From Our Readers

“Going Up!”

While you give the names of the elevator in several different languages (June 22, 1984), you missed the pick of the bunch. The first elevator was installed on Port Moresby in 1967. The natives watched people enter it and the door closed. A little while later the door opened, but there were no people. Their name, translated, was “the room that eats people!”

G. M., California

Blood Transfusions

I read your last issue about giving blood transfusions. (July 8, 1984) Acts 15:29 tells us to abstain from blood, but obviously the blood refers to the blood of dead animals used for idol worship. To say that God wants us to abstain from keeping a person alive who would surely die without blood is murder.

B. B., Texas

It cannot be proved that a patient will die because of refusing blood or that one will live because of taking it. Some patients die in spite of having had a blood transfusion or even because of it. Others survive in spite of not having one or because of abstaining. It’s true that at Acts 15:29 Christians are commanded to abstain from things strangled, which implies a dead animal with the blood in it. But then it commands to abstain from blood without any restriction. And in Leviticus 17:10 the command is against the eating of “any sort of blood.” The taking in of blood does not become more acceptable because the donor is human instead of animal nor because the donor continues living instead of dying.​—ED.

Unemployment

After losing my job two years ago there was some concern about how I would care for my family. I had been employed for 18 years at one place before it closed. I tried unsuccessfully to find employment. I then tried some of the suggestions listed in your magazine. (July 22, 1984) Creating a job for myself really worked for me.

T. H., Illinois

Never before have I read such a dignified account of the unemployment experience. Instead of focusing upon fault and negativity, your magazine told how one could eliminate his problem while maintaining both pride and dignity.

M. Y., Michigan

Your article might be leading people to break the law. One might get the impression that one’s home could be used for any of the activities you list on page 9. The fact is that practically all those activities are illegal unless your home is in a commercial or industrial zone or unless a variance has been given.

H. G., New Jersey

It goes without saying that a person should always inquire of local authorities as to zoning ordinances, mercantile regulations, education or licensing requirements or other legal requirements, just as a person would do well to inquire into what educational services local governments supply that would assist him toward being as effective as possible in his self-employment at home.​—ED.