The War That Changed the World

A century ago, millions of young men left the security of their homes and went off to war. They went eagerly, swept along by a wave of patriotism. “I am happy and full of excitement over the wonderful days ahead,” wrote an American volunteer in 1914. Soon, though, their enthusiasm turned to bitterness. No one foresaw the way those huge armies would get bogged down for years in the mud of Belgium and France. At the time, people termed it the “Great War.” Today, we know it as the first world war. The first world war was decidedly great in terms of casualties. By some estimates, it left about 10 million dead and 20 million mutilated. It was also the result of great blunders. European statesmen were unable to stop international tensions from escalating into a global conflict. More important, perhaps, is the fact that the “Great War” left great scars. It changed the world in ways that still affect us today. MISTAKES THAT DESTROYED TRUST The first world war broke out because of miscalculations. European leaders acted like a “generation of sleepwalkers that stumbled unawares over the ledge of doom during that halcyon summer of 1914,” explains the work The Fall of the Dynasties—The Collapse of the Old Order 1905-1922. Within weeks, the assassination of an Austrian archduke plunged all the major European powers into a war that they did not want. “How did it all happen?” the German chancellor was asked a few days after hostilities began. “Ah, if only one knew,” he sadly replied. The leaders who made the fateful decisions that led up to the war had no inkling of the consequences. But reality soon dawned on the soldiers in the trenches. They discovered that their statesmen had failed them, their clergy had deceived them, and their generals had betrayed them. How so? A statesman, a clergyman, a general, and a globe Their statesmen had failed them, their clergy had deceived them, and their generals had betrayed them The statesmen promised that the war would open the way to a new and better world. The German chancellor proclaimed: “We are fighting for the fruits of our peaceful industry, for the inheritance of a great past, and for our future.” American President Woodrow Wilson helped to coin a reassuring popular slogan that the war would “make the world safe for democracy.” And in Britain, people thought it would be “a war to end war.” They were all mistaken. The clergy supported the war enthusiastically. “The guardians of God’s word led the martial chorus. Total war came to mean total hatred,” states The Columbia History of the World. And clerics fanned rather than quenched the flames of hatred. “Clergymen were unable, and for the most part unwilling, to place Christian faith before nationality,” observes A History of Christianity. “Most took the easy way out and equated Christianity with patriotism. Christian soldiers of all denominations were exhorted to kill each other in the name of their Saviour.” The generals promised a quick and easy victory, but it was not to be. Before long, the opposing armies came to a grueling stalemate. Thereafter, millions of soldiers faced what one historian described as “perhaps the cruelest large-scale ordeal that the flesh and spirit of man have endured.” Despite appalling losses, generals kept throwing their men against barricades of barbed wire and barrages of machine-gun fire. Not surprisingly, widespread mutinies broke out. How did the first world war affect society? One historical work quotes a veteran as saying: “The war . . . scorched the minds and character of a generation.” Indeed, in the wake of that war, entire empires disappeared. That tragic conflict proved to be the prelude to the bloodiest century mankind has ever known. Revolutions and strikes came to seem almost commonplace. Why did the war turn the world upside down? Was it really just a colossal accident? Do the answers reveal anything about our future? PREVIOUS NEXT E-MAIL LINKPRINT DOWNLOAD OPTIONS PODCASTS TABLE OF CONTENTS PREVIOUS NEXT Did You know? Why Does God Allow the Strong to Oppress the Weak? He Endured in the Face of Injustice Bible Questions Answered MORE ONLINE FEATURES World Peace—Why So Elusive? JW.ORG / OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF JEHOVAH’S WIT

INSONIA....

Sem soninho, mordendo a orelha do Huguinho, ele tadinho morrendo de sono, sao 1:36, frio ate no osso, this is London para variar. Tambem hum o ser humano nunca esta satisfeito com nada neh, se esta frio...reclama, se esta calor...iden entao nao sabe o que quer. Olhando o pacote de filmes na Sky, tenho varias opcoes_ The Incredible Burt Wonders, Iron Man3 ja vi, Life Of Pi, vi um pouco mas nao gostei, Cloud Atlas, Argo muito estranho este filme, muita violencia acho que nao gostei kkk, Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship muita magica e eu detesto kkkLiars All, Flight , Jack Reacher, Django Unchained! Sao muitos filmes e eu nao sei o que assistir Lol, se calhar vejo OZ: The Great And Powerful... Maybe, ja estou cansada de mim mesma, risos. Bye.

O Lord, I am conscious that a man’s way is not in himself: man has no power of guiding his steps.—Jer. 10:23, “The Bible in Basic English.”

Would it not be foolhardy for an inexperienced person to set off alone, without a skilled guide and not so much as a compass, hiking deep into an uncharted wilderness? Not knowing how to survive inhospitable conditions in the wild and not having the expertise to find his way safely to his destination, he would be putting his life in jeopardy. So, too, the person who thinks he can direct his course through this wicked world without allowing God to show him the right way is placing his life in grave danger. The only chance we have of traversing this system of things successfully is to make the same prayerful request to Jehovah that David did: “Let my steps take hold on your tracks, in which my footsteps will certainly not be made to totter.”—Ps. 17:5; 23:3. w11 12/15 2:7, 8

Jesus Christ—How Should We Remember Him?

In December many people around the world see pictures or images of Jesus as a baby. He is in a manger, a large box where hay is kept for animals to eat. But should we remember Jesus only as a baby?— * Let us talk about a more important way to remember him. We can learn of it from what happened to a group of shepherds in the fields near Bethlehem one night. An angel suddenly appears to the shepherds. He tells them: “There was born to you today a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” The angel also tells them that they will find Jesus “bound in cloth bands and lying in a manger.” Right away, many other angels appear and begin “praising God.” How would you feel if you heard angels praising God?— The shepherds are happy! “Let us by all means go clear to Bethlehem,” they say, “and see this thing that has taken place.” There they find “Mary as well as Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.” Soon others come to Bethlehem where Mary and Joseph are. When the shepherds tell them what happened, they all marvel. Are you happy to know these wonderful things?— All of us who love God are. Now let’s see why Jesus’ birth causes so much happiness. To do that, we need to go back to the time before Mary was married. One day an angel named Gabriel visits Mary. He promises that she will have a baby who “will be great and will be called Son of the Most High.” “He will rule as king,” Gabriel says, “and there will be no end of his kingdom.” Mary wants to know how this can happen, since she has never had relations with a man. So Gabriel explains to her: “Power of the Most High will overshadow you,” and “what is born will be called holy, God’s Son.” Taking God’s Son from heaven and putting his life inside Mary’s womb to grow into a baby—that was a great miracle! Have you seen pictures or displays showing three “wise men” visiting the baby Jesus along with the shepherds?— At Christmastime such scenes are common. But they are not accurate. Those “wise men” were really astrologers, practicers of what God condemns. Let’s see what happened when they arrived. The Bible says: “When they went into the house they saw the young child with Mary its mother.” So Jesus by then was no longer a baby in a manger; he was a child living with Joseph and Mary in a house! How did the astrologers find Jesus?— They were led by a “star,” not to Bethlehem, but first to King Herod in Jerusalem. The Bible says that Herod wanted to find Jesus to kill him. Now think about this. Who do you think made what appeared to be a star guide the astrologers to Herod?— It was not the true God, Jehovah, but his adversary, or enemy, Satan the Devil! Today, Satan tries to make people think of Jesus only as a helpless baby. But the angel Gabriel told Mary: “He will rule as king . . . , and there will be no end of his kingdom.” Now Jesus is ruling as King in heaven, and he will soon destroy all of God’s enemies. That is what we should remember about Jesus, and we need to tell it to others. Read in your Bible Luke 1:26-35; 2:8-18 Matthew 2:7-12; 1 Peter 5:8 Revelation 19:19-21; 1 John 2:17

BIBLE QUESTIONS ANSWERED

What is the purpose of Christ’s return? Before Jesus Christ ascended to heaven in 33 C.E., he promised to return. He likened himself to a nobleman who went away for a long time and returned with power to rule as king. The purpose of Jesus’ return is to provide mankind with good government.—Read Luke 19:11, 12. Jesus will bring good government to mankind In what form does Christ return? He was resurrected as an invisible spirit person. (1 Peter 3:18) Then, he went to heaven and sat at God’s right hand. (Psalm 110:1) Much later, Jesus was brought before Jehovah God, “the Ancient of Days,” who granted Jesus power to rule over mankind. So Jesus returns, not as a human, but as an invisible King.—Read Daniel 7:13, 14. What will Jesus do when he arrives? When Jesus arrives invisibly with his angels, he will judge mankind. He will destroy wicked people but grant everlasting life to those who accept him as King.—Read Matthew 25:31-33, 46. Jesus’ rule as King will transform the earth into a paradise. He will resurrect the dead so that they can enjoy life in that earthly Paradise.—Read Luke 23:42, 43.

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[Do not] pay attention to false stories . . . which furnish questions for research.—1 Tim. 1:4.

Bom dia, G'morning to all, Paul’s warning about “false stories” is part of his first letter to Timothy, a Christian overseer who was charged with preserving the purity of the congregation and helping fellow believers to remain faithful. (1 Tim. 1:18, 19) Here Paul uses a Greek word that can refer to fiction, myth, or falsehood. According to The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, this word refers to “a (religious) story that has no connection with reality.” Perhaps Paul had in mind religious lies promoted by sensational tales or fanciful legends. Such stories only “furnish questions for research”—that is, raise frivolous questions that lead to pointless research. False stories are a ploy of the archdeceiver, Satan, who uses religious lies and godless myths to sidetrack unsuspecting ones. Paul’s counsel is clear: Do not pay attention to false stories!