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Questions From ReadersThe Watchtower—1956 | August 15
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Questions From Readers
● If an unmarried pregnant woman who has made arrangements for the baby to be adopted comes to a knowledge of the truth before the baby is born, should she then feel obligated to keep the child in order to teach it the truth of God’s Word?
One may argue that if the baby is adopted it will have more in a material way and will not have to bear the stigma of illegitimacy. But spiritual provisions are more vital than material things, and if necessary the social stigma can be avoided by the mother’s moving to another place.
Jehovah commands the parent: “These words that I am commanding you today must prove to be on your heart, and you must inculcate them in your son and speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up.” How could a parent do this if she gives her baby away? How could she give it the right start in life: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it”?—Deut. 6:6, 7, NW; Prov. 22:6.
At the moment it might seem wise to unburden oneself of the problem by having the baby adopted, but it would be against the motherly instincts and as time passed there might be bitter regret because of this course. It would be against natural affection, although in these last days of critical, difficult times we are told that many persons would be “having no natural affection.” It would seem better to follow the principles of motherly affection and love for offspring and the keeping of a clear conscience. Even the principles of Christian faith would seem to be violated by failure to look after the child one brought into existence. Paul wrote: “Certainly if anyone does not provide for those who are his own, and especially for those who are members of his household, he has disowned the faith and is worse than a person without faith.”—2 Tim. 3:3; 1 Tim. 5:8, NW.
So it would seem more courageous and more Christian to bear the burden of keeping and rearing the baby, facing whatever consequences that might follow, such as loss of reputation. Especially so now that the mother has come to a knowledge of the truth and is in position to teach the truth to her offspring and perhaps make it possible for it to live forever in a new world of righteousness. The person finding herself in this difficult position must make her own decision as to the course she will follow.
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The Wonderful Ways of FishThe Watchtower—1956 | August 15
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The Wonderful Ways of Fish
● Scientists are ever coming up with new evidence as to the strange and wonderful ways of fish. In Scotland W. M. Shearer has produced proof that sea trout return not only to the fresh water stream in which they were spawned but to the very same little inlet, even the same stretch of gravelly bank. Shearer discovered this by capturing, tagging and liberating sea trout in the many inlets of the River Dee. A year later he recaptured six of these fish, each one in the same inlet where it had been caught originally. In the United States John Briggs of the University of Florida also came up with something new. He found evidence to support a belief that the first fish returning to a spawning ground swim at once to its outer reaches. The reason for this? Why, to leave room for later arrivals. That is real intelligence! Obviously, giving the fish the credit is not enough, as the God-fearing man Job explained: “But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the birds of the heavens, and they shall tell thee: or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these, that the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this, in whose hand is the soul of every living thing.”—Job 12:7-10, AS.
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