Insights & Outlooks
Hearse and U-Haul. Paul Crume's column in the Dallas News a few weeks ago related that a hearse was seen speeding along a Texas highway -- pulling a huge U-Haul trailer behind it. Do you suppose somebody is trying to "take it with him" in spite Paul's declaration to Timothy that it is "CERTAIN" that it can't be did!
Null and void. Which reminds us of the story of the Texas miser who carefully "devised and bequeathed" his huge fortune to a number of charitable institutions and assorted relatives — and then had an after-thought. He added a codicil to his will stating that while he realized he "couldn't take it with him," however in the event any being, either celestial or terrestrial, ever figured out a way by which he could come back and get it, then all the provisions of his will were null and void!
Swinging doors. "Jack Spratt comes to preaching late, His wife leaves preaching early; so between them both, you see, they drive the preacher squirrelly." So writes Guthrie Dean in his Park Hill Weekly Report — undoubtedly one of the freshest and "refreshingest" of all the church bulletins I receive.
G. A. -- 1951 style. "Building recreation rooms and providing and supervising recreational activities at the expense of the church is a departing from the simple gospel plan as revealed in the New Testament. The church might as well relieve the parents of feeding and disciplining all the young people at church expense as to take over the job of entertaining and supervising their recreation at church expense ... Be sure to get a clear conception of the duties of the home as contrasted with the duties of the church in the matter of recreation. To confuse the two realms of activity will involve us in absurdities." (Annual Lesson Commentary, 1951, pp. 225-229.)
"Indestructible Foundations." This brand new book on personal evangelism by Peter Wilson is beyond question one of the finest yet produced. These are the lessons Brother Wilson has used with such outstanding results in his private teaching sessions. They are clear, simple, and wonderfully persuasive. The entire Christian System (to coin a phrase from Alexander Campbell) is set forth in such reasonable, logical, and compelling fashion that we believe even the most unlearned can understand it — and the most inexperienced can teach it. Order from the Gospel Guardian at $1.50 per copy.
A brew in the pew. Time Magazine recently reported the story of the Anglican priest, rector at St. Mary's in London's grimy Woolwich district, who had tried everything in the book to get people inside his church — beauty queens, coffee bars, bingo games, suicide emergency center, teen-age be-bop sessions, etc. But nothing got results — until he hit on the happy thought of installing a licensed liquor bar in the basement. This was a smashing success! It drew a full house of miniskirted birds and their dates — who were then able to get smashed under the holy and benign influence of their spiritual adviser rather than under the baleful and evil glare of the bartender in the nearby pub! Said the beaming rector as he happily surveyed the tippling guests, "All we are trying to do is get the kids over 18 off the streets and into the church. I'm sure the Arch-bishop of Canterbury will not close us down."
Meaning in life. Probably the three greatest names in psychiatry are Freud, Jung, and Adler. Freud, the father of modern psychiatry, believed that the sexual drive is the strongest motivating force in human existence; Adler thought the "thirst for power" took precedence over the sexual; and Jung turned back to vague, ancestral archetypes for an explanation of human behavior. Now comes Dr. Viktor E. Franklin, lecturer in the University of Vienna (as was Freud) who says that all three of his predecessors were wrong, wrong, WRONG! He argues (and with compelling logic) that the most fundamental of all human strivings is: the search for the meaning of life, or at least for a meaning in life. Obviously, Franklin's analysis is far more in harmony with the Biblical picture of man than is either of the other three. Whether it be the anguished bewilderment of a suffering Job, the tortured guilt of a sinful David, or the calm triumph of a soon-to-be-martyred Paul, the "meaning of life" (what it is all about) is at the very heart and center of all human striving. Our vote goes for Franklin over Freud, Jung, and Adler.
L. L. Estes. We have just received word of the death in Oklahoma City of L. L. Estes, one of God's noblemen, who served thirty years as an elder in the Tenth and Francis Streets congregation. In more than forty years' experience as a gospel preacher, and after preaching in every section of the nation, I have never known a man who, in my judgment, more nearly filled the New Testament description of a faithful elder than did L. L. Estes. His was a long and varied life — school teacher, banker, business executive, and perhaps other positions in the business and professional world. But the one thing for which I will remember him above all others (and the one for which, I am certain, he would most want to be remembered) was his unflagging devotion to the greatest calling of his life — serving God as an elder in one of the Lord's congregations. Truly a great and godly man has been called home.
How we grow! The R. B. Sweet Company of Austin, Texas, has issued a list of the various organizations, projects, "missions," etc. which, in one way or another, are related to (and for the most part supported by) churches of Christ. Here they are: 29 colleges, 10 chaplains in the Armed Forces; 61 Campus Ministries; 70 Christian Camps; three Homes for Unwed Mothers; 30 homes for Children, six Homes for the Aged; nine Ministries to the Inner City. Every one of which, no doubt, does some good work, and is probably worthy of support by Christians. But who said these are "church" projects? And where are the Hospitals and Medical Schools?
Catholic monasteries. Speaking of "Homes for Unwed Mothers" reminds me of the definition one of my students gave me one time for a monastery. Said he, "A monastery is a Catholic Home for Unwed Fathers." Anybody want to argue about it?
Is your daughter getting married? Cartoon in a religious weekly depicts an usher passing a collection plate at a church wedding. The caption reads, "I admit, sir, it's a bit extraordinary — but the bride's father insisted on it."