Watching the World
Adventist “Prophet” a “Plagiarist”?
◆ Delegates to last year’s international Seventh-day Adventist convention reaffirmed that Ellen G. White is “inspired in the same sense as were the Bible prophets.” She wrote more than 50 books. Now an Adventist minister for 36 years who spent two years researching her writings declares: “She was a plagiarist.” Pastor Walter Rea claims that the evidence is so plain that “I could take a truck driver off the street and he can see it.” He states that Ellen White’s sources were often non-Adventist religious writers of the mid-1800’s and offers a number of examples to prove it. Thus far, he asserts, he has not found a major work by Ellen White that did not use a previously published source. “The important thing is that she and the denomination always claimed that she didn’t copy and that she wasn’t influenced by anyone,” Rea said.
Commenting on the discovery of this literary borrowing, Donald R. McAdams, president of Southwestern Adventist College in Keene, Texas, wrote: “Ellen White is so central to the lives of Seventh-day Adventists that her words impinge on practically every area of Adventist teaching and practice. . . . To consider her words as possibly derived from someone else and not necessarily the final authority introduces an element of chaos into the very heart of Adventism that makes all of us uneasy.”
Human Fetuses for Sale
◆ The editor of a monthly newsletter on world resources, James Ridgeway, is reported as describing the sale of human fetuses as one of the most unusual commodities in global trade. He says that in 1976 the price of a human fetus was about $75 (U.S.), the price paid by research laboratories and pharmaceutical firms involved with tissue cultures. The best source of supply? Particularly the lower classes in the underdeveloped countries of the world. Ridgeway’s comments are made in his book entitled “Who Owns the Earth?” That becomes a most serious question to answer when one considers that Ridgeway also says that now a “steady stream of fetal material” is coming from American women. Why the new situation? The change has come about since the American courts legalized abortion. Of course, the mother or the father of the fetus does not get the money for these fetus sales. Who does? Do doctors and hospitals that handle abortions make a profit in addition to the money they make on their services to the patient? Is there any end to the abuses of what is sacred in the eyes of the One who owns the earth and all life upon it?—Ex. 21:22-25.
Expensive Exercise
◆ In a crowded country such as Japan, trying to keep physically fit can prove disastrous, if one is not cautious. In one case a jogger was ordered to pay 1,340,000 yen (about $6,300, U.S.) to a 71-year-old woman whom he ran into, causing her to fall and be hospitalized for more than two months. The court found him negligent, the judge saying that the jogger should have slowed down or made a temporary stop. In another case a boy and his father were ordered to pay half each of a fine of 19.6 million yen (about $92,000, U.S.)! This was because the boy failed to catch a ball. The ball hit a nine-year-old, who died two days later. The court agreed that the boy was responsible because he should have realized the danger of playing catch in that area. It is a good policy to consider all possibilities when any activity is undertaken, even if it seems as innocent as throwing or catching a ball.
Corrected View of “Cavemen”
◆ Excavations made in southern Germany by the University of Tübingen have revealed new facts about the so-called “cavemen” of central and western Europe. Up until now this “early human being” was viewed as a “skin clad hunter of wild animals who fought with mammoths and bears,” wrote the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. This traditional picture must now be corrected. The discoveries seem to indicate that the caves were occupied only in early summer (more or less as summer residences) and were abandoned in the fall. It seems that even during the warm season the supposed “cavemen” stayed in their caves only during bad weather. The kitchen garbage found in some of the caves shows that eggs, fish and birds were their main food, not mammoths. According to the article, “Interesting round pearls and buttons made of bone presumably sewed into clothing made out of skins” were found, “demonstrating that even at that time people did not just wear the half raw skins of animals, but had quite a sense for decorative items.” Striking were the several ivory animal statuettes that were found. It is now thought that the part-time cave dwellers may have “rendered idolatrous worship” to the “mighty and dangerous animals.”
Invented for Textbooks
◆ An article appearing in the German scientific magazine Factum dealt with the subject: “Fossils: Primitive Originals or Already Completed Forms?” Plant and animal fossils were compared with present-day forms. After comparing present-day crustacea with crustacean fossils, the writer concluded: “Nowhere did we meet up with the primitive original forms evolution so often has tried to find. Every type of fossilized crustacea was found to be highly organized and complete just like those we have today.” So of what opinion was the writer? “Primitive animal forms? Superior crustacea? . . . They exist only in our zoological textbooks.”
Appalled Evolutionist
◆ A man from New Hampshire wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Times, commenting on an article that appeared earlier under the title “Against Creationism.” He wrote: “As an evolutionist, I was appalled at [the article]. . . . The fact is, there are many holes in the evolutionist theory, as any objective scientist (biologist or not) will agree. That the creationists’ best evidence is these holes does nothing to improve the validity of Darwin’s theory.”
Fans or “Animals”?
◆ Regarding some British soccer fans, Toronto’s Globe and Mail recently reported: “Here is what a Spanish newspaper said earlier this month after supporters of West Ham, a London club, rioted at a game in Madrid: ‘Never in the history of the stadium has there been such uncivilized and bestial behavior. England’s foreign emissaries are worse than the barbarian hordes Attila sent.’”
Commenting on such increased violence at soccer matches, the New York Times observed: “Spectator violence at the soccer games, which has increased steadily in the last 10 years, seems to some to be a symbol of a general breakdown in law and order, in a society that has traditionally prided itself on civility and proper behavior, and a troubling reminder of new inner-city frustrations.”
Record Oil Output
◆ The world’s leading oil producer, the Soviet Union, reports a new peak of oil production for the first six months of 1980, averaging over 12 million barrels a day—compared with 11.7 million barrels daily during 1979. The world’s second-largest oil producer, Saudi Arabia, produced about 9 1/2 million barrels a day for the six-month period.
Increased Highway Peril
◆ More than 50,000 Americans died in highway accidents in 1979, and deaths are increasing. James B. King, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board in the United States, observed: “If this were happening with airlines or railroads, we’d be outraged. But people feel they are in control of events when they drive a car and don’t seem upset at the carnage.” Another growing problem is that the new fuel-efficient cars are also smaller and lighter, and riders are more likely to be killed or injured in collisions with larger cars or trucks. King says: “Breakaway highway signs are supposed to plop down when hit by a vehicle. But with small cars, they sometimes act like a brick wall. Then there are the median barriers on highways that are supposed to force you back into your lane. That’s what they do with standard-sized cars. But hit these barricades at the same angle in a small car, and you may flip over.”
Sweet Scheme Sours
◆ Switzerland reports the uncovering of a plot by a man and a woman to sell secrets to several east European countries. A Justice Ministry official spoke of “attempted economic espionage on behalf of foreign powers.” The secrets in question were not concerning missiles or atomic bombs, however, but Swiss chocolate. The pair had tried to sell recipes of about 40 different kinds of Swiss chocolate obtained by the woman when she worked for a candy company.
‘Excellent Water’
◆ New York city has many evils, but it is reported that its drinking water is not one of them. Tests of the city’s water were made under strictly controlled conditions by an independent group. They rated the water as “excellent.” Among the many waters tested, including many expensive bottled waters, it was one of only three to get the “superb quality” rating. Additionally, it was the only free drink of all those tested. Taste experts say that an “excellent” water should be free of sediment and color, with no aroma, and with a flavor that slightly stimulates taste buds. And, of course, it must be refreshing. However, it has been pointed out that, even though it comes largely from a system of upstate reservoirs, New York water does contain minute amounts of added chemicals.
Earthquake Aftermath
◆ The 1976 earthquake in Tangshan, China, took the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. As a result, many husbands lost wives and many wives lost husbands. Thousands of these bereaved ones have since married each other. However, the common sense of loss did not by itself make a solid foundation for enduring marriages. China Reconstructs reports: “About 30 percent of the remarriages have ended in divorce—sometimes because the couples had too little in common, sometimes because their children couldn’t get along.”
Record Arms Cost
◆ A joint study by United States, British and Canadian arms-control groups said that in 1980 the world used more than $500 billion (thousand million) on military expenditures. The average annual cost in the 1970’s (at 1979 prices) was $370 billion. On new weapons research alone this year, governments spent eight times as much money as on solving energy problems.
Selling Children
◆ “Millions of Third World families are turning to infanticide and the selling of children into slavery or prostitution to get rid of unwanted offspring,” says Toronto’s Globe and Mail. As an example, England’s Guardian relates that British human rights campaigner Tim Bond told the United Nations that more than 500 children were sold into slavery each week in one city of southeast Asia alone, and that he himself had purchased two of them for $35 (about £16), returning them to their homes. In addition, countless millions of children are abandoned to fend for themselves in the slums “of every major city” in Asia, Africa and Latin America, says Mrs. Page Wilson, a past coordinator of the Population Crisis Committee in Washington. Experts see no relief from this pathetic situation, as poverty, one of its chief causes, is increasing.