Awake!, June 22, 1972

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Awake! — June 22, 1972

Source: jw.org

Contents

Can Computers Solve Man’s Problems?

Is It Truth?

How Reliable Is Our Bible Text?

Where Is Religion Headed in Chile?

Making Get-Togethers Enjoyable yet Beneficial

Blindness

Those Mysterious Ductless Glands

The “Same”—Always the Same?

Uruguay’s Elections and the Catholic Church

Assyria—Militaristic Empire

Watching the World

Do You Want Your Son to Avoid Fights?

Divine Rulership—The Only Hope of All Mankind

Can Computers Solve Man’s Problems?

PERHAPS, until now, you have thought of computers as “electronic brains” that can answer any question or solve any problem. While this is the view often popularized on television and in the movies, is it an accurate one?

There are some persons who have been led to believe that through man’s efforts a super computer is just around the corner, one that will revolutionize mankind’s affairs. Such a machine, some believe, will solve all mankind’s problems in government, science, food supply and medicine. Is such a trust realistic? What are the abilities and limitations of a computer?

Most persons are familiar with some type of machine that is used to solve mathematical problems. An example is the electric adding machine. No one who has used this device would imagine it to be a substitute for the human brain. It is quite obvious that, although this machine can add faster and with greater accuracy than the average person, it is still simply a mechanical device. Perhaps this fact is easier to perceive with such a device because it is mechanical in nature; that is, the electric adding machine simply has a motor to drive a mechanical apparatus. The operation of such a machine can be seen through movement of geared wheels.

The concepts involved in the operation of a computer are very similar to those of a simple mechanical adding machine. It is basically a counting device. However, since the computer is not mechanical, it may seem more magical than its more mundane, mechanical cousin, because its operation by means of electronic impulses is invisible to the human eye. The computer achieves through electronic circuitry what the adding machine accomplishes through the use of gears, levers and wheels.

The computer, like an adding machine, can do nothing if left to itself. As the book How to Live with Your Computer, by Paul T. Smith, puts it:

“Often heard is the statement, ‘The computer does this,’ or, ‘The computer made that mistake.’ Data processing equipment . . . is inanimate. It will perform only as instructed; it can take no responsibility for its actions, good or bad. Like any other facility, the computer is no more efficient than the person responsible for it. . . .

“The machine’s only truly automatic action is its repetition of operating instructions; man must specify the act of logic the machine is to perform. Man’s knowledge therefore becomes the fountainhead of any data processing system.”

The advantage of computers is that the instructions need to be prepared only once. These instructions (the “program”) are prepared in such a way that they may be stored on magnetic tape in much the same manner that music is stored on tape, to be played back as often as desired on a home tape player. The instructions can then be read back into the computer when it is desired for them to perform the function for which they were designed. This process of preparing instructions for the computer to perform some task is called “programming.”

Now, if the designers of a computer program do not make the instructions comprehensive enough to cope with unusual occurrences and all possible eventualities, then what? Why, the computer will be unable to handle the situation, or it will make false assumptions and produce wrong results.

Of a computer’s several parts, the main part is the so-called memory. It is in this “memory” that the program, or instructions, are stored while performing the task to be accomplished. The computer, depending upon its size, has thousands or millions of available positions for holding the instructions and the numbers to be used. Each position has an address associated with it in much the same way that each house on a street has an address, enabling you to find a specific house. The instructions in the program can then “tell” the circuits in the computer where to find the number to be added, where to store the answer, where to find the next instructions, and so forth.

From the amount of detailed instructions required, you can see that the human preparing the instructions provides the method for solving a problem. He is the one who provides the information to be used in the computations. The computer does not decide how to solve the problem any more than the adding machine does. The computer only follows the path of instructions provided by the programmer. A computer cannot solve a problem without human intellect to provide the formula. It can only speed up the working of the formula that is supplied by a human.

It is apparent, then, that man cannot rely on computers to solve the great problems facing the human race. World leaders are unable to supply a formula for world peace for humans to work out, let alone prepare such instructions for a computer. Biologists and medical researchers do not have the means to devise a formula for perfect health and everlasting life. Social workers, in their own wisdom, have no solutions for racial hatred, greed and selfishness.

Thus, while computers can be used to provide faster solutions to problems that can be defined by man, they cannot provide answers to problems for which man has no formulas.

For the answers to such problems we must look, not to a mere servile electronic apparatus, but, rather, to our Creator, Jehovah God. In his written Word, the Bible, God has already provided the formula for solving mankind’s problems. He has also acted on this formula by providing a working Kingdom government to bring everlasting blessings to obedient mankind, and he has set the time, now near, when it will do so.

Is It Truth?

● Hearing truth and not accepting it does not change truth into error.

How Reliable Is Our Bible Text?

DESPITE the rapid decline of Christendom’s churches, the Bible is still in popular demand. This is reflected in the release virtually every year of new Bible translations. Some of these quickly reach a circulation of hundreds of thousands of copies and, in some instances, even millions of copies.

But a person might inquire, ‘Why keep on publishing new translations? There are in English the King James Version, Catholic Douay and other older translations. Why do we need new ones?’

Reasons for New Translations

There are a number of good reasons, but three are prominent. First, language continually changes. This makes older translations difficult to understand and, at times, even misleading in their meaning.

For example, the English word “coast” in former times did not refer just to a seacoast. It used to mean the side or border of a country. Thus the King James and Catholic Douay, both first published over 360 years ago, speak of the apostle Paul as traveling through the “upper coasts” to Ephesus. (Acts 19:1) However, the Bible record shows that Paul traveled to Ephesus from the “country of Galatia and Phrygia,” a journey that would take him nowhere near a seacoast! (Acts 18:23) Thus The New American Bible, a modern Catholic translation of 1970, reads: “Paul passed through the interior of the country and came to Ephesus.”

Many similar examples could be cited. Thus the change, over the years, in the meanings of certain words makes a new, up-to-date translation valuable.

A second reason for publishing new Bible translations is that many thousands of ancient written documents have been found in recent years. And these secular documents give a better understanding of the original languages—Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek—in which the Bible was written.

Not so long ago it was thought that many words in the Christian Greek Scriptures were special Bible words, so to speak. But now these same words have been found in ordinary correspondence of Bible times—in deeds, official documents, and even in receipts. Seeing how these words were used in secular documents of the time has been helpful in achieving, in certain instances, a more precise Bible translation.

A third important reason for new Bible translations is the discovery of more and more ancient Bible manuscripts. For the Christian Greek Scriptures alone there are now over 4,600 extant manuscript copies, in whole or in part, in Greek; also over 8,000 more copies in Latin and about 1,000 in other languages. Of particular value to modern Bible translators is that they have had available to them three major manuscript discoveries made in about the last forty years.

The first of these was a number of second- to fourth-century Bible manuscripts written on papyrus that were acquired by the late Sir Alfred Chester Beatty in 1930. Then from 1947 forward over 40,000 manuscript fragments were found in several caves near the Dead Sea, and these include about 100 manuscripts of the Bible. They cover at least parts of every Hebrew Bible book except Esther. The most famous of them is the Dead Sea Scroll “A” of the book of Isaiah. And a third recent discovery consists of some papyri believed to date from about 200 C.E. This was acquired by the Bodmer Library in Geneva, Switzerland.

The significance of these finds is not that they are radically different from manuscripts already possessed, indicating need for basic changes in the Bible text. To the contrary, their differences are minor. Yet, if you are a Shakespeare enthusiast, even one word altered in Hamlet would be important to you, although it would really make no difference to the characters, the plot, or the result. Similarly, to a Bible student the change of one word can be important for the meaning of a Bible verse, yet not alter any doctrine or basic interpretation.

However, this may raise the question in some persons’ minds: ‘How can a Bible translator, who desires to make use of all these manuscript discoveries, possibly check each verse in the many different available manuscripts? Would this not take more than a lifetime of work?’

Constructing a Text

Fortunately the Bible translator does not personally have to check each manuscript. Specialist scholars, men like B. F. Westcott and F. J. A. Hort, D. Eberhard Nestle and Rudolf Kittel, have compared the distinguishing features and variations of each important manuscript and have constructed what are called “texts,” in the original language. The “texts” they have prepared adopt the best readings available from all the manuscripts. Often listed in footnotes are the code letters and designations of manuscripts and versions that support the reading, followed by details of all important alternative readings. These scholars are not concerned with translating the Bible into English or any other language, but work only with the original language.

Then the Bible translator comes on the scene. His work is to put that original-language text into whatever language he desires. He is guided by the evidence the textual scholars have collected.

Textual Criticism

Textual criticism has to do with the work of textual scholars in making the original-language “text” from which Bible translators work. The work of textual critics is sometimes called “lower criticism” to distinguish it from “higher criticism.” Since its purpose is to recover the original text of the Bible writer, it is a constructive criticism rather than being destructive.

As one example of the work of textual scholars, consider the Bible verse 1 Timothy 3:16. The King James Version reads, “God was manifest in the flesh.” However, most modern translations say: “He was made manifest in flesh.” Why the difference? And why have modern translations replaced “God” with “He”? It is because of the identification by textual scholars of how the original text of the Bible writer obviously read.

The ancient contraction for “God” was represented by the Greek form [Artwork—Greek characters], while the Greek letters literally meaning “who” in the uncial or capital-like lettering were OC. You can see how easy it would be to convert “who” to the title “God” by just putting a single stroke through the “O” and a bar over the top of both letters. And this is an alteration that was made in some ancient manuscripts.

Textual scholars have exposed this alteration. Westcott and Hort show in their Notes on Select Readings that the alteration is found only in manuscripts written from the end of the fourth century C.E. onward. Even in the famous fifth-century Alexandrine manuscript in the British Museum, a microscope examination has revealed that the stroke and bar were added by another hand at a much later time!

Textual scholars also are able to identify other alterations, or mistakes. Various clues assist them. For example, confusion of letters that look very similar, omission or duplication of phrases due to the eye following the wrong line, or the incorporation of a marginal gloss into the text itself.

Meticulous Care in Copying

The existence of such mistakes may cause a person to ask: ‘How common are mistakes or variations in the manuscripts? How can we be sure that ancient Bible manuscripts from which textual scholars work are reasonably accurate, since none of them are originals made by the Bible writers themselves?’

It is true that it is easy for errors to creep in when repeated copies of a writing are made. However, it is important to note the meticulous way in which copies of the Scriptures were checked and corrected by the copyists.

Hebrew scribes were particularly reverent. They used scrupulous care in dealing with the text. They had check systems, such as counting the number of letters in each section, even the number of times certain letters appeared. No word was written from memory. Even if a king should speak to the scribe while he was writing the name of God, Jehovah, he was to be ignored. After a manuscript was completed, it was verified, or examined by correctors.

Manuscripts copied in Greek give evidence of the work of correction. This can be seen, for example, in the famous Codex Sinaiticus, a Greek Septuagint manuscript of the fourth century. The corrector added in the top margin a passage that had been omitted in error from First Corinthians chapter thirteen. Then he placed arrows to indicate where the passage should have appeared in the actual text.

Regarding the effect of such scrupulous care, Dr. Hort notes: “The great bulk of the words of the New Testament stand out above all discriminative processes of criticism, because they are free from variation, and need only to be transcribed. If comparative trivialities . . . are set aside, the words in our opinion still subject to doubt can hardly amount to more than a thousandth part of the whole New Testament.”

The late Bible text scholar Sir Frederic Kenyon made this reassuring statement in the introduction to his seven volumes on the “Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri”: “The first and most important conclusion derived from the examination of them [the then recently discovered second- to fourth-century papyri] is the satisfactory one that they confirm the essential soundness of the existing texts. No striking or fundamental variation is shown either in the Old or the New Testament. There are no important omissions or additions of passages, and no variations which affect vital facts or doctrines. The variations of text affect minor matters, such as the order of words or the precise words used.”

That care in copying was effective in practically eliminating errors is also evidenced by the recently discovered Dead Sea Scroll “A” of Isaiah, which is dated around 100 B.C.E. This scroll is about a thousand years older than what was formerly the oldest known copy of the Bible book of Isaiah in Hebrew. And yet there are few differences between the two copies of Isaiah, causing Professor Millar Burrows to observe in his book The Dead Sea Scrolls: “It is a matter for wonder that through something like a thousand years the text underwent so little alteration.”

Are They Really So Old?

Yet someone may ask: ‘How can one be so sure those Dead Sea Scrolls and other manuscript finds are so old? Is there really evidence that they are?’

Yes, there is. Paleography, which has to do with the study of ancient scripts or writing, offers noteworthy evidence. Writing styles vary from period to period, changing with the fashion of the day, and also as a language changes over the years. Old written documents are often dated by employing this science of paleography. Consider an example.

In the Dead Sea Scroll “A” of Isaiah both the Hebrew letters waw and yohdh are similar in appearance. This was the style around the first and second centuries B.C.E., but in later periods the yohdh was noticeably smaller than the waw. This is just one example of how a study of the writing style can help in dating a manuscript.

Of course, there is the possibility that someone may try to fake an ancient manuscript, making the whole thing look old. And there are one or two people in the nineteenth century who did try that. One was Constantine Simonides. But he was exposed by careful scholarship. Today the use of carbon-14 dating tests, although not conclusive, would also help to expose a forgery. However, careful study is still the most valuable means of determining the age of manuscripts and exposing any attempts at forgery.

Aiding Bible scholars in such work today are photographs of ancient manuscripts, which are put on microfilm, or issued in facsimile. Then scholars world wide can give manuscripts detailed study. Thus the chances of a forgery escaping detection are slight indeed. It would be far easier to forge bank notes, for then only technical skill would be required, rather than knowledge of paleography too.

Basis for Confidence

It can therefore be seen that study of ancient manuscripts is a real science that becomes more exact every year. And each new Bible translation, if it builds on the full evidence in an unbiased manner, becomes more refined and accurate. Thus modern scholarship gives reason for complete confidence that the Bible has come down to us today essentially unaltered.

Of course, this is only what one should expect. For Almighty God himself has unquestionably had a hand in seeing that his Word has been preserved so faithfully all these years. Any way one looks at it, the overall reliability of the Bible text is beyond question.

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(For fully formatted text, see publication)

Hebrew lettering styles differed at various periods of manuscript making. These differences aid scholars to date manuscripts. Notice the distinctions in these two examples:

[Artwork—Hebrew characters]

Divine Name from Isaiah Scroll “A” (c. 100 B.C.E.)

Divine Name from Manuscript Dated 895 C.E.

Where Is Religion Headed in Chile?

By “Awake!” correspondent in Chile

CHILE has long been a land of religious freedom. This freedom is guaranteed by its constitution, and the people here have jealously guarded it.

In fact, Chile is one of the few South American countries that enjoy a clear separation between Church and State. That separation took place in the year 1925 and has been carefully maintained since then.

So while all religions are free to carry on their work, none can take an official part in the government. And in 1970, when Salvador Allende was elected President of Chile, he publicly stated that he would continue to respect the freedom of religion that the constitution provides.

But while governments have carefully preserved freedom of religion, and have kept it separated from the state, what is the condition of the churches today? What is the attitude of people toward religion now?

Growing Indifference

Chile is considered to be a Roman Catholic country, since most people here are regarded as Catholics from their birth onward. But when one examines the religious practices of the people, it can be seen that the majority are Catholic in name only.

In the capital city, Santiago, average attendance at Sunday Mass is less than 13 percent of those professing to be Catholic. And in certain parts of the city attendance is only about 1 percent.

Also significant is what happens to the males, especially, as they get older. While about 16 percent of boys between seven and ten years of age attend Mass, after that a sharp decline sets in. By the time they are between thirty-one and forty years old, only a little over 5 percent attend Mass regularly. And of those who do, only 12 percent receive Communion!

One reason for this has to do with social conditions. For centuries, under various types of rule, the life of the average Chilean saw little improvement. There was much poverty. They saw that the Church usually supported the wealthier classes. Observing the Church supporting types of rule that did little for them, many became embittered against the clergy.

As a result, many turned to ideas that offered more radical solutions for their problems. Hence, Ercilla magazine recently said: “Those who come to Chile after having observed her from afar are amazed when they find that the majority of the workers are, at the same time, Christians and of the left. Christians according to their own way because, although Chile is classified among the Catholic countries, such Catholicism does not figure in its Constitution, neither in the customs of those who say of their faith: ‘We are Catholics but we do not go to mass, neither do we like the priests.’”

A Divided Church

The confidence of such people in the Church is further eroded when they note that the Church is badly divided politically. Among the clergy can be found every type of political expression, from the ultra-right to the ultra-left. Cardinal Raúl Silva Henriquez has even been called the “Red Cardinal.”

The pope himself has come under severe attack from some Catholic clergymen here. When, in April of 1971, eighty priests pronounced themselves in favor of Catholic participation in the building of socialism, their spokesman, Gonzalo Arroyo, said of Pope Paul VI: “His pontifical gesture cannot satisfy those who are for a modern Church, pledged against the abuses of capitalism and the bourgeois society. Paul VI has been incapable of breaking his link with European capitalism and is always limited to condemning war and hunger in abstract terms, without pointing out the guilty ones by name, American Imperialism. I believe that he lacks the intellectual valor to break such secular ties of the Church.”

In this same line of thought is the priest Roberto Lebegue, who was ordained in France and nationalized as a Chilean citizen a few years ago. He reveals the approach of many priests closely associated with the working class who believe that workers of all nations should unite to end “the dominion of the bourgeois classes.”

As to Pope Paul VI, Lebegue states: “I believe that he is absolutely unknown to the people of my camp. Not even knowing his name. I believe that some may remember him for his trips or for the matter of the pill.”

In regard to the pope’s 1968 encyclical “Humanae Vitae,” which reaffirmed the Church’s ban on artificial birth-control methods, Lebegue declared: “I believe that the defects of this encyclical, in that it deals the same with rich and poor women, sick and healthy, with few or many children, are due in good part to the fact that he [the pope] lives isolated in the pomp and riches of the Vatican, a prisoner of a structure that he has been incapable of breaking . . . The Pope should live like a poor man, as did Jesus Christ.”

Clergy Quitting

Also contributing to the growing indifference of many people toward Catholicism is the increasing number of clergymen who are abandoning their duties. These people reason that if the priests no longer want to serve, then there is something wrong with the Church.

In some lands it is claimed that the principal reason for priests leaving the Church is the doctrine of celibacy. While that is no doubt a factor in Chile, it is not the main reason. The publication El Mercurio states: “It is seen that the principal reason for priests leaving the Church in Chile is because of being weak in faith and for lack of spiritual life . . . not because of the doctrine of celibacy.” Can people be taught faith in the churches if the clergy’s faith is weak?

Just how serious is the deterioration among the ranks of the clergy? El Mercurio commented: “The fact of a great crisis in the Chilean priesthood is seen in that approximately 200 priests have left in the last few years and the diminishing number of young men entering the seminaries.” For this small country, that many priests quitting, and much fewer entering the seminaries, is a double disaster for the Church.

In a book published about the situation in Santiago, it was noted that “students of theology in 1967 totaled only 33 for the Diocese of Santiago, that is, exactly one for each 100,000 inhabitants. Fifty percent of the priests in Chile are foreign priests sent from Europe, the United States and Canada. However, this dependency on foreign help will hardly be able to continue for long due to the diminishing of inclination to the religious life in those countries that send priests.”

Where Is Religion Heading?

For these and other reasons, including the immoral actions of some of the clergy here, increasing numbers of Chileans have become disillusioned with the Church. Quite often now when the subject of religion comes up people will say: “I don’t go to Mass and I don’t like the priests.”

Thus without a doubt the power of the Church over the lives of the common people is decreasing. As elsewhere in the world, here in Chile many people, even clergymen, are abandoning the Church. And that trend shows no sign of slackening. Indeed, it is expected to increase.

Yet, at this same time the Bible educational work that Jehovah’s witnesses are doing grows in Chile, as it does all over the earth. As a result, Chileans by the thousands are learning the truths about God’s purposes contained in the Bible. These truths assist them to understand why there is so much trouble in the world and why the churches are in growing difficulty. They also learn that God has guaranteed a new order of righteousness, soon to come, free from the troubles of today.—2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:4.

Because the work of Jehovah’s witnesses is nonpolitical and aids the people in their daily living as well as giving them comfort and hope for the future, their work progresses without hindrance today. In one section of Santiago, poor persons had taken over certain areas and would not permit anyone to enter without their permission. They maintained guards around the section day and night. Yet, as one person said, “Jehovah’s witnesses may enter and talk to the people about the Bible because they seek to help the people to find comfort.”

Finds Answers to Questions

Thousands of Chileans in recent years have experienced the satisfaction that comes from knowing what the Bible, God’s Word, really teaches. For instance, a man from Punta Arenas writes:

“I was a very active Catholic and kept a close association with Jesuits, under whom I studied. Under their auspices I founded the Boy Scouts in Concepción. I also participated in the Legion of Catholic Workers there, learning to engage in religious debates with Protestants. For fifteen years I was the band instructor in the parish schools of San Jose and San Juan Bosco, schools run by the Salesian Order.

“Yet, there were many things I could not understand in spite of all this training in church affairs. For instance, in private conversations I would ask the priest who directed the school of Don Bosco about the logic of the trinity doctrine. His answer was always the same. He would say, ‘You are a Catholic?’ I would answer, ‘Yes.’ ‘Do you have faith?’ he would ask. ‘Yes,’ I would reply. Next he would state, ‘Then leave things as they are, because this is a mystery that even we do not understand.’

“When my wife began to study the Bible with Jehovah’s witnesses, I argued with her that what she was learning was wrong. But she could show me what she believed right from the Bible. I began to realize that what she said really was what the Bible taught. So I began to study to find out more for myself. In time, I learned the truths in the Bible and left the Catholic Church.

“Later, the priest of Don Bosco called me to his office. He wanted to know why such a prominent and useful member of his ‘flock’ had left. I told him that while I was grateful for having learned such things as how to read and write and put on dramatic shows, yet, when it came to spiritual things the Church had taught me nothing. On the other hand, because of my Bible studies I now understood much of the Bible, including the fact that God is not three persons in one, and that Jesus Christ was not God but was created by God.

“During this interview I thought to myself: ‘If the priest was really interested in me, why did he not come to see me instead of summoning me to see him? Jehovah’s witnesses did not do that. They took their time free of charge to come and see me.’ But, then, that is what the Bible says that true Christians should do. Now, I too am grateful for the privilege of knowing the truth and being able to help others understand what I have learned from God’s Word.”

Disgusted with Practices

Another man’s experiences are like those that many persons have had in Chile. From Valparaiso he writes:

“I was baptized and raised as an active participant in the sacraments of the Catholic Church and educated in the Catholic College of San Vincente de Paul. Also, at the age of thirteen I had been the most advanced of a group of twelve who were being trained in the Church of the Twelve Apostles in preparation for being sent to be trained as a Jesuit priest.

“But I abandoned all that training. Why? One reason was because of the shameful practices I witnessed. One had to be there really to understand. A certain priest, for example, participated in orgies in the chapel with young people. Another, a Jesuit priest, committed lewd abuses with children in exchange for engravings of ‘saints.’

“I was also disillusioned when I would confess a serious sin and then hear the priest-confessor say: ‘Don’t worry, child.’ Yet, when by accident a priest surprised me reading the Catholic Torres Amat Bible, he became furious, considering it a scandal that I was reading a Bible!

“I also observed daily the comparative luxury in which the clergy lived, having much good food, wine and cigarettes, when the common people had so little.

“These, and other things, caused me eventually to repudiate a religion that would tolerate such on the part of its leaders. It also made it much easier for me to accept the true religion that is taught in the Bible.”

A Nun’s Experience

Among those who have left the religious life of the Church in Chile is a nun, who tells of her experience:

“Since I found the world so full of hypocrisy and falsehood, I sought spiritual refuge in the convent. There, I thought, I would be able to serve God without reserve and without experiencing hypocrisy and falsehood.

“So I entered the convent and stayed there for a total of seven years, five in Argentina and two in Chile. But did I find there an atmosphere of love, a spirit of self-sacrifice or genuine interest in worshiping God and helping our fellowmen?

“Let me tell you what they taught all the new nuns who entered the convent. The teaching that received most emphasis was ‘the most holy trinity.’ Afterward came the worship of saints and the superiors of the Church. The superiors required total obedience. This in fact amounted to idolatry because, according to them, God placed them in their positions and therefore all had to give them unquestioned obedience.

“How did they manage this? By the vows the nuns were required to take. One vow was of obedience, by which the superiors were adored. The obedience they required reached such an extreme that we had to bow down before them, without ever questioning them.

“The superiors talked constantly of charity and humility, but it was always advice for the others—they never did what they demanded of others. Among them there always existed a spirit of envy and the desire to advance to higher positions and titles. After they received such advancement, they tried to convince the others that those positions were granted to them by God and therefore they should be rendered even more obedience and devotion than before. Thus, they became very powerful.

“What of the other nuns with whom I worked? Why did they enter the convent? Was it because of their faith and love of God? Of course, some had that motive, but the majority entered because of material needs—in order to have a home, clothing and food. The spirit of love and cooperation was missing. Often they did things to hurt others in an obvious spirit of hypocrisy.

“Well, then, did I at least learn to understand the Bible? No, because we were told that only the one who said Mass could have a Bible and that for the rest of us it was a sin to read it. We were never taught to reason on spiritual things or to apply the teachings of the Bible in our lives.

“After seven years of living in that manner, I left the convent. I felt deceived and disillusioned on seeing the injustices and the falseness there. It was surely no spiritual refuge. But although I lost faith in the Church and in her representatives, I never lost faith in God. What happiness I felt, then, when later I began to read the Bible itself with the aid of Jehovah’s witnesses. I found it to be so reasonable, so different, so true! Now I am no longer a slave to a hypocritical religious system. Instead, I find great satisfaction in serving a loving and purposeful God, Jehovah.”

Multiply such experiences many times and you begin to get the picture of what is taking place in Chile today. There are the two currents, or trends: the religions of Christendom are in deep trouble and on the decline; whereas there is an upsurge of true religion as revealed in God’s own Word, the Bible. But that is what Bible prophecy said would happen before this wicked system of things came to its end.—Isa. 2:2, 3.

Making Get-Togethers Enjoyable yet Beneficial

WHAT a challenge this presents to persons who entertain guests! No doubt you have faced it. How did you meet it? You probably found that the refreshments were not much of a problem. But what about the matter of keeping your guests entertained, yes, seeing that everybody had a good time? What did you do to make your get-togethers enjoyable and interesting? Were they beneficial to your guests?

It is good to remember that when you arrange to entertain guests you take on the responsibility for their diversion during the time they are with you. The persons you invite come to relax and spend some hours in refreshing fellowship with you and your other guests. They will look to you for direction. Hosts who have some type of program in mind usually succeed in delighting and entertaining their invited friends in a beneficial way.

Pitfalls to Avoid

Some hosts feel that purchasing some ready-made game will help to keep their guests entertained. It may and it may not. Also, there are pitfalls. If a person is not selective, he might inadvertently obtain a game that may be detrimental rather than beneficial to his friends, much to his regret.

For example, consider this description of a game that was advertised in a brochure listing various simulation games: “The best element of the game is the diplomatic interplay between the players as they try to come out on top. This is usually accomplished by double-dealing, trickery, fraud, lies and all the other things that make life worth living.” Would your guests be benefited playing this game?

Looking over the components and instructions of another game on the market today, one finds that its players “can make book, engage in extortion, be a loan shark, or hijack goods without any fear of punishment for these illegal acts.” The cards indulge the participants in mugging, fixing races, liquor hijacking and extortion. And there are games that are designed to pander to prurient interests.

Of course, some will contend that these are just harmless games, that they are all in fun. But there are those who take a very dim view of this kind of entertainment. They strongly object to these games because they stimulate unwholesome desires. What do you think?

In view of the great variety of games available today, many of which can relax and benefit guests, one can be selective. However, one should not feel that one has to purchase games in order to entertain friends. With a little ingenuity, you can make up games that are most entertaining and interesting to all involved. But as in the case of ready-made games, those you invent may have pitfalls too. Games that stimulate a spirit of competition may interest some but can cause discomfort to those who do not think as quickly or remember as well as others. No one enjoys playing a game in which he keeps losing or failing to get the right answer. Rather than being entertained he most likely will be embarrassed or irritated. Wise hosts avoid this. They want all their guests to enjoy themselves.

Furthermore, some people get so carried away in a competitive game that they lose sight of what it is—just a game. They take it too seriously. Illustrating this is the experience one couple had with a new couple that they had befriended. When they went to play bridge with them, they were shocked to see how seriously their newfound friends took the game. The wife reported that “they nearly came to blows with each other! All evening long they were making sarcastic remarks to each other.” And the second time they played together it was even worse. Needless to say, this couple did not enjoy these get-togethers.

Sad to say, some friendships have been severely strained over a game. A personal friend of the late Helena Rubinstein, the cosmetician, noted that she and Somerset Maugham, the author, “once fell to hating each other over a bridge game when he called her over-impulsive and she labeled him mean.” So balance and discernment are needed in connection with what one uses as a means of entertainment.

Upbuilding conversation is surely beneficial at social gatherings. Hearing the life experiences of others broadens one’s viewpoint. It enhances appreciation of other people and helps to stimulate empathy. However, with a large number of guests, conversation is usually not enough for an entire evening. Invariably, they will form groups and talk about different things while others may sit and politely wait for something to happen or for the time to leave. But if one has something organized to hold the attention of all in an engaging way, this pitfall of all too many gatherings can also be avoided.

Games Testing Bible Knowledge Upbuild

Christian witnesses of Jehovah know that the Holy Bible has a most wholesome and beneficial influence on the lives of people. Games built around it are fascinating as well as educational. But here again one has to consider one’s guests and their abilities. To play complicated Bible games with persons who are just starting to study God’s Word could make them feel out of place, ignorant and may even discourage them. If youngsters are in the gathering, their limitations should also be taken into consideration in the games that are organized.

One game that some Witnesses and their friends enjoy involves discussing outstanding Bible characters. After one person selects the name of a Bible figure, then each guest is given opportunity to tell one thing he knows about the person. Any interesting biographical detail can be mentioned: birthplace, relatives, friends, experiences, faithfulness or unfaithfulness. After a number of details have been highlighted by the group, the person who selected the name asks how this individual’s record in the Bible benefits us today. Each one present may now be given opportunity to relate one point showing how this Bible person’s life illuminates principles of conduct, has prophetic significance, and so forth. After this, a second person selects a Bible name and the same procedure is followed.

Groups that are traveling can also enjoy this game. It is not competitive. Everyone benefits by it, for it imparts knowledge and stimulates thinking ability. And it develops understanding by showing the interrelationship of things.

Naming Bible characters in alphabetical order is another engaging game. As one person calls out the letters, each one in order answers with a Bible name that begins with that letter: A, Aaron, B, Bathsheba, C, Cain, D, David, E, Elijah, and so forth. A different version is to call out one letter and have each person name a Bible character beginning with the same letter: A, Abel, Asa, Amasa, Absalom, Aaron, and so forth; B, Barak, Benjamin, Bartholomew, Ben-hadad, Baasha, and so forth.

Another thought-provoking game is having someone announce that he is thinking of a Bible character whose name begins with J. Then the others ask him probing questions for clues to identify whom he is thinking about. A variation of this is to have the individual being questioned identify the person the questioner has in mind. For example, if he is asked if the one he is thinking of had ten brothers who were jealous of him, he replies, “No, it is not Joseph.” If it is Joseph or if he fails to identify the questioner’s Bible character, then the questioner takes his place and calls out the first letter of a name he is thinking of. The one who lost his place need not tell who he had in mind. He may wish to use the name again, later.

Bible maps can be used in an interesting geographical game. The participants should each have a book open to the map that will be used. One person will describe a certain event. Who can name the place where it happened and find it on the map? Each one can take a turn in selecting an event, but, of course, he ought to know where it took place.

Other Beneficial and Enjoyable Games

Another game that is most enjoyable and beneficial to young and old teaches the spelling of Bible names. Each one needs a pencil and paper. The first person declares that the name he is thinking of has seven letters. Each one now draws seven blanks on his paper: — — — — — — —. Then the questions begin. Does your name have an E in it? (The name he chose is Jezebel. It has three E’s in it, but he does not say this when he answers this question.) “Yes,” he replies, “it is in the fourth blank.” Everyone writes that letter down in the proper blank. As the letters get filled in, someone may say that he knows who it is. If it is not his turn he is not allowed to give his answer. He must wait until his turn. The one who figures out the name may be given the privilege of selecting the next name. Or you may simply prefer to give each one present the opportunity to select a name, regardless of who may guess the answer.

This game can also be played with the names of geographical places mentioned in the Bible as well as other Bible words. As the above example shows, if a person has chosen a name or another word that has two or three of the same letters in it, he can make the game more challenging if he reveals those that appear in the middle of the name first or those places where it would be hard to guess the answer.

Bible reading is also very enjoyable and beneficial to guests. To make it interesting, assign each person to read the spoken dialogue or words of a certain character in a Bible account. The number of persons used depends on how many characters are in the account. Also someone is needed to read the narrative portions. Another way is to assign each one to read a number of verses or paragraphs, and then invite the group to comment on the value of the information. Care must be exercised not to embarrass those who are poor readers in the group.

Charades is another game that taxes the ingenuity of a group. Pantomiming certain actions that identify Bible characters is instructive and amusing. Others present may guess who the character is and what he is doing. Of course, some may be bashful and might feel out of place acting something out before a group. None should feel compelled.

Balance in these matters is vital. Too much of a good thing can soon wear out its welcome. An alert and discerning host quickly senses when a certain entertainment is starting to lose its interest-holding power. And he discreetly changes to something else, knowing that variety delights.

On occasion relatives and friends who are not Witnesses are present at the gatherings of Witnesses and they observe the proceedings. If all is upbuilding, it can make a fine impression, as an experience in Oregon shows. A few years ago, a Baptist couple attended a gathering where a number of Witnesses began playing a Bible game. The wife, observing it, could see that she did not know as much of the Bible as she thought she did. She said to her husband that she had studied the Bible for years and, compared with the Witnesses, she knew nothing. So impressed were they that after the gathering was over she and her husband asked the Witnesses to conduct a home Bible study with them.

Yes, upbuilding entertainment can be enjoyable and be a blessing to all. You will find that the get-togethers you arrange will be something your friends will thoroughly enjoy if you plan to do things that entertain them in a beneficial way.

Blindness

● According to the Times of India for April 18, 1971, one third of the world’s blind population are in India.

Those Mysterious Ductless Glands

IMAGINE a tightly knit business syndicate. The eight key members are in constant contact with one another by wire and by personal meetings. Each member has his own field of responsibility—one, with growth; one, with volume of sales; one, with troubleshooting; one, with competition; one, with research; one, with advertising, and so forth. Not only that, but each provides an intricate system of checks and balances within the organization, prodding this member to heighten activity and that one to a slowing down of production. And all work under the invisible control of a mysterious master whom they hear but never see.

The human body’s system of ductless or endocrine glands is something like that. These eight glands manufacture immensely powerful chemical compounds called hormones (from the Greek hormōn, meaning “arouse to activity”). These chemicals enter the bloodstream by absorption, and not through ducts such as are used by sweat or salivary glands. Hence their name ductless or endocrine, which means “secreting internally.”

These secretions or hormones then enter into the body’s chemistry, causing wonderful things to happen. Estrogen, from the ovaries, turns a girl into a woman at the proper time. Progesterone from the same glands telegraphs the order for the womb to lie still and docile, ready to serve as incubator for the fertilized egg if one comes along. Insulin from the pancreas controls the change of body sugars to energy. Pituitary secretions regulate growth of the skeleton. Too much, a giant; too little, a dwarf. Adrenaline influences skin pigmentation, blood pressure, and so on.

One of the amazing qualities of the glands is economy. The endocrine glands themselves are tiny—the four parathyroids in the throat being hardly larger than wheat seeds, and the pituitary in the brain being the size of a large pea. Not only the size of the gland, but the amount and potency of the secretion, is an example of chemical economy. The adrenals secrete about a teaspoonful in a whole lifetime. And the amount of thyroid secretion per day is too small to be weighed by ordinary instruments.

The Lesser Four

There are four that seem to be somewhat less important than the other four in our chemical syndicate. One of the lesser four is the pineal gland, which lies behind the pituitary in the brain. Its specific functions are still vague, though it apparently affects sexual development.

The parathyroids, attached to the thyroids in the throat, regulate the calcium and phosphorus content of the blood. They seldom act up, but if not enough hormone is produced by these glands, the concentration of calcium in the blood falls and the amount of phosphorus rises. Then a person may become nervous and suffer from muscle spasms and convulsions. The parathyroids are tiny beads of glands, usually two on each side of the windpipe. Though being the smallest of the endocrine glands, they are necessary for the life of the organism. If they are removed, death results from tetany or muscle spasms unless calcium is given.

The thymus is a double gland in the upper chest. Composed of spongy tissue, it directs the body’s defenses against germs. After puberty it remains about the same size, but becomes fatty in structure and apparently nonfunctioning.

“For a child without a thymus,” reported Newsweek magazine, “the situation is grim.” Although extremely rare, it is said that a child born without one will die of an overwhelming infection by the age of two. Thus the thymus evidently plays an essential role in the development of antibodies for the baby’s protection against disease.

The pancreas secretes insulin to control the use of sugar by the body. If it fails, sugar accumulates in the blood and spills over into the urine, and the patient suffers from diabetes.

Four of Greater Significance

The sex glands are important, but not essential to life. The female ovaries, besides their primary function of producing egg cells (perhaps 50,000 in a lifetime), manufacture two hormones, estrogen and progesterone. During a woman’s entire period of fertile years only a few milligrams of estrogen are secreted, yet this is enough to transform a girl into a woman, and to regulate the release of a mature egg in the reproductive cycle approximately once a month.

Experimental science has discovered that female hormones help to reduce artery hardening in both sexes. Undoubtedly the body uses sex hormones in other roles than those of reproduction.

The male testes, besides producing sperm, secrete the hormone testosterone, which plays a part in the body’s use of protein, in bone healing, and in blood clotting.

The pituitary, situated at the base of the brain, is the master chemist. It secretes at least eight active compounds. One of these is related to the entire reproductive arrangement in the female—the maturation of the egg in the Graafian follicle in the ovaries, the manufacture of estrogen, the menstrual cycle, the secretion of prolactin to promote milk for the newborn child, and so on.

Another pituitary hormone regulates growth. Another stimulates the thyroid gland. Another the adrenal. Another regulates the transfer of fat deposits to the liver. Another regulates skin color. Another regulates the volume of urine excreted daily, and the body’s salt balance. What a versatile and precise chemical master the pituitary is!

The thyroid is the body’s gas pedal! It speeds up or slows down the rate of living. If too little thyroid activity occurs, both physical and mental vigor decreases. There may be dry skin, loss of hair and super-sensitivity to cold. On the other hand, if too much, nervousness, weight loss in spite of increased appetite, inability to withstand heat, and heart pounding may result. In addition, if thyroid deficiency in the mother occurs during pregnancy, the unborn child may become a cretin, retarded in growth and sexual development.

The thyroid, the largest ductless gland in the adult, makes an iodine-containing hormone that affects the rate at which the body transforms food into energy. If not enough iodine is present in the diet to serve the thyroid’s function, enlarged thyroid or goiter often results. That is why many salts are iodized, to prevent such deficiency.

The adrenal glands are crowns resting on top of the kidneys, one above each kidney. There are two parts to the adrenals, the adrenal medulla (inner core) and the adrenal cortex (outer shell). The adrenal medulla secretes what has been called the “emergency hormone”—epinephrine (adrenaline)—into the blood, enabling the body to adjust to sudden stresses. Healthy adrenal glands enable the body to cope with emergencies. If a man has to escape from an attacker, his heartbeat and rate of oxygen consumption increase, the index of awareness goes up, blood-clotting time goes down. The adrenal medulla is the crisis captain!

The adrenal cortex, which is essential to life, apparently produces more than three dozen hormones, all of them steroids. These hormones serve in many ways, such as helping to regulate salt and sugar balances in the body and exerting an anti-allergic and anti-inflammatory action.

Among the marvelous things made that reflect the precise and intricate work of a master Designer are those amazing ductless glands, which, like the chemical syndicate they are, regulate so perfectly the functions of the human body. It is more believable that a watch, complicated as it is, made itself by chance, than that the infinite complications of the endocrine system should have just happened, and especially so since all the glands must function from the start, perfectly, if the body is to live normally or even live at all!

[Box on page 19]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

TABLE OF ENDOCRINE FUNCTIONS

GLAND LOCATION SOME FUNCTIONS RESULTS OF MALFUNCTION

Pineal Brain Aid to sexual maturity Abnormal sex

development

Pituitary Brain Regulates skeletal Oversecretion:

growth, skin color, giantism,

the salt balance abnormal sexual

and has a controlling development

influence over most Undersecretion:

of the body’s organ dwarfism,

systems sexual

under-development

Thyroid Throat Regulates body Oversecretion:

(near metabolism nervousness,

Adam’s weight loss,

apple) heart pounding

Undersecretion:

sluggishness,

hair loss,

supersensitivity

to cold

Para- Near Regulation and Oversecretion:

thyroids thyroid maintenance calcium level rises,

of normal blood possibly causing

calcium level kidney stones

Undersecretion:

calcium level

goes down,

causing nervousness

Thymus Upper Defense against Susceptibility

chest germs to infections

Pancreas Abdomen Produces insulin, Oversecretion

(behind which controls of insulin:

stomach) the change of low blood sugar

body sugars to Undersecretion of

energy; also insulin:

produces diabetes mellitus

digestive enzymes

Adrenals Top of Enables body to Difficulty in

kidneys adjust to coping with

sudden stresses; emergencies

provides and in adjusting

anti-inflammatory to the stresses

and anti-allergic of living

action

Gonads Male: Testes produce Sterility and

(testes, Scrotum sperm and numerous

ovaries) Female: male conditions

Pelvis characteristics; relating to

ovaries produce sexual development

eggs and female

characteristics

[Chart on page 17]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

PINEAL

PITUITARY

THYROID, PARATHYROIDS

THYMUS

ADRENALS

PANCREAS

OVARIES (FEMALE)

TESTES (MALE)

The “Same”—Always the Same?

BY “AWAKE!” CORRESPONDENT IN SWEDEN

IF YOU look at the Scandinavian peninsula on a map, you will notice that it roughly resembles a giant lion jumping high. The head would be the lower part of Norway. The “lion’s” hindquarters, including his tail, reach high above the Arctic Circle. This region north of the Arctic Circle, together with a tongue of land along the mountain districts on both sides of the Norwegian-Swedish border, reaching to some 300 miles south of the Arctic Circle, is the land of the Lapp people.

The Lapps call themselves samit. And here in Sweden the names Lapp and Same are about equally common.

To a visiting southerner, Lapland, with its immensely rough terrain and its extremely cold climate, must seem almost uninhabitable. But long before the Common Era, a people came here and bravely took up the struggle for survival against hunger and cold—and succeeded!

Today, about 35,000 Lapps live here and even want to remain here. A few thousand of them still live their traditional, nomadic life, moving with their huge herds of reindeer from winter pastures in the wooded areas to summer grazing in the scenic landscape in the mountains and by the fjords.

The “Same” Through History

A peculiar fact about the Same is that he has passed through history without greater changes in his way of life. Some of the features of the Same people mentioned as early as 98 C.E. by the Roman historian Tacitus are still found with them.

Tacitus described them as a people without possessions, dressed in skins, sleeping on the bare ground in huts made of twigs and living by hunting.

Later, in the sixth century, another writer added to the description by saying that they lived almost like animals with animals and drank no wine. A couple of centuries later another historian wrote that they were skilled in traveling over snowy wastes on “curved pieces of wood.” He also said they were closely connected with animals resembling deer, wore a skin garment like a tunic reaching the knees and lived in a strange land with snow both winter and summer. About 1200 C.E. a chronicler explained that the Same carried his house with him on his wanderings and that he was clever at sorcery.

Such reports have kept people interested in the Lapps down through the ages, and many of the details in those ancient descriptions fit well into the picture of the Same life and customs of today. Let us look closer into this picture.

The “Same” Dwelling

A modern-day Lapp may well have been born in the traditional Same dwelling, a kåta, which is a peculiar tepee-like hut. The Lapps have been using this as their movable home as long as history knows. The kåta was raised on any suitable piece of ground where the Same family wished to stop for a time with their reindeer herd. Usually the material for the kåta was taken along on sledges. The hut was skillfully set up in less than an hour. Its framework consisted of rods conically fitted together, giving a circular floor inside and a hole for the smoke and ventilation at the top. The framework was covered with peat or home-woven canvas.

Suppose you could step in through the low, narrow entrance and have a look. What would you see? Birch twigs are strewn on the ground and used as a double flooring covered with several reindeer skins as carpets to sit on in the daytime and sleep on at night. In the center is an open fireplace lined with stones. The interior is simple but gives a sense of coziness and warmth with the mixed smell of smoke, dried reindeer meat, coffee and birch twigs.

Before you sit down you should know that each member of the Same family has a reserved seat around the fire. The wife always sits at the very back of the kåta, her husband next to her and the children nearer the opening along one side. The other side of the kåta is for the grown-up children, servants and guests. You probably will be seated on that side.

The “Same” Origin

If you ask your stubby, weather-beaten host where his ancestors originally came from, he will probably shake his head and tell you that it is all shrouded in mystery. But it is believed by many that they originally came from the East, wandering over the vast steppes of Asia, across Russia, until they finally reached the Arctic wilds of northern Europe. Their language, Lappish, is related to that spoken in Finland. It is believed that they were Finland’s original inhabitants.

Confirming what the old chroniclers said, your host will tell you that his ancestors lived by hunting and fishing. The land offered numerous reindeer, bears, foxes, wolverines and wild birds. The lakes and rivers swarmed with trout and salmon. Formerly the reindeer was a wild animal, but later the Lapp learned that it liked to live in flocks and could be gathered into herds and tamed.

…

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Awake!, June 22, 1972