like a paradise.” The other said: “It is like an oasis in New York!” Recently I was assigned to the factory to do some light work. I must say that there I am thrilled with the sight of so many dedicated ministers, including many young ones, serving Jehovah joyfully with a whole heart.

As I look back over the years and reflect upon the past, as most older people do, I can honestly say that I am grateful for the opportunity of having served God while I was still young and had the strength of youth. I was only twenty-two when I learned about the great Jehovah. Now I am seventy-five. All these years have been full of rich blessings. Serving Jehovah is indeed a great treasure. It is not only having the joy and happiness that the knowledge of the new system of things brings, but it is also the experience of having Jehovah’s favor for doing his divine will. This is the unspeakable treasure that I found in this “land of promise.”

Questions From Readers

● How can it be said that Jesus could have produced perfect children from an imperfect wife? Would not the children, according to the laws of genetics, have inherited imperfection from their mother?​—F. S., England.

The basis for offering this as a possibility is the example of what occurred in the case of Jesus’ own birth. He was born perfect even though he had an imperfect mother, Mary.

In saying this, we do not deny the scientifically demonstrated fact that the union of a human sperm and a human egg cell or ovum, both of which contain chromosomes and genes, results eventually in a new organism with hereditary characteristics of both parents. This process has been observed and can now hardly be called a theory.

In Jesus’ own case it appears that Jehovah used one of the ova in the womb of the virgin, but imperfect, woman Mary. (Rom. 3:23) Had he not done so, Jesus, from a physical standpoint, would not have been a real descendant of Abraham and King David, as had been foretold. (Gen. 22:18; Isa. 11:1, 2; Luke 3:23-38) Thus we believe that Jesus looked like a Jew, that he had human characteristics that were observable in his mother.

The question may now arise, Would not Jesus have inherited some imperfection from Mary? No, the Bible plainly shows that Jesus was born perfect. (1 Pet. 2:22; John 8:46) In this way he was the equivalent of perfect Adam and could serve as the ransom to take away sins. (Heb. 7:26; 9:26; Rom. 5:18) We should keep in mind that we are not dealing just with genetic laws of dominant and recessive characteristics. No, perfection and imperfection are also involved. We have no experience with the results of uniting perfection with imperfection. Scientists cannot measure human perfection or imperfection resulting from sin. Nor can they predict the powerful effect a perfect male sperm would have on an imperfect ovum. But it is evident from what occurred in Jesus’ case that the perfect male part of the reproduction dominated the imperfection inherent in Mary. Jesus’ perfect Father transferred the perfect life of his Son to the womb of Mary and the result was a wholly perfect offspring, Jesus.​—Gal. 4:4.

Accepting what the inspired Scriptures say took place as to Jesus’ conception and birth, we can conclude that by reason of Jesus’ being entirely perfect he could have fathered perfect children even with an imperfect wife. Of course, that was not God’s will for Jesus. (Heb. 10:5-10; Matt. 26:39) Nonetheless, that potential was apparently there.

● Why did the Jews use the name of the pagan god Tammuz as the name for one of their months?​—R. M., Honduras.

Tammuz was the name of a Babylonian deity. (Ezek. 8:14) And though the Bible does not apply the name in this way, postexilic works, such as the Jewish Talmud, use the