Pointer's

"I" or "We"

Where do we stand on the issues?" We are not as strict as we used to be." "We are forsaking the old landmarks." The writer finds the "we" in these sentences disturbing, for it is indicative of a collective state of mind induced by a reception of negative phrases or a demonstration of spiritual drift. And because of the natural tendency of human nature to criti­cize itself, negative concepts must be actively resisted to be avoided.

The total membership must never be labeled because of the apostasy of the vocal few. The "we" in so many pronouncements would be more ac­curate as an "I." It is not unusual that the few outshout the many and claim themselves the major­ity. It is important that the majority resist pattern thinking with negative molding. Individually we are adherents or apostates. Individually we are strict or lax. Individually we are clinging to or forsaking the old landmarks. "We" are not drifting. Some are, some are not. Are you?

E. E. C.

THOSE MOTHERS

A news note from Europe says that the famous German pastor Dr. Martin Niemoeller recently inter­viewed a high Soviet official, and the subject of re­ligion came up. The official estimated that 65 percent of the Russian people had church affiliations after 40 years of virulent atheistic propaganda. Why this astonishing situation should exist was attributed to the Christian mothers of Russia!

This adds up to a tremendous argument in favor of the Christian home. To those nominal Christians whose homes are slipping in matters of child training, family worship, church attendance, and religious commitment comes the warning cry: Beware! Beware! Beware!

We must foster every phase of church activity that affects the life of our children and youth, as part of the church's effort to augment the influ­ence of Christian fathers and mothers. Only a full, well-rounded program of Christian education in home, school, and church can bring a full blessing upon us.

H. W. L.

"ESSENTIAL SANCTITY"

According to Dr. Albert Schweit­zer, "There is an essential sanctity of the human personality, regard­less of race or color, or conditions of life. If that ideal is abandoned, the intellectual man goes to pieces and that means the end of culture and even of humanity."

There is no mystery concerning the identity of this "essential sanctity." It is, in fact, the "image of God" in which man was created. To deny that the impress of God is on the whole human family is to exclude some men from the claims of the gospel. This is indeed foreign to the spirit of Christ and the gospel that we preach. The heart of the gospel is love, and its symptoms are out­lined in detail in 1 Corinthians 13. The spirit of the commission in Matthew 28 is that all men be exposed to, and as many as will, infected by, the spirit and letter of the message of Christ, which is aimed at man's essential sanctity.

J. R. S.

"WHAT MAKEST THOU?"

There are entirely too many people in our world who want to be somebody else. On exhibition here and there are hundreds of imitators. Creative thinking is as rare as uranium, and individualism as seldom seen as air. Few men are themselves and satisfied to be so. Perhaps this begins early in life, when the tendency to imitate is most evident. In older persons the impulse to imitate is costly, for it deprives the world of a fresh outlook or indeed a new approach to its problems.

One of the perils of our preacher-training pro­gram is that it tends to "sameness," in that so much of the teacher "rubs off" on the pupil. This may be good or bad or both. The preservation of one's individuality requires a supreme exercise of the will. To absorb the best of another without conforming to his image, requires the highest wis­dom.

In this age of assembly-line production, people prefer the anonymity of the masses to individual participation. We give to the poor through organi­zations; consequently the deformed beggar down­town raises his plaintive cry in vain.

Preacher, what are your talents? For the sake of humanity, use them within the framework of your individuality. Ape no man! Be your best self, under God.

Nor may we, without loss, succumb to the influ­ences of mass thought. Individually, may we pur­pose to die rather than surrender one peg of re­vealed truth. Personal power accompanies personal conviction. A few men fail to study because they already "know" what "we" believe. Their sermons are remarkable for their lack of vitality.

To desire to be like another reveals a basic dis­satisfaction with oneself as he is. It may also reveal resentment toward the Creator for one's own en­dowment in talent. To imitate another is to ques­tion the wisdom of God who made us as we are. Indeed "shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou?"

E. E. C.