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Oplnlons Real and Distorted
l t's strange how war can distort our
perceptions about the character of a
people. Many Americans were led
to bel ieve, after the J apanese
bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941,
that the J apanese language had no
word for !ove.
But it's not true. There are sev–
era) different words to convey the
feeli ng and emotion of
love in the Japanese lan–
guage. The J apanese are a
polite, kind and loving
peop1e when their efforts
are channe1ed in the right
direction.
ship at the Western Wall of the
ancient Temple Mount. My Arab
friend has helped me see the sorrow
of his family and people as well.
His ancestors had lived in that land
for centu ries. After 1967 he found
himself a refugee. Once reasonably
well-to-do and a landowner, he now
lives in another country.
How wonderful the day will be
when Arabs and J ews- and all
Peter that God had placed no spiri–
tual distinction between J ew and
genti le (Acts 10). God would
choose to call individuals out of all
nations and tongues.
In Athens Pau 1 announced:
"And [God] hath made of one
blood all nations of men for to
dwell on all the face of the earth,
and hath determined the times
before appointed, and the bounds
of their habitation" (Acts
17:26, Authorized Yer–
sion).
God did not
make all peoples of
one color. Nor of one cul–
ture. Nor all with the
same interests and abili–
ties. Nor all to express
the same music and art.
Nor all to speak the same
language.
Plain Truth
editor in
chief Herbert W . Arm–
strong has enjoyed a
long and warm relation–
ship with the J apanese
people. Every summer a
group of J apanese ex–
change students studies at
Ambassador Coll ege in
Pasadena, California. Mr.
Armstrong has met with
every Prime Minister of
Japan for the past 13
years, not lo mention
Emperor H irohito and
Prince Mikasa.
Admire the good qualities .. . look
to the future when a
God's boundless uni–
verse and the infinite
varieties of created life
forms on the earth are
furt her reflected in the
manner in which the
nations express their abil–
ities and character.
Mankind was created
in the image of the great
Creator God. In Genesis
3 we also see a powerful
sp irit being on the
Mr. Armstrong has a
special friendship with
time of world peace will once
and for all remove the
severa! members of the
J apanese Diet-they af–
fectionately call them–
selves his Japanese sons.
bad qualities and bring the people
of the world into
scene-one who had re–
belled agai nst God ear–
lier. He was there in the
Another often -dis–
torted character image is
the historie image of the
Arab world-one that has
come to us all the way from Cru–
sader days a thousand years ago.
For the past few centuries Arabs
seemed tucked away in the desert
regions of the Middle East. Only in
recent decades has the world
become fully aware of the power,
culture and influence of the Arab
nations. A Middle Eastern friend of
mine is a Palestinian Arab who left
Jerusalem after the Six Day War in
1967.
Havi ng both Arab and J ewish
acq uaintances and friends has given
me perspective on the problems
both peoples have faced in centu–
ries of turmoil.
1 deeply understand the joy of
lsraelis who could once again wor-
June
1984
harmony with each other.
peoples- can dwell in their own
lands at peace and harmony.
For nearly 6,000 years the precon–
ceived and stcreotyped ideas we have
of each other, the cultures, the tem–
peraments and character differences
of peoples, have resulted in jealousy,
hostility, aggression and war.
But What ls the Answer?
When the apostle Paul first an–
nounced God's truth in Athens, he
was a J ew traveling to the educa–
tional and cu ltural center of the
Greek world.
T here was a great gulf between
Jew and gentile- to sorne degree it
stil l exists today.
J esus had already revealed to
beginning to pervert the
human potential for cul–
ture and to Jure human
minds into error.
The apostle John more
than 4,000 years after was to say of
this being- Satan: "The great drag–
on was hurled down- that ancient
serpent called the devil or Satan,
who leads the whole world astray' '
( Rev. 12:9, New lntcrnational Yer–
sion throughout un less otherwise
noted).
Satan had so pcrverted society
that within 1,500 years of the cre–
ation of the first human pair, "the
earth was corrupt in God's sight
and was full of violence" (Gen.
6:1 1).
Careful reading of Genesis 6,
accompanied by discoveries of
archaeologists, shows that t he
ancient world had so degeneratcd
that God decided to start the
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