Awake!, December 8, 1968
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Christmas Among Non-Christians
Safeguard Your Possessions
A Father Talks to His Son
The Rebirth of a Volcano
DECEMBER 8.1968
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 interest. "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.
The viewpoint of "Awake!" is not narrow, but is international. "Awake!" has its own correspondents in scores of nations. Its articles are read in many lands, in many languages, by millions of persons.
In every issue "Awake!" presents vital topics on which you should be informed. It features penetrating articles on social conditions and offers sound counsel for meeting the problems of everyday life. Current news from every continent passes in quick review. Attention is focused on activities in the fields of government and commerce about which you should know. Straightforward discussions of religious issues alert you to matters of vital concern. Customs and people in many lands, the marvels of creation, practical sciences and points of human interest are all embraced in its coverage. "Awake!" provides wholesome, instructive reading for every member of the family.
"Awakel!" pledges itself to righteous principles, to exposing hidden foes and subtle dangers, to championing freedom for all, to comforting mourners and strengthening those disheartened by the failures of a delinquent world, reflecting sure hope for the establishment of God's righteous new order in this generation.
Get acquainted with "Awake!" Keep awake by reading "Awake!"
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CONTENTS
Christmas Among Non-Christians 3
Safeguard Your Possessions 8
Going Too Fast? 11
Millions of People Are Worried 12
From Where the Dew? 15
A Father Talks to His Son 16
Jehovah's Witnesses and
American Freedom 19
The Rebirth of a Volcano 20
Pope's Visit to Latin America—Why? 24
"Your Word Is Truth"
Is Use of the Rosary Christian? 27
Watching the World 29
Christmas Among Non-Christians
DID you know that the celebration of Christmas is not limited to people who profess to be Christian? That is right. There are non-Christians who engage in its festivities with as much zest as members of the various churches of Christendom, if not more.
In Japan, for example, Christmas is one of the biggest holidays of the year despite the fact that there are only about 800,000 professed Christians in a population of over 97 million. Gay Christmas lights decorate just about every street in Tokyo, and elaborately decorated trees abound in the business district. Gilded Christmas bells hang from street signs at the intersections. Recorded Christmas carols can be heard on public-address systems in just about every major shop. The stores display the "Merry Christmas" greeting along with enticements to buy and give gifts.
Santa Clauses can be seen almost everywhere in Japanese business districts. Some of the large department stores have ones that are several stories high. The fashionable Takashimaya store even dresses its girl elevator operators in Santa Claus suits with miniskirts. Out on the streets Santa Clauses walk around with sandwich-
board signs advertising various things.
Christmas parties that are so popular in nations professing to be Christian are also popular in Japan. In fact,
Christmas Eve in Japan is a time for reveling. The New York Times of December 25, 1966, reported that the Japanese police vans were especially padded "so the drunks would not hurt themselves."
Like the Japanese, many pagan Africans in Kenya regard Christmas as a time for grand festivities. On Christmas day they feast, drink beer, exchange gifts and dance. They get whipped into a frenzy from drumming and dancing all night long. Many of their huts have Christmas trees decorated with the flowers of the bougainvillea. But they use evergreens such as cyprus trees or banana fronds as Christmas trees rather than fir trees.
Within the Nations of Christendom
Among the Buddhists living in Hawaii there is a similar enthusiasm every year for Christmas.
Like professed Christians, they exchange Christmas gifts, decorate their homes for the holiday, give presents to their children and hold family feasts.
Neither the Buddhists in Hawaii nor the non-Christians in Japan and Africa observe Christmas because they believe the claims made about it by the churches of Christendom. They observe it because it is a popular holiday. It is for the same reason that many Jews become involved in the celebration.
Although rejecting Jesus Christ, whose birth Christmas is supposed to commemorate, a great many Jews decorate their places of business with Christmas adornments, join in Christmas office parties and send out holiday cards. In a sense they are joining in the celebration.
Even the Jewish Hanukkah festival has been influenced by the Christmas celebration. Regarding Hanukkah, Rabbi Morris N. Kertzer states in his book What Is a Jew?: "American Jews have transmuted this minor festival into a major one largely because its traditional customs so closely parallel the Christmas celebration which occurs at the same time. . . . In imitation of the general atmosphere prevailing in December, Hanukkah is now marked by exchanges of gifts for young and old, and homes are gaily decorated with a variety of Hanukkah symbols."
There are a great many other people in the nations of Christendom who do not believe the religious claims about Christmas but join in its festivities. Some are atheists, others are materialists who are not necessarily atheists, and still others are churchgoers who reject the Bible account about Jesus Christ as being true history. Nevertheless, they set up Christmas trees in their homes, exchange Christmas presents, feast, drink, wish people a merry Christmas and have a gay time celebrating this religious holiday.
Origin of Christmas
It should not be surprising that there are non-Christians who like to celebrate Christmas, because the celebration had its origin among such people. Ancient pagans had a wild celebration at the same time of year to welcome the winter solstice, when the period of daylight begins to get longer. In fact, Christmas, according to many well-known reference works, is actually a pagan celebration, only its name and meaning having been changed.
The book The Story of Christmas by Michael Harrison observes: "Though the celebration of the Winter Solstice dates from thousands of years before Christ, and was once celebrated with rites which had nothing to do with Christianity, a new significance was given to the ancient festival when the Church decided, in the earliest days of Christianity, to celebrate the birth of Christ on a date that ancient usage had made already one of universal respect."
This and other works of history acknowledge that many of the symbols in the Christmas celebration came from pagan religious festivals of the winter solstice such as the Roman Saturnalia, the festival of Saturn. It ran from December 17 to 24. Regarding this Roman festival the book Christmas the World Over by Daniel Foley states: "Even as we observe Christmas today, it was a time of rejoicing, hilarity, feasting and merrymaking. All work ceased, children were released from customary discipline, ill will was forgotten, and even wars ceased at this season of the year. Evergreen boughs and berries were brought indoors to deck homes and thus dispel the gloom of winter. The exchange of presents was a common practice."
Closely following the Saturnalia and elimaxing it was the Brumalia on December 25. It was a special day set aside by the Mithras-worshipping Romans for reverence of the sun.
On this day they celebrated what they regarded as the "Day of the Birth of the Unconquered Sun." With the days getting longer they considered their god of the sun and of light, Mithras, as conquering the darkness of winter. So this was his birthday. It was the greatest feast day of the Mithraic religion. The Brumalia and the Saturnalia, according to historical evidence, are responsible for the date of Christmas and many of the Christmas customs.
If we go back farther in history we will find that the roots of Christmas go beyond the Saturnalia to the pagan Babylonians. This is pointed out in the book 4,000 Years of Christmas by Earl W. Count. He says on page 18: "Mesopotamia is the very ancient Mother of Civilization. Christmas began there, over four thousand years ago, as the festival which renewed the world for another year. The 'twelve days' of Christmas; the bright fires and probably the Yule log; the giving of presents; the carnivals with their floats, their merrymaking and clownings, the mummers who sing and play from house to house; the feastings; the church processions with their lights and song—all these and more began there centuries before Christ was born."
Was Jesus Born on Christmas Day?
Perhaps you are wondering how Christmas fits in with the birth of Jesus Christ, since its origin was pagan. It may surprise you to learn that Jesus was not born on that day. Although the Bible does not give the date of his birth, it does give enough information to eliminate any winter month as the time for it.
At the time he was born, the Bible tells us, shepherds were out in the open fields near Bethlehem at night watching over their sheep. (Luke 2:8) That fact shows
that December 25 could not be the correct date. Shepherds were not out at night with their sheep on the cold, rain-lashed hills near Bethlehem in December. You can read for yourself that the Scriptures at Ezra 10:9 speak of people nearby in Jerusalem shivering because they were sitting outdoors on a day in the early part of what we would call the month of December. Winter weather there did not change much from Ezra's day to Jesus' day. So at night the sheep at this time of year were in their folds and the shepherds in their homes.
The book The Geography of the Bible by Dennis Baly confirms the fact that winter weather around Jerusalem can be very unpleasant. It says: "About Christmas the cold weather begins, and frosts at night upon the hills become common. Flurries of snow may occur occasionally during the year in Jerusalem, because at this season the great pressure systems have rearranged themselves and cold air moves southward from the center of Europe. About once every five or ten years there is a heavy fall and roughly every thirty years the approaches to the city are blocked."
According to the book Daily Life in the Time of Jesus by Henri Daniel-Rops, it was the yearly custom for shepherds to go into the open fields with their flocks just before Passover in the spring and to bring them in during the Hebrew eighth month, about the middle of November, at the beginning of the rainy season. The book states that they then "passed the winter under cover."
Since this was so, how could December 25 be the date when Jesus was born? His birth would have had to be sometime before the middle of November while the sheep were still in the open fields. In view of this how did his birth come to be associated with December 25? According to The World Book Encyclopedia, in 354 C.E.
the December date was selected by Liberius, a bishop of Rome, "because the people of Rome already observed it as the Feast of Saturn, celebrating the birthday of the Sun."
Does the Celebration Honor Christ?
Some persons say that church officials chose that date so as to win over the pagans. Would this not justify the celebration of Christmas? Well, consider this: Does it honor Christ to adopt a pagan festival and pagan customs, giving them an appearance of being Christian? The apostles did not try to win pagans that way, but did it with God's truth.
If Christmas were truly for celebrating Jesus' birth, why are evergreens brought into the homes and brightly decorated with lights and ornaments, many of which resemble the golden sun? What do they have to do with his birth? They are not mentioned in the Bible in connection with it. But when we look at the pagan winter festivals we find such things. We also find the practice of using lighted candles and lamps as holiday decorations because the pagans celebrated the victory of light over darkness at this time of year.
Do you think the wild revelry that is so common in the Christmas celebration brings honor to Jesus Christ? Does it reflect the spirit behind Jesus' teachings? Or is it not more in harmony with the spirit of the Saturnalia and the spirit of the pleasure-seeking world? Since Jesus Christ made it clear that his followers are "no part of the world," how could they engage in a celebration that manifests its spirit?—John 15:19.
must it be in observation of a religious celebration that is not Christian but pagan and that actually dishonors Christ?
But not everyone, you may say, observes Christmas with wild revelry. Many spend it quietly with their children or grandchildren, enjoying a fine family reunion. But to have a family reunion, why
Perhaps you will say that you really observe Christmas because of the children and not for religious reasons. They find so much joy in the gifts they think Santa brings them. Have you ever stopped to think that, when parents lead their children to believe that Santa Claus brings the gifts, they are lying to them? Is that the way to observe what is claimed to be Jesus' birthday? How can a practice of lying bring any honor to the Son of God, who always spoke the truth? How can it create respect for him in the hearts of the children? When they learn that their parents lied to them about Santa Claus, is it not possible that they may conclude that their parents also lied to them about Jesus Christ? Lying is one of the things Christians are not to do. "Do not be lying to one another. Strip off the old personality with its practices."—Col. 3:9.
When you give gifts to your children, why not be honest with them and let them know that the gifts are from you and are expressions of your love for them? Why let a mythical Santa Claus receive the credit, and why wait for a pagan religious holiday to give the gifts? Any time of the year can be used for happy family gatherings, enjoyable occasions and gift-giving.
People like to receive gifts, and it is a Christian practice to be generous to others, but Christian gift-giving is done out of love, not grudgingly or under compulsion. (2 Cor. 9:7) Can it really be said that all Christmas giving is done out of love? Are not many gifts given grudgingly because gift-giving is the accepted thing to do at this time of year? Is it not a fact that a gift is very often given to a person for no other reason than to avoid embarrassment because a gift is likely to be received from that one? Is not a great amount of the money spent by a family for Christmas gifts an unpleasant financial burden?
As a result, are not many of the gifts given grudgingly? Is such the spirit of giving taught by true Christianity?
The Course That Wins God's Approval
You may say that this is making a mountain out of a molehill. It does not matter to most people, you may claim, whether Christmas had a pagan origin or not; nor is it of great consequence to them whether Jesus Christ was born on that day or not. To them it is a joyful celebration, an occasion for a good time, and that is all that matters.
This view may be all right for the atheist and the non-Christian who celebrate Christmas. But how can the person who regards himself as a Christian expect to have the approval of the heavenly Father and His Son if he celebrates a holiday originated by false religions of which they both strongly disapprove? Did not Jehovah God condemn the Israelites who engaged in the pagan observance in honor of the false god Tammuz?—Ezek. 8:13, 14.
Even if the Israelites had exchanged Jehovah's name for Tammuz and given a new meaning to the celebration, it would still have been unacceptable and abominable to him. The same is true of Christmas. Notwithstanding the fact that its name and its declared purpose today disguise its pagan origin, it is still the same winter festival of the pagans.
The Holy Scriptures, to which Jesus Christ continually referred as the authority for what is right in God's eyes, warns Christians against involvement with pagan things. In one place they state: "Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what sharing do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what fellowship does light-have with darkness? Therefore get out from among them, and separate yourselves,' says Jehovah, 'and quit touching the unclean thing.'" (2 Cor. 6: 14, 17) How can it be said that a Christian is doing this if he participates in the Christmas celebration, which originated in unclean pagan religions?
For some persons it may not matter what God thinks of pagan religious practices that have been adopted by Christendom and disguised to appear Christian. But there are others who sincerely desire to do what is right and to keep their worship clean because of their respect for his judgment of what is good and bad.
So, will a true Christian join the crowds of non-Christians and professed Christians when they celebrate Christmas each year near the winter solstice? Or will he follow the Scriptural advice to "quit touching the unclean thing" by keeping away from popular revelries and celebrations adopted from pagans? The decision is not an easy one, because of the pressure of popular opinion.—Rom. 13:13.
There is only one memorial occasion that a true Christian is Scripturally required to observe, and that is the death of Jesus Christ. This is what he specifically told his followers to commemorate. (Luke 22:19, 20) This does not mean that a family cannot have a reunion or just a day of enjoyment together on any day of the year. But how could the family that is sensitive to how God feels about things take part in any celebration that is associated with the worship of false gods and that originated with pagans?
Is it not straying far from true Christianity to attach the name of God's Son to such a festival and associate his birth with the customs of false religions that are abominable to him and his Father? Would it not be wise for a Christian to leave the celebration of Christmas to the non-Christians who have a stronger claim to it?
WHEN a twenty-four year-old woman returned from work at 2:45 p.m. one day in September 1967, she was shocked to find the lock on the door of her New York apartment broken and the rooms a shambles. Drawers had been emptied on the floor and everything pulled out of the closets. Watches, jewelry and money were gone.
This experience is becoming commonplace in big American cities and their
sunrubs. Working people who are away all day have become favorite targets of daylight burglars. Since most of these thieves are drug addicts, they take anything they can sell—clothes, television sets, radios, cameras, and so forth. They need on an average about twenty-two dollars a day to maintain their habit. Since they realize one dollar for every three to five dollars' worth of property they steal, it has been estimated that the 100,000 addicts in New York city steal property worth up to $10 million a day.
Professional burglarls usually concentrate on businesses and the homes of well-to-do people. Some commute to prosperous suburbs in Westchester County near New York and by jet plane to distant points, such as Las Vegas, Nevada. According to Sheriff John E. Hoy, burglaries in Westchester County have increased 100 percent over last year. For the whole United States they were up 55 percent at the end of 1967 from what they were in 1960.
But Americans are not the only people having trouble with burglars. Russian thieves have been stealing cookers, sinks and electricity meters from Moscow apartments and selling them in a black market.
In many South American countries burglary is such a great problem that many homes have high walls around them with fierce dogs running loose in the yard. Usually it is not safe to go out without leaving someone at home to keep thieves away.
Safeguarding Your Home
It is not an easy matter to keep burglar out of your home, but it is possible to make the burglarizing of it so difficult that they will choose to go somewhere else.
The first thing a thief is likely to do is to try the door. There is a good chance he will find it unlocked. Out of twenty doors in an apartment house that were tried by a woman narcotics addict on one occasion, sixteen were unlocked. She succeeded in burglarizing 120 apartments in this manner. Hotel burglars very often operate in the same manner.
If a burglar finds the door to your home locked, he will probably look for the door key in the traditional hiding places, such as the ledges over or near the door, under the welcome mat and in the mailbox. If you have the practice of hiding a key in these places, you make it easy for him to rob you. Some people prefer to hide the key about ten feet from the door.
A burglar is not likely to waste time searching the front of a house for the key if it is not in the usual hiding places.
Doors opening onto a balcony or into a basement are usually left unlocked or inadequately locked, giving a thief easy entrance to the house. Once he gets into the basement, for example, he usually has free access to the rest of the house through the basement door. Getting into the basement is not usually difficult. Sometimes there is an outside door to it that is seldom locked. If it is locked, the lock will probably be very weak or the wood around it in a deteriorated condition, offering little resistance to the thief.
Where there is no outside basement door he can probably crawl in through a basement window. This can easily be prevented by putting bars over the windows on the inside. In any event a strong lock on the door connecting the rest of the house with the basement, as well as on a door that may connect the house with the garage, provides good protection.
Are the windows of your home able to keep out a burglar? Are they always locked when you go away? But even a locked window may not be very secure. One having upper and lower sections that move usually has a lock that swings into position to hold the two closed, but a knife blade inserted between them can oftentimes swing the lock around to the open position.
In some instances a burglar may choose to break a window so he can reach in and undo the lock. He has ways of doing this with very little noise. A window lock that requires a key to unlock it and stops window movement by a metal block can prevent a burglar from opening the window. This lock also makes it possible to secure the window when it is open a few inches at night to let in air, but it cannot be
opened farther to allow a thief to crawl in.
When a door has small windows a thief can break one and reach in to unlock the door. Tempered glass might be used in such panes so they cannot be easily broken, or a lock might be installed that requires a key to open it from the inside as well as the outside. There undoubtedly are weak spots in your house that are inviting to a burglar. Finding them and strengthening them seem to be reasonable things to do.
Types of Locks
A lock commonly used on the front doors of homes in the United States is a spring lock with a triangular latch. It is a simple matter for a thief to open a door having this type of lock. With nothing more than a plastic card or a piece of Venetian blind that can be worked into the crack of the door, he can push the latch back and cause the door to swing open. A lock with a rectangular or circular dead bolt that is not held in place by spring tension is much more secure.
However, if the wood in the doorframe is soft or rotted from age, the door will offer little resistance to a burglar even if it does have a strong lock. All he has to do is press his shoulder against the door or pry at it with a small crowbar, and it is likely to fly open. The same thing could happen if the screws used to hold a lock in place were too short.
People who have had experience with burglaries are convinced that there ought to be at least two locks on a door. The more difficult you can make things for a thief the better chance you have of discouraging him so he will go elsewhere. He does not like being delayed very long, as that increases the chances of his being seen.
Having a chain lock on the door is a good safety precaution that increases the obstacles.
It also prevents a person from forcing entrance into your home when you respond to the doorbell. The screws, however, need to be longer than they usually are so they will hold when a thief throws his weight against the door. The slotted receiver for the chain is best installed on a slant, because if it is horizontal, a thief can manipulate the chain out of the slot by means of a rubber band and scotch tape.
Do not overlook the other side of the door where the hinges are. If they are exposed to the outside a thief can remove the pins and swing the door open despite your locks. The hinges need to be concealed or be on the inside, and the screws holding them should be long and in firm wood. If they are not, pressure from a small crowbar can easily separate the hinges from the doorframe.
What if a member of your family loses his house key or it is stolen when a purse is snatched? There is no difficulty in having a duplicate made, but remember that a thief will now have a key to your home and can get in whenever he pleases. If a snatched purse is returned with the house key in it, do not think your home is safe from burglary. The thief very likely had a duplicate key made. Some persons having this experience will get the tumbler units in their locks changed promptly so different keys are needed to open them. This seems to be a good practice whenever a person moves into another apartment or house that someone else has occupied. It seems to be the only way to be certain that no one else has a key to it.
A woman can avoid the risk of losing her key by carrying it in a small pocket that she can sew on the inside of her dress, belt or coat. The pocket can be closed with a zipper or a snap. Then if her purse is stolen the thief will not get her house key.
Deception
A thief will use deception to gain information about your home or to gain entrance to it. He may call at your door pretending to be a salesman, deliveryman or repairman and will try to break in if no one answers the door. A New York woman was robbed of $38,000 in jewelry and cash by men who gained entrance to her Fifth Avenue apartment by posing as telephone men. If such men call at your home and you had not asked for them to come, you can call the company they claim to represent before letting them in. It should know where it dispatches its repairmen.
Professional burglars try to appear as if they belong in the neighborhood. One who concentrated on businesses in the Wall Street section of New York city dressed in a business suit and carried his tools in an attaché case. Another wore a dinner jacket and drove a new car when he went into a well-to-do neighborhood.
A confessed burglar said he would park his car and watch a house where the lights were out. If none came on in a certain length of time, he would write the address on a piece of paper with a fictitious name and then go up to the house and ring the doorbell three or four times. In the event that someone was home and answered the door he would ask for the fictitious person. This would give him a reason for having rung the bell. When no one answered he proceeded to break in and burglarize the place. Some burglarls will ring the telephone to see if anyone is at home and will pretend to have the wrong number if the phone is answered.
You can use strategy too so as to keep thieves away. Instead of advertising that no one is home by turning out all the lights when you go out, leave one on in the bathroom with the door open a crack so it splits into the hall. Even if no one answers the doorbell or the phone, a thief cannot be certain that no one is in the bathroom.
Leaving a light on in a room where a thief can look in through a window will not be as effective, as he can see that no one is there.
A timer is very useful when you go away for a few days. It can be set to turn a light on and off at certain times. The radio can also be hooked up to one. If the light continued to burn during the daytime, it would be obvious that no one was home.
Permitting newspapers, bottles of milk and mail to accumulate while you are away on a vacation is an invitation to burglars to help themselves to your possessions. Your absence is also indicated by an uncut lawn and an accumulation of advertising matter at the front door as well as windblown trash in front of the garage door.
When one burglar found a note telling the milkman to discontinue milk deliveries because the family would be away for two weeks, he was able to clean out all the valuables in the house at his leisure. He even sold the furniture to a furniture company. When a neighbor came over to see what was going on when the furniture was being moved out, the thief pretended to be a nephew of the family and claimed that they had decided to move to Florida. The neighbor was not suspicious, because the family had not told her their plans.
Before leaving on a vacation it is usually wise to let your neighbors know where you are going and how long you intend to be away. They are probably
your best protection against burglary. In areas where burglary is rampant a dog can also be helpful by drawing their attention to a prowler.
What to Do if Burglarized
Suppose you return home and find a window open that had been closed or a door jimmied open. What should you do? It is not wise to rush in. You may find the thieves still there and put yourself in jeopardy. They are criminals, and they can be very dangerous, especially when cornered. It is prudent to call the police and await their arrival before entering the house.
It may be that a thief will enter one's home at night while one is sleeping. Instead of grasping a club or other weapon when one is awakened by his prowling around the house, it is better to call the police. Often times if one turns on a light and makes a little noise the burglar will flee. But suppose one awakens to find him in the bedroom. Some informed people believe that the wise thing to do is to pretend to be asleep. If one jumps up and grabs the thief, one is likely to lose one's life, and life is far more valuable than the money and jewels he is after.
To safeguard your possessions it is only sensible to lock all the outside doors when you retire at night and when you leave the house. Locks of good quality on the doors and on the windows will give you good protection. By doing everything you can to make it difficult for thieves to get into your home you have a better chance of keeping the things you have.
Going Too Fast?
More than 4,200,000 persons in the United States sustained injuries in automobile accidents last year. Driver error, according to one insurance company's annual statistics, was responsible for more than 80 percent of the 1967 highway casualties. And excess speed was involved in 39 percent of the 52,200 highway deaths.
Millions of People Are Worried
FOR the third time in the space of six weeks the city of New York was hit by a teachers' strike on October 13, 1968. The schools were locked to a million children, and custodians turned off water and electricity in support of the strikers. Verbal abuse, racial conflict and violence aggravated the tense situation, and the peace of the whole city was threatened.
The serious trouble in New York is not an isolated case. Mounting trouble is seen in cities all over the world. People are wondering what it all means. They are worried.
One week after the start of this third strike in New York, Mayor Lindsay had this to say about the explosive situation: "Since Monday, our school system has been paralyzed by the third teachers' strike of the fall. This dispute is rooted in complex issues of professional rights and community responsibility.
"But the dispute has now grown beyond these issues. It has in the last week degenerated into intolerable racial and religious tension. Black extremists have shouted anti-white and anti-semitic epithets at teachers. White teachers have shouted racial epithets at parents, nonstriking teachers and at children. . . . The issue now is whether we can continue to survive as a city if each dissatisfied group breaks the links which bind it to a common purpose of preserving order. . . .
it is to continue the paralysis of this school system and the polarization of forces in New York. I ask those most directly involved: can the children learn, can the teachers instruct, can a community exercise its responsibility, can the peace of the city be maintained, if we continue what has happened these past few weeks?"
"Everyone can now see how dangerous
Bad as the situation was, the trouble was not limited to the operation of schools. During October New York policemen declared a work slowdown after rejecting a contract with the city that their union officers had accepted. Because of the hazards of their work they believe they should be first in pay standing among city employees.
The demands by the police prompted the city's firemen, who have had parity with the police for eighty years, also to begin a slowdown after rejecting their new contract. They were determined that the existing pay balance with the police not be changed.
City sanitation men watched the police and firemen and declared that they would junk a new contract that they had just ratified if the police and firemen got more than what was agreed in their new contracts. The public had good cause to be worried.
In response to these moves the mayor expressed his determination to stay by what was agreed upon in the contracts.
He said that if he were to reopen negotiations a chain reaction could result among city employees that could produce "complete anarchy in labor relations." In the meantime the city must contend with a work slowdown by the police and firemen as well as the school strike.
Why the School Crisis?
The dispute with the teachers' union began last May when the governing board of the Ocean Hill-Brownsville school district tried to transfer some union teachers out of the district without a formal charge against them. This is one of three school districts in New York city that is part of an experiment in community control. The community has elected their own people to a governing board for the schools.
The teachers' union saw in this attempt to dismiss teachers without formal charges a threat to unionized teachers wherever there is a largely colored population and school decentralization. It feared that such teachers would be unjustly dismissed on the basis of race.
The head of the teachers' union, Albert Shanker, expressed this fear in these words: "Local control tends to encourage provincialism and racism. Someday, in some white district, black teachers are going to be removed as white teachers were in New York."
In another speech, Mr. Shanker stated that some of the unwanted teachers in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville district had been threatened. They had been told to their faces, he said, "If you stay in the schools, you will be killed." He went on to observe: "If this happened in New York, how long will it be before it happens in Philadelphia, in Chicago, Detroit, Washington, Los Angeles and so forth?"
become a serious threat to its members. And so 40,000 teachers and sympathizers put on a huge demonstration at City Hall in support of its demands.
Thus the union took the view that its fight was against something that could
A great many of the teachers in New York city are Jewish, and their fear of losing their jobs because of racism was expressed by Jacques Toreczyner, president of the Zionist Organization of America. He said that "thousands of Jewish schoolteachers" were confronted with possible expulsion with the spread of decentralization of the city schools. He saw this resulting from the major role black extremists were expected to play in the local governing school boards.
A similar view was expressed by another Jewish leader, Dr. William A. Wexler, who stated that the Jewish communities "cannot shrug off a practice of discrimination in reverse that ousts a schoolteacher from his job in a ghetto neighborhood to satisfy the new black power criteria for self-segregation."
That the feeling among Jewish teachers over this issue is very strong became evident on the evening of October 15 when Mayor Lindsay addressed a crowd of 1,700 persons massed inside a Brooklyn Jewish center. They booed and jeered the mayor, goading him to anger when he tried to plead for understanding of school decentralization. A crowd of 5,000 outside chanted, "Lindsay must go!"
The crowd was so noisily discourteous while the mayor was trying to speak that Rabbi Harry Halpern went to the microphone and said: "As Jews, you have no right to be in a synagogue acting the way you are acting. . . . Is this an exemplification of the ideals of Jewish faith?" In reply there were shouts of "Yes, yes!"
In another part of the city angry people were trying to get the mayor impeached.
Clergyman C. Herbert Oliver, chairman of the Ocean Hill-Brownsville school board, denied the charge of racism.
He said that opponents had been spreading lies "about supposed threats and racial hatred in our district. These lies have nevertheless been believed by a good part of the white community, even though our schools are now effectively working with a teaching staff that is 75 percent white and 50 percent Jewish."
Agreement Broken
The second strike by the teachers was ended by an understanding that the dismissed teachers would be permitted to return to their classrooms in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville school district. But many of them found their way blocked by jeering, cursing demonstrators when they arrived for work. With the help of the police the teachers were able to get through the angry mob.
After getting into the school thirty-nine of the teachers, a newspaper reported, were not given teaching assignments. The union contended that the teachers were also harassed and threatened. The chairman of the board, Mr. Oliver, was reported as saying that the board had never agreed to return the disputed teachers to their regular classroom duties. He also said: "To bring them back in here is to destroy decentralization in this district." So the union called its third strike.
The administrator of the Ocean Hill-Brownsville school district, Rhody McCoy, remarked: "We have something out here worth fighting for, and we're going to fight." The teachers' union, on the other hand, was just as determined to fight for the reinstatement of the dismissed teachers. In fact, Mr. Shanker said that the strike would continue until the leaders of the Ocean Hill-Brownsville district were removed.
The situation, with its racial underpinnings, was so tense and tempers were
so heated that the president of the New York Board of Education, John M. Doar, remarked, on October 20, that "the situation is bleak tonight." He further observed that "the people are discouraged to a point of almost despair." This was evident from the desperate efforts made by some of the angry parents to open locked schools by breaking windows and climbing in to open the doors. A few teachers were willing to enter these schools and teach the small groups of children who came in. A few other children were attending some temporary classes conducted by a few striking teachers in community centers. But the majority were not getting any instruction.
Seniors were worried about how this would affect their applications for college, and other students were worried about how they would regain the time lost by the strike. As for the students as a whole, Mr. Doar observed: "Students in all grades have lost momentum, which will be increasingly difficult to regain."
The angry, cursing mobs, the shooting of three policemen in front of one of the Ocean Hill-Brownsville schools and the disregard shown by teachers, policemen and firemen for the state law prohibiting strikes and work slowdowns by city employees did not help build respect for authority among the students.
Commenting on how the children may be affected by what they have seen as a result of the strike, Morris Black, a psychiatric social worker, said: "I can't conceive of this strike not having a bad effect on any child from any neighborhood—ghetto or middle class." Professor Harry Beilin remarked that the "strike is an undermining of the ability to respect authority."
"Jungle of Unreason"
Editorializing on the situation, the New York Times of October 21 stated: "The example of collective disrespect for law the police are setting merely reinforces the contempt for orderly process shown by both union and governing board in the Ocean Hill dispute.
. . But the rights of a million children, now pawns in a destructive power battle, have to be accorded top priority. Prolongation of this battle will destroy both the schools and the city."
There can be little doubt that millions of New Yorkers are worried as to what the city's troubles will lead to. The editorial just quoted also observed: "The citywide school shutdown is transforming New York into a jungle of unreason."
But the city's troubles with the schools, policemen and firemen are not all that it may have to face. In the New York Times of October 23, James Reston wrote: "Meanwhile, even some of the most moderate Negro leaders in New York now talk openly of guerrilla war and see the school crisis as one more dramatic evidence of the determination of the white community to oppose and even smash any serious efforts by the Negroes to get power and control over the public institutions that condition their lives."
With the bitterness, violence and seeming unreasonableness of those involved in the city's troubles, many persons are wondering what has come over the world. What does it all mean? Seeing the mounting troubles world wide, people everywhere have good reason to be worried.
There is more meaning to it all than many realize.
The trouble in New York city and in other cities of the world is just another of the many indications of a coming storm that will crash upon every city and country. Forewarnings of it are repeatedly given in the Bible.
In one place the Bible foretells that there would be "anguish of nations, not knowing the way out," and in another place it prophesies: "But know this, that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, having no natural affection, not open to any agreement."—Luke 21:25; 2 Tim. 3:1-3.
Are we not seeing all these foretold happenings today? The increasing troubles that New York city and other cities have been having because people have 'not been open to any agreement' help to confirm the significance of the many other Bible-foretold happenings that have been taking place since World War I. These mark the "last days" of the present system of things.
Thus the indications of the nearness of the "war of the great day of God the Almighty" that will bring these "last days" to a close become more evident every day. Rev. 16:14.
FROM WHERE THE DEW?
In describing conditions on earth before the deluge of Noah's day the Bible tells that "God had not made it rain upon the earth . . . But a mist would go up from the earth and it watered the entire surface of the ground." (Gen. 2:5, 6) Throwing light on these statements are the following observations by C. H. M. Van Bavel of the U.S. Water Conservation Laboratory; "It is true that we may find large amounts of dew on vegetation in an arid climate. . . This water, however, evaporates from the soil and is recondensed on the cooler surfaces of the plant. . . Modern science . . . refutes the belief that dew comes [only] from the atmosphere." —Scientific American, February 1994.
A FATHER TALKS TO HIS SON
"SUPPOSE we walk home tonight," said fifteen-year-old Jerry's father "Okay by me, Dad. I can do with a workout, anyway."
"Well, I need a bit of physical exercise, too, and especially after sitting for a couple of hours. But that was really a most beneficial discussion."
"It took in a lot of ground. Seems like everyone's problems were dealt with—those of young people, of older people—why, no one was left out."
"I'm glad you noticed that, Jerry. And that is why it is so important for everyone to get to the meetings of the congregation. Did you find some of it quite deep?"
"Yes, there were times when I did not quite get the point, though I know it was mostly about good moral principles."
"I just wondered whether you got the thought of one Bible text that was quoted.
It was in the apostle Paul's letter to the Romans. Remember, it had to do with God's giving up certain ones to disgraceful sexual appetites?"
"Oh, yes. Didn't it have to do with married men and
women becoming strangers to their own mates and seeking sex thrills in company with outsiders?"
"Well, that was mentioned in the discussion. But remember the apostle spoke about 'males becoming violently inflamed in their lust toward one another'? (Rom. 1:26, 27) It was a matter of men and even boys who develop an unclean passion for sexual intimacy with other males. But, as with everything else, there is the small beginning that leads to such a situation —usually giving too much attention to the sex organs. I can remember in my school days some of the boys got into the bad habit of playing with these organs."
"As a matter of fact, Dad, I've seen some of the boys at school doing that. They claim it's just for fun and that they are not harming anyone."
"So they say, but they do not know anything about God's principles of righteousness, do they?"
"I suppose not. But how do they get that way?"
"Well, they might have been thrown into company with some older boys who poisoned their minds and led them to believe there was fun in abusing the sex organs. On the other hand, it might well have been that they had parents who did not know how to train and care properly for children."
"How do you mean?"
"Oh, it shows up in various ways. Some mothers, not realizing how it can affect a young boy's life, may dress their sons in clothing that gives little comfort, clothing that keeps binding about their legs and sex organs. As one doctor claims, 'an undergarment that allows the private parts to be continually chafed through the opening in front could produce friction and draw undue attention,' sufficiently to start the child into the habit of handling those parts quite often. Once the habit starts, it is not easy to break."
"But what did you mean about God's principles?"
"I had in mind the fact that God made man and woman and their sex organs, and provided that they should have sex relations under proper and legal circumstances. He never purposed that man's mind should be controlled by sex desire. Rather, man was to control his sex desire. It does not take a lot of intelligence to see that toying with the sex organs and giving undue attention to sex tend to turn the mind into fleshly, materialistic channels instead of promoting balanced thinking."
"But is it really possible to control what you think about?"
Select Food for the Mind
"To a large degree, yes. For what you think about is governed by what you talk about and what you look at and what you read. If someone reads filthy literature that unduly glorifies sex, and goes to see immoral movies, bad ideas are implanted in his mind, and his mind, like a recording machine, is likely to play those bad things over and over, even in the subconscious mind."
what he has been reading about or watching on TV?"
"Yes, I mean just that. And this wrong thinking can become a habit. Of course, there is nothing wrong with normal sex development that just takes place without one's even thinking about it. Once in a while a young man may become aware of it, such as when there is an involuntary discharge from the sex organ during the night when the body has completely relaxed."
"You mean to say that the reason why a person sometimes thinks bad things even when he doesn't want to is as a result of
"But I thought this happened as a result of a dream!"
"Not necessarily. It is usually just one of the signs of normal development from boyhood to manhood. But some, through bad example or ignorance, think they can speed up normal development by the foolish practice of masturbation, a manipulating of the sex organ so as to induce a flow of semen. And though some doctors claim that such a habit does no physical harm, we have to remember that the mind and the spiritual welfare, things many doctors ignore, are of much greater importance than physical health."
"Is it true that such a habit can cause a boy to go crazy?"
"Not exactly. But it could rob one of good mental balance and self-control. The practice tends to focus attention on the flesh and its desires, on impure and indecent thoughts, and that, in due time, can lead to wrong acts—sodomy, fornication, and so on. As one authority has expressed it: 'The habit, in later life, may do serious harm by increasing the sexual excitability and so predisposing to immorality.' So you can see why it is important to do all possible to stop the habit before it has become well established."
"So what could those fellows at school do to get rid of the habit?"
"For those who do not know and serve Jehovah God it could be quite difficult.
You see, we have the advantage of associating in a clean Christian organization and attending fine Bible studies at the Kingdom Hall—just like the one we had today. One who learns about God and fears to displease him can start by continually reminding himself that God gifted man with sex powers for honorable use. Illegal and unnatural uses of the sex organs amount to abuse of God's gift. Worshipers of God want his approval, not his displeasure."
"I can see that that is a strong reason for never getting into the habit."
"Right. And there are other matters, too, that should receive attention. Youths also need to have clothing that is comfortable—not the type that binds and chafes. And it is wise to limit conversation and reading material as well as films and TV shows to those matters that are clean and decent, not suggestive and sexy. It may even be necessary to leave off chumming around with those who indulge in filthy talk and actions."
"Am I ever glad we belong to a Christian congregation where God's counsel is appreciated and studied! We have the right kind of companionships, and among ourselves we can enjoy good clean fun when it comes time for relaxation."
Dangers of Dating
"Yes, but even then one must fight against the tendency to adopt the ideas of worldly people. For example, there is the matter of dating girls. With many worldly boys, those not brought up according to Christian rules of conduct, the real objective is, not marriage, but seeing how far they can go with a girl in the way of petting and indulging in loose conduct. They think it fun to have many affairs with different girls. Can you see the danger of this sort of thing?"
"Yes, because I know some of the kids at school boast about having had sex relations with this one or that one."
"That is nothing to boast about. Boys and girls in that situation have just cheapened each other and got off to a bad start in life. How can they grow up into the type of persons that a marriage mate can trust? At an age when special stress should be laid on development of a balanced mind, they are pushing for unnatural development of mere physical powers. They have the cart before the horse. If the mind is developed first, as it should be, then it will maintain control over sex and all other physical activities."
"It must be terrible to become a slave to such bad habits. Is there anything else a person could do to break the hold that sex has over his thinking?"
Avoid Overstimulation
"Yes, there are other matters to take into account. Too much rich food or stimulating drink can have the effect of producing sexual excitement. So it is wise to be moderate in these things. And it is not only what one eats and drinks that is important, but when one indulges in these things. A stimulating snack may be quite alright if there is a period of strenuous exertion coming up. But you can see how foolish it is to indulge in heavy eating or drinking in the evening, when it is time for restful sleep."
"I guess that's why you are always careful about what we eat at bedtime."
"That's one of the reasons. Don't you think it is a good one?"
"Now that I understand, yes. But I often wondered why, when I was so hungry, you ruled out some of the very things I like to eat."
"Well, I try to take everything into account. After all, I am responsible for your well-being until you get to be on your own, so it is up to me to control such matters."
"From what I have seen in other homes, I am sure that many other boys are not subject to such control. For instance, they can raid the icebox any time of the day or night. They are allowed to watch every kind of TV show and even to read sexy books and magazines."
"But those parents are not dedicated Christians, so they don't know God's requirements in the field of cleanness and self-control. Even if they go to church, one of two things must be true: Either they are taught the Bible view of morals and pay no attention when the teaching is given, or they are given no such teaching. In either case the result is the same: they are not well equipped to train their children to please God. Remember, the Bible says, 'Train up a boy according to the way for him.'"
"Oh, yes, and it goes on to say that when he grows up he will not depart from it."—Prov. 22:6.
"I am glad you remembered that. And there is another scripture I would like you to look up and memorize when you get home. It is at 2 Peter 1:5, 6; it tells what is first required before one can exercise self-control, including self-control
in this matter of the right and wrong uses of the sex organs. Will you remember to look it up?"
"I'll try, Dad. You said 2 Peter 1:5, 6?"
"Right, and here we are back home. I'm glad we have been able to have a talk about these matters. When others are around, it is not so convenient. Anyway, whatever problems arise, I want you to feel free to come and talk to me about them."
"Thanks, Dad. I surely am glad that I can turn to you for help, and you always seem to have the right answers."
"That is because we have the only proper source of right answers—God's Word, the Bible. There is actually no problem that can arise among humans that cannot be resolved by going to the Bible and applying its fine principles. On the problem of masturbation, for example, there is the counsel by the apostle Paul when he says: 'Deaden, therefore, your body members that are upon the earth as respects fornication, uncleanness, sexual appetite, hurtful desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.' (Col. 3:5) And, Jerry, if you wish some more information on the subject, there is a fine article in The Watchtower of September 1, 1959. We have a copy in our library."
Jehovah's Witnesses and American Freedom
The courts in the United States of America contain the records of hundreds of cases in which Jehovah's witnesses have fought to preserve their constitutional rights. Such cases are monuments testifying to the valuable contributions they have made to the freedom that millions of Americans enjoy today. Many have admitted this to be true. Among such statements is one made by Joe P. Josephson, a councilman in the city of Anchorage, Alaska. He observed: "I have often wondered why more Americans are not aware to what extent the constitutional rights of all of us have been analyzed, reviewed, discussed, defined and upheld only because of the strong faith and personal courage of Jehovah's witnesses. A law professor of mine considered these qualities, as they bear upon the development of American constitutional law, very great contributions to our legal system—although largely unnoted ones. I agree." Yes, in fighting to establish their rights as a minority, this small band of Witnesses has helped preserve the freedom that many take for granted.
suddenly lost all he owned and narrowly escaped with his life? How do people react? What does one fall back on under such circumstances? If you would like to know, come along with us to Mount Arenal.
Mount Arenal was an extinct volcano in the province of Alajuela, about forty-five miles northwest of San Jose, Costa Rica's capital. It is part of a system of fifty volcanoes distributed over an area 156 miles long. In view of the many large trees at its base, experts estimate that Arenal had not erupted in the last 600 years-not since 100 years before Columbus arrived in America.
The local folk had no fear of this volcano, for it was classified as extinct, and some maps did not even call it an extinct volcano, but simply a hill. Some even camped in its vegetation-lined crater, some 7,600 feet above sea level. One such group of campers verified reports of volcanic action that had been suspected since 1951.
The Eruption
However, on Monday, July 29, 1968, strange things began to happen near Mount Arenal. Let eyewitness Olivier Ar-
"Very early Monday morning I was going about my business when I began to hear loud thunder. Naturally I thought we were in for a storm. Then I felt an earth tremor, but even that was not unusual for our part of the country. What really worried me was the next development. Drops of mud began falling from the sky! It was raining mud! Soon ash began to fall too and, being damp, it stuck to everything. We had to face the terrible truth—Arenal was erupting!"
Another eyewitness, Luz Maria de Conejo from the town of Arenal, about eight miles from the volcano, tells this story: "Monday morning we felt three strong earth tremors and heard deep, loud rumblings. Then, around 8 a.m., we thought we heard rain on the roof, but a neighbor shouted excitedly, 'This is not rain, it is sand!'"
Pressure had evidently been building up in the huge 5,356-foot cone for some time, and, because the chimney leading to the crater at the top was tightly blocked, it finally blew a huge hole in the northwest side about halfway up the slope. Like a giant cannon it fired a barrage of semimolten rocks weighing from a few ounces to nearly one ton, a cyclone of fire, boiling slag, hot ash and poisonous hydrochloric and sulphuric gases at a temperature of 1,696° Fahrenheit.
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