Awake!, October 8, 1983

Awake! — October 8, 1983

Source: jw.org

Contents

Page Two

Is the World Morally Bankrupt?

The Moral Twist in Today’s Entertainment

Moral Bankruptcy—Where Is It Leading?

Part 3—The First World War—Was It the Prelude to Man’s Final Era?

Modern Supergerms . . . And Others

I Was a Diamond Thief

Am I Ready for Marriage?

Crossword Puzzle

Can Anything Be Done About Wastefulness?

From Our Readers

Watching the World

Was There an Earth-Wide Flood?

Feed Your Mind, Feed Your Spirit—How?

Page Two

Moral corruption appears to be corroding society from the highest levels of government down to the ordinary person in the street. This collapse is often justified with the expression “If they do it, why shouldn’t we?” Just how pervasive is it? Are you personally affected? Is there a way out?

Is the World Morally Bankrupt? 3

The Moral Twist in Today’s Entertainment 6

Moral Bankruptcy—Where Is It Leading? 9

Is the World Morally Bankrupt?

“THE little skinny girl on the movie screen is about 6 years old. She wears her hair in a shiny bob. In her cotton dress, knee socks and laced-up oxfords, she looks . . . like a kid dressed up for her first day of school. But this child is the unwilling star of a kiddie porn film.”—The Toronto Star.

Appalling? Yes! That victimized “little skinny girl” could have been your next-door neighbor—or a close relative. An isolated incident? No! In the United States alone, an estimated 300,000 children a year become trapped in pornography. ‘Yes, but things aren’t that bad all over, are they? It doesn’t mean that the whole world is morally bankrupt,’ some say.

However, consider this illustration: Your neighbor, lacking sound economic judgment, suffers an economic reversal, becomes financially ruined and declares bankruptcy. Yet, on the surface, he puts on the appearance that it is “business as usual”—until suddenly creditors foreclose on his estate. It is similar with the world’s present system of things. On the surface it may appear morally sound, but a closer examination reveals irreparable cracks deep down to its very foundation.

Indicators of Bankrupt Morals

The world is morally destitute—bankrupt—ripe for a total collapse. Why do we say that? As you look at the indicators of moral failure listed below, think about whom and what they represent. Do they represent only the uneducated? or the poor? or the hardened criminal? or the irreligious? Or is moral impoverishment so permeating society, from its leaders straight to their followers, that the entire system is becoming corrupted?

● Fraud in research by scientists, doctors and journalists is discovered at a disturbing rate.

● More than 17,000 corrupt police officers have been dismissed in Mexico City since 1976.

● Two priests, more than 540 businessmen and dozens of tax officials have been charged with cheating Italy out of $2.2 billion (U.S.) in petroleum taxes.

● A recent poll disclosed that 200 chief executive officers for some of the world’s largest corporations consider the maintaining of ethical standards unimportant to the public image of business.

● Citizens cheat Italy out of 20 percent of its potential taxes; in Germany it amounts to an estimated $10 billion (U.S.). On the average, each Swedish adult cheats the government out of $720 (U.S.) a year in taxes. In the United States cheating (deliberate and inadvertent) on federal taxes totaled $29 billion a decade ago, now $100 billion. “If the situation continues to worsen, it could lead to the disruption of our economy and even to a breakdown in society,” states The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

● The director of the UN Division of Narcotic Drugs described the alarming increase in the world demand for illicit drugs as “an evil miasma of smuggling and crime, tax evasion, bribery, and corruption.”

● The World Health Organization estimates that pesticides poison some 500,000 people worldwide each year, often due to the unethical distribution of dangerous chemicals. Safety is sacrificed on the altar of company profits. Many foreign chemical companies “dump” banned pesticides on Third World countries, prompting Kenya’s deputy environment minister to cry: “We are victims of the industrial world.”

● Each year 55 million women get abortions, estimates International Planned Parenthood Federation. This figure represents a destruction of a potential population greater than the individual populations of Argentina, Australia, Canada, South Africa, France, Poland or 145 other nations.

● At one time venereal disease lurked only in the back alley. Now, licentious life-styles have caused its proliferation. Millions are infected each year, including children. New, bizarre sex diseases pop up, spread rapidly and baffle doctors.

● In their pastoral letters, West German and American Roman Catholic bishops support the “just war” theory.

● Large food surpluses are wasted while malnutrition spells death to millions. Many Third World nations neglect food production in favor of export cash crops, such as tobacco or coffee, thereby often filling the pockets of the elite.

● Out of 164 nations, 45 are engaged in some kind of armed conflict, involving over four million soldiers in combat. And what makes war different today when compared to the past? The shocking increase in civilian deaths. On the average, three civilians are killed for every combatant death.

● “Some 500,000 scientists all over the world are devoting their knowledge to the search for weaponry more sophisticated and more deadly,” states the UN secretary-general.

● The world spends $19,300 (U.S.) annually per soldier but only $380 per school-age child. At the same time, 25,000 people die every day because of lack of clean water, and 100,000 children go blind each year because of a lack of vitamin A in their diet.

● In order to enrich their coffers, the industrial nations export their arms to nations who can least afford them—the all-too-eager developing countries—who often use those weapons against their poor. “No other form of exploitation, imperialist or otherwise,” says former U.S. Ambassador John Kenneth Galbraith, “has been so damaging or dangerous as this.”

True, a person—politician, businessman, next-door neighbor or other—may start off with a high personal moral code. However, unless he is highly motivated to resist, the system around him can lock him into a pattern drained of any virtue and can make him its prisoner. An ancient proverb sums up the moral situation by saying: “That which is made crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot possibly be counted.” Like a stick grown crooked and brittle, the world’s morals are so twisted that in order to straighten them out they must be broken.—Ecclesiastes 1:15.

Another aspect of moral bankruptcy is reflected in entertainment. The culture of a society, especially its entertainment, can reveal much about its moral standards. How does today’s entertainment reflect present morals?

[Picture on page 3]

In the United States alone, an estimated 300,000 children a year become trapped in pornography

[Picture on page 4]

Large food surpluses are wasted while malnutrition brings death to millions

[Picture on page 5]

About a quarter of the world’s nations are now involved in armed conflict

The Moral Twist in Today’s Entertainment

“Good authors, too, who once knew better words

Now only use four-letter words

Writing prose . . .

Anything goes.

The world has gone mad today

And good’s bad today

And black’s white today

And day’s night today . . .

Anything goes.”—Words by American lyricist Cole Porter, 1934.

“Woe to those who are saying that good is bad

And bad is good,

Those who are putting darkness for light

And light for darkness.”—Words by Israelite prophet Isaiah, 732 B.C.E.—Isaiah 5:20.

MORE than 26 centuries separate the above quotes. Each was written for a different purpose, one to entertain audiences on Broadway, the other to explore the lawlessness of the inhabitants of ancient Judah. Yet, both are pertinent to our decade. Today, as concepts of right and wrong constantly change, seemingly “anything goes.”

Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in the twist that entertainment has taken. Entertainment is a part of culture, and culture is the characteristic way a society has learned to act, think and feel. It is a people’s whole way of life. Therefore, a society’s moral views can be seen through its culture.

Likely no other art has multiplied as much in this century or is as popular and influential as motion pictures and television. Some say that films mirror life. Yet at the same time, because movie stars are modern folk heroes, films can amplify, give authority to and mark as approved new moral habits. The motion-picture industry realizes this enormous manipulative power. Its “Code of Production” states: “Entertainment can be of a character either HELPFUL or HARMFUL to the human race.” What does modern entertainment tell you about the world’s morals and where the human race is headed?

In 1939 the Academy Award winning movie Gone With the Wind used a four-letter word that shocked many. Today it would not even cause a ripple. Entertainment, in a few short decades, jumped from an innocent family affair to “adults only.” Some justify this drastic twist as innocent escapism. But is it? The fact is that three things have drained most of modern entertainment of any moral value it might have had—illegal drugs, excessive violence and graphic sex.

Drugs, Blood and Gore

For decades soap operas have been daily fare on radio and TV. Now we have “dope operas.” On the stage, movie screen and television the prolific spread of illegal drugs into the mainstream of society is depicted as normal, as part of everyday life. No longer are users and peddlers of illicit drugs automatically identified as losers, degenerates and villains. Rather, they often have become the heroes, the winners, the stars, to be imitated by young and old. And the shows’ producers shift the blame for this change to the public and cry: ‘We give them what they want!’

The entertainment business is also wallowing in “blood-and-gore operas.” Never before in movie history has violence been as explicit or as numbing. Literal bloodbaths flash before the eyes of movie viewers. Electric saws dismember body parts, drills bore holes into the heads of victims as blood spurts forth, the sound of cannibalistic munching on body parts is heard. Often this ugly carnage is mixed with some type of erotic situation. These scenes and even more revolting ones have become part and parcel of what many people crave in entertainment.

Today people do not have to sneak into movie houses to see this type of horror film. If they have a home video machine, they can rent or buy their own. One video film was advertised as “92 minutes of rape and massacre”! The market for such debasing violent films is rapidly expanding. For example, one British video trade journal, after reviewing one of the new video horrors or “nasties” in which victims are hacked to death, predicted: “A must for every dealer. This one won’t stay on the shelves for very long.”

What conclusion about life can regular viewers of these “blood-and-gore operas” have other than this—that normal life is filled with frequent and routine violence. Is it any wonder that real world violence has become more acceptable to more and more people? In short, this type of entertainment is violent pornography.

Video Rock Violence

Now, in the United States especially, we have “video rock operas.” In a growing number of cities it is possible for cable-television subscribers not only to hear hard rock music with its menacing beat but to see accompanying violence too. Video rock can be purchased on cassette or viewed on a large screen in a rock club.

One viewer, stunned by the video rock-music program he saw, describes it in The Wall Street Journal as “the vilest and most revolting performance of sadism I have ever seen.” The newspaper’s account continues: “Interspersed between rock numbers were short vignettes, such as one showing a woman, screaming hysterically, being forced to eat a dead rat.” Few viewers complain.

Since music can stir emotions, this new form of rock music has the potential of reinforcing distorted views of life. Why? Because two human senses are directly involved—hearing and sight. When listening to music, the hearer supplies his own image of the music’s meaning. By combining music with video, the individual has forfeited his imagination to the moral values of someone else—the creator of the video rock. Newsweek magazine comments: “One of the signal virtues of music is its power to evoke deep, wordless sensations—effects that vary from one hearing to the next. Video decides what your fantasy will be and fixes it on the screen every time the song is played.”

Pornography

Another form of base titillation is the “sex operas.” Pornography is not new. Its public display is. The walls hiding pornography from the eyes of the people in general began crumbling in the 1960’s, when Denmark became the first country to legalize all kinds of pornography. Since then, like pus oozing from an infected ulcer, pornography has spread its ugly stain the world over.

In some countries pornography is still a hidden, although lucrative, business. In others, it is blatantly open to all, even the young. Explicit and depraved sex scenes are read in novels or seen in magazines, television or movies at an explosive rate of increase. People often swarm to X-rated movie houses like flies to dung heaps.

For example, Spain’s newsstands are rife with erotic publications. And some of its newspapers carry pornographic advertisements such as this: “Sex, depravation and aberrations in a film that seems to be made by the Devil.” In Britain the Daily Telegraph reports: “The fact is that sex shops are about the only growth industry in modern Britain.” And in Japan “the pornographic businesses are steadily on the rise,” reports the Mainichi Daily News. “They offer more and more lurid services.” Last year, in the United States alone, pornography grossed an estimated seven billion dollars!

Why does pornography flourish? Because of the age-old law of supply and demand. As reported in The Manchester Guardian Weekly, a French former pornographic film star pointed to one answer: “Pornography, however mediocre, has a future because the demand is there.” And now clientele who would feel embarrassed about being seen going into a pornographic movie house become avid customers via video cassettes in the privacy of their own home. Thus, it seems, demand justifies the supply.

Sexual decadence even entraps the young—from infants to teenagers. “Sex acts on infants as young as eight months are being filmed and photographed by underground dealers catering to a growing kiddie-porn subculture,” reports the New York Daily News. The same source adds that in the United States “an estimated 50,000 children a year disappear and are never accounted for.” Many are forced into sexual exploitation and pornography. Porn films are sent to Scandinavian countries for printing and worldwide distribution to satisfy the lurid taste of an increasing number of perverts.

Therefore, entertainment, whether it depicts explicit sex between adults or youths, or it depicts violence, makes the “bad,” the degraded, appear to be the “good,” the acceptable.

Can this system of things survive with such corrupting influences corroding its foundations? “Can a man rake together fire into his bosom and yet his very garments not be burned?” (Proverbs 6:27) Just where are today’s morals leading the world?

Moral Bankruptcy—Where Is It Leading?

IT WAS the night of July 25, 1956. The sleek, white motor ship Stockholm left New York on its 103rd eastbound crossing of the North Atlantic. There was fog around the Nantucket Shoals, but that was normal.

From the opposite direction came Italy’s finest liner, the Andrea Doria, cutting a path through the fog. Since both ships were equipped with radar, no one was unduly worried. In fact, most of the passengers were in bed. The duty officers were on watch. The Andrea Doria was traveling at about 22 knots. Suddenly the Stockholm loomed into view. The Italian captain barked out the order, “All left!” But with the Andrea Doria’s momentum and weight it was too late.

At 11:09 p.m. the Stockholm struck the Italian liner amidships. Only a few officers and seamen had been aware of what was about to happen, and their evasive action was in vain. They were powerless to prevent the collision. Eleven hours later the “unsinkable” Andrea Doria plunged to the bottom.

Likewise today, world morals are on a disaster course. A few people with principles realize it. So they try to change the direction of things. But it is too little, too late. The world corruption stymies world leaders who find that this system has a momentum and direction beyond their control. Others see no difference in the worldwide moral climate; some even revel in it.

In such a situation, what hope for the future can honest-hearted people have? Two ancient models provide an answer.

Pattern of Things to Come

The two examples of a society depleted of moral character, and what happened to them, are: the pre-Flood world of Noah’s day and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Jesus Christ’s words at Luke 17:26-30 show that these examples have a modern-day counterpart. As God’s chief executional officer, Jesus will hold a worldwide accounting. We read:

“Moreover, just as it occurred in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of man [Jesus Christ]: they were eating, they were drinking, men were marrying, women were being given in marriage, until that day when Noah entered into the ark, and the flood arrived and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it occurred in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building. But on the day that Lot came out of Sodom it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed them all. The same way it will be on that day when the Son of man is to be revealed.”

In both cases, the normal activities of eating, drinking, marrying, building, and so forth, took on a sinister look because God’s warning was ignored. People failed to notice the significance of what happened to their moral environment. For them it was “business as usual.” Let us take a closer look at these two patterns.

“The Days of Noah”

The 24th century B.C.E. found badness overwhelming the earth. Moral standards were out of control. The historical record of Genesis 6:5 relates: “Consequently Jehovah saw that the badness of man was abundant in the earth and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only bad all the time.” In what way was it bad, and why?

Badness manifested itself in two bold ways. One, by its violence. Two, by its perverted sex. Notice how this is alluded to in Genesis 6:4: “The Nephilim proved to be in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of the true God continued to have relations with the daughters of men and they bore sons to them, they were the mighty ones who were of old, the men of fame.”

The word “Nephilim” means “fellers,” or “fallers.” The Nephilim were bullies. They caused others to fall down violently. No doubt many followed their violent example or joined with them in plundering weak victims. The Nephilim were hybrid offspring from sex acts between materialized rebellious angels, who were at one time “sons of the true God,” and earthly women. Such sex between angels and humans was unnatural, perverted. (For additional information, please read 1 Peter 3:19, 20; Jude 6, 7.)

To what did this moral bankruptcy lead? “So Jehovah said: ‘I am going to wipe men whom I have created off the surface of the ground, from man to domestic animal, to moving animal and to flying creature of the heavens, because I do regret that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the eyes of Jehovah.” (Genesis 6:7, 8) Jehovah foreclosed on that morally degenerate system by means of the greatest cataclysm in all human history up to that time. Noah and his immediate family were the only humans to escape that deluge.

Why did Noah and his family find favor in the eyes of God? “Noah was a righteous man. He proved himself faultless among his contemporaries,” says Genesis 6:9. How did he do it? “Noah walked with the true God,” states the conclusion of that verse. Noah was courageous and distinguished himself from his immoral contemporaries by allowing Jehovah’s moral principles to set the boundaries for the way he and his family would walk through life. Noah flatly refused to let the world squeeze him into its mold of corrupted conduct.

“The Days of Lot”

The other example occurred over 400 years later. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which some believe are submerged beneath the southern part of the Dead Sea, persisted in a course of life defiant of God’s moral standards. “The cry of complaint about Sodom and Gomorrah, yes, it is loud, and their sin, yes, it is very heavy,” states Genesis 18:20.

What made the inhabitants so reprehensible in the eyes of God? They were morally bankrupt. Degraded sex practices dominated their way of life. “From boy to old man . . . they kept calling out to Lot and saying to him: ‘Where are the men who came in to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have intercourse with them [“rape them,” The Living Bible].’” (Genesis 19:4, 5) The “we” included the youths as well as the adults!

When Jehovah foreclosed on that morally polluted system, only three souls were spared the fiery destruction—Lot and his two daughters. Why them? Because Lot was a “righteous man” “who was greatly distressed by the indulgence of the law-defying people in loose conduct” and refused to copy their debased way of life.—2 Peter 2:7, 8.

In Our Day

The moral account of today’s world is completely drained and ready for total foreclosure. In no way can it raise its moral standards. ‘The ruler of this immoral world,’ Satan the Devil, has most of mankind locked into his pattern of misconduct. (John 12:31) They are like passengers on a ship that is on a collision course. Their leaders, like a ship’s captain, are trying to avoid a disaster but cannot. The momentum of the world under Satan’s control makes a catastrophe inevitable.

But lovers of righteousness, like Noah and Lot, can cut out for themselves a different pattern of life—a godly one—by following the course of moral conduct set forth in the Bible. When Jehovah and his Son Jesus Christ soon foreclose on this world’s immoral system, the account of the righteous will show a credit balance. God will then give them title to life everlasting in a righteous world. Will you qualify to be among the righteous?—Psalm 37:27-29; 2 Peter 2:9.

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Noah’s Day

Lot’s Day

Our Day

Part 3—The First World War—Was It the Prelude to Man’s Final Era?

In our previous issue, Part II discussed how the war escalated into a world conflict. After a long war of attrition, the Allied armies forced the Central Powers into surrender. Had a new era of peace dawned?

“AT ABOUT eleven o’clock A.M., a little sooner or later, we did not know, it did not matter,” recalled World War I veteran Daniel Morgan, “the guns stopped firing. Everything seemed as if it had stopped, even the earth on its axis. What a sorrowful, dead silence! A maddening silence. It did not seem right. The silence was worse than the noise of battle.”

Throughout Europe, mighty war machines ground to a halt on November 11, 1918. For many a soldier, however, there was little joy in the newfound peace. Long months and years would pass before the awful images of death, mutilated bodies and strangled cries would stop tormenting them.

But in places like London and Paris the tolling of the 11th hour brought about an explosion of gaiety. Strangers embraced. Couples danced in the streets. Years of deprivation and hardship now seemed to vanish in the euphoria of peace.

Even the defeated Germans found a cause for rejoicing: the abdication of the Kaiser. ‘At last we are free of our warmongering leaders!’ they thought. Few, however, imagined how bitter the fruits of defeat would prove to be.

War’s Aftermath

The changes wrought by the war were sweeping. Germany was stripped not only of its foreign colonies but even of some of its European territories. Its Kaiser fled into exile. Austria-Hungary—once a sprawling giant—was sliced into segments. Its Hapsburg monarchy ceased to exist. Its ally, the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), was rendered impotent. Revolution in Russia gave birth to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics—a force with which the world would later have to reckon.

Throughout Europe, endless rows of white crosses marking the graves of the 9 million soldiers who were slaughtered and the over 12 million civilians who died would mar the lovely landscape. And as if war’s devastation were not enough, a deadly plague—the Spanish flu—soon rolled through Europe, claiming millions more victims.

Bible students would marvel at Revelation’s prophecy that war would be followed by “deadly plague.” (Revelation 6:4, 8) Others, though, would instead marvel at the prospect of a war-free world. A Political and Cultural History of Modern Europe, however, says regarding the armistice: “Formal peace was made, but it ushered in no millennium . . . As we now look back on the first two decades of the twentieth century, we perceive that the World War—its antecedents, its course, its immediate consequences—marked the end of one historic era and the beginning of another. It ushered in a different Europe, and a different world, politically, economically and intellectually.”

But what would that “different world” be like?

Attempts at Peace

On January 8, 1918, months before the war’s end, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson published his famous “Fourteen Points,” outlining his proposals for world peace. Wilson hoped to end the age of imperialism and guarantee the independence and inviolability of all nations by a League of Nations. His document proved to be the cornerstone of the Versailles Peace Conference that convened on January 18, 1919. The victorious nations, however, had a few ideas of their own about peace.

They were set on exacting as much punishment for Germany as possible. The conquerors therefore burdened Germany with towering reparation payments and severe restrictions—an abortive attempt to destroy Germany’s influence on the world scene once and for all. The people of Germany were outraged by these peace terms. They would bide their time for a chance to make Europe choke on these demands.

Wilson’s idea of a League of Nations, however, was eventually accepted. Neither the United States nor Germany came to be among its original 42 members, though. According to historian Gerhard Schulz, the League of Nations “took on an appearance different from what was planned, and left behind a seemingly insurmountable gulf between the nations that had been engaged with one another in world war. From it emerged no immediate peace, but a new enmity that carried on the War’s antagonisms.”

Proof of the inefficacy of this peace organ came all too soon. In October 1935 Italy attacked Ethiopia and completed the conquest by May 1936. The League was incapable of preventing the aggression. Nor could it call a halt to the Spanish civil war that followed. In 1939 World War II broke out. Out of the ashes of this war came a revival of the “peace” organization. Its name was a mockery of the true state of world affairs: the United Nations. It, too, has proved woefully inadequate.

Why Peace Eludes Man

Man has learned precious little from the first global conflict. Today’s rivals for world domination have the same driving ambitions that set the world aflame in 1914. Like their predecessors, today’s leaders pour their nations’ resources into military hardware, meticulously plot nuclear war strategies and even contemplate the gruesome advantages of striking first. They are not restrained by the fact that though a month of negotiations failed to stop the outbreak of World War I, the fateful decisions of nuclear war might have to be made within minutes!

Cries for disarmament, or even for a nuclear freeze, have thus far not borne fruit. The inheritors of the nuclear age can merely grasp the slim hope that world leaders will suddenly conduct themselves responsibly—a hope that is far from encouraged by the record of history. Professor Gerhard Schulz, for example, says: “Genuine peace presupposes that there be complete agreement about war’s causes; it demands that these be removed completely; old political and economical structures must be replaced by new ones unfettered by the manifest causes of war. We know, however, that this supports the principle of utopia, for it expresses a truth that at present is nowhere reality.”

The unlikeliness of man-made peace is further underscored by what the Bible says at James 4:1, 2: “From what source are there wars and from what source are there fights among you? Are they not from this source, namely, from your cravings for sensual pleasure that carry on a conflict in your members? You desire, and yet you do not have. You go on murdering and coveting, and yet you are not able to obtain. You go on fighting and waging war.” As long as man is driven by these selfish cravings, peace will remain elusive.

Man’s Final Era?

Is man therefore headed for thermonuclear disaster? Even starry-eyed optimists find themselves wondering about this. Nevertheless, students of the Bible can confidently say that man has not reached his final era. These students were not surprised by the events that escalated into World War I. They knew of Bible prophecies that specifically predicted a time of world conflict.—See Matthew 24:6-8; Revelation 6:1-4.

They further knew that it was never God’s intention that man rule himself. No God of love could sanction the terrible consequences man-rule has brought. The prophet Jeremiah thus declared: “I well know, O Jehovah, that to earthling man his way does not belong. It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step.”—Jeremiah 10:23.

Nevertheless, God has allowed man a period of self-rule to demonstrate the need for a heavenly government. Those who have open-mindedly studied man’s past failings and the current state of world affairs have little doubt as to just how desperately God’s rule is needed. Soon God’s government will “crush and put an end” to all earthly governments and their supporters. (Daniel 2:44) A “great crowd” of survivors will enjoy life under this government in a Paradise earth free from war’s strife. (Revelation 7:14-17; Isaiah 2:4) Jehovah’s Witnesses are preparing now for life under this government.

But what will you do? By studying the Bible you can come to understand God’s promises more clearly and learn how to take a stand for God’s rulership. Or, hoping man will somehow figure out an escape from his present dilemma, you can stake your life—and your future—on human rule and thus ignore the lessons of history.

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Neither the League of Nations nor the United Nations has prevented wars and endless rows of graves

LEAGUE OF NATIONS

UNITED NATIONS

Modern Supergerms . . . And Others

In the wealthier lands it is often felt that, while diseases such as cancer and multiple sclerosis still pose a challenge, infectious diseases are generally well under control. This, however, is not the case. A recent article in U.S.News & World Report said: “Infectious diseases have not been licked. They are still the world’s leading cause of death and, here at home, the leading cause of illness.”

Diseases that have recently sent shock waves through the medical community include toxic-shock syndrome, Legionnaires’ disease, herpes and the sinister AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome). Among the infectious diseases that refuse to go away are gonorrhea, syphilis, hepatitis, aseptic meningitis and encephalitis. Leprosy, malaria and tuberculosis are also on the rise.

Why the increase of such diseases? Some disease organisms are now immune to medicine’s “big guns,” the antibiotics. They have become “supergerms.” Freewheeling life-styles have caused sexually transmitted disease to spread like wildfire. And an influx of immigrants from poor lands explains the reappearance of diseases out of the past, such as leprosy, tuberculosis and malaria.

The difficulty of preventing germ transmission in hospitals, nursing homes and day-care centers is blamed for the spread of many “supergerms.” “Lurking in catheters, intravenous fluids and even pots of flowers sent to cheer up patients, the bacteria and fungi kill 15,000 to 20,000 people annually [in the United States]. One study showed that these infections were involved in 39 percent of hospital deaths,” the report says.

I Was a Diamond Thief

HATTON GARDEN, London’s busy diamond district, is a very risky place for criminal activity. Cameras are situated high above the street, allowing the police to keep the whole area under constant surveillance. Yet, in spite of that, an accomplice and I, hiding guns and ammonia sprays, went there in June 1973 for just such a purpose. He was dressed as a businessman, and I had on the white coat of a diamond cutter’s apprentice.

We planned the robbery very carefully, paying close attention to timing and a quick getaway. Then, on the appointed day, we followed our victim from the vaults where he had collected his diamonds. He was carrying at least a million pounds’ ($1,774,000, U.S.) worth in two briefcases. We struck him down, wrenched the cases away from him and made off in a waiting car. It was all over in seconds.

After a few blocks we changed cars and drove out of London to hide the loot until the commotion had subsided. Then we flew to Spain for a week or so, using false passports. On our return we retrieved the diamonds and put them in a bank deposit box in the name of an acquaintance who had no police record. But the fact that we had been seen in this man’s company reached the ears of the gangster who had put us onto the job in the first place. Obviously, it had never been his intention that we should keep the diamonds. So under intimidation the boxholder handed them over to him. My mate and I never saw those gems again.

This diamond job was the culmination of seven years of criminal experience and training. I was only 16 years old when I first got into serious trouble for stabbing a man in a fight. Since I was a first offender, the magistrates let me off with a fine and a stern warning, but that did not deter me. After that I was always in and out of trouble with the police.

Eighteen months after the stabbing, I was involved in a gang fight in which a man was killed. We were charged with murder but got off because it could not be established just who had actually killed him. However, I was sent to Borstal (a prison for young offenders). Before the diamond job, I had served three terms of imprisonment and was fined or put on probation many times. It was all a game in which, as professional criminals say, “You win some and you lose some.”

Diamonds or “Pearls”—Which Would It Be?

Back in England after the diamond robbery I was, of course, high on the police “Wanted” list. So I found lodgings on a quiet street on the outskirts of London, well away from my home and former haunts. The lady of the house, I later found out, was having a weekly Bible study with Jehovah’s Witnesses, a people I had never heard of. She told me about them, but I could not be bothered. I still had my criminal friends, was dealing in drugs, gambling and drinking heavily. But hardly a day went by without her saying something about the Bible.

One day she invited me to meet the two Witnesses who came to conduct the study. At first I was suspicious of them and had planned my escape route over the back fence and across the railway tracks—just in case! Later I secretly sat outside the room and listened to what was said. Gradually my interest was aroused and I agreed to my landlady’s conducting a similar study with me. Her “pearls” of Bible wisdom began to take effect. My thirst for the knowledge of God and his Kingdom grew rapidly. Soon I was having a study three times a day.

My kind landlady, though not yet a baptized Witness, was attending meetings at the local Kingdom Hall (meeting place of Jehovah’s Witnesses). Frequently she invited me to come, and at last I went to see what it was like. To say the least, I was greatly surprised. It was not a bit dull or boring, as I had expected. The warmth and love, so evident, were obviously genuine. And the appreciation all of them seemed to have for spiritual things was outstanding. So I attended regularly. I was now convinced that I had found the truth. I wanted to be one of these people; to share their confidence, joy and hope; to develop a relationship with Jehovah as they had.

Confess to the Police?

Now it was beginning to dawn on me that I would have to get my life in order. My conscience told me that I should give myself up to the police and take the consequences, however severe. The thought was frightening, for I knew it could mean prison for up to 15 years. On top of that I would have to endure the scorn and ridicule of those of my former friends who were already serving sentences for other crimes. But there was no other way. As a first step, costly though it was, I got rid of the drugs and waived the debts owed me from my previous illicit activities.

Before going to the police I wanted very much to see my mother and tell her all about my decision and the reason for it. I was very fond of her. She had tried hard to steer us children away from crime, but we all ignored her advice and, while still in our teens, had prison records. It was heartbreaking for her to have one son or another in prison virtually all the time. But she stuck by us through all of it.

My brother drove me home to see her. It was a risky trip, for the police kept an eye on our home in case I should make a visit. My intention was to give myself up when I had settled my affairs but not let them catch me first. So I had to be careful. I squeezed myself into the floor space of the little car and reached home safely. My mother was delighted that my criminal days were over and that I had found something solid and worthy on which to build the rest of my life. I was still only 24. I did what I could during the brief visit to tell her about God’s Kingdom, not realizing at the time that it would be my only opportunity. While I was in prison, she died.

Police Reaction to My Confession

In January 1974, accompanied by a solicitor and my brother, I went to the police. When I told the desk sergeant that I was Alfred Scully, he just stared at me as though he could not believe his ears. They had been searching for me for six months!

During the next few days I was questioned for hours, for they still had not recovered the diamonds. They were very suspicious of my motive for giving myself up. Their philosophy, no doubt born of long experience, is: once a villain, always a villain. When I tried to tell them of my changed outlook on life, they just laughed at me. I was remanded in custody to Brixton prison until the trial six months later.

My knowledge of the Bible was as yet quite elementary as I had been reading it for only two months. Now, with plenty of time on my hands, I set about digging deeper into it with the help of all the Witness literature I could get. My friends from the Kingdom Hall kept me well supplied with reading matter, and as the weeks went by I grew spiritually stronger.

On June 3, 1974, the case came to trial. One of the elders from the Kingdom Hall spoke up for me and so did my landlady’s father who is a voluntary social worker with special concern for ex-offenders. The judge considered their commendation, the fact that I had surrendered myself and my motive for doing so. He was very lenient with me. Instead of a long sentence, he made it five years. I was greatly relieved. With remission for good behaviour and the possibility of probation, I could be free in three years. I would use that time to continue my Bible study and spread the good news to any hearing ears I could reach in the prison.

Sharing “Pearls” in Prison

My first prison was Wormwood Scrubs in western London. The overcrowded and uncomfortable conditions were somewhat compensated for by the fact that as I was in London, my Witness friends could easily come to see me. And they did, I am thankful to say. At the Scrubs we were confined to the cells for 23 hours a day. Here I found out how sustaining silent prayer can be.

During the hour of exercise each day, I tried sharing my Bible “pearls” with other prisoners, searching for any who wanted to know more. My former criminal friends, observing this, would jeer at me. About six months later I was transferred to a high-security prison at Maidstone, Kent, and was eventually assigned to take care of the library. Not only was that a pleasant job but it brought me into contact with most of the prisoners and so afforded me opportunities to speak about my beliefs. And I had some success, for after their release at least two of the prisoners were eventually baptized.

Easy to Go Straight?

Throughout my imprisonment the Witnesses visited me regularly and they continued to help me after my release. Three months later, at a convention in London, I was baptized in symbol of the dedication to Jehovah that I had made long before in prison. Now, six years later, I am a happily married man with two children and a good job.

The change in my outlook on life was not easy to make. Apart from fighting, the hardest physical work I had ever done was washing my car. Now I had to settle down to working eight hours a day and helping with the chores at home. I had never bothered about routine in my life. Now an orderly way of life was important. I had always proudly scorned discipline of any kind. Now it was necessary to accept the fact that my way might not always be right. I had always had plenty of money. Now I needed to be careful with my wages to provide for a family.

I do not pretend that it has been easy. But certainly it has been worthwhile. The love of my wife, responsibility for my children, the kindness of my employer, the support of my Christian brothers—all of these have helped to make the transition possible. And above all, so did Jehovah, through his Word, the Bible, and by answering my prayers.

All of this has made me so very grateful. I have escaped from a senseless life of crime and violence and have learned how to be really happy. When I look back, the past seems so empty and fruitless. How true the words of the Bible: “Wisdom and knowledge are riches that save, the fear of Yahweh is his treasure”! Yes, a treasure, pearls of wisdom far more valuable than any stolen diamonds! (Isaiah 33:6, The Jerusalem Bible.)—As told by Alfred Scully.

[Picture on page 16]

Alfred Scully’s 1975 prison photograph

[Picture on page 18]

Alfred Scully with his wife and children today

Am I Ready for Marriage?

Young People Ask . . .

Am I Ready for Marriage?

● “Advice to persons about to marry—DON’T.”—Henry Mayhew: Mr. Punch’s Almanac

● “A happy marriage has in it all the pleasures of friendship, all the enjoyments of sense and reason, and, indeed, all the sweets of life.”—Joseph Addison, English essayist

QUITE a contrast of opinions! Yet statistics indicate that those who do marry have but a 50-50 chance of finding “all the sweets of life.” For example, estimates are that over one half of marriages in the United States eventually end in either divorce, separation (legal or otherwise) or are “loveless marriages”—couples who doggedly stick it out but are miserable.

Nevertheless, it is not really marriage that fails but people. How, though, do you know whether or not you are ready for marriage?

Some Self-Examination

To exchange marriage vows is a serious step, similar to the making of a sacred vow to God. However, the Bible tells of some who would rashly, perhaps on a sudden impulse, make a solemn promise, or vow, to God to perform some act and “after vows he is disposed to make examination.” (Proverbs 20:25) Because of not making an “examination” before making the vow, he may find that more was involved than he hastily had considered. But now he is stuck!

Some have similarly rushed into marriage without first making an “examination.” But what “examination” should one make? First, you should look—as best you can—into your own heart and mind. What are your goals in life? How will these be affected by marriage? Now is the time to start thinking seriously about them because the responsibilities of marriage may practically preclude certain goals or careers.

Examine also why you may want to get married. Are you seeking relief from a bad situation either at home or in school? One young girl confided in her fiancé: “I’ll be so glad when we get married. Then I won’t ever have to make any more decisions!” But rather than lessening your responsibility, marriage greatly increases it.

Living Up to the Roles

Many youths also fail to ‘examine’ the roles of husband and wife. For instance, Sally, a typical teenage bride, says of her husband: “Now that we are married, the only time he acts interested in me is when he wants sex. He thinks his boyfriends are just as important to be with as I am. . . . I thought I was going to be his one and only, but was I fooled”! Did her husband realize that being a husband meant he would have to stop playing the role of a single person?

Or consider the 19-year-old bride who wrote: “I’d rather watch TV and sleep than clean house and fix meals. I’m ashamed when my husband’s parents visit because they keep a nice house and mine is always a mess. I’m a lousy cook, too.” Did she appreciate that being a wife meant being a homemaker?

The Bible, however, gives clear guidelines for husbands and wives. The countless happy families who live by these principles are ample testimony to their value. The accompanying box contains a few Bible principles regarding marriage. As you consider these, think: ‘Am I ready to live up to this?’

Are You Mature?

“Marriage really takes commitment,” stated Vicky, who wed when she and her husband were teenagers. “This isn’t a game. The fun of the wedding is over. It soon becomes day-to-day living and that isn’t easy.” Her husband, Mark, added: “I remember that for my first job I had to get up at 6 a.m. I kept thinking: ‘This is hard work. Will I ever get some relief?’ And then when I got home I felt that Vicky didn’t understand what I was going through.”

To a youth such problems can seem like impassable mountains. However, mature people have a different perspective. Likely, they have already ‘climbed some mountains’ and are emotionally prepared to deal with such problems. So have you truly put away “the traits of a babe” and “become full-grown in powers of understanding”? (1 Corinthians 13:11; 14:20) “The emotionally mature person is other-centered rather than self-centered; he is able to accept responsibility for the well-being of others as well as of himself,” explains Lloyd Saxton in The Individual, Marriage, and the Family. “The emotionally immature person tends to rely on others for his behavior (and then to blame others for his failures) . . . never maturing ethically, nor putting the rights or needs of others before their own immediate sensual gratification.”

Nowhere is maturity more evident than in how you get along with others—primarily those with whom you live. For example, learning how to handle a disagreement without damaging the other person or your relationship with that one is a valuable lesson to learn. Such takes maturity, having insight and knowing “how you ought to give an answer to each one.”—Colossians 4:6.

You Need Spirituality

“Charm may be false, and prettiness may be vain; but the woman that fears Jehovah is the one that procures praise for herself.” (Proverbs 31:30) Similarly with the man that fears Jehovah.

“It was having learned what Jehovah wants me to do and having come to love him and to view him as my friend that made the difference in my second marriage,” stated Maureen, whose teenage marriage was shattered by divorce.a With the help of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Maureen studied the Bible and began to deepen her relationship with God.

In time she managed to cultivate the qualities that would make a good wife. At the age of 26 she remarried. This time she looked for someone who had the same goals and the same love for God and his Word. After two happy years she said: “Now I want to do everything I can to make the marriage work. During my first marriage I thought if things don’t work out we can always get a divorce. Now I don’t have that attitude at all. By remembering what the Bible tells me to do and by praying to God for his strength, we find that it really works!”

If you are contemplating marriage, why not ask a mature, happily married couple for their comments regarding your readiness for it? Marriage can be a source of the richest happiness or of the most bitter pain. If you choose to wed, what will it bring—pleasure or pain? Much depends on what kind of person you are or are willing to be.

[Footnotes]

Her experience is in the article “Teenage Marriage—Pleasure or Pain?” in the September 22, 1983, issue of Awake!

[Box/Picture on page 21]

Bible Advice to Husbands

● Provide for your own household.—1 Timothy 5:8.

Are you willing to hold down a job, even if this may involve getting up early and long hours of hard work day after day?

● Continue loving your wife even as Christ sacrificed himself for others.—Ephesians 5:25.

Are you willing, when there is no violation of God’s law, to put the interest and desires of your wife before your own?

● “Even the Christ did not please himself.”—Romans 15:3.

Are you willing to sacrifice some freedom and forgo things that you prize?

● Assign her honor as a weaker vessel.—1 Peter 3:7.

Will you ‘hold her precious,’ or honor her, even when you are under pressure or if she is in a bad mood?

Will you be able to deal with her delicate emotional makeup, which is sometimes affected by her monthly cycle?

● Render to your wife her due.—1 Corinthians 7:3.

Rendering her full “due” includes not just physical union but attentiveness and tenderness. Have you developed the self-control to render such, not thinking just of your own sexual satisfaction?

Bible Advice to Wives

● The wife should have deep respect for her husband.—Ephesians 5:33.

Will you still respect your husband though he may disappoint you or make mistakes?

Even if you disagreed with a decision, would you submit to his headship as long as there was no violation of God’s laws?

● Workers at home.—Titus 2:5.

Are you willing to prepare meals and keep the home and your family’s clothing clean? Do you do this now with your own room or home?

Do you have the skills and industriousness to handle the demands of a homemaker?—Proverbs 31:27.

● Love your husband and your children.—Titus 2:4.

Are you prepared to seek only the attention of your husband rather than the flattery of other men?

Will you still love a child who wakes you up in the middle of the night?

● Render the husband his due.—1 Corinthians 7:3.

Are you willing to participate in an act of love even when you would prefer not to? Will you refrain from using your “charms” just to get your own way?

Crossword Puzzle

Clues Across

1. Where Paul was requested to “step over into” and help (Acts 16:9)

5. One of the cities of refuge (Joshua 20:1-9)

8. A woman Samson loved (Judges 16:4)

9. Where Jesus went, after miraculously feeding 4,000 (Matthew 15:38, 39)

14. ‘The fathers ate the unripe one, but teeth of sons were set on edge’ (Jeremiah 31:29)

16. A gathered group of people (Exodus 35:1)

17. A weapon (1 Chronicles 8:40)

19. He wrote more of the Christian Greek Scriptures than anyone else (2 Peter 3:15, 16)

20. Where the seventh angel poured out his bowl (Revelation 16:1, 17)

21. Number of angels who visited Lot in Sodom (Genesis 19:1-3)

22. Father of Zaccur who shared in rebuilding Jerusalem’s wall (Nehemiah 3:2)

23. Used in Hitler’s concentration camps to kill people

25. Animal accepted as food under the Mosaic Law (Deuteronomy 14:4, 5)

26. A taint of guilt (Jeremiah 2:22)

29. King of Judah abandoned by Jehovah because of idolatry (2 Chronicles 25:17-24)

33. To comfort (John 11:19)

34. Respectful position in prayer (Ezra 9:5)

35. Confederation of ten cities (Matthew 4:25)

Clues Down

1. Pondering (Proverbs 24:2)

2. Bible book written in prison by 19 across

3. A grandson of Esau, and a sheikh of Edom (Genesis 36:10, 11, 15)

4. One of flesh is no match for Jehovah (2 Chronicles 32:7, 8)

5. Jehovah’s enemy, who attacks His people (Ezekiel 38:3, 14-16)

6. A son of Shem (Genesis 10:22)

7. Joshua’s father (Joshua 1:1)

10. A son of Jether of the tribe of Asher (1 Chronicles 7:30, 38)

11. Seaport city south of Tyre (Judges 1:31)

12. Moses was instructed in all their wisdom (Acts 7:22)

13. To establish firmly (Daniel 9:24)

15. The man who married Saul’s daughter Michal, after David was outlawed (2 Samuel 3:14, 15)

17. The prophecy of the outpouring of Jehovah’s spirit “in the last days” came from the Bible ‐‐‐‐ ‐‐ ‐‐‐‐ [3 words] (Acts 2:16-21)

18. Jehovah takes no delight in it (Psalm 5:4)

24. At one time there was no one like him (Genesis 2:18; 3:20)

27. Faithful king of Judah (2 Chronicles 15:16-18)

28. An ancestor of Jesus’ mother Mary (Luke 3:26)

29. It preserved Moses (Exodus 2:3-10)

30. An animal imported by Solomon (1 Kings 10:21, 22)

31. Sick (Mark 1:34)

32. Son of Zophah from the tribe of Asher (1 Chronicles 7:36, 37, 40)

CROSSWORD SOLUTION PAGE 27

Answers Across

1. MACEDONIA

5. GOLAN

8. DELILAH

9. MAGADAN

14. GRAPE

16. ASSEMBLY

17. BOW

19. PAUL

20. AIR

21. TWO

22. IMRI

23. GAS

25. ANTELOPE

26. STAIN

29. AMAZIAH

33. CONSOLE

34. KNEEL

35. DECAPOLIS

Answers Down

1. MEDITATING

2. COLOSSIANS

3. OMAR

4. ARM

5. GOG

6. LUD

7. NUN

10. ARA

11. ACCO

12. EGYPTIANS

13. IMPRINT

15. PALTIEL

17. BOOK OF JOEL

18. WICKEDNESS

24. ADAM

27. ASA

28. JODA

29. ARK

30. APE

31. ILL

32. HOD

Can Anything Be Done About Wastefulness?

HOW would you react to a person who after spending much time and money obtaining food at a grocery store promptly went to the garbage can and threw a portion of the food away? Shocked as you might be, that is essentially what happens in many U.S. households today. Is that also the case in your home?

Consider these points: In Tucson, Arizona, a city of approximately 350,000, an anthropology professor of the local university conducted a group study to determine what the residents had discarded in their garbage. It was discovered that about 9,500 tons of edible food were thrown away each year—enough to feed 4,000 families annually! Another survey indicated that the residents of one state annually discarded 300 million dollars’ worth of reusable metal, glass and paper, most of which is never recycled.

The United States, although a primary offender, is not the only country with this problem. Other developed nations are wasteful too. The Federal Republic of Germany and Britain discard each over 160 million tons of waste every year. And although some of Britain’s industrial wastes are reused, almost none of the available household wastes are recycled. A Japanese newspaper stated that Japan’s households dispose of 38,000 tons of garbage daily. Such figures reflect the current wasteful attitude on the part of society. One New York City resident summed it up this way. “We’re a throwaway society—we’re taught to throw everything away.”

What a departure this is from the attitude of many of the pioneers who opened up such countries as the United States! For them the order of the day was “Waste not, want not.” And it is probable that this conservative attitude helped to put many people of the United States on the pathway to relative material abundance. So why should there be such a different attitude today? And can we, individually, do anything about wastefulness?

On the Wings of Abundance

It is interesting to consider how the very abundance brought about by those frugal pioneers has spawned a society of wasters. As the United States began to grow, and people discovered the abundant wealth of the land, they developed industries to produce the necessary things of life. Gradually, however, people’s basic necessities were supplied, and manufacturers shifted to producing luxury items.

Manufacturers also realized that if they made their products as strong and durable as technology would allow, these items would eventually saturate the market, and customers would not buy so often. So some tried making inferior products, but the poor quality became obvious and these companies lost customers. What would industries do now to ensure growth?

The answer was built-in obsolescence and high-pressure advertising. Advertising agencies helped many companies realize that, rather than actually making an inferior product, they could simply continue to change the product, even if only cosmetically. Consumers could then be convinced that their old products no longer were useful or desirable.

They were now obsolescent, outdated, old-fashioned! Advertising agencies thus began to entice the general public, assuring them that whatever they presently owned could be replaced by something much better. People were told that they would benefit materially, be respected and admired, and have a superior life-style by throwing away the old and buying the new. Soon the masses became believers, and though the growth of industry was ensured, the present wasteful attitude became prevalent. Additionally, other serious problems came into view that affect the quality of life for all of us.

Pollution, Depletion and Friction

1. The first problem was tremendous pollution. All the discarded items had to go somewhere, and soon man was inundated with mountains of trash.

Some thought that the solution was to bury all the trash and soon it would break down into its natural elements. But manufacturers developed more and more indestructible materials, such as plastics and high-grade metal alloys that do not break down as easily as did some of the older materials. Again man was faced with the challenge of what to do with all the trash.

Some countries are trying to recycle these waste materials. This has met with limited success, however, basically because it is less expensive and less trouble for most manufacturers to use virgin materials. Recent advances have been made in using some of the waste for fuel, but there are problems here also.

For one thing, only a percentage of waste can be used for fuel; so the waste has to be processed first. Although the technology exists for burning wastes efficiently, many companies find that they do not have the capital to lay out for the necessary equipment. So despite man’s efforts in this regard, we still have a growing problem of pollution.

2. Another worrisome aspect of wastefulness is the depletion of the earth’s resources. Obviously, increased recycling of the dwindling material resources could help. But in addition to the problems mentioned earlier, there is that of depleted energy resources to sustain the manufacturing processes.

The resources that are now of the greatest concern are oil and natural gas, the primary fuels of the developed nations. Most of the alternatives—such as solar and nuclear energy—are either too expensive to consider or not yet practical. Temporary measures are being employed in the hope of new discoveries, but unless people’s attitude toward wastefulness changes, trouble is inevitable.

3. A third and perhaps less evident problem that has come from the wasteful attitude of people is the straining of relations between the materially more prosperous countries and their developing neighbors. More and more, the developing countries cry out that they are given little help in caring for their needy populations.

…

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Awake!, October 8, 1983