awake 2012' 02, en

!"#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.


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.”


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.


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.”


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.


Affect My Reputation?

“A good reputation and respect areworth much more than silver and gold.”—Proverbs 22:1, “ContemporaryEnglish Version.”


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?


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.


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.


‘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

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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.


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?


“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


˘ 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


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

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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

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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


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

urpers

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

orju

styo

urpare

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

forit.”—

Nata

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

yourre

cre

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

yourm

ind,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

yourm

ind’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?


˘ 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


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


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


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! 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


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

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Cairo

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Umayyad influence

Abbasid influence


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”

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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