of the nation's well known psychiatrists—Francis J.
Braceland of Hartford, Connecticut—told a three-day national Methodist Convocation in Medicine and Theology held in Rochester, Minnesota, that premarital sexual relations resulting from exposure to the so-called new morality have greatly increased the number of young people in mental hospitals . . . The psychiatrist was reminding the clergy that sex is not a toy but an immensely creative or destructive power."
Instead of providing the wholesome moral guidance found in God's Word, the clergy deserve reprimanding for teaching a useless, corrupting human philosophy! No wonder people are becoming disgusted with them. And this undoubtedly is a major reason for the churches' loss of influence.
Meddling in Worldly Affairs
A second major reason why the clergy have fallen to such low esteem is their meddling in political affairs, which is not the business of a minister of God. Jesus Christ did not try to tell political rulers how to run their governments or cities, nor did he lawlessly "demonstrate" in order to change laws. Neither did his first-century followers, even though many social injustices existed at the time. Early Christians heeded Jesus' words: "You are no part of the world."—John 15:19.
However, the clergy today ignore Jesus' words. Observed the Baltimore Evening Sun, November 7, 1966: "Church bulletins spell out specific stands on issues, tract racks are stuffed with election information, and position papers have been circulated among clergymen of different faiths and denominations." One member of the Congress complained that church leaders maintain lobbies in Washington, D.C., and try "to dictate to Congress the kind of legislation which should be enacted on almost every conceivable economic, social and political subject."
Is it any wonder that government leaders are angered by such meddling in affairs that are not the business of the clergy? In South Africa, government leader Ben Schoeman exploded: "We are growing tired of political bishops. They use their pulpits to justify their dirty attacks on the government. If ministers of religion want to take part in politics, let them step down on to the political platform."
However, instead of heeding the counsel to mind their own business, the clergy have become more militant, even encouraging lawlessness in order to achieve their goals. For example, at the Conference on Church and Society in July 1966, held in Geneva, Switzerland, under the auspices of the World Council of Churches, this statement was issued:
"In many cases where legislation violates an acceptable constitution, and no speedy means of legal relief are available, the Christian may be called to civic disobedience (sit-down strikes, passive disobedience or deliberate violation of laws). In cases in which the constitution itself is inadequate, the Christian is called to work for its amendment in the interest of firmer guarantees of human rights. Where such changes are impossible, the Christian may come to the conclusion that he has no alternative but to violate the constitution."
How unlike Jesus Christ, who never encouraged Christians to take the law into their own hands and to try to change legislation by lawless deeds! The clergy are simply expressing their own fallible opinions. It is no wonder, therefore, that many have become disgusted with them and the churches they represent. More and more persons are beginning to see that the churches are completely devoid of spirituality, and have no real value. What, then, will happen to the churches? Are they doomed?
A Terrible Fate
For centuries professed Christianity has brought dishonor upon God and Christ. Horrible crusades, wicked inquisitions and oppression of the peoples have been carried on. To achieve their goals, the churches have violated the instructions of Christ and formed alliances with the State, becoming a part of the general machinery of governments. (John 15:19) Political rulers have welcomed this arrangement, since, with religion's blessing, the support of their subjects was encouraged. But now circumstances are changing.
The churches are losing influence. No longer are the clergy so highly respected and listened to by the people. According to God's sure Word of prophecy, the political rulers soon will realize that they have no need for the churches, and will turn upon and devastate the entire world empire of false religion, which is depicted in the Bible as a harlot called "Babylon the Great."—Rev. 17:3-5, 16, 17.
Already some, even of the clergy, can see the approaching end. Said clergyman Stephen H. Fritchman: "The secular establishment, the state . . . sees the usefulness of organized religion with its majestic claims of moral sanction, and are loathe to let it go. But go it will because its inner strength of commanding the faithful to total obedience has died or is well along the road toward death. The church's vast cathedrals, its billions in wealth, its army of ministers, cannot save it."—Los Angeles Times, December 19, 1966.
With certain destruction facing the unfaithful churches of Christendom, what course will you take?
First of all, heed the Bible's command to separate from doomed Babylon the Great—Rev. 18:4.
But do not conclude that all religion is useless. There is a Christian organization today that upholds the Bible as God's infallible Word, and heeds Jesus' instruction
to keep separate from the world. Its people are noted for their exemplary conduct. This religion is that of Jehovah's witnesses. You owe it to yourself and your family to attend their meetings, and see if this is not the true religion of which the Bible speaks.
HOW FINE ARE
LET a child choose his food, and what would he be eating? Candy,
ice cream, cake, soda pop and suchlike. Of course, no wise parent would permit his child to subsist on such a diet but would require him to eat also what is best for him, wholesome food, including fruits and vegetables.
But do we really need to give much thought to what we eat? Not according
Of course, that involves a number of things. Needed are sufficient sleep, relaxation and rest, adequate physical exercise, proper mental and emotional habits, avoidance of tobacco and narcotics, moderation in the use of alcoholic beverages, and proper food.
Should not parents and other grown-ups apply the same wisdom to their own eating habits? Surely all of us should want to take good care of our bodies so that as long as possible we may enjoy optimum health, being able to discharge our obligations to God and to our fellowman to the best of our ability.
to some of America's foremost medical authorities. Thus the Council on Foods of the American Medical Association states: "Simply choose foods from the four basic groups: milk, meat, vegetables and fruit, and bread and cereals. These foods offer a wide variety and assure us the basics of a healthful diet." And says the United States Food and Drug Administration: "The American food supply is unsurpassed in volume, variety and nutritional value. In fact, Americans have to go out of their way, nutritionally speaking, to avoid being well-nourished."
But not all agree with such statements. Among these is Consumers' Bulletin. Regarding foods being consumed by the American public, it had the following to say in its August 1966 issue under the heading "Overuse of Sugary, Starchy Foods":
"Sugar and refined starches are the chief enemies of good nutrition in almost all places where a so-called civilized diet prevails.
. . Sugar, common starchy foods and commercial fats are all highly unnatural foods. Though constituting 90 percent of the intake, they provide less than 1/20 of the essential nutrients . . . required by the body for health. . . The harm they do cannot be compensated by vitamins and minerals added by the food manufacturer for 'sales appeal.' . . As far as practicable the carbohydrates consumed should be in natural mixture with vitamins, minerals, fibrous material, as in vegetables and fruits."
The foregoing remarks by a matter-of-fact, nonprofit research organization that scientifically tests for consumers everything from autos to zippers raise some questions. Could it be that, after all, modern civilized man is not as well nourished as he thinks he is? Could it be that the kind of food he eats has a bearing on the prevalence of heart disease, cancer and nervous afflictions? What are the facts?
That modern man's diet might not be so ideal after all is implied by the policy of such men as Dr. T. K. Cureton, Ph.D. As director of the Physical Fitness Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois and consultant to the President's Council on Physical Fitness, he could hardly be accused of being a food faddist or a quack. Concerning him we are told that, while featuring the value of physical exercise, he generally advises middle-aged subjects "to increase their vitamin intake, especially vitamins B1 and C, and to add a daily ration of wheat germ and wheat-germ oil."
Why Refined Foods?
what appeared in Scientific American, July 1953:
Why should it be necessary for Dr. Cureton to prescribe additional vitamins? Could it be because of the way modern foods, cereals in particular, are refined? This well could be the case in view of
"Cereal grains, like eggs and milk, are foodstuffs designed by nature for the nutrition of the young of the species. They represent a five-in-one food supply which contains carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals and vitamins. A whole-grain cereal, if its food values are not destroyed by the overrefinement of modern processing methods, comes closer than any other plant product to providing an adequate diet."
To what extent modern refining of whole-grain cereals robs them of vital nutrients can be seen in the case of wheat. A kernel of wheat consists of 83.5 percent endosperm, from which white flour is milled. However, this contains only 10 percent of the proteins, fats, minerals and vitamins. And what about the rest of the kernel (the 15 percent bran and inner coat and the 1.5 percent wheat germ) that is removed in the refining process? It accounts for 90 percent of these valuable elements, including iron and phosphorus as well as the vitamins, such as B complex and E. This is a big nutritional loss.
If modern refining thus impoverishes, why are such foods as cereals refined? For a number of reasons. For one thing, white refined foods are more appealing to the eye than are the darker natural foods. And there is also the matter of taste; refined foods lend themselves more readily to fancy uses such as for cakes and puddings. But the chief reason is that refined and degerminated foods keep better than unrefined foods; they are not nearly so likely to spoil. But this counts against their food value, for which reason a nutritionist once said: "Eat only those foods which spoil or rot or decay but eat them before they do!" Pertinent here is another remark of this same nutritionist: "Eat what you should before you eat what you want to!"
That refined foods are not so fine after all is not appreciated by many persons, as can be seen from their eating habits. Their lunch often consists solely of whitebread sandwiches and soda pop. In fact, the truth about refined foods has not always been appreciated by leaders in medicine. Thus at the turn of the century nutritionists spoke disparagingly of leafy vegetables, tomatoes and oranges. The poor were told that they could get along very well without them!
But then the light gradually began to dawn on the professional medical nutritionists. They discovered that there were such things as nutritional deficiency diseases—beriberi and pellagra, for example. They found that chickens and pigeons fed on polished rice developed symptoms similar to beriberi and that when either unpolished rice or rice husks or polishings were fed to these birds they were at once cured. What was lacking was the vitamin B that is contained mostly in the husks of rice, even as it is primarily in the bran of wheat. Beriberi is still a common affliction among people who live largely on polished rice and dried fish. So, too, when a ship with a cargo of white flour was wrecked in the Arctic, the Eskimos who salvaged it and lived almost exclusively on it while it lasted soon developed beriberi. After they returned to their usual diet the disease disappeared.
Yes, it appears that refined foods are not so fine, for they are implicated in a host of ills from tooth decay to cancer. Lending dental researchers tell us that tooth decay is a disease of civilization, that white sugar is bad for the teeth and that Alaskan Eskimos or East Indians with good teeth are plagued with tooth decay upon moving to the cities. In 1932 the natives of the Tristan du Cunha islands in the South Atlantic were eating no refined foods. After twenty years of refined food, tooth decay had increased in adults from 18 to 92 per thousand and in children from 1 to 226 per thousand. And in a series of tests reported on in Dental Abstracts, December 1966, it was found that the greatest improvement as regards gingivitis or inflammation of the gums was found in the group that eliminated refined carbohydrates, such as white flour and white sugar, and the greatest worsening of the condition was found among those who had added refined sugar and suchlike to their diet. Also, it was found that, during World War II, as white sugar was harder to obtain tooth decay decreased.
Refined foods also cheat the nervous system, as has already been noted in afflictions such as beriberi and pellagra. Thus the British Journal of Nutrition, September 1964, told of natives of Tanzania who were troubled with pins-and-needles and burning sensations in their feet and were experiencing difficulty in walking. Investigations showed that all this resulted from their changing their food from corn (maize) that contained 90 percent of the whole grain to corn that was refined and contained only 60 percent and which was greatly deficient in the B. vitamins. The report stated that as the people of Tanzania changed to more of this refined food they could expect more of such difficulties.
Research has also shown that when the diet of children is improved by supplying the essential vitamins and minerals that go by the board when foods are highly refined, their learning capacity is improved. Among adults it was found that such an improved diet resulted in better work and fewer accidents. More than that, according to Schizophrenics Anonymous, their affliction may be largely a deficiency disease due to a lack of niacin or nicotinic acid, which is one of the chief B vitamins that is milled away in refining white flour.
Science News, March 26, 1966.
Then again, there is more and more evidence that hypoglycemia, a condition in which there is too little sugar in the blood, resulting in a host of troublesome symptoms, is triggered, if not caused, by eating too many refined foods. As a result those suffering from this malady are advised to avoid all white sugar, candy, cake, pie, pastries, sweets and custards. It seems that these artificial sweets overstimulate in certain persons the glands known as the islands of Langerhans, to produce too much insulin, resulting in a lack of sugar in the blood.
That refined foods may also be implicated in cancer is indicated by what Boris Sokoloff, Ph.D., M.D., has to say in his book Cancer-New Approaches, New Hope. In it he tells of experiments in which it was found that "when rats and mice are kept on natural (stock) diet, they are less predisposed to develop cancer than are animals kept on purified feed." Fed a cancer-producing substance and natural unrefined foods, only 30 percent developed cancer in seven to eight months. But when fed refined foods, together with this cancer-producing substance, 90 percent developed cancer and died within six or seven months. He states: "Why the animals kept on a [refined food] diet are more susceptible to cancer-producing substances is not known. No interpretation has so far been given to this quite intriguing and perhaps vitally important fact. . . . It is possible that some essential amino acids present in natural foodstuffs and replaced by synthetic substances play some role in the resistance to cancer formation."
Refined Foods Doubly Bad
How could refined foods be doubly bad? In that they are not only deficient in valuable vitamins and trace elements but also contain injurious substances because of the refining process. A report that appeared in the Medical World News of December 1966 pointed this out.
It told that investigator Dr. H. A. Schroeder found he was able to counteract diabetes in rats and man by feeding them chromium or chromium chloride, and went on to say: "Chromium is abundant at birth . . . Chromium deficiency may result from sugar refining and other food processing that involves superheating. . . . In refined sugar, he has found an almost complete absence of chromium, whereas the metal is present in natural sugar. Refined sugar not only fails to provide chromium, but it may drain the body of its stores of the metal, since sugar requires great quantities of chromium for its metabolism."
And just the converse was found to be true of cadmium, a toxic metal that has been found to cause high blood pressure. The body contains none of it at birth but gradually accumulates it. From what sources? One of these is soft drinking water, which acquires it from mains and copper and galvanized-iron pipes. Another source is refined food. The ratio between cadmium and zinc is critical in high blood pressure, and "wheat refining and rice polishing, raise the cadmium concentration and lower the amount of zinc in these grains. . . . Areas in the world where the major source of calories is refined grains are apt to show a high incidence of hypertension."
In view of all the foregoing, how fine are refined foods? Not at all fine! They may be more appealing to the eye and to the palate and they may not spoil, rot or decay as soon as do natural foods, but when It comes to giving what is needed for optimum health it does seem that highly refined foods leave much to be desired.
Housewives and mothers would benefit their families by enabling them to get more vitamins and minerals from foods, such as by generally choosing whole wheat and the darker rye bread instead
of the white or light varieties; by using unpolished rice instead of polished white rice; by using honey, molasses or darkbrown sugar wherever practicable instead of white sugar, and especially by supplying dried fruits instead of devitalized candies for the youngsters. Keeping good health is worth a little thought and effort.
MAGINE if it were possible to go into a store and purchase
peace for the nations. Impossible! And yet, there is a shop that has as its avowed purpose the securing of peace—The Shop with the Wooden Door.
Pammunjom, which, literally translated from Korean, means "The Shop with the Wooden Door," is the site of the meetings of the Military Armistice Commission, whose mission is "to supervise implementation of the truce terms" between the United Nations Command and the Korean Peoples Army of North Korea. It is an armed truce, one of the longest in history.
"Military and civilian personnel are permitted to visit Panmunjom as guests of the United Nations Command daily except Monday," says the pamphlet Armed Truce. "Here one can see the tragedy of the division of Korea and sense to the fullest the reality of the Communist threat.
AVAILABLE AT THE SHOP WITH THE WOODEN DOOR?
Application should be made to the Armistice Affairs Division, Headquarters, United Nations Command."
It is apparent that a visitor will probably be exposed to some propaganda from both sides; yet, if he will keep an open mind, a visit not only will prove interesting but also might answer some questions that we have concerning the case for peace.
Instead of choosing just any day for a visit, we heard that it is best to wait until there is a meeting of the Military Armistice Commission. Then it is possible to see the representatives of each side actually face one another and hear their arguments. One such meeting was called by the Communists last year—the 242nd MAC meeting. We will attend it.
Bus Ride to Panmunjom
The United States Army bus that provides us with transportation thirty-eight miles north to Pamunjunjom leaves the United Nations Command Headquarters in Seoul at 7:30 a.m. It swings into the overcrowded streets of a city already immersed in the day's activity. We are relieved when the bus breaks out of the city traffic into the quiet countryside.
On either side of the bus rice paddies range out toward the rugged mountains, and the mountains themselves, once burnt bald by war, are finally beginning to show some heavy growths of pines and other trees. This is pleasant; a comfortable, quiet ride through a peaceful countryside.
Then one begins to notice military installations tucked into the rice paddies and the hills. They seem incongruous in this quiet pastoral scene, but the farther north the bus goes the more numerous they become. Excitedly one of the passengers points to the left, and all the visitors crane to see artillery pieces on maneuvers belching smoke. Soon armored personnel carriers rattle down a side road to meet us, followed by a column of tanks. In seconds the passengers are staring into the maw of a cannon mounted atop a tank.
The bus stops before a long, single-lane, trestle bridge, and armed soldiers board the bus to check the passenger list. Across the Imjim River is the militarized zone. On either side of the narrow dirt road small signs, hanging from a single barbed wire, warn in English and Korean that the fields are all mined. Rice is no longer harvested from these paddies. It is a rather barren section, and we are glad to be through it and arrive at our first destination, the base camp.
Base Camp and Joint Security Area
which is a neutral strip of land 4,000 meters (about 13,123 feet) wide that winds 151 miles across the peninsula of Korea and serves as a buffer between the North Korean Army and the UN forces. The actual border, called the Demarcation Line, runs down the center of this zone.
The base camp is an American Army camp just outside the Demilitarized Zone,
At the base camp the visitors receive coffee and a short briefing about Panmunjom. We learn that it was a small village destroyed in the Korean War. During the initial truce talks an area near the old village became a mutually agreed upon meeting place and has since served as such. It is located in the center of the Demilitarized Zone, is almost circular and is called "The Joint Security Area."
After the briefing all the visitors are given a sheet of paper upon which are listed instructions, such as: No weapons, guns or knives are permitted in the Joint Security Area. No visitors may enter any Communist buildings. Pictures may be taken, but if a Communist soldier resents having his picture taken and shows it, stop immediately. Visitors may not talk to Communist soldiers. If a visitor is in any way threatened by a Communist soldier, he should seek the protection of a UN Security Guard. After the guests have read all the instructions, they sign the paper at the bottom to show that they understand and agree to all the restrictions and then they receive a tag that reads "Visitor." This done, the barrier across the road is raised, and the bus moves past a UN guard post and into the Demilitarized Zone.
The passengers begin to feel anticipation building up. In only a few minutes the bus moves past another UN outpost, and then straight ahead we see the first Communist outpost manned by two North Korean soldiers. Anticipation slowly gives way to the curious feeling that we ourselves have entered the arena.
The bus parks in a dirt clearing before a white, newly built structure with a two-story, pagodalike tower in the center and a single-story building on either side. Here we leave the bus, guided by a member of the United States Navy, who tells us that the white building was built by the South Koreans to beautify the otherwise drab meeting area. It is called "Freedom House" and, according to the pamphlet, "is meant to be a symbol of the hope for a peaceful reunification of the divided Korea under a free and democratic form of government."
From the tower of Freedom House the visitor is able to see almost the entire Joint Security Area. Just before him are seven rectangular, one-story, barracktype buildings in a row. Three belong to the Korean Peoples Army and are painted green. Three belong to the United Nations Command and are painted blue. The one in the center is the Military Armistice Commission conference building—this is where the actual meeting takes place.
Around the buildings mill security police from both sides, mingled with the visitors and the press. Each side is permitted no more than thirty-five security police on duty in the area at any one time and they may carry only small arms. As we are watching, a formation of British soldiers in colorful uniform march out from a UN guard room and, with elaborate arm-swinging and high-stepping maneuvers, change the guard. The North Korean security police ignore the entire procedure.
The guide points across the area into North Korea toward a building that looks like a summerhouse with a pagoda roof in the center of a small park. He tells us that the building was built by the North Koreans ostensibly as a recreation area but that its "real purpose" is for propaganda reasons, hence its official designation by the UN Command is "Propaganda Park." One may wonder what the Communists call Freedom House. The guide then points to a round building on a small hill and explains that it is a Communist guard post and that it was once the highest building in the Joint Security Area, but—and here there is a show of some pride—the Freedom House tower is now the highest structure by a few feet.
Viewing the Conference
The conference is under way when the visitors arrive at the conference building. Along either side of the building are windows that permit the visitor to hear and to watch the proceedings only a few feet from the participants. The building is divided in the middle by a conference table which, in turn, is divided by a microphone cord that runs down the center. That cable marks the boundary between North and South Korea. An American general, flanked by a British general and a South Korean admiral, represents the UN side, while a North Korean general, assisted by a political adviser, speaks for the Communist side.
The UN general charges that the North Koreans are regularly attempting to infiltrate the UN lines and firing at UN positions. He then produces Russian-made weapons, equipment and bloody uniforms taken from the bodies of North Korean soldiers that were shot as they allegedly attempted to infiltrate south. As the lengthy report is translated into Korean, the North Korean general ignores the evidence as if it were not there and ignores the UN offer to return the bodies of the dead soldiers. He seems bored.
Then it is his turn. After visibly mustering his fiercest countenance and pointing his finger, he denies the charges. Then he reads a long paper that has nothing to do with the charges and basically rehashes claims of American imperialism and involvement in the Vietnamese War.
We observe that the Communists mainly work from prepared documents. Now it is the UN general's turn to look bored.
At one point in the proceedings the UN general hands the North Korean general a South Korean newspaper that contains a news item datelined New York, which has as its headline, "Premier Hits Asian Reds as Gangsters." The story an-
It soon becomes obvious that nothing is going to be settled, in spite of the wealth of words. So the visitors are loaded back into the bus and returned to the base camp for lunch.
As it turned out, the visitors missed an incident that occurred after they left. At the close of the meeting, as the UN generals were about to depart, a North Korean journalist defected by jumping into the car that was waiting to carry the
gers the North Korean general, and he British general back to the base camp.
throws it back at the UN general. The UN general pushes it back again across the table to the Communist side, and this time the North Korean general crum-
ARTICLES IN THE NEXT ISSUE
Getting to Know God.
Mainnutrition—Source of Developing Countries.
Carnival Time in Colombia.
Relativity and the World
In Which We Live.
ples up the paper and throws it at the UN general.
This type of exchange has gone on for almost sixteen years. The negotiations for
North Korean soldiers tried to drag him out of the car, but an American lieutenant colonel jumped into the car and ordered the driver to go, while a military police captain knocked down the two Communist soldiers. A barricade was hastily erected at the last Communist outpost, and the North Korean security guards
the truce itself took over two years and 18,000,000 words, and in the ensuing thirteen and a half years, 242 MAC meetings and over 300 MAC secretaries meetings, where administrative problems and minor violations of the armistice are negotiated, have produced an almost incomprehensible volume of words. This is compounded by the fact that every statement must be translated consecutively from English to Korean to Chinese in the case of the UN and from Korean to English to Chinese by the North Korean side.
fired their pistols at the fleeing sedan, but it escaped by smashing through the barricade and speeding on to UN lines. The journalist, believing that he was about to be purged, left behind a wife and three children. Another incident to supply fuel for angry debates.
Impressions
At the last Communist outpost, as the last Communist guard glares into the departing bus, the visitors form definite and long lasting impressions of what they have
However, for those visitors who become weary of the word exchange there are plenty of subjects for photographing. They photograph gesturing generals and the scowling Communist soldiers. In fact, the entire area, with squads of soldiers marching in and out, is viewed by many as a colorful spectacle, an international sideshow that would have made American showman P. T. Barrum envious.
long-lasting impressions of what they have just seen. Both sides loudly declare peace as their motive. The Communists even brought into the Joint Security Area a flock of pigeons that they called "Peace Doves." However, they had trained the pigeons to land only on the green North Korean buildings—obviously a propaganda stunt. The UN confounded one flock of pigeons by painting the roofs of their buildings another color.
It would seem that both sides have abandoned hope that the United Nations can ever bring about a permanent peace and now are mainly interested in the propaganda value of the meetings.
Then there are the meetings themselves. The deep-rooted bitterness of both sides is clearly evident, but yet there is a little lingering impression that they must be joking. Their actions are many times ludicrous, humorous, seemingly to be viewed merely as piqued children having a falling out and nothing more serious than that. One meeting was called by the Communists to complain that the UN soldiers were throwing snowballs at them.
Tanks, heavy guns and a column of grim, young soldiers move by the bus on their way to take their place on the line. Then one may recall the blood-caked uniforms seen earlier that day and there is a sobering moment. No joke here; it is
serious, deadly serious. Untold numbers of human lives are involved.
And the questions—what of the questions to which visitors had hoped to find answers? Can places like Panmunjom bring about lasting peace? The most enthusiastic reply from the supporters of these meetings is that the meetings are better than the hot war they replaced. Agreed, but the blunt fact is that, after thirteen and a half years of debate on the subject in the general assembly, the United Nations has failed to find a formula for a peace treaty in Korea. How long can the Shop with the Wooden Door hold back the flood of war? The case for peace is at best tenuous.
It is a thoughtful journey back to Seoul, but we find it just as we left it: bustling, busy, and if any are aware that they live under the gun, they do not show it. It is business as usual.
Doctor Urges Colleagues to "Be Consistent"
In the editorial of the July 1967 issue of the Cape County Journal, published in Missouri, Dr. J. K. Holcom gave some excellent counsel to his fellow doctors. He said: "No doubt, we, as physicians, feel frustrated, even angered, when an obstinate patient refuses to accept what we would consider the preferred regimen of therapy. But, should we honestly feel this way when the patient cites a religious belief as the, basis for his reluctance to accept specific treatment? If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that we settle for something less than ideal treatment with many patients in our day-to-day practice. In other words, we do the best we can under a given set of circumstances. For example, we see an elderly individual in very poor physical condition with a carcinoma that surgical excision would offer best treatment. However, after weighing all factors and realizing that the patient is a poor risk surgically, we offer radiation or other medical therapy—we do the
best we can under a given set of circumstances. If we can do this with respect to our medical convictions, shouldn't we likewise be willing to do the best we can when a patient's convictions, particularly religious ones, prevent our offering what we would consider the desired form of therapy? Usually, patients having religious reasons for not accepting blood transfusions, etc., are aware of the medical risks involved in their decision, but are willing to accept those risks and ask only that we do our best. Certainly, these situations can present a trying ordeal for the physician, but I know of no medical-legal problems having arisen when the circumstances were fully understood by both patient and physician.
"In conclusion, shouldn't we be consistent with ourselves and with our patients and be willing to offer the best treatment available with respect to the circumstances involved in each case we see?"
A DEATH in a family can cause an emotional shock
from which it takes a long time to recover, but death also can cause a lasting economic shock. In the United States the cost of a funeral can be so great that it becomes one of the major expenditures a family makes.
The average funeral and cemetery costs are about $1,450—no small amount for most American families. But whether you live in a country where the cost of dying is high or low, there are things you should know about funerals.
Funeral establishments are in a highly competitive business because there are too many of them for the number of deaths that occur. In the United States there are 25,000 funeral homes that employ 50,000 licensed practitioners and 10,000 unlicensed workers. These earn a living from approximately 1,800,000 deaths a year. That amounts to seventy-two funerals a year for each funeral home, a little more than one a week, but since some large funeral homes have more than this, the smaller establishments may not average even one funeral a week.
Faced with the high cost of building and maintaining an elaborate funeral home that may contain an organ and have an expensive hearse as well as other limousines, the American mortician feels pressured to get as much as possible from every funeral. For this reason many morticians have a sliding scale of prices that are determined by what they think they can get from a customer.
Usually in the United States the cost of funeral services is included with the price of the casket that is selected. The mortician shows the family around a display room where caskets of
different styles are carefully displayed in the best manner of salesmanship so as to feature the more expensive ones. Being a retailer of funeral goods and services, the mortician will naturally feature the expensive models and discourage interest in cheap ones. There are some funeral directors who will even play upon the emotions of the family so they will feel obliged to make a costly choice.
The final price that a family settles on for a casket and funeral services is not usually the total amount they will have to pay. To this figure will be added extras such as charges for flowers, gratuities, use of the flower car, a burial vault, a grave marker, approximately 70 to130 for opening and closing the grave, a mileage charge if the cemetery is beyond a certain distance, and so forth. If the family buys a grave through the mortician it may cost more than if they bought it directly from a cemetery, but if they do buy it direct from the cemetery what they pay will vary greatly with the type of cemetery they choose.
A cemetery that is privately owned and operated for commercial purposes will charge $150 and up for a grave.
In one large commercial cemetery in the state of California the lowest-priced grave is 308, and medium-priced graves range from435 to 650, to which is added a 10-percent charge for endowment care. In publicly owned cemeteries, however, graves are lower in price. In the state of Minnesota, for example, they cost28, on an average, including endowment care. Crypts in the mausoleums of commercial cemeteries may begin at $600.
Must the Cost of Dying Be So High?
To the American mortician and commercial cemeteries the high prices are necessary because of their limited number of customers and high overhead expenses. The mortician feels that he must receive at least 500 as a minimum price to reimburse him adequately, and it appears that many morticians in this country have more or less agreed among themselves on this minimum price. This has resulted in lawsuits' being filed by the United States Justice Department and the State of Wisconsin against the National Funeral Directors Association of the United States. The lawsuits charge the association with a conspiracy to eliminate competition by not permitting its 14,000 members to advertise funeral prices. The state of Wisconsin contended that this policy was "for the purpose of fixing and maintaining high prices" for funeral services and for the commodities needed for funerals. The State also contended that a funeral home can make money by charging195 for a funeral. In a small community with few funerals, however, it may not be possible to make enough to stay in business.
That funerals in a large city can be handled for substantially less than the minimum, fee of 500 can be seen in the success that a number of funeral associations have had in contracting for low-cost funerals for their members. Many of these associations have been organized by church people out of disgust for costly and elaborate funerals. Their personal choice was for something simple and inexpensive and yet dignified. They have been able to find morticians who are willing to provide the type of funerals they want for prices ranging from100 to $200. A simple wooden coffin rather than an elaborate casket of metal or expensive wood is usually used. Such coffins are in popular use in England and other countries. In fact, metal caskets are rarely used in England. Funeral societies in Sweden claim to have reduced the average cost of funerals by about 50 percent. If a family wishes something better, that also can be arranged.
Savings in funeral costs are achieved not only by using an inexpensive, wooden coffin but also by foregoing embalming and restoration work on the body. Most of the common people in England and South America have funerals of this type. In England the more expensive funerals are around 280 and the minimum price is about108. The cost of cremation is about 15. In the United States the price for cremation averages about60, to which might be added the cost of a container, which is around 55; a space for the container in a columbarium, which averages85, and, of course, the price of a casket, which is bought even for cremations.
In some of the low-cost funerals in the United States the families agree to private cremation or burial of the body, with a memorial service held later. They dislike the emphasis that is placed on a dead body in most funerals and the public display of it. By having a memorial service without the body being present they feel that the emphasis is being placed on spiritual matters instead of on the body, and, of course, the cost is less because embalming and restorative work is unnecessary.
People with different feelings like to have the body present. The type of funeral a family may choose is a personal matter.
Embalming and Restoration
The mortician defends his practice of displaying a body by the argument that his restorative work on the body leaves a "beautiful memory picture" of the deceased. But many people prefer to remember a loved one as he was when living, not when lying cold and still in a casket. They cherish the memory of him while he was healthy, laughing and active. Of course, it is not pleasant to look at a body that shows the ravages of disease or physical violence, such as from an auto accident. The mortician's skill at restoration can erase the ugly appearance these make on a body. In doing so he uses cosmetics, waxes, bleaches, dyes, plaster of paris, cotton padding, fillers that are pumped under the skin to fill sunken areas, sprays, and so forth.
Before restorative work is done, the standard procedure is to embalm the body so it will last long enough for the funeral. This is not generally required by American law except in unusual circumstances, and, contrary to popular belief, it is not a sanitary measure that disinfects the entire body. Because a dead body deteriorates rapidly, it is usually necessary to bury it within twenty-four hours in a warm climate unless it is embalmed or kept in a refrigerated morgue. By embalming it the funeral can be set for three or more days after death. This oftentimes is necessary so relatives living at a distance can be in attendance. For some persons embalming removes any fear of a loved one's being buried alive by mistake.
Today the embalming process is very different from the way it was done by the ancient Egyptians. The principal preservative step they used was to soak the body for seventy days in a chemical solution containing natron. Morticians now use formaldehyde and other chemicals. The blood is removed and embalming fluid is pumped into the body's arteries. A preservative fluid is also pumped into the chest and abdominal cavities.
How long the body will keep after it is embalmed depends upon the strength of the solutions. The embalming that morticians customarily do will not preserve a body for very long, nothing like the thousands of years achieved by the ancient Egyptian embalmers. Usually it is only adequate for allowing the body to be displayed for a few days.
It might be well to note that some morticians might be thinking of eventually being able to sell for transfusion purposes the blood they take from some of the dead bodies they embalm. This possibility can be seen from an article that appeared in the magazine American Funeral Director of February 1963, which discussed the progress being made in the use of cadaver blood for transfusions. If the use of such blood becomes more commonplace, a Christian family may feel obligated to get a signed assurance from the mortician that the blood of a loved one will not be used for anything. In some instances they might have to request that the body be buried or cremated without embalming so as to make certain that the blood will not be used in an unscriptural manner.—Acts 15:19, 20.
Selecting a Mortician
For a family to get the kind of funeral they want at a price that fits their pocketbook, it is important that they not be hasty in calling a mortician to pick up the body.
Once he has it in his possession the family's position to negotiate for the best price is gone. The wise thing to do is to contact several morticians before permitting removal of the body. Then it will be possible to get the most concessions in price and in funeral procedures. In view of the fact that this is a business arrangement, it may be advisable to have a close friend negotiate for a price, as his thinking may not be as hindered by emotion.
In some instances a family can foresee the need of a mortician's services. When this is possible, they can begin inquiring of various morticians and negotiating for a good price well in advance. When death finally strikes, they will know which mortician to call, and he will know what their wishes are. In fact, a person can make such advance preparations for himself, but he should inform his relatives of them and of his wishes.
A decision must also be made as to the kind of casket, or coffin, that will be used. Some caskets are made of heavy-gauge metal and have an airtight seal. They are more costly than those of thin metal or of an inexpensive wood. A sealed, airtight casket will not prevent a body from decaying, because anaerobic bacteria thrive where there is no air. These more expensive caskets also are likely to have innerspring or soft foam mattresses, which a dead person is unable to appreciate. An outer container, or vault of concrete or of some other durable material, may be suggested by the mortician at an extra charge of $70 or more. It is not usually required by law, although some cemeteries might require it to prevent the ground from eventually sinking when the casket disintegrates. Does the family want to pay for such things or do they prefer something that is plainer and less expensive? When deciding, they
might keep in mind that an expensive casket will not be seen after it is buried, and it cannot prevent a body from returning to the dust from which man was made. Gen. 3:19.
Some families may not want to follow the customary procedure in the United States of having the open casket the center of attention during the funeral services but may request the mortician to keep the casket closed or perhaps in another room. As for viewing the body after the funeral service, the family may wish to leave that up to the personal wishes of those present. If some want to view it, the casket could be opened briefly for their benefit. Other families may have no objection to leaving the casket open during the entire proceedings and permitting a public viewing of the body. It is a matter for personal choice.
There is also a custom among some people for family members to sit by the casket for a period while friends come to pay their respects to the dead person and express sympathy to the family. No family should feel that this fatiguing custom is Scripturally required of them. It would be more considerate of friends to call on the family at their home and not insist that they receive them by the body. The custom of staying by the body all night, called "the wake," is a pagan custom; so true Christians do not practice it.
Because of the Scriptural promise of the resurrection of the dead, Christians do not grieve excessively when a loved one dies, as do people who have no hope. (Acts 24:15; 1 Thess. 4:13) Neither do they become overly concerned about the body as if God needs it to resurrect the person. He made man from dust in the beginning, and he can provide bodies for the resurrected dead in the same manner.
one likes to see come into his family, it need not be a cause for confusion and a great financial burden. That can be prevented by knowing something about funerals and how to keep their cost down.
Bearing the grief that death brings can be made easier by also knowing about the Scriptural promises of a resurrection and the time when, as "the last enemy, death is to be brought to nothing."—1 Cor. 15:26.
By "Awake!" correspondent In Hawaii
BLINDNESS—an all-enveloping darkness! With this darkness comes inability to lead a normal life, to do the things one once took for granted. From this tragic condition comes need for guidance. What can be done to fill this need? That depends on the person who has lost his sight. The choice is largely his.
One might choose to become part of the group of the blind whose chief interest in
life is their handicap. Or one may follow the course of thousands, that of doing nothing. These persons stay at home and allow well-meaning friends and relatives to wait on them hand and foot.
But there is another course open, one that many blind persons have found to be most satisfying. That is to employ the services of an uncomplaining and loyal friend, a friend that would find joy in the
blind one's happiness—a guide dog. Guide dogs have freed thousands of the blind from their dependence on others and have opened up a whole new life, giving them eyes in the darkness.
Selecting Guide Dogs
Even though there are now a number of guide-dog agencies in various parts of the world, the basic characteristics and training of dogs chosen for this service are very much the same. Female German shepherds are generally used because of their intelligence, stamina and fidelity. Other dogs are sometimes used that meet
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