plain truth 1976 (prelim no 07) aug_w

7/28/2019 Plain Truth 1976 (Prelim No 07) Aug_w

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the

[ p [ f f i ~ m UWrnurna magaz in e o f unders tand ing

Vol. XLI , No. 7 Aug us t 1976

ARTICLES

The PLAIN TRUTH - SUPPOR TED BYOUR CONTRIBUTIONSThe Plain Truth has 110 subsc ription or newsstanpr ice. It is suppor ted th rough contributio ns from oreaders and those who have chosen . voluntarily.become co-wo rkers with us in th is worldwide worThe Plain Truth is nonpro fit. accep ts no commercadvertis ing. and has no thing to sel l. Contr ibut ions agratefully we lcomed and are tax-deductible in the U,Those who can are encouraged to add the ir l inancisupport in thesp i ri t of helping 10 make The Plain Truavailable . without pr ice, to othe rs. Contributionshou ld be sen t 10 The Plain Truth . PasadenCA 91123 or to one of our off ices nearest you (seaddresses below)

Edltor-ln-Chlef: HERBERTW, ARMSTRONGIs There Life After Death?The Surpri se Issue of the '76 CampaignWho Was the Rea l Jesus?Is It Time to Tame TV?Fighting Fair in Love and MarriageLiving With the Atom ic GenieNuclear Power - What Kind of Bargain?The Ubiquitous UFO"Wall of Shame"They Said I'd Never Walk Ag ain

FEATURESPersona l f rom the EditorWor ldwatchTV-Radio LogCommentaryGarner Ted Armstrong Speaks Out !

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Editor: GARNERTEDARMSTRONGManaging Editor : Arthur A. FerdigAssistant to the Editor: Robert L. KuhnNews Editor: Gene H, HogbergFeatures Editor : Dexter H FaulknerArt ctrectcr: Alien MeragerAssoclale Editors: Robert Ginskey. Brian KnowlesPublis hing Coordinator: Roger G Lipo rossCopy Editors: Jim E. Lea,Peter MooreSenior Edito rs: Raymond F, McNair, Roderick CMeredithSenior Writer s: Jeff Calkins, Donald D scruoeoe KeitStumpContributors: Don Abraham. Ron Be-deck. Peter Butle0, Paul Graunk e. Ron Horswell, RayKosanke, Adli MUtad', Gordon MUir. David Price. Carole Ritter. George Rter. John R, Schroeder.Wolfgang ThomsenNews Research Stall: Dortn ajean Clausen, WerneJebens. Marc StahlGraphics: Design Coordina tor : Monte Wolverton : Asscmte An Dlreclor: Greg S Smith; Staff Art,sts' RandaCole. Garry Haggerty, Ron Leceska. Gary RichardsoGene Tikasingh. Mikewooorctr.Photography: Photo Services Direclor . Warren WatsoCharles Buschmann . Ken Evans, Joyce Hedlund, AllreHennigPhoto Files:Manager AlanLeiter: Janice NeufeldOffices: Auc kland, New Zeala nd Robert Morton, BonnWest Germany. Frank Schnee; St. Albans, EnglandFrank Brown; Burle igh neeas. Austral'a ' Denras LukeJohannesburg. Sculn Africa Robert Fahey, Manila, Phrppmes. Colin Adair: Utrecht The NetherlandS' RoMcCarthy : Vancouver. BC , Canada, DeanWilson

Founder and President: Herbe rt W. ArmwongE ~ e c Vice-President: Garner TedArmstrongPublishers: StanleyR Rader, Robert L. KuhnBusin ess Manager : Haymond L. WrightCirculati on Manager: Jack Marun

ABOUT OUR COVERStud ies show that television mayhem andimmorality adversely influence not onlychildren , but also adults. Cover illustrationportrays the violence that too often characterizes TV programming. (See article inth is issue : " Is It Time to Tame Television?")//Ius/ration by Neil Boyle

The Plain Tflith IS cooesnec monthly (except combineApnt-May issue) byAmbassador College, Pasadena, CaIfornia 91123 Copyright 1976 Ambassador College. Arights reserved SecondClassPostage paid at PasadenCA, and at additionalmallmg cruces PRINTED IN U.SAUmted SImes P. O. Box 111, Pasadena, Californ91123Canada POBox 44. Station A. Vancouver t, B,C.MeXICO' lnstltuclon Ambassador, Apartado Postal 5-59Mexico 5. D.F.Colombia Apartaoo Aereo 1 t 430. Bogota 1, 0 EU/1l1ed ,{ingdom, Europe. India, Afnca and the WeIndies P 0 ,Box 111. $1. Albans, Herts.. EnglandSouth Afr ica, Mauri tiUS and MalawI." P, 0 Box 1060Johannesburg. Republic of South Atnca 2000Rhodes,aP. 0 , Box U.A.30, Union Ave ,SaisburyAustralia and Southeast ASa ; G.P.O Box 345, SydneNSW2001. Australia,'IJeN Zealand and Pect ttc Isles POBox 2709, Auckland 1,New ZealandThePhilippines: P,0 , Box t 1t 1. Makan,Rlla l 0 -708BESURE TONOTFY us IMMEDIATELYct any change In youaddress Please include your old mailing label and younew address, IMPORTANTI The publisher assumesno responsibility for return of uosoncseo all work, photographs,or rnanuscnpts


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Personal from ...

I VISIT SOUTH AFRICA-WHERERACE RIOTS FLARED OUT...MYANALYSIS

M first visit to South Africasome yea rs ove rdue. Ihad expe cted. from reportsprinted a bo ut South Afr ica andapartheid. to find wh ites ar roga ntlydominant a nd blac ks cowering infca r.

But I found ins tead - on th e surrace - appare nt racial peace. Iround blacks holding their heads upj us t like wh ite s. I found bot h blacksand whites. for instance, in the hote l's large coffee shop in equalnu mbers, each go ing ab ou t their respective jo bs ju st as if they were a llthe sa me race .Then . suddenly. th e day before

vestcrdav I a r rived back i il Joh an jlesburg r o m a visit to South-WestA frica '-a nd found in the evcninunewsp ap er th e fu ll-p age-wide head':lin e. S IX DIE IN RIOTS .' Th a twas W edn esd ay . J une 16 . Themorning paper of Thursday. Ju ne17. had a gia nt page-wi de head lineof two words. "Flaming Night." Unde r it was a seven-co lum n. full-colorpicture of motor t rucks in flame .All had seemed to be at PEACEhe re - on the surface, So ut h Africais try ing the ex pe rime nt of T\\ 'Oraces . black a nd white . a nd a lso ath i rd . ca lled here "co loured" - ami xtu re of Ind ia n. mulatto . andot he r races - each bv law livin g inits one a re a of the citv or countrv.a nd each of th e th ree 'fo rb idden bylaw to live in an y o the r th an its owna rea.Supposed ly th ey ar e a ll eq ua l. ye t

ob v ious ly th e whites dominat e. Su pposedly there is no discr imina tio n.Supposed ly all are frien ds, no onefa ce supposedly feeli ng superior.and no o ther feeling inferio r.

Su pposedly. th a t is the ca se . And.0 11 the su rfa ce. tha t is the way itappeared when I ar r ived ove r threeweeks ago. Here in m), hot e l. th eCa rlton, blacks are welcome th esa me as wh iles. but I have see n almost no b lacks as guests. a lthoug hth e number of bl ack a nd whi te em ployees a ppear to be abou t equal.I have no doubt that th is areasegrega tion idea in residences. vetwit h 7dl races ap pa rent ly mixing'inem ploymem , in sho ps an d stores,a nd in th e downtown citv s treetscou ld be made to wor k 'for perm anent pe ace - IF it we re no t forhuman nature .ThePLAIN TRUTH Augus t 1976

Bu t one of the inarcdicnts inhuma n natur e is e j l ~ d i c whichcrosses th c color lin es. an d o ther ingr ed i e nts in h uman na ture a rc jeal ous y an d envy. comp etit ion a ndstri fe, resentmen t or a uthori ty . be sides va ni tv, lu st. a nd urecd . Andth ese. sooner o r lat er . '- spe ll vro LE:"CE !St ill. such violence is ncur lv al

ways deliberately organized an d delibe rate ly sti rre d up.Some few years ago. a radicalkn ow n as "Dannv th e Red " ini tiat ed a vir tua l nat ionwid e st rike inF ra nce . s tart in g from the Univers ityof Pa ris. He ; Imos t succeeded i;lovcrthrowinu the French uovernment.Days l a t ~ r . D an ny th7: Red wa sholding a "teach-in " for university

s tud en ts a t the Univcrsltv o f Lon do n's Gradu at e School Eco nomics . It wa s cl osed to th e p ress.Am bassado r s tudents attended a ndreported to me . Th ose attendingwere uiven a cou rse in HOW to b r ingabout a RIOT an d overthrow a governm cnt.

Th e rec ipe is well kn own to su hversives a nd rad ica ls. F irs t. findsome issue in which a ce rt ain classo f peo p le fee l they a re un ju stlytrea ted - such as s tude nts. la borun ion s. etc, Then ge t to them in

grou ps . gro up lectures. etc .. a nd fanth e nam es of resentme nt. p rejudice .and feel ings o f inj ustice. Exaggerateit. Mak e it an BIOTiOS AL ISSUE. Afte r ma llY such meeti ngs o r lect u res.oruan izc biueer ones, orate to them

' e T l e m e n l y ~ ~ n d whip up the ir emotions of resentmen t an d hat e towhite-hot hea t - turn them AGA INSTth e "i nstiuator" or class causing theinjustice . ....Then. o rganize a definite

" ~ 1 . C H OF PROTEST: ' Tr v to turnth e march int o a r iot. r-, to ma keth e riot spread. 'In th e WO Rl .D whichis coming SOON. two th ings will

b rin g a bou t RACIAL PEACF,: On e.hum an nature will he cha nged.Two . the scg regatio n-in tcgra tion issue will he se tt led in a way to br ingPEA CE. And the re will be NO DI SCRI\ ItSATlOS. no one face over a n)'o ther. Oppo rtun ity fo r success andwe lfare will be EQUAL.T hc n hu mans will learn . as t he

apostle Pa ul said to the Athenian" thinkers" on vl ars" H ill. tha t Godth e Creator " ha th made or one Moodal l nations of men. " And not of"whi te" b lood. o r so me o the r 1.:'01-orcd blood. We all have onc ancesto r. Ad am. a nd ultimately we sh a llbe O S I; F,\ \ lIl . .... . not in color. bu t inspirit and in LO VE. 0


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THE INCREDIBLE HUMAN POTENTIAL- PARTXISTHERELIFEAFTER

DEATH?oes the Bible teach transmigration of souls? Going to heaven at death?Does LIFE end at death? Does life offer us no more than this "three score and ten"?WHY was humanity put on earth? Is there, after all, as Winston Churchill said tothe U.S. Congress, a PURPOSE BEING WORKED OUT HERE BELO W?The mystery her e solved!

by Herbert W. ArmstrongWHY this mystery about lifeafter death? W HY so manybeliefs of so many di lTerentreligions? How can we KNO\J,/? Canwe believe God '? Adam and Evedidn 't. Few believed Christ - thatis. few believed what He SAID !Could we believe God - if He toldliS?I sa id to my wife fifty years ago ."I know the Bible say s, 'Thou shaltkeep Sun d ay.' ' ' " How do youknow?" she ask ed . "D id you readit?"

"N o. but I know it' s there, because a ll the se Chri stian chu rch esge t their re ligion from the Bible.and they all keep Sunday.""Why do n't you look it up a ndshow it to me?" she challenged.But I couldn ' t find it.I chanced to read in Romans6:23: "The wage s o f s in is2

DEATH ... ." "Nowwait a minute!" 1exclaimed, sur prised . "In Sundayschoo l they taught me the wages weearn for sinning is IMMORTAL LIF E,not death - eternal life in hell fire. "Th en I read th e rem ainder of th eve rse " . . . but the GtFT of God iseterna l life .. . .""That 's a shocker!" I expressed.furt her surprised. '" thought I a l

ready had eternal life . I'm an tM MORTAL SOUL'"I had left church and Sundayschoo l when I was 18. But I had

been brought up in an establishedand respectab le Ch ristian denomi-nation. I became intrigued . I hadheard the prea cher say , "The Bib lesays, when we a ll g et toHEAVEN . . . ." I chanced to readwher e Jesus said. "No man hath ascended up to heaven ." And afterreading a few more plain bib lical

stateme nts, I be gan to believe theve-n the churches TODAY do not blievewhat Jesus SAID !Wha t does th e Bible say abou t liafter death'? Did anyone ever dand then actually experience a liaft er death - and who could PROVIT and explain to us what that liwas like?The answer is YES. Jesus ChriHimself died and was DEAD. But Hrose from the dead and was seen bMANY - incl uding His disciples. whhad been with Him for three andha lf years bef ore He died , and 4days after His resurrection. Anthey went about loud ly proclaiminthat they were eyewitnesses of HLIFE AFTER DEATH .Christ Himself taught that the reLIFE AFTER DEATH.He taught the Pharisee. Nicodem us, but N icodemus didn 't believ

The PLAIN TRUTH August 197


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H im! J es us sai d to hi m r hav etold vo u ea rthlv thinas. a nd vc bc-lievcn ot" (John 3:W hy di d n 't th e Pha r isee, N ico de

mu s. un d er stan d when Jesus sa id tohim : " Ex ce p t a man be born agai n .he canno t see the kinu dom of God"?why do people u nde rs tandth o se wo rd s today? How m an ykn ow, tod av. th a t J es u s' gos pc l wasa se ns a tio-'na l . never-befor e-procla imed ;'-;E\VS A '-; Nou ]\'c n -E1':T'?Jesus Was a NewscasterT hose in J ud ea kn ew - or sho uldhave known - Ma la ch i's prop he cyconcern ing th is. It wa s the gos pe l orG od - a nd th e wo rd " go sp el "m ean s GOOD [ \ \ .J esus was a NEWSCASTER. H is

news wa s some thing abso lu te ly NEW- neve r befo re procla im ed to man kind . It was t he most wond erfu l

~ W eve r re por ted , ac tually a lmosttoo wond erful for humans to believe. It was news o f the utt e rlv tra n-scend en t po te ntial o f m a n. -'

Th e tr eme nd ou s message thatJ esus brou gh t was not a re po rt ofpas t events, It was ADVA:"CE ne ws o fa n a lmos t un bel ievab le UTOPIAS\VORlD TO:vtORROW! I t was new s o flife af ter d eath . And it was newsth at we may be BORN A G A I ; - . . J ~ Yeta lmos t nobody unde rstand s it !Whv has it never been recognized

by the wor ld as th e stu pendousNE\VS that it actua llv was?Beca use fi rst- centu ry ene m ies o f

the gos pe l SUPPRESSED IT!Th e Church o f God, o n the foun

d a tion of the or ig ina l apost les a ndC hris t ""as fo unded o n the dav ofPen t ecos t . A.D . 3 1. Abo u t t \I,.'Odec ad es later. when t he apostle Pa u lw rote hi s le tte r to the ch ur ches ofGa lat ia . it had a lre ady been sup pr essed. an d false m in iste rs hadturn ed the people to a DIFFERENTGO SPEL. Pa ul w ro te. "I marvel th a tye a re so soon removed from himth at called you into the g race o fC hrist u n to another gospel: which isnot a not he r: but th ere be some tha ttro u ble you. a nd would perl'er! thegospel o/Christ" (Gal. I :6 -7). Agai n,in Rom an s I: 18: " Fo r the wra th ofGod is re veal e d f ro m h e a v enaga ins t a ll u ngoJ liness a nd wic ked ne ss of men who by th e ir wic kedness suppress the {ruth" (R SY ), A ndin II Co rinthia ns I I Pau l spea ks ofThe PLAIN TRUTH August 1976

ra ise apos t les of Satan (verses 13- 15)who come preaching "another gosp el" (verse 4 ),

Th e tim e was at hand . then. forth is m essage to be an no u nced! Thet im e is at --h a nu. tod a v, fo r its tru e

: - ' ; to be made 'so I'LAI:'-J th a tpeopl e may U?'JDERST;\:'\f) n ! (Matt.24 : 14 .)It \Vll L ur. in th is a rticl e , And it isa crucial C I IA LLE:'\G E to vo u wh o

now read And vou have to UNDERSTAND what w tha t news a nnou n cem en t. o r yo u ca n ne ver

U ~ D T A N wh at Je su s m ea n ta bo u t be ing " bo rn again ."What Was the News?Not ice . br iefly . first. wha t tha tton ishina NE(V mcs suue was! Thep rca unounccmc ru. Ma lac h i 'sprop hecy, says: " Beho ld , I wi ll se ndmy messen ger. a nd he shall p rep a reth e wa y before me : an d the Lo rd .wh om 'ye se ck [t he Messia h], sha llsu dde n ly come to h is temp le. eventh e messenger o f the covenan t . . .' .(M a1.3 : I).

Now no tice th e begi nn ing of theMESSENGER'S proclam a tion of thcMESSAGE. 'It is recorded in M ur k'sgos pel. c ha p te r I : "Th e begin ningof th e gospe l of J esus Ch rist. theSon of G od : as it is written in th ep ro phe ts . . , ." Th en fo llows the cita tion from Mala ch i. written above.Th at is fol low ed by the uccourn ofJohn th e Ba pt ist. prepar ing the \I., 'a)'befo re the me ssen ge r.

Then . verses 14-15: "Now a fte rthat John was put in p rison. J esu sca rne into G a lile e. p reach ing thegospel o r the kingdom of God. a ndsay ing . Th e time is ful filled . a nd thek in gd om of God is a t hand : repen tye. and bel ieve the gos pel" - th a t is,BELIEVEth e good news :What IS the Kingdom of God?Wh a t d id He mean - the kinado rnof God? J esus' wh ole messa ge :::"- Hisgospe l - was abou t the KP";GDO\1 OFGO D! Yet few know anvthinu aboutit. todav. - ....A m is (a ) a NATIOS corn-

posed o f peop le. a nd (b ) the GOV-ERS :-.tEKT o f th e na tio n .In so me ca ses. th e people or ana tion a re the d escend ant s - thechild re n - of o ne ma n. Secul ar his to ry indica tes tha t the natio n 01"T urkey probably d escend ed Irom

an c ient Esau. the tw in bro the r orJaco b. whose na me was chunued toIsr ae l. fa the r of the na tion I sra e l.Be fore th e twins we re horn. Godsa id to their mo th e r. R e be ka h ."Two notions a re in th y wom b . . ."(Ge n . 25:23) .

Now Je su s the Messiah was tocome as "t he mcsscn ac r of th e covE;-..J"A:"T." Th e "old cove nant" had esta b lished th e h um an childre n ofIs ra el a s a sAnos or KINGDO\\ ofhumans. ca lled the G 0 1'ISRAEl.. Je su s ca me as the m essenger- h eral d ing the mcssase o r the !'E\Vcovenan t sha ll se tu p the sp irit co m posed child ren of Goo as th ekin gd om of G od!

As the a ncie n t kin gd om of Israelwa s com posed of the lllll llan FA -'IILYof th e h um an man Israe l. so thekingdom o r Cod wi ll be co m posedof the divine farni lv of the divi neGod I "

And wh a t docs thi s have to dowith life a fte r d eat h '? It has el 'efV-thing to do with it!WHY Jewish Rul ers Rejected theMessageT he J ewish rule rs of Jesus' davthouuht He was proclaim ing a 2.0\:ernment to be set up to ove rt hrow the Roman Em pire.then ruli ng J ud ea as a vassa l sta te .

One of th ese prom ine n t J ews wasa ma n nam ed Nicodemus , men tioned ea rlier. He was a Ph a r isee,a nd the Pha risees were host ile toJesus because of this new gospe l.N ico demus. howeve r. wa nted tom eet thi s as tonish ina messenge r andd iscuss it wit h h i m ~ To av oiu crit icis m fro m his co lleagues. he came toJe s us by n ight. ....

"W e know ." he sa id. "tha t voua re a teacher come from God.' -'T he "we' implies th at th e div ine

ide n tity of the m essenger an d theso urce of H is mess.rae was known tothe Phar isees. Bu t they we re "NOW"peop le. co nce rned wit h pro tec tingtheir sta tu s as rulers und e r the Romall gove rnment. not with receivingrevela tions from God,

Je su s perceived the im po rt ofN ico dem us ' Jirs t wo rds. H is messagewas the good news o r the m i ~ gWORLD G O V R : ' \ I E t ' T of GOD - th a tis. th e KIN ( 'J )O\l OF G OD - th e G O \ 'ERN\lENl o f God,

(Continued on page 39)3


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THESURPRISE

ISSUEOFTHE'76CAMPAIGN

by Jeff Calkins

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Aof a sudde n. rel igion in po liticshus becom e res pec ta ble. Tenyea rs ago. the spectacle or ap revidc nti nl ca nd ida te openly a ndpu blicly expressing his hea r tfel t rcliaious co nvic tio ns would have beenuntJ1 inkahlc.

But tim e" have cha nged. Today."God [iS J I\lll on ly al ive. but stumpina wit h th e cundid. ucs. " remarkso n....e libera l Ca tho lic ma uazine. BillvG raha m tak es a less ton e:" ' t"s a rL'l'n.:",h ing thing {o have ca ndida tes co me along and ta lk abo utthe ir d evo t ion to God . especially ifthey back it up \\ ith thei r lives."A Far Cry From 1960The la ",1 t ime religion came up as ani ......ue in a p residen tial elect ion. thecmpha-i ... \ \ ' ;1" diffe rent. " Iany vot er ...rea red that John Kenncdv's Catholicism would influence hiS decis ion..1'. Prc-idcru. an d 1 11'. Kcnn....dv tookgreat pain-, to dispel t he idea . Hi",na rrow \ ictorv over R icha rd j \ ixonin 1960 can L ' \ ~ L ' n be au ribu ted to hi",:lIl'ce:-.",I't1l d, .. rll:-.ing of the religious

I S ~ l I e .Todav . in cont rast: manv voter...- -arlo' " , e l o ' m i n g l ~ prepan ..d to abandon

such traditiona l pol it ical considera l io ns as ideology o r specificsta nds o n issues in orde r to supportsomeone p rimar ily because or his rcliu ion. T hen.. is evide nce tha t in

s ( ~ m e kl.,.y p rimu ries o f the 1976presi de nti al ca m paign. a s igni lka ntperce ntage or vo tc r-, made the irchoice solelv on the bas is ora ca ridi-

da te 's religiou s prefe rence. The issue was tlrst ra ised in the carfv davsor J im my Ca rter's p rima ry.. ca ';lpui gn . 1 1r. Ca rte r too k no pa ins tohide h is rc liuious co nvictio ns. nordid he make :Iny a tte lllpt to moderat e the tradit io na l Sou thern Ba ptislrumcwork in which he expressedthem .

To he sure. Mr. Ca rte r's publ icpr o fessio ns or h is fa it h (amo ngthem : "T he most impor tan t thing inrn v life is Jesus Ch ris t.") have no!:!l;nL' down we ll with man y ur ba nIihL'rab who rese nt what m e ca lthe "sm uu 111 0r a l W il l.. o f the Car lal ' a m r a i g Evide ntly. his fra nknesshasn' t pu t tha: many peop le 011however. as \ 11'. Ca rter's prima rype rformance-, at test.Relig ious Views of the CandidatesWhilc it ha ... been th e I'Ofmer Georuiu uovcruor who ha made th enlO ...t conspicuous profess ion ofrcliaiou- faith in the campaign. th etwo'"other major candidate- ~ " i t i l l inrhe runninu. President Gerald Fordand RonalJ Rcuuan . abo have firmrcliuiouc co nvictions. Hricfl v. here ia rel ig ious profile of th e C


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WGBLDWAfeRAn Overview of Major News Events and TrendsSOVIETSSEEKINGWAR-WINNINGCAPABILITY?Am erican s have been led to believeth at an all-out nuclear war would bemutuu llv suicidal - that no onecould


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TWO COWS pose by watering hole now left dry by France 's worst d rougsince 1725.

in to their payloads th an Americaca n fit into its ligh ter rockets . givingthe Kremlin immense superiori ty inwa rhead power an d number. Onesomewhat oversimp le an alogy ho ldstha t th is situation wou ld ul tinuuelvamo unt to a U.S. arsenal of L3ibBB guns aga ins t 1.320 Soviet rifl es.In a ny casco this lack of so-ca lledth row-weight co ntrol has been ama jor criticism or the SA LT IItreaty. "The Vlad ivostok Accord."summa rizes Nitze. "contin ues to cod ify a poten tially unstable situ at ioncaused by the large dis parity inthrow-weight. now being exploitedby Soviet technological improvements."The potential implicat ions of th isexp loitation a re staggeri ng . " By1977: ' Nitze concludes in a scen ariosummary. " a fte r a Soviet-ini tiatedco un re rio rce st r ike against theUni ted States to which the Uni tedSta tes responded with a coun ter fo rce stri ke. th e Sovie t Union wouldhave remaining forces sufficient todestroy C hi nese a nd EuropeanNATO nuclear capability. attackU.S. popu lati on and con vent ionalm ilitary targets . and still have a rema in ing for ce th row-we ia lu in excess of'- tha t of the Uniled Slates.And a fte r 1977 the Sovi et advan-tage a fte r t h e assumed attackmou nts rap idly..'Clea rly. now is the time. as Ni tzesuggests. for th e U.S. to take stock

of her nuc lear s tand ing.

SEVEREDROUGHT GRIPSNORTHERNEUROPEA prolonged and record-breakingdro ught has been a ffl icting widepor t ions of No rthern Europ e forma ny mon ths. da shing hopes of alarge increase in Commo n Marketgrain prod uct ion thi s yea r.T he drought - believed due to asb ift northward of No rt h At lanticweather patterns - is hitting thehighly prod uctive areas of sout he rnBr itai n . nort h e rn and weste r nFrance. the eas tern parts of WestGermany. northern Ita ly and por-6

tions of Belgium. In all. about oneth ird of the Europea n Community'sfarmlands are affected.EEC Agricult ure Commissione rPetrus Lard inois est imates that projected Common Market whea t ex pon s have been cut in hal f becauseof th e droug ht. Pota to. suga r bee t.an d vege ta ble yie lds may also besha rp ly down. depend ing on the du rat ion of the dry spe ll.T he d rough t afflictina the sou th ern ha lf o f n...orma lly gre'en Brita in isthe worst to hi t the isle in 250 years.acco rd ing to the Brit ish Meteoro logical O ffice . \Va ter th ere is insuch sha n su pply tha t a utho ritiesha ve seriously sugges ted that families clim b in to the ba th together toconse rve wa ter. Strict water rationing has been ins tituted in ma nyare as as reservoi r and wa ter-tab lelevels fal! and rivers and streamsslow to a trickle.In a nati on which und er no rma lco nditions imports hal f of its basicfood. a drop in domest ic agricultura l product ion could hav e severeeco no mic cons eque nces in th es edays of ever-r ising prices.In West G ermanv. th e Farm ers'Federat ion expects the worst harvest since the World War II. Pricesof bread and beer - stap les of the

G erman d iet - are expected to rsteeply.Th e d rought in north ern F ra ncethe worst since 1725. and goverment officials in Pa ris are very coce r ne d ove r its impac t on fopfl ces,C a tt le an d shee p fa rmet h roughout the drough t-stricka reas '"have been forced to killthei r livestock mont hs ah ead of tifo r sa le a t reduced prices becausethe shortage of fodde r. Th e easlaughte ring of catt le is alsopected to affect milk output.Complicating the dry cond itiorecord heat in some a reas is posimajor problem s for fire fighteT re es. grass. a nd cro ps a re tinddrv, and brus h fires a re becomiincrea singly frequ ent.Unless big downpours are expeenced soo n. ex perts feel WesteEurope may face th e risk of largsca le fires - as well as crit ical shoages of wa te r and some basic fooif d rou ght ret urns next yea r- worse yet - becomes a long- terrecu rr ing fea ture of the Europe

wea ther scene . the Contin en t co ufind itself having to eve ntua lly ipo rt large q uantities of foodst uTha t wou ld not be good news ininc reasingly food short world. 0



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7

by Garner Ted Armstrong

The traditional Jesus is suffer-ing an identi ty cr isis of grow-ing proportions. Was Jesus ofNazareth the Ch r ist of theCrusades? Was he the Jesusof the Jewish persecutions orthe Spanish Inquisition? Washe the Jesus of some firs t-century artis t's imagination?Who was this most enigmati cfigure in al l of history?

WHOWASTHEREAL JESUS?

age. ma scul ini ty. and manl iness?Does the personality of Jesus Christtruly capture the imagination of ou ryo uth ' Do st rapping young menwan t to grow up to be 'Ju st likeJesus"? Why don't they?Take a close look a t the tradition alJesus. You 'll hardly be surprisedthat children rapidly ou tgrow the

tende r shepherd and find their he roeselsewhere .Christ's traditional ima ge beginswith the Christmas story depicting alittle Lord Jesus in the manger. Heis lauded with hymns of praise an dpoems of love and te nderness.A quote from the book You,. GodIs Too Small is all too typical of

the trad it ion alteaching aboutJesus:"Gentle Jesus. meekand mild. look upon a litt le ch ild. Ch rist ia n ch il d ren all must be mild. obedie nt.good as He." And so goes manySunday School primers.But the tra d ition al Jes us wa s

never a llowed to grow up and develop strength. mascu linity. and adynamic persona lity. Even in man hood he is depicted as de licate anddecided ly effeminate . He is sanctimoniously portrayed kneeling in alon g tlowing purple robe. withbrown tumbling locks fl owing downhis bac k. a thin face. an aquilinenose. a frizzy, wispy lill ie beard. apiou s look on his face. an d perhapswith his han d s (with long. slender.ta pering fingers) neat ly folded on aroc k.This "Jesus" is pictored as a soft.semi-sick. womanl y. sha ky. pa le.so rrowfu l. sad -eyed . and a lwaysmuch put-upon young man with nosense of humor.Whether you run the gamut allthe way from the lilli e Lord Jesus inthe mange r to the Jesus smiling

se rene ly from stained-glass windows. or finally 10 a dead Christ ona cross. th is is the cons istent SundaySchool pict ure.Do you unders tand why ouryouth mig ht have an ide ntity crisiswith Jesus Christ when you cons ide rthe manne r in which he is traditiona lly portrayed' Th is "Jesus" wouldeven be persona /l Ol l graw wi th theaverage businessman. machinist.tru ck dr ive r. or military man . He isthe ultima te in lack of "mac hismo" !

The "Sunday Schoo l" Jesu sDoes the "Su nday School " Jesus inspire thou ght s of admiration. wors h ip. a n d re spe ct ? Do e s thetradit ional Christ make chi ldre n automat ically think of strength. cour-ThePLAIN TRUTH August 1976

Tere a re about as many var ied opinions and conflictingideas a bout Je su s C hr ist asthere are peop le to express them .Eve ry pub lishing season authorsgrind out a whole new mill of theological ideas about Jesus Ch rist.cla imin g he was anyt hing from anoccu ltic leader of some mystic sectsteeped in hallucinogen ic expericnces to a frustrated Jewish revolutionary.Someone wro te a boo k supposed ly "provi ng" he was marr ied .

Oth ers have claimed tha t he was ahypnotist and a magician . One author eve n wen t so far as to asse rtthat he \""3 5 a mu shroom .Movie makers ar e now turning' ou t Jesus films at a record ra te. Th elatest in the series - ca lled "ThePassover Plot" - is a t th is wri tingbeing filmed in the state of Israel.Var iou s of these film odysseys picture a " harried Ch rist." a politicala nd rel ig ious reformer. a lovingdrop-out. a self-styled Messiah. ahippie Christ. a revolutionary Ch rist- anything but the rea l Jesus.The Traditional JesusToday the traditional Jesus is experiencing a serious identity crisis!Th e latest spate of Jesus movies issim ply the most recent manifestation of it.

Te levision has succeeded in further confusing and complicating thisidentity . By the time a kid reachesthe age of six. Bugs Bunny and PinkPanther are his rea l heroes.Before the age of television. the rewas Samson the strong man. Davidand Goliath. Jonah and the whale.Daniel in the lion 's den . Joshua andth e battle of Jeri cho. and maybeeve n Noah and the flood .Youngste rs in Sunday School experienced no identity crisis whatsoever with such Old Testament"m achi smo" characters and the irheroic de ed s.But wha t abo ut the trad ition alJesus? How does he stack up aga insta ll these biblical heroes'


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But did yo u know that the realJ esus Chris t o r Naza reth d id no tloo k like. d id no t d ress like. d id no tact like. and \I,:a 5 not like th e traditio na l Jesus which we have bee n" fed " all of ou r lives?The Only Authentic HistoricalSourceTh e re have been more book s writte n abo ut the life, wo rks, act ions,and deeds o r J esu s C h rist tha n a nyot he r man th ro ughou t a ll of his tory- more th an 60.000 in this ce uturvalone. Whol e se ries a nd bu lk y vo lumes of book s have be en written on"t he life a nd time s of Je su s : ' Book sabout hi s life. teach ings. birth . in tancy . man hood . a nd m inistry havewa tered d o wn , n e g a t e d . m isin terpreted. m isappl ied . a nd pe rverted the onlv a u the nt ic histor ica lsource of h is - the Ch ri.... tia nBihk.As one Ge rma n theologian put it :"A t no time has Ch ristia nity quietlyaccepted th is likeness [o f the bi b lica lJesu s]. On the co n trary it bas a lwaysworked at it. a nd remod e led it.Some time s wit h in limits. a nd sometimes so pa ssionately tha t it ha sbeen refash ioned out of all recogn ition:'Scr ibes ha ve sometimes sco ured

mytho logy, legend. trad ition. a ndth e s uperstit ions of past da rk ages 10com e u p with th e tr ad itio nal Jesusimage. Yet the true. open, plain ex-pl a nation of the scriptu res o f yourBib le has be en virtua lly ignored .Most peo ple in th e mod ern wo rld

ha ve e ither bli nd ly accepted the tra-d itio nal Jes us o r crea ted a Chr ist ofthe i r ow n co nve nience.T he Bible itse lf add s its ow n testimony. T he ap ostle Pa u l to ld th e Co riu thiun church that he wa s "a fra idthat as the se rpen t [Satan ] deceivedEve by his cu nning . yo u r tho ug htswill be led as tra y from a since re a ndpu rc devot ion to Chr ist. Fo r if someone come s a nd p reaches anotherJ e s u s th an t h e o ne wepreached . . . you submit to it read ilyeno ug h" ( II Cor. 11:3 -4. RSV). T hisother Jesus is the figment ofd emonic an d hum a n imagi na tio nand is not based on the t ru e b ib lica lac count.O nly four m in ib iographics we rew ritten a bo ut the li fe an d tim es of

Jesu s, mos tly concentrating on h is8

th rce -a nd -onc-h ulf-yea r min is try ,O ther O ld a nd N ew T est am en tdo cume n ts supp ly add itiona l de ta ils. On ly the barest info rma tion isg iven ab ou t his life pr ior to the ageo f 30. Howeve r. mo re tha n cnouuhinformatio n is provid ed to create ; 11accurate . ove ra ll pictu re of j ust wha tJesus was like.Two or the New Tes tam ent gospel

wri ters were men who consta nrlv ar ewith J esus . sometimes in h is "{Wi nhouse . slept in thc same a rea that hed id , and sa ng so ngs together withh im . Th ey were his ve ry closestfriends - no t biogr ap hers .200 ye a rsremoved fro m the scene reconstructing the s tory ba sed o n some th irdha nd accoun t.Ma tth ew. Ma rk. Luk e. a nd John

wrote a bo ut J esus' hab its, ap pet ites.a ttitudes. perso na li ty, an d to a deg ree . a ppea ra nce. A fa ir-sized po rtion of the ir wr itings is comp osed o ffi rs t-person q uotat ion s from themouth of Jesus himself.It is onlvfrom these biblical docu ments t h a t w e ca n ob ta i n th e" s t ra ig h t sco o p" a bo u t the t r ueJ es us o n a ny give n subje c t. \Ve ca n 'lea rn wha t he look ed like. wh at hed id to ea rn a liv in g, whe the r he hada familv - a nd muc h mo re.

In th is ti rst ins ta llmen t we' ll exa m ine so me clues a bo u t Chr ist 'sphy sic a l a ppea rance - with bibl ica lsuppo rt fo r each point. Rea d on.JesusWas a JewNotw ithstand ing some of the u ltr a co nse rvative. Nazi-like pa ram il ita ryo rga n iza tio ns a nd th e a nt i-Semitesof the wo rld. J es us Christ of Nazare th wa s a member o f the Jewishra ce . The Eng lish word " Jew" e ithe rmean s a man o r woman rac ia lly de-scende d from the pa t ria rch J uda h o ra c it ize n or na tio na l o f the ho use ofJ udah . Je su .... was bo th of th e rac ean d house of Juda h.T he ge nealogies in two of th e go s

pels in the New Testa men t de fineJesu s as com ing righ t th ro ugh thelin e of Ju d a h (see Ma tt. I a nd Lu ke3). J esu s was a di rect d escen da nt ofDavid (w ho wa s a Jew by race . aswe ll as national ity) both in his n a tu -ral and lega l ge nea log ies. No ticewha t the ap ostl e Pet e r sa id of Jesus'a nces to r D avid : "Men a nd bre th-

reu . let me f ree ly speak un to you oth e pa tr iarch David . tha t he is bo thdead an d b uried ... , T he re fo rebein g a p rophet. a nd knowi ng th aG od had sworn with an oat h to h imtha t o f the fru it of h is lo ins. acco rding to the fl esh. he wo uld ra ise upChr ist to s it upon his [David 'sth ron e (Acts 2 :29-30 ). He was to inhe ri t " th e t h ro ne of his fattieDa l'id " ( Luke I :32). Scrip tures toonumerous to q uote here show Chrisas the son ofDovid tscc Ma tt. 15 :2220 :30: 22 :4 1-46: Ma rk 10:47-48Rom. 1:3 amo ng man y ),Jes us kn ew that he was a J ew

No tice pa rt o f his co nve rsation wi tth e Samaritan woman u t the welSh e sa id to him : "How is it thatho u. being a Jell'. askest dr ink ome. which am a woman of Samar iafo r the J ews have no dea lings witthe Sama r ita ns" (John 4 :9 . KJV)Racial biuotrv was as bad then asis today. 1"he- o nly diffe rence is thait wa s be tween Jews and Sama rita nthen.La te r a t the end of th e co nve rsa

tion Jesus told her : "Ye [yo u a nthc Sama r itans] worshi p ye knowno t wha t: we [Jesus and the Jewsknow wha t we wo rship: for sa lvatio n is of the J ews" (ve rse 22).Add the we igh t o r the ap os tl

Pa ul to the mountin g ev idence . Hwro te: " It is evident that our Lorwas descended from Jud ah" (Heb7: 14. RSV). In the ho ok of Revelatio n . J esu s is ca lled the " L io n o f thtribe of Ju da h" (Rev . 5:5) . BotG enesis 49 : 10 a nd I C hro nicles 5 :p red ict th at the Prince or Messia(C h rist ) wo u ld CO llie fro m the tri bof J ud a h.Pila te knew Jesus wa s a Jew"T hine own na tion a nd th e ch iepriests de livered thee unto me(John 18:35).Scrip ture afte r scr ip ture prove

ove r a nd over agai n th a t J es us wabo rn of hum an '"flesh by a di vi nbcgcttu l int o tile nation. area. an[arni!v ofJudah (the Jewish race ).J esu s wa s a J ew!What Did JesusLook Like?Jesus wa s a common. everyday , ordinarv-looking young Jewish man ohis day.Peo ple seem to forg et that J uda



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lscariot had to be paid a fa irly la rgesum o f money (thirty pieces of silVCr) to identi fy Jesus with a kiss onthe cheek - a -l illnilia r. friendly typeo f a gest u re to unm istukably po in thim ou t in the midst of a crowd.

No tice it in th e long est of th e gospe l accounts wr itte n by Mauh cw a lax co llecto r by trade. "While he[Jesus] was still spea king. Jud as [Isca rrot] came. one o f the twe lve . andwith h im a arcat crowd with swo rdsand dubs . I ow the betraye r[Juda s] had given them a si gn .saving , The one 1 sha ll k iss is them ; ~ I 1 .... seize h im" (Muu . 26 :47-48.RSV ).If Jesu s had lo oke d a ny diffe ren tin a ny pa rticu la rly ou tstanding \\'ayth a n


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fu ller styles of today. i.e.. the Ita liancut.Shor t ha ir wa s th e dominant . accepted mode for wea ring men 's hairin th e time of Jesu s Christ. On pages126 and 127 of A History of theHoly Land (edi ted by Michael AviYon a h ) a re bust s of Pom pey. Augustus. a nd one be lieved to be Herod the Great (a n ob serva n t Jew byreligion ) - all with short hair ' Allsta tues and ca rvings of Rom an legionn aires show them with closelycro pped ha ir. All Rom an emperorsbe fo re . du ring, and after the tim e ofJe su s C hr ist. from Julius Ca esa r toT raj an . wo re the ir hair .sho rt. TheRoman emperor was the individualwh o se t th e pat tern in sty les andmodes of d ress f or the whole empire- wh ich in cl uded G a lilee a n dJuda ea in Jesus' da y.Prior to the Rom an Empire. theH el leni st ic Gr eek cu ltu re d ominated the Eastern Mediterraneanarea . including the Holy Land . Evenin Chri st 's day . a la rge port ion ofth e Jew ish popu lati on was Greekspeaking and Hellenis tic in outlook.(See John 12:20 ; Acts 6 : I, e tc .)Short hai r was also the Greek Hell eni sti c sty le for men . (See Gaa lya huCornfield' s Dan iel to Paul. pp . 15.146.)

Pro fessor Co rnfield . a noted a uth or. historian . and archa eo logist,captio ned one of the sta tues:"Ma rb le sta tuette of an unide nti fiedma n of th e Hellenist ic per iod - atime of close contacts between the 'Jewish and Hellenistic civilizationsin though t. a rt and everyday life .W het her J ewish or Ge ntil e . heevokes his age and environment"(ibid ). T he sta tue had short ha ir!Non-He llenistic Jews a lso traditiona lly wore their hai r sho rt. Eve nthe anti-Hellenistic Jewish Talmudsta tes tha t a ll pr iest s should hav ethei r ha ir cut on ce every thir ty days(Ta 'an ith 17a ). This pr iestly law isun dou bt ed ly based on the bib lica linj un ction found in Eze k iel 44 :20 :"T hey [th e p riests] shall not shaveth e ir hea ds or let their locks growlong; they sha ll only tri m the hai r oftheir hea ds" (RSY) .

T he Talmud speci fies the " Julia n." or wha t we would ca ll th e"Caesa r cut " (Sanhedrin 22b) . Godhad set rather stringent regulationsfo r the co nd uc t of pri ests in the Pen -to

tateuch. Th ey were supposed to se tthe exam ple for the rest of the communi ty (see Mal. 2:7) .Statues and other reproductionsof J ewish men from Jesus' d ay arefew and far between because manyJews objected to them on religiousgrounds. But those few representation s we do possess inev ita bly pointto short hair (see Daniel to Paul.p. 287) .Other sources of ancient picturesof known Jews having short haira r e ( I ) N a t h a n A uS-ubel ' s TheBook of Jewish Knowledge. 25-26;a nd (2) The S tandard Jewish Ency clopaed ia, p. 167. The fo rm ershows Jewish con cept ions of bothDavid a nd Ezra dating from AD.250 ; the latter shows Jews of th ethi rd centurvwith short hair.Christ was an average Jew of hisday. How lon g do yo u thin k he wo rehis hair?An Apostolic ExampleHave you ever read the eleventhcha pter of I Co rinthians - a le tterwritten to a G en tile chur ch? A po rtion of th at particu la r bi blical chapter is devot ed to hair lengths of bothme n and wome n . Th e apo stle Pau lwrote in verses 14 through 16:"Does not nature itself teach youthat fo r a man to wear long hair isdegrading [a shame, KJY] to him.but if a woman has long hair. it isher pride [glory. KJV )" For he r ha iris given to her for a covering. If anyone is disposed to be contentious.we recognize no other practice. nordo th e churches of Go d" (RSY).Pau l, prim arily the apostle to th ege n tiles. received the gospel directlyfrom Christ. He wro te to the Gala tians: "For I would have you know.bre th ren . th a t th e gospel wh ich waspreached by me is not man's gospel.For I did not receive it from man.nor was I taught it. but it camethrough a revelation ofJesus Christ "(Gal . 1:1 /- 12. RSY ). Jesu s act ua llya ppeared di rect ly to th e apostlePau l (see I Co r. 15:8).Paul sa id: "Hav e I no t see n Jesu sour Lord?" (I Cor. 9: I. ) He also sa id:" Be ye followe rs of me. eve n as Ial so am of Christ" (I Cor. II : I ) inthe very same chapter where menwearing long hair is mentioned asbeing a shame . .

My poi n t is that Jesu s Chri st did

not contradict the words of his owa pos t le whil e he wa s a humbe ing. He d id not delive r a gosp elPau l th at con tra d icted his own psona l life-sty le.Pa u l d id not say : " Follow me afo llow Christ" a nd the n go out aprea ch a nd wri te the d iame tr ic opo si t e of wha t he was di recta ugh t.Jesus was not a shame to PaJesu s Christ. who was Paul 's chapion . soo n-coming king. and h ipriest. did not wear long hair!

JesusWas Not a NazariteSome religionists claim that JesChrist was unde r some so rt of "Narit ic vow," and therefore au tomica lly wore his hai r lon g. T he truis tha t Jesus di d not fu lfill a sinone of the strict scriptural obligtions laid upon a "Nazarite."A Naza rite was (I ) no t to d riwine . (2) not 10 cu t h is hai r astoken of humiliat ion. (3) a nd nottouch a dead body (see Numb6: 1-27 ). T he Bible proves that Jesdrank wine . touched a dead bodvoccasio n (Ma tt. 9 : 18-25 : Mark 5:343, etc. ), and had his hair cu t. ashave already proved .Som e few have even got ten tterms Nazar ite . Nazarene , aNazareth mixed up in their minIn Mat thew 2:23 it says: "And[Je sus] came a nd dwelt in a cca lled N azareth: [why?] th at it migbe fulfilled wh ich was spoken byprophets. He sha ll be called a Nazren e" (KJV ). Almos t any Bible dtiona ry will tell you tha t a Na za rewas merely an inhab itant or cit izof Nazareth - the city where Jesgr ew up (Mark I :9; Luke I :26; Jo1:4 5 ). A m an fro m T exa s isTexan: a man from Nazareth isNazarene. Ne ither o f these tnames has anyt hing to do withNazarite vow.

Paintings ofChrist-Accurate?Down th rough histo ry a rtists haportrayed Christ as he reflected thideas an d id ea ls . T he "ea rl iCh ris t" p ictu red by artists is fouon the wa lls of th e ca tacombsRome. Th ese post-apostoli c rep

The PLAINTRUTH August 1


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sen ta tio ns were painted somewherein the neighborhood of 100 to 200yea rs after th e tim e of Christ - a llp robably done in defi ance of ea rlyCatho lic thinking concern ing ido latrous images.Variou; authors have commentedon th ese ea rliest pai ntings of Christ.Dr. Farrar. in his autho ritativebook . The Life of Christ as Rep -resented ill Art , has this to say aboutth ese p r imi tive pai nt ings: " He[C hrist] is a lmos t invar iab ly boy isha nd bea rdless. . . . His ha ir is shor t"(1'.43).Wh at is thou ght to be the oldestof the se catacomb pictu res is de scribed by Rod eric Du nkerley : " Inparticu lar. there is a painting of theResurrection of Lazarus in whi chCh rist is show n yo uth ful a nd bea rd less. with short ha ir and la rgeeyes. . . Although it is now onlybarely recogni zable . . . : ' (Beyondthe Gospels, p. 57).The ear ly . classic. yo uthful Christwas cons isten tly pa inted bea rd lessand with shor t hai r. No doub t th ese

very first artistic renderings wereheavily inftuenced by the Hellenisticcultu re ex ta nt d urin g the da ys ofJes us - who lived in a sho rt-h a iredcult u re .I pe r son al ly do u b t t he irauthentici tv because the boo k ofIsaia h definitely indicates th a tChris t would have a bea rd: " 1 gavemy back to th e smi ters. a nd mycheeks to those ...ho pulled 0 111 thebeard; I hid no t my face from shameand spitting" (l sa. 50 :6. RSV).G radually the art ist ic conceptionof Jesus cha nged ove r the centuries.By th e tim e of th e tenth or eleve nt hcentury a sadomasochistic view ofse lf-suffering. asce tic se lf-denia l.a nd self-ftagellation was in vogue.So spanning several centuries oftime, artists tend ed to picture Jesusas a man of complete sor row , sadness . and seriousness - never with asmi le on his face.Later M ichelangelo accepted theidea of an Old Testament Go d ofwrath - a nd the painters of his erage neral ly pictured a God of d ivinefu ry that had to be placa ted bysaints like Ma ry and St. Fran cis .In th e 19th centu ry. the pendulum swung back in the other direct ion . probab ly in re ac t io n toMich elan gelo . Th en an "effemina te.ThePLAIN TRUTH August 1976

overly pious Christ was pictu redsm iling serenely from a sta inedglass window as he held a shephe rd 's crook whi le be ing surro undedby lambs. "Not a single one of these pictures.

of whateve r era. represents the trueJes us. Nobody painted him when hewas a human being on this earth.Did vo u know about th e so-ca lledReport of Pub/ius Lentulus wh ichdescribes Jesus as having long hair?

Th is lett er was supposedly writt enby the Rom an governor of Jud aeato the Emperor Tib erius. But acc urate historical records of the Romangovernors at that time are still inexis tence. There was no governor ofJudaea by the lIame of Pub/ius Lentulusduring the tim e ofJesus Christ.Professor Ed ga r J . Goodspeed . awell -kn own biblic al scholar. comments on this totally spurious forger v: "T he 'Letter of Leruulus' iseviden tly a fiction. designed to givecurre ncy to the d escription contained in the painter's manua lsabou t th e person al ap pearance ofJesus. . . . It is prob ably as old as thethirt een th ce n tury ; but it wasunknown to Christian a ntiquity. a ndhas no claims to serious attention asth rowing any light on th e persona lappe a rance of Jesus" (M odernApocrypha. p. 9 1).Why the Identity Cr isis?Jesus knew he was a Jew. Pila teknew that Jesus was a Jew. The Samaritan woman knew. The apos tlesknew. The Bible pla in ly says tha t hewas. T hen why do some peopletod ay believe o therwise?Becau se th ey almost never go toth e only a uthen tic source - th e biblical scriptures. Or if th ey do. th eirbia ses and preju dices are so thickthat th ey simply can' t see what theireyes plainly tell them is there. Thatis why peop le have an iden tity crisiswith Jesus Chr ist o f Nazareth . Tha tis why peop le want to cling to theirmany misconceptions about JesusChrist and the Bible itself. Humanna ture would like to hang on tohapp enstan ce . trad ition. possib ly' s.perhap s's, probably' s. a nd mayb e' s- ra ther than face the stra ightfrom-the-shou lde r biblical fac ts.Jesus' generation was no differentfrom ou rs in th at respect. On e of th emajor points of the gospels was the

co ntinuing struggle between opposing points of view as to who Jesusre all y was.T he book of Ma tt hew mak es itplain th at those people back th enhad an identity crisis with JesusCh rist of major propor tions. "WhenJesus cam e into the d istrict of Caesa rea Ph ilippi. he asked his d isciples. Who do men say th at th e Sonof man is? And th ey sa id. 'Som e sayJohn the Bapt ist. others say Elija h.and o th ers Jeremi ah or one of th eprophets' " (Matt. 16: 13-14, RSY).

The question is: D id the generalpub lic be lieve some of th ese fantastic sto ries') T hey certa inly did ! Someca rr ied these utterly un tr ue convic tions with them to the ir graves.Mos t of the peop le of th"e MiddleEast were thoroughly confused as toChr ist's true ide';lli ly. But not hisimm ediate d iscipl es . "He [Jesusjsa id to them . 'But who do yo u saythat I arn?' Simon Peter replied .'You are Christ, {he SOil of the livingGod. ' An d Jesus a nswe re d him.'Blessed a re yo u Sim on Ba r-J ona!For ftesh and blood ha s not reveal edth is to yo u. but my Father who is inheaven ' " (verses 15-1 7).Pet er kn ew who th e rea l Jesuswas! And it wa sn't ju st th e fact thathe had been one of his closestfriend s and companions. There wasa miraculous element of revelationinvolved in his understand ing.The Next InstallmentIn this article we've substant iatedthat Jesus Christ of Nazareth was acommon . eve ryday. ordinary- looking yo ung Jewish man of his daywith a fair ly short haircut.

The concluding article in th is twopar t series will show you that . believe it or no t. Jesu s Chri st did notconvert one single person during hisentire earth ly min istry. th at he livedin and owned as many as twohouses in two different cities. that hesome times hob nobbed with th e uppe r crus t of soci e ty. th a t he paid histax es as a prope rty owner. and th athe was subject to civi l authorities.All this informa tion and mo re isco mi ng up in either the next or asoon-coming issue of this magazine.If yo u don' t wish to wai t that lon g.wri te for th e free booklet entitledTh e Rea/ Jesus. wh ich con ta i nsmuch of th e same in formation . 0

11


14/48

IS IT TIME TOTAME

y Dexter H. Faulkner


15/48

Many recent studies have as-sailed televis ion aggression,violence , and immorality lo radversely inlluencing chil-dren. But now , researchshows that even adults aredefinitely affected by televi-sion violence. This article de-scr ibes some of th e s eprofoundly significant studiesand it also discusses thequestion, " Is it time to tametelevision r:

B an y measure. whether magnetic appeal. amount of exposure. or power to changebehavi o r. co mmerc ia l tele visionnow wields the majo r educat ionalimpact in the land .Docs that sound like a se nsa t iona lexaggera tion? Then ponder thesestutistics:By th e time the average America nch ild reach es ado lescence he willha ve spent twice as many hourswatching television as he has sittingbeh ind his school desk. Believe it ornot . he ' ll have had 22.000 hou rs oftelevision " instr uction: ' as op posedto 11.000 hou rs worth of school instruction.Even be fo re he reaches age fivehe will a lready have spent moretime in front of a television than theaverage stude nt in a libe ra l ar ts progr am s pe nds in t h e cl ass roomthro ughout his entire four years ofco llege at tendance.

And what will mak e up a child 'sTV diet" Studies show tha t childrenfa vo r ad ult TV programs - es pecia lly crime thrillers.J ust how violent a re th ese te levision shows?In a Washington, D.C. survey.th re e majo r te levi s io n ne two r kswere surveyed to determine howmu ch vio lence would be viewed inone week betw een 3 p.m . an d I Ip.m. Dur ing this spa n of time ther ewere 113 stabbings. 92 shootings.168 beat i ngs. 9 strang lings . and 179ot her spec ific acts of vio lence per-The PLAIN TRUTH August 1976

pc ira ted before the television audience. Ther e was one spec ific ac t ofvio lence eve ry 16.9 minut es. a killing eve ry 43.8 m inutes.T hese statistics take on greatersig nificance when yo u thatt h e a ve ra g e Am c r ica n fami lywa tches over 6 hou rs ofeverv dov.By the time the average Americanch ild rea ches age 14 he will ha vewit nessed th e violent destruction ofove r 13.000 human beings on television! His TV diet will have beentilled with thou sands of bod ily assa ults of on e man or woman aga insta not her. ll e'li have witnessed t housan ds of violen t crimes and see n

coun tless numb ers of be lligerentacts.Violence Affects ViewersDoes this steady d iet of vio lence an dimmorality have an effect on TVviewe rs'? Some socia l scie ntists say itdoesn ' t, claiming there is no actua lproof that TV vio lence has a ny realeffect on child ren. Others say . Weneed mo re refined resea rch on thesu bject."

But the fact is that nume rousstud ies ha ve a lrea dy conclusively establi shed that television does di rectly inf luence not only children.bu t also adu lts.Dr. Ha rry J. Sko rnia, p rofessor ofrad io and television a t the University of Illino is. sta tes that televisionca n hav e a profound effec t on viewers .According to Dr. Skor nia, "Themost all-e ncompass ing sing le find ing from ed ucat iona l television resea rch has been that in almost allprojects the re has been 'no significant d ifference ' between what thousa nds of students learn from TV(o ften from single teachers or program series ) and what th ey learnfrom fa ce- to-fac e co n v en t ionalteaching."Tho usa nds of ind ivid ua ls ca nnow learn li fe-sa ving (or life-destroy ing or sa fe-crack ing) as wellfrom TV as the y. would be ab le tolea rn from th e thousands of ind ividua l tea cher s (o r ga ngsters ) that

would be req uired for conventionalteaching."In summing up a ll the research .wh ich unqu estionably shows howcfl'ective te levision is in teaching.Dr. Skorn ia says. .Judged by thosecr ite ria which educators find use fulin predictin g effecti veness in teach ing. the principal cha rac te rs in westerns. crime and private-eye ser ies.situa tion comed ies. an d other pop ular TV prog rams would seem to ra tefa irly high in teaching effec tiveness."There is considerable ev ide nceo r dan ger th at wha t these individua ls de monstra te regu larly will. byall va lid learning the ory criteria. belea rned .

"To bel ieve tha t all or most o fthese a tt rac tive. adm ired characters.o ften us ing and illustra ting techniqu es of physical violenc e. revenge.bu rglary. escape. fighting, a nd do- ityo urse lf j ustice. a re unsuccessful asteachers. fa iling to tea ch wha t th eydemon stra te. is direct lv at variancewith wha t we know "abou t tele vision's supe rior ity. specifically fordem onstration purposes in teachingspeci fic skills a nd behavio r: 'In the early 1970 's noted resea rchers J . R. Dominick and Bradcly S. Greenberg studied yo utha tt i tudes tow ard violence as relatedto TV exposu re. They found that"t he grea te r level of exposure to TVvio le nce. the more the child waswilli ng to use vio lence. 1O sugges t itas a so lution to conflict. a nd to perceive it as effect ive."In anoth er study, F. B. Steu er a nda team at the University of No rthCa ro lina . compared the aggressivebehavior of nurser y schoo(2h ildrenmat ched in pa irs acco rding to howmu ch tele visio n they o rd inar ilywa tched. On e member from ea chpa ir was shown an aggressive TVshow on I I different days. takenfro m among those ord inarily broad cast on Saturday mornings. Theot he r member of the pai r saw a nonaggressive show on the same days.Afterward. the child ren were observed d uring natural play.I II pai r oj ma tched children.the child who had viewed the violent

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ARE YOU ATVADDICT?Nicholas Johnso n, former hea dor the FCC. recent ly suggested.with a wee bit of fa cet io usness.tha t television could be as ad dic tive as a lcohol. He offers thislist of te n quest ions which willhe lp you to dete rmine if yOll arca lready a ddicted to te lev ision:1. Do yOLi turn down the se twhen .you a nswer the phone sothe caller won't know you'rewatching television'!2 . Do y':"'O ll s tay up la te watching television. bu t can' t feme Ill

the next mo rning wha t yousav/?3 . Do you ha ve to wa tch a te levision program as soon as youget LIp in the morning?4 . Do you sudden ly find thaty!Otl have watched seve ral television programs in a row without th inking abou t it?S. When you have visitors. doyou lin d it im possible to tu rn oil'the set or to ca rr y 0 11 a conversation without "'continuing towatch? ....6. If unexpected visi tors come.do you ru sh to t ur n t he cha nnelto a "better" program?7. D id you refuse a socia l engagemcru bcca usc you didn't\VHlH to miss a program. bu twere ashamed to tell anyone(ha t was the reason?8, If yo u try to go through anevening wit hout television. doyo u become ne rvous an d irritab le? Do you have troub le llgur ing ou t what to do with yo ureves'?9" Wh en other people sa yyou're watchi ng too much te levision. do vou become dcfen-sive?10 . Do you find yourselfsaying. " I never watch rv, bu t Ijust happened 10 turn the set onthe othe r night an d . . . ."

14

show had become more aggressivethan his panner 'Television-Induced Ap athyAn ev en more di sturbing conclusionwa s found in a recen t ~ t u d by resea rche rs Ronald Drabm an of theUn iver sity or Mississippi Med ica lCe n te r in Jackson a nd Mar gare tHa n ra tty Th om as o r F lorida Technol ogic al Unive rs ity in Orla nd o.Th ey round tha t viol ence on TV d irectl y contribu ted to givi n'g child rena head star t on th e ap athy that hasgrown to such scand alous propo rtion s in the ad ult popu lat ion of society .In three sepa ra te ex perime nts.th ey fou nd tha t "ex posure to TVvio lence ca n increase normal chil-d.re n's tolera tion of real- life ag gressio n."Th ese studies prov ide strong evi de nce th a t continued exposure toTV vio lence is teachi ng ch ildr en toaccep t aggression as a way of life:"the resea rchers st a te d. I f TV isteach ing some to become more violen t wh ile othe rs ar e lea rn ing to tole ra te th ei r aggression . "a futu resoc ie ty in which vir tua lly a ll ad ultshave been exposed to a con tinuedde luge of violence since infancvcould we ll be an un fortun at e placeto live."

Man y scie nt ists are conv inced thecause-and -effect re la tionsh ip in chil-dren ha s bee n well es tablished . " Bu trem ember : ' poi nts o ut Dr. F red r ic\Vert ham. "child ren grO\v up to bead ults. incorporating in to their psyches th e thousan ds of ho urs of te le vision th ey saw in thei r youth,"Adults Also Aff ectedIndeed. new recent resea rc h IS nowestab lishing th at it is not on ly im press ionab le c hi l d re n th a t a readversely in flue nced by TV progra mm ing. Scie nt ists a re no w find ing ev idence tha t television is a lsod irectly pushing adults towa rd aggressive behavior.

The results or a University or Ca liforni a study "are especia lly im po rtant." says researcher Dr. RoderickG orney. " b ec au se a du lts. a fte r a ll.

a re the ones who ar e mak ing decisio ns, d eclarin g war. vo tin g for preside n t . pu t t in g a dd itives in ourood . . . . "

Dr . Gorney a nd othe r researchera re finding indicatio ns tha t excessive viewinz o f crime a nd violencshows h e y ~ const itute 30 percen t opr im e-time TV ) a p pa rent ly castim ula te ag gressive behavio r iad ults and ca n also develop in thema d is torted view of how dan gerouth e wo rl d really is.T he ad ults in the tes t group thawere prese nted with a constant die

of violence on TV rated them se lveas increa singly more hostile a nd aggrcssi ve in mood as time pa ssedTh ey also wer e obse rved to be acing more agg ress ively toward th efa mi lies, and associa tes, an d th ewe re less tol eran t of m inor frustrations. By co n tras t, tho se ex posed tTV p rograms cn cou raa inz beneficence an d genera lly becam e more charitab l ; 1mood a nd ac tions.Distorted View of Reali tyDr. George Gerbrier. dean o f thAnn en ber g School o r Communicatio ns a t th e Unive rsity of Pennsvlvan ia . st ated that his research S!lOWth a t cons ta nt viewe rs o f televis iobelieve th e re is a 50-50 cha nce obeing in volv ed in a violent incidenin a ny given v.,. ee k. In actual facsays G erbner. t he statistics are onin 100. but the viewers ' distor teideas abou t th e world ca me fromthe ir imm ersio n in the TV world omuggings. vio lence . a nd murder.

Docs al l this mea n a personsho uld ya nk his televis ion co rd ouof the wa ll soc ket or ta ke an ax th is T V se t? No . te levis ion is a tec hno logical an d soc ia l phenomenotha t's he re to stay. an d we need tma ke the bes t use of it.The television set of itse lf is no

the pro b lem . It only re ceive s whabroadcaste r s choos e to se ll an d audie nces choose to wat ch . Nor is thte levision the on ly med i a so urce oviolence and im rno ra litv . But itunq uestionab ly the larges: an d mosin fluen tial source.



17/48

MAKING THE MOST OFYOUR TELEVISION VIEWING

What You Can DoTh e way to protec t you a nd/ or you rch ild ren fro m bei ng adversely a ffec ted bv telev is ion is to be mo rese lect ive "'of the programs you wa tch .Where television is actively promo ting va lues . thou gh ts. a nd mo re swhich a re alien to you r home. VOLtwill have to cxc rclse paren ta l *a uthoritv.Tak e the time to se lec t be tterqu a lity programs for fami ly viewing, Don't alwavs assume tha t children arc 0 111\;' in terested in th elowest level ca rtoo n pap o r violence.

Pro ara rn s that e lumo rize crimeand illrcit sex. cr uelty.a nd vio lence sho uld o bvious ly beminim ized i f not elimi nat ed "romyo ur TV diet.

A long wi th being se lec tive ab ou twhat vou and vo ur hou seho ld wat chon TV'. be sure to watch program stogether. Scientific stud ies show howit 's actua lly best if pa rents wat ch TVwith their ch ildren . es pecially smallchild ren . When pare nt s wa tch tele vision wit h thei r chi ld ren and comment on fa llacies or wrong action swhich so met imes creep in to "good"program s. th e effect of these fa llac ies a nd WWIlt! action s o n childrenis minimized . R...emcmbcr. man y soca lled family programs a rc till edwith va riou s form s o f rebe llion. d isresp ect fo r a uthor ity. and ly ing.Children sho uld not be allowed toassum e that th is son of conduct isacceptable .Anothe r impo r t an t television

viewi nu a uide line is to limi t theamou nt 01 televi sion vou wa tch an dth e am ount yo u '-d im;' yo ur chi ld rento watch. An yone who spe nds foul'.five o r six hou rs a da y sitting p a s ~sive lv in fro nt o f the T V tube wa tching world of mak e-be lieve an dfu n ta sv is probably losi ng vita lho ur s that sho uld be spent learn inghow to re late and ta lk to husba nd .wife . brot he rs, siste rs. p laymates .pare nts. re latives. and neigh bor s.You sho uld rep lace II I uch of your

TV viewing wi th Lundy in terests.What happened. lo r exa mple. to th egood "old -fa shioned" fam ily ge t-The PLAIN TRUTH Augus t 1976

Like many activities. te levis ionviewinz should be eva luated interms be nefits vs. shortcomings.To summarily unpl ug the se twou ld probably deprive you oryour family o r many we ll done andvaluable programs. Yet an uncritical indu lgence in extensive TVviewing may also be unwise. depriving you of precious time thatcou ld profitably be spent in otherpursuits.

In deciding how much TV towatch. it is g ~ o d to scan the television lis ting; for the coming weekand ma rk those programs thatseem particu la rly interesting ahead of time. Of course. in somecases. a tinu) evaluation cannot bemade unt il the program begins.bu t basically. the following criteriashould be helpful:

1. Does The program encourageworthwhile ideals. values. andbeliefs Does it uphold acceptable standards of behavior. promo ting mora l andspiritual values and respectfo r law. decency. and service?Or instead d o e ~ ' i it glamorizec rime. immoral it y. intolerance. greed. or crue lty? Does

rouc rh cr whe re familv me mber ssil';;ply talked ~ interests .ideas . needs. de sires. thou gh Is oncurren t world eve nt s. happen ings a tsc hoo l. work. or the neigh bor hood ?Do n'[ le t te levision stifle or re placeyo ur fami ly co nversa tion .

Rathe r than pe rmit the televisionse t to ab so rb a ll yo ur leisure t ime.d eve lo p a n interest in some co ns truct ive hob by . Child re n also needto be encouraged to tak e up consiru ctivc hobb ies ra ther than spending a ll the ir time in fro nt of th e TV .

\.Vith teen-agers. respect is th ekey. If you show an in tere st in whatvour o lder ch ildren wa nt to watch.you should find some commo n

it encourage bad t ast e. fa lsestandards of ma teria l success.or persona l va nity?

2. Does the program stimulateconstructive activities? Does itencourage you to learn more.to do some th ing co nstructive.to be crea tive. to solve pro blems. to work and to live withothers?Or does it g lamo rize vio lence.theft. robbe ry. smuggling .and ot he r crime? Does it. atleas t by examp le. teach th a tprob lems are (or should) besolved by brute force'

3 . Fina lly. ask yo urse lf. " Honestly. is wa tching this par t icu lar program the bes t use ofmy (or my family's) time?"Granted . wa tching TV ca n bere lax ing : a nd it ce rtainly requires little or no e ffort onyou r pa rt. But is a la rg e inves tment of time in TV viewing consistent with o thergoals and asp irations youhave? Wou ld the time be be tte r ut ilized in rec rea t ion . inhobbies. in read ing. or evenin family conversation.Only you can prov ide the answer,

gro und . lat e r. for di scussion. Ofte nteen-age l's are interested in the sameprograms as ad ults. a nd wa tchi ngth e same program s may be one ofthe eas iest things a pa re nt ca n dowith h is adolescen t child re n.Yet the mor e a par en t sets the

example of having o uts ide interests.the mo re ap t his children will be todeve lo p o the r in t e rests bes ide swa tch ing TV.Yes . it is tim e to tame the influence of televis ion.Tak e the necessa ry fi rst ste p bytu rn ing the television set o ff ea rlier

and uti lizing the neede d in itiativea nd thought to develop more in teres ts to r yo u and your family. 0

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18/48

by D av id L. AntionMarital squabbles aren 't fun. But they need not be destruc tive if a

couple knows how to " fight" correctly. Here are the rutes.It comes as no surprise to hear thatmar ried coup les have a rguments.In fact. some times they havemore th an a rguments. T hey havefight s! But it isn 't po lite to ca ll them"fights" - so let's ca ll them "op portun ities."This a rticle is abou t opportunitiesto ca lmly or not so ca lmly discusstroublesome issues. to improve com

municati on in a marriage. and to16

increase tru e intimacy between husband and wife.Accordina to Robert Kcllcv, autho r of Courtship. Murriuge 0 ;1(/ theFantilv, a mari ta l argumen t is "a resu lt 0" ' a breakdown .... in the workingpartne rship between hu sba nd andwi fe." Th ese breakdowns occu r fo r anumber of reason s - emotiona lfrustrations . hurt fee lings. misund e rstood ro le expectat io ns. a nd

evc rv va rietv of poor communications, Sex. -' moncy. and childrenseem to be the subj ects most oftenaruued about.It lak es skill and self-control toturn these des tr uc tive sq uab blein to "Iair fights" tha t im prove husband-w ife communications. solvproblems. and produ ce positive results. But it can bc J ane by following the rules:

The PLAI N TRUTH Augus t 197


19/48

Do Your Thing to Cool OffWhatever the source of an ar aurnent. once it begins people can become ex tr emely a ngry . I n ana tmosphe re o f tension. fru st rat ion .and hurt feelings. facts ca n get d isto rted . and common se nse talk isn'ta lways ac hie ved. Instea d. ev il motives may be imputed 10 every statement. Word s may be seized upona nd taken comple tely o ut of con text.So if a co uple is obv iously headingin to a n u ruurncnt . it' s best to redu cethe leve l thei r emo t ional sta te befo re they begin .

Each of us has his own pa rtic ula rway to coo l off. Some peop le like togo for a wa lk: oth ers migh t wan t toengage in violent sports activitiessuch as han d ba ll or tenn is. A hathor sauna can also he relaxing. Buthowever yo u do it, cool off ! ....

Once you've ca lmed down fromyour initial anger. you may chooseto forget th e who le th ing. If not. yo ua re rea dy to implement rule = 2.

Argue with the Right PersonTh is may so und like a rid iculousth ing to say. After a ll. you mightas k, who else would I arg ue with?\Vh at th is rule actuallv means isth at we sho uld a rgue the person we a re rea llv an gry with and no tp ick on an innocent party . Fo r instance . if you a rc a ngry with you rbo ss. do n't take it ou t on yo ur wife.If it 's yo ur wife th at 's the prob lem,The PLAIN TRUTH August 1976

don ' t tuke it out on the kids or thedog. A definite sign tha t you're argu ing with the wron g person iswh en yo ur an ge r is a ll out of proportion to the actual o ffe nse.

Som e psycho log ists refer to th istv pc of a rguing as "dumping" - pi1-yo ur ..r rusl rations. n g ~ r s . a nd1 1 l ~ s d on ot hers. ta king OUl yo urbuilt-up wrath on innocen t peop le.Ch ildr en arc o ften the vic tim in thisgame of " dum ping. " T he ... a re

( : o l d e d . span ked. ""'or r i t i ~ i z e d ,som etim es because their parents arefrustra ted wi th othe rs. not reallvwith them.

Dum ping is crue l. and it a llows ape rson to escape .1 co nfron tationwith th e rea l issue at hand . It rcso lves no thing.

Argue About the Right ThingYou'd be su rprised how many araumcnts arc sta rted and '-viciously abou t the wrong s t 7 bCounselo rs a nd psychologists arc"e ll aware tha t the prob lem s peoplep resent a rc not necessar ily the pro blem s o f prime concern lO them . T herea l p roblems lie unde rn eath .The sa me goes fo r marr ie d

co uples. Fo r l a n c e . a husbandm av cr i t icize h is w ife's housekeep ing wh en he rea lly may be up set with her lovemaking. Or a wifemay crit icize her h u s b a ~ d about alwa ys beina a t work, when . in reality.she is hur t be cause she doesn't feelhe gives her enough a tte ntion.

When we a rgue, we need to ca re fu lly exa mine 'Ourselves to find o uthow we fee l and exact ly wh a t is thesource of our irri tat ion. A hu sbandshould as k himself. "Am I reallvang ry wit h my wife's housekeeping?Is tha t rea lly the issu e? Or co uld itbe someth ing else?"

O f course some tim es it is d ifficult- humil ia ting .. embarrassin g a ndpo ten tially hurtful - fo r us to share

wha t IS rea lly trouh ling us wit h ou r Eemat es! It lakes courage to open upa nd reveal ou rselves: We bccom c vvul ner ab le when we show whatrcally hu rts us. It could be usedaga inst us. T her e must be lo ve and .Q

in the relationship in order toa rgue about the right thine. But itbig dividends ~ : h e n it done . Q

Argue at the Righ t Tim eBringing up a sensitive su bject toone's mute no t on ly requires cou rage a nd tr ust. b ut also pro pe r timing. In fac t. thc cho ice of the righ ttime is 1110re important than th ech oic e o f th e right words, I l ma ywo rk a lit nne if vou blu rt ou t fromthe hea rt wh at's '" troub ling you. instea d of keeping it h idden. But ifvou don ' t choose the righ t tim e tob ring up a sensitive youmay on ly make matters worse.

How ma ny times have co uplesbegun an argumen t ju s t before theywere supposed 10 lea ve for a party?No t o n lv have thev damaged the irmarriage re la t ion sh i P. ....,thcvvcru in ed a good evening as well.

\Vhen b ringing up 7l sensitive subject to your mate - one over whichyou a re irritated and must confronthim or her - do so at the rislu time.wh en you're both abl e to c ~ ) p e witha discussion. Don 't bring it up infront of company. And don 't 'bringit up when you know that your timeis too limited to properly discuss it.Some people p lay what E rie

Berne in his book. The GamesPeople Ptav. ca lled the "Sweethear t"game. One male brings up fau lts ofth e o ther in fron t of company. Heus ually does th is in a way that isqu ite a putdown to h is spouse. However. a t the end of the pu tdown. heusually says somcthing like this:" Isn ' t th at right , Sweeth ear t?" Ofco urse . the usc o f th is affectionatete rm mak es h im look good. It a lso

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pu ts his mat e in th e awkwa rd position of no t bei ng ab le to say anvthing in r e t a l i a t i l ~ Th is is a- bu t it is not fun or pleasan t top lay! However, ma rr ied co uplesso meti mes lise ot he r nam es in th e ira rg umen ts besides "Swee theart."

Don't Bri ng Up Past FightsO nc e a n ar gullle l1l has taken pl ace.it oug h t to be resolved and bu ried,neve r to be resu rrect ed! However .so me peopl e ten d to "g ive in" ino rder to end the argument be fo reihev arc really sa tisfie-J with the ou t co me . Becau se they a bandon a n a raurnen t before it's rca llv resolved .'they will len d to tha t o lda rgument in th e con tex t o f a newon -e , Once ilgai n , th is is sub tly showin g d issatisfact ion with the o u tcome01''-pa st argumen ts. Th e unsu sp ecting ma te was prev iousl y deceivedin to thi nking everyt hing was okay.T h is breeds mistrust and la ck ofconfidence a nd c an onlv d a mage th ema rr i age re la tio nsh ip. -' '-

Avoid Name-callingIn a "Iair fight " both pa rt ies a retry ing to reso lve a co nflict in t hebe st way possible . But in th e co urseof an arg ume nt. frus trated and hunmates may la sh ou t, and in tu rn h ur tan d fru strate th ei r spouse. A nd theyusually do it thr oug h the med ium o fins ults or name-calling.

T his fo rm of personal ve r ba l as -18

sa u l t is very d est ructive . Fi rst o f a lLit th rows th e ent ire um ument oil'any logica l track. In stead o f tryi ngto sc u le the pro b lem a t ha nd, it on lyse rves to add a no the r p roblem . Instead of exa mi n ing one 's own word sand actions to se e where they mi gh tbe im p roved a nd ho w they migh tcont ribu te to a so lu tion, th e partyth a t resor ts to nam e-ca llin g focusesa tt ent ion o n th e mat e and au emptsto b lam e h im fo r th e p rob lem .

In an y cas e. nam e-calling hur ts. Ithu rt s th e rela tionship be tween th eco uple. It sidesteps the rea l reasonfor t he argument. And it ruins th emut ua l respect tha t mar ried peop leshou ld ha ve for o ne a no the r.

Avoid "Stamp Saving"Some times we save up g rieva nceslike we save tr ad ing stamps. Pe rhaps we don't immed iate ly say anyth in g to ou r mat e a bo u t a pa r ticu larp robl em. But t he n after weeks o rmon ths whe n \ \ 'C do have a n a rgum ent. we unload all kind s o f thingsov e r which we ha d hostile feelingsin the pa s!.

A mat e may be shocked to learnof litt le incid en ts (mayb e not solitt le to the ir spo use ) which a re no wbeing b rought up da ys, week s, o reven mon th s la ter during a n ar au ment ov er so me thing l s ~ . Th eba nd or wife ma y no t even suspec tthe o ther spouse felt this \\'ay becau seh is true feeli ngs we ren' t revea led a tth e tim e o f the o rigi na l offense. Butno w. s inc e a n a rgu me n t is i nprogr ess, o ne ma te d ecides to cashin a ll these "trad ing stamps" a t o nce.

"S t amp col lect ing" b reeds a reaction of di s tr ust and lack of co nfid en ce . Your ma te ma y begin towo nder a bo ut ev erything tha t hap pen s from that poin t on , th inkingthou gh ts like : "H e seems okav now,bu t he throw th is up in fa celat er o n?"

You r ma te may deve lo p a n insec u rity and a di str ust of yo u beca use o f no t kn ow in g w he t hebygone inci de nts may be resurrec ted in th e fut ure .

Th e cure for cashing in stampsthi s : E ithe r exp ress yo ur d isplea su ra bo u t the inciden ts at the time tlieOCCllr o r at the ea rlies t conve nienLime, o r mak e up yo u r m ind to foge t them forever '

Bu t wh a t if yo u see a rec u rri nfau lt and dec ide th a t it nee ds corecting? Th en b ring up th a t fault oac tion a t the prop er t ime - whenoccu rs ag a in. Hut do n't bring it ud u ring an a rgume nt over so met hi ne lse ,In SummaryM a rit a l argumen ts sho uld a lways bcons truc tive - be neficia l to a m arriage . Th ey shou ld en hance eacpartne r' s un derstan ding of the othean d make for inc rea sed harmon y ith e fu ture. They sho u ld bring twpeop le close r togethe r as th e p roblem is resol v ed . For each partnesho uld lea rn to sec things from thother's poi n t o f view as we ll as fromhi s own.

As mat ure pa rtners, each ca n realize tha t it is poss ib le for twhum an be ings to live toget he r a nha ve diffe ren ces, t ha t diffe ren ces arnot of th em selves wrong or evil, anthat those dif ferences can be workeo u t com pat i bly. a micab ly, a nlov ingly .Th ev can lea rn tha t th e re is absolute ly -'no re ason to hide or pre tenRa the r bo t h pa rtn er s ca n be honeand abovebo a rd . instead of a llowi na wa ll of silence to come betwe eth em o r lett ing hosti lity d ri ve theap a n .

If you and yo ur mat e ca n d iscuth e se ru les toge the r a nd ap p ly th emyo u'll ha ve fewe r marita l sq uabb leAnd you will find that yo ur occsiona l ar gume nts do n' t have to beso urce of major dep ress ion , bu t cains tead be a so urce of prof it for boof you and a real benefit to the preciorelat ionsh ip yo u ho pe to keep , 0

RECOMMENDED READINGThe Intimate Enemy by George R, Bachand Peter Wyden. This excellent bookoutl ines in more detail how to fight fairlyin love and mar riage (New York: AvonBooks, 1968 , 384 pages, paperback) ,



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The n Aladdi n b rough t ou t thelamp a nd ru bb e d i t . a n dst ra ig h taway a ppeare d aGenie as king, "How may I se rveyou. a ll M l ~ r . " .

Thi rty-one yea rs ago thi s mon t h.the world was cha nged for ever.With a b linding nash a nd a de afening roa r. the devastating device known to mall was d eton at edove r the Japan e se city o f H iroshima.The result was consummate destruction an d the kil li ng o r maim ing ofove r 100.000 hum an bein gs. Th eda te wa s Aug ust 6. 1945. j us t threeweeks aft er the fi rst test ofa n atomicbom b in the New Mex ico dese rt.

"S cient ists have now known sin. "mused J. Rober t Oppen heim er. di rector of th e famed M anh attanPr oject tha t prod uce d th e a tomicbomb . Bu t the sin was no t in thedi scovery of the atom ic gen ie: thesin was in its lise . Indeed . no sc ientific d iscove ry in a ll o f huma n h isto ry has such a n awesome po tent ialfo r ei the r good or ev il.In the 11eady day s following thePos tda rn co nfe rence (J u ly 17 to August 2. 1945) a nd th e Hi roshimab last. the Un ited S tates eme rge d asthe sa le possesso r of nuclear technology. On ly the U.S. had the bomband only the U.S. had the so ph isticated fac ilit ies needed to q uicklyd evelop the a tom for a mu ltit ud e o fpeace fu l purposes.The Ge ntle Genie?Th e atom ic ge n ie was immed ia tc lvto uted as g o ~ d for a myriad of applicatio ns in med icin e. ag riculture.and ind ustry. A nd true to its prom ise, th e n uclear gen ie has o fferedma nkind gifts ranging from rad iotrace r stud ies of crops an d nutri en tsto a to mic -powe red he a r t pacemakers. Th e pa st 30 yea rs have in deed seen m illion s of the ca r th s in hab ita nts bene fit from the secrets o fthe a tom.The PLAIN TRUTH August 1976

Knowledge ofGood and EvilLIVINGWITHTHEATOMICGENIEby Pla in Truth Re se a rch StaffT he prom ise of cheap. a bunda n t

po \',,'c r fro m the atom a lso loo medon the horizon in 194 5. And today.w ith the wo rldwide energy c riskth e re is a n increased impe tu s fo r th edeve lo pme n t o f n uclea r e nergyso u rces . Yet the prom ise of chea pan d clea n powe r has been assa iledas a risk-filled rou te to rea ctor rou le tt e . (Pl ease see th e accompa nyinga rticle. )Nuclea r Fusion - Tomorrow 'sEn e rgy?There may, howeve r, be a not he r en er gy o ption - nuclear./l fsioll.Powe r derived from the splitt ing

o f a toms in n uclea r fiss ion has twom ajor d isa dv antage s: ( I ) th e fissionp rocess p rod uces lar ge a mo un ts ofin tensely rad ioa ctive wastes; (2) theamo un t of fissionab le mat e rialav a ilable on ea rth could conce iva b ly be u sed up in j us t a fewdeca d es .

By con tra st. the com bin ing ofa toms in nu clear f usion re leases fou rtim es as mu ch energy as fission (ona po und fo r pound bas is) a nd hasnei ther o f th e a bove di sadvan tages .O n ly m ild ly rad ioac tive materi alsar e pro duced in nucl ear fusion, a ndth e ra w mater ial s nece ssa ry (prima rily heavy hyd rogen ) a re cop iouslyab unda nt in th e wor ld's ocea ns.U n fortuna te ly . nu clear fus io n has

o ne major dr awback : No on e hasye t achieved a cont ro l led fusion reaction o n a sign ifica nt sca le. The ener gy put in has a lways exceed ed theenergy tak en ou t.

The p ro b lem is th a t in o rder toget fusion to take place . hyd rogenatoms mu st be heat ed to more th an100 .00 0 .000 de g re es cen tig r ade .Such te mpera tu res are found o nlyin the stars, giga ntic fusion furna ceswh ich a re held toge ther by th ei row n grav ity. On ea rt h. such temperatu res a rc crea ted only d u ri ng a nat om ic bomb exp los ion. o r bymean s o f a powerful las e r pulse .So fa r. some success has beenachieved . a nd laser fusion expe rt

C ha rles Gilber t believes a breakth ro ugh may be made in th e nextfew ye ars . Bu t progress has be enslow .Ye t the hope rem ai ns that man

will eventua lly succ ee d in crea ti ng aco ntro lled "mini-sta r" o n ea rt h a ndth us tap wha t is o ften co nsider edthe fu nd amenta l energy so urce ofthe ph ysica l un ive rse . If so. man ki nd will have a vi rtua lly u nlimi tedsou rce o f clea n power - powe r that.ev en a t 100 times the curre nt co nsumption. wo uld last for 10 b illionyea rs.Peaceful Nuclear ExplosionsT he te rm "pe aceful nuclea r explosion " is a mocker y a nd a sham (ifno t a co n tradi ctio n in te rms ) toma ny people. especia l ly in the af ter ma th o f Ind ia 's " peace ful " entry

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in to the nuclear weapon s d ub. Tobe sure. the tech nology need ed for apea ceful ex p losion is virtually ide ntical to that needed for a mi litarynuclea r bomb . Yet man y sci en tis tsbelieve th a t the re is a t least a po ssibi lity of usin g nuclear bombs fo r awide va riety of peac eful projects.U nde rground nuclear explos ionscould. in the op inion of some. pr epare shale oi l for ill situ p rocessing.st imu la te th e flow of na tura l gas. o rcreate s torage caverns for naturalgas a nd oi l. ....- By fa r th e mos t am bitious a pplication o f suc h peac efu l nukes isProject Pacer. In th e Pace r tech nique. thermonuclear devi ces wou ldbe tired inside hu ge partly waterfilled cav it ies leach ed out o f sa ltdomes. Th rough the usc o f a heatexc ha n ge r. th'C rad ioact ive steamfrom t he cav ity wou ld be used tom ake secondary steam to ope rateconventional turb ines.For a 2.0 00-megawatt fac ili ty. two

50 -kiloton nukes wou ld be d e to na tc d eac h d ay . or ro ughly 750 eachyear. a ll within the sa me cav ity!

Some exp ert s cha llenge whe the rth er e arc re a lly an y benefits to bega ined from pe ace fu l nuclear explosio ns. William Eps tei n. SpecialFell ow a t th e Un ited Nation s Inst itu te for T ra ining a nd Resea rch. isskept ica l a bout it. "Such o perationswou ld be ex treme ly costly as we ll ashazardou s." ex plains Epste in . "andno practica l way of dealing wi th thera d ioac t ive by-products ha s ye tbeen di scovered: 'Perhap s Epste in is co rrect: pe rha ps such projects as the Pacer

" shortcut" to fus ion energy mayface insu pera ble technical problem s.But the ve ry ide a o f quite liter allytaming th e st upendous power of th ehyd rogen bomb ca nnot help bu tbring to mind th e wo rds of G enesisII "A nd now no th ing will be re s tra ined fro m them. ~ theyhave imagine d to do : 'Mushrooming Proliferati onO f course . it was in ev itab le th ato the r nat ion s wou ld seek to ut ilizeth e se rv ices o f the a tomic genie . Th eU .S.S.R. officia lly "wen t ' nu cle ar"wit h an A-homh explosion in 1949.20

and s ince then . fo ur other co untr ies- Bri ta in . Fra nce . China. a nd India- ha ve jo ined th e nu clea r weapon sclub .Hut 'II leas t un til rcce n tlv. th ererem ained a ce rta in mi ld o p tim ismth at "p ressure" from the supe rpow ers (and in tern ation a l ag ree m ent s l i ke th e Nuclc a r No n Pro lifera tio n Treaty ) co uld successfu lly ho ld the line "at li ve o r six nuclear weapons powers. Even if many"n uclea r-wcapo ns-ca pable" coun tries exis ted. it was ho ped tha t no newou ld op t fo r a tomic wea po ns.Tod ay. th a t op timism no longer

exis ts. N uclear experts almost unanimou sly ex pect tha t th e re will soonbe nu clear-we apon -powered na tio nsnum ber 7. 8. 9. and 10. a nd eventu ally numbers 20. 30 a nd 40.Th is expec ta tio n. according to

nu c lea r a u t ho r i ty L i n col n P .Bloomfie ld , "cou ld he a snowballina, fa ta lis t ic belief tha t becomes asClf-fulll lling pro phecy unless it isco untered by a d iflc ren t bel ie f tha tis equally potent." Ye t given recen td eve lop me nts. such as the detonalion of a n uclea r "d evice" by India.an d the fac t th a t 19 na tions a lreadyhave 149 power-produ cing reactorsa nd 23 othe r countries have plantsunde r co ns truc tion o r o n the drawin g boards. it is hard to find mu ch tobe ....opt imistic ab out.The Fif th Horseman?"W idespread weapons p ro li ferationis sure to fo llow on th e heels of comm ercia l nuclear pO\\'er faci lit ies: 'contends Denis Hayes. senior resea rcher a t th e Worldwa tch Inst itu tean d autho r of a recent report called"Nuclear Power: the Fifth Horse man.' "The wo rld's nuclea r a rsena lal ready con ta ins the equivalent of25 bi llion tons of TNT." addsHaves. "With each additiona l finsero n "'the nuclear trigger. the c h a n ~o f an accidenta l or intent iona l nu clear wa r grows greater ," Of co urse.no co untry wa nts to be p laced in apo sition of perceived infe rio rity toothers . If a neighbor or a riva l co untry goes I 1 l h 4 ~ r . a tremendou s p res su re is exe rte d to do likew ise. As ares u lt. mor e a nd mor e nations rea lize th e pot en t ia l psycho logica l. po lit ic a l and ec o nomic va lues ofenlis ting th e power o f the a tom icge n ic.

Red Ch ina. fo r examp le. was delib erat e ly ign ored by th e g rea t po wer s un til she we n t nuclear. a t whictim e C hi na's in te rna tiona l stocrose prccipitouxlv. Li tt le wo ndethen tha t in in troducing a bi ll ca ling on the Argentine g O ~ ' e tbuild a n uclear bomb. one legis latode cla red: " Recent events have demons trated tha t nati on s gain inc reaing recognit ion in th e in ternationa,u'ena accorda nce with thepower."Much attention has been gi\ 'enthe possibility of countries... takinth e nuclea r option on the sly or under the guise of "peacefu l" researchBu t incr easingly th e probabil i tlooms that a na t io n wi ll ( ) p e , , ~ r decide to acqui re nuclear weapons capab ility for reason s which. s inctim e im mem ori a l. have dr ive n nation s to seck p restig e, infl uencpower. a nd eq uality.In a wo rld whe re dozen s of nations have nuclear weapons. thda nger o r a tomic wa rfare inc reased rast ica lly . Apart from th e da ngeo f the o utb reak of suc h nuclear waby d es ign . there is th e mo re likepossibility o f its ha ppeni ng as thres ult of acci de n t. m iscalculation . osheer m adn ess." I wo u ld like to rem ind you of aol d but pe rt inent sto ry: ' observe

D r. Edward Teller. o ne of th e sa geof nuclear ene rgy. "A da m a te tha pp le of knowledge and was expelled from pa radise. It is true th aa ll knowledge is dangerous. It is alstrue that we must work hard. usinou r heads and hea rts as well ashan ds. if knowledge is to bear goofr uit. It is "0 1 true that we shou labs tain from knowledge or from thpractical applications 'Of this knowedge."D r. Fred Ikle. director of the U.

A rms Control and D isarmameAgency. puts it somewhat diffeen tlv. " It is as if mankind has beeburdened bv a curse: ' says Ikl"The frui t o{ the Tree of Knowled g- the g rea t accomplishment of ounu c l e a r scientis ts - ho lds bo tp romise and threat : it can keea live o ur civ ilization and it ca n dstroy it'"

Fo r good o r evi l. the at om ic ge nha s esc71 ped from th e lamp,life o r d e a th : ' says t h e G cn i"wha tsoeve r plcusc th th ee: ' D

ThePLAIN TRUTH Augus t 197

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plain truth 1976 (prelim no 07) aug_w

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