Pius XII infallible when he proclaimed that the fleshly body of Mary went to heaven? On the very face of it the statement is a lie, for the Catholic Douay Bible says plainly: “Flesh and blood cannot possess the kingdom of God: neither shall corruption possess incorruption.” (1 Cor. 15:50) Other scriptures proving the Assumption Dogma a fallible falsehood appeared in The Watchtower, January 15, 1951. Not man’s word, but only God’s Word, the Bible, is infallible!—John 17:17.

Above All Else, Guard Your Heart!

IN THE beautifully wooded grounds in front of radio station WBBR on Staten Island, New York city, stood a large oak, towering above the surrounding trees and dominating the scene. Its stately massive trunk seemed to be the very symbol of strength. Yet one day, after a particularly severe storm, this giant of the woods lay low. Trees all around it were still standing, but it had been felled, broken in two. Had it been struck by lightning? No. Then what caused its fall when smaller, seemingly weaker trees still stood? Ah, it had a hollow, rotten core. Its heart was bad.

Time and again a similar tragedy is seen in regard to the human body. A man, seemingly in the best of health, suddenly dies from a heart attack. He also had appeared to be strong, but something, too much worry, too much work, or perhaps too much pleasure, self-indulgence, had hollowed out his core, had weakened his heart, and so an overexertion felled him even as the storm felled the oak. Since this tragedy can also happen in a spiritual sense, as we shall presently see, most fitting is the admonition: Above all else, guard your heart!

Jehovah, the wonderfully wise Creator, not only fashioned that marvelous organ, the human heart, which organ contains the strongest muscles found in a man’s body, and which works unceasingly from the cradle to the grave—in fact, was designed to run forever—but He also produced those good qualities and faculties symbolized by the heart. No one understands this figurative heart as well as he does, and it is within his power to harden, strengthen, weaken, or even break it as he pleases by his dealings with his creatures.—Rom. 9:16-18.

Jehovah God made the heart of Pharaoh hard by his manner of dealing with him, and then he broke that tyrant’s heart by slaying his firstborn. By his mighty works for his people Israel during their wilderness journey, God caused the hearts of the people of Canaan to weaken, even as Rahab testified: “As soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt.” (Ex. 7:3; Josh. 2:11) Job complained that God had made his heart weak, soft.—Job 23:16.

In the greater number of cases in the Bible where the term “heart” occurs, it is used in this figurative way, as a symbol of the mind, the disposition, the love and actuating motive of the individual. At the time of the writing of the Hebrew Scriptures the word for heart (lebh) “denoted the seat of all affective and reasoning activity of the mind: the emotions of love