Review of Basic Principles in Approaching Non-Adventists*: Part 1—The Human Relations Factor

* A talk given at a ministers and doctors' retreat.

IMPORTANT as it is that we have a correct and pure theology, it seems to me just as important that as a people we excel in what we might call "peopleology." What really is more important, doc­trines or people? What comes first, truth or souls? The Lord tells us that "the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath."

If we are to get the truth to people, we must first get through to people. I think that our greatest problems as a church and as individuals lie in the field of human re­lations.

We have our work cut out for us in hu­man relations by the very profession we make as a people and by the nature of our movement. We claim to be more than an­other church. We say that we have been raised up for a special work, to prepare a people to meet Christ. And associated with that, of course, are certain reforms that are necessary to prepare a people to meet the Lord. We are told that "of all the people in the world, reformers should be the most unselfish, the most kind, the most cour­teous."—The Ministry of Healing, p. 157. The paragraph goes on to say that by a wrong approach we may close the door of hearts so that we can never reach them.

In any reform movement the human re­lations factor is critical because people do not take readily to reform. A reformer must come close to people. His greatest force lies in his successful relationship to his fellow men. Furthermore, a reform movement is always confronted with cer­tain perils that a liberal movement never experiences. It runs the hazard of produc­ing cranks and fanatics. There are always a few intense, earnest extremists to keep one in hot water. Someone says that it takes a crank to turn the world, but we can get along with a minimum of these.

At the risk of being misunderstood let me say this: There are a number of basic and distinct teachings and emphases of the church that, while they are potentially ca­pable of enriching our lives, may through misappropriation contribute to immaturi­ties of attitude in relationship to other peo­ple.

For example, our concept of being the bearers of God's special message. This is a wonderful thing. It gives us a sense of destiny, a sense of mission. We have a work to do. On the other hand, it can blend into a species of snobbishness. "We are the peo­ple." We draw a little circle. On the outside are the "outsiders." Why do we hear fre­quent complaints that our people are not friendly? People writing in to the Voice of Prophecy often ask: "How do you get into your church?" They get the idea of an ex­clusive society. I wish someone would find out why that is.

Here is a delicate problem for us: How can we preach our warning message, the third angel's message, a warning against the beast and his mark, and still create in the hearts of our people and our children a warm feeling for people? We have a deli­cate problem right there.

We were speaking the other day of pos­sible Presidential candidates. My little girl said, "I would never vote for Mr.---------."

Why did she say that—because of the prin­ciples or issues involved, or because of prejudice? Children are born without prej­udices; they absorb prejudices from their environment—their church, their parents, and so on. We have some problems along that line. The second angel's message is, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen." How can we clearly preach: "Babylon is fallen," "Come out of her my people," and yet not cut ourselves off from Babylon and from the shepherds of the sheep out there? We might mention high church standards. I believe in a church of high standards, but we risk some perils here too. There is a danger that we develop critics and judges in the church who want to line people up. You know how you have trembled for fear that some well-meaning member might go up to some new convert or someone interested in the church to straighten them out on some­thing they are wearing, or something like that.

Our task is to condition our children and our church members to a positive stand re­garding standards, all the while developing attitudes of maturity sufficient to keep them out of the judgment seat. I am convinced that our greatest challenge as a church lies here in the field of human relations. How are we to meet the challenge?

It is easy to answer that question. It is more difficult to follow the answer. Of course, the simple answer is "Be Christian. Be like Christ." He was the ideal in hu­man relations. His teachings and exam­ple reveal how to approach people the right way.

There are different levels of interper­sonal adjustment. The first we will call antipathy, at which point human relations break down. Antipathy—feeling against, hostility. The unregenerate heart is on this level. The next level is apathy. These words are related to the Greek pathos— feeling. Antipathy—feeling against. Apathy —devoid of feeling, no real concern. Many Christians are still on that very low level of adjustment to other people. They are char­acterized by apathy. Their only real con­cern is for themselves. But we want to bring them up higher. The next level is the level of sympathy, which is a feeling with people. Even here there are degrees of concern for others. It is possible to consider oneself sympathetic while actually caring little for the fears and feelings of others. This is illustrated by the apostle James when he described the man without food or clothing and the man who sympathizes say­ing, "I'm sorry. I hope you get some food and clothing." That might be called sym­pathy, but that is not high enough. We need to feel with people. Consider the In­carnation, when God became a man. God knows what it feels like to be tempted and tried. The Lord Jesus was made to be sin for us, though He was without sin. Christ understood man's plight and cared so much that He died for us. That's the highest level, the saving level.

In Gethsemane, Christ's humanity cried out, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me." Great issues were at stake—the vindication and revelation of God's char­acter were involved. But it was when Jesus saw the vision of lost humanity, doomed and helpless, that the decision was made. (See The Desire of Ages, page 690 and on.) The Gethsemane experience provides the dynamic for the final triumph of this movement.

In The Desire of Ages, page 361, we are told that Jesus "made plain to them [the disciples] the right way of approaching the people." I want to find the right way. If I am approaching them the wrong way, I want to stop and do it the right way.

(We have prepared a series of twelve sermons that have been presented in a number of our churches, dealing with basic principles appearing especially in the writ­ings of the Spirit of Prophecy, on the proper approach to people we wish to win. Elder Glenn Coon of the Southern Union has done a good deal of work along this line and has been an inspiration in my study of these principles.)

We want to learn Christ's way of winning the people. The first principle we need to get is stated in The Ministry of Healing, page 157: "God's plan is first to reach the heart." We aim for the head. We think that is more vulnerable, but we are to aim at the heart. Christ is our example in this. See how He approached the woman of Samaria. He asked her a favor and found a path to the heart. He won the heart of Nathanael, the skeptic, by paying him a sincere com­pliment: "Behold, an Israelite indeed!" He paid Zacchaeus, the tree-climbing politi­cian, the supreme compliment of the Ori­ental when He invited Himself to lunch with him. He won the hearts of the people first!

A key text in this series is John 12:32 where Christ says, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." Christ is a magnet. And when we are drawn to Christ, wre find a fellowship with Him—a companionship. This explains the great power that Christ has over the lives of people. Drawn to Christ, we become as­sociate magnets and we win others to Christ. This creates a larger fellowship— the fellowship of the believers. "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). So, it is a win­ning, convincing, testifying fellowship.

But there is a competing magnet. The devil draws. He drew a third part of the stars of heaven. One woman complained about her husband. She said, "He drinks all the time; he runs with other women. Why do these things have such a pull on him?" Well, the answer of course is fellow­ship. He was finding fellowship in unright­eousness. Why do men drink? Because of the desire for fellowship. They start with the social glass. Why do men smoke? The boy starts smoking because he wants to be accepted socially. Men sin because it is attractive to their nature. They love to sin. They find fellowship in unrighteousness. We will be in one fellowship or the other. The Bible enjoins us to shun the fellowship of unrighteousness. "What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?" The work of soul winning is to get people to transfer from the one fellowship to the other. How? (To be continued)