Insight on the News
Merely for Show
“For nearly 200 years, the U.S. Congress has begun its daily deliberations with prayer,” states an article in The Oregonian. “Out of 100 senators, perhaps five show up each morning . . . In the House, where the proceedings are televised, the turnout is higher—maybe 20 out of 435. Of those who do show up, virtually none come for the prayer.”
Then why have the prayers? The article continues: “Congressional prayer—scorned in practice as a neutered, meaningless exercise in piety—is endorsed piously by politicians as evidence of their virtue. The voters are supposed to fall for the logic once described by A. J. Liebling: ‘Man go to church—good man, no lie. Man not go to church—bad man, lie.’”
Jesus denounced praying simply for outward appearances. (Matthew 6:5, 6) People who pray in this fashion fall into the category of those hypocrites whom Jesus said ‘honor God with their lips, yet their heart is far removed from him.’—Matthew 15:8.
UN Paralysis
“For the second year in a row,” says The Times of London, “Señor Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, the United Nations Secretary-General, has issued a report bemoaning the international community’s tendency to ignore and defy the UN in pursuit of short-term national interests.” It quotes him as saying that the world has adopted ‘a role where rivalries rule diplomacy and vendettas overshadow cooperation.’
Calling this year’s report “even more negative than the first,” the article continues: “For Señor Pérez de Cuéllar the single most important factor, leading to what he calls ‘the partial paralysis of the United Nations as the guardian of international peace and security’, is the weakening of the commitment of all nations, especially the five permanent members of the Security Council . . . to cooperate within the UN framework.”
Singling out the United States and the Soviet Union as the worst offenders, the article states that “plans for solving particular problems . . . are useless as long as cooperation between the superpowers is untenable.”
Strife and lack of cooperation between the world powers, leading up to our “time of the end,” was prophesied long ago by Daniel, who wrote: “Their heart will be inclined to doing what is bad, and at one table a lie is what they will keep speaking. But nothing will succeed.” (Daniel 11:27; 12:4) And now paralysis of the UN’s efforts to establish “international peace and security” highlights the truthfulness of Jesus’ statement that “a house divided against itself falls.” (Luke 11:17) Only God’s Kingdom will bring real and lasting peace and security to the earth.—Isaiah 9:6, 7.
Children’s Beliefs
“Many younger pupils take seriously the argument that Jesus Christ was an alien from another planet,” reports The Guardian. The finding was based on essays written by 13-year-old boys in over a hundred schools on the subject “What I Believe.” According to Mr. Martin Rogers, the author of the report, “Elijah’s departure in a chariot of fire placed him firmly amongst the space age prophets and Jesus’ ascension was seen as just another blast-off.” One student wrote: “I think God is a scientist and we are his experiments.”
“Most of the pupils seemed thoroughly confused by what they found in the Bible,” states The Guardian. “Supernatural events like the parting of the Red Sea were ‘treated like the Father Christmas story’ and many thought the healing miracles were sociological.”
How different this is from the case of the young man Timothy! Concerning him it was written: “From infancy you have known the holy writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through the faith in connection with Christ Jesus.” Wise parents today will also instruct their young children in an accurate knowledge of the Bible, helping them to establish a strong faith in God and providing a bulwark against what is “falsely called ‘knowledge.’”—2 Timothy 3:15; 1 Timothy 2:3, 4; 6:20, 21.