Awake!, November 22, 1988

Awake! — November 22, 1988

Source: jw.org

Contents

Page Two

Battered Wives—A Look Behind Closed Doors

Battering Husbands—A Close-Up Look

When the Battering Will Stop

Greek Church Threatens Violence and Blocks Convention

How Can I Make People Like Me?

Beauty in the Air

The Socinians—Why Did They Reject the Trinity?

Children at Risk?

Sold on Sex

Talking Raises Blood Pressure

I Came to Appreciate True Wisdom

From Our Readers

Watching the World

Kitt Peak National Observatory

Can You Pass This Survival Test?

Page Two

The problem of wife battering crosses every educational, social, and economic boundary. Every race, ethnic group, and non-Christian as well as “Christian” religion has its wife beaters. They are doctors, lawyers, businessmen, judges, policemen, and the common man on the street. They include those with six-figure incomes and men on welfare.

Battered Wives—A Look Behind Closed Doors

WIFE beating is a startlingly common occurrence. The magazine Psychology Today reports that “one in 10 women will be seriously assaulted (hit, kicked, bitten or worse) by her husband sometime during the course of her marriage.” A year later the magazine Family Relations indicated that the magnitude of the problem was even greater, stating that “one in two women in the United States will experience domestic violence.” In Canada, according to a 1987 report, one in every ten women will be battered. In other countries the estimates are about the same.

One New York district attorney adds further testimony to the growing problem of battered wives. “Violence against women exists in epidemic proportions in American society. The FBI has estimated that one spouse is beaten every 18 seconds, and that as many as 6 million women are battered every year.” It has been determined that “wife-beating causes more injuries to women requiring hospitalization than all rapes, muggings and automobile accidents combined.” Some 4,000 women are killed yearly.

If wife abuse is a well-guarded family secret, those who are closest to the battering husband, such as his best friends, workmates, or family members outside the home, may never suspect that he is a wife beater. He may function well on his job and in society, often being looked up to by his peers as a role model. Many batterers would walk away from a fight in a bar, on the street, or in the workplace. Many would give the shirt off their back to someone in need.

With their marriage mate, however, the slightest thing can send them off into a violent rage—a meal not prepared on time, the wrong kind of meal, the style of her dress not to his liking, she wants to watch one thing on television and he something else. A British study on battered wives revealed that for 77 percent of those assaulted, the beatings were not preceded by arguments. Reports show that in many cases the batterings are set off by something as “trivial as the wife breaking an egg yolk or wearing a pony tail.”

One husband who beat his wife admitted that he was “ticked off because his wife was tangled up in the bedclothes.” His being “ticked off” translated into his kicking her out of bed and then beating her head against the floor hard enough to cause a concussion. Said one abused wife who had suffered years of beatings: “An incident could be triggered by [my] forgetting to put a particular item on the dinner table.”

One bride of three and a half years estimated that she had been beaten about 60 times during her marriage. “He didn’t like my friends,” she said. “Gradually I stopped seeing them.” Eventually she stopped seeing her family because he did not like them. “If I tried to call, it was enough of a reason for another beating,” she explained. Said another abused wife: “In the end I asked him what my every move should be—what to have for dinner, which way to put the furniture.”

Studies indicate that wife beatings are more likely to occur in the evenings, during the night, or on weekends. Consequently, hospital emergency staffs are more likely to encounter a woman after a severe beating than is her personal physician. Injuries that battered women may exhibit for treatment often include bleeding injuries, especially of the head and face. Internal injuries are prevalent—concussions, perforated eardrums, and especially if the wife is pregnant, abdominal injuries. Often, strangulation marks are visible on the neck. In many cases, broken bones must be set—jaws, arms, legs, ribs, and clavicles. Other victims may be sent to burn centers for treatment of burns from scalding liquids or acid.

Said one writer on battering husbands: “These guys are true horrors. They lock women in their rooms, they break their bones, they cripple them. They cut them with knives, test drugs on them, punch them in the face, the stomach, the breasts. They hold guns to their heads—and they kill them.” There are reports of wives chained to their beds, wires pulled from the car to render it useless, threats of killing the woman and her children if she tries to run away. The tragedies are endless.

Added to the physical abuse, which may occur often, are the threats and accusations, the name-calling, the depression, the nightmares, and the insomnia.

What kind of man is it who would inflict this tragic abuse on his marriage mate—a woman whom he may often say he loves and cannot do without? Consider his profile in the next article.

Battering Husbands—A Close-Up Look

IT IS the unanimous voice of experts that wife beaters have basically the same profile. Doctors, lawyers, police officers, court officials, and social workers—whose jobs bring them into daily contact with family violence—are in agreement on this. Said one court official: “Narcissism—that’s the master trait. The analogy between the batterer and the young child is astounding. Stories of tantrums are told to me by every woman I deal with. The batterer can relate to the world only in terms of how it can take care of his needs.” This official labels the batterer “sociopathic,” meaning he is incapable of considering the consequences of his actions.

“Interestingly enough,” one writer said, “male abusers are generally suffering from a low self-image, the same trait they strive to induce in their victims.” “Possessiveness and jealousy, as well as sexual inadequacy and low self-esteem, are usual characteristics of men who batter women,” said one press report. Agreeing with this profile of the wife abuser, a noted psychiatrist added his voice: “Battering is one way the inadequate man tries to prove his masculinity.”

It becomes apparent that the male abuser uses violence as a tool to maintain control and demonstrate his power over his marriage mate. A wife abuser declared: “If we stop beating, we lose control. And that’s unthinkable, intolerable.”

Often, without reason, the battering husband is irrationally possessive and jealous. He may fantasize a romantic link between his wife and the mailman, the milkman, a close family friend, or anyone with whom she may communicate. Even though he may treat his wife badly, inflicting bodily pain, he is intensely afraid of separation or of losing her. If the abused wife threatens to leave him, he may in turn threaten to kill her and himself.

Jealousy may often raise its ugly head when the wife is pregnant. The husband may feel threatened by the possibility that the affection of his wife will now be diverted away from him, that the baby will now become the center of attention. Many battered women report that the first sign of husbandly abuse was when their husband punched them violently in the stomach during their first pregnancy. “The narcissism he’s suffering from may put him in a position where he may actually try to kill the fetus,” said one court official.

A Cycle of Violence

Another feature of the profile of the wife beater is the cycle of violence experienced, as confirmed by numerous battered wives. In stage one, the husband may only resort to name-calling, using abusive language. He may threaten to take the children away from her, telling her she will never see them again. Feeling threatened, she may admit that everything is her fault, accepting responsibility for his abusive behavior. She is now playing into his hands. He is gaining control. But he must have greater dominance. This first stage may come at any time after the marriage—sometimes within weeks.

Stage two may come with an explosive burst of violence—kicking, punching, biting, pulling her hair, throwing her to the floor, committing sexual acts in a violent way. For the first time, the wife may realize that she is not to blame. She reasons that the cause is possibly an outside source—stress in the workplace or incompatibility with workmates.

Immediately following the outburst of violence, the wife is comforted by her husband’s remorsefulness. He is now in the third stage of the cycle. He showers her with gifts. He begs her forgiveness. He promises her it will never happen again.

But it does happen again, and again. There is no more remorse. It is now a way of life. The threat to kill her is always present if she threatens to leave. She is now under his complete domination. Remember the words quoted earlier by one wife beater: “If we stop beating, we lose control. And that’s unthinkable.”

Another Similarity

Invariably, wife abusers will blame their mates for provoking the beatings. Reports the program director of a service for battered women: “The abuser says to his female partner, ‘You don’t do this right, that’s why I’m hitting you.’ Or, ‘Dinner was late, that’s why I’m hitting you.’ It’s always her fault. And when that kind of emotional abuse goes on for years, the woman is brainwashed into believing it.”

One wife was told by her husband that she was provoking the attacks by things she had done wrong. “As the violence escalated, so did the excuses. And it was always, ‘Look what you made me do. Why do you want to make me do these things?’”

Said one reformed wife abuser, whose father was also a wife batterer: “My father could never admit that he was wrong. He never apologized or accepted any responsibility for his actions. He always blamed his victim.” The son too admits, “I blamed my wife for bringing on her own abuse.” “For 15 years,” said another, “I abused my wife because she was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I blamed my wife for everything. I didn’t realize that what I was doing was so bad until I began studying the Bible. Now it’s a bad memory in my life. I try to forget it, but it’s always there.”

The account of the father and son, both wife beaters, is not unique. It is, rather, the general profile of battering husbands. The son admitted that wife beating went back 150 years in his family, passed from father to son, as it were. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, “of the children who witness domestic violence, 60 percent of the boys eventually become batterers and 50 percent of the girls become victims.”

Said one newspaper writer: “Even if they’ve been spared the battering and show no outward damage, these children have learned something they’ll probably never forget: that it’s acceptable to handle problems and stress in violent ways.”

Those who run shelters for battered women say that boys who have seen their mothers beaten by their fathers often turn on their mothers in a violent way or threaten to kill their sisters. “This isn’t just toddler playfulness,” said one. “It’s real intentional.” Having seen their parents use violence to deal with anger, children see it as their only option.

A nursery rhyme says that little girls are made of “sugar and spice, and everything nice.” These little girls grow up to be our mothers and wives, whom the husbands say they cannot live without. Surely, then, justice is against wife abuse, but whose justice—man’s or God’s?

When the Battering Will Stop

HOW far back in history has wife abuse existed? One source cites what is thought to be the earliest written law, dated 2500 B.C.E., that permitted husbands to beat their wives.

In 1700 B.C.E., Hammurabi, the pagan king of Babylon, developed the famous Code of Hammurabi, which contained nearly 300 legal provisions whereby man was governed. The code officially decreed that a wife was to be in complete subjection to her husband, who had the legal right to inflict punishment on her for any transgression.

Coming forward to the time of the Roman Empire, the Roman Code of Paterfamilias held: “If you should take your wife in adultery, you may with impunity put her to death without a trial, but if you should commit adultery or indecency, she must not presume to lay a finger on you, nor does the law allow it.”

A marriage handbook written in the 15th century of our Common Era advised husbands who had seen their wives commit an offense “to first bully and terrify her,” then “take up a stick and beat her soundly.”

In England, 19th-century legislators tried to reduce the suffering of women by determining legally how large the stick could be. They devised what was known as the rule of thumb law, which allowed a man to beat his wife with a stick “no larger around than his thumb.”

Although in many countries today husbands are no longer protected by laws for wife beating, these historical traditions still persist in many parts of the earth. According to a CBS-TV news report, Brazil is a country where women are idolized by men. Paradoxically, however, they are also degraded, abused, beaten, and murdered without compunction. Such conduct is seen, the report continued, in all levels of society, including courts of law, where in “defending his honor,” a man can get away with murder, particularly if the victim is his wife. Said a reporter: “Many of the murderers are not backwoods primitives but professional, educated men.”

‘Defending one’s honor’ can be triggered by simply some minor infraction of the husband’s rule—not having the dinner prepared on time, going out alone, getting a job or a university degree, or failing to “agree with every kind of sexual intercourse that he is looking for.”

God’s Law and the Christian View

God’s law makes clear that husbands should “continue loving [their] wives, just as the Christ also loved the congregation. . . . Husbands ought to be loving their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself, for no man ever hated his own flesh; but he feeds and cherishes it.” (Ephesians 5:25, 28, 29) This law supersedes all man’s laws, past and present.

Surely no Christian husband would argue that he still loves the wife he abuses. Would the wife abuser beat his own body—pull his hair and punch himself in the face and about his body because he truly loves himself? Does the wife beater freely tell others—outside family members, friends, other Christians—that from time to time he will beat his wife, inflict bodily harm on her, because he loves her so much? Or, rather, does he threaten his wife so that she will not tell anyone? Are the children sworn to secrecy by their father not to tell others about his abuse? Or are they ashamed to do so? Do not his actions belie his claim that he truly loves his wife? Love for each other is normal. Wife abuse is not.

Finally, if a Christian man batters his wife, does it not render all his other Christian works useless in God’s sight? Remember, “a smiter” does not qualify for privileges in the Christian congregation. (1 Timothy 3:3; 1 Corinthians 13:1-3; Ephesians 5:28) Reports indicate that husband beating by their wives is also prevalent in this system of things. Would not the same questions apply to such wives?

How vital it is for husbands and wives to manifest the fruitage of the spirit in their lives together now: “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control”! (Galatians 5:22, 23) If we can produce these fruits now, the outlook is promising for our living in that Paradise earth where all will live together in peace and love without end.

[Picture on page 8]

Christian husbands ‘love their wives as their own bodies,’ which means “No Battering Allowed!”

Greek Church Threatens Violence and Blocks Convention

LOCATED near Piraeus, the port city of Athens, Greece, is the “Stadium of Peace and Friendship.” Yet, said the Athens newspaper Ta Nea, “a war atmosphere prevailed yesterday in Piraeus, where the well-known bishop Callinicos . . . gave orders that all church bells should ring. There was such chaos that many citizens of the port city supposed that something bad had happened; they even thought it might be a war!”

Why did this happen in connection with a sports stadium said to be dedicated to “Peace and Friendship”? The commotion was caused by a vicious outburst on the part of clergymen of the Greek Orthodox Church. A bishop took the lead in threatening to rally his parishioners to march on the stadium and seize it by force to prevent others from using it.

The bishop supposedly represents the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. Yet, he threatened violent mob action in defiance of law and order, in direct opposition to the teachings of Christ. Why? Because stadium officials had given permission to peaceful and law-abiding Christians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, to have a convention there in late summer. Contracts had been signed, and Jehovah’s Witnesses had already spent some 6,000 hours cleaning the stadium in preparation for their convention.

As an editor commented in Ta Nea: “Callinicos even threatens to seize the Stadium if the permission is not withdrawn; he is planning Masses, preachings, litanies, and the like, whereas I have to admit that I can’t understand much of it. . . . I can only wonder at the situation because the year we are in is 1988, only 12 years before the 21st century, and the Constitution of the country safeguards religious tolerance.”

Convention Blocked

Despite constitutional guarantees of freedom of worship and assembly, the clergy demanded that permission be withdrawn. Officials caved in to the threats. They opted not to guarantee law and order, and they would not uphold the Constitution of Greece. As a result, the rental contract was not upheld.

So just three days before the convention, the right of the Witnesses to assemble at the stadium was denied. The innocent were victimized, whereas the guilty who threatened to break the law and incite mob action were upheld. A perversion of justice indeed!

Such opposition is not new. For decades the Orthodox Church in Greece has fanatically opposed Jehovah’s Witnesses, who have never retaliated with any unlawful acts. Even in recent times, priest-led mobs have attacked Jehovah’s Witnesses as they assembled peacefully. Clergymen and members of their churches have reviled, harassed, and assaulted Jehovah’s Witnesses, and they have pressured the courts to arrest and imprison them for their preaching activity. Yet, Greece is a democracy, and its Constitution guarantees freedom of worship.

‘A Known, Christian Religion’

Courts in Greece have judged that Jehovah’s Witnesses are a ‘well-known, Christian religion’ entitled to the protection afforded by the Constitution of Greece. For example, in 1987 the Magistrates’ Court in Hania, Crete (a province of Greece), declared: “Jehovah’s Witnesses . . . constitute a known religion and an approved sect.” It also said that their preaching activity is not the kind of proselytizing forbidden by the Constitution. As the court said: “Proselytism is not the mere sale of [Witness] literature from house to house, or an invitation for a theological discussion.”

The court acknowledged that Jehovah’s Witnesses come under the provisions of Article 13, paragraph 1, of the Greek Constitution. That article promises freedom of religious conscience for everyone in Greece. The court noted that this includes an individual’s “freedom to believe in the religion of his liking,” as well as the “right to change, even repeatedly,” one’s religion. The court also called to mind that “the freedom of expressing one’s religious beliefs is more especially safeguarded by Article 9, paragraph 2, of the Treaty of Rome dated April 11, 1950, ‘on the protection of human rights.’”

The Hania court added: “The freedom of expressing one’s religious beliefs is also protected by Article 14, paragraph 1, of the 1975 Constitution: ‘Everyone may express and spread by word of mouth, in writing, and in print, his meditations.’” The court then concluded: “The matter of preserving the Orthodox Christian faith does not solely concern the clergyman and the theologian, but any conscientious believer.” And it noted that the “magazines ‘Watchtower’ and ‘Awake!’ are lawfully circulating.”

Similarly, a Greek appeals court said in its decision 354/1987 that Jehovah’s Witnesses “constitute a ‘known religion’ in the sense of Article 13, paragraph 2, of the Constitution.” The court observed that the “contrast of the doctrines of Jehovah’s Witnesses to the fundamental principles . . . of the [Greek] Orthodox creed is not enough to make one consider [Witness] teachings contrary to public order.” It also noted that Jehovah’s Witnesses are Christian, “since Jesus Christ constitutes the central figure of their doctrines.”

Dark Ages Mentality

Yet, with all such court decisions, with all the supposed protections of the Constitution, the freedom of the Greek people once again has been trampled on because of the Dark Ages mentality of the clergy. Worse, officials who should uphold the law have capitulated to this inquisitional bent of the Greek Orthodox hierarchy. How sad to see such a flouting of democracy in “the cradle of democracy.”

Yet, The New York Times reported that in another matter, “the Government [of Greece] . . . rejected a demand by the Greek Orthodox Church that Martin Scorsese’s film ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ be banned in Greece. To do so, the Government said, would be contrary to the principles of Socialism and freedom of the arts.” This film is considered by many to be highly insulting to Jesus, yet the government stood up to the church’s demand that the film be banned. But they did not stand up to the church’s demand that Jehovah’s Witnesses be denied their legal right to use a public stadium for a Christian meeting.

It is ironic that this arena is called the Stadium of Peace and Friendship! Jehovah’s Witnesses have an international reputation as promoters of peace and friendship among people of all races and nationalities. But at the last moment, just because the clergy objected, they were prevented from exercising their constitutional right to assemble.

Witnesses Find a Solution

However, the refusal did not prevent Jehovah’s Witnesses from holding their convention. In spite of many complications, arrangements were immediately made to move it to a terraced hillside at Malakasa, outside of Athens, to the rear of the Assembly Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The meetings were held as scheduled and with fine results. However, many of the large audience had to sit in the hot summer sun instead of in an air-conditioned indoor stadium.

The event was widely reported on throughout Greece. Many expressed dismay at the clergy’s actions and took them to task for their wicked, treacherous acts. Certainly their threats of mob violence were unchristian, to say the least.

The four-day convention at Malakasa was tied in by telephone to audiences in Thessalonica, Cyprus, and Crete, and over 30,000 enthusiastic Greeks, as well as other delegates from different lands, were overjoyed and encouraged by what they heard and saw.

Questions Asked

The actions of the clergy and of certain officials raised many questions. For example, an editorial in the Athens News noted that “Greece is making every effort to win its bid to stage the 1996 Olympic Games in Athens.” It then went on to say: “The implication that the church can influence [the sports secretariat of the culture ministry] to cancel events of this type raises some doubts that the government will have to remove, especially in view of its campaign to win the 1996 Olympiad.”

The editorial also noted: “‘There will be athletes and visitors of all faiths for the Games—Moslems, Buddhists, Protestants, Catholics and others—and there will be the atheists of the East Bloc. If the sports facilities are not available to the members of a specific sect, will others be welcome?’ an observer asked yesterday. He added, ‘Unless some clarification is forthcoming, what this case looks like is one of extreme intolerance and bigotry—an image which Greece can ill afford.’” All decent, freedom-loving people agree.

[Blurb on page 10]

Court declares that each individual is ‘free to believe in the religion of his choice and has the right to change his religion’

[Blurb on page 11]

How sad to see such a flouting of democracy in “the cradle of democracy”

How Can I Make People Like Me?

Young People Ask . . .

How Can I Make People Like Me?

IT IS only normal that you want to be liked. And it is well within your reach to make more people like you. Yet, it may seem that no matter how hard you try, you manage to turn others off; that you verbally trip over your own feet every time you try to start a conversation; that you are always the last one invited, the last one included, the last one sought out. How, then, can you change things and get others to like you?

Do You Like Yourself?

First of all, face the fact that nobody is liked by everyone. Why, some did not even like Jesus Christ—and he was perfect! (Isaiah 53:1-3) It is therefore a bitter fact of life that some people simply will not like you. This somewhat unsettling truth is much harder to accept, though, if you do not like yourself. When self-esteem is lacking, it can be devastating to find that someone does not like you. Feeling insecure, you may even make fruitless efforts to gain the approval of everyone.

Fifteen-year-old Sean found out that doing so can be self-defeating: “I find that when I am overly concerned with having people like me, I work so hard to get them to like me that they can sense [the insecurity] and are actually turned off.”

Jesus’ command to “love your neighbor as yourself” shows that a certain amount of self-esteem is appropriate and necessary. (Matthew 22:39) So recognize your own worth as a person. While you no doubt have your flaws, remember that you also have much to offer as a person.a

A healthy dose of self-esteem helps you deal better with the occasional individual who snubs your efforts at friendship. It also prevents you from clinging too tightly in relationships. Young Kelly, for example, felt personally threatened when a girlfriend of hers began associating with another girl. However, friendships need not be exclusive—as if there were only one person in the world capable of liking you. Feel good enough about yourself to be willing to share those whom you are close to. Indeed, Kelly found that in spite of her friend’s having other companions, their cherished friendship was as good as ever!

It may be, though, that your problem is not so much having a low self-image but a personality with a few rough edges to it.

Mastering the Art of Conversation

Tarah wants to be liked by adults. However, when older persons attempt to draw her out with questions, Tarah’s awkward responses quickly short-circuit the discussion.

A person who can converse comfortably with others is usually well liked. But do you feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try to converse? Do you simply run out of things to say? Worse yet, do you bore others by always focusing the conversation on yourself? If so, cultivate the art of meaningful conversation.

Begin by developing your ability to talk on a variety of subjects. You might, for example, try to keep abreast of current events. If you find it hard to find time to read the newspaper, speech consultant Dorothy Sarnoff suggests that you “keep a TV or a radio news program on while you’re dressing, and collect tidbits that will make for interesting exchanges.” Being a regular reader of Awake! is another way to keep your storehouse of conversation topics growing and up-to-date.

Another conversational skill is to learn how to keep a discussion moving forward. For example, someone asks if you enjoyed the weekend. Don’t bring the dialogue to a screeching halt by simply answering yes. Explain what you did on the weekend and why you enjoyed it. Take the conversation yet further by asking how the other person passed the time.

What, though, if you know little or nothing about a subject under discussion? Or suppose it simply doesn’t interest you? The Bible urges us to ‘keep an eye in personal interest upon the matters of the others.’ (Philippians 2:4) So try asking some questions. People will like you for being interested in what interests them.

Show good manners in your conversations. Don’t alienate others by doing all the talking or by pouncing upon others when you disagree. (Compare Titus 3:2.) People resent such obnoxious behavior. Let others talk. Look for points of agreement and try to dwell on these. If you feel you must express disagreement on some important point, do so with “a mild temper and deep respect” for the views of the other person.—1 Peter 3:15.

Know How to Give, How to Receive

Helpful favors, sincere words of appreciation, and encouraging remarks all tell others that you are thinking of them and that you do not take them for granted. This goes a long way in making yourself likable to others. As the proverb puts it: “The one freely watering others will himself also be freely watered.” (Proverbs 11:25) The apostle Paul was one who followed this principle. Read the Bible account at Acts 20:31-38, and note how unselfishly Paul labored at encouraging his Ephesian fellow workers. The result? Christians at Ephesus became so fond of Paul that upon learning of his departure, “quite a bit of weeping broke out among them all, and they fell upon Paul’s neck and tenderly kissed him.”—Acts 20:37.

Do you likewise give of yourself—your time, your energy? Do you give encouragement, support, and help to others? If so, people are sure to like you. Said Jesus: “Practice giving, and people will give to you.”—Luke 6:38.

How, though, should you react when others, in turn, want to do something for you? Perhaps embarrassed at the attention, some reject such offers. However, allow others to draw close to you by being a gracious receiver. (Colossians 3:15) On one occasion, Jesus Christ accepted perfumed oil that likely cost the giver nearly a year’s wages. (John 12:3-6) Remember, others want the joy of giving too. Show that you appreciate their gestures of friendship, and people will like you for that.

Taking the Risks!

Admittedly, opening up and showing a genuine interest in others is a bit risky, especially at first. You may fear that others will view your efforts as a weakness or that some might put you down for trying to be friendly. That is how one youth named Glen felt. As a result, he was inclined to be reserved and distant when talking with others. Glen soon realized, though, that while being detached protected him from attack, he wasn’t winning any friends either. Glen thus began expressing himself a little more, showing an interest in people. “It was a bit of a forced thing for me at first,” says Glen, “but it got easier with time.” Glen now enjoys much better relationships with his friends.

Granted, there are some who may not appreciate your attempts at friendliness. But if a person snubs you or pokes fun at you, he is the one who has a problem—not you. There are plenty of others who will respond to your efforts. So don’t be afraid to face the risks that come with taking an interest in others.

King Solomon said that “work brings profit.” (Proverbs 14:23, The Living Bible) Yes, your concentrated effort is essential to your getting results. So practice and refine your abilities to enjoy good relationships with others. Practice good manners and gracious conversational habits, and show a sincere interest in the welfare of others. Like young Samuel of Bible times, you will be sure to become “more likable both from Jehovah’s standpoint and from that of men.”—1 Samuel 2:26.

[Footnotes]

See “How Can I Build My Self-Respect?” in the April 8, 1983, issue of Awake!

[Box on page 14]

Personal Hygiene and Your Appearance—They Really Count!

One youth found himself avoided by his peers. An offensive personality? No, the youth was negligent in his personal hygiene. He decided to give some attention to this—and his circle of friends increased considerably! This should be no surprise, for to a great extent, your personal hygiene reflects the degree of your concern for the feelings of others. Really, who wants to be around someone who is unclean or emits a foul odor?

Attention must also be given to your clothing and personal appearance. Author Milo O. Frank points out: “In the long run, it doesn’t really matter how expensive your wardrobe is, or how old-fashioned or up-to-date, as long as it gives the impression that you care. When you care enough to present yourself at your best, then people will care about you.”

True, there are those who will be impressed if your clothes are sloppy or extreme in style. But are these the people you wish to attract as friends? Likely not. Does it not make sense to seek out friends who bring out the best in you instead of the worst? (Proverbs 13:20; 1 Corinthians 15:33) A modest and neat appearance will best serve your interests in this regard.—1 Timothy 2:9.

[Picture on page 13]

Those who do things for others are usually well liked

Beauty in the Air

HER fine silky hair bouncing in the breeze, the little girl pursues her “prey”—a lovely, delicate butterfly. Joining in her little game, the butterfly obligingly alights on this flower and that. Then, as if to tease, it flies away just as the tiny cupped hands are about to capture it. Suddenly, our little friend has an idea: Instead of noisily scrambling after the elusive butterfly, she slowly and quietly approaches it as it rests on a pretty wildflower. Wide-eyed, she is rewarded with a wonderful close-up view of one of the most colorful of God’s creations.

Shall we join her? Our own appreciation of this winged masterpiece will also grow.

Look Closely

See the three basic body sections? (See page 18.) First, there is the head with its characteristic pair of clubbed antennae. These aid the senses of smell, touch, and perhaps even hearing. They help the butterfly locate its favorite food or a mate. Also, we note two large compound eyes capable of panoramic sight in full color. Can you see what looks like a tube rolled up and tucked under its head? This long tongue is called a proboscis. It uncoils to enable the butterfly to sip sweet nectar from flowers or taste other favorite foods.

The midsection of the body is called the thorax. Four lovely wings are attached here. The vibrant colors and intricate patterns that we see are actually produced by hundreds of tiny scales, each connected to a socket on the wing. These colored plates contain air, which makes the wing lightweight and acts as an excellent insulator for temperature control.

Three pairs of legs are also connected to the thorax. The legs have bristles that help many butterflies to respond to sounds.

Adult butterflies also have ‘taste buds’ on their feet. Researchers have found that when a butterfly’s feet touch something sweet, the tongue automatically uncoils, ready to feed. The North American monarch butterfly has taste organs in its feet that are 2,000 times more sensitive than the human tongue!

The last major body division is the abdomen, which contains the digestive system and the reproductive organs. Look closely at the segments of the abdomen, and you’ll see little holes through which a butterfly breathes. These are called spiracles.

A Master of Change

The butterfly we observe poised on the flower has not always been as delicate or as graceful. It has experienced some rapid and dramatic changes in form. This process of development is called complete metamorphosis. Drastic changes take place between the different stages of the one living organism.

Depending on the kind of butterfly, life begins as a tiny egg laid on the leaf of a plant that will be eaten by the larva—or better known by its other name, caterpillar—when it hatches. Some eggs may develop into caterpillars within three short days. Other eggs laid in the fall will pass the winter before hatching.

Once free of its eggshell home, the hungry caterpillar proceeds to devour the empty shell. Then it turns its attention to the host plant. The little creature is a virtual eating machine as it gorges itself to store up enough food to last through the lean days ahead. Butterfly specialists claim that if a six-pound human baby would gain weight at the same rate as caterpillars, at the end of two weeks the baby would tip the scales at eight tons!

Inevitably, as the caterpillar satisfies its voracious appetite, its body expands, and it literally outgrows its skin. Typically, a caterpillar will split and shed its skin four or five times before entering into its third stage of development—the pupa stage.

This most fascinating caterpillar molt begins when the full-grown larva attaches itself to a surface with a silken lifeline. In an aerial act that would amaze most circus performers, the caterpillar sheds its outer skin to reveal a pupal shell beneath. All the furious eating comes to a halt. The pupa, or chrysalis, may now look inactive or even dead, but inside an incredible transformation is taking place that will change the larva into a beautiful butterfly.

Hormones cause most of the larval organs to dissolve, and the resulting fluids and materials rearrange to form the adult inside the pupa.

Warm temperatures, adequate length of daylight, and moisture signal the developed butterfly inside that the time is right to emerge. The chrysalis splits open as the winged beauty struggles to get free, taking anywhere from 90 seconds to 5 minutes. The newly hatched butterfly hardly looks fit to make its debut. Its cramped quarters have left its wings wet and crumpled. So, clinging where it has emerged, it pumps body fluids in the veins of the wings, which expand and begin to harden. Its life may span from three days up to eight months or even a year.

In Search of Butterflies

Should you care to journey to the arid southwestern deserts of the United States, you might be delighted to spot the Felders’ orange-tip (Anthocharis cethura). How does it cope with such an unfriendly climate? It flies only during the early spring months in years when enough rainfall has produced its desired food plants. The patient pupae may delay hatching up to five or six years, waiting for the right amount of moisture.

These deserts also host another butterfly of distinction: the giant skipper (Megathymus coloradensis). This large butterfly has a chunky body and comparatively small triangular wings that make it look as if flight would be awkward. Don’t be fooled—these jets of the insect world may be the fastest butterflies on earth, with speeds of 60 miles per hour [96 km/hr].

Traveling to the cold windswept summits of the California Sierra Nevadas, we would find the hardy ivallda arctic (Oeneis ivallda). It withstands winters lasting nine to ten months at elevations of 10,000-14,000 feet [3,000-4,000 m]. How does it survive? Scientists believe that the caterpillar is able to produce its own “antifreeze.”

Perhaps you would enjoy observing the large blue (Maculinea arion) of Europe and its partnership with the ants. After several molts, it is found by certain kinds of ants, which stroke a “honey gland” on the back of the caterpillar, yielding a sweet fluid. The ants adopt the caterpillar, carrying it back to their nest, where they give it ant larvae to eat in exchange for the sweet “honeydew.” Eventually, the caterpillar enters the pupa stage, emerging as a butterfly three weeks later.

Within the butterfly world we find tremendous variety in size, wing shape, color, and patterns. In some cases, though, the opposite is true. Some species so resemble each other that only experts can accurately identify them. Several poisonous kinds afford protection to their nonpoisonous look-alikes, as wary birds and other predators have learned not to make a meal of them. The smallest known butterfly specimen, pygmy blue (Brephidium exilis) of North America, is less than one half inch [1 cm] in wingspan. The largest is the Queen Alexandra’s birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae) of the South Pacific, which can have a wingspread of 11 inches [28 cm].

About 10,000 to 20,000 different species of butterflies adorn the surface of this planet. They are to be found braving the harsh desert heat of North Africa; scaling the dizzying heights of the Himalayas to altitudes of 20,000 feet [6,000 m]; living more than 100 feet [30 m] below sea level in the Middle East and Death Valley, California; playing about the tropical rain forests of South America, Africa, and Asia; patrolling the turbulent Atlantic seacoasts; and even surviving in the frigid tundra above the Arctic Circle.

In a flash of color, the butterfly we were watching at the outset is once again airborne, bound for parts unknown. And along with our little friend, we feel richer for having had a glimpse of one of Jehovah’s many beautiful creations.

[Pictures on page 16, 17]

EIGHT-WING CALICORES

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A. Kerstitch

BIRDWING

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A. Kerstitch

ULYSSES SWALLOWTAIL

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A. Kerstitch

FELDERS’ ORANGE-TIP

CLOUDLESS SULPHUR

MONARCH

[Picture on page 18]

BRIGHT BLUE COPPER

Antennae

Head

Thorax

Abdomen

The Socinians—Why Did They Reject the Trinity?

“The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not three Gods but one God.” That is how the Athanasian Creed defined the Trinity. The churches of Christendom have taught it for over 16 centuries, until today it is called “the central doctrine of the Christian religion.” But is it really? Through the years a few brave men and women have dared to argue that the Bible teaches otherwise—often at the expense of their lives.

MICHAEL SERVETUS was one of these. He was on the run for his life. At dawn on a spring day in 1553, the respected doctor escaped from prison in his robe and nightcap and fled across the French countryside. His trial by the Catholic authorities in Vienne had taken a bad turn. They knew who he was. Their own great enemy, the Protestant leader of Geneva, John Calvin, had helped to betray Servetus into their hands.

As much as Protestants and Catholics hated one another in these early years of the Reformation, they united in a still greater hatred of this one man. His crime? Heresy. Michael Servetus had written books proving that the churches’ teaching on the Trinity was unscriptural. He said: “The papistical Trinity, infant baptism, and the other sacraments of the Papacy, are the doctrines of demons.”

Where could he go? Servetus may have known that he had a small following in Northern Italy. Ever in hiding, he began to make his way there. As he was passing through Geneva, though, he was spotted in spite of his disguise. Calvin denounced him to the authorities and pushed for his execution. On October 27, 1553, he was burned alive at the stake with one of his books tied to his thigh. He died praying for his enemies and refusing to recant. Some onlookers, impressed, turned against the Trinity!

Laelius Socinus, one of the Italians who had already been influenced by Servetus’ writings, was moved by this brutal execution to examine the Trinity doctrine for himself. He too concluded that it had no basis in the Bible. He shared his convictions with his young nephew Faustus. He even left Faustus all his papers and writings. Greatly moved, Faustus gradually decided to leave behind his comfortable life as a courtier and instead share the truths he had learned from the Bible.

Hounded by the Catholic Inquisition, Socinus traveled northward. In Poland, he found a small group of Anabaptists who called themselves “The brethren . . . who have rejected the Trinity.” To Socinus, this religion was clearly the closest to the truth of the Bible. So he settled in Kraków and began to write in defense of their cause.

What Did They Believe?

These Socinians, as they later came to be called, wanted most of all to restore the pure Christianity taught in the Bible. They felt that the Protestant Reformation had merely skimmed off some of the corruption and rituals from the Catholic Church while leaving its rotten core, its unbiblical teachings, quite intact.

Like the religions around them, they were guilty of many errors. Still, of all the religions of the Reformation, this rivulet of Socinianism adhered to the Bible more than most. Here are some examples. Why not compare them with the cited verses in your Bible?

Like the Anabaptists, they taught that infant baptism was unscriptural; in the Bible, only adults were baptized. The Socinians also stood firmly for the Scriptural command to love one’s neighbor and to forsake weapons of war. While Catholics and Protestants were avidly soaking all of Europe in blood, the Socinians refused to go to war on any grounds. Many of them died for this Scriptural stand. Furthermore, they would not agree to hold public office, since this might implicate them in the guilt of warfare.

The spirit of nationalism so rampant in those days had no hold over them. They felt that true Christians were aliens in any country of this world. (John 17:16; 18:36) Renowned for their high moral standards, they excommunicated, or disfellowshipped, any among them who refused to live by or accept Socinian explanations of God’s Word.—2 John 10; 1 Corinthians 5:11.

The Socinians did not hesitate to use God’s personal name, Jehovah. They especially valued the words of John 17:3, which say that taking in knowledge of him and his Son means everlasting life. They saw everlasting life as the great hope of all true Christians. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul they denied outright. Rather, they taught as the Bible does, that the soul dies, with hope of life based on a future resurrection.—Ezekiel 18:4; John 5:28, 29.

The teaching of hellfire they also threw out as unscriptural. Socinus saw clearly the absurdity of saying that God would torture a person in fire for all eternity to punish him for sins that had taken him a scant 70 or 80 years to commit! Some early Socinian leaders even taught about Christ’s Millennial Reign over the earth.—Ecclesiastes 9:5; Revelation 20:4.

Why Did They Reject the Trinity?

Like Servetus before them, though, the Socinians were most renowned for rejecting the churches’ teaching on the Trinity. Why did they? Their reasoning followed two lines. First and foremost, they saw that it was unscriptural.

To this day scholars readily admit that the Bible contains no reference to any Trinity, that it was the result of ‘creative theology,’ an attempt to fuse fourth-century “Christianity” with Greek philosophy. What place could such a teaching have in a movement to restore pure Christianity? None.

As one historian said of Servetus: “In place of a doctrine whose very terms—Trinity, hypostasis, person, substance, essence—were not taken from the Bible but invented by philosophers, and whose Christ was little more than a philosophical abstraction, he wished to get men to put their faith in a living God, in a divine Christ who had been a historical reality, and in a Holy Spirit forever working in the hearts of men.” He believed the three were one only in the sense of John 17:21 and considered holy spirit to be God’s active force, not a person.

Further, the Socinians found the doctrine’s so-called Scriptural supports to be quite weak. The favorite scripture of Trinitarians, 1 John 5:7, was already well-known as a corrupted text, a later and uninspired addition to the Bible. The other, John 1:1, makes sense only when understood as calling Christ “divine,” or “a god,” instead of making him the same as almighty God.

The most devastating blow to the Trinity, though, was that the Bible’s very description of God, Jesus, and holy spirit makes the membership of each of them in any trinity quite impossible. How so? Well, first of all, holy spirit is shown in the Bible to be not a person at all but, rather, God’s active force. (Luke 1:41; Acts 10:38) Second, Christ could not be “coequal and coeternal” with the Father, since the Bible describes him as subordinate to his Father and as having been created by Him. (John 14:28; Colossians 1:15) Finally, how could Jehovah, so often described as the one God, actually be part of a threefold deity?—Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 44:6.

Thus, on Biblical grounds the Socinians refuted the Trinity. But they also rejected it on the grounds of pure reason. According to a historian of the Reformation: “Socinus held that . . . although [the Bible] may contain things above reason . . . , it does not contain anything contrary to reason.” The Trinity, with its contradictory notions of one god who is at the same time three persons, clearly fell into the latter category. As a historian describes Servetus’ feelings on the doctrine: “It confused his head, and failed to warm his heart or inspire his will.”

Nonetheless, the Socinians did fall into some glaring doctrinal errors. Socinus and his followers denied the principle of Christ’s ransom. Yet, the Bible plainly teaches that Christ, by his death, paid the price to redeem mankind from its sinful condition. (Romans 5:12; 1 Timothy 2:5, 6) There were other errors too. For instance, Socinus taught against the prehuman existence of Christ, another plain Bible teaching.—John 8:58.

A Short and Tragic History

The Minor Reformed Church (as Socinians were officially called) flourished in Poland for nearly a hundred years. At their peak they numbered up to 300 congregations. They established a colony at Raków, northeast of Kraków, set up a printing press, and founded a university that attracted respected teachers and students from far and wide. From their press poured some 500 different pamphlets, books, and tracts in some 20 languages. Missionaries and traveling students secretively spread these all over Europe. It has been said that the anti-Socinian literature that these works inspired over the next two centuries could fill a library!

Hated as they were by Catholics and Protestants alike, though, the Socinians were not to remain at peace for long. Socinus himself was attacked, beaten, mobbed, and nearly drowned for his beliefs. Even before his death in 1604, the Jesuits, bent on reestablishing the Catholic Church’s supremacy in Poland, had slowly begun to insinuate their way into positions of influence with the king.

Persecution of the Socinians began to increase. In 1611 a wealthy Socinian was stripped of his property and sentenced to have his tongue cut off, to be beheaded, to have a hand and a foot cut off, and then to be burned. Of course, he could live on in peace if he would just change his religion. He wouldn’t budge. He faced his execution unwaveringly in the Warsaw marketplace.

In 1658 the Jesuits at last achieved their goal. At their urging, the king decreed that all members of the Minor Reformed Church must get out of Poland within three years’ time or face execution. Hundreds chose exile. Brutal persecutions flared up. A few tiny congregations of exiles survived for a time in Transylvania, Prussia, and the Netherlands, but these isolated groups gradually disappeared as well.

The Socinian Legacy

Still, Socinian writings continued to exert influence. The Racovian Catechism, founded on Socinus’ writings and published shortly after his death, was translated into English by John Biddle in 1652. Parliament had copies seized and burned and had Biddle thrown into prison. Although released for a time, he was again put in prison and died there.

But arguments against the Trinity would not die so easily in England, where many learned and reasonable men saw their Scriptural truth. Sir Isaac Newton, one of the greatest scientists in all of history, refuted the Trinity in his writings and is sometimes called a Socinian. Joseph Priestley, famous chemist and the discoverer of oxygen, was also called a Socinian. John Milton, the great poet, renounced the Trinity as well. In fact, the French philosopher Voltaire found it amusing that Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli, whose writings Voltaire deemed “unreadable,” won over much of Europe, while “the greatest philosophers and the best writers of their time,” such as Newton and other Socinians, had won only a tiny and dwindling flock.

Such men, like Socinus before them, stressed the importance of reason in religion. This is as it should be. The Bible itself urges us to serve God ‘with our power of reason.’ (Romans 12:1) Yet in the Unitarian movement that grew up in England from Socinian roots, human reasoning began to take precedence over the Bible. By the mid-1800’s, Unitarians in England and America “began to abandon scripture as the prime source of religious truth,” according to a history of their movement.

Still, the early Socinians set an example many modern religions could well learn from. For instance, one Presbyterian minister praised their stand on war as compared to the “impotence [of modern churches] in the face of the World War.” He expressed hope that soon all churches of Christendom would take a stand against warfare. But he wrote those words in 1932. World War II broke out just a few years later, with the churches again supporting the bloodshed. Today, war ravages much of the globe. Religion causes more wars than it prevents.

What about your church? Has your church, like so many today, lost its respect for the Bible? Does it teach instead the ideas of men? How does it stand on such doctrinal matters as the immortality of the soul, hellfire, or the Trinity? Have you compared these teachings with what the Bible says? The Socinians did. We urge you to do the same.

[Picture on page 21]

Michael Servetus—his books proved the Trinity doctrine false

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By courtesy of U.S. National Library of Medicine

Children at Risk?

HOW much can a very young child pick up from a television commercial? Too much, according to pediatrician Dr. Percy Barsky of Winnipeg, Canada. The realization came, says The Toronto Star, when a three-year-old told Barsky that he wanted “the ultimate weapon” for Christmas. As a result, Public Action for Children’s Television is seeking to have all toy advertising on television banned. “Violent toys” can breed violence, asserts Barsky. Reporting a survey conducted by the Cancer Research Campaign in Glasgow, Scotland, The Times of London notes: “Children as young as six are more influenced by cigarette advertising than adults have realized.” In both cases the dangers are obvious, but where does the remedy lie? Surely with the parents, who have the ultimate responsibility for their children’s welfare by monitoring what they are permitted to watch on television.

Sold on Sex

“IN France,” says Time magazine, “advertisers have increasingly turned to sexual innuendo.” Quoting from a London adman, the article continues: “Eroticism has always been part of the advertiser’s armory, but in France they’re approaching overkill.” In Brazil, when nudity was featured on television to advertise jeans, a 30-percent increase in sales was confidently predicted. India’s parliament, in contrast, has approved a bill barring the use of women as sex symbols in any form of advertisement. In the United States a wind of change seems to be blowing—through television commercials at least. “Advertisers want to touch our funny bones more than our erogenous zones,” reports the Daily News, citing in support a consumer survey revealing that of the ten favorite television ads, five were humorous and none contained a sexual theme.

Talking Raises Blood Pressure

“THE simple act of speaking—not necessarily in anger, or fright, but just plain old talking—seemed to throw a switch that immediately boosted blood pressure,” reports Aviation Safety magazine. It also points out that those who suffer from high blood pressure or are on medication to control it are especially susceptible. In fact, for all persons “the increase in pressure runs anywhere from 10 to 50 percent.” And what was most amazing was that “these same blood pressure relationships held true for deaf people who were doing their speaking via sign language.”

This means that, according to the report, even small talk while having a doctor take your blood pressure gives a higher reading. True, such talk “is meant to be friendly and relaxing,” but it ‘actually pushes the pressure dial up.’ On the other hand, “studies show that listening helps lower blood pressure.” Evidently, God’s advice at Proverbs 21:23 brings not only improved social relationships but also physical benefits.

I Came to Appreciate True Wisdom

WHEN I was a little boy, a Buddhist monk noticed me and suggested that my name should be Panya, meaning “intellect,” or “wisdom,” in the Thai language. Being devout Buddhists, my parents were delighted to have my name changed accordingly.

Thailand, where I was born 60 years ago, is a country where over 90 percent of the people profess Buddhism. Buddhism was founded some 2,500 years ago in India and then spread to many parts of Asia. Buddhism holds out a hope for something better—freedom from suffering—that is supposedly attainable through individual effort.

According to Buddhism, one’s present station in life is believed to be the result of acts (Karma) committed in the present life and in previous lives. Desire is thought to be the cause of all suffering, so the goal is to eliminate all desire. To achieve this may require numerous existences, or reincarnations, until one has gone beyond the cycle of rebirths to a state called nirvana, which to many means nonexistence.

Gautama Buddha claimed to have found the truth through his “enlightenment,” and Buddhists believe that following his teachings is the path of wisdom.

Growing Up in Thailand

I was born in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. During the decade before World War II, life in the city was much quieter than in the bustling metropolis Bangkok is today. Rickshas, horse-drawn carriages, and pedaled tricycles were then common means of transportation, although there were also streetcars and buses. On the canals, or klongs, boats served as transportation.

For some years my family lived in a canalside house raised on stilts. In those areas of the city, much of the people’s lives centered around water. The klong was used for bathing and for washing dishes and clothes. Boats came right to the doorsteps selling all kinds of food and merchandise. Even the mail was delivered by boat. In the hot and humid climate, we children enjoyed swimming, diving, and playing games.

At the age of six, I began schooling. Primary education was compulsory, so the majority of city children like me went to school. Boys and girls were then taught in separate classrooms, so there was little contact between the sexes. Dating was practically unheard of.

I enjoyed sports, including soccer and Thai-style boxing, which is a unique martial art that was developed hundreds of years ago. The opponents are allowed to use not only their gloved fists but also bare feet, legs, knees, and elbows to punch and kick each other. When my mother learned about my enthusiasm for this dangerous sport, she forbade me to pursue it any further. So I turned to bodybuilding.

When I was a youth, fairs at the temple provided entertainment that Thai people, both young and old, delighted in. The fairs were linked with religious festivals, and they raised funds for the upkeep of the temple. Boisterous crowds attended, along with vendors who would set up stalls to sell all kinds of food and snacks on the temple grounds.

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Awake!, November 22, 1988