Awake!, June 22, 1971

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Awake! — June 22, 1971

Source: jw.org

Contents

What About Alcoholic Beverages?

Blood Transfusion Dangers

Colors—from Light

Nesting Habits of the Goldfinch

A Practical Guide for Home Bookkeeping

Knot-tying Fish

Echoes of Christendom’s Thirty Years’ War

How They Found the Truth

A Reason for Medical Modesty

The Piñata and Its Use

Hair

The Coconut Palm and How It Serves You

‘Happy They Who Mourn’

Watching the World

Build On A Firm Foundation

When All Nations Collide, Head On, With God

What About Alcoholic Beverages?

IN RECENT years you have heard much about the use of drugs such as heroin. No doubt you are aware that they are a growing problem.

However, did you know that in many countries the excessive use of alcoholic beverages causes about ten times as many problems as use of narcotics does? From a global viewpoint, alcoholism is a far greater problem than is the abuse of narcotics.

Perhaps you know someone who drinks too much. It may even be your husband, wife or a very close friend. If so, then no one has to tell you what a problem it can be. And for a certainty the problem is not diminishing, although it may not capture as many headlines as drug addiction.

In the United States there are some seven million alcoholics. That is an increase of several million in just the past few years. Over fifteen million more are somewhat alcohol-dependent. Thus Health News says: “Alcoholism is our nation’s most widespread addiction.” Even among youth, drinking too much is a far greater problem than the use of narcotics.

The situation in France is alarming. Newsweek comments: “According to doctors, social workers and the police, alcoholism is France’s biggest domestic problem.” On the average the French consume far more alcohol than the people of any other country—about 65 gallons of wine per adult per year.

In Communist countries alcoholism is usually their most serious domestic problem too. Nor is it much different in other places. “In the Bahamas . . . alcoholism is the number one health problem,” says Physician’s Alcohol Newsletter.

The High Cost

The cost of alcoholism is very high. And not just in terms of the price of liquor either.

Of the more than 50,000 killed in automobile accidents throughout the United States each year, about 30,000 result from drivers trying to handle a car after drinking. That is several times the number of Americans killed in any one year of the Vietnam war.

Sixty percent of the industrial accidents in France are blamed on alcohol. And in the United States it costs industry more than four thousand million dollars a year through absenteeism and reduced performance. It is responsible for more lost work time than all other diseases combined.

In addition to the high cost in killed and injured through accidents and time lost from work, there is another tragic cost from excessive drinking. A husband or a wife who does not control the intake of alcohol is usually the source of great anguish for other family members. A judge in France says that the most common complaint of wives seeking a divorce is their husbands’ drunkenness. And the effect on children can be catastrophic.

The Alcoholic

From the enormous problems caused by drinking too much, it is obvious that alcohol is far more than just another beverage.

By acting to depress the central nervous system, alcohol affects one’s mood. Small amounts can be pleasurable. But larger amounts affect one’s judgment and reasoning, almost always for the worse. With continued drinking, activities that require the control of arms and legs and other body parts are affected. Finally, excessive drinking interferes even with automatic processes such as breathing.

Someone who gets drunk on occasion may experience many or all the reactions just described. But that does not necessarily make him an alcoholic. What does? A person becomes an alcoholic when he makes a habit of drinking and feels that he cannot control it. When he feels the ‘need’ for a drink and says that he cannot restrain himself, he is on the way to becoming an alcoholic or is one already.

At first, addiction may be psychological. The alcoholic may feel that he has to have a drink to face life, or merely because he enjoys the effects. But after prolonged use, physical dependence sets in. The body tissues literally become dependent on alcohol and, when denied it, severe withdrawal symptoms can occur.

Thus, a person is an alcoholic when he depends on alcohol and feels that he is not able to cut it off. In time, perhaps very gradually, he will progress to the point where his whole life is affected by his drinking. It will interfere with his family relationships, with his ability to earn a living and also with his health.

Damage to Health

Some authorities say that the physical consequences of heavy drinking are more serious than those resulting from the use of heroin.

Dr. Harry Johnson, medical director of the Life Extension Institute of New York, says: “The likelihood of death from acute alcoholic poisoning and in withdrawal from chronic alcoholism is much greater than from overdosage and in withdrawal from heroin addiction.”

Withdrawal symptoms can include nausea, hallucinations, severe agitation or convulsions and, in extreme cases, death. These symptoms are part of what is called “delirium tremens,” and this is estimated to have a 20-percent mortality rate.

In advanced alcoholism the drinking binge is common. The alcoholic gets drunk and stays that way for days. He becomes seriously malnourished, often filthy and unable to care for himself. He is in danger of death due to liver, brain or other body damage, or from an accident. To forestall death, he must be detoxified. He must stop drinking long enough for his body to eliminate the alcohol and restore itself to some measure of normal functioning. Full restoration can take months. But some damage, such as to the brain or liver, can be irreversible.

Official figures show that during 1969, 22,130 in France died from cirrhosis of the liver. That disease causes the liver to shrink and harden, and is definitely identified with alcoholism. It is now said to be the number three cause of death among middle-aged adults in the United States. Also, in France, every third bed in psychiatric hospitals has a patient suffering from alcoholism.

However, many alcoholics do not wait for disease or accident to complete the destruction of their bodies. They commit suicide. “Studies show that the suicide rate among alcoholics is about 50 times greater than that of the general population,” observes the Atlanta Journal.

How Do They Get That Way?

Sometimes alcoholism starts with social drinking. It may be the custom in a community, or among the people with whom one associates. He may not want to be ‘different’ so he goes along with the trend. In time, it becomes a habit.

There is a high consumption of alcohol among executives. It is particularly so among sales executives and advertising personnel, people in ‘pressure’ jobs that often require much entertaining of clients. More than one fourth of all executives studied were found to be heavy drinkers. They consumed six or more ounces of whiskey every day of the week, including weekends.

Another reason is the need many people feel to escape from the anxieties and depressions of everyday life. Their life may be empty and without hope for the future, so they try to fill it with alcohol. But experiments at Boston City Hospital revealed that after a few hours of drinking, anxiety and depression increased!

However, it is a mistake to conclude that a person must have serious mental problems or anxieties before he becomes an alcoholic. Some do not. A person may simply find that drinking gives him a temporary sense of well-being. It makes him ‘feel good.’ He may continue drinking until it becomes habitual. So a rational person can become an alcoholic if he does not exercise self-control.

Childhood influences are often decisive. A higher rate of alcoholism has been noted among those raised in homes where drinking was common to one or both parents. The same is true where a child had been neglected by his parents. So the background, or culture, of people plays an important part.

Also, there are persons who simply have less tolerance for alcohol. Two individuals may drink the identical amount of alcohol. One may become addicted to it, the other not. The hereditary makeup is said to be the difference. Yet, even if true, it is not the hereditary trait that makes a person an alcoholic. It is the alcohol.

A person may be predisposed toward lung cancer and if he smokes cigarettes, he may get it; but if he did not smoke, he would not get the cancer. Some people are allergic to certain foods; but if they avoid these foods, they avoid the illness. So too with drinking alcoholic beverages. It is not the body that is responsible for the ‘illness.’ No one is compelled to be an alcoholic by some deficiency in his body. He becomes one by drinking too much. The possibility that his body will be unable to handle alcohol well just aggravates the situation. But even a person who does ‘handle it well’ can become an alcoholic by drinking too much.

The root of the problem is in the mind, in a person’s attitude. To say that the alcoholic ‘could not help it’ is to find a convenient excuse. Why can others, just as predisposed toward bodily intolerance for alcohol, ‘help it’? Why can some avoid smoking cigarettes? Why can some give up foods that cause them illness? For the same reason that they can avoid becoming an alcoholic—they have the mental strength.

A Balanced View

Because of the trouble alcoholic beverages can cause, some have labeled all drinking as ‘evil.’ Others say or imply that all strong drink is condemned by God. But that is not a balanced view. And it simply is not the truth, for it is not God’s view.

Do you remember reading about the first miracle that Jesus Christ performed? It was the turning of water into wine. (John 2:1-11) How reasonable would it be for him to make wine and then forbid people to drink it? And if God disapproved of all drinking, would he tell us in his own Word that he “will certainly make for all the peoples . . . a banquet of well-oiled dishes, a banquet of wine kept on the dregs”? (Isa. 25:6) Then, too, the apostle Paul advised Timothy: “Do not drink water any longer, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent cases of sickness.”—1 Tim. 5:23.

So, of itself, drinking is not wrong. It is like many other things God created for man’s enjoyment. They can be used for good or for bad. For instance, is eating food bad? No, but you can make it bad if you habitually overeat to the point of becoming a glutton. Is your hand bad? Of course not. It is a marvelous instrument for man’s use. But you can make it bad if you use it to commit a crime, such as strangling someone with it. Yes, you can take things that are ‘good’ and make them ‘bad’ by the way you use them. It is the same with alcoholic beverages.

It is not the drinking of alcoholic beverages that God’s Word condemns. It is their excessive use: “Do not be misled. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with men, nor thieves, nor greedy persons, nor drunkards . . . will inherit God’s kingdom.”—1 Cor. 6:9, 10.

Yet, even this chapter of the Bible shows that such persons, including drunkards, can change. 1Co 6 Verse 11 adds: “Yet that is what some of you were. But you have been washed clean.” So a drunkard can change, showing that alcoholism is not irreversible. But, of course, the longer one persists in it the more difficult a change becomes.

Best Advice

If a person finds that his body does not handle alcohol well, then the best advice is to avoid it altogether. If he feels that he cannot control it, he should not even take one drink, as often that paves the way for more.

Some persons who take several drinks a day feel that, since they are not getting drunk, it means they have the matter under control. If you suggest to them that this may constitute the beginning of alcoholism, or that they are already mild alcoholics, they usually reject the thought. They may say that a few drinks a day is not alcoholism and that they can stop at any time they want.

If so, there is a simple test that can help the person to see the direction in which he is going. He should see whether, without its causing mental and emotional turmoil, he can stop drinking altogether for a long period of time, at least a month or two. If he cannot, or if he does but finds he just waits for the day when he will resume drinking, it is a definite indication that he is already trapped by the alcohol habit.

However, some, challenged to do without alcohol for a length of time, say that they have no need to make such a test since they are not alcoholics. But this is often an excuse to keep drinking because they cannot face up to the fact that they may be too far gone already toward some degree of alcoholism.

One thing is clear: when a person does not want to, or feels that he cannot go without drinking for a long period of time, it is a solid indication that he is already in trouble with alcohol. He should face the situation honestly and not continue to delude himself. For if he continues, the likelihood is very strong that he will progress toward a more serious form of alcoholism and see his entire life deteriorate.

Considering Others

What can you do to help other people who may have problems with drinking? There are several things you may consider.

For instance, if you are hosting a gathering and offer refreshments, do you present only alcoholic beverages? Why not offer a nonalcoholic beverage too? This would be considerate of those who may take an alcoholic drink because of social pressure but who may really prefer something else. And if you know that someone already has a problem with alcohol, why serve it at all when he is in the group?

In some cases where a husband or wife has retreated into alcoholism, it may be due to the unpleasantness or quarreling that exists in the marriage relationship. Perhaps showing more consideration and kindness, more attention to what the other wants or says, can have a wholesome effect and reverse the trend. This has happened many times, as in the case of a housewife in Chile who had three young children and an alcoholic husband. Because of his excessive drinking, he had lost his good job. The family had to move to very poor quarters. The children did not have enough to eat, since he was spending so much on alcohol. The wife had to work to support the family. She also responded by being unpleasant, arguing, and screaming at her husband certainly things that are easy to do when confronted with an alcoholic.

But then, one of Jehovah’s witnesses called on the woman. She became interested in learning about God’s purposes for man as noted in the Bible. She also began to learn how a Christian wife should act toward her husband, even one who is an alcoholic. As she progressed in knowledge, she began to pray to God to be a better wife so she could help her husband.—1 Pet. 3:1-4.

The change in her attitude and actions impressed the husband. He began to cut down on his drinking. Then he stopped altogether and refused to join his ‘friends’ in their drinking bouts. He began caring for his family and using his money wisely. Family harmony returned. He explained that what caused him to come to his senses was the great change for the good he noticed in his wife after she began to study the Bible. He noted that she treated him with more kindness and consideration despite his drunkenness. Finally, he began such a study of the Bible too, anxious to continue the fine improvement he noticed in his family life.

Basically, what changed here was the whole way of life. And this is what has been found most helpful in dealing with alcoholics. As Dr. Benjamin Kissin of New York says: “We try to change the life pattern.” His work has also shown it to be the best way. And this is what the Bible says can be done, counseling: “Strip off the old personality with its practices, and clothe yourselves with the new personality, which through accurate knowledge is being made new.”—Col. 3:9, 10.

With the right kind of motivation, one can indeed acquire the determination to combat alcoholism. And there is no greater motivating force anywhere than that found in the Bible, God’s Word: “The word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword.” (Heb. 4:12) It can supply the best motivation for cutting the bonds of alcoholism.

So what about alcoholic beverages? As you can see, they can be enjoyed when used in moderation. But if self-control is not exercised, they can become one of the worst curses afflicting the human family.

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LOST WORK TIME in the U.S. due to misuse of alcohol is said to account for more than do all other diseases combined.

30,000 LIVES LOST in U.S. during 1970 due to drinking drivers. This is more than seven times the number of U.S. troops killed in action in Vietnam in 1970.

[Picture on page 4]

7 MILLION ALCOHOLICS

The number of alcoholics in the U.S.A. is as great as the combined population of ten of its largest cities

Blood Transfusion Dangers

The June 1970 issue of Science Digest, page 55, states the following: “Blood transfusions result in 30,000 serious cases of hepatitis and 1,500 to 3,000 deaths in the United States alone each year, according to the National Academy of Sciences—National Research Council. Moreover, it is estimated five others develop subclinical cases of hepatitis for each full-blown disease.” The publication also noted that a study at the National Institutes of Health showed that “half of a group of 82 patients receiving commercial blood had developed hepatitis within six months after corrective heart surgery.” God’s law prohibiting the taking of any blood into one’s body is, indeed, a protection to those who obey it.—Acts 15:20, 28, 29.

Colors—from Light

HAVE you attempted to make your way around a pitch-dark room? Or have you ever closed your eyes tightly and tried to go about your daily activities? You may have found it rather frightening. It is a real relief to see the light! The inspired words of the Bible are indeed true, “The light is also sweet, and it is good for the eyes to see the sun.”—Eccl. 11:7.

The sun is our main source of illumination. Every second of every day it is changing four million tons of its matter into energy. This is sprayed out in all directions from its surface at over 186,000 miles a second! But what is the nature of these emissions? How do they make vision possible? And how is it that they enable us to see such a great variety of colors?

What the Sun Gives Out

The emissions from the sun are called “electromagnetic energy” or “radiation.” This radiation is frequently viewed as a stream of tiny particles. But, at the same time, it is also viewed as traveling in waves. Commenting on this apparently contradictory view, Professor Walter J. Moore said: “This unwillingness of light to fit neatly into a single picture frame has been one of the most perplexing problems of natural philosophy.”

While all radiation, including light, travels from the sun at the same speed, it is not all the same. There are many kinds. Some kinds of radiation have very long wavelengths, being measured in miles. Others have very short wavelengths, measured in tiny fractions of millionths even thousand-millionths of an inch.

Radiations that have longer wavelengths include heat waves and the very long radio waves. And among the shorter radiations coming from the sun are ultraviolet rays, X rays, gamma rays and the very short cosmic rays. But none of these are visible to human eyes, and so they are sometimes called invisible light. However, in between the longer heat waves and shorter ultraviolet waves is a very narrow band of wavelengths that are visible. So the part that we see is only a very narrow band in the middle of a broad spectrum of wavelengths, from cosmic rays to radio waves and electrical currents.

Radiations Reaching Earth

Not all radiation the sun sends toward earth reaches here. This is because earth’s atmosphere acts as a shield. Thus what reaches earth are essentially the wavelengths of visible light, with a restricted range of invisible waves. How glad we can be that our atmosphere keeps out most invisible radiation, for if it were permitted to reach earth it would kill us all!

On the other hand, we can be grateful that visible light floods our earth in such abundance. Plants capture the energy from light and employ it in converting carbon dioxide and water into a simple sugar that is the basis of all food. Without this energy from light, plants could not grow, and nothing could live on earth.

Wavelengths That Give Color

But light gives us much more. It blesses us with gorgeous color and beauty. What is so remarkable is that the band of visible wavelengths that give us light and the many colors is so narrow. These wavelengths measure from only about thirty-two millionths of an inch from crest to crest, which our eyes recognize as red, to about sixteen millionths of an inch, which we see as violet!

Traveling at the speed of light, as these rays are, the number of waves striking the eye are between about 375 and 750 million million a second. This vibration the human visual system interprets as light, the color corresponding to the frequency of the vibrations.

Light’s Numerous Colors

Does it seem strange to you that we should speak of light as being composed of different colors? Did you think that it was all white? Well, it usually appears white to our eyes because all the wavelengths of visible radiation are traveling together. They are unseparated. But when the wavelengths are separated, we can see their individual colors.

You might check this for yourself sometime. You can hold a long-playing phonograph record up to the light and look along its finely ridged surface. The light will be diffracted and you can see the light’s various colors. Or you may have observed after a rainstorm how the tiny droplets of water in the air have separated sunlight into its basic colors—violet, blue, green, yellow, orange and red—producing a beautiful rainbow.

This does not mean that light can be separated into only these few colors. It can actually be split into tens of thousands of different wavelengths, each producing a different hue or shade of the basic colors! The eye, however, cannot distinguish between the color of one wave of light and the color of another wave if they are too similar in length.

Studies have revealed that the human eye can distinguish about 128 separate shades of color in visible light. But in order to distinguish even this many, one wavelength of light must be projected on a screen, and before it is removed, another one of a slightly different wavelength must be projected alongside. Only by visually comparing them can the eye tell the difference between more than a hundred colors in visible light.

The Source of All Color

For a moment raise your eyes from the printed page, and look closely at certain things around you—perhaps a bookcase, a desk or even the floor. Is it not amazing what a great variety of color there is? But from where does all the color come?

Color does not exist in the desk, the floor or whatever object at which you may have been looking. True, we may speak of these things as being of a certain color. But the truth is, we do not live in a world of colored objects. The color of things is actually in the light that shines upon them. Light is the only source of color, and without light not even the faintest color exists.

Seeing Light

But how is it that we can see light with its innumerable wavelengths of color?

Light cannot be seen as it travels through space, any more than can radio waves and other radiation. What causes light to become visible to the eye are the material substances upon which it falls.

For example, if we were in a room without particles of dust or even air, we could not see the beam or path of light from a flashlight if one were turned on. A beam of light in a vacuum is quite invisible. Thus when the astronauts in space looked out their window they could see the brilliant sun, but the sky was black. Black is the absence of light or color. The sun did not light up the sky because space does not have substances upon which the sun’s light can fall. We can see light only when it hits some object that will reflect its waves to our eyes.

Well, then, what causes an object to appear a certain color? Why are most plants and trees green and the sky usually blue? And why does the sky sometimes turn deep orange or red near the horizon in the evening?

Producing Color in the Sky

Our sky is filled with air, as well as tiny particles of vapor and dust. Earlier we noted that the atmosphere shields us from deadly radiation. It acts like a giant mirror to reflect most of such radiation back into space. However, light penetrates this shield, but in so doing many of its waves are scattered by the particles of air. The size of these particles is such that the shorter blue waves are scattered far more than others. Thus the sky has a blue color.

But when the sun is near the horizon it can be different. The more horizontal angle of sunlight shining through a dust-laden atmosphere tends to scatter light’s longer waves, causing the sky to take on a deep orange and red appearance. Thus, back in 1883, after the Krakatoa volcano erupted violently and scattered dust particles through earth’s atmosphere, the world enjoyed a series of remarkably beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

How Most Color Is Produced

However, the scattering of certain wavelengths of light is not the principal way color is produced. Most objects receive their color as a result of their absorption of certain wavelengths of light and their reflection of the others.

For example, most plants and trees are green, due to the particular arrangement of the pigment molecules in the chlorophyll. When sunlight falls upon the chlorophyll, most of the shorter violet and blue waves of light are absorbed, and so are most of the longer red waves. These wavelengths of light are used by plants and trees in the manufacture of food. However, primarily the green waves of light are reflected, and that is why we see plants and trees as being green.

The colors of man-made things, such as paints, dyes and inks, are produced in the same way. Their pigment molecules absorb certain wavelengths—or we might say that they subtract a certain part of the narrow band of light. Then they reflect back the part that is not absorbed, or subtracted. Thus, it is the combination of the reflected wavelengths—that is, the mixture of all the colors of light that are not absorbed—that give color to most objects that we see.

So a red dress is red because the dye absorbs, or subtracts, the other wavelengths and reflects red light. Asphalt is black because the molecules of its pigment absorb all wavelengths, and reflect very little of any of them. On the other hand, we see an object as white when it reflects equally all colors of light, which together comprise white.

Pigments actually reflect at least some wavelengths of all colors. Theoretically, if two colors each reflected only one wavelength, then when they were mixed black would result. But as it is, we can mix blue and yellow paint and get green paint. This is because blue paint also reflects green light, and yellow paint also reflects green light. So when they are mixed, blue light is absorbed by the yellow pigment, and yellow light is absorbed by the blue pigment. This leaves green light, common to both, to be reflected, producing green paint!

The variety in combinations of light as it is reflected from things around us staggers the imagination. Since no wavelength is fully absorbed, we see the world around us in a wonderful array of colors. It has been estimated that about ten million colors exist!

A factor in the color of an object, in addition to how it absorbs and reflects light, is the nature of the light itself. The energy of sunlight is distributed evenly through all the colors, but this is not so of artificial light. The fluorescent lamps often used in stores are strong in blue light. However, incandescent light bulbs lack in blue wavelengths, and so emit a yellowish light. This can affect your shopping.

For example, you may buy a red dress in a store that has fluorescent lamps. But when you get outside in the sunlight you may be surprised to see how much more red the dress really is. This is because the fluorescent lamps, with a concentration of blue light, did not produce a sufficient amount of red wavelengths to be reflected by the dress. Or, in a store lighted by incandescent bulbs, you may think you are buying a black suit. But when you get outside in the sunlight you find it is blue! In the store the incandescent light provided no blue wavelengths to reflect, and since the suit absorbed all other wavelengths it looked black.

Colors by Another Method

There is yet another important method by which colors are produced, and that is by the surface structure of some objects. Many of the most beautiful colors displayed by living things result from the way their bodies separate light into its constituent waves.

Consider, for instance, a butterfly that appears a metallic blue color when looked at from above, but appears crimson when looked at along the surface of the wing. The different colors are produced by the way the light is diffracted by the finely grooved surface of its wing. This can be demonstrated. Soft wax can be pressed against the blue wing, and the wax will acquire the color of the butterfly. But when the surface of the wax is smoothed off the color disappears!

Truly, light blesses us with so many good things. Life itself is dependent upon the radiations from the sun that bathe our planet. But what a marvelous bonus we receive from light in its multitude of gorgeous colors! And whom should we thank for these blessings? Why, the Grand Creator, of course. Yes, thank “Jehovah, the Giver of the sun for light.”—Jer. 31:35.

Nesting Habits of the Goldfinch

Most birds begin to raise their families in springtime, but not the American goldfinch. He is an individualist, for he and his mate do not begin to build their nest until July, August or even September. Even his relatives, the sparrows, and other comparable species do not follow this procedure. Why then does Mr. Goldfinch put off nest building until the summer months? The answer may be tied to the fact that young goldfinches are fed largely on semidigested seeds that their parents regurgitate directly into their mouths. And in early spring the available seeds are not as plentiful.

A Practical Guide for Home Bookkeeping

HAVE you ever wondered, after you have spent your weekly or monthly income, just where the money went? Are you spending more on certain items than you really want to? Are you spending more on the same item now than before, and is this because of inflation or some other reason? To get the answers you will find it most helpful to have some form of home bookkeeping.

Many persons shudder at the thought of keeping records. They may feel it is too time consuming or too difficult. But this need not be the case. Furthermore, home bookkeeping does not require keeping track of every cent you spend.

Actually there are various systems for keeping track of expenses. And you can select the system that suits you best. Whatever system is used, there are three main steps in setting it up: (1) Classifying your expenses under main headings; (2) keeping a record of what you spend under these headings and (3) summarizing the expenses monthly.

The Classifications

First, find out what are the main areas of expense. Then group the different kinds of expenses under a few main headings, such as food, housing, household operation, clothing, transportation, personal allowances, income tax, savings, and so forth.

The heading “personal allowances” includes allowances to members of the family, gifts and contributions, health, personal grooming and small personal items. No detailed record is kept of expenses under this heading.

What about “savings”? There are two types of savings one for needs that may arise in the near future, and the other for long-term goals. Savings for the short term would allow for emergencies that might arise, expenses that cannot be anticipated, such as a sudden doctor bill. Savings for long-term goals might be for a vacation, travel to a convention, new furniture or some luxury item.

The Envelope System

There are various methods of keeping records of expenses. Some are simpler than others. A simple method is the “envelope” system. Each envelope is marked for the type of expense it represents, such as food, housing, clothing, and so forth. Every payday the income is transformed into bills and coins. Then it is distributed among the envelopes and the amount assigned to each type of expense is noted on the envelope.

When the time comes to meet these expenses, money is withdrawn from the appropriate envelopes. As one spends, no record is kept of it. When an envelope is exhausted, the amount noted thereon is spent. Suppose now that more needs to be spent on an item, and the envelope for it is empty. In such a case, if another envelope has surplus cash, some of the money can be transferred to the exhausted envelope. Make a note of the transfer on the two envelopes. At the time of next payday, cash remaining in any of the envelopes is transferred to the “savings” envelope. (You may make a few exceptions; for example, you may wish to accumulate funds in the “clothing” envelope for a future purchase.) Notes are made on the envelopes of any transfers.

To illustrate: If you earn $100 a week, at payday the money is converted into smaller notes and put in the envelopes, such as food, $30; housing, $20; household operation, $10; personal allowance, $20; savings, $5, and so forth. If the food envelope is exhausted before next payday, a transfer can be made from another envelope that still has money. If this is the personal allowance envelope, then you may transfer $3 to the food envelope and make a note on the two envelopes.

If by the next payday, the food envelope has $1 left, personal allowance $2 and savings $5 and the others are exhausted, then the $1 and the $2 are transferred to the savings envelope.

A record is then made of your expenses for the week: Food, $32 ($30 plus $3 less $1); housing, $20; household operation, $10; personal allowance, $15 ($20 less $3 less $2) and savings, $8 ($5 plus $1 plus $2). From time to time savings can be put into a savings account at the bank to earn interest.

The “Spike” System

Another simple method is the “spike” system. Spikes are made for as many groupings of expenses as you need. These spikes could be made of steel wire.

As you pay out money for the various expenses, keep the bills and receipts and place them on the appropriate spike according to the category of expenses. When no bills or receipts are given you, make a note on a piece of paper of what you spend; then place the paper on the spike.

At the end of the set period, the amounts on the bills, receipts and notepaper on each spike are added. Thus the total expense under each heading can be determined.

Paying by Check

There is another simplified system, but this one can be used only by those who have a checking account with a bank. The system is to put the monthly income into the bank and to use checks to pay all important expenses.

Expenses for small items can be met from time to time by withdrawing cash from the bank. Then you can take care of expenses with this cash by means of one of the two systems already mentioned.

At the end of the month, the canceled checks, other than those for cash withdrawals, are sorted into the different types of expenses, and the total of each category is determined. The totals of the categories of cash are then added to the totals of the respective categories for the canceled checks to give the expense under each heading for the month.

Accounts Book or Forms

For those who like to keep detailed records, the system of recording expenses on sheets of paper or in an accounts book is used. Accounts books are available in many stores. However, some of them provide for more record keeping than is necessary, and so, many persons have found it better to make up their own accounts sheets.

A simple form of accounts sheet will show the type of expense at the top of the sheet, with three columns to enter information as to the date, particulars and amount spent.

Whenever you pay out money, keep a record of it on the appropriate sheet. At the end of the period, each sheet is totaled and thus the expense under each category is determined.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Each of the four systems has certain advantages and disadvantages. For example, although the envelope system is simple, for it to be really successful you have to be honest with yourself. You may take out $5 from an envelope to spend under a certain category. You may actually spend only $3.50. If meaningful summaries are to be obtained, then the $1.50 left must either be returned to the envelope or, if spent on something else, a note should be made of the transfer from one envelope to the other.

Also, you may take money from two envelopes and have change left from both categories of expense. The change may become mixed and then you may not know how much belongs to each category. In this case you will find that keeping your bills will help you to find out the amount spent under each category.

As for the “spike” system, you do not always get receipts for payments. At the time of payment you may not have paper and pencil handy to make a note, and the expense may be forgotten. In such cases a pocket notebook could be carried so that such information can be kept.

The checking account system is a good one, but banks may make a service charge for transactions. This could become costly if many checks have to be made out each month.

The detailed record keeping will be successful only if you are keen on keeping records. The work involved is not really difficult, but to succeed you need to develop the good habit of recording expenses promptly. If a few days go by before you write down the information, you may try to remember what happened and find that you rely on guesswork.

So, these systems have their pros and cons. Select the one most suited to your temperament and circumstances. Develop good record-keeping habits.

Review of Monthly Expenses

Having obtained your expenses for the month under the main headings, the next step is to summarize these expenses at the end of the month. The purpose in making this monthly summary is for the review of the trend of your expenses. This will enable you to make any adjustments if you observe any undesirable trends creeping in. This will help you in planning how to spend your income and thus gain the optimum use of your money.

So you do not keep track of your expenses for the sake of keeping records. The recording of expenses alone means nothing. To be of real value, the results must be used to compare expenses in other periods. Then you can determine trends and make adjustments as circumstances warrant. Or the results may be used in connection with a budget or plan, comparing one with the other. If you take action to correct matters whenever undesirable trends begin to show themselves, then this will help you to live more in harmony with your life’s goals.

Knot-tying Fish

◆ The eel-shaped hagfish is a most unusual creature. It has three hearts, no jaws, no stomach and has teeth on its tongue. When it is disturbed it can produce a large quantity of tenacious slime. It has the unique ability of being able to loop its body into a knot and then pull itself through this knot so as to wipe off from its body slime that could block gill openings.

Echoes of Christendom’s Thirty Years’ War

IT IS very difficult for some persons to understand how Catholics and Protestants could be fighting each other in this twentieth century. If you are one who finds such a thing hard to comprehend, take a look at a little history for an explanation. For example, the Thirty Years’ War that ravaged Germany in the seventeenth century (1618-1648) is most revealing in this regard.

The Prelude

It was October 31, 1517, or 101 years before the Thirty Years’ War began, when Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses on the door of a Catholic church in Wittenberg, Germany. That Reformation spawned a series of conflicts that dragged on for many years. Finally, the political questions seemed to have been settled by the Treaty of Passau in 1552, and then in 1555 the Treaty of Augsburg dealt with the religious ones. Charles V, Spanish emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and bitter foe of Protestantism, failing in his efforts to stamp out Lutheranism by fraud and force, was compelled to make the concessions these treaties represented.

Among the concessions won by the Lutheran princes in the Augsburg religious peace treaty were certain religious freedoms: each prince could choose the religion for his own land. Anyone who did not agree with the religion of his prince was free to move to a land whose prince had the same religion as his. Also Lutherans became members of the imperial court of justice. Proselyting was forbidden, and it was agreed that when a bishop or abbot changed his religion the Catholic Church retained title to his property.

As a result of this treaty, in one Rhineland area, the people were obliged either to change their religion four times in succession or move to another prince’s territory. Another weakness of this treaty was that no provision was made for Protestants who were not Lutherans, such as the Calvinists; a flaw for which the Lutherans as much as the Catholics were to blame.

Charles V, who had been emperor since 1519, retired to a monastery in 1556, a year after the Augsburg Treaty, and died two years later. After him came several Hapsburg emperors who were not inclined to fight the spread of Protestantism. One of them even seems to have been quite favorable toward it.

But then, as the New Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 14, p. 98, tells it, “the Austrian Hapsburgs, encouraged by Jesuits, Capuchins, and Spanish zeal, fostered a militant policy of religious conquest and conversion. . . . In 1618, when the Bohemian estates accused the imperial government of violating their sovereign rights and [religious] privileges, they forcibly ejected the imperial emissaries by the defenestration of Prague, thereby proclaiming their rebellion against Hapsburg rule.” What happened was this: The Bohemian representatives threw the more contemptuous and imperious of the emperor’s emissaries out of the window—a way of expressing protest known as “defenestration.” Although falling some sixty or seventy feet, they suffered little harm, as it seems they landed on a pile of soft manure. But this particular act sparked the Thirty Years’ War in Germany between Catholics and Protestants.

The Bohemian and Danish Phases

The Bohemians rose up in arms and at first were quite successful, defeating the imperial army. They even chose their own king, Frederick V—an ill-advised move that turned out disastrously. The Catholic king, Ferdinand II, whom they had refused to recognize, was made emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and this enabled him to muster forces that soon put down the Bohemian rebellion. He had the temperament for just such a war, having been educated by the Jesuits. For him the voice of a Jesuit or a monk was the voice of God and he openly stated that he would rather rule over a desert than over a heretical land. As one historian observed, he almost succeeded in making Germany a desert but did not succeed in wiping out ‘heresy.’ He lost no time in instituting a policy of “death sentences, imprisonment, and confiscation of land” by which he “eradicated rebel opposition and weakened Protestant strength.”—New Catholic Encyclopedia.a

The Bohemian phase lasted from 1618 to 1620. Next came Christian IV, king of Denmark, in defense of the Protestants. Fearing at once religious as well as political domination by the Catholic house of Hapsburg, he entered Germany with his armies to oppose this twofold threat. However, even as with the Bohemians, his victories were short-lived. Count Tilly, the able general at the head of the armies of the Catholic League (which had been formed to oppose the Protestant Union), and General Wallenstein, who with his mercenaries was hired by Ferdinand II, were able to administer to King Christian such decisive defeats that he was glad to sue for peace and withdraw to his own country. This Danish phase of the Thirty Years’ War lasted from 1625 to 1629.

These victories over the Protestants emboldened Ferdinand II to issue the Edict of Restitution in 1629. “This comprehensive religious settlement,” the above-cited Catholic authority tells us, “represented the height of Catholic reaction.” It robbed the Protestants of all their hard-won gains over the previous eighty years. It was a turning of the clock of freedom back with a vengeance, and was considered by Ferdinand II an important step in his Jesuit-inspired goal to wipe out the Reformation. However, this was not without a counter-reaction. Some of the Protestant princes, who had been indifferent to the Protestant cause up until now, were awakened to the real danger that was facing them.

Gustavus Adolphus to the Rescue

Next to take up the cause of German Protestantism in this war that was to last thirty years was the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus, a military genius. He entered the conflict after it had been raging for twelve years and would have done so sooner had he not been at war with the Poles. He arrived in June 1630 with a small but well-disciplined army of 15,000 Swedes. In keeping with his religious convictions, he knelt in prayer upon arriving on German soil and required that his army engage in public prayer twice daily.

At first he met with very little cooperation, the German princes viewing him with indifference, envy or fear. But with the fall of the city of Magdeburg (which Gustavus might have prevented had certain German princes not opposed him) he began to get a little more cooperation. Ferdinand II at first had only contempt for Gustavus, sneeringly referring to him as the “Snow King” that would soon melt when he reached warmer climes, but later he was obliged to revise his opinion of this “Snow King.” The Swedish king, by reason of his military skill and thoroughly disciplined army, won one victory after the other. In one of these battles the emperor’s most able general, Count Tilly, was slain.

Ferdinand II had earlier dismissed his general Wallenstein at the instance of his princes who complained about the way Wallenstein’s mercenaries were devastating their lands; those mercenaries plundering the lands of friends and foe alike. But in the face of the successes of Gustavus, Emperor Ferdinand was obliged to recall Wallenstein, who now held out for such high terms that it was said he became the master, and the emperor his servant. However, able as Wallenstein was, he too met defeat at the hands of Gustavus, but in a succeeding battle Gustavus lost his life.

The Crime Against Magdeburg

Magdeburg literally means the burg or city of the maid. It was a city of Protestants who were proud of their record. Repeatedly they had repulsed attacks by Catholic forces; they had even resisted a siege for a whole year during the reign of Catholic Emperor Charles V. Now, nearly a century later, they taunted the demands of the emperor’s generals to surrender. They were confident that Gustavus would soon succor them. But General Tilly and Pappenheim had their forces storm the city, after it had been besieged for a month, and it fell. However, it seems that the conditions within the city itself had a bearing on its fall.

Concerning the fall of Magdeburg, the German historian Friedrich Schiller wrote: “Here commenced a scene of horrors for which history has no language, poetry no pencil. Neither innocent childhood, nor helpless old age; neither youth, sex, rank, nor beauty could disarm the fury of the conquerors. Wives were abused in the arms of their husbands, daughters at the feet of their parents; and the defenseless sex was exposed to the double sacrifice of virtue and life. . . . In a single church fifty-three women were found beheaded. The Croats amused themselves with throwing children into the flames; Pappenheim’s Walloons with stabbing infants at the mother’s breast.”

When some officers of the Catholic League, horror-struck at what they saw, reminded General Tilly that he could order a stop to these atrocities, he replied, “Return in an hour. . . . I will see what I can do; the soldier must have some reward for his dangers and toils.” To clear the streets, more than six thousand bodies were thrown into the river Elbe, and a much greater number of bodies were consumed by the flames. The plunder and carnage were stopped by the flames—but only for a time. The total number who perished is estimated at 30,000.

What the historian Trench has to say about the Thirty Years’ War was especially true of the crime against Magdeburg: “It was indeed the bitterest irony of all, that this War, which claimed at the outset to be waged for the highest religious objects, for the glory of God and for the highest interests of his Church, should be signalized ere long by a more shameless treading under foot of all laws human and divine, disgraced by worse and wickeder outrages against God, and against man, the image of God, than probably any war which modern Christendom has seen.”

More and More Political

Gustavus, in the matter of two years, from 1630 to 1632, succeeded in turning the tide in favor of the Protestants; thereafter theirs was no longer a lost cause. But only because Catholic France came to the aid of the Protestants. How so? Because Cardinal Richelieu, the power behind the throne in France, was determined not to let the House of Hapsburg dominate Europe. So now religion receded into the background and political considerations came more and more to the fore. These years saw the worst phases of the war. Both sides took to plundering. Famine conditions got so bad that cannibalism became widespread, graves were robbed of the newly buried, gibbets were robbed of their victims, children and prisoners disappeared mysteriously. To top it all, pestilence raged through the land. The war not only greatly impoverished Germany, it also reduced the population from some 30 to some 12 million.

No wonder that from time to time each side got weary of the fighting and showed signs of willingness to negotiate. These negotiations finally resulted in the Treaty of Westphalia. France and Sweden, having been largely victorious, had the major say in the peace terms. France saw to it that she got certain territories she greatly coveted, and the Swedes, while getting some territorial advantages, were chiefly concerned with religious benefits. Mainly as a result of their efforts the treaty granted religious freedom to ever so many who had not enjoyed it before. Thus Calvinists and other Protestants were accorded the same rights as the Lutherans, rights that went even beyond those granted by the Augsburg Treaty and which had been nullified by Ferdinand’s 1629 Edict of Restitution.

Christendom as Unchristian as Ever

But is all this merely interesting history? No, because it has a bearing on current events. Today in Ulster, Ireland, there are professed Christians, Catholics and Protestants, hating and killing each other. Time magazine, July 13, 1970, reported: “A pall of anger hung over Ulster last week following the fiercest battles between Catholics and Protestants in eight months. In addition to the seven dead, at least 250 people were wounded or injured, stores and pubs were fire-bombed and buses were overturned to make barricades.” And U.S. News & World Report, October 26, 1970, quoted a top Ulster official as saying: “This country is ungovernable. No one agrees on what is to be done. Ulster is a paradox—a small, insignificant place, but devilishly difficult to govern.” And practically all there profess to be Christians, either Catholics or Protestants!

Throughout the rest of the world, too, Christendom belies by its fruits its claim to be Christian. Widespread crime and violence, political corruption and corporate greed, drug addiction and loose morals are evident everywhere. And in particular do wars between professing Christians belie their claim to be followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.” Clearly all those fighting with carnal or fleshly weapons are not followers of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.—John 13:34, 35.

[Footnotes]

Says one historian: “Twenty-seven of the chief Protestant nobles were beheaded at Prague in one day; thousands of families were stripped of all their property and banished; the Protestant churches were given to the Catholics, the Jesuits took possession of the university and the schools . . . The Protestant faith was practically obliterated from all the Austrian realm . . . The property which was seized by Ferdinand II in Bohemia alone was estimated at forty millions of florins!”—History of Nations, Germany—Taylor and Fay, pp. 270, 271.

How They Found the Truth

“HOW did you get the truth?” Is this a strange question to you? Probably so. But among Jehovah’s witnesses it is one often asked and one that they delight to answer. In fact, when Witnesses become acquainted with other Witnesses they almost always ask this question in the course of their association.

The Witness who is asked this question understands it to mean: How did he learn God’s truth as taught in the Holy Bible? What was his experience in his taking up God’s pure worship with the hope of gaining eternal life as promised by man’s Creator?—Titus 1:2.

Hearing such joyful experiences enhances one’s appreciation for the happiness that comes to those finding God’s truth. This spurs one on to try to help others to get this truth that leads to eternal life. Most importantly, these experiences strengthen one’s faith in God. They show how powerfully Jehovah’s truth is at work today and how he is leading sincere people to it.—1 Thess. 2:13.

Those Who Searched for It

Many honest-hearted persons find that their spiritual needs are not satisfied by the teachings and traditions of their church. You may be one of these. Some persons have searched for the truth of God by visiting churches of different denominations in hopes of finding the one that teaches it and practices it. They have prayed to God to help them to find the true religion based on the Bible.

In New York one such person who searched for God’s truth and found it said: “In my early youth I went to both the Methodist and Catholic churches. This was because my uncle was a Methodist minister and my mother was of his faith, while my father was a Catholic. When I grew older my father insisted that I become a Catholic, and I did so. I became very involved in the church’s activities, even serving as an altar boy. I felt that I wanted to be near God and to serve him.

“In the course of time I noticed that certain church practices were not in accord with the Bible. Its various money-raising schemes bothered me. For example, they set up boxes in the vestibule of the church with attendants to collect money from those entering and leaving. Even my father complained that the church was getting to be like a theater where you have to pay to enter. I remembered learning that Jesus threw out money changers from God’s temple.—Luke 19:45, 46.

“I now began searching for the truth of God by going to the Episcopal church and Baptist street meetings. I even planned to go to a synagogue to see if the truth was there. The week I planned to do this was when I finally found the truth. A witness of Jehovah who called on me but could not speak English well was returning with one who could. We met by chance in a park near my home. I was coming home from a Baptist street meeting and my Bible was under my arm. I asked the Witness if she could explain the Bible and she said that she thought she could. ‘Fine,’ I said, ‘explain the meaning of Revelation 17!’ and I handed her my Bible.

“I had asked others about this but none could explain it. This Witness took my Bible and began explaining the various symbolisms in this chapter and I knew that she was telling me the truth of God. After explaining many verses, she turned to Matthew 24:3-8 and showed how World War I, the famines, pestilences and earthquakes since 1914 C.E. were a fulfillment of the prophecy concerning ‘the conclusion of the system of things.’ I easily saw the truthfulness of this, and my excitement knew no bounds. I asked her what I should do and she told me about the meetings at the Kingdom Hall.

“After we parted, I danced home singing: ‘I found the truth! I found the truth!’ Within two weeks I was attending the meetings, having a Witness help me learn the Bible and going out and telling others what I was happily learning. In my heart I know that God saw to it that I met one of his Witnesses that warm June evening twenty-four years ago and I have happily served as one of them ever since.”

Spiritual Emptiness Stimulates Curiosity About Truth

Not everyone goes out investigating various religions. Yet the feeling of spiritual emptiness often causes persons to inquire of others when the opportunity presents itself. This is what led a family living in upstate New York to find the truth. The wife reports:

“My husband and I were good Catholics, faithfully attending Mass with our two sons. One day I said to my husband, ‘Dear, we went to church again this morning and what did we gain? Nothing! I feel empty. What do you think?’ He replied that he felt the same way. I then said, ‘Someday I think we are going to stop altogether!’

“Just about the time this feeling was developing, we met one of Jehovah’s witnesses whom we were hiring to pave the driveway of our home. As we talked to him he mentioned his religious activities and we became curious about his religion. We asked him many questions about it and, seeing that our curiosity was actually interest; he arranged to help us learn the Bible. In a short time we saw that we had inadvertently found the satisfying truth of God!

“Our priest, noticing that we stopped attending Mass, came to visit me. I told him that we were now studying the Bible with Jehovah’s witnesses. ‘God help her!’ he exclaimed and added, ‘Think of your children!’ I asked him to prove from the Bible the teachings of the church. All he could say was that they were a mystery or a church tradition. He could not put his finger on one scripture in the Bible. He left completely frustrated. I was thrilled, for his inability to show Biblical support for Catholic teachings strengthened my conviction that I had found the true way to worship God. I think that I thanked Jehovah a hundred times that afternoon for helping me to take my stand for his truth.”

How One Who Had Lost Faith Found the Truth

Some persons who have lost faith in God nevertheless have hearts that are receptive to God’s truth. Consider, for example, the experience of a former World War II naval officer. His observations of the inhumanity of war, the clergy’s conduct during the war and his subsequent college training in Massachusetts left him an agnostic. He tells what happened when he went to New York city to visit his relatives who are Jehovah’s witnesses:

“My Witness relatives knew how I felt about religion and did not try to preach to me. One day I read one of their booklets exposing the hypocrisy and false doctrines of the church. I found that I agreed with many things it said. So I began reading more of their literature, usually when they were not home. At last I learned the answer to a question that was very perplexing to me! Why was wickedness so rampant in the earth if there was a God? I found the Bible’s answer: God was permitting it only for a specific time, but soon it would end, along with this corrupt system of things. I rejoiced to learn that a new order would be established on earth righting the wrongs afflicting mankind over the centuries.—Rom. 9:17; 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:3, 4.

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Awake!, June 22, 1971