The Money Matter
And then there is the matter of money. Modern research requires a great deal of money because scientific equipment is enormously expensive. Also, scientists need people working under them: associates, graduate students, technicians and secretaries.
Without money a scientist is lost. In many fields, a yearly budget of $50,000 to $200,000 is not uncommon for the well-above-average scientist. For the very top people, grants in the millions of dollars are given. Naturally, the more money that an individual controls, the larger his scientific "empire" becomes — and the more his ever-expanding ego is fed. Thus the scientist must publish many papers (many before they are ready), attend the conferences and get to know the "right people" in order to convince those in authority that he needs more money.
It is an absolute rule that there must never — ever — be any money left over from the yearly budget. If the authorities were to see money left over, they would try to grant less money for the following years — and certainly not more!
So what happens when a scientist finds that he does have some money left over? He spends it — FAST! He frantically buys new equipment to use up his allotted funds. Then he can say that he "desperately needs" more money for the next year to carry on his vital research.
Totally unnecessary pieces of equipment are often bought for this reason. A laboratory buys a very expensive automatic glass cleaning machine — for the three glasses that are used each week. It is not uncommon to see hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of equipment idly standing around in hallways.
The Mature Scientist
This is what has happened to our young idealistic scientist who sought the answer to the big questions of human existence. His original ideas and quests have long ago withered from disuse. Or have been shattered by the banalities of our modern educational system.
Now he attempts to laugh off and ridicule these big questions of life. He is more "mature" — wiser and more astute — because he "knows" the answers are unattainable. These questions might be fun for a cocktail party — but any naïve, immature person who sincerely asks the BIG questions in the hope of finding the answers will be ridiculed and belittled. Even a casual reference to the Bible evokes, as a reflex, a haughty look, a condescending smirk, and a sarcastic comment.
The real problems, the scientist has deceived himself, lie in what he himself is doing — investigating the most picayune specific problem, publishing reams of papers, spreading his reputation, acquiring money, and clawing his way up the ladder of "success."
But is our scientist alone? By no means!
A Universal Snare
The same inevitable snare that swallowed up our scientist awaits those who enter EVERY OTHER FIELD Of learning.
A year or two of "higher" education convince most that the answers to the big questions of life are unattainable. And besides — in this day of cutthroat competition — one must dedicate himself wholly to his specialty as early as possible if he ever hopes to become a "success."
Thus the engineer and the economist, the lawyer and the linguist, the musician and the mathematician — and all the rest — fall into the same trap of specialization, abandoning, in the process, the search for the answers to the big questions. The specific details will vary from field to field, but the basic principle and the overall effect is the same for all. And the result?
In spite of today's tremendous increase in knowledge, the human family has more troubles than ever. It is destroying itself — physically, mentally, economically, socially and spiritually — by an appalling lack of true knowledge. "My people are destroyed for LACK OF KNOWLEDGE," says God in Hosea 4:6. The lack of true knowledge!
What the world has today is false knowledge, misknowledge and scientific knowledge that is being put to a wrong use. When it comes to acquiring knowledge that answers the really BIG questions of life — knowledge about the purpose and meaning of life, knowledge of how to solve man's big problems and knowledge about how to live happily and abundantly — there is a tremendous "knowledge gap."
There is only one publishing work on earth today that is filling this incredible gap. It prints the magazine you are now reading — The PLAIN TRUTH.
But HOW does The PLAIN TRUTH fill the gap? What does it have that other publications with far greater resources in manpower, research facilities and financial backing do not have? WHY is it able to supply vital knowledge unavailable from any other source? Why does it speak with AUTHORITY?
A Unique Approach
The PLAIN TRUTH is able to give you knowledge unobtainable elsewhere because it recognizes that the FOUNDATION of all knowledge is the Word of God — the Bible.
The Holy Bible is the BASIS — the starting point — which supplies us with the only right approach to the acquisition of all further knowledge. In all fields. In history, education and psychology. In home economics, sociology and the health sciences. In business and commerce, in science and the arts, in law and government and in philosophy and religion.
There is no subject for which the Bible does not give vital, beginning principles. These principles tell how to USE each specific field of study for man's good, and how to go about acquiring further useful knowledge in each field. In this sense the Bible is the basic textbook for human endeavor.
But in another sense, the Bible is not a textbook. It does not, for example, give scientific and technical data describing how to build a bridge, a car, a radio or an airplane. It is not the purpose of the Bible to give such information. Man has been given a mind by his Creator so that he can discover these things for himself.
At times, however, the Bible does give specific, detailed technical information. This might be a principle concerning human behavior, or an historical date or event. In such cases, the Bible is always infallibly, unerringly accurate.
Using the Bible as a primary source, The PLAIN TRUTH imparts clear, plain, easy-to-understand, nontechnical — yet absolutely BASIC and VITAL — knowledge in every major field of human endeavor.
The PLAIN TRUTH is an educational, world news, human interest, family magazine — a magazine of understanding. It prints information absolutely unobtainable elsewhere.
Articles on ALL Major Subjects
Would you like to know the answer to the questions of human behavior and psychology — why human beings act the way they do?
Would you like to know why law and government are in chaos today — and what the right approach to government is?
Would you like to know the way to have a happy marriage and respectful, obedient children?
Would you like to know the laws of financial success?
Would you like to know how to be healthy?
Would you like to know about the right kind of education?
Do you wonder what the true values are in art, music and literature?
And in the philosophical or religious sphere, do you know why man is on this earth, what his purpose for being here is, and what happens at death? Do you know why there is so much suffering and misery in the world today, why everything seems to be going wrong? And do you know where it all will end?
The PLAIN TRUTH has published article after article on everyone of these subjects for over 33 years. Every single issue contains articles on several of these vital subjects.
Yes, The PLAIN TRUTH has answered question after question that millions of people had never heard answered before. And it speaks with authority!
The PLAIN TRUTH fills today's knowledge gap as no other magazine on earth. Will you let it fill your knowledge gap?