fromthe editor’s desk
T h e C h a n g e l e s s W o r d l i r e were intrigued with an editorial in a recent issue of the Saturday IV Evening Post* entitled “Most People Behave the Way Mrs. Grundy ■■Expects Them To.” The editor states: “It is unfashionable nowadays to suggest that one possible explanation of the increase in divorce and upper-class drinking is the relaxation of former social condemnation of persons who departed from the then accepted standards of conduct. Most people who have a few years under their belts recall the days when a divorce was considered to be pretty much beyond the pale, and a man or woman who insisted upon getting drunk at the wrong places soon discovered that he or she wasn’t being asked out as much as formerly. However, modern social scientists dispute this, and attribute such symp toms as marital infidelity and alcoholism to vague factors described as ‘pressures of modem life’ or ‘a sense of insecurity.’ ” There follows a reference to a recent book by Professor A. H. Hobbs of the University of Pennsylvania entitled, The Vision and the Constant Star from which the Post editor quotes: “In earlier days, those who staunchly resisted temptation to temporize and who steadfastly eschewed cheaply won plaudits for good-fellowship were fortified in their inner resolve by strong social and religious pressures. Such strong and clear- cut social and religious pressures—firm social controls—have had their foundations sapped by pseudo-scientific theories and their substance leached from them by secular rationality.” Then the editorial comment continues: “The result is, according to Professor Hobbs, that the average person hesitates to take a firm stand on anything for fea^ of being con demned or at least ridiculed as narrow-minded, bigoted, or mid-Victorian . . . . The current leaders in the field of social science will probably reject Professor Hobbs’ theory. He already stands condemned by many of them for having the temerity to introduce common sense into the mysteries of their trade, but there must be many laymen who have been hesitating to come up with ideas like these, and who will be grateful for their endorsement by at least one professor.” This leads us not only to commend the courage of this editor and professor, but also to ponder the ever-changing views of educators, scien tists, psychologists and philosophers over the years, and to consider how uncertain is the footing of those who rely upon the thinking of mere men. In the last 25 years these so-called specialists in human thought and behavior have gone through many cycles in their analysis of man’s mind and conduct. The “scholarly” conclusions of the “best minds” of yesterday are ridiculed by the “thinkers” of today and those of today will in turn be utterly rejected by the intelligentsia of tomorrow. One grows weary of man’s words substituted for God’s definitions: “guilt feelings” instead of sin; “insecurity” for lack of peace with God; “pressures of life” for the conflicts of hearts not right with God; “un adjusted personalities” for those not bom again by the Spirit of God. It was said of the Lord that “. . . Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man” (John 2:24,25). He alone by His regenerating power can make us right with God and man. Only the inner motive of desiring to please Him who loved us and gave Himself for us can cause us to walk His “straight and narrow way.” While we agree with the good professor that Mrs. Grundy’s watchful eye might aid materially in making people behave as they should, we know from experience that it takes more than that. The Christian wages a warfare against three deadly foes — the world, the flesh and the devil — but he has a Saviour mighty to save and to keep. *Saturday Evening Post, July 7 , 1956, used by permission.
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