Cleric Outlines Attitudes To Life And Experience

Chronicle (Levin), 9 June 1948, Page 4

Cleric Outlines Attitudes To Life And Experience

When the disciples of Jesus obserVpd a man, , blind from birth, begging by the side of the road, his. situatign caused them to ask who was to biame, ihe man himself or his parpnis, Jesus swept the question Qf the diSQiples aside as irrelevant, said Rev. A. Saimond, preaching jn St. Ahdrew's Presbyterian Church pn Sun'day. For Jesus the blind man was no mere case, posJng a question tp be argued about. He was, a person to ' be healed. Something had to be done for him and dpne ' immediately,.; • Jesus swept aside the . belief that special jjp^sfQrtun.es were the pun-t ishmehts' 6t s-peci'ai sins. ^'Life .w.as not built on that pattern, though many people who had never lifted their eye§ te see Jesus Christ still believed it was, continued Mr. Saimond.

"She desprves everything good. She deserves happiness if anyone does," people were constantly saying. Qr, "Why should this happen tp me What have I done to deserve this" Such expressions rose from pagan hearts, not frpm Chris= tian hearts. "Every cqmmuiiity shows its' faith or its lack of faith by its reaotipns tp experience. The mem^bers of a cpmmunity whp, in the face of an unhappy, or unwelcome situation, begin to shout, 'Who is to blame?' 'Whose fault is. it?' It is the Capitalists' or tlie Communists' or somebody else's, are essentially pagan. Th'e Christian reaction in the face of unwanted experience is, What must be done? What must we do together to meet this? What must I do in the face of this? "If a man believes in God the question -for him is never 'Why should this happen tp me?' but 'What i§ God wanting me to do for Him in this experience?' The man bprn blind presentea to the discl= ples a question to be argued about. To Jesus he presented a task waiting to be. dQne in God's name and by God's power."