Technical training of astronauts is relatively rapid. A youth’s development into manhood is a far longer, and yes, far more awesome process.

It begins with God’s creation of a life. It continues with the birth of a baby with potential either to bless or to curse his Maker, to fulfill or deny his responsibility to society.

Children are, indeed, an heritage of the Lord, and among a nation’s choicest resources. This treasure includes handicapped children—the mentally retarded as well as the physically limited. Too often the church has overlooked the crippled, epileptic, blind, deaf, spastic and other handicapped youngsters. Too long we have failed the mentally retarded of whom approximately 300,000 are born each year in the United States alone.

This treasure of human resources includes also the gifted child (I.Q. of 133 and above). Inadequate or improper direction and care often has short-circuited his abilities into assorted problems for himself and for others. All of these—handicapped and gifted—are named “exceptional” because they deserve special education for specific potential and needs.

Throughout the United States some 6,117,798 such exceptional children will need special education in 1963 according to estimates by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. (Statistics elsewhere around the world would, no doubt, be equally sobering.) These youngsters reach out for satisfying experiences in family, church, and community life. Not only parents, but pastors and lay leaders as well, must cultivate the means and methods whereby the exceptional can truly live to the glory of God.

While increasing numbers of churches are augmenting and adapting their work to meet the needs of the handicapped and gifted, many more need to show active concern. Here is a wide open door to an effectual ministry, one showing the perspective and power of the Gospel.

Such a ministry requires use of knowledge and understanding in specialized areas. Secular sources have contributed much information concerning exceptional children: it is not to be viewed askance. Physiological and other purely scientific data is essential to proper diagnosis, without which helpful mental, social, emotional, physical, and often even spiritual guidance of such boys and girls cannot proceed successfully. Special equipment may be needed, as well as materials and methods adapted to this learning and teaching. The church should be aware of the technical orientation and assistance offered by tax-supported and private agencies; assistance which she herself is in no position to provide, financially or otherwise.

Available materials concern themselves also with the parents and associates of exceptional children, they describe personal relationships in various environments. Instruction for preventing, as well as for recognizing and meeting problems in children is important, too. And in the church, no less than in society at large, both “normal” and exceptional persons often need help in acceptance of and respect for others, as individuals.

The attached bibliography is diverse in content and approach. Obviously, not all materials on the subject are of equal importance to all persons in all situations. Additional references could be cited, too, for an encouraging upturn in interest is apparent today.

The entire Bible emphasizes Christian training. The tabernacle had educational significance in its construction and in the worship activities which centered there. Priests stressed the educational element both in the requirements for the offerings and in the procedures followed. The prophets gave their children didactic names and used other educational methods. Jesus was universally addressed as teacher, and all three parts of the Great Commission emphasize teaching. Paul wrote 13 didactic letters, and the New Testament church included teachers as functionaries. So the biblical emphasis on teaching and training is evident. Educational principles deduced from the Bible are of special importance, and in this article we state some of them.

The Individual—A Living Soul

Some time ago a school of psychologists called Behaviorists developed in our nation. They stressed the idea that man is merely a physical organism and his development simply the result of stimulus and response. In other words, man is a material being only and there is no nonphysical element in his makeup. This puts him on the plane of animals and indicates that society can make of him anything it likes. His outcome is determined wholly by environment and conditioning. He is to be trained like any other animal.

The Bible regards man as a living soul. He is person as well as personality. In Genesis 2:7 we are told, “… God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” So he is both matter and spirit, or body and mind. Therefore he is to be dealt with not just as a physical organism but rather as a self-determining soul possessing both matter and mind. This puts his training on an entirely different level from that of animals.

Behaviorism has been largely replaced in education, but there are still mechanistic psychologies which would make all forms of activity mere functions of the physical and which consider that all behavior is physiologically determined. Opposed to these are the more commonly accepted psychologies which view man as dynamic or psychogenic: which see him as possessing dynamic forces. Unconscious, ego and super-ego interact to produce motivations and drives affecting or even determining conduct and behavior. These psychologies take full account of psychological structures and functions, but conceive of the individual as far more than these. The organismic or biosocial psychologies emphasize the self-other relationship, the individual as an interacting part of a social group. This relationship determines what the person will be. “Motivations are desires that arise in the interaction of the ego with his environment” (Cornelius Jaarsma, Human Development, Learning and Teaching, Eerdmans, 1961, p. 33.) There is, no doubt, some truth in all of these theories, but the biblical record presents a perspective adequate to all of life.

Training For Development

If what has been said is true it is necessary that from the beginning the child be given an environment offering right opportunities for growth. Unconscious influence has much to do in shaping life, and the person should have the proper surroundings from the start. Domestically, “proper” means a good home with loving and informed Christian parents. Educationally, it involves a good school system. Religiously, it calls for the right type of church with understanding of and provision for every individual. All of this is accentuated by the fact that the child has playing upon him many kinds of influences which may be used for good or harm. Radio and television are outstanding examples.

Whether saint or sinner, the individual becomes a growing personality by the various ways in which he reacts to his environment and the opportunities which it offers. An environment rich in opportunity will permit his development of potential abilities. Such development, in its very broadest meaning, is covered by the term “behavior.” There is a sense in which all that any form of education can do is to offer opportunities for learning. This is what the educator means when he speaks of “activities,” of “an enriched curriculum.” Personality grows and takes shape on the basis of choices made in reaction to the environmental opportunities.

The wholesome environment includes helpful teaching geared to the child’s ability and needs. The Bible wisely says: “Train up a child in the way he should go, And even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6, ASV). This emphasis is particularly applicable to the home and the church in the preschool period, in many ways the most formative one. It applies also to other years and agencies.

Benjamin Kidd was right when he stated that by inculcating the ideal any civilization could be changed in one generation. He mentioned Germany and Russia as two striking examples.

Teaching The Christian Truths

One of the serious problems confronting our nation is the extreme secularization of education. In the early days it was not so. Two of our states specifically set up public schools to teach people to read so they could read the Bible. Bible reading in public schools was often compulsory and prayers were frequently offered. The teachers in many instances were the ministers, or individuals examined and certified by them. Textbooks were permeated with biblical, religious, and doctrinal material, as we find in The New England Primer and The American Spelling Book, two famous texts.

Now times have changed. In one state the Supreme Court recently ruled that the Gideons could not put Bibles in class rooms. In another, trustees forbade young people’s having a voluntary prayer meeting in a vacant class room at noon. In yet another, pupils were forbidden to take their own Bibles into school. And in one city where McGuffey readers were used, authorities pasted paper over the name of God. So if children today are to get the biblical teachings needed they must get them at home, through the churches on Sundays, in released time classes during the week, or in Christian day schools. The most recent Supreme Court decision regarding prayer in the public school tends to confirm this.

Instruction Adapted To Needs

Since we are teaching to meet life needs rather than simply to transmit a body of truth, it is very evident that both material and method must be adapted to the ages, experiences and abilities of the pupils. As has been said: “We don’t teach lessons, we teach people.” The Scriptures will constitute the core of the curriculum but the learner’s maturity has much to do with the method employed, and something to do with the material used. Pupils’ experiences in life are closely related to the needs confronted and the materials selected. Therefore, we try to understand the problems faced at each period in life and use materials in the light of them.

All of this means graded aims, materials, and methods. The interest center approach will not be used with adults, nor the lecture method with children. For those too young to read, the use of pictures, objects, and stories is helpful. They may be effectively used with all ages. Since little children are naturally imitative and dramatic, the acting out of a lesson is a normal procedure for them. Adults prefer to discuss. Uniform lessons fit adults, but are not so suitable for children. The aim or major emphasis will vary: conversion may be the dominant aim at one stage and stewardship at another. Whether or not a teacher discusses all of the verses recommended by his teaching helps for use in a lesson is somewhat incidental. What he does stress should meet life needs. Regeneration is a basic life need for all.

An Adequate Response Important

Complete response of the total person is needed. A response based only on intellect may be too cold and barren. If too exclusively emotional, it may be superficial and temporal. If an act of will without thought or feeling, it is too mechanical. Many backslidings from the faith, and failures to meet pledges come when responses do not include the total self. There must be thought, feeling, and will if commitment is to be complete. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind …” (Luke 10:27).

So care should be exercised in our approach not to seek only an intellectual response, lest it prove barren. Neither should we be so emotional as to fail in swaying the intellect and will, and thus be superficial and temporal. Nor should the appeal be so exclusively volitional as to contain little or no thought and feeling. It may be better to have no response than an inadequate one. If one goes back on his promise, the last state is often worse than the first. Many atheists once made professions of faith. Response should contain thought, feeling, and will to be adequate and permanent. The Holy Spirit can guide the effective Christian teacher and produce such commitment in the lives of his pupils.

As these principles control our Christian training results should increasingly show a generation of people after the likeness of Christ. Well-rounded personalities will be developed with Christian character at the core of life, and evils that eat at the heart of our society will progressively be lessened.

Christian maturity is infinitely more than successful self-improvement! “Without me ye can do nothing.” Never were words more explicit, less ambiguous; and their source is unimpeachable!

Jesus could not have spoken more simply yet no words uttered by him are more profound. The Christian needs his Saviour as lungs need breath, the heart blood, the body energy. Without his Saviour the Christian is a cipher. All he needs he finds in Jesus Christ, all God offers is given in Jesus Christ. Without his Saviour the Christian has nothing, with Him he has everything.

Christian Maturity And A Person

This is not oversimplification, it is the deepest truth in Scripture, the distilled essence of all the Scriptures teach. Does the Christian need life? Jesus Christ is his life. Does he seek wisdom? In Jesus Christ are “stored up all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Does he long for righteousness? Christ has been made “our righteousness.” Does his soul hunger? Jesus Christ is the “true bread.” Is his spirit barren, arid? Jesus Christ is unto him a “fountain of living water.” God’s total resources for man’s total need have been made available in the person of Jesus Christ. These are not professional clichés, they are the truth of God. If by reason of thoughtless use they sound smug or pat or stereotyped, let the perfunctory handling be judged, not the words, for they are the very substance of Christian maturity. They are the key to effective Christian education.

Reduced to simplest terms the theme of the Bible is man’s failure to conform to the divine expectation and God’s provision to reclaim that cosmic default. The heart of this reclamation is the fact that God’s provision centers not in precepts, but in a Person. Man’s frightful loss is met and his duty to God realized when he is properly related to that Person. His failure is manifest, not so much by obvious vices but with far greater subtlety, by his aloofness to, if not total rejection of this Person who embodies the provision. He is perennially defeated, not because he disregards ethical precepts, but because he will not submit to the Person. Indeed, he not uncommonly employs conformity to certain precepts as self-justification for evading the Person. The Pharisees epitomized this self-deceiving, self-defeating practice, before his conversion the Apostle Paul himself being the supreme example. They boasted in the law not because they kept it, but because they possessed it. That which was intended to lead them to Christ (Rom. 10:4; Gal. 3:24) became their reason for rejecting him (Mark 7:6–9). Precepts became their besetting sin; they not only failed to produce spiritual maturity, they were the very basis for hostility to God.

Obviously, therefore, such hostility is aggravated rather than resolved by man’s efforts toward self-improvement and demands reconciliation through a radical adjustment which Jesus called being “born again.” Spiritual regeneration depends upon man’s recognition of his need, its solution in Jesus Christ, and a personal response of faith or acceptance; his spiritual growth depends upon a continuation of this relationship. Christian education must aim at the effectuation of this relationship and its preservation. Education, by whatever name, which perpetuates the illusion that man is able in and of himself to solve this problem not only tails, it is antagonistic to authentic Christian faith.

The conventional “image” of Christianity in our modern world is utterly contrary to New Testament truth. Christianity is conceived as primarily ethical, the Christian being a man doing his best to behave. To be respectable is to be Christian and vice-versa. It is widely accepted without question, both within and without the Church, that the distinction between a Christian and a non-Christian is one of degree, not of kind. In fact, it is commonly assumed that all Americans (all Westerners for that matter) save Jews, are Christian as distinguished from the “heathen” of primitive lands, and even this distinction is rapidly evaporating as civilization, equated with Christianity, spreads its veneer over the fast-changing world.

The assumption therefore is that man is perfectible in himself, that all the resources necessary are endemic in him, waiting only psychological inducements. When Christian education capitulates to this basic error, it defects to the fruitless effort of improving man simply by increasing his knowledge and making him more socially conscious and responsible. Emphasis is on his adjustment to his fellowman rather than on his reconciliation to God which is fundamental to life. Ignoring man’s eternal welfare (“if only in this life we have hope in Christ we are of all men most to be pitied”) it fails in its this-worldly goals as well, because it contributes to self-deification which is the root of the problem. The futility of so-called Christian education which is primarily a matter of ethical maturation is tragically apparent in the fact that in spite of a general increase of religious interest and church attendance, since World War II, there has been an inexorable moral disintegration.

Education As Relationship

Christianity issues in ethics but ethics is one of its effects rather than its goal. Christianity produces ethical man, but it is quite common for a man to be ethical though not Christian. Education which does not result in the ethical, socially responsible man is not true Christian education, but if it produces only the socially adjusted, ethical man, it is infinitely less than Christian. It is self-defeating and contrary to biblical faith for it pits man’s self-sufficiency against God’s grace.

Saul of Tarsus exceeded all his contemporaries in trying to be a man of righteousness; but his zealous, dedicated, single-minded struggle drove him farther and farther from his goal. Christ was his despised enemy, the Church a scourge to be obliterated, and he understood this very passion for righteousness to be Israel’s impasse: “I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened. For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness” (Rom. 10:2–3, RSV). This is the congenital perversity at the root of the human dilemma, man seeking his own righteousness in violation of God’s order, man alienating himself from God by an imitation godliness which has the form but not the power. Education which espouses this counterfeit righteousness is the antithesis of Christian education.

Were the Apostle Paul opening a school for Christian growth it is not difficult to locate in his Epistles those principles which would comprise his philosophy of education. His prayers, for example, delineate the goals he would undoubtedly incorporate in the charter: “… that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe, according to the working of his great might which he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead …” (Eph. 1:17–20, RSV). “… that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:16–19, RSV).

Paul’s curriculum would certainly reflect the revolutionary experience to which he testifies in Philippians 3:4–16. Where can be found a better statement of the purpose of Christian education than these words of the great apostle: “… I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith; that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death … one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:8–14, RSV).

In biblical perspective Christian education and the secular spirit are 180 degrees apart. Secularism believes that man’s best is adequate; Christian education begins with the fact that man’s best is less than the least God intended but that God in Christ has done for man what he is incapable of doing for himself. Secularism strives for self-realization, Christian education teaches self-denial unto Christ-realization. Secularism is self-improvement, Christian education is life transformation by the power of God. Secularism is man’s endeavoring to do his best, Christian education puts no confidence in human assets but schools the Christian to appropriate the inexhaustible reserve of grace in the Saviour.

This does not mean that Christian education is pessimistic about man. On the contrary it is optimistic in the ultimate; its norm is the perfect man, Jesus Christ. Effort at self-improvement leads alternately to the pride of success or the despair of failure, if it does not leave one on the plateau of mediocrity and indifference; whereas true Christian education cuts the tap root of pride and exploits failure as a means of leading one to more complete dependence upon the grace of God in Christ. Failure, frustration and defeat are never final, they are part of the tempering process, helping the Christian to be increasingly realistic about himself and about the resources of God. They do not lead the growing Christian into morbid introspection and preoccupation with self, they lead him to deeper insights into human nature in general, his own in particular, and increased dependence upon the indwelling Christ.

To be spiritually mature is to be Christ-confident, rather than self-confident. The mature Christian is a realist having been disillusioned in self enough to know that self-confidence is illusory whereas dependence upon Christ is fulfilling. As independence characterizes the adolescent, so the egocentric attitude is the hall mark of immaturity in adults; misnamed self-confidence, it is actually pride which is self-deification. Education not oriented in the Scriptures can produce the self-reliant, self-confident, self-contained man for whom self-disillusionment when it comes is often traumatic. Refusing to be mastered by Christ, he becomes a slave of the tyrant self and inevitably a victim of the realities of life. Genuine Christian education leads to the self-surrendered, Christ-managed man. He is invincible because the life he lives is not his own, it is literally the life of the Son of God dwelling in him. He is crucified with Christ yet he lives and the life he lives is Christ’s!

The authentic impact of Christianity in the world is infinitely more than the influence of man at his best, it is the power of God operative in the lives of those who know they need their Saviour, who have surrendered to his Lordship, and in whom and through whom he does the will of the Father on earth as it is in heaven. For this evidence of legitimate Christianity our modern world languishes.

“Jesus Christ is the true God of men, that is to say, of beings miserable and sinful. He is the center of everything and the object of everything; and he who does not know Him knows nothing of the order of the world, and nothing of himself. For not only do we not know God, otherwise than by Jesus Christ; we do not know ourselves otherwise than by Jesus Christ. In Him is all our virtue and all our felicity; apart from Him there is nothing but vice, misery, errors, clouds, despair, and we see only obscurity and confusion in the nature of God and in our own.”

Pascal, Pensées sur la Religion

“Allied to Thee our vital Head

We act, and grow, and thrive.

From Thee divided each is dead

When most he seems alive.”

Doddridge, Hymns Founded on

Texts in the Holy Scriptures.

Awards For Best Sermons On Human Destiny

Universalism with its profoundly unbiblical thesis that all men are already saved is sweeping Protestantism. To arouse active concern over this distorted “gospel” which cuts the nerve both of evangelism and missions, CHRISTIANITY TODAY announces a stimulating venture. More than $1,000 will be awarded for relevant sermons (abridged to 2,500 words in written form) that (1) expose the fallacies of this contemporary movement and (2) faithfully expound the biblical revelation of man’s final destiny and the ground and conditions of his redemption. Selection of winners will be by CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S editorial readers, whose decisions will be final. First, second and third place awards of $500, $250, and $125, respectively, will be paid upon publication of the sermons. The editors reserve the right to publish two additional manuscripts selected for fourth and fifth place awards of $75 each. All rights to winning manuscripts become magazine property.

All entries must be original sermons actually preached to a congregation sometime during 1962. Two typewritten, double-spaced copies of each submitted sermon should be postmarked to the Washington office of CHRISTIANITY TODAY no later than December 31, 1962. No manuscript will be returned unless a self-addressed, stamped envelope accompanies the entry. Attached to each sermon (both copies) should be a cover page giving the contributor’s name, address, and present station of service.

Is it possible to be biblical, yet realistic and relevant? This is a crucial and haunting question which demands honest confrontation by those engaged in Christian education. We cannot escape it, either by ignoring it, or by quickly and glibly answering in the affirmative, as if the question presents no real problem worthy of careful consideration.

The fact is that there are many who have answered the question negatively. As a consequence they are essentially “post-biblical” in their approach to Christian education. To be sure, they make use of certain broad biblical ideas which are deemed valuable, such as the fact that God is Creator, or that Jesus’ life represents the ideal for humanity. But they do not make a vital mastery of the Bible their ideal. For they are convinced that placing the Bible at the center of Christian education means turning back the clock to the prescientific world of the first century or of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It means, as they see it, betraying historic developments not only in the physical sciences but also in the human sciences, that is, in anthropology, psychology, sociology, and philosophy. To their minds such an idea also means turning our backs on the burning personal and social problems of our day. They hold that the hydrogen-space age is vastly different from that of the Bible, and that we cannot hope to deal with its challenges and threats within a biblical focus.

Fortunately, even in such an approach more biblical ideas are utilized than is consciously realized either by the educators or the educated. Essentially, however, this approach resorts to moralizing, psychologizing, culturing, analyzing, socializing, legalizing, and philosophizing. The result is a natural, common sense theology which is often sound as far as human wisdom goes and is frequently not unbiblical. For who can say that discourses on the appreciation of nature and of art, or on the requisites for mental health, or on the conditions for happy family life are opposed to the Scriptures? But such discourses may well be nonbiblical, in so far as they are based primarily on the word of man. They frequently do not reflect what is essential and distinctive to the biblical faith, and are serviceable equally to non-Christian and Christian. What is lacking is the Pauline concept that whatever is done must be done unto the Lord, with all that such an injunction means and implies.

The Bible And Relevance

Those of us who are biblically concerned are all too quick to point out these deficiencies without at the same time appreciating the values of such an approach. For it embodies a highly commendable desire that Christianity speak decisively to our times. It also bespeaks a judgment, namely, that those who are committed to the primacy of the Bible in Christian education have either failed to relate it to contemporary life, or have done so in such a way as to emerge with vague panaceas which do not really speak to its problems, or with religious, ethical, political, social views which are not distinctively different from the views of those to whom the Bible is unknown. If the study of the Bible leads us to turn our backs on this world, because this world is hopeless and our concern is for the next, or if it results in naïve prescriptions such as the view that prayer solves all problems, or if it issues in basically the same positions and practices with respect to race, nationalism, business and labor ethics, education, politics, marriage, peace and nuclear war, and life under God as those have who do not focus on the Bible, then the question is whether we are right in insisting on the indispensability of the Scriptures in Christian education and in devoting our time and energies to giving the Bible a central place in it. Wisdom is justified by her children. The wisdom of a bibliocentric approach to Christian education will be justified if it makes a vital difference in life, both in its Godward and its manward aspects. The biblical focus will be vindicated if it is shown to be distinctive and indispensable in wrestling with the most pressing problems of the twentieth century.

Such is our task. It is demanding but not impossible, with God’s help. To perform it we must avoid two pitfalls: that of being relevant but nonbiblical, and that of being seemingly biblical but nonrelevant. To steer such a course requires in turn two concerns as regards the use of the Bible: our attitude toward the Bible, and our techniques in its use.

A Proper Attitude

A proper biblical attitude will combine in delicate balance the spirit of conservation and of adaptation. It is our difficult obligation to discover what is essentially and uniquely biblical, and especially what is essentially and uniquely Christian as revealed in the New Testament, and we must conserve its values at all costs, while at the same time adapting ourselves to the changing knowledge and needs of men. In brief, we must find the present, living Word in the past, written Word. For history has amply shown that the failure either to conserve or to adapt has the same result: the Bible no longer has a radical and controlling influence on life. And if the Bible does not speak to life, then whether one’s orientation is biblical or nonbiblical is of no real consequence. The issue is whether the Bible makes a difference! And if it is to make a difference, we must remain in the presence of two worlds: the biblical world and ours. We cannot use the Bible in the twentieth century in the same way as we would use it if we were living in the first century. We do live in a different world. We must adapt to our world while still conserving what is distinctively biblical, else we defeat our purpose.

In order to implement this basic attitude, we need to develop sound and profound study techniques. Two key words come to mind in this connection: penetrate and relate. It is necessary to penetrate beneath the surface of biblical language, statements, and propositions to the experience of God in Christ which is revealed there and which may be realized here and now. It is also necessary to relate such experience to the issues and opportunities of our own times so as to relive it in the twentieth century.

The ability to penetrate beneath the surface of Scripture hinges on the ability to note carefully the crucial words, facts, and relationships of scriptural passages, to ask probing questions about our findings, and to provide at least some profound answers to our questions.

The crux of the matter lies in developing the Socratic art of questioning. The Platonic dialogue Laches, which, incidentally, is worth reading in this connection, tells us how Socrates, when confronted by those who claimed to be courageous, insisted on asking, “What is courage?” And he refused to be satisfied with the superficial concepts of courage extant in his time. He insisted on careful and profound definitions. Like him, we too need to insist on such definitions of biblical language and experiences. The great danger is that a so-called biblical, Christian education will result in the mere parroting of biblical expressions as if they have some inherent magical value, even though they cannot be expressed in contemporary, living language. Too many people who have supposedly received a biblical education are like the woman who thought she had arrived and took it upon herself to criticize a teacher for not having discussed the new birth in a certain connection; but when she was asked, “What is the new birth?,” she replied, “You know, the new birth!” She did not recognize the essence of the experience simply because certain phrases were not used. Such an example could be multiplied many times. We should learn from it to be careful not to equate biblical symbols with biblical realities. When we study the new birth, we must teach our people to ask: What is the new birth? How does it occur? When? Who is born again? Why is it necessary for eternal life? What does it assume and imply? And we must help them not be satisfied with superficial answers. We must teach people to be unrelenting and scrupulous in their pursuit of answers to such questions.

Having penetrated the surface of biblical language, it is then our task to learn how to relate our findings to our day. This process involves several aspects.

Timeless Truths

The first is the decision as to whether the truths we find are timeless in their value and therefore capable of being related to our times. For the Bible contains certain elements which are culturally conditioned and which therefore should not be transferred to a different culture. Most of us would hold that Paul’s exhortation that women wear veils in church (1 Cor. 11) is of this sort. To discover which truths are time-bound we need to gain an intimate acquaintance with the historical background of the Bible and to learn to compare it with our own day to find what cultural differences exist if any. In order to find supracultural truths we must become adept at finding those basic biblical principles which are concretized in Scripture. This takes us back to the need to probe Scripture in depth as a means of discovering truths which are most fundamental and relevant.

Beyond this it is necessary to become well acquainted with the contemporary problems and actually to bring to bear our Christian convictions upon them. It is at this point that the instrumentalism of John Dewey proves helpful by suggesting the problem and project approaches to the learning process. It would be salutary to begin a substantial number of our Bible lessons with the discussion in depth of a present-day issue to which a Scriptural passage is related, and then to find how the passage speaks to that issue. Such an approach provides excellent preparation for projects which are designed to provide an opportunity for putting into effect what is learned. One suspects that it is at this point where the use of the Bible meets its acid test. Maybe what we really need is less biblical sermonizing and discussion, and more biblical practice. And this practice needs to extend beyond the usual “city mission” application of the Christian gospel, as good as that may be. It needs to cover the whole of life.

To accomplish these goals biblical education must involve a constant, long-range approach. A sporadic, hit-and-miss approach may do more harm than good. Further, an effective approach will actively engage members of the group in thoughtful study and in conscientious implementation. There are no shortcuts to the kind of Bible study which makes a difference.

A challenge faces those of us who steadfastly claim that the Bible is an indispensable means of grace. The Scriptures themselves outline the challenge: shall we be true prophets or pseudo-prophets? The pseudo-prophets described in Scripture claimed to speak in behalf of God, but they spoke the false words of man which could not meet the test of their times. On the other hand, the true prophets heard the living God speak, and they spoke genuinely in his behalf to the problems of their day. They were true to God and they were true to their times. We can do no less as we use the Bible in Christian education.

Even a capsule sentence can reveal one’s view of God and the world. “The God I pray to,” said an American astronaut, “is not so small that I expected to see him in space.” (John Glenn, Jr., was retorting to the gibe of Gherman S. Titov, Soviet cosmonaut, “In my travels around the earth … I saw no God or angels.”—Newsweek, May 21, 1962). Each man is thus stating the ABC’s of his particular Weltanschauung that nations variously aligned in global cold war express in fuller combinations of meaning. Each man also reveals something of the orbit that defines his daily life. Amid the enthusiastic acclaim of thousands who lined the great avenues of the nation’s capital, Astronaut Glenn could well afford to be humble; he knew his God was present. Later in addressing Congress he evinced the freedom of spirit to show himself as one among peers. The glowing 50,000-degree shock wave of re-entry friction had been less than a foot ahead of his carrier, making the possible loss of the Mercury’s heat shield an earlier test of his faith and character. The calmness of this man so humanly alone in space was remarkable.

But was he really alone? Carefully executed plans had prepared a complex tracking system of 16 centers, manned by skilled scientist-technicians who actively stand by through each moment of every space flight. And at Cape Canaveral the Mercury Control Center coordinates all phases, keeping in touch with the network of auxiliary centers and with the man in space.

At each center all personnel unite to achieve those common goals that relate to the total space project. Short-range objectives and responsibilities for individual centers and workers are clearly defined. Progress, as it appears from above and below, is communicated back and forth between spacemen and tracking engineers. Said Astronaut Scott Carpenter, for example: “I felt staging (the dropping away of the booster stage). Do you confirm?” Gus Grissom: “We confirm staging.” Or, in the earlier trip it was Astronaut Glenn: “I can see the whole State of Florida just laid out like a map. It’s beautiful.” Personal contact is reinforced by constantly projecting the spaceman’s face on a screen in the centers.

The Church which Jesus Christ came to establish is, in some ways, like a system of tracking centers. God as Holy Spirit would control all. Focus is upon Christ Jesus, and his purposes scripturally revealed determine the tasks to be achieved. The worldwide community of local churches tries to help twentieth century man to enter and maintain his true orbit, that is, knowledge and fulfillment of his true reason for being. For this purpose the Church relies on the revealed Word of God for its presentation of an authoritative and valid Christian world-life view.

The Church’s function involves (1) teaching the truth of this Bible directly and through demonstration; (2) leading individuals into relationship with the living Lord; and (3) guiding them effectively through growth, training and outreach to participate in sharing this life in Christ with others around the world.

The Church As A Tracking System

The purpose of the Church’s ministry is to aid every man in gaining his proper life orbit. For the Christian is convinced that God is adequate for all the demands of his life, caught as it is in the cultural dynamics of the twentieth-century space age. Man finds his life orbit first of all by reestablishing his relationship with God. Only this triune God is all-wise and all-powerful. He alone is sufficient to control man’s life and to meet man’s needs as he lives out all human relationships. God is transcendent yet immanent, the Creator who has called the worlds into being and maintains them in space and time. As sustainer of all life this God can safely bear and uphold man’s space encapsulated life through its twentieth-century flight to His own deserved glory and to man’s present and future blessing. He who fashions the snowflakes’ diversity and beauty is no less skilled in forming and guiding the course of life for the world’s endless range of complex personalities. He who controls the history of nations is no less competent to overrule individual environment and to direct the total process of development for his glory.

God, manifesting himself in the incarnate Son, has overcome the power of sin and Satan, death and hell through his vicarious atonement, thereby dealing conclusively with man’s gravest problems. He who was “… in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15), as risen, glorified, and interceding Lord gives new power along life’s way. He invites man to come boldly for help in time of need.

Only as God the Holy Spirit floods man’s being can he meet the corroding influences of this sin-cursed world. As a responsible creature who has forfeited his ability and willingness properly to serve God and neighbor, he requires the Spirit’s supernatural restoration and empowerment. Ever-present sins—pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, sloth—show their ugly faces in multiplied forms and in various ways as the individual attains progressive maturation levels. Contributing to maladjustments, spawning in undesirable environments, sin darkens, distorts and perverts man’s mind, his emotions and his will. But historic Christianity offers as a protagonist the person of the indwelling Holy Spirit. It offers a remedy for sin in Christ’s accomplished atonement and present intercessory ministry. It offers the hope of life eternal with God.

The Need For Leaders Today

Today every area of life cries for leadership. Knowledge and its mastery have soared to an unprecedented degree. But leaders through the morass of uncertain goals and values are few. We need men and women not only of knowledge, but of perspective and commitment, men and women who know and who do the will of God.

The world frequently turns aside from Christian leadership, for the revealed standards of sacred scripture cut across the relative and changing values of secular society. A Christian knows the established relationships, principles and norms that should determine man’s thinking and action. Unfortunately it is usually only the crisis times that encourage the world to seek out truly Christian leaders and their guidance. So Joseph was summoned in the time of Pharaoh’s need. Daniel came to assist Nebuchadnezzar. A little Syrian maid directed leprous Naaman to the prophet and his ministry.

Individual Christians with proper qualifications have similar opportunities for leadership today. Even more frequently groups of believers may work together for a Christian impact. The responsibility is unchanging: under God’s direction to apply the basic principles of Christian truth to the problems of daily life. The effectiveness of such leadership depends in large measure upon the quality of a church’s ministry in teaching and training individuals and groups for their responsibilities. In short, leadership depends upon Christian education. The educational procedures followed in the home, the church and in school determine to what extent the Christian world-life view will be understood, believed and lived.

The Task Of Christian Education

What, then, is the specific task of Christian education? Basically, it consists in communicating an understanding of the Word of God. As Dr. Jan Waterink, the internationally-known psychologist, has stated: The aim is “the forming of man into an independent personality serving God according to His Word, able and willing to employ all his God-given talents to the honor of God and for the well-being of his fellow-creatures, in every area of life in which man is placed by God” (Basic Concepts in Christian Pedagogy, Eerdmans, 1954, p. 41).

Of the 60,000,000 enrolled in Sunday school throughout the world in 1961, how many actually entered the orbit of personal relationship with the living God? How many came into an understanding of the Scriptures in terms of this relationship? How many matured into persons whom God could entrust with Christian leadership? How many were thwarted in their Christian growth because of inadequate and unrealistic training? How many God-given talents were left dormant or unused because of prejudice or selfishness? Each local church must answer these questions and search its corporate conscience.

According to the 1962 Yearbook of American Churches, 283,885 Sunday schools in the United States enroll 3,637,982 teachers and officers to instruct a total of 43,231,018 pupils. How many of these pupils are learning the truth of the Bible directly and through application in life situations? How many know a living Lord? How many are being trained to participate effectively in the life of the local church and to share Christ with others around the world?

The Church includes all races, all nations, all peoples, all ages. It enfolds the senior citizen, the exceptional child, the employed and unemployed, the married and unmarried, the child, the adolescent, the adult. Each has a life to be lived, each has problems to be faced. In the Church the love of God must be experienced through the love of men and women, boys and girls, through shared responsibilities and social cooperation to the glory of Christ. Here individuals must be trained. Here their needs must be met through worship, instruction, and service. The Church must be a preview of heaven.

If Christians are to live for the glory of God, individuals and groups must spread out from these training centers to share the Gospel in word and life. Similarly, the practice of intercessory prayer must embrace fellow believers around the globe to the strengthening of the entire body of Christ.

The Church’s physical resources, its organization, program and leadership, all aspects of its life and ministry are essential to its tremendous assignment. All exist for but one purpose; they must present the content of the Christian world-life view, demonstrate its validity for this twentieth-century space age, and encourage its acceptance for individual and social realization of man’s blessing and God’s glory. The Christian who assumes his responsibilities toward God and man is the essential, basic entity.

One of the most disturbing facets of our theological age arises from our encounter with relativism. Is the Church with its theology affected by the relativity that characterizes almost everything else? Do we have a stable point from which we can resist the corroding influence of a relativism which threatens the very heart of the Gospel and the Christian faith? Are we faced with the threat of relativity in such areas as the relationship between Christianity and the religions of the world (a relativism that takes the name of syncretism), the authority of Holy Scripture, and the confessions of the Church?

Sometimes one could suspect we are confusing the simple truth by making horribly complicated what is revealed to and known by children. Have the many questions that intrigue the theologians slowly created a doubting generation of churchmen? When Calvin was writing on the resurrection, he remarked that he felt ashamed at having to use so many words to discuss so clear a matter. Could we be making matters which have always been hard and fast in our convictions now suddenly problematic? Do we still know what orthodoxy means? Is not the struggle against all the new forms of disbelief not exactly the same as that against the old modernism? Such questions could imply a sharp criticism of today’s theologians.

When Roman Catholicism was engaged in its own fight against modernism, there was a rash of cries against relativism and modernism as these were discovered in almost every corner. A Roman Catholic brand of “heresy hunting” took place out of a deep fear of relativism within the bulwark of Roman orthodoxy. The hunt was over ere long, and it was then admitted that many problems remained for the orthodox, from which even they could not retreat. In short, a reduction of fear against the threat of relativism did not for long hide the fact that real problems did exist for which there was no quick and simple solution.

When we become aware of the many problematic issues that are being discussed today, we ought not to be too quick to run from them under the cover of the threat of relativism. Engagement with problems does not mean that a theologian is throwing over the certainties of faith. We could, by declining to enter into the problematics of our day, only confuse the issue for a future generation.

When we think about relativism and its dangers, we must keep alert on two fronts. First, we must be keenly aware of the dangers that are implicit in the problems. We must not overestimate ourselves: “Let him who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” In many of the theological problems that engage our study, there is a power to set us on a series of consequences for our own thought. First, we may study them objectively, without their even touching our faith. We know, supposedly, that children alone truly understand the things that are hidden from the wise. But gradually, one problem leads to another. They multiply and draw ever closer to the center of things. Then there arises a kind of uncertainty, even doubt, and one finally feels inward restlessness and tension. Finally, one can be led to a personal divorce from the traditional faith. All of life can then become surrounded by question marks. By this time, relativism has infected the whole man.

It is, then, necessary to remember that we ought not to play with problems in theology. What begins with intellectual sport can end in a most serious encounter with unbelief. Sometimes we do not have hold of problems, but problems have hold of us. I feel that in our day with its flood of complex problems, theologians and simple Christians must be warned. In the face of our encounter with the problematic issues, the perseverance of the saints takes on a new and important reality.

But there is another side to the matter of problems. We are not only to be alert to their danger. It is just as important that we be not afraid of problems. The Christian perspective has never been at home with the ostrich’s posture. In the cultural situation of our time, we must—in faith and in answer to our calling—accept in full the challenge of all the new problems that face the Church and its theology. Moreover, we must take care that we do not level the charge of relativism too quickly at those who are honestly and responsibly facing the problems that exist. One must not begin talking about apostasy the moment he observes someone truly involved with problems. The danger of apostasy is always real. But let us remember that the apostles themselves were accused of apostasy (Acts 21:21). When we point a finger at apostasy, let us be sure that the Gospel is really endangered. For as surely as apostasy has been a reality in the Church, so have men used traditionalism and confessionalism to resist the power of the Gospel as it led the Church into new times and new ways.

With care for both of these fronts, the Church can walk its way into new situations with courage and faith. In its continual study of the Bible, it will discover new truths and new slants to old truths, aware that all the light of the Gospel has not once and for all been captured in the past. I have in mind the profound reflection given these days to the doctrine of election, to the doctrine of the last things, to the doctrine of Holy Scripture, and to the problem of hermeneutics. Theology has a special calling here. And believers ought not to be afraid of having theologians occupied with new questions. Faith is indeed child-like. But this must not mean that we need be afraid of renewed Bible study. Now more than ever, we must break with the anxieties and angst of our modern world and act, as believers, in faith. Ours must be a faith that does not fear and therefore is able to face problems in complete honesty and realism. Here too, perhaps especially here, we must remember the prayer of our Lord: “I do not pray that Thou wilt take them out of the world, but that Thou wilt protect them from the Evil One.” This world of ours with all its problems!

Fear not: for am I in the place of God? As for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good, … as it is this day, to save much people alive (Gen. 50:12, 20; read vv. 15–21).

This passage lends itself admirably to a sermon about “particular providence,” or about forgiveness of wrongs. Preach one or the other. Never two sermons at the same time! God’s providence here means his way of watching out for each of his children as well as though he had only one. A case study. A fascinating truth!

I. The Meaning of Individual Providence (pro-video). A. God has a plan for every man’s life. This plan he unfolds a part at a time. B. In carrying out his plan, God may employ strange agents and methods, as he did with Joseph. C. Sooner or later God will complete his plan. (See part of Browning’s “Rabbi Ben Ezra.”)

II. The Value of This Bible Teaching. What practical difference does it make to a believer now? A. This teaching gives the Christian a sense of stability and assurance. “How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord!” Such a man’s faith rests in God. B. The teaching should lead to magnanimity. Why did this man treat his older brothers in a way pleasing to God? C. The teaching also imparts a feeling of hope. Here see Bryant’s poem, “To a Waterfowl.” As in all these passages, keep to the singular. God has a plan for every man’s life.

In order that he may qualify for living on this basis, lead the hearer now to become a Christian. Later from the pulpit guide him in knowing how to learn and follow the will of God. “He that willeth to do his will shall know.”

Probing Outer Space

ROAMING THE PLANETS—The problem of mankind’s spiritual mandate to leave the earth and roam through outer space, exploring and perhaps ultimately populating other planets, is a difficult question. It involves the relationship of the natural to the spiritual world, the meaning of creation, and perhaps the purpose of life itself. Here history will be of little use to us as we have no record of man having previously ventured beyond the earth.

I have the conviction that, taken as a whole, the Bible presents no general principle opposed to an exploration of the universe. I feel that the instruction in Genesis 1 and Psalm 8 bears out this view, although I may be wrong.

I see no spiritual conflict resulting from interplanetary space travel. We would still be within the material realm even for the deepest space penetration.

This is not to say that man is not in for some surprises. It is hard to believe that God’s material revelation to man is complete. This really is part of the excitement, and I would suggest, also man’s moral obligation: namely, to know God and his universe more fully. For centuries man has observed the universe with optical telescopes and in more recent times has probed even deeper into space using radio telescopes. It would be hard to justify a position opposing manned space flight but upholding a right to eavesdrop and peek. While I visualize no philosophical conflict in space exploration, man may feel some within himself. This can result if he adheres too firmly to fixed ideas concerning God’s universe, such as there being no life except on the earth, the impossibility of the existence of relativistic time and anti-matter, as well as other fixations concerning his interpretation of the physical environment. In the final analysis I have always felt that this kind of intellectual rigidity is really an attempt to limit God to man’s image. It always seems to me to be closer to sin than to enlightenment.

Probably the most urgent present reason for pushing ahead in the space program is that of national survival. There are at least three facets to this: (1) national security, (2) national prestige, and (3) the future economic and spiritual development of our nation. It would be my opinion that any one of these would justify the present space effort.—Professor JOHN A. CLARK, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in a lecture on “Outer Space: A New Frontier of Challenge and Promise,” to the Christian Reformed Minister’s Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

COMMENT ON TELSTAR—The achievement of the communications satellite, while only a prelude, already throws open to us the vision of an era of international communications.… There is no more important field at the present time than communications and we must grasp the advantages presented to us by the communications satellite to use this medium wisely and effectively to insure greater understanding among the peoples of the world.—President John F. Kennedy.

LEARNING FOR THE FUTURE—What we are learning today may lead to the development of a world-wide communications network.—Newton Minow, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

ONLY A BEGINNING—Global television is on the way. The spectacular success scored by the Telstar experiment is proof of this. But it won’t arrive tomorrow. As President Kennedy has noted, this is “only a prelude.”—William McGaffin, The Philadelphia Inquirer.

UNDERSTANDING FOR THE ILLITERATE—It is a major step toward perfection of a global network of television satellites which, in a world where almost half the people are either illiterate or semi-literate, could breed greater peace and understanding among the diverse nations of the earth.—The Washington Daily News.

PORTENT FOR THE FUTURE-The unexpectedly complete success of the Telstar satellite, on its first day of operation, is more than an occasion for a celebration. It is a portent. We are confronted with one of the most important improvements in communications in a generation.—The Washington Post and Times-Herald.

A STARRY SYMBOL—Telstar is important not only in itself but as a starry symbol of the decisions that may do much to shape the future—in space and on earth.—The Wall Street Journal.

SYMBOL OF GOOD WORKS—The Telstar is a symbol of U.S. good works at their best. It is up to Congress, the Administration and the representatives of private industry involved to see to it that the project lives up fully—both for the present and the long run—to that proud standard.—The Philadelphia Inquirer.

SQUABBLE FROM EUROPE—What seemed more certain was that satellite television—now coming in loud and clear in both Britain and France—was producing more static on the ground than in the air.—The Baltimore Sun.

BRITAIN VERSUS FRANCE—“Pirates in Space,” London Daily Express; “France steals the TV space show,” London Herald; “Stealing a march on Britain,” London Daily Telegraph; “Gallic One-upmanship,” London Daily Mail. “Far from excellent. The reason was that their antenna was not guided with the same precision as ours, with two radars,” Paris’ Aurore. Comments on the British and French transmissions.

A DOUBTFUL ACCOMPLISHMENT—We are learning to communicate less and less better and better.—Howard K. Smith, news analyst, quoted by The Washington Daily News.

ARE WE REALLY COMMUNICATING?—I have an uneasy feeling that, in these times, our major problem is to be liked, rather than heard. Maybe we are using this new magic to tackle the wrong end of the problem. Shouldn’t our first goal be communicating; not communications? What’s so great about making it possible for the whole world to view “The Untouchables”?—George Dixon, The Washington Post and Times-Herald.

Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not (Gen. 28:16).

Many a man while young thinks of God in terms of his parents. What happens when he himself discovers God? A case of the sort appears in Genesis.

I. A Strong Man Meets with God at Bethel, a place he may have considered God-forsaken. His vision at night had four stages. A. Behold the ladder, or rather, “steps unto heaven.” Some way of contact between earth and heaven. B. Behold the angels—messengers of God to a man. C. Behold the Lord—the One to whom the steps lead up, to whom the angels report, and from whom they come down with the blessings of God. D. A promise of personal blessings from God. Some such experience every man ought to have whenever he comes to church.

II. A Strong Man Begins to Bargain. A. Because of an awakened conscience, he feels afraid of God. B. He goes through forms of worship. C. He makes with God a “half-way covenant.” Jacob begins to bargain with the word “if.” He seems to mean that if God will bless Jacob through the years, then some time Jacob will stand up for God. A shabby way to deal with the Most High!

Note the refusal to make a complete surrender. What should Jacob have done? Surely what he did 20 years later. Why did he tarry so long, with only enough religion of his own to make him feel wretched for years?

Perhaps because Jacob knew that in order to get right with God he would have to get right with the brother whom Jacob had defrauded, with the aged father whom he had wronged, and with the partner whom he had later out-cheated.

My young friend, how is it with you? Here in this Beth-El you have seen the steps into heaven, the angels going up to heaven, and best of all, the Lord. You have heard his words of assurance and hope. What is your answer? Surely this: “The Lord, he is my God. Him only shall I serve all the days of my life, through the Christ of the Cross.” Abridged from The Upper Room Pulpit, Nashville, Tennessee.

I do set my how in the cloud (Gen. 9:13a).

The stress here falls, not on the creation of the rainbow, but on the message it has for us today. Sometimes it takes a flood to open our eyes to see God. Now he wishes you to carry home the poetry and prophecy of the rainbow. The Gospel!

I. What We Most Dread, God Can Illuminate. To Noah the one thing full of terror was the cloud. Then he saw the flood. Yet it was there that the Almighty set his bow. Our God is always doing that. We thought that a cloud would be unbearable. Then came the rainbow with its hope.

Was there ever anything more dreaded than the Cross, the last indignity cast upon a slave? And yet Christ has illuminated that thing of terror, the hope for sinful men, the model of the holy life.

II. In the Most Changeful Times There is the Unchanging Purpose of God. In all nature scarcely anything is so changeful as a cloud. What a strange tablet for the pen of God! What a queer parchment to serve as the symbol of his unchanging Covenant! “Write it on marble,” we might say. But God says, “My unchanging Covenant with men is to be written on ever-changing cloud.”

Through all of earth’s change and recasting runs the eternal purpose of God. Through the endless resettings of this life, with its shifting lights and shadows, runs the unchanging purpose of God, which far away in eternity he willed for you. Happy is the man who cherishes such a faith!

III. In the Mystery of Life There is Meaning. Both the youngest child and the oldest poet sense the mystery in the cloud. Would that everyone could also see the rainbow! I am like a traveler among the hills. There is a chasm, where many another has perished, but I cannot see my peril. Then God lights up his rainbow. The ends are here on earth, and the crown is lifted up to heaven. So I feel that God is with me in the gloom. For me there is meaning in life’s mystery.

I trace the rainbow through the rain,

And feel the promise is not vain

That morn shall tearless he.

IV. At the Background of Joy Lies Sorrow. Underneath earth’s gladness there is unrest. If the deepest secret of life were merriment, how could the Cross interpret life? If laughter were the undertone of life, how could the Man of Sorrows be the Ideal of men? I see the rainbow on the cloud, and the Saviour on his Cross. Then I know that back of gladness there is agony, and that the richest joy is born of grief.

V. Over the Portals of God’s Dwelling There is Mercy. In Scripture the clouds are God’s pavilion. “Clouds and darkness are about his throne.” There God set his bow, a token of mercy to the world. In this early dawn the poet-prophet had the mind of Christ and saw great mercy written on God’s dwelling-place.

Have you seen that, my brother? Have you heard that, my sister? It is the sweetest syllable that ever fell from heaven into the bosom of a guilty world. The heart of God is full of mercy. Who will go out into the crowded streets under the stars tonight, crying out for the first time in years, “God be merciful to me, a sinner”? Will You?

The Bible doctrine of God in nature throws much light on our duty.

I. Our Study of the World Around Us. Nature’s face is like a page in a book, all written by the finger of God and meant of God for us to read. Those who believe that God has written this book should he most eager to read it. But this is not the case. Often those who are absorbed in religion are indifferent to science, and those devoted to science are indifferent to religion.

Why have religious people suspected science? Why has science sometimes proclaimed war on religion? In the main, because they have misunderstood each other and God. If religious people had always done their part in reverent study of God’s works, and if scientific folk had always remembered that every separate truth becomes incomplete when cut off from relation to truth as a whole—that is, to the mind of God—we might have been spared much misunderstanding and strife. This reconciliation has yet to be accomplished. The key to it lies in the very first sentence of Genesis.

II. Our Active Relation to the World. Without professing to solve the problem of evil, we must acknowledge that nature is what we have made it. In us nature casts a deforming shadow over what in itself was perfect, and thus puts the world out of joint. So every inch of morality has to be won by incessant and resolute fight. Until our last breath we must fight the good fight against evil.

But we must not excommunicate the good nature that is the work of God. The world as God made it—the world in which we were born, in which we strike our roots—is the world in which we have to live a spiritual life. When we feel the strain of the conflict, it is natural to think that the sure way to victory is to renounce the world and cultivate goodness that owes nothing to the world God made.

All experience proves that course to be disastrous. The virtue that does not articulate itself in the life of the world, and rejoice in God’s presence there, is destitute of redemptive power. Our morality rests upon this basis, not on that which abstains from marriage and from meats. The kingdom of God is to be established in the world God has made.

When we have passed all these things in review we cannot keep from our minds the comparative insignificance of nature. Without God nature is nothing. To learn this is one of the greatest truths of religion. In the world God is ever with us. All creation attests his presence. No worship is complete that has not in in it an “Amen” to the voice of the seraphim: “Holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” Abridged from The Way Everlasting, pp. 74–87.