simply, paralyzing. A cold and prolonged look at it all could lead one only to terror, horror, disgust, and despair. . . . But it seemed to me that even a superficial reading o f existence could not possibly lead one to anything approximating optimism or affirmation.” The answer to this view is provided in a per spective which encompasses that city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God. How ard is dead right if there is no redemption and no eternity, but dead wrong if there is. The book suggests that the injustices, dispari ties, and discrepancies of life leave no room for optimism. In reality, “ Our situation is directly analogous to that of men in Death Row. We fill in the time somehow, but we shall not get out. The inevitable event makes the intervening activities look absurd. If reflecting on the limitations and dis parities in existence leads us to horror, and dwell ing on the inevitability of decay and dissolution leads us to terror, surely the contemplation of irrevocability can only lead us to despair.” How sharply Paul’s writings contrast with this! Was not Paul’s world filled with injustices and with as many disparities as ours? Wasn’t death as cer tainly his jailor as ours? Wasn’t he as human as we? Didn’t he have his feet in the mud of a dirty world ? Didn’t he have to breathe the same polluted air the rest o f us breathe? What, then, were his reactions and what lessons can we learn from them ? Paul looked worldliness square in the face and rejected it vigorously. He spoke and fought against all forms of impurity and licentiousness. He pos sessed an overpowering optimism in the midst of mountains of moral and religious obstacles. He be lieved it was possible for a man to be more than conqueror in every circumstance. He victoriously faced the hard cold realities of existence in the light o f an eternal hope. Are we to walk in any less light? The last few pages o f Christ The Tiger present a strong apologetic for the necessity of the Incar nation and redemption. They state that love (caritas) as seen in the Incarnation provides “ life instead o f mere existence, freedom instead o f frus trations, justice instead of compensation.” How ard’s closing plea is forceful, but it comes too late. Nevertheless, it does not overcome the deep dark negativism which pervades so much o f the book. May I yield to the temptation of comparing Thomas Howard to Simon Peter? There is some thing about Tom’s blustering straight-forwardness that reminds me of the Big Fisherman. And this leads me to Christ’s statement, “ You are Simon. You will be Peter.” Peter’s first and second letters written in the context o f a cruel and pleasure-mad world demonstrate how completely Christ fulfilled His prediction concerning Simon. And who is there to suggest that Christ’s work is yet complete in Thomas Howard’s life, or for that matter in yours and mine?
immoral, it reveals its condition in relation to things. Howard’s plea for the church to be alive to the world in which it lives is well taken. But it never must be forgotten that the church is in the world, but not o f it. We are exhorted to “ love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, for if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Friendship with the world is enmity with God. We have, of course, miserably failed to love the worldling, because we have failed to distinguish between him and the world in which he lives. There is a difference between love for worldly men and a love for worldliness. And it must be admitted that in setting up scruples against worldliness, we have often separated ourselves from the worldling who desperately needs our message. Howard says, “The world is full o f an enormous variety of experiences, and they must all contrib ute to the process of one’s becoming fully human. That is, insofar as there is a given experience, especially a pleasure to be had, one abstains from it to one’s own impoverishment.” If he is here sug gesting that all experiences (especially pleasures) contribute to one’s advancement, then he has some how forgotten about fallen human nature. The Bible sets up standards for the Christian’s thought, walk and talk. This it does because human nature is subject to downfall in the presence of alcohol, sex, and other “ things.” In analyzing the sex situation which he saw at a large midwestem university, he states, “The week end scene in Gomorrah could not have been more brilliant.” He says illegitimate sex relationships between college students were carried on because: sex is fun, sex is beautiful, and sex is inevitable. Then he adds, “ It cannot be argued that the rigors imposed by accepted morality provide anything that quite equals the shifting, pulsating fascination of continual search, discovery, assignation, and gratification. . . . One wonders how the structured predictability held out by monogamous marriage wins anyone’s imagination. The vision o f a world free from the fear and timidity and illness that accompanies established morality is an appealing one.” Certainly this appeal for sexual freedom (pro miscuity) is natural if Christ is left out of the pic ture. “ Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die” is a normal philosophy for the unregenerate. However, for the “new creature in Christ” there is meaningfulness in purity and beauty and satis faction in monogamy. There is a quality of joy, peace and satisfaction which accompanies the “bonds” o f monogamy which no amount o f sexual promiscuity can provide. Howard gives us only half the picture when he says, “ For the data of existence, at least as they present themselves to our consciousness are, quite
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TH E KING'S BUSINESS
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