"The preservation and accumulation of the truth by which men live and the sharing of practical wisdom in the solving of life's problems are the work of a cooperative society," Monroe concluded in his published volume, An Introduction to Christian Ethics (Warner Press, 1947)
The 2020 rendition of our succeeding generations finds itself facing a global Pandemic. Covid-19 came to us out of Wuhan, China and there is much debate about who is to blame for this this death-ridden disaster. American politics can blame it on the intentional mishandling of truth by the Communistic Chinese Government and trying to control the flow of information, but that does not explain all the rest of the globally viral pandemics we have experienced and survived.
Some people of faith want to simplify life to the point of blaming it all on God, or the behavior of people, and say simply that people are ignoring God and this is God's retribution on them for ignoring him. John Calvin leaned that way, as did Augustine, simplifying life down to a kind of behaviorism that is as simple as God selecting some for election (salvation) and others for judgment and hell.
The Apostle Paul did not find life that simplistic. Once he got over his own arrogance of destroying these Jesus-followers of The Way, he began to understand the relationship between God and mankind in a more relaxed but complicated manner that Professor James Arminius called man's free will. Paul concluded that man had some input in this relationship with God and he appealed to his Roman readers, "by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service."
Therefore, concluded Paul, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" Romans 12:1-2 RSV, italics mine).
Picking up Warner Monroe again in a more lengthy quote, let us see if we can make some sense out of this global pandemic we face today. Monroe affirms candidly, "Though the importance of the legacy of the past cannot be too greatly appreciated, the solution of new problems and the discovery of new truth must not be neglected." I have italicized this to get our attention for what Monroe now declares as true: There are many problems which are recurrent, for they are faced by men of all ages and can therefore be solved or partly solved once for all."
This latest pandemic is simply one more reminder of what Monroe wrote in his text on ethics: "More abundant and more baffling are those problems which have never been faced before." Have we been looking at this from a wrong perspective? Well: what does Monroe say about this?
"Life is, and must forever be, a process of change, adjustment to new situations, and a discovery of new truth; and in this process of adjustment and discovery co-operation is indispensable. The machinery and methods of co-operation must conserve and give stability, but must not become so fixed in nature that they arrest progress or make impossible the solution of new problems as they arise.
"The methods of co-operation must be regarded strictly as the handmaid of an outflowing stream of life, and stability should take the form of the permanent posssibility of adjustment to changing circumstances" (pp 120-121, Italics mine).
I believe we are created by God and in his image. That demands a certain freedom of choice for us, although we acknowledge the Sovereignty of God. So that we do not remain mindless creatures of habit and instinct, God has extended to us the freedom to choose him or reject him, to work out our own salvation by means of his grace, and to face some tough times rather than enjoying a simplistic health and wealth utopia.
There is a lesson for us to learn in Psalm 139; it is that God knows us inside and out. No matter how far we go in life we can never go so far we lose the influence of God, However, we do find we do not escape perplexities and problems either. Somewhere along our stoney pathway there is a stone that will take down Goliath. In other words, life does not avoid problems, but God has filled our bible with stories and illustrations of how He (God) will lead us over, under, around, or through any problem we encounter
We have made it this far, and together we can make it through today and still have hope for tomorrow. With that thought in mind, I offer this poetic challenge, titled DON'T QUIT:
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile,' but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit--
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when your hardest hit--
Its when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.
Author Unknown
Be blessed;
This is walkingwithwarner,blogspotcom_____
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