Insight on the News
Christians’ “Calamity”
More soul-searching among religious groups over the issue of nuclear weapons is reflected by statements in the magazine The Christian Century: “The earliest Christians did not serve in the armed forces. Roland Bainton notes that ‘from the end of the New Testament period to the decade A.D. 170-180 there is no evidence whatever of Christians in the army.’ . . . Only gradually did Christians abandon their opposition to military service . . . Once Augustine endorsed ‘just war’ as authorizing Christians’ participation in military activities, ‘just war’ soon became whatever war their government engaged in.”
The article then exposes the real issue for Christians: “Can anyone seriously conceive of Jesus hurling hand grenades at his enemies, using a machine gun, manipulating a flamethrower, dropping nuclear bombs or launching an ICBM which would kill or cripple thousands of mothers and children? . . . If Jesus could not do this and be true to his character, then how can we do it and be true to him?” How has this affected Christendom? In the opinion of the Christian Century writer:
“Augustine’s [‘just war’] perversion of Christianity on this critical issue was the greatest calamity that ever befell the faith. It has cost Christians endless opportunities to witness for their central ethical principle: love your enemies and do good to them who despitefully use you. It may have done as much to hamper Christian evangelism as anything that has ever occurred.” Of course, evangelism for Christ by Jehovah’s Witnesses is not ‘hampered’ by this stigma, since in all nations they prove “true to him” on this matter.—Compare 1 Peter 2:21.
‘Get On With Surgery’
“It is time physicians . . . end the unfortunate hostility that prevails in some areas” over bloodless surgery for Jehovah’s Witnesses, declared a contributed editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. “Quite a number of physicians, to their credit, have already done this.” Yet the publication also notes: “There are still cases where surgeons ‘slip in’ blood after the patient is anesthetized—hardly an admirable practice.”
And even though “convinced that experience and advancing technology now make it possible for [surgeons], without insisting on the use of blood transfusions, to look after Witnesses successfully,” the editorial goes on to ask, “why, then, do the controversies of the past that have created undesirable publicity for physicians and for Jehovah’s Witnesses continue?” The opinion of one anesthetist was cited: “Some surgeons waste time standing about and arguing with the relatives of the patient over the issue of blood transfusion instead of replacing fluid loss . . ., getting on with the surgery and stopping the bleeding.”
These comments surely highlight the wisdom of informing doctors fully in advance on matters involving controversial treatment. “A discerning mind seeks knowledge,” says Proverbs 15:14. (The New English Bible) Hence, physicians should early be provided with the information necessary to treat their patients with consideration for spiritual as well as physical needs.—Proverbs 22:3.
New Particle and Creation
From evidence gathered at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN), scientists believe they may have discovered a long-sought subatomic particle. By forcing at tremendous speed collisions between protons and their antimatter opposites (antiprotons) the scientists were able to produce the new “W-particle” that is ‘eighty times the mass of either of the protons that spawn it,’ reports Toronto’s Globe and Mail. ‘The difference (the extra mass) is explained by the tremendous amount of energy put into accelerating the protons and antiprotons before collision.’
This extra mass could have meaning for those who believe in a Creator because, for a split second, according to the article, ‘energy is translated into mass.’ As the Source of an “abundance of dynamic energy,” Jehovah God can rightly point to the universe and ask puny man, “Who has created these things?” knowing that the answer is obvious.—Isaiah 40:26.