Awake!, May 22, 1970

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Awake! — May 22, 1970

Source: jw.org

Contents

Sex Education in Schools—Good or Bad?

What Parents Can Do

“Plowing with Twelve Spans”

The Great Sea Monsters

The Better Conquest

Across the Atlantic—on Papyrus

The Wonder of a Solar Eclipse

How Big Is the Earth

Eye-catching Architecture—Ancient and Modern

Finding Those Hungering and Thirsting for Truth

Fresh Water

Bicycling—Walking on Wheels

Who Is a Jew?

Watching the World

The Best in Music

Is Evolution an Established Fact?

Sex Education in Schools—Good or Bad?

A RAGING battle is being fought from coast to coast in North America by advocates and opponents of sex education in schools.

Who is involved in this struggle that causes such sharp divisions even in small towns and some churches? What is behind the furor? How will it affect you and your family? And since it is taking place in a land that is supposed to be Christian, what position should the true Christian take in the matter? Is it a good thing, or bad?

Who Is Involved

After the dust of the initial skirmishes settled, the battle lines were sharply drawn. The proponents make up a formidable army: The Sex Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), the American Medical Association, the National Educational Association and the National Council of Churches.

Mobilized to object to it, in one way or another, are various social organizations, religious groups and an increasing number of local and national parent organizations and citizens’ committees. Among those resisting are some who were former advocates until they saw what were to them disturbing effects. The backlash seems to be growing.

The Canadian Institute of Public Opinion reports that 73 percent of Canadians endorse sex education in public schools. A Gallup poll says 71 percent of American adults want it for their children (and perhaps 60 percent of the schools in the United States have some form of it). Yet it is interesting that due to opposition there are now at least twenty states that have acted upon or have bills before their legislatures to curb or prohibit such instruction in schools.

Why the Fight

Generally, there seems to be some agreement between these enemies that some form of sex education is needed for the youth of this generation. The disagreement lies in when it is to be started, the extent of information at certain ages, who teaches it and the source and content of material.

A primary cause for the eruption of intense opposition to it seems to be the recent move to teach it in elementary or grade schools. Some parents were shocked at the language that very small children were beginning to use and the attempt on the part of some children to ‘practice’ on younger family members what had been taught or demonstrated in classes. Such parents feel it is a case of “too much too soon.”

Some of these parents do not object to suitable instruction in higher grades, but even then they feel they have cause for concern about who teaches the classes and whether they are qualified. They claim excesses by some teachers, such as the incident where a teacher asked students to copy obscene words off rest-room walls and then define them in class. There was the case of a teacher who asked students to relate their own experiences with masturbation, homosexuality and sexual experimentation with animals. Parents fear the effect of teachers who may have their own sexual ‘hang-ups.’

Opponents feel strongly that sex education in the schools is a form of invasion and usurpation of parental rights. To them this is a subject that should be left mainly to parental and religious training, at least in its more intimate details. They also object to group or coeducational instruction in many cases.

But the outstanding objections that have caused the bitterest exchanges are that the courses omit instruction on morals and that this is related to the aim of “leftist” groups who push sex education to weaken the moral fiber of a nation so as to make it an easy mark for communism.

Is It Needed?

Advocates counter that the opposition is prodded by ‘extreme right-wingers’ and by fundamentalist sects that are blinded by an outdated moral code. They argue that neglect and abandonment of parental responsibility to teach their own children have produced a growing rate of promiscuity and illegitimacy and spreading venereal diseases among the young. Also, youth has little protection against the continual stimuli of advertising, literature and movies and the bad example of some adults. These things, they say, have brought on the drive for sex instruction.

In Ontario the rate of unwed mothers giving birth is twice what it was ten years ago. Some feel that as many as 50 percent of teen-age brides are pregnant on their wedding day. One newspaper claimed that ten Toronto girls a week go to Quebec for abortions. In the United States it is reported that 6,000 babies were born out of wedlock last year to girls under fifteen. One doctor lamented the fact of twelve-year-olds coming to him who did not know how they got pregnant. Another deplored the “absolute ignorance” of patients with sexual problems. And statistics prove that many nations are experiencing an alarming increase in venereal diseases among young people.

There can also be no doubt about the influence for bad upon youth by the way sex and nudity are used in movies, TV, books, advertising and newspapers. Even modern music’s lyrics make illicit sex seem to be the ‘in thing.’ Commenting on the early exposure this gives to children, a physician said: “My 9-year-old knows what a lesbian is from movie ads.”

Hence, proponents call for sex education from kindergarten on in the schools.

Solutions

One can understand the desire of educators to fill in the gap left by unwise parents and supply the young with needed knowledge. However, in the frantic rush to do so they must be careful that they do not blindly trample upon the natural and obvious relationship between parent and child. If educators feel that parents are not now equipped to teach their own children or will not take the responsibility to do so, then why not deal with this cause rather than coping only with the effects?

Why not educate parents on what and how to teach their own children? Many parents would welcome this. It would maintain the important parent-child relationship, preserving the structure of the family unit. It would also make possible the suiting of the instruction to the child’s individual needs, something the parent would understand better than someone who has not lived with the child. The ideal place to teach these matters is in the home.

The privacy of the home would eliminate possible embarrassment before strangers and possible abuses by any with improper motives—teachers or other students. It would keep the discussion in the atmosphere of a ‘family matter,’ which it is. Even proponents of sex-education courses in schools like to call them courses in ‘family life.’

To those who complain that parents feel too embarrassed to discuss these matters with their children the answer is given that they would not, once taught and trained what to say and how to handle the situation. “But parents aren’t teachers, aren’t prepared to cope with the situation, would be too emotionally involved to do well,” claim some. The observation of Dr. David Reuben is appropriate: “The schools are even less prepared than parents to offer sex education. The programs are ‘Mickey Mouse’ and the kids know it. What is needed is an entirely new approach: Education in sexuality for adults.”

Yet, even if programs were instituted for teaching parents how to cope with sex education for the young, there would be serious drawbacks. It is not likely that there would be any more moral balance in such courses than there is now in courses for the young. Nor is it at all likely that God’s laws as outlined in his Word, the Bible, would be highlighted to give the course its necessary moral balance. Why not? Because many educators have little respect for the Bible. And most churches have failed to inculcate in adults a real sense of moral responsibility. Not only do many clergymen downgrade the Bible; they embrace the ‘new morality’ code.

Thus, many are the views regarding sex education in schools. In the face of these conflicting opinions, parents are wondering what they should do.

[Picture on page 5]

Sex-education courses in school usually do not highlight sound moral principles

What Parents Can Do

LOOKING at their own lack of training and ability, many parents might think it would be easier to leave sex education all to the school. But, then, some conscientious parents are confused. They have heard stories about sex education given without a moral background and they rightly worry. Children are now being told that premarital sex, sodomy and other forms of sexual deviation are normal and, though not desirable, are not to be condemned.

Some advocates say conventional standards of morality are irrelevant. One such claims that “the core of the ethical problem is not whether a boy or girl remains or does not remain a virgin, but whether sex is used exploitatively and self-centeredly, or in a meaningful and dignified way.” Is this what you want your child taught? How do unmarried people use sex in a meaningful and “dignified” way if they violate the divine command to “flee from fornication”?—1 Cor. 6:18.

What can you do about the situation? Fight the giving of sex education in the schools? For the true Christian the direction is given: The servant “of the Lord does not need to fight, but needs to be gentle toward all, qualified to teach, keeping himself restrained under evil.” (2 Tim. 2:24) If a parent objects to what is being taught and wants to protect his child, he can ask to have his child released from such classes.

In fairness to the courses taught at some schools, however, it must be admitted that not all is bad. There is teaching in hygiene, disease prevention, care of children, family responsibility, and so forth. Further, there is some effort to refer students to others for guidance, such as the textbook that urges those with concerns about homosexuality to speak to their doctor or some other counselor. It also speaks against “misuse of oneself” in discussing masturbation. But there are veiled statements that leave the reader feeling it is up to each one to decide the matter for himself; there is no honest condemnation of wrong acts.

Christian parents take the course that the text at 2 Timothy 2:24 recommends, namely, to be “qualified to teach.” Such parents have learned to be well equipped to combat the misinformation their children get in some schools in the teaching of evolution and the setting of materialistic goals by perhaps well-meaning teachers. With answers given in home training, parents can be confident that their children have a defense.

If your church has not provided you with the information to combat faith-eroding teachings of today and no longer upholds the Bible as the source of moral teaching, why not find out where you can be taught and trained to aid your children?

Help Available

Jehovah’s witnesses as Christians sense the need to fortify youth and equip parents to fill present-day needs. They take the position that “wisdom is for a protection.” (Eccl. 7:12) Repeatedly their Watchtower and Awake! magazines have presented articles to aid parents on how to approach sexual matters with their young ones, what to discuss and how to say it. Examples are the articles in Awake! of December 8, 1968, and June 8, 1965, on a father ’talking to his sons and the July 8, 1965, issue on a mother talking to her daughters. These took up such matters as conception, birth, proper use of sexual powers, bodily functions, dating and self-control. Others of their publications also provide helpful instruction, all on a fine basis of Biblical morality.

At their conventions the Witnesses receive frank and straightforward material in talks and even dramas that make application of the points taught. At the 1969 “Peace on Earth” International Assembly sessions they heard talks warning against the illicit satisfaction of fornication and adultery and the dangers of toying with sexual immorality. During 1970 additional counsel along these lines will be given at their assemblies. More worthwhile occupation of time and abilities are set before youthful attenders who are with their parents for this instruction. Yes, it is sometimes beneficial to have group instruction. But the setting must be right, with parents or other responsible adults present and with good motives.

In your home, put information about sex on the right basis. Found it upon the “discipline and authoritative advice of Jehovah.” (Eph. 6:4) This is much more valuable source material than the conceited, always-changing views of humans who call for “new values” as to “when and how we should have sexual experiences.” Dr. Mary Calderone, one of the prime backers of sex courses in schools, says: “Separate yourselves from your parents. I don’t believe the old ‘Thou shalt nots’ apply anymore.” Is this what you want your children to hear and defenselessly believe? They need fortifying!

Some Suggestions

Teach your own children that possession of sexual powers brings responsibility to the Designer and calls for respect for his original purpose. Use the Scriptures to show what is honorable use, that these are powers of procreation, a wonderful thing! (Gen. 1:28) Show that there must be deep mutual love between a husband and his wife, a giving that brings pleasure to another and thus disciplines in unselfishness. (Prov. 5:15-23; Eph. 5:21-33) Explain that confinement of one’s sexual interests to one’s marriage mate is a sound requirement for life.—Heb. 13:4.

As you see from the above Scripture references, the Bible can be used as a source and as a model of tasteful and forceful expression for teaching. Use it and thus counter the influence of declining moral standards.

Give such teaching in a wholesome atmosphere of respect for God and decency. Use proper terminology. Warm teaching, with association of the knowledge to its proper use, is better than detached presentation of cold biological facts with too many details. If children want to know more, they will usually ask. At times ask them questions or encourage them to ask questions. In that way they learn what they want and need to know. Make it a conversation rather than lecturing or preaching. Look up information together. Be sure the child sees the practical wisdom as well as the obedience to God’s law that is involved, that it is not a matter of being prudish.

With discernment several children can be taught together. In this way they come to face the subject without feeling it is a deep, dark secret. After the smaller ones have been simply taught and leave, then the older ones who ask for and need more details can get some elaboration on the matter by the parents. Or, they may select another time, such as when walking home from a visit or shopping, to speak to their children who need information to prepare them for changes in their body or counter the misinformation they will be hearing from other children.

When is the best time to start with this training of children? Before they start to school. But remember, a small question requires only a small answer. It is unwise to swamp the child with all the clinical details. Make answers clear and direct, honest and simple. Children are quick to detect deceit and hypocrisy. That will result in a loss of confidence. Elaborate only if further questions come. Usually a simple answer suffices.

One of the reasons for not giving them more than they need at such a young age gives basis to some of the strongest objections against forcing the teaching of sex upon children in the lower grades. Age five to adolescence is viewed as the “latency period,” when a child’s sexual interests are not intense, other things being pursued. It is a time to let a child enjoy growing up, being a child. The child can be damaged or disturbed at this period by unwanted sex talk that can lead to sexual difficulties later on.

Then there is a period in life when more information must be given without waiting for questions from the child. It is when the bodies of youngsters begin to develop the capacity to carry out the marvelous function of procreation. Children need to be told in advance what to expect. They should be taught what changes will occur in their bodies and in their feelings toward the opposite sex. But again, this should be suitable to their age and need. It is best not to make a “big” thing out of it, either then or with children at other sessions. It should not be made an obsession. A physician and author, Dr. Melvin Anchell, says he can teach all that a child needs to know about sex, giving it the medical viewpoint, in about fifteen minutes. But that is the medical viewpoint; there is also God’s viewpoint.

There is another matter that is a parental responsibility. What the parents fail to curb in the way of reading and viewing could damage the child’s mind. Do you really know what your child reads? What do others, his school chums, offer him to read? One mother was shocked to find some scandalous material tucked under the mattress of her son’s bed. Are you serious about the quality of your son’s food? Then be serious about the quality of his reading matter. Comics often exploit sex and violence, as does TV.

What Your Family Needs

While the suggestions above may be a help, there is something else you need in order to combat the rising tide of loose conduct and adverse effects of possibly harmful sex instruction. Just as one must have something firm and solid onto which one can fasten a lifesaving rope if it is to be truly useful, so there must be a well-rounded-out knowledge of the Bible if one is to have the background that will give solid support to this kind of parentally taught sex information. This can be had by a regular, weekly Bible study in your home.

Jehovah’s witnesses provide this service free of charge, at a time convenient to you in the privacy of your own home, using your own Bible. There is no obligation except to agree to prepare in advance for the best results. The book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life contains the course of study. It takes only about six months to cover the material. The fact that in less than two years this publication has reached the astounding circulation of some 23 million copies in many languages is proof enough that it is supplying a need.

More than a million free home Bible studies are being conducted by Jehovah’s witnesses each week all around the world. Why not avail yourself of this fine provision? In this way you can fortify your family with the basis in faith that it needs to endure in this era of sex obsession. It will spare you many heartaches and crises in family life.

Parents, do not let your God-given responsibility toward your children in this or any other matter be wrested from you, either by your own apathy or by the questionable motives of some others. The fact that some advocates of sex education in schools advise their followers to “sneak in” such courses and claim that they are merely expanding already-existing programs shows dishonesty on their part and does raise questions about their motives.

The effect of sex education can be bad, depending upon the manner in which it is taught and the content of the material. A conscientious parent will acquaint himself with what is taught and know who has edited the material. Thus he will be able to counteract effectively any misinformation that his child gets in classes.

If information given in some programs serves to supplement that which parents are morally responsible to give their children, then it may be good. It can be learned along with related facts and other studies in school.

But in either case, the final effect upon your children will be determined in great measure by what you as the parent do to discharge your own responsibility in the matter. Avail yourself of the Bible-study course that will erect a firm foundation of faith upon which you can build the spirituality of your family. Use the timely material in the Watch Tower publications to aid you to teach your children Bible principles. Build all aspects of a close family relationship. The warm, loving atmosphere of Christian family life is the wholesome climate in which to nurture youth to responsible manhood and womanhood.—Eph. 5:15-23; 6:1-4.

“Plowing with Twelve Spans”

◆ Persons who read the Bible account at 1 Kings 19:19 might conclude that the prophet Elisha was plowing with a team of twelve pairs of bulls. They might wonder how he ever managed to do this. However, travelers in Bible lands have reported some interesting facts about plowing methods there. Considering these reports will help us get a clearer picture of how Elisha plowed.

Since the small plows of the farmers in the Middle East do not make a very deep furrow, farmers there will arrange to plow in company with fellow farmers. One traveler reported that he had seen more than a dozen plows at work in the same field, each with its own plowman and team of oxen before him. Evidently, Elisha was not behind a single plow to which twenty-four bulls were yoked, but he was in charge of the last of twelve plows.

The Great Sea Monsters

By “Awake!” correspondent in Japan

A MONSTROUS head, eyes at the corners of an enormous mouth, no ear lugs, just a hole in the head for nostrils. This is the profile of Mr. Whale. When his mouth opens, a cavernous void that would hold a full-grown African elephant appears! There are no teeth. Just long, slender, white body whiskers hanging down both sides from the roof of the mouth.

Over Mr. Whale’s huge lower lip is his whopping velvety tongue. The ten-foot-long whiskers in his mouth are hard and flexible. When he takes a deep breath, he does not breathe through the mouth. The air goes straight to the lungs through the valves of that hole in his head. Interested in looking farther? Then, rather than follow the approach through which food is swept, let us step back and look at this vast creature from a more comfortable position.

In our minds the word “whale” is usually associated with something huge. But there are smaller whales, better known as dolphins and porpoises. Warm-blooded, air-breathing mammals, navigating with flippers and driven by powerful flukes, this whole fascinating order of five- to one-hundred-foot-long creatures, weighing from one hundred pounds to one hundred fifty tons, is named “Cetacea.” Some have teeth, and are called “Odontoceti,” while others have whiskers instead of teeth, and are known as “Mysticeti.”

Toothless Whales

The specimen already described is the Greenland or bowhead right whale, one that frequents the North Pacific and the North Atlantic. About one-third of his length is taken up by his head. He is closely related to another toothless wonder, the blue whale, largest of all mammals, living or extinct. A newborn blue whale calf can be over twenty feet long. A model of the adult blue whale, made of polyurethane flesh on a steel skeleton, covered with fiber-glass skin, was for several years a special exhibit in the Hall of Biology of Mammals in New York’s Museum of Natural History.

The internal whiskers of these mammoth creatures, properly called “baleen,” are referred to as whalebone. Not really bone, it is fundamentally like hair. The Japanese call it hige or whiskers. Its use has long been superseded in corset and other manufactures by synthetics. However, it is still used as bristles in certain types of industrial brushes.

The toothless whale’s overcoat of blubber, a thick rubbery layer under a paper-thin skin, is what enables him to maintain a body temperature similar to man’s. The blubber, producing 50 to 80 percent of its own weight in edible oil, renders down to make cooking fats, soap and other products.

The whaling industry takes a tremendous toll of these toothless whales. For example, the three Japanese whaling fleets returned last year, after four months in the Antarctic, having caught their quota of 1,493 blue whale units. A unit equals one blue whale or its equivalent in two finback, two and a half humpback or six sei whales.

Toothed Whales

Not until early in the eighteenth century did whalers begin to give attention to another variety of whales, the toothed variety, particularly the sperm whale. By 1846 more than 700 Yankee whaleboats were engaged in the chase, eager to share the proceeds from this creature’s immense carcass—its tons of oil, highly valued as an illuminant, and the clear, colorless oil found in its head, from which the finest quality wax candles are produced. Now, however, sperm oil is used in a variety of other ways: for rolling steel, dressing leather, sizing textiles, and in special lubricants, wax compositions, soap, detergents and cosmetics.

Ambergris is another product of the sperm whale. Sometimes found floating on the ocean, at other times cast ashore, this gray, waxy substance is formed in the stomach and intestines of the whale, probably due to some kind of irritation, and is vomited out by the creature. It is of the texture of very hard cheese, looks like marble when cut, and has a delightful aroma. It is considered an excellent fixative in the manufacture of expensive perfumes.

On the whole, members of the whale family are harmless and playful. They are often observed sporting on the surface in schools, leapfrogging or doing somersaults. The friendly inquisitiveness of the dolphin is well known. When wounded and desperately threshing around in the water, on the other hand, a huge whale can endanger even a heavy ship.

The Killer Whale

The killer whale is an exception: He is not satisfied with plankton and other small fry of the ocean. He prefers to get teeth into dolphins, porpoises, seals, penguins and sharks, and will not hesitate to take a chunk out of another large whale, even ripping out its tongue. They hunt in packs. They have been known to smash ice floes in order to get at men or seals.

The Japanese call him shachi, using Chinese ideograph that appropriately combines the characters for “fish” and “tiger.” He has a special place in their superstitions. From a distance looking like the squarish head of a cow with short horns protruding, models of a male and female shachi with their flukes in the air face each other across the ridge of the highest roof of the Japanese castle. The most famous of these charms tops the castle in Nagoya. They were made in 1959 to replace those destroyed with the castle during the second world war. They are made of copper, overlaid with 560 scales of 18-karat gold, at a cost of $78,000.

Some idea of the enormous appetite of the killer whale may be had from the fact that fourteen seals and thirteen porpoises were found in the stomach of one twenty-one-foot specimen. It is the only one of the cetaceans that will feed on its own kind or on other warm-blooded mammals.

Whale Characteristics

Teeth or no teeth, all whales bolt their food. Teeth are used to seize food only. The baleen or toothless whales cruise along with their mouths open and live mainly on the brit that clings to their whiskers. Down in the many chambers of the stomach the food undergoes a long period of digestion. In 1891 the English whaleman, James Bartlett, was swallowed by a sperm whale. Later he was cut out of the humid tomb alive and undigested.

Vision is not the whale’s outstanding characteristic. To “see,” the whale depends largely on his ears, as does the bat. The ears are located behind the eyes, though not visible to the casual observer. A unique system of air sacs does double duty. They act as sound insulators and also adjust to the outside pressure by an inflow and outflow of blood. Sounds entering the outer ear strike the eardrum and are carried across to the inner ear. En route the arrangement of bones in the middle ear causes them to be highly amplified. Truly an invention of the One who created those great sea monsters!

Another built-in safety provision of the whale comes into play when pressure is suddenly released as the whale surfaces. Man in such circumstances, exposed to such change in pressure, has to avoid “the bends,” a condition brought about by the formation of nitrogen bubbles in the blood and tissues. The whale is marvelously protected against “the bends.”

Unable to take oxygen directly from the water as the fishes do, the whale must come to the surface for an air supply every fifteen to twenty minutes. When he exhales, a visible “blow” is created by the sudden expansion and cooling of the air ejected through his blowhole. Indeed, experienced whalers can tell the type of whale by the size, shape and angle of the “blow.”

The Struggle for Existence

Due to the deadly efficiency of modern whaling methods and the fact that only one whale calf is born at a time following a gestation period of eleven to fifteen months, the whale is losing the fight for survival. Even the International Whaling Commission set up in 1946 is failing to save the whale. Each year sees a drastic cut in the whale population.

The hand-thrown harpoon has given way to the harpoon fired from a cannon and is so constructed that it will explode in the head of the target. Factory ships can strip and cut up a whale in thirty to forty-five minutes. In 1964, twenty such factory ships handled over 60,000 whales, reducing them to 370,000 tons of oil and 300,000 tons of by-products. With all the modern equipment for detecting the whale and dispatching it, what chance does the whale have?

Fortunately for the whale, in the very near future He who created these great monsters of the sea will do something about the situation. It will not be a temporary respite as when mineral oils were discovered in the second half of the nineteenth century. No, but rather this will involve the permanent removal of selfish human predators from this beautiful earth. Then the great sea monsters will be able to frolic and “blow” to their heart’s content.

The Better Conquest

◆ “He that is slow to anger is better than a mighty man, and he that is controlling his spirit than the one capturing a city.” (Prov. 16:32) The truthfulness of this Bible proverb has been illustrated time and time again throughout history. There have been many rulers who conquered nations, but who were slaves to their own passions or temper. Alexander the Great was one such individual. Though he conquered empires, he was enslaved to an uncontrollable anger. Once in a fit of anger he killed his best friend, the one whom he professed to love above all others.

The wisdom behind this proverb is so self-evident that many nations have formed similar ones. One of them reads, “He is more of a hero who has conquered himself, than he who has taken the best fortified city.”

Across the Atlantic—on Papyrus

BY “AWAKE!” CORRESPONDENT IN DENMARK

“A SAILING haystack,” “a paper swan,” “a floating bird’s nest.” These were some of the names given to a strange bark that was launched from a Moroccan seaport on May 17 last year. It bore no resemblance to any seagoing vessel with which we are familiar. Yet, its master, ethnologist Thor Heyerdahl, famous skipper of the Kon-Tiki expedition of some twenty years ago, intended to venture it out on the open sea. In fact, he planned to cross the Atlantic to Central America—a voyage of 3,750 miles!

What raised many an eyebrow in scientific circles was the primitiveness of the vessel. It was constructed almost entirely of papyrus reeds, reminiscent of the ancient craft used on the river Nile back in the time of the Pharaohs. But why did Heyerdahl choose such a strange bark? What would he accomplish by his project?

The Puzzle of Central America

His aim was to throw some light on a much-debated question, namely, Is there a connection between the civilization of the ancient Mediterranean lands and the civilization found by the Spaniards when they reached Central America four or five hundred years ago? The subject has occupied many scholars.

The Spanish conquerors or “conquistadores” who crossed the ocean in the wake of Columbus encountered something more than primitive nomads. They met capable scribes, architects, artists, astronomers and surgeons in well-organized cities, ruled by sun-worshiping king-priests. These had a calendar system more accurate than that used in Europe. Their surgeons could patch up fractures, they could embalm the dead, they could perform brain operations. There were roads paved with stones, enormous aqueducts and impressive suspension bridges. There were monuments, beautifully carved, pyramids and other magnificent structures.

Only the ruins of that advanced civilization now remain. The greedy conquerors from Europe ravaged and plundered the cities, enslaving those of the population that were not massacred for refusing to accept the Catholic religion. The king-priests and their armies practically surrendered to a handful of Spanish soldiers. Why? They had a tradition that “white, bearded men” from across the ocean once brought civilization to them, and now they thought this new wave of white men came as friends also.

Was it simply a matter of coincidence that the people of Middle America had pyramids, mummies, brain operations, sun worship and king-priests, just as did the ancient Egyptians? Or was it because that Indian tradition was based on fact, and “white, bearded men” had drifted across the ocean via the transatlantic current that starts from off the North African coast?

“Right into the twentieth century,” writes Thor Heyerdahl, “it was an accepted theory that there was only one cradle of civilization, which stood not far from the Bible lands, from where the civilization spread across continents and oceans to all parts of the world.” The account in the Bible book of Genesis says that the first communities after the Flood were established in Mesopotamia, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and that from there mankind came to be scattered over “all the surface of the earth.”—Gen. 10:8-12; 11:8.

Criticisms of Science

Critically minded anthropologists soon attacked this view. They considered the Bible as “too old” to be of any scientific value in relation to past history. Influenced by the evolution theory, they considered that the culture of Central America was an independent development. They argued that the close physical and mental relationship among all kinds of men would make them react in a similar way under similar conditions. Columbus, they believed, was the first to come to America apart from primitive immigrants who crossed the Bering Strait from Siberia. Thus they evolved what came to be considered an “indisputable scientific fact.”

A few decades passed, and this “scientific fact” began to crumble. Other scientists produced evidence to show that the Atlantic was crossed long before the time of Columbus. There was that Viking settlement in Newfoundland, among other things. So yesterday’s “solid scientific fact” is exposed today as a texture of speculations without adequate foundation.

Scientific experts also claimed that the voyage across the ocean could not be made on a boat made of reeds or papyrus, such as was anciently used by the Egyptians. Egyptologists were of the opinion that those reed vessels were usable only on a river, and would not stand the stress and strain of ocean movement. It was also claimed that the papyrus would become soaked with seawater and start decaying in less than two weeks.

But Thor Heyerdahl was not impressed by all the scientific criticism. He believed that such modern theories could be proved wrong. Indeed, he had reason to distrust scientific “authorities.”

“Authorities” Can Be Wrong

Before he sailed from South America to Polynesia on the famous balsa raft, the Kon-Tiki, back in 1947, all “experts” were of the opinion that the ancient civilizations of America did not carry impulses to the islands of the Pacific by means of their balsa rafts and reed boats. In 1943, J. E. Weckler wrote that no American Indians had seagoing vessels that could make the voyage to Polynesia. The same view could be read in a textbook written by the Polynesia expert, Sir Peter Buck, two years later. And it seems that this author got the information from his colleague Dr. Kenneth P. Emory, curator of the Bishop Museum in Hawaii.

Back in 1942 Emory had abandoned the idea that the ancient Americans had any contact with Polynesia. Why? Because another colleague had informed him that the balsa raft soon becomes waterlogged. He, in turn, had drawn his information from a treatise written by a South America specialist wherein it was stated that balsa wood loses its buoyancy completely after a few weeks.

The specialist obtained his information from the recorded travels of an Englishman who, about a century ago, had seen a balsa raft off the South American coast. The captain of the ship bearing this traveler told him that within a few weeks the balsa wood ‘lost much of its buoyancy.’ It is not known where the captain got his information. His words were accepted, and, says Heyerdahl, while “numerous teachers transmitted what they knew without even stating their sources, the doctrine became an axiom.”

Nevertheless, Heyerdahl sailed 5,000 miles on a balsa raft, and the fiction dubbed “scientific fact” was exposed for what it was. There was good reason to believe the scientists were all astray as to the use of the papyrus craft too. Though denying that a boat of reeds would keep afloat for more than two weeks, it appeared that none of these “experts” on Egypt had ever seen a papyrus boat in reality.

Seagoing Vessels of Reed

Vessels constructed out of reeds were in use by American Indians along the Pacific coast from California to Chile at the time the Spaniards arrived. Such boats were in use on several Mexican lakes too. Similar types were common “from Iraq to Ethiopia, across North and Central Africa to Chad, Niger and Morocco, and even in Sardinia.”—Hjemmet, December 2, 1969, p. 7.

When the Spanish reached the Peruvian coast they saw many boats made of thin reeds, bound in bundles, with elegantly curved prow and stern, somewhat after the fashion of the ancient Viking ships. Some were large enough to take a crew of twenty-four, and they pulled easily through the surf along the coast of the Inca Empire.

“Peruvian vases,” writes Heyerdahl, “from the time before the Incas often have pictures of double-decked reed boats with a lot of passengers and freight. On Lake Titicaca reed boats large enough for carrying cattle, even in stormy weather, are still built. On excursions with the mountain Indians the seaworthiness as well as the carrying capacity of the boats impressed me greatly.” Even on Easter Island, far out in the Pacific, pictures of reed boats with masts and sails have been found on stone monuments.

Not all agree that reed boats were confined to river navigation in the Mediterranean region and farther east. Says the book The Story of the First Ships: “Wooden ships did not exist in ancient Egypt until after the Pharaohs started to get supplies of timber. The Mediterranean Sea was navigated by enterprising mariners in boats made of papyrus reeds covered with bitumen.” And the Roman author, Pliny the Elder, tells of voyages between the Ganges and Ceylon, and taking usually about twenty days, “made by papyrus ships with rig from the Nile.”

It was evident that papyrus vessels were seaworthy and could withstand a great deal of pounding by the wind and the waves. If such a craft could float for more than two weeks on the waves of the Atlantic, Heyerdahl believed, then the experiment would also demonstrate the possibility that Mediterranean mariners had reached and influenced the cultural developments in America long before Columbus arrived.

Building the Reed Boat

Pictures of Egyptian vessels were studied in museums all over the world. Dr. Bjorn Landstrom, Swedish expert on Egyptian drawings of ships, went to Cairo to copy pictures of the reed boats of the Pharaohs. From these models the boat was built.

The materials were supplied from Ethiopia. All together, twelve tons of dried papyrus stems, three to five yards long, were freighted over the mountains to the building site behind the pyramids in the Egyptian desert. The papyrus was bound in bundles with miles of rope, and fashioned into the proper shape.

When completed it had a length of about fifty feet and a breadth of some sixteen feet. The bottom was five feet thick. Amidships was a basket hut serving as cabin for the crew of six besides Heyerdahl himself. To the thirty-two-foot twin mast was fastened a brown, trapezoidal cotton sail with an orange sun disk. The vessel was named after the Egyptian sun-god, Ra.

The Expedition

The unique vessel was transported to the Moroccan seaport of Safi, westernmost port known to the ancient Egyptians. After a week in the harbor the “Ra” was towed out into the Canary Current, which would carry it westward. Here is Heyerdahl’s own account of what happened next:

“The papyrus bundles undulated like rubber cables over the waves. Thick oars were smashed like matches, but not one papyrus stem broke. . . . the papyrus stems were solid like bamboo fibers and tough like rope. Three weeks passed. Four weeks passed. Soon we had sailed a longer distance than from Egypt to Crete, to Greece, to Italy, yes, longer than any distance within the Mediterranean Sea. [And farther than the “authorities” believed they could!] The waves still came roaring against us. . . . but the papyrus remained equally strong and tough. After six weeks we had sailed as far as from Copenhagen to the North Pole.”

But, as related in the news subsequently, the boat encountered a storm center east of the Antilles, and some papyrus started to work loose on the starboard side where the floor of the hut had worn over the ropes that lashed the papyrus stems together. The mast was broken off by the storm. A few days later Thor Heyerdahl and his crew were forced to leave the papyrus boat because the presence of sharks made further repairs by the crew impossible. They had been fifty-two days on the Atlantic, had sailed some 3,125 miles, and were only about 600 miles from Barbados in the West Indies.

Experiment Not a Failure

Closer examination of all the facts will reveal that despite the shipwreck the experiment was no failure. Heyerdahl was quite satisfied that they got “sufficient proof that a papyrus boat is a seaworthy vessel.” He also assigned as reason for the wreck the fact that he and his crew “had made so many blunders as only modern man can make when he wants to handle an ancient vessel without any instructors.”

An Italian university professor was of the same opinion. Said he: “The boat was built with a stern that was too low. The Egyptians first refused to build the stern on the Ra, and the low stern which was finally built is one of the reasons why the vessel was so quickly broken down by the heavy sea. Another reason is the unusually bad weather the expedition had to cope with.”

It was demonstrated that frail reed vessels used by the Mediterranean peoples could and may well have crossed the Atlantic, either purposefully or driven by storm, and made contact with the natives of Central America. It could also have happened that some such visitors remained long enough to teach the natives some of their arts and crafts and religious ideas.

The Wonder of a Solar Eclipse

By “Awake!” correspondent in Mexico

MARCH 7, 1970, dawned clear and brilliant here in Mexico. It began just as any normal day at this time of the year. Yet there was something in the air that indicated that it was going to be very different. Traffic in the cities had diminished considerably. Many people, especially students and teachers, had the day free. There was unusual calm and quiet.

As this Saturday morning advanced this apparent calm decreased. Nervous excitement that comes from the expectation of something unusual began manifesting itself. People hurried to find cameras, lenses, special filters, smoked glasses, welding masks, visors improvised from cardboard boxes, developed film, containers with water or anything that might help them view a most extraordinary event without danger. Yes, they wanted to look at the sun by means of such items in order to avoid the danger of damaging their eyesight. Various means of communication had warned the people not to look directly at the sun, so many took these precautions.

Come, let us hurry to Metate peak! It is ten o’clock in the morning. Oh, the minutes before the great event seem to be passing so slowly for some, and for others they are passing very fast. Tension, impatience, curiosity and heightened expectation grip the people. At last the long-awaited moment arrives!

With perfect punctuality the performance in the heavens begins. The sky, which was clear blue a few moments ago, becomes grayish. The green landscape takes on a strange orange hue approaching purple. The temperature has begun to fall. Even the animals sense the strange phenomenon taking place in the sky. They grow restless. Dogs bark and howl, bulls bellow, birds flit to their nests, hens collect together their chicks and cocks crow.

Up to a few moments ago the sun appeared as a perfect circle. Now, look! There on its eastern side! A small spot. Yes, the moon has started crossing in front of it. Slowly the moon continues advancing, and now the sun looks as if it has had a piece bitten or pinched off it. As the moon advances in front of the sun, the “bitten-off piece” seems to grow bigger and bigger. And the result is increasing darkness on the earth.

Now the sun looks like a half-moon. Relentlessly the moon continues its advance until only a sliver of shining light can be seen. The light continues to decrease. It seems like it is late afternoon now as the shadows advance, covering the countryside. Gusts of wind stir the trees that look like silhouettes in the darkened landscape. The uneasiness among the animals increases. The sun is disappearing rapidly. Only a very fine ribbon is visible now as the performers of this cosmic drama get ever nearer to the culminating point of this breathtaking spectacle.

Finally, the performance reaches its climax with grandeur! With the sun exactly behind the moon, the eclipse has reached its final phase. With awe we have witnessed a sunset and nightfall at midday! During the height of the eclipse we notice that it has become colder. Nearly total darkness covers the land and only a brightly lighted circle surrounds the moon. It is the solar corona.

Suddenly everything seems to become paralyzed! Only brief interjections of amazement are heard from the spectators. The countryside appears unreal, with the silhouettes of the people resembling statues. Mixed emotions are in the air. The little light that can be seen is like the reflection of the moon at night, although it is more intense. The stars are easily visible now. Colossal flames appear to go out from the sun, which is completely covered by the black outline of the earth’s satellite, the moon. Far off in the distance, in every direction to which we turn, we see light, much light. It is as when the sun is about to ascend in the morning, but the difference is that it is happening all around us.

Wait, the performance is not over! An exquisite “circular band of diamonds,” known as “Baily’s beads,” attracts our attention. This is formed by a series of brilliant lights as the sun’s rays pass through the irregularities of the lunar surface. The appearance of a strong radiance completes this vision on the western side of the solar disk. This radiance is like a gem mounted on a ring and is a small part of the solar circle now visible again.

As the sun is freed from the lunar shadow, its warm rays once again shine upon the earth. The very brief night is over. It is getting hotter and everything comes to life once more. The phenomenon that we have seen is truly extraordinary. Its beauty and magnitude are difficult to describe in words.

Why an Awaited Event

The total eclipse lasted about three and a half minutes. Yet it was an event that was announced long in advance and it was eagerly awaited by many here. The reason is that the last total solar eclipse visible in Mexico was on September 10, 1923. So you appreciate why seemingly no one wanted to miss this drama in the skies.

Scientists, investigators and amateurs in astronomy, astrophysics and other related fields calculated the best place where they could observe the eclipse. The specific point that would be the ideal place of observation was the small town of Miahuatlán, in the state of Oaxaca, in Mexico, especially Metate peak a few miles outside the town.

What made this an ideal spot? Well, it has an elevation of over 5,200 feet above sea level and its atmosphere is relatively free of clouds, dust, glare, vapors and thermal air currents. So months before the event, groups of scientists began examining the observation sites. Scientific delegations from various countries were present.

Among the things they wanted to study were the deflection of light from the stars, the alteration of the magnetic fields, the effects upon cosmic radiations, the effect on radio communications and the action of ultraviolet rays. Meteorological phenomena and disturbances in the seas would also be scrutinized. Also some aspects of Einstein’s theory of relativity were to be tested and photos taken of the solar corona and protuberances. Mexican scientists studied in particular the measurement of the ionosphere during the eclipse, the dissemination of the different radio waves and the record of the static electricity.

The Reaction of the People

It is interesting to note the way persons in different places and of different levels of education reacted to the eclipse. There has been great progress in education due to a permanent campaign to free the people from ignorance and superstitious beliefs. Yet some people believe that these natural occurrences forebode affliction or trouble or that they adversely affect humans in some way. There are still towns where the church bells are rung during an eclipse, where people cross themselves and kneel, asking heaven’s mercy. Old women in front of the churches repeat prayers with rosaries. Pregnant women hang scissors and other amulets around their necks in fear that the eclipse will cause their children to be born deformed.

In some communities an eclipse is believed to be a fight between the sun and the moon. People will beat drums, cans, frying pans and other utensils with the idea of helping the sun to win the fight. Others, fearing the unknown and mysterious, remain motionless.

Astrologers are ever present to take advantage of the gullible. They surround the event with mysticism in order to trick the unwary. Magicians, enchanters and others proclaim what the eclipse is supposed to foretell and what will happen next according to the position of the stars. Predictions have been made, horoscopes interpreted and other subtle means used to exploit the credulous. Oh yes, in Miahuatlán, “hippies” were seen celebrating certain rites and ceremonies in honor of the sun.

What Is an Eclipse?

An eclipse is simply the hiding of a celestial body by the interposition of another. It can be total or partial. It is total when the hidden body is completely covered as we saw on March 7. When a part of it is covered it is annular (ring shaped) or partial. A solar eclipse is produced when the moon, in its orbit, goes between the sun and the earth, projecting its shadow on the earth below. An annular eclipse occurs when the moon is exactly in front of the sun but it is not big enough, due to its distance and position, to cover the sun completely. It leaves a ring of the sun visible. There are never annular eclipses of the moon, because the earth’s cone of shadow is always large enough to cover the moon when it is in an exactly straight line with the sun and the earth.

Eclipses are natural happenings that occur with exact regularity. They do not represent a threat nor do they carry some prediction of calamity. They are evidence of the unchangeable laws that govern the universe. They testify to the infinite divine wisdom that established each heavenly body in the universe and that controls them. Yes, they underscore how small we are when compared to the gigantic universe around us. As the newspaper El Universal (The Universal) of Mexico, Federal District, declared: “It could well be said that not even all the inventive faculty and creative possibilities of man could in some way produce a spectacle that in the slightest way could approach what was produced today.”

Yes, eclipses are marvels of Jehovah’s creation, one more evidence that assures us that the universe continues functioning according to the perfect laws he has fixed.

How Big Is the Earth

● The earth measures nearly 25,000 miles in circumference at the equator. It is said to weigh about 6,600,000,000,000,000,000,000 (6.6 sextillion) tons. Yet, it is dwarfed by other planets and stars. For instance, about one million earths could fit into the sun! And some suns, or stars, are so big that a trillion (a million times a million) earths could fit into them!

Eye-catching Architecture—Ancient and Modern

By “Awake!” correspondent in Brazil

WHEN did it all get started anyway? There was no hint of a need of any kind of architectural skill in perfect man’s original paradise. Weather extremes, and even rain, were unknown. Rather “a mist would go up from the earth and it watered the entire surface of the ground.” (Gen. 2:6) No dangerous wild animals had to be protected against. Imagine being able to dwell in the outdoors and sleep in the forest without fear!

Judging from the fact that there are still primitive tribes today who live in caves and rude shelters, some have concluded that it has taken man many thousands of years to develop an architectural sense. According to this theory, modern man’s forebears had to grope their way through many ages of mindless development before intelligence began to dawn. But what are the facts?

An Early Start

Let no one mislead you into believing the monkey-into-man story, because our most trustworthy record of earliest human history tells us that the first man’s firstborn son, when he grew to manhood, engaged in building a city. That was Cain. The city he built may have been no more than a fortified village, but it doubtless had gates, houses, doors and other architectural features. Indeed, Cain’s immediate descendants were already fashioning and playing musical instruments and forging tools of metal.—Gen. 4:17-24.

Over 1,500 years passed. Already vast projects were being undertaken. This was in the days of the rebel Nimrod, a man who defied the Creator, put himself prominently before men as a leader and engaged in building city after city, commencing with Babel. Men had mastered the art of building with kiln-dried bricks and mortar. Prominent in Babel and well-calculated to catch the eye and dominate the landscape was the lofty temple tower, probably of the ziggurat type of structure, each story stepped back from the one below.—Gen. 10:10-12; 11:3, 4.

The God of heaven saw fit to interfere with the grandiose scheme—a scheme undertaken for the avowed purpose of honoring and memorializing self-important men. He confused their speech so that they could not understand one another. (Gen. 11:7-9) In all directions the peoples scattered from that teeming center of population in the Mesopotamian land of Shinar, bearing with them the memory of the lofty, impressive structure.

Today we can still observe. the long-lasting influence of those ancient architects in the pyramids of Egypt, the ruins of the Maya empires of Central America, the remains of colossal shrines in Cambodia and India, and the stepped-back structures of New York and other large cities.

Calculated to Impress

Proud rulers of all ages have delighted to build lasting monuments of their own fame. The Cheops pyramid, for example, originally towered to a height of 481 feet. It comprises over three million cubic yards of stone; its base covers thirteen acres; its limestone blocks weigh, on the average, two and a half tons. “It has been calculated,” according to historian James Baikie, “that the houses of a town to hold 120,000 people could be built out of the materials of the pyramid. . . . The area of the base of the Great Pyramid is two and a half times as great as that of St. Peter’s . . . more than nine times as great as that of Westminster Abbey.”

Then there is that largest known temple built by man, the ancient Egyptian temple of Amon in Karnak. Its great hall, with internal dimensions of 329 feet by 170 feet, contains 134 columns. The columns of its central rows are seventy-eight feet high. By raising the walls of this hall above the surrounding roofs and by an imaginative system of pierced stone trellises, its architects produced what is called a clerestory. Thereby adequate lighting was provided, setting the style for later Roman basilicas and medieval cathedrals.

Ambitious and wealthy potentates have been able to enlist the aid of men of taste and imagination. Think of all the varied types of graceful columns and ornamental pediments that have embellished their architectural masterpieces! There is, for example, the Sad-Sutun or Hall of a Hundred Columns at Persepolis. More graceful even than Ionic columns, they had a ratio of height to diameter of 12 to 1, as compared to the 8 to 1 of the Doric column, 9 to 1 of the Ionic and 10 to 1 in the Corinthian.

And the aims of all those builders of monuments? “One would suppose,” says one authority, “that the spirit moving Egyptian [and other ancient] architects was always so to impress the people with the overpowering, almost supernatural, dominance of their rulers and deities that they might never think for themselves or entertain the possibility of changing their social status.”—The Encyclopædia Britannica, 1946 ed., Vol. II, p. 280.

That all of these mighty structures, ancient and modern, have the effect of flattering the vanity of the wealthy and powerful while also awing the lower classes into silence and obedience, is something that becomes obvious to the observant. Can you imagine the attitude toward fellow humans of one like Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon who could boast: “Is not this Babylon the Great, that I myself have built for the royal house with the strength of my might and for the dignity of my majesty?”—Dan. 4:30.

Honor the Giver of Artistic Sense

As we gaze upon the eye-catching productions of the architects of the present and the past, we do well to dismiss from mind the petty vanity of men. Consider, rather, how marvelously the Great Architect of the universe implanted in men so great a variety of capabilities! It is not a case of simply piling stone on stone. No, there are other considerations—beauty, symmetry, that perfection of balance that must appear in the completed structure.

Of the Parthenon of Greece one authority declares: “Its studied refinements of line—such as the very slight curving of lines intended to appear straight, the slight tilting in of corner columns to correct the appearance of tilting outward that such vertical columns have, the spacing of the columns so as to produce a span at the center slightly larger than at the ends—these with the complete symmetry of the plan, as viewed from each side and the use of only one structural principle, the post and lintel, all combined to give this building a simple and impressive dignity.”—The Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. II, p. 281.

Gifted with the unique faculty of accumulating knowledge, man has made great strides in architecture. With the advent of the industrial revolution, new materials became available. The development of portland cement in 1824 and subsequent invention of processes for producing reliable mild steel have added extra fields for the imagination of the architect. Urban civilization, with its demands for more and more housing in a smaller area, has produced added challenge.

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Awake!, May 22, 1970