Insight on the News
Bible Still Essential
“What five books should every educated person have read?” A panel of experts consisting of well-known educators, authors, professors and historians were asked that question recently by Time magazine, which subsequently published the recommendations.
As might be expected, there was little agreement as to what books constitute essential reading. Among the over 50 recommended, only three books were mentioned specifically by name more than once. The one exception was the Holy Bible. Far and above all the other books, it was nominated by a clear majority of the experts.
Throughout the ages, knowledge of the Bible has been considered an essential part of a well-rounded education, and it is no less so today, as borne out by the Time survey. Even though some people may feel that the Bible is now out of date, this kind of thinking only betrays a limited outlook on life. “An educated person should have some concept of metaphysics. That is, what is out there in the world and what are its limits?” said one of the interviewees, a Harvard professor.
The Bible is timeless not only because it is capable of “making the inexperienced one wise,” as the psalmist put it, but also because it is the only book that provides what people through the ages have been searching for—truth. “Your word is truth,” said Jesus Christ in a prayer to his heavenly Father, Jehovah God. Knowledge of the truth that is contained in God’s Word, the Bible, brings eternal life.—Psalm 19:7; John 17:3, 17.
Governments Faltering
“In all my years, I’ve never seen the world in so much turmoil,” says 95-year-old Alf Landon, who has been in American politics for 70 years. “There isn’t a nation in the world that really has a stable government today,” he adds.
In a similar vein, Horace Busby, political consultant and former White House aide, writes in a recent issue of Public Affairs Review: “Since the 1960s, governments everywhere, West and East, have begun not to work. . . . [They] are proving unable to establish or hold a consensus of support among the governed.” Or, in the words of The Washington Post columnist Haynes Johnson, “They reinforce the idea that events are out of control.”
Why are the governments failing? “To earthling man his way does not belong,” said the prophet Jeremiah. “It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step.” (Jeremiah 10:23) “The world in so much turmoil” is the sorry result of man’s inability to govern himself. “Man has dominated man to his injury,” says the Bible at Ecclesiastes 8:9.
As governments falter, where can honest-hearted ones look for hope? “We thank you, Jehovah God, the Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and begun ruling as king.” Yes, God’s Kingdom will come to man’s rescue. “It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite.”—Revelation 11:17; Daniel 2:44.
Brain Far Superior
After 37 years of development, the computer has revolutionized science, business and industry. Now the push is toward “artificial intelligence” (AI). Researchers are looking forward to the time when computer chips, called “very large-scale integrated circuits” (VLSI) containing hundreds of thousands or even millions of transistors, will “begin to approach the size of biological neurons themselves,” according to Tom Alexander in a Fortune magazine series entitled “Thinking Machines.”
However, before anyone should jump to the conclusion that the human brain will soon become obsolete, Alexander points out that the brain contains some 100,000 million neuron cells, each one a superior VLSI, capable of processing and storing vast amounts of information. There is no danger of the brain’s being replaced by computers in the foreseeable future.
The credit for the brain’s superior structure goes, of course, to the brain’s designer and maker, Jehovah God, who created us “in a fear-inspiring way.”—Psalm 139:14.