realize our interdependence. Re sponsibility is an important ingre dient in interpersonal relationships. Among young iconoclasts are those with definite revolutionary tenden cies. Violence and destruction are ready weapons in their arsenal. Feeling their economic, political, and social impotence, they lash out with almost blind fury. To take ov er private property of institutions or to burn and bomb is all part of the necessities of the game. Laws that condemn such actions are rid iculed and disdained. It is naively overlooked that laws, even those poorly observed, are better than no laws at all. The revolutionary feels that chaos is the best setting for creative activity, whereas order is the proper milieu. Social institutions are the special target of some humanists on the ground that establishments tend to make people less human, to de personalize them. Organizations by their very nature place the institu tion above the individual. So the work of the humanist is laid out for him: he must save man from institutions. Man is the absolute to be rescued at all costs. Such self- expression issues in narcissism (see Warren Carr, At the Risk of Idol atry, Judson Press, 1972). Some hu manists even oppose the marriage institution because they claim it violates the integrity of their per sonality. This is a transparent excuse to avoid individual responsibility in a partnership which can work for the highest good of the indi viduals involved. He who is look ing for a scapegoat never has far to seek. In the case of the institution of the church perhaps the worst den- igrator is the unbiblical clergyman.
He believes the salvation of the church lies in delivering it from all organization. He sets up a false, unscriptural dichotomy between Christ and the local institution, the church. The same Scriptures, which magnify the Lord Jesus Christ, pro claim clearly that He builds His church, that is, His body, and ov ersees its establishment in definite and specific localities around the world. Else how do we explain the fact that so many New Testament epistles bear the names of places, Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colosse, and Thessaloni- ca, to say nothing of the seven churches of the Revelation? Of course, the personal be|ieving rela tionship of the individual to Christ is paramount, but where will this spiritual fruitage be garnered? Time and place, demanding an estab lishment, are needed. The incident is apropos of the church member who informed his pastor that he would not be present the follow ing Sunday for divine worship, but would be there in spirit. To this the minister correctly responded, "And where would you like your spirit to sit?" Once for all, that which is visible and tangible, as we shall see presently, is not per se under the condemnation of God. To believe such is to prepare one self for an abundant entrance into unvarnished Gnosticism. If the Scriptures teach anything, they indicate that faith needs vis ible symbols. In the Old Testament economy it was the tabernacle and the temple. Mind you, these were initiated by God and Him alone. Moses was warned not to inject human ingenuity, but to follow ex plicitly the pattern shown him in the mount. In the New Testament, Page 7
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