Insight on the News
Alcoholism and Jews
● Among the Hebrews in Bible times wine was a common accompaniment of food. (Gen. 27:25) It became a regular feature of the Jewish Passover celebration. Did this lead to a high incidence of drunkenness among the Jewish people? No, the evidence is to the contrary, and that remains true till this day. Thus a recent report tells of a university study made on the rate of alcoholism among Jews in the U.S.A. It shows that, whereas alcoholism affects one in 14 among the general population, it affects only one out of every 200 Jews. The report states, among other things, that the study attributed the low rate of Jewish alcoholism to “close family ties and the fact that wine is a religious symbol and is first drunk early in life.”
Wavering Standards
● Under the heading “Democratic Savior?” columnist James A. Wechsler of the New York “Post” reported that preacher Billy Graham had agreed to appear on a fund-raising “telethon” for the Democratic Party. A party spokesman gave Graham’s previously close connection with ex-president Nixon as “one of the better reasons to have him on the program.” Columnist Wechsler takes that to mean that Graham’s participation in the telethon would imply that the preacher viewed “this Republican Administration as the wave of the past, or [had] at least decided to hedge his spiritual investments,” by showing interest in both major parties. The columnist himself characterized this as an example of the “blandness and moral compromise” that makes for success in “public show business.”
About the same time, a United Press International dispatch from Brussels appeared, stating: “Evangelist Billy Graham said today that he was in favor of ordaining qualified homosexuals, but that he preferred to decline comment at present on the ordination of women.” The evangelist is quoted as saying that homosexuals should be “considered on individual merit” and that they should ‘accept Jesus Christ and turn away from their sins.’ It was left to an aide to explain later what this meant and he said that the turning away from sins would include abandoning the practice of homosexuality. But why was this not stated clearly in the first place? The Bible, of course, does very straightforwardly condemn homosexuality.—Rom. 1:26, 27; 1 Cor. 6:9, 10; 1 Tim. 1:10.
As to the ordaining of women, the evangelist said that he was “not prepared to take a stand one way or [the] other.” Again, the Bible is very clear in its position regarding women teaching in the Christian congregation. (1 Cor. 14:33, 34; 1 Tim. 2:12) Surely in times like ours there is need for clarity and conviction rather than ambiguity or a vacillating approach to moral issues. For “if the trumpet sounds an indistinct call, who will get ready for battle?”—1 Cor. 14:8.
Learning from Creation
● “Sputnik,” a Russian magazine digest, describes scientists’ efforts to develop instruments that will duplicate certain amazing abilities of the animal creation. Their studies show, for example, that a grasshopper’s “ears” (located in its front paws) are so sensitive to sound waves that “a grasshopper in Moscow is capable of ‘hearing’ tremors caused by an earthquake on the shores of the Pacific.” One instrument that scientists developed copies the hearing organ of the jellyfish and it can reportedly predict the coming of a storm some 12-14 hours earlier than can an ordinary barometer. Bee honeycombs are formed of thousands of hexahedral (six-sided) prisms. The acute angles of each prism’s pyramidal base always equal 70° 32ʹ. “Sputnik” says “the scientists demonstrated that in the case of hexahedrons it is precisely this size of the angles that ensures the greatest volume of the honeycomb cell with minimum expenditures of building material for construction.” Using this knowledge, they developed honeycomb-type grain elevators with considerable savings of concrete.
Strangely, however, these men who see such astounding examples of instinctive wisdom built into these creatures would give the credit to blind, chance “evolution” rather than to an infinitely wise Creator.—Compare Romans 1:22, 23.