Social Networking? - da-ip.getmyip.comda-ip.getmyip.com/PDF/Publications/Awake PDF's/2012-02_g_E -...
Transcript of Social Networking? - da-ip.getmyip.comda-ip.getmyip.com/PDF/Publications/Awake PDF's/2012-02_g_E -...
!"#2F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 2
What ShouldYou Know AboutSocialNetworking?
ALSO: HOW SHOULD WEPRAY TO GOD? PAGE 12
!"#2AVERAGE PRINTING 41,042,000PUBLISHED IN 84 LANGUAGES
WHAT SHOULD YOUKNOW ABOUTSOCIALNETWORKING?
3 Connected!
4 What Is the Appeal?
6 Four Questions You ShouldAsk About Social Networking
10 A Unique Paper City
12 The Bible’s ViewpointHow Should We Prayto God?
14 Wisdom for the Eye
15 The “Glory” of Stars
18 Young People AskHow Can I EnjoyStudying the Bible?
21 Was It Designed?The Engineering Instinctof the Paper Wasp
22 Should You Chew BetelNut?
26 How Arabic Became theLanguage of the Learned
29 Watching the World
30 For Family Review
32 “This Book Is aMasterpiece”
Awake! February 2012 3
˘ Consider this imaginary scenario. Peoplecalled Sam the holdout. For years, he refusedto get involved with the new technology as away of keeping in touch with family andfriends. Everyone, even Sam’s teenage chil-dren, said that they wanted to be connected.Sam teasingly said to his 16-year-old daughter,“I miss the days when people would talk to youface-to-face!”
Then Sam started to reconsider his stance.He thought about people he had neither seennor talked to in years. He thought about familymembers who seemed so busy that he no lon-ger felt connected with them. ‘If I want to stayin touch with all these people,’ Sam thought tohimself, ‘I might have to start doing it thenew way.’ It was the mid-20th century in the ru-ral United States. Sam, the holdout, was finallythinking about getting a telephone.
Fast-forward this scenario to 2012. Sam’sgrandson Nathan has just finished talkingon the phone to Roberto and Angela, closefriends of his who had moved to the other side
of the world. ‘That was ten years ago!’ Nathansays to himself, amazed at how quickly thetime had passed.
Over the years, Nathan has been contentwith an occasional phone call from familymembers and friends who have moved faraway. Now, though, it seems that everyone—in-cluding Nathan’s teenage children—use a so-cial network to keep in touch.
People call Nathan a holdout because he re-fuses to jump on the technology bandwagon.“I miss the days when you would talk on thephone and hear a person’s voice,” he says. Butnow Nathan is starting to reconsider. ‘If I wantto stay in touch with all these people,’ he saysto himself, ‘I might have to start doing it thenew way.’
Have you felt the way Nathan did? By na-ture, humans like to communicate with eachother. (Genesis 2:18; Proverbs 17:17) Sinceso many are doing so by means of social net-works, what should you know about this tech-nology?
Connected!
!"#$ THIS JOURNAL IS PUBLISHED for theenlightenment of the entire family. It
shows how to cope with today’s problems. It reportsthe news, tells about people in many lands, examinesreligion and science. But it does more. It probes beneaththe surface and points to the real meaning behindcurrent events, yet it always stays politically neutral anddoes not exalt one race above another. Most important,this magazine builds confidence in the Creator’s promiseof a peaceful and secure new world that is about toreplace the present wicked, lawless system of things.
This publication is not for sale. It is provided as part of a worldwide Bible educa-tional work supported by voluntary donations. Unless otherwise indicated, Scrip-ture quotations are from the modern-language New World Translation of the HolyScriptures—With References.Awake! (ISSN 0005-237X) is published monthly by Watchtower Bible and TractSociety of New York, Inc.; M. H. Larson, President; G. F. Simonis, Secretary-Treasurer; 25 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, NY 11201-2483, and by Watch Tow-er Bible and Tract Society of Canada, PO Box 4100, Georgetown, ON L7G 4Y4.Periodicals Postage Paid at Brooklyn, N.Y., and at additional mailing offices.POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Awake!, 1000 Red Mills Road,Wallkill, NY 12589-3299. � 2012 Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsyl-vania. All rights reserved. Printed in Canada.
Vol. 93, No. 2 Monthly ENGLISH
4
WHICH methods of communication be-low have you used during the past
month?Face-to-faceconversation
Handwritten letteror card
Phone call E-mailText message Instant messageVideo chat Social networkNever have there been so many options for
keeping in touch, each one with its advan-tages and disadvantages. Consider a few ex-amples:
FACE-TO-FACE CONVERSATION
Advantage: Includes all the subtle nuancesof facial expression, tone of voice, and ges-tures.
Disadvantage: Both parties must be avail-able to talk.
HANDWRITTEN LETTER OR CARDAdvantage: Warm and personal.Disadvantage: Takes time to write and days
to reach the recipient.
E-MAILAdvantage: Can be composed and deliv-
ered quickly.Disadvantage: Emotion is often lacking—or
easy to misinterpret.Enter social networking, which some say is
the best way to keep in touch. Hundreds of so-cial networks exist, and the most popular one—Facebook—has some 800 million members!“If Facebook were a country,” says Time mag-azine, “it would be the third largest, behindonly China and India.” What are social net-works, and why have they become so popu-lar?
A social network is a Web site that allowsusers to share information with a selectedgroup of friends. “It’s a great way to stay con-nected,” says 21-year-old Jean. “Social net-working is also a convenient way to sharephotos from trips or events.”
Why not just write a letter? ‘Too time-consuming,’ some would answer—and it is ex-pensive if you have to make copies of pho-tos. Why not use the phone? Again, too
S O C I A L N E T W O R K I N G
What Isthe Appeal?
LANGUAGES: Afrikaans, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Bislama, Bul-garian, Cebuano, Chichewa, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional)� (audioMandarin only), Chitonga, Cibemba, Croatian, Czech,� Danish,� Dutch,�� En-glish,�� Estonian, Ewe, Fijian, Finnish,� French,��� Georgian, German,�� Greek,Gujarati, Hebrew, Hiligaynon, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Iloko, Indonesian,Italian,�� Japanese,�� Kannada, Kinyarwanda, Kirghiz, Kirundi, Korean,�� Latvi-an, Lingala, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malagasy, Malayalam, Maltese, Myanmar,Norwegian,� Polish,�� Portuguese,��� Punjabi, Rarotongan, Romanian, Rus-sian,�� Samoan, Sepedi, Serbian, Sesotho, Shona, Silozi, Sinhala, Slovak, Slove-nian, Spanish,�� Swahili, Swedish,� Tagalog,� Tamil, Thai, Tok Pisin, Tongan, Tson-ga, Tswana, Turkish, Twi, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, Xhosa, Yoruba, Zulu
� CD also available. � MP3 CD-ROM also available.� Audio recordings also available at www.jw.org.
WOULD YOU WELCOME MORE INFORMATION OR A FREE HOME BIBLE STUDY?Please send your request to Jehovah’s Witnesses, using one of the addresses below. Fora complete list of addresses, see www.watchtower.org/address. America, United States of:25 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, NY 11201-2483. Australia: PO Box 280, Ingleburn, NSW1890. Britain: The Ridgeway, London NW7 1RN. Canada: PO Box 4100, Georgetown, ONL7G 4Y4. Germany: 65617 Selters. Guam: 143 Jehovah St, Barrigada, GU 96913. Jamaica:PO Box 103, Old Harbour, St. Catherine. Japan: 4-7-1 Nakashinden, Ebina City, Kanagawa-Pref, 243-0496. Puerto Rico: PO Box 3980, Guaynabo, PR 00970. South Africa: Private BagX2067, Krugersdorp, 1740. Trinidad and Tobago: Lower Rapsey Street & Laxmi Lane, Curepe.
Awake! February 2012 5
time-consuming—especially since you haveto call one person at a time, and some willnot be at home or available to talk when youare. What about an e-mail? “No one answerse-mails anymore,” complains 20-year-oldDanielle, “and even if they do, getting a replycan take weeks. On a social network, I justpost a comment about what I’m doing, andmy friends can post comments about theirday. We’re all updated as soon as we log on.It’s easy!”
Not that social networking is all idle chit-chat. For example, when a disaster strikes—such as the earthquake and tsunamithat devastated parts of Japan on March 11,2011—many turn to social networks to find outabout the welfare of their loved ones.
Consider the experience of Benjamin,who lives in the United States. “Phone lineswere down after the tsunami in Japan,” hesays. “An acquaintance told me that he hade-mailed a mutual friend of ours in Tokyo,but he hadn’t heard back from her. At thatmoment, I picked up my cell phone and, ac-cessing the Internet, went to her social net-work page. Right then and there, I saw a briefmessage she had posted saying that she wasOK and that she would provide further detailslater.”
Benjamin continues: “As for contacting myfriends who knew her and who didn’t have asocial network page, I had to e-mail them in-dividually. It took time to track down their ad-dresses and to write to each one. I received
several responses within a few days. One per-son took about two weeks to respond! Thosepeople were getting so many e-mails fromeveryone that it was hard for them to keep up.So much time could have been saved by socialnetworking. Within minutes, everyone couldhave been brought up-to-date!”
Clearly, social networking has some advan-tages. But are there any dangers? If so, whatare they, and how can you avoid them?
HOW IT WORKS
1. Post a message(status update)on your page.
2. All of those on your list offriends receive your mes-sage when they log on totheir page—and you receivetheir messages when youlog on to your page.
6 Awake! February 2012
As with virtually any use of the Internet, socialnetworking has its dangers.� With that in mind, con-sider the following questions.
What you should know. If you are not care-ful, your profile information, photos, statusupdates (short messages to everyone on yourlist of friends), and comments (your repliesto others’ status updates) could reveal toomuch. For example, they might reveal suchthings as where you live, when you are (andare not) at home, where you work, or whereyou go to school. Your address along with abrief post such as, “We leave for vacation to-morrow!” is enough to tell a thief where andwhen to strike.
Other details—for instance, your e-mail ad-dress, your date of birth, or your phone num-� Awake! neither endorses nor condemns any particular so-
cial networking site. Christians should be sure that their use ofthe Internet does not violate Bible principles.—1 Timothy 1:5, 19.
ber—could leave you open to harassment,bullying, or identity theft. Yet, many peoplereadily divulge such information on their so-cial networking page.
People tend to forget that once they postsomething online, it is in the public domain.Even if they specify that their status up-dates are to be shared with “Friends Only,”they have no control over what those friendsmight do with the information. Really, any-thing posted on a social network should beviewed as public or as material that can easi-ly be made public.
What you can do. Be thoroughly familiarwith the privacy settings on your social net-work, and use them. Restrict access to yourstatus updates and photos to people youknow and trust.
Even then, realize that what you post canbe made more public than you intend. Regu-larly review your page, and ask yourself wheth-er anything you have revealed could be usedby unscrupulous individuals to locate youor to steal your identity. Even among yourfriends, do not post information that couldviolate your privacy or the privacy of anoth-er person. (Proverbs 11:13) If you have sensi-tive information to relate, use another form ofcommunication. “Talking on the phone is waymore personal and far less exposing,” says ayoung woman named Cameron.
The bottom line. A woman named Kimsums it up well. “If you are mindful of whatyou are doing,” she says, “you can maintaina measure of privacy on a social network. Itdoesn’t lead to trouble unless you let it.”
S O C I A L N E T W O R K I N G
Four Questions YouShould Ask AboutSocial Networking
1 How Does Social Networking
Affect My Privacy?
“In the abundance of words theredoes not fail to be transgression, butthe one keeping his lips in check isacting discreetly.”—Proverbs 10:19.
Awake! February 2012 7
What you should know. Social networkingcan consume your time and distract you frommore vital activities. As a woman named Kayputs it, “the more contacts you have, themore time you will spend social networkingand the more addictive it can be.” Considercomments from some who say that they werecaught in the trap.
“It’s hard to get off a social networking site,even when you don’t really like it. It’s almostlike an obsession.”—Elise.
“There are so many things to do—games,tests, music fan pages—not to mention check-ing out all your friends’ profile pages.”—Blaine.
“It’s a vortex that sucks you in, and youhave no idea you’ve been caught until yourmom comes home and asks you why the dish-es haven’t been done.”—Analise.
“I found myself wanting to get home fromschool as soon as possible just to see who hadresponded to my posts. And then I had to re-ply to all those people and look at all the newphotos they had uploaded. I’d get in a reallybad mood when I was online, and I hated be-ing interrupted. Some people I know are onthe site almost all the time—even when they’reout socializing with others at their houses andat crazy times during the night!”—Megan.
What you can do. Time is a commodity thatyou cannot afford to waste. So why not set abudget for it, just as you would for your mon-ey? First, write down an amount of time thatyou feel would be reasonable to spend net-working. Then track yourself for a month,and see how well you kept your resolve. Makeadjustments where needed.
If you are a parent and your adolescentsare spending excessive time with social net-working, try to discern if there are any un-derlying issues. For example, in her bookCyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens, Nancy E.Willard points out that overuse of social net-working may be linked to anxiety, stress, andlow self-esteem. “Many teens are highly con-cerned about their social status,” she writes.“If teens measure their social worth based onthe level of electronic communication activi-ty with friends, this can fuel addiction.”
Never let social networking—or any onlineactivity, for that matter—interfere with thefriendships you should be cultivating withinyour own household. “One of the ironies ofthe Internet,” writes DonTapscott in his bookGrown Up Digital, “is that while it makes stay-ing in touch easier when family members arephysically apart, it can also keep them apartwhen they’re at home.”
The bottom line. A girl named Emily says:“I think social networking is a great way tostay in touch with people. But, as with any-thing else, you just have to know when to shutit down.”
2 How Does Social Networking
Affect My Time?
“Make sure of the more importantthings.”—Philippians 1:10.
What you should know. What you post ona social network carves out a reputation foryou that may be difficult to erase. (Proverbs20:11; Matthew 7:17) Many seem oblivious tothe potential danger. “It seems that when peo-ple go on a social network, they lose theirsense of reason,” says a young woman namedRaquel. “They say things that they normallywouldn’t say. Some don’t realize that with onedistasteful post, their good reputation can beruined.”
Damaging your reputation on a social net-work can have long-range consequences.Grown Up Digital states: “Stories are legion ofsocial network site users losing their jobs orbeing turned down for new jobs because ofwhat they have posted online.”
What you can do. Look at your social net-work page and try to see it the way otherswould see it. Ask yourself these questions: ‘Isthis how I really want to be viewed? If some-one looked at my posted photos and had todescribe my character as they perceived it,what terms would likely come to that person’smind? “Flirty”? “Sexy”? “Party animal”? If so,is that the way I want to be seen when I applyfor a job, for example, and my prospective em-ployer looks at my page? Do these picturesreally represent the values I stand for?’
If you are a young person, ask yourself:‘What if my parents, a teacher, or an adultwhom I look up to viewed my page? Would Ibe embarrassed at what they could see andread?’
The bottom line. When it comes to your rep-utation, remember the words of the apostlePaul: “You will reap exactly what you plant.”—Galatians 6:7, Good News Translation.
3 How Does Social Networking
Affect My Reputation?
“A good reputation and respect areworth much more than silver and gold.”—Proverbs 22:1, “ContemporaryEnglish Version.”
S O C I A L N E T W O R K I N G
If you leave your account signed on whenyou are not present, you run the risk thatothers will post material on your page.According to attorney Robert Wilson, thatis “the equivalent of leaving your walletor cell phone in public on the picnic table.Anyone can sit down and start makingposts to your Wall.” His advice? “Be sureto sign out.”
SIGN OUT!
A survey by Consumer Reportsrevealed that many social networkusers “take risks that can lead toburglaries, identity theft, and stalk-ing. Fifteen percent had posted
their current location or travelplans, 34 percent their full birthdate, and 21 percent of those withchildren at home had posted thosechildren’s names and photos.”
INVITINGTROUBLE?
Awake! February 2012 9
What you should know. Your friendships in-fluence how you think and act. (1 Corinthi-ans 15:33) So it only makes sense to be se-lective about whom you befriend on a socialnetwork. Some accept dozens or even hun-dreds of friend requests from people theyhardly know—or do not know at all. Othersdiscover that not all on their list of friends aregood associates. Consider what some havesaid.
“If a person accepts friend requests fromevery Tom, Dick, and Harry, he or she isbound to get into trouble.”—Analise.
“Many people I know will add friends thatthey don’t really want, but they say they don’twant to hurt the person’s feelings by ignoringthe request.”—Lianne.
“It’s just like associating with those peoplein person. You have to be careful about whoyour friends are.”—Alexis.
What you can do. Set up a ‘friending pol-icy.’ For example, some have put limits onthemselves with regard to friendships:�
“I only allow people to be my friend ifI know them—not just recognize them—but ac-tually know them.”—Jean.
“I only friend people I have known for along time. I never add strangers.”—Monique.
“I like to add only those whom I know quitewell and whose standards I know matchmine.”—Rae.
“If I receive a friend request from someoneI don’t know, I ignore the request. It’s as sim-ple as that. All my friends are people I knowand am already friends with outside the onlineworld.”—Marie.
“If a friend starts posting pictures or statusupdates that I find objectionable, I don’t feelbad at all about deleting that person. Even ifyou are just viewing their posts, it’s bad asso-ciation.”—Kim.
“When I had a social network account,I had very strict privacy settings. I would notallow friends of friends to see my posts orpictures—just my friends. I did this becauseI didn’t know for certain whether the friendsof my friends were OK for me to associatewith. I didn’t know them—or their reputa-tion.”—Heather.
The bottom line. Dr. Gwenn SchurginO’Keeffe writes in her book CyberSafe:“The best guideline is to only friend peopleyou know and have a connection with off-line.”�� In this article, we are discussing casual friendships, not
business associations.� For more information on social networking, see Awake! is-
sues of July 2011, pages 24-27, and August 2011, pages 10-13.
4 How Does Social Networking
Affect My Friendships?
“He that is walking with wise personswill become wise, but he that is havingdealings with the stupid ones will farebadly.”—Proverbs 13:20.
10 Awake! February 2012
‘ACITY built of paper?’ you ask. Yes, butnot a real city, a scale model. The city is
Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, andthe model is preserved in the Prague Mu-nicipal Museum. The builder was AntonınLangweil, who worked on his model for 11years, from 1826 to 1837, the year he died.What prompted Langweil to embarkon such a difficult project?
Langweil was born in 1791 inthe town of Postoloprty in whatis now the Czech Republic. Afterstudying lithography at the ArtAcademy in Vienna, Austria, heopened Prague’s first lithographicworkshop. As a businessman, how-ever, he was unsuccessful, and his
business failed. In 1826, while attending anexhibit in Prague, he saw a plaster model ofthe city of Paris, France. Inspired by what hesaw, Langweil decided to create a model ofPrague, using cardboard and a little wood.
First, though, Langweil spent several yearsmeticulously recording details of Prague.
He walked every street, makingsketches and noting the exact lo-cation of buildings, park bench-es, sheds, statues, and trees. Heeven included barrels he saw onthe ground, broken windows, aladder leaning against a wall, and
piles of wood! Then he started tobuild his model, working to a scale
of 1:480. To supplement his meager
A UNIQUE PAPER CITY
Page
10
,Lan
gw
eil:
Sla
skav
´ymsvo
len
´ımN
´aro
dn
´ıho
mu
zea
vP
raze
;p
ages
10
an
d1
1,m
od
elp
hoto
s:S
laskav
´ymsvo
len
´ımM
uze
ah
lavn
´ıho
mesta
Pra
hy
Antonın Langweil
Langweil’s paper model of thecity of Prague /
)Close-up view of Langweil’spaper model
1.Sacrificialbull.2.Flour.3.Jarofwine.4.4,200.5.B.
ANSWERSTOPAGES30AND31income, he also made models of the homes ofnobles.
In 1837, Langweil became ill with tubercu-losis and died in June of the same year, leav-ing behind a wife and five daughters. Threeyears later, his model found a home in thePatriotic Museum, now called the Nation-al Museum. How did it get there? In 1840,Langweil’s widow offered to sell the modelto Emperor Ferdinand I, who purchased itand then generously donated it to what is nowthe Czech Republic’s national museum. It ar-rived in nine crates. Later, a spokesman forthe City of Prague Museum, where the mod-el now resides, stated: “Langweil’s model wasexhibited only occasionally in the 19th centu-ry. In 1891 it was one of the exhibits in the Pro-vincial Jubilee Exhibition. To mark this occa-sion it underwent costly repairs . . . From 1905the model was part of the permanent exhibi-tion in the National Museum’s Lapidarium.”
A Magnet for Historians
Langweil’s paper model is extremely popu-lar. Measuring 18.9 feet (5.76 m) by 10.6 feet(3.24 m), it is sealed in a glass display caseand illuminated with numerous tiny lightssuspended inside the case. The “city” looks soreal that you almost have to remind yourselfthat you are looking at a model! Indeed, Lang-weil constructed each of the more than twothousand miniature buildings with painstak-ing accuracy.
For example, Langweil gave the buildingsa land-registration number. He added streetlanterns, gutters, and cobblestones. And hefaithfully reproduced churches with theirstained-glass windows—including missing orbroken panes. In places where the plaster hadchipped off houses, his model shows the un-derlying bricks. He also added the Vltava Riv-er, which winds its way through Prague.
Today, Langweil’s paper model is not onlyan interesting museum artifact but also amagnet for art lovers and for historians whowant to see how Prague has changed overtime. Understandably, parts of the city lookquite different because of building recon-struction or renovation, especially the Jewishquarter and a section of Prague called OldTown. Thanks to modern technology, Lang-weil’s model has now been digitized, allowingvisitors to see the Prague of 1837 in the formof an interactive computer model.
In April 1837, an ailing Langweil asked ifhis model could be placed in what was thencalled the Patriotic Museum, but the museumwas not interested. How this must have dis-appointed him! Imagine, though, if he couldvisit the museum today or “stroll” through hisold Prague on a computer screen. No doubthe would feel that his painstaking efforts werenot in vain.
12 Awake! February 2012
TO ADDRESS the Almighty and share ourmost intimate thoughts with him is an
inestimable privilege. Yet, many people areunsure about how to pray, and others want toimprove their prayers. Some of Jesus Christ’searly followers were evidently concernedabout the quality of their prayers. One ofthem said to him: “Lord, teach us how topray.” (Luke 11:1) Jesus responded by givinga model prayer, often called the Lord’s Prayeror the Our Father. That beautiful, yet simple,prayer not only helps us to address God inan acceptable way but also sheds light on themain message of the Bible.
Jesus’ Model Prayer
Jesus said: “You must pray, then, this way:‘Our Father in the heavens, let your name besanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let yourwill take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.Give us today our bread for this day; and forgiveus our debts, as we also have forgiven our debt-ors. And do not bring us into temptation, butdeliver us from the wicked one.’ ”—Matthew 6:9-13.
Note that Jesus said: “You must pray, then,this way.” The point? Jesus did not want hisfollowers to parrot his words, or recite them.Indeed, he had just discouraged this prac-tice. (Matthew 6:7) Rather, his prayer is a les-son in priorities—what is important in God’seyes, not just ours. In order to understandwhat those priorities are, we need to grasp themeaning of Jesus’ words. Let us, then, exam-ine his words point by point.
The Model Prayer Explained
“Our Father in the heavens, let your namebe sanctified.” Jesus rightly addressed God
as “Father” because He is loving and protec-tive, like a good human father. He also hasa personal name—Jehovah—which should notbe confused with his many titles, such as Al-mighty, God, and Lord.� (Psalm 83:18) Why,though, does God’s name, which involves hisreputation, need to be sanctified, or madeholy? Because it has been reproached andslandered.
Some people blame God for their trials,when the real cause may have human rootsor can be attributed to their simply being inthe wrong place at the wrong time. (Proverbs19:3; Ecclesiastes 9:11) Others have accusedGod of causing natural disasters. However,the Bible says that “with evil things God can-not be tried nor does he himself try anyone.”(James 1:13) And many religions teach thatGod punishes the bad by torturing them for-ever in a fiery hell, a teaching that surely of-fends the God of love. (Jeremiah 19:5; 1 John4:8) “The wages sin pays is death,” says Ro-mans 6:23, not eternal torture!�
“Let your kingdom come.” God’s Kingdomis a royal government in the hands of JesusChrist, its King. He will soon take full con-trol of the entire earth. “To him there weregiven rulership and dignity and kingdom,”says Daniel 7:14. God’s Kingdom will “come”when it intervenes in human affairs, crushingall opposing rulerships and taking full controlof the earth.—Daniel 2:44.� In the original languages of the Bible, mainly Hebrew and
Greek, the divine name occurred some 7,000 times. Sadly,many modern versions use God’s titles instead of his holyname.� The dead are not alive in some other form but are ‘sleep-
ing,’ or “conscious of nothing at all,” as they await a future res-urrection.—John 5:28, 29; 11:11-13; Ecclesiastes 9:5.
THEBIBLE’SVIEWPOINT
How Should WePray to God?
Awake! February 2012 13
“Let your will take place, as in heaven, alsoupon earth.” Under Kingdom rule, man-kind will submit to the will of God. As a re-sult, genuine peace will prevail and all hu-mans will worship God in harmony withtruth. Divisive politics and false religion willbe no more. Figuratively speaking, “the tentof God” will be “with mankind,” says Revela-tion 21:3, 4, “and he will wipe out every tearfrom their eyes, and death will be no more,neither will mourning nor outcry nor painbe anymore. The former things have passedaway.”
“Give us today our bread for this day.” Hav-ing given priority to God’s name and King-dom, Jesus then turned his attention to ourneeds. His words indicate that we must avoidstriving after much more than we need “forthis day.” Instead, we ought to heed the ad-
vice found at Proverbs 30:8: “Give me neitherpoverty nor riches. Let me devour the foodprescribed for me.”
“Forgive us our debts, as we also have for-given our debtors.” Here, the word “debts”means “sins.”�We all owe God obedience. Sowhen we disobey him, or sin against him, weaccumulate debt, as it were. Jehovah, though,is willing to forgive that debt when we kind-ly forgive those who sin against us.—Matthew18:21-35.
“Do not bring us into temptation, but deliverus from the wicked one.” “The wicked one”is Satan the Devil, also called “the Tempter.”(Matthew 4:3) Because our imperfect flesh isweak, we need God’s help to resist Satan andhis human agents.—Mark 14:38.
May Jesus’ model prayer help you to im-prove your prayers, perhaps by adjusting yourpriorities. How, though, does Jesus’ mod-el prayer shed light on the main message ofthe Bible? In harmony with Jesus’ words, themain theme of the Bible is the sanctifica-tion of God’s holy name, the removal of allwickedness, and the peaceful rulership of theearth by God’s Kingdom. Yes, what spiritualriches Jesus packed into his model prayer!� See Luke 11:4, where the two words are used interchange-
ably.
HAVE YOU WONDERED?
˘ What did Jesus mean when he said:“You must pray, then, this way”?—Matthew 6:9.
˘ As a general pattern, what mattersought to come first in our prayers?—Matthew 6:9, 10.
˘ What are “our debts,” and why shouldwe forgive people who sin against us?—Matthew 6:12.
Jesus’ model prayer can help you setpriorities that are important in God’seyes, not just yours
14 Awake! February 2012
˘ The human eye is a work of art. But it is more thanbeautiful. It is also powerful. The book Visual Impact,Visual Teaching says that “forty percent of all nervefibers connected to the brain are linked to the retina,”a thin, complex tissue that lines the inside of the eye.
Jesus Christ rightly called the eye “the lamp of thebody.” Explaining what he meant, he continued: “If . . .your eye is simple [sincere, focused on good], yourwhole body will be bright; but if your eye is wicked, yourwhole body will be dark.” (Matthew 6:22, 23) By thesewords, Jesus was impressing upon us the power of theeye, figuratively speaking, to incite thoughts, feelings,and actions. Good thoughts illuminate one’s life; badthoughts darken it.
For example, consider Jesus’ words found at Mat-thew 5:28, 29: “Everyone that keeps on looking at awoman so as to have a passion for her has alreadycommitted adultery with her in his heart. If, now, thatright eye of yours is making you stumble, tear it out[figuratively speaking].” His point? A wandering eyecan inflame wrong desires to the point that, given theopportunity, a person might commit immoral acts andlose God’s favor.—James 1:14, 15.
How much better to exercise self-control, even ifdoing so is as hard as tearing out an eye! After all, is itworth sacrificing everlasting life for merely a few fleet-ing moments of sensual pleasure?
What we feed the eye can also foster greed. Hence,the Bible warns us that the selfish “desire of the eyes. . . does not originate with the Father, but originateswith the world. Furthermore, the world is passing awayand so is its desire, but he that does the will of Godremains forever.”—1 John 2:16, 17.
Is the Bible being unduly restrictive? Not at all!To disregard its standards is to invite problems andunhappiness. (Galatians 6:7, 8) To heed God’s Word,including its wisdom for our figurative eye, is to sowhappiness. “Happy are those hearing the word of Godand keeping it,” said Jesus. (Luke 11:28) What is more,they have the prospect of remaining forever on earth,whereas those who cultivate an immoral or greedyeye lose out on both happiness and life.
WISDOM FOR THE EYE
Awake! February 2012 15
HAVE you ever gazed in wonder at thethousands of stars visible on a clear
night? As you looked at those twinklingpoints of light, you may have noticed thatthey vary in brightness and even in color.“Star differs from star in glory,” the Bible cor-rectly states.—1 Corinthians 15:41.
Why do stars differ in their glory, or radi-ance? Why, for example, do some look whiteand others blue, yellow, or red? And why dothey twinkle?
Stars hold within their core immense nu-clear furnaces that generate enormousamounts of energy. That energy migrates tothe star’s outer layers, where it radiates intospace, largely as visible light and infraredrays. Hotter stars, you may be surprised tolearn, are blue, whereas cooler stars are red.Why the color difference?
Light can be thought of as a stream of par-ticles, called photons, which also behave aswaves of energy. Higher temperature starsemit higher energy photons, which have theshorter wavelengths found at the blue end ofthe spectrum. Conversely, cooler stars giveoff lower energy photons, which are towardthe red end of the spectrum. Our own star, theSun, lies toward the middle because it emits alarger amount of light in the green-to-yellowrange. Why, then, does it not look greenish?It emits a lot of light in the other visible wave-lengths as well. The net result, when viewedfrom space, is a white sun.
Earth’s Atmosphere “Colors” the Sun
We see the sun through the filter of the at-mosphere, which alters the sun’s appearanceto varying degrees, depending on the timeof day. At midday, for example, the sun nor-mally has a bright-yellow hue. But at sunriseand sunset, when it sits low on the horizon, itmay appear orange or even red. This colorchange occurs because of gas molecules, wa-ter vapor, and various microscopic particlesin earth’s atmosphere.
Because of its composition, the atmo-sphere scatters blue and violet solar light, pro-ducing a gorgeous blue sky on a clear day.With blue and violet subtracted from thesun’s visible spectrum, the remaining directsunlight at midday is dominantly yellow. Butwhen the sun is very low on the horizon,its light travels through the atmosphere at asharp angle before it reaches us. As a result,sunlight passes through more of the atmo-sphere, which now scatters even more light inthe blue range, as well as green light. Hence,the setting sun may appear as a magnificentred or crimson ball.
The Colorful Night Sky
Our view of the night sky is influenced con-siderably by the sensitivity of our eyes. Oureyes receive light through two kinds of sen-sors—cones and rods. Cones distinguish col-or, but in very dim light, they stop function-ing. The rods, however, while not sensitive
THE
“GLORY”OF
STARS
&N
AS
A,E
SA
,an
dth
eH
ub
ble
Herita
ge
(STS
cI/
AU
RA
)-E
SA
/H
ub
ble
Colla
bora
tion
to color, are extremely efficient photorecep-tors. Indeed, under optimal conditions, a rodmay be triggered by a single photon of light!The sensitivity of our rods, though, is shiftedtoward the shorter wavelengths found at theblue end of the spectrum. As a result, when,with the naked eye, we look at faint stars ofthe same brightness, we will likely see theblue ones but not the red ones. Thankfully,though, we are not restricted to the naked eye.
Binoculars and telescopes increase ourability to see faint objects in the night sky,such as stars, galaxies, comets, and nebulae.Even so, our view is somewhat compromised
by the atmosphere. A solution to this prob-lem is the Hubble Space Telescope, or HST,which is in orbit around the earth. A tech-nological marvel, the HST can detect objectsthat are just one ten-billionth as bright as thefaintest stars visible to the naked eye! As aresult, the HST has produced truly stunningviews of objects in deep space, including gal-axies and clouds of interstellar dust and gascalled nebulae.
That said, new earth-based telescopes nowrival and even exceed the HST in certainways. For example, using ingenious correc-tive techniques for the effects of the atmo-
WHY DO STARS TWINKLE?
Stars twinkle, or appear to change slightly in brightness and location, be-cause of disturbances in earth’s atmosphere. To illustrate, imagine tiny pointsof light on the bottom of a swimming pool. What happens to those lightsas ripples pass over them? Yes, they twinkle, just as stars do. Larger lights, onthe other hand, would be less disturbed. Planets are like those larger lights,not because they are bigger than stars, but because they are much closer tothe earth and thus seem bigger.
The star V838 Monocerotis Interacting galaxies Arp 273
V8
38
:N
AS
A,E
SA
,an
dH
.B
on
d(S
TS
cI);
Arp
27
3:N
AS
A,E
SA
,an
dth
eH
ub
ble
Herita
ge
Team
(STS
cI/
AU
RA
)
16 Awake! February 2012
sphere, these new telescopes enable astrono-mers to see in greater resolution, or detail,than they can by means of the HST. One ex-ample is the W. M. Keck Observatory on theisland of Hawaii, which houses the Keck Itelescope, one of the largest optical tele-scopes in the world. By means of this tele-scope, astronomer Peter Tuthill of the Uni-versity of Sydney, Australia, discovered dustclouds being ejected by binary-star systems inthe Sagittarius constellation, which from ourviewpoint appears to be near the center of ourgalaxy, the Milky Way.
The deeper that astronomers peer intospace, the more stars and galaxies they find.How many are out there? We can only guess.But that is not so of our Creator, JehovahGod. “He is counting the number of the stars;all of them he calls by their names,” saysPsalm 147:4.
The prophet Isaiah made similar expres-sions. In fact, he went a step further, statingwith remarkable scientific accuracy that thematerial universe is a product of God’s in-finite energy. “Raise your eyes high up andsee,” Isaiah wrote. “Who has created thesethings? It is the One who is bringing forth thearmy of them even by number, all of whomhe calls even by name. Due to the abundanceof dynamic energy, he also being vigorous inpower, not one of them is missing.”—Isaiah40:26.
How did Isaiah, who lived some 2,700years ago, know that the universe is a prod-uct of God’s infinite energy? He certainly didnot figure that out himself! Rather, he wrotewhat Jehovah inspired him to write. (2 Timo-thy 3:16) Thus, he, as well as the other Biblewriters, did something no science textbookor telescope can do. They identified the Onewho gave the stars their beauty and glory.
J. Hester and P. Scowen (AZ State Univ.), NASA )
Thanks to the Hubble SpaceTelescope (HST), likely youhave seen spectacular, colorfulimages of galaxies, nebulae,and stars. But are the colorsreal? The fact is, they are are-creation, a blend of art andscience. The images receivedfrom the HST are monochromebut are taken through color filters.Astronomers and imaging specialists usemodern technology and software to composethe final images, at times to reproduce asclosely as possible what they believe to be thenatural colors of heavenly objects.� At othertimes, astronomers deliberately produce false-color images to make certain things stand out,perhaps for scientific analysis.
IMAGE COLOR:TRUE OR FALSE?
� When we use a telescope to observe faint objects in thenight sky, our cone cells pass the task of seeing to our rod cells,which cannot perceive color.
Monochrome
Red Green Blue
Final image aftercombining thethree colors
18 Awake! February 2012
The Bible can help you find a treasure.This best-selling book can
˘ Show you how to prepare for thebest life ever
˘ Tell you things about the future—and the past—that you couldn’tknow otherwise
˘ Help you to learn about yourselfand become a better person�
STUDYING the Bible takes effort, but the payoffis huge! Want to know how some young peo-
ple are doing it? Cut and fold the following page.You’ll have a handy four-page reference that willshow you how your peers are overcoming obstaclesand getting the most out of their personal study ofthe Bible.
“There is something in the Bible for everyone. Thepossibilities for study are endless!”—Valerie.�� To discover more about how the Bible can do all those things for
you, contact Jehovah’s Witnesses locally or write to the appropriate ad-dress on page 5.� Some names in this article have been changed.
YOUNGPEOPLEASK
How can I enjoystudying the Bible?
Why study the Bible at all?Think of it this way:
More articles from the“Young People Ask” seriescan be found at the Web sitewww.watchtower.org/ype
Cut Fold
TIPS
FROM
YOUR
PEERS
Zach
ary—
Don’t
just
study
what
your
pare
nts
oroth
ers
are
studyi
ng.It’s
really
pers
onalst
udy
when
it’s
som
eth
ing
you
wantto
learn
about.
Kale
y—Sta
rtsm
all.
Ifyo
uhave
to,ju
stdo
five
min
ute
s,but
do
iteve
ryday.
Then
you
can
gra
dually
incr
ease
your
tim
eto
10
min
ute
s,15
min
ute
s...
Eve
ntu
ally
you
will
enjo
yit!
Dan
iela
—Sm
all
deta
ilsca
nals
om
ake
abig
diff
ere
nce
.G
eta
setofpens
and
anic
enote
book,orcr
eate
afile
on
your
com
pute
rnam
ed
Pers
onalS
tudy.
Jord
an—
IfIpic
ka
topic
Ienjo
y,I’m
able
tost
udy
longer.
Als
o,Ineed
aquie
tse
ttin
g.I
can’t
study
ifth
ere
’sa
lotofnois
ein
the
back
gro
und.
CUT
ALO
NG
DO
TTED
LIN
EFO
LD
Toenjo
yst
udyi
ng
the
Bi-
ble
,yo
uneed
toansw
er
the
quest
ion,W
hat’s
init
for
me?
Would
you
like
tohave
frie
nd-
ship
with
God?
deepen
your
unders
tandin
gof
world
eve
nts
?im
pro
veyo
ur
pers
onalit
y?The
Bib
leca
nhelp
you
do
those
thin
gs—
and
more
!
“Don’t
thin
kofit
as
work
or
thin
kit’s
like
studyi
ng
for
school.
Inst
ead,vi
ew
Bib
lest
udy
as
aw
ay
tobecom
eclo
ser
toth
egre
ate
stFriend
you’ll
eve
rhave
—Je
hova
hG
od.”
—B
eth
any.
“Ast
udy
sess
ion
isyo
ur
pers
onaltim
ew
ith
Jehova
hG
od.If
you
spend
tim
ew
ith
som
eone
only
when
your
pare
nts
are
there
,is
thatpers
on
really
your
frie
nd
or
just
your
pare
nts
’fr
iend?
Ifyo
ust
udy
by
yours
elf,
Jehova
hcan
becom
eyo
urfr
iend.”
—B
ianca.
Rem
em
ber:
“Eve
ryth
ing
inth
eS
crip
ture
sis
God’s
Word
.All
of
itis
use
fulfo
rte
ach
ing
and
help
ing
people
and
for
corr
ect
ing
them
and
show
ing
them
how
toliv
e.”
(2Tim
oth
y3
:16
,Conte
mpora
ryEnglis
hVers
ion)The
Bib
leca
nhelp
you
inth
ose
ways
too!
“Itr
yto
focus
on
the
rew
ard
s.If
I’mla
ckin
gin
som
easp
ect,
study
ism
yopport
unity
toaddre
ssth
eis
sue
and
impro
vem
yself.”
—M
ax.
HOW
TOSTUDY
THE
BIB
LE
The
prob
lem
:NO
MOTIVA
TION
“Sitting
dow
nto
study
for
an
hour
doesn
’talw
ays
seem
like
som
eth
ing
Iw
antto
do.”
—Lena.
Wha
tyo
une
ed:
INCE
NTIVE
Toth
ink
abou
t:W
hatca
nbe
your
study
ince
ntive
?
Part
of
beco
min
gan
adult
isle
arn
ing
how
to“m
ake
sure
of
the
more
importa
nt
thin
gs.”
—Philip
pia
ns
1:1
0.
“My
mom
help
ed
me
tore
alize
thatIw
as
neve
rgoin
gto
have
extra
time.Ihad
tom
ake
the
time.O
nce
Iw
ork
ed
on
my
desire
tostu
dy,
Im
ade
time
for
it.”—N
ata
nya
.
“As
I’vegotte
nold
er,
I’vele
arn
ed
thatIhave
tosch
ed-
ule
atim
eto
study,
and
that’s
when
Ido
it,re
gard
less
ofw
hatelse
isgoin
gon.”—
Yola
nda.
“Ifyo
uputstu
dy
befo
rere
cre
atio
n,Iguara
nte
eyo
u’ll
enjo
ystu
dy
eve
nm
ore
—and
your
recre
atio
nw
illcom
eguilt
free.”—
Dia
na.
Rem
em
ber:
Ifyo
udon’t
set
prio
rities,
you’ll
lose
contro
lof
your
time
and
beco
me
itssla
ve.It’s
far
bet-
ter
ifyo
uta
ke
the
initia
tiveand
make
room
for
study.
—Ephesia
ns
5:1
5,16
.
“As
ahig
hsch
oolstu
dent,
Ican
easily
getpre
-occupie
dw
ithoth
er
thin
gs!
How
eve
r,m
akin
ga
consc
ious
effort
toin
clu
de
perso
nalB
ible
study
inm
ysch
edule
isa
prio
rityfo
rm
e.”—
Jord
an.
Theproblem
:NO
TIME
“I’dlo
veto
study
the
Bib
lem
ore
,butw
ithsu
cha
busy
schedule
,m
ybig
gest
challe
nge
isto
find
the
time
tosit
dow
nand
do
it!”—
Maria
.
What
youneed:
PRIO
RITIES
Tothink
about:W
hatstu
dy
schedule
can
youse
t?
Use
your
imagin
atio
n,
wheth
er
itin
volve
sw
hat
you
study,
how
you
study,
or
the
enviro
nm
ent
you
choose
.
“Take
time
tore
search
questio
ns
thatyo
uhave
.W
hen
you
study
aboutso
meth
ing
that’s
been
on
your
min
d,yo
ufinish
with
ase
nse
ofsa
tisfactio
n—
eve
njo
y.”—R
ichard
.
“As
you
read
aboutan
eve
nt,
putyo
urse
lfin
the
pic
ture
.Pre
tend
thatyo
u’re
eith
er
the
main
chara
cte
ror
aby-
stander
watch
ing
the
actio
nunfo
ld.Try
tose
eth
eeve
nt
with
your
min
d’s
eye
.”—Ste
ven.
“Make
study
enjo
yable
.Sit
inth
eback
yard
and
have
agla
ssofle
monade.Ilik
esn
ack
sw
hile
I’mstu
dyin
g.
Who
doesn
’t?”—
Ale
xandra
.
Rem
em
ber:
Bore
dom
isa
perce
ptio
n,not
alw
ays
are
ality.
So
inste
ad
of
sayin
g“stu
dy
isborin
g,”
say
“Iam
bore
d.”
Take
resp
onsib
ilityfo
ryo
ur
outlo
ok.That
will
put
you
inco
ntro
land
will
em
pow
er
you
todo
som
eth
ing
about
it.—Pro
verb
s2
:10
,1
1.
“Perso
nalstu
dy
doesn
’thave
tobe
borin
g.It
can
be
whate
ver
you
wantit
tobe.”—
Vanessa
.
Theproblem
:BO
REDO
M“A
fter
10
min
ute
sofstu
dyin
g,
Ista
rtgettin
gtire
d;in
20
min
ute
sI’m
ready
todo
som
eth
ing
else
;by
30
min
ute
s,I’m
bore
dto
death
!”—
Alliso
n.
What
youneed:
CREATIVITY
Tothink
about:H
ow
can
yoube
creative
with
yourstu
dy?
Awake! February 2012 21
˘ Paper wasps have been described as masters ofengineering. Why is this description fitting?
Consider: As its name suggests, the paper waspbuilds and maintains its compound nest out of aspecial kind of paper, which it manufactures itself.�The insect collects fibers of plants and of dead woodfrom all kinds of places—logs, fence posts, tele-phone poles, and building materials. It then chewsthe cellulose-rich material, adding a sticky, high-protein saliva. When applied, the resulting pastedries to form a light, firm, yet tough, paper. More-over, the saliva has special properties that enablethe paper to generate and absorb heat, thus main-taining the right temperature in the brood comb oncool days.
The wasp builds its nest “mouthful by mouth-ful.” The finished product is a waterproof, paper-umbrella-covered cluster of hexagonal cells—thehexagon combining strength and efficiency. Waspsthat live in wetter areas simply add more oral secre-tion because of its water-resistant properties. Thatsaid, the insects select sites that offer some kindof protective overhang. From this they suspend theirdownward-facing nests by a stalk, or petiole. More-over, paper wasps do no harm to the environment—unlike our papermaking processes, which polluteair, water, and land!
Understandably, architects and researchers arestudying the wasp’s products with a view to design-ing superior building materials that are lightweight,strong, more flexible, and biodegradable.
What do you think? Did an insect witha brain roughly the size of two grains of sand figureout papermaking and nest architecture by itself? Orare its chemical- and mechanical-engineering skillsevidence of design?
� A number of wasp species build paper nests. The cells therein serveas chambers for eggs, which develop into larvae.
WAS IT DESIGNED?
The Engineering Instinct of the
Paper Wasp
22 Awake! February 2012
ON A street in Southern Asia, a friendlyperson smiles, revealing blackened teeth
and a mouth filled with blood-red saliva. Theperson then spits on the pavement, leaving anunsightly red stain. He or she is chewing be-tel nut.
From East Africa, Pakistan, and India andthrough Southeast Asia to Papua New Guin-ea and Micronesia, betel-nut users numberhundreds of millions—about 10 percent of theworld’s population. Betel-nut vendors, some-times with their children, set up their tablesin public markets and on the streets. Othervendors employ neon lights and scantily cladgirls—“betel-nut beauties”—to attract custom-ers.
Worldwide, betel-nut sales bring in billionsof dollars. What, though, is betel nut? Why doso many people chew it? How does the habitaffect their health? What is the Bible’s viewof the practice? And how can users kick thehabit?
What Is Betel Nut?
What is commonly called betel nut is actu-ally the fleshy fruit of the areca palm (betelpalm), a tropical plant found in the Pacificand Southeast Asia. The name betel comesfrom the unrelated betel-pepper plant. Betel-nut chewers wrap a piece of areca fruit in abetel-pepper leaf, along with a little minerallime. The lime promotes the release of alka-
loid stimulants. Some chewers add spices, to-bacco, or sweeteners to enhance the flavor.
This preparation stimulates the productionof saliva and colors it blood-red. Hence, chew-ers spit frequently, even out of moving vehi-cles, to the peril of passersby!
Chewing Their Way to Misery!
“Areca nut has been used since antiquityand has assumed major social, cultural andeven religious roles,” says a report in OralHealth. “Users often consider it harmless andreport a sense of well-being, euphoria, [and]a warm sensation of the body . . . Evidencehas shown, however, that it is far from harm-less.” How so?
Drug-prevention authorities believe thatone of the alkaloids in betel nut can be habitforming. Indeed, some users chew up to 50betel nuts a day! Before long, teeth becomestained, and gum disease may follow. Habit-ual users, according to Oral Health, may de-velop “chewers mucosa”—a brownish-redstaining and often wrinkling of the mucousmembrane lining the mouth. They may alsodevelop a “chronic, progressive, scarring . . .of the oral mucosa,” a condition called oralsubmucous fibrosis.
Betel-nut chewing is also linked to a formof mouth cancer called oral squamous cellcarcinoma, which can also occur at the backof the throat. The high incidence of oral can-cer among adults in Southeast Asia seems
Should You ChewBetel Nut?
Betel nutswrapped in abetel-pepper leaf
Awake! February 2012 23
to bear this out. In the Taiwan area, approx-imately 85 percent of oral cancer cases oc-cur in betel-nut chewers. Moreover, “Taiwan’srate of oral cancer—one of the island’s top 10causes of death—has nearly quadrupled in thepast 40 years,” says The China Post.
The situation is much the same elsewhere.The Papua New Guinea Post-Courier states:“Papua New Guinea’s favourite chew, the be-telnut, is killing at least 2,000 people a yearand is responsible for many health problems,according to the PNG Medical Society.” “Theeffects of chronic betel usage,” according toone doctor and medical writer, “are at least asdiverse as those of smoking” and include car-diovascular disease.
What Is the Bible’s View?
The Bible is not a medical textbook, and itdoes not specifically mention betel-nut chew-ing. It does, however, contain a broad rangeof principles that can help us to lead clean-er, healthier, and better lives. Think about thefollowing Bible verses and the questions theyprompt.
“Beloved ones, let us cleanse ourselves of
every defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting
holiness in God’s fear.” (2 Corinthians 7:1)“Present your bodies . . . holy, acceptable toGod.” (Romans 12:1) Would a person be holy,or clean, in God’s eyes if he were to pollutehis body by chewing betel nut?
“By [God] we have life.” (Acts 17:28) “Everygood gift and every perfect present is from
above.” (James 1:17) Life is a precious giftfrom God. Is a person who indulges in hab-its that can cause disease showing respect forthat gift?
“No one can slave for two masters.” (Mat-thew 6:24) “I will not let myself be brought un-
der authority by anything.” (1 Corinthians 6:12) Should a person who wants to please Godallow himself to become a slave to an uncleanhabit, letting it rule his life?
“You must love your neighbor as yourself.”
(Mark 12:31) “Love cannot wrong a neigh-
bour.” (Romans 13:10, The New English Bible)Would we be showing genuine love for othersif we spit unsightly—and unhygienic—red sali-va on paths, sidewalks, or other areas?
Inevitably, ‘what we sow we reap.’ (Gala-tians 6:7, 8) This is a fundamental law of na-ture. Hence, if we sow bad habits, we will reapwhat is bad. However, when we live as Godintended for us to live, which includes hav-ing good habits, we will not only reap what
Chronic betel-nut chewing may leadto serious medical conditions
Stained teeth andgum disease
Oral submucousfibrosis
Oral squamous cellcarcinoma
24 Awake! February 2012
is good but also find true and lasting hap-piness. If you habitually chew betel nut butwant to lead a better, more rewarding life bydoing what is right in God’s eyes, how canyou conquer your habit? Why not prayerfullyconsider the following three tried-and-testedsteps?
Three Steps to Kicking the Habit
1. Be motivated. To overcome a bad hab-it, you need stronger motivation than merelyknowing about the risk to your health. Afterall, many people persist in chewing betel nut,smoking tobacco, or abusing drugs, knowingfull well that their habit can endanger theirhealth and life. To strengthen your motiva-tion, why not learn about your Creator andhis deep love for you by examining the Bible?“The word of God is alive and exerts power,”says Hebrews 4:12.
2. Ask God for help. “Keep on asking, and itwill be given you,” said Jesus Christ. “Keepon seeking, and you will find; keep on knock-ing, and it will be opened to you. For every-one asking receives, and everyone seekingfinds, and to everyone knocking it will beopened.” (Luke 11:9, 10) When the true God,Jehovah, sees you prayerfully and sincerelylooking to him for support and strength, hewill not ignore you. “God is love,” says 1 John4:8. One who experienced that love was theChristian apostle Paul. He wrote: “For allthings I have the strength by virtue of himwho imparts power to me.”—Philippians 4:13.
3. Seek the support of others. The peoplewith whom you associate can have a pow-erful influence on you for good or for bad.“He that is walking with wise persons will be-come wise, but he that is having dealings withthe stupid ones will fare badly,” says Prov-erbs 13:20. So choose your associates wisely!Among Jehovah’s Witnesses there are manywho once used betel nut. But by associatingwith fellow believers and studying the Bible,they received the extra help they needed toconquer their unclean habit.
Betty
Pauline
Wen-Chung
Jiao-Lian
Sam
Awake! February 2012 25
Awake! interviewed five people who oncechewed betel nut but have since given upthe habit. Consider what they have to say.
Why did you take up chewingbetel nut?
Pauline: My parents introduced me tobetel nut when I was a small child. Thatwas the custom in my island village inPapua New Guinea.
Betty: My father gave me betel nutwhen I was two years old. In my teens,I used to carry so many betel nuts withme that I was like a betel nut tree! I wasso addicted that the first thing I did everymorning was chew betel nut.
Wen-Chung: I started chewing betel nutwhen I was 16 years old. It was consideredcool and grown-up, and I wanted to be ac-cepted.
Jiao-Lian: I sold betel nut to supportmyself financially. In order to succeed,I felt I had to make sure my product wastop quality, so I began to sample it. Thatled to my habit.
How did the habit affect your health?Jiao-Lian: My mouth, teeth, and lips
were stained blood-red. I’m embarrassedto look at photographs of me taken backthen. I still suffer from lip ulcers.
Pauline: I used to get mouth ulcers,nausea, and diarrhea.
Betty: I weighed just 77 pounds (35 kg),which was grossly underweight for an adultmy height. My teeth looked ugly, and I oftencleaned and polished them with steel wool.
Sam: I used to get diarrhea and gumdisease. Now I have only one tooth! Andit probably did not help that I used steelwool to polish my teeth.
Why did you give up the habit?Pauline: I read in the Bible at 2 Corin-
thians 7:1 that God wants us to “cleanseourselves of every defilement of flesh.”I decided to try hard to please my Creator.
Sam: I wanted Jehovah God’s holy spiritto operate in my life, so I prayed that Jeho-vah help me to resist the temptation tochew betel nut. He answered my prayers.I have not used betel nut for about 30years.
Jiao-Lian: While reading the Bible,I came across the words “Cleanse yourhands, you sinners.” (James 4:8) Thatdirective leaped out at me. Could I rightlybe using and selling betel nut, knowingthe harm that it can do? Then and thereI decided to ‘cleanse my hands’ of thisphysically and spiritually unclean habit.
How have you benefited from givingup the habit?
Wen-Chung: I started chewing betel nutin order to be accepted by my peers. I nowenjoy far more precious relationships, bothwith Jehovah and with my spiritual brothersand sisters.
Sam: I am now much healthier—physi-cally and spiritually. And because I do notsquander money on bad habits, I am betterable to take care of my family.
Pauline: I feel free and clean. My teethare white and strong. And my house andgarden are free of betel-nut skins and uglyred stains.
Betty: I have a clean conscience andmuch better health. In fact, I am able towork both as a schoolteacher and as afull-time Christian minister.
THEY KICKED THE HABIT
26 Awake! February 2012
FOR centuries, Arabic was the predomi-nant language of the learned. Beginning
in the eighth century C.E., Arabic-speakingscholars in various Middle Eastern citiestranslated and corrected scientific and philo-sophical texts stretching back to the timesof Ptolemy and Aristotle. Arabic-speakingscholars thus preserved and enriched thework of ancient thinkers.
A Melting Pot of Ideas
The seventh and eighth centuries of ourCommon Era saw new powers arise in theMiddle East in the form of two dynasties—first the Umayyad and then the Abbasid.Since their subjects in Arabia, Asia Minor,Egypt, Palestine, Persia, and Iraq had been in-fluenced by both Greece and India, the newrulers had access to a rich reservoir of learn-ing. The Abbasids built a new capital, Bagh-dad, and it became a melting pot of ideas.There, Arabs mingled with Armenians, Ber-bers, Chinese, Copts, Greeks, Indians, Jews,Persians, Turks, and Sogdians, from beyondthe Oxus River, now known as the Amu Dar’-ya, in Central Asia. Together, they studied
and debated the sciences, cross-pollinatingtheir diverse intellectual traditions.
Baghdad’s Abbasid rulers encouraged gift-ed thinkers, wherever they came from, to con-tribute to the intellectual development of theempire. Systematic efforts were made to gath-er and translate into Arabic tens of thousandsof books on a wide range of subjects, includ-ing alchemy, arithmetic, geometry, medicine,music, philosophy, and physics.
Caliph al-Man �sur, who ruled from 754 to775 C.E., dispatched ambassadors to the Byz-antine court to acquire Greek mathematicaltexts. Caliph al-Ma’mun (813-833 C.E.) fol-lowed his lead, giving impetus to a Greco-Arabic translation movement that lasted formore than two centuries. Hence, by the endof the tenth century, nearly all Greek philo-sophical and scientific texts then availablehad been translated into Arabic. But Arabicscholars did more than translate. They alsomade original contributions.
Arabic Contributions
Many Arabic translators worked accurate-ly and with astonishing speed. Hence, some
HOW ARABIC BECAMETHE LANGUAGE OF THE LEARNED
S PA I NC
´ordoba
Rome
BY
Z A NT I U M
Constantinople
Oxus River
Baghdad
Jerusalem
Cairo
P E R S I A
A R A B I A
Umayyad influence
Abbasid influence
Awake! February 2012 27
historians have argued that the transla-tors must have been familiar with thesubject matter. What is more, a num-ber of scholars used translated texts as aspringboard for their own research.
For example, the physician and trans-lator �Hunayn ibn Is �haq (808-873 C.E.),a Syriac Christian, significantly contrib-uted to the understanding of vision. Hiswork, which incorporated accurate ana-tomical diagrams of the eye, became astandard reference in ophthalmology inboth the Arab world and Europe. Thephilosopher and physician Ibn Sına,known in the West as Avicenna (980-1037 C.E.), wrote many dozens of bookson a wide range of topics from ethicsand logic to medicine and metaphys-ics. His great compendium, the Canonof Medicine, drew on the medical knowl-edge available at that time, includingthe ideas of the celebrated Greek think-ers Galen and Aristotle. The Canon re-mained the standard medical textbookfor some 400 years.
Arab researchers embraced the ex-perimental method of science, whichlies at the very heart of scientific prog-ress. This led them to recalculate theearth’s circumference and to correctgeographical information in the work ofPtolemy. “They dared question even Ar-istotle,” says historian Paul Lunde.
The advance in learning was reflect-ed in many practical fields, such as theconstruction of reservoirs, aqueducts,and waterwheels, some of which sur-vive to this day. New texts on agricul-ture, botany, and agronomy enabledfarmers to select the best crops for aparticular area, thus boosting productiv-ity.
In 805 C.E., Caliph Harun ar-Rashıdestablished a hospital, the first in hisvast empire. Before long, every majorcity within his domain had one.
�Hunayn ibn Is �haq’s eye diagram
A page from Avicenna’s“Canon of Medicine”
Eye
dia
gra
m:
�S
SP
L/S
cie
nce
Mu
seu
m/A
rtR
esou
rce,N
Y;C
anon
ofM
edic
ine:
�Th
eA
rtG
alle
ryC
olle
ctio
n/A
lam
y
New Centers of Learning
A number of cities in the Arab world boast-ed libraries and specialized centers of learn-ing. In Baghdad, Caliph al-Ma’mun foundedthe translation and research institute calledBait al-Hikma, meaning the “House of Wis-dom.” Its staff included salaried scholars. Themain library in Cairo is said to have housedmore than a million volumes. Meanwhile,Cordoba, capital of Umayyad Spain, had 70libraries, which drew scholars and studentsfrom all over the Arab world. For well overtwo centuries, Cordoba remained a leadingintellectual center.
In Persia, Greek mathematical traditionsintermingled with those of India, where math-ematicians had developed a system for theuse of the numeral zero and positional nota-
tion. In that system of writing numbers, indi-vidual digits assume different values accord-ing to their position and the placement of thesymbol for zero. The digit one, for example,can mean one, ten, a hundred, and so on. Thissystem “not only simplified calculation of allsorts but made possible the development ofalgebra,” writes Lunde. Arab scholars alsomade great strides in geometry, trigonometry,and navigation.
The golden age of Arab science and math-ematics contrasted with the intellectual tor-por elsewhere. Parallel efforts were beingmade in medieval Europe, mainly in monas-teries, to preserve the works of ancient schol-ars. The output, though, paled when com-pared with that of the Arab world. As earlyas the tenth century, however, things began
to change when trans-lations of Arab scholar-ship trickled into theWest. In time, this trick-le grew in scale and ledto the European scientif-ic renaissance.
Yes, history’s big pic-ture tells us that no sin-gle nation or people cantake the credit for thepresent state of learningin the sciences and relat-ed fields. Today’s morelearned cultures owe alot to earlier culturesthat promoted research,questioned the ortho-dox, and encouraged fer-tile minds.
Arabic scholars ina library in Basra,1237 C.E.
�S
cala
/W
hit
eIm
ages/A
rtR
esou
rce,N
Y
28 Awake! February 2012
Awake! February 2012 29
Young Leaders in MalaysiaA popular TV competition in Malaysia has the
theme of picking a good imam, or Islamic religiousleader. Entitled “Imam Muda,” or “Young Leader,”the show is filmed in Kuala Lumpur. Contestants,aged 18 to 27, who come from various backgrounds,are gradually eliminated until just one remains. Priz-es consist of money and a new car, but the winner isalso offered employment as an imam, a scholarship tostudy in Saudi Arabia, and a paid pilgrimage to Mec-ca. Contestants must master the duties of an imam,be able to debate religious and current issues, and re-cite from the Koran. The show’s creator says that hisaim is to “attract the youth” to Islam.
Online IndiscretionsMany users of social networks do not foresee the
possible consequences of disclosing private informa-tion. Yet, indiscretions online can catch up with youlater in life. According to school headmaster TimothyWright, quoted in Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald,“modern technology means that the careless word,the slanderous comment, the inappropriate photo-graph or the revealing of someone’s private details ison the permanent record and freely available to any-one who has access.” This means that “mistakes madeat 15 may be still retrievable by an employer 10 yearslater,” says Wright.
WATCHING THE WORLD
“The presidency has afunny way of making aperson feel the need topray.”—BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
When asked to select a meansof expressing nationalpride, 56 percent of people inArgentina between ages 10 and24 said they would prefer towear the jersey of the nationalsoccer team.—LA NACI
´ON, ARGENTINA.
Results from a study suggestthat “roughly one-third offood produced for humanconsumption is lost orwasted globally, whichamounts to about 1.3 billiontons per year.”—FOOD AND AGRICUL-
TURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED
NATIONS, ITALY.
“Today, wars and reports of warsfill the earth, and so the armyof our Fatherland shouldalways be ready to protectits people and all that it holdsholy from any claims made byan external enemy.”—PATRIARCH
KIRILL, HEAD OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX
CHURCH.
The peak in the numberof traffic accidents report-ed to a German insurance com-pany in 2010 occurred between7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. “Oneof the most important accidentprevention measures is to takeenough time to get to workin the morning,” comments acompany official.—PRESSEPORTAL,
GERMANY.
FOR FAMILY REVIEW
What Is Missing FromThis Picture?Read 1 Samuel 1:24-28; 2:11. Now look at the picture.What features are missing? Write your answers on thelines below. Connect the dots to complete the picture,then color in the drawing.
1 ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝
2 ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝
3 ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝
˘ “FOR FAMILY REVIEW” answers on page 11
FOR DISCUSSION: How didSamuel’s parents want him to usehis life? How did Jehovah blessSamuel? CLUE: Read 1 Samuel 3:19-21. What goals can you set soas to honor Jehovah? CLUE: ReadEcclesiastes 12:13; 1 Timothy 4:6-8, 12, 13.
FAMILY ACTIVITY: Withoutspeaking, one family membercould act out the part of one ofthe characters in the above Bibleaccount. The rest of the familyshould try to guess the identityof that character.
To print out additional copiesof “For Family Review,” go towww.jw.org
30
START 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
89
10
11
12
13
141516
17
18
19
2021
22
23
24 25
2627
28
2930
31
3233
34
35
3637 38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
FINISH
Collect and Learn Cut out, fold in half, and saveS
AM
UE
LB
IBL
EC
AR
D
14
S A M U E L
PROFILE His parents “lent him toJehovah” and encouraged him to makeGod’s service his career from a youngage. (1 Samuel 1:24, 28) Though hesaw corrupt priests take advantage ofothers, Samuel remained loyal, honest,and brave.—1 Samuel 2:22-26; 3:18, 19;12:2-5, 17, 18.
QUESTIONS
A. Samuel’s parents were named �������and ������.
B. Jehovah used Samuel to write whatBible books?
C. Complete the Bible’s statement:“And the boy Samuel continued . . .”
ANSWERS
A. Elkanah and Hannah.—1 Samuel 1:19, 20.
B. Judges, Ruth, and part of First Samuel.
C. “. . . growing up with Jehovah.”—1 Samuel 2:21.
Peoples and Lands4. Our names are Oskar, aged 10, and Saskia,aged 7. We live in Estonia. About how many ofJehovah’s Witnesses live in Estonia? Is it 2,400,4,200, or 6,800?
5. Which dot shows where we live? Circle it, drawa dot where you live, and see how close you areto Estonia.
Children’sPicture SearchCan you find these pictures inthis issue? In your own words,describe what is happening ineach picture.
40
26
B.C
.E.
Adam
create
dLiv
ed
about
110
0B
.C.E
.
1C
.E.
98
C.E
.
Last
Bib
lebook
writt
en
A B
C D
Born in Ramah—moved to Shiloh
Ramah
Shiloh
Jerusalem
˘ Would you like to read about the earthly lifeof Jesus Christ, as well as his life-altering teach-ings and unforgettable illustrations? If so, you areinvited to read the book The Greatest Man WhoEver Lived.
After studying this book, an appreciative read-er stated: “Written in such a simple manner, yetconveying in beautiful detail the life of our Lordwhile on earth, this book is a masterpiece.”
To the extent known, events in this book arerelated in the order in which they occurred. It isbased on the divinely inspired writings of four ofJesus’ contemporaries, the Gospel writers Mat-thew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew and Johnwere apostles and traveling companions of Jesus.Mark was a close friend of Peter, one of Jesus’apostles. And the physician Luke was a travel-ing companion of the Christian apostle Paul.
To request a copy of this book, simply fill inthis coupon and mail it to an appropriate addresslisted on page 5 of this magazine.
“This Book Is aMasterpiece”
Q Without obligation,I request a copy of thebook shown here.Indicate which language.��������������������������������������
Q Please contact meconcerning a free homeBible study.
Name ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
Address �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
City �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
Province/State ������������������������� Postal/ZIP Code �������������������������
THEGREATEST
MANWHO EVER LIVED
www.watchtower.org g12 02-E