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D
o YOU see a bright future
ahead? For you? For hu–
manity?
Personally, I do - and if you can
join me in saying that, you are one
in a hundred thousand!
Where is any
good news
today?
Where is any future to be found in
nations developing nuclear weapons
which can erase all huma.n, animal
and plant life from the earth?
Where is any hope to be found in
the wretchedness, ignorance, pov–
erty, squalor and filth in which more
than half the world's population
lives? Where is any joyous anticipa–
tion to be found in prosperous
"have" nations where sources of
drinking water - the rivers and
lakes - are being polluted and the
air we breathe is being befouled, the
soil is worn out and contaminated
and the foods are being robbed of
nutrition in food factories; where
bornes and families are being bro–
ken up, crime is rapidly increasing,
racial problems and violence are
erupting, and sickness and mental
disturbances multiplying?
Where is happiness today? Sixty
years ago, driving along country
roads in Iowa, I saw and heard
farmers plowing behind teams of
horses, singing happily as they
walked. Today, the farmers ride
tractors - but where did the singing
and the happiness go?
Where do we find encouraging re–
assurance for tomorrow on univer–
sity campuses where the leaders of
tomorrow are consigning morality
to the limbo of an outmoded past,
where suicides are on the increase,
and where unproved doctrines are
being ábsorbed by irnpressionable
minds?
Where do we find inspiration in
the assertions of world leaders and
the "great," warning us that we
must adjust to a future of growing
problems and dangers where there
are NO SOLUTIONS?
Well, for those of the above pre–
vailing concepts, the future must in–
deed appear discouragingly bleak -
if they take a look at it instead of
kidding themselves into the assump-
PLAIN TRUTH October 1973
Personal from
Hope for
the
Future
tion that by ignoring the dangers
they will somehow go away.
There is a CAUSE for every effect.
There is a CAUSE for the state of
the world today. And there has to be
a CAUSE that will produce the peace–
ful and happy world tomorrow.
There had to be a first cause for the
very existence of matter, of life, of
forces and energies. But today, it is
considered "intellectual" to be will–
ingly IGNORANT of that. 1 have said
before that in the first two centuries
of the so-called Christian era, it was
popular to embrace gnosticism -
meaning, "we know." But today, it
is popular to embrace agnosticism -
meaning, "we don't know - we are
ignorant." Today, ignorance is em–
braced and labeled "knowledge."
ls it IGNORANCE to recognize the
facts of the great first cause who
reveals the true cause of a
U
oftoday's
ills? Is it wise, intellectual and knowl–
edgeable to be deliberately ignorant
of basic facts and truth?
There are two main ways of life -
two basic principies - two funda–
mental philosophies. One is the way
of GIVING, the other of GETTING.
One is LOVE, the other LUST. One
believes it is more blessed to give
than to receive. The other insists
that acquiring, taking, accumulat–
ing, in the way of competition, leads
to progress and happiness.
The one way is God-centered, the
other is SELF-centered. The one ac–
cepts the Golden Rule, the other
says, "Do it to others before they do
it to you." The one is the way of the
divine nature; the other, the way of
human nature. The one is the way
of humility; the other, of vanity.
This world - all civilization -
this world's society - is based on the
hostile, competitive, SELF-centered
way.
lt
has produced every wail of
human woe.
lt
is the way that now
threatens the extinction of humanity.
This all means one thing. Man,
imbued with human nature, is ut–
terly UNABLE to solve his problems.
He can only worsen problems and
create new ones. By the "knowl–
edge" and efforts of man, this world
is doomed and hopeless.
Is there, then, nothing to live for?
Is there no hope for the future? Not
within the knowledge, the skills and
abilities of this world's great rninds.
Of self-professed "great" men, God
says, "Professing themselves to be
wise, they have become fools!"
But there emphatically is a bright
future ahead! The world tomorrow
- which
The
PLAIN TRUTH pro–
claims - will bring world peace,
universal prosperity, universal right
education, universal good health.
This
corning utopía does not depend
on the planning or doing of meo.
lt
will be produced
in spite of men.
The greatest event of all history
will be the coming ofthe
living
Jesus
Christ again to earth. But this time,
he is not coming as the gentle young
man from Nazareth, bringing the
announcement that led to bis fiog–
ging and death at the hands of
angry men. Jesus Christ rose from
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